The Courier blasted her way through the REPCONN Test Site, everything eerily quiet. From Novac, she saw trails and piles of dead ghouls and Nightkin, and inside was no exception. Many of the walls were painted with blood, the number of deceased ghouls slowly decreasing as she sank deeper into the facility.
She managed to find an intercom, but found herself at another dead end. There was nobody on the other side, adding up to vacancy that the Site held so far. She scratched the back of her platinum blonde hair with her varmint rifle, asking aloud, "Shouldn't this place be, I don't know, not so empty?"
She jumped at the sound of a loud, terrible wailing sound. It came from another end of e room, echoing through the basement. She took a few steps down the small set of stairs, the sound becoming more animalistic as she grew closer to the door. She finally clasped her hand around the doorknob, crouching down with her finger ready to pull the trigger.
Dead Nightkin laid dead just like the others: scattered with some pieces missing. She straightened her back, standing full and tall over one of the beasts. She nudged one of its limbs with her foot, expecting it to jump up and scream incoherently at any second until the loud moaning started back up once more.
She stuck her head out the door, tracing the sound to the far west end of the corridor. There was a sealed door below some steps, the sound becoming clear enough she could fully identify it to be someone... Crying?
She pushed the door open, rifle aiming at a trio consisting of a ghoul and two others. They all replied kindly to aiming their own weapons at her. They sat together on a higher platform, looking down upon her. She didn't try to lower her weapons, though she did lose much of her nerve. "What the Hell are you all doing here? Don't you know this is infested with Nightkin and Ghouls?"
"Yeah- Was infested, thank you very much," the girl retorted, "And what do you want?"
"I was here to fix a problem but it looked like you three fixed that for me."
"Oh," the girl and the other man who bore much resemblance to her lowered their guns, "Well this changes a lot of things."
The Ghoul let out a whimper, his sunken eyes were red and blotchy. He threw his gun down, sniffing, "Who am I kidding? I can't go on like this, just start over like nothing happened..." The Courier landed a bullet in the Ghoul's head, dropping back on the platform. "Glad to put you out of your misery, then," she smirked. Instead of the other two reacting to this in anger, they stared at their friend with a neutral expression.
"Think he's dead?" The girl asked, looking to her friend.
"Let's see," the man shoved the ghoul off of the platform, watching as he hit the metal floor, "Yeah, he's gotta be."
"Called it," she laughed, high-fiving her friend.
The Courier made a face at them, lowering her rifle. "Who are you guys?"
"The greatest people you will ever meet!" The girl threw a victorious hand it the air while clutching an opened whiskey bottle, "... Or maybe the worst. All about perspective, really."
The man rolled his eyes, "Please don't pay attention to her. That is my little sister, Sandra, and I'm David. We kind of drift through the Mojave and ended up helping out this little ghoul cult and- Ah, where are my manners, who are you?"
"Friends call me Ramona, but you probably know me as the Courier. You know, the one shot in the head?" The duo stared with blank expressions. It was Sandra who gasped with amazement, hitting her brother in the arm with anticipation.
"David, it's her!"
Ramona smirked, awaiting a starstruck gasp until she heard: "The one with the cute outfit!"
"We are not having this conversation again," David groaned, rubbing his temples. "Please, Sandra, I'm not sure who you're expecting me to think of if you refer to someone by a cute outfit."
"The one person who survived a bullet to the head and is only remembered by having an appealing outfit," Ramona sighed to herself, speaking up, "You two wouldn't happen to know where Boulder City is, would you? I tried heading there from Novac and needless to say I'm not very good with directions..."
"Yeah, why?" Sandra asked.
"I heard the people who ambushed me and tried to kill me are there and I wanted to ask them a few questions, if you catch my drift."
"Yeah, why?"
"Because they stole a package I was suppose to deliver and I want it back."
"Yeah, why?"
Ramona's eyes narrowed as her lips shifted into a flat, straight line. "It's obvious I'm going nowhere with you two. Thanks for-"
"She means we will help," David spoke up, "We've been drifting across looking for some way to make some money and we're not expecting you to pay us, of course, but we just want to find a place that can get us some cash."
Sandra hopped down from the platform, landing right next to a puddle of blood from the ghoul. She passed by Ramona, heading into a nearby room. Ramona looked to David, pointing back to the dark haired girl, "Uh, should we let her off on her own?"
"Hey David, remember when we killed that really big, weird Nightkin?" Sandra soon came back, dragging behind what looked like a flattened version of the bumper of a car, "I hope you don't mind, but I kind of want to keep his sword."
"What about your laser rifle?" He pointed to her holstered rifle.
"Oh, this old thing? You could hold it for me, silly goose. As for me, I pronounce this engraved blade my poking stick," she tried to hold it triumphantly with one hand, almost falling over.
Ramona caught her in time, pushing her back onto her feet. "Okay, guys, we have to focus," she snapped, "If we want to get anywhere, Boulder City is our first target."
"Oh, me and Dave know where that is! Follow me," Sandra took a few steps toward the door before stopping, "Er, Davey boy, you may need to lead. I sort of forgot where it is."
"I think we'd be better off with me leading, anyways," he chuckled, grabbing his pistol and leaping onto the ground. "Follow me, ladies."
Sandra was the first to follow after him, chuckling to herself, "Dork."
Ramona hesitated for a moment, asking herself once more if she should trust these two strangers. They looked back to her, as if expecting some kind of response. She finally came to a conclusion, sheathing herself as she grunted, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."