The glass bottle was cool at his fingertips, a stark contrast to that burning feeling he had every time he remained on this scarred rock.
Scars.
It was something he was familiar with and he sometimes looked his over while wallowing in sorrow. He brought the glass to his lips, they were of course scarred, sunken back into his face as if needing to be inflated, he ignored it and drank from the glass, the already dry feeling of his throat becoming worse tenfold.
He didn't care.
A familiar feeling to him, if it was a feeling at all. To not care to many is the mind's indifference to something, but to some, it was more than just a state of mind. He cared that the drink burned, he only pretended not to, just like everyone else.
"Yah enjoyin' thah' bottle Ghoul?"
This was everyone else.
He didn't look up and stared at the shape of the glass in his hand, moving his scarred hands over it, enjoying the smoothness of its surface. A fist connecting with the table he sat in front of brought his attention forth to the man who addressed him.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat what you said, I wasn't paying any mind." He said calmly, now looking at the angry figure with his black eyes.
"I say we don' like you folk! And we wan' yah tah' leave!" Under the shadow of the hat he wore, the Ghoul raised what could only be an eyebrow, but it wasn't like you or ours, it was only scarred skin.
"And why is it that you don't 'like' me." He asked, spitting the word 'like' out of his mouth as if it were dip.
The man's eyes widened, but he only grew angrier. "Y'all are danger! Could turn feral any second," He paused. "I ought tah' put yah' down now if it weren't for me missin' my gun." He added, growling in anger.
Again, the Ghoul drank, only difference was the bottle was now empty. When the Ghoul didn't say anything the man hissed out and grabbed the Ghoul from where he sat, picking him up from the collar of his duster.
He sputtered and spit flew into the Ghoul's face, and when he shook him it caused his hat to fall from his head, revealing a scarred dome, absent of hair, looking more like the rusted roof of an abandoned car than the head of a man, and without the shadow of the hat, his face was no different. Where his nose should have been there was a deep crevice, almost like a valley. This seemed to surprise the man, betraying what he thought he knew of Ghouls, and in this second of weakness, his foe retaliated.
The Ghoul quickly picked up the bottle from the table and brought it down on the man's head, smashing its bottom side to pieces and knocking the man out cold, and allowing him to tug out of his grip.
Dropping the now ruined glass, he stared down at the collapsed figure, shook his head, then fixed his coat then picked his hat up from the bar floor, wiping it of any glass that befell it.
"I said no fightin' here Casey!" A voice broke out from the quiet of the bar, the Ghoul now known as Casey looked to the doorway of the bar.
"I didn't much have a choice, he was going to attack me." She glared at him, but still shuddered at the contrast of the words and the raspy voice, another scarred part of his body that she couldn't quite get used to.
"Whatever, we need to get out of here before the owner of this place narks." Casey looked to the woman who was cleaning a glass behind a counter, not looking up from her chore she spoke.
"I don't care." The Ghoul smiled sheepishly at the road-leathered woman, she rolled her eyes and motioned for him to come outside.
"Look, Robin, I'm sorry about that guy-"
"It's fine, let's just get our money and move on from this damn dust town." She stated flatly, turning her back towards him and facing the setting sun. Casey followed her, walking along the many quiet buildings that lie on either side of them. It almost felt like a ghost town to the old Ghoul, but he knew better.
Sticking behind her, Casey followed Robin into what could only be the 'town' hall, it was bigger than most of the buildings here and more put together, but that wasn't saying much when you could hear the whistling of the wind as you drink from a cold bottle. When they entered a man at a desk stood up, carrying himself nervously he walked to the two.
"Uh, , Mr um- , you're back, so um, yes, the mayor will uh, will see you. If you'll just follow-" Robin waved her hand.
"No, we'll be fine on our own." The receptionist looked as if he were going to say something back, but when the Ghoul, Casey, shifted his weight, he only nodded and walked back to his desk, swallowing what little pride he had.
Casey continued following the woman up a flight of stairs, the wooden steps creaking beneath their dusty boots. Beneath them, they could hear the typing of a typewriter, likely the man they had just conversed with had continued to work on whatever project or paperwork this so-called mayor assigned to him.
"When we get in there, I do the talking, you just hang back." She addressed him, not even bothering to look at him as they stopped at a door with a sign above it saying-
Mayors Office'
Casey grinned. "The usual you mean." He said, stating it as if were a question but she knew he didn't ask questions he knew the answers to. Grabbing the door handle, he twisted the door open and motioned for her to enter first. She glared and kicked him lightly in the shin, his grin only widened.
When they entered they heard a gasp and the sputtering of words. "Y-you're alive!" The 'Mayor' exclaimed, grabbing at his thinning hair. Even from behind her, Casey could tell she had an eyebrow raised, but he wasn't much different from her, his grin now gone and a small frown replaced it.
"Yes, alive, and now we're here for our caps." The Mayor licked his lips nervously, sweat beginning to form at his brow.
"U-uh, yes, of course, b-but I need evidence! Yes, evidence." He gave a small and nervous smile, happy that maybe he could get away without having to pay these wasters, if they even did their jobs, which he doubted. This doubt was squandered as Robin pulled a crimson-stained burlap sack out of her bag, and out of that burlap sack, she pulled out a head by its hair. Throwing it at the mayor, it landed on his desk, a sickly dark red staining the wood.
"Gah Jesus!" The Mayor yelped, jumping out of his chair, it landing on its side, but the mayor didn't care, his focus solely on the terror that was betrayed on the face of the head that lay on his desk. When Robin reached into her bag, the mayor completely believed she was going to pull out another head, but instead, but still to his dread, she took out a piece of yellowed paper, the words-
WANTED
JAMES "The Massacre" [Last Name Unkown]
For leading the massacre that was Rot Wood.
If you're to see this man he is wanted DEAD and should not be reasoned with.
-sprawled out on it, with a sketch of the very head before them in the middle of the paper. She set the paper down and pushed it towards him. He picked it up and looked back and forth from the paper to the head. Finally, after what felt like minutes, he let out a groan. Picking up his chair from the ground, he sat down, a defeated look on his face. He looked at the two and shook his head.
"Alright, here." He said, opening a drawer from his desk and pulling out a sack, its contents jingled together as he put it on the desk. Robin smirked.
"Well, you enjoy your safety, ." And so she turned, the Ghoul following after her.
"Hey! Take this damned head with you!"
They ignored him, the only regard given to him was the nod given by the Ghoul as he closed the door to the office, leaving an exasperated man to look at his desk in frustration.
The two exited the town hall, returning back to the wasteland. "Where we goin next Casey? Doesn't seem like there's much here in ol' Cali." He smiled in response.
"California's a lot bigger than just one town, I wanna see San Diego, Los Angelas, see how much survived." She scoffed.
"I think we should just head up north, I'm getting tired of this heat, and Oregon doesn't seem like it'd be that bad of a place to settle into." He cocked an eyebrow.
"I didn't know you were the type to settle down Robin, would think you had a few other States left in you at least." She gave a small laugh but rolled her eyes all the same.
"Well, you get tired of roaming the wastes eventually, and you can't talk, you're never slowed down."
"Well, there's a first time for everything," Came a new voice.
The duo looked around to where the voice came from, a dark alley, shadowing anything that may lurk in its black curtains. Then those curtains were pushed through, about six men came out and stepped into the warm glow of the sun. A man, who Casey presumed to be the mysterious voice, at the forefront, a pistol in his hands. All of the men seemed to be armed, all a varying assortment of armaments. The most notable being two men, holding automatic rifles. The rest just held single-action rifles.
"Ain't that right boys?" He asked, laughing in his own amusement, soon after the rest joined, but they never let their sight off of the two.
"I'm sorry, who are you, gentlemen?" Casey asked, raising his voice over the laughter. They died out.
The leader scratched at a scar that rested upon his jaw. "Huh, never thought I'd be called a gentleman. Especially by a dirty, stinkin', Ghoul!" He growled, his eyes narrowing at the man, and his yellow teeth bared.
"He asked you a question, scumbag, who are you, and what do you want with us?" Robin inquired, her face twisting into a scowl.
The leader of the gang looked to her, his face still betraying utter hatred. "You killed James, my god damn brother! Wiped out his entire gang! so we're here to give you a bit of your own medicine." That's where it began.
Quickly, the duo went on opposite sides of the town hall's porch, hiding behind wooden beams as red hot lead was fired at them.
"Damn damn damn! Casey what the hell do we do!" Robin screamed as she slung a rifle off of her back and into her leather-gloved hands. Casey did the same, pulling out a revolver from a holster that hung firmly on his waist.
"These beams won't last long! We gotta find something metal to duck behind!" The two began switching from looking for better cover to firing at the gang members. Eventually, Robin pointed and Casey whipped his head to where she pointed. He looked back at her and nodded his head. She turned back to their foes and opened fire, a shot connecting with one of the members of the raiders.
Casey looked back and forth, waiting for the perfect moment to make a run for their new cover, and that perfect moment presented itself to him when Robin landed a hit on another raider. While they were momentarily distracted by their fallen comrade, he sprinted to the alleyway on the town hall's left, and near the opening, a Nuka-Cola vending machine sat, long rusted and very much empty. Reaching the empty drink dispenser, Casey used all of his might to push it over and onto its side. With some effort, the Ghoul managed to tip it over, it landing on the dirt with a loud crash, drawing one of the raiders to him, and before he could drop, he opened fire, landing a shot on Casey's.
"GAH!" He yelled out, but he dropped behind the vending machine before the raider could get another shot on him.
Robin whipped her head to Casey's position when he screamed out in pain, and she quickly fired a bullet at the man who shot her Ghoul. The raider dropped to the ground dead, an extra hole infused into his head. Their leader screamed in rage at his dwindling numbers.
"TO WHO KILLS THAT LADY GETS 200 HUNDRED CAPS!" He yelled, rage filling his very eyes as he watched the very woman he spoke of scurrying away to hide away behind that damn Nuka-Cola machine.
When Robin reached Casey, she found him clutching his shoulder, the familiar sight of blood covering a good portion of it and his hand.
"Don't worry about me , just a flesh wound." He stated, seething a bit. She let out the air she was holding in.
"It's a damn good thing these bastards don't know how to aim. You're one hell of a lucky man Casey." He shook his head.
"Not lucky enough." And he sat himself up, aiming over the rusted machine and firing a shot at a raider, the shot connecting with his arm, making him drop his weapon in surprise, and using that surprise, the Ghoul pulled the hammer of his gun and let a bullet fly at his foe, the man crumpling to the ground, clutching at where the bullet connected, no doubt hitting a major artery or organ.
"THAT'S IT!" Yelled the raider leader. He let out a fiery breath and pulled something from his waist. "You come out now or I'm blowing you all to hell! If you don't give us any more trouble from here on out we'll let the Ghoul go! But I want the girl!" He added, a yellow-toothy grin spreading across his face.
Casey shook his head, but couldn't help but peek behind his cover, his eyes widening at the sight of the raider boss holding up a frag grenade, its metal safety clip shining in the sun's light. Casey backed down, and looked to Robin, her eyes narrowed in a thoughtful manner. "Robin, I have a plan, but if it fails, it's highly probable we're both going to die, so…you know."
Robin looked at the rising Ghoul in concern, almost yelling to stop him from going any further, but she glanced at the revolver that now lies in its holster once again, but its hammer was still cocked. She looked at him with an unreadable expression.
"So, I just hand over Robin to you, and you'll let me go?" He asked, addressing the raider that held the grenade.
"Mhm! And we'll let you keep all of your stuff! Not many wasters can say the great raider Cole let em' go y'know!"
Casey shifted. "And how do I know you won't just shoot me in the back when I walk?"
Cole laughed a nasty laugh. "You have my word you filthy Ghoul, now hurry up and make up your mind!"
"Yeah, out here, promises don't hold much weight, especially ones of the likes of you." And he pulled out his revolver, pointed it at the explosive in Coles's hand, and fired, a bullet penetrating the scratched surface of the grenade.
An explosive noise filled the duo's ears and Casey dived down and onto Robin, shielding her body with his own. Shrapnel flew everywhere and dug itself into the wooden buildings that made up the town, and some drove into the metal of the vending machine, narrowly missing the two.
It felt like what was forever for the dust to settle, but when it did so, Casey stood up, pulling up Robin with him. As he dusted himself off, he looked over to where the raider leader once stood, now just a mess of red and limbs, along with his last crew member.
"What the hell is going on out here!" Asked an angry voice from above. The two looked up at the balcony of the town hall, the entrance to the Mayors' Office open, and there the Mayor stood, an angry look drawn upon his face. "I give you money for that damned raider head and you blow up my town? Get the hell out of here and don't come back!" He screamed, storming back into his office.
Robin sighed. "Damn, another town we can't even step a foot into."
"As if we were ever going to come back here. Come on, let's do what says and go." He paused. "First, I have a question."
"Shoot."
Casey smirked. "Why didn't you stop me? I saw your face, you were going to me."
She clicked her tongue. "Saw you had your hammer cocked, you're a sucker for gun safety, even when the threat of dying an explosive death is looming over your head."
He chuckled.
"Good one."