Snippet #2469635

"C'mon...c'mon...just a bit closer.." Ameratzu quietly prayed from her cover. She watched the pack of wild coyotes circle the dead gecko she'd booby trapped with a powder charge. If she measured the amount of powder correctly, the gecko should absorb most of the heat, and the concussive force should kill at least two coyotes, provided they took the bait. If the gecko wasn't half rotted away already, she'd have been eating that. As it stood, she was three days in the hole without food, so she was getting desperate.

Tentatively edging in, one of the coyotes nipped at the gecko's toe and darted away. Apparently someone had tried this particular ploy before, and these dogs had survived it. Maybe the food would still get the better of them. Ami white knuckled the grip on her detonator, cursing fervently every time the coyotes refused to bite. Finally, they appeared to be satisfied and three of the pack settled in to eat.

"Ahh! You little bastards. I gotcha now!" She clicked the detonator rapidly, almost crushing it with her hands. The following carnage played out exactly as she'd planned. Absorbing most of the fireball and a small amount of shockwave, the gecko's body launched into the air, bisected by the explosion. The three coyotes that had started to eat didn't even have time to yelp in surprise or pain as the force wave slammed into them, killing them instantly. The other two that had stayed on watch escaped the lethal blast zone, but were still tumbled about by the shockwave. Ameratzu was already on her feet and sprinting down the hill, almost tripping over her own feet and eating dirt several times. She managed to get the drop on one of the coyotes staggering to its feet, catching it on the side of the head with a savage kick.

"Sorry, dog. I need to eat too." Stomping on the dog's skull several times, Ami finally split the head open and sent several chunks of brain splattering messily onto the baking hot dirt. The next several hours saw her cleaning, gutting and shaving the four coyote corpses, stringing them onto a line of sturdy wire for ease of transport. Her hunger drove her to consume half of one after all the preparations were completed, however.

Her hunger sated temporarily, Ami slung her catch over her shoulder, unclipped the holster for her pistol, and set off down the road. A couple days and another half of a coyote later, she found herself rolling into a little duster village. The place looked deserted, but one could never be too sure. Unholstering her weapon, Ami loosed a loud whistle, raising her welder's mask so she could scan the environment better. She made it halfway around a corner before noticing two bandit types trying to get into a house that appeared to be occupied. Backpedaling quickly, Ami brought her gun to a ready position and peeked out from behind the house again.

'Any sign of trouble from these bandits and I'm gonna hose them,' she thought.