Nememiah smiled at the compliment. High praise indeed. The two of them began to walk at a faster pace to catch the group. Looking down, Nememiah saw the dog, still at his ankle, keeping up at an unsteady hobble.
"Go away!" said Nememiah, ushering the dog away with his hands. "Go on!"
The dog merely looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
Andy chuckled. "I told you it would follow you!" he laughed.
Nememiah wasn't sure what to think. This was a wild animal, after all. Would it turn on them as soon as it regained it's strength? Would it be more trouble than it was worth? What if it were to bark at the wrong time, and attract a super mutant horde? Nememiah shuddered. He didn't want to be responsible for the massacre of the group.
But then again... the animal was clearly injured, despite his treatment. It hobbled along by his ankle with an almost amusing gait. It wouldn't last five minutes out in the wilderness.
"Fine." said Nememiah, bluntly. "You can come. But I don't want any trouble from you!"
The dog whined.
Hoping the decision wouldn't come back to haunt him, Nememiah jogged to catch up with the others, Andy and the dog in tow.

Sam had been walking in a sleepy stupor since finally setting off from Megaton. She looked in her small pack for some sort of pick-me-up. Failing that she sighed and carried on walking. Looking behind occasionally when gun shots were heard. She saw young guy and the ghoul she hadn't met yet huddled over a bundle on the floor. She stopped and watch for a while, realising it was a dog. She tilted her head and looked at it. She liked animals but when she was a slave for Raiders, the only dogs she saw were there to make sure she didn't escape. She decided to fall back a bit as the threesome caught up, unable to keep up with the pace of the others anyway in this state.

"That dog safe?" She said, looking down at the injured dog. Her hand idly placed on the hilt of her combat knife.

Nememiah also looked down at the hound, which still was looking up at him with reverence. "Honestly, I don't know." he said, in answer to the question. "But it's lost a lot of blood. I've got blood packs, but I doubt mixing human and canine blood will end well. For now, at least, it doesn't have the strength to fight."
He looked up at this new companion. "Nememiah, by the way." he said, offering a hand. "What's your name?"

She furrowed her brow at the dog but decided it wouldn't be a threat seeing as it's injured. She let her hand fall away from the blade and held it out to Nememiah. "Interesting name. My name is..." She thought whether to trust the group with her real name but shrugged. No harm could come from it. "It's Samantha. Call me Sam or Fowl..." She smiled at him.

Nememiah returned the smile. "So how did you end up with this group? You don't look like the sort that would hang around with these guys, if you don't mind me saying." he said, knowing full well that he too was out of place here.

Sam ran a hand through her hair and looked back in the direction of Megaton, then back at Nememiah. "Well... A few years ago I was taken by a group of raiders, I was their slave. I have no idea where I used to live in relation to Megaton there... After years of travel, I doubt I'll ever make it back home..." She said to herself more than to Nememiah. She shook her head, bringing it back to the present and looked ahead. "Anyway... I managed to escape the Raiders about six or seven months ago and after a couple weeks of hardly any food, made it to Megaton. A owner of a restaurant took me and I've been working for them up until a few hours ago when all these travellers showed up." Sam guestured in general at the group infront of her. "Alfons..." She stood on her tip toes, looking to the front of the pack and pointed him out. "Gave me an offer to become traveling companions with him... I agreed after realising that... Well, I'm 20... I have a whole life ahead of me. No point being stuck in Megaton for the rest of my life... What about you? What you doing here?"

"I can sympathize with that." He looked across at Sam. "Not the slavery thing - I've never experienced anything on that level. I lived in Rivet City all my life, and decided a while back it was time to see the wastes, do something. So, after some months of traveling, I found myself at Megaton. I met Andy there-" he said, gesturing towards the ghoul who grunted. "And, since this group had no medic, I decided to offer my service in exchange for a little adventure." he laughed. It sounded like a silly prospect, coming out of his own mouth. "They say we're headed towards an old Enclave base. Sounds as though my handiwork is going to be necessary."

Sam smiled and looked at him. "Glad to have you along then." She trudged through the dry ground, looking at the group. "I advice you never to get caught by slavers." She said with a weak smile. She straightened the hem of her jacket over her bare stomach, thinking of the Raider lay with a slit throat when she escaped. She pulled out her trench knife and caught it in the light, looking up and down it. She sighed. "So... Much combat experience? Killed much?" She glanced over at Nememiah briefly, not really wanting to catch his eye incase he caught the guilt in her own eyes.

"Nothing substantial... I've fought a fair few animals, mirelurks, that kind of thing during my travels in the wastes. But living in Rivet City, there's not a lot of combat opportunity." He looked at the trench knife Sam was holding, cautiously. "And yourself?"

((OOC: last post, back in about 20 mins maybe ))

Same opened her mouth to say something, hesitant as she thought. She sighed. "A few raiders as they slept, when I escaped." She glanced at the floor, feeling a bit guilty. "I'm not really proud of killing people but... I had to." She saw Nememiah eying up her knife and tucked it back into her belt. "Sorry..." She muttered, then added with a small smile. "Don't worry, it won't be used on you."

Nememiah nodded, solemnly. "I understand. Raiders are scum." he said with genuine malice, thinking about his father. The strap of his rifle was digging into his back. He readjusted it to a more comfortable position. "I'll be honest with you - I'd love the chance to put a bullet in a raiders head." He glanced across at Sam, afraid of revealing his darker side, but her expression did not change. "In fact, it's one of the reasons I left home. To find my father - or avenge his death." He fiddled with his rifle again. Killing another human went against his every principal, but deep down he had a dark desire to do so. If punishing wrongdoers meant violence, so be it. Let God decide their fate.

Sam bit her lip, thinking of what Nememiah said. She was silent for a couple of minutes as they walked, looking at the floor. She kicked away a rock then looked up again. "Just don't get addicted to killin' people, alright? Revenge can lead to madness and chaos." She thought back to killing the lead Raider's young daughter, leaving her father to live, his tendons behind his knees and elbows cut as he watched. "... Trust me. I know what it's like to take revenge... Let it build up and you'll do something you'll regret." She looked away and dug her hand into one of her pockets, pulling out a small bottle of whiskey she had taken from the Brass Lantern. She took a long swig from it and put it away.

Nememiah smiled to himself. This was the second piece of good advice he'd received today. If nothing else, he would at least come out of this a wiser man. Assuming he did come out of this, that was. "I'll try to remember that." he said.
Looking across at Sam, he noticed the cut on her cheek. "That's a nasty scratch." he said. "Have you washed it? You don't want to catch an infection, not out here."

Until now, she'd forgotten about the cut on her cheek. Now it was mentioned she felt a dull throb of pain from it. She touched it gingerly. "I tried washing it with alcohol. Don't know how much good that did though." She reached into another pocket and pulled out a small item wrapped in a cloth, she unwrapped it and looked in the broken piece of mirror of it, touching the cut as she did.

"Alcohol would be my first bet too. It's by no means ideal, but I wasn't able to pick up any antiseptics, so it's the best we've got. The best I could find for this mutt was Andy's vodka." he said, nudging the animal by his ankle affectionately. He put on a single latex glove. "if you don't mind..." he touched the damaged tissue gently with his gloved hand, inspecting the wound. It didn't look too bad. "Well, there's no sign of infection. The alcohol must have done the trick." he withdrew his arm and removed the glove. "Just keep an eye on it. It may seem minor, but if it goes septic we have a problem. I know it's not easy out here, but try to keep it clean." He said, returning his attention to what lay ahead.

"Okay... Thanks." Sam smiled and put away the mirror. She ran a hand through her hair again, letting a lock of hair fall over her cut, partially covering it. She looked around as she walked, silent again for a while. "What's it like in Rivet City? I've heard about it but never been. The only 'civilised'," She emphasised the 'civilised' with her fingers. "Place I've... Been to was Paradise Falls, and I was the involuntary... Don't take the name as truth. The name's ironic."

"Rivet city is..." he paused, searching for the right words. "It's safe. Very safe. But it's also dull." He hesitated. "Steel passageways and metal halls get kind of old, you know? Living in Rivet City is like... I'm not gonna say a vault, but I expect it's pretty damn close. There's hundreds of people who would kill for a place on that boat, but I always felt too... confined, living there."

Rice walked slowly beside the group. The dog was walking beside Nememiah. Rice unholstered his sword and practiced with it. Each swing he imagined that an Enclave soldier was on the other side, felling the pain. He decided he needed a pistol to go with his sword. He only used his sword with one hand so his free hand could hold a pistol and take out any enemy at a distance. If he found a pistol he would surely take it, although it would be tough to reload with one hand. The sun was getting low now. Rice continued on walking at his normal pace. Quick strides that were faster and longer than the others. He had grown accustomed to moving fast. He depended on his legs to and arms to get him out of situations, not a gun or piece of machinery. He felt somewhat proud of that.

Sam nodded, trying to imagine Rivet City. She'd started shuffling her feet now. She'd been working and walking for over a day. Her legs were tired and her eyes heavy. Stifling a yawn and covering her month, she looked around.

Surely we're going to rest sometime soon. She thought, her stomache aching with hunger aswell. She wished she ate some of that mole rat now. The raw, putrid smelling meat wasn't exactly appealing to her.

She watched Rice flourish and pratice with his weapons. A melee fighter. She thought. At least now I have someone to relate to. She looked around at all the other people, firearms hanging off them. She took out Stabhappy and her trench knife and examined them, holding them out infront of her.

The sun was low on the horizon now. The dying light lazily licked the rocky ground, leaving deep valleys of shadow stretching behind each and every feature of the landscape. Oranges and yellows mixed in the sky, illuminating the usually dull terrain with a golden light. Nememiah watched the horizon in silence, thinking of his past and future.
"Perhaps we should make camp now." he suggested. "It will be nightfall soon, and we should be safer if we pitched in and lit a fire. I certainly don't fancy walking through this place in the dark."

Edward said, "Good point, it is getting late." At that moment, he noticed they had reached the city limits. He then said to the man with the Hunting Rifle and the wild dog, "And you are?"

Sam sighed with relief as they slowed. She looked at the head of the pack. "Isn't it the kid's choice when we stop?" She nodded at the youngest of the group leading us. She looked around the darkening wastes. "Don't want to know what could be out there in the darkness."

"Nememiah" said Nememiah, offering a hand. "Pleased to meet you. And your name is?"

Edward said, "Nehemiah, huh, after the Biblical prophet." He continued, "I'm Edward, Edward Grey, but you can call me Ed if you desire." He then clasped Nehemiah's hand in a handshake. He then said, "So what's your story?"

Nememiah smiled. "Nope, not Nehemiah. Nem, with an M - archangel of justice, protecter of the weak. But you weren't far off." He took a seat and dropped his baggage, seeing as they seemed to be stopping here for the night. "I'm from Rivet city. But, if you've been there, I'm sure you know how it is. I came into the wastes for a bit more excitement, and so, here I am." He looked up at Ed. "What about you? You got a story to tell?"