JUST ANOTHER WASTELANDER
Chapter Two
Gonna Be a Long Trip
James prepared his gear for the trek to New Vegas. This tourist better keep his word he thought as he packed up his bedroll. He packed enough ammo and provisions for 4 days, and hefted his backpack up to his shoulder. Before he left he reached under the table and pulled out a small .32 caliber pistol, I wonder if he can handle this.
He met Paul out the back of James shack, where he had lined up 3 Nuka-Cola bottles on a crate. "Okay, take this pistol and shot the bottles" James instructed. Paul took the firearm, and using one arm, fired 3 shots, BANGBANGBANG, one bullet hit the crate, one went through a window, and the other ricocheted off the wall, startling Vulpes. "Fuck, you're gonna kill me before we leave!" James said angrily. "First off, use both hands, bend your left elbow" he instructed "don't pull the trigger, just squeeze it, okay?" Paul did as he was told, took aim, and fired again, this time hitting all three bottles. "Hey I did it!" Paul exclaimed happily."Yeah you're the greatest shot ever" James said as he walked to the road. "You really think so!" Paul replied. Its gonna be a long trip thought James
The trio were just passing good springs source when a man ran up to them. "Help, my girlfriends trapped on the ridge with the geckos!" he yelled "we gotta help him!" Paul Said to James "no we don't, nice try Barton, you really fooled the tourist." "Oh, hey James, uuuuh, hi Vulpes…" Vulpes began to growl at him "uh I gotta go now" the man said as he sprinted in the opposite direction. "Who was that?" Paul asked, Puzzled by the brief encounter. "Oh that was Barton Thorn" James explained "he lives around here, trying to get gullible travelers to go up on the ridge and clear out the geckos." "Why?" "There's an old prospector camp up there, but Barton's too much of a wuss to go up there himself." "Oh, ok, but why'd he leave so quickly?" "Last time I was here Vulpes stole some of Barton's food, and he tried hitting Vulpes with a stick, let's just say it didn't end well for Barton." "Why didn't end well for Barton?" Paul asked. Gonna be a long trip indeed
As they passed through Primm, Vulpes peeled off from the group, and returned with a can. "Don't you know NCR rations are bad for you?" James asked as he took the can and patted Vulpes. "NCR ammunition however…" James trailed off as he picked up an ammo can from the NCR barricade when no one was looking. Primm was a small town that had recently ran into the powder gangers, a group of escaped convicts. The NCR (New California Republic) responded with a platoon of troopers. They didn't guard their supplies well, and James was taking full advantage of that fact. "Hey what are you doing!?" Paul asked incredulously "what does it look like I'm doing?" James Calmly replied "getting free 5.56 rounds is what I'm doing." "but you can't steal!" Paul exclaimed "Not from the NCR!" Paul was surprised someone would even consider stealing NCR munitions "Shut up you'll alert the guards!" James said "I got what I needed now lets go" "fine" Paul huffed
They were passing the old police station when James tackled Paul to the ground. "Get Down!" What!?, what is it!?" Paul asked. "Vipers" James replied "a Snake?" "no Dumbass, the gang, they're raiders." Paul's face paled at the word raider "will they kill us ?" he asked in a quivering voice "not if we kill them first James replied as he pulled out Vera "Vulpes, Distraction!" Vulpes got up and ran off the side, James loaded a round into the chamber, and looked down the scope "What do you want me to do?" Paul asked "Just stay out of the way!" James replied. There were 3 Raiders standing outside the Police station. Vulpes, who was now to the left of the raiders, started to bark. The raiders spun around to see where the bark came from when, BLAM, a shot rang out as a bullet pierced the center mass of one of the raiders. The raiders than began firing in the direction of the shots. Vulpes jumped out of a bush and crash tackled a raider, and James loaded another round and planted a bullet straight into the last raider. James Whistled and gave a hand motion to Vulpes who ran back to his master "good boy Vulpes." Paul was sitting down in the sand, "boy that was violent!" he exclaimed as he extended his hand for James to help him up. "Mojave Outpost is 10 minutes walk from here." James commented as he turned around and began walking, leaving Paul to lift himself up. This is gonna be a long trip he thought.