Ember didn't even flinch as she jammed the stimpak into her leg, it took all but two seconds for the medication to flood her system with pain relief. She sagged slightly in her sitting position against the hard rock she had been using as cover as the burn of her wound dissipated. Her eyes drooped suddenly and the courier felt the tug of exhaustion hit her, replacing the adrenaline from the battle.

Rex wined beside her, pressing his damp nose against her face. It was a simple motion, but it jump started Ember's brain back into working order.

She gave the dog a pat and gentle smile. "You're right, bud. I can't rest here." Adjusting her position, she brought her left arm in front of her and examined the map on the screen of her Pip-Boy 3000 for any markers of safe rest areas near their location. Only one was within short walking distance and Ember nearly groaned as soon as she read the name. "How the hell did I accidently run towards Novac?"

With no other options, she set her map marker on the town. Ever so slowly, she rose to a standing position and hauled her pack up against her back once again. Shot gun in hand, the courier made her way towards the small town with the cyberdog in tow.

They arrived around noon. The Mojave sun beating down on them as they walked through the gates of the hotel. Ember didn't bother to stop and chat with anyone, her mind just on the thought of crashing against the worn, rough fabric of her room's bed. She didn't even care if radroaches had taken the place over in her absence and were crawling all over the surfaces. She'd allow Rex to take care of them, move any carcass from the bed, and then bury her face into the nearest pillow.

Luckily for them, no radroaches had decided to take up residency. When the door was locked behind them, Ember finally felt at ease and allowed her eyes to close for an all too brief minute. She guessed that she nearly had fell asleep standing because Rex let out a wine and shoved her leg slightly. His action once again forced her away from the ever so tempting, sweet darkness of sleep and into the tiresome mindset of work.

Groaning, the courier removed her pack and gun from her back, placing them next to the bed. Then came off the reinforced leather armor. As much as she loved the light, durable outfit, she hated the effort it to remove the extra straps and buckles that came with the promise of extra protection. After about ten minutes of exhausted fumbling with its removal, she was free from it and ready to slip under the covers.

Per routine, Ember removed Maria from its usual holster, which clung to the right leg of her armor, and placed it under her pillow. With all of her preparations done, she slipped her legs beneath the covers and lowered her head onto the pillow gently. After two deep breaths, her mind slipped into a dream filled sleep.

"Where's my mommy, daddy?" The question slipped from Ember's lips as she stared up at the face of her father. She came up to just past his knees now, but looking up at him was still a challenge for her. They were in his office, the grey walls and bright lights surrounding them dulled everything to familiarity.

"Darling, what do you mean? I've told you many times she's gone." He squatted down to meet her height. One of his large hands came up to pet her hair, something that made her always feel at ease. "She died right after you were born darling."

She rocked back on her heels as her mouth came to form a frown. "Why can't I get a new one though? The other kids are always making fun of me for not having one..." Her bottom lip quivered as she turned her eyes to look at the ground. ", always says that since I don't have a mommy, that you're a bad daddy. But I know you're a good daddy! Because you tell me stories, tickle me, and kiss my ouchies. But the other kids don't believe me and they pull my hair and they call you a bad daddy and they tell me I don't deserve a mommy and they-"

Tears were running down her face by the time the list started. Her father pulled her into a gentle hug and shushed her. Softly stroking her hair, he murmured comforting words. Whenever her crying was reduced to just sniffles, he pulled her back from the hug and stared into her eyes. "The other kids are wrong. Don't ever listen to the mean things they say. If they ever start pulling your hair again, run back to my office and I'll deal with them." He placed his hand on her shoulders and gave her a loving smile. "Darling, you had the most wonderful, selfless, giving mother. She gave me the most wonderful gift in the world, you. I know she would've gave the world to tell you stories, tickle you, and kiss your ouchies. But she died before she could give you that, and I know she's sorry for that. I also know that she'd be so proud of you. Even more proud than I am." With those soft words, he pulled her into another hug and Ember felt like the world was right again.

But then, he disappeared and the world shifted into red smoke. All at once, voices of anger screamed out at her from the smoke. With each new voice that appeared, it felt like another jab at her body. She was sure that they were actually knives meant to torture her and bleed from every part of her body. But when she painfully raised her arms to her into her vision, she discovered that they were not bleeding at all. In fact, they were covered in slightly damaged, heavy armor. She looked down at herself and saw that she was not the young girl who, just a minute ago, was crying to her father. She was a full grown woman under attack by every angry soul in existence.

In attempts to shut out the voices, Ember covered her ears with her hands, but that made the voices only stand out more.

"Murderer!"

"Thief!"

"Why did you kill him?!"

"You could've saved her!"

"Coward!"

"Monster!"

"Monster!"

"MONSTER!"

She fell to her knees as tears started to roll down her face. There was no father to comfort her now. No father to tell stories, tickle her, or kiss her ouchies. This little girl was left to deal with the bullies alone. "I'm sorry"s came pouring out of her at the start then she started to chant to herself, "I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster". Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the warmth of her father's arms but only felt a chill under her heavy armor.

When she opened her eyes again, she spotted a man rushing towards her, armed with a knife. "Why don't you just die!"

A gun appeared in her hands that wasn't there before; the action of pulling the trigger with the sights aimed at the man's head was too natural. It made her sick at the sight of his body hitting the ground with a thud. But at the same time, she felt the shiver of nothingness.

The scene changed and her arms became restrained. Her armor was stripped from her and revealed torn, ratty clothing that belonged to the average courier. That's what she was after all, an average, nobody courier. And the checkered suited man in front of her knew that well.

Goodsprings cemetery, the best place to kill and bury a nobody. With Maria's sights on her head, he said his parting words to her. "The game was rigged from the start."

Fear trickled down Embers spine at those words. The shot that was supposed to end her world, rang out louder than any of the voices from earlier. It turned her vision to black and caused her throat to stop providing oxygen, throwing her into a full panic. She thrashed and struggled about but nothing seemed to break the endless spell.

Then, a dog's bark broke through and forced her away from her private hell.

Rex appeared in her drowsy vision as she pried open her eyelids. He was on the ground, near the bed, staring up at her with a concerned look on his face. Well, as concerned as a dog can look.

Ember sat up and wiped away the sweat from her face. As her breathing steadied, she let her thoughts drift to the dream of her father. She attempted to remember his face, but like all dreams she had about people of her past, she just saw a bland generic face that belonged to no one. Even the specific names from her dreams came back as blanks. These two facts bothered so much, she sometimes wished she had no dreams of her past life. But at the same time, it will her to have more.

Figuring that she wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon, she made her way out of bed and into the bathroom. Once there, she splashed a small stream of water from the sink against her face in order to wake herself up even more. Using a rag, she washed her arms and legs in attempts to free them of the grime the Mojave and nightmares placed on them. After declaring herself satisfactory, she went back into the main room and grabbed her pack.

After laying it out on the bed, the courier patted the top of the mess of blankets to signal Rex that it was fine to jump up onto it. It had taken her a while to teach him just to do this as he seemed to not understand that she would find it completely fine for him to even sleep on the bed with her. She figured his past had made him reluctant to this behavior so she kept her patience in hopes that he'd one day take the chance to find comfort on a bed near her.

Digging around the pack a bit, she found the items which she was searching for: a bottle of purified water, two boxes of cram, and a small metal bowl. Tearing open the first package of processed meat, she dug out its contents and held it in front of Rex for a brief moment before flinging it towards his mouth. He caught it easily and devoured the piece quickly, then gave his lips a happy lick.

"Good boy!" Ember gave him a smile as she scratched behind his right ear. "Thanks for waking me up, by the way. You're a great friend, Rex."

She didn't know if he completely understood her, but the bark he gave in return made her feel like he did. After that, he jumped from the bed and back onto the floor. Calmly waiting for the next part of their unofficial routine.

Happy to oblige him, she placed the metal bowl on the floor, cracked open the water bottle, and generously poured half its contents into it. Then, as he was happily lapping away at it, she ate her portion of the cram and downed the remaining contents of the bottle. When they were both finished, she packed the bowl back into the bag and placed the waste in the room's trash can.

Struggling back into her armor, the courier caught sight of the time on her Pip-Boy and nearly groaned. It was past eleven at night, which meant there would be nobody up to interact with. Then a thought hit her, the sniper up in the dinosaur would be up. Bone? Boner? Bomb? Whatever his name was, she just remembered her bad encounter with him the last time she had visited this town. His simple action of pointing his rifle at her had tipped the scale too far to make her hate him, his stupid beret, and the whole damn town.

Her Pip-Boy still had the note she had taken down from Manny about paying him a visit. She figured it was worth a chance in hell to attempt to start a conversation with him once again. Even if she ended up hating everything about this place even more. At least it wouldn't be boring.

Grabbing her bag, Maria, and her shotgun, Ember headed out the door with Rex just two steps behind her. They wandered down the steps and towards the dinosaur with eyes searching for enemies in the shadows. She knew they wouldn't find any because of how effective the snipers were at their jobs, but being overly cautious hadn't gotten them killed yet.

The path to the sniper's position was familiar and within a few minutes, Ember found herself in the same position as last time. This time, however, she was slightly less annoyed. Still annoyed as hell by the action, but not enough to wish the deadliest sins of hell upon the guy.

"Do you always greet visitors with a gun to the face? Or do you not expect them to head your way?"

The man lowered his weapon and she felt his gaze look her over once again, a sense of Déjà vu washing over her. "I expect some to head my way. But none like you." He eyed her shot gun then continued. "Huh. Maybe I should've been you I was expecting all along." He shifted his gaze back to her face. "Why are you here?"

Ember leaned against the door and allowed herself to look past the sniper and towards the moonlit desert. "Obviously, I came to check out the view." She flashed a smile as her hand found itself scratching Rex's ear to assure him that the situation was okay.

"I think you better leave." The man seemed to dismiss her attempt at a joke. Did this man not know how to interact with another human being?

"Calm down. I was just making friendly conversation."

"I don't have friends here."

"Really? I figured there'd be a mile long line of people signing up to be your best bud." Ember proclaimed sarcastically before letting out a sigh. "Listen, I'm not from here. Care to give me a shot?"

He seemed to think about that fact for a moment before speaking up again, but seeming to muse out loud his thoughts. "No, you're not from here. Maybe you shouldn't go. Not just yet."

"Why the change in heart just over my residency?"

"I need someone I can trust. You're a stranger. That's a start."

That was the best line she'd heard in a while. It was crazy, stupid, and seemed like a joke. But this man had look of importance on his face that made her think that he had a plan on his mind. Having nothing else better to do, she decided to give in to his plot. "So, what do you want me to do?"

The man seemed to have a brief moment of surprise when he realized that she knew he was about to request something from her. At least, the slight rise of his eyebrows told her that. Other than that, this guy was practically a brick wall. "I want you to find something out for me. I don't know if there's anything to find, but I need someone to try." His voice changed slightly as he continued. "My wife was taken from our home by legion slavers one night while I was one watch. They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don't know who."

"So, you want me to track down your wife for you?" She asked, thinking it was another one of the "please find my loved one" type of missions people usually found themselves giving her. Not that she complained, if she could bring peace or happiness to that person and a possible other, it made her life a little better.

Then he surprised her by wiping away all her thoughts about that.

"My wife's dead. I want the son of a bitch who sold her."

A chill ran down her spine when she heard that. It forced her to stand straight and take the situation seriously. "And what do I do if I find this person?"

"Bring him out in front of the nest here while I'm on duty. I work nights." He stared at her until she nodded then continued. "I'll give you my NCR beret to put on. It'll be our signal, so I'll know you're standing with him." The man's tone turned deadly as he continued. "And I'll take care of the rest. I need to do this myself."

Ember let the information sink in for a moment, closing her eyes as she processed everything to memory. Then she opened her eyes again and looked him in the eye. "I'll do it."

"Good. I'll make it worth your while." The sniper took off his beret and handed it to her. "And one more thing. We shouldn't speak again. Until this is all over." Just as she was about to question it, he continued. "No one in town knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never know. Or the legion will be after me next."

She nodded in understanding, turning to head out the door. "Alright then. Goodbye for now, I guess."

"Yeah." He gave her a nod.

A minute later, Rex and she were heading down the final steps outside the dinosaur. Checking the time on her Pip-Boy, Ember was surprised to see that only an hour had passed in time since she had left her room. Knowing that she wouldn't make any progress with the man's request until everyone else in the town was also awake, she headed the way opposite the sniper's nest to try to fight some aggressive creatures just outside of town. Or perhaps play a game of fetch with Rex.

Just trying to find something to keep the both of them occupied until sun rise.