Chapter 349 - Staring Death...-Claws, In The Face.

The group quickly approaches the two downed men, Afton whistles at Dog-meat, allowing the dog to stop mauling its unfortunate victim... The Cyberdogs metal teeth and enhanced jaws had ended clean through the flesh and bone in the man's arm, he'd either need extensive surgery to be able to use it again, or amputation to stop it from getting gangrenous or infected... And that's only if you could stop the profuse bleeding.

Afton smirks down at the injured and crying man, "Howdy!" he mocks in a stereotypical cowboy voice, "Didn't expect to see any of you folk down 'ere, must be ma' lucky day!"​​

*Slap!*

Karl cuffs Afton around the ear for being stupid, "Stop with that stupid voice and act serious for a moment, will ya'?"

Afton shrugs and focuses on the Powder Ganger, "So... Are you gonna start speaking or should I warm up my tools?... If you last that long anyway. If not I'll just use your buddy instead." he threatens, sadistic glee obvious in his voice.

"F-F-Fuck you!" the Powder Ganger stutters out before spitting at the ground near Afton's feet.

Afton just shrugs, "Alright." before punting the man in the side and beginning to beat the shit out of him with his fists. By the time he's finished, the man's face is a bloody mess, if the others hadn't quickly up a Tourniquet on his mauled arm, he would've bled out before Afton was finished.

Unfortunately, even with the vicious beating he'd just had, he still wasn't willing to talk... "Alright." Afton mutters, "Time for plan 'Crucify you for your friend to see'" he says, dragging the man over to a large rock.

"N-NO! NOOOOOO!" The Powder Ganger upon hearing this screams, "DON'T DO ME LIKE THEM! NO! I'LL TALK!"

Afton grins, good thing the guy agreed as he wouldn't have crucified him like the Legion had done back in Nipton... As hypocritical as it might seem, he felt himself better than those savages, so doing anything even remotely similar struck him as unnecessary...

"Now that we've come to an agreement... TALK."

"W-we was just scouting the area for NCR! We never thought we'd run into the traitors... P-please let us go!"

Afton glances over at Karl, "Shouldn't the NCR have wiped out the Powder Gangers by now? Especially since we did most of the work."

Karl just shrugs, "Apparently not.

...

Afton crosses his arms and hums, "Youknow what? Fuck it. It's the NCR's problem to deal with. We aren't janitors so we'll not go around cleaning up their shit." he states, the Powder Ganger's eyes lighting up with hope.

"So you'll let us go-" *BANG!*

Afton's only response to the man's words is a bullet to his skull, he then walks over to the other Powder Ganger and does the same... While he could continue interrogating them for the Powder Gangers base, he really couldn't be asked to try.

Why should he clean up the NCR's shit if they weren't gonna pay him for it? He imagined that once they cleared the Deathclaws out of the Quarry, the supplies would begin getting harassed by the Powder Gangers, giving the group yet another bounty to eventually claim.

"Add those two to the sleigh" he says, Anja and Josie reluctantly dragging the bodies and tossing them onto the pile with the Fiend corpses. Afton had been the one dragging it as he was strong enough to do it without breaking a sweat. He'd not bother exhausting everyone by taking turns, he needed the min tiptop shape after all.

They continue down the highway until they end up between a large canyon holding the Quarry, and Black mountain which was currently completely infested by Deathclaws. Even now he could hear Tabitha's broadcast over the radio... No one had dealt with her yet, probably due to the Deathclaws if he were honest.

Afton stopped dragging the Sleigh and gave everyone a look, "Keep watch while Karl and I plant bombs on the corpses. You see anything, you call it out, we ain't risking shit for this job, so be careful." he states, and retrieves the many mines they'd bought from the Gunrunners.

It takes around ten to twenty minutes to properly fix the mines on the fifteen corpses they had. Making sure the mines didn't fall off or improperly activate. They weren't armed currently, but once the bodies were laid where they needed to be, they would be.

He looks to Anja, "I would get you to scout, but Deathclaws have a ridiculous sense of smell... and, well..."

She gives a deprecating smile, "I know... I'm a ghoul and I stink, just do what you need to, sir." she says, only giving the slightest indication that it bothered her... Whether it was because of her ghoul nature or because her primary duty in the team was being taken, the group didn't know.

Afton nods apologetically and begins climbing the canyon wall, eventually making it to the top. Once there he starts surveying the land. Further up the highway, there were around eight Young Deathclaws that were patrolling around... Despite their age though, they were still much larger than a regular human and had claws that could shred steel.

He looks over to the Quarry and spots all the heavy machinery the NCR had brought in to mine the place. It was a very dusty and rocky area, allowing the Deathclaws to hide their eggs in a variety of places... It'd probably take days to find them all, which the group would end up having to do...

His initial estimate of how many there were was a bit wrong... He'd thought there'd be sixty to eighty, but without counting the baby Deathclaws, there was around one hundred. Already, he could spot the huge, black-scaled brood mothers that trod around with many Baby's following in a line like ducklings... Yeah, this would be difficult.