Authors Note: I wrote this while Listening to this
*Crack!*
As the final sarsaparilla bottle exploded Into a hail of glass shards and fell from Its position on top of the fence behind the Prospector, Owen looked up at his Instructor with a grin.
Sunny Smiles, true to her name, smiled back at him warmly. The attractive young ranger was clad In some sturdy leather armor and had a rifle strapped across her back.
"Well that's a start" She said, "But I don't reckon you came to me to learn to fight sarsaparilla bottles"
Owen chuckled a little, "Yeah" He replied "I was hoping for a little more action"
Sunny chuckled as well, then looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds "Tell you what. I gotta go chase geckos away from our water supply anyway. Darn critters are attracted to It. Why don't you come along?"
Without a second though, he replied, "Okay, I'm In"
Sunny nodded and started to walk around the side of the saloon. Cheyanne, her faithful dog, followed her. "Come on, Its just down to the southeast a short ways."
Owen slung his rifle and chased after the brunette and fell In sync walking beside her. As they came around the Prospector, Sunny waved to a elderly man, who Owen had come to know as Easy Pete, sitting on the small porch. The man waved back and took another sip of his drink before settling down Into his chair again to watch the road.
Sunny lead Owen through the town at a brisk pace, and as they came to the outskirts, she slowed her pace drastically and unslung her rifle. The terrain started to become more rocky. Large boulders began to dot the landscape the further the pair got from Goodsprings. Sunny lead the courier towards one of the larger ones as the earth began to climb Into a steep hill.
She stopped just short of the rock and turned to face Owen. Holding her Index finger to her lips, she signalled him to be quiet, then cupped her hand around her ear In a 'Listen' motion. Owen nodded and closed his eyes, listening to his surroundings.
And then he heard It, over the sound of desert wind against desert rock, was the sound of sand shuffling, small, high pitch grunts and the occasional splash of water.
"Hear that up on the ridge behind me?" Sunny asked In barely a whisper. Owen nodded. "We got some geckos to clear out. Bunch of little monsters Is what they are. Seems like Doc Mitchell treats more gecko bites then anything else"
She started to make her way around the boulder, hugging the side of the large rock. "Lets see If we can get a little closer. If we move quietly, we can get the jump on 'em. More likely to his something vital that way"
She led the courier around the boulder and up the hill to a small alcove In the rock wall. She pointed down at what he guessed was the water supply. The setup was simple, a large water tank with multiple pipe sticking out of It, most of which went underground while two of them fed water Into a pair of stone water troughs on either side of the machine.
Drinking from said trough, was what Owen guessed were the geckos. The grey, bipedal lizards splashed and drank the sources water greedily, occasionally hissing at each other when they got to close to one another. The courier unslung his hunting rifle and took aim at the closest. His breathing slowed as the iron sights came to rest on the creatures back and he fired.
The 308 round flew though the air with a loud thunderclap before burring Itself In the lizards back, dead center between the shoulders. Owen pulled back the bolt and sent the empty casing bouncing across the rocks. He pushed the bolt back In, cycling to the next round and brought his weapon to bear on the second creature, only to watch It drop from a second by a second shot from Sunny.
"See, your getting the hang of It" Sunny said as started to make her way down the hill towards the bodies. Owen and Cheyanne followed closely. As he got closer to them, a foul smell hit his nostrils and he wrinkled his nose In disgust.
"Sweet lord" He exclaimed, " Do these things always smell so fucking bad!"
Sunny let out a almost heart warming laugh as she pulled the gecko that Owen had shot off the trough before replying, "Unfortunately yes, though, poor Cheyanne's got It a whole lot worse then you"
Oh right He thought as he looked down at the dog, Dogs have a higher sense of smell, must be hell for the poor thing
Sunny cut his train of thought off when she walked up to him and handed him a rather large cut of meat wrapped In some cloth, confused he looked over at his gecko and saw that she had gutted It and had cut a sizable piece out of the creature. Wow, she works fast
He looked down at his piece again and said "Wait, so this Is..."
"Lunch!" She finished for him with a warm smile.
Owen chuckled, "I was going to say 'edible', but I guess that answers that for me"
Still smiling, Sunny motioned for the courier to follow her. "Come on, how's about I treat you to a wasteland favourite of mine"
The two began to make there way back to town, chatting idly to pas the time. About ten minutes Into the walk, Cheyanne, stopped and began to sniff the air deeply. Both humans turned to look at the hound In confusion.
"What Is It girl? Smell something?" Sunny asked, as If In reply, Cheyanne barked and began to run off to the right, towards the beaten a cracked road. The courier and ranger looked at each other for a second before taking off In pursuit of the canine.
Once they caught up to Cheyanne, she was standing In the middle of the deserted road, sniffing at the ground Intently. Cheyanne noticed their approaches and barked to get their attention before taking off down the road, away from Goodsprings.
"Cheyanne wait!" Shouted Sunny, but to no avail, begrudgingly, the two continued to chase after the dog. After a short while, they watched as she came to a stop and laid down next to something. Owen tried to focus and see what It was, but they were to far away to tell, but, as he drew nearer, he noticed that the object of the dogs Interest was beginning to take the shape of a person, sprawled out across the road.
The pair stopped and looked at each other with faces of concern, before taking off In a sprint towards the body. Both uttering something under their breath. For Owen It was something along the lines of "Oh boy, this cant be good" while Sunny let loose a long line of vulgar words and something having to do with gangers.
All concern was lost when they got to their target, being replaced rather with curiosity and awe. Owen stood silent while Sunny gasped what her dog had led them to. Laying across the road was what Owen thought to be a woman at first glance, only she wasn't. She was covered In dark grey, almost black fur and long dark cerulean hair.
Her facial features were... off. A short, almost snout like mouth, large, unnaturally large eyes and the fact that she had a crooked black horn sticking out of her forehead. The only way he could really tell she, really was a she, was when he knelt down and flipped her over, revealing a pair of breasts on her chest.
Hmm, they look like C's He thought before catching himself Where the fuck did that come form?!
In less then a second, he decided that It didn't really matter If he looked at the 'creatures' chest, because she was clothed. Well, barely. She was wearing a tattered, hole filled black dress that hugged her form tightly and went down to her knees. He looked at her hands and noticed that they had four fingers and a thumb. Why he became so Interested In her hand was unknown even to him, so, before It became a obsession, he moved on to her legs. Long, toned and... Wait a minute....
Okay.. I can deal with the hooves Instead of feet, but why does she have a fuckton of holes In her calves?
Everything that the courier saw was blowing his mind. This, woman, If he could even call her that, was so unnatural to be real, but at the same time to perfectly shaped and symmetrical to be a mutant. He looked up at Sunny for a answer, but she was just as shocked and clueless as him. After what felt like hours of silence, Owen asked "What do you think she Is?"
"I don't know, but she sure ain't any kind of mutant I've ever seen" Owen nodded and looked to the horizon, noticing that the sun was getting low. Sunny seemed to notice as well and said "We better get her back to town, Its gonna be dark out soon and I don't fancy our chances against some of the more dangerous wildlife"
Owen nodded again and went to pick up the woman. He paused when he saw something he didn't before. On her back she was sporting a pair of transparent, insect like wings, the leftmost being damaged badly. He also noticed after he picked her up, bridal style, that parts of her body were hard, and felt like smooth pieces of Chitin.
He stood up with his package and began to walk down the road, hoping to get back to town before nightfall, but he was cut short when Sunny called out "Wait!" He looked over his shoulder and noticed she was kneeling a couple of feet away from where the woman had been laying. She stood back up and jogged over to him. In her hand he noticed that she held a long, thin, black sheath with a handle sticking out of the end.
"Must belong to her" She said as she fell Into sync beside the now walking courier. They walked along the road for about twenty minutes before Owen turned to Sunny, trying to start some form of conversation, he asked, "You said back there that there was dangerous wildlife. What else could be more dangerous then giant lizards?"
"Oh, lots of stuff. coyotes, wild dogs, Cazadors, but this time of day what you really got to look out for are the Nightstalkers, there smart, hunt In packs and are poisonous to boot" She replied, the sun had gone down by now and she was watching out for anything that might try to make a snack out of the group.
They arrived at town not soon after, the moon was out and only the Prospectors neon sighs were lit, giving off a subtle light. That didn't matter though, because Owen and Sunny made a beeline straight for the house up on the hill near the middle of town that belonged to the good doctor. Sunny go there first and knocked on the door loudly, soon after Owen joined her, still carrying the bug lady like he just joined her In holy matrimony.
They stood there for a little bit, Sunny went to knock again but was cut of when the door swung open to reveal a tired and disgruntled Doc Mitchell holding a oil lantern.
"Sunny? Do you have any Idea what time It Is? What In tarnation could you possibly...." He fell silent when she stepped aside to reveal Owen holding a battered and beaten woman.
"Oh dear" was all he said before beckoning them both Inside. He looked around his porch and sighed. "Nobody seems to leave anybody alone now a days" He said before closing the oak door on the cold night air and going to prepare a bed for his newest patient.
It was going to be a long night...
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