Alex stood in the doorway, not sure whether she should step inside or not. Holding her breath, she walked quietly into the room, laughing at herself for being so scared. She took two more steps when she heard the familiar sound of a radscorpion directly in front of her. She quickly whipped her gun from its holster when she felt a bang behind her that shook her to her core. She screamed, falling to the ground…..

"ALEX!"
She sat bolt upright in bed, startled out of her mind and let out a loud yell. .

"Alex, are you alright?" Veronica's cheeky face appeared beside her.

"I'm… I'm fine." She stammered, relieved that it was only a dream. She looked over at Boone, who was standing in the corner of the room.

"Yeah…. He kicked your bed to try and wake you up." Victoria dobbed on him; which earned her an irritated glare from Boone.

"Ready to go?" Alex asked Boone simply. Every morning they went out to hunt for fresh gecko. Now that there were six of them plus ED-E, their need for regular food, water and shelter had increased almost tenfold.

Boone gave her a short nod and the two set out into the crisp morning light.

The two were usually silent on their morning walk, though Alex would sometimes excitedly ramble about what they had done the previous day. Boone never answered her; instead he preferred to use this time to reflect on the past and lay plans for the next few days.

Today, Alex was quiet, until Boone spotted a small collection of geckos.

"Spotted."

"Oh, goody!" she exclaimed quietly.

The geckos heard her voice and they all came rushing at her.

Boone glared at her but she was already picking off the geckoes one by one. They defeated the pack easily and after collecting the meat, set off home once more.

"Boone…." Alex said hesitantly, breaking of the silence.

"What is it."

"I was thinking, we could go up to the Mojave Outpost today. It isn't far, and I need some more ammo for my favourite gun."

"Sure." He responded as they climbed in the entrance of the cave and pulled the rock over it.

"Aw, gecko meat again? My favourite!" Veronica said with a chirp as Alex handed the meat over to her so she could take off her armour.

"Sorry, I don't take requests." Alex said with a laugh. "Where's Arcade? I tripped on a rock just outside the tunnel and this cut looks a bit deep."

Victoria pointed towards his room and turned toward the kitchen.

" 'Cade?" Alex said as she gingerly opened the door.

"Hey, Alex." Arcade answered, and she took that as an invitation to walk in.

She jumped on his cot, bouncing him, and the book he was reading, all over the place. He feigned annoyance at her and put the book down.

"Something I can do for you?" he asked, trying not to show his amusement.

"I just cut my arm a little." She stopped bouncing and held out her arm to him.
"Hmmm. Doesn't look too bad. Won't take me a minute to fix up."

Arcade worked on her arm quietly, and she tried to keep as still as possible. She was unusually quiet, however, and Arcade picked up on it quickly.

"What's bugging you, Lexi?" He said quietly as he worked, using his pet name for her.

She was silent for a moment. "Nothing…. You know. Just dreams again." She responded.

"Cazadors killing you again?"

"Yeah. It was awful. Boone kicked my bed and I felt like I'd been stabbed in the back by one of the bastards. The pain I felt was so real and frightening. I was so glad it was just a dream."

"Have you considered going to see Doctor Usanagi?" he asked, as he started putting his doctor's bag away.

"There's no way in hell I'm going near a doctor. It's stupid." She snapped, and he looked taken aback.

"I'm sorry, Cade. I just…. I don't know why. I can't. Thanks for stitching me up." She shot him a guilty glance and bolted out of the room.

She wasn't watching where she was going, and as she rounded the final corner to her room, she ran face first into a hard, sturdy object. Startled, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

After a few seconds on the ground she looked up to see an unamused Boone standing over her. He awkwardly held out his hand and asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine." She grumbled, ignoring his hand and pulling herself up, tears pricking at her eyes.

"What….." he never got to finish his sentence as she ran for her room and shut the door behind her.

"What in the hell was that noise?" Cass emerged from her room and leaned against the doorway as she rolled a cigarette.

Boone shrugged, and moved on.

That night, Alex's spot at the table remained empty. The table, usually filled with banter and laughter, held an awkward silence over everyone. Occasionally, Raul would crack a joke and elicit stifled laughter from Veronica. Raul and Cass tried knocking on her door, to no answer.

The next morning, Boone knocked on her door.

"Alex. Hunting time." He said simply, and no sooner had the words come out of his mouth than the door flew open and she was standing there, fully dressed and ready to go.

They hunted in silence, and like usual got a respectable offering of gecko meat. Alex also gunned down a couple of bloatflies, something she knew Veronica would appreciate.

They walked together side by side, something that was unlike Boone, but he felt like she needed the company today. She was reckless, fearless, and didn't give a damn what others thought about her. She was his perfect partner when it came to battle, but after being with her for six months now, he couldn't help but feel a little concerned when she got herself into impossible situations. She always seemed to get out of it though, and so far in their journey they hadn't had any major injuries to speak of.

Having Arcade around had been great. He wasn't a social person at all, but after their group grew, he gradually accepted their strengths and weaknesses, and realized that being alone wasn't going to solve any of his problems.

His deep thoughts were suddenly shattered when he heard an agonizing scream from beside him, and Alexis crumbled to the ground.