Lilith almost shot it just to shut it up. It was making an awful lot of noise and a pack of skags were already closing in from the west. But something stayed her finger off the trigger, so instead she jogged in closer to get a better look.
The Midget was making a huge racket, squealing curses and jibberish as it tried frantically to free itself. It dangled upside down, about four feet above the ground, its right foot tightly ensnared in wiring that hung down from some machinery bolted to the dock above.
Lilith slowed and ducked down unnoticed between a scrabble of rocks. The frantic little bandit tugged at the wires; it was in total screaming panic as certain death galloped in at top speed.
An adult skag charged well ahead of the pack and flashed by Lilith's rocky hideout. She stood up and pegged it in the shoulder with multiple rounds from her combat rifle.
The skag jerked to the side and slewed around towards her.
Why the hell did I just do that! Lilith berated herself and swung the rifle around.
The beast huffed, enraged and bleeding, and shook in agitation. It opened its grotesquely hinged jaws and roared.
"Thanks sweetheart!" Lilith smirked and opened fire. Spatters of blood flew out of its maw as her bullets tore through unarmored flesh. The skag's roar disintegrated into a choked gargle and it snapped its wounded mouth shut. It shook its head in pain and confusion as blood streamed past its jagged barbed teeth.
Lilith took the opportunity to swap out her rifle with an SMG. It had a fairly decent corrosive upgrade and she knew it would make short work of the rest of the pack, which consisted of two more adults, some whelps and a scattering of pups.
She leapt on top of the rock in front of her and socked the machine gun home into the crook of her elbow. It seemed to fit there perfectly.
Surprisingly, the wounded adult gathered itself and launched up towards her. She got off a burst of gunfire right into its face. Corrosive elements glowed green and bit into its armor. The skag's full adult body weight hit her like a ton of bricks and they both fell off the rock. As they hit the ground, Lilith released another burst of bullets into its underbelly.
The skag let out an agonized roar and writhed in its death throes right on top of her. Lilith yelled and heaved its bloodied mass to the side. She wrenched to her feet and brought the SMG up to bear on the rest of the skags running towards her. In the corner of her vision she saw that the Midget now hung frozen in its escape efforts, watching the battle unfold.
She sprayed a tremendous round of bullets in a wide arc that tagged most of the skags. The pups and whelps were deflected momentarily, but the two adults kept on coming. Lilith rapidly backpedaled and fumbled out Sledge's Shotgun. She blasted one of them with it and the skag was thrown back a good twenty feet. The second one launched itself at her and she threw herself to the ground. Lilith felt its claws scrape her leather clad torso as it skimmed over. She rolled to the side and let loose the second shell. It howled in agony as one of its rear legs was nearly obliterated by the powerful multishot.
Lilith stayed right there on the ground and rapidly reloaded. The first adult skag shook off the knockback and burst towards her. She quickly dispatched the closest one with the blown leg by shooting its exposed belly, then she waited, electrified and panting, as the other one barreled towards her. When it was almost upon her she pulled the trigger and Sledge's Shotgun belched again. The skag's furious charge turned into a boneless tumble; it was dead before it even stopped rolling.
She threw the shotgun down and tugged out the SMG again as she regained her feet. The pups and whelps scattered in panic as she delivered round after round into their tender hides. She advanced deliberately into the clearing before the dock, turning this way and that, squeezing off short, controlled bursts with the sub.
Within a few minutes, they all lay dead or dying. She calmly reloaded and surveyed the carnage all around her. She counted the bodies.
Thirteen, fourteen, and that first adult back behind the rock make fifteen…
Lilith turned to the Midget still hanging frozen and silent in its snare. Their eyes met.
"That's fifteen skags. Fifteen stinking, filthy, blood thirsty scavengers… Tell me Midget, are you even worth the life of one of them?"