I woke up in a relatively soft bed. I opened my eyes, and my vision was all blury for a second. A voice said "You're awake, how 'bout that?"
I sat upright, and suddenly felt lightheaded. The man said "Woah! Easy there!".
I looked at him. He was a bald old man, who wore reading glasses and a farmer's outfit.
"You've been out cold a couple of days now. Name's Doc Mitchell. Can you tell me your name?"
I had difficulty remembering it, but eventually, I blurted out "Michael!"
Doc said "Hm. Can't say it's what I'd have picked for ya, but if that's your name,
that's your name."
We proceded to go through some exams. Stuff to see if my muscles had atrophied,
to see how much brain damage the bullet had done to my brain, to test hand-eye coordination.
That sort of thing.
Eventually, the Doc had decided to let me go with a clean bill of health.
"Now, before I turn you loose, I think you ought to have this." He handed me a watch-like device with a giant screen on it. He said "They call it a Pip-boy. Ain't much use to me Now. And here's some things you had on you when you came in." Doc handed me a delivery order for a package from "the Mojave express". So, I must have indeed been a courier.
There were also some bottle caps, which if I recall are currency these days.
"You might want to see Sunny Smiles for advice on survivng out here, and Victor, the metal feller who dug you out of your grave."
...
And so I left the Doc's place. The place looked like a town from a western. It was far removed from most of the wasteland, and yet, it didn't seem out of place in the Mojave.
My first priority was to arm myself. I didn't want to get jumped again. So, I went to a store nearby. A man stood at the end of a counter.
He looked at me and said "Hey! You're that one that Doc Mitchell patched up! Way I heard, I didn't think you were coming out of that office!"
I said "Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated."
Chet said "Must of been if you're in my shop now."
I grabbed a pouch filled with caps and set it on the table. I said "So, got anything I can use to defend myself?"
Chet said "Well, I don't pack a whole lot of weapons, but I think I can get you started on defending yourself. For a fee, of course."
In the end, I had ended up purchasing leather armor and a motorcycle helmet. They wouldn't stop bullets, but they'd do against clubs and knives. I bought some brass knuckles for hand-to-hand combat. I purchased a pool cue, a straight razor, and a rolling pin for close quarters. I decided some energy weapons might be needed. I purchased a recharger rifle and pistol. They didn't use up ammo, so out in the dessert they'd be pretty useful. But, I always preffered conventional guns, so I got a nail gun and a legendary official Red Ryder 200-shot carbine action range model air rifle. By the end, I had spent every cap on me.
I got to the prospector saloon, and standing before me was a red haired woman wearing a leather jacket. A dog snarled at me.
The woman said "Cheyenne! Stay! Don't worry, she won't bite unless I tell her to."
I said to her "Hello, my name's Michael. And you are?"
She said "Sunny Smiles. Aren't you the one Doc Mitchell found?"
Unusual name, but I went on "Doc Mitchell said you could teach me a thing or two about surving in the dessert.
She said "Yeah, I guess you need all the help you can get after what they done to you. Here, meet me at the behind the saloon."
I obeyed. She had set up a firing range of sorts, with Sasperilla bottles on a table. She said "Here, try to hit a couple of them"
I looked down the sights of my BB gun. I fired a shot at a bottle, and the BB pinged against the glass towards the base of the bottle.
"That's the right idea, look down the sight. Try croutching, it'll help your aim"
said Sunny.
I took her advice, and fired another shot while croutching. It hit, as well.
Sunny said "Well, that's a start. But I reckon you didn't come to me to learn to fight sasperilla bottles. Tell you what, I need to clear out some Geckos at the water source. Darn critters are attracted to it. Seems like Doc Mitchell patches up gecko bites more than anything else."
I said "Sounds like fun, I said"
Sunny chuckled "You have no idea."