With the threat of Vince Henson's Powder Gangers threatening the small town of Goodsprings, the inhabitants have been preparing for war ever since Henson had left the place yesterday. The town had made a rag-tag militia armed with varmint rifles, five cartridges of .556 caliber ammo and leather armor. It was a group of about thirteen, John, Jess and Sunny included. Easy Pete let the group borrow his dynamite, but he wanted to stay out of this one. Doc Mitchell distributed medical supplies and stayed out as well since he had a bad leg. Chet had fixed John's NCR Ranger duster, so John felt whole again. He was leaning against the wall near the entrance to The Prospector's Saloon loading round into his hunting rifle cartridges. A man with binoculars was on the awning above him, keeping an eye on the wastes.
"John!" He yelled, "Here come the runners!" John stood up straight and saw the two boys barreling down the hill that lead to the Goodsprings Cemetery. They stopped in front of John, panting and sweating. "David, Ben, what's the news?" John asked.
"We saw 'em, sir! There were about fifteen of 'em, Henson included," said Ben, binoculars hanging around his neck, "out by the Yangtze Memorial."
"Armaments?" John asked.
"They're armed pretty heavily. .357 revolvers, some with .44s, plenty of dynamite and powder charges, some repeater rifles here and there, and one has a baseball bat," said Ben's older brother, David. David was fifteen and Ben was nine and they both had the same sandy blonde hair, "I think they'll be here within the hour if they continue at the same pace and some critters run into them first."
"Very good! Go back to your house and stay there until we send someone to give you the all clear. If no one comes…" John began. He rummaged through his pack and pulled out a 9mm pistol and loaded it, handing it to David, "use that to dispatch the curious."
"Yes sir!" The brothers said. They ran off to the small shack that was their home. Here's hoping we win… wouldn't want to leave David and Ben here to try and fight. John thought. Sunny walked over to John with a worried look on her face. He knew what was wrong.
"No luck with Primm?" He asked.
"They didn't give me anything. No men, no medical supplies, no guns, not even a measly bullet!" Sunny exclaimed, "I don't know how we're going to win this one, Jack… I just don't know."
John placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll fight with all our strength. For the safety of Goodsprings." Sunny looked at him and nodded curtly.
Within a half-hour, Henson's Gang could be seen up on the hill of Goodsprings Cemetery. John could count fifteen; just as Ben had reported. They stood up there like stone sentinels, just watching the town. Looking for the right time to strike. Fifteen minutes had passed before they began to move down the mountain. Their guns gleamed in the setting sun like the teeth of a Deathclaw. The man in the back, Henson himself, ordered the group to come to a stop.
"I told you I'd come back, Goodsprings. We've got you outgunned and outnumbered, so if you surrender now… I'll at least take prisoners, dig?" Henson called out. After waiting for a moment, he smiled. "You asked for it! Let's go!"
John, Sunny, Jess, and the other seven militia men were taking cover behind anything they could. Some behind the broken truck outside of the saloon, some behind the boxes and crates outside, some behind houses. They had prepared for the worst, now they had to brave it. John loaded a new cartridge into his hunting rifle. "OPEN FIRE!" He shouted. The militia popped out from behind their cover and fired of a volley of shots instantaneously. Three of Henson's gang fell dead at the sound.
The Powder Gangers fired back, but weren't as lucky as the Goodsprings militia. They only killed one of the militia men. Shots were exchanged between sides, the sound could probably be heard from Sloan to the northwest and from Primm to the south. Men died, their bodies strewn on the ground like garbage. Every now and then a stick of dynamite was thrown and there was a deafening explosion. It came down to six men left from the Goodsprings militia and about eight left of Henson's gang. Goodsprings was still outnumbered, but the game was still anyone's to claim.
Someone from Goodsprings threw the last stick of dynamite they had. This dynamite landed at the feet of a Powder Ganger. Not just some ordinary Powder Ganger soldier, but the Powder Ganger who was carrying most of the explosives. He exploded like a firework on the Fourth of July, taking four of his buddies with him. Henson sounded the retreat, but John knew that if he let Henson live, he would just come back again someday. "Sunny, Jess! Get Doc and treat the wounded! You two, with me! Up the hill! We're hunting those gangers down!" John ordered. He fired a shot from his rifle and one of the Powder Gangers fell, rolling down the hill like a ball. John and his two militia men ran up the Goodsprings Cemetery hill.
Upon reaching the top, one of the militia men was shot down by Henson. John and the other militia man took cover behind to headstones, firing back at their enemy. Henson's two buddies were killed, leaving him the last Powder Ganger. Henson fired a shot from his revolver and killed John's last militia man, but before he could get shot, John rushed forward and tackled him and began a struggle. John was strong from his Ranger training, but his arm was weak from the gecko bite; he wasn't as strong. The two rolled around in the dirt until Henson got the upper hand and stunned John with a massive blow to the head.
"Say your prayers, pal!" Henson hissed, raising a rock to finish an already wounded John. But before he could, a shot rang out and a bullet pierced his hand. Henson didn't even get the chance to turn to his attacker before four more shots were loaded in his back. He groaned in pain and soon crumpled to the ground. Another corpse for the wasteland to claim. John forced Henson off of him to see who his savior was. It was David! He still had John's 9mm pistol. It was in his hand, and he had saved not just the former NCR Ranger, but Goodsprings.
"I told you to only use that in an emergency, David!" John exclaimed.
"So, is that how a Ranger thanks someone who saved their ass from piece-of-shit Powder Gangers?" David replied. John shrugged.
"Well… I should thank you… thank you, David. The Savior of Goodsprings!" John laughed.
Goodsprings had been saved from Henson and his gang thanks to the men and women who sacrificed their lives fighting the Powder Gangers. David was celebrated as a hero, having killed a wanted man, and he received a considerable amount of caps for turning in the bounty to Mojave Outpost. He offered to split some with John, but he declined. David had earned the caps and John saw it as a fit payment for taking down a dangerous criminal.
The time came for John and Jess to leave Goodsprings and move on with their wanderings of the Mojave. They left without saying goodbye, because they knew that someday they would return to the quaint little town of Goodsprings in the future.