Outside Of Life [WayHaught]

Tents

The rest of the day felt slow. They'd searched every store and every house on the next four streets. The sun was starting to set - that was how long they'd been outside and Waverly's feet weren't happy about it. At least with the day coming to an end, she knew they'd be heading back to the city and that meant she could go on her date with Nicole. As Waverly tried to casually spin around on the spot to see the redhead behind her, she realised the Sergeant was already beaming at her with a charming grin.

"Just another hour guys, and then we'll head back," Dolls said, taking a bite out of a twinkie he'd found. "We've done good work today; this is the furthest out we've been so far."

Wynonna put her hands in the air and squealed. "Get in! First round is on Doc when we get back, ok? Ok. Good. Now, let's hurry this up."

"I am not sure I agree with this plan of yours, Wynonna," the gunslinger said, confused. "Liquor is best consumed in the early evening unless it is whiskey. Whiskey may be drunk at any hour, for it is indeed a most beautiful and delicate drink."

The elder Earp burst out laughing, patting Doc hard on his back. "Oh my god, you crack me up sometimes." She put her hands on her hips and furrowed her brow, "It is indeed a most beautiful and delicate drink," she mimicked his voice the best she could, sniggering between every other word. "You're hilarious."

Waverly put a hand on the gunslinger's shoulder. "Try not to worry," she said. "Wynonna's just excited to be heading home again."

"I am sure we shall all be thankful for the wall to be in our sights once more, Miss Earp."

The brunette looked over her shoulder at Nicole again and smiled. She'd never been so excited, and nervous, to see a wall.

"Dolls? Oi! Come look at this!"

Waverly almost rolled her eyes as she saw Wynonna stood on an overturned lorry, jumping up and down.

"Guys, there's actually a really cool thing over here that you all totally need to see."

Sergeant Dolls reluctantly joined the elder Earp on top of the lorry and signalled something to Nicole. It wasn't long before Doc joined them too and Waverly didn't want to be left out so she scaled the vehicle, Nicole helping her up onto her feet.

"Careful," the redhead whispered. "If you get hurt, you can't come over for coffee."

Waverly bit her lip and then saw what Wynonna had found, her jaw suddenly dropping open. At the far end of the road was something that looked like a tent of sorts. There were red crosses painted on the sides and it was absolutely massive; it was probably stretched across the end of multiple streets, including the one they were on.

"So that's pretty friggin cool, right?" Wynonna was beaming, her smile going from ear to ear.

"It's not a bad find, Earp," Dolls said. "It looks like a military facility. Does anyone have binoculars?"

"Oh, I do," Nicole said, passing them to the other Sergeant.

"Perfect; there are soldiers patrolling the area."

Waverly raised an eyebrow at Dolls' tone. "Isn't that a good thing? Another human settlement or something?"

"Unfortunately not, Waverly; these soldiers are unclassified to us. All I know is that the last Outsider team came across a military facility like this, but didn't come back from attempts to make contact. The report we got back from them said something about human-zombie hybrids so, like I said, they're unclassified."

Wynonna let out a heavy sigh. "Well, that doesn't sound depressing or anything. Can we at least break into their tiny little bunker over there?" She pointed to a smaller tent about halfway between them and the facility. There were a couple of soldiers stood in front of it but that was all.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Nicole said, looking at Dolls. "What if these soldiers are simply hostile? If they're human, we don't have the right to injure them. If they're zombies, then how on earth are they so well-organised?"

"Sergeant Haught is right," Doc mumbled, straightening his stetson. "We cannot go in firing our weapons if these people still possess their minds. It is unwise, however, to assume they are like you or I."

Just as Waverly opened her mouth to speak, she heard two large bangs, making her jump. "Please don't say tell me-"

Nicole nodded slowly. "Wynonna just shot the guards and is now waving at us from the tent."

The team clambered off of the lorry and met Wynonna outside the smaller tent, Dolls blatantly giving her a hard stare. He also insisted on going into the tent first, Nicole following close behind. When they shouted for everyone else to enter, Waverly was stunned at how much stuff there was.

There was almost a wall-high pile of bullet-proof vests with boxes and trunks all over the floor. Wynonna headed straight to the vests and jumped head-first into them, sending them tumbling to the ground. Dolls and Doc opened up a couple of the trunks, finding machine guns, bullets and even a couple of rocket launchers inside.

"We need to take as much of this back as we can," Dolls said, already dropping handfuls of bullets into his hiking bag. "But only take what you can carry; we still need to return safe and in one piece."

Waverly took a couple of the smaller machine guns and squeezed them into her rucksack, the tips poking out of the top where the zips met. She then went to the back of the tent where the bullet-proof vests were and tried to find the smallest one possible in the hope it would actually fit her.

"Can I help?"

The brunette gasped but then smiled, feeling Nicole's breath on her neck. The Sergeant wasn't exactly being subtle although with Wynonna still shoulder-deep in the mountain of vests and guns, maybe that wasn't an issue.

"I'm not sure there's anything to help with," Waverly said, her voice hushed.

"So you know how to put on a vest properly and safely in a way that doesn't hurt your ribs after half an hour?"

"No..."

There was a small pause as Nicole gently moved a strand of hair from Waverly's face before she began to sift through the various vests around them.

"Ok, so I do need your help but just don't let Wynonna see."

"Why? Will she tease you for wearing safety equipment that stops you from dying?" The redhead bit her lip, trying not to laugh at the brunette's concerned face.

"Well not exactly," Waverly murmured.

"Then what could it be?"

"Hey, Haught stuff! Look what I found; it's a rocket launcher or something." Wynonna burst out of the mound of vests, holding the large weapon with a wide grin on her face. "Do you reckon it could fire donuts or something into someone's mouth? Asking for a friend, obviously."