Work Text:
Mojave Express Courier Finn Burke sat in the shade of a Pre-War shed and absently took off his knee brace. He massaged the joint with one hand while flipping through his packages with the other.
Three of them he could deliver in the next hour, once he got the blood flowing again, but the other one needed to get to New Vegas, which was going to take him another couple days. Word was that the area north of Goodsprings was full of Death Claws and Finn wasn’t exactly inclined to letting himself get mauled. Nothing good came from an Express Courier getting mauled – Finn had been sent in before to take care of things after, because Express Couriers took care of their own.
Finn didn’t want to be the reason a bunch of Express Couriers got mauled, so the long way around would be fine, so long as he got the package delivered.
Sighing, the Courier put the brace back on his leg, checking the straps and making sure they were even. With a sigh, he curved his good leg under him and with a grunt, pushed himself up. Hissing, he grabbed the wall of the Pre-War shed and tried not to topple over. Damn knee was aching more than usual by this time of day. He’d have to get the easy packages done fast and then maybe crash in an abandoned house, or if he was close enough to some town, he could see if there was a room open at an inn or something.
A bed sounded better than sleeping under the stars – maybe it’d do his knee some good to be off the ground for once.
Sighing, Finn pushed off the wall, intent on making his way to Novac.
The sound of a gun being cocked had Finn freezing.
“End of the road for you, Courier,” someone said before everything went black.