Valley Superstitions
Over the next three days, I stayed in that brothel and walked the outskirts of the city during the day. This was the first time I really spent in the city I pledged to protect. Every other time, I was only in the town on an errand or passing through on the way to the butcher shop on route to the Capitol. So, I took advantage of that time to get to know Phoenix and take note on everything that was happening.
On many days, I observed Phoenix guards working alongside the US Army troops to plant mines on the border of town while the entire city armed itself for the upcoming battle. I knew the battle was likely months away considering it would take Caesar a while to mobilize enough legionaries and tribals for the assault. However, people trained and drilled with the Phoenix Guard, and I began to notice fliers on old telephone poles and walls throughout the city. Most of the fliers went something like this:
People of Phoenix,
The Legion is coming to our beloved city and will inevitably triumph. You can still escape with your lives. The Legion will not stop until the entire city falls and you are enslaved or killed. Your brothers in the shadows of Phoenix are organizing a mass evacuation of our city. We urge all of the sick, elderly, women, children, and men with sense to march with us to safety when the Legion comes. You the People can still live on, but our city has already fallen.
Your Guardian Angels of the Valley
Guards and people hoping to fight were seen tearing down the posters, but more would quickly show up in their place. The Resistance needed people to fall in on the evacuation plan. However, the collective mindset of the valley immediately following the speeches and unification made the effort seem futile. It looked like the whole city wanted to stay put. I remember thinking that maybe if enough people were willing to fight, then Caesar might lose the battle. Then I remembered who Caesar was.
Caesar was the kind of person that takes what he wants no matter what. He was known by this point as the conqueror of 38 tribes and was going to use all of them to take this city. Also, those 38 tribes didn't count the prepper communes, raider fortresses, or nomadic bands he captured or killed in the north. Before Caesar, tribes up north were not all squabbling little villages. I knew Have-Su was the 38th tribe, and based on how massive that one was; conquering 37 northern tribes was something that sent fear all the way to Phoenix and riled the place up enough to the current situation. If the centurions present at Have-Su were any sort of reflection on the tactical mind of Caesar; he was not going to let his forces go head to head against the walls of the new United City. I knew he had an "Ace in the Hole", and my mind went to Scottsdale.
When I wasn't taking notes on Phoenix troop positions and activities of the populous, I was lounging around at the brothel's bar and eavesdropping. You can learn a lot about people or places through idle conversation, even if they're just stories. Considering I was an incognito defender of Phoenix, I liked learning about the place. For example: One thing about Phoenix and Scottsdale was that both of them had a surplus amount of medical supplies. Phoenix primarily used them to create drugs and feed its squatter population. Scottsdale used them to advance in the medical field; like their innovations on facial reconstruction and cosmetology.
The question was stupid but innocent; how does the two cities have so many doctors and drug components? Some say it happened through trade in water from the Colorado Reservoir, but overhearing conversations suggested something else. Leave it to drunk locals with too much time on their hands to explain things through conspiracies and legends with a hint of truth like:
Some people are certain of an organization that works with the Phoenix and Scottsdale governments to supply the valley with medical tech and pharmaceuticals. The group is supposedly called, "The Night Hospitallers" and stories say that they inhabit one of the few large standing buildings in the middle of the Phoenix ruins. The building is inaccessible to most because of the radiation, but anyone with binoculars on a roof looking south can see a cross symbol and a sign that says it used to be a hospital. Apparently, the "Night Hospitallers" are a group that strides the wastes at night in black armored "scrubs" dotted with red cross symbols who sack caravans for medicinal goods. Word is; they're paid under the table by both valley governments to keep the valley healthy or drug dependent at any cost. I thought that was the stupidest story ever, but people swear up and down that they've seen shadowy figures with shining red crosses on caravan runs along the edge of blasted out Phoenix.
I never would have thought that there were so many superstitious people in Phoenix, but there were. Stories of the Night Hospitallers were the sole reason caravans carrying drugs and medical equipment refused to depart Phoenix past 3PM. Hearing more stories and learning more about the people of Phoenix led me to believe that all the legends I heard were just excuses for their misery or lack of action. Despite how large Phoenix was, and its status as an oasis of civilization, Caesar and Mr. Dinero were right in a sense. Phoenix was full of people who were going literally nowhere in life and simply lived for their next fix. Of course that wasn't everyone, but a large majority were. So, it was easy to dismiss much of the legends and stories as nonsense or ramblings until I had my own encounter with a particularly famous Arizona Legend.
At night on the fourth day after the city unification, I unlocked the door to my room and saw Bailey sitting on the chair across from the bed.
She handed me a letter and said, "It's time for you to help us unify the wasteland… Have you heard of the Lost Dutchman's Mine?"