Chapter 135: Always Dreaming

The trio silently return back to Novac, Boone heading back up to his post, Karl leaving to talk with Ranger Andy, and Afton heading straight towards Daisy's garage to check on how his Motorbike is progressing.

Daisy wasn't currently present but his bike was coming on extremely well, around 80% complete if he had to take a guess. It was probably ridable as it was now, but it still needed a few touch-ups. Calibrating the brakes, electronics, etc.

Of course, now that he'd asked Boone to join them he'd need more space than what a regular motorbike could provide. There were only a few options available to him... One would be to simply scrap the bike and fix up a car instead, he'd rather not do that as a motorbike was probably the best suited for the Mojave. The roads were all damaged making it almost as if you were riding off-road most of the time. It was an easy fix with the motorbike as he intended to raise the suspension and perhaps equip some bigger tires, more durable ties..

Anyway, the second option he had available to him would be to simply fix up another bike, after thinking this Afton imagines him leading an army of armed motorcyclist like some scene outta mad max... He shakes his head, it'd take a while before he'd be able to fix another up, they'd probably not be staying in Novac that long, and he doubted Boone would want to linger in a place he'd committed murder... No one had noticed them leave, but it'd be fairly obvious who killed Jeannie when people started thinking about it.

The third option he had available would probably be slightly humiliating for whoever was forced to use it... A sidecar. It'd make the bike a little more stable but also limit its manoeuvrability. It was better than repairing a car from the ground up as making a sidecar would be fairly easy.

He sighs, sidecar it is. It was probably better than he first thought, even if they didn't have a third passenger they could at least store gear in it. He couldn't imagine riding a motorbike with a huge rucksack full of loot would be comfortable or efficient.

"Well then, no time like the present..." he mutters, getting to work on making a sidecart for the bike, hopefully, he'd complete it before they'd have to leave Novac.

It's been a couple days since Jeannie's surprising departure, people had begun to take notice of her absence, Cliff and Ranger Andy being the primary people raising concerns. Manny also seemed to have realised what'd happened, but kept his mouth shut for the time being. The man hated Carla, but he still respected Boone enough to hold off on snitching on him.

Boone himself still hadn't come around and spoken to Afton about his offer, the man did seem to be in silent contemplation most times he was seen though. Afton was sure he'd eventually accept the offer, especially since they intended to fight against the Legion.

During this time Afton wanted to try out his new Perk [SuperHot Block] and called on Karl for his 'expert' help. Obviously he was ready to just start being shot at, and he'd rather not reveal that particular ability until it's needed. Instead he'd just have the man throw rock as him as he tried to block with the unique axe, Knock-Knock

The results were, as you'd expect... The Perk allowed you to deflect bullets, against normal projectiles it was simply overpowered. Anything that isn't fired at an incredibly high velocity was easy as hell to block. He was even able to slice rocks in half as they flew at him, surprising not only Karl, but himself too.

Afton decided to not try testing how he'd do against bullets as there was a fairly high chance he'd just die. Sure there were ways of working around it but it was probably better just to keep the ability in his sleeve until he needed it.

Regardless he continued treating the citizens of Novac and making a few caps while doing so. For some reason there was a lack of the usual drug-addled people seeking to get a quick fix for free, but upon further investigation, he found a group of them in an alleyway... All cold and lifeless.

It was peculiar no one had noticed this group of dead people just lying here, but perhaps any passerby just thought of them as junkies not worth checking up on. He wondered what could've caused this for a moment had checked their bodies over, it must've be some drug they all partook in without making sure it was safe first.

Alas, he'd found an unknown fungus in one of their pockets, it had bite marks in it and seemed to be the cause of this. Using his inventory he checked on what it was.

[Sweet Release]

Causes hallucination... And catastrophic organ failure. Ingest at your own peril.

...

Huh, Afton had never heard of something like this.. Judging but its rather unscientific name, he guessed someone must've sold this to them and caused their deaths. Fortunately, he personally knew the only drug-dealer in town.

"Ada." he asks after stepping up behind the woman, causing her to jump in fright.

"Hi-ah!... S-sorry, you scared me. What's up partner?" he quickly asks, trying to cover up her earlier surprise.

He shows the fungus to her, "Did you sell this to someone?"

...

She gives it a long look before glancing back to Afton, "Its been half-eaten, no refunds!"

Afton shakes his head, "Even if you wanted to refund them it's not impossible. A just found a group of junkies dead in an alleyway after eating this."

Ada raises a brow at him, "Whaa-at? No way, you're pulling my leg."

"I don't joke about shit like this, Ada." he states coldly.

"You're lying, I fed it to Bitey and he's still fine."

"Who's Bitey, show me to them."

Ada walks into the tent towards the corner of the room where a tarp seems to be covering a box, she throws it off revealing the cage underneath, as well as a Gecko sleeping on its side. "It made him a bit sleepy afterwards, but It's perfectly safe."

...

Afton opens the cage and gives the creature a poke, quickly finding that it was dead. "It's not asleep... Or rather, permanently sleep."