An Unofficial Garbage Man

I gave my goodbye to Mr. Grevsky and he assured me that his runner was going to deliver the maps and a letter of proposals to the Capitol as soon as possible. Grev and I finalized our discussion about his town's contribution to the Resistance as Dalton stood behind me. I didn't care that Dalton could overhear our chat, the guy seemed too dumbstruck just being outside of a cave to know what Grev and I were discussing. With that, I helped my new companion onto the back of my pona, and we rode off into the wasteland back to Scottsdale. I remembered that Mr. Dinero told me to head back to Scottsdale as soon as I was done with my first Resistance objective. It was almost noon exactly, and I rode on through the wasteland, around the craters, and the pockets of radiation. After several hours of tracing my path to Gold Canyon, it was almost 11pm, and we were just outside the eastern gate to Scottsdale. Dalton, my new traveling companion, hardly spoke a single word the whole way.

Upon arrival, I had to give the password I was told even though Dalton looked clean enough for the both of us. I never really went through Scottsdale at nighttime, so I was pretty amazed. The streets were all lit up, and the buildings too. There were multicolored lights in the water of the fountains on every corner that made the waters appear light blue, purple, pink, green, or red. I couldn't imagine what Dalton must've been thinking since he apparently spent most of his life in underground military bunkers.

We made our way through the streets past all the gorgeous people to the Bridgeton Towers where Mark Dinero lived. At the tower, I talked our way past the lobby security and confronted Mr. Kekos coming out of the elevator. He greeted me and inquired about my new companion, but I assured him that he was just an extra gun. Just then, it occurred to me that I've only known this guy for a little more than half a day, and was just about to bring him in on my game of serving two hostile factions. I again figured that he was too ignorant to understand anything that was happening. So, I told Dalton to answer anything Mark says with complete honesty and to keep his mouth shut otherwise. The young man simply gave a zipping motion across his mouth, threw away an invisible object, and gave me a thumbs up. Confused by the gesture, I followed Mr. Kekos into the elevator, accompanied by the stranger I met earlier the same day.

Up at Mark Dinero's penthouse, of course we walked in on him having an all-out orgy in the living room with his seven girlfriends.

Mr. Kekos shouted over the ruckus, "Mr. Dinero! You have visitors!"

Turning to us, Mr. Kekos showed piercing anger as he said, "You see why I was in the lobby?"

Mark shouted as his girlfriends scrambled away still naked, "Hey Man! Good to see you! Caesar's 'Domini Platos' fella just stepped out, so I don't get a lot of time for rabble rousing these days! Haha!"

Throwing his robe on, he approached and asked, "Who's your friend?"

I responded still uncomfortably, "This is my buddy, Dalton. He's just an extra gun helping me navigate around the wasteland."

Mr. Dinero extended his hand for a handshake; I realized where his hands were a minute ago, and swatted Dalton's hand away. Mark looked at his own hand and said, "Oh, right! Eww! Anyway, good to meet you, man! Any friend of my 'accomplice' is a friend of mine, Haha!"

I remembered Mr. Dinero was not subtle in even the least of ways, but Dalton stayed quiet while I said, "What's the word from our mutual friends?"

He smiled, "Same old, same old. They actually want to hear from you, I'm surprised one of the couriers hasn't contacted you. Anyway, since you're here; you're done with that first task Mr. Swilling had you doing?"

I said, "I haven't been contacted, but I've been a little tied up recently."

He smiled again with a wink, "You and me both, HAHAHA! No biggie, brother. I'm sure you got some kind of info in the past week. They literally just want anything."

Reaching into my pack, I pulled out a notebook I've been using to log all my activities since the unification. I gave him the pages I made from when Mr. Swilling assigned me to monitor Phoenix at the brothel.

I said, "Here are the locations of several mine fields the people of Phoenix are planting, they're training everyone for the defense, and the number of refugees from Legion expansion keeps growing the defense force…"

I gave him the list of communities I was ordered to enlist for the evacuation, and Mr. Dinero had a servant make copies of them. I explained my dealings with the US Army, outlined some of the key details regarding Gold Canyon, and summarized with, "Gold Canyon is sending a runner to the Capitol with the proposed evacuation routes and their official list of aids. Also, the Army of Glory is sending a squad to guard the Evac rally point at the town square, and pledged their full support in the defense of Phoenix to buy the refugees enough time to get some distance."

He said, "Wow, you got some good stuff here, buddy boy! And good to know Gold Canyon is doing better now, I heard that place been silent forever, Haha!... Man, Legion's gonna crush'em all, Haha! Isn't that neat!?"

I looked at Dalton who simply looked confused and on edge about his involvement at Gold Canyon, but I responded to Mark emotionlessly with, "Anything you need."

Mark glanced up from my notes and said sarcastically, "Look at you with the servile attitude! Hahaha!... This brings me to the next assignment. You know the Atomic Stalkers I wanted you to enlist?"

I nodded, "Sure."

Mr. Dinero continued, "Well, timeline's been pushed up, and Caesar wants them to be integrated immediately. You are to head over there ASAP. A group of Caesar's boys will be waiting for you at the I-17 gas station, you know the one. They should actually be there now."

He handed me a letter and added, "Inside is your mission orders and everything Caesar demands from them. You can rest up here, but I suggest you head out as soon as possible."

I said, "Thanks Mark. I could use a good night's rest. And don't worry; we'll head out in the morning..."

Mark gave a satisfied nod at me, and a sly look before I added, "Oh, and thanks for the pona again. It really makes traveling easier."

He gave his signature pearly grin and said, "No problem, Buddy! Head to the guest room and grab some shuteye! I got some stuff to take care of." Then, he walked up the stairs to his bed while rubbing his hands together and making strange seductive sounds.

That night, I stayed in the guest room I stayed in before, and Dalton laid on the couch by the door. No prostitutes this time, just Dalton who still had a confused look on his face when he asked out of the blue;

"You're a double agent, right?"

I asked, "What do you mean?"

He said, "Back in Gold Canyon, you and Mr. Grevsky talked about plans with some 'Resistance' fellas, and even said to Mr. Grevsky that you were thankful for his 'contribution to the Resistance.' Then, you told this 'Mark' guy all about the plans, and it's pretty clear he's not going to use that info you gave him to benefit Gold Canyon, or this 'refugee group' you mentioned."

I paused for a minute before saying, "This situation I'm in is very complicated."

He immediately said, "You know? We've had scouting reports of this 'Legion' you guys were talking about."

I asked, "Is that so? What do you think?"

He paused for a minute, then gave me a wide grin, "I like them… They know how to get shit done. I like their whole… What's the word?... Attitude?"

My face turned to a smile briefly before I caught it and said bluntly, "You're the first one who's admired anything about them. Hell, even Mark thinks they're disgusting, but that crazy teen is starving for power... I've dealt with the Legion before, and they aint too respectable if you ever met them in person…" Dalton stared at me silently with a face that said, "That wasn't the point I was making."

I knew he was really trying to get me to admit to playing both sides, so I continued with, "Well, you wanted to travel with me. You're in this mess as much as I am now."

He again stared at me for a moment before ending the silence by saying, "I wasn't completely honest with you and Mr. Grevsky…"

His statement caught me off guard, so I asked seriously, "How so?"

Still reclining on the couch opposite the bed, he said, "I don't really have too much sympathy for wastrels like I said…"

He chuckled to himself and said sarcastically, "Call me a sociopath if you want? Haha! I just prefer the term 'realistic.'"

I squinted, showing my obvious concern, "Elaborate?"

He said, "All I'm saying is that there are exceptions. Like; you seem like a colorful individual, and this Mark guy seems like a man in charge. But I've seen observations of Phoenix, and I helped lock down Gold Canyon…"

He paused for a moment before saying, "Cesspools. That is all they are, and all they can ever be. The people out here stew in their own filth, and most are just wastes of space who aren't giving any sort of benefit to anything at all-"

I interjected, "Then why didn't you go with your 'pure human' brothers out east?"

He responded simply, "Because I didn't lie about wanting to explore the wastes… With them, it was just moving from bunker to bunker, and that isn't any kind of life. But that also doesn't change the way I feel about the squatters and pieces of shit that seem enumerable out here."

I honestly couldn't believe the arrogance of the man I picked up out of compassion. It was the same sympathy I had for the "Cesspool" residents that made me pity the seemingly misunderstood Enclave deserter. I didn't say any of that, but I instead sought more of the man's mindset and asked, "So what's so appealing about the Legion to you?"

Then, Dalton answered that question in a way that made me wonder if he himself had spent his whole childhood in a Legion soldier camp, or if he was just that unsympathetic, "I don't know much, but I've seen enough of our scouting reports on them to like the way they carry themselves. They are proud of their symbol. Everyone in the Legion has a purpose; soldier or slave, everyone has a role, they seem to march together for that symbol, and that symbol alone. Regardless of whether they are forced to or not. The Enclave's goal at one time was to purify the whole wastes and cleanse it of the filth. It seems to me, that is what the Legion is trying to do… Pure human or not."

I was quiet for a minute before testing out Dalton's values even further, "I'm not sure what to say… But what sets me apart from the rest of the 'wastrels?'... Who's to say I won't end up selling out everything I do for the Legion to help the Resistance? Also, I used to be a hermit, wastrel, or waste of space at my shack in the desert only a couple months ago. How am I so different if I was the same as one of the other 'enumerable pieces of shit' or a Phoenix garbage squatter?"

The fact he answered so quickly, and what he said, astonished me, "You've already chosen your side... The way you reflexively smiled and then corrected it when I said I admired the Legion; dead giveaway. But to answer your other question; you carry yourself with purpose. You may not notice it, but others do. People can see that there is more to you by the way you simply walk and talk. Your goals aren't about just finding food for the day, shooting up some drugs, or fixing some junkbot like the scrappers in Gold Canyon…"

I interrupted by asking, "So what about the Resistance? They carry themselves with pride or purpose as well, and they have a noble goal like helping the people of Phoenix escape from a psychopath and his army of murderers, slavers, and rapists."

He again seemingly had his answer all lined up, "The wasteland is full of trash; trash people, and actual trash. I'm pretty new to the wasteland, but from what little I gathered through all your interactions over the past twelve or so hours; The Resistance wants to move the trash from one place to another. The Legion wants to burn the garbage. Trash is trash wherever it is… You can either move it from one place to another... Or you can burn it, and maybe forge it into something worthwhile… Listen, all I'm saying now is… I like you, Drifter. You'll ultimately do what you'll do, but… It'll be good to take care of the garbage problem with you, Haha!"

With that, I turned away from the man, said goodnight, and we went to sleep.