Dying Man in a Dead Land

Each step was torture, but he had to carry on. The Brahmin Priest hadn't planned that he would ever make an expedition deep into the wasteland in a state like this. He thought it was all behind him, locked away with the rest of the mysteries of the past. Mudge held tightened the grip that was holding onto his gut, the ancient alcohol that was too stubborn to dry up continued to punish him.

The sun's light dazzled him and an echo of the past reappeared in the man's mind. Everything said that day long ago played back in his mind perfectly. Mudge discovering a dying man in a makeshift trench, put there during one of the many wars of this new world. "Are you alright?" Mudge asked as a steady flow of bullets crossed above them. The man turned with what little strength he had, his face scarred and dirty. "You can trust me I'm not with them."

"I don't know how much longer I have left," the dying man complained, his words took a while to escape his lips. "It's me they want - not you. Run, while you can!" he continued, a little faster in the delivery of this next line.

Mudge shook his head. "I am not leaving you to die here, no matter who you are," a master of medicine Mudge quickly administered two Stimpaks. "You're going to need more medical attention than just a shot of that stuff, I'll get you somewhere safe." He lifted the man up and held him over his shoulders. "What's your name?"

"Tanner... Wallace, I'm Tanner Wallace," the man replied in a weak voice. In that moment Father Mudge had saved a man who would come to haunt his future. He would escape that trench and return Wallace to his home. Staying at his side until his full recovery. Eventually, Mudge would ride with Tanner Wallace and the rest of the Jophiel PMC. A decision he would soon regret.

Then Mudge woke up, sat back in the dirt with his hand still held tightly against his stomach. Drunkenly moaning in discomfort. He then looked up, out at the world that he would continue to wander until he could find Tanner and the PMC again. He thought of the possibilities of time travel and how if he could do it he'd go back and leave Tanner Wallace for dead. He had regrets.