3. Rough: Nora never had a gentle touch when it came to life-or-death situations.
Nora downed the last super mutant and let out a breath she'd been holding. She looked at the scene around her. Death, so much death. And fire. Nora tried to remember why there was a fire. Her head was spinning, and her vision was starting to go blurry. The last of the mutants hadn't gone down without a fight and Nora could feel a lump rising on the back of her head where one had attempted to knock her out. She involuntarily shuddered at the thought of what they might have done to her had they'd succeeded.
"This looks bad, let's go home." For once Nora paid attention to Nate's voice in her head. She needed to find Hancock and get out of the area quick.
"Hancock?" She turned to look for him but didn't see him. "Hancock!" she called a little louder. Her heart started to race. Where was he? She started to walk back to his last known spot, "Hancock!" She cupped one hand around her mouth. She knew she shouldn't have allowed then to get separated. Hancock had pushed her out of the way of a missile and then the mutants swarmed between them. Nora couldn't believe she'd been so careless.
She knew screaming would only attract more enemies, but she needed to find Hancock. She wouldn't leave him here, she'd never hear the end of it turned out that he was still alive. One of the towers holding a satellite dish had snapped in half when a suicider ran at them. It groaned and Nora picked up her pace so as not to be crushed by the dome. She stopped running about thirty yards from the fence. Maybe he had booked it when the suicider blew? If so, she'd never let him live it down. She cupped both hands around her mouth and took a deep breath. "Han-" she heard a groan and whipped around to see Hancock leaning against the car that exploded. "So that's where the fire came from." Nora thought as she ran over. "Hancock, can you move?" She kneeled down beside him, her hands shaking as she tried to assess the extent of his injuries.
"If I could, would I be laying here?" He joked. He let out a single laugh when Nora slapped his shoulder, then winced in pain, and held his stomach.
"Hold on." Nora strapped her gun to her back and looped her arms under his. The car was still hot, still on fire, and Hancock was burning up. "One, two," she steadied her body and hoisted Hancock to his feet with a grunt.
"Ow, little rough there, babes," Hancock muttered into her shoulder as he collapsed into her arms, "Usually I ask for dinner first." He chuckled.
"If I weren't so concerned," Nora dragged him away from the burning car, "I'd drop you on your face." She was genuinely surprised to find the back of his coat wasn't burnt off, but decided the integrity of an original John Hancock outfit could be questioned when she wasn't concerned for her best friend's life. She shifted him into one arm and eased him down to a sitting position.
"Ya know, usually I'm the one letting people down." Hancock joked before letting out a few coughs.
"Stop that," Nora absentmindedly answered as she dug around in her bag, "you've always had my back. You haven't let me down." She added as she pulled out a stimpack.
"Aww you do care-ow!" Hancock glared up at Nora as she jabbed a stimpack into his back. "Why so mean today?" He stretched out as the medicine flowed through him.
"Relax, babe." Nora pushed the memory of Nate to the far corners of her mind.
"You're welcome for saving your sorry butt." Nora pushed herself up, she put her hands on her hips and scowled as Hancock stood beside her.
He did a few more stretches, "thanks for that. Wasn't your last one, was it?"
"No." Nora answered quickly. She turned, "come on, wanna loot some bodies with me?"
"Oh you know I do." Hancock growled with a grin.