This -surprisingly- isn't my first fallout story, but seeing as that one was absolute shit, I decided to delete it and re-write it, things and changes needed to be done to it. Instead of a simple spelling and grammar check, I decided that the story and narrative was fucked so here we are with this one. Please leave a review to tell me what I need to work on throughout the writing. Thanks!
Prolouge
Long ago, before the bombs fell, there were vaults built to house the rich and the entitled. Why they were built was unclear until their doors opened. The vaults had experiments for all of them, what happens when you have a dictatorship? What happens when you fill one full of plants? What happens when you fill one full of guns?
Fortunately, some vaults were salvation, no experiment in them. But there was something else about some vaults, they weren't built to house anyone, in fact, they were never even opened until 2237.
Some travelers were kicked out of new Vegas, they took up housing in a small ghost town built years before for 'wild west' re-enactment. They started trying to make the town secluded from the rest of the Mojave, joining the buildings together with rubble found in the wasteland. Soon, they had their own 'vault' on the outside with stone walls and brahmin skin roofs, they felt protected. However, soon the outside world was becoming too much, they decided that they needed more protection than they already had. So they dug down into the earth and before long, they found it, a vault, untouched by the nuclear wastes or the aftermath of such. It had been buried so that people would never find it.
Why? There was no why. No-one lived in the vault, the non-perishable food, intact, the water purifier, flawless. Soon, vault town became a ghost town again as the residents moved into the vault, away from the outside world, away from the terror of the Legion. By 2265 everyone had immigrated to the vault in a panic as the Legion began it's rein of terror.
When the Legion raided the camp, they found nothing but a small child, left in a bundle of rags. Abandoned in the rush for safety. The infant was taken from the town and brought to a Legion camp it was there that the child became a slave. He knew no better, what he was raised to do, he had no idea what would happen should he do anything. By the time that he had grown into a small child, the slavery began, the Legion would never had tried to turn him into one of their own. At the age of 5, they branded his small frame on the back with a Legion bull. The pained scream of the boy lead the NCR patrol to the camp. The thing that made the situation worse for everyone was the fact that the boy didn't know what to do. Not understanding what would happen to him, the boy was taken by the NCR to be cared for. However there was no hope for the child to be cared for by the NCR, they were a military after all. Later, the kid was forced to stay in freeside in the care of the owners of the Atomic Wrangler. James and Francine Garrett.
By the age of 7, the kid learned chemistry and how to make and care for alcohol distilleries. He learned how to shoot with the kings, learned how to gamble and best of all, he learned to stop being a slave. At the age of 11 the boy knew all the tricks of the wasteland, everything he needed to survive even when the cities were not an option for him he could stay there. Something was missing though, the kid still didn't have a name. All this time he was out of the slavery days, he was called 'Slave boy' but the name didn't stick with the kid. At 12, he realised that the NCR was there for him, if the people who had rescued him were still alive. So he decided to look around the town of Freeside for work, he found something that he relished the idea of.
Simple work, a courier service for people who needed it, the Garrett's decided to tell him that he would go to Primm to help the town that needed help. The Kid went with an NCR patrol to the town of Primm where the NCR had begun stationing their troops. The town had lost law long ago, a deputy was all they had. The kid found that he was in much safer hands than he was back in Freeside, there were many kind hands that helped the kid along his way. The kid lived in that town for a very long time, close to his 16th birthday, the kid faced something that happened so fast that he couldn't understand.
After a long day of renovation work -on the Bison Steve- the kid found himself stuck in Limbo, feeling as if the life he had was pointless. Without a name or an age that the kid understood, he found himself stuck with no real reason -in his mind- to live. Yet, he couldn't kill himself, he wouldn't do it. Primm's residents knew that the Kid was depressed, but they wouldn't do anything about it, the fact was, the kid was good at what he did. Within a month, the entire of the Bison Steve was fixed, everything. The kid had restored the building to it's former glory, a clean shining beacon for people to come and stay where it was safe, before long, Primm had a sheriff that came and stayed in the Bison Steve, Primm was protected.
Suddenly, the kid began to realise that something was wrong with him.
Kid's P.O.V
"You can put your clothes back on now." Doc spoke as he finally stopped prodding at the burn on my back.
I got up and quickly slipped back into my Jeans, that's all I put on as I turned to the doc.
"Will it stop hurtin' now?" I asked, the brand mark on my back was beginning to hurt again.
"Unfortunately, Kid. Because it happened when you were so short, the fact you grew means the burn would stretch. You'll get used to the pain, don't worry about it." Doc finally packed up his bag and left the room.
When the door closed, this overwhelming flood of emotion hit me square in the throat. Feeling sick, I nearly hit the floor as I held back the sudden sadness. A mix of hate for the Legion and sorrow from the past created the Molotov cocktail that was thrown at my heart, a crash of glass as my knees hit the ground was the trigger that broke the dam. Tears streamed my face, it seemed like an overreaction in heinsight, but every time someone even mentioned the word Legion, the scars began to burn.
After my fit of silent tears was over, I dragged myself over to the bathroom, checking on my face. I was white, but tanned, I worked outside enough to get the colour I had. My blue eyes were sharp, tears didn't seem to do anything when it came down to the appearance of my face. Before I went out, I decided to take a look at my mouth again, fangs had been growing at the corner of my mouth, they were small and barely noticeable, but they were razor sharp. Finally, I pulled my gunslinger belt around my waist, a shirt over my head and my duster around my back. Walking outside, I realised that the weather was looking as if it were going to get cold soon, it was a good thing I had the duster to keep the cold air off of me.
"Hey, Kid. Looking for some work?" Johnson Nash, the runner of the Mojave express in Primm was waiting for me outside.
"You know I need some work, Sir. What do you have?" I'd done all I could fixing up Primm. The walls were reinforced, their power working efficiently and their plumbing was completely leak free.
"I got a package that need's deliverin' to new Vegas. Nothing too hard, you've got everything you need for a job like this by the looks of it." He pulled out a small package and handed it to me.
It had a little bit of heft for how small it was, with the package and invoice in my possession, it was time to move. My map was paper, but it was good enough to tell me that the quickest route was to go north, that was unless the stories about the quarry were true.
My journey, however. Was somewhat short lived. As I neared the town of Goodsprings, a large metallic object hit me in the head, knocking me out completely. Sudden darkness is always terrifying, it was always made worse when you didn't see the face of who did it when you blacked out.
When I awoke, I found myself hogtied, thankfully still clothed. My package however was no longer a part of my attire. My ears began to ring as I took in my surroundings, it was now nighttime, how it had taken them this long to get me up here was a mystery, it didn't matter anyhow. As I looked up, I realised I was face to face with a nickle plated 1911, loaded and a smarmy smile behind it. Before I could see the face that the smile belonged to.
BANG!
You can probably imagine what happened to me afterwards. See, my life didn't flash before my eyes, there was nothing really worth remembering except the life of work that I'd put into the wasteland, making it somewhat inhabitable for people who needed the help. That mattered little, even though I'd accepted death, he hadn't taken me this time, it seemed that where ever I was going didn't have much space to squeeze me in to the elevator.
A trickle of water hit me on the head from the ceiling, waking me up from my almost eternal slumber. The room was dark, light peaked in through some of the windows but it was barely enough to keep the room lit, soon, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It looked as if I'd just woken up in some sort of medical office.
No-one around. I tried to swing my legs off of the bed, only to have a dizzy spell, stopping me from getting to my feet. The worst thing about this whole experience was the feeling of uselessness, not being able to get up was going to get on my nerves.
"There goes 250 caps." I sighed as I hung my head in my hands.
As my fingers touched the stitching, I realized that there was something strange on my face, scarred skin graced it, pretty deep too.
"You're awake." A doctor walked into the room, carrying what looked like my duster and belt.
"Guess I'm lucky huh?" I tried joking, but the scar on my face was causing some new anger to rise.
"Well, ya did got shot in the head. How'd you feel?" The elderly man set my equipment down on the medical bed opposite.
"Apart from this." I touched the scar on my cheek.
"I feel like a hand full of aces." I tried smiling, even though I knew it would look crooked.
The doc gave me a hand to my feet, I stumbled, knowing full well that I was in no shape to go on a wild goose chase for the grin that shot me in the head.
"Did anyone see what happened?" I asked.
"Nah, Victor did though. He's the securitron that dug you out of the grave they dug ya, if you could call it that... Here, I suppose you already have an idea of what you look like."
He handed me a mirror, I nearly dropped it. My face was indeed graced by a scar, deep and grey, ugly as ugly could get. Only one side of my face was ruined according to what I could tell, the other side was almost like it had never been touched.
"Guess I could pass for someone else now..." I realised something.
Where before I hated myself due to my past, now I had a way to start a new life, the execution that happened at the graveyard would have actually happened now. Kid was dead, someone new was born from the ashes.
"What's your name, kid?" The doc asked, sitting himself down.
I took a few moments before I gave my answer, I didn't really know what to say. Given the opportunity to change my life, I decided to give myself a new name, leave Kid in the dust and grave that was dug for me.
"I'm Jason, a courier for the Mojave express." Strength engulfed me, the shock of waking up out of close death was gone, it was as if I'd just gotten over a hangover.
I slid the belt on my hip, making sure that my pistol and ammunition was in it, they still took residence in the gunslinger belt. My duster on the other hand was considerably lighter, the Kevlar in the sleeves were gone, no protection on the arms.
"What do you plan on doing, Jason?" Doc asked as he handed me a bottle of water to replace my stolen canteen.
"I don't rightly know... I have to find a way to pay you back for this, then I guess I'll have to find that snake." I sighed, taking a long sip from the bottle, before sealing it and putting it safely on my belt.
Doc stood up and grabbed something of the table: A small, flat device with a screen on it. What looked like a pip-boy readus.
"If you're going back out there, I suggest you take this with ya. I don't have much use for it nowadays, you should find plenty of maps on that thing, you ever get lost, take a gander at it an' you should be able to find your way." He explained as he placed the device in my hand.
It was then I realised that my marked map was also stolen, the pip-boy was going to be a saving grace from here on. I thanked the doc again and again, although he still denied any pay I would have given him. I would have mistaken him for one of the followers if it hadn't been for his attire. Doc Mitchell knew his stuff, but even he couldn't stop my Legion mark from burning, when it was time to leave, he had one final thing for me to have.
"I know it might not seem necessary, but I guess you wanna hide that scar. Here." He handed me a bandanna.
I thanked him again, wrapped the thing around my mouth and walked out into the Mojave again. Sunlight was gracious as always, lighting my path no matter how dark it seemed in my head. For some reason though, I found myself thinking about the people I knew before, in a past life. It mattered little, my days of fixing people's mandatory problems were over, I'd rather have actually been killed than go back to laboring on minimum pay just because I felt it was the 'right thing'.
I found myself in the bar not long after. Needing a drink to take the edge off of the shock I was suffering. When I turned the corner to the actual bar, an argument between a powder ganger and a middle aged woman had broken out. All I needed to hear was the line.
"We're burning this town down to the ground."
I decided to intervene. Getting behind the guy, I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me, being a couple of inches shorter than him, he instantly placed a grin on his face. A simple gruff chuckle turned that the other way around.
"If you wanna make threats, do it to someone who aint scared to die." I spoke.
His face turned instantly, he seemed like he enjoyed the idea of taking on someone has skilled as he. Sadly for him, he had no idea just how much trouble he was in for.
"You think you're good enough to take on a powder ganger?" He close to growled at me.
I looked at his hip, a revolver was sat on it, he looked as if he were skilled enough to use it like a gunfighter.
"You think you're fast enough to take on a NCR gunslinger?" I grinned under the bandanna.
Before either of us knew it, we were outside in the street, 30 paces between us. Cobb and his revolver on one side, me and mine on the other. An old timer on the porch of the saloon was waiting to give us the signal.
"DR-"
BANG!
Cobb screamed in agony, his revolver hit the ground. Before he even cleared leather, my peacemaker was already out and living up to it's name.
"Holy shit." I heard behind me.
I holstered my sidearm and walked over to Cobb, my boots clicking as I walked. Kicking his gun away and grabbing him under his collar, I dragged him to look me in the eyes.
"You convict pieces of shit aint worth death. I promise you this though, I see another powder ganger in this town, or anywhere at all. You can bet your ass that there wont be a duel, or any fighting chance. You hear me, Cobb?" I spoke in his face, nothing to fear from a man who could be beaten by a teenager.
He nodded quickly, clearly fearing me.
"You got 30 seconds to get outta town." I threw him away from me.
I waited until I saw the Kevlar vest sprint out of view, there was no way he'd make it where ever he was going. Suddenly, there was a pat on my shoulder.
"Boy, I never saw anyone shoot like that in all my years. You earned a drink." The old timer pretty much dragged me into the Saloon again.
Soon, I found myself feeling famous among the towns folk. Everyone asking how I survived the gunshot, and how I managed to draw as fast as I did. It wasn't long before another patron entered the bar. He looked pale as a ghost, a carravaneer if ever I'd seen one.
"Cobb'll be back, he doesn't take things like that lying down. Before long his freinds'll be here, we won't have long." He panicked, visibly scared of something
He was right too, not half an hour later. More powder gangers had walked up to Goodsprings, lead by Joe Cobb with a slung arm. If he was right handed, he had no chance of winning against me in another duel, even though there wasn't going to be one.
I reloaded, needing all 6 cylinders for this rodeo.
"Hey, you aren't going out there alone." A woman and her dog came up to me.
"Tell you what, I'll distract them enough to get everyone who wants to fight into position for an ambush. If you hear a whistle, start shooting." I smiled, holstering my side arm.
The bar owner, Trudy, gave me her spare revolver. 12 shots to take down 6 people sounded polite. It wasn't until I heard...
"Gunslinger, get out here!" That I decided that the drink wasn't such a good idea.
I knew that I was going to be fine, opening the door and walking out into the street, it was like something out of a western holotape. Hell, even tumbleweed blew past us. I stood in the middle of the path, no gun in hand. Again, Cobb was beaten by me of all people, there was nothing to fear from him anymore, especially seeing as his freinds weren't exactly Legionaire.
"What's this about there being no duel?" Cobb sneered.
A couple powder ganger's laughed at me, as if they had no shadow of a doubt in their mind that they would be able to kill me.
"I thought I'd give you a chance seeing as you don't seem too good with your left hand." I smiled, tilting my head.
Cobb, taken aback threw an arm out towards his friends, who most of which were wearing dynamite strapped to their chest.
"Are you blind?!" He raged at me, nothing really would stop him from tying to kill everyone in the town apart from the town and me.
Before any of the powder gangers could sneer again, My right hand drew my pistol, fanning off all 6 rounds into one man in record time, hitting exactly where I wanted to hit him.
"You just wasted all your ammo!" Cobb laughed.
"Wait for it." I chuckled.
Not long after he started laughing did the dynamite on the unfortunate powder ganger explode, It was lucky that his cigarette hit the floor near the fuse. All the powder gangers were thrown away from the road, some landed on a picket fence, causing an unsavory end, others just lost limbs from the blast. Cobb on the other hand was still alive, writhing in pain and anger. I neared him, reloading relatively slowly. I was stood over him, kicking his pistol away again.
"So soon?" I laughed, grabbing the Kevlar off of his chest and the cigar from his jacket.
"What the fuck!" He spat out blood, he was pretty chewed up by the explosion.
"Word of advice, Cobb. It aint a good idea to smoke around dynamite. Keep that in mind when you're explaining to your friends in hell just how it is I beat 'em."
I grabbed his matches, then shot him in the head.
"Argh!" I heard a ganger charge from behind me.
With Trudy's revolver in my other hand, I used my heel to fan off a round into the charging powder ganger behind me. He hit the floor, dead.
"Hm." I put the cigar in my mouth and lit the end with the matches, not worrying about the scar at the minute.
"Oh." I forgot about the ambush in the heat of the moment.
I whistled, everyone's heads popped up, surveying the destruction I'd brought with me. People surveyed the road I'd just cleared with 6 bullets and a shit load of luck. Quickly, I made sure that everything was holstered and began to walk back. That's when I accidentally stepped on something solid. A rifle was at my feet, nothing a powder ganger would normally be carrying. I picked it up, taking in it's polymer body, built for the comfort of the shooter and a scope for 8X power. My luck was far from running out as I slung my new found weapon over my shoulder.
My debt to the town was repaid, I decided to walk away from the town only to be interrupted by the pale carravaneer.
"Look, I owe you much more than this. Cobb was after me, you stopping him just saved my life." He handed me a bag filled full of caps.
"Thanks, see you around..." I waited for his name.
"Ringo, and you are?" He also wanted my name.
"Jason. Gunslinger and Courier for hire." I joked as I walked away from Ringo and the town.
My journey was going to be long if I were to find the men who shot me, even though I didn't care about the package, the fact my face was fucked was going to be a problem. I kept walking until I happened upon a strange scene. A young man was shouting at his bike which appeared to be broken, what's worse, the guy had been drinking.
"Fuckin' fuck. Does this go... no... shit." He sighed, looking closely at his bike.
I decided to go and help the guy, to see what was wrong with his bike.
"Having trouble, stranger?" I asked kindly, standing behind him.
The guy turned and looked at me, before standing up and talking to me.
"Yeah, my uh... My bike's fucked." He admitted.
From where I was stood I could smell the dry gasoline from the engine.
"There's no gas in it friend." I tapped the gas tank, no surprise that it was empty.
The guy scratched his head before looking around at his gear that he'd spread out all over the floor. There was no gas to be found amoung his possessions, I was about to leave before he decided to talk to me again.
"I guess we've gotta go and get some then, eh?" He turned to me with a smile.
The smile was hopeful that I'd go with him, even though he barely knew me. In fact, he didn't seem to care about the bandanna around my mouth, it barely phased him.
"Alright... There's a gas station at Goodsprings, I'll go with you on one condition." I began.
The guy was like an excited puppy.
"We go to the graveyard afterward," I explained.
"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go. Name's Niner by the way." He turned and was about to walk away.
Niner was a couple of inches taller than me, a backwards cap on his head and a kevlar vest on his chest, a little like mine. He had short but unruly hair, his jeans were ripped and he had a strange sent of whiskey around him. Something about him seemed aluring to me, I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Name's Jason," I spoke as I began to walk with him.
Niner looked up ahead, I realized he must have heard the explosion and gunfire.
"What happened up there, Man?" He asked.
"Powder Gangers started threatening the town, they came back after I shot one of thier leaders in a duel. Guy didn't even clear lever before he found himself with 4 fingers... Anyway, the guy came back with freinds and decided they were going to raze the place, luckily one of them was smoking around dynamite... Boom, most of 'em go up with him, didn't take much to finish the fight." I explained with a smile.
"Jesus man, you did that? I guess you might be older than I think you are..." he joked around.
"I'm 17, I think. Don't let the bandanna fool you. Speakin' of which, how old are you?" I asked, seeing as Niner now knew how old I was.
Niner had to think for a good while before he answered, as he did so, he fumbled with his dog tags.
"Mid-twenties? I dunno man, I don't pay much attention to birthdays and things like that." He looked at me as he spoke.
Before long, we were back at Goodsprings. The bodies had been dragged away into a pit in the graveyard, we were outside the saloon before I turned to Niner.
"Look, Niner uh... I need to do this alone, the gas station's up the hill. I need to go to the graveyard alone." I explained.
"I get it, man. I'll meet you up there." Niner turned and walked away
I took a slow walk up the hill to the graveyard, the cigar in my mouth was the only comfort I had as I neared the hole that was supposed to be my grave. There was nothing inside it, nothing of interest anyway. A small wooden plaque had been placed near the grave, unmarked. With a heavy heart, I crouched down and put a hand on the ground, I realised there was something in the grave. The large brimmed hat I'd put on as I left the town of Primm, I didn't understand why these people shot me, less so that they decided to make it so dramatic, if they'd just shot me on the road there wouldn't have been anything to say about it, instead they do it in a crowded area. The killer was definitally a showman.
Sighing, I grabbed the shovel and began to fill in the hole, buiring Kid in the ground along with the story behind him. Once it was full and the ground was even, I grabbed the push dagger in my boot and the plaque. Cleanly, I carved the words
'Kid, born a slave, died a freind.'
It seemed decent enough, carefully, I put the plaque on the grave, the hat on my head and stood up. Blowing a puff of smoke outwards, I thought it necessary to say a few words.
"Well, you did you know... You buit because people told you to, you did everything you were told and didn't ask why. This was only a matter of time man, I guess you'll rest in peace." I spoke to the invisible entity on the ground.
I had a moment of silence, thinking about what I was going to do, depending on Niner's plans, I was hoping to go with him.
"Ruff!" Niner popped up from no-where, barking in my ear.
I jumped from the sudden action, nearly falling onto the newly furbished grave. The cigar fell out of my mouth, bandanna covering the scar.
"Fuck Niner." I breathed, not expecting the action.
He didn't seem too phased by my reaction, he looked at the grave I'd just finished, even Niner could tell it was new. Carefully, I stubbed out the cigar and saved it for another time
"Someone you knew, Jason?" He began to look sympathetic at me, realising that the previous action wasn't the right one for the moment.
"Y-yeah... A brother." I calmed down finally as I decided that time was time, and it was about time to leave the graveyard.
"Wanna talk about it?" Niner's gruff voice followed me.
I shook my head.
"Some chicken-shit playboy shot him in the head. Wasn't pretty." I adjusted the bandanna wondering where to go.
Niner came behind me, trying his best to seem understanding man.
"Hey man, I know what it's like to lose someone close to you, like losing a part of yourself right?"
I nodded.
"I've got an idea that'll cheer you up. There's this place I like to sit, awesome view, great for a drink. Come on."
Niner lead the way away from Goodsprings, over the hills and rough terrain. Hiking across a decent amount of ground was good to take the mind off of the events of the day, or allow you to think about it. I was thinking about Niner, why he seemed so kind and friendly to me, it had to be something more than the fact that we shared an experiance. Before long, we reached the giant cross that Niner was talking about.
He was right too, the view was beautiful, especially when the sun was setting the way it did. Niner set down his burlap back as he sat down himself.
"Here, get that down ya." He tossed a whiskey bottle my way. I caught it and took a deep drink from it.
The burn of the whiskey helped me think a little bit more clearly, I too sat down next to Niner. My head touching the back of the statue as I began to relax into it, the day was close to an end, there wasn't much that was left to do today.
"...I like this place, the day before I go home, I'm gonna come back here an' watch the sunset like this again." Niner took another drink.
"...You and me both." I sighed, taking another drink.
Niner knocked me a little.
"Go, easy man, I don't want you getting drunk before we get back to my bike." Niner laughed at me.
"Speakin' of which. Did you get gas?" I wondered.
...
"Uh, Nah man. These people don't even get shoes, I guess Primm will have somethin' for us." Niner leaned back into the monument.
Something told me that Niner and I were going to be staying together a lot longer than I thought we were.
10 minutes later
When we got back to Niner's bike, there was a certain something that got on his nerves, his bike had been set on fire.
"That wasn't on fire when we left was it?" Niner stopped moving, staring at the burning bike.
Knowing what would have happened, I slid down the hill and kept my eyes open, looking for the people responsible. The bike was fucked, nothing was salvageable from the burning mess. Niner, wasn't one to stay back for long, he was next to me again.
"Fuck man... Shit." He sighed, looking at the wreak in front of us.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps behind me again. Drawing my revolver and turning around, I saw a charging Raider with a sledgehammer. It didn't take very long to stop him with a pistol shot to the head. A similar sound happened to my side, Niner was pressed against me, back to back, filling a raider full of lead. Before long, the fight was over.
Sighing a breath of relief, I turned to Niner who was still looking at his bike.
"I don't believe it, man, this bike carried me here." He sighed, depressed.
"Don't worry, these things happen. Besides, the roads around here are shit, couldn't ride on 'em if your ass was Iron." I joked with him.
Niner chuckled a little, suddenly he kicked his bike over.
"You're right man, it was shitty bike too, always letting me down. See, all I need is you, Jason." He smiled at me.
I was taken aback at first.
"Me?"
"Yeah. Me and you, we're going to get to Vegas, even if we gotta walk there, eh Jason?" He put a hand on my shoulder.
"Me an' you." I agreed.
We began walking to Primm, although the day was ending. We decided to take up camp in what looked like an abandoned store. This was the kind of place I'd camp in, simply put, it was stronger than a sleeping bag at keeping the elements out, plus the fact that we could use the metal display cabinets as a fire even though the roof was closed. But it was sealed off, we could sleep in the store through the night.
"Erm, Jason. Why here?" Niner asked aloud.
"Would you rather sleep outside?" I joked, kicking some rubble aside so I could set my close to empty pack down on the ground.
I sat down, leaning against one of the cabinets. Niner followed suite and sat down next to me, he seemed to know that something was wrong with me.
"What do you want from Vegas? Women? Booze? Fame?" Niner knocked me with his shoulder a little.
"I dunno... Hell, I dunno what I even like." I actually thought about something new for the first time.
I knew about sex, Vegas was pretty famous for the prostitutes around and inside it. I'd never really thought about it, what it would feel like.
"Ah's easy enough man. I suppose you can figure it out what you want when we get there, try 'em both out." Niner laughed.
He was drinking and was especially drunk, he threw an arm around my shoulder. Slightly drunk, I ended up drifting off to sleep. Eventually, the sun broke through the cracks of the wooden hut we found ourselves sat in, my vision going from black to red woke me up. Quietly, I opened my eyes to find that I was in a different position than I was when I went to sleep. I was on my side, Niner behind me, something was definitely strange about the way he was holding me with his arms. I didn't mind, the comforting embrace was enough to relax me, even if it was just drunkenness.
Soon, Niner woke up, groggily. He realised that he'd been holding onto me like some sort of teddy bear. He slowly removed his arms from me, quietly he made his way around me to see if I was awake.
"Jason." He shook me.
"I'm up Nine..." I yawned, not wanting to get up.
Niner rolled his eyes and practically picked me up. Again, I didn't really care.
"You're light... Ready to go to Primm?" He set me on my feet.
I shrugged and picked up my pack, also making sure that my gun was loaded. Quickly, I grabbed my hat and set it on my head.
"Always."
2 hours later.
Johnson Nash
Gunshots brought everyone's attention to the door. A convict opened the door, only to have a bullet put in the back of his head by the dark figure behind him. The figure was a little shorter than the guy he'd just shot. He blew the smoke from his barrel before he placed is Iron back in its holster. He walked in, spurs spinning as he walked inside the casino.
"Apologies for the mess convicts rarely surrender, even when their friends meet such messy end." He smiled as he walked forward towards me.
"Kid?" I wondered the hat covered the figure's face. After being a week, I was hoping he would come back.
"...You must be Johnson Nash." He sighed.
Kid's coat looked similar to what this stranger was wearing, if it weren't for the red hand prints that stained the leather of the jacket, I would have instantly thought he was the Kid.
"That's right, and you are?" I asked, holstering my pistol.
"The bearer of bad news I'm afraid. Your friend, Kid. Got shot in Goodsprings for a package, I was hoping you could answer some questions." He explained.
The kid was dead, the news hit me hard but it wasn't too surprising.
"You knew him?" I asked.
The figure took a while to answer, he took off his hat and placed it on the slot machine I'd sat near. It was the Kid's hat, something he only wore on occasion, or when the wind picked up.
"You could say that. Kinda twins if you think about it, NCR separated me from him when they dragged us out of that Legion slave camp. I was sent to the NCR camps, they trained me whilst... Alex could live in Freeside." He explained.
This being the brother of the Kid, I trusted him, if he were anything like the kid, there would be nothing to stop him from finding the people who killed his brother, something told me to help him in anyway I could, so long as I had proof.
"Did you find his body?" I asked.
He was silent for a minute before he looked up again.
"There wasn't much left of his face, I saw the burn on his back and knew it was him... This thing proves it, 's why I came here." He handed me the invoice of the package that Kid was supposed to deliver.
Suddenly, Beagle burst into the casino, he looked no worse for wear.
"I just broke myself out of the Bison Steve, the convicts are dead." He cheered as he walked in.
As Beagle neared Jason, he pulled his revolver out of his holster and pressed it against Beagle's head. There was definitely something that Beagle did.
"Don't act like the fucking hero, coward. My friend and myself broke you out of that motel, never take credit for something you didn't do." Jason growled
Beagle finally had the kick in the ass he deserved this whole time. The securitrons that the Kid dug up patrolled the Casino as the Deputy stalked away, another youngster walked into the Casino, carrying what looked like chems.
"Hey, Jason. We moving?" He called to Jason, who quickly holstered his revolver and bowed his head to me.
"Did you see any suspicious characters moving through the town? They may have some information." Jason ignored his friend.
"A couple of suits walked on through a few days back... Talking about some show they put on." I explained.
Jason closed his eyes and straightened up, he realized something.
"Vegas it is." He sighed.
"Believe me, Mr. Nash. Rest easy knowing the people who killed Alex will die a similar death." Jason nodded and turned.
"Kid, he won't need this anymore. You should keep it." I took the hat off of the slot machine and handed it to him.
Jason looked at the hat before taking it and placing it on his head again, he looked like a pale rider of sorts. As he turned away he called back.
"Much obliged, Mr. Nash." He and his friend walked out the door and shut the door behind them.
Jason
We walked outside into the brightening sunlight, the hat was a saving grace now I thought about it. Before I took another step, I took out my revolver and checked all the cylinders, loading the iron back up again, Niner and I began to walk away again.
"Hey, Jason. Can we stop off at the Mojave outpost? I got a little busyness I need to take care of." Niner spoke as we were about to walk away from the town of Primm.
There were people at the Mojave outpost I needed to talk to myself, I nodded and let Niner lead the way. The journey wasn't very eventful, however as we began to see another abandoned store, I decided to ask about Niner's little 'cuddle' at the store.
"How'd you sleep last night?" I asked innocently.
Niner arched his back a little.
"Amazin' man, I didn't think it would be that warm in there." He relaxed as we kept walking.
Something didn't seem right, Niner woke up with me in his arms, he would have known that something was different from when he went to sleep, that was unless he went to sleep after me.
"You don't do anything weird in your sleep do you?" I asked pensivly.
"Not really man, what's with all the questions about sleep?" Niner looked to his side at me.
I didn't really want to talk about the hug thing, Niner knew it happened and he was probably embarrassed about it. Plus it wasn't as if I minded the hug.
"Nothing, it's just I think I talk in my sleep." I kind of lied.
"Oh, right. Yeah, you do." Niner replayed looking forwards again.
"What?" This was the first I'd heard of me sleep talking.
Niner shrugged.
"Yeah man, you were talking about this Legion guy. I think you started crying too, I didn't wanna say anything about it." Niner explained.
Suddenly, gunfire.