Who didn't see that coming?

I sighed and looked down at the emaciated woman in my arms as we descended back down the ridge. I had absolutely no idea what to make of her and what this meant for my future in this world.

Not knowing 100% what was going to happen was a big hit to my confidence but, what could I do?

I guess I would just have to start relying less on my knowledge and start treating it more like a reference point and less like hard facts.

It also made me feel an even more intense desire for strength. Because if I was strong enough, would it even matter if anything was different?

Thankfully, after the massacre just now I had managed to farm enough Exp to reach Level 4 and was actually already most of the way up to Level 5!

The main reason for that was Yoruichi.

I didn't realize it at first but, as we kept fighting, I noticed that I was actually getting Exp from her kills too. Then I remembered that the two of us had decided to work together and become partners this morning! That must have made my system consider her my Companion which meant that the experience for any kills she made would actually get transferred to me.

That was amazing since it basically doubled my potential leveling speed since I didn't have to worry about her kill stealing anymore!

For example, after killing all the Gecko, the Gecko Matriarch, and all the Gecko babies surrounding her ended up being more 700 experience!

Which was great because after what just happened, I decided to double down on leveling and take every opportunity I could to get more Exp even if it was dangerous. Because aside from the fact that I was most likely wrong about Barton Thorn betraying us if the woman in my arms was any indication. There was also the appearance of the Gecko nest and the monstrous Gecko Matriarch neither of which existed in the game.

They were both completely new.

And if I hadn't been prepared and given Yoruichi the Grenade Launcher in advance we might not have been able to win in the first place. I checked the giant Gecko's body after it died and noticed that the bullets from my shotgun barely had the strength to pierce its scales let alone deal any real damage. And even if by some miracle we did manage to win, it definitely would have been a pyrrhic victory especially with Yoruichi only having a simple Machete to defend herself with.

All of that made me realize that I needed to get stronger as quickly as possible!

Right now me and Yoruichi were still in a relatively safe part of the Mojave and had barely even left Goodsprings but, we still managed to run into something as monstrous as the Gecko Matriarch. And as we keep going forward, we'll inevitably start running into stronger and even more horrifying enemies. So, if I didn't take advantage of all the opportunities I had to level up now I might regret it in the future.

"Hey, Ethan are you alright" Yoruichi called out to me? "You've been spacing out a lot since we found that girl."

"Hmm" I snapped back to reality "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about what we should do with her. Do we take her back to Doc in Goodsprings? Because she's going to need more that a bit of water to get better."

"We'll have to talk to the guy who asked us to save her" Yoruichi crossed her arms "We're not far from Goodsprings so if he's capable enough we can just let him bring her back himself. If not, we'll do it ourselves."

"Even if it means we might have to stay in Goodsprings another night" I questioned?

"...Yeah" she sighed "It's the right thing to do."

"Don't feel too bad about it" I tried to comfort her "I doubt that checkered suited asshole will get away if we take one or two days longer. Especially since for all he knows you're dead and buried and he got away scot-free."

"I know" she perked up a bit "I guess I'm just a bit anxious is all."

"No problem" I nodded.

We we're about halfway down the mountain when I caught sight of Barton Thorn approaching in the distance. He had changed out of his rotten rags and into a pair of actually clothing which was suspicious but, what I paid more attention to was the 10mm Pistol strapped to his hip.

Even if what he told us before was most likely true and this was his girlfriend there was still no way I was going to drop my guard around him.

"O-oh, thank god" his eyes widened when he saw us "You really saved her! Thank you so much!"

"It's no big deal" Yoruichi shot him a thumbs up!

"What should we do with her now" I asked him? "She's still severely dehydrated and needs immediate medical attention. So, it would probably be best if we take her back up to Goodsprings to see Doc Mitchell."

"N-NO" he shouted startling us and making the unconscious woman groan in my arms!

"Why not" I eyed him warily.

Thorn looked away sheepishly and scratched his cheek "I-It's just that us and Goodsprings don't get along too well. You see we're prospectors we travel around scavenging anything valuable from pre-war ruins and the like which sometimes gets us into a bit of trouble with the locals."

"So, you and your girlfriend are competing for resources with the town" Yoruichi asked?

"Basically" he nodded "They think everything in the nearby area is automatically theirs since they live here and don't like it when people like us come around and start grabbing stuff before they can." Barton sighed "That's actually why we took such a huge risk in the first place. All the areas that are safe to loot have already been scavenged clean or are claimed by big groups. So, when we saw that there was stuff at the top of the ridge, we decided to take our chances."

"Even though there was a massive nest of Gecko there" Yoruichi looked at him incredulously?

He shook his head "Surviving in the Mojave is hard and sometimes you don't have other choice than to take a rist. And besides we thought it was safe! The day we climbed up the ridge there had been a massive gunfight just few miles from here where a group of Powder Gangers got into it with a massive caravan!"

Me and Yoruichi shared a glance having a good idea who those people were "Nearly all of them died and there were dozens of bodies scattered everywhere along 5 or six dead brahmin, when that happened pretty much every Gecko in a ten mile area came out to feed. So, we thought we had a chance, but..."

"But, that giant Gecko was still there watching over her eggs" I finished.

He just nodded sadly.

"None of that changes the fact that your girlfriend needs help right now" Yoruichi stated.

"But-" Thorn tried to say something but, Yoruichi cut him off.

"It's fine, even if you've had problems with Goodsprings in the past it's no problem. We basically saved the entire town yesterday, so I doubt they'd refuse to help you if we're the ones asking."

"I-fine" he eventually relented and stepped out of the way so we could move forward.

"You go first" I said while looking him in the eye "There might still be Gecko around and we need to be careful. I can't fight while holding your girlfriend, so you take point in the from the front while Yoruichi covers our back."

"That's a good idea" Yoruichi agreed "You can never be too careful."

"A-alright" Thorn agreed and nervously started walking and I silently hmphed while watching him go.

There was no way in hell I was letting him walk behind us!

Soon enough we reached the bottom and were back at the broken radio tower and Barton stopped and pointed at a rusted old camper in the distance.

"We've all had a long day" he spoke "How about we go take a rest in there for a while to get out of the sun?"

"I could use a rest after all that fighting" Yoruichi admitted. "But-" she turned towards the dehydrated woman.

"That's even more reason to get out of the heat" Thorn continued! "There's no way being exposed to the desert sun like this is good for her! It would probably be better to wait until things cool off a bit before going to Goodsprings."

"Maybe" she looked unsure.

"Let's take a rest" I agreed "We basically fought an entire army earlier and deserve a break."

"Okay then" Yoruichi sighed.

"Great" Barton clapped before waving us over and heading to the camper.

"Watch out" I whispered to Yoruichi "I still don't trust him."

She said nothing and lightly nodded at me before continuing on.

"This is actually where we've been staying the last couple days" Thorn chuckled as we entered the camper. "It's not much but, you take what you can get."

Looking around the small trailer I noticed that aside from the two worn mattresses lying on the floor the place was pretty much empty with just a few empty cans scattered around and the occasional scorched magazine. There was also a used Jet inhaler lying in a corner but, decided not to comment on that.

Ignoring Thorn's drug addiction, I went over and placed the unconscious woman on one of the mattresses then sat down and leaned against the wall.

"You know" Yoruichi wondered "We never even got your names?"

"I'm Barton Thorn" he awkwardly smiled then looked over at the woman "And that's Gale."

"Well, I'm Yoruichi" she introduced herself "And that's Ethan."

I gave a small wave and grabbed some of the Grilled Mantis I made ages ago and decided to try it out since I had time. Taking a bite I was a bit surprised to find out that it tasted sort of like shrimp, even the texture was similar. Though I guess it made a weird sort of sense seeing as their body types were similar and the fact that bugs did evolve from crustaceans.

"What are you eating" Yoruichi asked as she plopped down next to me?

"Grilled Mantis" I replied tearing a piece off "Want to try?"

"Sure" she answered before taking a bite. "Hmm, it's got an interesting flavor and a softer texture that the Gecko meat we had back in Goodsprings. I like it!"

While the two of us were chatting Barton Thorn sat on the other mattress next to the woman and stared at us while occasionally glancing at the woman with a concerned look on his face. Then as he heard our conversation his face suddenly lit up but, quickly returned to normal as he coughed to get our attention.

"Ahem" he cleared his throat "That actually reminds me. You two completely wiped out that nest right?"

"Yep" Yoruichi nodded "We cleared the place out."

"I honestly lost track of how many of those stupid Geckos we killed" I confirmed.

"So, you just left all their bodies sitting up there" Barton asked?

"Pretty much yeah" Yoruichi nodded "What else we're we supposed to do with them?"

"Are you kidding" Thorn gasped! "A single Gecko hide is worth almost 10 caps by itself and once they're tanned it's worth over 50! That's easily a couple thousand caps worth of Gecko up there and you were just planning on leaving it!?"

"What do you want us to do" I asked? "It's not like we could carry away all of that by ourselves there's just too much!"

Though truthfully, I could have taken it all away by myself using my Inventory but, I didn't know how to do that without revealing my abilities. So, I could only reluctantly leave everything behind. If I could, I would have since aside from the caps to be made from selling the leather I probably could have earned a nice chunk of Exp just from cooking up all that meat.

"True you probably can't carry it out all at once but, you can definitely do it in a couple trips" he continued! "You just need to go up there and skin them, so the leather doesn't go bad when the meat starts to rot or is torn apart by other predators!"

"It doesn't seem worth the effort" I shook my head. "The two of us are kind of in a hurry and need to get to Primm as soon as possible and don't have time to keep making trips back and forth like that."

Yoruichi nodded in agreement.

"Still" Thorn continued turning to Yoruichi "It seems a waste to leave all of that behind. How about this? Me and Ethan over there can go back up and gather what we can for an hour or two while you stay here and keep an eye on Gale."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea" Yoruichi shook her head.

Thorn sighed and fished something out of his pockets and tossed it too me before getting on his knees and bowing at us and pressing his forehead to the floor.

"That's the 100 caps I promised you for helping me, and it's also the last bit of money I have. I-I'm not much of a fighter and Gale is the one who normally kept us alive. Looking at her now it will probably take weeks for her to recover completely and in that time, I will have absolutely no way to provide for us. If we are going to survive we'll need a large number of caps to buy food and water not to mention pay for any medical fees they'll charge in Goodsprings. I-I don't dare go back up there alone in case any Geckos are still around. Will you please help me!"

Glancing over at Yoruichi I could tell she was conflicted and sighed seeing no way around this.

"Fine" I shook my head "I'll lead you up the mountain to collect some Gecko Hides."

"Really" Thorn jumped up smiling in joy!"

"Yeah" I sighed again before getting to my feet "Let's get going. I'd rather get this over with as soon as possible."

"Seriously! Thank you" he grinned before grabbing his stuff and leaving the camper!

"You sure this is a good idea" Yoruichi looked a little worried?

"No" I frowned narrowing my eyes at Thorn "But, it's better to deal with stuff like this as soon as possible."

"Just don't die" she crossed her arms and huffed "I'd rather not have my partner die on our first day out! I have enough crap to deal with already without your death on my conscience too!"

"I'll be fine" I laughed before looking back at the girl "Just make sure nothing happens to her."

"Don't worry" she raised her machete "I got this."

I nodded at her one last time before meeting Thorn outside where the two of us proceeded to climb back up the cliff. And just like on the way down I did my best to keep him in my line of sight the entire time. But, I wasn't worried either way because even if he got the drop on me there was no way he could take me down.

Toughness and Adamantium Skeleton were more than enough to protect me from a couple 10mm bullets. Though I wasn't planning on testing that out if I could help it.

Neither of us spoke as we walked and I couldn't help but, notice that he would occasionally slow his pace as if he was trying to get behind me. But, whenever he tried that I slowed down too and pretend not to notice until he sped back up again not to look suspicious.

I knew I probably just should have killed him then and there but, there was still an infinitely small chance that he wasn't actually going to try and kill me. And I wasn't sure how Yoruichi would react to me gunning him down in cold blood without any evidence that he was actually evil. Even though I was pretty sure she'd also picked up that something wasn't right with him.

So, I kept walking until we started stumbling upon dozens of Gecko corpses littering the ground.

Thorn awkwardly scratched his head while looking down at the Gecko at his feet "So the thing is I... don't actually know how to skin a Gecko" He apologized while looking embarrassed.

"You really are useless aren't you" I rolled my eyes and knelt down next to the Gecko grabbed a small knife out of my bag and dropped my shotgun to the side and got to work.

Seeing me turn my back on him an evil glint passed through Thorn's eyes as he slowly reached for the 10mm on his hip. He raised it up and carefully took aim at the back of my head wanting to end things cleanly in a single shot.

But, just as he was about to pull the trigger I rolled to the side startling him and making his shot go wide as it zoomed off into the distance. Gathering himself together Thorn grit his teeth and quickly moved to fire again. But, I was faster and grabbed my shotgun off the ground and unloading both slugs into his chest at point blank.

His eyes went wide as blood exploded from his back and he fell to the ground dead.

I sat there in silence for a moment as the adrenaline faded away and calmed down. Eventually I stood back up and cracked my neck before looking back down at Barton Thorn's corpse. It was a bloody mess and the blank look on his face as he stared straight up into the desert sun was haunting but, his body didn't actually bother me as much as I expected it to.

I guess compared to what I saw in Goodsprings this was barely anything and was actually kind of anticlimactic.

But, I guess that's what happens when you're basically an overpowered videogame character going against an ordinary person. He honestly didn't have a chance. As soon as he said he didn't know how to skin a Gecko I knew exactly what he was up to.

I was more shocked that he thought I would fall for such a simple trick but, I guess that wasn't completely fair since he had no way of knowing I had something like VATS.

Speaking of which VATS was kind of overpowered. Aside from that fact that it basically made me a living aim-bot it was also incredibly useful for scouting. Because I didn't actually have to be looking at my enemy to see them in VATS since it automatically gave me a 3rd person view of whatever I was targeting. And from the small amount of testing I'd done over the past couple days I figured out that I could target anything that came within around 50 Meters(150 Feet) of me.

So, he never really stood a chance at all because I was always watching his every move.

Still, out of principle I knelt back down and closed his eyes sending him off for good before opening up his Inventory and taking everything of value. Which wasn't much just his 10mm Pistol some ammo and a few caps. Not that I expected him to have anything better on him.

After that I spent the next hour or so climbing back up the ridge and collecting everything I could from the dead Gecko. Leaving nothing but baren skeletons in my wake as my Inventory literally striped away their flesh.

And by the time I made it back up to the top I had collected almost 120 Pounds(55 Kilos) worth of materials. About a sixth of which came from the Gecko Matriarch herself since she was almost ten times bigger than any of her children.

And the best part was that because of how the Inventory worked every single piece of meat and leather would be in absolutely perfect condition. Meaning I would get the best price for every single piece!

Satisfied with my haul I decided it was time to head back down before Yoruichi started to worry too much. On the way back down now that Barton was gone, I was completely by myself and finally had time to decide which Perk I was going to pick next.

My first choice was originally going to be Lifegiver which gave the player an extra +20 HP. Which honestly wasn't that great since you gain a decent amount of HP whenever you level up making it mostly useless. But, I was more interested in it for the third rank of the Perk that you can pick at Level 20. Which aside from the +20 HP also gave a small amount of Health Regen about 0.5% every second.

Meaning that you could theoretically heal from any injury in about three and a half minutes. Of course, I doubted it would actually work that way in real life since as far as I could tell my system worked off of the in-game time and not the 'real-time.'

In most of the Fallout games and really most RPG's for that matter time passes in the game far quicker that it does in the real world. And for the Fallout series from what I remembered every second that passed in real life was an entire minute in-game.

And I was literally living in-game.

So, whenever my system measured something in seconds it actually meant minutes. Which is why my Action Points always took so long to recharge after using VATS, instead of refilling in about 15 seconds like it should it takes almost 15 minutes.

Though even with that downside the third rank of Lifegiver was still amazing being able to heal any injury in only three and a half hours. But, I'd only be able to get that regen after wasting two whole Perks and waiting until Level 20, something I wasn't willing to do.

Me an Yoruichi were about to walk into a heavily fortified town filled with criminals and I needed to get stronger right now not a couple weeks from now.

So, as tempting as it was I gave up on Lifegiver and decided to pick something more practical and chose to raise my Agility to 6.

Raising my Agility would not only make me faster and more accurate with my weapons but, it would also give me more Action Points too. Not to mention there was a very good Perk I had my eye on that I could only pick if I had 6 Agility.

It was the Moving Target Perk which gave a massive +25 Damage and Energy Resistance whenever I was sprinting effectively doubling my defense. And because I was already so close to Level 5 as it was as long as I was lucky, I would be able to pick it up before we started fighting with the escaped prisoners in Primm.

Once I made my decision, I quickly activated VATS to make sure there were no enemies nearby and took a seat before confirming choice.