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Monsters in the dust.

Crimson eyes shot open, a lithe partially starved body jerked with the shock of being thrust back into a reality, torn from a dream of a home he never had or ever would. Taking note of two things immediately, Sketch found a severe lack of one large, heat radiating human, and a lack of clothing upon his own body. slowly he crawled from the hold, and into the car proper, finding his shorts, he donned them, clipping on the belts and as he stepped out of the car he pulled a long-sleeved shirt over his head and arms. yawning wide then shivering, holding himself, it was still somewhat dark out. He wandered from the garage, yawning and stretching, spying just the old man by the fire, fiddling with a steel kettle, his worn out vision rose and the mans cracked lips upturned into a smile, seeing Sketch awake at such an hour, the rodents internal H.U.D. told him it was a little after seven a.m. The man would pour the black fluid from the kettle into a steel cup, "Want some coffee lad?." Sketch would scratch his rump before nodding and settling by the fire."Mmh, you looked like you drink coffee." he smiled and held the cup out to the wanderer, sketch gingerly sipped the bitter brew. Closing his eyes he sighed, smiling. "Good huh?, my gran pappies recipe, we had a crop of coffee plants, ground our own beans." he smiled and sipped his drink.

"Everyone went inside to sleep, to damn cold out here, i don't sleep much myself, been sitting out here, just me and the stars." he gestured to the sky, Sketch peered up and for a moment, he was mused by what he beheld, a great expanse of twinkling dots across a canvas of almost pure black, it was beautiful. "your friend Clark, tells me you are taking him to a place called jacobstown?" Sketch blinked and stared at the man, "He never said its name, just some hotel up in one of the mountains." the old man nodded, grinning a bit, "I heard tale of that place, I know its name and what it is, folk say its a bunch of super mutants and humans living in harmony." That was an interesting thought, Sketch had never seen a super mutant before, but he knew they were bad news. he Idly sat there in thought, sipping his coffee. Chance came from the gas station, yawning and stretching, adjusting his pants as he came to pat the rodent on the shoulder. "you know, your a warm lil thing, sorry if i woke ya, but i really had to take a piss." Sketch shook his head and sipped the last of his coffee, "its all good." the man smiled and spat at the ground, "You ready to go to the yard?, its best if we get an early start." Sketch nodded and rose to his feet, "Sure just let me get my stuff."

Getting dressed was simple enough, but instead of his jacket and simple shirt, the rodent drug out a piece of chest armor, a combat vest with pieces of cut metal bolted onto it, some straps hung here and there. he buckled it on and rolled his shoulders, grinned and called it good. he took up a short tattered cloak made from found things, a deep hood adorned it, and then he crawled through the car with a backpack, filling it with items he believed were needed, he was not simply tossing everything into the main pouch, he was very meticulous with where things went. Tools, mostly a pair of adjustable wrenches, a pipe wrench, a flat head screwdriver, he never could find a Philips, and lastly pliers. Duct tape, wire tape. he stowed water into the pack, producing a small jar he shoved three pickles inside. he chose his trusty mosin nagant, but to his hips went his revolver, a jimmy bar, knives and shivs, his sword. rolling his shoulders the rodent stepped away from the car, patting the hood. "C'mon lad, its a long walk to the yard." he blinked a few times regarding the rodent, he smirked at how prepared he looked, and how he seemed to dread leaving the car behind,"Du'worry lad, she be here when y'all come back." Taking a breath Sketch nodded, rubbing his muzzle idly. "lets get to it then."

Quiet, unnerving, crushing, inescapable, silence. Not even the wind made little more than a rustling. mechanical feet stomped along, jostling gear and items. with each step the rodent took his tail swished back and forth, unintentionally twisting his hips as he strode along unaware of Chance's eyes fixed upon his rump. the towering human was rather smitten with the little rodent, barely knowing him at that!. "So, what y'all doin out this way?" spoke the man, getting the rodent to glance back at him, "I thought i told you all this story, I am taking Clark to his sister in jacobstown." Chance would rub the back of his neck, humming as he wandered along behind this rodent, following the desolate, flat stretch of road. Sketch just kept moving, not wanting to waste any time, but the more he walked, the more the man spoke, talking about as often as Clark, he was trying to get at something. Sketch sighed and looked at him as they passed a crumbling line of buildings. "just say what you are wanting to say Chance, no one ever got anywhere beating the bush their whole life." he huffed, rubbing his nose, freeing it of sweat as he marched onwards. "W-well y'all gotta forgive me, your mighty cute'n I unno how else to say this, but your interestin, maybe you can take me and my folk back there with you?" Sketch sighed and shook his head,"Can't, I am on a mission to get Clark to his damn sister, and after that i am going to go find my own kind." Chance was quiet for a moment, leaning forth he spoke,"t-than what?" Sketch groaned and shook his head, "Forget it Chance, lets just focus on our task right now, then we will see about you and your kin back there getting somewhere safe."

not more than thirty minutes to an hour would go by and Chance spoke up again, bored with fiddling with his shotgun, "Can i get one'o them pickles?" the rodent slowed in his stride, he could see structures in the distance, not terribly far off with a backdrop of mountains further beyond. "hmm, that dose sound good, how long have we been walking?" the man shook his head, stretching his arms over his head,"Mmph, bout two hours i reckon, the yard is just there." he pointed in the direction of what looked to be a mound. stepping to the side of the road and unslinging his pack, the rodent fished out a pickle for himself and the human. munching sloppily on the vinegar doused vegetable, he stared through his rifle scope. there, down the long gradual hill. Sat a refinery, some form of factory of multiple tall metal buildings, strips and stands of concrete, long lines of pipe work and metal scaffolding, his focus went to a duo of risen concrete humps sat over another, a far longer hump creating a causeway between them, upon the larger humps sat each a quartet of rust covered, steel spheres, many pipes jutted from them and spidered out under walkways. two massive stacks stood in the cluster of buildings. around the creek like man made area outside the main factory, cars, aircraft, massive construction vehicles and even some military craft,"I thought you said it was a scrap yard."

Chance would finish his pickle, swallowing the last of the mush down and licked his fingers, "it be, what's wrong?" Sketch shook his head, scanning over the cooling towers and factory building, it was massive. "That's a refinery of some kind." Chance smacked his lips and looked in the direction the rodent was aiming,"Whats a refinery.?" Sketch just stared at him with a blank expression. "Its...its where you refine substances into fuel and other materials, this one looks like an oil refinery." Chance just looked dumbfounded, Sketch would flick an ear slightly annoyed, "you don't know what I am talking about do you?" the man smiled and shook his head, "All i know is this gun, and farmin, among other things, i can play a mean guitar." he smiled pridefully at that. Sketch would make a soft chuckle, tail swishing back and forth, he went back to his scope, looking down at the refinery, scanning the area. he didn't want to use it, but the scope on his old rifle just wasn't good enough, he sighed and would sling his mosnin nagant, then produced an agitated laser rifle with a beam focuser, and an advanced scope. the rodent pressed the butt of the rifle into his shoulder and knelt on one knee, peering into the scope, the rubber eye padding against his socket. he whistled at how much closer he could see now, the dashes for bullet drop were peculiar to him, laser beams dont degrade, they just loose power.

The man would suck on his teeth watching the rodent for a long moment, growing bored and fidgeting, until the Rat pulled the scope from his eye."Doesn't appear to be anyone home, lets go, get this done and get the hell out of here." biting his lip the rodent rose and started down the hill for the refinery. The closer he got the more unnerved he felt, he trotted along the side of the road, staring down into a ravine. dirt and clay turned to dry sand and cracked earth. reaching the gate or what was left of it, the rodent slipped inside, looking back now and then to see if Chance was following, he was, and was equally prepped and looking about as nervous, watching the rodent's every motion as he moved into the refinery. Sneaking through dry mud and over parched dirt, slinking around empty and dead buildings, small and large. he found his way to the graveyard of vehicles. flicking his tail the rodent climbed one of the concrete humps to get a better look at the vast collection and piles of dead and ruined vehicles.

It was a maze of cars and military trucks and planes, busses and even several train cars sat against one another and atop each other. he sighed and felt a little relieved, it was a massive collection, a maze built out of wrecks and scrap. flicking his tail the rodent looked down at Chance who stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. "Lets get to work." the rodent eyed the man, someone born in this world, not knowing the things the rat knew, he rubbed his fluffy neck a bit and pondered. "Keep watch, I'll dig in the heaps for what i need." he trotted down the side of the gradual hump and indeed, got to work, producing the tools needed he would tug the hoods up on any vehicle that did not look like worn down, rusted out hulks.

This lasted for a few hours, he found a few accessories he did not expect, some faded, worn out fluffy dice to hang on the mirror. unbroken lights and some wires. the Human Chance was sitting down on the hood of an old Cadillac rocking back and forth, that was until he reached to his pocket and produced a harmonica. pressing the thing to his lips the man began to play. Sketch stepped out of the carcass of a bus, cantering his head, ears twitching this way and that as the shrill sound of the harmonica was played, echoing in the steel and concrete labyrinth they had found themselves in. He shook his head at the noise maker, never having found the harmonica to be easy on his large ears. Wandering the yard for another ten or so minutes, the rodent found something of note!. A truck, a large hauler cab that looked to of been used recently in the past year or so, the rear chassis was mangled, looking as if it had been blown off. "Mines." he shook his head and would climb into the cab to activate the hood release, and with some effort the rodent pulled the hood open, looking in at the slightly well conditioned engine block. Standing precariously, braced on the front wheel and the frame, he began to work.

Finding the Alternator wasn't hard, it had been set on the top of the engine, probably for ease of access. the rodent pulled out a wrench and pressed it against the metal housing, grinning at the magnetic pull of the device, he was just about to produce another tool to begin extraction when something caught his ear. A rumble, akin to that of a beast, it made the fur on the back of his neck stand and his throat knot up. he stayed still, peering about the area, but there was nothing but piles of wrecks all over, save for infront of him, he stared, something was moving, something big, a cloud of black smoke shot into the air with a whistling gargle like noise. The hiss of airbrakes, when his red eyes found it, it was to late, his blood ran as cold as a nuclear winters wind. there, on a ridge was, for all intents and purposes, a tank, its massive gun lowering, pointing at him!. "Cover!." he cried out, jumping off the truck, just as the air erupted with a sound that would deafen thunder followed by an echoing thud. Sketch was thrown a few meters, the truck he was on leapt into the air, folding like a toy its fuel spraying everywhere. dirt and mud sprayed amidst a cloud of smoke and a small fireball.

Sketch landed on his back, eyes wide, his ears painfully ringing. he yelled out as he slowly rose to his feet, stumbling a moment, but managing to get to those sturdy mechanical legs, he ran for cover behind the hump of concrete, shouting, "Chance!, take cover!." blood ran from cuts here and there, the rodent pressed himself against the concrete slope and rubbed his eyes, checking his torso, his hands, face, and legs, making sure everything was where it should be. shaking his head, he spat dirt and blood. He couldn't see chance but he heard his voice shouting back to him,"I am okay!, the hell is that!?" the rodent huffed and would roll over on his belly and peek over the lip of the hump, staring up at the vehicle through the advanced scope of his laser rifle. It was massive, covered in riveted and patched metal. There were however port holes, a forward bow gun and ontop the hatch opened and up rose a mohawk donned feline of all things!. hissing a bit the rodent would duck back down just as the cats eyes fell on him. the thundering sound of the cannon blasted and the shell whistled over the hump and caused an explosion of soil and water.

"Just stay where you are!, i'll handle this!." Called the rat, he rose a bit and crouch ran along the spillway. passing behind the tanks and silos. checking now and then to see where the living tank was, it was still on the ridge looking down over the area. Using a concrete ledge overlooking the fracking area and spillway as advantage the tank could see almost everywhere, but sadly it was not such a towering concrete rise, merely five or so meters up. The rodent braced his back against the strutt holding up a huge sphere, his ears twitched as a voice called out over an intercom of sorts, a loud speaker!."Oieh!, Rat!, gon eat you for supah!." a wirring sounded, then the cannon fired again, Sketch ran, diving for the concrete wall meters from him. the shell ripped through the spherical drum causing petrol to spill out like water from faucet. Gritting his teeth, the rodent ran along the stone wall, he could hear the tank turret moving, the voice from the cat angrily shouting, "Where it go!, fin eht!, kill rat!." finding an old rusting ladder, the rodent slowly climbed, being careful to not make to much noise as he reached the lip of the concrete rise. peeking over it carefully he could see the tank. it had to of been made from some kind of dozer or land mover. That did not matter now, he needed to disable it. crawling onto the soil and partly exposed concrete, the rat would move near the tank, checking to see any kind of view port or slit and avoid them. he went behind the vehicle. laser rifle in hand, he climbed onto its back from behind.

Just as the mohawk donned cat turned to look up in shock at Sketch, he struck her across the head with the butt of his laser weapon, grabbing her by the arm he drug the feline out of the tank and kicked her over the side, she rolled on the grass then fell over the ledge, her scream was cut short with a wet thud on the ground below. Sketch drew his revolver and dropped inside the tank alarming the four people inside, humans all. humans lead by a non human, an odd outfit indeed. But the Rat did not waste time to question or debate, weapons were being drawn, he knew his ears would ring, he knew he would likely damage them by doing this, but he wanted the tank. he shot four times, four loud ringing eruptions, blasting the loader in the head, then the radio operator, the bow gunner and lastly the driver. wincing and cringing at the deafening ring in his ears, he would holster his weapon and drug the corpses out one by one. Planting his ample butt in the driver seat, his eyes scanned over the dash, the controls were a pair of levers. feeling around with his foot for pedals, finding a go pedal and brake. his red eyes peered through the opening for the driver. a foot by half foot square opening. testing the controls he quickly figured out how to drive it, repurposed dozer controls inside a repurposed cab, with a cannon set on an electrical rail system with ammo stacked in milk crates bolted into the wall. Backing up and turning the tank he killed the engine, content it was a good distance from the ledge, he climbed out of it. Standing ontop of the vehicle he scanned the area from a much better vantage point. "Chance!, come up here i got the tank!."

The 'tank' wasn't based off a tractor afterall, the rodent did some inspection of the machine, it had completely scratch built tracks, the chassis looked to be off of a military vehicle, of what the rat could not say. the hull was a dingy, rusted brown, a very square like body, the tracks only exposed at the front and back. a massive bull bar sat on the bow, looking to of come off of a train. the turret was medium sized, panels of steel bolted and welded in place, someone had done their research, the gun was a 7.5 cm that had to come off of a military base somewhere. the engine was a huge, custom built monster from several diesel blocks, pipes stuck out the back that belched black smoke. Chance came up the ridge and stared in awe, watching the rodent pulling open a large panel of metal to inspect the engine then closing it up again. "W-well look like you got your part eh?" Chuckled the man, the rodent stared at him for a moment then actually smiled. "Looks like it. we should head back to-" just then a voice came over the radio, grainy and broken up, but intelligible enough. "Hey!, Catscratch, you comin back yet?, we got us a big one!, big ass bull!, clean, no taint!." Sketch stared at Chance and before the man could protest the rodent disappeared into the hull of the tank. Chance left to climb inside on his own, looking around the interior with wide eyes. The rat held the cb receiver to his mouth and bit his lip before speaking, taking on an attempted accent of the cat.

"Oi, on way back now,still at same place?" there was a moment of quiet, unnervingly long silence. then the static voice came back. "Stupid cat, course we still ah same camp, ain't leaving garage for tinmen!.get ya ass back'ere if'n ya wan som'o dis meat!." hanging up the receiver the rodent would climb into the driver seat, starting up the tanks engines again, they rumbled and belched black smoke."W-what are we doing?" Sketch tugged back on the sticks and turned towards the garage, assuming it was a parking garage, it would be on the other side of the refinery. "If these bastards have a tractor like this, there is no telling what else they have, I cannot in good conscious let them live, especially if they have prisoners." Chance would groan a bit and sat in the bow gunner seat, sweating as the tank rumbled along. the tracks squealing and grinding as they moved down the hill and between the warehouse buildings. Sketch piloted the hulking, rumbling vehicle along, turning around the side of the last square building fashioned of crumbling bricks and metal. he saw it, the raider camp and workshop, built into a parking garage.

Iron spikes jutted everywhere, net and chainlink fences covered the openings of the structure, outside he saw only a few Technical trucks and half of a semi trailer being used to house barrels, metallic oil drums it looked like. running his tongue over his lip, hanging it out a bit, he rumbled past the gate guards and inside the garage. there were raiders everywhere, they were like organized cockroaches. Sketch spoke in hushed tones to the human, "Get on the gun, its like a single barrel shotgun, make sure its loaded." nodding, chance quietly moved to seat himself in the loading area, tugging on the break of the gun after trying to find it for half a minute, he tugged it ajar, a shell was inside. "Its loaded." nodding Sketch stared at a pink haird raider man in what looked like gunner gear, but painted and doctored up to be typically raider'esqu. he stood infront of the tank waving his arms, "Stop!,no go further, park it there we see if it broke again eh!?" the raider blinked a few times staring at the viewport, sitting wide opened. "you see those cars and bikes all lined up?" Chance nodded,"Yeh." sketch stared into the widening eyes of the raider,"you know how to shoot that gun?." chance nodded once again, "yep."

Sketch took a breath and shouted, "Fire!." the turret lowered a bit to aim at the lined vehicles, chance pulled the trigger mechanism and fired a huge shell into the side of what was once a minicooper, ripping it in half and causing a lick of fire to spread and ruin all the other vehicles. The pink haired raider fired at the tank, the bullets from his automatic rifle wizing and clinging off the metallic hull. Sketch drew his pistole and sent a .44 slug into the mans chest, throwing him on his back. he pushed the controls forward, driving the tank over the man, crushing him with a sickening wet resonance. bullets wizzed and clanked against the tanks reinforced hull. Sketch guided it up, not seeing any cages or bound persons on the first level. The Tank rumbled and screeched as it came up over the lip onto the next level, pushing through the barricade of wood and street signs. the tank pushed aside a broken burnt out frame of a car being used as a tent, raiders scattered and went for cover, but so few, only four or so. Sketch's eyes locked on a large metallic box with a grated front, inside was a large humanoid looking creature, eyes staring through the bars. "I got eyes on the prisoners, do not fire the cannon." Sketch pushed the sticks forward and urged the vehicle thus. smashing the cover raiders were hiding behind, a few did not get away fast enough, leaving them mangled or crushed. stopping his vehicle the rodent proceeded to climb out, rifle in hand he jumped off the top of the tank and hunched low, rifle brandished, looking around, covering his corners until he came to the cage. peeking inside his eyes met a set of green depths peering back at him, hot breath washing forth, "Who the hell are you?"

The voice was deep and held a southern twang to it, "Sketch, I'm here to get you out, are there any other prisoners?" The creature in the cage shook his head,"no. not anymore, there was a female fox and a rabbit, but the bastards took them uptop, their leader is a monster, get me out lad, but promise we will root them all out." Sketch nodded with a huff, "their my problem now." he would aim his laser rifle at the padlock and fired two red energy blasts, melting the steel a bit, he struck it once, then twice with the butt of his weapon. stepping back the rodent watched as a towering eight foot tall Brown and white longhorn stepped out of the container. Stripped of clothing, his chest and belly white, perfectly fit and muscled, only a slight belly. "My name is Daniel, I am a member of the NCR, the rabbit and fox were two of my associates, soldiers, help me root out these verm..err raiders." he was quick to adjust his wording, "And recover their bodies or what is left of them, aid me in returning to the Hoover Damn base, and I will be sure you and your accomplice are rewarded."

Sketch had many questions about that, but he did not ask, now was not the time, he bit his lip and gestured to the tank, "you know how to shoot a cannon?" the bovine snorted, eyeing the rumbling tank, "What kind?" Sketch shrugged and would mount the machine. "A howitzer of some kind I am guessing. hop on we'll give these raiders hell." he disappeared inside the tank. rubbing his muzzle the eight foot tall bull would mount the tank, his weight causing the vehicle to creak and groan. lowering himself into the turret was a bit of a chore, Chance happily took up a position as the bow gunner. looking over the weapon, having to turn his head a bit to the side to lower in completely he tugged on the breech and tossed the spent shell,"not the biggest thumper, but a good gun none the less, that cat bitch used this to wreck a whole town, killed almost sixty people, you do her in?" Sketch nodded, "Tossed her off the tank, my tank now." he smirked and would guide the machine of post apocalyptic war up the levels, grinding and rumbling as it moved. Daniel seemed to know what he was doing, turning the gun and eagerly loading shells and firing them. tearing up the raider encampment level by level.

Apparently they did not expect one of their own war machines to turn on them, rampaging through the levels, cutting them all down with machinegun fire and cannon blasts, throwing debris and raiders off the side of the structure. at last, the tank rumbled up to the top level, the leader of the group was standing atop of a scaffolding armed with a launcher, "Launcher three o'clock!." the bovine grunted and turned the turret, eyes pressed on the scope, "I see'er." both tank cannon and shoulder mounted rocket launcher fired at the same time. the explosion of shell and rpg rocket striking one another was massive, a plume of orange and smoke rose and flung the leader of the raider group against the wall. her launcher clattered and fell over the side, crashing to the earth several feet below. grunting the bovine suddenly flung the hatch open and climbed out, "the hell is he going?" shouted Chance, Sketch would huff and climbed out of a side door. nagant in hand, he would cover the bovine as he stomped over to the raider leader, she was struggling to rise. the top of the parking lot was a mess, burning barrels everywhere, a wooden shack lean-to, shopping carts used as cages, and the remains of a rabbit barely visible in one of the fires. Daniel slapped away the woman's pip pistole she drew, grabbing her up by the throat, lifting her off her boots he bellowed into her face. growling and ripping away her armor and cloths, leaving the woman in her undies. "You want to eat us do you?, let me show you how it feels!."

Sketch watched wide eyed as the woman screamed in horror, the bovines jaws gaped and came down over her head, he shoved her into his throat, shoulders passing his lips with ease, his hands squeezing her sides and legs, shoving the kicking and flailing woman bit by bit into his gullet. drooling and salivating, Chance watched in horror, the woman's screams were muffled beneath the layers of flesh and muscle, the Minotaur swallowed her whole and alive, Sketch watched her feet slip past his lips, a final swallow sent those down his muscular throat. he groaned and faced the rodent, Sketch was in utter shock, unable to look away from the massive bulge in the bovines throat. he swallowed hard seeing it disappear down lower into his belly, bulging his middle out a bit more than it was already, but not by a lot!. He huffed and coughed a few times, looking down at the rodent as he click clacked over to him, offering a bottle of water. "Ah, s-she could not of tasted good."

The Minotaur gratefully guzzled the water, keeping some in his mouth, swishing it before spewing it to the ground,"uhhg, she was disgusting, but the punishment should fit the crime, she killed and ate my friends, so I ate her." the Minotaur would blink when he felt a paw pressing on his bulging stomach, looking down to find the cybernetically enhanced rodent rubbing over his gut. "She is still alive in there, I..I can feel her moving." the Minotaur would smirk and with a raised brow leaned down to look right into the rodents eyes, as he looked up, Sketch was surprised by the minotaur suddenly opening his maw, and releasing a reverberating belch in his face. he gaged and coughed, looking away with a blazing blush, wiping spit off his snout. "You liked watching me do that didnt you?" the rodent yelped and would quickly turn and walk back to the tank, "Ah we uhhh, we should get moving, I have people waiting not far from here, a-and a car to fix up!." the flustered rodent quickly ran back to the tank, the minotaur grinned and pat his stomach a few rouph times, clopping behind the rodent."Cute lil bugger."