Things went to hell well before Hudson could get into position. The raiders had pounced on the soldiers as soon as they'd reached the ruse, and suddenly blasts of plasma and dying screams echoed across the canyon. Still, though, Hudson peered around one of the buildings, searching for a moment to snatch something of value. He'd rather not leave this kind of engagement empty-handed.

The unmistakable "crack" of a hunting rifle caught his attention as a bullet pierced through the leg of one of the soldiers, sending him to the ground. Hudson leaned hard into the wall at his right, and started to scan, looking for a giveaway. It had to be a sniper, obviously, but if it was shooting at the soldiers, likely not one of their allies.

[i]Or, just a really bad shot.[/i] Even in mortal danger, Hudson couldn't help himself.

He kept his eye on the other side of the valley, but still couldn't spot where the shot had come from.

CRACK! Another shot, and this time, a raider fell, a large chunk of his neck missing as the body twitched on the ground. Hudson kept his scan, and then he saw it.

The glint.

On the other side of the town valley, about three hundred or so yards off, Hudson noticed that some foliage was built up, hiding the shooter. He pulled his scope to his eye, and noticed, behind the scrub and snow, a shape was going through the well-rehearsed motions of reloading the rifle. He knew that the bolt-actions took a little time, and so prayed he had enough.

Hoping the shooter was using one of the popular hunting rifles, Hudson bolted along the far building and brush, moving quickly, but trying not to catch attention. With the main skirmish drawing attention, he should rather easily go unnoticed.

He kept up his sprint, avoiding the deeper drifts as much as he could, finally making his way to the other side of the valley, hopefully out of the sniper's notice. He turned back quickly, seeing that two of the Enclave soldiers were holding holding off the flank as the other, uninjured one had tossed the first with a leg wound over his shoulder in a fire carry, and was hoofing it back to the main building.

[i]I'll have to loot the raiders if I want to get anything, here.[/i]

Shaking his head quickly, he continued his way up the valley side, and quietly approached the impromptu sniper's nest from behind, having slung back his rifle and pulled [i]Fiona[/i] from her holster. The sounds of battle and blasts were still echoing, and so his footsteps seemed not even to make a sound.

He peered inside, but there was no one there. There was the imprint of a body in the snow, as if someone had recently been set there, but it looked like he'd moved on. Hudson noticed the tracks, and followed slowly, right into some scrub foliage a ways off. There, in the trees, he finally saw him.

[i]Abram.[/i]

He'd had dealings with the infamous ghoul hunter a few times over the years. Sometimes they were on the same side. Sometimes, they weren't. This time, Abrams hadn't shot at him yet, so Hudson hoped it hadn't just been a lack of opportunity. But if he was taking pot shots at the soldiers, it seemed the two might end up being on the same side of this particular conflict.

Creeping up, Hudson kept his pistol aimed ahead, hoping to get into a better position before giving himself away.

But as he approached, a cacophony of grinding sounds came from the pop-up complex in front of them, and Hudson risked a glance to see numerous bristling turrets twisting into place, with twelve or so of them aiming directly at both Abram and himself.

[i]Aw, hell.[/i]

"Get down!" Hudson shouted as he rushed forward, tackling Abram to the ground. The space above them as they landed behind a berm was perforated by laser fire.