The camp was little more than a collection of broken down shipping trucks surrounding what was once a highway pit-stop. Centuries ago, families would stop at the Redstone Pit-Stop and Family Diner on their way out of DC. These days travellers stopped at Redstone on their way into DC, looking for hired help. Not the kind of hired help that would take down a sworn enemy, or watch your caravan throughout the wasteland. There were other groups for that. Redstone had other types of help, travelling companions to watch your back at night, or another set of hands to help carry loot.
A memory of the places tugged at the corners of Wade's mind, an NCR out-post. The troops were trying to have some power over the area, yet their influence was stretched too thin and the camp was forgotten. Eventually northern ideals crept in and the camp lost the NCR name, turning to more common powers in the area like Talon and other such groups. The people that were trained at Redstone now were cheap and weak. The old NCR training grounds were set up with rusted targets and the diner was turned into a barracks. Wade was welcome here the last time he came through DC, but places like this change quickly. He told his partner to keep her guard up.
Wade spotted the guard before the guard spotted him. The assault rifle that she pointed was more for show than anything. "Stop!" Wade was quick to respond. Amanda was not as quick and shuffled stiffly into the man.
"Sane?!"
"Yes!" Wade quickly answered, then stepping aside he reviled the girl. Waiting a beat, he then nudged her in the ribs.
"Yes," she finally replied.
"Then welcome to Redstone. Simon is in the big tent to the left. You'll want to talk to him about any hiring." The woman swung back to her patrol.
"You need to pay more attention, and pick up your feet." Wade mumbled to the girl as they started forward into the camp.
All Amanda felt these days was tired. Physically tired, mentally tired, it didn't matter. Wade had told her that the feeling would go away. Amanda figured he meant that she would get used to the feeling, not that the feeling would vanish all together. Wade talked like that sometimes, vague.
Inside the camp Amanda tried to be more aware. She couldn't help but notice the recruits looking up and down her thin frame, one even had the nerve to whistle as she past. She felt disgusted, not only about them, but with herself too. Then again, a rotting corpse with a heartbeat is better than a rotting corpse without one. At least the men's fetishes were all inclusive. Amanda sneered at the thought and followed Wade into the first tent on the left.
"Who are you? Who let you in here?!" The man in the tent demanded, his hand grabbing for the holster at his hip. The only problem was that the gun wasn't there, rather it was tucked neatly under the stack of papers he had dropped when the duo stepped in.
"The guard in the front told us to see Simon." Wade explained patiently. "Were looking for some help."
"Fiona? I told that woman to stop sending people here without telling me first! Some guard she is! Gonna get us all killed one of these days… Anyway," The man smiled at the pair, "I am Simon. Are you both heading to DC? Crazy town! Now where in DC are you heading? I can direct you to the perfect person for the job!" Simon was clearly a business man.
"Downtown." Wade caught the side of the business man's face twitch at the thought of sending one of his men into the heart of the DC wasteland.
"Well if that's where you're heading, and no offence intended, I'm sure you won't have any trouble on your own. But if you insist I have some ghoul employees that are very skilled in looting."
"I'm not looking for a ghoul." Amanda couldn't help snickering at the face that Simon gave. Ghouls tend to stick together and to hear a ghoul turn down help from another ghoul, it came as something of a shock.
"I'm not sure I understand. Supermutants have no interest in ghouls. Getting through the ruins shouldn't be a problem for the two of you on your own. Sending a non-ghoul with you would be dangerous." For all Simon was worth, he was tactical. He didn't want any unnecessary deaths, ghoul or non-ghoul.
"You're right, we don't have to worry about supermutants," Wade agreed, "but they're not the only thing in the ruins. The Brotherhood of Steel would sooner set fire to a library than they would talk to a ghoul. If we have a smooth-skin with us they might hold back their fire enough to talk to." Simon pondered this for a moment, thinking over his employees.
"I'll send you along with Erin. She's not the most skilled, but she's got… potential. She could probably use some experience." Wade nodded, noticing the forced look on the man's face. "She should be somewhere in the barracks. But before you go, we need to discuss payment, upfront" Simon smiled.
"Listen, I know that Simon set you up with her, but you don't want Erin as a travelling partner, no matter what Simon said." The guide whispered to Wade on their way to the barracks.
"Simon said that he chose her because she can hold her own against supermutants. That's what we're looking for." Wade clarified.
"Yeah I've seen that chick take on a munie. She had nothing but a twisted piece of steel to do it too. She charged right up to it." The man confessed. "She's crazy. She's got the eyes, talks to herself, screams in her sleep. It's hard enough for the whole camp to get a weeks' worth of rest, never mind just the two of ya." The group stopped outside the building as the man continued. "Listen, Simon might seem okay, but he isn't the nicest. If I had to guess, he probably set you up with The Crazy because you're both ghouls. It's wrong, I know, that's why I felt I had to tell you. But you go talk to her, see for yourself that you'll be better on your own."
Inside the building was dark. The dinner had been stripped of its original furnishings long ago. Instead, mattresses lined the walls and small tables were positioned in the center of the large room. The bar, that in a past life would serve coffee and eggs, held a small kitchenette. A group of men were near the back wall, haggling over the price of a laser pistol. They looked up as the group entered, wade nodded politely to them.
Amanda thought that the man with the gun was asking too much for how damaged the weapon was. Scanning the rest of the large room, she noticed the lack of people. It seemed most of the recruits were elsewhere. Other than the group, there was a young man standing in the kitchenette and a small figure sitting in the corner opposite the hagglers.
Ghostly. Wade would consider the woman they were walking up to as ghostly. She was white as brahmin milk. Whiter even, as brahmin milk had a yellowish tint to it. Her eyes were brown, the color of mud. Her hair was also dark and cut unevenly, she had tied it up, messily. She was hunched over an old scorched book and seemed to be reading, under her breath, the bits of it that weren't burned off. Mumbles fell from her lips and her finger passed over each word as she read.
Erin stood when she realized that someone was approaching her, she took a step backwards and tripped over the corner of a mattress. Erin grabbed for the chair to catch herself, but wound up taking it down with her. One leg of the chair hit off the bottom of the table and broke off, causing a loud crack. The the rest of the chair bounced off a foot locker and clattered to the floor, the sound echoed throughout the empty room. Wade made his way over to the corner to help the girl and Amanda stood the chair up on it's now three feet.
Amanda now knew what the guide meant by "the eyes." The girl's eyes jumped from one place to the next, never focusing. She seemed twitchy.
"Are you Erin?" Wade had set the girl upright. To her defence Erin didn't seem spooked by the fact that he was a ghoul. It was more the idea that she was being addressed that spooked her. In fact, in Wade's opinion, she seemed downright interested in the flaking of his skin. He noticed the way her eyes gazed over his arm when he lifted her from the ground.
"Huh? Oh yeah, w- I am Erin. Yeah I'm Erin." The girl's gaze shifted from Amanda to Wade and back again.
"We're heading to the center of DC. Simon said he would set us up with you. That being said, you have the right to decline if you feel that DC is too unsafe." Wade explained quickly.
"If Simon said that I will be working on this task, then I shall." Erin said, looking around the room.
"You may want time to think this through, it is better for us to travel with someone who is certain they want to…"
"Maybe I will- I'll do it. We- I've never been to DC and I don't need to think it over. In all honesty it would be nice to get out of this place for once." Erin admitted, mumbling at the ground.
"Then we leave in the morning." Wade clapped his hands and turned to go.