"Hey, I thought you left already. Sticking around Goodsprings for awhile longer?" Smiles said when she saw the girl. She was nursing a beer in her hands, her dog Cheyenne laid under the table by her feet.
"I'm going to help Ringo take on the powder gangers. Are you in?" She cut to the chase. Smiles got up. "Say no more. I'm in. Joe Cobb talks about leaving us alone if we hand over Ringo, but I know his type. He and his friends will come after the town eventually."
She suspected they would do so. "We don't have enough people to fight back. Do you know anyone else who could help?"
Smiles turned thoughtful. "People listen to Trudy. I'm going to try to convince her to help us. If she agrees, then some of the folks in town might decide to help us out as well."
"I know Easy Pete's got a stock of dynamite somewhere, and Chet just got a shipment of leather armor we could borrow. Chet wouldn' be a problem, and Doc Mitchell is always willing to lend a hand, so ask him for some stimpacks. I doubt we're getting out of this unscathed. Pete might be unwilling at first, but try an convince him. He'll come around when you tell him you're fightin'. He used to have a kid."
The Courier nodded. "We meet outside the saloon. If they come before we're ready, we'll just have to improvise." Smiles agreed and they both went their separate ways. When she exited, there was an old man sitting down on a chair, gazing at the sunset. She joined next to him, leaning against one of the posts that held the patio roof up. She took in the breath taking sight, just enjoying the peaceful silence. Everything felt like it was going to fast, and she needed this moment to catch up. It hadn't even been a day and she was already thrown into the thick of things.
But it kept her mind off of other things.
She touched the scar on her head, wincing because it was still sensitive. Her skull ached, and she still had a dull headache. Her whole body felt like shit and all she wanted to do is curl up in her bed and sleep off this nightmare. What was she even doing?
She didn't make rash decisions, like save a town. What was wrong with her? She wasn't some hero. She was just a courier. Just another soul in this wasteland. But wasn't this what she wanted? She always dreamed of being something more, someone important. She felt like she had a purpose, a role to fill.
She tells Benny this one night. "I just want to change the world. Make it better for everyone."
He exhaled smoke, watching the drunken NCR soldiers stumble around waving their flag like idiots. "It's a big world out there kid. And you're just one person."
"I know that. I just... I have this vision. Of a new world. Just like it was before the bombs."
"A brave new world..."
It seemed like she said that forever ago. Nostalgia washed over her and her eyes burned but she held the tears back.
Why? Why, why, why, why, why? She had so many questions, but the person who could answer them was miles away. It hurt. God it hurts. He hurt her. He was the last person she thought that would ever hurt her. She trusted him. She opened up to him. Did it mean nothing to him?
All this time, did she meant nothing to him?
She wanted to hit something. Anything. So many emotions were running through her head and she wanted to let it all out.
God she lov-
"You alright there, girl?" A voice interrupted her thoughts and she blinked. The old man beside her looked at her with concern in his aged face. She relaxed her face so it was set to a neutral expression.
"I'm fine." she said stiffly. The old man raised a brow but didn't push for more. "You know where Easy Pete is?" She asked.
The old man laughed heartily and tipped his straw hat. "You're lookin' at him."
An "oh" fell from her lips. That was convenient. "I hear you've got dynamite. It would help us beat the powder gangers."
He frowned, making the many wrinkles of his face more prominent. "Too dangerous. Gonna kill all yourselves if I let you touch it. Better to leave it buried - safer that way."
"Some of us will die anyways with or without the bombs." She stated, disagreeing with the man's logic. He went silent for a moment, and he petted his long white beard in thought.
"You fightin'?" He asked.
"I am." He gave a tired sigh and leaned back in his chair. "Child like you gotta grow up fast out here. No room for innocence. Only the weak get killed." He seemed to be talking more to himself than to her. "I'll dig out them dynamites. You just wait here." He got up from his chair and walked off towards one of the houses. She waited like he ordered, scanning the road that led out of town for any approaching powder gangers.
He came back and handed her red sticks. She grabbed it and he grabbed her hand. "You know how to use these things?" He said seriously. She nodded, and he stared into her eyes and let go. She watched him walk off down to the houses again, and felt slightly guilty. It wasn't like she outright lied to Pete. It's just that the only experience she got with explosives was on New Years when the whole New Vegas Strip went out into the streets and lit up fire crackers and the occasional fireworks.
It was actually the first time she ever saw the brilliant display of colors in the night sky. She would stare, mesmerized by the lights and the sound and the crack of it exploding reverberated in her chest. She glanced at Benny, and caught him looking at her.
"You look like it's you're first time seeing this stuff!" He yelled over the noise.
She nodded, "It is!"
"Then Baby Doll, how 'bout you send one up!" She felt her cheeks heat up at the nickname, but she let it slide. Benny was drunk off his ass anyways. He bent down on his knees and set down a small red with blue swirled firework. She crouched down next to him as he pulled out a match box and set a match aflame. He handed her the burning match stick and she held it gingerly between her thumb and forefinger.
"Light it up, Doll." He said, looking into her eyes. Her breath hitched as she stared back. She could see her reflection in those dark glazed over eyes. She broke the stare and brought the match to the black string and it instantly caught fire. They both backed up and watched as the firework shot off up, up, up and exploded into a spectacular view of red and blue.
She glanced at him, but he was looking somewhere else.
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Smiles was right about Chet not being a problem. Sure she had to push a little, telling the owner that his shop would be ransacked and him dead, so really there was no point. She walked out with his promise that he would get the other residents suited up, and gave her an armor that would fit her size. She cut off the long sleeve of her right arm since the Pip-Boy was there.
Other than the pain she got at the beginning, the machine on her wrist didn't bother her at all. It felt normal, and she actually forgot it was there. She toyed with the thing after she left Doc Mitchell's place.
On the green screen, there was a little Fallout Man, and she guessed that was supposed to represent her body health. It had three buttons on the bottom, each reading in order STATS, ITEMS, and DATA. She looked through each of the buttons, getting a good idea on how this Pip-Boy worked. Seemed like it took note on how much she was carrying and what she had. Weird. Doc did tell her more about it when she visited him for the stimpacks.
Said this machine was like a fifth limb, and just like the other limbs it received electrical impulses from the brain. I guess what she sees is recorded in the machine, because when she looked through her weapons, it listed all the guns she currently had. It was kinda creepy, but she was sure it would come in handy.
She entered the abandoned gas station, startling Ringo. "Relax it's just me."
He was shuffling some cards, and dropped them when she walked in, making him bend down and pick them up off the floor.
"I got Sunny and some others to fight for you." She told him. "You know they're putting their life on the line for you."
He ran his fingers through his short hair. "I know. And I can't express... I don't know how to thank you. All of you."
"Don't. Thank them after we get out of this mess." She said, and tossed him a leather armor. He caught it and she left to wait for him outside.
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They all met outside the saloon, armed and ready. Ringo hid himself behind a boulder, and the rest of the settlers who chose to fight with Trudy laid low.
"You sure you wanna do this? This ain't your fight." Smiles said, putting down her binoculars and looking at the girl. They were waiting for the gang on the road, guns un-holstered in case they come in shooting.
She hardened her face to hide the creeping anxiety in the back of her mind. You'd think after getting shot in the head would've made her insensitive to death, but she was still afraid of dying. Always had been. Maybe sometime in the future she would be reckless enough not to care, but for now, she was fine with living.
"Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." There was no turning back now.
Smiles looked through the binoculars, and set it down. "Look alive people! The Powder Gangers are here to play!" She hollered.
There were four of them, all dressed in the usual ganger outfit. "Seems like they thought we would be an easy kill." Smiles muttered beside her as the gang approached them and came to a stop. One of them was carrying a spiked baseball bat, and looked up and down at the Courier, giving her a wink. She in return gave the convict a death glare. Joe Cobb stepped up, his own gun drawn.
"We're here for Ringo." He said. "You and that girl don't have to cause trouble when there is none."
Sunny smiled with her teeth, "You and your boys better leave before you get yourselves hurt."
Joe Cobb and his friends laughed. "Last warning. Hand him over or we're blowing this shit town to dust." He warned.
The air was thick with tension as the two parties just stared at each other, fingering their guns. A hawk above them screamed as it passed by. Cobb smirked, hoping for that answer. "You just made the wrong choice."
In a flash, the Courier shot down the man with the baseball bat and all hell broke loose.
The two parties instantly backed away form each other as bullets went flying. She dove behind a boulder and pressed her back against the rock. The deafening sound of gunshots rang through the air, and one of the gangers had a machine gun.
"Shit shit shit!" She heard one of them yell as the rest of their group revealed themselves and started firing at the gang. Bullets bounced of her rock but she didn't get hit.
"CHEYENNE!" She heard Sunny scream and she looked up to see the dog running straight at the gang. Sunny took off after the dog, leaving her cover behind.
"Sunny no!" she called out but it was too late. The red headed woman let out a pained scream and collapsed. Cheyenne chomped down on one of convicts but was knocked off and hit by a pipe, the dog falling limp. She rested the rifle on the rock and took aim, shooting at the one who hit the dog. It got his leg and he yelped in pain and shot at her. She ducked down, barely missing the bullets.
Suddenly, something landed in front of her and she barely had to time to register what it was before she booked it, the spot where she had been blowing up.
"Fuck!" She yelled as the blast pushed her off her feet and threw her down. Rolling to a stop, she groaned as her whole body ached. Her Pip-Boy chirped and she glanced at the screen to see the Fallout Man making a sick face. He sure got that right. She pulled out a stimpack from her pocket and stabbed it down on her arm. The dizziness instantly cleared and she got to her feet with renewed strength.
She looked up and froze as she saw Joe Cobb throw another dynamite her way. It sailed through the air and quicker than she thought, she raised her Pip-Boy and without thinking clicked on VATS. She saw the thing before, but didn't dare use it until now. Seemed like lady luck was on her side as adrenaline pumped through her system, slowing everything down. She raised her gun, took aim at the dynamite, and pulled the trigger.
By the time the bullet touched the explosive, everything speed back up. The dynamite exploded in the air and pushed her and Cobb back. Her head struck the ground and she saw stars. She turned her head to the side and spat out blood from biting her tongue. She stabbed another stimpack and she got up. Joe Cobb was still on the ground groaning in pain. From somewhere, a dynamite exploded and the last of the powder ganger sailed up into the air. Parts of him.
She limped to the fallen man and raised her gun. He was slipping in and out of consciousness, the half of his face badly burnt and his arm was an angry crusted red. She didn't say anything as she put the man out of his mercy with a bullet to the head.
Killing someone was a part of something you have to live with if you want to survive. She learned that the hard way. It's live or die out here.
Everyone had gathered around Smiles, and Doc crouched to check her pulse.
"Is she..." Trudy stopped. She couldn't even say it. Doc shook his head. "She's alive, but barely. Ringo, James, help me with her." The two men held her by the shoulders and feet and they followed the Doc up towards his place. She watched them go, and hoped Smiles would make it. She hadn't known the woman for more than a day but that didn't mean she wasn't concerned for her. She was the only town guard.
"C'mon everyone back inside. Free drinks on the house." Trudy said, ushering people into the saloon and away from the battle field. Instead of going inside, she walked down the road to where Cheyenne lay. She crouched down, staring at the dog. Sunny ran after her, willingly putting her life on the line just for this dog. It's chest was slowly rising up and down. Just knocked out, while Sunny was dying. She reached out and petted it's soft fur. Guilt washed over her, and she held the bones around her neck.
"She went after you." She whispered. "Why couldn't I?"
"Going back for that dog would've gotten you killed." Benny had said. "It was the smart choice, and you're still alive."
She looked away. "Was it?" She felt like there was so much more she could've done. So much more she should've done. "I ran away like a coward."
"There was nothing you could've done."
She left the memory at that. She will always feel guilty. There were so many what if's.
She slid her arms under the dog and lifted him up with a grunt. She wasn't going to leave it here for the gecko's to eat him. She carried him inside the saloon, as the sun dipped under the mountains.
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"I owe you a huge favor for this."
It had been a few hours after the gun fight, and Doc had come back to them, relieving everyone that Sunny was going to make it, miraculously, but she's knocked out and wouldn't wake till tomorrow. The Courier ate with the others, but stepped out to take a break from their celebration. She preferred the cool, silent night air. She was watching the dark shapes of the geckos and wild dogs eating the bodies when Ringo joined her outside.
"No, it's the town you owe, especially Sunny." She corrected him.
He glanced at the building Sunny was resting in. "I know, but I want you to have this." He fished out of his pocket a sack of caps. "These are technically Crimson Caravan funds, but I know they'll understand once I explain things."
She didn't grab the sack. "You don't have to pay me."
"I want you to have it. A thanks for what you did." He said. She looked at him then to the bag and shook her head. "Give it to the town. They need it more than me."
"You sure?" She nodded and he stuffed the sack back into his pocket. "Not a lot of people would pass that kind of money up."
She looked at the darkening sky. "I used to think money was all I needed to make my life better." Memories of her starving every night and people walking past her in the streets not even giving the dying girl a glance hardened her face. She was desperate back then. She used to dream every night that she would get rich at the casino's and buy all the food in the world. She didn't realize what she really wanted was just for someone to care.
Ringo also watched the bodies getting picked on by the wild animals. "I'll stick around for a bit longer, but I'll be gone in a few days. If you ever visit New Vegas, look me up at the Crimson Caravan camp."
She smiled bitterly at his words. "Tell Trudy and Doc thanks for me." She said and started down the steps.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Ringo asked. "Right now? I thought you lived here?"
She turned around. "Just passing by."
"And you just decided to help out a town. To help a stranger you don't even know. Just like that." He asked incredulously.
She didn't answer that and continued walking.
"And I'm not a vaultie." She called over her shoulder.
"I'm a courier."
With that she walked off into the night, and began her long way back to New Vegas.