Chapter 4 Wanderer
Jared stood shaking as he held the massive bag Silver gave him. He watched as Silver spoke to a merchant about the directions to The Republic of Dave. His eyes pinpointed every detail of the short strong built woman. Her phoenix red hair glistened in the sun as her dark almost black eyes sized up the man in front of her. He could tell she was on guard with the stranger. Her hand gripped the handle of her pistol, the man doing the same while they spoke.
"Just North of here ma'am. Just be careful, I heard there are groups of raiders up there." He eyed the tiny woman in front of him, as if he didn't think that this woman could survive on her own.
Silver let out a cold bitter laugh, her eyes gleaming with a slight amusement. "Sure, I'll be careful. Thank you for the directions." She walked over to Jared and pushed him on, the merchant watching them head north.
"Silver?" Jared looked at her with fear.
"What is it?" She mumbled as she dug in the bag for food for them.
"Look. Please." The fear rose in Jared voice as Silver snapped her head up from the bag. Three raiders about twenty yards from them stood watching them. The metal of the flame thrower in one of the raiders hands blinded Jared as Silver stood up.
"Either pick up a gun and fight, or run and hide. You choose." In her hand she held a .44 scoped magnum. "And be careful, there is never only three of these fuckers. So check your sides before you make any movement. But, you should know that, shouldn't you?"
Before Jared could even respond, Silver held her breath and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the gunshot deafened Jared and he took a couple of steps back. The explosion from the bullet hitting the tank of the Flame thrower made him collapse to the ground in agony, the drugs in his system not yet worn off. The raiders screamed on fire as Silver whirled around shooting into the forest of dead trees. The sounds of heavy bodies thumping hard onto the soil. The overwhelming sounds and movement made Jared black out cold on the ground, leaving him useless to Silver.
Jared felt the wetness of the ground around him, his eyelids too heavy to open his hands felt around the wet warm ground. He was in a puddle of some sort, smelt of copper. His eyes snapped open and he jerked his body up to sit. He looked around surrounded by blood, but it wasn't his. Jared stood up and looked around in the dark. The moist air told him that he was in a cave. He felt against the wall and slowly shuffled along the wall until he suddenly tripped over a large body mass.
"Silver?" He whispered as his eyes still haven't adjusted to the dark cave. Silver groaned in response. Jareds eyes focused on Silvers curled up form, she seemed to be shaking in pain.
"Are you okay? What happened?" He tried to sit her up but she hissed in pain.
"God let go, you jack-ass!" She collapsed back into her curled form, "I was shot in the stomach, I found us cover in this cave."
Jareds eyes widened, "Fuck, that means that's your blood. Where is your bag?" before she could answer he spotted the bag in the light of the cracked part of the ceiling in the cave. He dug through the large back until he pulled out some medical supplies.
"I'm going to need you to lay out." He whispered to her as he shook her. Obediently to his surprise she rolled over, belly facing the roof of the cave and lifted her shirt part way showing the graze of the bullet on her stomach.
Jared let out the air in his lung, "Only a graze...I'll fix you up and you'll be fine."
"My bag has stimpaks, that's all I need." Silver groaned softly as she held her small hand out for the syringe. Jared fumbled in the bag for a moment before pulling out two stimpaks and placing them in her hands.
She grunted as she plunged each of the long syringes under the skin of her stomach. Silver mumbled a thanks before tossing the syringes on the other side of the cave. Jared stood over he as she looked up at him.
"What?" She snapped as she sat up the wound slowing healing right before his eyes. "We still gotta job to do Jared, grab the bag and let's get going." Picking herself up off the ground she dusted herself off as Jared grabbed the bag of the cold cave floor.
"Jared give me that." Silver grumbled as she snatched the bag from his hands, then begun to dig through it. She tossed him the bag of pills and a bottle of water.
"Eat two now. I still don't trust you." Obediently he swallowed two white pills and instantly felt the effects of high sensitivity. With shake hands he handed the bag back to Silver and followed her back ut into the wastes, his guts in knots from the thought of him putting a child into slavery.