Consider this an advent calendar for Christmas! There will be one new story a day for 24 days and a bonus chapter on Christmas Day. I hope you like it!
"You look like a fucking idiot."
"Fuck you," Gunner sneered while looking in the broken shard of mirror in his hand. That idiot Shank couldn't possibly understand the subtle genius of the lime green Mohawk he now sported. He carefully smoothed it up again as the gel started to dry.
Shank was glowering at the fire a few feet away from his feet. He finally went back to picking at the scab on his arm with a knife. He was bored, hungry, horny and getting frustrated at the lack of people on the road as of late. With a grunt, he eventually gave up on the scab and threw his knife in to the ground by the fire.
"This is bullshit!"
"What now?" Gunner was giving him a sour look, finally looking away from his mirror. Shank threw his hands in the air.
"I'm fucking bored! There isn't any goddamned thing to do and we ne…" he trailed off as he saw something floating down the road in their direction, "What the hell is that?"
Gunner looked down the road and squinted, "Oh, that's one of those radio-robot-things. I've seen 'em before. Used to be Enclave," Shank was already pulling out his rifle.
"I bet you a Nuke I can hit it," Gunner snorted.
"You're on."
Shank squinted into the sights of the rifle and squeezed off a round. It knocked into the robot, causing it to swerve wildly off its path. After a moment, it righted itself, though now it was smoking.
"Ha ha, no good," Gunner laughed, the robot was close enough for the two raiders to hear its sound system.
"What do you mean, 'no good,' I hit it."
"It isn't down, doesn't count."
"Oh fuck you," Shank shot at the robot again, hitting it a second time. This time, it went down. "Ha! You owe me."
"Hmph," Gunner begrudgingly started towards his pack for one his last two Nuka-Colas. As he opened the flap on the bag, he heard mechanical sputtering and looked up. The robot had come back online and was floating down the road again, although not very steadily.
"Ha HA! No Nuke for you. That little shit's tougher than you, too."
"Fuck you."
*.*.*
Javier glowered in the direction of the road he had been staring at for three days. He was almost to Primm, which meant payment and another job. This particular stretch of road had been deserted to the point of tedium.
The traveler had resigned himself to further boredom, until he caught sight of a hunk of metal further along the stretch of asphalt. Walking up to it, he found it to be the remains of an eyebot. Javier whistled, picking up the heavy robot. There were a few bullet holes in its hull, and the oil on the ground looked fairly fresh.
The man shrugged and stuffed the robot into his pack. Someone was bound to want it.
*.*.*
A door creaked open to the dark entrance of the Mohave Express and a shadow slowly stalked in. The figure crept around the two room building carefully, 9mm clutched in their hand. Seeming to be satisfied with the lack of people in the building, the figure stood and looked around the room.
She stopped at the counter at the sight of the broken robot strewn upon it. Holstering her gun, The Courier pulled apart the broken casing of the machine and surveyed the damage. She pulled a few parts out of her pack and started to repair the robot. After a few minutes, she replaced the casing and reinitiated the machine, then dove behind the counter, in case it blew up.
She poked her head up past the counter when she heard whirring and a few beeps, and found the eyebot hovering above her. Smiling at her handiwork, The Courier gestured towards the door.
"Shall we?"
The robot chirped at her and followed her lead.