Camilla
After drilling me for nearly a half hour after waking up Marla finally felt like I was okay enough to travel again. I can't say it was fun losing everything I'd eaten and then having to eat more when I woke up. My head doesn't seem to hurt right now. Marla thinks that it'll be happening more as I heal, but hopefully it won't be permanent once I'm all healed up.
I'm glad the sun's going down. The heat is terrible. Marla seems worried about not making it to Novac before it's completely dark. Cass on the other hand doesn't seem to be worried. I have a feeling that she'll only be worried when she runs out of whiskey.
I can see the soft glow on top of a hill. I pull up the map on my Pipboy and see that we're very close to Novac, so the glow must be from it. There's also a large shadowy figure on top of the hill. I wonder if it's going to be another set of statues.
"Thank God, we're almost there," Marla groans. She bumps my shoulder with hers. "You may have taken a nap today but Cass and I didn't. I can't wait to fall into a bed."
"It's not like I asked for a headache so bad it made me sick and then passed out from it," I snap a little, crossing my arms. Cass snorts.
"Don't think anyone would ask for that, Short-Stack." I glare at her too.
"Would you stop teasing me about my height?" she cracks up.
"Depends on if you're gunna grow any." I roll my eyes, which only makes her laugh more.
I look up as we come up the hill. A giant beast-thing is standing behind a fence. Marla looks at me.
"It's just a dinosaur, Cam. It's not going to come alive and get you." I look at it more. I think I can see someone inside the mouth. Marla grabs my hand and pulls me around it. She starts to go for a door. I pull my arm free.
"I'm going to go see who's inside the dinosaur," Marla eyes me.
"You sure you're feeling okay?" I nod.
"Maybe they saw the guy with a checkered suit." she sighs.
"Okay. Cass and I will get a room and meet you out here, alright?" I nod before turning and heading towards the dinosaur. I see some stairs and quickly climb up them. I pull open the door and go inside.
There's no one inside that I can see but there are a lot of supplies everywhere. I hear someone moving to my left and see another set of stairs. I climb them, pushing open the door. A man turns to look at me, a little startled. He's wearing a funny looking hat and dark sunglasses over his eyes with a t-shirt and some cargo pants. And he's holding a big gun.
"Don't you know better than to sneak up on people?" he growls. I back into the door a little.
"Sorry," I squeak.
"What do you want?" he stands. He's a lot taller than my sister and Cass. I look up at him. "You're new in town, aren't you. That why you're up here?"
"No," I stutter, "I came to ask a question."
"Well I don't have answers for you. Leave."
"But-" He turns and glares at me behind his sunglasses.
"Look, kid. I'm not the town tour guide-"
"I-I w-wanted to ask if you'd seen someone I'm looking for." I spit out the words quickly. He looks away.
"Might have. I see a lot of people up here." He crosses his arms..
"Uhuh. Well, I'm looking for a specific person. A man in a checkered suit?"
"Might have seen him." He steps back. "Maybe not." I'm starting to think maybe coming up here was a mistake.
"Never mind. I'll ask someone else." Someone less belligerent. I turn for the door.
"Wait." I pause and turn back to him. He sighs. "I need someone I can trust. If you help me, I'll help you."
"You'll trust me, a complete stranger?"
"Yeah. You're not Legion, and that's good enough for this." He pulls out a cigarette and lights it. "No one in this goddamn town will look me in the eye anymore. They'll talk to you, though." I nod.
"What do you need from me?"
"My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch." I feel my eyes widen. "They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don't know who."
"So you want me to find them?" he nods. "You think it's someone in town?" he nods again.
"I know it was. It couldn't have been anyone else. I want proof they did it."
"What happened to her? Couldn't she still be alive? We could look-"
"She's dead. I want the son of a bitch who sold her." He cuts me off. Guilt washes over me. I nod.
"I'll help you." he sighs and rubs his face. "I'm Camilla. My older sister Marla is looking for a room." he nods.
"Boone. I'll make this worth your while. And one more thing- We shouldn't speak again, not 'til this is over. No one in town knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never know, or the Legion will be after me next." I nod. I'll have to be careful when I tell Marla and Cass about this. Boone takes his hat off his head and hands it to me. "This is the signal. When you find them, lead them out in front of the dinosaur, and put this on." I nod.
"After I do this we can talk about who I'm looking for?" he nods and turns back around. I slip out the door and shove the hat into my pack before going down stairs to meet my sister.
Marla
I watch Cam run into the dino's belly before turning to Cass.
"If you wanna keep drinking, we'll need to find some way to make caps before we leave here." she sighs and looks at her bottle.
"Damn you're right." I pull open the door to the lobby.
"We'll ask whoever's in here." An older woman looks at us as we step inside. Something about her just puts me off.
"Welcome to you, young ladies. You look tired from the road," she says. I can tell she's trying to be sweet about it.
"We are," I sigh. "We need a room for the night." she nods.
"Looks like I have a room just for you two." I head over to the counter and fork over some caps. "I'm Jeannie May. I take care of folks here at the motel. Long as they aren't trouble makers." I eye her a little.
"Is there anything around town that we could maybe help with?"
"Well Ranger Andy's still hurt, but we got these two gentlemen snipers watching the road day and night, keeping the trash out of Novac. So I don't think there's anything there." she taps her chin. "But Dusty McBride's been losing some Brahmin, but that's probably the heat more than anything. Honestly, it's been real quiet." I suppress a groan.
"Okay." she hands me a key and I start to leave before I remember checkered suit and turn back to face her. "Have you seen anyone in a checkered suit lately? I'm looking for someone who had one." she nods a little.
"Well he might've been wearing a fancy outfit, but he wasn't any kind of a gentleman to me." Can't imagine he would be. "Had his nose stuck so high in the air, you couldn't see it above the clouds. City folk, they always think they deserve better than what they got. Those hoodlums he was with seemed to know Manny for some reason. He's our daytime sniper, up in the dinosaur's mouth."
"So he's not in there now?" she shakes her head.
"That'd be Boone up there now. Poor man's wife just left him. She never did care for our little town." she sighs sadly. "Manny's in his room for the night. You might find him there if you want to ask about that man." I nod. "Your room is just up the stairs to the left of the gate."
"Thanks." Cass and I turn and leave. I wait for the door to shut behind us before I look at her. "Did she seem a little weird to you?" she shrugs and takes a swig of her whiskey. I roll my eyes and head through the gate just in time to see my sister come out of the dino belly.
By the time she gets to us I've already decided that I'm going to find Manny without her. Maybe I can get something out of him if it's just me.
"Meet anyone interesting up there?" I ask. She shrugs.
"Can we go to the room now?" I wrap my arm around her shoulders and hug her a little.
"Sure." we head up the stairs and get into our room. There's only a bed and a couch. Cass goes over to the couch and flops down before sprawling out. Cam and I sit on the bed.
"So Boone is up in the dino and he asked if I could find out who sold his wife to Legion slavers," Cam says quickly. I lean back on the bed.
"Slavers took her?" I ask. Cam nods.
"Weird. Jeannie May in the lobby said she left him," Cass says. Cam shrugs.
"I'll ask around in the morning. I'm too tired to run around town now." She sighs and flops back on the bed. I lean on my elbow and take off her hat. I lean over and look at her stiches.
"If you want, I think I have a stimpack I can use to try and make your head heal a little faster so the stitches can come out." she shrugs.
"Think it'll help with headaches?" I shrug.
"I'm not sure but we can try." she sighs again.
"Fine. Can I sleep after?" I kiss her forehead and sit up.
"Sure." I go to my pack and dig through it until I find my stash of stimpacks. I take one and go back to her. I pull off her hat before injecting the stimpack into her head. Her stitches look like they're healing well. I should be able to take them out in the morning. "Alright, get some sleep and I'll take out your stitches in the morning." she yawns and starts undoing her boots.
"Where are you going to go?" she tosses one shoe on the floor. I blink at her. She can still tell when I'm about to leave.
"Jeannie May told me who I can ask about the checkered suit guy. I'm gunna go look for him." she throws her other boot to the floor and crawls up to the pillows.
"Be careful." she curls up with a pillow and closes her eyes. I rub my forehead. I thought she'd want to come but I guess earlier today took a lot out of her. I look at Cass.
"You'll be okay?" she raises up her whiskey bottle as her answer. I roll my eyes and take off my armor before heading out of the room again. I walk down the stairs and look at all the rooms. Only a few have lights on. I see a tall man in a Ranger hat milling about. I bet he'd know.
I walk over to him. He looks up at me.
"What can I do for you, miss?"
"Are you Ranger Andy?" he nods.
"How'd you guess?"
"Well Jeannie May said that there was a Ranger around and you're the only one who's wearing the get up." he chuckles a little.
"You know me, who might you be?"
"I'm Marla. My sister, our friend, and I just got into town. I was hoping you could tell me which room was Manny's." he nods and points.
"His room is right over there." I follow his hand. He sighs. "Wish I had a pretty woman comin' in town for me." I laugh.
"Well Jeannie May did say you were injured and I'm a doctor so if you'd want a second opinion on your injury I'd be glad to take a look." he nods a little.
"I might take you up on it." I nod.
"We'll be in town for a day or so. Just let me know." he nods and turns to go into what I'm assuming is his home. I take a breath and go over to Manny's door. I knock lightly and wait. Moments later the door swings open. I take a step back. He's shirtless; doesn't look like he's a fit as he once was. His skin is tanned and I can make out a few scars. He's not bad looking. I've never been that into facial hair but he doesn't have that much. He looks me over.
"Manny?" I ask. He nods.
"Who's asking?" he smiles a little.
"I'm looking for someone and I was told you might be able to help." he steps aside.
"Alright, come on in." I carefully step passed him and he closes the door behind me. I look around the room a little. It's not nearly as nice as ours is upstairs. He walks around me and clears his throat before sitting down at the table.
"So…"
"Marla."
"Marla," he smiles before motioning to the chair next to him. I sit down. "Who are you looking for?" I look up at him and meet his warm brown eyes.
"Couple of Great Khans with a man in a checkered suit." his eyes widen a little.
"I know them. I used to be in with Khans years ago. Why are you looking for them?" he leans a little closer. "Benny's not your boyfriend or something?" I laugh a little.
"No. Didn't even know his name until now." he nods. I lean on my elbow. "He tried to kill my baby sister and he robbed her."
"Shit." he looks down. "Benny's a fucking bastard." I nod.
"Sure is." he looks back up at me. I stare in his eyes. "So you're with the NCR?"
"Not anymore." I raise an eyebrow at his tone. "It's not that I didn't like it while I was enlisted. They straightened my life out, but after Bitter Springs I decided I was done." Bitter Springs piques my interest. I've heard stories about when we're on the strip but it's like no one knows exactly what happened.
"So you were there?" he shakes his head and grabs a bottle of rum. He pours himself a shot and looks at me.
"Want some?" I shrug. He pours me a shot and then knocks his back. "I played sick because I knew people there. When they came back no one would tell me what happened so I didn't see the point of re-enlisting. I know a lot of people died who didn't want to be a part of the fighting at all." I drink my shot. It burns a little but I do love the taste of rum, especially with Nuka-Cola.
"Sounds like they had a rough time." He pours himself another shot.
"It is. It's not like I blame any of them either. There's so much chaos when you're fighting." he throws back the shot and takes a breath "Did Benny take a chip from your sister?" I nod. "I don't think he's givin' it up." he drinks straight from the bottle. I put my hand on his knee.
"You shouldn't worry about Benny." I lean forward and press my lips to his. I feel his hand on my side. Before I know it, I'm sitting in his lap sliding my tongue in his mouth.
I sit up on Manny's bed after catching my breath. I look around the room spotting all my clothes. I push myself up and start to collect my clothing. I can feel Manny watching me get dressed.
"They were heading to Boulder City." I look at him over my shoulder a little confused.
"Who?" he grins a little. I pull on my pants.
"Benny and the Khans."
"Oh! Right." he chuckles a little. I finish getting dressed.
"Sounded like Benny hadn't paid up yet. Maybe you can catch up to them." I lean over him on the bed and kiss his lips one more time.
"Thanks for helping me out." he grins more lopsidedly.
"Feel free to come back if you need any more help." I smile and stand up.
"Goodnight Manny." I let myself out and head back upstairs to our room. Now I'm really tired.
I open our door and see Cass is still up. She looks at me and smirks.
"So you found 'em, huh?" I raise my eyebrow at her.
"I did." I sit on the bed and pull my shoes off again.
"His dick big?" my head snaps over to her.
"What!?" she starts to laugh.
"You were down there a long time. This ain't a big place. Can't imagine it took over an hour to find him and ask your questions." I feel my cheeks heat up. Cass laughs more. "Alright, don't tell me 'bout his dick. Maybe I'll go find out for myself." she puts her bottle to her lips.
"I don't think he's going to let another strange woman into his room again tonight." she snorts.
"I take it you got what you were after, then." I nod. "Before or after you had to put your shirt back on?" I look down and see that I managed to put my shirt on inside out. I groan and head into the bathroom to fix it.
"After…" she laughs more. I go back over to the bed and look at her. "I'm going to bed and you should too." she snorts.
"We ain't done talkin' 'bout this." I roll my eyes and lie down next to my sister.
"Goodnight Cass." she snorts again.
"Night." I close my eyes and try to sleep.
Camilla
I wake up before both Marla and Cass. I get up and eat something before pulling on my boots and leaving the room. I want an early start looking for clues for Boone. The sun's already hot overhead. I take a breath as I head down the stairs.
After asking around for a couple hours, my best lead is Manny the daytime sniper, who my sister went to talk with last night. I rub my face. I haven't seen her or heard her yet so she must still be sleeping.
The sound of wheels rolling over dirt catches my attention. I look towards the road and see a familiar robot. I go over to him.
"Victor?" he stops and turns towards me.
"Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, if it ain't my old friend from Goodsprings!" I cross my arms.
"Are you following me now?"
"I saved your life and kinda feel responsible for ya." I roll my eyes.
"What are you doing here in Novac?"
"Don't rightly know - I just got the notion to make my way to New Vegas. Reckon I'll find out when I get there." he's so strange.
"Alright, well I can take care of myself."
"Sure you can, lil' lady. We just don't want anything to happen to ya." I sigh. "Just goin' back to rollin' my spurs. Gotta make it to New Vegas."
"Bye Victor." he starts to roll again. I shake my head. I should go see if Marla's up.
"Watch out for the chupacabra!" A voice shouts around the corner. I look over and see a man walking around "Chupacabras are gunna get us all!" he seems really crazy but I haven't talked to him yet. Anything is better than what I have, which is nothing. I follow him back to a shack. He's older than most people around here, with white hair on his head and chin. He freezes and looks at me.
"Who sent you! Better back off or I'll stick ya." I hold up my hands.
"No one sent me. I'm just looking for a couple people." he eyes me. "I'm Camilla. Who are you?"
"No-bark. We'll just see about that. You come any closer and I'm liable to stick you with my stickin' knife. Ol' Sticky's feeling mighty ornery this day." I throw up my hands.
"Alright, alright. I won't get too close to you." he still looks like he's figuring me out. "Have you seen anything weird lately?"
"Commie ghosts what don't know they're dead. Hoping to steal our rockets so they can fly up and paint the moon pink and draw a Lenin face on it." I blink at him. I have no idea what that means.
"Okay. Anything around town?"
"Chupacabras been doin' disturbing things at the McBride ranch. And- and molerat men, come up from the Underneath to steal young women with promises of riches and fancy mud mansions with all the latest designer appliances." I take a deep breath. Maybe I'm wasting my time.
"Do you know what happened to Boone's wife?" he nods a few times.
"Seen it all. Seen shadowy folk come to his room and leave again in the middle of the night. Thought one might've gone in the lobby, too, for a spell. Could be that person went in to get something. Or use the john maybe. Mighty interesting either way, you ask me. I thought it was cannibals, come to eat us all for sure, so I kept out of sight. But now I know better." he steps a little closer to me. I step back.
"Thanks No-bark." I've already talked to Jeannie May but maybe I missed something in the lobby. I start to leave but then stop. No-bark is probably someone that people over look a lot. Maybe he saw the guy in the checkered suit. "No-bark, have you seen a guy in a checkered suit lately?" he nods again.
"Sure have. Camouflage, that coat was, trying to hide from extra-terrestrials what can only see in black and white checkers. But they're not fooled 'cause he forgot to put the checkers on his face. I told him so and he seemed to take it to heart. They stayed here a night, and was up by the dinosaur talking to the sniper fella with the moustache a couple of times." Back to Manny I assume. I hope Marla talked to him about that guy. I pull a few caps out of my pocket and hand them to No-bark.
"Thanks for helping me No-bark." he grabs my hand and pulls me closer.
"If anyone asks, we never talked." I nod and take my hand back. I quickly exit the shack and get back to our room.
Marla and Cass are both up but it looks like Marla just woke up.
"Cam. Where've you been?" I come over and sit on the bed.
"Was asking about Boone's wife." I look at her. "Did you get to talk to Manny?" Cass snorts behind me. I look at her.
"She did more than just talk, Shorty." I look back at Marla, who's glaring at Cass.
"Marla?" she looks at me.
"Don't worry about it Cam. I talked to him and he told me the guy that shot you is named Benny and he thinks they were going to Boulder City."
"Great," Cass groans. "We're goin' into a rubble pile." Marla takes off my hat and looks at my stitches.
"These look like they're ready to come out." she meets my eyes. "Want me to?" I nod. She gets up and gathers up a few things.
"Did he say anything about Boone or his wife?" she shakes her head as she comes back over to me.
"No, but if they're both snipers I'm guessing that they were both part of First Recon. Maybe they came down here together." she shrugs and then start to cut and pull the stitches out of my head. It's a weird feeling, not really painful. It's almost like something really tiny is pulling on my skin.
"I want to go talk to him and then I'm going to need your help to get Jeannie May out of the lobby."
"Why her? She seemed alright. Strange but alright." I shrug a little.
"Someone told me they saw someone go in there after they took his wife. I asked her about his wife this morning but she didn't tell me anything like that. I think I can find something if she's not in there." Marla sighs and steps back. I reach up and touch my head. It feels rough with stubble and scabs but much better.
"Better?" I nod. "Fine. I'll get her out of the lobby." she puts my hat back on. "Go talk to Manny and when you come back we'll go get Jeannie May." I get up head over to the dino.
Walking down to the lobby with my sister, I feel confident that Jeannie May is my best bet for figuring this out. Manny may not have liked Carla very much but I doubt he'd hurt Boone like this. I wait outside while Marla goes in. I wait a few moment before they come back out and I slip inside.
The lobby is not much to look at, just like earlier but unlike last time, I'm able to get behind the counter. I spot the floor safe easy and pull out a bobby pin from my pocket. Just like with the radio, it clicks without me having much memory of how to do this. The latch clicks and I pull it open. There are cap everywhere in here and a couple other things but a note catches my eye. I pull it out and read it over.
My blood turns to ice. What a fucking monster.
I take all the caps out of the safe before closing it back up. I know Marla bought our room and it's not like Jeannie May will be needing them in a bit. I exit the lobby, stuffing the note in my pocket and heading back to our room.
Cass looks up at me. I throw some caps at her.
"I imagine we aren't going to be staying here again once Boone takes his shift so you should go get some more whiskey."
"That bad huh?" she get up. I nod.
"I feel bad for Boone." she pats my shoulder.
"Just don't forget you've seen a lot of fucked up shit too. We all have." I watch her walk out the door. She's not wrong. I just wish I could remember everything I've been through.
I sit at the end of the bed and pull off my hat. I rub over the new scars for a few moments before Marla comes in. I look at her and lower my hand.
"Just saw Cass. What's going on?" I reach in my pocket and grab the note detailing that Jeannie May sold Boone's wife and unborn child to the Legion. Marla takes it and reads it quickly.
"Shit. I thought she was weird but I didn't see this coming." I nod. She hands it back to me. I go to my bag and dig out Boone's hat. "A First Recon beret?"
"When Boone's back on shift, I have to get Jeannie May in front of the dino and this is the signal that she did it." she nods and kisses my forehead.
"Why don't you take a nap? I'm gunna go check out Ranger Andy. Not that I doubt the doctors around here but never hurts to have more than one opinion."
"Okay." she pats my cheek and leaves the room. I sigh and sit back on the bed. I start to fiddle with my Pipboy. Maybe there's something on here that'll help me remember something.
I bite my lip as I pull on the beret and walk in front of the dinosaur where Jeannie May is standing. A shot rings out quickly and I turn around. I don't really want to see that. I take a breath and walk back into the yard. Marla and Cass are waiting outside the dino belly for me. I replace the beret with my baseball cap while walking up the steps. I open the door and head up to the mouth. I don't hear Marla and Cass behind me. I walk up and push open the door.
Boone turns around.
"Where's your proof?" I swallow hard and hand his the bill of sale out of my pocket. He snatches it out of my hand and looks at it. I twist his beret in my hands. "That's that then. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It'd be like them to keep paperwork." His voice is soft and quiet. I hold out his beret.
"What are you going to do now? Keep taking the night shift?" he shakes his head. He takes the beret and returns it to his head.
"I don't know. I won't be staying, I know that. Don't see much point in anything right now, except hunting legionaries. Maybe I'll wander, like you." I nod a little, mind starting to race. Marla got Cass to help us and she's a good shot… sometimes but after what happened in Nipton it'd be nice to have someone who's a good shot and could carry me if I have another headache like that one. I look up at Boone.
"What if you come with us?" he starts to shake his head.
"I work alone."
"Please Boone? I get it you want to get revenge but we could help and we could use your help. There's three of us and if you join us then the four of us could take down more of them than just you alone."
"You mean that?" I nod. I don't want to leave here without him. "Fine. Then that's reason enough for me to take you up on it, I supposed. But this isn't gonna end well…" I raise my eyebrow at him. He grabs his rife and slings it on his back. "Let's get out of here." I nod and pull open the door. Boone follows me outside where Marla and Cass are waiting. Marla raises her eyebrow.
"Marla, Cass, this Craig Boone. He's coming with us."
"Just Boone," he answer flatly. "I'll be right back." he walks across the yard to his room.
"Really Cam?" Marla asks quietly. I nod.
"Yes. He's a sniper and he's stronger than both of you so if I have another headache like the one in Nipton it'll be easier to move on." she crosses her arms so I cross mine. "It's not like you asked me if I wanted Cass to come before you made that happen."
"Heyyy!" Cass slurs a little.
"It's not your fault." Marla sighs.
"Fine. But we both know grief does weird things to people and I don't trust him." I shrug.
"Whatever Marla. He's coming with us, he's a great shot and he hates the Legion. Deal with it." she shakes her head a little but drops it. Boone comes out of his room looking more suited to travel. He walks back over to us.
"Where to?" he asks. I look at Marla.
"Boulder City." he nods.
"Okay." Marla sighs and starts to walk towards the gate. I know she has other places she wants to stop of the way. I follow after her. Cass and Boone follow after us. My head's starting to ache dully. I hope I made the right choice.
Jaxson
By the time the sun sets I've made it to the 188. They have a small fire going that I sit next to. It's not much but it does a pretty good job of cooking some gecko steaks. There's a woman sitting across from me. she's wearing some sort of sack and I can tell she's watching me because she looks away as I eye her. I sigh.
"You hungry or something?" I ask.
"Do you travel a lot?" she asks. Her voice almost sounds full of wonder. I shrug.
"Kinda. I used to be a courier."
"But you could still go places right?" I nod.
"Yeah. That's why I'm here." she smiles. I see a short lock of brown hair slide out of her hood. She quickly tucks it back. I take a bite of my steak.
"What do you know about the Brotherhood of Steel?" I take a sip of my Sunset Sarsaparilla.
"Not much. Just that they like old tech and power armor." she nods a little. "Why?" she shrugs.
"I'm just curious." I take a few more bites of my steak. "Where are you headed?" I stare into the fire.
"Well, for now Novac and then Goodsprings. I'm looking for a friend. Heard there was a courier that got shot and I want to check on her." I try to keep my voice from cracking. I never should have let her leave in the first place.
"Sounds like you really care about her." I don't look at her.
"It's been a couple of years. I'm not sure if she'll even want to talk to me when I find her."
"Sounds like you could use some help." I look up at her.
"What?" she smiles again.
"Let me travel with you and I can give you some tips on how to make it up to her." I snort. Might be nice to have someone to watch my back again. Might even be able to sleep a little better at night. I sigh.
"What the hell, why not."
"Really?!" she sounds so excited. I nod. "Great! Let's go make some trouble." I laugh a little. "I'm Veronica." she holds out her hand. I reach over and take it.
"Jaxson but most people just end up calling me Jax." she shakes my hand.
"Okay. I'm gonna get some rest. You better not leave without me." I laugh a little more.
"I won't, I promise." she hops up and goes off a little ways. I finish off my steak and then stare out into the dark Mojave, holding my drink.
I shouldn't have been so stupid. We'd traveled together for two years. I met her right after what happened in the Divide. It fucked me up and she helped me without even knowing it. I shake my head. At least Novac isn't too far from here. She'd have to pass through it on her way back to the Strip. She used to keep a room in Vault 21, said it reminded her of her sister. Maybe I can ask around and see if anyone saw her before heading to Goodsprings. Couldn't hurt to ask. Maybe I'll even stop in Primm and see if Old man Nash has her on a delivery. I finish off my drink and pull out my sleeping roll. Got a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. Better get some sleep. I slip inside and stare up at the stars. My eyes drift closed quickly and I slip into sleep.