Books are best

The firefight was six verses seven in the enemies favour, though, the NCR grunts were slightly disorientated from the recent explosion.

Afton wasn't worried about their chances though, NCR recruits are typically undertrained and given poor equipment. This is clearly shown by the way they are shooting randomly in the groups direction. At the rate they were going, it was obvious they'd run out of ammunition soon.

He peaked his head over and used VATS to memorise the enemies position before firing a few shots at them. A bright red beam left his laser pistol and struck one of the NCR in the chest, leaving a large black mark where it'd hit.

They staggered momentarily but hid behind one of the dead brahmin and continued firing. Most of the enemies attention was on Afton's position now as Energy Weapons weren't known for being covert.

This did allow the others to start encroaching on the enemies position though, Tommy and Reggie went opposite directions to get a clear flank on the NCR hiding behind the brahmin. Karl stood for a moment and fired a single round, and Afton could see the bullet enter a soldiers skull and causing it to implode like a ripe watermelon.

Clearly, Karl wasn't someone you wanted to mess with, judging by the fact he'd never seen the man miss a single shot, he must have some serious training. That, or a lot of experience.

"Judi! They killed her!" one of the NCR shout, their voice barely making it over the sound of gunfire.

Afton took their momentary distraction to pop a shot into their temple, turning part of their head to ash as they drop to the floor lifelessly.

The more the fighting continued the more demoralised the enemy was becoming... They'd only received basic training, and seeing the people you'd become close with drop like flies must've been terribly frightening... That's probably the reason they tried to make a run for it.

Powder Gangers weren't known for being merciful towards the NCR however, bullets rained down on them and Tommy ended up tackling one of the soldiers to the ground, throwing their rifle away and pressing the barrel of his revolver against their forehead.

With all the other soldiers dead Afton ran up to Tommy with his Pipboy light on, it illuminated the area, and showed what Tommy's true intentions were... The soldier he was currently holding down looked to be a young woman, judging by her expression, she was absolutely terrified.

"Fuckin' NCR whore, I'll show you what we do to you lot when you come down here." he growls, trying to undress the woman as she begs him to stop.

Afton's about to step in when Karl walks over and kicks Tommy in the face, he could hear the crack of the to-be-rapists nose being broken as they roll onto their back.

The woman looks up at Karl with hope in her eyes, "Th-Thank you si-"*BANG!*

He shoots her through the forehead, killing her before she'd even finished thanking him... Afton hated to admit he was slightly shaken by the brutality of it. Sure, he'd fought and killed, but to be able to look into someone's eye like that and end their life is... He couldn't really imagine it.

Tommy slowly gets up while holding his now broken nose, "WHAT THE FUCK KARL!" he roars, whether or not it was because the man ruined his fun, or broke his nose was unknown to Afton.

Karl briskly walks over to Tommy with a fierce look he'd not seen the man have before, "You listen here Douglas." he prods the man in the chest with his .44 Magnum, "You try and pull that shit again, I'll blow your head off your shoulders as well. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" he exclaims, cold fury clear in his eyes.

Afton could see Tommy try to act tough, but the stuttering way he gulped saliva made it obvious he was about to piss himself. The man slowly nods but didn't dare look Karl in the eye, "Yeah... I got you."

The two men separate, Karl walking back to the camp with a scowl on his face and canteen of whisky in his hand. The rest of the group rifling through the supplies had on them.

Afton reluctantly helps set Tommy's nose, packing it with balled up bandages before fixing it in place with a makeshift splint. His nose would probably come out crooked, but he probably deserved it for what he was trying to do.

The dead soldiers were stripped of their gear, seven "Service Rifles" were recovered as well as their bloody and damaged uniforms. Unfortunately, they seem to have used most of their ammo, so not much to find there.

The leader's combat armour was entirely destroyed, unless Afton wanted to go looking for the shards of it littered around in a two hundred-meter radius and welded it all back together, there'd be no point.

Afton did recover the man's revolver though, a .357 like Tommy's... The only problem was it had been heavily damaged from the explosion earlier... He'd probably be able to repair it, but it might take a while to find materials for it.

He made sure to collect their Dogtags, despite them being NCR, he still regretted that they had to be killed. As a sort of repentance, he'd keep their tags as a way to remember those he'd had to harm in order to achieve his goals.

The brahmin themselves had quite a lot of loot on them, a couple months worth of food, water, ammunition... There was a book as well, Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor? Afton picked it up but was surprised when it turned to ash in his hands.

[Barter +3]

...

His barter just got raised to 18, the small flood of knowledge expanded what he knew about the worth of general items, and the base price purified water would go for, depending on the location it could go from 5 to 15 caps... Huh, so these books are like the Bobbleheads in Fallout 3? He'd have to keep an eye out for them, though, with the way the book turned to ash in his hand, he would have to be careful where he did it and who was watching.