Chapter Seven: No Vacancy
I've learned that you simply can't control those bad vibes.-Kenny G
When she does open her eyes, the fires in Nipton are still burning. She shakily pushes herself to her feet, and spits the coin out in her hand. There's a man she doesn't recognize, but assumes him to be Caesar. She wants to drop it, but her fingers clench around it anyway.
She doesn't want to forget anything, even something as unpleasant as this.
She looks at where the man in the dog hood had stood, and an indescribable rage fills her at the thought of him. He toyed with her, made her think she was going to die. She sat there for hours, and she knows he watched her for at least some of them. She felt his eyes on her. His footsteps were the last she heard retreating, and before he left, he patted her on the head like she was some kind of dog.
She is afraid of him, and that fear fills her with fury.
She shudders before moving on back to Mojave Outpost. When she reaches the Outpost, she tiredly makes her way back to Ghost. She's sitting on the roof, and Lola briefly wonders if the sniper had slept at all.
"Bounce has gone out of your step," she comments. "That bad?" Lola opens her mouth, but has trouble forming the words.
"Legion," is all she manages to croak out. But it's enough to get the point across.
"Legion? This far west? That isn't outside the borders-they're moving in. Shit," Ghost swears, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well, thanks for hoofing it all the way out there anyway, for all the good it did."
"There's a man still alive," she says, her mouth struggling to form the words. "He's in the general store. He-he can't walk." She deliberately leaves out the fact he was a Powder Ganger. He'd be more likely to get help that way. Ghost nods, and says,
"We'll send someone to retrieve him." She motions to a small satchel of caps on the card table in front of her. "There's your payment." Lola nods, and takes the caps. She wanders back down to headquarters to get her hat, and heads back to Primm.
On the way there, she comes across a large group of ants. She casts a weary glance back to the outpost. The ants were too close for Lola's liking. She pulls out some of the explosives she looted off of the convicts back in Primm, and finds a place to take cover over the ants. She lights the dynamite, and pulls the pin on the frag grenades, throwing them down into the group below. The few that escape the explosions she takes out with her gun. Satisfied that the ants won't make their way to the outpost, she continues onward.
When she reaches Primm, exhaustion weighs her down, and she has to stifle a yawn. She hasn't really slept in a couple of days. She wonders if there is any place to sleep. When she makes her way to the Vikki and Vance, she is greeted by an NCR trooper.
"Hey there," he says. "I'm Sergeant McGee. You're too late for the party." She tilts her head questioningly, and he says, "We just got done clearing out the Bison Steve. You did a hella of a lot of damage." She chuckles nervously.
"Sorry." He waves his hand, and says,
"Nash is in his shop if you're looking for him." She thanks him, and heads to the Mojave Express. She knocks on the door, and an exuberant Ruby answers the door.
"Hello, dear!" she exclaims. "You're just in time for dinner." The smoky scent of radscorpion casserole wafts to her nostrils and Lola smiles before stepping inside.
Once Ruby finishes fussing over her, and slapping an over-generous serving of casserole on her plate, she looks over at Johnson.
"Do you know anything about the men who shot me?" she asks. He nods, lighting a cigarette, and offering her one. She takes it, and looks at the busted robot on the far table while smoking it.
"Beagle says they were talking about some sort of chip. Least, that's what I could make out through his gurgling." She grins sheepishly, and he continues, "I reckon that's the chip you were supposed to deliver. They said they were heading for the Strip, which means with the deathclaws roaming around the I-15 they would've gone through Nipton to Novac, and then to the Strip. So maybe you'll catch them along the way." She winces at the mention of Nipton, but otherwise doesn't say anything. He follows her gaze to the robot, and says,
"I got that from a trader while back. I can't make head or tails of it so if you want to give it a go at fixing it, you can have it." She nods and stands, moving over to look at the robot. She can tell it needs some scrap metal to fix, but that's all she can make of it. She sets it gently back on the table. Maybe she can come back for it once she learns more.
She thanks the Nash couple for their hospitality, and heads for the door. Ruby firmly insists that she stay and sleep.
"You look dead on your feet, dear," she scolds. Lola thanks her kindly, and lays her pallet out on the floor. She sleeps soundlessly, and leaves the following night.
The night is hotter than most others have been, and she tugs at the collar of her armor. She briefly considers shucking out of it and changing into something lighter, but comes across Nipton again. She hurries past the decimated city, and waltzes right into an ambush.
A bullet goes whizzing past her head, and she crouches down behind an ancient, broken down bus. The Jackal gang members are scattered all over the place, and the hardest to reach ones are scurrying along the tops of the hills. She swears, and takes aim the best she can. She can get some of them, but not all of them. One of them sneaks up on her, and tries to bludgeon her with a tire iron. He gets one hit in, and it knocks Lola to the ground. She rolls over in time to see the gang member raise the tire iron for a second hit, a half-mad light shining in his eyes. She takes him out, and pushes herself to her feet. She takes off running, ignoring the blood running down her face, and the ones that roam the hills.
She's fortunate enough to hear the loud partying from the second ambush, and she sneaks past that group. They don't even notice her, and instead continue carousing and shouting. She doesn't rest easily until she can't hear them anymore. She follows a broken stretch of highway to the next settlement, and wonders how long it will take.
She comes across a Ranger Station, and decides to ask. She walks up to a ranger gazing out worriedly toward the horizon. He catches sight of her, and raises an eyebrow.
"This is a Ranger Station. Civilians aren't usually allowed here," he says.
"Sorry. I'm looking for," she pauses as she thinks of the name. "Nova? Noway?"
"Novac?" he asks, giving her a strange look. She blushes, but answers,
"Yes. Novac."
"It's to the north-east of here. Giant dinosaur. Can't miss it."
"Thank you," she says. He nods, and goes back to looking around worriedly. "Is there something I can help you with?" He seems taken aback by her offer, but shakes his head.
"No. I'm just waiting for the recon squad. They're checking the perimeter. They should have been back by now," he explains. He then mutters underneath his breath, "Lazy bastards."
"I can keep an eye out for them," she says. He nods.
"You do that. Thanks. Have a safe trip to Novac." She waves goodbye, and hits the road, wondering how long it will take to reach Novac.
She doesn't have to wonder for long, however, when she sees a giant green dinosaur looming in the distance. Once she reaches it, she stops in front of it to look, and sees a glint shining from it's mouth. She simply shakes her head.
"Hell of a thing to survive the war," she mutters, waving to whoever is holed up in mouth before moving on.
Boone looks down at the wastelander through his scope. She's wearing leather armor and a fedora, and looks like she could be a caravaaneer if it weren't for the lack of a pack Brahmin. Her hat is slightly skewed, and dried blood is caked to her face. She stops to look the dinosaur up and down before shaking her head. She waves, and he pays her no more attention. He lifts his eyes to the east, where Nelson waits.
Lola enters the hotel, and meets a kindly looking old woman reading at the front desk. She looks up and smiles.
"Well, welcome to you! You look tired from the road. Why don't you relax a spell, and let this fine town take care of you?" Lola nods, and finds herself smiling tiredly back.
"That sounds like a," she pauses, and thinks this would be as good a time as ever to use one of the words she learned from reading. "Like a swell idea, ma'am." The woman's smile brightens.
"I'll give you a good flat rate, and you can stay as long as you'd like. At least, until the busy season comes around," she says, winking. "One hundred caps." Lola pays the caps, and receives a motel key in return. She bites back a smile at the peeling dinosaur decal on the key.
"We haven't met yet," she says, holding out her hand. The woman takes it in a soft, but firm grip.
"Oh, what am I doing? I got so caught up in making a good impression that I plain forgot to tell you my name! I'm Jeannie May. Jeannie May Crawford. I take care of people here, as long as they aren't troublemakers," she says, and the last word has a tinge of disgust laced through it.
"You won't have to worry 'bout me, ma'am. I'm Lola. "
"Wonderful!" The old woman's good cheer is contagious, and Lola can't help but smiling.
"Tell me about this place," she says. "I don't think I've ever been here before."
"We're in a little desert oasis, name of Novac. This is the Dino Dee-lite Motel, and it's mine. There's Dinky, the town mascot. You probably saw him when you came to town, but you can go up inside too."
"Neat," Lola says, genuinely interested. Jeannie May's grin gets a little bigger, and she says,
"Nelson is to the east, but it's been taken over by the Legion." Lola's brow furrows at that. "But we have our two wonderful snipers keeping an eye in that direction, and so far they've left us alone."
"Is there any place to get supplies?"
"You can go to the Dino Bite Gift Shop. Cliff runs it. Tell him I sent you. I'm sure he gets lonely sitting in the belly of that lizard all day," she says. Lola nods, and thanks her before remembering one last thing.
"Have you seen a man in a checkered coat?" she asks. Jeannie May's face scrunches up in loathing.
"He may have been wearing a fancy coat, but he wasn't any kind of gentleman to me. Had his nose stuck up so high in the air you couldn't see it past the clouds. City folk," she sniffs. There it is again, that disgust from earlier. "Think they deserve better than what they got. Those hoodlums he was friends with seem to know Manny. He's our daytime sniper, up in the dinosaur's mouth."
"Thank you kindly," Lola says, and exits the lobby. She sees a familiar securitron leaning by the fence. He lifts up one mechanical arm to wave at her.
"Victor!" she cries, running over to him. She stops short of hugging him, instead opting for patting his arm.
"Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! If it ain't my old friend from Goodsprings," he says almost fondly.
"What are you doing here?"
"Don't rightly know. I got the urge to make my way to New Vegas. I reckon I'll find out when I get there." The thought that he might be following her passes through her mind, but she dismisses it immediately. There's no reason to be so distrusting.
"It's good to see a friendly face," she finally decides on saying instead.
"Likewise, friend. Likewise. Is there anything ol' Vic can do for you?" She shakes her head.
"Nope. I'm going to get some supplies, and ask around about the men who shot me. Prob-probably get some sleep."
"You just be careful while looking around. Novac is a nice enough town, but just between you and me, my skin started to itch when I rolled in. I'd hate for anything to happen to a sweet thing like you," he warns. She laughs.
"Sweet is deplorable-debatable- but thank you. You take care of yourself too, Victor."
"Sure thing, hon," he says, and he pivots to see the horizon, where the sun had risen. "Good night. Or, is it good morning?" He turns to get her confirmation, but she is already gone.
She enters the Dino Bite Gift Shop, and an older man with a balding head looks up hopefully at her.
"Welcome to the Dino Bite Gift Shop! If you're looking for T-Rex figurines, you're just in luck! We happen to have a few left."
"Jeanne May sent me," she says, and a blissful smile breaks over his face.
"Bless her. Seems like every traveler I get in here says the same thing. They see the sign and think, Gift Shop? Must be too good to be true. But Jeanne May always points them back in my direction. Well, a friend of Jeannie's is a friend of mine. And my friends get a discount at my store," he says, winking. She blushes.
"You don't have to do that, sir," she says, and he laughs.
"Oh Lord. My father was sir, little missy. You just call me Cliff."
"All right, Cliff. What do you sell at this swell gift shop?"
"Well, there's the T-Rex figurines, of course. That's our bread and butter. We also have an assortment of REPCONN factory souvenirs-rockets, things of that nature," he says excitedly.
"That all sounds wonderful, but what about sup-food? And guns? Do you sell those?" She feels bad about the dejected look that falls over his face.
"Guns? Well, yeah. I guess I might have a few." Under his breath, he mutters, "Darn it. No one ever buys the T-Rexes." She bites back a smile, and says,
"A box of Instamash, some 9mm ammo, and a T-Rex figurine." He perks up, and gathers the items she wants.
"32 caps," he says, depositing the T-Rex figurine in her hand first. She pays him, and looks up to the stairs that lead up to the dinosaur's mouth. The sun had come up while she was talking to Jeannie May.
"Is Manny up there now?" she asks. Cliff shakes his head.
"Nope. He gets here at 9 AM. Boone's our nighttime sniper, and his shift isn't over yet," he explains.
"Huh. I'm looking for a man in a fancy cape-coat. I was told Manny knew his friends. Do you think Boone knows anything?" she asks.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask. But Boone hasn't really talked much since-" Cliff shakes himself, as if remembering he is talking to a stranger. "Well. Boone just doesn't talk very much." She notices the way he falters, but doesn't comment on it.
"Thanks for the T-Rex," she says, gathering her purchases and walking up the steps. She hesitates at the door for a moment.
Into the mouth of the beast, she thinks, and walks inside.