"Grab the gun laying over there and see if you can hit these bottles."

I looked to where she was pointing and saw an old beat up Varmint Rifle. I reached down and examined it, just like with the radio as soon as I touched it I knew everything about the gun. How to reload it, the proper stance I needed, and how to perform maintenance on it.

I took aim and fired a shot at the first bottle 30 feet away. It shattered and the recoil forced me back a bit. Now that I knew what to expect it only took a couple more seconds to take out the rest of the bottles.

"Hmm" Sunny hummed as I finished shooting "You didn't do great but, it wasn't too terrible either. Alright I'll take you out into the desert and show you the ropes" she motioned for me to follow her.

"Alright" I said while reloading the Varmint Rifle.

"You can keep that by the way" she pointed at the gun in my hand "It's an older one I just kept around as a spare."

She led me south down the road out of town and said we were going to clear the springs. Apparently it was he job to go down there once every couple of days and kill all the Giant Geckos that liked to hang around there.

I asked her if I could try and clear the area myself and to only help if I needed it. She agreed saying that I would be good experience for me. I laughed when she said that, thinking that it was more true than she could imagine.

The Springs ended up being way further for the town than in the game. It took us well over half an hour to get there and as we got closer I could see Sunny tensing up for a fight.

I made sure the safety on my Pistol was off and reading the Rifle.

As we were crouching along if I listened carefully I could hear strange hissing sounds and the patter of tiny feet. Sunny whispered to me that the first Spring was just up ahead.

I crept around a large outcropping and spied a lone Gecko sunning itself in a clearing. When I saw it, it was like something snapped inside me. Before this I was thrust into a new and was in shock and was just walking around and talking to people.

But, now that I've had plenty of time to calm down and think, and now facing an actual mutated creature. That was fully capable and willing to attack and kill me I froze and simply stared at it.

It's beautiful blue scales s.h.i.+ned in the sunlight and it's large orange eyes were narrowed into slits. As if it knew there would be a battle soon.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned. It was Sunny she motioned for me to stop hesitating and take the shot.

Taking a couple deep breaths to steady myself I took aim. I lined up the Iron Sights of the gun on the Gecko's head and lightly pulled the trigger. It's head exploded in a fountain of red and then collapsed to the ground.

The sight of its blood made my stomach nauseous but, the sound of several high pitched screams took priority. There were more Geckos around.

I stood up as there was no more need for stealth and to get a higher vantage point. There was movement out of the corner of my and two more Gecko's exploded out of the brush and charged me.

I took aim at the nearest one opting to go for its torso instead of its head, to increase my chances of hitting. Luckily they ran on two legs for some reason revealing their weak stomachs.

I fired again and nailing it in its chest, the Geck went down and its companion climbed over its corpse continuing its mad dash towards me. By this point it was less 10 feet away and would be on me in seconds. I didn't think I could accurately shoot it with a Rifle at this distance. My mind went to the Pistol strapped to my thigh but, I quickly threw that idea away. By the time I reached down and drew the gun the Gecko would already be on me.

No, my only chance was the Varmint Rifle! In the slip second it took me to reach that conclusion I grit my teeth and steeled my resolve. I had to do this now or I'd be in a world of pain.

There was no guarantee Sunny would be able to save me in time, after all this wasn't a game anymore. The fact that all of the Gecko's died in a single shot was proof of that. As the last Gecko neared me I did my best to aim, and my finger began to twitch when everything froze. It was just like when I was setting my stats at Doc Michaels house.

The head of the Geck in front of me glowed yellow and I could see every detail of its body. It was already in mid jump with its mouth full of needle like teeth opened wide and ready to bite.

It took me a moment to come down from the adrenaline rush and realise what happened. I was in VATS!

Now that I had a moment to think I could see that if I fired right now my bullet would only graze its neck. If VATS hadn't activated the Gecko would've got me.

I mentally sighed in relief because I couldn't actually move. Now that I was calm it was time to examine VATS. From what I could see it was the same as in the games, there was a panel above its head showing how likely I was to hit that part of its body.

At this range I had a 95% chance of hitting its head, which was as high as it gets because VATS never shows a 100% chance. I confirmed the shot and saw that it took around a third of my AP points.

I ended VATS and my gun moved slightly to the side and fired. For a moment time slowed and I could see every excruciating detail as the bullet tore through the back of its throat and out its neck.

Even though it was dead the Gecko's momentum carried it into my chest knocking me down. I fell flat on my b.u.t.t and took a moment to stare at the clear blue sky above me, while I caught my breath.

"Not bad" Sunny smiled as she stood above me blocking my view. "You cut it a but close at the end there but, all of your shots landed."

"Thanks" I grumbled as I threw the Gecko off my chest and got to my feet.

"Here" Sunny laughed as she handed me an old rag to wipe the blood off.

It took a moment to get all of the gore off me. It took a little longer than necessary because I kept having to stop and vomit. I wasn't used to blood and the smell was really getting to me.

"Well, at least your getting it all out now" Sunny said as she came up and grabbed the Gecko I threw to the side.

"What do you mean" I gasped wiping some vomit from my mouth.

"I mean it's better to get it all out of your system now. Don't want you vomiting when I'm teaching you how to skin them" she grinned as she pulled out a large knife.

Over the next hour she showed me the proper way to skin an animal. As well as how to gut and prepare them for cooking. She demonstrated on the first one and let me practice on the other two.

And just like with everything else the second I started cutting my body seemed to know the proper way to move. I didn't skin them perfectly but, I was still significantly better than an amateur should be.

We packed up the meat and hides and continued on to clear the other two springs. I killed another 5 Gecks and finally managed to level and reach level 2.

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I put all 15 of the skill points into Guns raising it to 30, and unlocked the Confirmed Bachelor Perk to get an extra 10% damage against men. I figured I'd probably need it, considering there was a good chance I was going to be getting into a gunfight with the Powder Gangers later today.