Part 27: A Heroes Reward

Standing still, with hands up and blood pouring from Arcade's knee, we came face to face with several of the residents, all sporting their firearms. One old man seemed to stand out from the rest, and I assumed he was the leader. He motioned with his fingers, to which two of the residents walked outside and inspected the area, seeing that we had killed all of the bandits who had kept them imprisoned in the casino. After they had checked it out, they nodded to him, and they lowered their weapons. They shut the door behind us, and the old man came steadily towards us. With his wrinkled skin, dusty dungarees and two goggles fastened firmly around his neck, he seemed like an old farmer, more than a citygoer.

"Don't know what brought you to Primm, youngster, but you might want to rethink your plans. Town's gone to hell." He said in a texas drawl. "Don't know how you killed the bandits, but it's a hell of a favour to us."

To the side of me I heard a groan, and remembered that Arcade had a serious injury. His blood soaked pants were now beginning to drip onto the casino's hardwood flooring.

"Can you get my friend here some medical attention?" I asked.

"Just..get me to some medical supplies, I'm a doctor; I can fix myself." Arcade added.

A few of them took Arcade by the shoulder and carried him off into an adjoining room. The old man came back to me.

"Johnson Nash's my name. Husband to Ruby Nash. Lived in Primm going on eight years now, thick and thin." He said, giving me some background information on himself. "Came to town as a traveller once, liked it enough that I decided to settle in. Got ourselves a small pasture of crops and bighorners; enough to supply the whole town. Ran into a little trouble a couple of days back, when crazy gun toting' lunatics came to town, shooting everything in sight. Those lucky enough to survive boarded up here in the casino, and we've been holding out here ever since. Looks like you came just in time; we're almost out of food."

"Well, it looks safe enough outside. You could probably walk out of here safely." I replied.

"You sure did one hell of a job for us, and it won't go unrewarded. However, the Bison Steve hotel is probably still swarming with the bastards. You can see it, just across the road from here." He answered. "Since you've taken the ones outside, we'll support you in taking it back. You shouldn't have to go it alone after how you've helped us."

"Of course, just give me a moment with Arcade." I asked, and headed to where Arcade had been taken. I found him sitting down in the Manager's office, with various medical equipment hastily strewn around the desk. He had put a leg brace around his leg tightly, took a painkiller, and cleaned the area up with some water, as well as rubbing antibacterial soap onto it.

"How are you doing?" I asked, looking down at him. He didn't look too concerned, which was rather surprising, given what he just experienced.

"I'm Good. I can sleep it off, be good as new in a couple weeks." He replied without any effort, it was like he wasn't even concerned about it, but then again, I'm not a skilled medic. It looked serious, but he'd know how bad it really was.

"It might be, but for now you should stay here and get some rest. I'm going to head out with some of the townsfolk and get rid of the bandits still hiding in town. I'll be back to help you soon." I said

"Make sure that you come back in one piece." Arcade retorted.

With Arcade checked on, I headed straight back to Nash, who was still busy planning our assault on the Bison Steve hotel. Residents donned their haphazard leather armour, and firmly grasped their assortment of weaponry. Eventually, Nash took a stand on one of the Casino's tables and delivered the plan.

"Alright everyone. We know this town like the back of our hand. They'll be expecting us from the front door, and they almost certainly heard the commotion outside. Our best bet is to either break in through the second story windows, or take the back entrance by the kitchen. I want you to make sure you pay attention to who you're shooting at. As you all know, Deputy Beagle is still being held hostage by them, and we have no idea where they're keeping him. Now, we plan on splitting up into two groups; one for each entry point that I mentioned. We don't know how many of them there are still alive, but I will guarantee that we will send them a message about invading our town!" he shouted to the crowd that had formed in front of him. His words were powerful, and it wasn't a bad plan to be honest. With that, the group poured out and surrounded the building, before splitting into two, to flank them. I decided to join the group who were busy upstairs.

Before we broke in for good, a little further preparation was done. A few townsfolk took the time to strip the bodies of the bandits clean, to give them an edge in the coming battle. They seemed to be armed with lots of dynamite, and ten millimetre handguns, the kind that the NCR uses commonly. They were wearing prison guard armour, and it strongly seemed as if they had looted somewhere to gather all of the equipment, but I was sure I'd understand it all later; right now I had a different priority to mind. I checked my ammunition supply, and had two grenades that Arcade hadn't used, handy at my belt. This was it. I kicked the dirty glass window, which shattered all over the floor, and stormed in.