Chapter 225 - Beghouled

Boone watches from his hidden position as a Ghoul runs out from the Fiend base and throws something at Cook-Cook, his eye's going wide when the rapist suddenly explodes. From the fireball he could clearly see mangled limbs being sent flying, if Cook-Cook was still alive then he'd probably curse his luck at still being conscious.

He's about to return to Afton and Karl to report what'd just happened but finds that the Fiends had already relayed the information. Most of them screaming, "Cook-Cook's dead! Fucking run", etc. Hopefully there'd be enough of Cook-Cook to claim the bounty...​​

Afton had heard the explosion but didn't realise at the time what it was. He takes a peek with VATS to see if Cook-Cook was still alive through the smoke, and fortunately spots the man lying on the floor, missing both legs and one arm. Not to mention how mangled his lower torso was... Afton was sure he'd had his cock blown off, which was good since Afton wouldn't need to do it himself.

Most of the Fiends quickly started retreating after Cook-Cook exploded, but a few stayed to fight. Not to mention the fact that some seemed to have located the one responsible for Cook-Cook's rather ungraceful end.

He could barely spot a ghoul running into an eastern building to escape the group chasing them. He was conflicted at whether or not to help her if he was honest... She did help kill Cook-Cook, but then again she deserves a cut of the bounty...

Then again, someone capable of sneaking around behind them and assassinating someone like that could be useful to him, he wondered what Companion Perk they'd confer. Nodding to himself, he glances at Karl and Boone, "We gotta help that Ghoul out! Let's kill some Fiends!" he shouts, standing and running towards the eastern building while firing That Gun at any who dared try to target him.

Karl wasn't far behind, hefting his Light Machine Gun and following him, providing suppressing fire against one of the larger groups of Fiends that remained.

As for Boone? He stayed put, taking heads whenever someone was brave enough to peek at them.

Elsewhere :

Anja immediately fled after tossing that explosive collar at her former master. She wasn't even able to mentally cheer when all the attention of the Fiends locked onto her. Yeah, you'd expect that for killing their leader but she'd thought they'd still be distracted with whoever was firing at them.

Regardless, she currently had no weapon, and a large group of murderous, rapist, cannibals trying to kill her. Deciding to try and weather the storm she quickly searches for a place to hide, hopefully whoever was hunting the Fiends would clear up the one's chasing her, after that she could escape and look at her options for the future.

Running up some stairs she dashes through a building's second floor, going over some-kind of walkway to the next building before throwing herself out of a window, dextrously rolling as she lands.

She enters another building and spots a locker that'd been thrown onto its side. Without much choice she opens it and crawls inside, quietly shutting it just before the Fiends started arriving at her location.

...

"Where the fuck did that bitch go!?" one shouts, breathing heavily due to all the running they had to do immediately after a gunfight.

"Don't know! But She's probably around here somewhere... She stunk up Cook-Cook's place just by being there, we could probably smell the rancid cunt out."

"Hehe, good plan... Er, any of you able to smell? My nose stopped working after I tried to snort ant-necter..."

...

"No..."

"So no-one?"

"For fuck sake!"

"No I can smell just fine." Someone says in an almost mocking tone.

"Really? Good! Now ju-Holy fu-" *Bang!*

Anja winces as the sound of a gunshot goes off, followed by the thunderous sound of many more. Clearly, whoever had just arrived belonged to the group fighting the Fiends... Not to mention their morbid sense of humour. She could only hope that no stray bullet hit the locker she was hiding in, ghouls might be hardy, but a bullet to a vital organ would usually put them down permanently, especially in a low radiation area.

Afton continues firing at the Fiends in the room that had been discussing something. He holsters That Gun and pulls out Lucky after running out of ammo for it, reloading mid-battle for was for two-armed people only!

Karl arrived soon enough and sprayed the room, killing the rest of the Fiends that were gathered.

"Nice one." Afton says jovially to his companion as he steps inside... Immediately getting a whiff of something. It didn't smell like the Fiends did, no sweat, blood, sex, or drugs involved... Only the smell of rotting decay, flesh? Definitely a ghoul, though, he'd never met a ghoul that smelled this... 'Pungent'.

"They should be around here..." Karl mutters, and Afton nods, following his nose towards the locker.

"Alright, I'm gonna open this locker, don't try to stab me or bite my face off once I do... Okay?" he asks, receiving no response.

Shaking his head, he lifts the door and is immediately hit by the ghoul's smell, after regaining his composure spotting the person hiding into the locker.

Anja gingerly climbs out of the locker and looks at her... Saviours? By the looks of the many dead Fiends they seemed like people you wouldn't want to mess with. "Thanks for saving me." she asks, her gravelly voice not surprising either of the two, clearly they'd spoken to ghouls before.

Afton nods and presents a hand to the ghoul who seems to be female? It's kind of hard to tell with the rotting flesh and harsh voice... Though, she was different from the other ghouls he'd met, their eyes would usually be dull and lifeless, lacking colour or slowly fading in clarity. This one had bright green eyes that looked out of place on the person that possesses them. "Afton Parker, Bounty Hunter, at your service." he says, smiling slightly as the ghoul reciprocated and shook his hand.

"I'm Anja... Just Anja."