For all Arkus' talk of mountains, their first destination turned out to be a short distance from the Gas Station where Ringo was camped in.
Arkus stood over a manhole with red X's and "Danger" painted around the rim.
"There's a chance he might've just gone into the Goodsprings sewer. Let me lead, and watch where you point that shotgun."
The pair descended the ladder into a round entryway.
"Check that pip-boy for a-"
Lenora pressed a button at the top of her screen and a bright light emitted from the other end of her pip-boy.
"-light."
The door ahead led to a hallway with dim ceiling lights, but Lenora was grateful for the additional light when she noticed the bear traps on the floor.
"What do we have here? Someone wants to keep guests out. Stay behind me."
Two traps were disarmed, then Arkus leaned into the large room ahead of them. A vending machine was visible to Lenora on the opposite wall.
'Smell that?"
"What 'that'? My nose is under attack right now." Fresh air was still close behind them and already a morass of acrid stenches had begun clinging to Lenora.
"Sorry, forgot you weren't trained for scents. Guess it's affecting me too, eh?"
"Ugh."
"Anyway, we're not alone here, but there's traps all over the next room." Arkus pulled out a handful of scrap and busted magazines from a pouch on her waist. Scanning the room, she threw them towards another doorway. The various clangs and smacks were soon followed by several footfalls in the distance.
"Back up," Arkus took long steps over the traps left untouched in the hall. Dry growls now joined the wet footsteps. The Ranger leveled her revolver.
"Only when one gets through."
"Right Ma'am," Lenora leaned opposite Arkus and brought up the 20-gauge.
Something snapped shut against bare flesh with a rusty snap. Another raspy growl was cut off by a second trap slamming home.
The first creature came plodding through the doorway. It was a heavyset animal on four legs with beady black eyes. Stray hairs sprouted from its mottled pink skin. As it turned towards the hall, it passed over another bear trap. Metal jaws ripped into its hind leg and tail.
"Mole Rats, just like I smelled," Arkus watched in disgust. The pair held their fire while a half dozen more mole rats of various sizes came charging into the room, either oblivious of the traps or trying to avoid their ensnared siblings and triggering them all the same.
A large mole rat with pale skin came barreling past several entrapped ones before Arkus put a bullet into its skull. Still more charged and both women unloaded on the charging pack. Blood sprayed across the large room from newcomers, trapped rats, and corpses being riddled with pellets and .44 rounds. Lenora emptied her tube of all 6 shots before she knew it, and more rates were coming in. She checked Arkus. The Ranger was already reloading, but her speedloader was too slow. Immediately Lenora grabbed her laser pistol. She fired at a charging rat that leapt over another one caught in the last bear trap in the hall. A small red beam seared her eyes and hit the mole rate in the face. The sound of its eye popping was drowned out by a hoarse moan. The half-blinded rat writhed about, slamming into other mole rats before managing to get away.
Another rat tried to squeeze in before Arkus shot it through the mouth. After that, only the whine of trapped and dying rats remained.
Arkus climbed through the doorway, Lenora close behind. If the scent was bad before, the mole rat massacre had made it nightmarish. 8 mole rats lay in various states of protest against the traps that tried to close ever tighter against them. Another 6 lay where they died or had bled out around the room. Blood decorated the floor, the nuka-cola vending machines, the columns, even the ceiling dripped red.
Something flashed in Lenora's mind as she observed the aftermath, but the disgusting nature of the mole rats kept it from growing clear.
"Killed the whole nest," Arkus nodded approvingly. "Now we can search for Baxter without any distractions. Hopefully this is the only way out, because that racket must've reached the whole sewer."
Arkus kicked a mole rat trapped by its forelegs aside.
"Don't finish them off. Waste of .44."
The pair advanced side-by side into the sewer proper, past the occasional trapped Mole rat and blood trail. Mole rat raspings faded into the distance. Now the sewer was lit sparingly, if the lights worked at all. Cave-ins and steel grates blocked their way, though they did make the path deeper into the sewer-that Baxter must've followed-clear. An occasional Mole rat skulked by them beyond the radius of the pip-boy light, but never charged in.
A metal door stood in their way at the end of a shallow incline.
"This should lead to his hideout." Arkus swung the crank in the center of the door, causing it to split open vertically. The hallway that greeted them had much better lighting. As the pair advanced, Lenora heard a ticking from her pip-boy.
"Down some Rad-X," Arkus veritably ordered Lenora and she quickly did so.
"Would Baxter hide in an irradiated room," Lenora inquired after they moved up a flight of stairs and the ticking remained gradual.
"Doubt it." Arkus approached a wooden door marked "monitoring". "You don't sit somewhere radioactive unless-"
A dry roar greeted the two after Arkus pushed open the door. Standing in front of them was a figure that should've been dead. The skin of its nose and mouth had rotted away. Pale eyes were sunk deeply into visible sockets. Hands were little more than bones held together by muscle. But the creature was upright, it was angry, and worst of all, it was glowing.
Lenora barely noticed the NCR uniform or the green glow emitting from a busted wall behind the now charging creature.
Her laser pistol caught it several times in the chest, but the armor it wore held strong. Instead the former human stumbled to a halt and clutched its face, covering its eyes. Arkus leaned in and fired 3 rapid shots that hit the thing's armor. Another one tore through its hands and into the face, sending faintly glowing bits of brain and fingers splattering everywhere.
"Target down, now move."
Only then did Lenora notice how much more aggressive the ticking of her geiger counter was.
—
The two women breathed heavily a safe distance from the doorway.
"What was that?"
"That was Baxter of course."
"What happened to him?"
Arkus rolled her eyes.
"You really didn't get out much before coming here, didn't you? He turned into a ghoul. Happens when you don't give radiation the wide berth it deserves."
"I know ghouls, but they were never that…rotting. Or angry."
"Not everyone's 'lucky' enough to just become a ghoul. Sometimes the brain doesn't take it well, and they turn feral. Nothing human left in them, they only kill and eat. A few, like Baxter, turn into living conduits of radiation, hence that glow of his. They can regenerate too, if the rad level is high enough."
"So how can they be killed?"
Arkus reloaded her revolver one round at a time and spun the cylinder.
"You gotta shoot 'em in the head."
—
Sergeant Arkus returned from her tent carrying a wallet.
"3000 NCR dollars, as promised. Shame you couldn't get to his stash. I think I saw an M16 in there."
"Happy to help, Ma'am."
"I'll radio into HQ and tell them it was a job well done. The Outpost might have some work open for you too."
Lenora turned back to observe Goodsprings. It was now 3:45 according to her pip-boy and the sun was just starting to yield its dominating position. She decided that there was one more noteworthy place for her to visit.