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The bullets were flying, whistling near the ears. The legs were carrying the Courier fast across the sands of the Mojave. The group of Legion soldiers was tailing her. And her own stack of batteries wasn't big enough to deal with them all.
Something was going on not so far away. Some man was being chased by Legion as well. She smirked, smelling a good opportunity.
Bang! One of the Legion turned into a green goop. The man glanced over his shoulder, regarding an approaching figure of a seemingly crazed woman in a stealth suit and with a fancy glowing gun.
The guy was a ghoul. The Courier noticed that missing nose right of the bat. But she wasn't picky about her allies, even if those alliances were temporary.
"Good day, sir," the Courier smiled, shooting another Legion soldier in the head which sent him screaming and gurgling in his last minutes of life.
"Good day indeed if you're looking for a bloodshed," the ghoul stated, joining the fight with a bullet to another soldier's chest.
One by one they were falling. Some from a bullet in the eye, some from being melted alive. In the end only these two left.
The Courier got to pocketing all the goods from the dead. A habit of sorts that the Wasteland wasn't even asking her to get rid of.
"Oh, a snack," she said getting an iguana bits from one of the corpses, eating a piece right in front of the ghoul, unbothered.
"Aren't you an odd lil thing," he gave her a side eye. There was something insane about her demeanor, especially about her eyes.
"Nice hat, cowboy," the Courier pointed at the ghoul with a stick that left from iguana bits.
"Nice scar, sweetie," the man pointed at the rough scar that was ravaging her scalp from the right eyebrow and was getting lost in a white, burnt by merciless sun, hair. At which she only laughed.
"Where are you going, handsome?" The Courier asked, looting the bodies and passing the Ghoul the bullets that she doesn't need, but might be fitting for his guns. "Across the Legion lands, all alone?"
"I can ask you the very same things," he said, fidgeting with a small pack of bullets in his hand, before moving his gaze back to the woman. "Seems like we both have a problem from the ancient Rome."
"Ah, these losers hate me and I hate them back. They're like rad roaches," she waved her hand dismissively, before wiping them both against her clothes. "I guess you're not from here? I see you for the first time."
"I'm just passing by."
"Need a guide?"
The ghoul was silent for a few moments, contemplating. She definitely was a person that was knowing Mojave better than him, judging by her questions and how she was handling herself. But at the same time the crazed gaze of this woman was like a gaze of a hungry beast, though he couldn't point out why.
"You know what, yeah. I need a guide," screw it he thought. Dealing again with Legion dogs would be worse than dealing with some odd woman for a bit. The Courier smiled, leading her new companion across the evening sands soaked with blood.
The old road she traveled many times before. The setting sun was allowing shadows to creep in with a first twilight chills.
"And what trouble got you in the Mojave?" The Courier broke the silence between them.
"Why do you think i have any trouble?" The ghoul glanced at her.
"All ghouls that have their brains on the brighter side are always up to something."
"And you've seen many ghouls?"
"Just enough to have some examples."
The ghoul let out an amused huff at those words.
"So what's your name?" She continued on with questions.
"Just call me ghoul."
"There's too much ghouls in the Wasteland to call you with such a broad term."
The ghoul sighed heavily, looking at the road ahead. He was thinking if his real name was having any weight after so many years. And if this name was still his after all the changes he went through.
"The name's Cooper," the ghoul finally answered.
"Name's Lex," the Courier introduced herself as well.
They glanced at each other, acknowledging, tying those names to faces with their eyes. The moment was brief, yet it was enough for Cooper to feel again a shiver at the back of his neck. Something was off about her. Though if she really wanted to kill him she'd not ask for a name. Names are too personal, giving a sentiment to otherwise strangers we meet along the path.
Her intentions were a mystery for him still. Both curiosity and caution were driving him to follow the current, at least for now. Maybe she really just wanted to help a fellow wanderer, despite having that glimpse of madness in her. In the end, who isn't mad around here anyway.
They stopped at the spot that definitely was used for camping a lot of times. And seems like it was used solely by Lex. Soon the fire was lit and the two got to making some food.
The ghoul could not leave unnoticed the amount of mac and cheese she had with her, it was comical even. Why'd someone eat so many of those? They didn't taste good two hundred years ago nor they do now. It was not Cooper's business to question someone else's preferences in food, of course, yet it was a rare entertainment to observe someone's quirks.
"And what are doing around here, sweetie?"
"Doing my job," Lex shrugged, crunching the dry macaroni with her teeth. And it was unclear if she simply liked them like this or if she didn't know how to cook them. "I'm a Courier."
"I see," a sign of amusement on his face. "Delivering mail and packages around this damned place sounds like an ungrateful job."
"Partially it is indeed ungrateful. Mostly because I wish I was just delivering mail," the Courier smiled bitterly. "And you still didn't tell me what are you searching for in the Mojave."
The ghoul fell silent. She was determined about this topic. He couldn't blame her, everyone asks such questions pretty often. Though still the other question was if he could trust her enough with it. Though by looking at her she seemed to be harmless towards him.
"I'm searching for my family," he sighed heavily. "They're somewhere in some vault."
"I was in every vault around here," Lex started. Cooper glanced at her, the hope was glistening in his eyes, despite him knowing better than fall into it. "They were all either empty or infested with some kind of a danger."
"They're not in a regular vault. I know enough to be sure in it," the ghoul's words cut through hers with confidence. "And I'm feeling like I'm so close, but it slips through my fingers every time I'm near it."
Lex sighed. She wasn't going to argue. If he claims he knows better who was she to deny that, especially when it was a ghoul who surely roamed from one vault to another for decades.
"I hope you'll find your family sooner or later. I share your pursuit, I've lost recently the one I've called my family."
"And how they died?" Cooper asked with a hint of bitter mirth. After all there's only one way to lost someone in the Wasteland.
"No, he did not die," the Courier smiled, but he was able to read a deep sadness in her eyes. "We just parted ways. It'd be safer for him this way."
"A lover, huh?"
"Not really, he's more into fine gentlemen than into ladies, if you know what I mean."
Lex knew she sounded too heartbroken about it, despite trying to hold a friendly smile. But she couldn't help it. Not when she was now wandering alone, after having a friend beside her at all times before. And the ghoul surely was seeing this turmoil on her face.
"And all of this helping me around, playing nice, was a plan that i might keep you company?"
Her smile faltered. There was no sense in pretending anymore.
"Yes, not going to lie here," Lex admitted. "But it feels wrong to drag you after me when your heart and mind are with your family."
"Even if i didn't have a family, I'd not agree. Because I'm doing everything alone."
"Seems like we both walk the lonesome road."
In the morning they moved on, early, before the sun was starting to heat up the sands. The Courier guided the ghoul by the safest paths, told him how to keep the travel safe here, away from moving positions of the Legion. And soon they have parted ways. She stood alone again.
The rising sun was already burning this land. The howling winds were carrying a far away echoes of gunshots. There was nothing left for her.
The Courier's gaze has turned towards the Divide.