Small naked feet pushed against the multitude of rough scales on the deathclaw's back. They found footing between his boney spines, and the girl grabbed ahold of the makeshift spear lodged in his flesh. She pulled on it as hard as she could, causing lightning to flow through his body. The arcs of pain began to rouse him from unconsciousness as she began losing her strength. She readjusted her hands closer to the base of the spear and gave a single violent tug with her whole body, the jagged scrap metal tip popped free and the giant beast's howl echoed off the surrounding houses.

Gireesh dug his feet into the dry earth as he shot upwards, adrenaline flowing through his veins to ready his battered body to fight his attackers once more. He swung himself around violently, shaking off his assailant. Her small form hit the dirt hard and she rolled away, the wind knocked out of her lungs. He instinctively swung around, extending his arm to cleave his foe apart with the clawed hands his species was infamous for.

His arm already in motion, his head turned to see a strangely familiar faded pink dress. With a grunt, he struck the earth instead throwing up a cloud of fine dirt. Spiked head on a swivel, scanning the burning ruins of the small-town known as Kenton, he began recalling the events that befell him that evening. The merciless Legion sacking the town. His brutal fight against them. Their blood still tasted iron in his mouth. The pain across his shoulder and back. The girl under the house, the girl who now laid motionless a few steps away.

Damnit.

He leaned down to inspect the child, unsure if she was still alive. His breath created swirls in the dust, he stopped to hear her shallow breaths and tiny heart beating.

"Hey, wake up."

He growled at her, trying to rouse her from her shocked state.

"If you don't wake up, I am going to eat you."

Still no response. He stuck out his long sticky tongue, a remnant of his unmutated ancestry, and licked the dirt off her face. This had the intended effect, as she gasped and inhaled deeply. The deathclaw's imposing face was all that filled her vision.

Finally.

She sat up coughing, using the dress to wipe her face clean of saliva. She looked up at Gireesh and stared into his pale white eyes. Her irises reflected the light from the nearly full moon behind him. Her gaze wandered to her burning home, and the dead friends, family members, and legionnaires surrounding the pair. The orange light flickered across her skin as she turned pale and began shaking.

"Girl. Listen to me, I will only tell you this once. Kenton is gone. There is nothing left for you, and the only people coming here will be more Legion. I walked through Saint Faith a week ago, I saw a map that showed a city to the east-southeast of here. You can find help there, adults to take care of and protect you."

She turned back to look at him as he spoke. Her expression unchanged, a thousand thoughts behind glassy eyes. He continued speaking.

"It's not more than a day's walk. Just stay off the roads. Be tough. You will be fine."

Gireesh felt a small pang of guilt knowing he lied. Even if she walked the thirty odd miles to reach the City of Boys, it too would soon fall to Legion just like Saint Faith, Mount Zuma, and Kenton.

The girl was a survivor anyway, she might have a ghost of a chance yet.

He could not be bothered to care further than that. All that mattered was getting as far from the Legion as he could, his body could not take another fight like that. He turned off the path and began walking northeast.

The girl watched him walk away. Torn between her former home, and the ever smaller Gireesh on the horizon. Her heart strained, the small hairs on her arms standing up as her stomach became uneasy. The only option she saw open to her, she began to sprint after him as swiftly as her small legs would take her. She caught up to his steady pace and ran past him, halting in front of him.

He didn't stop.

She was knocked aside into a dead bush with a thump, giving him a sour look that he could not see. His gait remained unchanged as he kept going towards the perimeter of the town. Tangled in the brush, she scrambling to her feet. When she ran ahead of him this time, he came to a halt.

"You're too big" she gasped, out of breath.

He leaned down to her head, sighing hard enough that her hair fluttered from the resulting breeze. He spoke with clear frustration and exhaustion.

"You don't get to be my age, travel as far as I have, if you're not smart enough to handle a few frag mines. Now get out of my way, or I'll go through you like a door. Again."

She hesitated, but stepped aside; not wanting to pick herself off the floor again. Walking forward a dozen more feet, he stopped to inspect the ground in front of him. Inhaling deeply, the scent of TNT and iron came from the soil. Before he could act, the girl marched past him, arms held out as she swung from side to side. Her dirty feet craved a purposeful path through the minefield, showing a gap that could be exploited. She passed through unharmed, spinning around with a small smile. Gireesh grunted in disdain.

I will not be led around by a human, much less a child. I live and die by my own paths.

Reaching down with his uninjured arm, Gireesh picked up a large rock, as wide as a car's tire. Her mouth fell open he began raising the heavy stone above his head. Fear gripped her as she lost footing in the loose dirt in an effort to scramble out of harm's way. It came shooting forth from his clawed hand, impacting the ground a dozen feet behind her.

The girl couldn't hear anything anymore except a ringing in her ears. A wave of warmth flashed over her, she turned to see its source only to jerk her head away from the debris raining from above. Something very small and sharp cut through her left calf. The boulder had been split apart violently by the frag mine. Gireesh walked through the cloud of dust and debris, passing her by as he continued ever northeast.

She sat on her bottom, holding her legs close to her body. Her head fell onto her knees as she tried desperately not to cry. As the ringing in her ears began to subside slightly, she looked to the east-southeast where the deathclaw had told her to go. Small rocks dug painfully into her hands as she pushed off the earth with purpose.

A small line of blood fell down her leg, leaving its crimson mark on the soil as she began limping northeast.