Chapter 2
Gecko Hunters
The dull pain, both in my head and chest and throbbing along with my heartbeat, was the first thing I noticed. I cracked open an eye, and then winced as the pain in my head transformed into a full blown migraine. Luckily, the sun, a source of my pain, was nearing the horizon, almost set.
Closing my eye and ignoring my headache, I focused on my hearing, though I didn’t amplify it with magic. I heard the crackling of a fire nearby, along with the smooth sound of somepony breathing, presumably the unicorn mare from the store. Deciding she wasn’t too dangerous, she had saved me after all, I sat up, letting out a groan to announce my presence.
As I looked around, I saw that I was in one of the ruined houses near the store, though house was a bit of an overstatement. There was no roof, and the decayed foundation of the house only rose a foot or so around us. Closer to me, there was indeed a fire, coupled with some open cans near it, and the green unicorn mare was sitting next to it. She had a vibrant blue mane, cropped close to her head, along with violet eyes (seen because she was looking at me at this point) and a cutie mark of a silhouetted pony. She grinned. “You woke up. Good. I was getting a bit worried about you.”
Her voice was soft, with just a hint of a southern drawl for an accent. Far subtler than most ponies had. Perhaps she tried to work it out for some reason? Anyway, I answered. “Yeah. It got a bit dicey in there. Good thing you were there.”
She giggled. “I could say the same thing. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t unlocked the door.”
It was at this point that I remembered the trickery she had pulled in the store. It looked like she had turned into another pony or something. But now wasn’t the time to ask. I’d introduce myself first, and then see where the conversation went. “Yeah. I’m Pindrop by the way. Who are you?”
“I’m False Hope.” Another grin. “A bit dismal, I know. My family had the whole ‘hope’ motif going on, and I was apparently born during a bad time so… False Hope.” She shrugged this time. “It did turn out well considering my magic though.”
And there was my shot. Find out more information without being nosy. “I remember seeing you do something in the store. What is your magic?”
“I’m an illusionist!” she said proudly. “Just like my sister. You… haven’t seen her around these parts, have you? Her name’s Long Shot- she was… also born during not too good times.”
Well this pony was chatty. Pleasant enough though. “No, I can’t say I have. I’ve just entered the Kingdom myself.”
“I’ve been here my whole life. Or, well, close to here. My family lives on a farm near the border. This is actually the first time I’ve been anywhere else,” Hope said bashfully.
“So where is your destination then? Any leads on where your sister is?”
“Er, I don’t really… know. I just sort of left the farm to… start looking I guess. I was heading for a town near here when my rifle ran out of ammo, and I headed into the store looking for some more. You can guess how that turned out.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You went into a supermarket looking for ammo?”
She blushed at this. “It was the only likely place I could find! Besides, there wasn’t much else I could do without anything to shoot.”
That likely meant that this Hope didn’t have another weapon besides her rifle, a lever-action model I spied beside the fire. And that she didn’t seem to be the brightest pony. But perhaps she might make a nice enough traveling companion, at least temporarily. “Well, the biggest town I know around here is Plumesburg. It’s a bit to the south-east, not too far away. We could go there to ask around for your sister.”
Her face lit up. “You’d travel with me? That’d be great! It’s a bit lonely walking around everywhere by myself.”
“Sure. I don’t have anywhere specific to go, and that place seems as good as any.” A bit of a lie, but harmless enough.
“Sound like a plan. Only, could we stop in Niptalon on the way? I’d kind of like to get some more ammo. I never exactly found some.”
I ran over the times in my head. We should be able to afford a stop there, and I wouldn’t mind a bit of restocking myself. I did have about a week for a few days traveling. “No problem. In the meantime though,” I levitated out my rifle and its ammunition,” use this. My eyes aren’t too good, and I have my revolver.”
Her eyes brightened at the sight of the gun as she took it in her own telekenisis. “Wow, thanks! I wish I could see more guns like this. Shame we didn’t have much back on the farm.”
I let out another smile at Hope’s expression of childlike wonder. It was kind of refreshing to see, I must admit. You didn’t find too many ponies like her in the wastes. Stomach gurgling, I looked over at the cans by the fire. “So… is the food to share?”
“Of course Pindrop! Help yourself,” Hope said as I lifted several of the can closer to me. While they were filled with enough preservatives to make sure my stomach far outlasted me, I was far from picky. I’ve had much worse after all. “I would have actually made something if I could find some ingredients and there was a bit more time. I learned to cook pretty well back at the ranch.”
“Maybe we could pick something up in town,” I said around a mouthful of beans. I was being very truthful as well. Good tasting food was precious in the wasteland
Regardless, or perhaps because, of how precious food was though, I quickly polished off the remaining cans. It was far more than I’ve had the luxury to consume recently. Ignoring my full stomach, I pursued one last vein of conversation with Hope. “So I imagine these cans are loot from the store? And that you looted those gangers inside?”
“Should I have done that? It seems… wrong to just loot them like that. They were ponies too.”
I suppressed an exasperated sigh. “True, but they were ponies that wanted to kill us, and they’re dead. Their stuff can’t help them now. Only us.”
Hope sighed. “Yeah, I know. It just… didn’t feel right. I’m sorry.”
I looked around, noting the almost completely faded sun. “No worries. I’ll just run inside now and do it while you get some sleep. I should take first watch anyway.”
Surprisingly, this was met with concern by her. “But, you were just shot today. Shouldn’t you still be resting?”
Huh, that almost sounded like something Spanner would say… Ignoring the uneasy feelings in my stomach, I replied coolly. “Healing potions work well. I’m fine. Besides, I’ve just spent a few hours sleeping myself. I’m not that tired.”
Hope looked startlingly unconvinced, but relented nonetheless. “If you say so. Wake me soon though. I don’t want you unwell tomorrow. Good night.”
“Good night,” I said back as she got out her sleeping bag. Counter to my instincts, I stayed near her until I heard her breathing fade into the gentler rise and fall of sleep. This pony was very… odd. Her mannerisms seemed almost like Spanner’s, or at least a younger Spanner’s. Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I quickly doused the fire before I started to make my way back to the supermarket, an almost eerie experience caused by the crunch of my hooves against the pavement and the lack of light.
Going inside, therefore, was a bit of a relief, even considering the corpses. I was able to quickly locate the gangers I had taken down earlier today, and, once done, I stripped them clear of all valuables almost as quick. Most of their guns were in horrible shape, predictable, but I was able to collect a nice hoofful of caps. I also gave the store itself a quick once-over, but apparently the cans Hope collected were its last treasures, as it was clean as a bone.
Still somewhat satisfied with my haul, I quickly made my way back to Hope’s sleeping form, somewhat relieved to see her unharmed. I hadn’t expected anything to go wrong, but the wasteland rarely follows expectations. Content to relax now, I gazed up and around the starry sky, enjoying the view.
That was definitely one nice perk about the Kingdom. Enclave cloud cover was far reduced, especially the further I got away from the border. This allowed both the sun and the moon to shine onto the landscape below, a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
As my mind started to wander, I wondered how Spanner and Slow Burn were doing. Hopefully they had a few less bullet holes than me. But I wasn’t too worried. Spanner was tenacious and clever, and, with Slow Burn as her muscle, a force to be reckoned with. They should be fine.
My thoughts continued in this manner for a while longer, gradually getting emptier. Despite what I had told False Hope, I was indeed a bit tired. But it was almost time to wake her anyway. I could get my rest then.
Giving one last glance up at the moon, and deciding that my watch had gone on long enough, I gently woke up False Hope. “Eh, my turn?” she said drowsily.
“Unfortunately.”
She shook some of the sleep out of her eyes. “No problem. Just try to rest up for tomorrow, okay? I’ll wake you when the sun comes up.”
Nodding my affirmative, I trotted over to my bedding, burrowing into it away from the cold. Despite my comfortable respite from the night, however, I did not fall into sleep as readily as I had thought I would. My thoughts kept drifting back to False Hope. More specifically, what I planned to do about her.
Honestly, I had to admit that at first her story about her lost sister didn’t interest me a bit. Cold as it may be, the wastes were a cruel place, and you couldn’t care about every sob story you heard. It would destroy you. But the way she acted… she seemed so innocent and nice. Ponies like that were very rare. Though perhaps I was just biased because she reminded me of Spanner…
Either way, it made no sense to think about it now. Our collective destination was Plumesburg, so I could hold off my judgment until then. See if I still cared about this one pure soul, ready and primed to be corrupted by the wastes.
***
I sprinted in the darkness, left hind leg burning. My breath came in short gasps, and I momentarily cursed the weakness of my body before the thought was dispelled by lack of oxygen.
My plan had worked, at least in part. The rough terrain of the mountains had forced the gangers to separate. Unfortunately, some of them were more lightly equipped than I had thought, and those few were able to pursue me faster. Slow Burn and I had picked off almost that entire last group though. There was just this last one…
My thoughts became more jumbled with the terrain, my brain diverting energy away from itself and into my crippled form. My breath was coming shorter and shorter, but I just had to hold out a little longer…
Ignoring the jeers and threats of the ganger behind me, I rounded a corner, disappearing into one of the many small ravines that lined the landscape. Relief flooded my body as I saw a dark shape around the corner, barely defined by the smallest of lights.
I then slowed down my frantic running, knowing that the battle was nearly won. I looked back to see the ganger round the corner to meet me, only for the dark shape to swing out behind him, and bite down hard on its mouth bit.
Fuel gushed out of the flamer, catching aflame on the pilot light and jetting out, all in an instant. The ganger yelled out in agony, getting caught directly in the stream. I winced a bit, as a pony burning was never pleasant, but I was relieved overall. I’ve seen worse, and that pony was trying to kill me after all.
Stepping over the flaming corpse, Slow Burn carried a small grin. “Got him,” he said, boastfulness sneaking into his masculine voice.
I limped over to him, engaging in a quick embrace. “You dork,” I giggled. Still, I could see why he was happy. With that last ganger gone, the going would be much easier. But not completely safe, I reminded myself. As much as I wanted to rest, we should keep going.
“Come on. It’s not safe. Let’s keep going,” I sighed out, cursing my hurt leg. However, Slow Burn saw it fit as this point to scoop me up, quickly depositing me on his back.
“Hey!” I called out, surprised by the action.
“You’re hurt,” he said simply. “Besides, we’ll go faster this way.”
I grumbled as he started to walk along, but stayed put. As much as I hated to be a bystander like this, he had a good point. My injured leg would slow us down, and walking more on it would compound the problem.
I nuzzled his neck in thanks, letting out a quick “Love you,” as I watched the landscape roll by, cloaked in darkness. As I struggled to stay awake, not wanting to be a bigger burden on Burny, I thought about how Pindrop was doing.
Hopefully he was doing okay without Burny’s combat assistance. He wasn’t the best of fighters. But, in a way, perhaps it was good Burny had gone counter to the plan. Fewer gangers had gone after Pindrop than I thought would, and I’m not sure how I would have fared alone. My back leg had hurt worse than I thought it would.
I bet he’s alive though. Pindrop may not have been a fighter, but he was a survivor. He would have found a way. I know he would.
***
I awoke without Hope’s assistance, greeted by both her and the sun as my eyes opened. “Good morning,” she said, smile widening and eyes drooping.
“Morning,” I replied, wiping the sleep from my eyes. “Tired?”
She shook out her mane. “A bit. But don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with it.”
I got up, stretching my sore muscles. “Just make sure you aren’t too tired. You need to be alert out here.”
She bristled. “I know. I’m not completely new to the wasteland. And I used to have to wake up real early on the farm anyway.”
Rolling up my bedding, I levitated my saddle bags on, now newly laden with salvage from the gangers. After a few more light exchanges, we were off.
I woke up quickly, driven by a combination of walking and looking out for raiders or other dangers. It never payed to be inattentive in the wastes.
Lucky enough, however, it seemed that the morning was passing by relatively smoothly, with the only negative thing being the bright sun in our eyes. Not like that seemed to brother False Hope too much, as she was busy starting intently at the clouds ahead. Maybe I was finally due for a bit of smooth sailing…
“Griffon!” Hope yelled, tackling me to the ground. I was just about to yell at her for an explanation when I heard a gunshot, and a light yelp from Hope.
I still managed to take the assault in stride, however, and I continued the roll Hope started, hoping to my hooves. “Where are they?” I yelled back, cursing my week eyesight.
“Towards the sun,” Hope replied, nursing a gunshot in her back leg. “They were using it as cover before I managed to see one in the clouds.”
I turned toward the sun, levitating out my revolver as I scanned the sky. I saw the pair of griffons quickly, as they had apparently decided it was better to engage us directly after their initial ambush, and were diving towards us.
Breathing deeply, I lined up my sights, letting out a few painfully ineffective shots. Hope tried the same thing with her rifle, albeit with a bit more success as she clipped one of the griffons. We then both dived out of the way as they returned fire, one with dual pistols and the other with an automatic rifle.
Undaunted by their limited success, the griffons kept on flying, quickly gaining altitude for another bombing run. “I-is your hoof okay?” I asked quickly with that damnable stutter.
“I’m still standing. I’ll deal with it. Any plans for them though?” Hope replied, pointing to the griffons.
Time for another magic trick. “I’ll need to wait till they get close. Try and last until then.”
False Hope let out a grin. “No problem.”
I was then mildly shocked to see her coat turn a mixed brown, acting as a mild camouflage. A quick glance as me showed the same effect. So she is an illusionist. And I finally have brown fur. Oh joy.
“Get ready!” I yelled out to Hope as the griffons approached, slightly confused but mostly undaunted. Perhaps they weren’t very smart, like the gangers. Or maybe Hope’s camo wasn’t that effective. Regardless, they quickly approached us, until the one with the rifle was close enough for my magic.
Horn lighting up a dark blue, I let loose a blast of loud, but shaped, sound waves right at my adversary. Although my head ached in protest of this feat, it had the intended effect, and the griffon stumbled right out of the air, at which point False Hope followed up with a deadly efficient double tap of my rifle.
“What’d you do to him?” Hope asked as she dodged the fire of the remaining griffon.
“My magic is sound. I blasted him with something really loud,” I replied.
I then began to steel myself for another blast of sound when Hope pleasantly surprised me, quickly aiming and dispatching the remaining griffon before he could come around for another attack. “Nice shot,” I remarked.
“No problem,” she replied with a grin. “Gun helped though. It’s a lot nicer than what I’ve been firing recently.”
Then her gun must have been worse off than mine, which seemed very doubtful, at least at first. Then, with the aid of my magic-induced headache, I realized how little combat I’ve seen recently. Little enough for my magic to get so out of practice. Maybe that’s why my gun was in such good condition then…
Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I quickly weighed some options. This Hope seemed to be very combat-able… perhaps it would be best to keep her happy while we’re together. “You might as well have it then. My eyes are practically shot, so you’ll be able to make infinitely more use of it.”
“Thank you!” she let out as she tackled me with a hug. Miraculously, I managed to stay up… though barely, I hesitantly admit. Farm ponies are strong, even if they are unicorns. “I never get any cool guns, and I hate that lever-action piece of junk!”
Well, it appeared that work. While I didn’t think Hope would abandon me later on, she seemed far too innocent, it never hurt to keep one’s companion’s morale up. Besides, I hadn’t lied. My eyes were too bad to be very good with such a long range weapon.
After Hope released me from her death grip, I looked at the two downed griffons. “You have the same concerns about looting griffons as you do ponies?”
Her face dropped as she replied. “I guess, but… I have to do it, right?”
I shrugged. “It’s the wastes. You need to do all you can to survive. And make sure to down a potion for your leg.”
Luckily, Hope seemed to believe my words, and moved to loot one of the griffons as she uncorked a healing potion. I gave my griffon, the riffle one, a quick once over, and was almost immediately disappointed. His belongings were almost nonexistent. The magazine in his rifle wasn’t even full. Which was probably why he hadn’t filled us full of holes in his earlier bombing run.
Regardless, the rifle itself looked in okay condition, and it would sell for a nice bit. I might be able to actually get some barding when I sold it plus the loot from the market.
Turning from my search, I called out to Hope,” He didn’t have much. Hardly more than the rifle. Did you find anything good?”
Unfortunately, it looked like Hope had lost her nerve, as I saw her very downtrodden. “She…didn’t have much either. Just her pistols and a bit of ammo.”
“Is something wrong? Is the looting bothering you that bad?” I asked as I approached her.
“Not really. It’s just that… a male griffon, and a female griffon… together.”
I stared blankly for a moment before the implication hit me. “So you think they were together?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. I guess. What if they had a family? Like kids and stuff?”
“What if they were just a husband-wife bandit couple though? You can’t be sorry for everypony you kill because of what-ifs.” Rare enough for me, I regretted the words even as I spoke them. Hope was too innocent and sheltered to take to killing very well, especially this soon. I should have lied.
Just as I (all too late) thought, Hope drooped at my comment. She then followed up with a shrug and a sigh. Damn. Looks like I had some fixing to do ahead of me.
A new rift of silence between us, we continued on our way. Niptalon was just under a day away, assuming Hope’s directions were correct, and Plumesburg was several days from there. Even with detours, plenty of time with my deadline.
It was a good bit into midday when I finally decided to do something about Hope. I needed her morale up a bit more. “So, what is your sister like?” I asked.
She seemed to perk up a bit at this as she responded, “She’s amazing. She always used to take me into some of the old buildings near our farm for scavenging. Our parents never really liked it, but that never stopped her. There was never really anything too worthwhile, but she seemed to live for it. She even taught me to pick the locks we found.”
“She seems like quite a mare then. So what happened then?”
“Well, one day, me and my sister were in town- a real town, not the old pre-war stuff- when she overheard some of the merchants we dealt with complaining about some thugs blocking the trade routes. Sis must have known how big of a problem this was, as she trotted up to them and offered to drive them off. They weren’t the kind of folk to refuse help, so they agreed. Sis even managed to negotiate a reward out of them
“After that, we went back home to tell our parents about the whole situation. Sis seemed to be almost happy about the whole thing, but our parents were far from it. It seemed like they argued for hours before I saw Sis storm out of the house dressed in some weird armor and weapons.”
“Did you hear anything about her after that?” I asked.
False Hope frowned. “That’s the weird part. I did. About a week later, when my sister didn’t come back, I went into town again to ask around. I was lucky enough to find the traders who gave my sister the job, so I asked them. They… they said she had cashed in the job a few days ago. So she should have come back, right?”
That was definitely odd. And far different from the answer I was expecting. “You’re right. She should have. Well, I’m sure we’ll be able to dig something up. I mean, you know she got those thugs, so she should be fine. I bet something else just came up.”
This time, my words managed to glean a small smile. “I hope so. She means a lot to me.”
Our earlier rift sealed, we continued on with some more small talk as we walked, Hope periodically checking our course. According to her, we were making good time, and would arrive in Niptalon by early morning the next day.
Aside from our lighthearted musings, the rest of the day passed uneventfully, and it was soon time to camp for the night.
“I’ll take first watch this time,” I said as we enjoyed an unfortunately lighter dinner than the previous night. I had taught Hope to properly ration food just before we started to eat.
“If you’re sure you’re feeling better.”
I felt another twinge from her, admittedly impractical, concern. “I’ve had worse. And a lot of time to recover from it. I’m good.”
Hope nodded. “Okay. I guess I’m pretty tired anyway.”
I gave a little grin. “Taking the second night watch does that. You’ve been awake a lot longer than me. Get some rest.”
“I will. Goodnight Pindrop.”
“Goodnight False Hope. Sweet dreams,” I added despite myself. Something about this mare… I admit, I was getting surprisingly attached to her, even with her naivety. Maybe I could see if I could get her to travel with Spanner and me instead of just ditching her. It would be another mouth to feed, but if Spanner could recruit someone to our gang, then so could I. It would definitely be nice. Slow Burn and I weren’t on the best of terms, while he and Spanner were on considerably better terms. It created a bit of a riff.
A riff that would Hope-fully be mended.
***
Amazingly, the landscape got even more mountainous as we entered Niptalon. According to Hope, this was one of the worse off regions of the Kingdom. Other places were actually traversable to non-flying species off of the main road.
Niptalon was a small town, but surprisingly well-preserved. Many of the buildings were almost completely intact, with all four walls and a roof. A mix of ponies and griffons, mostly the latter, roamed the streets. I quickly hailed down one of the passerby and asked where a shop was. Adjusting my course accordingly, I motioned Hope to stay close.
“Let me do the bargaining,” I said. “You may be- or rather are- the better fighter, but talking is one thing I can do well.”
She nodded, and I gave her a small grin as we walked into the store. Predictably, the store owner was a griffon, and I adjusted my posture accordingly. Griffons were generally more militaristic than ponies, so a confidante swagger was appropriate. I nodded my head in greeting, keeping eye contact. Another important thing to do.
“Hello stranger. Looking to buy or to sell?” he asked.
“A bit of both,” I replied. “Also for a bit of information. Anything going on in town lately?”
He sighed. “A bit more than I’d prefer to be honest. There are some geckos in the area harassing travelers and traders. It’s starting to stall the economy around here.”
“Hmm. Sounds like a problem,” I said, starting to levitate out my loot.
“It is. But we’ll pull through. Our little town always manages to. Now, what can I get you?”
I had to suppress a grin as the griffon opened his inventory to me. Spanner never let me barging as hard as I wanted to. She always drew a line between hard bargaining, and “unapologetic scamming,” as she put it. I, however, saw no such distinction.
Even my abilities had limits though. Despite my best efforts, the badly worn guns and small bit of ammo I was offering just wasn’t quite enough for the barding, ammo, and supplied I was looking to buy. Looks like I needed to bargain with a little labor then.
“So about those geckos,” I said,” what would it be worth to you if me and my companion could take care of them?”
The griffon rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure about that, stranger. Like I said, times aren’t the best lately. I don’t have much to spare. Even if the geckos clear out, it’ll take a bit before word spreads. Most traders are avoiding here as of late.”
“Who says you have to spare much?” I replied. “How about this; you give me that barding in exchange for my stuff here as an advance on the job. Then, after I take out the geckos, you give me the ammo and food.”
“I don’t know stranger…”
Now to sweeten the deal a bit. “And I’ll collect up as much gecko meat as I can for you. Free of charge. That way you’ll have something to sell while word gets out.”
The griffon tapped his talon on the table, thinking the deal over, before relenting. “Well… okay then. Sounds like a good deal.”
I grinned. “Thank you kindly. Got any idea where these geckos are?”
“Most of the attacks are near the southern exit of town. You should try looking in the hills around there.”
“Sounds good. Your gecko problem will be gone in no time,” I finished as I left the store with Hope, levitating my new barding out with me.
“Wow. I didn’t know all that stuff we picked up was worth that much. You got some pretty nice barding,” Hope remarked as we walked south.
It was a rather pretty piece of apparel. It was standard beige combat armor, but in surprisingly good shape. Worth quite a bit of caps. Or a bit of junk and gilded words. I let out a small grin as I answered. “That’s because it wasn’t. Like I said, I’m good with words.”
“Is that… honest exactly?” Hope asked, looking troubled.
Oh great. Looks like she was like Spanner in more ways than I thought. “Well, he took the deal, and trading is his job, so I’d say yes. And we are doing a service to the town, taking out those geckos. Now wait one second while I change.”
Despite the fact that a pony’s (and indeed a griffon’s) default state is naked, I felt compelled to duck out of sight while I threw off my clothes and replaced them with my fancy new barding. I was pleasantly surprised to find holsters for both my revolver and my knife, their new homes being the underside of my chest and the left side of my neck respectively.
Freshly armored, I continued on my way with Hope to the geckos’ lair. Or supposed lair, in actuality. We unfortunately didn’t have a specific location to work with, and thus would have to find it ourselves.
“So where do you think a bunch of geckos would live?” I asked Hope.
“Well, they’re most likely either in a cave, or just free-roaming. Assuming they’re like the geckos back at the farm that is,” she replied.
Well that sounded promising enough. To that end, I started scanning the edges of the road out of town, looking for a likely spot.
“What about over there?” Hope asked, pointing a hoof to the side of the road. I squinted my eyes, and was just able to make out some sort of path worn into the wastes.
“Looks about as likely as anything else. Let’s go,” I answered as we approached the rocky incline. Footing was somewhat uneven, but manageable enough as we continued along the path.
Wary of potential geckos, I unsheathed my knife, and considered even muffling my footsteps before I decided the energy drain wouldn’t be worth it. “You said they might be in a cave, right?” I asked Hope.
She nodded, following my example and taking out her rifle. “I would bet. Especially in this sort of terrain.”
We proceeded, quickly but cautiously. As we did so, I took a moment to strategize with Hope. “Okay, here’s what I think we should do; you’ll cloak both of us, strength-permitting, while I muffle our footsteps. Then I can just sneak up to any geckos we find and take them out with my knife.”
“What if there are too many for that? And I don’t know enough to actually ‘cloak’ somepony. I can sort of just match their color to the surroundings. It isn’t that precise,” Hope contradicted.
“Then we can just double team them with our guns. I can silence them as well. But let’s try to avoid that,” I grimaced. I really did not want a repeat performance of the supermarket. And, quite honestly, I was a bit unsure about tampering with the sound of Hope’s rifle. It was a bit louder than my revolver, and that much harder to contain.
She nodded back. “Okay.” Plan clear, we crept among the hills in relative silence, looking for our quarry. A search that was soon successful, as we saw a lone gecko loitering outside a small opening.
Best to test the waters when it’s safe then. “Shoot this one now. Make it clean, preferably in the head.”
“Got it,” Hope said as she sighted her rifle. “Just tell me when.”
I closed my eyes, focusing on Hope’s rifle. It soon became enveloped in a faint dark blue glow as my magic took effect. “When you have the shot.”
Hope’s aim was true, and the gecko fell, the action eerily silent. “Nice,” she remarked. “That was quiet.”
“What else would you expect?” I replied haughtily. “Like I said though, I would like to minimize having to use it. The magic’s a bit difficult.”
I scampered forward to the mouth of the cave when Hope interrupted. “Can I use your knife for a second?”
My mind raced for an answer until I remembered the deal I had made with the shop owner. “Fine. Just don’t load yourself up too heavily. We can always collect it on the way out,” I replied, handing her my knife in a telekinetic grip.
Normally, I would have told her definitively to wait until the end, but I thought it a bit wise to let her have her way. At least while it was somewhat reasonable. I needed to get back in her good books after what happened in town.
Hope was surprisingly adept with my knife, carving away the choicest bits of gecko meat with a practiced hoof. At my raised eyebrow, she offered,” We sold to griffons back at the farm. Griffons like meat.”
Satisfied with her answer, I grabbed my knife back and sheathed it before we continued down into the cave. Luckily, it was nice and dark in the cave, meaning Hope’s magic should work fairly well regardless of her finesse. “Cloak us,” I whispered back. She soon complied, and I was pleased to see my dark blue coat once again fade, this time into a deep black. I looked back at Hope, seeing how the effect worked at a distance.
Her silhouette was still somewhat visible, but it looked like the illusion would hold, at least for a quick moment’s glance. Especially against geckos of somewhat dubious intellect. Of which one was quickly approaching us.
Hoping the faint glow of our horns didn’t give us away, I unsheathed my knife as I looked for an opening. Hope and I both tensed up and flattened ourselves against the wall as it approached us. Hope’s illusion seemed more than enough to fool the gecko though, and it passed us.
Seizing my moment, I sprang forward, running as close as I dared before plunging my knife into the side of the gecko’s neck. The gecko only managed to give out a quiet gurgle before it fell to the ground, dead.
. Panting from the adrenaline rush, I looked back at Hope before continuing deeper into the cave. Though still somewhat nerve racking, assassinating geckos wasn’t nearly as bad as fighting ponies. Or griffons for that matter, though that fight was too quick to hold much fear. Maybe it was because geckos couldn’t shoot.
The cave got steadily darker as we progressed away from the entrance, and I suspect it would have gotten completely black were it not for the occasional hole in the ceiling and a blue bioluminescent fungus growing on the walls. We met a few more solitary geckos along the way, all of which I quickly dispatched with my knife.
As if sensing my growing ease of mind, the wasteland saw fit to throw a wrench in our methodical progress. Hope and I soon met our first twosome of geckos. Preparing myself, I sent out a shaped whisper to her, ensuring the sound wouldn’t travel beyond her ears. “Ready your rifle. We’ll need to do this together so they don’t cry out, okay?”
She gave me a nod before sighting her rifle. Readying myself for this slightly more stressful takedown, I snuck up behind my gecko of choice. For coordination’s sake, I sent out one more shaped whisper. “One, two, three.”
Our assault was almost perfectly simultaneous. My knife had just hit home in my target’s neck when Hope’s shot pierced the other’s skull. The geckos dropped almost without a noise. And my spell’s drain on me wasn’t as bad as I had feared.
“Let’s keep on going,” I murmured back. However, after a few more corners, we discovered something a tad disconcerting. A new source of light appeared in the cave, this time from green colored sludge littering the corridors. It made me nervous even as we took steps to avoid it. It seemed that the wasteland had as many invisible threats as it did visible ones, and the thought that the sludge was radioactive crossed my mind more than once. Considering I was already partially paid, and I was not planning on returning to town anytime soon, the thought of simply ditching this job grew more and more tempting. But Hope would never take to that, so I abandoned the idea as quickly as I picked it up, and simply resolved to get out of this cave as quickly as I could.
However, after another simultaneous gecko takedown, I had to concede that I needed a break. And, judging from Hope’s heavy breathing, it sounded like she needed one too. “Hey, let’s take a quick break. All this magic is wearing me out.”
As I had predicted, she plopped herself down on the floor, letting loose a sigh of exhaustion. I followed suit, placing myself close enough to make her out in the darkness of the cave.
My resting was soon interrupted a soft chhh noise, and I glanced about, looking for trouble, but only meeting Hope’s smiling face, and an outstretched soda bottle. “Wanna share a Sparkle Cola?” she said.
I shivered, unnerved by her action. … Like I had said, she seemed eerily similar to Spanner at times. Denying her offer would take too much exposition, however, so I merely shrugged off my feelings, and accepted. “Thanks,” I said, taking a drought of the lukewarm liquid. Despite my misgivings, the soda felt good going down, and the sugar and caffeine would help me recover a bit. I drank down a bit more before passing it back.
We sat there in silence for a time, enjoying the carroty taste of the pre-war beverage. We got up and continued soon after it was finished though. I didn’t know how radioactive this cave was or was not, and I felt like I had regained enough of my strength for a few more silenced shots if the need arose.
“How big is this cave? It feels like we’ve been going forever,” Hope whispered out.
She did have a point. Maybe I should see if I could find out. “Stay quiet for a second.” I switched magical paradigms, amplifying my hearing. I figured that if I couldn’t hear any more signs of life, we had done our job well enough to leave. As luck would have it, I heard relatively little. Aside from Hope and myself, I only heard a few more creatures.
“I think we’re almost done. Come on,” I said, returning my hearing to normal levels. Our resolve renewed, we pressed on, eager to be done with this job. Something was starting to tell me that it wouldn’t be that easy, however. The cave was almost green with the glowing sludge now, which seemed to be accumulating in increasing quantities. Because of this, Hope’s magic was getting increasingly ineffective, despite her attempts to compensate for it. But our quarry was close. Almost around the corner I was sure…
And boy was it. Hope and I had just entered a new chamber of the cave when we spotted a huge gecko. It was almost twice as large as any of the others, making it almost fifty percent taller than either of us. Limbs starting to shake in fear, I took out my revolver.
“I’ll take care of it,” I whispered. I needed to face my fears one way or another. Carefully focusing my magic, I lined up my sights, aimed at the geckos head, and fired…
The giant gecko reeled around, with a yelp of pain. Right after I shot it.
… What doesn’t die when you shoot it in the head?! The gecko gave out another roar, apparently to summon its pack, before it charged us. “Cover’s blown! Fire!” I yelled out somewhat uselessly.
The roar of the pack of geckos soon became mixed with the cracking of our guns as we desperately fired back. But there were so many of them. How did I not hear them?! “Fall back!” Hope yelled out as she emptied yet another magazine into the encroaching hoard. Scared out of my wits, I complied, turning and running as fast as I could.
“Can’t you do that sound thing?! Give us a bit of room?!” Hope called out.
She was right! I didn’t even have time to curse my slow thinking before I shielded Hope and I’s hearing, and let out the biggest sound wave I could manage. My sound rushed back in time to hear the wails of the geckos as their eardrums were assaulted. Maybe we would make it-
I let out a startled grunt as my hoof caught on the roof ground, and I crashed onto the cave floor. I flailed about, trying to get up as I saw the geckos recover. My panicked motions did little to help, and all I managed to accomplish was flipping myself around to face the hoard.
Revolver almost vibrating in my frantic telekenisis, I fired wildly into the crowd, trying to slow down the recovering geckos. My efforts were futile, and the hammer soon clicked against an empty chamber.
I had enough sense left to tug out my knife before the hoard reached me. I stabbed and trusted against everything I could reach as the geckos started their attack, climbing atop me to start clawing, biting…
I had just begun to feel the sharp pain of their teeth, ripping through my flesh and armor when a deafening bang rung out and several of the geckos on me flew back. My ears rang in protest, barely able to recognize the new din of machine gun fire. I felt almost sick as I saw some of the geckos atop me being torn to shreds by the gunfire, their figures almost being erased by the weapon.
Soon enough, my hearing gave out completely, too taxed to go on. When the bullets finally stopped, or rather when I saw no more geckos being shot, I rolled about, glancing around for danger.
My terror-stricken mind was just able to register Hope, who was lying on the ground next to me and bleeding from a bullet wound in her leg. My fear soon doubled, for rising over us was a huge, shadowed figure. This new stranger easily dwarfed the giant gecko, being almost the size of two ponies. It looked down at me and my heart caught in my throat.
Somehow summoning some last vestige of courage, I sprang to my feet, picking up my discarded knife as I did so, ready to protect Hope and myself. However, as my knife begun to swing downward, the fear in my heart seemed to melt away, replaced by one of its sisters and the only instinct stronger in me; survival. I would survive. So many had sacrificed to give me that one virtue. But right now, I would be the one to fight to keep it.
And I won’t let them down.
Party’s Stats
Name: False Hope
Strength: 6(+1)
Perception: 5
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 6
Agility: 7
Luck: 5
Traits:
Illusionist: Your mastery of magic is that of illusion and deception, allowing you to trick your foes with false images and spirits. Making a convincing illusion takes a good attention to details though, and this trait has bled over into your normal state of mind, giving you literal and metaphorical tunnel vision at times.
Farm Girl: Due to your past working on the farm, you gain +1 to your strength stat, and +10 to your survival skill. However, being cooped up in one place for so long has made you very sheltered, and you get -10 to your speech and bartering skills.
Tagged Skills:
Survival
Small Guns
Lock picking
Footnote: Level up! (2)
New perk acquired: Commando: You get a 20% increase in accuracy with all two-handed weapons
Pindrop:
Footnote: N/A
(A.N.: Well, that ending seemed a bit awkward, but let’s hopes it was enjoyable enough. Like always, I give out a huge thanks to Kkat for this wonderful universe. Also, I would like to dedicate this chapter to the golden geckos of Fallout 2. You guys were so terrifying in the begeniing of the game. Then I got a bigger gun, and all was right.)