Michael's eyes had to adjust to the Mohave sun before he gazed out at the landscape. He looked around and decided to walk to the building at the edge of town that had the saloon sign next to it, swinging in the wind. On his way down Michael saw a securitron lumbering down the street. Thinking that there probably weren't that many of those around he went to great his savior. While Victor seamed the pleasant sort, and was happy that Michael was fine, something about him was...off.

'Then again how many times have I talked to a robot-gone-cowboy before?' So Michael ignored his gut...temporarily.

"Happy trails!" yelled victor as he rolled away. Shaking his head Michael wandered down the road to the saloon. He loved towns like this, weathered and beaten, but with a life that's their own. Reminded him of other places. Opening the door his thoughts were, 'Damn I hope that they have some good scotch in here. Or at least something that doesn't taste like...' In front of him was a rather large dog with its fangs bared.

Michael started to back up."OK... Down boy...girl...puppy?" He said hopefully, he had the speed to kill the dog. But that didn't mean he wanted to.

"Cheyene stay," said a little thing in leather armor, "Don't worry she won't bite unless I tell her to." She said with a note of finality.

"Uh, thanks? I think?" He said while edging away from the dog. "Can I get a name from the owner perhaps?" His inner flirt coming out of its shell.

She laughed and replied, "Smiles, I'm Sunny Smiles."

"Nice to, wait Smiles? The doc said you could give me some pointers on surviving the desert."

She thought about it,"Yeah I got some pointers, seems like you need all the help you can get after what they done to you."

"Again, thanks?" 'Whats up with this chick?'

Sunny smiled at Mike's reaction, "Meet me outside, behind the saloon. Oh what was your name again?"

Mike couldn't resist, "Don't fine ladies, such as yourself, ask a mans name before taking him behind anything?" he smirked. Now Sunny smiled creepily at him.

"Cheyene...you hungry honey?" she said in a singsong voice. At this the dog looked hopefully at Sunny before Mike was running out the door before the dog had a chance. "Hm... springy little thing ain't he?" At this Cheyene growled. "Oh come on, he isn't that bad is he?" At this Cheyene did nothing as they walked out back.

There, sitting on a rock, their new red headed friend was debating not to drink his last scotch from what was left of his stores. However he didn't have a chance to decide before Sunny threw him a rifle and tossed a few clips along with it.

"Now, see this bottles on the fence there? Take this and try to hit a couple of them." He did, and despite nagging his every move Sunny admitted that he was a pretty good shot.

"Well that's a start, but I don't recon you didn't come here to me to learn to fight sarsaparilla bottles."

Mike smirked, "No, that I did not."

She laughed a little, "Tell you what, I gotta go chase geckos away from the water supply anyway. Darn critters are attracted to it, why don't you come along?"

Michael thought about it, then decided. "Fine but if I do well you have to by me some scotch, deal?"

She smiled, "We'll see. Follow me, its just down to the southeast a short ways." And with that the two, with dog in tow jogged over to the watering whole.

On the way there, Michael messed with his pip-boy. From what he could tell the thing kept tabs on how he was feeling, how much he was carrying on him and in his bag. Lastly he could see that it scanned around him and recorded the data as a map. Overall he could defiantly say that it was bad ass and he was defiantly holding on to it.

Once they were almost there Sunny pulled Mike behind a rock, "Hear that up on the ridge behind us? We got some geckos to clear out." Sunny frowned, "Bunch a' little monsters is what they are. Seams like Doc Mitchel treats more gecko bites than anything else. Lets see if we can get a little closer. If we can move quietly, we can get the jump on them. More likely to hit something vital."

Michael nodded and started to sneak away. Hiding behind rock, Michael prepared to fire. Deciding that the rifle in question was a piece of shit and pulling out his pistol. After taking out one of them, the second ran quickly up to Michael. Conserving ammo, he pulled out his machete and slit the small animals throat as soon as it got in range.

After pulling his bladed back in its sheath, Michael walked back towards Sunny with a grin and said, "Not bad for a rookie huh?"

She was pleasantly surprised by his skill, "Don't get too exited, we still got two wells that need clearing. You can come along if you want, it'll be worth a few caps to me."

Michael gave a bright grin, "Sure, I'll come with. By any chance would it be worth anything more to you?"

At this Sunny smirked and started walking away, "Well you'll just have find out won't you?" At this Michael started dancing on the inside. While on the outside he just kept that grin.

Once in possession the two quickly rained death on to the charging geckos, leaving nothing but dead geckos behind them. As they kept moving down the two saw a local resident behind eaten by geckos. Poor lady had by cornered and only had a cleaver as defense.

Sunny sighed sadly at the settler, "Aw hell's bells, there's not a day that passes by that I don't tell people not to come here by themselves."

Mike seamed a little more affected, "Did she have any family or friends?" He said this as he bent down to shut the corpses eyes.

"Naw, girl just got here. That's probably why she didn't listen. Hey you did as you promised, now I keep up my end of the deal" She gave him a bag of caps. "Go by your self something nice."

As the two started to walk away they heard a cry for help from behind them. As they turned a man in baggy clothing ran up to them.

"Hello, can you help me?"

Michael was ready on the spot. "Yeah dude what can we do?"

His eyes looked filled with tears, "My girl is trapped of there on the ridge and I can't get to her. Please she's going to die!"

This was all Michael had to hear as he was off like a shot with Sunny close behind. At the base of the ridge Michael started to run up the hill at full speed, hoping to get to the girl before it was to late. Sunny noticed that the look in his face was totally different now than before. He had been showing off before, trying to prove that he wasn't useless as Sunny had thought. Now he had one goal in mind, and that was killings everything in his way until he got to his target. The two hunters got to the top of the ridge to find... nothing. Not a soul.

It was at this time that reason flooded the mind of Michael and three words escaped his mouth, "Son of a..." Then a shot rang out as Michael fell forward into the sand with a bullet hole in his chest. He was soon followed by Cheyene who received a bullet to her leg. Sunny spun around before getting slugged in the face by a rather satisfied looking wastelander with baggy cloths. As she recoiled from the impact her leg found a sinister-looking bear trap.

Sunny screamed out and fell with blood pooling in her shoe. She looked up defiantly, but with tears in her eyes, at her attacker.

The man kicked her rifle away before smiling and bowing at his opponent. "Sorry I tricked you, but thanks for clearing out the geckos. Now I can get the stash up here, after I deal with you." He pulled up his pistol at her and smiled, "You have a nice body, maybe we'll have some fun." He started to lower his gun, then lifted it again. "Then again you don't have to be awake to do that." With that he smiled and pulled the trigger.