บท 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.
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Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
บท 116: Karl'in those DM's
"Who on earth taught you about medicine? Your patient could've gone into shock with the way you were digging through their wound, I've seen torture less painful than that!" he exclaims, only now noticing that he had a few weapons pointed at him from all directions.
The woman whom he'd shoved gives him a confused look, "What do you mean? I've done this plenty of times and it usually goes pretty well!"
Afton maintains his glare, "Define 'pretty well'"
She shrugs, "Half of my patients make it out fine~."
...
Afton glances at the mercenaries pointing their weapons at him and growls, "You guys better put those guns away before I jam them up your ass's and pull the trigger."
...
They relent and lower their weapons upon seeing there was no immediate threat of violence. "Keep your hands off the boss and we'll get on nicely." one says and Afton just shrugs.
"I'll ask again, who taught you medicine?"
"No one, I'm self-taught." She states with an almost smug look.
...
"What does DNA mean?" he quizzes her, wanting to sees the extent of her stupidity.
She places both her hands on the bloody table and leans against it, "That's easy. 'Do not'... Err, 'ASK'!, that's it. 'Do not ask', the main tenant of all medical practice!"
Afton crosses his arms, noticing that it wasn't just him staring at her in disbelief. Even her own body-guards were astounded by the answer. "Uh huh, and what does asphyxiation mean?"
"Something to do with apples? Or maybe x-rays?"
"How would you deal with an infection?"
"Just pour salt on their foreheads, give them Chems and pray that it gets better."
"What sickness would someone have if they had a stuffy nose, sore throat, headaches, and a raised temperature?"
"Well, there are a few things it could be... The deadly Brazilian virus, Randy Orton disease, and ghoulification... But my gut says they'd have cancer."
...
Afton squeezes the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "How the fuck do you know what cancer is but not asphyxiation? And all of your guesses were wrong, it's the common cold you damn fool! What the fuck is the 'Randy Orton disease' anyway!?"
"It gradually causes your spin to bend backwards, destroying your posture and forcing you to eternally do the bridge pose."
"That's it, I refuse to allow you to operate on anyone else as long as I'm here. You will tell me if someone comes and I'll operate on them myself. I cannot allow someone as stupid and irresponsible as you to ruin the good name all of us medical practitioners have worked hard to earn."
He was expecting her to be distraught by what he'd said, but the woman just shrugs and agree's. "Whatever, being a doctor isn't my main money maker anyway."
"And what might that be?" Afton asks, feeling as if he's just getting deeper into the rabbit hole.
She steps away and takes a bag from her tent and opens it up, revealing a litany of incredibly addictive Chems that no reliable doctor would ever be seen near. Let alone carry on them. There wasn't a medical use for Jet, Psycho, and other similar drugs that'd destroyed more lives than Heroin had.
Afton just shook his head at this, he wondered what would be worse, letting her continue operating on people, or allowing her to sell drugs... He chose the latter as that was something people did to themselves, if they wanted to get fucked up on drugs there wasn't all that much he could do to stop them.
"I'm Afton. What's your name." he asks, feeling as if his nerves were frayed.
"I'm Ada Straus, guess we're partners now, huh?" she says in a slightly too chipper tone.
"Absolutely not, I'm only here to make sure you don't kill anyone with your stupidity. In a few weeks I'll be gone, and I hope you'll never call yourself a doctor again, not without at least doing a couple years studying under someone." he says.
She nods and he leaves to go find Karl to make sure he never allows that woman to touch him. Afton wasn't sure why the townsfolk had not kicked her outta Novac yet... Surely with her doing irreparable harm to half the people she dealt with they'd run her straight outta town.
Or, maybe doctors were so few and far between in the wasteland that the 50% casualty rate was manageable... Either way, he'd try and knock some senses into that woman's head during his stay in Novac.
He enters the motel's reception to see if Karl had gotten a room yet, but finds the man talking to a little old lady with grey hair, grey eyes with thick-rimmed glasses, and is wearing a dirty dress. She's sat behind the reception desk with an almost off-putting sickly-sweet smile on her face.
"Oh? So you used to work with the NCR?" she asks, looking enthralled by Karl's small-talk.
"Yeah, that's in the past nowadays. Just a wandering Merc-Ah, there's my partner. Kid looks fresher than a newborn but is one hell of a shot. Jeannie meet Afton, Afton this is Jeannie May Crawford."
Aford gives a weak nod in response, "A pleasure... Have you got us a room yet?"
Karl looks away for a moment before sheepishly shaking his head, "Ah-no, I lost track of time while talking with Jeannie here... Wait, why're your hands covered in blood?"
"Don't ask... All I'll tell is you to avoid that woman calling herself a doctor, I'd rather have a feral ghoul operating on me than her."
"Ah, miss Straus? Is she really that bad? She's done quite well in our town so far." Jeannie deposits herself into their conversation as if she belonged there.
Afton ignores the rather blunt breach of etiquette and nods, "From what I've seen, you guys are lucky that anyone she treats is still alive. She even asked me if irradiated people could toast bread for her... I mean, that's not even close to making sense!" he exclaims.
"But we need a doctor... Farmwork and varmint hunting tends to produce injuries. One bad infection and you'll never work again."
"I've offered to treat anyone that comes to her, let the town know that I'll be willing to help as long as I'm in town... Me and Karl should only be around for a couple of weeks, but that's the best I can do."
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Niggross
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