0 Points In Luck

Finally some progress, Clarissa thought. It was now 1pm, Cass was still nowhere in sight, but at least she had a lead. She also seemed to be right on time when she approached the motel, as Jeannie May was heading out of the lobby,

"Hi there, any luck finding your friend?" Jeannie May smiled her unsettling smile,

"No, nothing yet," Clarissa feigned a sigh,

"Well I'm sure she'll turn up someplace. She'll have just gone out to get the lay of the land," the receptionist encouraged,

"I hope so," Clarissa nodded enthusiastically, "say um," she thought for a second, "you're heading out?"

"Just for a quick bite," the sweet old lady chirped, "I'll be back in ten!"

"Okay, glad to hear it!" Clarissa replied, strolling past the lobby door towards the motel stairs. Once Jeannie May had turned a corner, she ran back to the lobby door and dashed inside.

Ten minutes, she quivered, a short window of opportunity. Okay...she ran over to the reception desk with the dinosaur toy and started flicking through the motel documents: guest bills, service charges, timetables...there wasn't anything here! Goddamn it, she thought. After all that it couldn't be a dead-end, could it? She rifled through some hardcovers, again nothing! All just motel business, this woman was squeaky clean!

Except...

In the corner of her eye, Clarissa noticed a glint of metal at the seams of the reception carpet, lined along the edge of the desk. She leaned down, and peeled the carpet back, revealing a small but unmistakeable safe. Oh my god! This is it, she realised happily, or at least, this could be it! It was a pre-war safe as well, probably built into the motel from back before the war. Okay, this was doable she thought. She wasn't an expert at lockpicking but she'd been shown the basics of unlocking a pre-war safe years back. There was a simple trick to all of them.

Reaching into her back-pocket she pulled out her lockpick and screwdriver (okay, the pick was actually a hairpin but it was the same difference) and began to twist the pin into the keyhole. She could feel the sweat begin to glisten around her forehead at the thought of Jeannie May arriving back any minute, but she had a knack for little skills like this. Wasteland Survival 101 was all about learning things on the go. Once she'd twisted the pick in far enough, she used her screwdriver to gently pry the key-hole around...slowly...carefully...

It clicked! Oh my god she'd actually done it! Ripping the door open she grabbed at the safe's contents.

Holy moly there were a lot of bottle caps in here, she breathed. Like yeah okay a motel would get a lot of money but this was a lot. The safe seemed almost filled to the brim with caps except for a folder lined at the side. She pulled out the folder and quickly skimmed the first file,

"Bill of Sale...Consul Officiorum...ownership of the ****..." oh my god what is this? "...have this day bargained and purchased from Jeannie May Crawford...a red-haired girl of child-bearing age..." HOLY FUCK, CASS! Clarissa wanted to scream. This was real, this was happening! They'd kidnapped Cass!

Okay, calm down, breathe in. Okay. You've done it. You've found the evidence, but now you need to do something. Like get out of this room for one.

Yeah, good idea, she thought. She flicked through the folder and found another bill of sale; the name Carla Boone appeared. Incredible! I can show this to Boone! She ripped out the two pages, stuffed the folder back into the safe and slammed it shut. Glancing up as she covered the safe with the carpet, she saw that Jeannie May hadn't arrived yet. Jumping up, she sprinted for the door, escaping the horrible suffocating tension of the room to breathe in the fresh desert air again.

Wow that was stressful she thought. Looking around the corner, Jeannie May was nowhere to be seen. Wow, I didn't even have to rush she thought. I've done it!

She still had the papers scrunched up in her hand. Okay, I need to look at these, she figured. Maybe they'll give me an idea of where to look for Cass, then I can find Boone and we can rescue her before they get too far!

Clarissa thought maybe she should go to Boone first, to show him Carla's bill of sale. She hesitated though. The original plan was to lure Jeannie May (now that she knew it was Jeannie May) in front of the dinosaur while Boone was on watch. It made sense for her not to be seen with Boone otherwise Jeannie May could suss out what was going on. At the same time, he had a right to know as soon as possible. Decision made, Clarissa began to pace her way towards Boone's motel room at the end of the building,

"Oh hi there," she heard a throaty delicate voice call. Clarissa jumped, spinning around to see Jeannie May standing behind her,

"Hi, Jeannie May..." Clarissa expressed over-enthusiastically, scrunching up the papers in her fist.

"I was just cleaning up motel room 003, room service and all that..." the older lady crowed, "I hope I didn't startle you..."

"No startling at all, ma'am! Not at all" Clarissa stammered with a much too big smile,

"Well, I'd best be back to my desk now. Can't keep the guests waiting."

"Sure can't!" Clarissa coughed. She found herself automatically following Jeannie May back across the motel towards the stairs. Just act natural Clarissa, act natural. You can get the bill of sale to Boone soon, just head to your room first and wait a couple minutes.

"See you later then," Jeannie May 'smiled' and waved as Clarissa ascended up the steps,

"Yup, see you soon!" Clarissa waved back. Okay, here's the motel room. Okay, here's my motel room key. Okay, here's me unlocking the door. Just calm down Riss, you've got this.

She rushed into the motel room and slammed the door shut, breathing a sigh of relief. Oh wow, she had been so much closer to being caught than she'd realised.

The hand clamped around her mouth before she'd even managed to turn around. It was a rough hand, large like an ape's, closing shut around her mouth and covering half her face. Clarissa let out a scream but it was completely muffled by the natural gag. A large burly arm followed the hand in closing in around her waist. She tried to grab for her gun but the assailant slapped it out of her hand. She struggled and jostled backwards and forwards, trying to loosen the man's grip, but he was incredibly strong, holding tight around the lithe young woman.

She bit his hand, hoping she could try and scream out for help, but even that didn't work. Who was this guy that he could shrug off a bite like that?! She continued to fight him as he pulled her around, turning her towards the motel room. She realised with horror that there was not just one man, but two more in the room, wearing black sunglasses and trench coats. Her eyes widened with terror when she saw that one of them was preparing a syringe, flicking the needle for air bubbles. Clarissa was **** now, writhing like a cornered animal in the hands of the ape. Was this guy a mutant or something?! When the man with the needle approached her, she tried to kick him, but her captor yanked her backwards, knocking her off-balance. There was nothing she could do as the needle entered her neck.

She felt the scratch on her neck before anything else, so she brushed it off, continuing to fight and struggle against the man's grip. She couldn't help noticing that the other two men didn't seem to be in a rush. She eyed them coldly, taking stock of their features. The man with a syringe was bald, with a stern face and chiseled chin. The other wore a cowboy hat and a blonde moustache. She wished she could stare into their eyes, but the black sunglasses were like voids into their skulls.

She hated to admit it, but she was beginning to feel weaker. She wanted to cry for help, but her jaw felt lax, as though she'd been stretched out like a rubber band. She wanted to fight but her arms betrayed her; she felt the scrunched bills of sale drop from her fingers. No, you have to fight them! You have...you have to...

It wasn't that she was falling asleep, she was just...dazed...she couldn't concentrate...these were bad men! She had to...had to...

She watched oblivious as the men worked around the motel room, collecting Cass's gun and Clarissa's supplies and storing them into a large cargo backpack, which the moustachioed man slung onto his back. Clarissa was aware that this was all happening but it was like a brick wall covered her mind, preventing her from reacting normally. At this stage the man holding her could have just sat her down on the floor and she wouldn't have caused a fuss. The bald man knelt down and picked up the bills of sale, pocketing them in his trench coat. All Clarissa could do in response was blink.

What happened next was a blur for Clarissa. She was aware that they were now outside, and that they were marching quickly through Novac, leaving the motel grounds and setting off down the road the way Cass and her had come. She noticed the gravel of the ground against her feet, the midday sun still bright and hot against her skin, the way the three men surrounded and manhandled her on the way to her destination, but she just couldn't think properly. A cloud covered her mind.

At some point she must have passed out, because when she came to, she was somewhere dark. Was it night-time already? No, there was still sunlight, shining from...somewhere...She tried to look around, but found she couldn't move. Her wrists were tied behind her back! Her ankles were tied together also! Oh god what was going on?!