Chapter 351 - Cookie Jar...

Afton reaches the sniping point and looks at the others as they reload their magazines. It was clear just how tough and dangerous Deathclaws were by looking at how tough their young are... The young Deathclaws were weaker, smaller, and less tough than their parents, yet they still took hundreds of bullets from multiple weapons to properly put one down.

If he, Boone, and Karl didn't all have Anti-Material rifles ready, Afton would have never taken the job... He honestly doubted if small weapons fire could harm a Deathclaw at all, perhaps if putting a bullet in its eye, but that'd only piss it off further...​​

Indeed, Afton certainly wasn't looking forward to fighting the brood mothers, the largest and most fierce of their kind. "Alright... You guys see any more around? There should be three younger ones outside the Quarry.

The group looks around but only see's one in the distance, walking back into the Quarry, likely with the others. "Looks like they've returned to the Quarry... Time to start setting up traps?" Boone asks, and Afton nods.

"Yeah... Karl and Boone'll keep watch with their snipers, Anja, Josie, you're on me." he states.

"Urgh, do we have to? Corpse-muck gets under my nails..." Josie mutters, looking as grossed out as the last time they told he to drag corpses.

"Yes." Afton states, quickly heading to where they left the corpses. There were a couple Gecko's taking chunks out of them, but a few bullets put the fear of 'god' into them. After that Afton and the others start dragging corpses to the entrance of the Quarry.

Nyx keeps an eye out with her sensors to make sure they weren't going to be ambushed anytime soon, and fortunately, Deathclaws were easy to sense due to their larger than average weight. It isn't long before Afton the others leave the last of the around fifteen corpses in front of the Quarry. Afton tells Josie and Anja to head back up to the others while he himself activates the bombs planted on the corpses... Wouldn't want to lose a companion by making them set up bombs...

Once everything was done, Afton headed back and sat down with the others, taking a short food break so they would have the energy should combat take longer than expected...

"So, you guys ready for this?" Afton asks.

Josie shrugs, "It's a bit too late to back out now..."

"I think we'll do fine, sir." Anja quietly says.

Karl and Boone just give short nods in response. Afton stands up, "So, we've got three choices right now... Wait here for Deathclaw to spring the traps and eventually realise we're here... I go as bait... Or Dog-meat goes as bait..." he holds a hand up as Anja prepares to offer herself up too. "The only reason I have chosen myself or Dog-meat is because we might be faster than the Deathclaws... Anja, you definitely are not fast enough to outrun one of those things."

Karl shakes his head, "I'm still on the fence as to whether you're faster than one o' them."

Afton shrugs, "Whatever... For now, I think we should have Dog-meat draw a couple out. If I go as bait I can't shoot with you guys, and I doubt the girls here would be strong of skilled enough to use an Anti-Material rifle..."

The other two nod while the girls pout, they knew it wasn't an insult to them, merely an observation. Females were generally weaker than men, there is no argument about that... Though, some would dispute that fact should they ever face Tamia in combat...

Regardless, they all eventually decide to send Dog-meat first. The dog should be able to outrun them for a time, and the fact that he was an animal would attract the Deathclaws more than a human would... Most animals tend to try and stay away from humans after all, Deathclaws were no exception, and that was the main reason they took control of a place so far away from a human settlement.

After all is said and done, Afton kneels next to Dog-meat and rubs the dog all over, "Alright Dog-meat, you'll be running over to attract some Deathclaws already? You better be careful, I doubt Glados will appreciate it if you are eaten... Ok?"

The dog quickly nods its head, its cybernetic enhancements boosting its intelligence enough that it can understand the orders it'd been given. "Woof!" it barks out before quickly running towards the Quarry.

"Does that thing actually understand you, or were you just talking outta your ass?" Karl questions, the others giving similar looks.

Afton shrugs, "If he had vocal cords he might be able to speak out language... Don't doubt the effectiveness of cybernetics, hell, there's a dog the size of a large Deathclaw that's around two hundred years old down in Big Mt, it's only lived until now due to the cybernetics it has.

...

"So, er, where might a guy get some of these cybernetic?" Karl asks after a moment, causing the others to chuckle.

"I know you're an old dog, but I doubt dog cybernetics will work on you..." he says, mentally adding such a thing to a list for the scientists to research further.

"Ah, a shame... Seems like I'm doomed to get older..."

Afton gives him a dull look, "Aren't we all?"

Before the former ranger is able to retort, they all hear roars coming from the Quarry. Everyone immediately looks down the sights of their weapons and gabes at the fifteen large Deathclaws chasing after Dog-meat. Afton would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire, as Dog-meat looked like he'd been caught in the cookie jar...

"Aim for the head, try not to eat Dog-meat!" Afton calls out, immediately making a shot for the nearest Deathclaw to Dog-meat.

*BAAANG!*

*BAAANG!*

*BAAANG!*

Two more shots ring out, courtesy of Karl and Boone, while Anja and Josie hold their fire for when the enemies inevitably get closer.