Chapter Text
Ch. 2
Not much for conversation we trudged along somewhat side by side to my surprise. We each glanced around and moved in similar manners. Her steps were lighter than mine but she had to take more to keep up with the difference in our strides. I had at least a foot on her.
“Blythe?”
“Spot?”
“How tall are you?”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Didn’t know that was a measurement.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“That why you’re still next to me?”
She narrowed her eyes at me again and took a few faster steps to get ahead of me. Wasn’t what I had in mind, but not bad. Least there was something to look at now.
“Eyes up” she called back knowingly with a prompt middle finger over her shoulder.
“Nope.” I hummed simply.
“You ever gonna stop barking up the wrong tree?”
“Bark.” I replied monotone while secretly entertained.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t perving on her, I was still aware of my surroundings and I know she knew that because she looked at and didn’t bother to point out the smoke from a bonfire in the distance. Only Raiders were ballsy enough to light open fires. It was practically a death sentence for survivors if they were stupid enough to light one. Meh, survival of the fittest, though intelligence is a prereq in this case.
She slowed her pace and looked back at me while I caught up to her side again. “You think it’s worth a look?” She asked, looking at me then at the smoke rising, a thick line in the sky wafting from the fire.
“They don’t typically have anything worth anything.”
“You have no idea what I can build with a few simple materials.” She quipped.
“I’d love to see you work.”
“Let’s go take them out then.”
I had to admit I was a little skeptical. Until I saw the way she looked when we approached. It couldn’t be described any other way than blood-thirsty. She had a deep seeded fiery hatred for these things. Most people feared them, she just wanted them dead. Before I even took the safety off she had three of them down. She had thrown out three different gadgets that were ticking and there were a few mechanical whirs before shrapnel and nails burst out of one of the three. The second one fed off of the bonfire and spun about like some kind of flamethrower drone. The third one tased the remaining two Raiders. Five total. They weren’t dead on impact but I’m sure they wished they were.
While they were stunned she pulled a crossbow and arrows out of her bag of tricks and nailed each of them. I just.. watched. The blaze of the bonfire lit up her borderline psychotically happy expression and it struck a chord deep in my chest. Ah shit, that’s my heart doin that thing it does when I feel things.
I shook it off once I realized it and double tapped the last one as it ran toward her. “Show off” I called over to her while she tucked her gear away and nodded to my shovel.
“Alright Rover, do your thing.” And I’ll be damned if I didn’t metaphorically wag my tail and tuck my gun to trade it for my shovel.
“Remind me to fix that thing up for you when we get back. Needs a few bolts, a cleaning, and some reinforcements before it snaps off and runs you through. I don’t think a hole in your chest suits you.”
I shot her a quizzical look and grunted while stepping on the shovel in the neck of the second Raider corpse. Crack. “You’re inviting me over to repair my shovel?”
She huffed her first genuine laugh “I’m not a repair shop, but I can fix your tool.”
She made a dirty joke. Okay universe, you can stop now. Where the hell has she been the last few months? Or, Y’know, however long I’ve been alive.. or whatever.
She smirked at me now, reading me too well “I can see the smoke coming outta your ears, your gears are turning just a little too hard, Milo.”
I forced the shovel through another neck crack. This time I shook off some sticky flesh without care and wiped the blade of the shovel on the chest of the downed raider. I secretly admired the handiwork of Blythe’s gadgets while I cleaned up the camp and she began scavenging around with bright eyes.
“No- uh- just thinking about how these weapons you made work.” Smooth. Fuck.
She laughed quietly to herself “Can’t tell you all my secrets.” She hummed while stuffing things into her bag with mischievous excitement in her eyes.
The food and drink the Raiders had weren’t worth taking unless you were starving, or were okay with getting radiation poisoning. Who even knew what these things could pass along with all their nasty mutations and possible diseases. Now their weapons and spare parts they seemed to collect were interesting. They tended to collect shiny things, simple gadgets, contraptions and chachkies. Some useful, some junk. Weapons, ammo, and surprisingly medical supplies like bandaging weren’t impossible to come by in camps like these.
Getting to the warehouse from here would prove to be easier than we thought, the way back, depending on what happened when we got there, maybe not so easy. Daylight was surprisingly riskier to travel in. Raiders, as far as we knew, couldn’t see well in the dark. They could smell, and hear better than they could see. Mayhaps because they wore skin on their faces as a mask, along with whatever junk they deemed suitable. Freakish fuckers. Their eyesight wasn’t exactly long ranged during the day either, but it seemed that they didn’t travel much at night. It was pretty cold at night this time of the year, I had been wondering for a while now if the cold had anything to do with their mobility. Not that I wanna find out the hard way… Better safe than bloody!