She was planning on going east, down to the Mojave Outpost, and then head south through Nipton. She wasn't that desperate to take her chances through Quarry Junction. The last time she did, Chomp Lewis gave her 50 caps just because he thought she was going to die. She made it, but barely. She had to use her secret weapon. A chem injection infused with psycho, adrenaline, and ultra jet all combined. The thing costs about 15,000 caps, and the only people willing to buy it are the couriers. It is only used in extreme, extreme, emergencies, like running away from three bloody-thirsty deathclaws. Since the couriers aren't fighters, their more travelers, she booked it. It was the first time she actually used the dangerous chem, and she wouldn't lie. It felt fucking amazing.
She ran like no other, and when she out-ran the deathclaws, she still kept running for a good 30 miles all the way to the outskirts of New Vegas. She must've accidentally injected too much because she was high for about three days later. Benny found it amusing, and had her do crazy stuff that she wouldn't agree to if she were sober. Such as free climbing to the top of the Lucky 38 sign. Not the building, because he said that the viewers couldn't see her from up there and they were paying for a good show. For that, she made him pay for the next chem shipment.
She came to a crossway on the road and looked left to the Sloan and then right to Primm. She took a step right but jumped as a bullet scratched the spot in front of her. She ran to a nearby rock, just making it in time as more bullets pelted at her. Who the hell?! She glanced around the rock when her attackers stopped and had to reload. It was two powder gangers by the old Jean Sky Diving building. They were probably waiting for the people from town to try to escape down this way. They didn't know their friends were dead, getting eating to the bone by a bunch of animals.
They finished reloading and started shooting at her again. Dammit, she was stuck. She couldn't leave her hiding spot, and if she did they would shoot her on sight. But she couldn't stay here. Maybe she could climb on top and escape up the ridges? It was really dark, maybe they won't notice her. She was still thinking about what the hell she was going to do when more loader, quicker gunshots pierced the air and the powder gangers screamed and cursed.
She looked around again, and saw... Victor? It couldn't be anything else, unless another securitron decided to live it's cold metallic life in the desert. She watched the robot gun down the two gangers easily. She walked out confused and approached the securitron. He turned around when he sensed her presence and changed his shooter to his pinchers.
"Fancy meeting you here, friend." He greeted cheerfully as if he just hadn't popped out of nowhere and conveniently shot down her attackers. She ignored his greeting.
"Are you following me?" She accused, because other than Ringo, nobody else knew she left.
"I was just passing by, and saw you needed some help." He replied coolly. Before she could respond, Victor wished her "Happy Trails!" and rolled back in the direction to town. She stood their dumbfounded, her mouth slightly parted in a small o. What was that all about? Was she being stalked by a psycho robot? She didn't believe for a second his vague excuse. It left her bothered, but the convicts were dead and Victor, creepy as he is, wasn't a threat to her. Not at the moment.
She scavenged through the dead bodies, finding 15 caps total, 2 dynamites, and a hunting knife. She stuffed them into her pouch and went on her way. It was a long trek to Primm, but she knew once she go to the town, she could sleep on one of the cots laid out for free. She wasn't going to waste her caps on renting a room.
Her footsteps were the only sound in the lonely road, and she kept watch for any geckos or bloatflies. She would occasionally glance over her shoulder, to see if Victor was following her but she didn't see him. That still didn't reassure her though. She startled when her Pip-Boy let out a crackling sound and the air around her changed. She knew what it was, and she was surprised the machine could pick up on nearby radiation. Ahead, she knew the road collapsed in a deep ridge, and tons of barrels filled with toxic goo emanated heavy radiation. It was practically a breeding ground for the mutated animals.
She trailed off the road and walked a huge arc around the radiated spot. She didn't like leaving the road, since most of the really dangerous threats resided deep in the desert. The road was sometimes clean, with the few bandits that liked to hide and catch their victims off guard.
In the distance, she could see the lights of the town, like a beacon in the dark sea. She was relieved. Her legs were killing her and she was exhausted. She forgot that the only thing she ate was gecko steak and that was hours ago. When she got closer to the town, she squinted. Is that an NCR flag? Sure enough, it was. When did the NCR move in? She thought they were too busy fighting the Legion to care about small expendable towns.
The war.
Everyone knows about the war raging between the two armies. The two sides wanted control over Hoover Dam, which held all the fresh water in the country. She didn't mind the New California Republic, just because their main base was keeping the fiends at bay. But it annoyed her that they came in and decided they had control over everything. They started making new laws and bringing in people from California. It was good for business, but they were getting more privilege than the New Vegas residents. And the fact they wanted control over New Vegas itself didn't settle well with her. They mean good, but when the Legion is defeated, she expects Mr. House to kick them out.
The Legion on the other hand, she didn't know much about. She only heard snippets that the army came from somewhere West over the Colorado River. They were a ruthless society that enslaved people and she heard that if any tried to fight back, they were staked on a cross and left to either die from blood loss or get eaten by birds. She hasn't encountered the legionnaires in the desert, or even seen one in person, but she disliked the group. Slavery was an out of date tactic, and it wouldn't advance their community. To oppress the masses is the downfall of the structure.
And plus she heard about the way they treated women. She wouldn't join anyone that believed women were bellow them.
The NCR flag was tied to the top of a street light, the light illuminating the flag, showing a two headed bear and New California Republic written under it.
She stopped when she spotted a soldier jogging to her.
"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going? Primm is off limits." He said rudely.
"I'm a courier from the Mojave Express." She clarified. "I thought I could rest up here. What's going on in Primm?"
He sneered at her, as if explaining the situation to a courier was a waste of his time. "Some convicts from the prison up the road have taken over the town. Everyone inside is either dead or in hiding."
He continued. "What's more, there are two tribes of raiders causing trouble in this area as well. You'd be safer heading back up to Goodsprings. But you said you're a courier?"
She nodded, glancing at the quiet town. It seemed like the world was falling apart after her supposed death.
"Head up to the right. I think Lieutenant Hayes would like a word with you." The soldier said and marched back to his post. What other choice did she have? So she headed up the right, passing destroyed buildings until she came upon a small NCR outpost.
"Halt! State your business stranger." A soldier ordered from behind wooden spikes, a standard service rifle trained on her.
She raised her hands. "I'm a courier. A soldier said I should talk with your Lieutenant."
He didn't lower his gun, but called back, "Alright. Come slowly. You reach for your gun and I will shoot."
Not planning on it, she thought. She walked slowly and the soldier backed up to let her in the compound. He kicked a bucket to her. "Put all your weapons in the bucket."
She frowned but did as he ordered. When she dropped the last of her gun in the bucket he lowered his gun. "Follow me."
He lead her to one of the tents set up and he opened the flap and they walked inside.
"Sir!" He saluted to a stern looking Caucasian man sitting down, a map of the town laid out on his desk.
"McGee this better be good." The man said not looking up from the map, and she guessed this was Lieutenant Hayes.
"It is. We got a courier." McGee said, and stepped aside so Hayes could see her. He looked up from the map and leaned back in his chair.
He eyed her and said, "You look a little young to be a courier. But I suppose it doesn't matter. I need you to deliver a message to Major Knight at the Mojave Outpost." He opened a drawer and handed her a sealed envelope. "Here's 50 caps, an extra 10 for the... problems you might encounter on the road."
"You can stay for the night. I'm sure McGee has a free bed for you." He added as an after thought and dismissed her by looking down at his map. But when she didn't leave he looked up at her questionably.
"I usually get told the state of my delivery before I agree. Company policy." She said. It really was, as a safety for the courier and for the company. They didn't want to be transporting a bomb or something to some fiends. It was only precaution.
"This is private NCR business. It is none of your concern." McGee countered beside her but Hayes raised a hand, silencing him.
"Then I won't make the delivery." She said, placing the envelope back down on the desk as well as the caps.
Hayes chuckled, "The first courier that comes around and it's one with propriety." He motioned for her to sit and she did so.
"My boy down there probably told you about what happened to Primm." She nodded and he continued. "You're probably wondering why we aren't doing anything. Well, the answer is that we can't. The town doesn't fall under NCR jurisdiction, and even if it did, we're in no shape to protect them. We can barely protect ourselves. We don't have the equipment to take out the convicts, and even if we did we need some extra hands for backup."
"This envelop is a requested permission for Primm to be added to the list, and for some more men." He tapped the envelope. "Major Knight is the one in control, but I can't send one of my soldiers to him. We need them here, and we would've been stuck here in this mess if you hadn't shown up. So, will you go?"
The two NCR soldiers looked at her expectantly. Did they really expect her to say no? It was on the way she was heading, and it was her job. She grabbed the envelope and the caps and stuffed them in her pouch.
Hayes broke out in a relieved smile. "Good. McGee can show you the bed. And if you're hungry there's Brahmin steak at the fire pit."
She followed McGee out and he led her to the other tent where there were three bunk beds. "You can have any." He motioned to the beds.
"Can I have my guns back?" She asked. She didn't feel safe being weaponless. Anything could happen and she wanted to be prepared when it does.
"Yeah. Let me get it." He turned and walked through the flaps. She settled down on the closest bed and threw her pouch on it. She went outside, popping open the sarsaparilla bottle she saved from Goodsprings, and followed the smell of cooking meat, her stomach constricting in pain. An asian man was flipping the meat over the fire and he looked up from cooking as she approached.
"You must be the courier. You want some?" He asked, waving a steak at her with tongs. She nodded and he placed the cooked meat on a paper plate and handed it to her. She made herself comfortable in one of the plastic chairs and dug in. It was bit undercooked, but she liked the juicy blood that exploded in her mouth.
"What's up with your head. Got a nasty kicker before you got here?" The soldier asked.
"Shut up Tyrone. Don't you know anything about common decency." McGee cut in, having returned back from the tent. He served himself dinner and took the chair next to her.
"Lance, if I had any, then all the ladies would've had to settle on pansies like you." Tyrone said, sitting down himself with a shit eating grin.
"Fuck you." Lance spat. "At least I have a girl waiting for me back in Cali."
"Yeah she's totally waiting." Tyrone said while thrusting his hips up and down in a suggestive manner.
Lance growled, "I swear if you were a legionnaire I would've killed you already."
"Don't worry. I think the same thing everyday."
A loud boom went off somewhere, and she jumped to her feet in alarm. "What was that?"
"Relax kid, it was just the daily dumbass of the day." Tyrone said, looking completely unconcerned of a bomb going off.
"The what?" She asked, sinking back down on her chair when she realized nothing was going to attack them.
"We placed frag mines all over the bridge connecting Primm to us." Lance explained. "And sometimes the convicts would try to cross over but they're just getting themselves killed."
"Yeah, so we call the unlucky bastards the daily dumbass of the day." Tyrone joined in, picking his teeth with a toothpick. "You'd think they'd stop trying but they still keep coming. I think they think if they sacrifice enough men then we'd run out of frag mines. They don't know we have a shitload of it stocked."
Tyrone and Lance talked for a bit more, she just listening to them fight. She wondered if it was like this everyday between the two who constantly battered. She excused herself when her eyes started to droop, and when she entered the tent she collapsed on the bed, and fell into a well deserved sleep.
0000000000
"Is something wrong?" She asked as Benny returned to her from talking with his right-hand man. Swank had come in, and when Benny caught sight of him told her he'll be back. Had to take care of some business. The two gangsters left to Benny's office at the top of the building, and they were gone for quite a while. At times like this, she felt down. She and Benny had grown close over the year, or that's what she thought in her case. But when Benny goes off to discuss "business", he never includes her. Probably hasn't even considered it. She felt like no matter how hard she tried to be a part of his life, there was a barrier between them when it came to his casino and their friendship.
She wasn't blind. She knew about Benny's "business". He was a mob gangster, one of the three chairmen specifically picked by Mr. House, and when people ended up dead, or someone needed a good reminder about who's in charge, she knew Benny or his gang dealt with it. But the man acted like she didn't know a thing. She didn't want to work for Benny, or be one of his goons. She just wanted him to include her in his things. She wanted him to know that he could depend on her, and if he needed anything, anything she would give it to him.
He sat back down next to her and picked up his cigarette from the ash tray and took a long drag. They were on top in the VIP section, looking down at the gamblers and the flashing lights of addiction. She always used to day dream of what the casino's looked like inside, especially the Lucky 38 tower where their mysterious ruler lived up there, like the gods.
Now used to being in The Tops, hell she lived there, the stench of gambling and smoke got old real quick and the wonder of the casino's just wasn't the same.
"Nah kid. The opposite actually." He said smiling, stretching his legs on the small table in front of them. They were quiet, just listening to the sounds of people celebrating the money they just won or cursing as they lost caps. The speakers were playing Sinatra's song, Blue Moon, and she leaned back on the leather couch, pulling her knees to her chest. She rolled her head to the side to look at the dark haired man. He was looking down over his casino, lost in whatever he was thinking about.
She couldn't help but trace her eyes down his face. To his perfectly slicked back hair, wrinkled forehead whenever he raised his brows that complimented him, a straight long nose and then to his thin lips. She lingered on his lips, imagining how soft they would feel...
~And then there suddenly appeared before me... The only one my arms will ever hold... I heard somebody whisper, "Please adore me."...~
She looked away, biting her bottom lip.
"I heard the old man is dead." She said, wanting to fill the suddenly thick air around her. "I didn't know he was hooked up on psycho." The old man she was referring to was an old gentleman who sang about stories of days before New Vegas. From time to time, she would sit and listen to him and brought his words to life in her head, imagining the nomadic warriors he sang of, and the tribes and leaders that valued honor and just the simple life. She of course had no clue of what he sang about, since it was before her time. She tried getting Benny to tell her about it, since he revealed to her he was just a young man back then when their were still tribes, but he refused and said that kind of lifestyle was in the past. The future was New Vegas.
"The old boy took one too many. That's why I don't do chems, dig." He said, taking a sip of strong whiskey from a glass cup.
She in turn took a swig from a glowing blue Quantum Nuka Cola bottle, scrunching up her face as the burning sensation went down her throat. "I'm going to be gone for a while." She said, looking at the blueness of the pop. "I got a long delivery this time that'll take me all the way to the borders."
She didn't notice him stiffen, or his knuckles turning white as he clenched the glass cup.
"I don't want you missing me or something." She joked. "It's a big one though. Mr. House ordered it specifically for himself. I don't know the details, since well he's the boss and he didn't have to tell the company anything... but I wonder what it could be." She was getting paid a generous amount of caps, 50,000 generous. And with a note to personally give the package to Mr. House. No one had ever seen the man, or even the inside of Lucky 38. To her, he was just a blank, mysterious figure that held great power all the way up there in the sky.
"...You the only one?" Benny asked.
She glanced at him and pursed her lips. She was ordered not to tell anyone anything about the delivery, but this was Benny. She told him everything.
"No. There's seven of us, or that's what Tim told me." Tim was one of her fellow couriers, and they would talk from time to time. He was the one that told her that he discovered that some of the other couriers got the same delivery, all from Mr. House. But she was the only one that got a note to meet the man.
"I'm the sixth one."
Beside her, Benny got up, knocking down the bottle of whiskey, it's contents spilling onto the carpet floor.
She got up alarmed. "Benny are you okay?!"
He ran his fingers through his dark hair, messing up the gel and looked anywhere but to her. "No. No I'm fine kid. I just... I just need some fresh air." She moved to follow him but he stopped her with a raise of his hand. "Alone. I... I need to be alone."
He didn't look at her as he left.
He didn't see the hurtful look on her face. Or the wetness of her cheeks.
~Blue moon... Now I'm no longer alone... Without a dream in my heart... Without a love of my own...~
0000000000
She woke up to the radio playing Sinatra's Blue Moon, the dream fading to the back of her mind. She laid in bed, just staring at the green wall of the tent, not wanting to get or move or anything. She felt like all the energy was drained out of her, and all she wanted to do was go back to her dreams instead of facing reality. She was safe there, comfortable even. Nothing could hurt her there.
She curled herself into a ball, trying to make the dream come back. Even if it wasn't a good one, it was one before... before he tore her life apart.
That was the last time she ever saw Benny. She tried searching for him, asking Swank where he left to but the Jack of Diamonds would lie to her, saying he didn't know. She knew he was lying since the man always tugged at his ears subconsciously. She went up to the presidential suite, which was the chairmen's floor, but he was gone. When she passed by Swank again to head out of the Tops, he stopped her.
"Look, I know I'm not supposed to tell you this. But you deserve to know. Benny's gone out with a bunch of Khans, looking for something." He said, darting his eyes around. "He didn't tell me much. Just that it would take him a few days to find it. But he said to keep an eye on you. Told me not to let you leave The Tops."
"But why?" Why would Benny just leave like that, without telling her. Why couldn't he just tell her himself. If he told her to never leave The Tops, she would do so without a thought. If he told her to stay by his side forever, she would do so in a heartbeat.
She would do anything for him.
"Look Doll, I'm just as clueless as you. Like I said, Benny didn't tell me a whole lot. And I'm his right-hand man, you dig?"
She looked towards the doors. "I can't stay. I've got an important delivery to make. I can't miss it."
"But Benny said-"
"Swank. Please just don't tell him. I cannot miss this delivery." She implored.
He searched her eyes and sighed heavily. "Kitty cat, I could never say no to that face. Go on, I'll keep zip."
"Thanks. I'll come back with some of Ruby's Radscorpion Casserole, I promise." She said.
"You better!" Swank called out to her as she jogged out of the casino...
She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the memory away. Why didn't she listen to him? Was this all her fault? This wouldn't have happened if she'd only stayed put. God, did she make him shoot her?
No. Don't be ridiculous. Benny didn't give a damn about her. He made it perfectly clear that night. It was only an inconvenience to him that he had to waste his time searching the other couriers when it was with her all along. The platinum chip. What was so damn important about it. Mr. House sent seven couriers for it. Benny scoured the wasteland for them. It seemed like everyone wanted the chip.
She got up. She was only wasting time trying to sleep again. The tent was empty when she left it. Lance was stationed where he was last night, keeping an eye out for any enemies.
"You're up. Lieutenant Hayes is waiting for you at the end of the road, under the bridge." Lance informed her.
She gave a nod and jogged down the street, passing the wrecked houses and down to where the road left through Primm. Just like he said, at the end of the road that led off back into the desert stood Hayes and Tyrone. She slowed down to a stop.
"Take this." Hayes handed her an 10mm pistol, as well as some ammo for the gun. "Don't worry about coming back. We will know if Major Knight got the message."
She checked the gun, holding it up to eye level. She put it down and turned to them. "Anything I should know?"
"We're not sure, but there might be some bandits hold up in the Nevada Highway Patrol Station. You should steer clear of that." Tyrone informed, "Other than that it's one long walk to the outpost."
She holstered the pistol, and gave a curt nod.
"Good luck courier." Hayes yelled to her retreating form.
She hoped she still had luck.