*Goodsprings, same day*
Stiles groaned and opened his eyes, squinting at the bright light; he clumsily raised his arm to try and block out the light. He shifted, attempting to sit up, and shield his eyes at the same time, but a pair of hands quickly pressed down on his shoulders.
"Easy there kiddo, don't sit up quite yet. You've been out for awhile, your friend here has been worried sick about you," a disembodied voice said to him.
Stiles blinked a few more times, letting his eyes adjust to the light hanging over him; a shadow slowly came into focus. A brown-skinned man was standing over him, a concerned look on his face. Then, over the man's shoulder, another face appeared, one that made him smile. "Hey Scott," he rasped, his throat dry. The two of them helped him to slowly sit up, Stiles shaking his head as he tried to clear away the dizzy spell that hit him. But that only made it worse, his world spun and he tilted over on his side, Scott barely managing to keep him on the bed. "Ow, holy crap, what's going on man?" he asked his buddy, desperately wishing he had some water.
"Well, first, let the doctor finish checking you out," Scott replied.
"Hi, Dr. Alan Deaton, but most folks call me Doc. I just want to run a few final tests on you to make sure you're alright. You took quite the hit to the head you know." Deaton handed the boy a mirror, "Tell me, do you look like yourself?"
Stiles grimaced as he reached out the grasp the mirror, arms still giving him a sluggish response; he looked in the mirror, turning from side to side. He counted the moles on the side of his face, "Yea, looks like I'm all here."
"Good, good, I did my best to patch you up, although that nasty scar above your eye isn't going to go away any time soon."
Stiles sighed, looking into the mirror again. He supposed he should be thankful he was even alive, but as he looked at the angry red scar spread over his temple, fading out to a dark pink over his left eye, he just couldn't help but feel frustrated. "Well, consider that just one more reason for the ladies to run away from me."
"Oh come on dude, it definitely gives you a hint of danger. If you can get shot in the head and survive, you're doing really well," Scott said, attempting to cheer his best friend up.
Stiles just gave him a rueful smile, barely nodding his head; it gave him a real dangerous look alright, kinda on the psychotic side if he were to tell the truth. But at the end of the day, it was just one more scar to add to the collection, he had plenty of those. Sometimes he really envied Scott's healing abilities, that asshole didn't have a single scar. There were times when that healing ability had almost gotten them into trouble though; a noticeable lack of scars in the Wastes was a dead giveaway for some people. It was what is was though, nothing to do about it.
"Do you feel up to standing? I'm hoping to give you a strength and reflex test, we have to make sure your brain is functioning alright." When Stiles nodded his head, Deaton continued, "Come this way then, this machine here will test everything out for you."
Scott came over so Stiles had someone to lean on, the pair carefully making their way over to the machine the doctor was leading them towards. He held onto the handle, barely registering what the machine wanted him to do, but it seemed like he passed because Doc said he was doing just fine. Stiles was ready to get out of here, he had someone to go track down and kill; he moved towards what he thought was the door. But the doctor stepped in his way.
"Now, you can't leave just yet, I've got some other questions to ask you, come sit on the couch. Just a few questions and then you'll be free to go, I promise."
He just groaned but allowed Scott to lead him towards the couch; he was thankful to be sitting again though. Apparently Deaton wanted to run a word association test, although Stiles had no idea what that would prove. But he played along, calling out the first thing that came to mind to each of Deaton's words. Whatever the outcome was, Deaton was pleased and stood up, walking them to the door.
"Alright, here's all your stuff back, sorry if the clothes are bloody, I had a hard time trying to wash it all out. But it's better than being in your underwear right? And I've also got this 9mm handgun, Scott said it was yours; here's the ammo. And a few caps as well... I think that's everything. You boys be careful now, the Wastes are pretty dangerous."
"Thanks for patching me up Doc, although I have to ask, what exactly happened out there, why am I not dead?" Stiles asked, holstering his gun and putting the rest back into Scott's pack. He really needed to find his own pack, he felt bad making Scott carry everything.
"Well, I think Scott knows more than me, he was there after all. But the bullet entered your temple and roamed for a bit, honestly, I have no idea how you survived. Thankfully you passed all the tests so I didn't mess anything up when I dug the bullet out. Functionality is all there! The brain is a tricky organ, we don't know too much about it, so count your blessing and don't think about it too much."
"Well, that's good enough for me, as long as you say I'm good to go, I'm not going to question it," Stiles told him, turning to grab the door handle. "Oh, wait, where's my sniper rifle Doc? I can't leave without that."
"Uhh, about that Stiles," Scott said, looking up at the ceiling. "Peter stole it. Well, maybe one of the Khans did, I'm not sure, but it's gone."
"What?! God, that thing was expensive! Fucking Peter," Stiles yelled, slamming the door with the side of his fist.
"It's fine Stiles, we'll get you another one, don't worry about it. Come on, let's go find something to drink."
"Yea, yea, sure. One last thing, while we're here- did you happen to see which way Peter went?"
"No, I was sound asleep until Scott and Victor knocked on my door. You can either ask him if he knows anything or look for Melissa. She's the bartender, so if there is any gossip going around about the man that shot you, she'd know. Be careful boys, maybe go talk with Sunny Smiles, she should be able to help you out, give you another gun or something," Deaton warned one last time as they opened the door.
"Thanks again Doc, I'll be sure to come back if I need any more patching up," Stiles repeated, waving to the kind man.
The boys shielded their eyes as they stepped outside, the afternoon sun shining brightly. From the porch they could make out the bar, so they decided to head there first. As they walked, Stiles carefully flexed his fingers, making sure he still had control of everything. Doc had said that he passed all the tests but it was still unreal to think that he was fully functional after having a bullet race around inside his skull. "Still can't believe Peter stole the rifle, what a dick!" Stiles murmured, kicking at a rock on the road.
"Well, he's also a dick for shooting you in the face and leaving you to die," Scott replied.
Stiles just scowled at his almost brother, pushing open the door for Scott to enter first; they blinked to help their eyes adjust to the dark again. Before they even took a step, there was a large dog in front of them, barking; Stiles stepped forward, pushing Scott behind him. People might not be able to tell that Scott was a Were but animals easily picked up on it... he didn't want any trouble just because the dog wouldn't shut up about it.
"Cheyenne, stay," they heard a voice call out. "Sorry about that, she's wary of strangers, but she won't attack unless I tell her to. Sunny Smiles, nice to meet you."
"Uh, hey," Stiles started, taken back by her bright attitude. "Doc mentioned coming to talk to you, lucky us running into you so soon."
"Good ol' Doc, he's a miracle worker, even if he doesn't admit to it. What can I do you for boys?"
Scott spoke up then, still keeping his distance from the dog, "He said that you could help us, I'm assuming he meant with some kind of training, maybe have a spare gun lying around that we could use?"
"Sure, I can give you guys a few pointers, meet me around back of the saloon," she told them, waving her arm as she turned away.
Scott and Stiles looked at each other and shrugged, might as well see what she had to show them, it couldn't hurt. So they turned and followed her out back, silently cursing the sun once more. They watched as she set up some bottles along the low fence, wondering what she had in mind. After she had set up about 6 bottles, she came over the them and handed Stiles a varmint rifle and some spare rounds.
"See if you can't shoot some of them bottles off the fence," she offered, wanting to see how good of shots they were.
Stiles smirked as he took the gun, it wasn't his sniper rifle, but it would do. He crouched, knowing it would give him more stability and tucked the butt of the rifle into his shoulder. Stiles let out a slow calming breath as he peered down the sights, lining them up with the first bottle. After another breath, he pressed down on the trigger, smiling as he watched it explode. Thank goodness he could still do it! Life wouldn't be the same if he lost his hard-earned skill in shooting. He quickly dispatched two more of the bottles, getting both on the first shot; he stood and offered Scott the rifle.
Scott shook his head, "No, no, no, you know I'm crap with a gun. I don't feel like wasting the ammo, you do well enough for the both of us."
"Very nicely done," Sunny praised.
Stiles shrugged, "Yea, I've spent a lot of hours with my sniper rifle, shooting bottles off a fence isn't too difficult. It's not like they're moving targets."
Sunny gave him an appraising look, she liked a guy that knew how to shoot. "Well, if you want, you can come with me to kill off some Geckos. They keep getting into our water supply, I usually wipe them out every other day. It will be good practice, the varmint rifle handles different from the sniper rifle you're used to."
"That sounds like a plan, practice is always a good idea, you game Scott?"
Scott nodded his head, he wanted to make sure that Stiles was really okay, something more than just a couple of bottles on a fence. He didn't really want to say anything and make Stiles worry, or try too hard and end up pushing himself too far. And if he knew Stiles (he did), then he knew that his brother was already preoccupied with his ability to still protect them; there was no way Scott was going to add to that by voicing his own concerns. He accepted the handgun from Stiles, knowing that he would need some sort of protection... if the Geckos ended up coming too close then he couldn't use his claws without giving away his status. "Alright, lead the way," he said with a smile. Sunny took off, heading south, Cheyenne following behind her, then Scott and Stiles bringing up the rear. As they passed through the brush, forgoing the roads, Scott noticed that Cheyenne kept falling back, getting closer to him. Her hackles were raised, she clearly sensed his Werewolf genes, but she wasn't growling at him. Scott did his best to ignore her, not wanting to raise Sunny's suspicions. Luckily Cheyenne eventually seemed to accept his presence and ran back ahead to be with her owner.
"Okay, the first well is right around the corner here, there shouldn't be too many Geckos here, but let's try to sneak up on them," Sunny said, crouching down.
The three of them crept around the edge of the rock, Scott in the back with the pistol; he wasn't going to shoot unless he had too. Between Sunny and Stiles, he was fairly confident that he wasn't needed here. Scott watched as the pair set up their shots, lining up their sights with the Geckos. They shot at the same time, both Geckos dropping to the ground.
"Alright! That was easy, do you want to help me clear out the other 2 wells too? I should be able to scrounge up some caps for the trouble."
"Sounds good, we could always use some extra caps," Stiles replied, standing up and offering Sunny a hand.
They followed her further south, quickly coming up to the second well. Three large Geckos came charging at them, spotting them before they had time to hide. Stiles raised his rifle, taking steps backwards as he shot; he really didn't want to go back to Deaton so soon. He cried out a warning when Cheyenne jumped into the fray, unable to shoot with her so close. But she surprised him by tucking low to the ground and then springing up as the last Gecko lunged; launching herself right at its throat. Stiles kept the rifle up, just in case Cheyenne got clear but she had the Gecko pinned and ripped out its throat in under a minute. "Dear God, I thought I was going to shoot her," Stiles said, finally lowering the gun. The dog was lucky that he didn't have a jumpy trigger finger, otherwise he might've pressed the trigger out of surprise!
"Well, we both appreciate your control! She felt that last Gecko got a little too close to me and stepped in. She's not used to there being a second shooter; we've got a good understanding of each other. I always know when she's going to move in as well as her attack patterns, I'd never shoot her on accident... but I guess we'll have to remember that it's not always just the two of us," Sunny conceded, patted her dog's head lovingly.
After a quick breather, they continued onto the final well; as the group got closer, Stiles and Scott heard someone calling out for help. They looked at each other for a moment, eyes wide, before they tore off, leaving Sunny behind. When the well came into view, they saw a woman surrounded by three Geckos. Scott raised the pistol, but was too afraid of hitting the woman to shoot, so instead he ran forward, trying to get the Geckos' attention. If he managed to pull the Geckos towards him, Stiles would be more comfortable shooting.
Stiles crouched, steadying his aim while Scott ran forward- he really needed to drag the Geckos away from the lady; he'd never forgive himself if he shot her on accident. He heard Scott let out a low growl, silently cheering for his friend as that successfully drew their attention away from her. He quickly fired off a few rounds, taking the first Gecko down.
Sunny skidded to a stop next to him, pulling up her own gun and firing, catching one of the remaining Geckos in the leg. When it stumbled, Scott pulled out the pistol and shot it in the head, while Stiles dispatched the final Gecko. Stiles sagged to the ground, relieved that the woman was okay. She ran over to them, wanting to thank the teens.
"Holy Moly, if you hadn't come when you did, I'd be a goner. Thank you! Here, I don't have much, but take this water, you look thirsty," the woman said, handing both of them a couple bottles of purified water.
"Oh, you are a godsend," Stiles moaned, opening up the bottle and drinking from it. He'd wanted water since he woke up.
"You alright Ann?" Sunny asked.
"Yes, thanks to these two young men, they must have heard me calling for help and ran right over."
"Good, please be careful next time. These critters like to show up every few days, so I wouldn't come here alone. It's always safer to travel in numbers."
The lady named Ann nodded her head, "I know, you tell us that all the time, but I didn't want to wait for Lou to get home. But I will next time, that's for sure." She thanked the boys one last time before leaving, probably heading back home, where it was safe.
The boys breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Sunny, seeing her shaking her head.
"I tell these guys all the time, it's not safe to head out on your own, not even to the wells; hopefully now they'll get it. That got rough, but I'm glad you two heard her calling out and rushed over here. She might not have made it otherwise. Here's the caps I promised you for helping out. I've only got one more thing to teach you, if you're interested, I know how to make some basic recipes, if you want to learn?"
Scott quickly tucked the 50 caps into the pack while Stiles nodded his head, "Yea, learning stuff like that is real helpful, what do we need to get?"
"I'll teach you how to make a healing powder, that seems to be the most useful, search around and see if you can find some broc flower and xander root, then meet me over there at the campfire," she said, pointing down the slope.
"Alright, cool, we'll be back soon!" Scott promised.
A/N: Alright, second installment is here! This time it's from Stiles/Scott's PoV. Tell me what you think so far! I think Stiles makes a good Courier, AND because this is a more adult fic, I can use all the cursing I want! Because we all know that a pair of Teens in the Wastelands aren't going to hold back XD It just seems to punctuate their stronger feelings. Up next is more than likely going to be a Derek/Isaac scene, I want to skip between the two regularly so one doesn't get further behind. Hope you enjoyed it!