Deadly Shortcuts
We organized the whole party and went on as the sun started sinking until we were at the foot of the mountains. I still walked with my buddy Mac at the front, but Sam walked alone several paces ahead of us. He took the group straight into a pass that he charted before, so by the time the sun completely fell, we were in the narrow confines of a long-forgotten trail. It got dark quickly in the narrow pass, making the caravan crew light their lanterns, and the explorers ignite high powered flashlights.
Sam occasionally looked back to state what he saw was familiar since the entire group was largely together in the pass. He clearly wanted to ease the crew's nerves because I later learned that his explorer team was a bunch of new guns not used to the wasteland dangers despite being known New Reno street toughs. We wormed our way through the northern passes for hours after the way forward was pitch black. Some of the Anderson Sisters complained behind us how tired they were, but Sam showed no signs of halting. He kept turning back to say the area wasn't safe even though none of us had seen any life since entering the mountains. Eventually, after another couple hours of hiking through the unknown by the beams of light, Sam found a big enough spot for us all to rest.
I stuck with Mac and he showed me the time as we rolled out our mats; it was 2:00am. I overheard Sam bragging about how close we were to New Reno since we took the "shortcut" around the dangers. That was all I heard before I passed out, but I was pretty sure that we had been following the mountain passes northeast and further from New Reno. The party woke up to the blue sky, but the sunlight escaped the deep canyon making it difficult to see what time it was. Thanks to Mac's "Pip-Boy" I learned that we started moving again at 11:00am. Sam kept walking in front and occasionally wrote stuff down on a little notepad he was carrying. I caught a glimpse of the writing to see that he was mapping every step we took, but the caravan crew and even his men didn't care at all as their leader looked around enthusiastically. I thought about asking the explorer what exactly he was trying to find, but didn't really care under the weight of my gear. I wasn't alone in thinking that I just wanted to get to New Reno. By this point in the march, I was ready to see the town I heard so much about.
Passing the time was easy thanks to Mac. He had a nice way of talking that was tough and direct, yet lively and jovial. In the canyon passes, the thoughts dawned on me about what I would do when I got into town. Based on previous conversations, I surmised that I should try to get in with one of the "Families" and wondered how I would do that. However, I was with a pack of New Reno natives and knew any one of my new guard friends could vouch for me. Mac said that since I was still pretty inexperienced to the mercenary line of work, one of the families would easily take me in as a janitor or member of "House Keeping." Then he joked that if that failed, I could always give handies to tourists in the alleyways. Housekeeping, janitor, or male prostitute; I figured money is money. In all seriousness; Mac said I could always keep working for Sarah's crew if things didn't go my way in New Reno. Sarah's band didn't usually stay in a single town or settlement for more than a few weeks before hitting the trail again with a new trader. As time went on following the explorer, I was getting antsy about arriving in New Reno, but even more wary about the company we picked up.
Several more hours passed into the day when we learned exactly where Sam was leading us. There was a fork in the pass and Sam halted all of us. A rocky barricade blocked a northern route and Sam started climbing up it while we stood there idle. The rest of us noted a pass that looked to lead southeast, presumably out of the mountains and towards New Reno.
As me and the rest of the caravan crew tried to grasp what was going on, Sam reached the top, looked to the north, raised his hands in the air, and shouted, "I FOUND IT!"
His explorer group ran to the rocks and looked over while the caravan party stood by. I was waiting to see what Sarah wanted us to do when she shouted for Mac and I to check it out. Scaling the rocks, we climbed over and I was bewildered.
Between the rocky opening in the mountain pass, we saw a sprawling military facility that obviously wasn't New Reno or place of any interest to us. There were several buildings across the place with many focused on the south end and a stretch of road going southeast from the gate. Beyond the buildings were miles of old military vehicles and what looked like cannons in rows stretching far as the eye could see.
I nudged the nearest explorer and asked, "What is this place? I know Sam was mapping these passes, but I thought we were headed to New Reno?"
The grizzled explore said it was what they were searching for, "The Sierra Army Depot."
The next couple hours were spent carefully escorting the brahmin over the rocky obstruction and onto the flat expanse leading to the base. The entire caravan/expedition moved towards the facility as the sky darkened while Sarah stayed unusually quiet. Sam called for a celebratory camp only a mile from the main gate saying he wanted to explore the place in the light of day while Sarah and the rest of us were wondering where we were in relation to New Reno. I stuck with my guard buddies as Sarah did her thing with the Anderson Sisters who were more confused than us. Observing Sarah, it became quite clear that she was angrier than usual despite her rather calm demeanor. I didn't really pay any mind, so I just relaxed next to the guys and soon passed out. I rested my eyes for sleep, but couldn't shake the bad feeling in my gut.
When morning came, our crew was still under the impression that we were heading to New Reno by an alternate means to avoid an apparent "Battlezone" on the route into town. That is why Sarah got very upset when Sam started escorting the Anderson Sisters' brahmin towards the military facility. As we got closer, we stepped onto the road from the southeast and my bad feeling got even worse. Sarah had enough of Sam's goose chase and shouted for him to stop. He approached my boss, but Sam's expedition team halted behind the guy and Sarah began arguing with him. Sam motioned for his team to go ahead and the band of dirty explorers drew weapons and shuffled towards the main gate a few hundred yards away.
Sarah was upset that Sam commandeered our group on a detour and Sam only said that he had to chart the place out. Sarah would have just led us out of the area, but Sam had the balls to try and recruit Drake and the rest of us to join his team in securing the base. Neither Drake, Cam, Jonah, Mac, or I would listen to the explorer as his team got closer to the base. While Sarah scolded the man, Sam confessed to lying about the warzone on route into town and Sarah lost it. We would have been entering the city by then, but Sam just wanted a supply train to accompany his team and some brahmin to load up with whatever loot they found in the place. Sarah's shouting voice echoed throughout the valley and Drake stood there ashamed of even knowing this charlatan. The rest of us patiently waited through the shouting for some kind of plan from Sarah when shit hit the fan.
I turned to my buddy Mac to ask what time it was and noticed the explorer team reach the main gate. Suddenly, several large metallic objects rose from the ground on both sides of the gate. The metallic structures halted, and a metal barrier lowered from the top to reveal turrets! Sam and Sarah stopped arguing to see the source of the rusty sound that unveiled old world mechanical nightmares. Before my brain could even comprehend what was happening, an unbelievably loud spree of gunfire echoed from the base and Mac looked at me with a hundred fresh holes in his body. The screeching sound of unstoppable minigun fire drowned out all other sounds of the wasteland and I dropped to the dirt. Dust kicked up and everyone still alive shouted in terror as high velocity ballistic rounds filled the bodies of all my friends.
On the ground, I was concealed by the edge of the asphalt road and the limp body of my friend Mac. I saw each hole in his body pouring blood onto the hot asphalt like a strainer full of water and heard the faint shriek of the Anderson Sisters under the continuous sound of death. I buried myself as low as I could and found myself captured by Mac's lifeless eyes locked onto mine… I can still see those eyes even after all this time