# Love Me As Though There Were No Tomorrow (Chapter 2)

Author: STRONG
Tags: AU, Anthro, Fallout, Greentext, Human, M/F, Nightstalker, Snekdog, Snuggles, cozy

Chapter 2: Follow  
  
\>You awake to an unpleasant weight on your thighs   
\>God dammit, everything below your knees feel like white noise because of it  
\>You look down as see Gracie laying on the cot using you as a pillow  
\>Unceremoniously, you push her off causing a yelp of surprise  
\>You start massaging your calves trying to return blood flow to them as she looks at you rubbing her head tenderly  
\>"What was that for!? I was comfortable!"  
\>Her eyes focus on you rubbing your legs  
\>"What's wrong Anon?"  
\>You scowl and continues trying to return the feeling to your legs  
\>"You cut off the blood flow to my legs and now they're numb, also I'm not your pillow"  
\>She looks at you with her odd colored eyes  
\>"Oh... you were just so warm and your legs looked comfy"  
\>You frown and kick each leg out bit by bit, regaining control and feeling in them  
\>Although a nap is all you wanted you feel like you slept much longer than a few hours  
\>A quick check of your pip Boy showed it was 3 am  
\>Perfect  
\>"Well Gracie it's been fun, See ya later"  
\>You weren't going to see her later, but it felt better than just saying "bye don't die"  
\>A quick check through your things showed you that you were ready  
\>Gracie stares at you as you stand  
\>"You...uh.. you don't have to leave Anon! I can share the cave with you! It's safer in here"  
\>You smile a bit and nod  
\>"Thanks for the offer, but I can't just hide away in a cave while the world is out there, I've already hid before and I'm done with it"  
\>You turn and walk out of the chamber and down the ramp to the entrance of the cave  
\>No need for long goodbyes, no need to drag out the inevitable  
\>As you pass through the mouth of the cave, you breath in the dry Mojave air  
\>When it's night time it's not too hot out at least  
\>Your boots stir up dust as you walk swiftly through the desert, checking your pip boy occasionally to make sure you were going in the right direction  
\>West of the abandoned ranch, North of New Nipton  
\>There are supposedly caves around here full of coyotes and and non-anthro night stalkers  
\>Not what you were hunting today, or any day really; no point in kicking a hornet nest  
\>As you skirt the craggy outcroppings of tall, you spot the place you were heading  
\>Jack Rabbit Springs, the info from Mojave outpost was true to its words  
\>Brownish steam was the tell-tale sign of where it was  
\>You stop and kneel down, scrolling through your pip boy inventory  
\>Rad-x, definitely don't want to get radiation poisoning  
\>A sound behind you causes you whip around pointing the ratslayer in the direction of the noise  
\>A soft thud is heard and a bit of dust is kicked up from a falling body  
\>But you hadn't shot yet  
\>You wave aside some of the dust and spot the perpetrator  
\>Gracie  
\>She must have followed you  
\>You sigh and lower the rifle  
\>"Gracie what are you doing here?! Go back to your cave"  
\>A moment passes before she opens an eye at you  
\>Again with this bullshit  
\>"Get up!" you snap, causing her to squeak in surprise and scramble to her feet  
\>"Uh Hi Anon! fancy meeting you here!" she says rubbing a hand over her scaled head while avoiding eye contact  
\>You frown  
\>"Gracie what are you doing here?"  
\>She looks up at you  
\>"I uh, I don't want to hide anymore, like you said there is a whole world to see"  
\>"And what does that have to do with me?" You say turning from her  
\>You scan the hills for anything that might have heard you  
\>Nothing so far, which is good  
\>"You're the only person I know that hasn't tried to kill me, so I uhm, I followed you. Is that ok?"  
\>You rub your face, traveling alone had its drawbacks, and she hadn't tried to kill you  
\>"Fine, but-"  
\>Your words are cut short by monsterous yelling  
\>"GAAAH WHERE'S THAT NOISE COMING FROM!!?"  
\>From over the nearest hill comes a Green super mutant and several Centaurs  
\>Ugh those things gave you the creeps  
\>A flash of fire zooms overhead, telling you the mutant had an incinerator  
\>But he can't see you in the pitch dark of the night, the fact he's firing wildly tells you that much  
\>Again you hear the soft thump of a body hitting the sand  
\>You look back to Gracie and see She's playing dead again  
\>"God dammit Gracie now is NOT the time for that!” you say sidestepping and aiming down your scope  
\>The ratslayer is your only silenced weapon, and silenced weapons aren't quite your thing  
\>But it had a night vision scope letting you see the mutants face  
\>And letting you see the bullet hole you put between his eyes  
\>As the mutant falls, his incinerator goes off one more time, lighting one of the centaurs on fire  
\>the screeching sound it makes as it burns will haunt your nightmares  
\>You stash the rat slayer and draw out your Light machine gun  
\>No need for the night vision anymore, the burning centaur showed you right where the other ones are  
\>Controlled bursts of gunfire, bright flashes from the muzzle of your gun  
\>The smell of gunpowder and burning flash  
\>This is what you lived for  
\>They fall quickly, without their super mutant master to guide them, they can only meander slowly towards you  
\>Blood runs in small streams down the hill, and you stand with a smile on your face  
\>Well that's a good payday, hopefully you get paid enough to compensate the bullets you fired  
\>You hear Gracie stirring as you walk to the super mutant   
\>How the pip boy's devil magic works, you don't know, but it lets you carry so many guns and gear  
\>You disappear your LMG and draw out a machete and hack off the mutants hands  
\>"Gracie get up we're going"  
\>Gracie sits up and looks at you as you pick up the incinerator and place it into your inventory  
\>"Ew why are you talking the hand? you're not gonna eat it are you"  
\>The thought makes you shudder a bit  
\>"Need proof its dead , they won't trust me just at my words"  
\>She gags a bit as you toss the hand to her  
\>"EW EW EW! GROSS!"  
\>You look her up and down more intently this time  
\>Wide hips, very wide hips, and small breasts  
\>God damn this snakedog brings a whole new meaning to "child bearing hips"  
\>But she is still just wearing rags  
\>Hm maybe you have something  
\>As she wipes mutant blood off herself you scroll through your pip boy  
\>A Merc Cruiser outfit is the only clothes you have, Plus a Vexillarius helmet to hide her scales  
\>If people think she's just a wolf anthro there shouldn't be much of an issue  
\>"Here put these on, hurry up we got places to go" you say tossing the cloths to her  
\>She fumbles the clothes a bit and drops the helmet all together  
\>"Wha? Why?"  
\>You motion to her  
\>"You're practically naked and that helmet should hide that you're a night stalker"  
\>She sniffs the coyote head and makes a disgusted face  
\>"Smells like someone died in this"  
\>You smile as she pulls it on  
\>"Someone did die in it, come on, we're heading to New Nipton"  
\>You start walking quickly and hear her stumble a bit to catch up with you  
\>"New Nipton? What happened to old nipton?"  
\>you frown thinking about it  
\>News from it had even reached you on Nellis  
\>The Legion came and crucified the whole town, holding a lottery of who would live and who would die  
\>Now the town was run by ex-fiends, ex-vipers and ex-legionaries  
\>After that courier showed up out of nowhere and murdered Caesar most legionaries joined raider gangs  
\>Some stayed where they were and formed mini slave camps  
\>Cottonwood Cove is- was one of those  
\>As soon as you got your Gobi Campaign scout rifle, you took them all out  
\>Slavers were worse than super mutants  
\>"Hurry up! I want to get to new nipton before the sun rises"  
\>"Why what's the rush Anon?" she says as she catches up with your quick pace  
\>As you walk you check your pip-boy and stop  
\>Drawing out ratslayer, you hand it to her  
\>"Look down that way, and you'll see why we need to hurry"  
\>You point in the direction and she moves the scope back and forth a few times trying to get it to focus  
\>"I see just a lot of sand"  
\>You grab the barrel of the gun and slowly move it, using the pip-boy as a compass to the threat  
\>"I don't see an-"  
\>She gasps loudly  
\>"What are THOSE!?"  
\>You pull the rifle away from her and look down the scope  
\>Radscorpions; dozens of them, some small, some bigger than a deathclaw  
\>"Those are radscorpions, they must smell the blood from the centaurs and want a free meal, and if they see us, we're on the menu"  
\>You start walking again,  
\>After 40 minutes of walking you see the outskirts of the town  
\>The sun rises in front of you as you walk quickly  
\>A quick resupply in town then back to camp Mccarran  
\>You check the time  
\>7 am, you had made good time  
\>As you walk through the town, you can almost feel the uneasiness  
\>A Human wearing blood stained leather armor with a bomber jacket, and what to them looks like a wolf anthro wearing a legion helmet  
\>Not a pretty sight for these guys and gals, you probably look like the grim reaper  
\>A sign on one of the buildings reads "general store"  
\>You push the door open and head inside only to have a double barrel shotgun in your face  
\>"What's your business here outsider?!"  
\>The man holding the shotgun is trembling as he eyes you  
\>He looks over to Gracie, eyes wide as he looks at her helmet  
\>Just the chance you need  
\>You grab the shotgun and pull it out of his hands  
\>"Rude, I was just here to resupply before leaving"  
\>Popping open the shotgun you pull out the shells and hand him the unloaded gun  
\>"Uh, yes of course, sorry. I'm afraid we don't have anything here, the NCR folks from Mojave outpost bought all our goods"  
\>You frown at that  
\>Well there goes that plan  
\>"Anywhere we can stay for a bit and cook up some food then?"  
\>He shakes his head  
\>"Sorry stranger, people around here aren't too keen to let outsiders in. There's a cave behind city hall with a door and a lock on it, if you can get into that you can stay there safely"  
\>You hear Gracie groan behind you  
\>"Ugh another cave"  
\>You sigh and leave, pulling Gracie behind you  
\>"I know another cave isn't the ideal situation but if it has a lock it’s somewhere we can rest up for a while and eat"  
\>She grabs your arm as she looks around  
\>"Anon this place is scary, why did we come here anyway?"  
\>You had to agree it was a bit scary with all the stares you were getting, this place had seen better days  
\>"I had hoped to get a few stimpaks and some bullets before heading to the strip"  
\>As you leave town you head directly behind city hall  
\>Checking your pip-boy , the location of the cave is highlighted on your screen  
\>About a mile from town, and hidden in a rocky outcropping  
\>You walk with Gracie still latched onto you,  
\>At least she didn't play dead in town  
\>The door to the cave is hidden well enough  
\>Lucky you had learned a fair bit of lock picking from your limited time in freeside  
\>"Watch my back"  
\>You kneel in front of the door and pull a bobby pin out of your pocket, jamming it in the lock and twist it around looking for the sweet spot  
\>After a minute of 2 and a few curses thrown at the lock you're able to open the door  
\>Inside is a a small cache, lanterns and a radiation suit  
\>No bed or anything but you can make due with your bedroll  
\>In the cache there are just a few cans of cram, and some sunset sarsaparilla  
\>Eh not a perfect meal but food is food  
\>You recall hearing about a herd of wild bighorners north of Novac, maybe you should hunt some  
\>Opening a can of cram you hand it to Gracie and open one for yourself  
\>You dig in, eating with a hunting knife while Gracie just uses her long tongue to scoop out chucks on the meat paste  
\>While you had slept a fair bit earlier, you were tired, walking about 15 miles and killing a mutant takes a lot out of you  
\>Clicking through your pip-boy you find your bed roll in your inventory and magic it up  
\>Gracie watches you as you unroll it near one of the rock walls  
\>Lucky you had a pillow  
\>You sit on the bed roll and lean back against the stonewall , your back and head supported by your pillow  
\>"You're going to sleep sitting? That's weird" Gracie says crawling over to you  
\>You stifle back a yawn  
\>"Yea, it's just how I am"  
\>The last thing you do is pull out your LMG and set it next to you  
\>"And you sleep with your gun? I'm not gonna interrupt anything am i?" Gracie says in a teasing voice  
\>You grunt in annoyance as you charge it  
\>"If anyone or anything decides it wants in, I would rather have it ready"  
\>You motion to the door that's directly across from you, your back against the wall so you can face it directly  
\>"Oh..Yea, that makes sense"  
\>Gracie scooches a bit closer, eyeing the long unused part of the bedroll  
\>"Ca-can I use the bedroll too Anon? and use your legs as a pillow again? I promise not to make your legs go numb"  
\>You sigh  
\>"Yea fine, just roll up your shirt or something as cushioning"  
\>She slips her jacket off and folds in up placing it on your lap before laying her head down  
\>"Goodnight Anon"  
\>You put a hand on your LMG and the other on Gracie's side  
\>Maybe having someone to talk to wasn't so bad  
\>You should give her a gun too  
\>But that's a thought for another time  
\>"Goodnight Gracie"  
\>You can already hear her hissing snores as you drift off to sleep

Follow Boomer and Gracie the snekdog!

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/P1E3XMwm
Part of the series Love Me As Though There Were No Tomorrow
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