Mojave Wasteland
September 24th 6:03 pm
2267
Sydney casually carried her eyes from one end of the landscape to another, passing her company by until she stopped and returned it to Rem when she noticed something odd about the way he sat. Perhaps it was because of the armor, but he looked frozen in place, his head turned towards one direction and one direction alone. His rifle sat in his arms with such placidity, his feet never shifted, and his duster didn't even flicker at the behest of the wind. She couldn't help but wonder what was going through his head.
She surveyed him for a few solid moments when suddenly, the light passed away. It went in a fleeting fade that left them with the darkness of night resting atop their shoulders, and it wasn't until then that Rem moved. His chin tilted ever so subtly and his foot, which was placed atop the same rock he was seated on, moved and pressed its sole firmly against the ground. Then, he stood up onto his feet and turned his head straight to Sydney, who in turn leaned forward and stood as well.
Everyone else stirred, too. Stanley lifted his shoulders and rolled them forward, and then whipped his head side to side, cracking his neck audibly. Reddick had been standing the whole time, but he did turn to face them, and to convey that he was prepared, he stepped into their circle and waited for instructions.
Stanley, on the other hand, turned his eyes from Rem to Sydney repeatedly and spoke, "Hegh, finally."
"Everyone remember my instructions?"
Reddick offered up a nod, and so did Sydney. Theo and Shannon both sat in place, watching things transpire until Rem turned to Stanley. The Desert Ranger's eyes were like an arctic chill that caused him to freeze in place.
"Uh-huh. I remember," he answered after an uneasy pause.
Rem nodded, "Awright." When he turned to leave, he made sure to add to it, "Yer with me."
Instantly, Stanley didn't appreciate the tone. From what he read in the atmosphere, it sounded like he was taking it upon himself to keep the trouble maker of the group under control.
Stanley moved away, cleared his nose audibly and spat snot to his right. Then he began a calm strut towards the bungalow until Rem called out to him again, "Not that way. We're gonna go around that thang."
In response, he stopped and breathed out his frustration before turning around and following after Rem. As he passed by in front of Reddick, the young man offered up a mischievous grin, shaking his head until he went by. Sydney, upon watching them walk away, stood and headed for the vantage point that she had chosen well ahead of time and laid down on her stomach.
"Keep yer comms open, Sydney, and wait fer my mark."
"Right."
While Rem and Stanley put more and more distance between them, she studied the bungalow they were assaulting and began counting heads. Then, once she had a number, she began searching the areas surrounding the focal point of their assault in case any of them had wandered off, and found nothing. She wasn't surprised.
The desert was typically known as a place where the heat was unbearable, but surprisingly, the nights were equally as harsh. Not because of how hot it was, but because of how cold it could get. Those Khans were already looking to move inside, start fires, and get ready for the night. Meanwhile, two guards remained outside, covered in thick fur coats.
Reddick stood by her, not saying a word until Sydney finally did, "It's your job to keep an eye on our surroundings. If we get jumped by Nightstalkers or by a Legion raiding group, you'll be held responsible."
"Alright," Reddick answered, turning around to take a look. His gaze stopped right atop Shannon, who tugged back on the roof of her pistol and let it snap back into place. "I'll help," she declared while the shine of determination flickered in her eyes.
Sydney settled into position after that, and her muscles relaxed. Her breath poured out from her mouth, her chest deflating, and then her scope stopped trembling. She found herself feeling glad that she wasn't the one to deal with Stanley.
Irene's chin dipped down, watching with a pair of dimly lit eyes. Then, her mouth opened, and she tilted her head back, blanketing her view with her eyelids and releasing a breath of pure pleasure. She was leaned up against a desk with her pants down to her knees and her shirt lifted up over her rousing breasts. Below her was Maggie.
While Irene dug through her black hair, her eyes turned to the right side of the tattered office they were in, glancing at the door that was just slightly cracked open. She could see shadows walking by outside. It didn't bother her that the Khans there knew what was going on.
"Ungh yes, how's that taste?"
She tilted her head to one side and continued looking down until Maggie returned the glance, smiling an immoral smile, granting Irene what she wanted to see before she closed her eyes again and bit down with only her supple lips. The sounds of that working in unison with her tongue to please her captured her in every sense. This was the most relaxed, the most ecstatic moment of her day, and she didn't fail to savor every second of it.
The two of them were lost in the moment like a lonely star in the vast emptiness of outer space when they heard a jarring sound explode into the bungalow and into their ears.
Maggie twitched, startled, and Irene's eyes intensified instantly while the Khans outside yelled.
"What the fuck was that?!"
"Oh fuck, they got Jerry! They got him! They're fucking sniping us!"
Irene pulled her pants up and lowered her shirt. Maggie stood up fully, wiped her hand across her mouth and began clothing herself in a rush. Then, another shot erupted through the Mojave.
"Damn it!"
Some of the Khans took cover and others poured out from the bungalow, looking around them, wondering where they were being fired at from. The assault continued. The next bullet shook them and just like that, a third Khan hit the dirt. Blood was seeping through the hole in his chest as he lay there, writhing, holding his wound with the flat of his hand before he looked around for his friends. The desperate expression on his face failed to garner any real attention.
"Where the fuck is it coming from!?"
A fourth thunderclap occurred and out of all the Khans, Matt, who wore the glorious blonde Mohawk, was the only one who felt anything upon his body aside from the way the sound of the shot vibrated him. His head whipped back and by the time he landed, he was already dead, his eyes staring sidelong listlessly.
"Get inside and take cover you fucking idiots!"
Irene's voice cut through the chaos and gathered them all up. None gave a second thought before they complied. All of them turned and dashed madly for the entrance. Three Khans went through the door stacked together and when another rifle round tore through the air, all three of them fell to the floor.
Sydney took in a quick breath and bit her bottom lip, watching as those three Khans rolled out of the door's venue to take cover. They wouldn't last long regardless. By then, most of her targets had fallen back into the bungalow, just like Rem said they would, and now it was time to start aiming through windows.
There, she found one young man, likely not far from his mid teens, and hesitated to pull the trigger. Her finger was pressed against the surface of it and her scope kept moving to align his face with the middle of her cross hairs.
A moment later, he lifted his pistol and held it where she could see it. Seeing that boy with a weapon in hand was enough to push her into a decision. She squeezed the trigger and after the shot spewed forth and tore through his flesh, jettisoning brain matter into the wall behind him, she kept squeezing it, tightening her hand in regret. Not because she had killed a man so youthful, but because it was unfortunate that someone so young was already so corrupted.
Then again, maybe, with another chance, he could have changed.
"How many did yew git, Sydney?"
Rem's voice brought her back to place, and her finger stopped squeezing the trigger.
"Eight. Three of them might not be dead yet."
"Good work."
Reddick could hear what Sydney was saying as he kept an eye out. By then, his fingers were twitchy. He was ready to get that blood that the Desert Ranger promised on his hands. The feeling only intensified each time he looked at Theo. He wanted to avenge every bruise and every scratch.
"Awright. Yew can start gettin' closer, just make sure yew fire a random shot at the bungalow every now and then so they ain't aware that there's a lull in the assault."
"Understood."
Sydney pushed herself up to her feet and turned to Reddick, "We're on. Let's go."
"Fuck yes," Reddick replied. He heard Shannon standing up behind him and turned around. "Stay here, Shan. Take care of Theo."
Her brief expression of defiance was imprisoned when he furrowed his eyebrows tighter, "Alright?"
"Fine. Whatever."
By the time he turned, he saw Sydney jogging away and he started running after.
"Slither through all the damn cover like a snake, awright Sydney? I don't want 'em seein' yew comin'."
The whole time, she had been so focused, so tensed by the assault that when she found something amusing, it came as a surprise. She released a breath and laughed just under it.
Rem's face contorted at what he heard.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, Rem." She took a moment to cast away the thought and continued, this time with a firmer tone, "I read you."
"Awright."
"How's it going with the wastelander?"
"Tame."
Sydney stopped and lowered behind an old Highwayman when the Khans started firing wildly out their windows. No rounds bounced off of the vehicle she was taking cover behind. That was how she knew none of them had seen her and Reddick yet.
Irene kept low as she moved around the bungalow. Eventually, she came across three men who were being tended to after being shot through the mid torso area. Unfortunately for them, the medical treatment didn't go any farther beyond applying cloth and pressure to stunt the bleeding.
"Give me some damn med-x!"
Irene muttered out, "No! Your ass is as good as dead. We're not wasting it on you."
"What?!"
Connor, one of the Khans who had been shot tightened his mouth and drew a pistol. Before he could point it at Irene, Maggie pulled the trigger. After watching Connor's head whip to the side and blood trickle down the side of his head, she paused. Her stomach sunk.
"Good job, Mags," Irene encouraged. "Fucking asshole was going to kill me."
She reached forth and yanked the guns away from the other two men who were wounded.
"Stay the fuck here and wait for us to be done. After that, we'll see what we can do about this."
None of them said a thing, but the terrified looks on their faces said it all. There was a sliver of disdain there, but they were too intimidated to act upon it.
"Hasn't anybody seen the fucking muzzle flash!?"
The questioned was put forth just as Sydney fired another suppressive shot at the bungalow. The Khans scurried about like ants, desperately searching for a crack to slip under, but found little.
"Well!?" Irene asked again.
"No! Fuck! Nobody has seen a damn muzzle flash!"
"We're up, Stanley. No mockin' 'em, ya hear?"
Stanley didn't answer. He just propelled himself forth right behind the Desert Ranger.
Rem emerged from behind cover and started approaching the bungalow while keeping low to the ground. He kept the barrel of his rifle trained on the windows that were facing him, and he could see shadows moving around inside.
"We're comin' up on 'em. We'll move to the window on our right and fire at whatever's inside until they're dead, or behind cover."
Finally, one of Rem's orders drew a sense of satisfaction from him. Popping up and firing his shotgun wildly was just what he needed to elevate his mood again.
Upon reaching the window, Rem popped his head in just as one of the Khans turned to see him. The black helmet, the green visors, and the rifle brought forth memories immediately. It was the bastard who traded the recipe for those hostages.
"Oh fu- - "
Before he could finish his scream, Rem pulled the trigger on his repeater. The disastrous round splattered his face and left a gaping hole there. Stanley came in and pointed his shotgun in through the window as well and started firing, pumping his shotgun after every round.
"Die die die!"
Four Khans went down before the others finally got behind cover.
The others in the bungalow were easily able to differentiate that last volley of bullets from the sniper rifle that had been set loose upon them. These sounded much closer, and they could tell in which direction it had happened.
Before Irene could ask anything, one of them yelled, "It's the fucking Desert Ranger! It's that asshole who traded the damn recipe! Martin, Brad, Franklin, and Johnny are out, man!"
Maggie stopped to think when she heard the word Desert Ranger.
The statement entered Irene's thought process and finally, fear set into her. That Ranger, from the way he sounded, was very coordinated. Her Khans were tough, she knew, but they weren't so tactical, and at this point, she had lost more than half her staff.
"Everyone fucking take cover and just wait for them to come at us!"
"We can't just fucking sit aro- - "
"I said take cover and wait for them to come. Kill the lights!"
Sydney, at that point, reached another vantage point that she had picked ahead of time and climbed to it using a ladder. Reddick paused.
"What? We're not going inside?"
"No."
"But what the fuck. I want to kill some of them."
"Get up here and cover me."
"You know what? Fuck you!"
Sydney turned and watched him run straight for the bungalow. She almost yelled for him to stop but concluded that if she did, she would give away her position.
"Rem, Reddick's gone rogue on me. He's not following orders."
"Where is he now?"
"Running straight for the bungalow."
"Fuckin' idiot's gonna git himself killed."
Rem stopped and turned to Stanley.
"Reddick ain't payin' my orders no mind. He's rushin' the bungalow."
"And what the fuck do you want me to do? It's about time we started saying to hell with you."
Stanley pushed past and began yelling, "You fucking savages are all going to die!"
Rem's eyebrows tightened beneath the helmet, knowing full well that all Stanley was doing was giving away his position when surprise was on their side. Two thoughts crossed his mind just then. One was to smack him down and tell him to get it together, and another was to leave him to his fate.
The latter sounded like the wisest thing he could do. He didn't want to end up being shot down for that idiotic wastelander's mistake.
Reddick, after hearing Stanley's voice, felt the fire inside intensifying and shooting up into the air like an explosion. "Kill 'em all, Stan! Kill all these bastards!"
Irene, inside, turned her head in both directions the voices were coming from and finally felt some confidence. She pointed at one of her Khans and then at a window. He nodded firmly and moved to it just in time for Reddick to stick his gun through it.
The Khan didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on his submachine gun. The automatic hail of bullets sounded off seemingly in unison with Reddick's scream of pain. When the Khan popped out from the window to put Reddick, who was now on the ground writhing, away for good, Sydney squeezed the trigger and put a round right in his chest. The deep impact of it caused the Khan to whip his arm aside and miss his target.
Meanwhile, Reddick screamed in pain.
"Stan! Oh god, help me! They got me!"
Rem grunted out his irritation as he slipped into the bungalow through one of the windows. Immediately, he went up to the wall next to the door that led out of that room and peeked out. There, even in the darkness, he saw the Khans hiding under the windows, waiting for another victim. Eventually, his eyes came across something that pulled his attention in like a vacuum.
Irene, the one with the spiky hair, who was the leader of the group lay there against the wall with a pistol nestled in her hand.
Slowly, he turned into the doorway and stuck the barrel out, aiming it right at her before he squeezed the trigger. The shot exploded forth, the muzzle flash lit up the dark room, and Irene's shoulders jumped as a round sent debris flying into her face after it collided with the wall next to her.
Rem tightened his grip on the rifle and turned his head down to look at the Khan that he hadn't seen, and the moment that he laid eyes on her, his body paused. He watched as Maggie tried to yank the rifle from his hands to no avail.
"Maggie?"
Hearing her name called caused her to stop. Her eyes widened just slightly.
"What the hell are yew doin' here?"
In one fell swoop, the memories from her childhood flooded into her mind in the span of one painful moment, and she recognized the accent.
"Why the hell are yew with these damn Khans?"
He turned his head when he heard steps running to his direction. Maggie did the same, and before Irene stepped in, Rem moved his hand to his sidearm and drew it from its holster. Irene walked right into a bullet, followed by four more that peppered her upper chest. Maggie's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, bellowing, releasing all of her emotional pain as Irene eased into the ground.
"Irene!"
After she let go of his rifle and lowered onto her knees beside her leader, who coughed up a flow of blood, Rem watched them.
"They got Irene! Bastards got Irene!"
One Khan ran out the front entrance in a panic. Before he could get very far, Sydney chased him down with her scope and pulled the trigger. The Khan fell to the floor face first and lay there writhing.
Stanley finally saw a good opportunity and stormed into the bungalow. There, he found one Khan looking out the window. The terrified look on his face was the most satisfying thing he had seen all night.
"Hey," he called, and ejected a shell full of shotgun pellets straight into his face. The blood that burst forth made him sneer.
Irene writhed on the ground, staring up at Maggie while the young woman cried and rubbed her face. "No, Irene, don't go," Maggie begged. Irene's eyes relaxed, and as the life faded away from her body, leaving her motionless, so too did the chaos around them reach a calm.
The pain of Irene being dead didn't strike until she lied there, unmoving. The sadness of it slowly but surely turned to anger, and so suddenly, she snatched Irene's pistol out of her hand and whipped it around towards Rem.
"Maggie!"
Before she could, he stopped her arm and backhanded her across the face. Then, he squeezed her wrist so tightly, Maggie yelped and dropped the gun.
"Calm yerself the hell down," he spat, his voice firm and powerful. "What the hell are yew doin' wit' these animals?"
Maggie swung her arm at him and gritted her teeth when she made contact with his hardened helmet. Then, she violently tugged back just as Rem let go. She fell to the floor in a thud and crawled backwards before gathering her knees into her arms.
"Maggie!"
Rather than answer, she began to cry. The tears that were born just beneath her eyelids poured forth, going down her cheek and dripping off her jawline while Rem came closer.
"Get the fuck away from me, Rem!"
"Maggie, what the fuck are yew doin' with 'em?!"
He reached out and pulled at her shirt, hoisting her onto her feet.
"What the fuck does it look like, moron!?"
It was hard to tell why, but Rem hadn't been able to believe that she was a raider until she told him that. His fingers softened, letting her go. She backed away from him again and looked up.
"Why?"
The question made her heart drop into her stomach. The memories of why she was with the Khans were painful, so painful that she had lived her life in a way so that she would soon forget.
"Why Maggie?"
The more he asked, the more she felt. Her crying intensified until he backed her up against a wall and slid down onto the floor.
"What would yer mother think?!"
She shot up against and punched Rem in the chest. When it hurt her fist more than it hurt him, the anger only grew wilder. She resorted to slapping him on the helmet repeatedly while Rem attempted to restrain her.
"You! You don't mention my mom to me! You hear me!?"
Finally, Rem had her wrists in each of his hands. As Maggie's outburst slowed, he stared down at her. The pain in her face was far too palpable for him to handle. It caused his anger to degenerate into regret, and compassion. A painful revelation manifested the more he assessed her.
"She's . . . she's gone . . . ain't she . . . "
Maggie closed her eyes and sobbed again, lowering to her knees. After Rem let go of her wrists, she covered her face, pressing her palms tightly into her cheeks. Meanwhile, Rem found himself remembering Barbara, and how much she had done to help him through losing his father. This wasn't right.
He watched her cry until he reached a conclusion. Nodding mostly to himself in acceptance of it, he lowered to one knee and peered into her eyes through a green hue.
"Maggie . . . yer better than this."
She took her hands away from her face and burst again, "Don't tell me what I'm better than, fucking asshole! You don't know me! Just because we met way the hell back when doesn't mean you can talk to me like we're family!"
"I knew who you was, Maggie!" he supplicated, moving his hands towards her. "Yew was a better person than this!"
"Was is right! Not anymore! I'm not the same person you met before!"
"Nobody stays the same as they were when they was kids, Maggie, but god damn it, this ain't yew. What the hell happened to yew, darlin'?"
She dropped her shoulders again and covered her face. What she hated most was his sincerity, and there was something about being called darling that comforted her. That and the question working together battered her down into something soft, something delicate.
"What always fucking happens in this wasteland, Rem," she sniffed, and continued gradually. "Murder. Pain . . . loss . . . " She shook her head and muffled a cry. Rem didn't stop staring. Every word she said was painful to hear.
"And no fucking Desert Rangers showed up to help," she added conclusively. "When one finally shows up again . . . " she started off gently, but ended loudly, "He only shows up to fuck everything up again! Damn you, Rem!"
She eased again. "Damn you . . . "
Rem stood up straight again and watched her sob. Meanwhile, Stanley stepped out of the bungalow, calling out for Reddick. Having received no responses seemed to ascertain his fears, but it didn't sink in until he actually found him.
Reddick lay there on his back. His blood had stained the dirt around him and he was unresponsive.
"God damn it," Stanley uttered, tightening his lips to stop himself from crying. "God fucking damn it, Reddick," he mourned, turning to his side before sniffing deeply, finding it hard to continue looking. He released a breath and reached up to his eyes, rubbing away at the tears before they trailed down his cheeks.
"If you're not going to kill me, leave!"
"This ain't what yew needed, Maggie! This ain't what yew had to do! There was other options!"
"What fucking options, Rem!? You weren't there! You don't know what the fuck my options were!" As she yelled, she pushed forth, as if she meant to push her words at him with her very presence.
Rem fell back and shook his head regrettably, "There had to be something better than this fer yew."
Maggie stared up at him, her anger degrading into anguish and hopelessness. For many reasons, too, one particularly painful one being that she knew, deep inside her somewhere, that he was right. This wasn't what her mother would have wanted. Not what her beautiful, loving mother would have wanted..
"There wasn't," she answered. The desperation with which she spoke made it painfully believable. "There wasn't, Rem. There wasn't. I couldn't do anything else. It was this or . . . end up like . . . "
Rem looked down.
"There was no option . . . " she whimpered.
The door swung open, and the first thing Stanley laid eyes on was Maggie. Rem could see the anger lighting up his face instantaneously. "You. You fucking bitch. Why isn't she dead yet!?"
Rem stepped closer, "I know her, Stanley. Step off. Yew got what yew came for."
"Like fucking hell I have! Reddick's dead! This debt's not paid off until all these raiders are dead!"
"Stanley," Rem began, "Step . . . off. I ain't gonna tell ya again."
"Fuck you," he replied, lifting up his shotgun. Between them, there were ten feet of space, way too much for Rem to traverse in time to stop him from firing. His instincts crept in and took over, causing him to act on impulse. In a flash, he drew his pistol and fired once, twice, thrice, and the fourth time he fired, Stanley fell back against the wall behind him.
The feeling, and not exactly discomfort, from firing his nine millimeter that many times in rapid succession stayed in his hand as the certainty settled, convincing him that he had done what was right. Thinking of it, he concluded that now that he took a good long look back, he would have done the same for Emma, and she had sinned to the deepest extent.
Stanley's face lost all expression as he slid down, leaving a trail of blood on the wall that led to the ground. Maggie watched on, shocked, and rested her eyes on his body.
"What the hell happened?"
Rem turned to the door again in time to see Sydney stepping in. First, she looked at Stanley, then at Rem, and finally at the Khan girl. Rem's prolonged silence made it apparent that he had done something that was difficult to say.
"Why is Stanley dead and that Khan girl still alive, Rem?"
"I know her, Sydney. 'Cause I know her."
"But she's a raider. You killed Stanley over her!? What the fuck's wrong with you!?"
Maggie glanced from one of them to the other.
"Maggie ain't like that. This ain't what it looks like."
"It's exactly what it looks like! What the hell are we going to tell Shannon and Theo!?"
"Raiders got 'em."
Sydney paused, releasing a breath while she stared onward. Upon looking back at Maggie, the younger woman turned her eyes away and waited for the glance to drip off her.
"Fuck, Rem."
"I need yew to step outside, Sydney."
Without a second thought, she turned and slammed the door behind her to make sure she didn't act on a whim. Rem stared at the ground after she left and turned his attention to Maggie again. She returned the glance, and Rem breathed deeply.
"What are ya gonna do?"
"Go back," Maggie said, gathering her knees into her arms again.
"No, Maggie, yew can't go back to 'em." Rem paced from one side to the other.
"Who the fuck are you to tell me where to go?"
"A friend, Maggie. Come with me. So long as yer with me, yew ain't alone."
"I wasn't alone before!"
Under the helmet, Rem pressed his lips together and finally reached up to remove it. He set it down, where Maggie saw it. It prompted her to look at Rem's face. There was facial hair now, but the countenance of the boy she remembered so clearly remained in some respect.
"Awright, yew wasn't alone, but please, fer Barbara, come with me."
He reached out to her, and her attention fell on his fingers.
"Yew know goin' back to 'em wouldn't be what yew should do in yer mother's eyes."
"Stop mentioning her."
"Awright. Awright."
There was a pause between them. Maggie closed her eyes and lowered her head. Rem never retracted his hand, but when she started to stand, she didn't take it. He stared into her oh so familiar face, which was still as pretty as he remembered it, and took his hand back.
It wasn't needed for her to state her compliance. Rem could see it in her body language. In the way she wouldn't look him in the eyes.
"Where?"
"Thank yew, Maggie," he uttered. She could hear the relief in his voice.
"Where?"
"Yer gonna have to change outta them clothes first."
As Rem and Maggie emerged from the bungalow, Sydney stared at them intently. Upon seeing the girl's change of clothes, she knew that he was actually going through with what he said before.
"Rem."
"Yes, Sydney?"
"She isn't coming with us, is she?"
"She is."
"Are you suddenly retarded as you look? Theo and Shannon are going to recognize her."
"The hostages?" Maggie entered. She wiped her nose and added, "They never saw me. We kept them blindfolded most of the time."
"Huh, that's convenient."
She turned to Rem, but upon seeing him stand there with his rifle in both hands, his shoulders firm, she knew there was no convincing him that this was a mistake. She was just about to turn away again when she decided to speak instead. "Can I have a word?"
Rem breathed out and followed her away, leaving Maggie in the background, watching.
"You're bringing a fucking raider to Littlefield?"
"She ain't no goddamn raider, Sydney."
"Then what was she doing for the Khans? Just sweeping and mopping?"
"Yew don't know who she is, Sydney. I'm tellin' yew, she ain't like them other Khans. Look at her. She's placid. After we killed all her damn buddies. What kinda raider stands idly by when this kinda shit happens? She knows that she shouldn't have been with 'em in the first place."
Sydney opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself, hating the fact that she couldn't manage a fully incriminating response.
"So, who is she?"
"She helped me git back home to Ranger Center some four years ago."
"You ever think she might not be the same person she used to be?"
"Ain't no one the same that they used to be, Sydney. Everyone changes, and I can tell what kinda changes she's been through."
"Listen to yourself. You're saying these things like they're facts. That's full blown denial. Full blown bias. Who the hell can tell what kinds of changes people go through in four years? Not even the shrink back at Ranger Center can do it, and he was fucking taught to dissect our brains."
"All I know, Sydney, is that she ain't bloodthirsty. Look at her again."
Sydney complied.
"She ain't murderous. She was put into this situation."
"I doubt they had a gun to her head."
"Do yew? They're raiders, Sydney. Raiders are capable of any damn thang."
"Exactly. That's why we shouldn't be fucking doing this, Rem."
"We're doin' this. That's final, ya hear? If yew still have any problems when we git to Littlefield, yew can bring it up with Salmons."
Rather than fulfill him with any type of an acknowledgment, she turned from him and started walking. Rem watched her, and finally, he turned to Maggie, motioning for her to follow.
He waited for her there, and when she reached him, he spoke, "Don't speak. Just 'cause they ain't ever seen yew don't mean they ain't ever heard yew."
"Reddick ignored the orders Sydney gave him and charged the bungalow. When he got there, he was shot down from one of the windows. He died before we could get to him. Stanley ran into the bungalow, too, forgoin' my orders."
Sydney stood by while she listened to Rem spew his lies. The more he continued, the more disgusted she was by it.
"He was shot down inside, and there was nothin' we could do."
Upon finishing, he leaned in and handed them Stanley's shotgun followed by Reddick's AK-47. Shannon's eyes were already watery by then. Hell, her eyes started developing a brilliant, moist sheen the moment she saw Rem, Sydney, and the hostage but no Reddick and Stanley.
Maggie didn't say a thing. She stood as far away from Sydney as she could, and actually experienced a sting of regret. Not because she was guilty that Stanley was killed to save her life, but because she felt it was insulting to be introducing herself as a wastelander instead of a Khan.
"Awright, I'm sorry yew two, but we need to git movin'. Chance someone heard all them gunshots and is headed this way."
