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We almost just died.
I'm breathing heavily as I stare at the man's body with a fresh hole in his head crumble to the ground, lifeless. Each breath I take sends sharp pains through my entire body. I think one of my ribs snapped when the scavenger was stepping on me. If Soren hadn't pushed him off of me, he would've completely crushed my ribcage.
I think about the terror I felt when I saw that man above Soren, about to strike the lethal hit, me unable to stop it. It stirred something inside of me. I knew what was coming up, and I desperately pushed it back down. I don't want to go back there, to that memory.
I stand up as the body collides to the ground and run to Soren, hearing myself shouting their name. Everything is still a blur, my heart thumping in my chest. It starts to slow back to normal as I see Soren is okay. Thank God they're okay, I don't know what I'd do if I lost someone again...
Soren stood up, using the baton as a crutch to push themself up. "Y-yes, I'm okay, just a few scratches...," they replied, then looking at me quizically, asking, "...and that wasn't you who shot him?" They think it was me who shot the scavenger? If I had a gun, I would've used it on the guy when my fucking ribs were being crushed! "Of course it wasn't me! If I had a gun, I would've told you about it, idiot!"
Soren is a little taken aback from my harsh reply, which they should be used to by now. They then asked the question that was also plaguing my head. "W-well, if it wasn't you, and since it definitely wasn't me, who shot him..?"
Suddenly, as if answering our question, a voice rang out from behind us. "You ladies alright? Well, I know you're not a lady, it was just a reference to...y'know what, never mind. You two alright?"
The voice caught me off-guard, startling me. We turned around to face the man, who was wearing an army beret and an eyepatch, and under his beret was an army buzz cut. He was also wearing a green coat with blue jeans, a bandolier full of ammunition slung across his chest. In his right hand was a smoking revolver, which they opened and ejected the empty cartridge of the bullet he must've fired to save us. I'll give him credit, he does look rather badass.
"Well? Either of you going to speak?" He prompted again, raising his eyebrow. Soren shook their head and quickly spoke up. "Y-yes, we are now. Th-thank you for your help, you saved our lives..." I took a step back, not as eager to meet someone who's armed as Soren seemed to be. If they want to risk getting their brains splattered next to the corpse of the other scavenger, that'll be all them. I'm keeping my distance from this guy.
The man in front of us put out his hand. "The name's Jax, pleasure to meet you." Soren took his hand seemingly without a thought, Jax's charisma seeming to be rather entrancing to them, and they shook hands. Jax seemed to be a little older than us, about early twenties I'd say.
"I'm Soren, and this is Mika." Soren smiled and introduced our names without my consent.
I quickly snapped at them, "What the Hell, Soren?? Why're you just giving this rando our names?!"
Jax was unphased and laughed my comment off, and Soren replied to me, "This 'rando' just saved our hecking lives. Introducing ourselves is the least we could do." They shrugged at me, and I crossed my arms and grumbled, knowing I was defeated here.
I turn around and sit on a nearby stump, keeping an eye on Jax while he and Soren chat. Jax blew out the smoke of his revolver, grabbed six rounds from his bandolier, loaded the gun, and then holstered it, admittedly having executed every one of those steps near perfectly. Soren was clearly admiring this guy, and I scoff. Anyone can wield a revolver, even me. It's honestly not that difficult, so Soren's definitely gotta raise their requirements for someone being worthy of their admiration.
Despite wanting nothing to do with the guy, I try to discreetly listen to their conversation. "So, what brings you two out here? Scavenging, I suppose?" Jax asked, sitting down on the picnic table where we had laid out our goodies. "Well, it seems like you two got quite the bounty, eh?" Jax continued, admiring our loot. I stand up and glare daggers at Jax. "Hey! That's our shit, you get your dirty fingers away, you hear me?!"Jax looked my way, seemingly unphased by my outburst. "Hey, pipsqueak, don't you worry. I'm not going to take anything, I've got plenty of stuff myself," Jax replied. Did he really just call me "pipsqueak"?! What a fucking dick!
Regardless of how much I want to gut punch this guy, I keep my cool and decide to distract myself by checking my watch. I gasp as I realize I had completely forgotten to check the storm's distance from us, and according to the radar it was mere minutes away. Dammit, we won't make it back to the bunker in time.
I stand up to call to Soren, but I'm interrupted by a beeping noise and notice Jax looking down at his wrist, an orange screen projecting from what seems to be a watch of some kind. Wait, this guy's got an A.G.E.N.T. watch?! Wha- how?! These things were only given to Agents of some sort of agency, and one of those Agents gave me theirs when they...n-nevermind. So how'd this guy get one?!
Before I can say anything, Jax speaks up. "Oh, looks like the storm's near, gang. No worries, though, my place is pretty close." He motions for Soren to pack up our stuff into the backpack, which they do. "It's just a couple blocks down. You two can shelter there until the storm passes as well if you'd like. Also, I think I can make something that can assist your...dissability, Soren." Soren grins and nods eagerly. "Wow, really? Y-yeah, I'd love that..!" Okay, this guy's getting annoying. I stand up and walk to Soren, glaring at them. "Are you kidding me?! We barely know this guy! He could mug us at any moment if he really wanted to!"
"Well, he did save our lives, Mika, and if he truly wanted to take our stuff he could've killed us pretty easily, ahaha...," Soren defends Jax, who nods in agreement. "Plus, what other choice do we have? We're much too far from the bunker to arrive before the storm arrives first." I grumble and clench my fists. Jesus, they've got some good points. How am I going to argue against all that?! They're honestly completely correct.
After a moment I surrender. "Fine, we'll stay. But just until the storm clears, got it?!" Soren grins excitedly and hugs me. "Yay, thank you!" I immediately shove them off. "The fuck you think you're doing?! I don't do hugs, and why're you so excited? Jesus, you two are weird. Just...show us the way, Jax." I practically spit out Jax's name, finding such a distaste for him, even though he saved our lives. He nods to me and turns around. "Alright, then! It'll just be a ten minute walk from here, but we should hurry. Storm'll be here in about fifteen." Soren's basically walking right at Jax's side while I maintain a good ten feet between him and me. Great, I'll be bunking with two people instead of one. Soren's annoying enough, so having another tag along with me will make us feel like a walking circus. The storm's beginning to sound much more preferable now.
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"Echo playback finished."
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