August 22nd, 2279
"Let me do the talking." Zack said towards Kade. He pulled his head wrap away from his mouth so he could be easier heard. Zack spoke in a raised voice. "We are travelers looking for a place to rest for the night and are in need of supplies." Zack could see a small scar running horizontal across the man's chin.
"Where are you traveling from and where are you headed?"
"I'm from a place south of here called Polvo. I'm on my way to New Vegas. My companion here is from a place south of the Phoenix ruins called Dedge. She is looking to find an armed caravan heading that direction to buy passage with."
The man behind the light machine gun turned his head to the side to look back at the other leaning against the mountain side. "Sir?"
The leaning man nodded his head and spoke. "They're fine."
The man turned back towards Zack, took his hands off his weapon and sat back on a wooden stool and relaxed. "Proceed to the rec-"
"Sergeant DeLeon! Rad Hawk! One o' clock, two miles out! It's heading to our position!" The man shouted down from the watch tower while peering through the scope of his rifle.
The man that was leaning against the mountain pulled his rifle up and quickly moved from behind the sandbag fortification looking to where the other man had said.
Zack and Kade turned as well. Zack squinted and saw the form in the sky. Kade gave a small yelp. Zack was about to draw his revolver, but thought better not to, in case any of these soldiers had itchy trigger fingers and thought of him as a threat.
"Damn, even from a couple miles out that thing is big."
He had never seen a Rad Hawk before in his life, but from way Rex had described them, and the one that was in front of him, he was worried.
The Sergeant turned and called up to the watch tower. "Alright, Pasley, keep a shot lined up on it and hold. He turned to Zack and Kade. "You two, get behind the sandbags. Jones, keep them back there." He looked to the man behind the sandbags. Jones nodded.
Kade stood staring, her eyes fixed on the coming beast in the sky. Zack grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the protection of the sandbags. He crouched down and pulled Kade down as well.
Jones looked back to them. "Don't interfere." He said quickly. He turned back, readied his light machine gun and aimed it upwards.
Sergeant DeLeon turned to the women. "Margret, take cover under that desk and don't come out till I give the all clear!" The elderly woman did as she was told, but did so slowly. "Okay, we're gonna try something different this time. Calhoun, grab the cage and bring it over."
The woman standing by the desk nodded, and slung her rifle over her shoulder. She made her way to a pile of what looked like garbage and took a wooden box from the jumble of debris. She held it with both her hands and jogged to where the Sergeant was. The Rad Hawk was almost upon them.
Sergeant DeLeon took the box from Calhoun and set it by his feet, angling it towards the oncoming threat. He pulled a knife from the inside of his boot and cut some rope at the end of the box. "Here's the plan, I'm going to release Bugs and see if this beast wants a piece of him. If not, Pasley you take your shot. If that doesn't send him off, we all fire at will and make our way back into the settlement. Got it?" There were several grunted responses.
DeLeon pulled up the end of the box and a quick blur shot out of it. He then picked up the box and threw it off to the side of the road. Zack could see what came out was a Jackal Rabbit, it wasn't a fully grown yet, which allowed it incredible speed. The air was silent as all eyes followed the Jackal Rabbit off into the wastes leaving a dusty plume in its wake.
The Rad Hawk swooped down at an angle. Even with the distance between them, Zack could see the viciousness in the birds amber eyes, it wanted blood. It was unsure to Zack if it was going for Bugs or at the larger targets of Sergeant DeLeon and Calhoun standing close to each other. Time seemed to slow down as the Rad Hawk made its grand entrance. It leveled out when it neared the ground. Zack closed his eyes, cringed his face, waiting to hear the screams of someone being carried off or the sound of gunfire. He reached to his mother's ring at his chest and gripped it in his hand. He heard Kade shout from his left.
"Oh no!" Kade gripped Zack's left arm with both of hers and held on tightly.
Zack opened his eyes saw that the Rad Hawk had tried to attack the two standing on the road. He heard a gun shot from above, not knowing if it hit. On the ground over to his right he saw Calhoun gripping her left shoulder, scarlet blood was oozing through her fingers. The Rad Hawk went back up into the air and circled around. It flew past above them this time and Jones fired his light machine gun upwards at it, screaming curses. Sergeant DeLeon was crouched down by Calhoun, checking her wound. The Rad Hawk swooped down in the distance from them, when it came back up it had Bugs in its left talon. It flew back the direction it had come from.
"Alright, it's leaving!" Kade shouted with excitement as she jumped to stand up.
Zack exhaled a breath that he had not known he was holding and stood up quickly. The ringing in his ears from the gunfire was still present. "Hey Jones, do you have a med kit of any kind? I can help her."
Jones nodded and reached into a nearby footlocker surrounded by ammunition cans. He pulled out a small white container and tossed it to Zack.
Zack took off his pack and gloves quickly and jumped over the sandbags towards the downed Calhoun. He pulled down his goggles to his neck while he ran. He crouched down opposite of where DeLeon was. Zack took notice of the right side of DeLeon's jaw and neck, there was a scar that ran down which looked like it was caused by a burn. Calhoun was clenching her teeth and breathing rapidly.
"Please move your hand so I can see the injury."
She did, Zack then ripped apart the seam of her jacket some, and could see that it was not too bad. The bird had only torn through her left trapezius muscle. She would be off duty for a bit, sore as hell, but would live. Zack opened the med kit and tended to the wound, first cleaning it as best as he could. Calhoun closed her eyes and passed out. Zack checked her pulse to make sure she was still alive. Zack heard foot steps from behind him. He turned his head and saw Kade standing there. She was holding a brown rimmed hat with both hands in front of her by her waist.
"This fell off when she went down." She spoke slowly and softly. "I went to retrieve it. Is she going to be okay?" Kade looked down at Calhoun's wound and her face lost its color.
Zack smiled faintly, turned back and continued to work. "Yes, she'll be okay Kade. Thanks for getting the hat. Can you give it to the Sergeant here please?"
She passed it over Zack's head to DeLeon. He thanked her and held it upon his knee. Kade walked away slowly towards the desk where Margret had got out from under without Sergeant DeLeon's order. Margret sat back in her chair, lit up a new cigarette, and Kade seemed to be making conversation with her. Sergeant DeLeon looked back down at Calhoun.
"I'm not too good with medicine. Is she really going to be okay, or were you just sparing that other woman?"
Zack finished injecting some med-x and began to sew wound closed. "No, Calhoun here will pull through fine. Don't count on her doing much for some time though."
Sergeant DeLeon nodded and stared down at her with concern. "Calhoun hasn't been with us that long. This is her first real assignment. I've been with the Rangers for about eighteen months, mostly in California near the area around the L.A. Boneyards, but then got sent to this place."
"What are you guys exactly?" Zack asked while he continued his work.
"We're from the Nineteenth Ranger Regiment, Second Battalion, Echo Troop, First Platoon. Our Regiment was sent out to Arizona to find settlements with resources and establish trade routes with NCR headquarters. The places we locate might one day be part of NCR. We took jurisdiction of Cherry Cliff about two weeks ago."
"What about the slavery that is present here? Aren't there auctions or something?"
"Oh yeah that." DeLeon said with a chuckle. He pointed his thumb behind him to the bodies that hung above the fence. "That's what we did with the ring leaders, the rest we ran out of town without anything save the clothes on their backs."
Zack smiled knowing Kade would be happy. "That's good."
A new Ranger appeared from behind the fence. He opened it slightly and sprinted behind the Sergeant. He was also carrying a military assault rifle.
"Excuse me sir, Lieutenant Green heard shots and asked me to investigate. Everything okay here? Is it safe for a shipment to go out, it's just about finished loading up?" The Ranger stood waiting for response.
Sergeant DeLeon stood up and turned to the man. "Yes, it's clear at the moment. Inform the Lieutenant we were attacked by a Rad Hawk, Calhoun was wounded and will need time to recuperate. Open the gate fully on your way back for the shipment to go out."
The Ranger turned to do as ordered.
"Private, wait! Tell Rojas and Andrews they are on guard duty tonight for the front gate."
"Wasn't Rojas out here early this morning sir?"
Sergeant DeLeon glared at the man.
"Yes sir! Right away." He turned and sprinted back up to the gate and swung it open fully.
Zack finished bandaging the wound on Calhoun's shoulder and closed the med kit. He walked back to the sandbags and handed the med kit back to Jones. Jones passed him a bottle of vodka. Zack took it and poured some onto his fingers to rid the blood that was present on them.
"Thanks." Zack passed the bottle back to Jones.
Jones looked down at the bottle and took a swig. "No problem dude, thank you for taking care of Calhoun. None of us are here is trained as field medic, Bailey and Young are off duty right now. Most likely getting wasted down at the saloon."
"Glad I could be of help."
Zack heard noise from the entrance where the fence had blocked before. He turned and saw two Brahmin pulling what looked like the back end of a red pickup truck. It only had two wheels on it, and was driverless. The two Brahmin were being lead by a man wearing simple garments, but had good condition boots. Around the outside of the makeshift wagon was an escort of five other Rangers. Each of them dressed the same as the ones present before and each branding a different firearm. One of them broke off from the group and with the help of DeLeon, moved Calhoun off to the side of the road so the wagon could pass. The Ranger fell back in line and the wagon passed where Zack stood. The contents of the shipment were hidden by a covering of some kind, but sticking out the back Zack thought he saw some kind of titian colored metal rods.
Kade motioned to Zack with a hand and started to walk towards him. He met her halfway by where DeLeon stood over Calhoun.
"Hey Zack, I put our names in with Margret at the record's desk. Told her we'd be staying for less than a day. But we are allowed to go in now. That is, if it's still alright with Mr. DeLeon?" She looked over to DeLeon with a smile.
He laughed a couple of times. "Yeah you two can go in, and that's Sergeant DeLeon." He said with a smirk. He turned towards the others. "Pasley, get down here and help me get Calhoun to the barracks. Jones you stay here till Rojas and Andrews arrive. They shouldn't be more than ten minutes. Margret, time to pack up and take it inside."
Zack went to retrieve his belongings from behind the sandbags. Pasley climbed down the ladder and he helped DeLeon take Calhoun through the opening. Zack met Kade in the middle of the road, the last light from the sky faded away, and they both made their way into the mouth of Cherry Cliff.