That's all that occurred. The rest of what happened slowly faded in this black haze. I eventually found myself standing in front of Redding. He smiled wider than everyone in the wasteland. "Well, what'd you think?" He started shaking his head in that I'm so ashamed it's funny way.
"What else happened? I only got to the part where I gave the mutant some of the drink." He suddenly gave me a somewhat stern look. Then he smiled again.
"There was some banging goin' on downstairs. Then it was quiet. Then, you came in riding atop the damn thing yelling 'Free the slaves!' and 'Cross the bridge!' and some other nonsense. You trashed the place, fell off of him, and went charging up the stairs. You came back down in your getup and jumped on his back again and went for the door." He sighed lightheartedly, "I've never seen anything like that in my life. You got quite a problem."
"Heh, yeah." I looked around at the mess I made. "How many caps?"
"Don't worry. You gave me something to laugh at. To me, that's worth more than all the caps in the world." He sighed again and then looked at me seriously. "I take it you have a mission, now, huh?"
"I guess so. And you don't mind?" I gave him a deep stare, hoping to see through his upbeat attitude for an agenda, but all that was standing before me was an honest man.
"Me? Hello no. The stuff'll come whether you go there and drink it all to hell or not. I'm not in the profiting business; I just give these sad stories something to do on an otherwise dull and depressing day. Good luck, friend. Hopefully, you find what you're really looking for before you get to that." He points at the bottle inside my duster.
"Thanks. I guess I'll be on my way, then."
"Yup…oh, and your friend is upstairs."
"What? Who?"
"Genie. The mutie."
"Oh. Really?" I gave him an astonished look. He just nodded and went about his usual business.
I walked slowly to my room. As I rounded the corner I noticed this door was also ripped off the wall. Inside, there was a super mutant fast asleep on a bed way too small for it. He was sucking his thumb and snoring loudly. His feet extended far beyond the edge of the bed. I thought it better to wait for him to wake up on his own.