A/N: Some chapters will be longer than others, depending on the quest I'm doing. VATS is explained in this chapter.

"Ah, shit," Artie murmured when the sunlight hit her eyes, shying away from it. She was actually blind, for a moment; when her eyes adjusted she was able to take in the town before her.

Doc Mitchell had been right; Goodsprings was small. The doctor's house was the largest building in the town, with what looked like a saloon coming in second. From her perch atop the hill, Artie could see the saloon, a general store, a schoolhouse, several houses, and what looked to be an old gas station. She made a mental note to check out the gas station: it could contain food.

Artie took a deep breath and started down the hill.

She noticed people looking at her as she walked. She had never been here before, so she wasn't sure why…oh, yeah. She'd been at Doc Mitchell's for a few days, or so he'd said. Of course they knew she'd been there. And maybe they knew she'd been dead. She consciously moved her bangs so they covered her scar.

When she reached the Prospector Saloon, an old black man sitting on the porch stopped her before she walked inside. "You're the dead one," he said, looking at her forehead.

"Yeah, I am," Artie replied. She waited for him to say something else, but he didn't, so she went inside.

"Cheyenne, stay," said a woman's voice as soon as Artie entered the bar. Artie turned and saw a woman holding onto the scruff of a large gray and black dog. "Don't worry. She won't bite unless I tell her to."

"Puppy!" said Artie excitedly, crouching down. The woman stared at Artie for a moment, sizing her up, then shrugged and released her dog, letting her trot up to Artie and lick her face. Artie gave the dog's head an affectionate rub.

"You're the dead one!" said the woman after a moment.

"That's what they tell me," Artie replied, standing back up.

"I'm Sunny Smiles," said Sunny, holding her hand out and smiling.

Artie returned the smile and shook her hand as well. "Doc Mitchell sent me to talk to you, actually. About surviving out here?"

"Yeah, I guess there's a thing or two I could show you," said Sunny, rubbing her dog's head. "Sounds like you need all the help you can get after what they did to you. Come with me, let's go shoot a gun." She began walking outside, Artie on her heels.

"I know how to shoot, you know," said Artie.

"Have you shot since you been shot?"

"Well, no."

"So, you don't know what could've changed. You may not be as steady as you were, who knows. You need a rifle anyways."

Artie couldn't argue with that, so when they got outside she took the relatively small caliber rifle and shot a few Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles off the fence outside the saloon.

"Well, that's a start," Sunny said approvingly after Artie had shot three or so bottles off the fence posts, "but I reckon you didn't come to me to fight sarsaparilla bottles." She looked at Artie again, that 'how useful are you' glance. "Tell you what. I gotta go fight geckos off our water supply anyways. Darn critters are attracted to it," she added with a smile. "Why don't you come along?"

"Yeah, okay," said Artie, shouldering her new rifle (actually an old one, Sunny explained on the way, that she had grown out of).

They traveled down to the southeast a ways before Artie heard the familiar sound of geckos (a combination of a hiss and a screech). At the first sound, Sunny darted behind a rock and crouched down, her dog and Artie following suit. "Hear that?" she asked, pumping her shotgun's action excitedly. "We got some geckos to clear out." She sighed, shaking her head. "Seems like Doc Mitchell treats more gecko bites than anything else. Let's see if we can get a little closer. If we move quietly, we can get the jump on 'em. More likely to hit something vital that way."

Even though her style in a fight was to get as close as possible regardless of her being sighted or not ('Huh,' thought Artie, 'that goes a long ways toward explaining how I got shot in the head.'), Artie followed Sunny to the backside of a well, where they sniped three geckos a little ways off.

"Tensions are brewing in Freeside between a ruling gang known as the Kings and the large number of NCR squatters seeking refuge there," said Mr. New Vegas's voice from Artie's Pip-Boy as a bullet shot through the back of a gecko's head. "The leader of the Kings, who would only identify himself as The King, voiced his displeasure, calling NCR citizens quote, 'the devil in disguise.'"

"Good shot!" said Sunny appreciatively as she picked up a gecko and slung it over her shoulder.

"You're taking him?" asked Artie, indicating the gecko.

Sunny shrugged. "Might as well. Cheyenne likes the meat and I can always find a buyer for the hides. There are two more wells that still need clearing. You up for it? There'd be caps in it for you."

"Sure," said Artie, following behind Sunny's brisk pace. "How far are they?"

"Not far, only a few min—oh, that's it!" said Sunny as a gecko leapt off a cliff and bit her arm. She slammed the butt of her rifle against its head, then flipped it around and shot it clean between the eyes.

Suddenly, from the south, Artie heard another voice, a woman's, scream, "Get them off!" Artie ran to the cliff side where she'd heard the voice and saw a Goodsprings settler being attacked by three geckos. Artie lifted her gun, looked down the sight, and breathed.

It was a trick Charlie had taught her when she was first learning how to shoot. "Look down the sight and just breathe out," he'd said, his hands over hers as they held her old varmint rifle. He'd lined up a few buffalo gourd seeds (Artie's ten-year-old brain couldn't fathom, then, why he picked buffalo gourd seeds; they didn't make the satisfying shattering noise Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles did when shot) on the fence in front of them and was teaching Artie how to hit them. Artie took his advice, took a deep breath, closed her eyes…

…and opened them, breathing out. The world slowed down when she breathed out and allowed her to see where she could hit more easily; just another thing Charlie had taught her that she'd never be able to survive without now.

"Shit!" said the settler woman, snapping Artie out of her reverie. Artie jumped off the cliff in front of the woman, catching herself and standing smoothly. "Holy moley," the woman said, her hand over her heart. She had a turned up nose and mousey brown hair. "If you hadn't come here like you done, I'd be a goner for sure." She looked at the gecko blood on the ground. "I just came to draw water!"

"No problem," said Artie, wiping her hands on her pants. "Just helping Sunny clear out the wells."

"Here," said the woman, pressing a few bottles of water into Artie's hands. "Thank you. Isn't much, but…thanks."

"Yeah, no worries." Artie accepted the water and stowed it in her pack. The woman stared at Artie a moment more, then began walking back to Goodsprings.

Artie felt Cheyenne's cold nose on her palm. "You keep doing stuff like that, you're gonna develop a reputation around here," said Sunny behind her, a smile in her voice. "Here's a little spending money for the trouble."

"Is that good or bad?" asked Artie, accepting the caps.

Sunny sighed, the smile slipping off her face, replaced with a contemplative look. "That depends on what you do with it. We're a trusting town. Sometimes too trusting, if you ask me."

"Something the matter?" asked Artie.

"No, it's…it's nothing." She shouldered her rifle. "I'm heading back now. Hope I didn't miss anything good on the jukebox; Cheyenne would kill me." Sunny stared at her with that piercing look again.

"What's the look for?"

"Nothing, it's just…Judy, the bartender up at the Prospector. Go say hello to her. Pretty sure she'd be cross with me if I didn't tell you to drop by. She likes to meet newcomers." Sunny rubbed her dog's head, then started off, just the two of them.

Artie got the feeling she didn't want to be disturbed, so she headed back alone.