The sun was too bright. The whole world was too bright and far too loud. Jaden rose his head only to find every muscle in his body burned just beneath the skin. Even his eyes were fuzzy. He could feel the migraine brought on from his implants being used after fighting. He tried to see but all he found was white lights and shadowy blurs that flickered in and out. This was not normal for him to feel, something had happened. Something had gone very, very wrong.
He lay on the sand struggling to focus on the world around him. Slowly he rolled over onto his side, a sharp stinging pain shot through his thigh. A pain he knew all too well. he felt his waist, a sticky dampness confirming his fears. He had been shot and without his site he couldn't hope to treat it. With any luck his site would return in time but until then he was helpless.

Jaden felt around, hand withdrawing when it seemed to touch jagged steel, twisted and bent. Again he felt around, this time finding something soft and supple. An arm perhaps? his site was still too fuzzy to tell though shapes had begun to form far better than when he had first opened his eyes. Then his hand found something very familiar. A short, metal barrel that led to a trigger. A nice, seemingly functional, rifle.
Even without eyes Jaden was able to pull the rifle to him. Fighting through the agony he picture the weapon in his head. The clip was still loaded, the safety off and trigger pulled back. it felt like an antique weapon but a short squeeze while he held it to the air proved it was loaded and functioning. Now all he needed were his eyes.
Slowly he fought his body to stand. The world was still a blur but he would get no where laying in the wastes. he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before taking a single step and folding to his knees again. The shock wave that had blinded him had also left him too weak to walk just yet. Then he pondered on a single though.

Who else had survived the explosion?

Ringing. That's all she heard when she finally came to. The world was shaking and a bit blurry, and she couldn't hear a God damn thing over the awful ringing in her head. Shit. It really hurt to move, didn't it? And though it hurt, Naomi reached for her head first, patting it softly. Good, no blood there. None around her neck, either. But as soon as her hands reached her arms, she flinched, biting down on her lip to prevent herself from screaming. She struggled to sit up to get a good look at what was causing her so much pain. Naomi sighed, holding back the urge to curse out loud. It was a cut, and a pretty big one too. Leaving it untreated would be bad news.

Water. She needed water. to wash out the wound Immediately, her hands flew to her sides, did she still have her supplies!? After such a big explosion, it was unlikely they all remained with her, but maybe... The first bag, a small one pinned to her right hip, held nothing of use to her at the moment, and the same with her left bag. Was someone trying to make this harder for her? Slowly, she forced herself to stand, much to the protest of her aching body, which luckily held only minor scrapes and bruises compared to the one on her arm. A ways away, Naomi found her bag, and thankfully, water to wash out the wound. "Alright... This is gonna hurt, but power through it alright?" she muttered aloud, biting down on the cloth of the bandanna around her neck. It did indeed sting, forcing her teeth to clench tight around the thick cloth, but it was necessary. When it was finally over, she splashed her bandanna with water, and tied it around her arm.

Now... Who else had managed not to get themselves killed? Now suddenly more aware of her surroundings, and thankfully, able to hear again, Naomi glanced around her as she slung her bag onto her shoulders. The place had been almost completely flattened, with dozens of dead bodies everywhere. In fact, it almost seemed like she was the la- Wait! There was someone! "Hey!" she yelled over to the figure, not knowing what else to say. Slowly, she began to make her way over, praying that the person wasn't hostile, or the one who started the explosion. "Hey," she said again when she got closer, this time calmer, "Are you hurt?"

Jaden held the rifle he found tightly and raised it with a nervous like wave. "That's close enough." he called back, not entirely sure he was even aiming in the right direction. "Who are you?" He called out again. His eyes were able to find shapes now but a lot of it was still only a blur. He could feel the heat of the sun on his damp skin. He couldn't see how badly he had been bleeding but he was used to fighting through pain. Augments meant you had to in this day and age.
He could still feel what must have been a fire to the distance. No doubt the transport they were sent to secure had been destroyed by the explosion along with the rest of the escort. Bloody marauders, they just loved to trash what they couldn't hold on to. Jaden was trying to remember what had happened in his head only minutes prior to losing consciousness. last thing he could remember was what seemed to be a launcher striking the side of the armored truck he was perched on after a quick firefight over possession of the supply train. Obviously someone wasn't happy with the loss of merchandise. not surprising in a world where even toilet paper could be a luxury item.

Still holding the rifle out at the rough location he heard the voice calling from, jaden tried to squint and make out any shape that was roughly humanoid before finally taking aim at what could have been a person. A shame he hadn't realized it was just a dead cactus half burnt from the sun...

Naomi paused at the first sight of the rifle. He was armed, and she was not, and if she remembered anything from her days as a street rat, it was never to provoke someone who had the upper hand. Never. Pride and morals be damned, if you wanted to survive, you would take that advice. "Er, wrong way," she muttered, waving a little to distract him from the cactus he was facing. But at least he seemed to have heard her, which was good, she guessed. "But, I'm not armed, see?" She raised her hands in the air, proving they held no weapons within reach. Besides, she was pretty sure whatever weapons she had were blown off her body and either in smithereens, or so buried under all the rubble that she had no hope of finding them in time to fight back, if he decided to shoot.

A quick look over told her that he was partially enhanced, if that was the right word, but anyone could see that. It wasn't hard to miss, most people would have been immediately drawn to augments in the first place. He probably had an eye, if the fact he had been facing the wrong direction told him anything. There was probably something else too, people who had implants tended to have more than one. She could tell he was tall as well, even from a distance, easily enough to tower over her relatively short stature. Some scars too. She wouldn't deny it, she was curious as to where they were from. After all, scars told stories, and she always enjoyed listening to a tale or two in her free time.

"Oh sorry, I haven't exactly answered your question, have I?" Naomi suddenly remembered, rolling back onto the heels of her feet. "Well, I'm Naomi, Naomi Lyons if you want to get technical. Well, I'm female, uh, if that does any good. Mercenary, but I can assure you I don't have any interest in attacking you right now. If I was the person who did this, I wouldn't be stupid enough to catch myself in the explosion." She nodded to the covered wound on her arm. "And... Well, actually, that's all the information I can really disclose for right now. You know how the business is."

Jaden turned, a slight embarrassment that he had been aiming in the completely wrong direction. It was very rare this ever happened to him. "You were with the second team..." he grunted as he lowered his rifle. Any marauder or backstabbing raider would have attacked instead of called out. He was just used to reacting to anything with whatever he had to fight it. That was assuming it was hostile, which in his era most of them were. "I'm guessing the truck got blown up..." Slumping to the ground again he stabbed the rifles butt into the ground and took a deep breath, flinching as he felt the wound on his side surge with a sharp pain. It wasn't his worse wound, still hurt like hell though. I guess he had just gotten used to it over the years.
"Name's Jaden. I'm with the first group..." He felt his side quickly, warm sticky damp had been added to the cold that was there before. Well shit, he'd opened the wound back up. It was only a bullet wound, it would heal if he was just careful enough. "Anyone else moving?" He called out to Naomi while feeling his side pockets for something to eat. Nothing, must have eaten the last of his energy bars in the truck before the explosion. The world was slowly returning to focus now, he could see what looked like the shape of a girl, shorter than himself and with black hair? He was still seeing blurs, they just had more colour now.
"you got any water?" he asked licking his lips. The sun wasn't kind on those who traversed the wastes without something to drink. He rubbed his right knee with a sour look to his face. IT didn't hurt, it didn't feel much of anything anymore...

A small sigh of relief rushed out her mouth when he had recognized her and lowered the gun. "Yep, I was with them, but I'm not exactly too sure what happened with the truck. But since it's nowhere in sight, I guess it did blow up" Naomi grimaced, pushing a broken piece of wood out of the way, "It would be optimistic to think they escaped, but that's a little far-fetched even for me." The truck had certainly been there before the splitting pain and ringing in her head, but what seemed like a second later, she remembered standing up and it simply not being there anymore. Well, maybe she shouldn't be surprised, it was probably one of the main targets anyhow. Speaking of the mission, she had probably seen him with the first team some time before, but everything was in such a rush, she didn't get a good glance of the people besides in her own team.

Naomi stepped over a fallen beam to move closer to him, making sure not to catch her make-shift bandage on anything. "Naomi Lyons." she greeted with a nod when she was close enough. "Not as far as I can see," she looked around them with a slight grimace, "This place has been bombed flat. It's a miracle we're alive, and not shredded to pieces at that." It was a desolate place now, once a small part of town, not too crowded, but not the middle of nowhere either. A nice place really, well, before it happened to get destroyed so suddenly. A pity too, she was looking forward to maybe getting a drink or something.

"Water? Oh, right, yeah I think I still have some left." Naomi snapped out of her thoughts, patting her hip pouches for the water pouch she had used earlier. "Here, you can have the rest of it," she handed the pouch to him, "But I think you should really save some for that wound of yours too." She spared a glance at the side he had been clutching and bit her lip. Shit. She wasn't a medic, oh God what if he died on her!? She began to panic slightly, but forced herself to clam down running both hands through her hair with a deep breath. "Is that from a bullet? We'll probably have to treat that quickly. I probably have some bandages for that."

With a gruff clearing of his throat Jaden opened the canteen and took a deep gulping of its warm yet refreshing contents. he really needed that after laying out on the dirt for god knew how long. He was surprised he hadn't caught a tan or something when he really thought about it. The truck was hit early morning and he could at least see the sun was gone mid day by now. Hours then, too long to have been a good sign. If anyone had survived other then the two of them they were probably in whatever transports still moving and halfway back to one of the cities by now. Optimism was not his forte. Shit people had been trying to off him since he was a teenager, this was just another chapter in the good book of cluster f**ks.
He tightened the lid back on the canteen and handed it back to Naomi with a a grimace. He was really trying to focus on her but something had set his augments out of whack. Judging by how slow they were resetting he guessed the explosions were inhibitor in nature. High yield and EMP charges roles into one. Nasty things would fry anyone too augmented for regular bombs to kill. For anyone with near 100% augmentation it was as good as taking a bullet to the brain.The smell of the smoke from the debris told him one thing, the fuel of the trucks was burning and that meant their supplies were gone too. He was going to need this girl as much as she would need him, providing he got his eye sight back. Could he trust her at this point though to tell her what was wrong with him? Well, she had shared water and been stupid enough to call out to him. Hell what could it hurt, the chances of surviving alone were the same to her shooting him in the back after all. "Naomi where's the town...." He asked with an almost defeatest tone. "...because I can't see shit."

Jaden turned to her, the scars, though faint on his head around the eyes, were just visible in the light of burning day. He was an Eagle grade spotter. His eyes were his own but along the back would be small implants that forced the eye to function much like a camera, clearing the vision and improving it to telescopic proportions. "And the bandages would be great..." He finally answered her on account of his wound. It was a pretty clean one as far as he could tell. Anything that stings like hell was a good wound, it usually meant you were still alive for one. Besides he'd known much worse. He stood back up slowly with one hand pressuring his side in case the wound began to get worse. "We need shade..." He muttered looking up into the sky. He could see the sun beating down on them for a moment before turning back to Naomi with rifle in his right hand. He seemed to pause for a moment, a judging face as he looked down to the floor and back up at her, or at least tried to look up at her with his blurred eyes. Finally he twisted the rifle round and held it out for her to take. "Might as well give this to someone who can see a god dam target..." he said almost cursing his choice. He was defenseless and too trusting, he knew that. But he'd rather die a soppy idiot helping a young girl than an expire soldier.

Naomi weighed the canteen lightly in her palms before replacing it in her bag. If they were to be here for a while, they would have to find water, quick. A clean source too, dirty water was as good as dirt. Sure, it was water, but it was also undrinkable, for obvious reasons. Maybe she had some water-purifying tablets left over. After all, they were a necessity in a world like this. Clean bottled water was at the top of the market, a price she definitely couldn't afford. Lucky the tablets were relatively cheap, and even if she didn't have them, she was sure she could remember a thing or two on how to manually purify water. Well, provided they had the right tools in the surrounding area, then that would definitely be an option. And speaking of water, was there any food? Ugh, yes, food. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days. It wasn't as much of an issue as water was, since there was probably some sort of creature they could slaughter and eat. As unpleasant as it sounded, it was probably the only choice thus far. And it was better than nothing at all.

"The town...?" Naomi looked around them with a grimace, "It's more like "What town?" After the bomb went off, it must have taken down everything around us as well. It's a pretty small town too, so the bomb didn't have to be too powerful to just wreck the place." The town was growing, after all, and only consisted of perhaps a few inns and a shop or two. But the smaller it was, the less likely officials would be snooping around the area, which made the town a hot spot for criminal activity. Well, probably not anymore. She was pretty sure that whatever, or whoever, was once there was either long gone, or laying in the rubble. "There's probably a few towns in the next few miles and heard the explosions," she contemplated, "If anyone survived at all, whether from the town, or from one of our groups, they most likely went to one of those."

Oh, bandages, right! Those were probably important, and she could use them for her own wound as well. After all, she was missing her bandanna already, it felt weird not having it tied around her neck. And hopefully it wasn't too bloody either, she wanted to wear it and not smell like shit. Good, there they were, right in the pocket she had left them in. "Well, yeah, you're right shade's important, especially in this heat. But once we manage to find some shelter, I'll treat your wound, alright?" Naomi fingered the roll of bandages, it was a new pack, as far as she could tell. Probably enough for both his wound and hers. She looked up at him and blinked curiously before hesitantly taking the weapon. "You sure about giving a stranger your weapon?" she asked, holding it by the barrel, "Actually don't answer that, I probably was the one making stupid decisions first." She would admit, when she had approached him it wasn't one of her finer moments, but in a desperate situation, what was a person to do? "But, uh... thanks for trusting me," she grinned, "It's kinda a first."

"Well I've decided you're either too stupid to be a threat or too trusting..." He rubbed his arms of dust and looked right at her again before continuing "...that and a blind man doesn't really need a rifle now does he." He was half telling the truth. He would get his sight back soon enough, he just needed to rest first. He checked his pockets and bit his lip as he felt up to his back. "as for the bandage idea, probably not a bad idea. You hurt bad?" he asked with his head to one side. He had an empty holster he kept tracing his finger over almost like a cowboy yearning for his side arm. It was just his habit now, being armed was a second nature and Jaden had grown attached to his side arm. Sure rifles were damned effective but pistols had an odd elegance for him. It was rather a strange love for an old soldier turned mercenary but he was still human after all. No amount of training could burn that away. Well, unless you were a marauder or worse...

He looked around for a moment when she spoke of the other towns. It was clear by his expression that he didn't like that idea. "the nearest Raider station was 83 miles from here. Most of the towns north east of here are Purity holdouts now and I'm no fan of Militant holds either..." Jaded was not a fan of anyone who claimed themselves a power of the world anymore. He'd seen what that power brought and he was no fan of it. Even he had to admit the irony of the fact he now too their supplies and money to do their dirty work though. The only difference being he had the choice to turn it down now instead of being forced to do their dirty laundry for them like his soul was some god dam joke. He was done playing toy soldier in this piece of crap world. Bitter memories all of them, things he would sooner forget but knew were better remembered. He wouldn't remember them now though, this was not one of those times.
"well Naomi. Ladies first..." It was not sure if he was being sarcastic or not due to his lack of sight but there was certainly a hidden cheek beneath the words as he smirked with a fake bow, hand held out for her to guide him.

"Oh gee, thanks," Naomi bit back sarcastically, "It's also a great idea to insult the one holding the gun here." She sighed, hands reaching into her pocket for a toothpick. Her pack was there, luckily, but she definitely would need to refill her supplies soon. Oh well, it didn't matter much right now, toothpicks of all things should probably be the least of her worries. Flicking a toothpick into her mouth, she shrugged, "But it's not like I would shoot you now. I don't exactly like killing without a good reason." The toothpick in her mouth bobbed as she spoke, though she had developed the skill to not let it hinder her speech. After making a habit of having it stick out of her mouth all the time, it felt natural to be chewing on one again. Probably not a good habit at all, but it was hard to break out of it once you got into the swing of things. Naomi glanced at the bandana covering her wound, "Probably not as bad as yours. I'm hurt, sure, but I can move my arm alright. Well enough to hold a rifle." Sure, maybe there was a slight sting when she moved it around, but it was nothing really. She had handled worse, and besides, she wasn't going to wimp out and claim it incapitated her.

Naomi glanced up at him as he spoke of the nearby towns. "I get that these towns aren't exactly ideal," she replied, crossing her arms, "But it's not like we really have much of a choice or anything. We're stuck in this kind of situation right now, and it's our best bet." Of course she was against the whole thing where they claimed they were superior, but it was probably their only option. Grin and bare it. Or something like that right? She held a few grudges, being raised in a poorer class meant lots of others picked on you as a kid, but she knew it was a desperate situation. "I mean, I got some problems as well, but... Beggars can't be choosers. Or, something like that right? I can't really remember that saying too well."

He had bowed, and she let out a snort. She was never good at being lady-like and all that garbage. "Why thank you, my dear sir." she replied in a similarly playful manner. Naomi linked her arm with his, probably against his will, and grinned. "And now the, shall we be off? I do quite think I saw a nice little half-destroyed house that seemed like an ever so lovely place to rest these weary bones."

"Smart ass" Jaden snorted with a grin. He had an inkling he'd get along with this hot head. The irony being he could get pretty big headed himself, at least this one knew how to play the game. Too many raiders these days either had the emotional maturity of a watermelon somebody had stepped in or no emotions at all. Kind of a reminder what the wastelands could do to your mind if you let it all in. That was how Jaden survived out here. If you needed to kill someone you shot them so they'd never get back up. If you lacked a gun then use a knife, lacking that you do it so they can't stop you. This was the age of survival, and all were welcome here: entry being mandatory.

His side was still stinging every few steps or so. He kept tearing the wound open again with his movements but their was an upside to things now. Instead of bright blurs he was starting to see a more out of focus image. He looked at the girl beside him and saw she had black hair, fair skin, something on her arm. He was probably staring at her a little too much but like it mattered. Even if he was trying to perv on the girl with his eyes the way they were he couldn't see shit. He looked up again after a while at blue sky. At least this sight didn't need to be in focus to see it. "So...new to raiding then huh?" Jaden didn't really know if she was or not. He was guessing from the way she'd shouted over to him and how friendly she was. Most raiders treated you like a slab of meat or just plain ignored you. First time anyone had come to see if he was alright since-

No, another time perhaps but not now...

"Oh, who me?" Naomi faked with an innocent voice, "It couldn't possibly be me of all people, why, I have no clue what you mean by that!" It was refreshing to meet another person who had at least some sort of sense of humor. Especially in a world like this, you needed cheering up every now and again. From people who at least knew how to laugh. Speaking of which, she didn't know the last time she had a good laugh. A while, probably, perhaps on the scale of a few years or so? After all she hadn't met many decent people since she had left home, perhaps a few here or there. But, all in all they all seemed to be the type she had been taught to avoid, the type that had been hardened against the world and were willing to do anything to survive. Nowadays that was practically anyone, it was hard to find people with a personality.

Naomi glanced at him with a slight frown, her brows coming together in worry. "Hey, you sure you just need bandaging? Something like that may even need some stitches." she remarked, eyes glancing down to his side, and particularly the red stain that seemed to slowly become bigger. Maybe she was overreacting, or perhaps it was a fear of infection. Nasty thing, that was. She personally had experienced it a while back, and it was most definitely not one of her most defining moments. And damn had it hurt, too. Not wanting to think about such a thing anymore, she instead focused her attention on him again. "Well, newer than you, probably. I've been in this type of business for... Four, five years now? It's been hard to keep track, s'not exactly the first thing on my mind right now, if ya get what I mean," she shrugged, "How about you, seems like you've been around for a while no- Er, I'm not saying you're old! I just... Um, I mean you seem more experienced than me!" Naomi blushed in embarrassment, what else where you to do when you unintentionally called someone old?

Turning her attention away from the conversation for a brief moment, she looked ahead to the half standing shack a few yards in front of them. It didn't seem too unstable, and it would be enough if only for a short rest or so. Once they had arrived, she immediately dug around again for her roll of bandages. "Here, um, just sit and let me get you bandaged up, alright?" she said, slowly unraveling the roll. Ugh, she wished she had better equipment. Traditionally, you were supposed to have cotton pads to soak up the blood, then bandages to hold it together. But, with such a situation, she didn't have much of a choice. Just hope that the bandages would be able to soak up the blood properly and stop the bleeding.