Snippet #2532064

Nick smiled, she wasn't so shocked that she was being irrational. This was good, once he got her back to base and got her cleaned up maybe he could get some information out of her. Like how did she survive all by herself without getting caught or dying? He didn't want to turn his back on her but from this angle he couldn't see where he was going either, he decided that knowing she was behind him was better than not knowing so he turned around. Nick looked up at the sky as they walked, it was full of smoke as usual but he could tell that the sun would be setting soon and he didn't want to be out here in the dark, not again.

Nick had been outside at night once. He thought it was a good idea to continue his work at night, if he could finish early then he could ring the army to come get him and he could be promoted to sniper. When he was out there he had his clipboard, pen, tags, rifle, and flashlight helmet. When he was out there he was so focused on his work that he didn't hear it approaching until it rammed him at full speed. He was knocked onto his back, his helmet shattering, leaving him in total darkness with the beast. It kept charging at him and trampling him, every time Nick tried to get up it knocked him down again. Eventually he was so panicked that he grabbed his rifle and began shooting blindly. One bullet must have clipped it because he heard a pained yelp and heard hooves retreating. He was so terrified and hurt that he left everything but his gun and hobbled back to base as best he could. Nick didn't leave the base for a week after that, partially because of his fear and partially because of his wounds.

When he eventually did leave the base he carried two rifles and two pistols with him at all times for 4 months until he felt safe and he never left the base after dark. While Nick was remembering this he didn't realize they had made quite some progress. He could see the base now and he looked back at her and smiled. "You're going to be alright. That's my base of operations up ahead."