Trouble reached down to scratch behind the ears of the cyber dog who trotted beside her. Rex seemed to have taken a liking to her and hardly left her side, wagging his tail wildly when she petted him. She found him amusing even if he was a little befuddled at times. It was because of his problem they were making this journey. It seemed the King was fond of his pet and willing to pay handsomely for them to take him to a brain doctor up at the mutant stronghold. One thing she quickly learned about the Courier was that he was obsessively curious as well as keenly aware of everything around him.
They had checked out every shack, shanty, empty building and derelict vehicle that had crossed their path which had resulted in their getting no more than a few miles from Freeside before nightfall. They had met an interesting couple, though, and Trouble had been amused watching the Courier smoothly talk them out of trying to rob the casinos on the strip. He had also talked them out of a sweet 9mm submachine gun. That man sure could talk. After giving up their plans and their weapon they had been all over themselves to let them spend the night in their shanty. How did the Courier do it, Trouble wondered.
They left early the next morning but hadn't yet made it to the road going up the mountain they would have to ascend when Jay spotted a building he wanted to check out up on the mountain's side. Well that hadn't turned out profitable. It was a well locked up safehouse they couldn't break into. As if the lost time weren't bad enough they had riled a nest of Cazadors getting there and had almost lost the stupid cyber dog, in spite of the excellent shots that Jay and Gannon were. The nest had attacked almost before they had become aware of them.
Matilda screamed at the dog to stop but it rushed headlong into the fray. She quickly jerked up her bow and slammed arrow after arrow into any wasp closing on the mutt. So intent was she on saving the dog that one was on her before she could shoot it. At the last moment she dropped the bow and jerked out her knife, slashing as she ducked and weaved to avoid the vicious stinger. Her foot came down hard on a small stone that rolled out from under her, sending her down onto her shoulder with a grunt as she skewered the beast above her and flung its body over her head. She rose slowly to look around and see if anyone got injured. Rex trotted up and sat down beside her, grinning his big doggie grin and thumping his tail at her.
"What did you think you were doing?", Jay stormed at her, breathing hard from the adrenaline rush of battle.
"What?", she looked at him, confused, as she wiped her blade on the dried grass to remove the blood and venom.
"You almost got killed over that animal." Her nostrils flared, her eyes glittering with anger.
"We're supposed to be saving Rex. Maybe you should try getting us to the doctor instead of jerking around. Can't you see he's in pain? Not much of a savior, are you?", she snorted, turning to bend over the dog who had begun to whine, shaking his head and staring at her beseechingly. "It's all right boy. You'll feel better in a minute.", she crooned as she pulled a med-x from her pack.
After that little fiasco Jay had decided to get back on the road. They were walking up the steep, broken slope. On the right the mountains sloped down toward them while on the left it sloped down away from them. Between the large green trees of the forested mountains, the undergrowth and the many large boulders strewn about there was plenty of cover for almost any kind of creature to be lurking. Trouble swiped at the sweat trickling into her eyes and scowled at the muscular man striding so easily ahead of her. Her pack seemed to have increased in weight exponentially as they continued the upward climb.
"Here." Gannon spoke from just behind her, holding out a canteen. She took it and swallowed thirstily. The water had that slightly stale taste all canteens left behind, and it was warm, but it sure tasted good.
"Thanks", she grunted, handing it back to him. "Mine's empty." He had noticed she seemed to need a lot of water. "Doesn't he ever get tired?", she asked, nodding at the man in front of them. Gannon didn't answer as the Courier swung to the side and began firing into the woods. He ran ahead, rifle barking at the gigantic insects bearing down on them. Rex took off barking frantically.
Trouble pulled off her bow and notched an arrow. She would be damned if she was going to hasten up there to their rescue. She took aim and let fly an arrow, and then another and another. Jay turned and smiled at her.
"Dinner", he called and bent to saw the foreleg from one of the giant mantises sprawling on the road. Trouble shouldered her bow and sauntered on up the road to retrieve her arrows from the corpses sprawling among those dropped by the men's rifles. The razor heads were too rare and the arrows themselves too hard to craft to just leave them. She shoved them into the pack with the others to be cleaned. Then again, maybe she should leave the ones with the cazador poison on them; it would just make them deadlier.
The stop for dinner and the cooling of early evening were lifting Trouble's spirits. She inhaled the freshening air with its scents of pine and earth and growing things allowing a rush of pleasure to slip through her. She danced beside Gannon watching the Courier up ahead.
"Hey", she said lightly. "If Jay hadn't shown up would you have let me stay with you?"
"What?", he asked startled.
"You know, back at the Fort. Would you have?", she insisted.
"I don't sleep with whores.", Gannon snorted.
"So, I'm not your type then, huh?", Trouble queried playfully. "So what do you sleep with? Mutants? Oh, wait, I get it. You like guys.", she said, rolling her eyes at the Courier up ahead. Gannon flushed.
"My sexual proclivities are none of your damned business.", he said huffily. Trouble laughed merrily.
"Wow you do like big words. Come on then, tell me something about yourself or I'll just keep asking. "
"Fine. I'm thirty-ish. I was born..west of here. My mother raised me alone. I used to be part of a para-military fascist organization. I like science, reading, learning and being left alone. Got it? And oh, yeah, I was kidding about the para-military thing."
Trouble grinned. "You're fun, you know that, Cade?" She skipped a few steps merrily. He just blinked at her. He'd certainly never been called fun before.
"The name's Arcade!", he called after her huffily. She laughed and danced off up the road to pester the Courier who grabbed her and spun her around up the road. Their laughter echoed off the mountains and bounced back from the forest. Now why did that make him feel even more aggravated?
