The adventure continues as Darling, our young courier, reached the outskirts of Oak Creek!
Daisy, the friendly owner of Rose's Bed and Breakfast in Modoc, after her lack of contact with her love Victor Barros, began to worry for his well-being. Darling offered to remedy her concerns by personally delivering a message to him in Oak Creek, which Daisy accepted with glee. After crossing the scorching blazes of the Mid California desert, Darling found trouble! A pillar of smoke billowed from the center of town while raiders besieged the remaining law enforcement. Will she find Victor Barros or his corpse? Or... Will she find him at all?
Welcome to, DARLING VS. THE WASTELAND!
Episode 2: "Where the HELL is Victor Barros?!"
The sounds of gunfire grew ever closer as Darling dashed towards the battle being waged in the town of Oak Creek. As she closed the distance to down, she noticed two guards holding their own in the streets with a substancial lack of cover.
"WE CAN'T HOLD'EM FOR MUCH LONGER, SIR!" One of the armored town guards shouted over the haze of suppressing gunfire. "WE NEED TO RETRE..." As the guard shouted, a bullet pierced his right shoulder, sending him to the ground in in crippling pain.
"JACKSON!" The armed man next to him exclaimed in horror. He crouched down and began to pull his wounded comrade into a somewhat covered space. "Stay with me, Brother! We can win this!"
"Sir... I don't know if I..." The man passed out, sending the other into a panic.
"NO! NO! NO! I can't die like this!" After seemingly losing all hope, the fear filled man jumped out with tears streaming down his face, pumping bullets wildly in the direction of the raiders with a cry of desperation.
One such bullet whizzed by Darling as she entered the battle. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING THAT THING! I'm on your side for fuck's sake!"
"Huh?!" The desperate guard looked over towards Darling. Her voice broke the man's concentration for a mere second, opening him up for a counter attack by the raiders. Bullets rained down upon him, puncturing his left calf, sending him on one knee in pain. Through the mighty and awesome powers of adrenaline, he ignored most of the pain and returned fire.
Darling took cover, taking a moment to look through her bandolier. She pulled out 3 of her homemade smoke grenades, "These'll even the odds!" She smirked. She jumped over the cover, pulled the pins, and threw them in the direction of the raiders. She considered using one of her last remaining plasma grenades, but not only are those rare, but she feared the blast would reach some of the fallen town guards that were clinging to life. She then pushed a knob on her helmet, "Activating thermal vision."
As the smoke billowed, the enraged guard ceased shooting, fearful of what was happening.
"What the *cough* *cough* fuck is going on here, Boss?!" A raider coughed harshly as he breathed in the smoke. "This shit wasn't part of the plan!" As the shout left his vocal chords, a torrent of red laser fire pierced his body, leaving several searing holes. A moment passed before he collapsed dead.
While the smoke was up, Darling circled the raiders, using her thermal vision to spot the raiders, picking them off. One by one, each raider surrounding the boss was cut down by laser fire from a different position as if surrounded.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" The boss shouted. "I don't know who or what the FUCK you are, but you're dead!" Rage filled the raider boss as he picked up his fallen subordinates assault rifle and began firing wildly and blindly into the smoke with an automatic rifle in each hand.
Darling snuck up behind the raider boss and pressed her laser pistol against the back of his head. He looked over his shoulder, only seeing an energy weapon and the menacing red glow from her visor. That red glow, however, was the last thing he saw, as a beam of red light pierced his skull, leaving a smoldering hole through his face. With a mighty *THUD* the raider boss collapsed onto the desert floor, face buried in the hot sand.
"What in the good god is going on?" From the guards point of view, he just witnessed the wrath of god for all he knew. Smoke and red death within. All he knew was what he saw... death.
As the smoke cleared, a lone figure approached the lawman.
The guard dropped his gun, "I don't know who the hell you are, but you're a godsend. Thank god the NCR finally sent us some help! We've been sending letters for months requesting help!" The man dropped to the floor, the adrenaline that was numbing the pain began wearing off.
Darling approached, "Glad to help, but I'm not here on any NCR business. I'm here to find someone, but that looks like it'll need to wait. We need to get you and your men some help." Darling took off her helmet and whipped her curly blonde hair back and forth.
The guard's eyes widened at her appearance, "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me... You're just a kid! How the hell'd a kid like you learn to kill like that?!"
Darling face palmed. "Well that's a fine how-do-you-do! Maybe you should try, I don't know, 'Thanks for saving my sorry ass next time!" She gave a defeated sighed "Anyways, who's the head law guy around here? I know it's not you. From the look of things, you barely know how to shoot."
The man grumbled. "If you're looking for Sheriff Maxwell, he's over there." The man pointed over to a corpse that was riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel. "The damn Sand Vipers blew open the gate and killed'em in the process. I'm the town Deputy, so I guess I'm Sheriff now." He looked aggravated at the thought of his newfound responsibilities. "The name's Campbell, Fletcher Campbell. Apparently, now Sheriff Campbell. Damn father! Curse him for making me take this job! I'll get him for this!"
Darling rolled her eyes hearing the man's tangent, "Anyways, they're gone now and..." She stopped herself as she noticed the towns people opening their doors, checking to see if they were safe.
When they saw it was clear, some of the townsfolk rushed out of their homes towards the injured guards, carrying them to the town doctor. Surprisingly, no one came for their new Sheriff.
Darling noticed the lack of concern for Fletcher Campbell, "You don't seem to be very popular here."
Campbell winced in pain, "Damn peasants. My father is a wealthy man and a Senator in the Republic. These assholes hate me out of jealousy! They want our..."
"I get it already!" Darling interrupted the newly made Sheriff's rant and held out a hand. "Let's just get you to the doctor before I blow my own brains out..."
Campbell begrudgingly took Darling's helping hand, "Hey, you're not trained in the way of medicine are you? The doctor especially hates me, for some reason."
Darling put the man's arm over her shoulder for support. "Yeaaah... no. I don't know the first thing about medicine. I can hack, repair, or disassemble a protectron in minutes, but a person? No way. Funny story actually! A while back, someone asked me how to turn a Protectron into a sexbot. Turns out, the hardware is already there, they just..." Darling felt the weight on her shoulder greatly increase. She looked over only to notice that Campbell had passed out from his wound. Darling sighed, "Geez... What a bitch... and I was just getting to the good part of the story!"
After a couple minutes of following the locals, Darling left Campbell in the care of the town's medical professional. She decided to hit up the local saloon in search for information on Victor Barros since she forgot to mention anything in the heat of the moment. As she walked through the streets, the locals, even though saved by Darling's efforts, looked nervous seeing a stranger who's particularly armed-to-the-teeth. Especially one who just slaughtered the group of so called "Sand Vipers" with little effort. Darling understood, since for all they knew, she could be working with the raiders. She took their trepidation in stride and continued down the sandy road.
Before Darling entered the saloon, she heard arguing come from within it's walls. She peeked through the window, listening in on the heated debate.
A woman appearing to be in her late fifties slammed her fists on the counter of the bar. "Dammit Arny! This is the last straw! We CANNOT continue to live like this! This is the third raid this month! Our poor grandson might lose his leg because of those god damn raiders and it's all our fault for staying in this god forsaken town!" She began to cry, "This fucking town is cursed!"
The man across the bar ten, who she assumed was Arny, tensed up. He was a similarly aged man with a stern look on his face. "Dammit woman! I told you once, and I'll tell you one hundred times. I'm not letting raiders scare us away!" He saw his wife cry and regretted his aggression, "Cherry, I know how you feel. We've been through a lot since we left Sac-Town, but you've gotta stay strong! Please!" He embraced his wife, hoping to comfort her. "At least those scumbags got put down by that newcomer."
Cherry smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "We aught to thank that youngster for helping us and that useless good-for-nothing Campbell out.
Darling took that as her cue and entered the saloon, causing the two doors to flap back and forth.
The husband and wife ended their embrace. Arny smiled, "Well speak of the devil! If it ain't the town savior!"
Darling scratched the back of her head while she approached the bar, taking the praise, "It was nothing. Anyone could've done what I did! Hehe..."
"Oh don't be silly, young lady! We saw the whole thing!" The wife praised, "You may not know this, but our grandson is a town guard who's life you saved because of your actions today." The woman reached below the counter and pulled out a stack of NCR dollars. Roughly twenty-five $20 bills. She handed the money over to Darling, "I know you'd prefer caps, but please take this as a way of us saying thanks."
Darlings eyes widened in surprise, "Are you sure about this? That's a lot of money and I just did what any sensible person would've!" Darling knew that, after conversion, she was basically just handed around 200 caps.
The husband spoke up, "You've done more for this town than the damn Mayor has since he took over the place! I'd say you've more than earned it." The man realized something, "Ah! Where are our manners? My name is Arnold Carson, and this is my wife, Cherry Carson. This here saloon is our pride and joy. We've been here in Oak Creek before the wealthy brahmin herders moved in."
Darling smiled and pocketed the cash, "People call me Darling." She extended her greetings with a handshake, "It's a pleasure to meet you!" They each shook hands.
"So, Darling, what brings you to Oak Creek?" Cherry asked.
Darling's focus returned, "RIGHT! I'm here searching for someone. I actually came down to this saloon to find some answers."
"Well, we'll do our best to help! We owe you that much!" The couple nodded.
Darling smiled at their generosity. "I'm looking for a man who goes by the name 'Victor Barros.' I'm a courier by trade and was recently in Modoc delivering invoices and other packages. A kind woman asked me to find Victor and to see if he's okay. She told me that he moved out here for work."
The couple lit up at the mention of Victor. "Well it's about time Little Vic found a girl! He was so hopeless, Hahaha!"
"So you know him?! Great! Where is he so I can deliver the message?" Darling stared hopefully.
With that question, the mood shifted towards the sullen.
Darling's gave a concerned expression. "He's not dead, is he?"
The wife waved her hands, "Oh no! Not that! It's just..." She leaned in, "Around 5 months back, we were having similar issues with raiders, which caused all of the farmers to leave. After that, a bunch of Brahmin herders moved in and claimed the land."
Darling looked curious, "I can't believe you stayed. I would've ditched this place. You and your family are mighty brave!"
Cherry smiled, "That's kind of you to say, but weirdly enough, the raiders never bothered us. They only threatened the farm owners and their workers. I think 2 years ago, we met a young Victor in Modoc and offered him a job with us, so he worked for us for a time as a server. After the Mayor and Brahmin Barons got set up here in town and set up the guard, Victor came to me, saying he 'Found out something big and couldn't stay in Oak Creek any longer!' Unfortunately, he never told me what. He left town shortly after."
"Are you saying Victor isn't in Oak Creek anymore? If he's not here, then where is he? Darling was surprised by the news.
"New Reno." Arny said bluntly
Darlings slammed her face down on the bar counter. "God!... Fucking!... Dammit!" Her shout was muffled by the counter. "Of all place, why did it have to be there?!"
"What's wrong, sweetie? Cherry asked, curious as to Darling's reaction.
"Let's just say, the last time I was there... It didn't end well... for anyone... or anything..."
Why does Darling hate New Reno so much? Is Victor Barros alright? What did he learn that made him leave Oak Creek and Why, of all places in the Wasteland, did he chose to move to New Reno?! Just who are the "Sand Vipers" and what is their deal with Oak Creek?
Find out as the adventure continues in episode 3 of DARLING VS. THE WASTELAND: "Inside the Viper's Den!"