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CHAPTER ONE: OVER THE MOUNTAIN, ACROSS THE SEA

The sunrise was unremarkable. Some mornings, the rays of light would send the sky into a frenzy of pink and blue. Today was bland. She had been told that she was a smart girl, but Ash could never quite figure out why some things were the way they were. Sunrises, for one. One morning it'd be the most colorful thing you could imagine, and then the next morning the dark would go into light and that was that. Must have to do with particles in the air. It never came up in the books she had read.

But at least there was a sunrise, at least there was another day to come. The pale blue peeking out from the horizon served as a nice reminder that life went on, even after the horrors she had seen in Nipton. It seemed better to focus on sunrises and their pretty colors than to think about what she had witnessed. And like hell she was going to pay attention to how much her feet hurt or how hungry or parched or tired she was, not after she saw that. It was rude to the dead to complain about the minor inconveniences of life.

She had passed a ranger station a minute back, barely registering it until it was behind her, then figuring it could wait until she had gotten a couple hours of sleep. Soon the dinosaur of Novac loomed ahead. Goddamn, but the weirdest things survived the bombs. Cities lay in waste, houses got blown over, and then some shitty pre-war tyrannosaurus statue would stand high and proud for the whole world to see. Was it really built that sturdy? Pre-war folks sure were weird.

She reached the outskirts of the town without incident, other than stumbling over a crack in the road in a moment of careless exhaustion. A stubbed toe wasn't much compared to the dully aching gunshot wound in her arm; thankfully just a graze, but it had torn off some flesh. The Legionaries had shit aim. The dogs had done a number on her leg, though.

Nobody was awake yet, save for some older man staring at the wall of a building as she walked by. Best leave him be. She was about to enter what looked like the check-in room when she spotted another man, younger, walking to the dinosaur, a rifle on his back. She waved him down and ran – as best she could, anyway – over to him.

"Hey, you a guard here?"

The night had been dull. A radscorpion had skittered across his sights at one point, but other than that, nothing at all. Felt like that had been the way of things for a while now. Nothing at all.

A figure was slowly making its way toward town. Looked like it was limping as it got closer. But alone, and clearly not from the Legion, so Manny could deal with it. Boone swung his rifle over his shoulder and made his way down the stairs, then out the door of the dinosaur.

At first he didn't see Manny, for which he was a little grateful – not like he cared about the man's feelings, but it could be awkward, running into him between shifts. Then he heard him by the front gate. Past the dinosaur's tail, Manny and the limping visitor were talking. Boone wasn't sure he cared until he heard the newcomer say "Legion." Then he lingered.

"Nipton? Shit, I can't believe it."

"Yeah, killed most and crucified some." She sounded weary. Looked even worse. Bandaged arm, very bandaged leg, tired face. The leather she wore was dirty, bloodied in some spots. Sunglasses. Hat on her head, the kind that draped down to cover everything but the front. Revolver at her hip, rifle and a full rucksack on her back.

"Shit." Manny followed the girl's eyes over his shoulder to Boone, who shifted at the sudden attention. But he turned back to her. "Were there any survivors?"

She watched Boone for a few more seconds, her sunglasses blocking out most of her expression. Then she looked at Manny again. "Two. One of them barely. Got his legs beat in so bad he couldn't move. The other one ran outta town as I got there. They had some fucked up lottery to decide who would live." She shook her head.

"Anyone from the Legion still there?"

"I… yeah, yeah, a group of them."

"Where'd they head to?"

"Nowhere." When Manny didn't pick up on it, she continued. "I killed them. And some on the road here, too."

"Shit." His tone was a mix of awe and disbelief. "You with the NCR or something?"

She shook her head. "Just a courier."

"One hell of a courier. Thanks for bringing the news here, I'll spread it around."

She nodded. "Hey, there a doctor in town? I could really use one."

"Oh, yeah – come on, come with me."

Manny rested a hand on her shoulder and turned her back down the road. She glanced at Boone again before putting her full concentration on the walk in front of her. She hid it well, the pain. Nobody limped like that from a light scrape.

He watched them for a while longer then returned to his room, locking the door behind him. The days had been reduced to that lately. Room, dinosaur, room, rinse, repeat. He wasn't quite sure where the time went. He didn't sleep it away. Didn't eat much. Didn't go out. Been a long time since he even walked past the gate to town. He laid his gun down on the table, closed his eyes, and breathed in heavily. He liked to think the room still smelled like Carla but he knew it didn't. It was stale, stuffy. Dark. He set his sunglasses on the nightstand and sat on the bed to unlace his boots, then laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. Nearly had all the cracks memorized by now.