they got the mamas & the papas in zion canyon 🌈🌻🙏
"It lit up!"
Audrey crawled out from underneath the old jukebox, her fist still closed tightly around her screwdriver as Follows-Chalk stood beside her.
They had cleared out the old fishing lodge where they found the walkie-talkies and decided it was a suitable place to camp for the night. In spite of 200 years of dust and decay, the shack was more welcoming than anything she had seen in the past weeks. The stale air and rotten curtains suddenly did not seem to matter at all in the presence of two comfortable, if a little dusty—and, after clearing the place of White Legs, slightly blood-stained—sofas.
However, it was the malfunctioning jukebox that caught her companion's attention, forgotten in the corner under the dust and grime of two centuries.
It was nothing that a screwdriver and a few spare replacement parts couldn't fix, and soon it was back to life, just as it once was. Audrey smiled and sat up, Follows-Chalk offering a hand to help her stand. She took it, stood, and turned to look upon her handiwork.
"Nice. Where did you learn to repair these?" he asked.
"We had one in the saloon in the village where I grew up." She turned to him with a dimpled smile. "It was broken for as long as I could remember and no one else bothered to repair it, or no one knew how, so I got my dad to help me fix it."
She wiped her hands on her pants and squinted at the faded tags behind the glass. "You have to look up the number of the song and press the buttons here accordingly."
Follows-Chalk nodded sagely as Audrey searched, furrowing her brows as her finger hovered over glass. "There," she finally exclaimed. It wasn't the best of The Mamas & the Papas but it would do for now.
They stood in silence as he played three more songs, until she began to speak again. "I think I'll be outside for a bit. A little smoke break."
"Sure, sure," was his reply. He barely looked at her before his attention returned to the jukebox in front of him. She supposed she was grateful for that.
Audrey grabbed a knitted blanket from her bag and made her way outside, taking a seat on the stairs. The wood creaked loudly as she sat down and wrapped herself in her embroidered blanket. The sun had already set and the temperature had dropped significantly in comparison to when they entered the building.
She took one of her cigarettes from the package and twisted it between her fingers. They had the walkie-talkies now—one item on the list of their scavenger hunt. She wondered how far they would have to go to find the rest. Follows-Chalk knew his way around Zion Canyon well enough, yet it was still a maze, and she knew she would have been lost without any outside help. Perhaps Graham had been right.
The mere thought of him made her stomach twist with rage. She remembered when Follows-Chalk brought her to that cave; it had all been so strange and surreal. Not as surreal as the fact that he would ask for her help, though. Not that she had much of a say in the matter, her only two options being to remain stubborn and die in this godforsaken canyon, or to play along for now and get out as soon as she could. She hated to admit it, but Graham had the upper hand, and she had no choice but to cooperate if she ever wanted to leave Zion.
She wondered what kind of cruel god would bring her of all people here, to force her to cooperate with Caesar's former goddamn general. He should have been dead by all accounts, and yet here he was, cast out but somehow alive. And here she was, a former NCR doctor who didn't quite belong anywhere anymore. Perhaps she was just as much of an outcast.
No. She shook her head. We're nothing alike. This man has been your enemy for as long as you could think. He's horrible.
The unlit cigarette in Audrey's hand was now crumpled in her fist, and she let it fall into the sand beneath her. She let her head rest against the wooden railing and closed her eyes. The sound of the jukebox had faded into the back of her mind long ago, but she could now tell that Rhinestone Cowboy was playing softly from the inside, age and dust on the vinyl adding the occasional crackle to the familiar tune.
Her thoughts somehow drifted back to Graham. She had known of him her entire life, yet never thought of him as a real person—never thought of any of the Legion's members in that way. Yet, she wondered what he would think if he was out there with them. She couldn't imagine him liking anything like music, or showing any enthusiasm in her stories the way Follows-Chalk did. He didn't seem truly human to her, not even if she wasn't aware of who he was before. Even the Dead Horses seemed to avoid him somewhat. She supposed that was all he could do, terrify and lead in battle.
She lifted her head from the railing and drew the blanket tighter around herself. It was getting even colder now, so she stood and headed inside again. They had a long day ahead of them.
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tagging the girlies. ask to be added or removed @jennystahl @gwynbleidd @roberthouses @lavampira @lavinet @queennymeria
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