I Walk the Line (Cooper Howard x Reader)

The Luckiest Break of my Career

I had originally caught wind of the bounty for Dr. Siggi Wilzig while on a separate bounty for the death of a raider who had been starting trouble in the wasteland. I had tracked the raider to an abandoned house in the wasteland and hunted them down on the fateful night of their death. At least, I think it looked like it had once been a house. It was hard to tell what was what after all these years since the Great War. I snuck inside the house through a broken window. The floor was made of hardwood material, but the shine of the expensive furnishing had long since faded, with sand and dust taking away any hint of luxury the house once had.

I navigated my way through the house silently, making sure that my footsteps were silent. The house was dark and gloomy, with the only light coming from the pale moon through the windows. My rifle was in my hands with the safety off, ready to shoot anything that would get in my way. I listened closely to the noises of the house to pinpoint where the raider could be. I heard voices and victorious laughter from upstairs. I could easily tell that there were at least three of them by that alone. I snuck my way up the wooden staircase to the origin of the noises.

How stupid. These guys are supposed to be raiders and they don't have the common sense to be quiet at night? It's like they are asking to get caught...

I thought to myself as I peeked into the doorway. I saw the target and his comrades sitting around a fire, recklessly lit on the floor, with what seemed to be some kind of meat roasting on it. The target was in the center, with three other men by his side. Their backs were facing away from me. Another fatal error.

"Now listen here, the bounty for this doctor and his dumbass dog is crazy! Bringing this guy in could have us set for life! Now just imagine that..." He motioned to a sheet of paper in his hand excitedly. As he waved it, I caught a glimpse of a photo along with some other pieces of information. I didn't waste my time listening any further when I saw that he had all of the information about this mysterious target on that sheet of paper. I shot him in the head first, then quickly finished off his companions with a couple more shots.

"Thanks boys, seriously, this means a lot," I said with a smile, looking down at one of the raider's companions who was still alive. "Damn, look at you. Sucks to suck." I chuckled, shooting the raider's companion one final time to let him out of his misery. I picked up the piece of paper, now slightly splattered with my target's blood, and read it. After taking in the information, I folded it up and put it away in my bag. As I put the paper away, I took out my camera from my bag and snapped a photo of the scene for my father, who had ordered me to take on the bounty of the raider.

As I trekked across the barren wasteland, all I could think about was this bounty. I mean, ever since I was young, I had been nothing but a killing machine designed to make money to survive. Designed with such precision and skill that there was no way I could make an error. If I did, I didn't want to find out what would happen to me. I've seen siblings of mine be sent away due to their failures. They were not really my biological siblings, they were children found through the wasteland and given a new shot at life with our "Father".

Father was a compassionate man, once a vault dweller himself who had lost everything when calamity struck and he had to flee his vault. He never shares too much about his past, but he does all of this to give children who were once like him a chance. While making money of course. I was one of those children once and look at the life he has given me.

I feel grateful for all that he has done for me, but I can't help but feel bitter towards him, especially for all of my siblings who had been cast out for their failures. It has been quite some time since I have seen him since he has ruthlessly sent me on job after job out in the wasteland. Due to that, I've taken jobs like these. Unsavory jobs that the average bounty hunter would either not be able to handle physically or mentally.