Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! I'm back! And the next updates should happen either within the next few days if I'm feeling generous, or at the very least on time next update. The next few chapters were actually written uh… months ago? These were the first I'd written for the story at all, mostly because it actually happened in my playthrough on Hardcore mode, leaving me to limp all the way to Novac while my companions kept me alive. It was a slow and torturous process and a learning experience since I found out only owned beds heal broken limbs on Hardcore mode. -.- Stupid Vipers.
Thank you for reading! And as always, review you like!
Thoughts about whether or not Boone could be the gunman at Cottonwood preoccupied Riley for the next few hours. She looked at what she knew. One, a girl died by sniper fire at Cottonwood, and she was pregnant. Two, Boone was a sniper, and his pregnant wife had been taken by the Legion. Just looking at it like that, it was easy to see why anyone might think it was him, but was she grasping at straws? Trying to force a connection when there wasn't one? Looking for answers when there were none to be had? She didn't even know when Carla had been taken, and had so far thought it tactless to ask.
Besides. The Legion enslaved hundreds, she told herself, and they went out of their way to get their hands on pregnant women, or women who'd already had children. The ability to reproduce successfully in the Wasteland, usually a daunting task with the radiation and lack of reliable medical services, was a commodity to the Legion. After all, it was better to raise Legionaries than to convert them.
She thought about asking Boone. It would be a simple thing to settle the matter. A yes or no and she could move on with her life. All she had to do was get Boone to give her intimate details on the matter of his wife's death. Easy, right?
She sighed. No. Dammit, no. He wouldn't even tell her about Bittersprings. Sure, they'd taken out the Legion at Nipton, but other than that all they'd done was hunt poorly armed convicts and geckos. One week of relative unimportant battle at Boone's side did not a bosom buddy make.
She was so preoccupied in her thoughts that she didn't realize where she was leading them until Boone pulled her up short. A quick glance around showed her they'd passed Nipton and instead of going through the hills like she'd meant to in order to save time, she'd just blindly followed the road and was now facing a winding concrete death trap littered with metal husks.
Shit.
"I don't like it." Boone's eyes scanned the hills above them. High hills and cliffs on both sides, with old vehicles littering the pavement around them. The road curved to the left, blocking visibility, which was already dismal in the dusky light. This was just asking for an ambush.
"Gotta admit, if I were a raider, this would be prime pickings," Cass whispered quietly. Riley couldn't help but agree, but the fact was they were losing light - backtracking to take their route through the hills wasn't really a viable option right now if they wanted to make Novac in good time.
"Eyes open," she murmured, moving forward. They picked their way through slowly, stepping lightly with weapons out. Riley cursed inwardly with every step, instinct telling her to turn around and find the route through the hills. They'd make a late arrival or they could camp in the hills, but that was better than bullet holes. If this was the army there wouldn't even be a discussion about it; walking into a probable ambush was just unprofessional and lazy and she wondered why Boone hadn't called her out on it before realizing that maybe - just maybe - he was trusting her to make the right decision.
Double shit.
She stopped in her tracks, grimacing while she argued with herself, before turning around to face her companions. They all watched her expectantly and she shook her head, lowering her weapon.
"Fall back," she said. "This is too high risk, let's not take chances."
There was a brief utterance of annoyance from Veronica, but Cass and Boone were in agreement. Riley gestured for them to turn around, taking up the rear herself. Boone waited for her.
"Good call," Boone fell into step beside her, and she smiled faintly.
"That's me," she said, "making good decisions since-"
The tell-tale warning beep of a frag mine broke her sentence and she froze, eyes wide. Before she could react, she felt Boone's hand close on the back of her rucksack, yanking her forward and throwing her to the ground. The mine exploded a second later, lifting the car a few feet in the air and landing it in flames. Chaos descended around them, Vipers started swarming down from the hills.
Riley coughed violently, the fall had winded her and she struggled to get up. Her sunglasses were in pieces on the concrete beneath her and she blinked rapidly while her eyes adjusted. Another hand closed around her wrist and dragged her unceremoniously behind cover. Boone again. He did a quick once over, checking her for injuries before handing her her assault rifle. "Support fire," was all he said before lifting his own rifle and taking aim.
The fight was wild. She'd managed to take out a few raiders, moving from Boone's cover to get a better shot. Veronica was holding her own with Cass providing support while the Scribe went to town. She had to admit, she definitely didn't want to be on Veronica's bad side. The girl could throw a mean punch. But it was Boone who took out eight raiders in nine shots. And nine only because he had to alter his aim to avoid hitting Veronica.
When the last raider fell the last of the sun was gone and night had descended. The only light now from the flames of the burning car behind her and the distant glow of New Vegas behind the hills. Riley waited, listening quietly while her eyes scanned their surroundings. The crackle of the fire was the only sound that greeted her and stillness prevailed in the darkness.
"Everyone okay?" Riley called out, lifting a hand to wave them over. Nobody moved, a general expression of horror stretched across their faces. A crack and a spark came from the flames and she turned just as Boone hollered and Cass cursed. The realization came too slow, and she had barely moved when the car exploded.
She was thrown back, slamming hard against the rusted hull of a derelict bus and crumpling to the ground. She must have fell out of consciousness, the next thing she knew Boone was hissing her name and shaking her shoulders to wake her. Pain ripped through her and she cried out, tears springing to her eyes as she lurched forward. She was vaguely aware of her companions crowding around her, their voices hushed and panicked while she sobbed and gasped through the pain.
"Don't move her!"
"Stimpaks? Grab the Med-X. Do we have any clean water? The burns needs to be washed."
"Get her pack off!"
Her cries got louder as they manoeuvred her into a sitting position, Boone bracing her against his own body while Cass tugged at the bag. She all but shrieked as the pain intensified. Her shoulder. Something was wrong with her shoulder. She couldn't move it like she normally could.
"Stop!" She sobbed. "Stop stop stop stop please-"
"Okay okay, just calm down," Cass ceased her tugging and gave Boone a wild look. "What do we do?"
"Cut the straps," Riley gasped. "I can't- my shoulder."
"What-" Cass started, stopping as Boone pulled a knife out of his boot. "Okay then."
"Not safe here," Boone said as he sliced through the straps of her bag. She sagged with relief at the loss of the weight. "That explosion will have attracted attention if there are more Vipers in the vicinity. We need to move."
"I don't think we should-" Veronica this time.
"We stay here we're gonna have another gun fight," he snapped, tossing her Riley's bag. "Get to safety first. Then treat her. Unless you want to treat bullet holes on top of burns."
There was no more arguing. She was lifted, strong arms supporting her beneath her knees and under her shoulders. Boone. They moved quickly, and while some still-functioning-logic centre of her brain told her to keep quiet, she couldn't control the cries of pain with every jostle as he tried to keep a brisk pace.
"Shut her up, she's going to bring the entire valley down on us!" Cass hissed.
Veronica was still fumbling with Riley's bag. "Boone, hold her still for a second." She tossed the bag at Cass and hurried over. She pressed the stimpak into Riley's shoulder, followed immediately with a Med-X. Riley sighed as the drugs washed over her, a pleasant numbing sensation reaching slowly outwards throughout her limbs. "There you go, happy drugs," Veronica crooned, as if to a child, smiling as Riley quieted.
"My shoulder," she managed to say. "Dislocated, I think."
"Oh, honey," Veronica moved hair out of Riley's face with a sympathetic smile. She looked up at Boone. "That ranch we passed on the way here. It's close."
"I remember it. Let's go." Shifting her in his arms, he picked up the pace.
She woke up to the sound of Veronica's off-tune humming. Riley hadn't noticed before - the volume of the radio was usually enough to override Veronica's singing - but as she was currently butchering Johnny Guitar like a brahmin at slaughter, it was apparent that she couldn't sing worth a damn. The Scribe was on the floor, cross legged, Riley's ruined bag and everything in it scattered around her on the floor as she tinkered with something in front of her. The room they were in was small, and had only ever been meant for one person by the looks of it. She was on the only bed, and she couldn't see Boone or Cass anywhere. Images of Cass leading Boone off to have her way with him had Riley suddenly very worried.
"Where's-" Riley croaked. Ugh, she sounded horrible. Veronica's head whipped around.
"Oh! You're up! We wondered how long you'd be out for. How ya feeling?"
Riley groaned.
"That good, huh? Well, unfortunately we're out of the happy drugs. Have more stimpaks than we can throw at a New Vegas hooker, though, so you should be okay."
She smiled faintly. "I'll live. Where's Boone and Cass?"
"Out scouting the area."
Oh. That she could deal with. She highly doubted Boone would let himself get distracted while scouting. Veronica continued.
"We took watches through the night in case we were followed. They're checking to see that we weren't." She plucked a bottle of purified water from Riley's bag and brought it over, uncapping it for her. Riley gulped it down gratefully.
"God that's good. Thanks."
"I take payment in cheap hookers. Since I'm playing nurse while the gunsome twosome are out prowling around, I'd say you owe me about three so far." She was digging in Riley's bag again, coming up with more gauze. She pulled the single chair in the room towards the bed and sat on it. "Alrighty. Let's check that dressing."
Riley sat up awkwardly, wincing. Her arm was strapped to her side and the movement made her shoulder twinge. The memory of Boone resetting her shoulder the night before made her pale. Cass had given her whiskey straight from the bottle and Veronica held her down while Boone slowly rotated her arm outwards. The pain of that was something she never wanted to relive. Her burns, thankfully, weren't as severe as they initially thought, though her shirt was ruined, scorched to hell. She had burns along the left side of her neck and shoulder that required ointment and dressing. She sat still while Veronica worked, only the occasional wince to break the silence.
Later, her burns freshly dressed and her sling adjusted, Riley sat against the wall on the bed and watched as Veronica went about cleaning her work area.
"What were you making?"
"Oh!" Veronica bent and picked up a tin can with something stuffed inside. Riley stared at it as familiarity kicked in.
"You're building explosives," she remarked flatly.
Veronica grinned. "I know you're sick of them after we went around hunting Powder Gangers all week, and then the mine last night. But I had to do something with my time. Boone said he wanted to stay here a few more days to give your shoulder time to heal and be ok for travel and then we'll head to the New Vegas Medical Clinic. They have Auto-Docs there and they can fix you right up. So if we're staying here a few days, I figured we should fortify the area at night so we can all get some sleep and-"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Riley lifted her good arm and waved it around. "Let's back up. Who says I can't travel now? My legs are fine. We can make Novac in a few hours."
Veronica bit her lip. "Well... yeah. Okay, good point. The three of us are enough to keep you covered, but you can argue with Boone on that. I'm staying out of it."
"Oh come on! At least back me up a little!" The door to the shack opened just then and Veronica whipped around, ready to fight.
"Back you up for what?" Cass grunted. Veronica sighed, relaxing, and then stared at the bag Cass was attempting to drag through the door. Blood was seeping out of it.
"Did you kill Boone?"
"Yep. Fucker talked too much."
Riley snorted with laughter and Cass grinned. "It's Bighorner."
"You shot one?" Veronica pouted. "What if it had a mom?"
"Everything has a mom. Shut up and help me lift this."
"Where is Boone?" Riley asked while the two girls worked together to move their supper onto the table. Cass huffed out a breath as she wiped her forehead with the back of her arm.
"There's a watch position up on the hill. It overlooks Viper territory towards Nipton, he's checking things out."
"What else did you guys find?" Veronica wrinkled her nose at the sack of meat and went back to cleaning her mess.
"Whole shit load of nothin', in my opinion. Little farm to the southeast. Town of Searchlight a bit farther than that but we didn't want to go too far. Stuck to the hills mostly. Found a herd of Bighorners. One of them charged at us," she gave a pointed look at Veronica. "So that's why we have supper." She sagged against the door frame, rubbing at her neck. "God damn I'm wiped out. And Boone ain't much for conversation, is he?"
Veronica and Riley laughed. "You get used to it," Riley smiled. "He says what he needs to."
"Um," Cass fanned herself with her hat, looking outside the door briefly to see if Boone was around. She lowered her voice. "We did find evidence of Legion in the area. But no telling how long since they've been here. Boone's been a little..."
Riley quieted. She could probably guess what Boone was being a 'little' of, and he probably wasn't too thrilled that her injuries meant they couldn't do anything about it either. "I'll talk to him." She pushed herself to the edge of the bed before stopping and looked around. "Um... I need a shirt."
"What? Now?" Cass asked. "Shouldn't you stay in bed?"
"I didn't injure my legs," Riley repeated, exasperated. "Can I borrow a shirt?"
Cass grinned. "What, you're saying you don't want to go talk to the hunky sniper in only a bra? He saw you in it last night when he set your shoulder back."
Riley narrowed her eyes while Veronica giggled. Cass held her hands up. "Okay, okay. Give me a second." She left, coming back with a blue plaid shirt. Riley snatched it with her good hand.
"Close the door, give me a hand putting this on." They moved to help her dress slowly - careful not to hurt her too much - and placed her arm back in its sling afterwards. Once she was buttoned up, she noticed Cass fighting back a smile.
"What?"
"Nothing. Plaid suits you. You're good to go." She moved aside and held the door open.
When she stepped outside in Cass' shirt, she looked around briefly, orienting herself. The sun hadn't reached anywhere near its zenith, and a glance at her Pip-boy placed the time at 9:34am. So she hadn't slept in as much as she'd originally thought.
She wondered if Boone thought otherwise, and looked around for him. The lookout was on the hill behind the shack, and she took a breath, bracing herself. She already knew what she was going to say, and made her way around the shack and up makeshift metal ramp when she noticed Boone already heading down towards her. He stopped when he saw her, mouth setting into what she was fast-learning was his 'disapproving' frown.
"You shouldn't be up." He finished descending and gestured for her to sit on a nearby crate.
"My legs are fine." She was starting to sound like a broken record, but she sat anyway.
Boone stared at her, waiting. "You need something?"
She lifted her hand and ran it through her hair, shaking the ends out and wishing briefly that she'd thought to comb it properly before coming out here. Her vanity would have to wait, however. "Wanted to talk. Cass mentioned you found signs of Legion." His jaw clenched and she sighed. "You wanna show me what you found?"
"Too far out. You're not going scouting with that injury."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay. You wanna tell me what you found?"
He shifted his weight, sighed, and launched into full report mode. "We left the ranch at oh-seven-hundred this morning. We did a preliminary sweep of the immediate area for threats and found none before branching out. Due east of here we found tracks and traces of used healing powder, scattered edged ordnance. Evidence of a fight. Tracks headed northeast as far as I could tell."
"Ordnance… Spears?"
"Yeah."
"How old were the tracks?"
"Hard to say. A few days maybe."
Riley sighed, running over what she knew in her head. Legion in the area, with her wounded, was not exactly what she'd call good conditions for travelling. Then again, they weren't exactly great conditions for sticking around either. She wanted to keep her promise to Boone and go after them, but she also had an obligation to get Cass to the Crimson Caravan. On top of that was her own completed job for McLafferty, the caps from which would top off her Vegas fund enough to get her inside the Strip and closer to getting that chip back.
She was starting to get a headache. Was this what her C.O. felt like? Having to decide a course of action every time something came up for multiple people was starting to feel like a very large and annoying chore. But still, a decision had to be made.
"We're making a push for Vegas," she decided.
"You shouldn't be travelling."
"Faster I get to a proper doctor, the faster I can pick up a weapon," she pointed out. Boone worked his jaw but didn't say anything. She sighed. "I made a bad call, leading us down that road. I'm paying the price for it, but it's not going to happen again. Just-" she stood up. "Just had to say that. We move out once we're packed and ready to go. And I am okay to travel."
"Okay."
She eyed him. "That's it? 'Okay'?"
"You want a lecture? Better get a move on if you want to make that push." He paused and considered her for a moment. "And you might want to find a better fitting shirt."
She blinked, watching as he walked back towards the shack. What the hell was that supposed to mean? She glanced down, heat rising to her cheeks as she realized that Cass' shirt was severely lacking in bust room. Her chest was straining against the buttons, leaving little to the imagination, and she'd sat there just chatting away as if her breasts weren't waving a huge 'Hey look at me!' sign.
Fucking Cass.
