Him

"Tribals…" she did not know who they were nor of what tribe but she knew she could be in danger and slowly kept low under the water to make her way to her revolver.

Coming close to the land she keeps to her hands and knees hiding most of her nudity keeping her embarrassment to a minimum and concentrating to survive she reaches her hand out to her magnum slowly. The two tribal men's eyes turn to her once hearing the water waves splash against the pads of her feet. She snickers a moment, paused with her hand reached out to her gun and a man wrapped in bandages emerges from over the ridge. Grabbing the revolver now she backs into the water keeping it above water and pointed forward.

"I am here on my own and wish no harm. I may ask for you to leave so I can bathe in peace, please!" she says loudly examining the middle man in the bulletproof swat vest and white rolled sleeved shirt. Looking along the pale bandages of his arms and fingers, she shoots her eyes back to the tribals that seem to be guarding him. They stay silent for a moment as he comes closer to her things, eyeing her gear and pauses his eyes to her satchel.

"No...don't. Leave that alone. I don't know if you can understand me but…"

"Woman, no wash here with soap. Only source, freshwater." The tribal says from the top of the small drop off the ridge and they keep their eyes close to her gun and look at the bandaged man as he reaches down to her journal then the other to a paper sticking out from her boot.

"Okay, I understand, now just leave me be so I can keep to my trail to Ogden," she states now unclicking the safety and shifting the aim to the rock now seeing him looking to the map. To his ears, he urgently looks up to her across from the dry land in response to where she was headed.

"You will find nothing there." his snake rasped voice informed her and turned his head back to examine her journal and more so of her map. "Tracking down someone? You don't seem the type to be a tracker. Why are you out here? Answer me or I will have to read myself." he says low and notices her agitation to her isolation out in the water. The feeling to do nothing was unbearable for her, in her sense of being vulnerable to the elements, as of now.

"That is an unnecessary way to act. That is my personal journal and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't dive through it," she warns by cocking back the hammer and holding the grip with both hands to steady her aim. Her feet are dug deep into the sand beneath her in the water.

"Then answer my question...strange…" he says abruptly and stops as he is reading her words and seeing the trails marked on the map in his other hand. "Why are you searching for me?"

"You? I think you...wait. You are Joshua Graham?" she relaxes her thumb to the hammer and releases the mechanism to disarm it. "The Burning Man? The Mojave myth?" she gives off a nervous and relieved sighing chuckle. "I can't...no way. Look, I need your help. My mother is in danger. I know you must be busy but I need your help taking down Legion of Cottonwood Cove. I can't do it by myself and I know nothing of their tactics. I can aim and shoot yeah of course but-"

"No, I will not interfere with Mojave's problems again. You should not have come. We are at the end of a war, recovering and preparing to move back to the Dead Horse's homeland as of this moment. May God protect you in your trying times and keep you alive." he says suddenly and snaps her book closed and slips the map into her journal neatly folded.

"Wait...please. I can help in your favor." she forgets for a moment and steps forward some steps to have her shoulders be revealed.

Joshua looks over her and narrows his eyes to her scars as he places down the journal he comes to the water's edge to kneel before her, curious of the scars, he was not phased by her figure, he spoke. "God did not ask for favors from those he helped. He helped out of the kindness of his heart. As for now I need to help God's people here in Zion, so I am afraid you must leave." he says softly placing a hand to his chest in explanation. He was unamused by her asking as if it was a trade of favors for only one's gain since his trial and time of needing aid had already ended.

She glared for a moment having known of the Bible she scoffs. "Well, he rewarded those who had traveled over the world to him with the words of God in the form of Jesus and gave them miracles to witness. He helped those in need as well, those he deemed worthy because of their trials in life," she says witnessing his eyes widen in shock for how an opposed genital knew about the history of God. "Yeah, I am not as you could say, ignorant of the word and works of God. If I am deemed worthy to you, would you help me? I know of your history with Caesar and the burden it has caused."

The silence around them was hushed by a gust of wind that pasted above the water's surface blowing her hair across her face and under her golden eyes as anyone could notice. Joshua stands suddenly, his eyes kept on her, and raises his hand out alongside his shoulder to signal the two tribals. They step away turning their backs with gazes of suspicion toward her before heading out. She nervously lowers her gun back to her collar bone feeling it press coldly at her skin. He stays in his thoughts and turns his back to her in darkened silence.

"Get out. We will talk later today, late into the afternoon. I will lead you to Angel Cave on foot. I am sure you hid your Pre-War machine?" he asks over his shoulder pausing at her still drying clothes.

"Yeah, used an old wagon to hide it across the south rope bridge," she says clearly and slowly takes steps across the sandy bottom and steps on a sharp rock. "Gah...damn it…" she groans looking down to the rippling water at her lower waist with her arms crossed over her bare chest and to the clear water seeing faint ribbons of red flowing downstream.

"Everything alright?" he slowly turns fully around and she suddenly yells in response as she was not expecting him to ask but expected him to keep walking to give her some privacy.

"No!! I mean yes! Just keep...let me gather my things then I'll be ready…" she panics keeping her arms closer to her body than she has ever had. Her magnum was colder to her skin she sucks in a gasp.

Joshua stops at her confusion, seeing just her panicked eyes in his own sight he looks back to her things noticing the under clothing. Seeing her underwear and bra he clears his throat and tracks up the incline out from view to wait for her. After her panic, she hurries out of the water and yet has another shock as she sits to the boulder having her back to the direction the men were standing.

"Joshua Graham has us lookout. Don't trust you yet he says." one says and the other crosses his arms both unphased by her nudity having been tribals they were used to the natural figure of women and hardly were appeased by such given their natural nature.

"Yes, I understand but I rather you two not have the high ground." she snickers from below as she quickly clips her bra at her back and continues to slip her still slightly damp clothing. Getting her boots comfortably together she stands on her feet with them tightly on. She hisses a sigh at the slight discomfort of the small puncture. Wincing her eyes she slips on her coat and holds her weapons to her hands by their straps instead of equipping them to her damp clothing. Now putting away her journal to her satchel she checks her bag to look for anything missing and returns her satchel to across her chest. She looks down to see the cold allow her breasts to poke through her tank top and she quickly covers them with her dark colored coat. Gripping her NCR helmet she takes it's strap and clips it to her pant's loop tightly. The tribals speak out about it as she walks her way up the incline to them.

"You are a Desert Ranger. You help defend trails, trading?" the kinder one asks.

"Let her be. She is Joshua's suspicion." the defensive one says low and sends a soft clap to the other's arm in warning.

She answers anyway. "No, I worked for the NCR a few times. This was my requested reward. It helps me with sandstorms and darker rainy nights. It clears my vision when scouting." she smiles and pats it softly.

"Huh...good." the kind one says.

"What are your names?" she asks curiously but they stay silent and walk ahead of her following behind Joshua who stops for them to walk ahead and he keeps to the center of the small group as she trails behind.

After some hours of complete silence, a roar could be heard echoing around the canyon around them.

"Yao Guai...careful be silent like shadows." they all kneel and she does the same with the warning from the tribal.

Keeping low Susan notices the pistol in Joshua's hand and seems to notice it for a moment but swings her Gauss rifle and switches it on. It hums loud then it dies down as she lifts it to her shoulder and rests her cheek to the beginning of the scope. Not yet looking down it, she hears a low hushing push of bushes behind them just before a turn down the path to waist-deep water to lead to the Angel Cave's winding path. She stops and turns quicking having learned from her past mistakes. Her eyes gaze to a young Yao Guai cub eyeing her just from her back left near a fallen over dead tree. She quickly aims and lifts her rifle taking up the aim to a clear shot keeping steady and emotionless. In her short time, a sudden shot of a pistol firing twice echos through the canyon's bottom and over the waterways. She lifts her cheek away from her weapon, eyeing the beast as she stands up to see it lying dead; she keeps in silent awe at his speed. Near the shrubs, she glances over them feeling there should be another and she spots the mother Yao Guai. She twitches her finger over the trigger and waits to see its eyes. Once it roars she fires a shot to its head but the weight to her injured foot has her slip backward and it blazes through the Yao Guai's forearm. She keeps to her left knee and off her foot for the time and Joshua unloads his pistol using the last of four bullets in the clip. She lowers her head, wincing and more or so thinking that the rock must have done worse to her foot. Rolling back on the crank bar of her rifle she pops the used microfusion cells and clicks back in five more. Shifting the strap over her now she returns the rifle to her back.

"You could have been her meal, come now, I expect better from a mercenary," he says quickly, opening a velcro patch on his vest and lifting out another magazine clip and popping out the used one and replacing it.

Now clipping it into the .45 pistol she keeps her eyes to the pistol now having a clearer view. He quickly returns it to his right hip and suddenly shoves his shoulder into the middle of her torso. She feels her feet fling up and gravity flows them back down as it tugs her into a gasping breath her arms dangle at his back with her rifle to her right hand, now she is carried over his shoulder. His height was a bit more than her and yet she was surprised at his strength. It shocked her for a moment as his right arm wrapped tightly around her lower waist and his left arm reached over and tugged with each step at her middle thighs.

"Ugh...wait stop. I am fine it is just…" she grunts through a breath having her free hand grip his back at his vest keeping pressure from her squeezed breasts.

"Your foot. Carelessness is a danger and should not be taken lightly. Staying off of it will stop the irritation, prevent further infection, and opening of the wound. Now bear with me we only have a few miles." he informs her and keeps tracking, this time a sound of slushing footsteps signifies the deepening water of their path. Just an hour passes as she keeps her eyes closed for a moment hating to be babied for her own made injury.

A sound of crackling fire and torches has her eyes open to tribals gathering curiously about them as they place their dead to resting beds and they kneel by them to pray for them. Some notice the helmet and sigh in relief. She overhears his rasped voice near her right ear speak to some of the people in their own tongue then to a tribal man who speaks with both languages clearly.

"Tomorrow we are heading to Sorrows Camp to help their dead as well Joshua. Is there anything else to do...who is that. On your shoulder. Why are you carrying her like a pack Brahmin?" he asks kindly with a small jest and a smile to her.

"You will know her soon, Follows-Chalk. Not at this moment, sadly she is in need of healing," he says low now heading into the cave with her in tow. As they pass she shyly waves to Follows-Chalk. He returns a chuckle and a wave as the shadow of the cave walls allow her golden eyes start to glow. It startles him suddenly and he continues packing things.