The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 52, Nuka

"There's someone here."

"There can't be." The room, once quaint and cozy, now felt dangerous. I followed his gaze through the false greenery, every nerve standing on end.

Dagger cleared his throat, and then called out, "I saw you. You can come out now." His voice disappeared into the fake trees and palms.

I was about to reach out and take Dagger's arm in my own, tell him that sometimes grief made us see things that weren't really there, when a boy stepped out from behind a tree.

A shock ran through me, doubled when I saw the boy holding a gun clenched between shaking hands.

"I've got a gun. Don't come closer or I'll shoot." His small hands trembled, his hair matted and overgrown. His limbs were so thin, his eyes so wide, that my heart twisted.

Dagger tried to step in front of me, but I didn't let him, instead speaking softly to the child.

"We didn't mean to scare you," I said. "We were just swimming in the pool."

His eyes swung to me and the gun with it. Dagger tensed beside me, but I laid a hand on his shoulder.

"We didn't mean to scare you. We didn't know anyone else was here."

He didn't say anything, but his eyes, haunted and wild, made me think he'd been here for some time on his own. He looked maybe ten years old.

"My name is Z," I said, speaking slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. "This is my... teammate Dagger." Partner suddenly didn't seem like the right word, though I wasn't sure why it mattered.

"I'm Nuka," the boy whispered. His eyes were wide, unblinking. "I thought you were guards coming to kill me." He swallowed, and lowered the gun. His thin shoulders trembled as he stared at me. "But I'd rather die than stay here alone."

"We aren't here to hurt you," I said gently. I glanced at Dagger for help, but he only stared at the boy, jaw clenched and eyes dark. Guess this is my chance to work on that bedside manner. This boy might be the only one with the truth of what happened here. He also looked like he was a hair's breadth away from falling apart.

"I like your pistol," I said on a whim. Dagger's eyebrows shot straight up, but I had a sudden hunch about the weapon. The boy's eyes narrowed too, and then, a sly, boyish smile slid over his face.

"Noni gave it to me. She said I looked like a cowboy with it. Those are my favorite stories." His eyes hardened as he looked at Dagger. "Noni said if any guards came down here I should lie and say I didn't remember. She said then they might let me join another level."

Noni was an optimist then, wasn't she?

He suddenly pointed the gun at Dagger, and I tried not to flinch. "He looks like a guard."

"We aren't guards," I said, even though I longed to hear Dagger's response to that question. "We're unlettered. We are both in the Letter Trials." I pulled my soaking wet shirt away from me, "See? This is the uniform of the trials."

He nodded, eyes still suspicious. "Noni never let me watch The Jackal Letter Trial. How did you get down here?"

"A hidden staircase. We could show it to you." I paused, and then, gentler, "But first, can you tell me why you're here all alone?" I shot a glare at Dagger. His eyes were guarded, lips pursed. I slowly folded myself onto the ground, patting the place beside me until Dagger, with a resigned sigh, sat too.

Nuka glanced between us, and took a single step closer, and then sat too, playing with the gun between his legs like it were a toy. Which was what I hoped it was. What kind of adult gave a child a real gun? Still, it looked real enough, and with all of us now sitting, I didn't want to call its authenticity into question.