The young stalker was back on the road after he had liberated the town from the Powder Gangers. As much as he wanted to tell the authorities that the town was no longer in danger, but Johnson Nash spoke against the prospect. While it is an option, Primm's deputy spoke about a sheriff in the NCR Correctional Facility who could comfort the townspeople, but also bring back law into the town. Now he was going into the wolf's den of criminals and he hoped that they wouldn't attack him on sight now that he killed one of their own.

Johnson Nash said that beyond this hill, he would find the facility. As Artyom climbed the ridge, he heard a commotion of people and shouting on the other side. When he reached the top of the hill, he saw the facility before him.

It reminded him of the prisons he had seen through postcards, but seeing a real one with his eyes was something else entirely. Powder gangers walked throughout the courtyard with disregard for their littering, but the stalker also noticed the guard towers manned by the very same criminals. Aside from the towers, there were three buildings that were placed around the town. One was on the fence itself, perhaps that was how the authorities used to transfer prisoners. The second building was placed in the open and was closer to the first building. Then the last, but large building on the far left with a second floor.

Artyom slid down the hill and made his way towards the first building, but he saw a single guard leaning back on the door with his arms crossed.

When he arrived at the door, the stalker felt eyes on his body as the guard stepped forward and confronted him. "Hey, you? What are you doing here?" The guard demanded.

"I'm not NCR, if that is what you're wondering." Artyom replied.

"Alright then, but why are you here? I'm sure the NCR authorities would want your head if you come with us?"

"That is if they knew. I'm here to come and speak with someone, who just so happens to be in this place. He's a former sheriff."

The ganger raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you're talking about that Meyer's fellow. I still wouldn't let you in."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't fucking trust you, okay." He answered. "Unless, you have the caps for it?"

Caps. Artyom almost forgot that this place used a different currency than bullets. "I'll have to check my things. Give me a moment, how much would you let me in?"

"Two hundred I'd say. How about that?"

"Okay. Let me check." Artyom immediately reached into his backpack as he mindfully counted each bottlecap he grabbed by hand. Then he handed the man the caps.

"Thanks for the cash, welcome to the Correctional Facility." The ganger replied as the man zipped up his bag.

When Artyom walked into the building, he found himself surprised with Powder Gangers at their tables, drinking themselves away with bottles of Sunset Sarsparilla.

"He's on the left side." The guard said as he closed the door on his way in.

He took his advice and found a middle-aged man sitting in his chair, wearing a strange hat. When he made his way over to him, the stalker earned glares from the others. "What the fuck are you looking at?"

Artyom turned away from the Powder Ganger and took his seat across the man he was looking for. "Are you Meyer?" He asked.

The ex-sheriff raised his head and revealed his face from underneath the shadows of his hat. "Yes. Yes I am, but who would be the one asking? What is your name, kid?"

"My name is Artyom, I'm here to talk to you."

"Shoot. I'm sure a conversation might be worth it until the NCR sends someone to take back the place."

"How would like it if I told you that you could leave this place and become a sheriff of a town called Primm?"

Meyer expressed his surprise when he raised his eyebrows. "Sheriff? The last time I was a sheriff, I was sent here for taking the law into my own hands. Who's wanting me now?"

"Everyone in the town." Artyom began. "Turns out the sheriff and his wife were murdered when some criminals took over the town. I'm just passing by, but I'm doing errands for them to get what I want."

"Look, as much as I want to accept the offer I am a criminal in the eyes of the NCR. I'll head over to Primm and see if they'll like my idea of the law, but if you want me to be the town's sheriff go to the NCR Mojave Outpost and tell them to give me a pardon." He told the young man. "If they want to get all uppity about it, tell them my sentence is almost over and an early release wouldn't hurt." Then he rose from his seat. "Now if you excuse me, I'll be making my way to Primm and see if the folk there would appreciate my company. As for you, it looks like you're going to staying here longer than I am."

Confused by his words, he saw the ex-sheriff point his finger behind his back. When he turned around, he was confronted by three men dressed in armor. However, one of the men had a baton ready in his arms. "You must be the guy that shot Chavez in the knee." He demanded. "My boys heard about you and I never thought you would come into this place expecting that we won't notice."

The man was not wrong as Artyom stood up and kept his gaze on the leader. "Who are you?"

"My name's Eddie. I'm the one who got this ragtag group of guys who killed the guards and took this place over. While I wouldn't normally welcome anyone here, you made the guy almost bleed to death when the second group of guys were coming around."

"Then what will happen next?" He asked. Suddenly meeting the leader of criminals didn't comfort the stalker that much. "Are we just going to talk?"

"Yeah, we will. You see, I appreciate what you did to Chavez some I'm going to give you an opportunity." Eddie explained. "The guys I've sent out in Primm have been killed and I think the NCR are up to something since we took this place from them. Learn what they plan to do to us and tell me everything they've got planned, ya hear? I'll give you a reward for it if you do manage it."

The mention of his men killed at the town almost made Artyom smile, but doing so would make him admit that he was the one who committed the deed. Still, it felt good that his actions were doing something. "What kind of reward?" He had to tell the NCR soldiers outside of town the Powder Gangers presented. "I'm curious."

"I have a safe for someone who can make sure the NCR doesn't come back and string us from the towers and hopefully, it can be you. What do you say about it? Will you do it?"

Considering his choices and the number of Powder Gangers present in the room, Artyom conceded to him. "Yes, I'll see what the NCR has planned for you."

"I'll be waiting then. You better give me something to hear. If you're going to go, go."

Good, now was his time to leave this place. As the stalker made his way towards the door, a Powder Ganger stepped in and ran towards Eddie. "Boss, Joe Cobb's group was wiped out!" Artyom overheard the runner say. "Him and his boys were killed by the townspeople and some blonde bitch."

Eddie's irritation could be heard. "I told that idiot not to overextend. What the fuck was he thinking? See boys, this is why you should stick with me and not with Joe."

Stepping outside of the concrete building, Artyom swore it was warmer inside when he was in the presence of the criminal leader.

It was a very long walk from Primm and Artyom had already came across more creatures of the Mojave Wasteland. Strange insects that he had seen in books that were once smaller than a boot, but were just as large as a railcar. Thankfully, they were not immune to revolver ammunition.

Now that he thought about it, he had to find a stable weapon that he wouldn't worry about ammunition. He checked his Pip-Boy and inspected what was in his inventory. There was his weapons he had on his person and then there were the weapons he picked off the dead or scavenged in the wild. Then the stalker's eyes found the weapon that once belonged to someone who tried to kill him.

'10mm Pistol'

It was probably a weapon just as common as the revolver in the Metro. When his eyes rested upon the ammunition, it specifically told him the type of ammo and the amount he had.

'12/76'

His scavenged weapon had enough ammo for him to use. As he holstered his revolver, Artyom reached into his backpack and pulled out the 10mm Pistol from the darkness as he continued to make his way up the road. As the stalker continued up this unmaintained road, he saw a lightly armored man with a two-headed creature escorted by two guards. When they passed by, the man tipped his hat with a smile on his face before proceeding down the hill.

They must have been caravaners. He had seen them before in the Metro, but they were dead with their belongings before he would make contact with the men who killed them. Still, if caravaners were passing by then there had to be places they stopped at. Artyom looked at his Pip-Boy once more and saw a map of him heading towards his reference marker.

When his eyes looked up, he was surprised in awe. There was nothing like this in the Metro. Two statues of men were shaking hands in strange clothes despite being made out of scrap metal. Still, it was a sight to see when he walked underneath their shadow and was met with NCR soldiers moving to and fro. This must have been the outpost himself.

All he needed to do, in order to get Deputy Beagle to speak, was speak to the man in charge of this place.

On the left, Artyom saw two buildings contained in a fenced area while a pile of sandbags were set up near the fence entrance. Despite the traffic of NCR troopers going in and leaving the building, the stalker saw people in a different set of uniforms walk out of the building with their belongings. Clearly, civilians were allowed to walk inside.

He made his way towards the entrance as he heard a conversation between two troopers behind the building. "You should have seen what had happened a couple nights ago, two guys were running here with a pack of giant scorpions after them."

"Yeah, I heard about it. What's so special 'bout them?"

"Turns out that they're heavily armed for prospectors and that they're not from the Mojave nor the East of Hoover Dam. They just explained that they just suddenly appeared outside the front door."

"Do you believe that shit? I mean, they must have been on chems to think that up."

"I've seen guys on chems, but these guys are different. Turns out they have weird markings that no one knows how to read and that they're wearing their wear of radiation suits."

"Bullshit?"

"If you say so, but if you want proof go meet the guys in the barracks."

When Artyom slipped into the front building, he felt relieved when his body felt the cool air inside. They must have had an air conditioning system in this place.

A man standing across the desk took notice of his presence and gestured him to come forward. The young man did so as this officer of the NCR seemed to express great interest in him. "Welcome to the Mojave Outpost." He began. "State your name and profession, if you're wondering I'm doing this to record anyone passing through."

"My name is Artyom and I'm a stalker."

The man immediately stared at him with surprise. "Stalker, you are the third person who said that."

"Wait, there are other stalkers here?"

He nodded his head in confirmation. "Yeah, they're in the barracks getting drinks from Cass. Just so you know, my name is Major Knight and I am in charge of this garrison. So what business do you have here?" He asked.

"There is a man was in the NCR Correctional Facility north of here, he's a prisoner there. I'm here to get him a pardon for his crime."

The major's expression changed from a welcoming tone into a harsh one. "Pardoning a criminal? Who do you think I am? Those Powder Gangers down there killed the men in charge, but also are harassing travel throughout the area. Why should the NCR pardon this one?"

Artyom was quick to remember what Meyers told him. "You see, the Meyers isn't part of the Powder Gangers. In fact, he was waiting out his sentence and was almost finished with it until they killed the guards. He hasn't left the place since he doesn't want any trouble with the NCR."

"I can't easily give one criminal a pardon based on the word of a single individual."

"True, but he's an ex-sheriff and some of the people at Primm want him to become their sheriff to keep the Powder Gangers off their backs." Maybe… Artyom shouldn't have mentioned that.

"Huh?" Major Knight thought about it for a moment. "Never thought I would hear something like that. A former ex-sheriff killing his fellow convicts in the name of the law. How about this? I'll pardon this man, but the NCR will keep a close eye on the man."

If there was one thing the Russian stalker knew, he was never a gambler and here he was gambling his chance to allow a man to be free. Would he want to make the chances of something better for Meyers or would he settle on what Major Knight was offering? Artyom wanted to help Meyers even further, but a sense of dread overcame him when he considered a better deal. "I will go tell Meyers about this." No, it was sufficient enough to keep the ex-sheriff out of prison at the very least.

"Very well. Before you leave, I got to make this pardon official in case the authorities haven't caught up with it." Major Knight looked down behind his counter while Artyom heard a click and a large stamp pressed against his workspace. Then he brought out a single sheet of paper towards him. "Here is the guy's pardon. Should the authorities ask questions, they can come to me about his pardoning stamp."

Artyom nodded, acknowledging his words. "Thank you, major. I'll go tell him right away." On his way out of the building, Artyom wondered whether he should head back to Primm or meet with the stalkers that were mentioned in the barracks. He hadn't met someone from the Metro for quite some time and perhaps he might know what is going on.

Once he entered the barracks, he was surprised to see there was a bar before him. The dark-skinned bartender, behind the counter, waved her hand at him with a smile. "Welcome to the barracks, are you here for a quick drink?"

He stepped forward and took his seat on the stool beside the woman drinking away, silently. "No, I'm looking for two stalkers that were told that they were here."

The bartender was about to speak, but the voice came from his left. "If you're looking for them, they're on the mats across the road."

The Russian turned his full attention towards him. "Thanks, I appreciate the directions."

"You're just like them, a stalker."

"You know them?!" Artyom asked.

"Keep your voice down, I don't need to hear something loud right now." She replied. "Yeah, I know them. We ended up having one hell of a drink last night, on my caps though. However, I got to ask, what is a guy like you doing here?"

"Well, I'm getting someone a pardon from the NCR. Turns out I'm a bit successful."

The person looked up from underneath her hat and expressed her curiosity. "You know, that is something to celebrate. Why not drink to freedom?"

"I should go, it might not be in my best interest-"

"Kid, don't be a pussy." The bartender asked. "It's only going to be one drink."

The young woman pulled out a bag of caps and handed it to the bartender. "I'm just going to get the whiskey. The other drinks are just not my forte, if you understand."

Artyom hesitantly nodded. "I… do. I'm just not a drinker."

"Weird that your stalker buddies said that drinking keeps the radiation away. I want test what other drinks do." The bartender took her amount of bottlecaps and gave Artyom and the woman bottles of whiskey. "Drink up kid, celebrate your pal's freedom."

He grabbed his bottle while he watched the person beside him drink up. Then he looked down at his alcoholic beverage and felt a sense of uneasiness in his mind. As much as he didn't want to drink, the expectations of the bartender and the woman placed more pressure on him. Artyom reluctantly raised his drink as the whiskey entered his throat.