War... War never changes...

In the early 21st Century, the fuel crisis became very apparent, after a documentary showing the withered husk of the Texas oil fields brought the oil shortage to the attention of the entire Western World... Texas was considered to be ground zero in the consumption race that lead up to world war three.

Ruined by atomic blasts and centuries of anarchism, Texas, like it's 52 brother and sister states was a wasteland. Until the late 22nd century, when a Brotherhood of Steel initiate arrived and changed the face of the land forever.

Cain, a survivor of the Necropolis Massacre saw what Texas was and was able to survive everything that was thrown at him. Texas faced a terrible mutant threat, one that had to be stopped. The Ghoul, almost single handedly fought his way through to their base and destroyed it, saving Texas from the same fate that nearly befell California, forty years prior.

Despite his victory, Cain never reported in to his superiors. He had lost all love for his Brothers and Sisters in arms as he was treated as an outcast and decided to set his sights higher. He returned to Carbon, a small town where he started and helped with the rebuilding effort. He then stood as the town's mayor and though a lot of the townsfolk were weary of Ghouls, many accepted his leadership...

The Ghoul took his seat in the mayor's office and began to rebuild the town, making it better than it was before. Within a few years, he began to rapidly expand across Texas.

Cain was brutal in his conquest, enslaving enemy prisoners who dared to stand in his way and burning them and their towns to the ash if they refused. He and his people left a trail of blood and scorched earth in their wake as they tried to unify Texas.

It wasn't long before this got the Brotherhood's attention and a Paladin, appointed 'Elder' by their superiors, stepped in to the mix and assisted the resistance movement. Her campaign quickly resulted in them taking a large amount of territory in Arkansas. They took in those fleeing Cain's expanding empire as they built up their numbers.

The Elder was commended for her success in capturing the State with few people and resources and for managing to recruit a number of locals into her ranks. It was at this point, twenty years ago, that progress slowly stopped... on both sides.

An aggressive war has been fought for decades now, both the people of Texas and the people of Arkansas have grown tired and resentful of eachother as citizens had lost loved ones and property to the conflict and the benefits of being on either side were growing fewer each day.

Cain, after getting a locomotive steam train up and running, was able to have slaves imported from the north. This made his slave trade considerably easier as he was able to transport a large number of slaves, quickly, efficiently and most importantly securely.

It was on this train that a third party has thrown themselves into the mix, an army of three, smuggling in in disguise as common slaves, huddling themselves in among the masses.

The train went whistling down the tracks, passing the many lamp posts as it went along, casting its golden light into the slits in the side of the boxcar. The cattle were thrown from side to side as the train rattled furiously, frantically looking around as they sped towards their doom. All but three, huddled in the corner of the boxcar, staring down at the ground.

The one to the far left, the smallest of the three, passed the robed man to her right a combat knife, prompting him to sigh as he began to saw through it.

"This ain't exactly first class..." He grumbled as the ropes came loose and fell apart, slowly falling to the floor by his feet before passing them to the man to his right.

"You wanted to see Texas, right?" The woman smirked, showing her pixie-like features, a pointed nose and a youthful, mischievous, yet pretty face, bordered by medium length black hair.

"This is first class as far as the Wasteland is concerned, Cass."

The Man sighed and glanced over to her with his good eye as he turned his head, the metal plate in his crown became visible.

"It smells like a Brahmin's a-hole in here."

"It is times like this that we are thankful for Grampy Bone's protection." The Third Man said, letting the cut up rope fall to his feet before passing the knife back to their leader.

"You mean literally, bone nose?" Cass asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why can't he mean it both ways?" Cheyenne asked, pocketing the knife and sitting back.

"I can't believe you got that past the guards... Where the hell did you hide it?"

"I can't tell you, let's just say it'll hurt to sit down for a few weeks..." Cheyenne shrugged, with a knowing smirk.

"So, we be doin' the heart attack routine again?"

"Again? Seriously? Can't someone else get sick?"

"You're the only one of us who has a heart condition, Cass." The Tribal pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"They don't know that, all three of us could be lying as far as we know."

"You're also the second oldest body here, man. Anyone else wouldn't be taken seriously." Sulik pointed out, seeming a little more amused than anything else.

"You have to be kidding me, do you think that they'd take you seriously anyway?" Cass asked, in a low, irritated growl. Cheyenne sighed and glanced down to the floor, knowing that he was just cranky from the travelling. He'd probably end up apologizing for that remark, later on. Even though Sulik probably wouldn't be looking for one...

"Guys, can we focus?" She asked, sharply.

"We only get one chance at this... We need to get off of the train before it reaches Carbon."

"Carbon... Part of me doesn't want to see it." Cass admitted, quietly, getting a sympathetic nod from Cheyenne.

"Well, things'll get worse before they get better." She sighed, looking up to the drawn out faces of their fellow slaves.

"Speaking of which..." She murmured, looking at her pipboy, through her robes.

"It's time..."

Cass rolled his eye and slowly pulled himself up, clutching at his chest as he staggered from side to side, coughing furiously as he fell to his knees and curled up into a ball. His acting was attrocious, to the point that he was looking like a dog playing dead, thankfully most of the carriage was in the dark, so the guard at the far end couldn't tell.

"What the fuck...?" He asked, marching over to Cass' side.

"Hey! No one said that you could get up!" He snapped, poking the dying old man with the toe of his boot and nudging him a little.

"You listening!?"

Cheyenne didn't need to wait any longer, she lunged forward and dragged her knife across his throat, spraying blood across the room. Cass spun around and stomped down, hard, on the guardsman's leg, resulting in a loud crunch that send his knee jerking backwards, so that Cheyenne could throw him to the ground.

She wasted no time grabbing his rifle, side arm and knife. She passed the rifle to Cass as he was still the best shot of the three. She took the side-arm and Sulik got the duel knives.

"Cut the other slaves loose!" Cheyenne called, ripping the slaver's combat armour off of his chest as she threw her slave rags off and began to tear his clothes off.

"In a minute, we'll have to push the emergency call button... We'll need a slave that sounds like him to answer." She said, glancing around.

"I'll go and check." Cassidy nodded, cocking back the slider on his rifle as he marched off, taking a few extra magazines from Cheyenne.

Cheyenne, her people and the slaves huddled together in the dark, weapons at the ready as the doors were slowly opened and two armed guards and a doctor stood waiting as Cheyenne stepped back, into the shadows.

"You reported a heart attack?" One of the guardsmen asked, climbing onboard.

"Y-Yeah... Over there!" The Slave that sounded most like the guardsman said as Cheyenne stood there, obscured by shadow.

The Guardsman looked over, seeing a slave, lay face down in rags, clutching at his chest.

"Argh shit..." One of the guardsmen sighed, marching over to him, raising his rifles and threatening the slaves with it.

"Nobody try anything! You won't make it out of this boxcar alive!" He threatened as the doctor stepped in for a closer look and the third guardsman stepped in behind him, stood by the door.

The Doctor slowly rolled the dead guard over and quickly saw that his throat was slit, hell, it wouldn't even take a doctor to notice that...

The Doctor gasped and stepped back, the last thing he did before a bullet tore through his forehead, through his skull and brain tissue and flew out of the back of his head, straight into his protector's knee.

Said guardsman stumbled back, straight into the sharp embrace of Sulik, who knifed him in the back and then slit his throat, just before Cheyenne stepped out of the darkness and shot the remaining guardsman in the back of the head before he could fire off a single shot.

"Okay everyone! Move out!" She called, taking the dead guard's rifle and pistol as did Sulik as the slaves made a break for the door. The three of them quickly became part of the crowd and spewed out of the carriage. Cheyenne was somewhat saddened to know that they were only saving one car full of slaves, when there were three but considering how many guardsmen there were and how thorough they were, she couldn't afford to take chances.

This wasn't her territory, these weren't her people... She had to tell herself that repeatedly, as much as she hated it. Kurisu was the priority here, she was the only slave that needed to be saved, the rest...

Cheyenne would have to see...

"Your aura grows weaker Cheyenne! Get movin'!" Sulik called, from the distance as gunfire could be heard, further up. The Chosen One shook her head, ducked down and sprinted on, after her companions...