The hellhound in New Vegas

Chapter 10 Screams of the Brahmin.

26/05/2281

7:15 am.

"Hey, postboy. Wake up."

Six groggily opened his eyes to see his travelling companion, Loona, standing over him.

"Is it morning already?' Six asked sleepily, getting out of his bedroll. While there was enough room in the bed in the room for two people, Loona had been strongly against sleeping in the same bed as Six, not that he blamed her, so he had decided to let her have the bed while he slept in his bedroll.

"It's been morning for almost an hour, Six," Loona said as she sat back down on the bed.

"Oh, right. I guess I overslept. Sorry about that," Six said, getting up from the floor and putting on his new beret.

"Eh, it's fine. Oh, and thanks for letting me have the bed," Loona said.

"It's fine. I've had worse sleeping arrangements," Six remarked as he rummaged through his backpack before pulling out 4 gecko steaks and two bottles of water. "Hungry?" he asked, holding out the steaks.

"Sure. Thanks," Loona said, taking the steaks and water. So, what are you planning to do now?"

"See if anyone in this town saw the ass-hat who shot me. Maybe check out the old Repconn test site up the hill," Six answered as he tucked into his gecko steaks.

"You just want an excuse to go scavenging again, don't you?" Loona asked jokingly as she tucked into her meal.

"Well, we might as well, seeing as we are in the area," Six answered before tucking into his meal. After he and Loona finished eating, they grabbed their weapons and stepped out onto the balcony, only to notice that the townsfolk seemed to be stirred up over something.

"Wonder what got everyone worked up," Six said to himself before noticing Boone exiting his bungalow. "Hey Boone, what's gotten everyone excited?" Swix called out from the motel balcony. Before Boone could answer, one of the townsfolk spoke up.

"One of the McBride's Brahmin was killed again. That makes 25 he's lost so far," the local said before heading toward the small ranch on the outskirts of the town.

"Someone losing Brahmin? Want to go check it out?" Loona asked Six.

"Sure thing. Might even find out what's killing them," Six said before he and Loona dashed off to the McBride's ranch.

A few minutes later...

By the time Six and Loona arrived at the ranch a small crowd of townsfolk had gathered around the corral. Pushing his way through to the centre, he saw they were all focused on the corpse of a brahmin that appeared to have been killed only a few hours ago. Standing next to the corpse were the ranch owner Dusty McBride and his wife Alice. Both of them seemed upset about the loss of one of their livestock but seemed to perk up a little when they noticed Six and Loona approach.

"Hey, you're that newcomer who came around yesterday asking about Boone's wife? It's nice to see you come around again and bring your friend too but I wish the circumstances were better," Dusty said.

"Same. I heard that you'd been losing Brahmin," Six said, turning his attention to the brahmin corpse.

"Losing don't describe it. It's a massacre. Few more days and there won't be nothing left to lose," Dusty said somberly.

"Damm, that is bad. So what can you tell me about the attacks?" Six asked as he knelt down to examine the brahmin remains more closely.

"Every night around midnight for the last 3 weeks, Alice and I'll wake up to some crazy hollering and gun shots. You'd think the world was ending all over again. But it's just one animal each night. They don't take it or carve it up or nothing. Just leave it there, all full of holes," Dusty answered. A quick inspection of the corpse revealed that Dusty was speaking truthfully. The remains showed no signs of butchering or being scavenged. The only noticeable injuries were the small but numerous holes on the brahmins flanks.