This chapter is a bit intense, I have never done this before so be nice!

Warning: Blood, gore, attempt rape, and violence galore!

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Chapter 6

Never take Shortness for helplessness.

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A few days had passed since Kyrie pretty poured her soul out to the Sniper, and things seemed to be back to normal. Kyrie was her usual talkactive self, while Boone just kept silent on the rest of their walk towards the Strip.

The Strip.

It's been a long time since the Sniper had been there. The bright lights, the people, the casinos; the memory of meeting Carla there. Kyrie seemed excited as she kept talking about anything ro anyone, twirling her newly found .44 Magnum between her fingers.

"I wonder what The Strip is like!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Have you been there? What is the best casino? Do they sell Nuka Cola? What about the area surrounding the Strip?"

Boone blinked at all the quwstions. "Alright, okay, don't hurt yourself...Yes, I've been to the Strip, my vote is The Tops, I'm sure they sell Nuka cola fro hyper travellers like you, and as for the area surrounding the Strip.." He paused, trying to find the right words.

Kyrie looked at him impatiently, waiting for him to speak. "Booner? You gonna say something or did your train of thought get stuck on the tracks?"

He glared at the nickname before pressing his finger to her forehead, pushing back slightly. She struggled against him for a bit until she finally gave up and slumped back, grumbling.

He smirked slightly, she looked so young.

"Freeside is not exactly a happy place to be, Kyrie." He said. "Drunks, Chem addicts, thugs...you best not be traveling those streets alone."

"Point noted." She said, reholstering her Magnum, which was good because the twirling was making the Sniper nervous, and she continued walking with her hands folded behind her head.

The gate of Freeside soon came into view, not to mention the tower over looking the gate. Kyrie stared up at the tall building, shielding her eyes with her small hands as she looked up. "Wow, what's that place?"

Boone looked up, recgonizing it right away. "That is the Lucky 38."

"I bet the inside is amazing." She commented, feeling her insides swell up in excitement.

"No one knows, it's been sealed up tight since before the bombs fell." He told her, causing her to stare at him in shock.

"No one's ever been inside?" She asked in wonder.

Boone shook his head, staring at the young courier. Her green eyes were wide with eagerness that only the innocent seemed to have nowadays but that innocence was only found in kids. kyrie had been through alot, from losing her father to a Deathclaw, taking abuse from her own mother, getting shot in the head, and then making it to Novac on her own. But her eager innocence was still there, she didn't let anything stop her.

Boone felt something in his chest, that only seemed to happen nowadays when he saw someone he liked. It happened when he first saw Carla...was he developing feelings for Kyrie? The Nineteen year old, guns toting Courier?

He shook his head quickly, dismissing the thought. Stop thinking about that! He mentally scolded himself, not seeming to notice the small hand waving in front of his face.

"Yo! Boone! Anybody home?" She called, snapping her fingers. He blinked slightly, snapping out of his daze.

"Sorry." He muttered in embarrassment.

"You coming or not?" She asked impatiently, hauling her bag over her small shoulders. "I hope this place had some traders, I got some shit to get rid of."

The short trip to the gate was uneventful, save for the small encounter near the door. Three guys in leather jackets were standing there, smoking cigarettes and talking loudly. When one of them looked up and saw the small Courier, he made a face and then said loudly to the other two:

"Why is it all the good ones are either dead or whores?"

Boone saw red at that. How dare they talk about her that way?

Kyrie surprised him by simply staring at the young man. "I know right? Considering those are the only kinds of girls who would have any interest in you, my friend."

The man's eyes darkened in anger. "The fuck did you just say to me?"

She smirked. "You heard me, now step aside Junior."

The man stormed over to her and stood in front of her, his arms folded defiantly. "What don't you make me, squirt?"

The black haired girl placed her bag on the ground near Boone's feet and then looked up at the thug with blazing green eyes. "You sure about that?" She growled out. "Because I will knock your lights out."

"Don't think I'm scared to hit a girl, especially one that looks like a twelve year old boy." The thug sneered.

"You shut up." Boone growled in anger, reaching back for his rifle. He stopped when Kyrie placed a small hand on his arm.

"I got this." She muttered with a smirk. "Well, then come on, tough guy. Hit me, I dare you." She smirked even wider.

The thug smirked and reared a fist back. "I'm going to enjoy this." He then swung his fist forward and before Boone or the other thugs could do anything, something happened that no one was expecting.

Kyrie swiftly caught the fist in her small one, and with a heave of effort, and a bending of her back, she threw the thug over her and onto the ruined tarmac with a thud. "You gonna let us pass now?" She stepped over his groaning form and picked her bag back up. "Good day, gentleman."

She then walked forward, leaving behind a gobsmacked Boone and some shocked King gang members.

"Hold it, hold it!" Boone exclaimed, causing the small girl to turn.

"What's up?" She asked.

"That was amazing!" Boone seemed in shock. "Where did you learn to do that?"

Kyrie grinned. "Utah. Learned it from the trader I was travelling with, she basically told me it works great on punks whose mouths are bigger then their brains." Turning back to the gate, she struggled to open it before the Sniper stepped forward and did it for her. Suddenly, what felt like a tidal wave of heat hit the both of them, not to mention a smell that was quite atrocious.

"Good God, what is that?"

"That, Kyrie, is the smell of over-crowding." Boone replied, holding the gate open for her. Walking into the new city, she looked around at the broken building's, the drunks on the sidewalk begging for caps, kids running around in rags, people walking by scratching violently at their arms. Kyrie knew that symptom too well...her mother would always scratch when she needed a fix, mostly Jet and Psycho withdrawls.

Someone then bumped into her, rather roughly at that, rough enough to knock her to the ground. And before Boone could help her up, the person who rammed down his comrade grabbed her bag and ran off with it, leaving the two stunned travellers in shock.

"HEY!" Kyrie yelled, leaping to her feet and bolting after the guy. "Come back here! That's mine!"

"KYRIE!" Boone yelled in alarm, taking off after her. Man, this girl was fast! "Get back here!" Dammit, she was gonna ger herself killed on these streets and like hell was he gonna let that happen.

Kyrie didn't seem to hear him as she ran faster after the thief, dodging people and ghouls who were wandering around and quickly moving out of the way of the pursuing girl. She had almost caught up with him when he suddenly turned into an alleyway with two dumpsters at the end of it.

"Give that back!" She growled out in anger when she was suddenly tackled from behind by the two most foul smelling men she had ever seen...or smelled in her lifetime.

"Lookie what we got here, boys!" One exclaimed, pinning her down on the ground. "Nice one on teh looting, Lou!" The man who stole her bag started rummaging through it, which was pissing the small courier off even more, her legs kicking out and her small fists

"Get off of me!" She growled out in anger, a feeling of dread creeping into her chest. She'd seen this kind of thing before and it usually never ended well for the victim. But unfortunatly for these men, they picked the wrong 'victim' to mess with.

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Boone was in a state of panic. But he was terrified at this moment and time, he had lost sight of his partner.

"Damn it, Kyrie." He growled out, running up and down the streets, looking through the alley ways, ramming people out of the way, and calling her name, trying to find any trace of her.

"Kyrie!" He called again, straining his ears to hear anything that may lead him to her. He had to find her before something bad happened, which was most likely going to happen in Freeside.

The sounds of shouting soon reached his ear drums, shouts of four people; three of them being male and another one...No!

Eyes widening behind his sunglasses, he holstered his gun and bolted to the source of the noise. Rounding a corner, he felt the rage inside of him build at the sight that he saw. There was Kyrie on her back, struggling against three men at least twice her height and at least three times her weight. One had her arms pinned above her head while the other was tyring to force her legs apart, but she was fighting it, hissing and spitting like a Nightstalker.

"Don't fight us, little girl.." One drawled out, leaning down and running his tongue up her neck, causing her to yell out in disgust and kick him in the face when her leg managed to get loose.

"Ohhh...we got a fighter!"

"Hey!" He shouted in anger, not being able to take it anymore. The three men looked up, one of them holding a switch blade, or a lead pipe, or a baseball bat.

"Look what we got here, boys!" The man, who Boone guessed was the 'Leader', stepped forward, twirling his blade expertly.

"Let her go." Boone growled, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. The man holding Kyrie down than forced her to her feet roughly, holding her in a choke hold. Kyrie's small hands were grabbing and clawing at his arm but he didn't let go.

"What're you gonna do, NCR?" The man growled, smacking the lead pipe into his other hand menacingly.

Taking his rifle, Boone then smirked before he brought the butt of his rifle forward and whacked him right in the nose, the force of the blow sending the bone right into the mans brain. Who in turn dropped to the ground like a rock.

Boone glared at the other two, their courage deflating instantly at the sight of their dead leader. But for some reason, the man holding Kyrie held firm. Before the sniper could do anything, the small courier once again surprised him. With amazing flexability, she kicked her small leg back, kicking the man in the forehead with her boot. The man yelled in pain as he let go and staggered back, clutching his bleeding forehead in pain. Then with lightening fast speed, she whipped out her combat knife and stabbed him in the neck, blood spurting from the fatal wound and all down her arms and onto her torn clothes. The other man screamed loudly and took off running down the street, like a coward

Breathing heavily, she stood up and swished her arm, flicking the blood off of her. She looked angry, scared, and stressed out, her hands shaking as she put her knife back into it's holder.

Stooping down, she picked up her bag and checked it. After making sure everything was still in there, she stood up and stared at Boone, once again, smiling at him. And it was her usual smile, not a forced.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She nodded, picking at her torn leather vest. "I'm alright." She said with a shrug. "You?"

He shrugged as well. "Yeah."

She laughed slightly. "But this totally sucks, because I'm gonna have to get this fixed or find a new one! You know how hard it is to find something small enough to fit me? I have to cut off the ankles of clothes I find! Don't even get me started on metal armour!"

As Kyrie walked off to a store to sell some of her findings, Boone smirked slightly in her direction.

Note to self. He thought to himself. Never take her height for a disadvantage.

Ever.

xx

Sweet! Boone is fun to write!

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