Marla
I watch Cam leave the saloon. If Doc can trust Sunny, I can trust her too. I start into the room with a bar. There's a dark skinned man arguing with the bar tender. I catch the words 'hand over' and 'Ringo' before he shoves passed me to the front door. What an asshole. I look back at the bar tender. She looks a bit frazzled, fixing her dark red hair. I go over and take a seat on a stool. She looks at me with warm brown eyes. She looks a little older than Sunny but not by much. Both women can't be more than a few years older than me. She rights her light brown cardigan.
"Hello there, darlin'." she smiles at me.
"Hello." I smile back at her.
"Don't think I've seen you 'round town. You aren't the one Doc fixed up, are you?" I shake my head.
"No, that was my sister. I helped him fix her up, though." she nods.
"Well I'm Trudy. Welcome to the Prospector saloon."
"Marla." I take a breath. "Who was that man you were arguing with?" she sighs.
"He's a convict. Just without the chains. His name's Joe Cobb. Powder Gangers." she sighs. I tilt my head to the side a little. I've only been in the Mojave for a couple years and I haven't heard that term before.
"Powder Gangers?" she nods.
"Chain gangs, really. The NCR brought them in from California to work on the rail lines. Turns out giving convicts a bunch of dynamite and blasting powder isn't the best idea." she sighs softly. "Was a big escape not too long ago." Explains why I haven't heard of them. NCR are always doing things they shouldn't be doing.
"So what was the argument about?" she starts to wipe down the bar top.
"Our little town got itself dragged into the middle of something we don't want anything to do with."
"Oh."
"About a week ago, this trader, Ringo, came to town. Said he was a survivor of an attack and needed a place to hide. We figured he was just in shock, so we gave him a place. We didn't actually expect anyone to come after him."
"So where's he at now?"
"He's holed up at the abandoned gas station up that hill." I nod.
"So what are you going to do?" she shakes her head.
"Some of the other would probably help Ringo, if he asked but he hasn't. Personally I hope he sneaks out of town one night and takes the Powder Gangers with him." I think for a moment. If Ringo is up the road, they must not be looking too hard. I bite my lip. This town has already done so much for us… I bet we could help him and them.
"What happens if I help Ringo?" she blinks at me. "You guys have done so much for my sister and I, I want to help in any way I can."
"Well if you were able to get Ringo out of this mess, we'd just about love you for it, plus I'd set you up with a discount." I nod. "But you two better watch out for those Gangers. There's a lot of them out there." I nod again. Guess Cam and I have to be on the lookout for them. I start to get up when I remember why I came in here to talk to her.
"Hey Trudy, I'm looking for any info on the people that attacked my sister. Would you happen to know anything about them?" she shrugs.
"Not too much. Just a bunch of assholes who thought they could get a few rounds on the house but I got them to pay up."
"How many?"
"Three. Couple of Great Khans and a classier lookin' guy. One of the Khan's did knock over my radio, hasn't worked since."
"Sorry about that." she shrugs again. "Did you happen to hear where they were headed?"
"Not exactly. The leader was talkin' about the Strip." That's where Cam and I were headed. "Fella wants to avoid the 15."
"And take highway 93?" she nods. Easy enough to get that on my Pipboy.
"They were having an argument about it but the classier guy in the checkered coat kept shushing them. Sounded like they came in from the north through Quarry Junction. Can't say I blame them for not wanting to go back." Cam and I heard about that place and we were going to avoid it too. I don't want to even think about dealing with deathclaws.
"Know anything about Victor?" Her eyes shift around the room like she's looking for him.
"He mostly keeps to himself but I don't trust him, don't buy the whole cheerful cowboy act. I find it very creepy."
"Thanks. Why don't you give me your radio. I can look at it for you." Her eyes widen.
"Really?" she hands it to me. "The outside looks okay, but I think something broke on the inside. I can give you some caps if you can fix it. I do like hearing what's goin' on in the world." I slide off my stool.
"I'll be back soon." She smiles.
"Bring your sister. I'd love to chat with her."
"I will," I smile back. I head for the door, making notes about what Trudy told me in my Pipboy. I wonder if I have time to go find Ringo before Cam and Sunny get done.
I step out in the hot sun and look for the gas station. I spot it off to my right and walk up the hill.
There's an old pre-war car in the garage. I'm betting Cam could find something in there that's be useful. I find the door and push it open. I barely get inside before I have a gun I my face.
"That's close enough," a man's voice says. I can only assume that this charmer is Ringo. "Who are you and what do you want with me?"
"Look asshole, get the gun out of my face or you're going to have a bigger problem than Powder Gangers." He eyes me for a moment before lowering his gun.
"Sorry about the gun. You caught me off guard." He rubs the back of his neck. His brown hair is all messed up, his clothes are wrinkled and messed up too. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week. It also smells like he hasn't left this room for a week. I don't want to move from where I'm standing so I don't step in anything.
"Joe Cobb's looking for you, you know that?"
"Yeah." he looks at me. "He doesn't look very tough, though. I hear he's afraid I'll shoot him down from the one of the windows when I see him and he's right." he rubs the back of his neck again. I roll my eyes. This guy is kind of a loser. "I'll have much bigger problems when his friends get here. Can't be much longer now. He knows I'm here and that there's no way I could handle all of them in a gun fight." I cross my arms. Sob story if I ever heard one.
"So how many of them did you kill to piss them off?"
"A few."
"And how many of them do you think are coming here?"
"At least a dozen, I'd say. And that was just the group that attacked us." I roll my eyes again.
"God you're an idiot. You're not going to be able to lie low much longer. In case you didn't notice, this town isn't big and you brought the whole fucking place into your mess." his eyes are wide.
"I've got no chance against them on my own." I pinch the bridge of my nose. Butch DeLoria wasn't this thick.
"Well just your luck, I'm here to help you, dumbfuck."
"We'd just end up sharing the same grave if it's just the two of us. Now if some of the other people in town were also on board…" I pinch the bridge of my nose again. He really is stupid. Like I hadn't already thought of that after talking with Trudy. "Look all I've got in a handful of caps, but you get me out of the mess and I'll make sure the Crimson Caravan pays you back. You've got my word." Why does everyone insist on paying you for just trying to be nice. I look at him. For whatever reason I get the feeling his word isn't worth very much.
"Fine whatever." I roll my eyes. "Just wait here until I come back and try not to do anything stupid." I yank open the door and walk out. I never thought I'd actually prefer the baking sun over the inside of a building. I head back down the hill towards the Prospector. There's two figures walking towards it too. I know the shorter one is my sister. A dog trots alongside them. I grin a little. Good to know Sunny's trustworthy.
I meet them in front of the steps to the Prospector. Cam smiles at me.
"We killed some geckos." I can't help but smile at her.
"Sounds fun Cam." I hand her the radio.
"What's this?" She looks it over. I can tell she doesn't quiet remember it.
"Trudy's radio. It's broken but I know you can fix it." She looks up at me. I look at Sunny. "So Sunny… I'm-we're going to help Ringo take on the Powder Gangers… and we might need help."
"Say no more. I'm in. I thought I saw some coming this way. Joe Cobb and his friends will come after the town eventually, even if we hand over Ringo." she sighs. "I'll talk to Trudy, see if she can get more to help us. Go see if Chet will let us borrow some of his leather armor shipment." I nod.
"I'll see if Doc has anything that can help too." Sunny and Cheyenne head inside. Cam looks lost.
"What are we doing?"
"We are helping an idiot who dragged the town that helped you into a mess." I pat her shoulder. "Why don't you go sit next to that nice man over there and rest a bit before those guys get here." she nods. "You can fix the radio while you're at it." she looks at it again. "Be back real quick, Cam. You can do it." I don't wait for her answer before turning and going to Doc Mitchell's.
Camilla
I walk up the steps and sit next to the old man. My head still hurts but not nearly as bad as before. I look at him.
"Howdy, little lady," he says tipping his hat at me. "What can Easy Pete do for you?" I blink at him. That's an odd name.
"Why are you called Easy Pete?" He grins a little.
"Was a prospector until I decided to settle here. Now I take it easy and help out with the Brahmin and Bighorners." I look at the radio. Marla told me to fix it and I get the feeling I know how even though I have no clue why.
"Did you ever find anything good?" I look in the smaller bag on my belt.
"Nope. Had a pretty good claim once way out east by the river but got run off by Raiders. Eventually got too old to keep going out." I find a screw driver and a few bits of wire. I turn the radio over and start opening up the back.
"So you were looking for gold and silver?" he laughs.
"You're a funny little thing. No. It means I poked through old buildings looking for working tech and such. Some folks just called it 'salvaging' but never liked the term. Way I see it, salvage means it's broken, near-worthless. Me, I looked for the good stuff - guns, chems, spare parts. Good money in it." I pull off the back of the radio and set it next to me. I examine the insides. While so many things about myself are still jumbled in my head, just out of reach, this isn't one of them. I know exactly what's causing problems and how to fix it. I quickly reconnect some wires and close up the back. I turn it over and try it out. It flickers to life. I grin. I feel like I've actually accomplished something that wasn't relearned. I flip it off and look at Easy Pete.
"By any chance would you know anything about the people who attacked me?" he shrugs.
"One in the fancy suit seemed to be callin' the shots, that as much as I know. Bet you could ask more folks around town." I nod. "Word of advice though: if you ever catch up with him, watch out. The man's got cold eyes like a snake. Can't be trusted, I'd say." I look at the radio again. I know that much. Fucker tried his best to kill me. I think back to the dream I had this morning. Wonder if that was him, in that awful checker suit. I rub the edge of the radio.
"Do you know anything about Victor?"
"The machine?" I look at him and nod. "Harmless, no matter what Trudy says. She thinks it's hiding something, but I think it's just a broke down relic with no place to be." I nod again. He'd really the only lead I've got at the moment. I hope Marla will want to talk to him as much as I do.
Movement catches my eye across the road. I look up at see a group of people coming into town and I don't like the looks of them.
Marla appears out of nowhere and runs up the steps. She pushes into the saloon without a word to me. I wish she'd given more to go on with whatever's going on.
She comes out a moment later with Sunny and a few other people.
"Chet said he'd help. You guys get over to him. I'm going to go get Ringo," she says. I look at her.
"Marla?" she looks at me.
"Cam, just stay here and get your gun ready, okay?" I nod before she runs off again. I look at Sunny.
"What's going on?"
"We're about to have a shootout with those nasty criminals over there," she answers without looking at me.
Marla and I look through the pockets of the dead convicts. Marla stops and looks over one. He's got darker skin but that's about all I can make out.
"He doesn't seem so tough now," she mumbles.
"That'll teach those Powder Gangers not mess with Goodsprings," Sunny says. Marla stands up and sighs.
"Cam did you fix that radio?" She looks me over. I nod.
"Yep. Its wasn't hard." She grins at me before looking at Sunny.
"Hey Sunny, can you introduce Cam to Trudy while I settle up with Ringo and tell him again what an idiot he is?" Sunny snorts.
"Sure can." She turns and heads inside. I look at Marla.
"It shouldn't take long. Don't worry, Trudy's really nice." I nod and follow after Sunny, grabbing the radio off the chair where in left it.
Sunny's waiting right inside the door for me with Cheyenne sitting beside her.
"Trudy's right behind the bar." I nod and head over. A woman a little older than Sunny and my sister look at me. She smiles.
"So you're the one that Doc patched up." I blink at her. "I'm Trudy."
"Cam. I fixed this for you." I put the radio on the bar. She smiles brightly and flips it on. It flicks to life. A man's voice pours out of it.
"Oh thank you so much! It may not be much but I love this damn thing." I smile as she turns and sets the radio next to the register. She turns back and puts some caps in my hand. I start to shake my head.
"Trudy-"
"Nope. You deserve a few caps for fixing that." I sigh. She pays my hand. "Now you two be careful out there. There are a lot more of those Powder Gangers out there. I don't want to hear about you gettin' shot again."
"We'll be careful," Maria's voice says behind me. I look over my shoulder as she steps up beside me. Trudy smiles at her.
"Alright. You two come back and visit soon. I hope you catch up to the bastards that shot you."
"Me too," I agree.
"We'll be back someday." Marla looks at me. "Ready to get out of here?" I nod. We start outside.
"Good luck ladies," Sunny says. We wave at her as we exit the building.
"We have to go see Victor before we go," I say, suddenly remembering about him. Marla sighs.
"I doubt he'll have anything to offer."
"Marla, he saved my life, I have to thank him for that." She stops walking. I look at her. "Don't you want to know how he saved me?" She looks me over.
"Half a memory and you still know how to get me to do what you want." I smile and grab her hand, looking for Victor's shack. I spot it and start to pull her over to it.
We make it over to the shack. Victor's screen flashes to a man's face with a cigar sticking out of his mouth and a hat on his head.
"Howdy partner," he says.
"Hi Victor," I reply looking him over. "Do you remember me?"
"Sure do. Glad to see you're up a walkin'." I look at Marla. She looks a little annoyed.
"I just wanted to see if you could tell me about how you found me."
"Well, I was out for a stroll that night when I heard the commotion up at the old bone orchard. Saw what looked like a bunch of bad eggs so I laid low. Once they'd run off, I dug you up to see if you were still kickin'. Turns out, you were, so I hauled you off to the Doc right quick but ended up giving you to her." I look back at Marla. She nods.
"Sounds about right. You ready?"
"Marla." I turn back to Victor. "Do you know who those bad eggs were?"
"Can't say I'm familiar with the rascals." I nod and sigh.
"Okay, well thanks again for digging me out."
"Don't mention it! I'm always ready to lend a helping hand to a stranger in need." I give him a small wave and look at Marla.
"Now I'm ready." she groans.
"About time." We start down the road out of town. Marla looks at her PipBoy.
"So where are we going?"
"To Primm. It's where the Mojave Express is. They should know more about your package."
"Oh." I look at my feet as we walk.
"After that, we should be able to make it to the NCR outpost before dark. We can probably stay there for the night." I sigh and look up from the road. My head still hurts but I don't think it'll start feeling better for a while.
"Okay." Guess this is as good as any place to start.