Chapter 4: Hangin' Ten?
[New!]
[Main Quest IV: Hangin' Ten?]
-=Wishing For A Nuclear Winter=-
*clink!*
"Damn it! What's going on with the screws today!?" I shouted in annoyance, as another screw came loose as I jostled the currently dismantled Pre-War Motorcycle.
It was laying on top of a tarp that Chet helpfully provided for helping him with the supplies after I asked around. He also said that some guy that claimed he was from the Crimson Caravan was hiding out in the old gas station across town.
And knowing Joshua…
…He's probably drunk off his ass with the other dude.
Probably.
"...Never thought those mandatory Automotive classes would be so helpful… I probably should've focused more in Car Maintenence though…" I muttered, as I gathered the loose screws and placed them in my leather jacket's pocket.
"...But I don't have the slightest clue on how to work with Cold Fusion. I'd probably blow myself up if I-"
"What'cha doing?" A familiar voice spoke right behind me. It held a certain amount of curiosity that couldn't be found in many people in the Mojave.
"GAH!" I yelled in fright. I ended up landing on my ass from the sudden scare, turning to glare at the Asshole who decided to sneak up on me.
…It was Jenny.
…And now I feel bad for calling her an Asshole, even if it was in the recesses of my mind.
"Oh. Hey, Jenny." I lazily waved at her as I stood up, patting the sand off of my pants. "Was that necessary?"
Her head tilted in confusion, an adorably confused expression gracing her face, "Was what necessary?"
My eye twitched. "...Nevermind. Anyways, I haven't seen you at all in the last three days, and this is a small town. What have ya' been up to?" I spoke, trying to break the awkward atmosphere my question generated.
"Oh, well I was chatting with Sunny, and she said that you could use some help," She gestured to herself, "So, here I am!"
I was deadpanning.
Sighing to myself, I shook my head, "...fine." I huffed. "Best you could do is hand me tools when I say their names, right?" She nodded. "Then we'll do that then. Impact wrench?"
She reached into the toolbox and handed it to me.
Time passed as this went on, and the Motorcycle slowly took a different look, as I re-arranged its basic frame, using some scrap metal that was littered around with Joshua's recommendation, and some stubborn attitude.
It was nice to tinker with someone else for a change. Calming, in a way. I honestly forgot what genuine human contact was, after a while. In my old life (Should I call it that?) it was just Going to work, and putting on fake smiles until the customer was happy.
Fucking Karens.
Wait, getting off-track.
As I was saying, a good five hours passed before I was finished with what could be viewed as something straight out of a Mad Max film. Sure, it was missing spikes, but If I added that it would be probably be taken by raiders.
…Not that it wouldn't be anyway, but it's the spirit of the thing.
Honestly, all it needed was a new paint job and a bit of buffing out, and I would've bought it in a heartbeat!
…Now I just need to figure out how the hell I get the engine to work.
"Are we- *huff* done?" Jenny's tired voice whispered, as she leaned against a plastic chair I borrowed from the bar, "It's been… I don't know but it's been a while."
I don't think she's a strength build…
Scratching the back of my head awkwardly, I apologized, "Uhm… sorry. I kinda forget that most people can't keep up with me. Better genetics or something." Hey, If people barely know you, what's wrong with a little fibbing?
[Beep! {Tag Skill: Speech} has progressed to 25!]
Oi.
Rude.
Internally rolling my eyes, I dismissed the Amber Pop-up that appeared in front of my eyes and refocused on Jenny. She was red in the face, and obviously exhausted. "You need some help?" I offered, my hand outstretched to the panting woman.
She was quiet for a moment before taking my hand.
A little bit of a tug got her to her feet, and I had to hold her like Simba to keep her from collapsing. "You have legs. Use them." I deadpanned at Jenny.
"Noooo~" She whined. If she wasn't going to use her legs, I'm just going to hold her over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
"Hey! I'm not some sack of vegetables!"
It seems I said that out loud.
"You- haah still are." She pointed out, if a bit breathlessly.
Alright, that's it.
I heaved her over my shoulder ("Hey!"), causing her rather nice ass to stick up towards the quickly darkening sky.
Hey, I'm true to my desires. When I see a nice ass, I'll just straight up say it. But enough of my self-preservation instincts survived, so I know when to keep my mouth shut. Laughing, I jogged to the Inn.
Well, I call it an Inn because I never bothered to learn its name. I should really get around to that at some point.
Meh, things for later, I suppose.
"Put me down Arthur! We're at my room!" Jenny yelled in irritation. I grabbed her by the waist, and hoisted her from my shoulder and onto the hardwood floor. She rolled her eyes, but I could still see the faint smile, "Finally!"
"Oh, so your legs work now?" I sniped back, with a smug Cheshire smile on my face.
The tin can to the face was worth it though.
.
.
.
*BANG BANG!*
"HOW'D YOU EVEN START THIS?!" I yelled, taking another shot from my cover behind the large crate. It was utter chaos, and the explosions only added to that. Everyone was running around like headless chickens!
"I DON'T KNOW! I WAS JUST HALPING!" Jenny yelled back as she bashed another Powder Ganger with a cricket bat she got from Chet. After he went down, she reached into his pockets and grabbed a stick of dynamite, lit it, and threw.
*BOOM!*
"JUST SHOOT THE BASTARDS! WHY ARE YOU GOING MELEE?!' I screamed, rolling to the side to avoid another Powder Ganger that got a little too close for comfort. Grunting, I shot up, decking him in the schnoz with my elbow.
"Agh!" He shouted in pain, I swung my right fist, landing on the temple, knocking him out clean, if with a little more blood than necessary. I grabbed his discarded hunting spear, turning to take aim at the last three gangers.
Taking a deep breath, I focused as time seemed to slow down, tinting in an Amber tone, and threw. Watched it glide through the air in what seemed like slow motion, and it hit.
It glided through the Powder Ganger's main leader in this little raid, sending his nasty bits and gray matter to splatter all over the desert sands, and his buddy that was standing a little too close.
I think a little bit of brain got into his mouth too… ugh.
"Uh… my bad?" I apologized, if with little to no sympathy for the Explosion-Obsessed convicts. He screamed in rage, and stared me down, breaking into a sprint.
Yeeeah, no. Not happening.
The cylinder of the .357 spun, as a bullet shot through the air and flew clean through his knee.
*snicker*
Guess that… he's no longer an adventurer, huh?
"RAH! DIE! DIEDIEDIEDIE!" A feminine shout rang out, along with a sickening crunch. My head spun, zeroing on Jenny, who was standing over the corpse of an especially mangled and beat-up corpse. Hell she was covered in blood, and the Bat was absolutely drenched in red.
What the hell did that guy say to get her so worked up?!
The battlefield finally settled, the wind of the Mojave being the only thing that could be heard as the blood began to pool under the corpses.
Of course, I didn't forget about the blubbering idiot with one knee.
With a simple squeeze, he was put out of his misery via 9mm.
Jenny fell to her knees, a glint of emotion in her eyes shined. I couldn't quite name what it was but it was enough to make my spine shiver in fear.
"Uhm… Jenny?" She turned her gaze to me slowly. "Are… are you alright?" I wasn't exactly sure how to approach her at this point. In fact, I was a bit intimidated if you account for the fact her eyes were the closest things to dead, and that she was also covered in blood.
…a large amount of blood.
She shivered for a moment, as if reliving an unwanted memory. She huffed and collapsed to the ground. "Just… We can talk later. All I want to do right now is sleep. I'll- We can talk in the morning, alright?" She whispered, it was as if something crumbled in her mind, be it a wall or locker that held her memories.
I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I didn't want to anger the woman that just beat someone to death with a Cricket Bat and is covered in said victim's blood..
Pausing, I opted to stay quiet, and decided to continue tinkering with my Motorcycle
.
.
.
The door opened slowly, as Jenny walked in, two unopened bottles of Tequila in hand. She placed them on the bedside table, and sat down on the bed. I placed down my pencil that I was using to sketch out designs for the engine, and turned to look at her.
Rubbing her arm lightly, she waved. "Uh… hey?"
I snorted, "Y-yeah. Hey" I waved back, amused. "What brought you here? Other than the whole 'Talk later' thing." She was surprised by how nonchalant I was taking this, it seemed.
"You- You aren't scared? Disgusted?"
I was confused. "Why would I be? Sure, I was scared then, but that's because you were covered in blood, and just bashed some unlucky bastard's brain all over the pavement. I mean, you aren't threatening me right now are you?"
"Wha-No!"
"Then I have no reason to push you away." I stated flatly with a shrug. Jenny was flabbergasted, but she schooled her expression, the atmosphere around her becoming serious. Well, more serious than she has been in the three days I've known her.
She sighed, her fists clenching until her knuckles were white. "The-... The Bastard." She hissed, "Was someone I recognized. And someone that recognized me. I may have lost my memories, but trauma stays. That fucking bastard was someone I vowed to beat to death If I found him again… and well, I made good on that promise.
"...Jenny? What happe-"
"He- He raped my fucking mother Arthur!" She shouted, tears welling up in her red-tinted eyes. "This-..." She paused to recollect herself, "This happened when I was little. Around five to six I think, it's still a little blurry, but he was this fucking monster in disguise!"
…I'm getting the whole backstory, huh? Alright then. Not sure how I'll comfort her but I'll try!
"I wish I could forget. I want to forget! But I can't!" She cried. I got up from my seat and sat next to her on the bed, awkwardly rubbing her back in a circular motion. She didn't flinch, So I'm not a negative in her book!
"Hey. Look at me." She takes a second to wipe the tears from her eyes, and looked at me. "He can't hurt you. I don't know what he said to you, but he can't make any good on that threat." A small chuckle escaped my lips, "It's a little hard to do that when you've been brained onto the pavement."
She stared for a few more seconds before rearing back and started-
"Hah!"
-laughing?
Did I miss something here?
It took her a minute to get her giggles under control, "S-Sorry, *snerk*, I - hah - I needed that. Thanks, Arthur!" She beamed, like her former breakdown was nothing but an illusion. She waltzed out the door with a little more sway in her step.
…Have I been upgraded from Acquaintance to Friend? Nice.
-=Wishing For A Nuclear Winter=-
___________________________________________________
Hey Gamers. Dumby here.
I suppose you have questions about the uh... about some things that can be easily inferred but I'm just going to say it now.
When I write, it's just one stream of consciousness that I edit later, fixing grammatical mistakes and whatnot. But sometimes it flows in different ways.
Like during the fight scene (Gun scene?) when Jenny had come across a convict from a point in her life she wished she could forget.
And when I said: ["I wish I could forget. I want to forget! But I can't!" She cried]
I was referring to her amnesia via bullet surgery. I'm no doctor, but I'd like to think that amnesia doesn't work like that, but this is Vegas, sooooo...
...Yeah. That's everything I wanted to point out for clarification, even if I suck at explaining things.
Anyway, Dumby out.
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