I hate this. I absolutely cannot believe I have to do this. I would so much rather get sent to the damn Mojave and that damn sanctuary. But no. No, instead I have to go with this idiot and his stupid Rotted friend to the Rotted capital of Texas to fix his mess. I don't have a problem having to work with a Rotted, I've done that before, one of the wall guards I work with is one, but to be going to Ghoul Town? That's disgusting beyond description. Sadly, considering the situation we're in, it seems as though I'm stuck with going to that god awful place. You can do this, Nicci. You've done worse.

I make sure my shotgun is loaded as I look over to Mike and the Rotted, Alex, then to my other side to our Roller, Valmir. Never letting the Rotted name anything again. Claims it's from some pre-war video game. Idiot. I look forward again down the road before letting out a quiet sigh. "This is bullshit! Why can't we have some actual damn mode of transportation?" I ask, groaning out loud after stepping over a large crack in the ground.

"Because," Mike said while climbing over a fallen tree, "The ground is too uneven to drive and we don't have a saddle for Valmir."

Fuck. I hate when he's right about all that stuff. "But what about a sleipnir? We couldn't spend an extra five minutes to buy a couple for this trip?"

"You were the one that wanted us to leave as fast as possible," the Rotted said, letting out a gross, raspy laugh. "Besides," it added on, "I'm the only one with the proper handling to ride one of them."

"The hell is that supposed to mean? I've ridden one of those damn horses before!" I honestly felt a little offended by that. The hell does Alex think he is, claiming a country girl, born and raised, doesn't know how to ride an eight-legged horse mutant? "My family used to work at the damn Steertown Coliseum!"

Mike seemed to take a major interest in that, looking at me with very excited eyes. "What!? You never told me that! We've known each other for years, why have I never heard that before? The actual fuck, Nicci?!"

For some reason, pissing off the idiot made me smile. "What? I never thought it was interesting or anything. Y'all rangle with monsters and animals all the time, what does it-" I was cut off from the sounds of some kind of yelling over a hill. I hold up my hand in a fist to halt our little group, slowly stepping over and looking down, spotting a pair of men with a Molerat between them, all three sitting down on a fallen tree.

"It counts." I hear the left one shout out. "If it is between two pieces of bread, it is considered a sandwich."

The other very audibly groaned looking down. "You are aware that implies that three pieces of bread on top of each other is a fucking bread sandwich, right? Damn idiot…" He threw a rock over to a tree, actually slamming a Radroach and killing it on the spot.

"Technically, yes, although it isn't something you'd eat casually. I would rather have some actual food in between the bread. Personally, I wouldn't mind some Mirelurk. Few bits of Mutfruit in it too doesn't sound bad."

I sigh a little, looking back to Mike and Alex. "Just some idiots talking about fucking sandwiches. Let's go on through, might as well." I stand and hold my shotty down, leading our little band over the hill.

When coming down, the duo on the tree looked up before the left-most one stood up some. "Oi! Keep your distance."

This quickly got my attention. I looked over to him with a little narrowed eyes, smirking some. "Don't worry," I say, looking to the right man. "Sorry, but your friends right. Three pieces of bread is a sandwich. But Mirelurk meat is a no-go." Ragstag meat gal born, raised, and will die.

The man smirked and laughed, pointing at the still sitting guy, "Hah! Told you it's all sandwiches!"

Mike looked to me and then to the other man. "Uh… Excuse me, what's going on about sandwiches? I am super confused right now."

The man still sitting groans and stands up finally, the Molerat at his side skittering around his feet some. "Apologies. I'm only assume the lady here was eavesdropping on our conversation," He explained, motioning to me. "We were just talking about what constitutes a sandwich and why, no matter if it is meat or not, anything radioactive should not be in one."

"Oh. Well, yeah, if it's in between two pieces of bread and held by the bread, it is a sandwich," Mike explained, glancing down at the Molerat. "Uh… I see you got a little friend there."

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" He leaned down and gave the Molerat a little pat on the side. "This is Clumsy. We found her with a pair of land mines taped to her back. We disarmed 'em, and she's sorta followed us around ever since," he explained, before seeming to remember something. "I'm sorry, we ain't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Dagger, and my brother here is Husk."

Husk raised his hand. "Howdy. Husk's the name, selling meat's the game. You in the market?"

The Rotted chimed in. "Sorry, not looking for meat right now. On a chem trip. I'm Alex, by the way," he said before pointing to me and Mike, "That's Nicci, and he's Mike."

Both Dagger and Husk seemed to tense up hearing Mike's name, the latter unholstering a laser pistol. "Hol' up! You mean the id'jit that pissed off Hertic?"

I groan and hold my head in my hands before slowly nodding. "Yeah… Yeah, he's that dumbass. That's why we're going to get some more chems to try and pay the crazy maniac back."

Dagger looked between everyone before reaching over and placing a hand on Husk's gun, lowering it down. "Alright, so get chems and pay the crazy guy back. We don't live in New Arlington and ain't got ties there, so this ain't anything we gotta deal with."

I sigh a little, having a hint of relief behind it. We don't need any more trouble than we already have. "Yes, exactly. This is our shit to fuck with. We're just goin' through to that damn Rotted park to try and buy our way outta this."

Our Rotted seemed annoyed, probably due to how I said it, and chimed in. "She's talking about Ghoul Town."

Apparently, Dagger found this to be extremely interesting, as he instantly stepped closer with a rather large and almost childish smile. "Did you say Ghoul Town? Hey, uh, so me and Husk ain't actually doing anything in regards of living right now. You mind if we…?"

I narrowed my eyes a little looking at the two. "If you… what? Tag along? Just because we're going to some gross, Rotted run park with halfassedly rebuilt rides and a radioactive lazy river?"

"Yes."

"Well that was fast," I say and think for a second, looking to Mike and Alex, "Input?"

Mike shrugged with a smile. "Hey, safety in numbers, right?"

Alex nodded as well. "Right. Besides, we came up on them while they were talking about damn sandwiches. I don't think they'd be much of a problem if things went bad."

I think for another swift moment before finally nodding, turning to the other three. "Alright, but just to Ghoul Town. We get there, we get our chems, the dipshit," I point back to Mike, "Rides The Silver Shroud, then we split up. Deal?"

Dagger nodded in response. "Deal!"

"Alright. God, I cannot believe this is what we're actually doing. Let's go. The farther from destruction by the hands of Hertic the better." Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that shit like this is going to happen more often now?