Propose a truce

You try to let your eyes communicate with the strange woman.

“Let’s hide,” you tell her, moving your shotgun away from her face. You offer her your hand.

She sweeps your legs from under you, and you crash to the floor. She snatches up her gun, kicks yours away, and lunges to the trap door. She pulls it up and shuts it, whirling to put the pistol at you as you shake your head and sit up dizzily. Your hand is on your fallen shotgun, but you can’t possibly pick it up and use it before she shoots you.

The woman puts a finger to her lips and keeps still. You do the same, hearing the thudding footsteps. Seconds creep past. You even hear what sounds like a… growl or something from the hallway beneath you.

Whatever’s down there must know that you’re here, but it has no way up. You and the woman are just shadowy figures up here in the dark, and you’re as still as statues until you’re sure that the thing has moved on.

“Don’t,” the woman threatens, creeping back toward you and keeping you covered.

You stop moving your finger toward your trigger. Scowling in the dark, you raise your hands. She picks up your shotgun.

“I’ll take that too,” she says, and you hand over your Mauser.

“Who are you?” you ask her, speaking softly. The house creaks, but it’s quiet again. The danger seems to have passed from that thing, but now… you have this situation.

You are thicker and have a stronger build than this woman, who is wiry underneath that coat. But you can tell that she’s a much better fighter than you are. You don’t like your odds in a wrestling match, and she has you covered with a gun.

She sits down in front of you, cross-legged. You reluctantly assume a similar position, meeting her gaze. It looks like she wants to talk.

“I asked you a question,” you say.

“I heard you.” She sighs, looking away for a moment, perhaps listening to the old house. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Did you follow me up here?”

She nods, putting the gun down on her leg, but the barrel is still pointed at you.

“All the way from New Gurlberg?”

“I had to make sure,” she says.

“Sure of what?” you ask.

“That Murphy was sending you here. So she knows.” The woman rubs her chin with her free hand. “All right. You’re a vault dweller. What’s your name?”

“Jane.”

“Jane, I’m Shell. I’m like you. I’m not from around here,” she says, waving the gun. “What, exactly, did Murphy tell you to do?”

You deliberate before answering. You have no particular loyalty to Boss Murphy. This lady is being civil, but she’s not fucking around. You better stay on her good side.

“She wanted to know if anyone was camping out in here,” you say.

That answer seems to please the tanned brunette. She nods.

“Good. Good.” She takes a deep breath. “OK, Jane. Here’s the situation. We’re stuck here. If that thing’s loose in the house, we can’t leave. At least now until morning.”

“What is that thing?”

“I don’t know what it is. If I wanted to know, I wouldn’t have locked it in the basement,” she tells you with a shrug. “But this place has enough of a reputation that I don’t want to take chances. Didn’t you notice? No bodies. What’s it doing with them? Eating them?” She shakes her head. “I don’t need that right now. Here.” She hands your weapons back. “If you shoot me, you might as well shoot yourself. A shot will bring that thing straight to us.”

“It can’t get up here,” you say warily, pointing your shotgun at her again.

“You really want to bet on that?” She’s still got her gun on you, too.

You maintain the staring contest for a moment, then cave.

“Fine.” You put your guns aside. She wants to negotiate, and you don’t have the upper hand here. This is the problem with taking jobs from strangers. There’s never any guarantee that they’ve told you everything. Boss Murphy was vague. Something’s going on here; this woman is no ordinary squatter. She bought enough drinks in New Gurlberg that she has money. So why would she need to camp out here? Something’s up.

“What do you want me to do?” you ask. “Go back to Boss Murphy and tell her that I didn’t find anything?”

“No. She won’t believe you. Go back and tell her that you found my camp, but that it didn’t look like anyone had been here for a while.” She shrugs out of her coat and pulls a knife, using it to cut the patch off her sleeve. “I know you already saw this. Take that back to her. As proof that you were here.”

“Is this supposed to mean something?” you ask, looking at the wings, the sword, and the cogs. The patch is worn and faded.

“It’ll mean something to Murphy.”

“What’s to stop me from double-crossing you?”

“I’m not stupid enough to go back to New Gurlberg now. But if you tell her that I’m here, she’ll send someone up here after me. I’ll know that you squealed.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“What about your friend? The quiet one? You care about her? Then don’t fuck with me,” Shell tells you bluntly.

“What do I get out of this?”

“You don’t make an enemy,” she says with a shrug.

“What about Boss Murphy? What happens when she finds out that I lied?” you ask.

“How would she find out?” Shell asks, pulling off her boots. “Do the smart thing, Jane. Don’t go looking for trouble. Go get your reward and forget about this.”

“How likely is that?” you ask.

“I don’t care,” she tells you flatly. “Take my advice. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

“You’re a real asshole.”

“You’re the one creeping up in my camp.”

“Who camps in a haunted house?”

“It’s not haunted,” she says defensively, shedding her coat and unrolling her blanket. “It just has something in the basement.”

“I get a bad vibe from this place,” you mutter, looking up at the dark eaves.

“It’s no worse than anywhere else.” She turns on a flashlight and settles down with a comic book. “You can read them,” she says, reading your mind as you look jealously at the tantalizing stack of issues. You grab one and flip through it, following Diagra as she’s tricked by a seductive queen. Her servants tie the amazon up and milk her cock into a ceremonial bowl. Diagra is weakened from the orgasms, but one of the servants is so turned on by her that she secretly frees her. They escape together and there’s a satisfyingly hot scene of Diagra boning the servant girl in a forest.

“Hey,” Shell says. You look over to see her face, lit by the pale flashlight. “That thing work?”

“What? This?” You lift your wrist to show off the Pip-Girl. “Yeah. Why?”

“Can I borrow it?” she asks.

Oh. You never looked too closely at Shell’s pants, but she must have something down there to share with the class. Or maybe not; she may just want to use the vibrate function.

You balk. “Why would I?”

“Did you ever learn to share in your vault?”

“What do I get out of it?”

She shrugs and gives you an eye roll and a slightly playful look. “A show, I guess.”

Let her borrow the Pip-Girl?

Or use it yourself?