“Help me,” was the last coherent thought that crossed her mind before everything went blank.<br/>KimRae rode the wave of quasi-consciousness, dimly aware of a man’s voice. She was too weak to care. Maybe it was really a ghoul and she would be finally out of this hell of life. Hands turned her over and sharp claws tore through her, sending to a place where pain could not reach her.<br/><br/>Strangely she began to swim toward a gray sky and a strong hand gently squeezing hers.<br/>“Kim?” the voice inquired softly.<br/><br/>“Hmmm?” she murmured, turning to the sound.<br/><br/>“We need to get moving. Can you stand?” the man asked.<br/><br/>It was a man, not a ghoul, KimRae realized. She slowly opened her eyes.<br/><br/>“You are the man from the street.” She said, shoving loose hair from her face. “Hi, I’m KimRae. Did I get your name?”<br/><br/>She felt drunk, euphoric, just hazy and relaxed. KimRae couldn’t remember ever feeling this well. There was no sense of emergency. Looking around, she saw bloody cloth and an empty packet of something that was vaguely familiar.<br/><br/>“That’s a stimpack,” she said pointing as she pulled against the hand holding hers to stand up. “I think I was shot and I ran and then ghouls ate my side.”<br/><br/>“We need to get moving.” The man insisted.<br/><br/>KimRae nodded and followed him along, talking, with no sense of urgency.<br/><br/>“Where are we going?” she asked him. “ Oooh, you are bleeding.”<br/><br/>The farther she followed him, the more the stimpack’s drunken effects began to lessen as her vitals stabilized.<br/><br/>“I remember now. There was a danger in the building. Where’s the ranger? Did he make it out?” she asked as they picked up the pace.<br/>A sense of urgency prickled the hair on the back of her neck as her survival skills returned in full force. A sense of something else overwhelmed her as well.<br/><br/>“You came after me.” She said quietly, “Thank you. It has been a long time since anyone done something that selfless for me. You have my gratitude.”