EDITED - 14/10/18

Returning to the chilly skull of the gigantic fiberglass dinosaur, Annie lit a cigarette as she watched Boone's cold eyes scan over the Notice of Sale. She had returned to him as soon as she could - trying to keep as much blood as possible off of the note she had collected from Jeannie-Mae's safe. The night sniper felt a squeeze of pain in his chest as he read the names and numbers.

Looking back up at the woman, he squared the paper into four and tucked it into his front pocket without another word, attempting to turn back towards the open world.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked him in a waft of smoke. The sniper thought for a moment, letting his mind try and reign back the disgusting seething feeling that was rolling through his body. Jeannie-Mae had offered him words of comfort, given him cheaper rent, started a search party for his fucking dead wife and she was the one that—

"I don't know. I won't be staying, I know that." He stopped himself, eying off her cigarette. It smelt good. "Don't see much point in anything other than hunting Legionaries. Maybe I'll wander, like you."

"I'm not wandering." She let out a huff, taking a long look at his stern face under the moonlight. Annie hadn't put much thought into the Legion; the situation didn't seem to concern her at all. But the look on his face told her more than she needed to know about the faction. He despised them, even if he wasn't screaming it from the rooftops. If she was smarter, she would have noticed the tremors of fury starting to tingle in his fingers. Instead, she noted that he didn't look like he had much to live for. It would have been such a waste of a pretty face if he had wandered off into the desert without a will to live, she figured. "I'm looking for someone. Come with me." Stretching her back, she itched her neck with a coy smile on her face.

Boone's mind still found it appropriate to register how attractive he found her, which made him grit his teeth. How dare he felt like that, after everything that had happened that night? His wounds still felt raw, and they festered openly to anyone who dared to look. The animalism – the pure, scorching anger that was building inside of him – came with feelings he wasn't ready to face.

Travelling with her would probably be the death of him… but then again, he thought to himself, death was welcome with open arms. She would not last that long in the Mojave if she didn't even know how to stop her gun from jamming.

"You don't want that."

"Would you rather wander off into the desert without some company? At least you won't be lonely." She told him - her thick, heavy brows rising expectantly. "And besides, I'm sure I'll run into some Legionaries along the way… I'll even let you kill them."

She had a mouth; he'd give her that. Taking one last look out of the face of the dinosaur, Boone bit the bullet and picked up his packet of cigarettes that he had wedged between two wooden teeth.

He knew that her gun was not working, and her face told him that she wasn't as smart as she thought she was... He probably didn't need the thought of the new girl's inevitable death plaguing him as well...

Besides, if he was lucky enough to die while saving her - then well, he was set for life wasn't he?

"Fine. Let's get out of here."

"Let me get my things from my room, and we'll be off. We need to make it to Boulder City before sunrise."

"What's in Boulder City?" He asked as she swung the door open, clomping down the stairs with the grace of a centaur.

"Some old friends." She replied, already passed Cliff Briscoe's desk. "Thought it a good idea to cross me."

Following a decent ten steps behind her, Boone watched as she bounded up the concrete stairs towards her room. He then went to his own, opening the door with a semi-heavy heart. The room he had shared with his late wife was crumbling around him, the bed sheets faded and the wallpaper curling. Maybe it was a good thing he was leaving, considering he could no longer stomach the thought of counting the stains on the roof for the hundredth time.

He packed his bag with mostly ammunition and water, cans of food neatly stacked together and cuddling with a small medical kit. It made sense to pack light. He didn't think he would last too long out there, especially with her.

In his room, the ghost of Carla lay asleep in his bed, probably dreaming of a life other than Novac – anything but Novac. In a moment of weakness he sighed, letting his glasses slip down his nose so he could pinch the bridge. The guilt was still tearing at him, digging into his back and shoulders with pointed knees. This is all what he deserved. Every single last moment of the agony he felt, it was because he deserved it. It made sense.

He had taken out Jeannie-Mae but still hadn't destroyed the rest of the conspirators, and by god, if he could help it, he would exterminate every last one of the bastards himself. He had started this whole mess and he would die trying to fix it.

There was a knock on the door, snapping him out of whatever slump he had fallen into. Expecting it to be Annie, he opened the door to a crack before realizing that it was just Manny. Manny Vargas. The bastard. As far as Boone was concerned, he had walked away long before Carla had gone.

Before he could close the door, Manny's fingers jarred between that and the frame.

"Wait!" Manny's voice was a whisper, which confused Boone. There was no sense of imminent threat, so he let the pressure off of the younger man's fingers. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

Boone said nothing, not bothering to care what he thought. He went to close the door once more, but Manny surprised him with a burst of strength. Holding the door open just enough to let his voice slip through, the man pressed on.

"Remember when we had leave on The Strip, and I was telling you about the Khans? How they make you fight someone for initiation, you remember that?"

Boone said nothing still.

"Well, that's the girl I was talking about. That's Anna. I thought they were fucking with me when they put her in the circle, but she's uh..." His whispers grew quieter, Boone finding it hard to hear him. "She's not as good as she looks."

Blue eyes slipped the door into its lock, staring at the scratched wood with heavy eyes. Even though the sight of Manny's face angered him to no end, Boone knew that he would not lie. But it was too late for him to pull out of his plans now – because he couldn't just stay in Novac and avoid the apparent terror that was 'Anna'. He had to keep moving. The more reckless she was, the better it was for him – right?

"I thought you liked your beauty sleep." A second voice from behind the door told Boone that Annie was ready. "Oh wow, I'm kidding. Don't look at me like that."

Manny felt like he was a tough guy, but truth be told, Anna worried him a little. The day he met the Khans, the day he decided to join, was the day he had the pleasure of meeting her.

His face burnt with humiliation when they threw her in the ring against him. She was just a little girl – scrawny and withered. He thought they were taunting him, but it turns out they had pegged him as someone strong. She took the first swing, of course, landing him on his ass in front of a group of bellowing assholes. But she didn't continue, preferring to stare at him with nothing behind her eyes.

Manny beat the shit out of her that day and left her with a broken jaw and two black eyes. Anna only threw one punch the entire round but took all the hits as if they meant nothing to her. Manny couldn't shake the thought of her eyes staring up at him from the clouds of dust, with nothing behind them – as if she were far away.

But now she stood pack in hand and other hand on hip, grinning lazily up at the man who looked like he'd seen a ghost. It took a lot to shake Manny, but the words that came out of that girl's mouth made the blood drain from his face. She knew a lot about him, more than necessary, and if she mentioned it to Boone there would be no chance of anything getting better between them.

Before she had mysteriously turned up in Novac, she had barely spoken to anyone. The silence that seeped from the girl on a regular basis turned many people off – considering all the girl tended to do was stare. The voice that he had never really heard before in such quantity was a true pinpoint of her personality; smooth but taped with a vicious uncertainty – like she knew exactly how great she was. But he didn't know that she didn't know anything at all, which put the situation at a greater fire risk.

"Seeya Vargas." She piped up, watching at his face twist in confusion. "What? You told me to come say goodbye." Her head cocked to the side; biting her lip thoughtfully with the crooked pegs she called teeth. The man had swung around, heading towards his door a few feet away. "Hey, hey!" She called quietly, trying only to get his attention and his alone.

He stopped, turning around slowly as if expecting the worst. Seeing that she still stood in the same place, still smiling, he shrugged a question at her.

Her eyes flickered to Boone's door, and her mouth pulled into a very wide grin. He shuddered.