Bab 115: Botched job

That didn't mean that Afton wouldn't eventually make use of the radioactive material... They just needed to get a couple things outta the way before they did it. He couldn't imagine how valuable it would be to the NCR if they irradiated the Legions only foothold onto this side of the Colorado.

Perhaps they'd even forgive him for brutally murdering the Ranger who killed his mother?... Then again, probably not.

The group continued on their journey, running into yet another group of Viper raiders. They were quickly dispatched though, [John Wick Style] and VATS made for a deadly combination.

Eventually though the group spotted the huge green dinosaur that marked Novac's location. Upon getting closer Afton and Karl could spot someone with a hunting rifle in the mouth of the dinosaur. It made a pretty good lookout to be honest, so even if it did look rather stupid, it was effective nonetheless.

The town itself was just a motel surrounded by a wall, though there were a few residential homes that had relatively fertile farms growing next to them.

The entrance to Novac was a simple gate that leads to the front of the motel where most residents presumably lived. Afton couldn't help but get choked up by what he saw though, the sign "Novac", was actually just a hotel sign that previously said "No vacancies", with half of the letters having fallen off.

Directly opposite the entrance were a few tents, a woman wearing a white shirt with bloodstains seemed to be applying bandages to someone, while a few others were peddling goods they had. All in all, it looked like the most prosperous town he'd ever seen in this new world.

Karl looked to the four NCR soldiers and nodded at them, "Thanks for your work boys, send my gratitude... And let him know that we'll consider his 'plan' when me and the kid are fully kitted out."

They nod and after taking a small break, start heading back to Camp Searchlight. Afton and Karl heft the bags and make their way over to the trader under the tent. They seemed confused when the duo dropped five overloaded bags at their feet, but quickly put two and two together after a moment.

Afton left the bartering to Karl as he was almost useless at it... His intervention might actually make their loot worth less than it if he'd just stayed quiet, so he waited patiently as the former-ranger negotiated with the trader.

In the end, they sold a large amount of Chems, but weren't able to pawn off all of the weaponry they'd scavenged...

Afton looks to Karl, "What should we do with all this? We can't exactly take it around with us..."

"Don't worry about it, me and the trader made a deal, we'd keep hold of the gear and they'd go around some settlements to see if anyone is in need of a large number of guns. They'll be back in a couple weeks so we'll stick around til then."

Afton nods, that's what they were planning to do anyway, sticking around to do any jobs that may be available. They still had three and a half bags worth of loot still left to sell so it was best they get rid of it before moving on.

Still, the 1500 caps that earned from the Chems and few guns the sold were pretty good. Due to Karl having personally bartered for it Afton took 700 caps while his partner took 800.

"I'm going to see if there're any spare rooms over in the motel, I'd rather not be camping outside when there are rooms available."

Afton nods, "I'll go see if that medic over there would pay for me to help them out. " they separate and he heads towards the tent where the medic seems to be operating on someone.

Upon closer inspection Afton was shocked to see the state the patient was in though, they were laying across a makeshift table as the woman rifled around a wound with dirty-looking tweezers.

"N-now, just hold still. Pain is good for your health you know!" She says, trying to calm the poor man who looked to be in agony.

"The fuck is going on here? Did you even give him any pain killers?" Afton quickly asks upon seeing such a botched procedure.

...

The woman's eyes light up as she looks down at the now crying man, "Oh, my bad! I forgot all about that." she says before jabbing the man with something which causes them to go silent.

...

Afton looks at the Chem she'd given him and gapes at it, this isn't a pain killer, it's a chemical that causes paralysis! One that can potentially be poisonous to the wrong person. Without thinking he shoves the woman away, not bothering to take notice of the guards who raised their weapons towards him.

He rifles through his Deathclaw leather satchel and pulls out some antiseptic and his own tweezers. But the looks of it this was a procedure to remove a lodged bullet, and it'd been going badly by the profuse amount of blood pouring from the wound.

With relatively good precision he gently pushes the tweezer deeper into the wound until he feels it contact something hard and metallic. "Bingo." he mutters as he struggles to grip and pull it out. He eventually managed it though. Looking at the piece of lead to check if it'd fractured at all before dumping it on the floor.

The man who he was operating on seemed to be looking at him gratefully, it was hard to tell though due to them not being able to move with the exception of their eyes. While they might be paralysed, they could still feel pain, so him finishing the procedure as quickly as possible was the best they could've hoped for.

Afton applies some alcoholic gauze to the wound before wrapping it in a bandage, turning his glare to the woman who could've potentially killed the man.