Guns & Roses

Chapter 7: Trustful enemy

[Sheriff]

No progress in gaining the trust of his new travel buddies had occurred yet. Three days had come and gone since he found himself accepted into their group, yet every time he wanted to attempt making connections he lost his nerve. They had all stopped to rest for the night, though Nevada made it hard to tell it was as such. He found himself scanning over the landscape again, by this point he swore he'd memorised the scene ahead of him, two rocks jutted from the ground some 50 feet away, a large open clearing of desert to the right, of which he'd eventually see a larger rock mound further over, a noticeably lighter toned colour than the previous.

Sheriff heard idle conversation somewhere over his shoulder, he turned, hoping to check what they were all doing without being noticed, to his surprise, only Sanford and Deimos were still here.
'He's gone?'
He thought, taking his time to look around, eventually spotting a distant figure over to his left.
'He sure likes those walks of his.'
Sheriff recalled the past couple days, noting that every time they made camp, at some point or another Hank would take a lone walk in the surrounding area.

'If he's out there all the time he's gotta be thinking of a lot of things.'
Sheriff thought idly.
'If they're thinking out there though... how long till they realise you're gonna betray them?' Sheriff shook away the thought.
'no, even if they suspect it they have no proof, you're gonna be fine.'
He felt a wave of dread begin to wash over him, not unusual, but this one felt different, stronger somehow.
'Why would that stop them? Out here isn't the same as the world before.'
He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing, a ritual he'd gotten used to doing, but it did nothing to keep his panic at bay.

Before he realised he did, he stood up, and started walking to the right. He didn't understand why he needed to, he just felt he needed to get away before something happened.
"Where you off to?" A voice from somewhere behind him, he turned to face the duo, barely registering which had spoken.
"I'm.. off to take a walk" he replied, barely keeping himself from breaking down in front of them. Sheriff started walking before he got a response, he didn't know where or how far he would walk, he just knew he had to move.

He walked, all the thoughts he'd kept trapped running loose through his mind, like a dam had broken, resulting in a powerful flood. It was a struggle to keep himself from running, coherent thoughts barely forming under the mass of irrationality which had taken over. He raised his head, a large rock jutted from the ground ahead of him. All focus was set onto it, each second felt dragged along, as if time itself had slowed so he could remember each excruciating second. Finally, after it felt hours had passed, he pulled himself behind the rock, out of sight from the camp. He collapsed onto the ground, leaning against the rock, and let himself break.

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[Deimos]

An hour passed since their new recruit had left, at first Deimos shrugged it off as excess energy, maybe an excuse to take a piss, but they'd been behind that same rock for ages now. He knew the others were suspicious of them, hell, he'd found some of it suspicious himself, which is why he was so curious as to what was going on. He looked at his friend, they had passed out a little while back, claiming it would "just be a nap", Deimos let himself crack up a bit.
'Yeah, sure it's just a nap.'
Nothing else seemed to be happening, Hank was still off in the distance, doing, whatever it was he did out there, and by the looks of things, Sanford would be out for quite a while. 'Ah screw it, what've I got to lose?'
He asked himself, standing up and walking over to where the new kid had decided to disappear to.

It was, the last thing he'd been expecting, he peered behind the rock to find them curled up against the rock, their breathing super shaky and shaking like an earthquake has just come through. Deimos felt awkward being there, unsure of how to start the conversation he just decided to go with whatever he thought up first.
"So... taking a walk, are you?" The Sheriff flinched, before uncurling himself and seeming to try making their breathing more steady. "Uh... yeah, just.. having a break." The Sheriff replied, pulling them self into conversation a lot faster than Deimos thought they would.
"So you've had a break for... an hour?" Deimos wasn't proud of how he'd been handling the conversation so far, but he figured it was better than saying nothing. The Sheriff stayed quiet for a second, processing the question,
"It's... been that long?" They asked,
"Well, I guess I've had enough break-time then, I'll.. keep on going." The Sheriff started positioning himself to stand up, to which Deimos felt bad, feeling like he'd interrupted something.

"Hey, no, it's alright." Deimos began, trying to figure out how to continue the conversation. He decided on sitting down, hoping it might convince them to stay. Surprisingly, it actually worked, and The Sheriff leaned back against the rock.
"So, what's up?" Deimos decided to begin there, after all, all good conversation starts with small talk, right? The Sheriff thought on it, taking their time to come up with their answer.
"Cmon, I won't bite." He continued, figuring they might need a little encouragement. The Sheriff took another second longer, before finally replying,
"Nothing really, still just getting used to the new surroundings, I guess."
'Getting used to the new surroundings..? What's out here that is so scary?' Deimos decided to lead with the latter,
"What about Nevada is that scary? It's just rock and dust." He explained, gesturing to the expanse ahead of them.

"That's.. not quite what I meant." The Sheriff said, to which Deimos thought harder about what had been said so far, finally coming to the realisation.
"Ooooooh, so you're scared of us?" Deimos asked, to which The Sheriff stayed quiet. Deimos thought again about how they had been acting since they've joined.
'So they really don't have bad intent.... They've just been scared?'
Deimos cracked up a bit, The Sheriff turned, puzzled by what he'd found funny.
"Has the agency really been making us seem that bad?" He asked, The Sheriff let out a nervous chuckle,
"I guess they have been.." he stopped, and faced Deimos,
"how did you know the agency shows you three as the bad guys?" Deimos thought for a second, considering his reply,

"It's pretty obvious, we've made quite a mess of their buildings, haven't we?" He explained, The Sheriff nodding slightly,
"Besides, I don't think the standard would have changed that much since I left." The Sheriff froze, then looked back over.
"Since you left?" He questioned.

"Yeah, used to work for them." He told them casually. Sheriff sat in silent shock, to which Deimos decided it was a good time to change subject.
"Anyways.. believe it or not, we aren't some maniacs who found some guns." He told them, happy to see he'd managed to lift their spirits. He looked over to the horizon, noticing that the slight stillness which came with night was starting to unravel.
"Looks like night's gonna be over soon, you wanna head back and get some rest?" He suggested, Sheriff looked ahead, taking their time in their thoughts.
"Yeah, some rest would be nice.." Sheriff finally said, to which Deimos stood up and offered his hand to Sheriff. He took it, and Deimos helped pull them to their feet, making sure they had a proper balance before letting go, and giving them a quick pat on the shoulder.

"You're gonna be fine." Deimos assured them, privately making it his duty to help them get used to being in their group. They walked back, Deimos in a lighter mood, knowing that Sheriff hasn't been planning something all along, but rather was just shy under the pressure that he didn't realise he'd been under.
'I'm sure this'll turn out great, we can make a new friend, find the improbability drive, and we can all make it home.'