I rose from the bed as fast as I could just to end that nightmare. My chest was pounding like my heart was trying to rip itself from my body. I lifted my hand and placed it atop my chest. I felt my chest and realized it was bandaged. I then slowly traced my whole body and felt the bandages adorning it. My hand slowly reached my face and felt the bandages wrapped around my face. I couldn't see a damn thing.
I released a couple muffled shouts as I tried to call for help. "Whoa" a voice shouted. "You're finally up". I looked left and right trying to follow as to where the call originated from.
"Don't strain yourself; you're in our room". I began to slowly rest myself back onto my bed when I heard footsteps growing closer to me.
To signal I couldn't talk I began to rub the area around my lips. Whoever it was pulled the bandages apart to reveal my mouth. "Thanks," I started. "How long have I been out"?
The voice then pulled the bandages from one of my eyes so I could see. I was kinda brought back by the sight of a beautiful, kind face with a choppy fringe full of black hair with blue highlights. "You're a…" I stumbled. "A girl?" she finished, looking quite puzzled.
I slowly nodded my head as she seemed to face palm at my remark. "Didn't think they'd actually have me bunk with a woman" I stated hastily.
"And why would that be" she asked quite angrily. Trying as hard as I could I swallowed what little spit was in my mouth as I looked her up and down. "My families quite famous for being womanizers" I stated.
"Yeah right" she shouted. She went to the other side of the room and popped open the refrigerator inside our room. "Nuka" she asked. I nodded and she grabbed two bottles Nuka Cola.
"Name's Clarke" I began, reaching my hand forward to grab the Nuka bottle. She immediately forced her hand into mine and gave it a slow shake. "Eli Clarke" I finished.
"Names Noriko Tze" she replied back, finally giving me the pre-war soda. I pried the bottle cap off and guzzled down the drink. After wiping off my mouth, I handed her the bottle cap as a token of appreciation. "Thanks" she muttered, pocketing the wasteland currency.
Scratching some ungodly itch on some spot of the many bandages, "Well Noriko, do you happen to know when we head out for the NCR", I asked. She then reached into her coat and pulls out what looks like an old pocket watch and popped the top.
"We should be there in around 5-6 hours". I looked at her dumbfounded and just laid my head back down on my pillow. "I'm going to get some more rest" I started, fluffing my pillow. "Noriko, could you wake me when we get closer". "Just call me Nori" she said pocketing her watch. She then made her way out of the room.
"Hey" Noriko said, shaking me violently. "We'll be at NCR in about two hours". I groggily pushed her hands off me and started to get up. "Your gear is in the closet, left side" she stated, pointing it out. "Hey, could you uh, give me some privacy" I said, motioning to the bandages.
A smile grew on her face as she realized what I meant. "Yeah sure". She then proceeded to leave the room. I then went over to the closet, grabbed my gear, and tossed it onto the bed.
Picking at the bandages, I slowly began to unravel them from my body. After some ten minutes, I finally removed all of the bandages and began to admire my new body in the room's mirror. My normally shaggy "mop-top" hair was cut down to a "high and tight" fauxhawk. Instinctively, I ran my fingers through my hair. "Well at least now I won't have to visit a barber in NCR" I said.
Flexing in the mirror I realize how buff the implants made me. "Did I always have this many muscles" I asked myself. Opting against trying to remember, I proceed to go through the grueling process of putting back on my clothes. Deciding against wearing a crap load of holsters I just rested my leather Navy holster around my waist.
Looking myself over in the mirror I effectively make sure that I'm all geared and ready to go. I don my duster and place my hat atop my head and begin to head out to the mess hall stationed on the train.
Sitting in the room were the rest of the recruits and one of the Rangers. I quickly made my way to the food line, grabbed a tray and began to pile food onto it. "Hey look, its sleeping beauty" one of the recruits said.
Completely ignoring him, I continued to place food atop the tray. "What's wrong, all that sleeping fucked up your ears" the recruit shouted.
"Shut the fuck up Garret" the Ranger said. 'Well at least someone was on my side', I thought. I then brought my tray over to an empty table and began to eat the crappy food all NCR soldiers were accustomed to.
Then that's when "Garret" began to do the wrong thing and walk up to me. "What's wrong kid, got your ass handed to you" he asked. I merely gave him, the look, and went back to eating. "I asked you a question, boy" he said, practically spitting the word boy.
I looked at him and gave him the most "don't fuck with me" look I could administer. "Keep fucking with me and I'll make you eat those words, Garret" I shouted, spitting his name. Exactly what a meat-head like him would do in a situation like this, he rose from his seat and stared me down.
"You gonna back that up boy" he asked. I then pushed my food away and rose from my seat. I looked him up and down. I turn to see Nori walking in when I hear a piece of mass increasing velocity, pushing air particles aside.' Guess my new implants are kicking in'.
Before anyone could blink I turned and grabbed his fist. He looked at me dumbfounded as I tossed his fist aside and grabbed my tray. Before he could even react, the tray was connecting with his face.
He fell backwards on the deck. I jumped atop him and began to deliver blow after blow to his face. It took the Ranger, Nori, and two more recruits to get me off of him.
"Jesus Eli," Nori shouted ", you almost killed him". The Ranger, while carrying me off, injected some morphine or Med-X as most junkies knew it as, into my knuckles. "Shouldn't you be administering this into my blood stream" I asked him. "Have you seen your knuckles" he asked.
Sure enough, as I looked down at my fists I noticed my knuckles were ripped open and blood was beginning to gush out. Nori punctured a needle from a syringe into my hands. Hitting the plunger I felt the contents of the stimpak surge into my hands. She then helped me up and walked me to our room.
"What were you thinking" she asked, upon entering the room. I immediately headed to the medical pack I kept in my bag and grabbed the medical bandages. I stitched the wounds closed using a basic butterfly stitch then wrapped my knuckles with the bandages.
"Yes, Garret is a meathead, but you don't just beat the shit out of him, nearly killing him" she shouted. I then secured the bandages to my wrists and began to put the medical supplies back. "He should've listened to me" I merely stated.
Letting out a sort of sigh of relief, Nori sat down next to me and placed her face into her hands. Feeling her discomfort I wrapped my arm around her and embraced her into a hug. "Hey, hey" I said, to calm her. "I fucked up all right, I might be kicked out from the Ranger program, but I just want you to know you're a pretty cool chick" I finished.
I felt something soft touch my cheek when I turned to see her give me a peck on the cheek. She then buried her face into my chest as she began to cry. "I just don't want to lose another partner" she said in between cries. "You see every time I go out on patrol, my partner is always killed…"
Let's see. There was that time when I was 12.
When I heard the proximity alarm blaring, warning the entirety of the Shi colony of San Fran. I grabbed my Remington Model 7 sniper and rushed towards the courtyard. As I jogged to the courtyard I noticed the hordes of fire Geckos raided the front gates to our little section in the remains of Chinatown.
My neighbor at the time had ran into me and told me how we must protect our home from the filth of the wasteland. Me being the gullible girl I was back then believed him and tried to give my life to protect my home. That was Liu for you.
Too bad when he rushed into the fray he was burnt by one of the bastards then had his head bit off by one that was in a headlong charge.
Then there was that time six years ago.
It was my first night on patrol with the NCR. My squad and I were out patrolling the bridge to New Arroyo and all of a sudden we heard a low noise and a grunt. I turned to see my best friend, Chris, with a spear in his chest. That's when the enemy revealed their face.
A group of tribals had been pestering the Arroyians for a couple weeks now and I guess they chose this night to strike again. Chris and the rest of my squad died trying to protect New Arroyo and ya know what happened? The attack was brushed off when then Colonel Lee Oliver led a counter-attack force over the bridge and squashed the tribals into oblivion.
Do you know what it's like having to see your closest friends killed around you? Have you had to personally travel to every single one of your friend's parent's house and aware them that their little "Timmy" died protecting his government by some blood-thirsty savage? I didn't think so.
And then there was that time 7 months ago
It was my fifth day on scavenger duty. I jumped off the wrecked pickup truck I sat on and grabbed my MR-16A2 Service Rifle. As you may know customization is forbidden among the NCR army, I decided to go against the army by etching into the wooden receiver my kill count. 10 Muties, 16 slavers, and 32 raiders.
"Nori, stop ogling your rifle and get over here" my partner shouted. I shouldered my rifle and jogged up to my partner, lover, and all round best friend, Jinn Pratts. I remember asking him what the situation was and Jinn being the pragmatist, passed me the binoculars and began to chew on a piece of Bighorner jerky. I peered through the binoculars, or as I called them day vision goggles, and witnessed one of the most fucked up shit I have ever seen.
Huddled around some structure stood, what I could tell was, a group of tribals wearing patchwork armor. Perched on the makeshift telephone pole cross, was a raider crucified on it. The raider seemed as if he hadn't had a sip of water in weeks.
The tribals then began to stab the raider over and over with their makeshift machetes. They were torturing the raider for being some sick, twisted junky. Jinn, whose brother became one of those junkies couldn't handle the thought of that raider being his brother. He slapped a fresh mag into his rifle and taped the binoculars to the handrail of his weapon and began to peer through the improvised scope and open fire.
Round after round pierced the tribal's chest. Seeing all the damage Jinn was doing, I flipped off the safety and began to open fire. One by one the tribals fell by our fire. When they were all finished we replaced our mags and scoped the area out for any more tribals. It looked like it was all clear, so I jumped down the slope and slid my way down the hill. I jogged as I ran to the cross to see if the raider was all right.
The raider's eyes were a sickly grey as he looked at me. I still remember what he told me. "Please" he mumbled. "Kill me". I looked into his eyes and drew my Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol and took aim. The raider then closed his eyes as I shot him once in the heart and once in the temple. I then searched the tribals to see if they had anything worth value to me...
Then that's when I heard it. To me it sounded like a man screaming at the top of his lungs while he was being ripped to shreds by a super mutant master. I ran up the hill and saw more of the tribals huddled over Jinn' crumpled form. I fired off a few shots their way and watched a couple of them drop to the ground. The ones that weren't killed began to either scramble off away from the scene or straight towards me.
I put the bastards down like the dogs they were. Once I finished them off I ran over to the sight that brought tears to my eyes. Jinn, who was hacked to near-death by their cleavers and machetes, lied on the floor, shaking from a never before seen fear. His eyes were just like the raider's, lifeless and grey. He seemed to swallow hard as he looked into my eyes.
I frantically tried to save him by injecting as many stimpaks as I could into him. I pressed the needle to a Med-X into his neck and hit the plunger. He twitched a little as the combined chems entered his system.
Then that's when it happened. His eyes stopped looking back and forth and just looked straight ahead, at what I could never tell. My eyes were filled with tears as I buried my face into his chest. I seemed to cry for hours until another patrol came looking for us.
"…and when they found me they helped me carry his body back to Nelson where he was shipped back to his parents over in Modoc" she finished. I held her in closer as I was hit by the sadness of this revelation. I knew she never would love again after having her love die in her arms. I just hoped from our time spent in Ranger training would curb those feelings and allow her to feel friendship or even companionship the way she used to feel it.
Am I really growing intimate feelings for this woman I just met, I thought.
I brushed that thought aside as I thought about what the DI's would do to us if we were found out. "Come on, let's get some sleep before we reach NCR" I told her.
With that she laid back onto my cot. "Thanks for listening" she whispered as she rested her head onto my lap. She quickly dozes off, but the rest of the ride I sat there thinking about that dream and what it meant.
I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep till I heard a loud knock on our door. "Yo, get up, we're here" a voice shouted. I quickly woke up and shook Nori awake. "We're here" I whispered into her ear. She seemed groggy and slow as she rose from my lap and began to grab her bags.
We all stood at attention, duffels draped over our backs. We were "wet noses" as some commissioned officers would call us. "Hello scumbags" the DI shouted.
"I am Master Gunnery Sergeant Tomas Sanchez, your senior drill instructor, and I will be forming you little NCR army scumbags into the meanest, most toughest sons uh bitches this side of the Colorado".
"For now on the only words that should come out of your mouth is 'yes, no, or sir'. Do you shit-stains understand me"?
In unison we all shouted, "Sir, yes, sir" in reply.
"Bullshit, say it like you've got a pair".
"SIR, YES, SIR".
"Good, now drop your shit and get to your bunks" he shouted.
After getting into our basic uniform, MGySgt Sanchez ran back into our room. "All right maggots, I want you guys to get ready for some PT (physical training)".
"Look at sarge, he's so goddamn ugly he must've fell out of the 'please, kill me' tree and hit every branch on the way down" Garret said, between bursts of laughter. The idiot shouldn't have done that. I'm guessing someone forgot to mention Sgt. Sanchez was one of the meanest SOBs the NCR had.
"WHO SAID THAT" Sanchez said running back and forth down the aisle. "WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT"
"WHO'S THE SLIMY, LITTLE TWINKLE-TOED SONNUVA BITCH WHO JUST SIGNED HIS OWN DEATH WARRANT" he asked. He looked at me, and then looked at Garret.
Instantly thinking it was me he rushed up to me and punched me square in the face. "WAS IT YOU, SHIT-HEAD" he asked. I rose from the ground and replied with a mere, 'sir, no, sir'.
"Bullshit, you either admit to spewing that shit from your mouth or you drop and give me 20". I dropped to the floor and proceeded to give him my push-ups. As I did my push-ups he would give a swift kick to the face. Once I reached 20 I got on my feet and looked at him, nose bloody and face all fucked up.
"What're you doing, when I say 20 I mean 20,000 you cluster-fuck" I looked at him and gulped heavily. Dropping to the floor again I began the long task of the rest of my 19,980 push-ups. Sanchez then turned towards Garret and rushed him. He tackled him off the ground and began to punch the bandages on his face and body that were placed on him from yours truly.
The cabin seemed to be filled with his screams of agony and pain. He then grabbed his broken nose and broke it even more. "IF YOU EVER, EVER SAY SOME SHIT LIKE THAT" he started. "I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU, YA KNOW WHAT GET UP YOU SHIT STAIN".
He lifted Garret up and pushed him out of the cabin. "START RUNNING, YOU'RE ON PT UNTIL I FUCKING SAY 'STOP'". He then kicked/pushed him in the ass towards the obstacle courses.
"Now, let's start a few exercises"
===2 months later===
We all sat at the firing range, firing our standard issue MR-16A1 Service Rifle as Sgt. Sanchez barked his usually orders at us. "I want you ladies to hit your targets spot on. Shoot like the devils whip was on your backs.
"Aim down your sights to increase accuracy"
The make-shift targets, three super mutants and six raiders, were peppered with the 5.56 rounds exiting the barrels of our guns. Once we finished off the targets he led us off to sidearm training, taught by Ranger Dobson.
We fired our Browning 9mms into the paper targets laid out on the range. "If your primary weapon is out of ammo, drop the fucker with your pistol".
"If your rifle couldn't down the sonnova bitch then your pistol should finish the job. If not then you use your bare-hands to get the job done"
"I want you to familiarize yourself with your weapon. You should know how many shots you can fire before it craps out on you".
Then he led us to the hand-to-hand training. He had us trained by one Ranger SGT. in the ring with sarge, we learned plenty of lessons like the 3D's. Detect, Defuse, and Destroy! She also drilled into our brains her personal law, ROAR. Recognize, Override, Attack, and Restrain. She told how if the person was a volatile target, we would need to detain him after.
She showed us the basics like Distract, Stun, Takedown, CQC, Submit, and Choke. All important moves and rules about unarmed combat, she told us.
Then we would spar for an hour, hit the showers, and then have some grub in the mess hall. After we'd be forced to disassemble then reassemble our MR-16A2s. Once that was done we'd be allowed to hit the hay.
We held that routine for two years, non-stop.