Chapter 2
"Living Dead Girl"
"Itchy Jagermeister! Back up the truck!" a voice screeched.
Savannah's eyes flashed open to find a Psycho standing over her, leering in her face. At least, she assumed he was leering, since he was wearing that creepy face mask they all seemed to have. A bit further away, the rest of the pack was picking over the wreckage of a caravan that had been caught in the blast of the Moonshot that had almost killed her.
She scooted backward ungracefully on her butt, simultaneously terrified of her predicament and relieved that she somehow wasn't dead. She didn't get far before her arms gave out. Apparently, almost dying took a lot out of her.
"No! Don't run! Then I have to chase you!" the Psycho shouted plaintively. He drew a rusty cleaver from his belt and started toward her.
"Take off your legs! Then no more running!"
She fumbled at her hip holster for her gun only to find it wasn't there.
"Strap your legs to mine! Then I run twice as fast!"
The Psycho was three steps from her when his head exploded. He flopped ungracefully to the dirt. His friends looked up as the report from a sniper rifle echoed in seconds later. From behind her, she heard the growl of an engine.
She turned in time to see a Monster truck painted in bright orange barreling toward them at high speed. As it drew closer, she heard, of all things, music blaring out over an external louspeaker.
IIIIIII AM AN ANTICHRIST-AH
AND IIIIIIIII AM AN ANARCHIST-AH
The Monster drew up just behind her and a girl who couldn't be much older than nineteen jumped out of the driver's side. She waved her left arm and the bright light of something being digistructed appeared in front of her. The light resolved to a hulking robot torso terminating in a roaring turbine engine which kept it aloft. Three long electrified claws emerged from each of its hands.
The girl pointed at the Psychos and the robot jetted forward, claws ready to strike. The girl pulled a submachine gun from her belt and started spraying bright blue bullets at them as well. Savannah noticed the girl was singing along to the music still blaring from the Monster.
"'Cause IIIIII wannnna beeeeeee AAAAAAnnnaaarrchyyyyy!"
Most of the girl's shots missed, but those that did hit exploded in a bright flare of electricity and fire, turning the unlucky victim into a screaming and running mobile bonfire. The combined effort of the robot, the girl and the sniper made quick work of the pack. Savannah barely had time to take in their arrival before things went deathly quiet.
As the last Psycho collapsed and became ashes, the robot hovered back over to the girl, who put her hand up, palm forward. A third arm extended from the robot's back, ending in a comically large white gloved hand and high-fived her. The robot vanished in another bright flash of light. The girl holstered her gun and clicked a button on her ECHOpad, which stopped the blaring music.
The sudden calm gave Savannah more time to take in the appearance of her rescuer. She wore what appeared to be a private school uniform, although the patch that would have denoted the school's name had been removed and replaced with an anarchy 'A' symbol. Unless her school's mascot was a skull, the jacket and shirt had been heavily modified too. She wore a heavy duty mechanic's belt clasped with a large buckle in the shape of the Vault Symbol from which multiple tools and gadgets hung. Most striking though was her left arm, which was entirely cybernetic.
The girl clomped toward her in hightops that had been reinforced with steel toes and soles. Everything about her screamed survivor. Fighter. Wanderer.
Vault Hunter.
The girl cocked her head to the left as she stood over Savannah.
"Interesting pattern," she said. "Never been into tie-dye myself, but I could totes get behind the blood-spatter design."
Savannah looked down at her previously white shirt. It was spattered all over with blood. Her blood. There were holes in it. Ragged holes. Frantically, she stuck a finger through them, feeling the skin beneath. To her surprise, she felt...nothing. No holes, no blood, just skin.
The girl watched this, one eyebrow raising. "Uh...you okay there?"
Savannah looked up at her. "I...yeah." she said uncertainly.
"Ok!" the girl replied, instantly cheerful again, "then mount up, cause we need to pick up her majesty before she gets all pouty."
The girl stopped mid-turn and put a finger to her ear. "Yes, I know you heard that, because I said it over an open mike...well don't pout so much, then." She looked at Savannah with a sheesh, this guy! expression.
"Yes, I know you saw that," she continued, shooting the bird in the direction of where the sniper's shots had come from. "You're on overwatch...well, maybe you should have told me how servants are supposed to act before you had me sign that stupid contract."
She motioned to the truck and started toward it. Savannah got shakily to her feet and followed. She clambered into the passenger seat as the girl fired the truck up. Over the rumble of the truck's powerful engine, Savannah shouted.
"Who are you?"
The girl extended a hand. "Name's Gaige,"
Savannah shook it. "I'm Savannah. Thanks for saving me."
"Eh, NBD," Gaige said waving her off. "What's the point in being a wandering road warrior if you don't right a few wrongs now and then?"
A short drive brought them to the foot of a cliff, where a tall, dark-skinned woman waited with clear impatience. She was dressed impeccably in a tan leather hunter's jacket and beige khaki pants that even Savannah could tell had to have cost a small fortune. An expensive Hyperion-made sniper rifle rested over her shoulder, and a large caliber Jakobs revolver sat in a hip holster. The woman's irritation deepened as Gaige pulled the truck to stop just beside her, sending a cloud of dust her way.
"Don't worry," Gaige said, noticing Savannah reaching for her seatbelt clasp, "she prefers the back, says the front is for 'the help.'"
True to Gaige's word, the woman opened the rear door of the cab and climbed in, somehow still still exuding grace and class with her every movement. She brushed a lock of dark brown hair out of her eyes haughtily, and Savannah noticed a streak of white that ran down the middle.
"Relly, baby!" Gaige said jovially over her shoulder, "Fantastic shooting as ever!"
"For the umpteenth time, girl," the woman said harshly in a haughty tone, "it is Baroness Aurelia, Lady Hammerlock, milady, your ladyship, or any of the other acceptable forms of address I have informed you of on MULTIPLE occasions. 'Relly baby' is NOT on that list."
"Cool beans, Aurie," Gaige said, winking at Savannah. "This here's Savannah. She's our new partner in crime!"
"One can only hope she's better behaved than you."
Whatever Gaige's witty retort was, Savannah missed it as a spiking pain erupted in her head, so strong it made her cry out. She was dimly aware of Gaige asking after her, but was too busy dry-heaving. She struggled to lift her head and looked straight into the eyes of a monster.
It looked like a person who had been flayed of their skin. Strips of muscle rippled and pulsed. Veins and arteries throbbed in time with a heart beat. Through the pounding in her skull she heard the thing in front of her speak in Gaige's voice.
"Savannah? What's wrong? Are you hit?"
Savannah wanted to answer but a pink haze overwhelmed her vision and she slipped into unconsciousness again.
