Sunny Smiles shoved the wooden-framed gun and 10 magazines into Lenora's unready hands.
"It's a Winchester 69. 22 long. Trudy would kill me if we shot anything bigger through the walls of the Saloon."
Lenora examined her new weapon. It had a prominent bolt with a small magazine poking out the bottom.
"It's mine?"
"Sure, I've got guns to spare. Now, try hitting some of the bottles on that fence."
She pointed towards the row of orange bottles lined up on the wooden rim of the fence.
She could picture what to do without really remembering it. The sights on the weapon needed to be brought in line with a target. So she leaned forward and brought it up with her right hand.
"Straighten out, bring it up or you'll wear out your back leaning like that."
Lenora complied, repositioned her target, and pulled the trigger. The loud snap that rang out produced limited recoil against her soft shoulder. It was a low shot, knocking the bottle away mainly from the force of the impact on the wood.
Sunny didn't seem to care.
"That's the spirit, glad you know how sights work."
She fired another 3 shots, shattering two bottles before Sunny advised her to crouch. Lenora got down on one knee and aimed for the neck of another bottle. This time the aim was skewed and she only blew out the left side near its base.
"Well that's a start, but I reckon you didn't come here to learn how to kill Sarsaparilla bottles.
How bout you come with me down to our water supply? Geckos are always crawling over there from the old cigarette factory for a drink. Won't be too hard to plug the little bastards."
Lenora nodded in agreement and was rewarded with a cube-shaped box covered in tape. Opening it up revealed dozens of .22 rounds.
"Take these and follow me, it's a jog past the gun store."
After 5 minutes of jogging, Lenora was starting to deeply regret nabbing so much gear. Her pack rattled against her body with each stride, accentuating the growing dampness of perspiration.
The sweating was about to get much worse. As they jogged along the shallow edge of the right-hand hill along the I-161, something cracked in the distance.
"Shit, someone got cocky. So much for sneaking in," she didn't miss a beat and pulled out a rifle similar to the Winchester 69 but with a thicker magazine and black frame. Lenora followed suit by grabbing her shotgun. "We need to pull someone's ass outta the fire."
The path soon was soon split by a steep cliff. More shots echoed across the desert joined by high-pitched taunts.
"You go down and help her, I'll clear out the upper wells."
Cheyenne barked at something out of sight. A rattling growl answered.
"Hey, Sunny! Sunny is that you? Give me a goddamned hand!"
The woman's panicked voice sent Lenora sprinting forward despite her heavy load. Suddenly, something jumped into view from behind the rock wall ahead. Two huge orange eyes stared ravenously at the newcomer from above an ear-to-ear maw of sharp teeth. With a hissing that elevated into a snarl, the reptilian creature raised two stubby forearms and charged in.
Instead of gawking at the mutant monstrosity, Lenora leaned to halt and shouldered her shotgun at the charging best. A loud bang sent up a spectacular spray…of sand and dirt in the ground just ahead of it. Racking the pump, Lenora watched the gecko trip up and pause. Now she put its head in line with the lone metal nub on the barrel that passed for a sight. The next pull of the trigger sent the barrel shooting up along with a spray of blood, but another gecko was already sprinting into view. Before she could work the pump, another gunshot rang out behind the gecko, tearing off one of its legs and most of the tail. While the wide-eyed mutant pulled itself away with its one good hindleg, someone staggered into view near the well. The woman was far beyond Lenora's age, though still youthful with her messy blonde hair. Her dull dress was torn, exposing cuts in her right leg.
"My last shell," she gestured with her shotgun. I got one of them before they started slicing me. Had to fall back to some rocks where their stubby legs couldn't climb. Without you, I'd be a goner for sure." She pulled a shell much larger than Lenora's 20-gauge from one of her pockets, inserted it through the ejection port, and finished off the crippled gecko with a headshot. A storm of blood and gore just barely reached Lenora with a few red specks. Even so, the gruesome sight kept her attention for much longer. The Gecko she'd managed to kill still had a relatively intact head, just perforated by a few pellets through the brain.
"What," the woman sighed. "I was just putting the damn thing out of its misery. Who knows, it might've still found a mate and laid more offspring to fuck around later." She grunted in pain. "Sliced me to the bone, I think."
"Well, you did damn good."
Sunny's voice made Lenora spin about. The woman looked her over with a glowing expression then strolled past.
"Here's a bonus for the trouble," she dropped a sack of cap's into Lenora's hand and began speaking with the settler.
"I was just doing my daily water run, here, have some."
"Thanks Jenine," Sunny replied, handing a canteen of clean water to Lenora. The trio and Cheyenne then headed over to a nearby campfire on the base of the hill where Sunny set about cleaning Jenine's wounds and discussing basic treatment with Lenora. Eventually,she was free to explore the surrounding area, which turned out to feature several campfires and trailers. As she passed by one, a faint voice followed her.
"Hello…you gotta help me."
Inside the small trailer was a man huddled with her head against his knees.
"I'm Barton. My girl…she went off on her own into the mountains this morning. Too damn far ahead. Next thing I know she's screaming about geckos. I think she made it somewhere too steep for them to reach from what she was shouting. Aw man, her voice was so tired out from screaming. We don't have a lot of water. You gotta help us lady! She could bleed out or die of heatstroke!"
The barrage of stuttering pleas shocked Lenora. She'd just seen how ravenous and brazen Geckos were, so it wasn't shocking that someone else might be in the same predicament as Jenine.
"Are you from aroun-"
"Doesn't matter where we're from, does it? My girl's in trouble right now! Ask after you help her!"
"Okay, okay." Lenora jogged back over to the other women and relayed the experience between gasps.
Sunny Smiles turned visibly dour.
"Typical. Jenine, how are your legs doing?"
"Good enough if someone's got my back."
"Well then ladies, I think it's time to be heroes."
—
Sunny and Jenine had most of the geckos in their sights before Lenora could draw a bead on them. Even Cheyenne tore up two on the trek through the steep mountain passage. Lenora only managed to wing one young Gecko.
A rank stench had filled their noses before they came in sight of their goal: a cliff face overlooking the Cigarette factory. Nestled between a rocky outcropping was the pitiful source of the stench. Lenora's gaze didn't linger long at the mess of bones, dried blood, and torn clothes. Question was, where was Barton's girlfriend?
"Could be passed out in the rocks up there," Jenine pointed to a refrigerator.
"Wait," Sunny held up a hand.
"See that by the bush? Beartrap. Hold here while I disarm 'em."
Jenine took the moment to rest in the shade behind a nearby rock while Lenora watched Sunny at work with Cheyenne keeping a safe distance behind. Soon she'd locked three of the traps and proceeded behind a rock outcropping near the fridge. Three traps placed quite close to each other, as well. Observing the sight, Lenora began to doubt that anyone alive was hiding up there. She suspected that a terrified and possibly wounded woman might have trouble skipping through that steep incline and evading those bear traps in the process.
"Well I'll be fucked, you really did it."
The voice was Barton's. Nothing about it indicated any prior panic from his explanation. His lie, her mind shot back.
Lenora turned to see the man holding a pistol near his chest. His face held a triumphant glare.
"Killing those geckos all by yourself must've been tough. I gotta thank you for clearing the way to that big stash. Almost clearing the way."
His gaze bored into her. Lenora had no way to react in time. She'd emptied a magazine from her pistol but forgotten to reload after the fight ended. The shotgun and rimfire rifle were too cumbersome to draw.
But Barton had let slip a key error in his assessment.
"All by yourself"
Movement pulled him to his right. Not fast enough. Jenine's shotgun roared the closest to Lenora yet, and through the ring in her left ear she could hear Barton snapping curses and grasping at his torn coat where the buckshot had gone through. Then a sharper shot caused him to stagger and grasp for his neck. His other hand raised the pistol for a few seconds, then he coughed blood onto the dirt, following soon behind.
Sunny wasn't all smiles anymore. Her gaze fixed Lenora, then Barton's corpse, then back to Lenora.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to add another lesson. If someone's making a move like they want to harm you-" she grabbed the M1903 from it's holster "-don't wait-" Sunny yanked a magazine from an ammo pouch and rammed into the pistol "-just kill them. Because they might be planning to do worse things than kill you. Rest of the Mojave isn't half as friendly as our little town. Your whole search for those guys who shot you would've ended before it started if it weren't for us. Can't go back the way you came safely either. Things have been getting bad while you were out." She held the pistol out. "Got it?"
"Yeah…" Lenora hoped her shuddering wasn't too visible.
"Good, now let's split this stash. You can get that lying rat's gear.
—
It turned out that someone was already occupying that cliff. Just not Barton's girlfriend, and certainly not alive. A man in makeshift outdoorsman gear lay rotting on a mattress in the sun. Lenora had taken the man's Colt 6520 10mm pistol, but Sunny warned that 10MM was pretty rare this far out from Vegas. She said Barton's Smith and Wesson M39 9mm would have more ammo available between vendors and bandits.
Noon was just making its presence known by then. The earliest time Lenora had seen on her Pip-boy was 8:57 AM after leaving Doc Mitchell's place.
"So, can I see anything interesting from here? Like other towns?"
Sunny climbed up next to her.
"There's Frankie's gun store just past the source. Chet does business with him from time to time.
Southeast of here is Jean, but it's mostly just an old airport and housing for the guards at the correctional facility. Used to be, I mean. Further south on I-15 is Primm. Can't miss it since it has a few casinos and this old rollercoaster right in the middle.
If you go North of Jean, you'll see the old war memorial. Makes for a nice landmark. Eventually you're gonna hit Sloan and Quarry Junction. They mine rocks or something, but I heard they got troubles lately. Can't go much further up it either way. Got critters up there that don't take kindly to getting shot. You'll run into raiders afterwards.
West of us is Columbia Pass. Through there you'll reach Sandy Valley. Wouldn't try without a car though, if you think it's worth it."
"Anything I should be worried about?"
"It's another sleepy little town like ours on the old California border, just spread out and more isolated because it's surrounded by mountains and desert before you hit any major roads. Unsavory folks like to hide there, from what I've heard. Lotta critters nipping at the edges too."
"But shouldn't it be NCR territory?"
"I said old California border. NCR only cares about the I-15 route beyond…maybe Baker? Long as they've got that road into the Mojave, outlying settlements could get eaten by geckos for all they care."
"What about directly North of us?"
Sunny eyed Lenora severely. "We don't go that way, the road is marked with warning signs for a reason."
As she observed the view, a glint caught her eye through her dirty biker goggles.
"I'm heading back now…" Sunny trailed off when she saw Lenora's gaze affixed elsewhere.
"There it is…
Sunny, mind coming with me?"
—
Jean gasped at the sight.
"Obviously, you're gonna need some transportation to reach Vegas," Kenyth leaned against the vehicle in question.
"This is a Triumph Tsunami X105 Motorcycle. Powered by basic Microfusion cells, extra rear storage compartments to fit your reward, and a fresh Black paint job. This'll get you from Hesperia to Vegas before the sweat makes you smell."
—
"Yes, my motorcycle!"
The bulky vehicle lay on its side in the right lane. Lenora reached it with one last burst of speed and yanked it up before halting for air. Aside from scratches along the right side, it seemed undamaged.
Sunny Smiles stopped nearby.
"You never said you had one of these."
"I-"
"-forgot, yeah, I guessed. Remember what happened to it?"
Lenora's body shivered for a moment at the thought of her body being zapped again.
"Some kind of pulse trap, maybe a tripwire across the road. It also shocked me long enough for them to jump me."
Sunny gestured up the road back towards the hills. "I think I know someone who can help start it up."
A small structure lay in the distance, guarded by a metallic figure.
—
Lenora, Sunny, and Cheyenne entered the store while Jenine walked back to Goodsprings. Two blue eyes lit up at the other side of the dingey interior.
"Hey, welcome to Frankie's guns and ammo," came a greeting from the man seated behind the counter. Another man dressed in dirty combat armor leaned on the wall next to him, expression blocked by a visor.
"Sunny Smiles?"
"Yeah. My friend here needs help patching up her ride. You might've heard the commotion a few nights back."
"Nope, had the Protectron out on watch like always. What's she got?"
"A Motorcycle," Lenora spoke up. "Got disabled by a pulse."
"Yeah, me and Rogan can handle that," he said, referring to the woman sitting outside.
"Hey, have you thought about taking up my hunting job? Your new friend can help out."
"Need more than two people and a dog to clear out those gecko nests, Frank. Not with these guns, that's for sure."
"It's always available if you're feeling confident. Now let's fix that motorcycle."