AN: Thanks to everyone who has checked out my story! I really appreciate the feedback and knowing you took some time out of your day to read my story! I really appreciate it and am just glad people are interested. Heads up, I will be out of town next Tuesday. I don't know for sure if I will have internet, so I will be posting on Sunday instead, and then to make up for the over a week lull between posts, I may post 2 chapters on the 3rd. I'll let you know more details on Sunday. Anyways please enjoy!
It had been 3 hours since she'd hired him. They were now sitting outside the ruins of the city, in the forest. He'd placed some empty Nuka cola bottles on a log laying on its side.
He'd been amazed the first time she shot. They were walking out of Goodneighbor when a bunch of wild dogs came running at them. Dogmeat charged at them, teeth gnashing and Anne raised her rifle shaking. Every single shot went through the head. There was one left when she started missing every shot. It was almost on her when out of reflex he pulled out his rifle and shot a bullet through the dog's stomach. The dog whimpered before he walked up to it and slammed the but of his gun into its head, crushing it. He looked at her confused.
"What the hel-heck just happened?" he flung the gun back behind him. She looked at the ground, and dogmeat walked up to her, licking her hand.
"So uh...I have very little..uh training with guns, I have this thing on my pipboy called VATS and when I activate it yeah I can usually hit what I aim at but...I actually hired you hoping you could help teach me too?" She looked up at him, rubbing the back of her neck. She looked ashamed as if she was admitting some secret.
"Wait, you hired me...So I could help teach you how to shoot?" Been hired for a lot of reasons, but this is a first.
"Well, Nick mentioned he'd heard of some Merc in Goodneighbor who was good with a gun and would be able to teach me better than he could." She looked up at him, a pleading look in her eyes. He felt his stomach start to tighten, something he wasn't used too and then let out a defeated sigh.
"Alright alright, we'll get out of the city somewhere quiet and I can teach you a bit okay? How did you survive this long?" He started walking down the street, shaking his head in disbelief.
Instead of answering dogmeat barked as if he'd heard his name.
So now here he was, in the outskirts of a city, lining up bottles to teach a grown woman how to shoot. You didn't see that often in the wastes.
"Do you know how to load and clean your guns?" he started loading the gun, a 10-millimeter pistol, going slowly in case he had to show her.
"Yeah, I know that much, I just need tips on shooting," she said watching his hands. He didn't need to look down at the bullets, his fingers moved from memory, but watching her eyes flick back and forth. The deep green in her eyes, when the light hit it properly revealed small brown flecks that were hidden under the deep green. He pulled his eyes away. Why am I looking so deep in her eyes?
"The big thing," he stood up, now aiming the gun at the nuka cola bottles, "You don't want to be afraid. If you are scared, you're going to miss. Guns are scary, but they are also probably one of the only things to protect you out here. You need to trust your weapon because it's not going to fail you as long as you don't fail it." He raised the weapon at the bottles. He could feel her eyes, burning into him as she watched him move. Made him uncomfortable.
"So when you have the gun up, aim at your target. Make sure you have him lined up in your sights. Take a breath in, and as you pull the trigger let it out. Make the breath long, don't huff it out, let it out with your mouth in one go. Eventually, you will start doing it without even thinking, it'll just become natural. Watch." He shook off the feeling of her watching him and sucked a breath in, aiming on the bottles in his sights before letting out his breath and firing. He did this 3 times, knocking down three of the bottles. He lowered the gun and looked at her.
"Eventually you won't even need the sights, you'll be able to just blind fire." he looked back at the bottles, 2 remained and he raised the gun just aiming at them and shooting. Both hit. He looked at her smugly.
"Amazing I know. Try not to fall in love boss." he winked, and she shook her head, a bright red creeping up her neck. Seeing that he felt a heat start at his ears and quickly walked over to the log and reset the bottles before walking back, nodding at her and holding the gun out to her.
"Okay your turn." she took the gun and looked down at the ground before looking up. Both hands on the gun. Her stance was awful, and he watched as she took the gun in her hands and took a long breath as she pulled the trigger. She missed by miles. He slid beside her, placing his hands over hers and his face beside her.
"No, you want to shoot while you are breathing out not in. Do it with me." he took a breath in, and she followed suit. He could smell the sweat from the sun on her, and a weird flowery smell. That scent made him realize how close he was to her, but now he was in his muscle memory. He breathed out, and she followed with him, pulling the trigger. He watched from her shoulder as the bullet flew out, the casing flying away from them. He watched as the nuka bottle got a chip off the top. It wasn't a perfect hit but it was something. He smiled to himself, and now realized how close she was, and the feeling of her soft hands beneath his. He noticed something else and quickly pulled away coughing a bit.
She turned to him smiling wildly "I hit it!" she said excitedly and he smirked at her.
"Don't get cocky boss, keep practicing until they're all down. Then you can try with a rifle." She smiled at him and turned quickly getting her stance back.
"So where did you get your basic training? You seem to know a bit about guns, like how to clean them and sh-stuff, so who taught you that?" maybe he was prying, but he realized maybe he should know more about this girl then her name, and where she was from. Why had she hired him other than the teaching part?
"My husband," she let out another shot, hitting another bottle, "it was our first date. Was years ago though so I don't remember it all well." A vault with enough room to shoot guns for fun? He only knew a small handful of people from a vault but he remembered hearing them talk about how cramped it was. Her husband huh? He'd felt the ring on her finger, and while he knew that what was going on here was innocent Right? He now knew where the line in the sand was drawn for her. Don't see wedding rings often. It was some old tradition from before the war, barely anyone could get actual rings now.
"So why am I out here teaching you and not him?" He asked, leaning against a tree and pulling out a cigarette. He hated smoking, was disgusting, but in this world everything was.
She raised the gun, pointing it at the third bottle, "He's dead" the rang shot out breaking a silence that had just appeared. He looked down at the grass, trying to think of something clever to say but instead came up empty. He expected to hear the reloading of the gun, but instead, the silence hung. He looked up and saw her standing there her head hung, her shoulders hunched over her. He knew that look. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and walked over to her. She stood there, both hands on the gun, pointed at the ground and her face was sad. He stood there for a minute looking at her, taking a long drag on his cigarette before her head came up.
"Happened recently?" he asked, offering her the cigarette which she took her hand shaking ever so slightly and took a long drag. She didn't blow the smoke out. She just let it pour out of her mouth, up her face. The smoke enveloped the bright eyes that had looked at him and he suddenly regretted handing her the cigarette. She shook her head pulling her sleeves up and rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah." She shook her herself before letting out a long breath, "Can I try the rifle now?"
He blinked. What had happened? The woman who had been there a moment ago, the weak teary-eyed woman was gone, and now stood the confident woman who had walked into the rail. He blinked before pulling the rifle from his shoulder and took the gun from her hand. He sat against the tree and placed the gun down beside him, dogmeat laying on the ground curled up. He kept smoking and watched her. She stood there for a bit, seeming to just try and get herself composed. She raised the gun, there was a pause and then a shot rang out, along with the sound of the bottle shattering.
"You know...you can hold it in but eventually the dam will break," he took the cigarette and pressed it into the bottom of his boot, "Trust me." He said that last part under his breath, more to himself. He gave Dogmeat a scratch on the head, and dogmeat rolled a bit, showing his belly.
She was reloading "I know, but it'll have to wait. I've got stuff to do before I can break." she raised the gun. He looked at her confused.
"What's more important than mourning?" he asked, not trying to sound defensive, but it came out that way, his hand now scratching Dogmeats stomach.
She glanced back at him her eyes meeting his like they were looking into his soul. She's judging me. Her eyes went back to the bottles, "I have to get back my son." He heard the rifle click, as she aimed it.
He blinked, his hand freezing on Dogmeats soft stomach, "Wait, what?" A shot rang out through the woods and the shattering of glass.