The sound of automatic fire scared the fuck out of Troy. He jumped, but immediately cried out in pain afterwards. The sunlight blinded him for a few seconds, but he did regain his composure eventually, only to be met with the sight of metal bars in front of him. He looked behind him and noticed that there were other bars that his unconscious body leaned on. After looking around one more time, he noticed that there were other people in the metal cage with him. Every single one of them, covered in dirty, some injured.

"Where the hell am I?" Troy asked as he looked outside of the cage. He rubbed his head and could feel his short and moist light brown hair. "Where the hell did my cap go?" he blurted out while continuing to feel his naked head. After his examination of the outside, Troy assumed that he was in some kind of canyon. Guard armed with leather and metal armor remained around the cage while a couple brahmin from the front dragged it. Alongside the apparel were weapons of good quality. Basically assault carbines and hunting shotguns.

"Oh good you're finally up" a female voice interrupted Troy's examination of his surroundings. He turned towards a girl with a blond ponytail that had a string of her hair covering her left blue eye. Her pale skin was dirtied just like everyone else. However, instead of mud, there was more blood that covered her. The white tank top that she wore might as well be considered a red tank top. Her tan pants looked a little cleaner, but there were still drops of blood staining it.

Troy leaned against the cage in confusion. The last thing he remembered was the pain caused by a blade. "Take it easy" she assured him. "You woke up in a cage with poor looking people on the inside and heavily armed people outside. I was surprised too when I was in your shoes. Except, I wasn't in bad shape."

Sooner than later, Troy did calm down, so he sat up and looked at her for a few seconds. She definitely stood out compared to the rest of these people. Not just her looks, her personality and character as well. Finally, Troy succumbed to the stinging around his gut, so he looked at the bandages wrapped around his ruined leather armor. He pressed his palm against the stitched up wound, causing pain to send a shock to his nerves. "So uh, what's going on?" he asked the girl while slowly removing his hand away from the wound.

"Well you see" she started before suddenly sighing. "I hate to break it to you, but everyone in this cage is now property" she answered his question before pointing at the guards outside of the cage. "In other words, we're slaves" she pointed out the obvious. She quickly glanced back towards the other prisoners and sigh before looking back at Troy. "The guards found you next to a bunch of dead Legion soldiers. Assuming you killed all of them, they figured somebody would bid high for you" she asked.

Troy stopped and thought for a moment. He now remembered the full details of receiving the nearly fatal machete slash. There was a long awkward moment of silence until Troy broke it. "Yea" he muttered. His memories came back to him. That Legion dog really killed the entire town, just to send a message. The needless sacrifices really pissed the courier off, so he snapped. Maybe it was better that Troy let them go until they crossed paths again. However, at least the world lost a squad of bad people.

Suddenly Troy felt pain in his shoulder. It was only a moment later that he realized the girl punched him. "Don't daze off all of a sudden. You nearly scared me" she warned him with light laughter following.

The courier raised an eyebrow, still confused by this woman's characteristics. "How the hell are you so laid back compared to them" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've been through plenty of shit" she revealed. "By the way, you haven't thanked me for patching you up yet. I only worked so hard you know" she teased while adjusting her position until she sat with her legs crossed.

Troy raised an eyebrow. "That was you?" Troy asked. He felt dumb when noticing the blood all over her apparel. It should have been obvious "Thanks erm..." he awkwardly thanked. He looked around and noticed that there were no medical supplies nearby. He assumed that one of the guards gave some to her just to patch Troy up.

"Harley" she interrupted. "Harley Furr." She extended her hand towards him.

Troy lightly grasped it to complete the hand shake. "Troy Volk" he'd introduce himself in a timid voice. He still felt weirded out with his position. First he gets shot in the head, now this.

The soldiers suddenly blasted their guns. As they both looked at what was going on, they noticed a bunch of giant hornets with yellow wings. Cazadores. Troy knew what they were, but he couldn't remember ever meeting one face to face. Surely there was an instance in the past where he encountered one. Too bad that memory is long gone now.

"Haha! So pathetic! They haven't touched us this whole trip" one of the guards in metal taunted.

Harley sighed, thinking that specific guard as lame. "Try to stay on their good side. The only reason you're with us right now is because of your supposed victory against all those Legionnaires." she'd advise the courier.

"Jesus Christ, this sucks" Troy muttered a complaint.

The slavers finally got their prisoners out of the canyon. Upon their exit, Troy noticed a ruined town up ahead.

"There's our home" one of the guards blurted out in excitement. It's no surprise he was glad to be out of their. Cazadores are annoying. Add that with rounding up a bunch of slaves, and just about anybody would be glad to be home again.

Troy, still up against the cage, had noticed that one of the guards was young looking. Couldn't even had reached his twenties yet. The expressions the boy made looked a lot more innocent compared to the other slavers. "Hey um, kid?" Troy tried calling out to the boy.

"Shhh! What are you doing?" Harley tried interrupting Troy's attempt to call over one of the guards.

"I just want to ask him something" Troy replied.

Harley leaned in to talk quieter. "Fine, but maybe hold back from calling him kid. I don't know about you, but some adults throw temper tantrums. I'd rather not see one with a gun throw one."

Troy rolled his eyes and looked over, eyes meeting the young guard. He had on a dark gray helmet that looked a little too big on him. It was a funny sight, but Troy had to hold back from laughing. That was surely suicide

"So? What's the question?" the young guard asked, a bit impatient.

"Um, I just want to know where we are."

The boy pointed at the ruined town that Troy spotted earlier. "That's Bonnie Springs. Viper gang members had it until we took it ov-"

"Damien! Don't be so nice to the prisoners! You might be the boss's boy, but I'll still whoop your ass" a random guard threatened. The young one seemed irritated, but didn't say anything back.

When brought to the center of the town, all the prisoners were brought out of the cage and lined up. Once in line, the guards forced everyone to drop to their knees. While Troy and Harley easily complied, most of the others hesitated, but fear helped them follow orders. Everyone was still for a while until an old bald guy with dark combat armor and a cigarette in his mouth walked up to the bunch. Everybody's sights remained on the man.

"Lets see here" he'd start while examining his men's captures. He took out the cigarette and held it in between two fingers. He then pointed the small stick at Troy. "So this is the guy who killed the Legion huh?"

All his men nodded with positive looks on their faces. Their boss ended up laughing. "This one! This one I like!" the boss announced. His henchmen celebrated. "Alright, so we keep blondie and have her finish up with patching our little Legion hunter. The others we just try to sell to anybody."

"Fuck this!" one of the prisoners screamed before attempting to run off.

The man in combat armor rolled his eyes. "Waste the bitch" he'd order somebody with a sniper. Without hesitation, the underling aimed his rifle and fired. The escaping prisoner's head exploded in the distance.

"As you can see, we don't care about wasting you useless junkies" he'd talk down towards the other prisoners. "Well, except these two right here" he'd point at Troy and Harley. "They are actually worth a damn unlike you pansies."

After the insults, Baldy walked over to his men to discuss their plan. Troy and Harley originally were going to keep still, but one of the guards backpack which laid against the cage suddenly fell over, catching the two's attention. There were bags belonging to other guards, others were confiscated from prisoners. Troy noticed his and eyed it. It now occurred to him that he needs to get his shit back. Suddenly, his bag fell over. One of his plastic water bottles ended up falling out of the bag and rolled closer towards Troy. He watched it, wondering what's pushing the bags over. All of a sudden, he noticed that the water formed a ring. Another one formed, but Troy heard something faint alongside the sight. Then, a third, this time the sound was louder. It sounded like something stomped.

"Did you feel that?" Harley suddenly asked. Troy looked at her confused. He felt like he knew what was coming, but he can't remember jack shit. "Hey!" she called over at the guards. They ignored her. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" she desperately cried out.

"Shut the fuck up bitch!" one of them harshly responded. "We really don't need to bust that pretty mouth of yours!" he'd threaten.

Harley rolled her eyes and looked at Troy. "Just... be ready to run" she quietly warned.

"Wait, why?" Troy asked. Suddenly, he felt the vibration Harley hinted towards. "Oh, that's why." The courier knew what was coming. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the specific name of the threat.

The guards suddenly looked towards the prisoners. Actually, they looked passed them.

"The hell was that?" one of them asked.

A sudden horrendous roar startled everybody in the demolished town. Nobody moved, which was probably the worst thing to do at a time like this. A crashing sound along with gunshots and screams were heard at the far end of the town. Since it was a small town to begin with it wasn't very far away, and everybody could see what was going on.

"Deathclaw!" one of the guards screamed.

Troy saw the large lizard like creature fighting off a couple guards. He stared in awe as it mutilated its prey. The look of the creature immediately brought his memories back. "Let's run" he'd tell Harley.

"No not yet. These slavers would just mow us down if we tried to escape right now" Harley warned. Troy groaned. He really did not want to die here.

Prisoners were already panicking and trying to run away which caused the young guard, Damien, to fire his assault carbine at the runaways. "Wow. To think that even with a fucking deathclaw around, they still care about their stupid merchandise!" Troy lashed out in disbelief. Eventually Damien could see how much help his comrades needed so he went to assist.

Troy saw that the slaver sniper was right in front of him. Without hesitation, he ran up and would put the guy in a chokehold. Troy might still be injured, but this was a good opportunity to take this asshole out. The sniper fought back with all his might, but eventual gave his last breath. It was a big help that the other guards were occupied. By now Troy would assume that they care more about their lives than their prize.

"Troy! Lets go!" Harley yelled. He turned around and saw Harley grab a bag and run off. Troy followed behind, but not without the rifle that once belonged to this sniper. As Troy ran passed the cage, he grabbed a random bag before chasing after the blonde prisoner. He wished he could have checked to see if the bag was his, but he really does not have the time to do such a thing.

"Holy shit" Troy blurted out as his hands rested on his knees while he pants.

"Yea" Harley managed to get out. She was in the same position, but felt like she was in worse shape. How odd since Troy is the one with the injury.

When they caught their breath, the two started walking towards where they came from. The canyon might be dangerous, but it beats going back to fight a deathclaw. Cazadore bodies littered the path, so hopefully the two were safe for this trip. While walking, they'd look through the loot they gained.

"Wait..." Troy halted Harley. "Is that my bag?" he asked/

Harley shrugged. "I just grabbed a random one. We can switch if you want to" she offered.

Troy hesitated, but agreed. Once they switched, Troy checked to see if anything was missing. Basically, nothing was lost other than some bullets and food items. As long as the broken pipboy remained, he was fine. The least he could do was keep the gauntlet for Doc's sake.

"Wow" Harley groaned. "Just a combat knife, food, and caps. A few bullets too." She stopped and stomped on the ground to let out some anger. "How are you gonna have a big backpack like this and barely fill it up!?" she complained.

Troy laughed. "Here take the rifle then. They kept my pistol in here." She smiled as Troy handed her the gun. "So where do you think we'll be headed?" Troy asked.

"Probably to Goodsprings" the answer made Troy freeze.

"Wait, I'm known there. How the hell did they get pass without anybody seeing me?" Troy frantically asked.

Harley looked at him and tilted her head a little bit to the side. "I mean, the town looked really empty at night."

Troy let out a disappointing sigh. "What luck" he muttered. All of a sudden, Troy stopped walking.

Harley turned around to check on him. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.

Troy collapsed but caught himself. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. His brain was pulsing heavily and rapidly. Finally, he did end up screaming. His arms gave way and he fell onto the ground face first. He laid on his side and grasped his head as he lets out a terrifying and painful cry. He then began to curl up hoping that his misery would repress, but the pain for some reason remained. His eyes were clenched shut, but he could feel Harley's touch. When he opened them, she crouched in front of him and looking through her bag. Her mouth made words, but Troy's ears couldn't pick anything up but loud ringing. Before he knew it, everything went black.

Harley Furr
Level: 6
S - 4
P - 6
E - 4
C - 8
I - 7
A - 6
L - 5
Tagged Skills
Guns
Barter
Speech
Perks
Black Widow
Cherchez La Femme
Shotgun Surgeon