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Prompt: ALT Environmental Whump
When Cooper opened his eyes, the world was green. And that was fine for him. Hell, radiation made him feel better. Healed up old wounds and took the sting out of old scars. Once, while he’d been out east for a few years, not too long after the bombs had fallen, he’d gotten shot and gutted after a fight with someone he’d thought was a friend. Laying there in the forest, surrounded by trees and the sound of running water, he’d thought maybe his time had come. He’d been ready, in a way…humanity had been closer to the surface back then, his character of the Ghoul not as well established. But then the sky had turned green and rain had begun to fall and he’d felt himself start to mend.
It only took him about ten seconds to remember why it wasn’t a good thing that he’d gotten caught in a radstorm. He sat bolt upright, following the sound of Lucy’s clicking PipBoy and finding her curled up under her bedroll, still sound asleep.
“Fuck…” he forced himself up, throwing his bag over his shoulder and searching the immediate area for anything they could use as shelter, but it was nothing but rocks and sand as far as the eye could see. Beside him, the dog whined anxiously. “Goddamnit…” Rain already fell in a light mist and he must have been more exhausted than he’d thought if it hadn’t woken him before this. But they’d been on the hunt for the Enclave for weeks now and they were both beat. Hell, even Dogmeat was flagging. “Lucy! Lucy!” he called, grabbing her shoulder and giving her a shake. “Come on, sweetheart. Time to get the hell out of Dodge.”
“Hm?” She blinked up at him, weeks of constant walking obvious on her haggard face. There was no way she would be able to keep going if he didn’t slow their pace some. Hell, some days he was surprised that she was still with him after everything…after he’d handed her over to her father because he hadn’t known what the hell else he could do in the face of Vault Tec and Henry MacLean.
But then he’d seen her again, her in that dress, looking like she was on the run, and he’d seen her daddy, hot on her heels, gun in hand, looking desperate. And Cooper knew what a desperate man could be driven to do.
To his surprise, Lucy hadn’t called him a butthole or a meanie or whatever Vault Tec approved insults he might have expected. Instead, she’d shaken her head, eyes going wide. “He lied! Your family isn’t here! The pods were empty!”
Hank had pointed a gun at her from a few feet away. At his own daughter. Because she’d stopped for just long enough to tell him the truth.
And so Cooper had shot from the hip. Lucy had spun around just in time to see her father crumple. She’d hadn’t stopped staring even as he’d moved to stand beside her…as NCR soldiers had entered the strip, part of some plan he hadn’t been privy to. As Max and Thaddeus had joined them, all of them silent in this unexpected aftermath.
“It’s in here.” She’d pushed a button on her PipBoy, then twisted her wrist for him to see the screen, talking fast, bygones apparently bygones. “I downloaded everything I could. They were taken out of those cryo pods a year ago and moved to a facility on the east coast. There’s a group called the Enclave. Your wife is working with them. I have the coordinates of the facility. I don’t know if they’ll still be there but…” Her eyes had darted back to her father, and then to Max. “He was in communication with them. I don’t know if he worked for them or…he was going to put that device on me…to make me forget. But I got out. And…” Her eyes had gone back to him. “Thank you. I’m sorry…thank you.” Letting out an exhausted breath, she’d dropped her head forward onto his shoulder.
He’d been dumbfounded, just staring down at her, a hesitant hand coming to rest on her shoulder.
And then she’d grabbed his arm. “I think I need to sit…” she’d slurred, knees buckling, and Max had surged forward in the armor but Cooper had caught her, finally paying attention to the bloodstain on the side of her dress. As it turned out, her father had hit his mark after all.
She was lucky there had been a doctor nearby and that he’d had the caps to pay him. And that her father hadn’t managed to hit anything vital or catch up to her and put that shit in her neck.
He was lucky too. Without her, he’d be back to square one when it came to finding his family. She’d stopped for long enough to find information on his family. And she knew his name, he’d realized, sitting at her bedside while she was attached to another IV, Max and Thaddeus coming and going. MedX this time, but not enough to make addictol necessary.
When she’d woken up, for some inexplicable reason, she’d chosen to come with him. To find his family. He hadn’t even had to ask. And he hadn’t minded. In fact, he’d started to like having her around. Which meant he didn’t want her to get rad poisoning and drop dead.
“What’s Dodge?” she half slurred.
“It’s an expression. Come on. We need to move. Now.”
She must have correctly read his tone because she nodded, struggling to roll her sleeping bag back up while the dog danced around them, either bothered by the storm or anxious about their anxiety. “Why is it green?” she asked, securing it to her bag and putting it over her shoulder, then letting him take her arm and tug her to her feet.
“Becuase it’s a radstorm and we need to find shelter now.”
“What’s a radstorm?” she asked, and he could tell she was about dead on her feet because usually she’d be able to put that together on her own.
He ripped his duster off and draped it over her head. “Radiation storm. Fine for me, bad for you. Keep your head covered as best you can.”
“Okay…”
She needed to sleep and she needed food and none of that would matter if he didn’t find them some shelter. Still, she was a tough little thing and she stumbled along beside him as he scanned the horizon for anything…a shed. A rocky outcropping. Hell, an outhouse! Anything. But there was nothing and the rain was coming down harder.
“Is that…” she asked, voice trailing off, and at first, he thought he might be imagining things. Then, “Cooper?” Her hand closed around his sleeve.
“What?”
“There?” she told him, speaking louder and pointing, and he followed her finger to the dark shadow in the side of the rock wall. “A cave?”
“Maybe. Let’s try it.”
It was a cave, and he pushed her ahead, watching her lean against the wall and then start to slide down it.
“Not yet. We need to get further in. Come on.” He took her by the arm, hurrying her away from the mouth of the cave and looking out for anything that might want to eat them. But for the moment, at least, they seemed to be lucky because nothing leapt out of the dark to take a bite out of them as they made their way further into the cave. They walked until the sound of the rain was gone and they’d gone down an incline and, hoping that was far enough, he removed his arm from her shoulders…only for her to drop to her knees and throw up, just barely managing to shrug off the duster first so she didn’t get vomit on it. Which he appreciated.
He knelt beside her, a hand on her back like that day in the hotel only nothing like that because he could admit it now, if only to himself. “You got any radaway?”
“Half a bag,” she gasped out, throwing up again and almost faceplanting into it. She would have if he hadn’t gotten an arm around her.
He waited a minute, the only sound her gagging and the dog’s soft, anxious breaths. “You done?” he asked when she’d been quiet for a full minute.
“I think so…”
So he helped her sit back and grabbed her bag, digging for the Radaway. Half a bag wouldn’t solve all their problems but it would help. He kept an eye on her as he pushed clothes aside, finally locating it and setting up the IV. She dropped her head against the wall, eyes closed, and the dog curled up at her side with another anxious whine. “Don’t sleep yet.”
“Why not?”
“Becuase I said so.”
Her eyes stayed closed, but he could see her roll them anyway. Still, a little smile twitched at her lips, and he patted her on the leg before he inserted the catheter and held up the bag.
“How you doing?”
“Um…cold.”
He adjusted the duster. “If you’re a good girl and keep your eyes open, I’ll share some of this radioactive body heat.”
Her nose wrinkled, and she rolled her eyes again, this time with them open. “Do we have any soup?”
“Yeah. I’ll heat some up later.” He looked around for a place to hang the bag and came up empty. “What’s that thing on your arm say?”
“Huh?”
He sighed, taking her arm with his free one and twisting it so he could see, messing with the dials until the screen showed him a frowning Vault Boy, a little warning flashing in the corner. He twisted the dial again, highlighting it and navigating to another screen which informed him that she had a fever and that her radiation levels were dangerously high. “Damn it…”
“Hm?” she asked, eyes closed again.
He rested her arm back in her lap. “Well, at least we’ve got a place to wait out the storm.”
“Yeah,” she muttered.
When the bag was empty, Cooper removed the catheter and laid out her bedroll. She was asleep by then, her chin on her chest, and he had to half pick her up to lay her down on it, covering her with the duster. “Keep an eye out,” he ordered the dog, laying his own bedroll out beside hers and laying down. She rolled towards him in her sleep and he pulled her into his arms because she was shaking from cold and she needed his body heat.
He woke to the feeling of her shaking in his arms, her fingers clamped around his shirt, and even without touching her forehead he could tell she was boiling. Behind him, the dog’s back was pressed to his, but she got up when he did, gently untangling her hand from his shirt. Digging through her bag, he found some spare clothes, a few boxes of ammo, some Cram and crackers, extra water, and finally, that first aid kit he’d thrown back in there before he’d gone to sleep. Inside that was her toothbrush and some toothpaste tabs, a sewing kit, and a little bottle of pain killers with two pills inside. Sighing, he sat her up enough to put the pills in her mouth and washed them down with water, hoping that helped at least a little.
According to the PipBoy, her rad levels had gone down some, but the fever had gone up. It wasn’t any wonder, really. They’d been in about five settlements since they’d left Vegas, rubbing elbows with all sorts of people, so he figured at least one of them must have been sick. Not to mention the constant walking and fighting for their lives. And the lack of food.
He moved a few feet away and managed to get a fire to catch, piling up whatever debris he could find to heat it. Dogmeat was following her nose deeper into the cave and he hoped she didn’t run into anything that sniffed back as he pulled a can of soup out of her bag to heat up. A glance back at her told him she was still sound asleep. “We’ll stop at the next settlement,” he told her. “Get an actual bed. Some real food. Maybe some of that roasted corn you like. If we can buy a couple of ears for the road, we can make some over the fire. I’m not a half bad cook, I’ll have you know.” He glanced back at her again, watching the shadows of the fire dance over her pale face. “I’m gonna have to wake you up, honey. You’ve got to eat. That’s probably why you’re sick. That and me dragging you across the goddamn desert.”
He waited until the soup was hot and ready to eat to wake her, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. “Come on, Vaultie. Wake up and eat something.” He let out a breath of relief when she opened her eyes, peering up at him and looking no less exhausted than before. “Time for soup.”
“‘M not hungry,” she muttered, closing her eyes again.
“Don’t care. You’re eating anyway.” He sat beside her and tugged her up to sit against his chest, pulling the duster up around her shoulders. Her head dropped against his shoulder, nose nuzzling against his neck.
“I’m cold.”
“You’re burning up,” he corrected, dipping the spoon in the warm can and holding it to her mouth. She let him feed her about two bites before her head dropped to his shoulder, nose wrinkling when he tried to give her any more. “Come on, Lucy. You’ve got to eat.”
She just muttered at him, lifting a tired hand in a halfhearted dismissal. Another glance at her PipBoy told him that her situation hadn’t improved. He didn’t bother putting the fire out, just laid her back down on the bedroll and wrapped her in the duster again. Sitting with his back to the wall, he ate the soup himself and hoped the rain was letting up.
He went for a walk for want of something to do, scoping out the immediate area, the dog at his side, her nose to the ground. “What do you think? We alone in here?”
She just sniffed the ground, then butted her head against his leg. So he crouched to pet her, smoothing her fur back, then scratching her muzzle.
“What are we going to do with her, huh?”
Her tail gave a little wag.
“I know you like her.” He rested the side of his head against hers. “I do too. That fever of hers is a problem, though. And I don’t know how far it is to the next settlement.”
She licked him.
“Yeah. We’ll have to wait and see. When the storm passes, I can carry her if I have to.” He gave her a firm pat on the side. “Good girl.”
Cooper almost didn’t see the door. If it hadn’t been for the dog, he didn’t think he would have, but she was sniffing every nook and cranny and he happened to be watching when she stopped at a place where metal interrupted rock. “Well now…what do we have here?”
The dog pawed at the door, head cocked.
“I do believe you’re right…” He threw another glance over his shoulder before grabbing the handle and giving the door a firm tug. Dogmeat danced out of the way, watching him peer down a dark staircase. “Huh…you ever seen a horror movie?”
She just wagged her tail.
“Alright…we’ll split up. You stay with her.” He pointed towards Lucy for good measure. “Go on. Make sure no one else comes in here. I’ll be right back.”
The dog turned back towards Lucy, trotting off, and he propped the door open, not wanting to take any chances. Drawing his gun, he tested the metal platform right in front of the door. It held, so he tested a step, then another, inching his way down, gun ready, one ear trained for the dog or Lucy. But everything was silent as he made his way down ten more steps, standing at the base of the landing and looking around. There was another door at the bottom and not much else, so he tugged on that too, and it came loose with a loud creak that made him wince. But nothing came running, so he shoved it all the way open, propping it against the wall, then stepped inside what turned out to be a bunker.
It wasn't a Vault…no gear shaped doors or smiling cartoons giving him a thumbs up lay in wait. He figured this must have been someone’s emergency store. A bunker meant to wait out a hopefully short apocalypse. There must have been a generator somewhere because there was a single bare bulb in the middle of the room, and when he flipped the switch, it turned on. The far wall was lined with shelves, all of them full of milk crates that, in turn, looked to be full of canned goods. In the corner, a double bed sat in pristine condition, a footlocker at the end long enough to hold a rifle. In the other corner was a countertop with a hot plate and on the ground, another milk crate full of pots and pans. There was a little half walled bathroom with a sink and a toilet across from it, and he went over to it and tried the water.
It ran clear.
Eyes wide, he took a sip, and it tasted fine to him. “Well, goddamn,” he muttered.
Behind the wall was a bathtub, which was where he found what must have been the person who must have been the owner. The skeleton lay inside the tub, a blanket half covering old, dry bones, a bottle of Vault Tec Plan D and three empty whiskey bottles on the floor beside it. He tipped his hat to the skeleton, then threw another blanket over it. “Hope you don’t mind sharing.”
Not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, he hurried back up the stairs and found Lucy still sound asleep by the glowing embers of the fire. He kicked some dirt over them, then bent over and lifted her, bedroll and all, into his arms, the dog prancing around his feet. “Don’t trip me or we’ll all go down,” he warned. “Come on, sweetheart. I’ve got a surprise.”
Her head fell limply against his shoulder, her skin too hot, but he had to believe there was some kind of first aid kit down there. So he made his way gingerly down the stairs with her dead weight in his arms, maneuvering her under the blankets, then went back for her stuff, ordering the dog to stay with her again. Then he started searching the boxes.
There were at least ten of them full of canned goods and dry pasta and old, stale crackers. Soup and Mac and cheese and even snack cakes and candy. Instant coffee too, which would do just fine for him. Wondering if Lucy liked coffee, he kept searching. There were some crates full of soap and shampoo and even conditioner, and he wondered if Lucy would object to bathing in a tub that had once held a skeleton.
Then again, if he got it out of there before she woke up, she’d be none the wiser.
And then he found the skeleton’s medical supplies.
It was a single milk crate with three first aid kits inside. One was full of bandage and gauze and burn cream, along with some Vault Tec branded medical ointment. The next had pain medicine and fever reducers, all of them crammed inside with a bottle of antiseptic. And the final one held four whole Stimpacks.
“Sweetheart, we just hit the goddamn lottery,” he told the unconscious woman, grabbing two of those fever reducers and filling a coffee mug with water from the sink. The thing on her wrist was silent when he held the water up to it, so he got an arm around her and sat her up. “Come on. Mouth open,” he urged, pressing the side of her jaw. Once he’d gotten her lips to part, he placed the pills on her tongue, then poured some water into her mouth. “That ought to help.”
He eased her back down then, grabbing a washcloth from another handy milk crate, running it under water, then folding it over her forehead.
Once he’d placed the skeleton and the bottles they’d used to leave this cruel world back in the cave, hoping they might appreciate a change in scenery, he tested the tub faucet and grinned when it, too, ran clear. “A man could get used to this,” he told Lucy who didn’t stir.
He left the bunker for a while, leaving the dog with Lucy, and resumed searching the cave for something to do. Unfortunately, there were no more secret bunkers or hidden doors. He didn’t find any irradiated animals either, so he supposed they were still ahead. A quick trip to the mouth of the cave told him that the sky was still green, but the rain had started to let up.
Back inside, he grabbed a pot and started making some mac and cheese. Lucy liked it, he knew, but they rarely had it. Soup was easier, and didn’t require extra water. Neither did Cram. But he’d seen Lucy’s eyes light up when he pulled out the Blamco box. So he plugged in the hot plate and began to boil the water for the pasta, putting the powdered cheese aside.
On the bed, Dogmeat had curled up at Lucy’s feet, eyes closed, looking perfectly at home. “You comfortable?”
She let out a big yawn.
“Yeah. Thought so.” He put a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. “Hey, sweetheart. You’ll never guess what I found.”
“Hm?”
“Come on. I made dinner.”
She blinked up at him, brow furrowed, and after a few seconds of staring, she looked past him. “Is that a light bulb?” she asked, incredulous.
“Sure is,” he told her with a grin. “How do you feel?”
Lucy turned her head, staring at the shelves of food. “Where are we? I thought we were in a cave.”
“We are. Turns out this particular cave has a secret bunker, complete with running water and plenty of food. Think you can eat? I made mac and cheese.”
She perked up at that. “Mac and cheese?”
“Yup. Fresh off the hot plate. Sit up and I’ll grab you a bowl.”
She did, eating every bite, and a quick look at her PipBoy told him that her fever had gone down a little. “Is it still raining?”
“Yeah, but not as much.”
“Are we leaving when it stops?”
He regarded her empty bowl for a moment…glanced at her exhausted face, deep circles apparent under her eyes. “Nah. We’d better wait a day or two. Wait for all that radioactive water to dry up.”
The way her whole face lit up did something to him…made his heart go tight in his chest. Before, he would have told her not to get too excited. He would have rolled his eyes and buried his smile and found some excuse to leave her to it. Instead, he took her bowl and carried it over to the only sink, then grabbed the crate full of hygiene supplies, placing it on the ground next to the tub. She watched, eyes wide, as he turned the spigot and began to fill the tub with water. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and leaned in, eyes bright, and not just from the fever. “I’ve never had a bath before.”
“What?” he asked, incredulous despite himself.
“We had to ration our water in the Vault. There was a seven minute daily limit for showers. We didn’t have bathtubs.”
He nodded to himself, lips quirked. “Huh. Well, get ready for another first.”
“And we can sleep here?”
“Yeah. For a night or two.”
“Two!” she cried, sounding like he’d just offered her a million caps.
“Yeah. Besides, we need to wait for that fever to come down. There’s some extra clothes in that crate. They’ll be big on you, but we can wash the ones you’re wearing? And, looks like the poor asshole that built this place had long hair.” He held up the conditioner and her jaw literally dropped. Chuckling to himself, he straightened. “Go on and get cleaned up. Then go back to bed. You need the…” He let out an ‘oomph’ when she jumped up and wrapped her arms around him, face buried in his chest. And he couldn’t help wrapping his arms around her…couldn’t help resting his cheek on the top of her warm head. It was just the fever, he told himself, patting her on the back.
“Thank you,” she murmured, squeezing him hard, and he closed his eyes, trying to soak it in.
“Don’t mention it, sweetheart.”