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"Goddamit, it's hot." Boone grumbled to himself as he staggered on, the blinding sun beating down on him. It'd been a rather stressful few weeks, The Battle of Hoover Dam had gone just as planned, and the NCR reigned victorious. They slowly began to rebuild society, taking over the Mojave and chasing out The Powder Gangers and The Legion for good.
The Courier had sent him away to check on the smaller settlements, namely Novac. Boone agreed, begrudgingly, knowing he owed The Courier for helping him track down the person who sold his wife.
As he trudged on, he came across a small patch of grassland. It was nice to see nature returning to the desert, gave the bleak surroundings a bit of colour. It made him feel a little hopeful, in a way, as if the world might not be doomed forever.
He didn't have time to dwell on such things, though. The job at hand was much more important than standing around and admiring the flowers. He pushed on, walking only a few steps before his foot caught on something.
Looking down, Boone could make out the faint outline of a body. Oh goddamit, another poor soul taken by the wasteland. He sighed, stepping infront of the body and crouching down to take a better look. Normally, corpses didn't have anything more than a few caps and some ammo, but it was always worth looking. If not for loot, maybe he would recognise the person and could inform their loved ones.
He pulled the grass aside, eyes widening as he got a clearer look at the body. Whoever it was had pulled their jacket off and draped it over their head, seemingly to get away from the heat...and they were still breathing. What's worse? He recognised the pattern on the jacket. Only one person would wear something so flashy.
"Oh great." Boone sighed, grabbing ahold of the fabric and pulling it aside. Sure enough, he was met with a very familiar face. Benny was laying on his stomach, cheek resting against the cool dirt. His clothes were dishevelled and dirtied, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and shirt collar flipped up on one side.
He poked the man, resisting the urge to leave him to succumb to the heat out of the kindness of his heart. Benny stirred, cracking an eye open with considerable effort. He groaned, wheezing as he attempted to get up.
"Jesus christ, be careful." Boone grabbed him by the shoulders, helping him into a sitting position. He kept ahold of the man as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a canister of purified water.
"You should be lucky this is all I've got, if I had the choice to give you dirty water I would." He snarled, struggling to open the can with the awkward angle they were at and lifting it to Benny's lips. He drank greatfully, letting out a croaked whimper when Boone pulled it away. God, he was pathetic.
"Thanks" Benny choked out rather sarcastically, pulling away. "But I should really get going now."
Boone rolled his eyes, remaining stoic as he watched the smaller man attempt to wriggle away and stand up on his own. Benny's arms shook with the effort, barely making it an inch off of the floor before he collapsed in a heap. He started to dry heave, thankfully none of the water he'd consumed coming back up.
Obviously he wasn't so far gone that he couldn't hold liquids.
Boone groaned, grabbing Benny's jacket from beside him and shoving it into his own bag. It looked like he was going to have to try and make this stubborn bastard accept his help. If it were up to Boone, he would've left the man out there with a taped together gun and some supplies to last him a day, but he knew that wasn't how he wanted to start a new era in the Mojave.
Besides, the Courier said he'd forgiven the man, why should Boone hold a grudge?
"Look, you're obviously not well." Boone stood over the man. "Let me help you, and then we can go back to hating eachother. 'Kay?"
Benny paused, looking down at his wrists. Boone noticed the deep rope burn marks, as if he'd been bound. He thought it best not to ask.
"Fine." Benny croaked out, attempting to stand again. Boone stopped him, sighing for what felt like the thousandth time. Benny was in no state to walk, the both of them knew that.
"You're in no state to move. Just let me deal with this." Boone spoke, tone alot softer than he'd like it to be. The other man simply huffed, closing his eyes and nodding.
"Whatever."
God, Boone wanted to shoot him. He was like an injured molerat limping towards a Deathclaw. Absolutely pathetic. Nevertheless, the world was still spinning, and the sun was getting higher in the sky. It would be unsafe to be in these sort of conditions come midday, the Mojave would become too hot for any human to traverse.
"Alright, come on then." Boone crouched down, slipping his arms under Benny's legs and around his shoulders before standing back up. To his relief, the man was far from heavy. That made the dreaded trek back to civilisation much less, well, dreaded. Benny simply stayed silent, wrapping his arms around Boone's neck and burying his head into his shoulder.
Boone tried to ignore this as he figured out where the closest settlement was. They would never speak of this again.