Guns & Roses [Discontinued]

Chapter 11: Rational Thinking

                                   [Sheriff]

He stared out across the broken town, sitting just outside the warehouse they'd taken refuge in. After Tricky's appearance, he'd spent days in shock, only realising he had been once he snapped out of it. It occurred to him how he had never realised how hard it was to survive out here.
'Not to mention... they're going against The Auditor, he basically controls this place.'
He thought with a shiver. By all means, he was still kept here solely by the mission, however the trio did have his full respect, as he realised the harsh conditions that they had somehow managed to thrive against. He stood up slowly, his left shoulder aching from the sudden movement, he winced, though he shook it off and continued toward the entrance to his right. He walked into the disheveled building, not needing to open the long rotted-away doors.

Their rations pile was... disappointingly small. Even with how little he knew about conserving and predicting how long rations would last, he knew it would only last them two days, if they were lucky. Of course, the three would have noticed this way before he did, this fact made even more evident when he noticed Deimos seemed to be rearranging the contents of the bag to better suit travelling. He walked over to them, wondering the details of what was being planned.
"Hey, Sheriff, you mind if I can ask you somethin'?" Deimos said, somehow making the words fall blankly. Since Tricky had screwed them all over, Deimos had been getting annoyed over things much easier. He found they had also been smoking much more lately, but as much as he wanted to stop them, he felt he hadn't been established enough to start making such bold actions.
"Yeah, what's up?" He replied, unsure if Deimos actually heard them due to a lack of reaction, he was about to repeat himself when he got an answer.
"Can you keep an eye on those two while I'm gone?" Gesturing to where Sanford and Hank were resting. Deimos didn't make it seem much as a question, more so as a statement, though either way Sheriff knew he wasn't able to decline.
"Yeah, I can do that." He said, not daring to ask details in case he managed to piss them off even more. Deimos didn't bother to follow it up, standing up and slinging the bag over their shoulder.

"You can take em with you if you want." Sanford told Deimos, sitting up on their make-shift bed. Deimos stopped.
"No, Sanford, I need someone here to make sure you two don't get too hurt while I'm gone." They sighed, clearly expecting the argument to end there.
"Deimos, you have the hardest task out of all of us right now, you should get someone to go with you." Sanford replied, seemingly to Deimos's frustration.
"Look, you're used to fighting in a duo, besides, how are we meant to end up getting hurt?" Sanford continued, cutting off whatever counter-arguments Deimos could possibly come up with. Deimos let out a long, frustrated sigh,
"Fine." He replied In a slightly defeated tone, "But you two better not overwork yourselves." He said, turning to face them properly. Both seemed to have found an agreement, Sheriff made a mental note to stay quiet for a little while after they leave, deciding it would be best not to test their patience. They were about to leave when Sanford seemed to finally remember something,
"Hey, you're taking food with you, aren't ya?" He practically yelled over to them in order to be heard, Deimos stopped, thinking through properly before replying,
"When we raid a building we'll have food with us there. The amount here is only going to last you two so long, so I may as well leave all of it." Deimos finally told them, their tone full of frustration. Sanford didn't seem too happy with it, though they didn't have any points to argue against.

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They'd been walking for almost a day at this point. No talking had occurred between them, not even an occasional small talk, the only thing which could be considered "eventful" that happened was Deimos trying to light up a cigarette, only to find the lighter had run out of fluid. Though he didn't make it known, Sheriff found the lighter being empty as a relief, though he was in it to betray them, he still found himself worried over their health. Sheriff looked around the landscape, both out of boredom and as a sort of nervous tic. He found it rather strange, in the space of almost a couple of weeks, he'd developed looking around the landscape as a way to calm himself, even if there was nothing particularly notable about the surroundings.

"So, he hasn't been telling you when you get to go home, hm?" Deimos questioned out of the blue, catching Sheriff completely off guard, leaving him trying to process the sentence. Deimos seemingly took it as confusion,
"The Auditor, I mean." They clarified, giving Sheriff the context he needed to respond. "Yeah, been real secretive about it." Sheriff replied, deciding to roll with whatever excuse he'd stammered out in their first encounter. Deimos stopped to ponder about this.
"So this, Nevada, it can all be turned back to normal, right?" They asked, a hint of hope present in their question, Sheriff had no clue whether it really could or couldn't be, given he'd never looked into it.
'Ah well, what's the harm in giving them some hope?' He told himself.

"Would be pretty surprised if it couldn't." He told them, deciding it would be best to reply in a way which would neither confirm nor deny their question. Deimos stayed quiet, though they seemed content with the answer they had gotten. A couple minutes of silence had passed between the two. Sheriff thought over topics, trying to find something to start a proper conversation before too much time had passed, finally deciding on something and breaking the silence.
"Hey Deimos, why're you so open to letting me into your group?" He asked, realising afterward how suspicious it actually sounded, thankfully Deimos didn't seem to pick up on it.
"Not too sure, really.." They began, thinking about how to respond,
"Guess you just remind me a little of myself, back when I worked for the agency and all." They finished, Sheriff was surprised, not at all expecting this sort of response.

"Why d'you ask?" They followed up, facing them with a raised brow, Sheriff shrugged, "Just curious." He answered. Deimos looked back ahead,
"So.. when you were with the agency, what were you?" He asked, deciding this would be a good point to start feeding into his curiosity. 'Besides, not like I'm going to come across the topic again anytime soon.'

"What d'you mean 'what was I?'" They asked, to which Sheriff realised he could have worded his question better,
"You know, what rank were you before you left?" They reattempted their question, to which Deimos understood what they'd been trying to ask.
"Ah right, not too sure... was some weird one, elite I think it was?" They recalled, doing their best to figure out what it had been called, fortunately Sheriff knew what he'd been trying remember.
"L33t, you mean?" They corrected.

"Yeah, that's the one." Deimos confirmed, which started giving Sheriff more questions.
'If they'd gotten to that decent of a rank, why would they leave?'
He thought, deciding to bring it up.
"So, what made you leave?" Sheriff decided to keep it to the point, it was the best way for him to get an answer. Deimos let out a small chuckle,
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." They said, giving no indications that they would elaborate, much to Sheriff's disappointment.
'Believable or not, a story is a story.'
Sheriff thought, deciding to try again to get an answer.

"C'mon, I've heard plenty of weird stuff on the job, it can't be that unbelievable." He told Deimos, hoping this might entice them into telling him.
"Nah.. let's just say I got a little clumsy and leave it at that." Deimos replied, which only left Sheriff more intrigued. However, he knew pushing the question would only end up with Deimos getting annoyed again, so he decided to drop it for the time-being.

"Hey, you see that over there?" Deimos asked Sheriff, pointed over to somewhere in the distant left. Sheriff focused on the general area Deimos had pointed out, not being able to spot anything.
"No.. where are you seeing it?" He replied, hoping for some better directions,

"Just there, in between those two rocks?" Deimos told them, to which Sheriff focused harder into the distance. After a minute, to his surprise, he saw an outline of grey behind said rocks,
"How the hell did you see that?" Sheriff questioned, genuinely impressed by how they'd managed to find it. Deimos just shrugged, "Lucky gander?" They offered, seeming almost as confused as Sheriff felt. Either way, neither of them could complain, after all it's what they'd been hoping to find by coming out here.