I'm going to warn you now...this is a long one. Not only that, this chapter is highly unpleasant and contains a lot of adult material. More so than usual. You have been warned.

Turning Point

"Wait wait, you had sex with him?" Veronica asked, dumbfounded, as Layla gathered supplies from her room in the Lucky 38.

"Pretty much." Layla said casually, as she put a grenade rifle she'd recently bought into the bag.

"Less than half an hour after you met him?"

"Why does everybody mention that?" Layla asked in an annoyed tone, putting a lever action shotgun that she'd claimed from a dead fiend in the bag too.

"Then you agreed to venture to the Great Khan's camp and talk to their leader, just to get the Khans to help this guy?"

"That's about it." Layla put about 20 sticks of dynamite in the bag.

"So what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm getting supplies for the journey."

"I've got to ask...have you gone mad?"

"Are we still on the same subject?"

"Why are you doing all this for some guy you don't even know?"

"Because he can help me destroy the NCR." She put the last of her supplies into the bag and zipped it up. She tried to lift it but found that was strikingly heavy, even for her.

"When are you going to let this thing go already? We've got bigger things to worry about, like the fact that both House and Caesar are growing impatient. If one of them doesn't get the chip soon, then they may both come knocking." Layla gave up on trying to lift the bag, and sat down on the master bed.

"Veronica, you don't understand, this is really important to me. Destroying the NCR has been my life's goal since..." Layla suddenly stopped. She tried to carry on, but the words wouldn't leave her mouth.

"Since what?" Veronica had immediately caught on to Layla's hesitance to continue talking, and found her curiosity grow. Since what? What the hell happened? Veronica thought to herself. Only politeness and concern for her friend prevented he from speaking those words out loud. She could tell that whatever had happened had scarred Layla deeply.

"I don't want to talk about it." Layla said sadly, turning away from Veronica as she did so. Veronica was tempted to drop the subject, but her curiosity drove her onward.

"You can tell me." Veronica said kindly, sitting next to Layla on the bed and wrapping a supportive arm around her.

"I've never told anyone." Layla replied, not bothering to emote as the memories washed over her. "Not a single person. Not a living person in the world knows. Besides me."

"I'd like to know too." Veronica said softly. Layla smiled wanly, and looked up at her.

"You're sure you want to know? It's not a pretty story." Veronica nodded. "Okay then." Layla took a deep breath, before allowing herself to sink into her memories. "I was born to two Great Khans named Carl and Elisa." Layla said, remembering her parent's faces and feeling tears well up. As she wiped them away, Veronica asked the first of many questions she would ask over the course of this story.

"Wait...your parents are Great Khans?"

"Were." Layla said sadly, feeling the tears well up again. "I grew up in a Great Khan camp at Bitter Springs." Layla sank even further into memories, remembering the place where she'd spent most of her life. "I arrived there about a week after I was born, and didn't leave for 18 more years. That place wasn't just my home, it was my whole world. Everyone and everything I knew or cared about was at Bitter Springs. The camp we had there contained my entire knowledge of the world."

"It sounds like a great childhood."

"It was. I can't remember a time growing up where I wasn't happy. Growing up there was where I learnt everything I know. I learnt how to fight, how to swing a melee weapon, how to shoot someone in the face, and just about everything else you've ever seen me do. I owe everything I am to Bitter Springs, to the Great Khans, and to my parents. Of course, everything changed on my 18th Birthday." Layla's mind scanned her memories, and moved past the happy times of her childhood. It moved forwards, to where her life changed, to the turning point of her existence.

"What happened on your 18th birthday?"

"You mean besides becoming 18?" Layla said in a humourless tone. "I lost everything."

3 Years Ago

The moon hung in the sky as Layla and her father made their way through the Great Khan camp. She wore what she had heard other Khans call a wasteland wanderer outfit, which was basically a brown hooded sweatshirt with a white t-shirt underneath, white baggy trousers and brown boots. This was before Layla's hair had grown, and her striking red hair was small and boyish.

The camp was mostly just a large number of tents, but Layla had lived here her entire life. She knew every sound that you could hear in the camp, she knew the names of every single person who lived there, and as she and her father walked through the camp, she knew who lived in each and every tent they passed, as well as whether the inhabitants of each tent would be awake or not. It was nearly midnight, and she was certain that all the women and children in the camp would be asleep. Not the men however. All the men were waiting for her.

It was Layla's birthday, and so far it had been the best day of her life. She had been showered with gifts by her parents when she got up, and she had been waited on hand and foot all day. Layla had a lot of friends in the camp, and they made her feel like a queen. Now however, she was heading to what she was certain would be the best part of the day. She'd been waiting for this moment for ten years, ever since she'd first realised she enjoyed fighting.

She and her father passed the last of the tents in the camp, and walked to the camp's outskirts. There, there were a group of barrels arranged in a ring. The tops of the barrels had been covered with petrol and set ablaze, so that the ring stood out and to provide light for anyone who fought in it. This was the camp's arena. Granted it wasn't much, but it was a part of Layla's childhood, so it seemed perfect in her eyes. A large group of Great Khans stood by the ring of barrels that served as the arena, waiting for them.

"Evening Carl." A tall man said to Layla's father as they approached. Though the man was old, he was muscular, and Layla had heard he had a lot of combat experience. Despite his thuggish appearance however, he was known to be quite wise. Layla had been told to go to him if she ever needed advice, and she had done so on a few separate occasions. He wore a leather jacket with the Great Khan's insignia on the back, as did all the other Khans who stood with him.

"Good to see you Regis." Carl said as they reached the arena, shaking Regis' hand as he spoke. Carl wasn't quite as tall as Regis, but he was more muscular and an expert at close combat. He had short, blond hair and couldn't have been much over 30. He had the same grey eyes as Layla, and shared her enjoyment of combat. "I thought Papa Khan would be here?"

"Unfortunately he couldn't make it tonight. He's busy elsewhere. Is she ready?" Regis asked, looking at Layla as he spoke. "The initiation isn't to be taken lightly. I walked with a limp for a week after I had mine."

"She's as ready as it's possible to be." Carl said as he too looked at Layla, offering a reassuring smile as he did so.

"You do realise girl, that there's no going back after you agree to this?" Regis did not speak unkindly, he spoke truthfully. Regis had a reputation for being a highly logical man. He wasn't afraid to speak the truth, even if it angered others. "If you agree to the initiation, you won't be allowed out of that ring until you lose consciousness, or you're a Great Khan. Do you understand?" Layla nodded her agreement. She had never wanted anything in her life more than she wanted to become a Great Khan. Living with the Khans her entire life had given her a great admiration for them. She would do anything for the Khans, and greatly wanted to be one of them. Now that she was 18, she was allowed to take the initiation.

Regis was right about one thing: the initiation wasn't to be taken lightly. Layla would step into the arena, and then several Khans would enter too and administer a beating. If she survived the beating for a full minute without losing consciousness, then she would be a Great Khan. A very bruised Great Khan.

"Let's do this." Layla said enthusiastically. Regis smiled briefly, then motioned to the ring. Layla walked between the barrels and into the ring, and three Great Khans followed.

"Good luck sweetie." Her father said as she entered the ring. She cringed a little as she said 'sweetie'. It sounded wrong coming from him. Her mum was the only one who it sounded right coming from.

"Don't worry dad, I'll be fine." Layla smiled to her father, then prepared for the three Khans before her to attack. They never did.

"NCR!" Everybody turned to see where the voice had come from, and saw a Great Khan running towards the camp. A look of utter fear covered his face, which chilled Layla to the bone. She'd never seen a Great Khan scared before. Before anyone could wonder what the man was talking about, a gunshot rang through the valley. The Khan's head suddenly exploded, spraying blood and brains all over the ground. Layla recoiled at the sight, and tried desperately hard to resist the urge to vomit. It was the first death she'd ever seen. It wouldn't be the last. Seconds later, a small army of NCR troopers ran into the valley, firing at the camp as they did so.

"We're under attack!" Regis cried, drawing a 10mm sub machine gun as he spoke. "Carl, get the toughest Khans you can find and help me kill these bastards. The rest of you, protect the women and children." It was then that he remembered Layla. "You get back to your mother. Hide in your tent, and don't come out until we give the all clear." Before Layla could protest, an NCR soldier reached the arena. It was a short distance from the regular camp, meaning he reached it before the camp. Upon seeing a group of Great Khans standing by the arena, he aimed and fired with his service rifle. The shot blew a hole straight through the skull of one of the Khans that was going to beat up Layla for her initiation. He fell dead to the ground, and all the other Khans drew pistols and SMGs, before opening fire on the NCR soldier. The trooper was filled with bullets, and knocked flying backwards. "Move!" Regis shouted, and the Khans ran back to the camp, taking Layla with them.

"Be careful dad." She called back to her father as she ran.

"Don't worry kitten, I'll be fine." He smiled back at her, then made his own way back to the camp with Regis to gather reinforcements. The group of Khans arrived at the camp and immediately got into position to protect the non combatants. Layla meanwhile ran back to her tent, where her mother would be. After she'd left the group of Khans behind however, Layla saw a grenade sail over her head. She continued to run, and heard an explosion behind her, followed by several screams. She looked back as she ran, and saw that the Khans she'd left behind seconds before all lay dead. There were more combatants in the camp, but most of them had just died. What was worse, the sparks from the grenade had set one of the tents ablaze. The fire spread to all the other tents as Layla continued to run. By the time she reached the tent, the entire camp was ablaze and the NCR had begun fighting with the Khans who were defending the camp. It was pure anarchy, as bullets flew left and right and people dropped dead all around her. Layla burst into the tent as she reached it, and her mother quickly ran to her.

"Layla what's happening?" Her mother asked with concern. Elisa was about the same age as Carl, and was where Layla got most of her physical characteristics from. Layla had often been told by Khans that she looked like her mother and acted like her father. Elisa had shoulder length red hair, and pale skin, just like her daughter. As opposed to Layla's colourless grey eyes however, she had bright, vibrant blue eyes. She wore the same attire as most Great Khans, even though she wasn't really a combatant anymore. "Are you alright? Where's your father? What are those sounds outside?"

"The camp's under attack by the NCR." Layla said, her voice filled with fear. "Regis said to hide in our tent, but all the tents are setting on fire!"

"We'll head to the Longhouse." Elisa said, quickly taking command. The longhouse was where Papa Khan usually stayed when he was at Bitter Springs. He was the leader of the Khans, so was constantly moving between the various Great Khan encampments. When he wasn't there, the longhouse served as the makeshift town hall. The longhouse was fair less likely to set on fire than the tents, especially since it was an actual building, and too far from the tents for the fire to spread to it.

"Let's go." Layla replied, turning to leave the tent.

"Wait!" Elisa said, and turned to open a chest that they kept in the corner of the small tent. She lifted the chest's lid, and Layla was flabbergasted to see a large amount of guns inside it. "When I stopped fighting for the Khans, I stored all my guns in this chest." Elisa explained, before taking out a hunting revolver and a holster. She put the holster on her shorts, and put her revolver in the holster. She then threw Layla a cowboy repeater. "Do you know how to use this?"

"Yeah. Dad's been teaching me." Elisa then threw Layla a bandoleer filled with 357 magnum ammo, which Layla quickly used to load the rifle. Elisa took out another bandoleer, this one filled with 45-70 Gov't ammo, which she used to load her revolver, and put a grenade in her jacket pocket, just in case. They put the bandoleers around their waists and nodded to each other before leaving the tent.

*Later*

The journey across the camp was a long one, as they had to keep sneaking by NCR soldiers, and had to carefully avoid the crossfire as soldiers and Great Khans faced off. If Layla had learned one thing from her mother, she knew it had been stealth.

"We're almost there now sweetie." Elisa said reassuringly as they snuck past another NCR soldier and across the camp. Before they made it however, an NCR soldier suddenly burst out in front of them.

"Shit!" Elisa said, reaching for her revolver as she did so. Layla reached for her cowboy repeater too but it was no use, the soldier already had his weapon drawn. He pointed his service rifle at Layla and Elise, clearly debating whether or not to shoot them. Before he could come to a decision, a gunshot rang out and a bullet flew straight through the soldier's skull. He fell dead to the ground, just as Carl ran up to Layla and her mother.

"Thank God you're both safe." Carl said, hugging his family as he did so. "But what are you doing out here?"

"We're heading to the longhouse." Elisa replied.

"Good idea. Tell any non combatants you meet to join you there. We'll hold out there until the NCR runs out of soldiers."

"Can't we leave through the valley?"

"It's no good, the NCR has snipers out there, 1st recon I think. I tried to lead a group of non combatants out of there a few minutes ago, but they were slaughtered a few seconds after we left the camp."

"My God." Elisa said, her eyes and her voice filled with horror. "Why would the NCR attack non combatants?"

"Because they're bastards, that's why." Carl spat on the corpse of the NCR soldier he'd killed moments ago. "Regis is defending a group of non combatants on the other side of the camp. I've got to go over there and back him up."

"Be careful." Elisa said in a concerned tone, hugging her husband as she spoke.

"You too." He said softly, before breaking the hug. "Kill a couple of NCR bastards for me kitten." He said to Layla, before running off to join the battle. Tears filled Layla's eyes as she and her mother ran to the longhouse. They wouldn't be the first tears she shed today.

They finally reached the longhouse a minute later, and they quickly burst in, only to see two NCR soldiers and a ranger waiting for them. The NCR personnel weren't alone however. The longhouse was littered with Great Khan corpses, combatants and innocents alike. Layla saw a little girl in the corner of the room, slumped against the wall with a bullet hole in her forehead. She would've thrown up right then and there, if their loud entrance hadn't caught the attention of the NCR personnel that had turned the longhouse into the site of a massacre. The NCR soldiers turned to face her, both wielding service rifles. The ranger turned to face her a few seconds later.

He looked to be in his late thirties, and wore the standard ranger attire along with a ranger cowboy hat. He had cold, piercing brown eyes, and was currently smoking a cigar. He had short brown hair with hints of grey, and a small amount of stubble on his chin. Elisa drew her hunting revolver blindingly quickly, but the ranger was quicker. He drew a 12.7mm pistol and fired. The bullet blew off several of the fingers on Elisa's right hand, and caused her to drop the revolver. She screamed in pain, and the ranger laughed before rushing towards her and pistol whipping her to the floor. Layla tried to draw her cowboy repeater but was far too slow. The soldiers drew their service rifles first, and forced Layla to surrender.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The ranger said, sneering as he walked up to Layla. "Two lovely ladies. Tell me, what are you two lovely ladies doing with these savages?"

"Go fuck yourself." Layla said defiantly, eliciting a laugh from the ranger. The laugh was mocking but brief, and when it finished he struck Layla with great force. The slap resonated across the interior of the longhouse, and knocked Layla to the floor. The ranger picked up her cowboy repeater, before throwing it to one of his soldiers. The soldier held on to the weapon, while the ranger walked up to Elisa.

"You savages should be thanking us. The NCR is doing you a big favour by wiping this piece of shit camp off the face of the earth." He spat onto the floor of the longhouse to emphasise his point. "I wouldn't take a shit in a camp like this."

"Why are you doing this?" Elisa asked, getting to her feet and staring the ranger in the eye. "What did we ever do to you?"

"You mean besides spawn more savages?" He slapped Elisa quickly and suddenly, but she managed to stay on her feet. "A feisty one. You'll be fun."

"We never did anything to you!" Layla said to the ranger angrily. "We're not even combatants!"

"You think I give a shit?" He approached Layla again. "It doesn't matter whether you're fighting or not. As long as you're one of these idiotic savages, you're fair game."

"You think this is a game?" Elisa yelled at the ranger, and he turned to face her. "You're murdering civilians! Innocent people!"

"I know." He said with a grin as he moved back to Elisa and kneed her in the stomach. "It's fun." Elisa fell to her knees, spitting blood.

"Mum!" Layla angrily rushed the ranger, fists bared, but he calmly spun around before punching her in the face. The single blow knocked Layla to the floor, blood pouring from her nose. "You bastard!" She yelled, and the ranger emitted more mocking laughter.

"I love it when you ladies play hard to get." He grabbed Elisa by the throat, and lifted her to her feet. He then used his other hand to feel her chest, and Layla turned away in disgust. "Nice." He said, then pushed Elisa into a nearby desk. "Your daughter's younger, but you've got a nicer body, so you'll go first." Before Elisa could question what she was 'first' for, the ranger bent her over the desk. Layla's jaw hung open like a trap door as the ranger pulled down his trousers.

Now

Veronica looked as shocked as Layla had that day. Her face was a mask of horror, and she looked at Layla in disbelief.

"He raped her?" She asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"And he made me watch." Layla said sorrowfully, tears running down her cheeks as she spoke." Veronica couldn't look Layla in the eyes, and so her eyes drifted across the room.

"My God." Veronica said as her mind thought over what Layla had told her.

"I told you it wouldn't be a pretty story." Layla looked at Veronica, wiping the tears from her eyes as she spoke. "Do you want to hear the rest?" Veronica wasn't sure he wanted to know what happened next, but her curiosity wouldn't let her refuse. She had to know the whole story, and nodded her head to tell Layla to continue.

3 Years Ago

The ranger threw Elisa to the floor upon finishing with her, and pulled his trousers back up. The rangers had been watching Layla as it had gone on, making sure she didn't escape. Elisa began to weep as the ranger turned to Layla.

"You're next." He started to walk towards her. Since everybody was focused on Layla, nobody saw Elisa grab a letter opener from the desk with her one good hand desk and get to her feet. She rushed the ranger, and he turned around to see her slash his face with the letter opener.

"BITCH!" He yelled, recoiling in pain from the bloody gash she'd left on his face. She quickly grabbed his 12.7mm pistol from its holster before pistol whipping him, knocking him to the floor. The 2 NCR soldiers readied their weapons, but Layla quickly rushed over to them. She tackled the first to the floor, and began to viciously punch him in the face. The second soldier stared at her in stunned bewilderment, and Elisa used this opportunity to shoot him in the face with the 12.7mm pistol. Layla punched the soldier again and again, until her hands hurt and her knuckles were stained with blood. The soldier's slow breathing told her that he was still alive, annoyingly, but he was clearly barely conscious. Layla turned her attention away from the soldier and looked at her mother.

"Quick, let's get out of here!" Layla said urgently. Before Elisa could reply however, the ranger pulled a combat knife out of a secret compartment in his boot and stabbed Elisa in the gut. Layla stood open mouthed as the ranger got to his feet, and Elisa fell to her knees with blood seeping from her wound.

"That was fun." He said with a sneer, ripping his 12.7mm pistol from Elisa's grip as he did so. His hand went to the cut on his face, and came back covered with blood. "Just for that, I'm going to cut you up too. When I'm done with you, even your own daughter here won't recognise you."

"Her daughter isn't going to let that happen!" Layla said in a threatening tone, getting to her feet as she did so before snatching the soldier's service rifle and pointing it at the ranger's head.

"Don't make this harder on yourself girl. Drop the gun." There was not even a small amount of fear in the ranger's voice, as though he was certain that Layla could not harm him in the slightest. Layla desperately wanted to wipe the smirk off his face, and did so by firing the service rifle. Her aim was off however. She didn't get the clean headshot she'd been hoping for. Instead, she blew the man's right ear clean off. He screamed in pain as pieces of his ear fell to the floor, and quickly held Elisa in front of him like a human shield. "YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING PAY FOR THAT YOU WHORE!" Before Layla could come up with a clever comeback (She was unsure as to whether he'd hear it anyway, having only 1 ear), the ranger fired his 12.7mm pistol. Layla had never been shot at before, and had no idea how to dodge. The bullet blew a hole through her shoulder, and knocked her flying to the floor.

"Layla!" Elisa cried, blood still pouring out of her chest from the stab wound.

"She isn't dead." The ranger said with a sadistic grin on her face. "She's not going to die until she watches me cut you up." He then burst into another stream of mocking laughter. Layla struggled to get to her feet, the pain in her shoulder was too intense. Layla looked sadly into the eyes of her mother, and saw a fierce, determined gaze staring back at her. The ranger was so caught up in his laughter, that he didn't notice Elisa's hand move towards her jacket pocket. She pulled out the grenade she'd put there earlier, and said something that Layla would never forget for the rest of her life.

"I'm already gone Layla. Don't ever forget me." With that, Elisa pulled the pin out of the grenade and armed it. The ranger finished laughing just in time to see this, and his cocky expression disappeared.

"I am really getting sick of you!" He said angrily, before throwing her to the floor and bolting away. He didn't make it three steps however before Elisa grabbed his leg. The grenade lay on the floor next to her.

"RUN!" Elisa cried. Relying purely on adrenaline, Layla got to her feet, and did something she'd never forgive herself for. She ran. She ran like she'd never ran before. She put all the strength she had left into her legs and ran towards the longhouse's windows, then jumped.

The grenade chose that second to explode. Layla jumped out of the window, spraying glass everywhere just as the grenade detonated. There was a massive boom that all but deafened Layla, and a shockwave that served to push her through the window faster. She landed in a heap outside the longhouse, every part of her body hurting. She was covered with cuts and bruises from jumping through the window, and her shoulder ached from where the bastard ranger had shot her. She was completely exhausted, and could barely feel anything. Worst of all however, was her emotional pain.

She just managed to get to her feet, and turned to look at the longhouse. Smoke billowed out of the now broken windows, and Layla could see flames inside. Mum. Layla thought to herself, distraught. I'm so sorry. Tears ran down her face and she fell to her knees, starting to cry. No. She thought with determination. There'll be time to mourn later. I have to find dad. She got to her feet again, and cast her eyes over the camp. Or what was left of it.

Every tent was now either ablaze or burnt down, and some of the NCR had used the flames to start bonfires, on which they piled countless corpses. She didn't see a single Great Khan nearby, only NCR soldiers searching for survivors. Either the Khans escaped, or... Layla didn't think about that, instead she thought about how she was going to find her father. As it happened, she didn't have to look very far to find him. She heard a loud gunshot, and heard an NCR trooper cry out in pain as a bullet passed through his windpipe. She looked to the end of the camp, which was possible to see now that most of the tents had burnt down, and saw her father. He was wielding a light machine gun. She had no idea where he'd got it from. She snuck as close as she could get without being spotted, and saw her father gunning down several NCR troops. They used the smoke from the burning tents and bonfires to hide as Carl unloaded with the LMG, an expression of pure hatred on his face.

"YOU BASTARDS!" He yelled, his voice so loud it could even be heard over the roar of the LMG. "YOU KILLED EVERYONE!" He continued to fire fully automatically, spraying bullets to every corner of the camp. "YOU FUCKING MURDERERS!" That was the last thing Layla ever heard her father say. She had no idea where the bullet had come from, but a bullet hole suddenly appeared on Carl's forehead. A look of shock covered his face as the bullet flew out the other side of the skull, leaving a gaping hole in his head and his brain. He dropped the LMG as blood poured from his wound, and fell dead to the ground. Overwhelming grief filled Layla as she watched the last of her family die before her very eyes. It took every single ounce of self control she had to avoid running to her father, and alerting all the NCR.

"I think that's the last of them." One of the NCR soldiers had spoken, as he walked up to Carl's corpse.

"You sure?" A second soldier stood a few feet away from the first, not wanting so see the body.

"Yeah, the others are either dead or they ran away. Call command and tell them we're done here." The soldier suddenly unzipped his trousers, and Layla felt a pang to her heart as the soldier urinated on her father's corpse. She began to shake with rage, and could think of nothing more than ripping the soldier's head off. She knew however that if she did that, the other soldiers would see her. Dad had no chance. You won't either. She looked around for somewhere to hide, and saw the most horrific thing she'd ever seen in her life.

To her utter disgust, she saw that the NCR soldiers had thrown all the corpses that had been on the bonfire into one large pile. The mountain of the scorched dead towered above her, and she realised that everyone she'd ever known was in that mountain. All her friends and loved ones, the people that had defined her life. That's when she vomited. She stood there for about a minute, throwing up everything she'd had to eat that day. When she finished, she wiped her mouth and sprung into action.

The next morning

The NCR didn't stay in Bitter Springs for long. Once they'd killed everyone and burnt the place to the ground, there was no reason to stick around. They spent the night cleaning up and disposing of the last of the bodies, then left early in the morning, but not before taking everything that wasn't nailed down. As the sun rose over the Mojave, the NCR walked out of Bitter Springs, leaving the corpse piles to rot in the sun. Beneath one of those corpse piles, was an 18 year old girl with short red hair, covered in blood, cuts and bruises. There was a large gash on her head, probably from broken glass, and she looked like she'd been through Hell. Probably because she had.

The second that Bitter Springs descended into silence, Layla squirmed out of her hiding place. She wrapped her arms around herself as she remembered last night. She'd spent the rest of the night hiding in that corpse pile, and that was and always would be the most unpleasant experience of her life. She'd been unimaginably cramped in that pile, with burnt corpses pressing against her from every direction. She'd been almost unable to breathe, and had she been claustrophobic she knew she would've gone mad. As it turned out, the smell had nearly driven her mad instead. All night she'd had the corpses pressing against her, the smell of their burnt flesh had filled her nostrils. She'd been unable to escape it, and it was the worst smell imaginable.

Her hiding place had worked though. The NCR soldiers hadn't gone near the mountain of bodies after burning them, and generally tried to stay as far away from it as possible. Occasionally they'd throw another corpse onto the pile, but that was the only time they went anywhere near it. On closer examination they probably would've found Layla, but who wanted to examine a pile of corpses closely? Layla fell to her knees and vomited again as she remembered the horrible night. When she could vomit no more, Layla cried. She let out all the grief she'd locked away last night, and let the sadness wash over her. She knelt in the middle of what had used to be her home, and cried.

Now

Veronica moved away from Layla as the story neared its end, a look of absolute shock covering her face. Layla continued.

"That came to be known as the Bitter Springs Massacre, and was the NCR's biggest disgrace. Nobody gave a shit though. Nobody ever punished the NCR for it, nor were their soldiers punished for slaughtering countless innocents. It was my turning point, the day I stopped being apathetic about the Great Khan's grudge against the NCR and began to hate them. Hate them more than anything else in the world."

"I don't believe it." Veronica said in stunned awe, the disbelief visible on her face.

"Believe it. Only a few Khans survived. None of them were non combatants. All the innocents were killed, and the NCR didn't give a shit."

"What did you do then?"

"After that? Well, I couldn't stay in Bitter Springs any longer. The NCR had taken the belongings of everyone there, so there was nothing for me to take. I left Bitter Springs, and I've never been back since." Yet another tear ran down Layla's cheek, and she didn't bother to wipe this one away. "I spent the next few years travelling. Occasionally I'd do bounty hunting jobs to hone my skills, and all the while my hatred for the NCR grew. I'd kill an NCR official every so often, but never enough to draw attention to myself.

"I remember my first kill happened a few months after I left Bitter Springs. I was in Primm, and I heard an NCR soldier going on about how many 'drug dealing scumbags' he'd killed at Bitter Springs. When he went into an alley to have a piss, I followed him and beat him to death with my bare hands. It was the first time I'd felt happy since that night.

"After 2 years of travelling and bounty hunting, I found work as a courier. It paid well and was fairly easy, so I kept the job for another year. Then I got shot in the head, and all this crap started." Layla lay back on the bed as she finished her story, and an uneasy silence filled the room.

"I'm sorry." Veronica said after a while. "I had no idea something like that could've happened."

"Of course you didn't." Layla said seriously. "The NCR did their best to cover it up."

"If I'd known what had happened, I wouldn't have argued. You have every right to hate them."

"You're damn right I do." Layla sat up, then got to her feet and picked up the heavy bag. "So are you going to help me?" Another uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"I don't know." Veronica said. "You're asking me to go to war here. I don't know if I can." Layla didn't respond. She simply turned her back to Veronica and left the room. A few seconds later, Veronica heard the elevator doors open, then close. Me and my damn curiosity. She thought ruefully.

What's this? A sad ending? Trust me, I'm just as surprised as you are. I apologise for just how dark this chapter is. It depressed me when I was writing it, but hopefully you'll like it more. Reviews are appreciated as usual.