Ginny couldn't swear to being a light sleeper. Her father, a wasteland regular could have woken at the drop of a pin and fired twice before a midday breeze had passed. Ginny on the other hand slept a little more easily, having grown up in behind the shielded walls of Megaton. It took more than light sounds to wake her from sleep.
The creaking of the Craterside Supply's front door was just enough however to wake her. Ginny could tell that it was still the wee hours of the morning, before the sun had risen and the townspeople had begun to rise. By this moment only Stockholm and old Walter would be awake and moving about. Which raised the question of exactly who was using the front door to Craterside Supply.
Ginny raised her head in the storage room where her comrades were staying. Leon lay inert to the world on the cot next to her, while Felix was sleeping in the corner opposite to the door. Which left Rafael's mattress…
"Empty." Ginny whispered to herself, working through the reasons a mercenary would need to wander Megaton before everyone else rose. There weren't many that ended on a positive note.
Ginny sat upright and began to strap on the various parts of her leather armor before holstering her revolver and creeping into the main room of the shop. Neither Moira nor Neil, her long suffering bodyguard had emerged from their respective rooms, leaving the actual shop empty.
Ginny noted the unlocked front door with growing concern before slipping out into the pre-Dawn Megaton. Despite the hazy fugue surrounding the bowl, Ginny could make out a figure descending the ramp adjacent to Doc Church's Clinic. Crouching down and utilizing what cover she had, Ginny began to stalk the figure as he crept past the Brass Lantern towards the small shack opposite Atom.
Ginny gazed through the haze and attempted to discern the individual: He was bulky, with larger shoulders and some kind of large bag in hand. About halfway to the cottage he made a sharp right and stopped at the bomb. Ginny watched in silence for the next ten minutes as the figure at the base of the bomb removed the cover and set his bag on the ground. The figure spent the next forty minutes or so tinkering at the base of the bomb. As much as she wanted to rush in and confront the figure, Ginny had learned twice now that bold movements were the surest route to death when it concerned a Cowboy. That was assuming this was a Cowboy at the base of Atom…
Ginny couldn't kid herself. Even though it was starting to lighten up, Ginny still couldn't make out the figure at the base of the bomb, although all evidence pointed to Rafael: The empty mattress, the bulky figure and the fact that he was tinkering with an Explosive device lead Ginny to believe that it was most likely Rafael crouched on the other side of the bomb. Daybreak was beginning to emerge over Megaton when the figure shifted stances and picked the cover off of the ground and began to screw it back into place.
Ginny crept down the catwalk as quietly as she could and held her ground at the last section of covered railing, just barely hiding her figure. As the dawn rose over Megaton the figure grabbed his bag and moved back towards the Craterside Supply. 'Lock and load.' Ginny thought to herself as she unholstered her revolver. She then sprang from her cover and leveled her pistol at a bewildered Rafael who had made it less than five feet before Ginny had cornered him.
"Hands up, drop the bag!" Ginny shouted at him.
Rafael froze, his eyes wide with fear. "Ginny… I had to do it, I couldn't risk the alternative-"
Ginny took a step closer, her weapon never leaving Rafael's body. "I'm going to need some answers bucko, starting with what you spent the night doing."
As she spoke various Wastelanders began to emerge from their homes: Jenny Stahl began to ferry items onto the outside counter of the Brass Lantern; Harden Simms and Maggie Creel raced down into the crater. Confessor Cromwell exited the Church of Atom. Ginny noted a tall, suited man and several of the visiting Caravaneers who had gathered on the catwalk opposite Ginny.
One of the Caravaneers, a heavily built black man with a sharp look in his eyes, whispered something in the ear of the suited man. He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Ginny and Rafael.
The front gate opening was heard behind them as the Wastelanders began to take note of the standoff occurring in the center of the crater. Ginny's grip tightened around her gun. Looking back up to the balcony where the small gathering was watching them with interest and towards Rafael, a creeping thought began to form in Ginny's mind.
"What have you done Rafael? What the fuck have you done?!"
"I did what I had to do." Rafael answered surely, his eyes fixed on Ginny's.
Ginny heard footfalls behind her and the steady murmur of voices.
"And I tell you Vince, these fuckin' scorpions are everywhere. I get tired of stepping on that-"
Vincent, Haskel and Jaxon had just entered the town, moving towards the entrance of the crater when they came upon Ginny aiming her weapon at a defenseless Rafael.
Jaxon had been complaining about the wasteland when he stopped and found himself staring at the scene as well.
"Ginny, what the hell is going on here?" Vincent called out, appraising the scene.
"Oh fuck me." Jaxon murmured, Vincent looked up towards the balcony where a black wastelander was staring daggers at Jaxon.
Everything seemed to click at once.
"JAXON!" The caravaneer roared, unholstering an assault rifle and firing on the group. All five Cowboys dove for various forms of cover.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKIN' DESERTER! JABSCO'S GONNA PAY A PRETTY PRICE FOR YOUR HEAD!" The man roared from his place on the catwalk, where his suited companion had run in the opposite direction. "LIGHT 'EM UP BOYS!"
Double Update day! Stay tuned for the next chapter!
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