Cass woke up before me, I knew that because when I rolled off the top bunk and hit the floor, I didn't see her.

"Ah, son of a..." I grumbled and shook my head, pushing myself up with my arms.

The bunk room was empty for the most part, two or three soldiers were conked out and I thanked the heavens for that. Yeah, see a two hundred year old ghoul struggle to get out of a bunk bed, real nice; those sheets were trying to kill me and they know it. I swayed when I stood, smacking my lips with the lingering taste of moonshine. Teeth. I needed to brush my teeth. It may not have helped bring my teeth back from looking like tree bark but it still killed bad breath.

"The mighty, graceful Alexander," I furrowed my brow at the whispering and looked to my left, seeing Cass pretending to hide behind a bunk bed. "A rare sight, their main source of food is a moonshine bottle they harvest from other peoples stills..."

"Drunk already," I questioned, standing up and grabbing my chest plate, beginning to strap it on at my sides.

She chuckled and stepped out from the other side of the bunk, watching me shrug on my duster while she sipped languidly at her bottle of...what was that, whiskey again?

"Alex, its almost noon."

I groaned. "Dammit," I slung my bag over my shoulder and plucked up Nezi's holster, clipping it around my waist. "We're probably gonna have to camp out in the desert at this rate," I grabbed the service rifle, prepared to use it as an offering to Kilborn.

Cass was already prepared with her shotgun at her back and a small shoulder bag of meds strung over her chest. We left the bunkhouse, me trying desperately to blink away the pain of the sun from my eyes; son of a bitch. As we crossed the road to Kilborn's shed, I noticed there were significantly less caravan Brahmin and drivers around. I was a bit impressed, they must have been letting them trickle through all night instead of tying them up.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," I grinned, seeing a polished headlight and also seeing a few dings removed from the hull. "You're magic, Kilborn," I shrugged off my pack and set it on the bike seat.

Kilborn shrugged from where he was at the back of the shed, goggle on his face and beard dusted with faint grease stains. "Guess so," oh so modest. "Got my payment?"

"I got a hundred caps, a service rifle and some repair kits," the lunches were ours.

Kilborn set down the blow torch - what the hell did he need that for - down on top of an old rolling tool box, shoving the goggles on top of his head. He came over and grabbed the rifle, leaning it against his bike before inspecting the repair kits; he set those on the shelf.

"Well this almost adds up to my payment," he paused. "I guess I'll let ya get away with it - this time."

I grinned and slapped his shoulder, not missing the way he grunted and rubbed the spot. "Thanks lad, well we gotta go now. Vegas a-bound."

Cass looked apprehensive as I waited patiently for her to climb onto the back of the bike; note to self, refrain from mentioning its the 'bitch seat'. She finally slung a leg over the back and slid into place, making me chuckle when she gripped me tightly as I kicked back the stand.

"I got this," I told her as the engine rumbled to life. "Ah, a thing of beauty, she really is."

"Loud as fuck," Cass shouted.

I chuckled and haphazardly saluted Kilborn before easing out of the garage, kicking her over the bumps in the dirt before she caught friction on the pavement of the road. I grinned maniacally as we neared the hill and Cass seemed to realize the mistake she had made by screaming as we began to plummet down the hillside. Did she think I was really a noob at driving? No trust these days, I swear. The right side of the road was the best route but still blocked by a car or two and I relished the turns as my left leg shot out, sliding over the dirt gently but still giving us that gliding turn I was going for.

I pulled back on the brakes, but only slightly, as we neared a particularly asshole-ish semi parked across the road. Cass screamed again and tightened her arms around my middle as we went airborne, only for a moment, and I cackled as the road smoothed into a clear stretch again.

"You asshole," she snarled.

I laughed, eyeing the giant scorpion shell baking in the midday sun; ants were scuttling around it, one worker tearing away meat from the inside.

"Aw, c'mon - that was fun and you know it."

She didn't say anything or I just didn't hear it, mainly because we were being shot at. Same raiders, I had gotten my hands on their slippery leader before I decided they weren't worth my time; they had scattered into the dry lake and I love my bike, but not enough to potentially have it stolen. The leader was standing in the middle of the road, her metal armor missing two spikes I had ripped out by hand on the left shoulder.

"Get the fuck out of the way," I yelled, making Cass even more nervous when I reached down to pull Nezi from her holster.

The dumbass kept firing, now stepping towards me; I wanted whatever she was on.

Firing on a motorcycle isn't as easy as old holotapes make it look, there's a lot of practice involved, and I just don't have that practice. I fire three times and boy, are they sloppy. But one shot hits her leg and she goes down, howling in pain and gripping her thigh.

It just takes a small nudge and the bike swerves around her, loose asphalt kicked up as we zoom past the crumbling rest stop. Three more junkies leap out from the cinderblock wall but we're faster so I gun in, praying that we don't encounter a bullet.

I holster Nezi once we're a decent distance away and chance a look back, seeing them just dots at the bottom of the hill.

A shaky sigh escapes Cass' lips as I cut the engine just on the edge of Nipton, crouching down in the middle of the road while I roll my bike behind the Nipton sign.

"Cry baby," I chuckled, approaching her again, keys clinking in my duster pocket.

She glares then looks at me like she's found the Holy Grail when I hold out my flask. She stands and takes it, sipping slowly while I frown; that was the last bit of Trudy's moonshine, I drank it faster than I thought I was. I both love and loathe a ghoul tolerance to anything narcotic wise. So, anything fun.

Cass smacks her lips and smiles, capping the flask and handing it back to me. "Okay, that makes it a little better. But you drive like a bat outta hell."

I roll my eyes. "What? You wanted me to take it nice and easy? Have that dope fiend blast holes in us," I swill down the last bit of alcohol in my flask. "I don't think so," I screw the flask shut and turn, walking up towards Nipton.

Thick, black smoke still trails across the sky, but it isn't as thick as it was; as we walk pass an old store, I neglect to notice the charred reminds skewered on a bloody spike. Cass pulls out her shotgun as her nose crinkles and I see a large pile of burning tires ahead of us. I slip Nezi from her holster and motion for Cass to go slow as we approach, covering my nasal passages when the smell becomes even too much for my dulled sense of smell.

"Holy moly,"Cass whispers as we stop as close as possible to the pile.

I lower my arm, my nerves tingling to produce long dried tears; I let Nezi hang loosely at my side. "Yeah...this isn't good."

It's not just tires that are burning, there bodies in there. Dozens of them, and from the looks of it, they were burned alive. Some skeletons stretch out from the pile and their arms are reaching out, lingering traces of flesh clinging to their knuckles where they dried to drags themselves away; one has a spear through its head.

Cass sniffs and covers her nose with her sleeve, eyes suddenly bloodshot. "God damn," she spat. "Fiends? Scorpions?"

I shake my head and look around. "No," I point up to the flag flapping in the wind. "Crimson."

A Legion flag claps proudly above the flames, torn at the edges but still noticeable with that big bull painted on. Now that I'm looking around, there are several flags staked around us, all marking bodies basically sodomized by spikes and smaller burn piles.

Cass whips this way and that, looking like a squirrel caught in a trap, and she pulls her hat off her head. "Fucking monsters," she snarls. "Nipton wasn't the friendliest town out there but this is just..."

"Cruel," I tilt my hat up with my thumb, seeing main street close, the tip of the Town Hall standing proudly over the homes. "Come on, lets see if anyone made it."

Three to our left, one to our right, the crucified moan and beg for death. They have large rail spikes jammed through their crossed ankles and in each wrist that are spread at their sides. Blood has long dried in thick spatters under them, dripping through the cracks of the electrical poles they are nailed to. I can't begin to imagine the pain they are in, the look on their faces is not something I have seen in a long time and she had been in worse shape.

I couldn't save her either.

"Alex," Cass hissed in my ear, I heard her shotgun groan at the itch to pull the trigger. "We got company."

I blinked a few times, eyes darting as I watched the Legion lackies jog out of the Main Hall; two on each side and I wouldn't put it past them to have a Decanus or two hiding in this hunting party. Their eyes are hidden behind masks and goggles, old football helmets slathered in red and black paint.

Death.

They were Death.

An old friend.

I look up when I hear the clamber of claws and the snarling barks of Legion hounds. There is one man holding them by the old collars around their throats and the mongrels want to bite into us, eyes an eerie, unnatural red. I've went head on with one of those dogs before, when they tried to stretch further East, and they were more dangerous than their masters.

"Enough," a silky - it makes me cringe to admit the voice is silky - voice comes out from the building. "I've grown tired of hearing them bark."

The mongrels are silenced with a shrill whistle and they heel immediately, even remaining in place when their handler releases them; their eyes stay on Cass and I though, panting and trembling to launch themselves at us.

The coyote head comes first, scarred nose and plastic eyes. Thick black goggles cover most of his face, leaving me unable to determine what he's thinking; he is Frumentarri without the usual get up and black nailed to his back. He comes close, examining us with me able to see, just a few feet separating him from us and I'm itching to pull the trigger, but Nezi is in her holster.

"Don't worry," he smirks a little. "I won't have you lashed to a cross like the rest of these degenerates, its useful you happened by. I want you to witness the fate of the town of Nipton. I want you to teach everyone you meet the lesson that Caeser's Legion taught here, especially any NCR troops you run across."

My blood is boiling.

"What lesson could you have possibly taught here," I wave an arm around me.

He chuckled and it is echoed in the laugh from his little troop. "Where to begin," he sounds whimsical, like an old man reliving his glory days. "That they were weak? We are strong? This much was known already. But the depths of their moral sickness, their dissolution? Nipton serves as the perfect object lesson."

"I've heard enough," I snap.

He only finds that amusing and I want to tear him a complete new one, let his men see what happens to monsters like him. And I'm sure they would attack, and I'd kill them too.

Stupid, my rational side scolded. That's stupid.

I personally think it would be beautiful.

"I think you're eyes will see more than I can tell you," he pulls his goggles down and I am chilled by cold azure eyes. "Take your time," he pushes his goggles up again and starts to walk away. "Enjoy the sights."

"You son of a -" Cass charged forward, shotgun raised but he kept walking.

I grabbed the barrel of her gun and pointed it down, causing the butt of the rifle to jab into her chest and make her look at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. I felt a little crazy, but I was chalking it up to alcohol.

"Alex - what the fuck," she jerked her gun away from my hand and I looked down at her. "Yet jus' gonna let em go?! They slaughtered a whole town and -"

"Shut up."

She blanked, arm still pointed out after the soldiers who were now gone from sight. "Excuse me?"

I sighed and turned around, heading back down the main road for my bike. "I just don't feel like dealing with this right now, okay?"

There was a long stretch of silence between my crunching steps on the road and then I heard heavy boot thumps approaching me from behind. Didn't turn - didn't have to - to know it was Cass, angry and shaking as she blocked my path.

"You told me to shut up," she barked.

I tucked my hands into my duster and nodded. "Yep."

She gave me another crazy look then threw her hands in the air, shotgun waving like a flag of surrender before she licked her lips, looking around.

"Help me get these guys down," she ordered.

I twisted to watch her stomp towards one of the crucified men and sighed. I was getting too old for this. But I help anyway, even though I know the men tied up will bleed out the moment they hit the ground. Cass is disappointed and I see the familiar ghost of self-blame cross over her face. It would do no good for me to tell her the Legion were too blame, that she couldn't get here fast enough even if she had a damn rocket because they would have just raped and sold her away if they didn't kill her first.

"They're fucking monsters," Cass snarls as we enter the last house beside the Town Hall, eyeing the blood pools on the blood, streaking the couch. "It was a slaughter - they didn't stand a chance."

I nod, cradling Nezi in case those Legion fucks left one of their hounds behind as a surprise; they don't. "Friend of mine had a minor run in with one of their raiding parties back East," I nudged the bloody book out of my way, reveal an undetonated mine beneath it. "She slaughtered them all in one night - that's the only person I know that can possibly take on the Legion."

Cass' eyebrows shoot up under the brim of her hat and I mutter a curse at myself, holstering Nezi. "Have a lot of faith in one woman," she hummed. "Lover?"

Now, I can't help but laugh at that. "Her? Heh, nah the lass belonged to someone else before I could get to her. No, I just watched her destroy so many things you wouldn't believe...she's one tough broad."

Casa whistled. "I think I'd love to have a drink with the woman you hold a candle for."

I chuckle and duck my head into the bathroom, see the blood in an old, yellow tub. "Well, she's an alcoholic that could give you a run for your money," I smile back at Cass. "I think you two would be good friends."

"If you care so much about this girl, why the Hell are you in this shit hole?"

I shrug. "Time to come home, I suppose. Even she knew that feeling, but she wasn't allowed back home. Kind of wrecked her. But I hear good things on the wind. Sent her a calling card a couple months ago. Maybe she'll be it and follow my advice."

"You're in love, Alexander," Cass taunted, dancing in front of me and singing the sentence like a ballad. "Its quite adorable."

I groaned. "Where'd the Southern drawl go? Away with the whiskey? I want it and its indifference back."

Cass cackles and flopped out onto the stained mattress in the bedroom while I rifled through one of the footlockers. "Oh no, I am going to bother the piss out of you about your home town gal."