xx

Chapter 5

Getting to know you.

xx

The sun was starting to set as the two companions continued walking

Kyrie yawned as they coninuted on their long walk. Boone then yawned as well, losing the fight to hold it back. Dammit, why did yawning have to be so contagious?

"God, I hope we get there soon." She mumbled, stretching her small frame, her skinny arms above her head as she felt her back pop. "All I've been looking at is sand, a tumbleweed, and your face."

"Why am I on that list?" He asked, giving her small glare.

"It's my list of the most exciting things I've seen on this walk." She said, smirking.

Yeah, walked right into that one. He rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, adjusting the scarf on his neck. Tumbleweeds more exciting then his face?

Speaking of which, a tumbleweed had tumbled over to them and stopped when it hit Boone in the leg. Looking down at the pesky plant, he made to kick it away but with a crunch, his foot went straight through the brittle twigs, and try as he could, his leg wouldn't come free.

"Oh perfect." He grumbled, trying to shake it off. But it ended up getting stuck even more.

Loud giggles reached his ears, making his face turn hot and he was sure it wasn't the heat. Kyrie had fallen to the ground with the force of her laughter, tears of mirth running down her face.

Boone glared at her, blushing even more.

'Want some help?' She asked through her laughter.

"No!' He snapped, getting irritated. After a few moments of no success, he grumbled in embarrasment. "Yes."

Kyrie shook her head with a smirk. "Hold on." Bending down, she took out her combat knife and started cutting away at the twigs and sticks.

"Careful with that thing!" Boone snapped.

"I know what I'm doing!" She snapped back before muttering under her breath. "Big baby."

"I can't really spot for you if you chop my leg off." He said, keeping his lower leg still as she finally set his foot free from the troublesome weed.

"Oh sure you could!" She said, laughing once again as Boone straightened out his pant leg. "I could you widdle you a leg out of said tumbleweed!"

Boone couldn't help but grin slightly at her joke. Looking up at the orange sky, he noticed afew stars starting to light up, indicating it was nearing dusk.

"Maybe we should make camp soon." He muttered, feeling the heat start to drop.

"Alright!" Kyrie said through her laughter, looking around for a good spot. It was always good to stick to high ground when making camp, you never know what could happen in the Mojave at night.

"There's a good spot!" She exclaimed, causing him to jump slightly.

"Jesus, must you yell?" He snapped in annoyance. "Something might hear us!"

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I got excited!"

Boone felt yet another vein starting to throb in his temple, at this rate, he was most likely going to have a stroke before they even reached their destination.

Abou halfway to the small abandoned camp ground, Kyrie suddenly stopped short, looking down at the ground with wide eyes, her face losing all of it's color as she placed her goggles on her head.

Boone turned when he noticed she had stopped. "What now?" When he saw her face, he immediatley grew concerned. "Kyrie?"

She appeared to not have heard him, she was just staring at the one spot on the ground, all of her excitement from earlier gone and was replaced by a completely different emotion; fear.

"Kyrie, what's wrong?" He asked in a panic.

She looked up at him and he had to fight to step back at the look in her eyes. They were wide, her pupils were dilated showing she was terrified. Pointing down to the ground, he looked down and felt his own heartbeat increase.

A foot print.

A Deathclaw foot print, and it was fresh.

"Kyrie, come on. We got to move." He made sure to keep his voice low, just in case the creature was nearby.

The small girl didn't seem to hear him, she just stood there, her small hands clenched into fists that were so tight that her knuckles were turning white.

Without waiting for her to respond, the tall man grabbed her hand and dragged her away as quickly and quietly as he could. Looking back in the direction they were heading, he felt his eyes widen.

Right in the abandoned camp was the creature who left the foot print, sniffing the air and snarling lightly as he tired to find the source of the smell.

Trying to think clearly, Boone looked all around for a place to take cover. C'mon, Craig, think! He thought viciously to himself. Ah!

Literally diving into teh ditch, dragging Kyrie with him, he held her close to him to keep her still. It was clear she was in a pure state of panic and would react without thinking, which would most likely get her killed.

The clicking, grinding scrapes of the Deathclaw's feet were literally right above them, the creature growling and snarling as it looked around. Kyrie's breathing had increased ten fold, causing her to cover her mouth to quiet herself.

"Shh...stay calm." He whispered in her ear, pressing her head closer to his chest. Kyrie nodded, her small hand clutching at his shirt desperatly. "And do as I say.."

Afte what felt like an eternity, the creature stalked away leaving a fresh track of foot prints in it's wake.

"Kyrie, listen to me, stay low and be quiet, and make for that old shack over there." He whispered to her. Adjusting her pack, she kept low to the ground, looking behind her every couple of seconds.

"I'm right behind you." He assured the frightened nineteen year old. "Go, go!"

Being sure to be quiet, Kyrie made a break for it, feeling her bag hit her in the back of the legs as she ran. Boone made sure she didn't fall over in her panic to get to the shack. After slamming the door shut, Kyrie leaned against the door, breathing heavily as she sank to the floor, her hands shaking as she scrubbed at her face, smudging the dirt and the grim and the sweat off of her skin.

"You okay?" He asked, keeping the concern hidden in his voice.

She nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm okay...Sorry about that."

"No problem." He sat down on the old, torn chair that was in the corner. "What happened back there? I've never seen you panic like that."

She looked up into the face of the man who saved her ass from getting killed.

"I...I really don't like Deathclaws.." She mumbled, looking down at her boots in embarrassment.

"I don't either but you were completely frozen. What happened?"

Might as well tell him. A little voice in her head taunted her, causing her to grumble slightly. But her brain was right, he was her companion and trusted comrade out here in this desert.

"You really wanna know?" She asked, her eyebrow raised. "It's kind of a long story."

"We've got all night." He said in his usual monotone tone.

Kyrie may have been shot in the head, but nothing short of death could make her forget that day.

xx

14 years ago.

Butte, Montana

It was just supposed to be another day, a normal day. Well, as normal as it could be in the wasteland.

"Today, my little Gecko, we are on the hunt!" Arthur Swanson declared, striking a pose, which made his daughter giggle.

"Hunt for what, Daddy?" Five year old Kyrie asked.

"I don't know yet, but whatever we come across, we shall hunt it!" He then gave out an exaggerated laugh, which caused the little girl to laugh more.

Kyrie and Arthur Swanson were known as the Hunting pair of their family. While Kyra and Reese stayed at home with Mary, Kyrie would always go with her Dad on his scavenging travels, she loved it. She absolutely loved going to new places, meeting new people, and hunting for their food.

For her fifth birthday, he had given her her very own BB gun and two hundred rounds of BB rounds. She was so happy when she saw it, unlike her mother who insisted that she start 'acting like a proper young lady.'

Yeah, right.

Arthur then stopped short when he spotted something that nearly made his eyes pop out of his head.

"Kyrie, honey, look at that!" He whispered in excitement.

"What is it, Daddy?" She asked

He pointed to a large nest on the foot of a cliff. At first Kyrie couldn't figure out what kind of creature owned that particualr nest. So far, she could identify a Gecko nest, a Mantis nest, a radroach nest, and a caravor nest. But she had never seen this kind of Nest before.

"Sweetie, that is a Deathclaw nest!" He practically squealed as he walked towards it, the small girl following behind him closely, keeping her eyes out for any sort of movement.

"These eggs are worth two hundred caps each!"

Kneeling down to examine the eggs, Arthur reached down to pick one up to examine it when a noise caught his attention. Looking up, he saw off in the distance the last thing he wanted to see when he had his five year old daughter with him.

The owner of said Nest.

"Kyrie, honey, listen to Daddy." He said in a soft voice. Kyrie looked up at the tone of his voice, she had never heard that tone come from him before; He was afraid.

"Daddy, what's wrong?"

"Kyrie! Listen to me, I want you to run as fast as you can...run back home and don't look back." His voice sounded so serious and determined. He then turned to her and gave her a kiss on her small forehead.

"I love you, my little Gecko." He said in a sad tone, seeming to know what was going to happen.

"Run." He growled out, getting his hunting rifle ready

"Daddy?" She asked again in a frightened voice.

"Kyrie! Run! Dammit, run!" The frightened girl nodded before running as fast as she could in the direction they had come. "I'll be right behind you! Run, sweetie, run!"

And she did just that. She ran until she couldn't breathe, she ran until she felt like her legs were going to explode, and she hid in a ditch.

An hour passed by and her father still hadn't shown up yet. He said he was right behind her, had something happened? Deciding it was safe enough to go look for him, she climbed out of her hiding place and looked around.

"Daddy?" She called out into the open plain. There was no reply, which scared the already frightened five year old. "Daddy? Are you there?"

Heading back to where her Dad was last, she made sure to keep low to the ground the whole time, in case that Deathclaw thingy was still around.

She recgonized the landscapes from earlier as she made her way back to the nest. "Daddy?" She called again. A loud noise made her turn around sharply in alarm. "Daddy?"

A gecko scurried off from behind the bushes, disappearing into the night. Kyrie let out a breath, she didn't know she was holding as she made her way forward.

"Daddy, where are you?" She then let out a small yelp as she tripped over something. 'Owie.." She whined, rubbing at her scraped knee. She got a look at what she tripped over and felt her heart skip a beat.

Her Daddy's modded out Hunting rifle.

With great strain, she picked it up carefully and stood it up on it's stock. Being so tiny, it was way taller then her but she refused to just leave it. She'd find her Dad, give it back to him, and they would head home, just like they always did.

"Daddy! Come on, we gotta go home!" She called again in fear. A horrible smell reached her nose, causing her to gag slightly.

She had smelled that smell before, the smell of old blood, of decomposing flesh, and various other bodily fluids that couldn't be contained within the human body any longer.

"Please, no..." She whimpered, hoping with all of her soul that it was coming from the one person she was looking for. All that was left of him was his hat and part of his arm...

Never before had felt this sort of grief and despair. No five year old should witness this...

She couldn't remember how she got home, but she dragged her Dad's old gun and his hat back to their house. She vaguely remembered her mom screaming at her when she walked into the house and threw the bloody hat onto the floor...

She could never forget that day...

xx

Kyrie had the hunting rifle in her lap by the time she had finished her story.

"Then after that is when my mom became an alcholic, crazed psychotic cunt and my sisters were worse. Ten years of hell, then I got the fuck out of that place and never looked back."

Boone didn't know what to say. What could he say? He had no idea her childhood was that bad, not from the way she acted; so carefree.

"Do you wanna stop talking about it?" He asked uncomfortably.

"It actually feels good to talk about it...ya know, it takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders..." She grinned at him, her eyes showing her real emotion. The deep green gems gave off sadness and guilt.

"I can't help but think I could've prevented that from happening." She said, leaning her head back against the door.

"You were a five year old kid, you couldn't do anything." He assured her, leaning forward in the chair.

"I know, can't help but feel that way though." She then looked at him, this time her smile reaching her eyes. He couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw it.

"Uhh...Thanks...for saving my ass back there." She said a few minutes later.

Boone's eyebrow rose. What was she thanking him for?

"You're welcome." He said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

There was more to this girl then he thought.

How much more...

Well, he'd just have to find out.

xx

Ehh...could've been better but oh well!

Review!