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Hancock has seen Nora get hurt before. He’s seen her get stabbed in the leg by a raider who can no longer walk after she shot him in the foot, he’s seen her curse when a bullet grazes her arm but she keeps charging forward anyways. Usually, everything is fine once Nora uses a stimpack and wraps it up with some spare cloth.
There’s been times Nora’s been badly hurt before, yes. One of Hancock’s clearest memories is the time she got shot in the foot twice and he had to carry her to Sanctuary even though she said she was fine when she obviously wasn’t. And there was the time Nora banged her head on a rock. A fucking rock . Nora’s a powerhouse of energy and strength, so it seems dumb that the universe decided a rock is able to take her down. Hancock had carried her again but this time to Goodneighbor, since that was the closest town.
But neither of those two instances were the scariest injury that Nora had had. Oh no, the scariest one by far was when the had been clearing out a store of feral ghouls when some asshole had shot through the broken window and hit Nora. By some miracle, the bullet missed all major organs and spine, so Nora had only needed a couple of stimpaks and some Med-X, not even a trip to a doctor, although Hancock had insisted they go.
But all of those times were different from right now. Right now, there’s blood. So much blood. Hancock’s hands are already soaked with it.
He needs to keep it inside Nora. People can die from blood loss. Nora can’t die. Hancock can’t allow it. He won’t.
Cloth. Cloth! He needs cloth to soak up the blood! Quick, what does he have in his bag? Stimpacks, some junk, Med-X, more junk, some Jet, Mentats, and finally cloth! Swift. He must be swift. Oh god, there’s so much blood. Wrapping it around her, once, twice… shit! That’s all he has! Tying it. It’ll have to do for now. Okay, now to get her to a doctor.
Shit! She started screaming as soon as he tried to move her. Even when he stopped, she didn’t. What is he supposed to do? He knows in certain cases you can’t move someone when they’re injured but he needs to get her to a doctor now . How is he supposed to tell? Med-X. He’ll give her Med-X, then she’ll stop screaming, and he’ll get her to a doctor and it’ll all be fine. It will. It will. It will.
Dammit, the Med-X didn’t stop the screaming! And the cloth he used is now blood soaked, but there’s still blood seeping through it! What is he supposed to do? Should he carry her anyways, or run for help? Scratch that, there’s no way he can leave her. The blood and the screaming will attract way too much attention. Gently, gently now, pick her up. It’s called bridal style, maybe? He remembers seeing it in a faded magazine. The screaming had stopped, but only because Nora has passed out. He has to hurry.
Fuck, she regained consciousness but she’s not screaming. Hancock can’t tell if that’s good or bad. The only way he knows she’s still alive is the way her chest is heaving and how her eyes keep fluttering open and shut. It looks like she’s trying to say something, but no words come out of her mouth. There’s no time to stop and see what she wants.
Wait, she’s managed to put a hand on his chest, and he can take a second or two to see what she needs. He’s already given her all the stimpaks he had, but he's not sure if it made a difference or not. Okay, just a tiny break, because he’s swallowing down air like it’s life support (which it is) but they need to get moving again soon. Nora’s still not saying anything, and Hancock doesn’t think she should be, not while she’s in the state she’s in, but she’s motioning for him to lean down. So he does, and she lifts her lips caked in blood to his ear, and says “John....” Then there’s silence.
Hancock waits for her to say something else, but she doesn’t. He pulls back and looks at her and her chest isn’t moving. Neither are her eyes. Her arms now hang limp at her sides. They’re covered in blood, just like Hancock’s hands and arms and face and everything else that he has. Nora’s dead, and there’s blood. So much blood.