Too late...

Travelling by himself was a lot easier, especially with his maxed out stats he pretty much went undetected by most enemies he came across. Alex was travelling for 13 hours straight and when he checked his map he found himself only about 200 metres away from the settlement, but was alarmed by the big cloud of smoke coming from the same direction.

Alex: *Shit* was his only thought as he started to increase his pace towards the settlement.

"Puny Humans!"

He heard the recognisable super mutant shout, a lot of gunfire and piercing human screams.

"ARGH!!"

"HELP!!"

From 30 metres Alex could see a group of 10 super mutants firing upon a settlement, not one moving settled left in sight.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

In a fit of rage Alex shot continuously from his rifle, every shot didn't kill the super mutant but left them unable to move.

He'll let the wasteland creatures deal with them, a fate that they truly deserve.

"RARGH!"

The shout of the last super mutant as Alex shot off both his arm, now the only sounds left were the grunting of super mutants.

Alex searched the settlement and cabins for anything valuable or potential lucky survivors, after all looting wasn't frowned upon at all in the current state of the world.

*clank*

Alex stopped when he heard the sound of something falling, coming from underneath him. He looked around and found a carpet covering a slight bump in the ground, and so moved it to find a trap door.

After opening the trap door the sound of movement increased, like panicked scratching. It was pretty dark in the basement so Alex burrowed an oil lamp from inside the cabin, which was already lit since it was night time.

*fwosh*

Alex dodged a strike which was aimed at his throat, and kicked in the direction of his assailant.

"Kyah!" The sound wasn't what he expected, as once the kick connected a girly scream followed.

He held his lantern higher to get a better view of the attacker with his pistol at the ready. Crouching near the wall of the basement stood a rugged looking girl clutching her stomach, she looked in her early twenties but with her skinny arms and legs it was hard to tell.

The girl dropped the knife on impact when she fell and wasn't planning on picking it up, not with a revolver aimed at her. All she could do was glare at the man who hit her and refuse to be subdued. It was after a long stare down between Alex and the girl when Alex decided to speak up.

Alex: "Are you the only survivor?" He tried to speak as softly as he could, but it didn't really come out like he wanted to.

A mixture of emotions flashed in the girl's eyes, before reluctantly nodding her head.

Alex: "Listen, I'm not a slave trader or a raider. I was sent by the Minutemen to help your settlement... but I was too late." Alex have the girl an apologetic look, the latter lifted her head up at the mention of the Minutemen.

Girl: "Y-you're with the Minutemen?" A hopeful tone to her voice.

Alex: "No, I'm not. I was hired by them to help, they're not really in the greatest conditions right now." As quickly as the glint of hope appeared it died at Alex's answer.

Alex holstered his pistol and kicked the knife towards the girl, her reaction being looking at him with an unsure expression. Alex didn't reply and just walked out of the basement, with the girl following from behind.

When they arrived at the surface the girl was horrified at the scene in front of her, human bodies everywhere and her eyes came to a stop at a certain group of bodies.

Alex guesses it was her family from the way years trickled down her cheeks, falling to her knees and simply paralysed on the wasteland mud.

There was nothing left to loot, and with the job done Alex was a couple of metres away from the girl until guilty thoughts plagued his mind.

Alex: *Just walk away Alex... things like this happen, it's just her unlucky day... let it go...* his pace slowed down until it came to a halt. *Argh fuck it!* he turned around to the girl that was weeping on the ground, his mind made up.

The girl looked up with empty eyes, almost begging for him to kill her... nothing left to live for.

Girl: "H-huh?!" She exclaimed when Alex lifted her across the ground and put her on his shoulder, as if she weighed nothing. "Kill me... please kill me!" She has no strength left to struggle and didn't want to find out where Alex wanted to take her. The reputation of hired guns is pretty bad in the wasteland to say the least.

Alex ignored her plight and continued his journey to Diamond City, carrying the girl over his shoulder who kept on weeping.

After an hour or two the girl passed out on his shoulder, or was pretending but Alex couldn't care less. They were close to the city and they entered a neighbourhood with lots of houses, in the dead of night.

Alex: *I can't fight like this, I need to find somewhere to sleep for the night.* He thought about the girl's safety as well.

*Clink*

The sound of him picking one of the doors of a semi-intact house was heard in the darkness, followed by the creak of the door opening. He looked around the house and found that it was empty, so he made his way into the living room.

Buying some matchsticks and oil from the system shop for 5 caps he lit the lamp he stored in his inventory, after placing the girl on the couch in the living room. As time passed by he felt himself drifting off to sleep, and soon enough exhaustion overtook him.

The girl opened her eyes with difficulty in the early hours of the morning, and was startled at her new surroundings. He spotted Alex with his hat over his face asleep on one of the kitchen chairs.

She got up as quietly as she could and tiptoed towards him, trying to reach for one of his holstered pistols.

*click*

The sound came from the side of her head, his hand holding his other pistol clocked and ready.

Alex: "I guess we need to straighten some things out don't we." Alex lifted his hat off to reveal his cold eyes. "My name's Alex, a local mercenary. All you need to know is that I own you, and that you'll work for me until you earn your freedom."

The girl gave a frown at what he could possibly mean, but the wrong scene came into her head and so she stumbled backwards-her arms covering her body and a glare in her eyes.

Alex: "No, I ain't talking about that kind of work, relax. You're going to assist me on jobs, cover my back and work under me as a mercenary. Your payback price is 2500 caps, so work hard for it girl."

At first she was taken back by the huge price he mentioned, and just glanced at her rags and the measly knife sheaved at her waist.

Alex: "I'll buy some equipment for you when we reach Diamond City, until then eat these so you don't starve to death." He handed the girl some pieces of Brahmin Steak he bought from his personal shop for breakfast, he found that it tasted exactly like beef jerky just a lot tougher to chew.

She looked at him with suspicion so he bit from one of them to assure her that there is no poison in them, and so she started eating them. It was obvious from the way she was rapidly chewing them that she wasn't used to eating meat, visibly noticeable that her body lacked the protein.

When the girl finished the meat she nodded towards Alex in gratitude and that was when Alex noticed her features clearer. She had shoulder length black hair, not in the best condition as could be expected, and her eyes were an emerald green.

Her body was full of old scars with a very noticeable one on her right cheek, but it didn't really take any of her beauty away at least from Alex's perspective. Almost as if she noticed Alex looking at her face she tried to hide her face, especially the right side and the scar.

Alex: "Your name?" He asked with a normal tone, finally managing to lose his usual iciness.

"Martha... my name is Martha." The first time she said her name it came out a little croaked so she had to repeat it, most likely because of thirst.

Alex noticed that and so passed her his water canteen at the side of his waist, which he filled with purified water a few days ago.

Alex: "It's not poison-" he didn't have to complete his sentence as the girl started to rapidly drink the water, but soon realised her actions and stopped.

Martha could tell from the kind of murky water she used to drink at that the water in the flask is expensive. It didn't contain any impurities or dirt, leaving purified water as the only option.

Purified water was hard to obtain and its value was too high for simple settlers like her and her family to drink regularly.

Martha: "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know it was purified water." She hung her head low as if awaiting punishment.

Alex: "Don't worry about it, you can drink the rest." He inwardly felt pity for the first time since he came in this forsaken world, but he can't show any weakness so his expression was still grim.

Martha: "Thank you" she mumbled and continue to drink until the flask was roughly half filled, and returned the flask to Alex.

The cowboy got up which signalled her to get up as well, this caused Alex to notice her battered and barefoot feet.

Martha: "I'm used to it." She noticed his gaze and didn't want to become a burden, in which case she would be discarded or simply sold.

Alex looked around and noticed two skeletons on the floor of the kitchen, one wearing old and worn out sandals. He went to get them and placed them on the floor in front of Martha.

Alex: "It's better than nothing." He muttered.

Martha put on the pair of sandals and moved her toes inside them, feeling satisfied with the new look.

Her little moment was ruined by Alex who walked out of the house, with her following from behind.

Martha: *It might not be so bad...* She gazed at the back of the man in front of her with a complicated look in her eyes.