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The scenery never seemed to change, in Rylee’s opinion. It was beautiful, of course, in its own way, but she could only look at the same scraggly looking tree before she started to tune out the landscape while traveling. And on a trip to a settlement that they had taken many times before, it was even more boring.
There’s that tree that was on fire the first time I came this way she thought idly as they passed by a charred and mangled tree, though she also noted that there were a few spots showing new growth. They were always pleased to see something fighting back against the cruelty of the Commonwealth, much like she had been doing since she stumbled from the Vault and into this strange new world. And how their life had changed—there was no simply being a house wife or going back to some simple job anymore. She had adapted quickly, despite many people thinking she would simply be swallowed up by the world.
Hancock had been one of them, she remembered in amusement at the sound of his footsteps following behind them. How things had certainly changed on that front. While Nate’s wedding ring felt like a stone in her pocket at times, the presence of Hancock in her life had been like a soothing balm to calm her thoughts, one that wasn’t just from the chems.
Rylee was pulled from those thoughts at the sight of a familiar tree with a scrawled ‘R’ carved out of the bark sloppily and nodded at it. “Its common raider territory up ahead, so be on your guard,” she warned, glancing back at the ghoul behind her for a moment as she kept walking.
“And how would you know what that means? Anyone could’a put that there,” he paused to look at the letter before following after her, though he did rest a hand on the knife at his hip.
“I put it there,” she called back, turning slightly to look back at him with a look that rather pointedly said ‘duh’, accompanied by an amused smile.
Hancock simply responded by making a face at her before picking up his pace slightly to catch up to her, keeping more on alert now than he had been a few moments before. There didn’t seem to be any raiders in the area for the moment, and their journey was quiet for a while aside from the sound of their footsteps crunching in the dirt until the distant sounds of a vertibird started up, the sound of the blades slicing through the air steadily growing louder.
Rylee paused to pull some water from her backpack, sipping from it as they watched the vehicle move steadily in their direction.
“Looks like the Brotherhood,” Hancock commented, his tone clearly conveying his thoughts on the organization. Rylee nodded in agreement, tucking her water bottle back into their bag after a moment before shouldering it once more to start walking. The vertibird moved steadily in their direction and, eventually, she tuned the continuous sound of the blades out, her thoughts beginning to drift as they traced the familiar paths.
It all happened faster than she could take it in.
The sound of the mini gun on the vertibird starting up didn’t even register to her until there was a hail of bullets shooting towards the pair of them. Then suddenly there was a burning in her side and a bullet tore through her shoulder before Hancock was suddenly behind her and shoving her to the ground behind a boulder to crouch above her, cocking his gun as he peeked over the edge of the rock. Below him she let out a soft whimper of pain as she pressed a hand to her shoulder before pulling it away to see the blood staining the skin, spots spreading across her vision as they attempted to wrap her head around the pain and shock.
Hancock shifted to drag her between two of the rocks for more shelter from the Brotherhood’s sight, remaining crouched above her, alert and protective as he watched the vertibird circle above their area for a few moments before it flew away, its occupants apparently determining that their victims were dead or not worth it.
Hancock didn’t relax until they were over the nearest hill, and as the sound of the blades faded he lowered his gun and looked down at where Rylee was sheltered beneath him. She met his gaze weakly, hand pressed tightly to the bleeding wound in their shoulder, the blood seeping past their fingers steadily as she remained frozen in shock.
“Ah shit,” he muttered, pulling her bag off to set it aside before tugging a shirt from it to press tightly to the wound, doing his best to place pressure on both sides of her shoulder. “No, no, you stay with me,” he let go for a brief moment to tilt their chin back up as her whole body started to slump forward. He was quick to place the pressure back on, a frown on his face as she looked up at him with tired eyes.
“They shot me…” Rylee responded with a frown in return, head falling forward again as they slumped into the ghoul’s chest, and he easily caught them. He could feel the panic rising in his chest at the sight of his lover unconscious and bleeding in his arms, but you didn’t survive out in the Commonwealth if you let panic overtake you. He pushed it back and focused instead on the blood that was still seeping into the shirt that he’d pressed into her shoulder, though it seemed as if it was beginning to slow as he squeezed their shoulder even tighter.
After a brief moment of deliberation he let go to dig through her bag again and found a set of curtains that she had been saving for the house in Sanctuary and quickly wrapped it over her shoulder and tied it off as tightly as he could manage. As soon as he was satisfied with his work he shouldered their bags before picking Rylee up, gently cradling her body to his chest as adjusted to her weight with a soft grunt. There weren’t many options available to them this far out into the wilderness, they were too far from Sanctuary to go back before she bled to death and Boston would be impossible to navigate even if he could reach it while carrying her.
So he turned around and went back the way they came, remembering an abandoned shack that they had passed by not too long ago that would make do for them to hole up in while he patched her up. He cursed the Brotherhood as he walked; glancing down at her anxiously in between keeping an eye out for anything that would need to be fought off—so anything that would appear.
It wasn’t too long before the shack came into view and he picked up his pace, not liking the paleness to her skin and how still she was. His breathing seemed loud and harsh in the stillness of the shack as he laid her on the filthy mattress on the floor and dropped the bags nearby, every sound seemed to echo and remind him how little noises she was making. Even her breathing was softer than the usual level that he was used to hearing, no longer a comforting sound but another reminder of how his luck could never last for long.
But he wouldn’t let himself dwell on that—He had changed for a reason, after all, and he wouldn’t just allow the one good thing in his life to disappear on him. So he untied the curtains from around her shoulder to see how bad the bleeding was and was pleased to find that it had slowed considerably. So he set to work on pulling off her armor, ripping her shirt open to expose her wounds without moving her too much.
It wasn’t at the top of his ‘reasons to rip her shirt off’ list.
With that out of the way Hancock was clear to see the extent of the damage, shifting her carefully to make sure the bullet went clean through before pulling away to grab the medical kit from her bag to rummage through it for a few moments with shaking hands. He found everything he needed soon enough and set it all out for easy access before he picked up a stimpak, carefully injecting some of the medicine into her shoulder to prevent infection and using the rest of it around the scratch in her side. He tossed the empty syringe aside to pick up a needle and thread.
It was no simple task for Hancock to thread it. Drugs never left his hands steady, and it had been a while since he’d gotten a hit which only seemed to worsen it. But soon the needle was threaded and he pushed his hat up further on his head as he leaned in close to her to stitch the wound in her shoulder as best he could. It was sloppy, and would most certainly leave a scar, but it was the best he would be able to do with his skill level and the current situation, and he finished as quickly as possible to roll her onto her side to stitch the other side of her shoulder.
Hancock was certain that Rylee would mock him for the stitching when she woke up, but it would have to do. He taped some ripped up t-shirt around her shoulder as a makeshift covering before doing the same over the cut on her side before he rocked back to his heels. She was still unconscious, and he was grateful that she hadn’t woken up while he was stitching her shoulder, but now that he was done he was anxious for her to open her eyes and make some smart ass remark about it all to ease all tension with the skill that only she could manage.
But she didn’t move, and he dropped down to sit in a more comfortable position near her after pulling his coat off to drape it over her for the moment.
Night had fallen, along with a storm arriving, by the time Rylee awoke, the first signs coming as she shifted slightly, her eyes cracking open to glance around the shack in confusion before she remembered the vertibird. She attempted to push herself up before wincing at the sudden pressure on her shoulder when suddenly Hancock was there, gently helping her sit up to lean against the wall.
“Easy there—How do you feel?” he offered her a bowl of soup as he spoke, which she took and cradled between her hands as she leaned against him.
“To quote some smart ass I know… I feel like a Brahmin stomped all over me,” Rylee replied with a heavy sigh even as Hancock laughed as he slipped an arm carefully around her shoulders to let her lean more comfortably into his side. There were no words to describe the relief he felt at the sound of her awake and talking again, the anxiety that had been knotted in his chest fading as he held her close.
“Eat,” he nudged the bowl of soup lightly. “You lost a lot of blood, so you need the energy. We can head back to Sanctuary when you’re rested, and then I’ll go find the scum that did this.” Hancock’s tone was angered as he spoke, his emotions towards the Brotherhood coming through very clearly. Never would he be considered even neutral towards them on a good day, and this was certainly the opposite of that.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Rylee replied firmly, ignoring the soup in favor of looking up at Hancock. “We were in raider territory, that’s probably what they thought we were. Obviously I’m not glad I got shot, but I’m not just going to let you go try to destroy the entire Brotherhood because of it. You’re not an idiot; they would kill you without batting an eye.”
Before he even had a chance to do more than open his mouth Rylee held up a hand to shush him. “No, don’t argue with me,” she said firmly with a raised eyebrow, “If you try to go after the Brotherhood for something stupid like this I’ll follow you and kick your ass.”
“Talking pretty big there,” Hancock couldn’t help the small grin at her threats, and he knew that she actually would attempt to follow through with them if he did something stupid. Just one of the many things that he loved about her.
“I mean every word of it,” she raised an eyebrow at him before settling back into his side to take a bite of the soup, which earned her a nod of approval from Hancock. The pounding in her head and the weak feeling in her limbs slowly started to fade as she worked through the bowl while Hancock watched to make sure she wouldn’t need his help. But she managed well enough and set the bowl aside when she was done to settle more securely into his chest. She was content to remain there and listen to the sound of the rain with his fingers softly stroking over her arm.
Even the Commonwealth had its moments.