#stalkerxsix

“I don’t suppose it would be ethical for me to ask you for sedatives to knock out an unruly soldier of mine every now and then would it?”

“Here. Let me see if I can fix that up. It’ll be a few hours till we make it back to base.”

“Kid, I think you seriously need to cut back on the smoking. It’s bad for your lungs.”

"Mooooooooooo." War leaned over the fence and tried to get the cow's attention, though it seemed to do little good. The grass was apparently much more interesting than the former Alpha. Merrick was resting both forearms on the top board of the old wooden fence, watching the cattle graze and listening to the other try and do her cow impression. "Stop antagonizing the cows.""I'm not antagonizing the moo cows. I'm calling Grenade. He always comes when I call him."The older male raised an eyebrow at the term 'moo cows', having never heard anyone call them that before. Well, no one older than five maybe. "As opposed to non-moo cows?" He questioned. "They’re just cows, War. And didn't I just tell you yesterday to not name them? It makes it harder when they go to slaughter.""Yeah, I took that into consideration and decided not to listen to you."Shocking. He was about to say something else when suddenly a cow that had been over the hill started jogging towards them. Blinking a few times, Merrick told himself that there was no way in hell that this kid trained a cow in two days to come to her when she called. He could tell himself that all he wanted but that steer was coming straight for them for one reason or another. He didn't look like he was slowing down either and Merrick thought he might just be stupid enough to bust through the damn thing. In one swift motion, he was off the fence and pulling War off it as well. By some miracle, the cow managed to skid to a stop right before he busted through the worn wood. War didn't seem to happy to be in the older man's grip but she was clearly proud about the fact the cow had come over. "See?" The younger girl squirmed out of his grasp and jumped back onto the fence. "Good boy!" She immediately began to pet the cow's nose affectionately. Huh. Guess he did really come when she called him. "The hell did you get him to do that?" He questioned. Merrick could never get any of the cows to listen to him. They always did their own thing so Merrick always had to strong arm them to get them to do anything. The girl was about to answer him when something grabbed her attention. Merrick had long accepted the fact that War had capabilities that greatly surpassed his own. Hearing and sight were a couple of those things. When any MES perked at something, it was best to pay attention. He was about to turn around and see what was wrong when another voice caught his attention."Shit! Thomas!" He didn't even need to turn around to know what had happened. They had two barn dogs that ran around the ranch, but the young Alpha was petrified of them. So now, every time the kid went outside, Merrick put the dogs either in the house or in the garage. One of the hounds was an old Australian Shepherd that Merrick had long before he met Julia, and the other was a young barn mutt the other woman had found and fallen in love with. For reasons Merrick couldn't really understand, both dogs absolutely loved War. Every time the girl came in sight they would grow excited and try to run to her. Cute to anyone else, but completely terrifying for the young Alpha. The dogs never really got out when Merrick was the one trying to slip through the door. He was pretty good at kicking them back out of the way and keeping them at bay. Julia, on the other hand, was a little more gentle and loving when it came to the dogs. That, or she was subtly trying to get the child to face her fears. Merrick actually wasn't entirely sure which it was.It didn't take War but a split second to hop over the fence and jump onto the cow she had just called's back, completely terrified of the two dogs running towards them. Before Merrick could do anything, both mutts were on the other side of the fence trying to jump up on War. The cow did not like that. At first, Merrick thought the cow was pissed that War had gotten on his back. The beast was rearing up, snorting, stomping his feet, and kicking out wildly. But then he realized that the cow was actually kicking at the dogs, quickly sending them back over to their respected side. He thought the damn thing would keep throwing a fit because of the girl on his back but as soon as the dogs were back over the fence he stopped completely. He just allowed the girl to remain on his back, going back to his grazing."...what did you do to this cow?"The Alpha was still starring at the dogs, eyes about the size of dinner plates. Oh. Right. "Come here." Merrick bent down and grabbed both dogs by the collar, dragging them over to Julia, who then took them back inside. As soon as they were gone, War visibly relaxed, still seated on her cow. She almost looked like she was in some kind of trance though. "Hey. You ok?"Whatever she had been thinking, she snapped out of it rather quickly. She blinked a couple times before nodding to Merrick. "Yeah. They just surprised me. I don't like the dogs.""The dogs are about as gentle and loyal as that cow you got there," he said, nodding to the gentle beast that was still allowing the child to sit on his back."They have teeth. They bite. I saw what Riley could do. Did you see how fast they ran at us?"Merrick sighed and hopped over the fence as well, walking over to pet the cow that was currently grazing. "They just wanted to play, War. They weren't gonna bite you. If you're nice to them, they'll be nice to you " He hoped one day War would be able to get over her fear of dogs. Him and Julia had talked about it several times. A therapist was mentioned once but War flat out refused that, claiming she didn't need any help."Well if they would just leave me alone, we wouldn't have this problem." She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the cow's neck in a hug before sliding off. "Thank you kindly, sir." She smiled, giving the cow a good pat.Merrick sighed and rubbed the steer again. He had warned War and Julia about getting to attached to the animals. The only permanent residents were the dogs and horses. Everything else was fair game. Though, Merrick knew in his heart that there was no way he could sell this cow now. Not only was War attached to him but he was attached to War. It was no different than a boy getting attached to his dog. Julia at least had the dogs that she loved running around. War didn't have that kind of special bond with any of the animals yet. Well, until now she didn't. So Merrick would be the old rough and tough cowboy until it was time to send the cattle to slaughter. Then he would most likely allow the cow to stay on the farm.

Face Claim: Asa Butterfield as a smol; Nicholas Hoult as a tol.

“If I had a ladder, I could try and clean the full-length windows. I’d just need to be sure War wasn’t around to sabotage it in the worst ways. Like, uh... How do you Americans say it.... Timber?”

"You better have a good fucking reason for us to be here."

When the two had first arrived he just knew they would be trouble. Probably worse than the Walker boys. Needless to say, he wasn't all that surprised when he walked in on the two rough housing in the rec room. "We have a gym for that you know."