The hellhound in New Vegas

Chapter 11: Come Fly With Me Part 1

27/05/2281

9:00 am

The scorching Mojave sun beat down as Six, Loona, William, and Boone made their way up the road towards the valley where the abandoned REPCONN test site was located. Once a site of grand innovation where many of REPCONN's experimental rockets were launched into space before being purchased by RobCo, the site was now just a shadow of its former self, the compound reduced to a ruin, and its remaining rockets nothing more than rusted hulks, having been left to the elements for more than 200 years. Despite this, the test site still stood strong, taking on a new life as a source of salvage for the people of Novac. Or at least it was before the ghouls moved in. Now, Six himself had no problem with ghouls, so long as they didn't cause any trouble, but he understood why the people of Novac wanted them gone. After all, without the salvage from the test site, the town would have no source of income, and eventually, the residents would be forced to relocate. To make the situation even more tense, according to Manny, the ghouls that had moved into the site were deliberately bringing feral ghouls to the site. Six knew that feral ghouls would rarely attack another ghoul, feral or not, but it was still a massive risk in case the ferals decided to turn on them. Not to mention the very real possibility that the non-feral ghouls would turn feral. Besides, he had promised Manny Vargas that he would take care of the ghouls in exchange for more information on his assailant's whereabouts. Now, as Six made his way to the test site, his main concern was trying to figure out the best and safest way to convince the ghouls to leave.

"So, going ghoul hunting again?" Loona asked, snapping Six out of his thoughts. "Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting to go on another ghoul eradication mission so soon."

"I'm honestly a little surprised your friend didn't try and find another way to get the information he was looking for," Boone chimed in.

"Even if he had gotten his information another way, Six would most likely visit the place anyway just to see what he can scavenge up," Loona said before catching sight of a group of about 20 feral ghouls that were hanging around the remains of a Pre-War checkpoint.

"Look alive, boys. We've got company, and not the friendly kind," Loona said, raising her service rifle.

"I see them," Boone said, raising his scoped hunting rifle and setting his sights on the ghoul at the front of the pack. With a single squeeze of the trigger, the ghouls' head exploded as a .308 round tore through its skull, showering the other nearby ferals with brain matter and bone fragments. Infuriated by the death of one of their own, the ferals charged toward the small party, their primal snarls echoing through the pass. Undeterred, the group took cover behind a concrete and sandbag barricade. Will and Loona began to open fire on the horde while Six switched from taking shots at them with his repeater and throwing out dynamite to thin their numbers. Bullets whizzed through the air, each one tearing through the feral horde while dynamite exploded around them, killing several and crippling others making them easier kills. Within moments most of the horde had been shot or blown to pieces. Despite this, 4 of the ferals were able to close the gap and attempted to tear in them. Realizing his rifle would be ineffective in close-quarters-combat, Six dropped it on the ground and whipped out his recently purchased katana. As the feral ghoul lunged at him, Six swung his katana at its neck, and with a single strike, separated the feral's head from its body. Another feral ghoul attempted to rip into Boone but was met with a machete to the face. A third leapt onto Loona only for her to throw it to the ground and maul it to pieces. The last one tried to go for Will, only to stumble over the barricade. Will instinctively leapt back, only to catch his foot on the uneven road and falling back onto the ground. Seeing the ghoul attempting to regain its footing, Will whipped out a 9mm pistol and emptied the entire magazine into its body.