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Butch took a swig of his beer, sat alone at one of the tables in The Muddy Rudder. It had been less than forty-eight hours since he’d left Vault 101 and he was still adjusting to being out of the vault. The Muddy Rudder, for instance, was lively in the night, but quiet towards the mornings. At 3am, it was dead, with the exception of a security guard stood at the bar. He wasn’t sure if the security guard was always there or if they just didn’t trust him yet. He didn’t mind either way. The guard left him alone so he could drink in peace and think about the events of only a few days ago.
He hadn’t realised Amata had sent out a signal for help until Therese— or was it Katherine now?— had shown up, so seeing her again had been a surprise.
It had been maybe a couple of months at most since she’d left. Most of his memories of that day were a blur; there had been so many things happening. The doc being gone, the overseer having his assistant shot, the roaches… it was hard to believe it had all happened over the course of a few hours. He remembered her clearly that day, though. She’d saved his mom’s life.
He shuddered, remembering the scuttling of the radroaches in his room, tipping his bottle back again. His mother’s screams for help, knowing he didn’t have the guts to help her himself. It had been an act of desperation to ask Katherine - she had been running, after all, he didn’t expect her to listen to him, let alone stop. He’d bullied her for years. To his surprise she had stopped, grabbed her gun and headed into his mom’s room. He remembered the waiting outside, heart racing. The fear of his cowardice making it too late to save her.
And then she’d come out. He saw his mother behind her, unharmed, muttering to herself as if nothing had happened. Katherine touched his shoulder and mumbled that his mother was safe now and turned to carry on running. He’d blurted out that she was his best friend, embarrassingly, and then hastily pulled off his jacket to give to her. A token of appreciation, of sorts. He’d had to make himself a new one afterwards. He’d just assumed that she’d have dumped it as soon as she got out of the vault.
Then she was in the vault again, maybe two months later, and she was wearing his jacket. Roughed up, dirtied, but undeniably her. She’d quietly explained that she didn’t go by Therese anymore but rather Katherine, after her mother. Something about making a name for herself in the wasteland that wasn’t tied to the vault. He hadn’t blamed her. She didn’t take him up on his offer of forcing everyone to leave the vault and although he’d initially been miffed, he was glad she hadn’t. His mother wouldn’t have survived the wasteland - he barely did on his way to Rivet City, especially after a very close call with a mole rat - and admittedly he’d only wanted it for his own selfish reasons of being able to leave the vault. He hadn’t expected her to actually convince the overseer to step down and open up the vault. He definitely didn’t expect Amata to force her out afterwards.
They’d had an argument, him and Amata. He knew she’d never liked him anyway, and he’d never been too fond of her either, but this was different. He’d acted cool when Katherine was leaving again, some stupid remark about how it was a shame she had to leave again.
He cringed at the thought and took another swig of beer. He was starting to hate the taste of it, just like dirty water.
Amata. He’d rounded on her afterwards, not caring that she was the new overseer. “How could you?” he’d shouted. “After everything! She came to help us and you exiled her! You were meant to be best friends!”
Amata had given some bullshit answer in response, not meeting his eyes, and for the first time he’d seen the resemblance to her father. It was that moment that he made up his mind, gathered his things and left. He wasn’t sure where he was going to go. A part of him wished he’d left with Katherine, but he’d squashed that regret pretty quickly. He’d found Megaton easily enough. His jacket must’ve covered his vault suit as he nobody commented on him being from a vault. He’d hoped to trade some things, make some caps, only to realise he’d had nothing of real value to trade. Some trader— Mona? Mira? Moira?— helpfully gave him directions to Rivet City, telling him he’d have more luck there. So off he’d headed. It had taken him several hours to get there and he was exhausted by the time he arrived. He’d just about had enough caps to rent a room at the hotel there and crashed almost immediately. He’d dreamt of her that night. He’d dreamt they were in the vault and none of the chaos had ever happened. He’d dreamt they were friends.
He’d awoken to an unfamiliar room and it had taken him a while to recognise his surroundings. The vault had always been very clean and it had had that clean smell about it, almost as if everything was sterilised. Rivet City had a different smell and it was as though he was smelling again for the first time. He still wasn’t used to the smell, but at least The Muddy Rudder had a familiar scent. It wasn’t saying much, since it was alcohol.
Butch set the half-empty bottle of beer down on the table. He’d lost his taste for it completely now. He missed the vault, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. Worse still, he couldn’t stop thinking about Katherine. Her wearing his jacket had really gotten into his head. It had sat so comfortably on her. The act of her keeping something he had given her after leaving the vault made him feel… something. He doesn’t know. Warm. Fuzzy, maybe. He’s not used to people thinking of him. Maybe she’d just liked how the jacket felt. But that still meant she’d had to have tried it on initially after leaving. Which probably meant something. He just didn’t know what.
Katherine. Katherine. Katherine. He’s still getting used to her new name. He’d listened to Galaxy News Radio on his way to Rivet City and found out she’d been dubbed ‘the lone wanderer’. The host occasionally called her Kathy, but it was mostly just the lone wanderer. What a sad title to bear. She must feel so lonely.
He shook his head, trying to focus on the beer bottle in front of him. She’s in his head and she has no business being in there. He probably won’t even see her again. His head hurt. He got up, slowly, abandoning the beer on the table and nodding to the security guard on his way out. It took some difficult navigating to the sleeping quarters - he’s still getting used to the layout of the area - but he got there in the end, collapsing into one of the empty beds. He’s not sure how many beers he’s actually had, but he definitely hasn’t been drinking water and he’s sure he’ll have some regrets in the morning. It takes him a little while to fall asleep, his head filled with thoughts of Katherine, and her tunnel snakes jacket.