Gaige
The goliath's head fell off, and I knew the fun was about to begin. He started raging and yelling about how he was going to "rip my body to pieces." I started laughing harder than I should have. I ran, careful not to stray too far to lose its attention, while Maya came up behind him and phase locked him. I broke off the hold off the rats while Krieg jumped off the nearby roof and cut the goliath's body in half. I took a break after all the commotion, and sat down on a roof overlooking the smoking remains of the new, well, former, bandit clan. Axton, Salvador and Krieg piled the bodies in a heap and set them on fire, while Zero and Maya scavenged the area for ammo, health, money and any other supplies. I lifted my shirt, just above my ribs, to examine a gash in my side, about 4 inches long, and fairly deep. Goddamn Varkids. I hated the lot of them. I enjoyed making them into badass mutants and killing them. I didn't care what Sir Hammerlock wanted with their body parts, but hey I got to kill them and I was not complaining. I decided to put a bit of snow in a ripped piece of tarp from a nearby tent and applied it to the cut while I waited for Zero to get back. I sat back and crinkled my nose at the smell of burning flesh, but I was used to it by that point. Before long, Zero and Maya got back. It wasn't a huge area, so there wasn't much to explore. Zero came up to me and spoke, a bit out of breath.
"We finished clearing the place. We got all the supplies we could… but we'll still be short a bit this week. But we- what happened to you?" he grabbed the needle with a deep red liquid, almost like blood, and carefully placed the thin metal tube in my side, right above the cut. He was so precise and fast with his actions; like everything was calculated and thought out. And it was. Inside his head, it seemed like there was a small display screen, showing him everything about everybody. He almost never messed up. The whole relationship thing was very new to him. Being with another being for this long wasn't what he was used to. He was used to solitude and distance, but being with me was everything but. My wound healed instantly. I breathed out slowly. The relief of my minor bruises and cuts made my overall state a lot better.
"Thanks, I needed that."
His tone lightened. "You're welcome. Glad I could help. Just out of curiosity, how many bandits did you kill before it was all over?"
I smiled. "46. How many did you kill?"
He laughed. "57. I guess I win."
"I didn't know it was a competition. In that case, let the games begin." I winked at him.
My gaze shifted towards Axton. I felt for him, I really did. His wife left him and kicked him out of the Dahl military force. She not-so-subtly suggested he run away to the border planets, and he went AWOL and found himself here. He kept saying that it was his fault, which it was, but his guilt was eating away at him. We could all see it. Salvador, on the other hand, was born and raised on Pandora. All the steroids he used through his life stunted his growth, but he was still one of the most intimidating bastards I had ever seen. Maya had been controlled since infancy, used to scare the people of her home planet and as leverage by her handlers, the monks from the Order of the Impending Storm. She fled here to learn about her Siren lineage, and got sucked into this crap by Handsome Jack. Krieg was once a vault hunter, so we think, and is constantly struggling with his inner voice, and must strain to not kill the innocent. And my Zero… My Zero was an assassin for hire. He has no backstory. He just came here for a challenge, and damn I hope he found one. All these people around me were from broken homes, with tragic backstories, and then there's me. I'm just here because I screwed up, and yet these people have more hope and more happiness than I do. I have no real reason to be sad, and yet I've found myself more depressed lately. Axton says it's because I'm only 18, and I shouldn't go through this, but I know I'm stronger than that, and I know they know it too. I just have to show them.