Chapter Text
Janey felt many things at the current moment.
Cold, feverish, scared, confused. But most of all, she was tired.
I say all this, to elaborate that Janey Howard was currently being chased by a rather large, fire-breathing gecko.
To a native of the Wasteland, it was fairly obvious what a Mojave gecko looked like, but Janey was neither a native nor from this time. All she knew was that it was big, mean, and could roast her alive if she didn’t keep running.
As she kept running, the poor child would stumble over rocks and stray plants in her path. Janey wasn’t used to the boots she was wearing, and her feet were starting to feel like they were on fire. The sky was slowly turning dark, and with the way her vision was beginning to blur, it would be impossible to see where she was going soon.
No sooner had she ran past a banana yucca tree, she had enough sight left to spot a hole in a massive rocky outcropping. It was at least several yards away, but to her, it was her only hope. Janey could hear the hissing of the beast behind her, and prayed that it wasn’t able to dig through rocks.
30 yards, then 20, then 10, and finally, close enough for her to sprint and slip her small frame into the niche. There was enough space to fit her whole body, and she crawled to where the hole ended. It was a close call; just as she went to the end, the gecko stopped at the entrance, staring her down with piercing golden eyes. Janey grabbed a rock, and with a shaking hand, threw it at the reptile. It hit the animal’s snout, and it backed away for a moment.
“G-Go on! Shoo!”
But it didn’t listen.
She could see it begin to open its mouth, as vapor started to emit from it. From its gaping maw, she smelled a foul odor that was sparking.
This was it. She was trapped, and this monster was going to roast her alive.
Janey closed her eyes, and waited.
But her death never came.
Just as she began to close them, a loud staccato crack came from the distance, followed by the sound of popping flesh, and dripping liquid.
The child slowly opened her eyes, and saw that the gecko was now injured- the noise, she deduced, could only come from a gunshot. On the sides of its head were two injuries: an entry hole, and an exit wound, which resembled the bloom of a flower, made of flesh, blood and something oozing and yellow.
It stumbled around, seemingly disorienting, as blood continued to pool around it, before the gecko turned to the right and gave a gurgling hiss. The animal began to click its mouth to set whatever it saw ablaze, but it was too late. A mass of green and brown attacked the reptile, the jaws of whatever it was locking around the throat of the bleeding animal.
The gecko continued to try and fight, but blood was soon filling its maw, and it began to hang limply in the creature’s mouth. A solid * CRACK * filled the air, and whatever this thing was let go of the gecko’s corpse, which fell limply onto the red sand, the dry texture absorbing what it could.
Janey sat there, cold and sweaty, as she saw the animal soon turn its sight onto her. Now that the gecko was dead, she could get a better look at this thing .
This had to be one of the most disgusting dogs she had ever seen; at least, she hoped it was a dog. Green, with patches of brown fur growing here and there, and a wrinkled face with protruding fangs. The muzzle was currently coated in a thick layer of blood, which dripped onto the ground in heavy rivulets. And the eyes, a deep earthen brown, were currently locked with Janey’s gaze.
She was certain that this “dog” was going to come after her next, but after a minute of waiting, the “dog” simply sat down and waited. Soon after, she heard what sounded like rocks being kicked up in the distance, and the thing turned its head to look.
“Hey, whatcha got there, Twoey?”
A voice, it sounded a little older than her, but still a child’s voice.
“Twoey” turned back to the niche, and dug into the entryway with its paws.
“Something in there?”
It gave a soft *boof*. Whatever that meant, the kid clearly understood it, and soon Janey heard the crunching again, until she saw a face poke into the entryway.
A boy, maybe a few years older, with loose black hair and freckles on his face. It was hard to see with the dimming sunlight, but Janey could swear that his eyes were starting to glow.
“You o-k?”
Was she? Janey’s mind was a mess of blurry memories and feelings, and every minute felt like agony on her body.
“I…I don’t know.”
The boy backed away from the niche until he was able to kneel in front of it. In his hands was a large rifle, far too big for someone his size to use.
“Well, you’re lucky we were here! Twoey saw the gecko, and well, you saw what happened. Need any help getting out?”
Here was a stranger, someone she didn’t know, offering to help her. No one else knew she was here, aside from this kid, and anything could happen. Janey’s mind was getting hazier by the minute, and everything felt funny.
Slowly, she made her way to the entryway of the outcropping, and began to stand back up. She wiped her face, which felt cold.
“T-Thank you?”
The boy looked at her. “You feeling alright? Your face is starting to get all sweaty.”
“I don’t…it’s…”
Before she could answer, her body did it for her. Janey fell forward, and it was only by instinct that the other child could catch her fast enough.
“Hey! Dangit! C’mon, stay awake a little longer, ok?”
The last thing Janey heard was the other kid yelling for something. To who and for what, she couldn’t tell, but it was nice to hear someone’s voice before she went back to sleep again.
And so she slept. For the first time in a long while, Janey felt warm.