She awoke suddenly as a shot of pain lanced through her skull. Opening her eyes as the pain subsided, she quickly noted that it was a bad idea to do so, the bright fluorescent light above the bed she was resting on blinding her and bringing the pain back. After lying still for a minute, she started to sit up and quickly felt a pair of hands on her back supporting her.
"Woah, easy there miss. You've had quite a time the past couple of days," She looked to her left and saw an old man sitting by the bed.
"I feel like I've been shot in the head," sitting up straight made her nauseous and brought the pain in her head back.
"Well, there's a good reason for that. You did get shot in the head. Then you were buried alive. Then dug out and drug a mile across the desert by a Securitron to me where I fixed you up."
"Damn. I didn't think I had that hard of a head."
"Well, for a young'n like yourself, I'm kinda surprised. Now, why don't you tell me your name."
"My name? Akane Tendo. I was coming to New Vegas to meet my family. They had come here a few months ago with a caravan."
"Alright, at least you still have your memory. Now, before I let you out of here, I just wanna run some tests to make sure you are stable."
After a half an hour of questioning, the old man let her go. As she exited, she found herself on the edge of a small town. Ahead, she saw a bar and a general store. She decided to head to the bar. Hopefully, she could find someone to guide her to New Vegas.
Opening the door to the bar she saw a man in a duster at the bar lying face down, snoring loudly.
"Whatcha need honey?" Akane turned and saw a middle aged woman walking out of a storage room.
"Was wondering if you knew someone around here who could get me to New Vegas?"
"Yeah, I do." She walked over to the sleeping man, picked up his empty bottle of scotch, grabbed his hair, pulled him up into a sitting position and brought the bottle whipping around, clocking him in the forehead hard enough to knock him to the floor.
"What the fuck was that for Trudy?" The man yelled as he stood up.
"Too hard to wake you any other way. Young girl that got shot in the head needs an escort to Vegas. You up for it?"
The man turned himself towards Akane for the first time, giving her a good look at him. He stood at a slightly above average height, around 5'11". He was handsome, with a pigtail and light scruff on his chin. He walked over to her and stuck out his hand. "Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."
"No, its fine. Akane Tendo. Can you get me to New Vegas safely?"
"Normally, I would ask if you have the money to make it worth my while, but I highly doubt you do. Give me til tomorrow to get ready, and I'll take you."
"Really? Thank you! I don't know if I will be able to pay you when we get there. I am traveling to meet with the rest of my family, but we don't have much money."
"There will be enough for me to scavenge along the way to make the trip more than worthwhile. May even stay in Vegas for awhile. Do you have any weapons on you?"
"No, I am a martial artist, fists and…other techniques are my go to weapon. If I hadn't been being sniped at by a fuckin 50 cal rifle, I woulda been fine. The other five fiends weren't a problem. That sniper entered late and took me off guard."
"Not bad. Most people couldn't have handled six fiends if they had a machine gun. I practice martial arts too. I'm one of the best. Saotome School of Anything Goes Wasteland Survival Arts."
"Im of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Scavenging Arts! Wow, our families must have been close at one point in time. Anyways, thank you again. I will try and find a place to sleep tonight."
At that moment, Trudy walked up to them, "Hey, Ive got a bed you can use for the night. I highly doubt anyone else will be through this late in the day. Its just over there."
"Thank you Trudy. Ill see you here first thing in the morning Ranma."
As Akane walked off, Trudy leaned over to Ranma, "You take care of that girl. There's something about her…"
"Youre tellin me… Now, where do you keep that straight razor, I gotta shave and sober up."