It was empty. Well... in truth, it wasnt empty. Towns had opened up in the horizon, and not only there. Just a few hundred yards from me was the lovely town of Novac. 'Lovely' in this world usually means there's some buildings there, and the surrounding area isnt infested with mutated abominations. There are mutated creatures around, of course, they just dont infest the area.
A Sniper stands guard in the dinosaur. Even if I had no knowledge of the town, I would know. His scope occasionally flashes in the sunlight. If he wanted, he could take me out right now. I almost want him to. Life in the Mojave isn't what you would call luxurious. But its life. A courier doesn't waste life. If I didn't know that before, I did when I died. Well... almost died. Apparently these days a point blank gunshot to the head isn't enough to kill a man. Let's notget into that. None of that matters anyway.
I failed. I thought that I could protect the Mojave. My actions may have doomed it. I'm a courier, why was this responsibility placed on me? I know why. A courier in the new world is not what it was in the old world. A courier then would be simply a deliverer of messages, packages. A glorified postman. That's not what I am... what I was. I knew the Mojave, and it knew me. I travelled the wasteland that was Las Vegas, Nevada, in search of something. I don't remember what that 'something' was. Seemed so important at the time. Though I guess in the past things always do. War never changes, but it changes men.
It changed the NCR, the New California Republic. They were a civilisation worth fighting for. They prized freedom, comfort, they sought the ressurection of the old world lives that our ancestors gave up in the fire. By the time of the battle of Hoover Dam, (part two) they were no longer that. Instead... they were battle-hungry, desperate, almost savage in their desire to hold that Dam. Caeser's Legion were the same, they had some sort of ideology, an insane ideology, but an ideology nonetheless. That too was burnt in the fires of war. They burnt it when they threw their General off a cliff, engulfed in flames. War changed the Brotherhood of Steel too. Once great, prosperous, they now remain in a bunker in the Hidden Valley, still afraid of the light. Helios One changed them. The battle for that power station crippled them, in more ways than one. They lost the bulk of their army, yes, but more important was the loss of morale, the loss of faith in their leadership. That bunker is full of plasma rifles, pointed at the back of so-called allies.
War changed me. I was just doing a job. I was making a delivery. Things got... complicated. But everyone knows that story in the Mojave. Radio New Vegas loves to talk about the courier who lived. You'd think I was some Messiah or something. I just felt lucky. Truth is, it sucked me into a war that I didn't want, and it seemed none of the people wanted. But you're not interested in that are you? The story of one person's struggle against the coming of war is not nearly as interesting as his failure, bringing the coming war to fruition sooner than expected. I was barely a man, I'm still the same man physically. I've not grown. It was only a few months ago, the radiation isn't that powerful. Not as far as I know anyway. I guess you could say I've led a pretty full life for my age. But for my life to be full, I had to empty the lives of others. I acted like I was ok with killing, as long as it was for the greater good. But each taken life was a sting into my soul. I don't know if I have a soul anymore.
I'm talking about me again. Thats not what you want to know. You came here for the tale of Hoover Dam right? Well... I guess I can give you that. The Dam supplies energy to the entire of New Vegas – the strip at least – and to the full three states of the NCR. Its no surprise then, that the Legion wanted it for their empire. They fought for it, many years ago. But thats something everyone knows about. What few know of fully is the battle that concluded a few months ago.
Sometimes, to understand the ending, you have to return to the beginning. What I described as empty was not the landscape. That has life, structures jut across the skyline. All of the civilised aspects of the new world are present. No. The "empty" is in the hearts of man, there is no hope. Neither the NCR, the Legion or Robert Edwin House won the battle of the Dam. You could say that I won, I guess. But I made no profit from it, I never sought to. But history is written by the survivor telling the tale. There are no other survivors. The loneliness of the road I walk has increased since then. Since the battle to end all battles. The same skirmish that killed hundreds, and the hope of thousands. Life has continued, but there is no life in it. All because of my actions on that day. That day that doing what I thought was right became the day I ended the hope of thousands. My actions up to that date are responsible for the events of that day, I incited the conflict with my actions. I am the victor of that battle, but I am a war criminal of the highest order, with none left to prosecute me. My actions destroyed Hoover Dam, and all that it promised New Vegas, all that it promised the NCR, the Legion, the Brotherhood. Everyone lost, because I won.
I guess I should explain what happened on the day...
To Be Continued...