Friends?

fourteen

I leaned against the back of Samantha's house. I went out there to take a mentat and some jet. I didn't want any of her too-good settlers having a brahman. After I felt the chems take me to my desired high, I lit up a cigarette and gazed out into the sky. This was my favorite way to unwind, but I've really cut back on the chems. Samantha kept me occupied for sure.

That woman, despite her looks, was amazing in a fight. Other than that freakish super mutant, she hadn't been hit again in a gunfight. She learned from her mistake. She held her own, even shooting a raider off me once or twice. Well, it was a hell of a lot more than that.

I took a long drag from my cigarette and exhaled slowly. My jet was wearing off and it was bumming me. To add to the disappointment, the walking circuit board turned the corner. "Samantha is heading out to another settlement and wants you to go with her," the synth said to me.

I threw my cigarette down and stamped it out with my boot. "Got it."

"Keep her out of trouble."

I smiled at the other man. "You know I don't make promises I can't keep, Nick." I pushed myself off the side of the house and headed to the front. Samantha stood with her assault rifle strapped to her back and a pack at her side. She was still in the drifter outfit I gave her, and her shaved side of her hair had grown some short fuzz.

Her conversation with Garvey ended and she turned to me. Her smile was small, but I could tell she was glad to see me. We met in the crumbling road and she spoke first.

"There's a small settlement that wanted some help. You still wanna tag along?"

"Do you even need to ask?" I replied. She grinned at me again and I followed behind her. The sun was brutal today, and it actually stung my dark eyes. We walked for a while in silence. Usually it wouldn't bother me. It gave me time to plan my next chem break. I think last night still weighed on me. I didn't want things to be different. Well, that wasn't true. I didn't want things to be different for the worse, between me and her. I sighed inwardly and said the first thing in my mind, just to break me out of my thoughts. "All this sun is bogging me down. I need to find a bar or something," I joked.

She glanced back at me and smirked. We were passing a little wooden shack. There was an old red, rusted car nearby. Dead trees loosely surrounded and I could see an old freeway bridge in the distance. The shack seemed to be empty. Samantha peered in one of the windows, but backed away. "Doesn't look like much," she informed me. I only shrugged. We could find a million better places for salvage.

Samantha turned back to face me, but her expression turned into pure horror. Her mouth opened in a scream and she lunged at me, but before she could even get close, I was yanked up. I flailed and grabbed at the thing that held up. I clawed at it's rough, scaly digits. The ground was feet from my boots and the creature that picked me up roughly turned me around. I stared right in the ugly mug of a Death Claw. Fuck. The thing threw me down and I felt it's foot long claws sink into my skin. Long slashes scored my chest, blood poured everywhere. I think I could hear Samantha still screaming words.

Time seemed to slow right then. Like I had just taken the biggest hit of high grade jet or something. Samantha ran straight for the ugly thing. She clasped a wicked tire iron with a blade attached to it, slashing the creature across the face. It turned it's devil like head to her and left me to bleed. I turned my head to see where they had went, but I couldn't see them. The effect of slowed time stayed with me. I don't know if it was just the blood loss at this point, but it wasn't as great a feeling as when it first happened. Then time just seemed to stand still. All I could do was close my eyes and hope when I came to, this was just a bad chem trip.