by HL TRUSLOVE
The crowd cheers as the man takes a swing, but she’s fast, very fast, and the head of the mallet slams onto the ground with a loud bang! before he can pick it up again. Dagger is next to him, slashing him with her blade over and over. He cries out in pain but she doesn’t relent, a look of glee on her face as she draws blood. The man roars and smashes into her with his shoulder, knocking her off her feet. It only lasts for a second, and she quickly rights her posture. This time she nimbly leaps onto his back. He tries to shake her off, but she locks her ankles together over his stomach to keep her grip, plunging the dagger over and over again into his neck. He yells in pain and falls to the ground, unable to take the frenzied attack. As he drops, she dismounts from him and lands softly on her feet.
You’re entranced. She makes fighting look like… not a dance, exactly, but she adds a grace to it that you haven’t before seen in this place. Here violence has been, well, violent, but Dagger makes it look like an art, nonetheless. Now you understand how she got her name.
A couple of crowd members rush to the man and pick him up from where he moans on the floor. Dagger is wiping her hands on her clothes when she spots you and smiles.
“Ah, you’re here! Sorry my guards held you up. Rest assured, they will be punished.” There’s a shine of glee in her eyes as she says that. “Anyway, how did it go?”
You don’t answer. Instead you put the radium down in front of her. It’s not what she asked for but you’re hoping – praying – she can’t tell the difference.
You put the box of radium down on the nearest table. Dagger grins and opens it eagerly. She eyes its contents and a look of confusion passes her face, but she quickly shakes it off, as if she doesn’t want to be seen uneducated about something she apparently has so much authority on. She snaps the lid shut and gestures a couple of her entourage to take it away and put it god knows where.
“Well, I’m certainly impressed. You did exactly what you said you would. But…”
Your heart lurches. You knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Dagger does a fake little pout as if she’s mulling something over.
“But I’ve grown so fond of little Gaia… it seems like such a shame to let her go now…”
Remove Radium (O.27) from your inventory.
* * *
Reason with her – Turn to 19.13.
* * *
Attack her – Turn to 19.14, Needs Hand-to-Hand Combat.
* * *
Remain silent – Turn to 19.15.
19.9
The building is just as small and stuffed as you remember it being, but there’s been some rearranging since last you were here. The war table that took up the majority of the space has been cleared off and moved to the side, allowing for an impromptu sparring space. Being watched by the rest of the crew, Dagger and another raider are circling each other. He has at least a foot of height on her and holds a mallet as a weapon. All she has is a dagger.
The crowd cheers as the man takes a swing but she’s fast, very fast. The head of the mallet slams onto the ground with a loud bang! Before he can pick it up again, Dagger is next to him, slashing him with her blade over and over. He cries out in pain but she doesn’t relent, a look of glee on her face as she draws blood. The man roars and smashes into her with his shoulder, knocking her off her feet. It only lasts for a second, and she quickly rights her posture; this time, she nimbly leaps onto his back. He tries to shake her, but she locks her ankles together over his stomach to keep her grip, plunging the dagger over and over again into his neck. He yells in pain and falls to the ground, unable to take the frenzied attack. As he drops she dismounts from him and lands softly on her feet.
You’re entranced. She makes fighting look like… not a dance, exactly, but she adds a grace to it that you haven’t before seen in this place. Here violence has been, well, violent, but Dagger makes it look like an art. Now you understand how she got her namesake.
A couple of crowd members rush to the man and pick him up from where he moans on the floor. Dagger is wiping her hands on her clothes when she spots you and smiles.
“Ah, you’re here! Glad you got back all right,” She scans you with her eyes. “Well, all right enough, anyway. How did it go?”
You don’t want to answer that. Instead you just put the uranium down on the nearest flat surface, a small table with a couple of unloaded pistols on it. Dagger grins and opens the box eagerly, observing the contents, nodding before snapping the lid shut and gesturing with her hand to summon a couple of men to take it away and put it god knows where.
“Well, I’m certainly impressed. You did exactly what you said you would. But…”
Your heart lurches. You knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Dagger does a fake little pout as if she’s mulling something over.
“But I’ve grown so fond of little Gaia… it seems like such a shame to let her go now…”
Remove Uranium from your inventory.
* * *
Reason with her – Turn to 19.13.
* * *
Attack her – Turn to 19.14, Needs Hand-to-Hand Combat.
* * *
Remain silent – Turn to 19.15.
19.10
“Take me to Dagger, now!” you tell them, your voice low and not leaving room for argument. The first guard does anyway, though.
“Why should we take you to her? You just tried to break in.”
“Because otherwise, I’ll be angry.” The guard looks like he’s about to interject, but what you says next shuts him up. “But no matter how angry I am, that will be nothing compared to how angry Dagger will be when she finds out you didn’t let me deliver this to her. Do you want to take that chance?”
The guards pale and share a look. You’ve hit the nail on the head. You’ve put the fear of god in them. Well, the fear of Dagger.
“All right,” says one, at last, “you can go.”
You remember the way to Dagger’s favoured building. The guards escort you, but they don’t go in.
If you have Radium, turn to 19.9b.
* * *
Otherwise, Turn to 19.9.
19.11
The guards take an arm each and bring you through the compound, though they quickly find this to be awkward as you’re still carrying the box of uranium. They rearrange themselves, one of them snatching your delivery and the other one pulling you into an armlock to continue bringing you into one of the smaller buildings.
It’s dim inside. Though the guards seem to want to handle you as roughly as possible, you don’t put up any resistance, instead you allow yourself to be pushed into a cage and have the door locked behind you. The two of them leave you unceremoniously, taking the box with them and arguing about what to do with it.
Even though you can feel the bruises forming, you were lucky. You’re not alone.
“Gaia?” you call out. There’s a figure in the cell opposite who’s bundled up in threadbare blankets, their knees drawn up to their chest. But when they hear that name their head lifts up. Her head lifts up and she calls your name back gently, her voice tentative and full of hope that you imagine she’s not had for a long time.
“Yeah.” You can feel a smile forming on your face. “It’s me.”
Gaia jumps to her knees, scooting over to the bars awkwardly. She squints in the darkness and then lets out a laugh, equal parts genuinely happy to see you and amazed that you’re actually here.
“They told me you’d been here. I didn’t think it was true, I just reckoned they were finding another way to torment me… but here you are… fuck,” she summarises and that makes you laugh too. You reach out through the cage and take her hands, which are rough and thinner than you remember.
“Wait, why are you in here?” she asks, her face falling as she realises you can’t do anything to help either of you when you’re also in a cage.
“Partly because I pissed off some guards, partly because I wanted to check you were all right.”
“I’m fine. Well, I’m all right, all things
considered. I’d be better if you were out there rather than in here, though,” she says, reaching through the bars to cuff you round the head. You pretend to be hurt and she chuckles. You can see she needs this. A reminder of normality. You can’t imagine it’s been easy for her, stuck in here for god knows how long.
You’re about to start thinking about escape plans when the door opens again. The guards come shuffling in with another man, taller than them by about a foot. Even in the low light, you can see the looks on their faces are as if they’ve been scolded like naughty children. The door to your cage is opened; you’re dragged out, and the box is shoved back into your hands. You look between the three faces to try to work out what’s going on.
“Sorry for the disruption,” says the tall man, who you vaguely recognise as being one of Dagger’s entourage. “The boss’ll see you now.”
He gestures for you to follow him. Throwing a look back at Gaia, she shrugs. Obviously she can’t follow you, but these next few moments might end up deciding if she goes free or not. With no other option, you leave.
If you have Radium, turn to 19.9b.
* * *
Otherwise, Turn to 19.9a.
19.11a
The guards take an arm each and bundle you through the compound, though they quickly find this to be awkward as you’re still holding the box of uranium. They rearrange themselves, one of them snatching your delivery, the other pulling you into an armlock to continue pushing you into one of the smaller buildings.
It’s dim inside. Though the guards seem to want to handle you as roughly as possible, you don’t put up any resistance, instead you allow yourself to be pushed into a cage and have the door locked behind you. The two of them leave you unceremoniously, taking the box with them and arguing about what to do with it.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”
Your head snaps round as you notice you aren’t alone. In the cage next to you is Gaia. Even though she’s thin and bruised, a shadow of the person you sailed to the Old World with, on her face is a giant grin. It’s infectious – you’re glad to see her, too.
“Not to pick holes in whatever plan you have, but aren’t you meant to be out there?” She points to the sturdily fastened door. It’s dark in here, but not so dark you can’t see how thin her hands are.
“Excuse me for wanting to check in on you. Next time I’ll leave you in the lovely raider prison.”
“Well there’s no point checking in when we could be checking out!”
“Terrible hotel. One star,” you say. It makes the two of you chuckle. Neither of you have been to a hotel, of course; they don’t even exist any more – they’re just another story you heard from the vault. Still, it helps to lighten the mood in an otherwise desolate situation.
“So now what, great explorer?”
You’re about to start discussing escape plans when the door opens again. The two guards come shuffling back in with another man, this one taller than them by about a foot. Even in the low light, you can see the looks on their faces are as if they’ve been scolded like naughty children. The door to your cage is opened and the box shoved back into your hands; you look between the three faces to try to work out what’s going on.
“Sorry for the disruption,” says the tall man, who you vaguely recognise as being one of Dagger’s entourage. “The boss’ll see you now.”
He gestures for you to follow him. Throwing a look back at Gaia, she shrugs. Without another option, you do.
If you have Radium, turn to 19.9b.
* * *
Otherwise, Turn to 19.9a.
19.12
You use the box as a weapon, swinging it round and catching one of the guards in the side of the head. He yells and stumbles backwards, clutching his hands to where you can see blood beginning to pour out of the blunt-force wound. The second guard tries to fire a shot but misses; he pulls the trigger too soon and sends the bullet into the ground with a cloud of dust. You use the weight of the box to help propel you backwards as you send a kick into his stomach. He staggers, giving you enough of an opening to headbutt him. You feel his nose crack under your forehead. A grin splinters over your face as warm blood soaks your skin.
“What is going on out here?!”
The voice makes all three of you turn round. There’s a tall man staring at you. You vaguely recognise him from your last visit – one of Dagger’s group. He doesn’t look angry so much as perplexed that a random visitor is taking on two armed guards and winning.
“This outsider came in through the gate without permission. We were trying to – we were stopping them!” the guard quickly corrects himself. The tall man takes a look at how much blood has been spilled on either side and rolls his eyes.
“You’re the one with the uranium?” he asks you. You nod, holding up the box.
“Come on, then. Boss has been waiting,” he says, gesturing for you to follow him. You do, wiping the blood from your nose, pausing for just a second. You decide it’s worth it and turn around to flip the guards a rude gesture. They don’t return it, too busy watching, slack-jawed.
You smile to yourself and keep going.
If you have Radium, turn to 19.9b.
* * *
Otherwise, Turn to 19.9a.
19.13
You breathe heavily, in through the nose and out through the mouth. There’s no point in getting angry with her. This woman will only respond with violence and you aren’t sure you can win that way. But reasoning with her…
“Come on,” you say, “I fulfilled my end of the bargain. You need to fulfil yours.”
“Why do I need to do anything?” She’s not looking at you; instead she’s flipping her dagger between her fingers like a toy. She looks bored.
“Because I could just as easily turn round and join another raider group. Tell them you have uranium. Help them take over.”
A couple of members of her group don’t like that. They bristle and go for their weapons, not drawing them yet, but making it known that they have them. Dagger raises her eyebrows and finally looks up again.
“I could throw you in a cell like your little friend,” she posits.
“I’d get out,” you say, with such certainty it causes her to look you in the eyes for a long moment. You would, and she knows it. Then, she rolls her eyes and clicks her fingers.
“Get the girl then. It’s one less mouth to feed, I suppose.”
“But boss, you don’t feed—”
The man who started talking is immediately shut up by a look from Dagger. He heads off, out of the building, and after a few moments of awkward silence returns with Gaia, her arm in one of his rough hands. She looks at you with open-mouthed incredulity before she’s shoved towards you.
The two of you embrace. You can feel from her heaving body that Gaia clearly wants to cry with relief but is too stubborn to do it in front of her captors. You’ve never loved her more.
“Now piss off, the both of you, before I change my mind,” says Dagger, waving her hand flippantly. The two of you don’t need to be told twice, hurrying away from the raider base, not sparing a second glance for the guards who caused you so much trouble at the gate. Though she’s tired, she refuses to stop walking until you can’t see the base any more. Only then does Gaia allow herself to collapse at the base of a big, sturdy tree.
Heal her wounds – Turn to 19.16, Needs Medicine.
* * *
Feed her – Turn to 19.17.
* * *
Cook a meal – Turn to 19.18, Needs Survival.
* * *
Talk to her – Turn to 19.19.
19.14
You’re exhausted. Exhausted, and angry, and you just want to see your friend again. All of that adds up to you not thinking clearly, and you pounce on the raider. You’re just as surprised by your actions as she is.
You ball your hands into tight fists and take a swing. You sucker-punch her in the face, not hard enough to try to break anything important, but definitely enough to se
nd her reeling. Your other fist goes into her stomach, your knuckles hitting the underside of her ribs and forcing her to choke out what air she has in her lungs. Dazed, she tries to go for her weapon. It’s probably lucky that you’re pulled off of her before she gets a chance to actually attack you. You can’t imagine it would have gone well.
The raiders grip your arms with both hands, keeping them stretched out behind you firmly, letting you know they’ll break your elbows if they want.
Dagger is doubled over by her wartable, trying to catch her breath. Surprisingly, she gestures for her guards to let you go. They do so, but only when she insists with another wave, wiping blood from her lip with her free hand. She looks you up and down and laughs.