Time resumed and Afton was bombarded with an ungodly amount of knowledge concerning the Science Perk. He grimaces but tries to conceal it by rubbing his face as casually as he can manage. All the while feeling like every cell in his body was on fire...

"You alright Parker?" Dhatri asks, he'd seen the kid act like this before, last time had left him in hospital for two days straight. ​​

Afton nods and waves him off, not noticing the large nosebleed he was currently having, causing everyone else to raise a brow at him. "I'm fine, just thinking about what to do next." he says, trying his best not to let the pain show.

"Kid, you're bleeding." Karl states as blood trickles from his nose and begins pooling under his recon armour...

Afton really hadn't noticed the wet sensation on his face due to how much pain he was actually in, both physically and mentally. "Ah, really?"

Karl just shakes his head, "We're putting you in the hospital before you start bleeding everywhere again.

"Er, no. I'm fine... Just a nosebleed." he says, wiping his face with his single remaining arm and having his eyes widen at the amount of blood. Really, he couldn't refuse being looked over by the doctor when he was bleeding this much... At least he was conscious this time, right?

Elsewhere :

Tamia and Veronica had been walking beside the Happy Trails Caravans for a while now, her Pipboy map stated that they were almost there, but it was always hard to tell with the maze-like canyons that lead here.

She was lucky Veronica beat the pulp out of that lying addict called Ricky, bastard thought he could hit on her just because they were both wearing Vault Suits. Afterwards, she managed to blackmail him as his Pipboy was clearly defective.

One glance at Ricky told the whole story, the guy looking like he hated life right about now, being forced to carry all of Tamia and Veronica's gear or risk getting exposed and left alone in the canyons.

Jed Masterson, the leader of the Happy Trails Caravan points at the cave exit with an excited expression, "That's it, I think we're here boys and girls!"

A small cheer erupts from the few armed mercenaries charged with keeping the Caravan safe, the group exit out of the cave and Tamia squints slightly as her eyes readjust to the bright desert sun... Well, almost desert-sun? Up ahead Tamia could see many trees that looked suspiciously like those 'pine' one's she'd read about, to be honest, they look somewhat familiar to her though.

"Woow, this place is beautiful." Veronica says as she looks over at the picturesque seen before them. The group was currently standing on a large hill that gave them a view of most of Zion, sprawling hills, rivers, trees, and almost primitive-looking constructions could be seen, all of which left Veronica gawking like some sort of tourist.

Her companion was still wearing that out-of-place-looking robe, but had taken her advice and was now wearing armour beneath it. The only thing the robe actually seemed good for was concealing her power fist and plasma pistol, both of which were expensive enough to attract unwanted attention should they be seen.

Tamia nods, "Sure is, feels almost like a vacation from the Mojave..."

"You two, stop gaping and let's go, who knows when trouble'll rear its ugly head." A voice belonging to the caravan guard leader known as Stella brings the duo from their thoughts.

The balding man wearing a vault suit known as Ricky just sneers at her, "Yeah? I'll take care of it if that happens, they don't call me dead-hunte-*Cough* Dead-Eye Ricky for nothin'!"

Stella just scowls and looks away from the man after hearing this, everyone was aware of Ricky's fraudulent claims at this point. How can a man who flees from a Gecko claim to have beaten *DeathJaws*, a supposedly bigger and stronger variant of regular Deathclaws.

"Now, now, the hard part is over. Now we just need to contact the tribes willing to trade and the trip will be a success!" Jed Masterson says with a deep but chipper voice.

The group walked down the large hill for a couple minutes, all the while Tamia could feel that something was up... The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling, something she'd only felt when she was being hunted by a pack of coyotes... Her eye twitches at a quiet sound and she glances to teh side to see small pebbles falling from the cliff above. Her eyes widen as she looks up and shouts, "It's an ambush!"

Quickly Stella and the rest of the Caravan guards jump into action, leaping behind cover while scouring the area with their eyes, Jed Masterson hiding in the safest place... Behind Stella.

As for Ricky? He was currently running as fast as he can back the way they came. He'd be disappointed though, the way back was too steep for anyone to traverse without proper equipment.

Tamia grips her axe in her right-hand while readying a .44 Magnum Revolver in her left.

*Bang!*

The familiar sound of a hunting rifle firing goes off, though the target causes a small grin to make its way onto her face... Ricky falls over like a puppet with its strings cut, a new hole in the back of his head.

Fortunately, with Ricky's 'unfortunate' sacrifice, she and everyone else now knew the enemies position. She could spot a few tribal-looking men wielding various weapons positioned above them on the cliff face.

Not wasting any more time she starts firing at them, her skill with the revolver not matching her skill with the axe, but it was still enough to put a couple down. Veronica herself was accurate blowing people to pieces with plasma bolts, large parts of their bodies liquefying into green goo. Damn, Plasma weapons were terrifying.

Tamia glances over to the Jed Masterson and Stella to get some orders on what to do next, but is horrified to see machine gun fire blitz them, killing both almost instantly. This was incredibly bad as Stella was the only one with any real experience in these lands.

It didn't take long after that for the rest of the Caravan Guards to start dropping like flies, leaving only Tamia and Veronica to deal with the enemy...

"Why does it always fall to us to deal with this shit!" Tamia complains as she reloads her weapon.

"Hey, it must be you causing it as I never had this much trouble before travelling with you!" her companion states.

"Yeah? Well? I don't like your hair!"

Veronica growls at her, "That's a low blow fem-Grognak."

"Whatever! Just keep shooting!"