Protecting the Water Way

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens onto what can only be described as an urban wasteland. "Don't worry," Ellen calls from Shiphrah and Puah's back, "all the mutants that used to live here are dead. Just don't let your horse go in the water, okay?"

Comments

[not_his_pa]

William's eyes are wide but he nods as he's never seen a city this big and never one this ruined,

"Right, hear that, Les, no drinkin'."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"This used to be Washington, DC," Ellen says soberly. "This is what the Great War did to the place. Shiphrah, Puah, let's keep moving."

The cow is not as fast as a horse at full trot, but she's quicker than an armored human on foot would be, and seems quite unfazed by the conditions around her.

"If you see anything moving in the river, it's dangerous and may be trying to come out to attack us, so give a yell and let me know before opening fire or anything."

[not_his_pa]

He nods and keeps a hand on his rifle as he gets his horse moving beside her,

"It never looked even this big in my time. War got in the way."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It got this big in the 2050s," Ellen says. "And then the Resource Wars started- oh, that reminds me, when we catch up with the caravan, tell them you got the horse from out west, okay? I don't think anyone here has ever seen a horse except for you and me."

[not_his_pa]

"It'd be the truth seein' as I'm from out West,"

It keeps him from having to lie too much about anything.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods, prodding the cow with her heels. The area they're trotting through used to be tongue monster territory, and then there was the battle with the Enclave; the tumbledown ruins of buildings around them are scorched and pitted with the residue of bullets, explosives, and energy weapons fire. It's not a reassuring place to be.

Also, she just spotted something large and grey moving under the surface of the water nearby.

[not_his_pa]

William keeps looking from one sign of destruction to the next and unholsters his rifle and loads it, he needs to be ready.

He says as quietly as he can, "What happened here, Ellen?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Multiple battles," Ellen says, equally quietly. "Some with men. Some with things that used to be men. I fought in several of them myself."

There it is again, in the river.

"William... there's a mirelurk following us in the river. They are big, and armored. If it comes out, aim for the face, okay?"

[not_his_pa]

He tries not to move too much and notes the shape, "I can do that."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Good-"

Because the water's heaving, splashing everywhere as it gives way to a monstrous grey creature the height of a man.

[not_his_pa]

His father trained him well enough in terms of dealing with cougars and snakes, you only get one shot, make it count.

He raises and fires the rifle, reloading as fast as he can.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The hell of dealing with Wasteland wildlife is that everything here has evolved to survive in nasty conditions. Sometimes even a direct rifle shot to the face doesn't kill things immediately. William's bullet hits- but it just makes the mirelurk mad. Fortunately, he's not the only gunner around. Ellen opens fire with her gun of preference before the thing has a chance to charge, and it stumbles, claws flailing wildly.

(It should be noted that the gun in question is not likely to be one Will recognizes. And that it's firing bursts of brilliant green energy rather than bullets.)

[not_his_pa]

He's aware that Ellen's gun is strange but he's not taking his eyes off the mirelurk until its dead and fires into its face again.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

One of the creature's claws lashes out and scores a nasty line of blood along the Brahmin's flank, but that's all the damage it gets in- between William's gunfire and Ellen's, it flails one last time and falls over backwards.

Which Ellen is now trying not to do, because Shiphrah and Puah did not like that at all and have taken off at a frantic gallop, as panicked animals are often prone to do.

[not_his_pa]

William's horse, Les, is used to gunfire and only dances a little.

Once the mirelurk falls, he holsters his rifle and gets Les into a gallop to catch up with her and finally gets out his lariat and swings it to catch one of the heads and says, "Whoa there, whoa there, ain't goin' anywhere."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Thank whatever gods look after fools and soldiers, the cow merely bawls like it's the end of the world and digs in her heels rather than trying to buck. Ellen doesn't have the reins, either- she wrapped them around the saddlehorn when the shooting began, so it's all been a case of hanging onto her gun with one hand and the horn with the other.

She might be hyperventilating juuuuust a li'l bit about now.

[not_his_pa]

Cows bawling is something William's very used to, a herd on the move is a loud thing.

Once Shriprah and Puah have stopped, he gets right alongside and puts his hand over Ellen's on the pommel,

"You're stopped, Ellen. Not goin' anywhere, I promise."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Good," says Ellen, gulping, "good. Oh, man. Maybe I should've done this on foot anyway..."

Well, no. She does need to catch up before the bandits attack. But still.

"I'm sorry, I didn't- didn't expect that."

[not_his_pa]

"You need to get them used to loud noises. Have you done any ridin' since last time? Its fine. I reckon learnin' what to do when your horse bolts on you is one of the best lessons you can get. I'm glad I had my rope, else it might have been harder."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"She doesn't mind loud noises," says Ellen, glancing over the cow. "I've tested her at the Bar's firing range. It's the injury-"

She bites her lip a moment, then fumbles around in her pack.

"Can you hold her still? I'm going to give her a stimpak to close that up some." The wound on the cow's flank is bleeding pretty impressively; she figures she's entitled to some proper medical care.

[not_his_pa]

"Yeah, I've got her with my rope, she ain't goin' anywhere. Injuries are harder,"

He moves closer so he can grip where the rope's around the brahmain's neck.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It takes two stimpaks to get the cow's thick hide to heal up properly- 'just closing up a little' doesn't really look like something that's going to stay closed, in Ellen's opinion. The blood's still there, because Ellen refuses to go near the Potomac for anything to wash it off with. "I can clean her up properly later," she says. "For now she's all right, I think. We should keep moving... pity we can't stop to get the meat from that 'lurk, but we don't have time."

[not_his_pa]

"Right. You get the reins and I'll get my rope off,"

There's a trick to getting a lariat off but with two heads its tricky.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods and scrabbles to retrieve the reins, looping them firmly around her gloved hands. "Easy, girls," she murmurs. "We'll be on our way in a moment."

Both of the heads make unhappy mooing noises, but only the right head tosses a little. The other one just seems to be tired of the whole sorry situation.

[not_his_pa]

Soon he's got his rope back and looped around his pommel,

"I think I'm set."