Guns, Grease and Gears;
Tales of the Post Apocalypse
by Mog Moogle

“Stickier Situations.”

	Johnny tugged on the mouse's shirt, causing the mouse to stop running and pivot around and start chasing him. They ran back and forth, kicking up the dust as they played with each other. Johnny stopped suddenly and the mouse ran into his back, causing the pair to topple to the ground. He didn't pay much attention to the impact of the ground or the weight of his friend on his back. There was something else that demanded his attention.
	A dark cloud that stretched higher than he'd ever seen, tainted with the dust of the Wasteland looked on the horizon. Brilliant blue flashes dotted it's darkness as it rolled onward. The distant thunder grew louder and louder, much faster than any storm he'd ever seen before.
	“Johnny,” the mouse said before easing up off him and lifting to his feet. “What is that?”
	“I don't know,” the young kit replied. “It doesn't look like any rain cloud I've ever seen, and we're still a few months from the rainy season.”
	Before they could stare at it much longer, Johnny felt a paw grip his sleeve and roughly tug him away. His father grabbed him and ushered his friend to run home before nearly dragging Johnny into the adobe hut in the middle of their fields. After his father pushed him in the front door, he turned around and dropped a bar over the rotted planks.
	Johnny's mother looked at the pair with wide eyes as she heard the storm approach. He could see out of the open window in the mud wall the lighting jumping to the ground over and over. Then, there was something he could never have imagined.
	The dust the wind was kicking up was pulled skyward and swirled around. It grew thicker and darker, until it was a huge swirling vortex. The stalks of corn around it were ripped from the ground and pulled up into the funnel.
	His father wrapped his arms around him and his mother as they hunkered in the middle of the single room abode. The open windows and small opening in the top to vent the cooking fire smoke began to fill with dust. It poured into the room and choked every breath they tried to take. The wind roared in a way that Johnny had never heard, as if the storm was trying it's best to scream them to death.
	“Daniel!” Johnny's mother yelled. “What is this?”
	“I … don't know,” he replied with a quiver in his voice.
	Johnny cried into his mother's breast as the roar pierced his ears and the dust pelted him and stung his flesh. Everything in the room shook and rattled, and even the walls seemed to shake and crackle.
	Johnny screamed and opened his eyes wide, reaching for his mother. He gasped and sat up in the bed as he realized that he was alone in a dark room. He sighed in relief as he the tears wet his cheeks. It was then he realized that his nightmare might have disturbed Colt.
	He looked over where the wolf was, but saw nothing. The wolf's half of the pillow was still crumpled where his head had been, and the ragged sheet that covered the mattress rumpled up where his body had laid.
	Johnny rubbed his eyes and sighed again, wishing he could be held by his mother, or even the wolf. He was about to shrug it all off when he heard a subdued crash from outside of the room. He looked up at the permanently ajar door and perked his keen ears toward it. He heard it again, and then again.
	Johnny swallowed hard as he eased his feet onto the floor and crept up to the door. With Colt gone, he was worried that someone might be breaking into the unsecured building to rob the place. It was then he heard a female shriek.
	His heart skipped a beat and he instinctively reached into his right pocket and palmed the grip of the revolver. He wasn't sure he was ready for any heroics, but he knew he couldn't just let someone suffer. He pulled the door open as quietly as he could and then peered out into the hallway. Taking a soft step out of the room into the hall, he peered up toward the office where he heard the noise.
	He crept slowly until he was standing just before the archway between the hallway and the general store. As he was about to get up the courage to peer out from the wall, he heard the shriek again. He took a step back as his heart raced. Everything inside of him was telling him to run away. He shuffled back another step just before another scream.
	Johnny tried to swallow the fear that welled up in his throat back down into his stomach. He pulled the revolver out of his pocket and lifted it up in front of him. When he closed his eyes, he saw an image of the dog he'd put down in the wagon but shook his head to erase it from his imagination. He knew he had to act, someone's life might depend on it.
	He eased as close to the wall as he could and slid up it until he could peek around the corner. What he saw then shocked him. The raccoon was bent over the front counter with her claws dug into it. Colt was standing behind her naked, save for the belt he'd pulled out of his pants and wore around his hips with his holster and pistol bouncing as he thrust his hips.
	The raccoon's dress was lifted up as the wolf fucked her as hard as he could. The rhythmic thumping was her impacting against the shoddy counter over and over. He cries were not of terror, but of ecstasy. Johnny's gaze fell on Colt's maleness as it pushed in and out of the 'coon.
	His knot slapped against her body over and over, and it looked so big to the young fox. Johnny watched as the red slick flesh pushed in and out of her bony hips. He quivered softly as his cheeks filled with blush. He wanted to be her.
	“Colt!” she cried aloud. “It's been so long.” The wolf grunted in agreement, never ceasing his assault on her pussy. “Cum in me,” she cried. “I want to feel you cum in me.”
	Colt rammed forward as hard as he could and with an audible squelch his knot slipped inside her. She yipped as he grunted, then groaned and quaked as he stood over her. They both stood their panting for a few moments, then the raccoon murmured softly.
	“Oh, god. It's been so long since I've had a man in my life,” she said softly.
	“Uh … yeah,” Colt said, obvious to even the naïve fox's ears that he was trying to conceal insincerity. “Been awhile for me, too.”
	“Let's go back to my room, Colt,” she said and then giggled.
	“Gonna need a few minutes,” Colt replied, still held fast by the knot.
	Johnny slipped back along the wall as quietly as he could to the open door. He made his way back into the room and put the revolver back in his pocket. Turning around, he closed the door as best as it would close and walked over to the bed.
	He felt a pain well up in his chest. It was a feeling like he'd never experienced before. Colt's hips thrusting over and over into the raccoon replayed in his imagination. He saw the wolf leaning over him as he was pinned to the counter. He felt the wolf taking him as hard as he took the raccoon. He was jealous.
	Johnny slipped his pants down to his thighs, exposing his own erection. Much more modestly sized than the wolf's, it was kissing the stale night air in the stuffy room. He wrapped his paw around it and squeezed his length with a soft moan.
	He moved his fingers over his length and tweaked his tip. He gasped at the electrical feeling shooting through his body. Making a tight fist, he pushed it down his length to his knot then back up, building into a rapid pace.
	Johnny threw his head back as his tongue lolled out of his muzzle. He lifted his legs up onto the bed and reached around with his other paw and prodded his own tailhole. After a little bit of squirming, he managed to push his fingertip inside of himself while he pawed. It was something he wasn't unfamiliar with, since he'd been exploring his own body since he first discovered his own sexual desires.
	He'd never had a specific fantasy, and the focus on the naked wolf making him his own like he saw him doing to the raccoon intensified the experience. He panted and moaned as he pushed in to the spot that always made him shiver, and then he squeezed his knot as pre seeped from his tip.
	“Colt,” he moaned softly. “you're so big. It feels so good.” He worked his finger as deep as his position would allow as his paw fapped up and down on his cock. He knew what was coming, and it was coming quick.
	He arched his back up as he felt his small balls in his furry sack draw up into his body. The tip of his member shot thick ropes of his semen onto his bare tummy, and he panted at his orgasm. After a few moments, as his senses were coming back to him, he felt an overwhelming disgust with himself.
	He was disgusted that he was a coward and hesitated when he heard the raccoon scream. He was disgusted that he desired the wolf. No one in his small community desired anyone of the same sex,  and he knew it was unnatural to the way that families are made. He was disgusted the wolf would fuck such a homely looking female when all he'd have to do is just take Johnny.
	He sighed to himself as his eyes closed and his consciousness faded again.
	
	“Dammit, kit! Wake up!” he heard in a hushed yell.
	Johnny opened his eyes to see Colt standing beside the bed throwing his close on. He looked over groggily at the wolf and yawned as he wondered what was going on. It was at that time that he realized his pants were still around his thighs. With a small gasp, he pulled his pants up. Colt didn't seem to even bother with addressing that issue, however.
	“Get up! Get your clothes on,” Colt demanded. “If you move this slow when we're in real trouble, I'm leaving your ass behind.”
	“I'm sorry,” Johnny said as he scrambled out of the bed and grabbed his shirt. He wasn't sure what he was apologizing for, or even why he should bother with an apology, but he didn't want to upset the wolf.
	“C'mon, kit,” Colt told him as he pulled the room door open. “We need to get moving before out 'coon friend realizes I'm not there.”
	Johnny scurried to catch up to the wolf, but Colt was already nearly through the lobby by the time he got out of the door. He yawned as he walked out of the front door trying to catch up to the wolf, but saw him stopped with his paws up. Before he could ask what the wolf was doing, he felt the cold steel of a gun barrel press against the back of his head.
	“Paws up, fox,” he heard in a gruff voice behind him.
	Johnny complied, lifting his paws up above his head. He saw two furs in pristine combat armor step around Colt's sides. One of them pulled the pistol from his holster while the other patted him down.
	“Hey, boss,” the dingo holding Colt's pistol said aloud. “Lookit this. Bastard uses rifle rounds in his pistol, just like yours.”
	“Yeah,” Johnny heard as another fur stepped around from the side of Colt's car. A big, burly black bear in the same pristine combat armor and walked up to Colt. “That's a damn fine looking gun for such a scruffy mutt.”
	“That so?” Colt said arrogantly. “Looks a helluva lot better in my holster than it did in your brother's,” Colt paused with a chuckle. “'Course, since you both inherited your looks from your pa and that illustrious bitch you call a mother, it's not hard for it to look better in anyone else's paws.”
	Johnny watched the bear draw his paw into a fist and hit Colt in the stomach as hard as he could. Colt doubled over with a grunt shortly before Johnny felt a paw on his shoulder push him to the ground. He looked over at Colt as the dust swirled up around them and the wolf gasped.
	“No!” Johnny yelled, but stopped protesting when the black bear pointed the barrel of a gun at his head that looked very similar to Colt's.
	“Easy, kit,” Colt whispered softly, then looked up at the bear. “I more expected you to lose your temper over me saying your mom was a terrible lay, than me calling you ugly. Which she was, but I'm sure you know that.”
	Johnny sighed softly at the comment before the bear reared his leg back and laid his foot in the wolf's ribs with a rough kick. Johnny growled and tried to pick himself up, but a paw grabbed his headfur and pushed his face back into the dirt.
	“I said, easy,” Colt whispered after a gasp.
	“Like you're one to talk,” Johnny retorted.
	“Pick them up,” the bear ordered. “Bring them to the office. I got a few questions for this piece of shit before I put a bullet through his skull.”
	Johnny felt a paw grab his arm and a thumb push into his armpit as he was lifted off the ground. An intense pain radiated from under his arm to his shoulder and down his back. He grimaced, but he felt the pain subside when he saw the dingo grab Colt by the headfur and lift him to his feet. At that point, all Johnny could feel was rage.
	He wanted to hurt these monsters the same way they were hurting Colt. He'd never experienced pure hatred before, but it clear that this was one of those times Colt had talked about when killing would be second nature. He eased his paw down toward his pocket where the revolver was still nestled, but felt a gun barrel press into the small of his back.
	“Keep your paws up!” the voice behind him demanded.
	Johnny grimaced as he thought about pulling out his revolver and emptying it into the fur behind him. That, or the dingo jerking Colt around. It was then that he realized he was actually thinking about killing someone. He felt a chill run down his back. It was wearing off just as the paw of the fur holding him at gunpoint pushed him forward.
	They were marched down the road toward the Gun Runners office on the other side of the shanty-ville. The sun was starting to creep over the horizon, breaking the dawn on their situation. Colt looked unusually calm to the fox. He knew he wouldn't be able to be nearly as calm with someone pulling his headfur like the dingo was to Colt.
	They stopped at the office door as a guard outside of it opened it up. The dingo pushed Colt inside the door and he and the spotted dog on the other side of him followed him in. The bear turned and looked at Johnny with a scowl, and the fox did his best to return it. The bear harrumphed then walked inside the office.
	The fur that was behind Johnny stepped around him and walked up to the hyena guarding the office door. He was a wolf, like Colt, but his fur was more red. He, like all the others, in immaculate armor and he was holding an assault rifle.
	“Think you can handle this little fuck?” the wolf asked the hyena.
	“Yeah, he don't look like much trouble,” he replied as he drew a pistol from his holster. “And if he is, I can shoot 'im?”
	“That's what the boss said,” the wolf commented before stepping into the office and closing the door.
	“I feel sorry for your friend, he dun somthin’ that pissed the boss off somthin’ fierce.” The hyena looked him up and down and reholstered his pistol. “We pro'lly gonna get to have some fun with you, 'fore you die. I ain't got to kick the shit outta no one in a long time.”
	Johnny scoffed and shook his head. The hyena laughed at him and tugged his cheek tuft painfully. Johnny yipped as he was made to look back at the hyena.
	“Think you a tough little shit, huh?” the hyena mocked. “Don't look like much to me.”
	“He'll kill you all,” Johnny said coldly.
	“What?”
	“Colt is going to kill you all.”
	The hyena laughed and shook his head. “You both already dead.”
	There was a single gunshot from inside the office. Johnny felt his heart sink as he feared the worst. The hyena looked at him and smiled. Then there were several more. Johnny saw the hyena's eyes go wide as he reached for the door.
	Johnny pulled his revolver out of his pocket and pushed it into the back of his head and pulled the trigger. It was mostly reactionary, and he didn't have much time to think about it, but the hollowpoint round that made a tiny hole at the end of the barrel in the hyena's skull sprayed fur, bone bits and clumpy matter coated in red all over the front of the door.
	Johnny's eyes were open the whole time, and he saw every second of his killing. The hyena's body fell against the door and it swung open. He looked in to see the three bodies of the other furs in armor laying around Colt. The bear was behind a desk, sitting in a chair with a neat hole right between his eyes.
	He sighed in relief at the wolf still standing around the dead furs, then looked down at his paw. He saw the revolver with a small trickle of smoke still whisping from the cylinder and barrel. He blinked, then dropped it to the gorund.
	“Oh, gods …” he said aloud as he realized he'd just shot someone with the full intent to do so.
	Colt turned around and smirked at the fox, then walked around the desk and pulled the revolver in the bears holster and tossed it at the fox. Johnny caught it and then looked up at Colt.
	“You're okay?” the fox asked timidly.
	“Yeah, kit. Good to see you too.” Colt picked his own pistol off the desk and slipped it into his holster. “We can celebrate later, we got work to do.”
	Johnny nodded and stepped to the side as Colt walked out of the office past him. The wolf started jogging up the street back toward the motel and Johnny followed him. They were about half way there when cracks of rifle fire rang out from in front of them. Colt ran behind one of the shanties as Johnny stood in the middle of the road.
	“Get your ass down, kit!” Colt yelled as he drew his sidearm and seeming pointed it at him.
	Johnny felt a surge of fear as he looked at the wolf pointing his gun at him. He closed his eyes as and his posture sulked a bit, and he felt the material of his shirt on his left shoulder lift a little and heard the audible hiss of a round flying past his head. He opened his eyes and looked at Colt. His pistol was smoking.
	Johnny turned around and saw another fur in combat armor on the other side of the street laying on his back with a rifle draped over his stomach. Johnny quivered as he drew a shaky breath and looked back to the wolf.
	“Fucking move, kit! Get to the car!”
	Johnny watched Colt dart out from behind the shanty and run across the street in front of him. He sprinted as fast as he could to keep up, the whole time automatic fire echoing through the hastily built new buildings and old burned out buildings.
	As they got to the car, Colt turned around and grabbed Johnn'y collar. He threw the fox to the ground and put himself on top of him. Rounds impacted the dirt beside the fender of the car, with a few actually impacting the old rusted metal as they hunkered in front of the bumper.
	“God dammit!” Colt yelled as he heard rounds hitting his car.
	Johnny held onto Colt's jacket out of fear as the wolf leaned out from around the car and fired two rounds. The automatic weapon fire went quiet and Colt sprang to his feet and jumped in the driver's side window without bothering to open the door.
	The fox did his best to scramble to his feet and climbed in the passenger side just before the car jumped forward and pulled onto the road, the inertia slamming the door shut before Johnny could close it. Johnny held onto his seat tightly with his free paw as the other held the new revolver. He looked up out of the windshield and saw them driving the wrong way.
	“Uh, Colt?” Johnny said as he pointed over his shoulder out the back window. “The gate is the other way.”
	“Saw some stuff we need to grab,” Colt explained. “As soon as we get there, we have to haul ass to get it loaded.”
	“Look out!” Johnny yelled as he saw a Gun Runner guard running into the street in front of them.
	Instead of swerving around them, Colt gently angled his car at him. The guard lifted his rifle too late to even get a round off as the front of the car impacted him and sent him flying like a ragdoll with the sound of bones cracking and metal bending filling the cab.
	“Gods!” Johnny yelled as the passenger side of the car lifted up and the tires rolled over him. “You hit him!”
	“Yep.” Colt said calmly. “I need you to get your head around something. It's us or them. We live, they die. Understand?”
	“I don't-”
	“Understand!?” Colt snapped.
	“... Yes,” Johnny said as they approached the office shack.
	Colt slapped the car in neutral and hit the brakes as it slid sideways, stopping just a few feet from the office. Colt jumped out of the car and Johnny followed. The wolf bound into the small building and Johnny stopped at the door. He swallowed hard and stepped over the body of the hyena at his feet.
	Colt was pulling ammunition cans off a stack in the back of the room and setting them on the desk. “Load these in the car,” Colt ordered.
	Johnny nodded and put the revolver in his pocket then took one in each paw. He ran to the car and haphazardly threw them in the back through his open passenger door. On his return trip, he saw Colt holding three cans, one in each paw with one tucked under his arm on top of the one in his paw on the right side. There were two more on the desk and Johnny grabbed them. Colt ran out of the door and around to the driver's side of the car.
	Johnny was about to follow, but he stopped just outside the door and looked at the ground. He saw the revolver he had dropped after he shot the hyena. He gulped the lump in his throat back down, then sat down one of the ammo cans and picked it up. He tucked it into his left pocket then picked the ammunition back up and threw them in the car.
	He was barely inside the car again as Colt sped off. The car accelerated up the street toward the gate. A few of the furs at the gate leveled their guns at them, but missed their marks as Colt veered to the side a little toward the flimsy fence gate. The chain link fence smashed up and over the top of the car as it was ripped off its flimsy hinges, leaving a new dent in the roof and a new crack on the windshield.
	The sounds of gunfire drew distant and Johnny dared a peek behind them as the town they'd just busted out of drew further and further away. Johnny looked back out the windshield as his whole body shook. He looked over at Colt who was completely focused on driving, but still had the same cool he had the whole time.
	He settled in to his seat, but the nausea he'd been putting off during their firefight and escape suddenly rushed back to him. He tried his best to contain it, but he felt the acid in his stomach creep up into his muzzle. He swallowed it back down and closed his eyes, but he was greeted with the image of the hyena's skull spraying all over the door of the shack.
	Johnny retched and as it all came up at once. He held his paw over his muzzle so he wouldn't vomit on himself.
	“Out the window, kit,” Colt told him.
	Johnny leaned his head out the window as vomit spewed down the side of the car and onto the road. He heaved again and again until his stomach was empty, the he dry retched for what felt like hours. Every time he felt like it was under control, he would think about the hyena and it would start all over again.
	Saliva, snot and tears trailed from his muzzle into the wind as Colt never slowed. Johnny was finally able to stop heaving and collapsed back in his seat. He sobbed and cried. He wanted to go home and be with his parents. He wanted everything to be normal.
	His thoughts turned to something terrifying. This was normal. This was his life now. Running and gunning. Scavenging and stealing to live. He was with Colt, and this is what Colt was. Johnny cried even harder.
	It wasn't until he felt Colt's paw in his shoulder that he was able to get his crying under control. He focused on the feel of the wolf's strong fingers rubbing him gently. He looked over at the wolf as he tried to sniff some of the snot back into his nose.
	“It's okay, kit,” Colt said in a reassuring voice. “You did fine.”
	“I … killed someone,” Johnny said.
	“Yeah, like I said, you did fine. You might have just saved my ass back there.”
	“You said it would get easier.”
	“Yeah, kit. It does.”
	“That wasn't easy,” Johnny said and shook his head. “That wasn't easy at all.”
	“Maybe that's a good thing,” Colt told him as he gave him a quick glance. “Maybe you got something I never had. I don't know if there's a place for that in this world, but for what it's worth, I think that makes you a better fur than me.”
	“Colt …” Johnny looked up at the wolf as his body quivered. “There's something … something I want to tell you.”
	“Yeah, kit?”
	“I really … I really care about you,” Johnny cringed as the words stumbled out of his mouth.
	“Don't,” Colt said harshly as he pulled his paw off Johnny's shoulder. “You’ve got something I don’t, and if you let yourself fall into my lifestyle, then you’ll lose that. Just like I did.” Colt paused as he looked over at him. “As soon as we hit a decent community, I’m going to barter you residence there. That way you won’t have to deal with me or any of my bullshit, and you won’t end up dead.”
	“No!” Johnny cried. “I … I want to be with you.”
	“It's not negotiable, kit. I've already put a decent fur through a lot he never should have had to go through.”
	“I'm not leaving you.”
	“You'll leave or I'll put one in your head myself.”
	“I'm not leaving. I don't think you'd shoot me. Deep inside, I know you're a good furson.”
	Colt put the car in neutral and let it coast. He looked over at Johnny with a scowl, then drew his pistol and put it against Johnny's head. “Don't ever doubt that I can take a life, kit.”
	“Colt … I,” Johnny looked away from the barrel of the pistol and shook his head. “I love you.” It was barely above a whisper.
	When Johnny looked back at Colt, he saw something that he'd never seen from the wolf before. Colt looked shocked. Johnny saw the wolf's paw tremble as he squeezed the trigger, but then stopped before it broke. The wolf furled his brow and shook his head as he pulled the pistol away and put it back in his holster.
	Johnny felt his body slide forward and caught himself with his paws on the dash as the car's brakes squealed. He looked back at the wolf after the car's abrupt stop and saw Colt just shaking his head.
	“You know,” Colt began as he looked back over at the fox, “it doesn’t bother me that I heard the words, it bothers me that I actually believe you.”
	“I …” Johnny sagged his head and sighed. “I'm sorry.”
	“For what, kit?”
	“I didn't mean to, have these feelings for you.”
	“Kit, I don't think I'm even capable of love,” Colt said and then looked over at the fox. “But I'm not going to blame you for feeling that way. I don't think you had a choice.” Colt sighed and shook his head. “Do you know what back there was even about?”
	Johnny sat silent as he looked up at the wolf.
	“About a year ago, I was in New Reno. That bear's brother did a run for the Bishop family and pissed Bishop off. Normally, Bishop would take care of it himself, but we actually ran together for awhile. Bishop was a resourceful Wastelander type, with a mean streak a mile wide that he probably got from his mother, (who was a great lay, by the way.)
	“Anyway, he was busy with business as the family types in Reno sometimes are, and asked me to take the job of making an example of the 'runner in charge of the shipments he shortchanged him on. That was our bear friend's older brother.
	“I killed his escort, drug him back to New Reno alive where Bishop had him put on a steak in Golgotha for the crows to eat while he was still alive. Bishop offered me more caps than I'd ever need, so instead of that, I asked for the bear's pistol.”
	Colt pulled the pistol out of his holster and showed it to Johnny. “This thing was custom made by the 'runners. Fires .223 like some of the lighter assault rifles. Semiautomatic, and its a real nail driver. I can shoot the eyes out of deathclaw at five hundred feet. Speaking from experience mind you.
	“Point is, the 'runners aren't the only enemies I've made, and you travel with me, you're going to be picking up that fight, too. Fights that you'll have to finish that I started a long time ago. You sure you want to put up with that?”
	“I … I want to be with you.”
	Colt nodded, then sighed. He holstered his pistol then got out of the car. Johnny watched as he watched around to the back and opened the trunk. Johnny reluctantly pulled the door handle up and got out. He walked around to the trunk where Colt was rummaging through some assorted things on the drivers side.
	“You got that revolver I tossed you?”
	Johnny blinked then reached into his right pocket and produced the new gun. It was longer than the magnum and had a much bigger cylinder. He lifted it up and showed it to Colt.
	“It fires the same rounds as mine. Made by the same fur, in fact, so I know it's a damn nice gun. You'll only have five shots instead of the six with the .44, so we'll need to make sure you can hit anything you need to. Do you want a shoulder holster, or a strong side holster like mine?”
	“I … I don't think I want this.”
	“Mmm … Kit, you got two options. You stick with me, you learn how to shoot, you learn how to do what it takes to survive. The other option is I dump you off in a farm town and you live out your days not worrying about having to kill to live.”
	“I …” Johnny sighed and drew in a shaky breath. “I want to be with you.”
	“You sure? You stick with me, you'll have to kill again. If you live long enough, you're going to kill so many you lose count.”
	Johnny bit his bottom lip, then looked up at the wolf and nodded.
	“Okay, shoulder or hip holster?”
	“What's the difference?”
	“Concealment,” Colt said as he opened his jacket and showed a small holster stitched into the leather with small framed pistol tucked neatly inside, “or access,” Colt said as he drew his pistol from his hip in his quick fashion that Johnny barely saw movement before he was looking at Colt over the top of his sights again.
	“I don't have a big jacket to hide a holster,” Johnny pointed out as he watched the wolf put his pistol away again.
	“You don't think you're going to keep those tattered rags forever, do you?” Colt asked as he pulled two holsters out of the trunk. “I've got some new clothes for you, I think they should fit. Besides, your pants smell like cum.”
	Johnny blushed furiously and looked away. Colt chuckled and nudged his shoulder, causing the fox to look back at the wolf. “What's easier?”
	“To use? The hip holster.”
	Johnny nodded and Colt handed him one of the two holsters and put the other one away. He walked back to the drivers side of his car and pulled a leather rucksack out of the back. He tossed it at Johnny, who fumbled with it and dropped it with the revolver in his dominant paw. He splayed his hears back and looked up at Colt, but the wolf just smiled and shook his head.
	Johnny reached down and opened the flap. There was a bundle of clothes inside. A faded pair of jeans, a black shirt and a small leather jacket with silver zippers and buckles. It looked in much better shape that Colt's, but was obviously also pre-war.
	“Well?” Colt said, causing Johnny to look up at him. “Let's see it.”
	“What, here? Now?”
	“Yeah, kit,” Colt said as he walked back to the trunk and stood in front of the fox. “Besides, if you really want to be my boyfriend, I'd like to see you naked at least once before we do anything?”
	“B-boyfriend?”
	“Yeah, that's what you wanted, wasn't it?”
	“I … I, well … uh,” Johnny stammered.
	“The jacket's cut for a woman. Should look nice on you.”
	Johnny blushed furiously as Colt stepped closer to him and grabbed his shirt tail. He felt the wolf tug up on his shirt. Johnny sat the revolver down in the trunk and lifted his arms up. The shirt slid off over his head and Colt stepped back. He felt his cheeks burn hotter than the sand underneath his feet as the wolf eyed him up and down.
	“Now the rest,” Colt told him.
	Johnny bit his lip and looked at the ground.
	“You reconsidering?”
	“What? No, no … I uh,” Johnny said as he looked back up at the wolf. “I just, didn't think you'd want to.”
	“I'll try anything once, kit,” Colt said and smiled. “Now. The rest?”
	Johnny looked down at his pants and drew a shaky breath. He reached into his left pocket and pulled the magnum out and sat it in the trunk, then slipped his thumbs under his waistband and pushed them down. His erection was plainly visible as the burlap crumpled at his feet. He looked up at the wolf and his embarrassment increased tenfold as he saw Colt was looking at his vulpine cock.
	“Hmm … not too bad, for a kit.” Colt lifted his paw and twirled his finger at the ground, gesturing for the fox to turn around.
	Johnny stepped out of his pants and slowly turned away from Colt. His tail started to swish back and forth at the thought of the wolf looking his backside over. His ears heated even more as he heard the wolf give him a lewd whistle.
	“Mmm … damn, kit. You got a vixen's ass,” Colt said as he stepped toward him. “Put your paws on the car.”
	Johnny turned to the trunk and put his paws on the worn weather stripping and leaned down a bit. Colt put his paw on Johnny's rear and squeezed it softly in his palm, causing the fox to jump a little. He felt Colt slide his fingerpad down the cleft of his rear and over his pucker. Johnny yipped as the wolf suddenly pushed his finger inside of him.
	“Damn! That's gotta be the tightest ass I ever felt,” Colt said before pulling his finger out. “All right. After we get a little meat back on your bones, I might even be proud to call you my little vixen. We'll give it a go, yeah?”
	“Colt … I want you,” Johnny said desperately.
	“Later, kit. Get dressed.”
	“But, but I-” Johnny cut himself off as he saw Colt walk back around and get in the car.
	“Hurry up, kit,” Colt called from inside the car. “You don't want to sit in this tin can with no clothes on. You'll roast quicker than a rat on a spit.”
	Johnny sighed as he pulled the shirt out of the rucksack and pulled it on over his head. He put the jeans on next, taking care to not catch his erection in the zipper as he pulled it up. He put on the jacket, which did indeed hug his curves like Colt said it would, and then slung the pistol belt around his hips.
	After picking up the revolver and dropping it in the holster, he closed the trunk and walked around to the passenger side. He threw the rucksack in the back and got in and closed the door. He heard the wolf chuckle at him and he looked over at Colt with a scowl.
	“That tight shirt and jacket look good on you, kit,” Colt told him.
	“Mmn,” Johnny grunted angrily.
	“What's wrong, kit? You sound upset.”
	“Fuck you, Colt,” Johnny replied as he folded his arms and looked back out the windshield.
	Colt chuckled and put the car in gear and sped off down the road. “Good news is, one of those ammo cans was full of micro fusion cells. Bad news is, I think I just pissed my bitch off.”
	Johnny felt his cheeks heat with blush again as he glanced at the wolf. Colt was still smirking, which caused him to smile as well.

“Brothers in Arms.”

	Johnny opened his eyes and the canvas of millions of stars in the night sky greeted him as he looked up out of the open window. The hum of the motor had stayed constant long enough for him to sleep and wake once more in Colt's car. He sat up and looked out of the windshield, seeing the cone of the headlights stretching out on the dark pavement in front of them.
	He yawned and stretched his arms out in front of him, feeling the stiffness in his aching muscles. His arms collapsed down in his lap as he groaned. He looked over at Colt and smiled. It had been three days since they'd rammed the gate at Amnesty. Colt had been driving the whole time, only making two stops after their initial one outside of the Gun Runners hub in that time, and those were to accommodate Johnny. Colt hadn't slept any, but he still looked as sharp as ever.
	“Get to it, kit,” Colt said, which caused Johnny to groan.
	The fox drew the revolver out oh his holster and held it up with the grip Colt had shown him. He felt the strain on his arms immediately. His muscles quivered and he grit his teeth. The minutes crept by at the pace of an agonizing eternity. Finally, the fox's exhausted muscles gave out and he dropped his arms into his lap with a groan.
	“Quiet!” Colt demanded. “As soon as you show weakness, your enemy fucking owns you. I don't care if there's a deathclaw on top of you ripping you to shreds. The only thing out of your mouth should be spit in its ugly eye. Even if they beat you, you have to make them feel like it was the most costly victory they've ever had.”
	Johnny huffed and pushed the revolver out in front of him again. He held it level until beads of sweat ran down his face. His muscles shook violently but he defied his body and kept it up. The tingling pain grew to excruciating levels before the barrel dipped, and finally dropped as his arms could take no more. He panted heavily and glanced over at the wolf.
	“Seven minutes,” Colt said. “Only fifty-three more to go.”
	“Only seven minutes?” Johnny wined. “It felt longer. It always feels like forever.”
	“You're up from barely two in just three days, kit. You can't expect to go from sickly weakling to a stud like me in just a few days.”
	“I wouldn't know how much of a stud you are,” Johnny quipped. “All you ever do is tease-”
	“Get to it,” Colt interrupted.
	Johnny let out another very audible sigh before picking the revolver back up into a ready position. For the next six hours, Colt made him hold his revolver at the ready. When his muscles gave out, he’d get a brief rest before Colt instructed him to start again. By the time that Colt remarked they were probably somewhere in Washington, the sun was up and beating down on the car.
	The heat of the day made the work even harder. Johnny repeated the exercise time and time again. His black shirt was drenched, despite the wind constantly cooling his sweat. Each time, Colt would tell him how long he lasted. It would go up a bit and then steadily decrease until Colt berated him. Afterward, Johnny's determination would keep the pistol level longer for the following time but the cycle would repeat.
	On his latest attempt, he glanced over at the wolf and noticed his expression was one of concern as he looked out of the windshield into the wastes. “What's wrong?” Johnny asked, letting the revolver drop a bit but catching himself before his arms gave out.
	“We've driven through two settlements on this road, and they were both abandoned.”
	“Ugh!” Johnny grunted as his arms fell back into his lap and he panted. “So? We've driven through some boneyards before.”
	“Yeah, but these were recently built. They're post-war shanty towns, not bombed out old world buildings,” Colt noticed something up the road and put the car in neutral. “It looks like the furs in them just disappeared.”
	Johnny tried to see what the wolf saw, but it was still out of sight for him. He sighed and shook his head. “Maybe they just left. Who knows, maybe they were farmers and there was a drought or something.”
	“Haven't you been paying attention at all?” Colt scolded. “These weren't farms, they were towns.”
	“Well, what could cause it then?”
	“I heard a group of super mutants went North awhile back, but they leave a lot more destruction when they raid something.”
	“What's a super mutant?”
	“A big mean motherfucker that will kill you as soon as look at you. Only the meanest and toughest of them are left, so I hope that's not what we're getting our asses into.”
	Johnny looked back out of the windshield and sighed. “Okay, so what do you see?”
	“Not sure,” Colt replied, which made the fox very uneasy.
	Johnny left the revolver in his lap as he shook his paws and worked his fingers, trying to get feeling back in them. He was surprised when Colt stepped on the brakes and the car slowed. “You're stopping?”
	“Get that gun ready, kit,” Colt instructed.
	Johnny palmed his revolver as the car slowed to a stop. Colt got out and Johnny followed behind him. He ran up to an old overturned car and put his back against it and peeked around. Johnny settled in beside him with his heart racing and his adrenaline pumping.
	Johnny watched Colt as he sighed and holstered his pistol. The fox looked at him curiously as he reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a cigarette with the paper brown and stained with age. Colt lit it and took a long drag.
	“What is it?” Johnny asked timidly.
	“Take a look.”
	The fox eased around the wolf and saw a big dust cloud on the horizon. There were no clouds in the sky, and the wind was blowing. It didn't look like any dust storm he'd ever seen. Johnny tighted the grip on his revolver and moved it into a ready position, only to feel Colt's paw on top of his and push it back down.
	“Easy, kit,” the wolf said. “There's only two things this can be, and neither one of them we could get away from.”
	Johnny looked at the wolf curiously then sighed. He put the revolver back in his holster as Colt stepped out from the car and around him. Johnny followed him out onto the road as he watched the dust cloud growing closer. “So, what is it?”
	“A convoy,” Colt replied. “The only two groups that would have so many vehicles are the Brotherhood or the Enclave.”
	“The Brotherhood?” Johnny asked.
	“Technological saviors of furkind, or so they like to think. If it's Brotherhood, we'll live. If it's not, we'll put up a fight, but anyone with those kind of resources, it would just be a matter of time.”
	“Shouldn't … shouldn't we get out of here, just in case.”
	“We make a hasty exit and they'll send a tracking squad after us,” Colt explained. “NCR went toe-to-toe with the Brotherhood a few years back, and they're still making them pay for it. No one smart crosses them, and no one stupid enough to lives long.”
	“And if it's Enclave?”
	“Then we're fucked.”
	Johnny gulped a bit then eased a little closer to Colt. He watched the column of vehicles draw closer. They began to take shape, silhouetted against the clouds they kicked up. They were like nothing the fox had ever seen. The boxy vehicles stood in stark contrast to the twisted wrecks of the cars of the old world, and most of them looked like they had enough firepower on them to level whole settlements.
	It felt like Johnny's feet were shaking on the pavement the closer they got. Johnny stood by Colt until the row of vehicles was fifty feet away. When the lead vehicle stopped all of the ones behind it staggered the formation and also stopped.. With uncanny precision, all of the rumbling motors ceased.
	Johnny watched in amazement as doors and hatches on the vehicles opened and furs in armor the likes of which he'd never seen piled out, ran a few feet from the trucks and tracks and knelt down with their gazes and weapons pointed out away from the convoy.
	Johnny saw the passenger door on the lead vehicle, a truck with a big gun on the top and a boxy shape, open up and a fur stepped out. The door had three cogs painted on it that were in a wreath and a sword pointing skyward over the top of the design. Another fur got out of the drivers side, in much less imposing armor but still the likes of which Johnny had never seen.
	The fur in the big suit of armor held nothing in his paws as he approached the two, but one in the tan and gray colored armor beside him had an energy rifle of some sort. They stopped in front of the wolf and the fox. The large suit of armor moved his paws up to his helmet and with an audible hiss, the hermetic seal broke and he pulled the wicked helmet upward.
	A lion looked down at the two as he tucked the helmet under his arm. His right eye was gray and a large burn scar covered it, leaving that part of his face and a portion of his mane bare. He never lost his stoic gaze as he stepped forward and looked down at the wolf.
	“'Been awhile, Paladin,” Colt said as he looked up at the lion.
	“It's General now,” the lion replied before looking over at the fox. “I thought you were the 'lone wolf' type. Since when did you start picking up strays?”
	“You've been doing it for awhile, now. Or so I hear,” Colt said and the lion scoffed in response. “So they made you a General? It must be easier to get promoted than I thought.”
	“Indeed,” the lion said and then sighed. “All it takes these days is outliving your commanding officer.” the lion knelt down on his knee and made himself eye level with the wolf. “I heard a report that a recently opened Gun Runner branch in NorCal was put out of business.”
	“Yeah, that was me,” Colt said. “No need to thank me. They picked the fight this time.”
	“You won't have many friends left in the NCR if you keep that up.”
	“And you? Last I heard the Western Brotherhood wasn't fairing so well.”
	The lion smiled and looked back over his shoulder. “You see all that?”
	“Hard to miss.”
	“It seems our Brothers around Chicago have been busy. This is a small loan. We need the database from Maxon's personal files.”
	“That's deep bear country, Greene. You really think that the NCR hasn't fortified that little bunker of yours?”
	“Well, since we made contact with our Chicago Brothers, and since they're also interested in the accumulation of knowledge we'd rather not see stay in the hands of incompetent democracies like the NCR, we cut a little deal.”
	“What about that whole, 'fundamental difference in philosophy' regarding the outsiders? How many of those Brothers behind you are pure fur stock?”
	“Desperate times,” General Greene replied. “You looking for contract work? You're already at odds with the Gun Runners. And if what I heard is true, the Crimson Caravan probably doesn't care much for you either.”
	“Nah,” Colt said. “It's bad enough that word got out to them I was Bishop's trigger. I must have gotten sloppy and left one of those bastards alive. Last thing I need is for some Baja hardened deathsquad or First Recon tracking me down.”
	“Well, if you change your mind, I'm sure that junk heap you call a hotrod will catch up. Just head South. We could always use a grease monkey.”
	“I fix one damn truck for you bastards and I'm stuck with grease monkey for the rest of my life?”
	“Shit happens,” Greene said as he stood back up and put his helmet on.
	Johnny watched as they walked back to their convoy and once again marveled at the military precision of all the furs getting back into their vehicles. The motors roared to life and the convoy started driving past them. Johnny breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at Colt. “That was tense.”
	“That was cordial,” Colt said and then chuckled. “We got more driving to do, and you got more muscle training to do.”
	“Ah, goddammit,” Johnny said as Colt walked back toward his car. “Can't we take a break from that for a bit? I hate how heavy that gun is.”
	“Nope,” Colt replied. “Oh, speaking of breaks, take care of what you need to take care of before we go. I know how you women are with your piss stops.”
	“Fuck you, Colt,” Johnny said with a huff.
	“Later.”
	“Promises …” Johnny said as he came abreast of the wolf.
	“I don't break promises, kit.”
	Johnny felt his cheeks heat with blush as they walked side-by-side.