Cyberpunk 2077: V

Prologue: Chapter 3 - The First Step

After the corpo soldier dropped his bomb on V, they didn't speak for hours. V didn't even bother picking up the MREs that fell from her trembling hands, instead electing to curl up in her folding chair. She sat there, numb, trying to process what the MiliTech man had said; and the implications of it.

At first V was defensive and angry that the corp had accused her clan of such a thing, of sinking to the level of the Raffen Shiv. But even as she desperately tried to rationalize it, she knew he was right...Her sixth sense had kicked in, telling her that something was off about that salvage run. That something was strange about Tom's voice. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that there must have been something her subconscious had picked up on to warn her. 

On top of it was the corpo's conviction. He was also angry and defensive; and as much as it felt weird to admit, it sounded like he had experience dealing with Nomads. He knew her clan's name and their colors, and that they weren't like the other Nomad families. Bakkers had a strict policy of no convoy hitting, no raiding; just salvaging and living purely off the land. He knew they didn't go after corpo convoys minding their own business, ferrying cargo.

Or...at least they hadn't.

It wasn't until evening had fallen that V felt herself surface back to reality. The corpo wasn't moving, and the bulkiness of his uniform made it hard to tell if he was breathing. A twinge of panic flickered through V's chest, and she quickly and quietly rose from her chair to stalk towards him. As she kneeled by his side, she was relieved to see that he was breathing; in fact she could hear him. V waited for what she surmised to be his soldier instincts kicking in, alerting him that someone, an enemy, was kneeling by him in a defenseless state. But he didn't. He continued to sleep, face still pale in the flickering light of V's old oil lamp. 

V took that opportunity to study him, curiosity getting the better of her. He had a handsome face, she realized; structured cheekbones and strong jaw, with thick eyebrows that balanced his features. His hair was the color of wheat glistening in the desert sun, buzzed short on either side of his head, with the top part long. 

He didn't have the face of a liar. He didn't look evil or manipulating or cruel. He didn't look like someone who would gun down a pregnant Nomad as she ran to a burning trailer to save her three children. He didn't look like the type of corpo that the clan talked about and hated; that Zach especially, hated.

That strange darkness that V noticed in those around her...this MiliTech soldier didn't have it. When she'd stared into his eyes, there had been nothing but pure blue.

V felt her jaw set, and she quietly rose to her feet. The corpo was breathing, and despite what she knew must have been a horrific wound, he'd managed to drink water and use the bathroom by himself. Unphased, V reached down and picked up the sloshing water bottles that the corpo had filled before he went to sleep, vowing to dispose of them and keep his pride intact.

She snuffed out the oil lamp, cloaking the tent in darkness. If anyone, for some strange reason, felt the need to walk over to V's tent and look in, they would assume the sleeping form on her cot was V. She then quietly opened the tent flap, gave one last look at the corpo, and slipped out into the night.

V snuck carefully along the wall of the canyon, quickly and quietly making her way towards the main hub of the camp. She'd just reached the trailer, her and Freddy's old trailer that now belonged to the Stantons with their twins, when the sudden howling and yipping of coyotes made her jump. She nearly dropped the bottles in her hands, but she managed to catch them. V immediately sunk low against the rock behind some brush when a light flicked on in the trailer window.

"Wh-aw hell, see Marnie? Nothin' out there. Just some coyotes gettin' frisky up the ways. Go back to sleep..."

John's voice, muffled by the metal and plastic of the trailer wall, slipped out of a cracked window. V heard some shuffling, followed by the sound of the window snapping closed. She didn't move until the light turned off. Once V was sure it was safe to continue on, she slipped from behind the bush and pressed on towards her goal.