Afton nods to himself after double-checking everything, he considered raising his Charisma or Intelligence a bit more, but decided his survival came first... Being smarter wouldn't help much right now, and he'd never be able to utilise it if he was killed as soon as he this bunker.
He selected confirm and immediately new knowledge bored itself into his head, new knowledge on creature's he'd never heard about, how to skin them, prepare their meat to eat, appeared in his mind. Not only that, but his knowledge on Energy Weapons expanded greatly, he somehow how to operate weapons the Brotherhood had never heard about before.
Seems like increasing your skills via the system improved you across the board, not just in certain aspects... He wondered what getting one to a hundred would feel like, as of right now his mind felt scrambled into a paste and regurgitated into his head.
He breathed a sigh afterwards though, the peculiar feeling faded and only leaving behind the knowledge it'd bestowed.
It wasn't all positive though, he could feel some strength in his body leave him, probably due to transferring a stat-point into luck. It was a worthwhile trade in his opinion, he only hoped luck wouldn't just be for gambling...
With that, he got up and brushed himself off, hefting the Gauss Rifle and opening the door which immediately allowed dust to wash through the hallway like a tsunami. Covering his face with his forearm, he left.
He wished that he'd brought some goggles or something similar, as it was difficult to see as it is, let alone constantly having sand blown in your eyes.
Afton walked in a single direction, hoping he'd not be attacked by some unseen creature, at least until he left the dust storm. Unfortuantely, it seems like lady-luck was not on his side. He took another step but felt that the sand was firmer than usual, his eyes widen at he glances down.
He barely had enough time to move his leg back, causing the small rad-scorpions stinger to barely miss him. Afton had no idea how potent its poison would be, he knew he'd survive it, but not the specific effects...
He quickly shuffled backwards while aiming the Gauss Rifle at it, pulling the trigger without hesitation and causing the insect to explode into a fountain of green blood. Afton wiped some of the green fluid from his face with a grimace.
[3 EXP Gained]
Afton looks at his Pipboy, seems like he hadn't turned off the EXP notification with the others. The only notifications he wanted to see were skill checks like Science, Repair, etc, as knowing if he failed or succeeded in more complicated subjects would be invaluable.
Once he finished fiddling with his Pipboy he continued, fortunately, the dust storm eventually faded, leaving him on some sort of highway he'd never seen before. Afton considered himself lucky he hadn't wandered into Helios One, as he didn't know if the NCR would recognise him... Though, his current clothing would be a dead give away.
Over in the distance, he could see a brightly lit spire illuminating the sky, that was New Vegas alright, and it looked like a straight road from here onwards... He didn't know if that was the right place to go, but it seemed to be the centre of the Mojave, so he'd likely find some leads on what he needs.
He glances behind him and spots a group of men dressed in what seem to be prison uniforms, they were almost definitely bad news so he started briskly walking towards New Vegas... Though, when he heard the ground beginning to shudder from something, he knew he was in trouble.
Noticing movement in the corner of his eye he turned and saw a 10ft scaled humanoid with gigantic claws sprinting at him, its mouth opened and released a roar, Afton was sure if his past self was here they would have pissed and shit themselves.
He throws himself to the side as the beast's claws swing through the area he'd previously been, again like he had done with the Rad-scorpion he raises his Gauss Rifle and releases a shot into its chest.
Its scales are torn apart by the powerful shot and a deep wound forms as blood splatters from it, but the Deathclaw doesn't seem fazed in the slightest. Afton quickly shuffles backwards while trying to reload the Gauss Rifle, but pushes it forwards in an attempt to deflect the claw headed for his neck.
For a single moment he thought that the gun might've held it back, but when two halves of it started sliding apart, he knew he was in big trouble... Not because of the Deathclaw, but because the Microfusion cell had been damaged...
Rolling backwards he throws the gun at the Deathclaw and starts running towards the group of men he'd initially tried to avoid. He'd rather be shot than eaten alive by this giant lizard!
*BOOM!*
Behind him he could hear the unstable Microfusion cell detonate, taking a glance he could see that it'd caused the Deathclaw to stumble as metal shrapnel buried itself in its scales and face. Trickles of blood left the small wounds, but it was still far from dead.
He was happy to see that they hadn't immediately pointed guns at him, but the emotion was short lived as he saw them light up what looked like sticks of dynamite... Fortunately, they didn't see to be aiming for him, the red sticks being thrown over his shoulder at the Deathclaw that was following him.
*BOOM!**BOOM!*
Multiple explosions go off and the shockwave causes his flies past him, causing his hair to defy gravity for a moment. The Deathclaw roars at them, but its scored legs and large amounts of blood covering it made it clear that it was injured.
It growled and started sprinting back towards the direction of New Vegas, allowing Afton to catch his breath.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
The men in blue prison uniforms with "NCR" written on them approached Afton, some looked angry, some impressed, and one looked non-plussed.
One of the angry ones step forward and give Afton a shove, "What the fuck was that man! You tryin' to get us all killed? Draggin' one of those fucking things over here, I should just put a bullet in your head and let it get what it wanted!" he exclaims, fingering something in his pocket.
The man had short messy hair that looked as if it were cut in a knife fight, his skin was tanned and his face had many scars, most looking to be from shrapnel from what Afton could infer.
Afton stands his ground and straightens his posture, "What do you want me to do? A Deathclaw comes outta nowhere and cuts my gun in half, you'd do the same in my position." he says, pointing at the man.
"Boy you better watch your damn mouth or I'll-" he's interrupted as someone else steps in.
"Quiet! Both of you, Tommy, you better get that temper in check or you'll find yourself headless at the side of the road." he states before turning to Afton, "And you boy, someone like you who'd put your life ahead of others?... I think you'd suit our group well." he says semi-sarcastically.
The bearded man with grey hair seemed to appraise Afton for a moment before nodding, "I ain't never seen someone get close enough to smell one o' those things breaths and live to tell about it... Well, how was it?"
"Deafening" he jokes, not having managed to get a whiff of the Deathclaw's breath as he was getting chased.
The man chuckles, "How 'bout you come with us, looks like you could use a place to stay the night... Just make sure you don't bring anymore Deathclaws wit' ya." the others look at each other warily as they hadn't expected to take Afton in.
Afton slowly nods, there wasn't really anything else he could do, he didn't have anything that would be of value to them so he was safe on that count. Not to mention he didn't have a weapon anymore, so wandering around here alone would basically be a death sentence.
He could hear the other men whispering to each other, making guesses as to where Afton had come from and his intentions were.
He was relieved as they started walking the opposite direction of where the Deathclaw had come from, he glanced to the older man who'd defused the situation earlier, "What's your name?"
"Karl Martin, and you?"
Afton wonders momentarily if he should give his real name... He knew for a fact that no one apart from the Brotherhood would know him, so he decided to just go with it. "Afton Parker."
The man nods, "Pleasure to meet you son... I've been meanin' to ask, but what's with the get-up?" he asks, referring to the Recon armour he was wearing.
Afton shrugs, "Just some leather clothes I strapped metal too... I'm good at repairing stuff so it was pretty easy to cobble together." he lies, even if he was good at repairs, the armour was too symmetrical to be cobbled together, though, the old man doesn't seem to notice. "And you?" he asks.
The old man lightly tugs on the collar of the blue jacket he was wearing and shrugs, "Depends, how you feel about the NCR?", upon asking this question all the eyes of the group focussed on Afton.
Afton wasn't stupid, he could tell they had something against the NCR so he just gave his actual opinion, "They're a bunch of assholes who'll do anything to achieve their goals. Fuckers killed my parents." he spits, getting satisfied nods from the group.
"Hm, sorry to hear that. You'll find that most folks in our... Group, have had bad experiences with the NCR, we understand how you feel." he says as they finally reach a camp, one of the group already lighting a campfire.
Afton sits on the sand next to it, the desert might be blisteringly hot in the day, but it could get terribly cold when the sunsets. There was a ruined car attached to a caravan nearby, this was probably where the guys slept... Sleeping on the sand would probably be dangerous, considering all the incredibly poisonous insects that are out and about.
Tommy, the guy who was trying to start trouble earlier eyes him, "So where you from kid? Can't be too smart if you wander into Deathclaw territory alone."
Afton shrugs, "I was kicked out of my home, got caught stealing something and had to run."
Tommy snorts, "Yeah, I hear that. Left my home the same way, parents dogged me into the man and had me sent to prison... Fuckers."
"So... What're you guys doing out here?" he asks.
"Oh, youknow, just roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories." one of the other guys say sarcastically.
Karl just shakes his head, "We're... Making sure to collect 'tolls' from any NCR traders coming through, though, the Deathclaws have made this route almost impassable, might have to move shop soon."
Afton had a lot of apprehensions at dealing with what basically amounted to raiders, but his hatred for the NCR made the idea of joining their gang or whatever significantly easier... He wouldn't mind getting his pound of flesh for what they'd done to his family, doesn't matter if he couldn't get the real people responsible, as long as he hurt the NCR as a whole. "Think I could help? Anything that hurts the NCR I want in."
Karl nods, "I pegged you as the sort, yeah, once we get back to base I'll ask for ya..."
Tommy sends at glare at him as he accepts though, "Karl, do you really think you can start accepting people without Eddie's approval?" he quickly asks.
"Half our numbers left after escaping Tommy, if we don't get some fresh blood the NCR'll eventually overwhelm us... Trust me, I know what I'm talking about." Karl explains, forcing the reluctant Tommy to agree.
Hope you bois liked the chapter, if I missed anything please let me know.
If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.
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