Pain, once again I woke up to pain. And I also woke up some where that I don't know again, I sat up and looked around as I took a mental note to stop waking up in place that I have never seen before. The room was small and bare bones, just a bed, a rack for cloths, and a small desk with a wood table chair. The room was empty and made of wood "Oh shit, did I wake up in a horror movie?... If this a camp on a lake I am shooting my self..." I muttered as I looked at my self.

Two ideas of where I might be came to mind, A) I was captured by slavers. B) I was captured by raiders. Or C) I am paranoid. Well it couldn't be A because I was still clothed and it couldn't be B because I was still clothed and not mutilated so I assumed C as I tried to get up.



That was a bad choice.

I fell face first as I had no mobility, this is when i noticed my left arm and right leg where in splints "Ooooh... Riiiiight... I broke them..." I tried to face palm but that only served to further my pain as I instinctual tried to move my left hand to my face. After I groaned about how stupid I am for a bit I managed to twist my way up and hobble to the door, after a quick wave of deja vu I opened the door to see... A hall way of a house... With the amount of horrid luck I've been having in such a short amount of time for some reason I was expecting to open to door and see a massive monster standing there looking for some fresh meat.

I hobbled my way out of the door and looked around, the hall way was short, two rooms on the left and right of the hall way with my room being on the back. Straight forward was an open section that most likely lead to the rest of the house, I decided that who ever helped me would most likely not enjoy their little house guest snooping around so I decided to just head straight.



As I reached the end of the hall I peaked out to the left and right, There was a dinner table with three chairs on the right side, another door straight head, and a kitchen with someone cooking on the left.

The house was dark, the only reason I could see the person was the light from the cooking fire the person was in front of making who ever it was just a backlighted silhouette to me. I thought about how I should go about this, maybe sneak up being it and put my revolver to the person's head but that seemed like a dick move to do to someone who saved me.



It seemed like the best way to go about this would be to just walked up and say hi like a normal person so I did just that, I hobbled my way towards the shadow and tapped the shoulder of the hunched over figure, it slowly turned around and dread set in. For some reason it was oddly tense...



And soon... I saw it... The face of the owner of this home...



A little old lady. I gasped in shock from seeing... Something I honestly shouldn't have been surprised about "Aww young lady, that's not a nice way to great someone"



I shook my head "O-Oh! Sorry I uhh... Just wasn't expect a uhh... Erm..." I felt like I was digging my own grave



"Wasn't expecting an old lady?" But she managed to dig me out of it "Haha, and what where you expectin'? A strapping young man who bravely rescued you from your plight?"



Well I felt like a dick "Sorry... Uhh... Speaking of which, how did you find me?" I said as she gently grabbed my arm and led me to the dining room table



"Ah well I scavenge at that little town with my grand-daughter that you where at, hard to not hear a lady screaming profane language in front of a burnt down house with two broken bones" She said as she shuffled her way to the pot she was cooking, bringing it over to the table "Don't know what happened in there but what ever it was, it did not end well for you I can see... Care to tell me what happened there in the first place?"

I tried my best to explain that I don't fully know my self and that I can't even remember my own name but that ended up sounding more like a lie than anything else "So you have amnesia? Oh that's just terrible. Well... What should we call you"



I shook my head and sighed "I don't know..." I muttered as she gave me a bowl of... Something... "Uhh.. What is this?..." I asked, it looked like mush with hunks of brown clumps in it

"It's food, you can't say you don't remember food right?" The old lady chuckled a bit

"No... I mean... Nevermind..." I sighed, wanting to avoid upsetting her "Sooo... What's your name?" I asked as I took a spoon full of the stuff and put it in my mouth, the mush tasted like a mix of meat broth and thin mashed potatoes, it wasn't bad but it was far from exquisite, the meat on the other hand tasted stringy and lean



"My name is Marith" She said as she... Watched me eat... It was kinda creepy



"... Is this human?" I asked, kinda freaked out



"What!? No, why would you think that?"



"I mean... Old lady living out in the middle of no where with mystery meat in there food, feeding it to a stranger... Thaaaaaaaat's pretty text-book cabalistic"



She chuckled a bit "No no, it's just Radrat"



I started coughing "What!? That's worse than humans!"



She laughed "Come now, there not wild, I breed them! There not going to make you sick"



I shook my head "I don't think you get the issue... Nevermind... Anyway you mentioned a grand-daughter?..." I felt like I was going to puke, why could it not just be human?



"Oh that's right, I forgot to tell her it's dinner time" She chuckled "I would forget my head if it wasn't attached" She got up and shuffled away into the hall

"So... An old lady and a grand-daughter living alone together... Huh... This really is the set up to a horror movie..." I muttered to my self, I forced my self to eat the rest of the soup "I wonder what this grand-daughter will be like, probably an adult or teen. Someone has to be protecting this place or else a raider gang would have looted it by now"



You know what they say, assuming makes an ass out of you and me. Marith came back with a 10-year-old little girl by her side, as soon as she saw me she got behind the Marith's leg "... A shy child and an old lady living alone together... How are you not dead exactly?"



"Oh we can protect our selves if we have to but mainly we just give the raiders radrat meat to leave us alone" I felt... Kinda angry about this, but there was nothing I could do about that now

"So... What is your name kid?" I asked as I felt a bit of a twitch coming on but I ignored it, chalking it up as something from the pain
"L-Lilly" She muttered. I had to force my self from face palming, why was she given such a cute and 'Hey kill me' name?





We ate and had small talk but things where awkward, Lilly hardly spoke and I was on edge and feeling a need for something. Only thing that made it bearable was Marith, she was really good at breaking ice and letting nothing effect her. Sadly that also made her stubborn. Ether way, it was clear I was going to be here for a long time