Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and girls! I am pleased to announce that I am back! If you haven't read my previous work, Old World Soldier: Brave New World then I invite you go back and read it, as this story is a sequel to my original piece. This chapter is the prologue to what will be a fairly long story, and also sets its ground work. As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments or recommendations.

The path through the Canyon Wreckage was littered with the rusted skeletons of two semi-trucks and other debris. The moon and star light illuminated the prewar rubble. Floyd carefully stepped around the ancient garbage, Gaz and Gannon closely followed him. The old semi-truck and trailer lay on its side, with faint sounds of movement coming from within. He clicked the safety off his Automatic Rifle and motioned to his companions to cover him. He quickly moved around to the back of the trailer and pointed his rifle inside. A mother Coyote and two cubs were laying in the back. The mother snarled and barred her teeth when she saw Walker.

"Easy girl. I'm leaving."

He was about to leave when he noticed the phrase "Courier 6?" spray painted to the wall

The mother Coyote growled and got up and took a step forward. Walker stepped away, but didn't turn his back.

"Anything?"

"Just a Coyote. Leave her be."

At the end of the Canyon Wreckage was a bus, its door was rusted open. Someone had painted "The Divide" on a piece of plywood. Floyd put his hand on Gannon's shoulder.

"If I'm not back in a few days… Tell the New Canaanites what happened."

Gannon stared at Floyd for a long time, He then shook his head and looked at the ground.

"First off this is going to take you more than a few days... I can understand your desire for personal redemption, I can get why you feel the need to visit Hopeville and Ashton… But this whole thing with Ulysses… Is revenge REALLY worth risking your life? Killing Ulysses won't bring back Joshua or any New Canaanite for that matter."

In response, Floyd pulled back his bangs and showed Gannon the scar on his forehead.

"Remember this? Remember what Benny did? Do you think I should have just let him go too?"

"Was blasting the upper half of Benny's torso and head across the Top's Presidential room's wall necessary? No. But you did anyway, and then got yourself shot three times in the gut by his body guards. I remember you stumbling into the Followers Camp, you were half dead from blood loss. After I pulled those three .38 slugs out of your belly I expected you to learn something about revenge…"

"Benny had it coming. And the body guard got lucky, that's all."

"You're missing the point. Ulysses isn't some sleaze bag like Benny. He's a Courier, like you. You may have different ideals and beliefs, but you've both walked a similar path. When you see Ulysses, at least try to talk to him: Courier to Courier, before you start shooting. If not for you, then do it for me." Gannon said

"This man went to great lengths to find me. He sent Gaius Magnus to test me, and gave Magnus that commands manifest to essentially lure me into his trap. He played a hand in the destruction of New Canaan, which led to the countless deaths of my Canaanite brothers and sisters. But those actions almost seem trivial compared to what he did to Joshua… But you're right Gannon… You're right."

Gannon let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad I could get through to you. Any man can be reasoned with, and a man of Ulysses nature is no exception."

"No. Not that. I mean you're right about him not being a sleaze bag like Benny. Benny was a liar, a cheater and a thief. A common thug with very low character and had no honor whatsoever. Ulysses is none of those things. Ulysses is something much worse. Did you know the only reason he chose to command the assault on the Grand Canyon was to get to me? He willingly sacrificed countless lives to try to kill me. Many of those lives were his own goddamn people. However, he has some sort of honor; In our last fight he had the drop on me: he could have shot me in the back and been done with me. But he let me turn and face him, and I respect him for that. Chivalry is one of my highest values. But after he realized Legion wasn't enough to kill me, he deserted them. The Legion has the highest standards for loyalty and he just cashed out. This man has no loyalty, and has very clearly demonstrated that he is willing to kill a lot of people to find me."

Gannon shook his head "You respect him? You think he possesses chivalry?"

"To some extent, I do."

"Them talk to the man. He is clearly a true Courier, and he has seen that you are to. So if you really are a Courier, then you'll try reasoning with him."

"For you Gannon. I'll do it for you, but a truce I cannot guarantee. "

Gannon half smiled "Close enough… Look…. Just don't die." Gannon said

"Don't worry. I've walked more treacherous roads than The Divide."

"I don't think you have… Hopeville… Ashton… this whole goddamn place is not what it used to be. It will be nothing like the Hopeville and Ashton you visited on that delivery. I hope you know what you're getting into."

"I know what I'm getting into."

"If you say so Floyd. If you say so."

Floyd extended his hand. The two shook hands, then Gannon pulled him in for a hug. Gannon walked off into the night of the Mojave. Floyd turned to Gaz. He stared deep into her eyes

"I'll be honest, I don't want you to come with me. This is something I started, and I intend on finishing it on my own. There's no need for you to get caught up in the middle." Floyd said solemnly

Gaz frowned and shook her head

"No Floyd, I'm afraid I'm coming with you. Your business with Ulysses is your fight, I get that. When it comes time to face him I'll let you deal with him whichever way you please and won't interfere. But it was you who woke me up and brought me into this world, you taught me how to survive, how to choose my battles, how to not be afraid of the unknown. And then you saved me from a lifetime of servitude in the Enclave. I'm coming with you goddamn it."

"You are the last of your kind! You survived the goddamn apocalypse without any horrific mutations! But most of all… You are one of the few people in this world that I truly care for. If you died from following me-"

Gaz cut him off "Remember when I first woke up from stasis? I walked all the way to my home in Salt Lake City by myself and nearly got killed. Back then, I felt the same way you feel now. Confused, pissed off, driven by a purpose. That propose almost got me killed. Your purpose might kill you too. I remember refusing your help, but you followed me anyway and I'm standing here today because of it. So here's the deal, if you go into The Divide, I'm coming with you. If you refuse, I'll follow you anyway."

Floyd sighed

"Stubborn to the end… Damn you Gaz... You'll have a better chance if you stick with me. But I go first."

The two of them walked forward, through the rusted bus and into The Divide. Floyd kicked open the other door and set foot in the sand. The Geiger counters on their Pip Boys began to tick. Particles of sand, dust and ash blew through the air at such a high speed they stung the face and any exposed skin. A cloud of the contaminated air struck Gaz in the face, it had a sharp metallic taste of copper and iron. The air burned the lungs and stung the back of the throat. Her first breath of the tainted air made her cough uncontrollably. Floyd looked at her

"I'm fine. Just a bit of dust."

"The last time I walked this road was when I was delivering that package… Those bastards in the Enclave… They used me… My own lust for money is what drove me here in the first place"

"Floyd you shut mouth right now. There is no way you could have known." Gaz then broke into another fit of coughing

"You sure you're ok?"

"For Christ's sake yes. Just keep leading the way."

To the right side of them was the entrance to a military service tunnel. Gaz remembered the days when she had been stationed in the Ashton Military base and used the tunnels regularly.

"Well the good news is this path leads directly between both Hopeville and Ashton, when we get there-"

Floyd stopped walking abruptly and was completely silent. Gaz bumped into him

"Why'd we stop?"

Floyd remained silent. His eyes were wide open and fixed dead ahead. She looked in the direction Floyd was facing. The path they were walking on suddenly ended in a steep cliff which was above a massive complex of canyons, it was like the path had been ripped away. The view in front of them was a sight of unparalleled destruction, a spectacle of indescribable horror. It was Armageddon all over again. It looked like a force of the utmost destruction had torn through the area: atomizing anyone in the immediate radius, and leaving their silhouette permanently etched into the cement. A force capable of melting glass and metal, and flay the skin and flesh off anyone outside the impact zone. The wind carried visible currents of sand and dust through the labyrinths; it looked like the wind itself could kill you. The valleys and canyons were full of rubble and debris: half crumbled buildings, twisted rebar, cars and other vehicles lay strewn about as if they been thrown into the air like they were a child's playthings. Floyd's face turned white, cold sweat formed on his forehead. He hunched over and puked, then spat and looked up

"This path used to lead to Hopeville and Ashton. Now it's a cliff… It… It just crumbled into the earth.

The last words of Gaius Magnus echoed around the inside of Floyd's thoughts: "When you see what you've done to Hopeville and Ashton hehehe… The truth… The truth of The Divide will break you….Heheheh…."

The Centurion's wicked final words were now spelled out clear as day in of him front. Magnus's sinister laugh taunting him from beyond the grave. Floyd stared dead ahead at The Divide, like The Divide was staring back. Gaz looked at his face, his expression reminded her of the way she felt after waking up from stasis. A mask of hopelessness and despair. He unbuckled his holster and drew his .45, he held the pistol tightly in his hand and looked at it for a long time

"Floyd… What are you gonna do with that? Why don't you put that thing back in its holster."

He looked at the gash of destruction left in the ground below then back at the gun.

"WHAT ARE YOU!? A courier!? Or a goddamn Legionary who would rather commit suicide instead of facing his path?!"

That got Floyd's attention, he lowered the gun and put it back in his holster. As soon as she heard the holster button snap shut she reared her fist back and hit Floyd as hard as she could in the face. Floyd fell over like a ragdoll

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! You're stronger than that! Now get your ass up!" She said and pulled him to his feet

"Magnus, Ulysses and even the damn Enclave Computer were right…"

"So?! I can't begin to imagine how you must feel, but I know what it's like to be used. Man the fuck up and redeem yourself."

"Ok… Ok… But how the hell are we going to get down there? We have no climbing gear…"

"That service tunnel we passed leads into an underground military complex. We can get in from there."

"How do you know this?"

"I was stationed here before. My military dog tags might let us in."

They approached the thick metal door and Gaz held her dog tags up to the scanner at the door. A green light near the door flashed and the door retracted open.

"Glad you brought me now?" She asked and put her tags away

"Not just yet. You've been here before, what should we expect in terms of automated security?"

"Last time I was stationed here they had the works; sentry bots, Gatling laser turrets, motion detectors, probably a few tripwires. Be prepared for a fight."

Floyd loaded a clip of armor piercing rounds into his rifle and racked the slide.

They entered the tunnel, sparks of electricity jumped from live wires and lit up the tunnel like a strobe light. The phrase "You can go home, Courier" was crudely spray painted on the tunnel wall. Walker stopped and examined the graffiti

"You can go home, Courier… What the hell does that even mean?"

The blast door at the end of the tunnel slid open revealing a prewar command center; it seemed like the entire facility was tilted. There was a large observation window but a thick steel blast cover shielded it, and a control panel in front of it with a leaver. Everything was an eerie quiet, only the dull hum of the ventilation system and quiet beeps of computers remained. Tangled wires hung from the ceiling like vines, they ducked under them and proceeded with caution, on both sides of the room was a door, Gaz pointed to the left side door

"I'm pretty sure this one leads into the main facility, I'm not sure… Its been a long time since I was here." She held her I.D. tags up to the scanner, it was a different looking scanner having a dish shaped antenna instead of a screen. She waved the tags over the dish but nothing happened.

"No dice. My tags are the older model."

"Let me have a try." Floyd said with a bobby pin and screw driver in hand

"I don't think that's gonna work…"

"Yeah Yeah. It was designed by the U.S. Army engineer core."

"No it was actually designed by Vault Tech. There is no place to insert a key, it's all electronic. Good luck getting in."

"Bullshit. There is no lock I can't pick." He said carefully examining the door for an opening

"If you say so. I'm going to have a look around, maybe there's a service key around here."

"Don't stray too far."

"Oh shut it. I know this place better than you."

Using the computer terminal, she opened the door on the right side of the room and walked into a wide open room full of computer monitors and towers. With her Marksman carbine in hand she walked into the room. There were a few rusty ammo boxes, she looked through them and searched for anything that could be of use. She opened all the drawers to all the desks in the room, looking for anything like a key card or old I.D. tags, but mostly just found junk. Then she noticed something in the corner of her eye; it was a tube. A stasis tube. She stared at it, looking at it made her skin crawl and made her feel claustrophobic. It was like the tube she had been sealed in for two centuries, but this one was much smaller had more wires and hoses attached to it. She cautiously walked towards it. She remembered the last time she had opened a stasis tube; a ghoul had sprung out. She wiped away the dirt on the Plexiglas. She was expecting to find either a ghoul or a stasis subject, but instead found a little eyebot. Out of sheer curiosity, she tapped a few keys on the nearby monitor and opened the tube door. With a flash and crackle of electricity, the little robot hovered out of the tube. The Sputnik-like robot warmed up its speakers and said

"Next week, on Ralphie The Robot's Incredible Odyssey!

Ralphie! If mean old General Winters catches you, you'll never make it home!"

The child like dialogue was followed by a series of eyebot beeps

"No Ralphie! Fly far! Fly fast!

Tune in next week!"

Gaz smiled, the little robot's recording of her favorite childhood radio show brought back fond memories.

"Hello there little guy. I haven't seen an eyebot like you since before the war." She said in a relaxed tone

The eyebot beeped and chirped in response, Gaz had experienced eyebots before and could make sense of the computer gibberish

"Yes, I actually do mean from before the war. The Great War, that is. I'm over 200 years old."

The eyebot beeped and shuddered

"Yeah, I know how you feel. I was in one of those stasis tubes before too."

The bot beeped suspiciously

"Yes really. I wouldn't lie about that. Why don't you stick with me? There is someone I'd like you to meet."

The bot hovered after her. Meanwhile Floyd had managed to find an opening in the door and was futilely trying to pick the lock. His bobby pin snapped

"Son of a bitch…"

He plucked the broken pin out and tossed the broken pieces in a pile of other broken pins. Gaz came walking in with the robot behind her

"Hey Floyd, check out what I found."

Walker glanced at the robot, then back at his work

"A flying trashcan, great... You know it was one of these little fuckers that received the package I brought here? It then flew off and detonated several nuclear warheads beneath the ground. Unless it can do anything useful, I want you to get rid of it."

"Why?"

"It will just slow us down. Besides, look at it; it has next to no armor and a tiny little energy weapon. It might make a good decoy though…"

"You know he can understand you right? Not all robots are just mindless automations, they actually have a personality."

"I've never met a robot I could trust. One of them dug me out of the ground, but then proceeded to stalk me all over the wastes."

"Yeah. I get it. You prefer simplistic tools over high-tech tools, but just give him a chance."

As the two humans argued, the Sputnik like robot hovered up to the dish and raised its zapper. The triangular arch of electricity jumped onto the dish receiver and the lights came on. The blast cover over the observation window sild open and revealed a massive intercontinental ballistic missile. Gaz cracked a cocky smile, and pulled the leaver on the control panel opening the electronic door.

"This place is a shadow of the Old World. Maybe you should let the Old World Soldier give you some advice from time to time eh?" She said and walked through the door.

"After you, Lieutenant."

The eyebot made some snide beeps

"What did it just say?! You better not be talkin' shit on me…"

"Nothing." Gaz said and whispered to the robot "Watch your mouth!"

The robot made a few more beeps and Gaz nodded "He says his name is ED-E, and that you might know his counterpart back in the Mojave."

"I once found a broken eyebot in Primm, but didn't know how to fix it… Maybe that's what he's talking about."

The door ED-E opened led into a hallway. A broken eyebot lay on the floor. Floyd ignored it but Gaz picked it up and pulled out a circuit board.

"Hold still, this is from a more advanced model." She said to ED-E and inserted the chip in a port on the robot's side.

The exited the hallway into the missile silo. The weapon of mass destruction towered above them and pointed to the sky through the open silo. They climbed the spiral staircase around the missile and onto the floor above. Instantly a U.S. Military Sentry Bot came rolling up to them. Floyd raised his Automatic rifle but Gaz stopped him.

"Don't shoot! Just wait one goddamn second." She said held up her I.D. tags

The sentry bot scanned the tags and sat quietly for a moment as it processed them.

"Welcome to the Hopeville missile base Lt. Patterson. Please report to General Retslaf for debriefing and new orders."

The sentry bot then turned to Walker "Civilian: You are to remain with your escort Lt. Patterson for your entire stay. If you leave her company, security will fire on you."

The sentry bot rolled away, The Courier lowered his weapon and shook his head. Gaz put her tags away

"Those things have some thick armor, it's a good thing I they don't attack U.S. Military personnel. If you didn't have me as an escort…"

"Oh please, I could have handled that thing."

"Yeah I bet you could. Two or three at the same time? They'd cut you to pieces with minigun fire. Come on, that bot said to report to General Retslaf, I used to be under his command."

"Really?"

"Yep. He got me transferred out of Alaska, and assigned me to this base. You probably know his type; he was crew cut, had bleached white teeth, talked about boxing matches and The Dodgers, calls cashiers and shop-keepers by their first name. A real asshole."

"That's uh… That's a colorful description, Gaz."

Gaz grinned

"Yeah? Well he was a… Oh god…" Gaz said as they entered the Generals office.

Sitting in the base commander's chair was the dead and rotting body of a ghoul. The dead ghoul had a 10mm pistol still gripped in its hand and had a self-inflicted gunshot wound in its temple. The corpse wore a finely tailored U.S. Army General uniform, which was in perfect condition aside from some blood splatter.

"Why in the hell is that ghoul wearing Retslaf's uniform? And why is it holding a gun? Ghouls can use guns?"

"Gaz… I think that ghoul is Retslaf. It's not a feral ghoul, those things have lost all of their humanity. But some ghouls keep their sanity and can live normal lives… Aside from the fact that they look like corpses."

"That's impossible. How could it be Retslaf? He'd be over 200 years old at this point."

Floyd looked at her with a raised eyebrow "Really? The Old World soldier is telling me it's impossible to live for 200 years?"

"Well he didn't undergo stasis."

"There are other ways to live an unnaturally long life… Stasis is a very luxurious way compared to what Ol' Retslaf here went through… If you become a ghoul, you can live for centuries… At the cost of your skin."

"All from absorbing too much radiation?"

"That's right. So remember to take RadX and don't drink glowing water."

The two of them then rifled through the General's desk, and found a high clearance security badge. They were about to leave when Gaz turned around and stared at the General's body. Despite how much she disliked him, she couldn't bring herself to leave her former commander's body in such a degrading state. She cut a United States flag down off an ornamental flag pole and covered the body with it.

"Thanks for bringing me home from Alaska old man…" She whispered and followed Floyd out

Floyd was carefully reading a map of the base

"Ok, ok, ok. If we take the door to the left of the General's office, then it should take us to the backup generators, we can restart the power and -"

"Pass through the security room and into another service tunnel which will take us directly to Hopeville." Gaz said with a half-smile

"Ok Soldier-Lady, you lead the way…"

More sentry bots rolled by, the automations patrolling the halls and corridors which they had patrolled for centuries. Gaz and Floyd walked right by them. Floyd had to admit, he might not have been able to make it past them alone. The lock of the door next to the office had another dish-shaped receiver for a lock

"ED-E, you're up again. The door please." She said

The little robot chirped and shot a bolt of electromagnetic energy into the receiver, the door retracted open and the wretched smell of rotting corpses came rushing out in a wave of foulness.

"What is the source of that stink?" Gaz said almost gagging

Walker peeked inside; in front of him was the cut up pieces of sentry bot, the pieces were half melted. A few other sentry bots sat lifelessly in random parts of the room, each of them had holes melted through them, one had a Bowie Knife sticking out of its combat initiator. He pulled the blade out and looked at it

"Now this is a knife." He said in a fake Australian accent

When he looked up from the knife he discovered the source of the smell; A dead body was pinned to the wall with a piece of shrapnel. Floyd had been around death his whole life, dead bodies didn't even phase him anymore, but this carcass was different – it didn't have any skin. The ruby red muscle and tissue was fully exposed over the dead man's entire body. A scowl still registered on what was left of his lips and cheeks. It wore the tattered armor of an NCR Trooper. Another skinless body lay trapped beneath the severed torso of a sentry bot, an industrial arch welder was still clasped in his raw, skinless hands, it wore the shredded remains of a Legionary uniform. Then they noticed more, it looked like there had been a vicious fight between the base security and these strange skin-stripped men.

"Christ alive… it looks like they've been flayed. Let's restart the main power and get the hell out of the place…"

They shuffled to the other side of the room, careful to avoid stepping on bodies. Gaz accidently kicked one of the more rotten and bloated bodies; a pocket of gas ruptured in the corpse's intestines and leaked out in a simply horrid cloud of stench. They reached the generator and Gaz swiped Retslaf's security badge over the monitor. A dish-receiver popped out and ED-E struck it with another jolt and the base came back to life. After working their way around the bodies they opened the service tunnel and quickly left the base. There was more security and more skinless bodies. Gatling laser turrets tracked their every move, the only thing keeping them from opening fire was Gaz's I.D. tags. With the end of the tunnel in sight, Floyd increased his pace. Gaz swiped her I.D. tags over the lock and placed her hand on the release switch.

"Floyd… No matter what we see out there or who we encounter, know that NONE of it is your fault. There is no way you could have known…"

"I'd like to believe that… I really would. But I still had a hand in all of this… I need to see this first hand if I want a shot at redemption."

"Before we go I must ask you this… How will this redeem you?"

"By walking this Lonesome Road through Hopeville and Ashton… I prove that I'm not afraid of my past, and that I'm willing to finish what I started."

"And who are you trying to prove this too Ulysses? Gannon? Joshua?

"All of them, and you as well. But even more important than that, is I need to prove it to myself."

With that Gaz hit the switch and the mechanical door retracted open. A surge of hot, metallic tasting air swept through the door. It made Gaz cough hoarsely, and she spat out a wad of brown phlegm.

"You ready?" Floyd asked

"I'll be right behind you."