Chapter 371 - Hottestspot

The creation of the Winch truck brought a bit of attention to the group. Now that people could see that repairing vehicles wasn't a fluke, they wished to learn and do the same... Even a fool could tell just how valuable such skills would be.

Unfortunately for them, Afton had no intentions of teaching anyone. Especially since his skill at repairing vehicles included some of his more 'unnatural' abilities'. Still, some of the young, jobless, men in Novac continued asking for help, but it wasn't Afton that stepped up, it was Boone.​​

Boone in his free time starting training groups in combat, doing drills, exercise, tactics, gun handling, and hand to hand.

To be honest, Afton wasn't sure if ti was a good idea to be training people up like that. Sure they had some degree of loyalty to the town of Novac, but other than that there was no guarantee. For all they knew, they'd leave town and use the skills he taught to become the most effective bandits in the Mojave.

It scared him slightly to think about what a group with NCR skills, no morals, and no laws could do. Just look at what Afton and his group could do, sure they were the cream of the crop, but they were still just people.

Regardless, he didn't stop Boone from training the populace. If they stayed in Novac as citizens and didn't abuse the skills they were given, it'd be a great help the next time the Legion tried to invade... Or, indeed, if the NCR decided that Novac should start paying its taxing again.

During all of this, Afton decided to chip in with a bit of his own knowledge, though not regular people. He instead focussed on teaching Anja and Josie what they needed to know for their respective roles. Despite Josie's extensive knowledge on vehicles and everything concerning them, she lacked the training to do other tasks like gun repairs.

And while Afton was helping Josie with that and her overall competence with weaponry, he made sure to drill Anja on infiltration, surveillance, and combat skills. Right now she had 'basic' knowledge on how to operate in missions, but she was far from being 'super spy' level, something Afton would rectify.

That wasn't all though, he made sure she was well versed in melee combat and the use of a knife. It wouldn't be uncommon for her to slit someone's throat as opposed to shooting them and potentially alarming anyone nearby, even with a silencer, guns still make noise.

So, he taught her Krav Maga, a martial art that is specifically designed for this kind of thing... Obviously, nowadays it was considered lost knowledge as he was the only remaining practitioner due to his Unarmed and Melee Skill level.

Funnily enough though, Anja seemed to be picking it up fairly quickly, so with enough time, he was sure he'd have his own personal John Wick to help him in future.

With the Winch truck now built, it was time to try and recover a Fire Engine from Camp Searchlight. The road was still slightly perilous due to the Legion's presence, but with Afton there he was sure they'd be fine...

It would only be he and Josie going as the less weight on the Winch meant the faster they'd get back... Not to mention there wasn't exactly a great deal of seating in the truck, only having a driver and passenger seat.

So, after much deliberation (arguing), Afton finally put his foot down and told the other's what was going to happen. "While we're gone, you guys will protect the town. No questions. Nothing." he states as he looks at Josie who's currently in the driver seat of the Winch truck, "Alright, you ready to go?"

"Yeah!... But, er, I'm still a bit unsure of these controls..." she mutters, glancing at the makeshift controls Afton had been forced to install. The truck hadn't originally been a Winch truck, so he'd had to manually rearrange everything. He himself didn't hold much hope in the controls if he were honest, but they'd just drag the Fire Engine back if the controls broke.

Once the duo was situated, Josie gave a wave to those seeing them off and slammed her foot on the accelerator, launching the truck forwards and shooting sand and dust into the faces of their friends.

The drive to Camp Searchlight isn't a long one and it isn't hard to tell when they're getting close... The green smog covering the place lets them know well enough. Afton gives Josie some Rad X as they enter the town, it wouldn't do for his driver to grow a third arm... probably.

Anyway, the duo drives through the streets of the destroyed town and eventually reach the Fire Station. Josie waits in the car with a gun in hand as Afton hops out and examines the trucks to find the one in the best condition.

The tires on both of them are blown out and utterly useless, meaning he'd have to find a replacement... This would also make it fairly difficult to transport it as well. Before he does anything else however, he walks to the back and finds the water outlet, opening it and lettering the two-hundred-year-old water stream out into the ground below.

From his Pipboy he could tell that it was extremely irradiated, most likely because it was directly next to where the toxic waste had been released. He wasn't able to tell if the vehicle itself was covered in radioactive material as most of the town was making the test go off. He'd have to check it once they were back in Novac... Though, he didn't really know what he could do to remove the material... Aside from thoroughly washing it?

"How's it looking?" Josie asks from the Winch truck, still scanning the area for threats.

"The tires are fucked but we already expected that. Both trucks look fine to me, but the only problem is the radioactive material that might still be on them... We'll check them when we get back though."