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Fallout Wasteland	By : Samson Category: +A through F > Fallout (Series) > Fallout (Series) Views: 28950 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Wright Is Right.

Fallout: Life In The Wasteland

Part 7 - "Anti-venom"

By: Jesse Racine AKA Samson

Original Date Written: November 11, 2010

The Highwayman rolled along in the night, heading for New Reno like a speeding black bullet. Dawn gripping the steering wheel confidently, she listened to the radio as she drove rapidly into the distance. She was already several miles away from Ronald's camp, but it'd take many more before she reached New Reno. At some point in the night, Dawn saw something in her headlights. She slammed on the brakes, the Highwayman freezing it's tires. The car slid for a second before jamming to a halt. Dawn stared at what she had nearly hit from within the Highwayman, the vehicle having been a second or two away from hitting the object. Dawn felt a little creeped out by what she saw. The object looked like a young girl, simply sitting down with her legs crossed, her head hanging low so her hair dangled down in front of her face. The girl was clothed in a dirty yellow spring dress, her hair dark brown in colour. Dawn honked the powerful horn of the Highwayman for a second, but the girl didn't even flinch. Dawn narrowed her eyes slightly.
She reached into the back of the Highwayman, grabbing her Gauss rifle. She turned down the volume on the radio, opening the door beside her and stepping outside. She shouldered her rifle, calling out "Hey!" The girl didn't react. Dawn wondered how long the girl had been sitting there. The girl's hands deeply pale, her hands sitting on her knees, Dawn couldn't hear anything aside from the gentle humming of the radio. The girl didn't move at all, she didn't even seem to breathe. Dawn began to wonder if the girl was even alive. She hastily walked towards the girl, unshouldering her rifle in the process. When she reached the girl, she raised a foot, planting it against the girl's head. She pushed forwards with her foot and knocked the girl back, the girl's hair swinging from her face, exposing her for what she was. Dawn felt even more creeped out as she looked at the figure lying under her. The girl wasn't even alive, in fact, she wasn't even a girl; the figure had been a mannequin. It's white face had red lipstick smeared over the lips, black eyeshadow crudely wiped above the mannequin's blank eyes, a brown wig being on the mannequin's smooth head.
A paper note was stuck to the mannequin's chest with a nail, the nail having been driven through the mannequin's dress and into it's chest. The note said "I see you." Dawn couldn't help but mutter aloud, saying "What in the fuck?..." The mannequin made a noise, Dawn's skin crawling at the sudden sounding of it. "Mama!" It said. The mannequin began to cry, almost like a little girl's doll. A shot rang out, zipping past Dawn's face, Dawn jumping back. Another shot rang out, hitting the dirt in front of her feet. A menacing laugh sounded out from Dawn's left side. Looking over angrily, Dawn spotted a muzzle flash as another bullet came whizzing out. She felt that one, the third bullet striking her in the stomach, her vest stopping the bullet. Despite stopping the bullet, Dawn still felt the impact of the bullet, feeling like she had been punched in the stomach, taking a moment to regain her breath. She ran over to the open door of the Highwayman, another bullet flying out, zooming over the roof of the vehicle. Dawn reached inside and grabbed her helmet, pulling it on hastily. She spun around, holding up her Gauss rifle, her helmet's lenses helping her see in the night's shadows.
Raising her Gauss rifle, she looked around at the nearby hills. Another shot came out, this one hitting Dawn in the calf of her left leg, Dawn letting out a long groan of pain. Although her pants were lined with bulletproof material, it didn't cover her legs entirely, only being in the pants in bunches and clumps. Her blood began to darken her pants in a circle around the hole in the material. Dawn was now having trouble standing, she couldn't put pressure on her left leg. Growing angry, she found the perpetrator of the attacks in her scope, having remembered where the muzzle flashes were coming from. She muttered "Gotcha!" just before she fired off two quick shots. She watched as her shots hit a kneeling man in the head and the right shoulder, her powerful slugs blowing the top half of the man's head clean off while also blowing a hole in his shoulder so large that his arm flopped uselessly by his side, hanging on by a thread of skin. The man had been kneeling at the edge of a nearby hill, his body tumbling over the edge of the cliff in death, letting out a thud as it hit the ground nearby. Dawn got into the backseat of the Highwayman, finding her bag of medical supplies.
Grabbing a stimpack from within, she rested her rifle by her side, bringing the stimpack to her mouth and holding the side of it's form between her teeth. She began to pull up her pantleg, grimacing in pain as the fabric ran across her wound. When the wound was fully uncovered, Dawn held the fabric in place as she grabbed her stimpack in her right hand. With her teeth, she pulled the plastic sheath covering the stimpack's needle, keeping it between her teeth as she brought the stimpack over to her leg. Slowly, she began to push the needle into her skin, pushing the needle into herself near her wound. When it was deep enough, the stimpack automatically injected her with it's medicine, her wound instantly beginning to close. After a few more seconds, it had closed entirely. Dawn threw the drained stimpack away from herself, tossing it out through the still-open door. She spit out the plastic sheath, launching it through the open space, as well. Stretching her leg for a moment, she pulled her pantleg back down, grabbing her rifle as she jumped out of the car. Still having her helmet on, she walked towards the nearby cliff, reaching it within a minute of walking.
Finding the corpse of the man she had killed after another few seconds, she looked along his body. He was dressed in a dirty muscle shirt with a green jacket over it, a pair of ripped black pants on his legs, the left pantleg being ripped off just below the knee. No shoes were on the man's feet, his feet being as black as coal with the dirt covering them. She saw that the man had had a low quality rifle that looked almost as if the man had pieced it together himself. Kneeling by the corpse, Dawn chucked the rifle off to the side, not being interested in it in the slightest. Checking the pockets of the corpse, Dawn came across a few bullets for the man's rifle as well as a dose of Jet, a few spare caps being on the man, as well.
Dawn took it all, slipping it into a pocket on her jacket. She headed back to the Highwayman, resting her rifle in the backseat once more. She pulled out the dose of Jet and dropped it into the passenger's side seat along with the bullets she had grabbed. She twisted around and pulled open the heavy bag of caps in the backseat, dropping in the caps she had taken from the man's corpse. She pulled the door beside herself shut, cranking up the volume of the radio again. She drove forward once more, driving over the mannequin, crushing it under the tough tires of her vehicle. She kept heading for New Reno, driving off into the night, the man and his mannequin simply being another memory in Dawn's mind...
Kid awoke suddenly, feeling rather tired. He had fallen asleep at one point in the night, waking up to the sounds of a fire. He could hear Ice and Stitch talking. Krypt walked by the cart, Krypt pausing as he looked over and spotted Kid to be awake. "Breakfast will be ready soon." He softly said in a raspy voice. Kid nodded slightly, Krypt walking off then. Kid rested his head back on the blanket beneath him, groaning gently, shutting his eyes again. He felt quite tired, if it weren't for the light coming down from the sky, he'd probably be able to fall asleep once more. Libitina was still beside him, cuddling up to his right side. He turned his head towards her's, her face being against his shoulder slightly as she slept. Turning his head to the side, he could feel some of her fiery red bangs run against his chin, her locks being quite soft as far as the hair most wasteland girls had. Just then, he noticed something that caused his eyes to open slightly. At first, he had simply thought it to be an item underneath the blanket, a good of the cart, but he realized it was something quite different.
He had felt something rigid poking into his right hip, and as he felt Libitina let out a sleepy exhale before shifting herself gently, he could feel the rigid object shift with her. Kid let out a gentle sigh, looking upwards almost in exasperation for a moment before looking back down. Libitina had felt his sigh, being slowly pushed into wakefulness, taking in a deep breath before mumbling softly. "Mmmm...Whaaa...Kid..." Kid softly said "Yeah, I'm here..." He saw Libitina smile gently before she stretched by arching her back, inadvertently pushing into Kid with her lean stomach as well as her rigid tool. That's when she realized she was hard, her eyes popping open. "...Oh, God..." He heard her mutter. She quickly sat up on her knees, looking around to see if anyone was close to the cart, seeing that nobody was. She pulled up her robe-armour, her face becoming troubled as she saw her member sticking out from her like a doorstop. She quickly dropped her robe-armour, glancing left and right before leaning closer to Kid, whispering "Why the hell is it always hard after I wake up, now? Before you and I fooled around, it was never hard...Even after you touched me in New Reno, I didn't change, but ever since I let you screw me in the butt, it's been hard every time I wake up! What gives?"
Kid shrugged gently. He had never had the problem as far as he knew, not even after he started having sex with Dawn. Of course, he had started having sex with Dawn the first day he met her, and that was the first day he could remember after he had somehow lost his memories at Vault 17. Perhaps he had had the problem before he lost his memory, but if he did, he truly didn't know. "I don't know what to tell you, Libby. Maybe it's just a part of having...You know...A cock. I've never had the problem, though...Not that I c-can remember, at least." Libitina sighed softly as she looked downwards. "I don't know...I don't think it's going to go away for a while...Yesterday it didn't go away for like twelve minutes, but it went away right after I jerked off...Guess it has something to do with sex." Kid shrugged again. "Maybe." He spoke his words with only the mildest hint of blush in his cheeks, never expecting to have the sort of conversation with Libitina that he was at that moment in time. Libitina began to smile a little naughtily. "...Suppose I'll have to do it again, huh?..." She murmured, looking up to Kid's eyes with a flicker of desire.
Before Kid could say anything, Dominique suddenly approached the cart, saying "Um, Kid?..." Kid looked over, saying "Yeah?" Dominique stood in silence for a second, almost as if she were uncomfortable. "Can I, um...Talk to you for a minute?" Kid nodded gently. He figured she wanted to talk about yesterday, about when he mentioned her scars. "Alright." He said. Dominique stood there, waiting for Kid to get out Libitina's cart. As Kid began to get up, Libitina grabbed his right hand, still sitting down on her knees. She looked up at him with a smile as he looked over. "Hey, when you get back, can I paint your face?" She asked. Kid raised an eyebrow. "You want to paint my face?" Libitina grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I got some cool designs in mind, you might like them! Please?" Kid, feeling a little embarrassed, said "Um, sure, why not?" Libitina closed her eyes with her grin, releasing Kid's hand. He hopped out of her cart, stretching for a moment once he was on his feet by the cart. He walked over to Dominique, Dominique waving for him to follow her, the reaver girl turning and slowly walking towards her nearby cart. Kid thought that Dominique may have wanted a bit of privacy for the two of them to talk without the fear of being overheard. He began to follow her, neither of them saying anything as they headed for her cart.
Dawn sat on the hood of the Highwayman, having just cooked herself a brahmin steak. A bottle of Gamma Gulp beer sat on the hood of the car beside her right hip, Dawn holding up a plate with her left hand, stabbing into the steak with a fork in her right hand, having already cut the steak up into bits so she wouldn't need the use of both hands. She had the radio playing loud enough that she could hear it from outside, a rock song playing. Her helmet and trenchcoat resting by her side on the hood of the car, she basked in the light of the morning sun, eating her steak peacefully. Her Gauss rifle leaned against the front bumper and grill of the car, pointing up towards Dawn's chest from between her legs. Just to be safe, Dawn had ejected the magazine from the rifle, having it resting by her bottle of beer. "The last thing I want is the gun going off somehow and blowing my chest open" was what had been going through Dawn's mind at the time. She also had one of her pistols, a Beretta, sitting on the hood of the car beside her trenchcoat and helmet.
She placed her fork on her plate and grabbed her bottle of Gamma Gulp beer, raising it and taking a swig from it before resting it back down on the hood. She began to chew on another piece of meat, suddenly hearing soft footsteps coming towards her, from behind the vehicle. She calmly rested her plate down on the hood behind her. Grabbing her Gauss rifle just before getting up and standing on her feet, she realized that there were two sets of feet, making four in total. The feet didn't hit the ground hard as they moved, leading Dawn to believe that the footsteps didn't belong to a human. She leaned her Gauss rifle back against the bumper of the Highwayman, grabbing her Beretta. Walking around the car's right side, she saw the owner of the footsteps. The rock song ended, an older and more classic song coming on. "Beggin'...Ooooh...Put your lovin' hand out, baby, yeah...Beggin', I'm beggin' you, ooooh...Put your lovin' hand out, baby...Ridin' high when I was king, played it hard and fast 'cause I had everything...You walked away, won me then, but easy come and easy go and it would end...Beggin'...Ooooh, put your lovin' hand out baby, yeah..."
Dawn saw the newcomer to be a dog, looking rather thin and hungry, sniffing around the passenger's side door of the car. Dawn smirked. She couldn't help but feel like the dog's arrival and the playing of the song to be ironic. The dog looked at her, walking over, seeming rather gentle and calm as it sniffed along Dawn's legs. It had dark brown fur, but some of it's hair was missing in patches over it's body, showing the tanned skin beneath. The dog hung it's tongue out, panting gently, looking up at Dawn with almost pleading eyes. Dawn got down on a knee, rubbing along the dog's head with both hands, smiling as she said "What, are you hungry? You hungry, is that it?" The dog closed it's eyes and stood still for a couple of seconds before suddenly moving closer, moving it's face down to Dawn's thighs, trying to push it's snout into her crotch. Dawn stood up, saying "Whoa, okay there, easy, boy. Go on, shoo." Dawn turned around and walked back over to the front of the Highwayman, grabbing her fork and popping another piece of steak into her mouth.
The dog walked over and looked up at Dawn with pleading eyes once more. Dawn glanced at it through the corners of her eyes, glancing back to her remaining steak pieces a second later. She sighed softly and said "Alright, you. But this is it, after that, you gotta go on your way." The dog simply continued to look up at her. Dawn picked up her plate, the dog looking a little more alert. Dawn tipped the plate over slightly, a piece or two of meat falling through the air. The dog snapped in the air with it's jaws, grabbing both pieces before they hit the ground, beginning to munch on them hungrily, swallowing them moments later. Dawn tipped over the last two pieces, the dog eating them, as well. Dawn rested the plate down on the ground along with the fork, the dog licking at the juices left over on the plate.
"See you, boy..." Dawn said, grabbing her trenchcoat from atop the hood of the car, pulling it on. She slipped the Beretta into a pocket on her coat, popping the magazine into the Gauss rifle, shouldering the rifle a moment later. She grabbed her helmet and her bottle of beer, walking around to the driver's side of the car. She rested her rifle in the back, getting in the driver's seat then, turning the radio down slightly. She rested her helmet on the dashboard before she closed the door beside herself. She backed up a little to avoid hitting the dog, turning to the left slightly before taking off, driving into the distance. New Reno wasn't that far off, if Dawn squinted she was able to see the city on the distance. It'd take her a few more hours to reach it, but when she did, she'd likely be able to find an answer as to whatever happened to the Wrights.
Kid walked with Dominique to her cart, the two standing by it for a second before Dominique quietly said "...I'm sorry about yesterday, about how I reacted to what you said about my scars..." Kid looked to her face quietly, gazing into her eyes, listening intently. Dominique quietly said "I eventually realized you weren't trying to insult me...I thought about it pretty much all day, while you were asleep...Just..." Kid said "I know, it's a sensitive subject with you, it's a personal thing...I shouldn't have said anything, I don't know why I did...I'm sorry, too..." Dominique said "I shouldn't have gotten upset, I..." She shook her head gently and looked downwards. Kid said "I was just trying to make you feel better...When we first met, you wore your gas mask for a long time before you started to leave it off...If anyone ever brought your scars up, you'd pull your gas mask back on...It was a shame, you're pretty, the scars can't change that, but hiding yourself behind a mask can make people not see that." Dominique let out a gentle sigh. "I know, but..." She quietly said a few words in French before looking up to his eyes, raising a hand near her face.
Her voice was starting to choke up as she said "Th-They're so ugly, why did they have to cut me on my face? I never even did anything to them! People stared at m-me for a long time before I started to wear my mask, I don't want people to stare at me, I don't want to feel like I'm a freak!" Her eyes began to glisten with tears, Dominique biting her bottom lip to stop it from quivering, her chin trembling instead. She tried to speak once or twice, but her voice was choking up. Kid came closer to her, gently saying "Hey, hey, come on...I'm here..." She slowly reached over to him as he came closer, moving her arms under his and around his chest to his back, keeping her hands close together over his spine on his mid back. Kid moved his arms around her, keeping his hands on her upper back, over her shoulder blades. Dominique buried her face into the right side of Kid's neck, hiding her face so nobody could see her cry. She wept softly for a minute, Kid remaining silent, holding her close as her emotions came pouring out. When she began to calm down, she remained close to him, neither of them releasing one another.
She sniffled lightly before saying "Kid, you and...You and Dawn were the first people not to stare at me and comment on my sc-scars once I took my mask off...It made me feel like they didn't exist, it..." Kid rubbed her back gently, saying "It's alright, Dom...We didn't stare because, well, it's not like it's a big deal...Did people really stare at you before?..." Dominique nodded gently. Kid nuzzled his face into the side of her head, feeling her soft hair against his cheek, saying "I'm sorry about them, I really am...You didn't deserve that..." He felt Dominique gently kiss the side of his neck a moment later, hearing her murmur out "Je t'aime..." She had told Kid before that the words meant "I love you" in French, Kid not quite being sure what to say in response or if he should say anything at all. He thought about what he should say for several seconds, but before long it didn't matter, Dominique eventually beginning to release him, Kid releasing her in turn.
Dominique raised a hand to her face, wiping at her cheeks, wiping away any tears still left on her face. She softly said "Well...I'm going to go eat some breakfast, I haven't had any yet...Tonight, instead of sleeping in Libby's cart, would you...Like to sleep in mine?..." Kid nodded slightly, saying "Okay, if you really want me to..." Dominique smiled slightly, coming closer to Kid and raising her left hand to the right side of his chest, touching him while giving him a gentle kiss on his right cheek. She affectionately rubbed the left side of her face against the right side of his before Kid gave her a kiss on her left cheek, Dominique smiling a little more in reaction. She whispered a goodbye before walking off towards the nearby fire, where most of the rest were congregating for breakfast. Kid didn't feel quite hungry yet, so he simply turned and headed back for Libitina's cart, seeing her to still be in her cart.
A few hours later, Dawn had finally begun to reach New Reno. Turning off the radio, she slowed the car down to a crawl, slowly entering the outskirts. Driving between two destroyed buildings and on to a mostly crumbled road, she stopped the car and opened the door beside her, stepping outside. She noticed something strange; the air was deathly quiet. Even when New Reno was itself, there were always gunshots audible on the distance every minute or so, but now things were completely still. She waited a minute or two before she heard a single burst of bullets far on the distance, hearing only that one burst and nothing more. Dawn realized that, if the Scaled Hiss hadn't taken complete control of New Reno just yet, they soon would. There weren't any sounds of fighting on the wind, and that was a bad sign. Dawn got back into the Highwayman, quietly beginning to back out of the street she was on. She was on the north side of New Reno; the Wright manor was on the east side. Pulling out of the street and entering the wasteland once more, she drove to the east, beginning her drive to get to the other side of the city.
Within thirty minutes, she had reached it. Something that intrigued her was that she could see three fresh sets of deep tire tracks in the earth nearby. She didn't know of anyone else in the wasteland that had a car, especially not one that could leave tracks of that size and depth. She wondered if the tracks belonged to cars belonging to NCR scouts, perhaps Tandi had already sent people over to assess the situation? The vehicles would have had to have been quite heavy; heavy and loud vehicles don't exactly suit scouts, but who knew, maybe that was the case, regardless. Dawn slowly drove into a nearby street, knowing that it led to the Wright manor. She took a right turn up ahead, driving down the street until the buildings on the right side of the road cleared. Dawn stopped the car quickly, looking over, negatively surprised by what she saw. A good chunk of the manor had been demolished by what must have been a large explosion. Dead bodies littered the grounds outside the manor, most of them being raiders yet many being spotted by Dawn to be Wrights. Dawn drove her car a little farther into the street before stopping again, opening the door beside herself.
She assumed the Wrights had tried to stay and fight, but had lost. "Most of the bodies must be inside..." She thought grimly. She wondered if Keith's body was among them or if he, unlike those outside, had fled. She grabbed her Gauss rifle and helmet, getting out of the car and shouldering her rifle, simply holding her helmet in her right hand. She slowly approached the manor, a voice in the back of her mind telling her not to bother searching the manor, that everyone must have been dead, that she might as well just head back to Kid and the rest. She pressed on regardless, ignoring the voice, the voice falling into silence a second later. She walked into the manor, seeing the corpses of a few more raiders by the doors. The corpses of a few more Wright men were inside, as well. Dawn searched the room within. There were less Wright corpses than she had expected. The corpses there accounted for less than a third of all Wrights. The rubble from the demolished part of the manor had been spread out, like someone had searched under the rubble. She saw a few more Wright corpses. Now Dawn believed that only a third of all Wrights had died.
Where were the rest of the Wrights? She searched the manor a little more, finding nothing but more raider corpses. After a moment, she realized that something was off about the manor. It seemed desolate aside from the corpses. There weren't any guns lying around the corpses, there weren't any clips or boxes of ammo anywhere. Searching the kitchen, Dawn found that every scrap of food and drink had disappeared. Searching Keith's office, she found every single cap to be missing. Dawn sighed softly. Someone must have come to the manor and looted everything, but that certainly would have been a lot for even several people to carry. Dawn figured that whoever owned the vehicles that caused the tire tracks near the outskirts must have been the ones to loot the manor, they could have used their vehicles to carry all of the Wright supplies. Dawn wondered why NCR scouts would bother coming into the city to find the manor and to loot it, they should have been focusing on more important things. All of that, however, depended on whether the tracks were caused by NCR scouts in the first place, Dawn was just speculating that that's who caused them.
She couldn't think of any other group that would have access to functioning vehicles and also have any business in New Reno. There was always the possibility that the vehicles belonged to the Scaled Hiss, but Dawn doubted it. Even if they did have vehicles under their control, where would they have taken the supplies? The tire tracks led into the city and also away, so it was obvious that an outsider had arrived, only to leave some time after. Dawn's thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly heard something. It was music. Sneaking over to a nearby window, she peeked out and saw a pair of men to be standing by the open driver's side door of the Highwayman, one of them having turned on the radio and cranked up the volume heavily. They were both looking along the car with amazement on their faces, the two of them seemingly counting their blessings over the happiness of finding a functional car. Neither of them seemed to realize that someone had to have driven the car there, and that the owner might not be happy about them touching the vehicle.
Dawn pulled her helmet on, unshouldering her Gauss rifle. She knew she had to be quick; she had left the keys in the ignition, it wouldn't be long until one of them noticed and decided to drive off with the car. Dawn got over to the front doors of the manor, crouching down and sneaking into the doorway. She held her Gauss rifle steady, supporting it against her shoulder. She took careful aim, pointing for the one closest to the door of the vehicle, the one that had most likely turned on the radio. A second later, she squeezed the trigger, the loud music helping to mask her shot. She hit the first man in the head, a good chunk of the left side of his head blowing away like it were nothing but rotten fruit, the man's body collapsing in death. The second man stared at the first in shock, Dawn quickly taking the opportunity to aim over at him, firing another shot. The powerful slug from the rifle hit him in the left side of his neck, decapitating the man with the force of the shot, his body falling to the ground by his head.
Dawn stood up and began to walk over to the Highwayman quickly, stepping over the corpses of the men as she reached inside the car, turning the radio off hastily. She didn't want to attract any more people than necessary. She laid her rifle down in the backseat, turning her attention to the raiders a moment later. The both of them had a few caps on them, the two of them having twenty in total. One of them had a stimpack. One of them had an HSI Mauser by his corpse, the other having two frag grenades as well as a combat knife. Dawn took all of their items, getting back in the Highwayman. She quickly put the caps in the bag she had, the bag being on the floor of the Highwayman between the backseat and the front seats. She put the stimpack in the bag holding her medical supplies, resting the Mauser, grenades, and combat knife in the passenger's side seat beside her.
She quickly turned the Highwayman around and began to drive back down the street in the direction she had come from. If the Wrights weren't dead, then where were they? They had to have gone somewhere, there weren't nearly enough bodies at the manor for Dawn to say that the Wrights were entirely gone. "Looks like Keith did the smart thing and pulled out while he still could...But to where?...Rister, maybe?...Long walk for all those people, and if they didn't take any of their supplies, then...Probably all died of dehydration...Or maybe they took it all with them?...That's a lot to carry, but maybe they did it anyway..." Dawn took a left at the T-junction, heading out and into the wasteland once more. She started driving north and a little bit to the west, heading back in the direction of Ronald's camp...
Libitina smiled happily as she said "There! All finished!" The two of them were seated in her cart, the both of them having their legs crossed as they sat facing one another. Libitina had her little jars of face paint out, the jars resting in both her lap and in Kid's own. Holding the cap of a jar with the tiny brush attached to the bottom so it'd point into the contents of the jar, Libitina's eyes darted around Kid's face as she gazed along her work. She had worked on him for a few minutes, the two of them talking during that time about several different subjects. Kid raised an eyebrow, asking "Is there a mirror somewhere around here?" Libitina's eyes widened slightly for a moment before she looked down and stuck her hands into the large pocket over her stomach, where she usually kept her jars of face paint. She rummaged around in the pocket for a moment before pulling something out. It was small and looked to be about the size of the palm of her hand, made of black plastic. Holding it up and turning it around in her hand, she showed Kid it's other side. The other side was reflective like a mirror, the bottom left portion of the circular mirror being a little scratched up. Kid took it and held it up, looking along his face.
She had circled his eyes with black, putting a broad layer all around the both of his eyes, making it look almost like his eyeballs were floating over twin pits of darkness. She had put a thin black vertical slash at the top and bottom of his eyes, making four in total, the top slashes going up over his eyebrows and on to his forehead while the bottom ones went on his cheeks slightly. She had painted more lines at the corners of his mouth, a black line from each corner leading directly downwards, going on either side of his chin. On his right cheek, she had put a small star in yellow, and on his right, she had put a small lightning bolt in red. Kid smiled, he actually sort of liked what she had done. Libitina could see his growing reaction of approval, but she still felt the need to ask "Do you like it?" Kid nodded slightly, handing her small mirror back to her, saying "Yeah, I actually do...It looks good." Libitina grinned excitedly, saying "I'm glad you like it!" She quickly began to put her jars of paint away, still grinning happily as she put everything into the pocket over her stomach. "I saw an old poster ages ago about some rockstar, that's where I got the idea for your look...Aside from the star and lightning bolt on your cheeks, he had the same makeup. I forget his name, though...I saw the poster a long time ago..."
Kid watched as Libitina put her jars away, her grin turning to a happy smile. "I'm probably going to put on a new face soon...I think it's time I had a change...Don't really know what to change to, though..." Kid kept looking at her with a small smile, still just listening to her. She seemed to notice him simply watching and listening, an embarrassed look coming over her as she looked up to his face. "Sorry...Was I rambling?" Kid shook his head slightly, raising his eyebrows a little as he said "I was just listening, just listening." Libitina kept smiling, resting her hands on her knees then, gazing into Kid's eyes. Kid looked back into her's, the two of them being silent for a few seconds before either of them moved or said a thing. After a few seconds, Libitina suddenly moved closer to Kid, slipping her arms around him in a hug. She hugged him for only a second before jumping back, Kid not even having time to hug her in return. Her eyes were slightly wide as she said "Ooh, I almost forgot! Don't touch your face paint for a while, it'll get messed up, you gotta give it time to dry. If I hug you, it might get messed up, so..."
Kid nodded, suddenly remembering that he was going to be resting in Dominique's cart that night. Deciding that it would be better to tell Libitina before that night, he said "Hey, Libby, that reminds me...Dom asked me to sleep in her cart tonight, so..." Libitina nodded, saying "Alright, that's fine." She smiled a little, saying "You guys cool now? What is it with you two, anyway?" Kid raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked. Libitina shrugged gently, looking off to the side as a light wind began to pick up, causing her fiery locks to shake gently. "Oh, you know...You guys just seem sort of weird with one another, always have. Sort of...Tense. Awkward, even." Kid was about to say something when Libitina grinned and said "I've seen the way she looks at you...I think she wants you, I think she's jealous of Dawn." Kid stuttered for a moment before saying "Dom and I are friends...That's it." Libitina nodded disbelievingly, raising her eyebrows, smiling as she said "Uh-huh...Well...I don't know if she's satisfied with that..." Kid looked off to the side, a bit of pink entering his cheeks. Libitina laughed softly, her merriment dying a few moments later.
When it did, she asked "So, what was that thing all about yesterday? Dom walked up to you and talked to you about...Your arm, I think? I couldn't hear what you guys were talking about, I was busy getting a steak from Dawn. She stormed off and looked kind of pissed and depressed." Kid shook his head, saying "Ahhhh...Well..." He sighed softly. "She came up to me and talked about my scars, saying that it was too bad that I got them, but that at least they weren't on my face or anything like that. I know Dominique feels uncomfortable about the scars on her face, they really hurt her, so I told her that they were nothing to feel sad about, that they didn't make her any less pretty or anything like that." Libitina took in a sharp inhale as if to say "Why the hell did you do that?". Kid nodded slightly, saying "Yeah, I know...I shouldn't have said anything, it was stupid of me...She told me that she's thought out how she acts and that she sees nothing wrong with it, that her scars are ugly...Then she just left...I wanted to go and talk to her, but I didn't even know what to say at the time...I wasn't trying to hurt her, I didn't really think I would...Guess I forgot how sensitive the subject is to her..."
Libitina asked "Is that what she wanted to talk to you about just a few minutes ago?" Kid nodded slightly. "We both apologized for what happened, and...We talked a little. Everything's fine now...If I ever mention her scars again, I'll be as careful as I can be, though...It's not like I wanted to hurt her, but...If I ever bring it up again, I'll think really carefully about what I say." Libitina quietly said "I've never mentioned her scars around her...She's never brought up why I wear my face paint, so I figure I should give her the same respect about her scars." Kid nodded slightly, the two of them falling a little quiet. A second later, Kid's stomach suddenly growled, Libitina giggling softly. "You didn't have any breakfast, did you?" She asked. He shook his head sheepishly. Libitina said "Come on then, let's get some food in you." She got up and jumped out of the cart, turning and looking at Kid with a smile. Kid got up and jumped out of the cart as well, the two of them beginning to walk over towards the rest by the fire.
Driving along and heading towards Ronald's camp, Dawn was listening to the radio peacefully, a classical song drifting through the radio's speakers. Dawn suddenly spotted something up ahead, narrowing her eyes slightly, muttering "What the hell?..." She began to slow down as the figures she had seen came closer. There were four standing people along with at least three corpses on the ground. A human with a pistol stood with his gun raised, pointing it at three nearby ghouls. The three corpses were all ghouls. Dawn parked her car, everyone looking over at her. She opened the door beside her, pulling out her Beretta as she called out "What's going on here?" One of the ghouls, a man, called out "Please help us! This guy's a racist psychopath, he wants to kill us all just because we're ghouls!" The human man furiously shouted "They're lying! They tried mugging me, I barely got my gun out in time to stop them! They just want you to defend them!" Dawn called out "Are you the only one with a gun here? Do the ghouls have any weapons?" The man said "As far as I can see, no, they don't have any weapons." Dawn calmly raised her pistol up, pointing it at the human male. "For my own safety, I'm pointing my gun at you. That does not mean I'm helping the ghouls, and it does not mean I plan on shooting you. If you point your gun at me, I'll be forced to act."
The man seemed a little nervous to have a gun pointed at him, but he nodded; he had understood Dawn's clear words. A female ghoul said "Please miss, we were just walking along and minding our own business when this guy came out from no-where and started waving his gun around! He shot three of us, please, just kill him already!" Dawn saw the human man's face twist up in anger. "Stop telling lies! You all attacked me, and now you're trying to cover your ass seeing as how I have a gun! Say one more filthy lie and I'll put you in the ground!" Dawn stared at the man with the gun. He was dressed in regular wasteland clothing, not wearing any armour, wearing only a dark green t-shirt along with dark blue jeans. His boots were light brown. The ghouls wore regular clothing as well, none of them wearing any armour. Dawn slowly walked around the open car door, taking a few slow steps towards the four of them. She stopped after a few steps, staring at the human man, still being several meters away from the group.
He glanced at her and then back at the ghouls, saying "Why are you staring at me?" Dawn had noticed something about the man that she had wanted to get closer to confirm. There was a large bruise on his left cheek. Dawn had been on the man's right side, but she had caught a glimpse of it when he looked over to her not too long ago. She looked into the man's eyes. "Why is there a bruise on your face?" The man raised his eyebrows, looking to the ghouls, saying "One of the dead ones hit me just before I shot him!" Dawn looked over to the standing ghouls. The three of them were quiet. Dawn kept her gun pointed at the man, but she asked the ghouls "Did one of your friends hit this guy?" The ghouls remained silent, avoiding Dawn's stare. One of the ghouls suddenly lunged at the man with a shout, the man swinging his gun over and letting off a shot, hitting the ghoul in the forehead and killing him. Dawn turned her gun on one of the two remaining ghouls as they suddenly jumped at her. The last one jumped for the man, both ghouls trying to fight now that Dawn had seen the truth. Dawn shoved the ghoul away and shot it in the face as it stumbled.
The other ghoul wrestled with the man, beginning to struggle with him for the gun. Dawn pointed her Beretta over and fired a single shot, hitting the ghoul in the side of her neck. The ghoul fell over, the man still having his gun, pointing the weapon down at the ghoul's head and pulling the trigger. Panting gently, he looked to Dawn, saying "Thank you, that was a tough situation...I'm glad the fuckers hit me though, I know how the situation must have looked...Without this bruise, you might have sided with them, right?..." Dawn said "It didn't look good, let me put it that way. To tell you the truth though, if it wasn't for that bruise, I probably would have simply stayed out of it, I would've gotten back in my car and been on my way. There was no way to tell who was lying and who was telling the truth; you and the ghouls were equally convincing. They could've tried mugging you, or you really could've been a racist. I had no way of knowing the truth, so to avoid helping the wrong group, I probably would've just left the situation by itself and been out of here." The man nodded slightly, saying "I can see the logic there. Thanks again, but I gotta be on my way." Dawn nodded slightly, heading back over to the Highwayman. Getting inside, she slipped the Beretta into a pocket on her trenchcoat, closing the door beside her a second later. The man waved to her as she began to drive off, Dawn giving him a short wave in return.
It was getting close to night, several hours having passed. The day was nearly finished when Dawn could see the light of Ronald's fire, everyone apparently cooking dinner. She kept driving for the camp, eventually seeing someone stand up and begin to wave. She noticed it was Kid, but there was something on his face...It took her a few seconds, but she eventually realized that he had face paint on, Dawn thinking that Libitina must have painted him. She drove into the camp, parking the Highwayman, opening up the door beside herself and getting out. As soon as she did, Kid ran up to her and hugged her tightly, Dawn smiling happily and hugging him back. "I missed you!..." Kid said softly. Dawn kissed the top of his head, saying "I missed you, too..."
Ronald walked over from the fire's side, asking "What's going on with your Wrights, Dawn?" Dawn shook her head slightly. "They weren't there..." She said softly. "...But they're not dead. They went somewhere, but where exactly, I don't know." Ronald nodded slightly, seeing Kid begin to kiss along Dawn's neck, raising an eyebrow slightly before saying "I'll leave you two be." Dawn smiled slightly, Ronald walking away, Kid still kissing the right side of Dawn's neck. Dawn said "Ooh, you missed me, huh?" Kid murmured out "Mmm...Yes..." before resuming his kisses. Dawn smiled happily, saying "Well...Come on, let's get in the car...I told you something before I left, remember? That when I got back you could feel me all you want and that we could make love?" Kid smiled happily. He quickly crawled into the car without another word, Dawn grinning slightly, finding it amusing that he got in so quickly. She got in after him, closing the door beside herself.
Dominique watched the two of them get into the Highwayman. A wave of sadness came over her as she realized that Kid wouldn't be resting with her that night. Walking away from the rest, she made her way over to her cart, finding no reason to stay awake for any longer.
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