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“I hope that helps,” Max said, his eyes bright. It was his last poultice, but he could make more. Keeping himself some distance from her he sat down crossing his legs so that they were now eye level, albeit some distance apart.

“May I get your name?” he asked. To Max she looked like she needed help. She did not shoot herself, and clearly she was in no way feeling trusting. He thought about how he looked, thought about her arm, then made an educated guess.

“I’m not a raider,” saying those words somberly. “I know I look like one by the way I am dressed, but it’s not true. I just keep this armor to help me survive out there,” he finished, shrugging his head towards the city outskirts.

Chasity's captor shoved her inside some sort of crate, and began to walk into town with her. "Human trafficking. Great. She thinks, "Why can't days be normal around here?" The man walks down the hill she was on. She tried to sense where he was going, but, couldn't pinpoint the exact area. She heard voices outside, talking. She recognized one as the man from before. She pounded on the crate walls, hoping to catch his attention.

" 'I promise im not a raider' sounds like something a raider would say." She joked slightly, her body language still tensed. She jumped slightly as she heard the pounding on the crate, looking up she saw the man walking with the crate. She got even more nervous as she looked back at the man infront of her, was he with him?

She slowly wrapped her arm up, looking between the men before speaking again, "Elise. Im Elise." She spoke quickly.

Max chuckled at Elise's point about what a raider would say. "Ya, I guess that is what they would say, isn't it." He kept smiling at Elise happy to see she still had her sense of humor. "Well I'm happy to meet you Elise."

At that moment a man came down the street pushing a wooden crate on a make shift dolly. Faintly Max heard a banging on the crate wall sounding clearly like someone who did not want to be in there.

"Hey friend," growled Max to the man pushing the crate, his tone clearly at odds with his words. "What you got in there?"

"I think you'd better mind your own damn business," the man hissed back, his hand reaching for the pistol at his hip.

Max rose to his feet and drew his shotgun from his back in one smooth motion leveling it at the man's chest. Whoever he was he clearly understood the threat, and held his hands up. The man's eyes however flickered to several spots down the street giving Max the feeling he was expecting backup.

"Elise, would you mind checking that crate while me and this guy have a chat?"

God, she didn't want to get involved. This could be a trap. A sticky one and she was getting herself right in the mix. The man who had given her the medical supplies looked rather serious. Maybe he was a good actor? She slowly creeped to the crate with a nervous look. What if it was a trap? Another man to leap from the crate? She started to shake as her hands wrapped around the lid of the box and quickly ripped it off to reveal another woman.

"oh!" Elise yelped, falling back onto her butt, a poof of dust kicking up as she landed.

As Elise cried out, falling back into the dirty, the man knocked Max's shotgun to one side going for a tackle. He was strong and fast, but Max dug in with his rear foot keeping him from getting underneath leverage. Quickly pivoting his hips and shoulders Max spun the man into the ground landing on top of him to drop several massive blows to the face.

Max wiped his bloody knuckles onto his pants as he stood from the near unconscious attacker. He picked his shotgun up from the ground and moved cautiously over to the crate for a closer look. Inside he saw the young blonde girl.

"Look at that, I think you found some secret cargo," Max said whimsically to Elise, offering his hand to help her up.

She looked as his hands and back at him, she takes it gently. His hands were rough. She stood and dusted off her pants. She nervously looked at the blonde and retreated behind Max, peaking from behind him to glance at her.

Elise's hand was warm and soft, enough for Max to give her a second look. Her black eyes and dark brown hair gave her an exotic look, and he could not help but wonder about her origins.

Still covering the man on the ground with his shotgun Max called out to the crate. "Why don't you come out of there and tell us who you are," sounding more stern than he meant to.

Turning his head to Elise he said, "Keep your eyes open in case this guy has friends."

She nodded and glanced behind them, then back at the crate. She felt a tad uncomfortable that this man was wielding a gun and she wasn't she slipped her hand in her jacket just in case.

She glanced up at Max, she couldn't deny his kind personality was a charming juxtaposition to his rough raider gear and scuffed exterior. She still couldn't place all her faith into him...or whoever was in the box, she whispered to Max"She seemed really young."

Chasity coughed up some sawdust. She quickly jumped out of the crate, and as soon as she did so, hurled. "God, I'm gonna have claustrophobia after this." She mutters.

"My name is Chasity." She says, putting her hands up in the air. As soon as she did so, she winced. The man must've broke one of her ribs while grabbing her. She cradled her side, pulling her hand away to find blood. "Great." She mumbles.

The man laying on the ground began to cough as he tried to roll up on his side. His face was smashed and bloody, but he was starting to come around.

“This guy was taking you somewhere Chastity and no doubt he had friends there that will come looking for him,” hurried Max. “Let’s get you off this street and into cover and check your side.”

Max turned to face Elise. “We need to keep to check your gun shot as well. Your arm is going to get worse without attention.” He turned looking up and down the street. “It’s getting late. We can grab a room at the local inn until we figure out what we want to do.”

Max looked back and forth at the two injured girls. “Will you let me help you?”

"He's a human trafficker. I know exactly what they wanted from me." She frowns. They were going to sell her as property. As a slave. They'd force her to do terrible things. She shuddered at the thought. It wasn't uncommon, but it disgusted her.

“Will you let me help you?” She heard him ask. "Please do." She pauses, observing her surroundings. "My bag. I need to go get it." She said, urgency in her voice. Khan. Her weapons. She needed all of it. Now. She wouldn't be able to survive without them. She'd surely break.

His question rang in her ears and she shook her head, "I'm fine by myself. She needs more attention." She turned the opposite way. A stranger was still a stranger regardless of how friendly they seemed. She still had a twinge of fear and distrust. She was used to being by herself, anyway.

Max leaned into the crate and grabbed Chastity's bag swinging it up on his shoulder. He walked over and gave Chastity a cursory look over, but did not see any bleeding; most of her injuries must be internal he reasoned.

The man was trying to get over to his pistol which Max quickly snatched up from the ground. An idea from his darker self welled up inside him, and for a moment he contemplated smashing his boot into the man's face to keep him down. After a moment's hesitation he quieted that thought and walked back to Chastity.

Supporting her somewhat Alex turned back to Elise. "I don't think you are going to be fine by yourself. Your arm needs some serious attention. A bullet hole like that and you could bleed out before you knew it. Besides, I really could use your help."

She looked down. He was right, she was having a rather difficult time on her own but...she never really liked others presence. It made her incredibly nervous. But seeing the condition of the young girl made her figure she could help out. She looked back up at him and sighed, "Fine. I'll go with you," her eyes narrowed before she continued "but you try to pull anything and you're going to be sorry." It was an empty threat but a threat no less.

Max nodded to Elise, relieved to know she was coming with them. He had no idea of her fighting prowess, but he appreciated her fighting spirit. Clearly she was not one to just roll over and die when things became tough. Seems like they always turned tough sooner or later.

The ragged band limped its way down some side streets to a worn out tavern that offered rooms above the drinking area. Max helped Chastity up the stairs and they made their way to a small dingy room with a single cot in the corner.

"Looks like we got luxury accommodations," Max joked although in truth the environment did not phase him. He helped Chastity over to the cot then began looking through the small window and checking the door and hallway. He tried to get a good lay out of the building as well as assess it's tactical problems in case they needed to make a rapid escape.

Elise studied the room, taking a corner for herself she sat down. She watched Max as he checked the doorways and windows. Windows. She didn't like rooms with windows very much, she tried to ignore it. She looked over at Chasity momentarily before following Max again.

After checking the area as best he could Max made his way back to one side of the room and sat near the corner where he could keep an eye on both the door and the window. He lay his rucksack and shotgun on the floor then removed some a small first aid kit from his pack. He did not have any more poultice, but he had fresh dressings and some other odds and ends.

"Hey Elise," he said softly, crossing his legs as he sat on the floor, "can I take a look at that wound on our arm? I wanna make sure we didn't get it bleeding again making our way up here."

"Uhm...sure....I guess.." She replied hesitantly, slowly taking off her jacket. She felt vulnerable without the thick coat draped around her and she tensed up a bit. She stood and slowly made her was to him and sat near him, watching his every movement.

Max was happy to see Elise remove her coat so he could have a look at her arm. More so he was more than a little concerned by her being so under weight. She must have been out in the wasteland a long time to thin down so much.

"Here's some jerky," handing a small pack to her while trying not to come across as pushy.

Indeed her arm had begun bleeding again. As gently as he could he maneuvered her forearm around trying to gauge the wound without removing the bandages. From the fresh blood seeping through the bandage the bullet appeared to have passed right through her flesh.

Holding her arm with care Max gently wrapped more gauze around that which was already there, fearful removing the old gauze would cause the wound to bleed even worse.

"We may have to find you a doctor." Max nodded to Chastity. "I know she has medic training, but she may not be in any shape to help you with this. I can keep pressure on it until the bleeding slows down and suture the wound, but anymore is beyond my skills."