Smoke. Its everywhere around me, filling my lungs and burning its way through my being. All I can feel are the frantic masses pushing their way past me through the hazy room. Children are crying while the women and men try their best to pry the charred wooden planks off the windows. What is happening? "H-Help!" I manage to choke out. "Somebody please!". A familiar hand grasps my own and pulls me through the panicked crowd to a small vent that leads to the outside world. "Hurry and go through Eva!" He screams at me. "But what about you!?" I cry as he shoves me through the passage. "I'm right behind you I promise! Just go! Please keep running and don't look back!" He pushes me inside and I crawl out and into the midday sun and begin running as fast as I can, sobbing, knowing that he isn't behind me.
I scream as I fling myself up in the tattered remains of my bedroll, gasping at the cold Mojave air. Why do I keep having this dream? I don't remember anything except for him. I shakily grab the bottle of whiskey I put myself to sleep with last night and take three big swigs, finishing it off. "Fuck" I quietly breathe out. I rub the rest of the sleep out of my eyes and see the speck that will soon be the scorching Mojave sun. Maybe I should have stayed in Goodsprings a bit longer. I could have stayed with the doctor for one more night. He's got others to look after, and though I did just take a bullet to the head, another night would just be too burdensome for the old doctor. The town seemed friendly enough but there were things that needed to be figured out. Who am I? Who is the boy from my memories? He saved me when we were so young. Where is the bastard that shot me in the head and took these answers away from me! I look at the cracked and faded mirror that dons on the wall as a dreary reminder of what once was. I take notice of the long scar that drags along my forehead and goes behind my left ear and the puckered skin in the middle, which too is a reminder of a lost life. My own bit of resemblance to the broken Mojave. I take note of the exhaustion that cascades underneath my dull and bleak brown eyes. I attempt to tame the auburn curls atop my head into a bun and get ready for the long day ahead of me.
I pack up my few possessions and make my way out of the rusted metal shack just south of Goodsprings. Primm was just down the road and I know I will be able to make it well before noon. The soothing yet gruff voice of Mr. New Vegas makes itself known as he begins to play a prewar tune. By the time I make it to Primm a few songs have passed, and the large rollercoaster is now as close as ever. That's when I hear it, an explosion? I walk up to a soldier type and he immediately informs me that the town has been overrun by powder gangers, escaped convicts. "But I need to speak to someone at the Mojave Express about a package." I look at him with anger in my eyes. The soldier looks at me with an annoyance on his face and in his tone "Well go ahead but don't say I didn't warn you, buncha' the locals are holed up in the Vikki and Vance casino "
"Okay fine thanks"
I make my way up to the casino unscathed and I'm met with an old weathered face belonging to a Johnson Nash."Well you must be lost because you sure as hell aint lookin to be here youngster."
"I'm a courier for the Mojave express, I-uh- lost my package." I explain. He looks at me with a glint of uneasiness in his eyes. "Let me see the delivery order." He looks at the order with wide eyes. "Oh, you're talking about one of those orders. That one had strange written all over it."
"I was attacked by some men, a man in a checkered suit shot me for my package." I look at him with tired eyes.
He informs me of the events that have unfolded at Primm and who I can speak to about the men I am looking for, which unfortunately required a rescue mission. After saving the deputy's sorry ass I holster my favorite .45 and finally get the information I needed and head down the road to the nearest place to rest my head. Primm may need new law but that really isn't my problem right now, maybe I will come back later and see what I can do, but right now the stabbing pain in my head has yet to subside. I grab a Med-X from my pack and empty it into my body, immediately relaxing my muscles and easing my pain. My mind wanders as I walk down the cracked road to Nipton, Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I doing with my life right now? As I near the town I finally take notice of something. The smell, oh god what is that awful stench? I gag as I look up and see the billowing smoke rising into the dry air. I near the town and suddenly am winded. I find myself on the floor suddenly, I look and see the offending party. "Dude what the hell!?" I snap.
"Yeah! Who won the lottery? I did! Smell that air! Couldn't ya just drink it like booze!" The wild-eyed offender screams.
"What is wrong with you?" I look at him warily
He scrambles up off the ground, "I won the lottery! What lottery you ask? The only one that matters! Woohoo!" He takes off running and I can't help but look back at him. What the hell was that? I pick myself up off the dirt and wipe my hands on my pants, the hot leather burning as I do so. What a freak. I make my way deeper into the city toward the smoke pile. The dryness of the air unsettling and as I venture deeper, I see rows of people hanging on crosses! "W-What the fuck?" What the hell happened here? The sick stench of death is heavy, my heart drops as I walk toward the town center. A man with a wolfs head draped across his own is standing tall among the dead, the burning bodies dumped upon another, his eyes lock onto mine and a sneer sneaks onto his face. His piercing steel eyes pointing directly into mine. He begins the descent down the stairs of what once was the town hall and he's headed directly toward me.
Thanks for reading! This is my first story in a very long time so I'm very sorry for the rusty writing. I wanted to try to speed up the primm encounter because lets face it who actually liked that quest? Haha but let me know what yall think! I will be taking creative liberties so as to not bore you with dialogue that you have probably heard a million times.