Chapter 208 - Give Him A Hand... Wait...

Afton glares down at his arm as he tightly grips the knife. It was fortunate he maxed out his Medicine skill otherwise he'd have no idea how to correctly go about this, to do this he'd need to Tourniquet the limb, break the bone, and then saw through the flesh.

The metal crushing his arm had already shattered the bones in his arm though, so that just left with restricting the blood flow and actually cutting it off.​​

Ideally he wanted to preserve as much of his arm as possible, but, as his elbow had been crushed as well he'd be forced to cut just below his bicep. He grabs the bundle of dynamite fuse from his Deathclaw leather bag and wraps it around his arm while using his teeth to tighten the subsequent knot.

Once his flesh was buldging from each end of the tight rope-like material he was satisfied. He reaches into his bag once again and pulls out some Med X and a litany of other drugs, he uses the metal below him as a makeshift mixing bowl as he pours out some chems and mixing them together, eating them after injecting the Med X. Afterwards his world numbs somewhat, he hadn't lost any control over his body, but simply lacked a large portion of his ability to feel pain.

...

...

Afton takes a deep breath before pressing his knife against his arm after rolling up the sleeve of his recon armour, the flesh being more difficult to cut than he'd expected... His [Toughness] Perk and high Endurance really had a rediculous effect, unfortunately, his damage resistant body was now more of a curse than a boon. Each slash of the knife did less progress than he'd hoped...

It was incredibly strange for him to see each individual muscle fibre, vein, and tendon as he cut through them. The restricted blood-flow allowing him a better look than he'd ever been able to see before.

His stomach was roiling at was he was doing, but he couldn't stop. The uncomfortable sound of slicing, his own grunts, and Karl's heavy breathes filling the area. He'd finally reached the bone, and need to find a place where it'd broken, slicing his knife in between the fragments once he does.

He shakes as some pain comes through, him cutting through his bone marrow being far more painful than he'd assumed it would be.

Afton grits his teeth as he sees the last bit of flesh attaching his arm, not wasting any more time and quickly slicing through it while using another rag to steam the small amount of bleeding.

[Challange complete! Have your limbs crippled 1/50 times, or severe a limb. : Tough Guy Pekr acquired]

[Tough Guy] : Limb damage is reduced by 20%. Afton glances at the information and scowls, this would have been quite useful before his arm was crushed... Though, whether or not the combined total of 70% damage reduction on his limbs would've helped he doesn't know.

He slumps against the floor and looks over to Karl, "Gimme a hand here."

...

"Is that a joke?" Karl asks, not finding this funny in the least.

Afton shakes his head, "I mean inject a stimpack into me to seal the wound." he states.

Karl gains a look of understanding mixed with pity and grabs a stimpack out of his bag, injecting it into his stump of a right arm while Afton stems the bleeding. Before their eyes clean flesh crawls over the wound, funnily enough, it hadn't become scar tissue for some reason. So, instead of a scarred stump, it looked as if he was born with this disfigurement.

"Thanks." Afton says, sitting forward and feeling the weight of his Anti-Material rifle on his back... He'd not be able to use it until he gets another arm, the realisation on how many things he'd not be able to do anymore dampens the success of severing his arm.

But, the grieving for his lost limb would have to wait, the sounds of the Fiends digging has gotten much closer. Both could hear the conversations of the many people working, each saying a few words of how disappointed they were that their hostages had to be killed. As well as how coming up with theories on where Afton and Karl had come from, bounty hunters didn't usually try to save hostages after all.

Afton grabs the weapon attached to the bandoleer on his chest, the Sawed-off shotgun and checks whether or not it loaded. Once confirmed that it is he sits next to Karl at the only exit out of the machinery they were currently in.

Karl himself was already pointing his LMG towards it, ready to start spraying bullets at any Fiend that comes within shooting range... Both knew it was unlikely that they'd make it out of this situation, but who could blame them for trying.

"Well, we've had a good run until now..." Karl mutters before turning a serious look to Afton, "If... If I don't make it, promise me that you'll save my girl."

...

Afton shakes his head, "Are you taking the piss? We're gonna make it through this and both save her. No one but those bastards outside are dying today..." he licks his lips anxiously, "But, for what it's worth. I promise."

Karl gives a small smile as the sound of rubble being pulled away sounds like its a couple meters away. Above them they can hear people standing atop the metal machinery, the exit was still blocked though so they couldn't leave yet.

*Creeaaaak*

"Think the boss will mind if I have a go with one of the bodies?" someone says from above them.

"You're a sick puppy you know that? If you wanna stick your dick in a human-pancake than you do you." a voice replies, sounding suitably disgusted.

"Ah! I found something! It's one of our slaves!"

"Hehe, nice!"

"Oi! Boss said to get the hunters, not pissing around with meat bags! KEEP DIGGING!"