The gang arrived at the remains of Cass' hopes, dreams and career, the wreckage that was once Cassidy Caravans. Dead pack Brahmins, carriages and scattered cargo littered the area. The dust and the wind kicked up the smell of death and decay. A brief scout around the road indicated the time of the event; it's been weeks since the attack, everything was dead. There were no bodies or survivors.

"There's nothing left. This was a cold-blooded murder and theft, plain and pure," Cass said with the coldest regret. "So close to Vegas too, don't that beat all?" She soon perked up. "Whatever we find is yours – least I can do for dragging you here."

"You didn't need to drag me here, Cass. Your problems are my problems, and I'm here for you."

"Thanks for saying that, David." She sighed. "Can we just stay here for a minute? I owe it to my men, who gave their lives doing their job."

"Take all the time you need."

"Thanks."

David, Boone, Cass and Veronica took off their headgear out of respect, Cass knelt down to place a bottle of whiskey just by the wreck. They all shared a minute silence for Cass' loss. The caravan left with four armed men doing their honest jobs and are now KIA, ravaged by time and heat, along with her family's business and reputation.

"There's nothing left for you here," David warmly said, resting his hand on Cass' shoulder.

Cass sighed and stood up ready into David's arms. "Thank you, David, for being here with me," she said, with a tear dripping down her cheek. With locked eyes, David and Cass held each other and kissed.

"Starting to feel like the fifth wheel over here," Veronica naively said.

"You're right. Would you two like some privacy over there?" Arcade called.

Cass ceased her kissing. "I'm not actually in the mood right now." She let go of David. "Thanks, all of you being here. It means a lot to what left of my men here. If there was anything, I could do to make it up to you guys just ask."

David put his helmet back on his head and shrugged. "Any honest man doing his job deserves my respect."

"That's something you don't hear from everyone in these parts..."

"Man, I'm starving." Veronica rubbed her hands and licked her lips. "Can we get some grub?"

"Grub 'n' Gulp isn't far. Come on," Boone said, shuffling away.

David followed after Veronica who was following Boone and Arcade. "You coming, honey?" David called lightly, not spoiling the moment Cass was having.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." David lowered his head into a small bow to Cass' answer and left silently with the others.

Cass stayed a moment longer by her wreckage. At the destroyed carriage, she let down her hair and set down her straw hat by the bottle of whiskey; she placed minutes ago. "I'll find out the truth, some day… When I do, I'll show them how a Cassidy settles accounts," Cass, proudly stated to herself.

A sick feeling rising from her stomach, out of nowhere, irritated her. Cass suddenly vomited all over the sand around her feet; the natural feeling soon went away. "What the hell, I'm still sober! Where did that come from?" She brushed her mouth and followed after the gang towards the Grub 'n' Gulp to the east, forgetting about the sudden nausea.

Cass pointed out to a small rest stop less than a mile south - Grub 'n' Gulp rest stop. The rest stop is a pen with three Brahmin and an N.C.R. shack. There is a campfire with a bedding area. As a group, everyone walked over there passing under an overhead bridge.

Walking the hot Mojave Desert did a number on David and Cass. David's armour wasn't air-cooled enough for long travels and Cass couldn't wear her cardigan anymore, she tied her cardigan around her neck. Arcade, Boone and Veronica, had plenty of breezes to keep them from baking in the humid air like a potato.

After everyone got comfortable around the campfire, laid down on the makeshift bedding, an ever-so-curious Veronica started to dig up her roots shortly before David started spreading out the supplies he's been hoarding in his burlap sack. Properly distributed bottled water for everyone to drink, he wasn't exactly rolling in caps, but he wanted to care for his friends in any way he could. Bottled water was all he could spare with some contents of his lunchboxes.

"David. What was our family like before the War?"

David brushed his hair. "As normal as it is now. The family fell apart after the death of my grandmother in 1980. After that my granddad apparently fell apart, he went mad and just lost all reason to care for the rest of the family. Their sons Scott, Zachary and Alexander all had a hard time growing up without their parents. It was until they raised families themselves and filled the void. Those sons were our three ancestors; I can see a lot of them in your personality."

"What was Blayne like?" Veronica asked.

"He was naturally curious and assertive. Didn't think his family would integrate with the Brotherhood so I cannot really say much for him."

"What was he like when he was… around? Can you tell me that much?"

"He was a good spy in his teens until he quit years later to go back to school. If he weren't skipping lessons to smoke weed, we'd be playing basketball, or he'd be finding ways to get someone to do most of his school work for him. He wasn't a smart guy; we knew that he was honestly a good person at heart, even if he didn't take life seriously." David accidentally knocked over his bottled water, wasting its precious H20, he cursed. "Takes after his dad a lot when he was his age, childish yet humble and kind. To be honest, I preferred his sister over than him. My fault for not hanging out much with him."

"Woulda figured where my parents got their sense of humour. The Brotherhood is strict, though my parents weren't with me around." Veronica's sighed, and it was a long one. "Wish they were still here."

"Don't be like that kiddo, I'm here for you, and I'll protect you."

Veronica crawled to David and presented her little finger. "Pinky promise?"

David rolled his eyes and looped her little finger with his. "Promise."

Veronica laid down on her back, satisfied. "I feel much better now."

"Good."

Boone grumbled. "This is getting mushy."

"Serving the people is why I joined STARS. in the first place, got to go the extra mile on all accounts." David mumbled to himself, "Why is my family so fucked up?"

Cass shuffled closer to David. "Talkin' shit again, David?"

"Maybe… I'm allowed to, I'm the Elder. " David laid down on his back and kicked away his bottled water in a gentle huff.

"You won't catch me going the extra mile, I clock in and clock out, just like everybody else. It what I was trained to do."

"That's a shame," Arcade statistically uttered. "Hey, David. Any backstory to my distant someone or other? Joshua, right?"

"Ah, I loved, Joshua. At his age in school, he was the smartest guy in all of Beverly, maybe even all of pre-war L.A., all thanks to his dad, Scott. His father learned much from the world's best intellectuals. One of the smartest men in America my uncle was."

"Could say we all learn a lot from our fathers. If he was one of the brightest individuals in America, why have I never heard of him?"

"Probably heard from all the wrong places."

Arcade took out his dossier and flipped through it quickly. "This information, is very detailed."

"I did a job for House, and the dossiers and the presidential suite were my rewards." He sat up. "You shouldn't have to worry about him, he got what he wanted and so did I. We're square."

"You're not working for him anymore then?"

"I said I'd consider working for him." He laughed. "He totally bought it."

"That's good, Mr House is never any help around here, not like the N.C.R."

"They're not setting the bar very high," Arcade snidely remarked. Boone seemed to look like he wanted to throw a punch at him but didn't take much offence to it. Constructive criticism is fine.

"Better them than God knows who else," Cass added, stretching her legs and resting on her back. She yawned and stared at the ominous clouds in the hazy sky. "There's decency in them."

"She's right you know."

"Back to Joshua. He'd always study in the library, even while he was attending college and university. He went into the criminal investigation and found a job as a prime detective. If it weren't for his efforts, our entire family tree would've been cut down."

Cass sat up in surprise. "Why?"

"When the vaults were constructed, Josh took the last remnants of our family into one of them before the War. Vault 112." He said, bitterly, "The bitch who caused the Great War was the same bitch that wiped out most of our family - excluding Josh, he was smarter than that."

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?"

"We're more or less family now, so this does concern you, so I'll start with what I do know. The Wesker family once worked closely to Umbrella back in the glory days, once upon a time between the 1950s and 1990s. With new directors and new motives shifting, things became complex. Neo-Umbrella and Exo-Umbrella - their successors - both blood feud with STARS when they started fighting against their selfish tyranny." David's tone felt dark, sad and lifeless, "Two decades after the Nexus Incident, Exo-Umbrella's new director, Drusilla Ashford, murdered most of our family. My parents, Blayne's and Josh's, even our siblings and lovers were all lost during the conflict. I should know, I checked up the family's history on House's network. Exo-Umbrella marked the family for death."

"One woman wiped out our… family?" Arcade exclaimed. He was as surprised as ever, literally, jaw dropped. "No…"

David picked up a handful of sand, sat up and let the jagged sand flow through the gaps between his fingers. The sand was warm. "The only one who survived was Joshua Wesker. I'm just glad I wasn't there to see it happen. I pray that their deaths were swift but deep down I know they weren't given the luxury. "

Veronica felt tears running down her face, but she dared not to cry. "That's… horrible."

"Ashford was the one who caused the Great War…"

Boone's face hardened with shock. "What? Why?"

"She wanted to eradicate all humanity. STARS was the only faction strong enough to in her way, and she destroyed them by wiping out the family one by one."

Cass shuffled to David from behind, over his shoulder. "Why would some psycho bitch do something like that?!"

"Our families have clashed a few times before, but this time our family was in the way of her greatest feat. Because of the Ashford lineage, she was raised to believe that humanity was a plague and the zealotry rife in her life fuelled her even more. So she wiped out humanity in hopes of attracting her saviour, and to satisfy her family's endeavours."

"Christ..."

"The part I find ironic is that she was my daughter-in-law if I was still alive. Even if I were, I wouldn't stand a chance against her, she killed my parents and I could barely handle Savage. Already died once trying to kill him and even that didn't last long. Just came back from the dead."

"This Ashford makes Savage sound like a pussy, in comparison."

"He kinda was," David agreed, sarcastically. "In all future references, you all have Verkraft Industries to thank for the lovely scenery we have out here; It was all because of them. Their CEO, Richtofen, used Drusilla Ashford as a pawn in his plans of human eradication, to please their Chaos God. Because of Richtofen, he reduced all of humanity to… this..."

"How did you find any of this out?"

"House."

"That explains it. If you're half as old as he is, you'd have some juicy story and legends to flourish. Seems weird he'd tell you stories like the ones you said. No offence."

"He is as old as you'd think. Over two or three hundred years old I'm sure he knows what the word around town is, metaphorically. I had to talk to him because he knew our family and I was new to this world."

"Must really suck living that long, not being able to rest in peace," Veronica said, sitting up. "Am I the only one who wants to sit on his lap and listen to all his stories?" Scattered silence ensues.

"You'd be the first," Boone muttered.

Veronica laughed sarcastically. "Funny…" She blew a raspberry at Boone. He snarled his nose in disgust of her childish nature.

"This friendly chat has done me a lot of good. We're the only few people that know who caused the Great War. Name wise that is."

"Humanity is struggling, no doubt about that, but we will survive, all over again if we have to. It's our nature."

"Well, we still have our health."

"You're right about that. Ashford hasn't won just yet, the Wesker family is here to stay, and I say we're doing just fine. All in the recovery."

Arcade laid down on his makeshift bedding. "Say it like it's true. Anybody got anything to eat? I'm feeling famished."

"I should have two lunchboxes somewhere." David rummaged in his sack and took out two blue lunchboxes; he hurled one to a hungry Arcade. "Here you go. You three are gonna have to share the last one."

"Uhhh, sure." Cass took David's last lunch box. "Veronica, come here."

"Sweet." Veronica crawled to Cass and plunged her fingers right into the lunch box like a starved animal.

"I'm not even hungry, I'll pass," Boone said, laying down and rolling over to nap. "Knock yourselves out."

"More for us then."

David stood up and sat by Boone, while everyone was eating. "You tired?"

"I am now," Boone mumbled. "Can I help you before I fall asleep or something?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Of course you do."

"Since you're in the N.C.R. What can you tell me about a General Redfield?"

Boone sat up, without his sunglasses on. His signature shades fell off while he forced his body up, never even batted an eye. "Not much. He spends all of his days at Hoover Dam, though he's only as equal as General Oliver. What do you want to know?"

"Everything you know about him."

Boone sighed and laid down and put his sunglasses back on. "He and General Oliver works under President Kimbal, Redfield personally watches the N.C.R. forces here and the Capital. Rumours of his service date back to the very first days of the N.C.R. when he founded Shady Sands in 2121. It's certainly hard to look past the controversy around him, not everyone trusts his motives, judging from his age and health. He does care, though, for everyone under the N.C.R. banner."

"Well… he sounds ancient. Is that all?"

"Only some selected people close to him know him more than anyone elae. You can find everything you need to know on the N.C.R. database. However, it's restricted, only the higher-ups can help you there. Unless you plan on meeting him in person, the only alternative is to enlist in the N.C.R. and work your way to him. Why do you ask about him so much? Kinda getting annoying now."

"My mother was a Redfield. I'd like to know if we're related."

"Christ, your family ties everywhere."

David rolled his eyes. Don't know the half of it," he muttered. "The Wesker family is notorious for debauchery. Where do I go to enlist in the N.C.R. anyway?"

"There's an embassy on the Strip, just talk to the ambassador."

David groaned. "It's on the other side of the Mojave."

"Your dinner's getting cold over here!" Cass called.

"Rest today. Do it tomorrow."

"It's not exactly safe to sleep out here. The Legion operates around here sometimes."

"Guess I'll stay on watch. Not feeling tired."

"Whatever you say."

The night was instantaneous, the heat around the campfire was null, yet the makeshift beds were still cosy to rest on after a good meal. With the discussion with Boone, David felt like their journey was coming to an end.

It was time to accept fate, swallow pride and join the N.C.R. With his family ties straightened out David now set his heart out to meet General Redfield, he couldn't drag everyone with him; they had their own plans. It was something he must do alone.

Around the crackling fire, David sat with Cass in his arms. After their meal, everyone was in high spirits, despite the weather and the food being as cold as a witch's tit on an iceberg, as his dear old father would say. David and Cass took watch for any dangers during the night but was glad to see nothing was really trying to spook them and ruin their slow evening.

Gave him time to think about what questions he would ask this Redfield. Does he know his mother, Claire? No. That would be too hard; she died centuries ago. She was the only connection… But why was his name Redfield? Was he related to Chris and Jill? That name is just too old to be around and demands a little light.

"Listen up everyone, I think this might be the end of our journey," David finally said.

"I suspected as much," Arcade assumed.

"Does it have to end?"

"The little trip we got going on is over, not forgotten. Tomorrow I'm going to enlist in the N.C.R., might be gone a while, so I cannot drag you along. I'm only thinking of you guys."

"What do we do now?" Veronica asked.

"It was nice getting out of Freeside, while it lasted," Arcade admitted. "Shame it didn't last as long as I hoped."

David stared sharply between his friends. "Surely you have your own things to do?"

"I'm not going back to the outpost, you can forget about it. Where you go, I go." Cass rubbed her cheek on David's shoulder like a cat.

"I still have the Followers. I'll just head back home."

"Can I come with you, Arcade?"

Arcade groaned and took off his glasses in a huff. "Veronica, don't you have a home to go to?"

"I've been grounded."

"Of course you are. What else was I expecting?"

"Please, Arcade? I can be very resourceful, and I want to learn how people go day by day."

"You can come with me to the Followers then; I'll keep you busy."

"That's settled for you two. We might as well all walk there. Boone, you're awfully quiet over there. Penny for your thoughts?"

"I'll be coming with you to the embassy."

"You don't mind?"

"About time I made a reappearance of the scene, join back up with the N.C.R."

"We'll all walk there then and go our separate ways."

"Guess this is goodbye," Veronica muttered."

"No goodbyes. We'll always be friends, won't we luv?" David shied away innocently. "Let's go," Cass said, standing up, "I want to get to Vegas before nightfall."