You Wanted to "See the Sun?"

At Grev's shack, we sat down at the table, congratulated each other with a shot of some of his agave moonshine, and chatted briefly. He said that he would be glad to keep his promise and offer any assistance to the Phoenix evacuation. Gold Canyon didn't have a leader, but many of the locals looked up to Old Man Grevsky and other veteran scavers like him. So, he said that he would have some of his best men map out a good route to the south and east of the scrap town. He promised he'd get the maps on the next caravan to Phoenix. Now that the town was out of Enclave control, it would be much easier for traffic to flow freely through the area south of the Phoenix ruins. Mr. Grevsky was very supportive of the Resistance, so, he also promised robotic assistance when the Phoenix refugees reach Gold Canyon. The town's restored robots could easily be used as extra pack mules or even defenders if necessary.

The two of us toasted our success and new alliance with Swilling's Resistance through another shot of agave moonshine. However, we were both incredibly tired from the strenuous day, and had to fall asleep. I woke up just after 9:30am, still exhausted from the past few days. As soon as I stepped outside with my new friend, we heard the somewhat faint sound of the Vertibirds taking off on the other side of the mountain. Four little winged dots rose up from the other side and disappeared in the eastern sky. The whole town stopped to watch the figures disappear, and soon enough, that was all people were talking about. Many asked if the lockdown was finally lifted, and approached Grev seeking answers. Grev and I warded off the herd of curious people. After about a half hour of explaining to Gold Canyon residents what we went through; we heard the town's watch shouting that someone was approaching from the mountain. We felt it was our duty to see what it was, so we ran towards the gate and saw a lone man in the middle of the desert walking towards the town. The stranger got closer and I made out more details. He was walking slowly, wearing an all-black outfit, and waving what looked like a stick with a white cloth tied to the end of it.

I watched the guy get closer. As the mercenary captain was about to order his men to fire, Grev waved them off and motioned for me to follow him as we approached with weapons drawn. The guy saw us coming towards him and stopped in the sands holding the white flag high above his head. The man remained motionless, and Grev and I stopped within only a few yards of him. The guy was clearly one of the Enclave based on his bizarre apparel. He was a young man, wearing a technical looking black body suit with several grey wires running to his joints, and had a full suit of black ballistic plates on his chest, arms, and legs all with the E emblem. In the man's hand was the little white flag attached to the stick, and his other hand remained open high above his head. There did appear to be a rifle slung over his back, his combat helmet had a flashlight mounted on the side, and covering his eyes was a pair of fully tinted goggles. We stood silently in front of the stranger with our guns pointed at him for a few awkward moments. Suddenly, a smile grew across the stranger's face, and he said;

"Hey, I know you guys!"

Grev responded sharply, "Explain yourself, boy! The Enclave is gone."

The stranger responded by shrugging his shoulder and saying, "I know, I skipped on the Evac. You two are the guys who brought us the parts, right?"

Still pointing my gun at him, I said, "Yeah, why did you skip out on the Evac?"

He simply said, "I didn't wanna go…" and remained silent.

His answer didn't satisfy either of us, so Grev said, "We're gonna need more than that. Who are you, and why are you here?"

He responded, "Oh, right. I'm Corporal Dalton, 'ex' member of the Enclave" and remained silent yet again.

I added, "He asked 'why are you here' too."

Continuing, "Corporal Dalton" said, "I just didn't want to go east with them. It seemed like we were going to another big bunker, and I haven't seen the sun in years."

Confused by his simple answers and suspicious presence, I asked, "You deserted your post because you wanted to 'see the sun'?"

He lowered his hands, but stopped when Grev and I raised our guns back up at him. He nodded and said, "Yeah, pretty much. I wanna see more of Arizona. Got sorta tired of being with the Enclave."

We stayed quiet for a minute, and then Grev and I backed away to talk while still aiming our guns at him. Corporal Dalton kept his hands in the air as I asked Grev, "You think we can trust this guy?"

Grev surprisingly sympathized with the stranger's weird reasoning and said, "Well, I never been locked in a bunker for years. So, I suppose I can imagine wanting to be outside…"

I thought for a second, and asked Corporal Dalton from the distance, "Where you wanna go? You just wanna stay in Gold Canyon?"

Corporal Dalton said, "Nah, I wanna see what's out there. I plan on leaving soon enough. Highly doubt your town would like me sticking around after all the shit the Enclave put you folks through…"

We thought to ourselves for a second, and before we could say anything, he said, "I can show you how to work that keycard if you want?"

Grev said, "You know we got the keycard to the bunker?"

Dalton said, "Yeah, I was escorting the Major last night back before they loaded up all the suits of power armor."

Nodding at Grev, I said to Dalton, "Sure, lead the way."

Still not really trusting this apparent deserter, we had him lead the way to the foot of the mountains with our guns at the ready for anything funny. It took us about an hour again to reach the base of the mountain where we saw the Major last night, and Grev handed Dalton the keycard. We watched him swipe it between a small collection of rocks, and the rock pile slid out of the way revealing the door. Stepping inside, we proceeded a hundred yards down a rocky corridor to a cargo lift that went up a couple stories, and then moved east to another hydraulic door.

I grabbed the stranger as a human shield with my shotgun aimed at his spine, ready for a possible ambush of some kind. Dalton didn't protest the aggressive gesture in even the slightest. The cargo lift locked into place just before that steel door, and it opened up. We were inside the hidden outpost, but there was no surprise. Everything was gone, and it looked like an average cave again, but with a few bits of scrap and the outline of where the chords, terminals and consoles used to be.

I released my shield, and the man put a few feet between us. Dalton said as we looked around, "See… They're all gone, just as you said."

I asked the guy, "So you just wanted to stay in Arizona, huh?"

He paused to look at us, "I know how suspicious it may sound, but my brothers are all gone, and there isn't much harm I can do to anyone all by myself. So yeah, I just wanted out of the Enclave. I got tired of living in bunkers, and been trying to find my 'out' for the past year."

Grev asked, "So, it doesn't bother you that every person out there is a 'mutie'?"

He scoffed, "I never really bought into that. On the oil rig, they pounded the idea that 'we are the last real humans on earth' into our heads. But after they moved some of us to Navarro, I saw firsthand who the troopers captured and what they looked like. Sure wastr-wastelanders are a bit dirtier than us who lived in safety on the rig, but they were people too. Despite what the egg heads tried telling us about 'background radiation' and all that bullshit, I know a person when I see one... I'm looking at two right now."

Grev said, "I don't know if the people of Gold Canyon would like you too much considering what your kind did to our little town."

He said seriously, "Like I said, I don't plan on sticking around too long."

I thought for a second, and then looked up at the stranger thinking I could use an extra gun on my side. My plans with the Resistance were going to take me all around the Sonoran Wasteland, and into the incredibly dangerous southern desert. So, I surprised even myself when I said, "You could come with me? I have a… task… That's going to take me around most of the wasteland."

Dalton took off his goggles, exposing a look of surprise before he smiled and said, "You'd do that for me? You're too kind, stranger. I swear I'll help you out wherever I can. Just get me away from here and Gold Canyon, Haha."

Thinking for another second, "Sure… You seem honest enough. I could use an experienced Enclave soldier helping me out around the wasteland."

He smiled wide and said gratefully, "You sincerely won't regret this, man. I swear. Plus, I could use an experienced wastrel-Er wastelander to help me along too. You probably know the wastes better than anyone in the Enclave."

Grev gave me a look like, "I hope you know what you're doing" and we left the bunker heading back towards the town. Another hour later and back at town, my new companion had guns trained on him from every direction, but I waved them off with assistance from Grev. The old timer led me to the center of town as Dalton looked all around taking in the sights despite the looks of anger from the townsfolk. Back at my pona in the center of town, it was right where I left it, and I gave it one of the apples from my pack. Dalton commented on the beast asking if we could ride it, and I said it was mine. As I got ready to depart, he explained how he saw some of the scientists examining the corpse of one, but didn't know if they were feral or not. Some of these beasts were, but some were used by wealthier wastelanders and even some of the Legion or Resistance agents. It quickly became clear that Dalton was largely ignorant of everything in the wasteland, but I didn't have time to explain the whole world to him. I had several tasks building up.