After the duo picked the Police Station clean they deposited their loot with Sargeant Astor before heading directly for the Fire Station. The door leading inside seemed to be connected with the inner garage. A few fire engines were collecting dust outside the closed garage doors, it was unfortunate they were in-operable otherwise their trip across the Mojave would be significantly easier.

Another thing Afton noted was the huge amount of radiation that was coming from inside the Fire Station. If the duo weren't wearing radiation suits and ingesting a healthy dosage of Rad X they might have grown a few more limbs or something equally morbid. ​​

Afton stands next to the door and glances at Karl, the man had taught him the Ranger method of breaching and entering, the Brotherhood just generally charged in with Power Armour so this was more covert that the way he was initially taught. He'd open the door and Karl would kill anything visible inside.

Both suspected there'd be a few ghouls, or maybe even rad scorpions inside due to the high amount of radiation... Hopefully there would be too many.

He signals Karl with his hand, *3, 2, 1* before opening it and quickly backing away, getting ready for Karl to start firing...

...

Karl hadn't fired any shots, and instead just stood there with a shocked expression on his face... Afton wondered what was up and took a glance inside-Oh my god...

"RUN!"

They both shout simultaneously and start running away, just as a Rad Scorpion around the size of a fire truck charges through the garage door, completely destroying it. It's like a battering ram as it smashing through the trucks and rapidly catches up to them.

The two were running faster than they'd ever run in their lives, neither had expected such a monster to be inhabiting the building... The door was even locked, meaning it'd only gained sustenance from the radiation... CRAZY!

"FUUU-CKING RUN!" Afton shouts as he hears the creature gaining on them, he fires a few blind shots behind him with Lucky, but pales when the bullets simply bounce off of its carapace.

They hop over small rock fences and debris in an attempt to lose it, but while it does slow the creature slightly, it simply barrels through the obstacles like the Juggernaut.

The duo don't have a many options and choose to run towards the NCR encampment, they rapidly wave at the patrolling soldiers who wave back as if this was some sort of greeting. Their waves quickly stop when they spot the HUGE rad scorpion charging towards them.

"HOLY FUCK!"

"SARGEANT! A MONSTER IS COMING!" they shout, Sargeant Astor quickly appearing and getting stunned when he sees the duo running towards them with the monster in tow.

The shock quickly wears off as he realises they were about to get caught up in it, "STOP YOUR STARING AND FIRE!"

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!*

The entire encampment opens fire on the rad scorpion, causing Afton and Karl to duck due to the bullets whizzing over their heads, fortunately the encampment was on a slight hill, making it somewhat easier to avoid them and hit the huge scorpion.

The bullets impede its movements for a moment, the service rifles the NCR were using weren't able to penetrate its carapace, but the sudden barrage definitely made it wary of approaching any closer. Its carapace may be almost unbreakable, but its eyes and mouth were vulnerable. As it was so large, it wouldn't take much for a stray bullet to destroy them.

Afton and Karl reach the encampment, huffing and breathing heavily while Astor looks at them, "What the hell have you brought to my camp!"

"That thing was living inside the Fire Station! You're lucky we discovered it this soon otherwise it might've grown even larger!" Afton quickly says, covering both his and Karl's asses.

Astor shakes his head, "We'll talk about this later, just help us try and kill this thing first!" he holds of the conversation as he starts firing again.

Afton is amazed to see that the bullet fly off of its carapace as if they were colliding against an immovable object. The Rad scorpion queen blocked its eyes with its claws and starts heading towards the camp, having finally mustered up to courage to attack them.

The NCR soldier all seem to simultaneously shit themselves at seeing this, grabbing a grenade and throwing it at the creature.

Most are thrown at it, while a few of the less impressive soldiers completely whiff their grenades. Luckily no one had dropped a live one at their feet otherwise everyone would be fucked.

The grenades rolled to stop near the Rad scorpion as it scuttled over, *BANG!* they all exploded, the shockwave shaking the ground momentarily as everyone focuses on the cloud of dust that should contain the corpse of the Queen Rad Scorpion...

...

"It's not dead!" One soldier shouts as it charges through the dust relatively unharmed. The damage it seems to have sustained was pieces of its carapace being torn off by the explosion, leaving a few of its legs vulnerable to damage.

The barrage resumes but this time a few shots actually harm the creature, bullets lodging themselves in its left legs and causing its charge to slow somewhat. It still didn't seem to be enough as all of its vitals were still enclosed in the carapace.

Afton knew that if it reached the encampment most of the soldiers would run for the hills, these guys weren't the cream of the crop, instead just being recruits who'd only been in service for a year or so.

He pulled out all of the mines he'd kept from Primm, primed them before tossing them all in the path of the monster. Soon enough a small pile of miles had formed, and Afton was pretty worried that they'd still be in its blast radius... Eight mines all exploding simultaneously might actually harm some of them in the encampment.

He, and everyone else crossed their fingers and prayed to whatever god they worshipped for this to work as the Queen charged over the mines... *Beep, Beep, Beep*