One Bullet, Two Endings

Hickock Ridge, Mojave Desert 0530 (Chapter 3)

I was awoken by a slap. I groggily looked around. Nicholas, Mia, and I were tied up outside of our cave and at gunpoint by raiders. A raider approached Nicholas to wake him up but instead was greeted by spit. Nicholas had a large cut on his forehead.

"Don't fucking touch me, dickhead!" The raider wiped the spit from his face and punched Nicholas to the ground. He continued to punch until he was pulled back. He dragged Nicholas up into a sitting position. His face was now bruised and bleeding badly.

"You don't have the guts to kill me. I'm part of the 1st Recon. I'm a fucking badass!" He laughed before being backhanded.

"Your one stupid man aren't you?" The raider would place his right hand under Nicholas's chin and grabbed it only to bite.

"That's it wild beast." The raider would wave a hand up and another raider walked in and grabbed Nicholas holding him in place. The main raider would pry open Nicholas's mouth before taking out his tongue and holding it between his index and thumb. He would lower his hand and unsheathe his crude dagger made from a death claws tooth. He placed it on Nicholas's tongue and cut downward ripping the tongue off gruesomely. It left only a little chunk left in his mouth. Nicholas groaned and cried as he watched the raider fumble around with his tongue. I fought my stomach but I couldn't hold it back. I threw up In front of me.

"You like that? How about more?" The raider ran over to Nicholas and dragged him into the middle. He grabbed him by his hair and pulled his head back opening his unprotected throat.

"No no no no no!" I began to scream but It was too late. The raider placed his dagger on Nicholas's throat. He slid it across his throat as if it was a hot knife on butter. Blood spewed out of his throat like a frog's tongue, leaping out for its prey. I would have said more but I knew he was dead. The raiders laughed some more before kneeling down scalping the corpse of Nicholas. I looked down one last time before passing out.

I awoke to see six bodies. Five raiders, and one Nicholas. I looked in the corner only to see Mia twirling around a knife.

"What the hell happened?"

"They began to get annoying." I quickly realized that this was the first time I've ever heard her voice. It was very calm like the ocean's current but strict at rename time, even for a time like right now. I wanted to ask more since I didn't exactly understand what she meant but I responded with a shake of my head. I stood up, stretched, and stepped over the bodies.

"We should get up to the peak. We still have a mission and I'm starting to get more freaked out." I would say before leaving the cave

Parrot Peak, Mojave Desert 0623

I swirled the water canteen around in the air, trying to catch something. As I did so, Mia cleaned the lens of the scope on the anti-material rifle.

"Do you think we're going to see this bastard anytime soon?" She shrugged before placing the rifle down. We wait a couple more second. Here and there I laid down and snooped around the camp using my binoculars. I saw horrid sights as if it walked out of a horror book. NCR soldiers, wastelanders, and raiders were strung up on crosses being crucified. They were slowly being pecked away by crows and vultures. Some of the crosses held nothing but bones and fly infested moldy flesh. The crosses were stained with blood as well.

"Jesus..." I continued to scan. Besides the horrors, I saw lots of tents. I stared at one that had people constantly walking in and out.

"I think I found our man."