Death woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of scuttling. For the first time tonight he started wondering where exactly he had camped for the night. He stood at the mouth of the cave, gazing out across the empty desert. The expanse was strangely barren, normally there was at least some small shrubs or dead trees, but there was nothing but dirt and rocks.
He scanned what appeared to be a dried up lakebed. Lakebed…Dried up lakebed…Oh no.
Death went back inside where Vajra was sleeping and prodded her side with his foot urgently. "Vajra! Vajra get up now. We gotta move now."
Vajra's eyes snapped open. "What the hell! Quit kicking me!" she snapped and threw her foot right into Death's crotch.
He doubled over, grapping the injured area and gritting his teeth in pain, "Why…. would you do that…."
"You were kicking me!" She huffed, "And what do you mean we have to move?"
"We've got to get out of here…. It isn't safe anymore." He glared at the woman, straightening up.
"What?" genuine concern crossed her face, "Why not?"
He stuck his head just clear of the mouth of the cave, "I hadn't realized where we were. We gotta get outta here before they decide to come above ground for the night."
"Who are they?" Vajra said, sitting up.
"The giant Fire Ants. They're nocturnal, and there's a colony under this lakebed. They come above ground to hunt each night." Death explained while gathering together his knapsack. "We gotta get on the way to Megaton now anyway."
"Whoa hang on. I'm not going anywhere with you!"
Death huffed in agitation, "Look, you're in no shape to trek anywhere on your own. I'm taking you to Megaton, no further questions."
Vajra growled under her breath and snatched up a small jar of amber colored liquid that was sticking out of the bag.
Death's eyes became the size of pre-war dinner plates. "H-Hey! Be careful with that! Do you have a fucking death wish woman?!"
She held it above her head, just out of Death's reach, "Why should I? What's in here?"
"That's Fire Ant pheromones! If one drop of that gets out, we'll be swarmed faster than you can say 'I'm fucking retarded!' "
She glared, "Fine, I'll put it down, but answer this question. Why are you taking me to Megaton?"
Death had figured the reason was obvious, but both their lives were on the line here so he decided to play nice, "I don't have the medical supplies on hand to fix you up completely. There's a doctor in Megaton who has enough to clean you up and cut the risk of infection from your wounds. Plus, all of his stuff is Rad free."
Vajra's glare softened a bit. She had his intentions figured all wrong, but she still didn't trust him in the slightest. "…. Fine, I'll make you a deal. You take me to this doctor in Mega whatever, and then you leave me to go on my way."
"Yeah sure whatever!" Death said in a panicked tone, "just, give me the jar. Please."
The chocolate haired woman silently handed over the jar of pheromones to Death, still glaring daggers at him. "Why do you even have that if it causes such a problem?"
"It's worth a shit ton of caps."
Vajra rolled her eyes, "Whatever, now lets just go."
Death hefted his bag on his shoulder, "Finally we can agree on something."
As he took a tentative step outside the mouth of the cave, something clamped down on Death's ankle, ripping through his jeans and the meat of his leg, right down to the bone. "Grah!" he cried out in shock and pain. Instinctively he reached for his handgun resting in the holster on his hip, drew it and fired down without looking at his attacker. The grip on his leg released and something shrieked. The wanderer felt the blood pouring down into his boot and the burning pain that was starting to spread up his leg. At his foot was the carcass of a Fire Ant Worker. And of course, where there was one, there was bound to be more.
"What happened?" Vajra nearly shouted when she heard the gunshots go off.
Death shook away the screams of pain he felt boiling in his throat. "The ants are coming up," he grunted, "We have to go. Now!"
Vajra took off to the South with Death hobbling close and an ever-growing colony of Fire Ant of all classes scuttling behind her. The wanderer occasionally fired behind them into the crowd but the ants were gaining on him fast.
The chocolate haired woman scrambled up the slope of the lakebed, but realized the scruffy guy with the hat was still limping away from the ants. "Death! Hurry up!"
"What does it look like I'm doing?!" He snapped up at her. The burning in his leg spread further up his leg with each step he took. He was biting his tongue to keep himself from screaming.
The ants started to shot their namesake fire from their jaws, the flames licking at the back of his pants, "Fuckfuckfuckfuck!" he grumbled and tasted the blood from his punctured tongue.
Vajra acted as fast as she could, stripping off Death's combat duster and holding it down the slope by the sleeve. "Death grab onto it! I'll pull you up!"
Death grabbed onto the sleeve and nearly pulled Vajra down the slope trying to get himself up, but the wanderer made it up. The ants circled around the bottom of the cliff, but didn't make an attempt to leave their home. They scuttled away from the pair.
"Are you okay?' Vajra asked, noticing the bleeding wound on Death's leg.
Said wanderer winced, "Yeah, I'll be fine…" Sure, he'd be fine, only if they got back to Megaton in time. Death could feel the fever from the ant venom heating up his body, despite the frigid air, and the tell-tale burning sensation from the bite radius, not to mention the amount of blood he was probably losing. He probably wasn't going to make it all the way to Megaton, but he pushed the morbid thoughts aside. No way was he going to let a god forsaken Fire Ant be the end of him, not after all he had been through. "Let's just get a move on."
"Aren't you going to do something about your leg? It's bleeding pretty badly…" Vajra actually surprised herself with the tone of concern in her own voice.
"It'll be fine, just a flesh wound. Nothing too serious." What was he saying?! He hadn't actually looked at the festering bite on his leg, what did he know?!
Even in the darkness Vajra could see that his bite wasn't a simple flesh wound. The ant had bit straight through his combat boot and torn up his ankle. She couldn't be certain, but she could have sworn she saw the white of his anklebone showing through all the blood and mangled flesh. How he managing to walk, let alone stand, was beyond her comprehension. She kept quiet though. She picked up the vibe that Death was a stubborn, if not more so, then she was.
The pair limped in the direction Death lead them through the night. By the time the sun first started to peek over the barren horizon, Death looked like…well, death. He was shivering in cold sweats, his eyes were sunken back, and his wound was inflamed and red, a sure sign of infection, along with the Fire Ant venom coursing through his system, taking him down from the inside. His pace had been slowing steadily and his eyes began to take on a glazed quality as his vision blurred more and more, while his breathing became harsh and ragged.
Vajra took notice of these changes throughout the journey, but every time she suggested he sit down, he brushed her off and continued walking. It was beginning to annoy her. She actually started counting down to when she thought he would finally pass out.
The blazing sun was just starting to heat up the Wasteland when a large wall, put together with pieces of twisted sheet metal, show from over the crest of a hill. It was the only civilization for miles in either direction, so Vajra immediately assumed it was the Megaton place Death had been talking about.
"Death is that Megaton?" Where was he anyway? "Death? Where'd you go?"
She noticed a few locks of jet-black hair sticking out of a tan lump lying in the dirt. Death had collapsed and fallen down the hill. "Death!" The concern in her voice again caught her off guard as she ran down the slope to him.
Vajra tried to roll him over on his back, but to do that; she had to move the ratty knapsack that was slung on his shoulder. The issue was, the thing weight about ten times her own weight! "Ugh! What doesn't he have in here, the kitchen sink?!" She could barley pull the bag half an inch off of him, and that was using every bit of strength she could muster.
"Hey! What happened here?!" a sultry male voice called from behind Vajra.
Instinctively, Vajra reached for here weapon, but remembered she chucked it at the Deathclaws like a dumb shit. So she stood there awkwardly with her hand hovering by her hip.
She slowly turned around. Standing in front of the walled town, was a tall, crimson red haired man in a dusty suit, with piercing turquoise eyes. "What kind of mess did he get himself into this time?"
Oh, okay. This must have been one of Death's friends; "He was bit in the leg by a fire ant last night. He wouldn't take anything for it or even clean the thing."
The man laughed, "Yeah, that sounds like him. Stubborn as ever." He picked up Death's knapsack without any problem at all. "Stay here with him, I'll go grab a few more people to get him inside the town."
Vajra stood there next to the unconscious wanderer. So this was a regular thing with him? She wondered just how often this happened.
Three men came out from the gates of the city. The same red head from before, a taller man with grey hair and a stitched lab coat, and a muscular ghoul with bluish skin. The man in the lab coat looked over Death briefly, then motioned for the ghoul. He hefted Death's limp body over his shoulder and carried him into the city.
The grey haired man cam over to Vajra next, scanning her very quickly with dull olive eyes. "And where did he find you?"
"A raider camp. He….rescued me." She said reluctantly.
The doctor (she assumed so anyway) shook his head, "His heart's bigger than his brain sometimes. The idiot's always running head first into raider camps to save some poor fuck. What got him this time?"
"Fire Ants." Vajra said matter-o-factly.
"Esh. That's gonna take some fixing up. You should come in too. I'll take care of those wounds." And with that, the doctor turned on his heels and started to walk back towards Megaton.
Vajra now had a choice. She could go with the strange doctor and possibly have to deal with that jerkass Death again. Or she could take her chances out in the open with nowhere to go and no weapon to defend herself from the uncountable dangers that lurked in the Wasteland itching to take a bite out of her.
She grumbled some curses to herself and trudged after the doctor.