Chapter 2

Goodsprings

I stepped out onto the porch of Doc Mitchell's house and was blinded by the light of the sun. Having been asleep inside a dim lighting home for three days had well adjusted me to darkness. Once my eyes had adjusted I began to stretch and inspect my gear. I placed my 9mm inside the hip holster on my right leg and placed my knife inside a carved out sheath inside my right boot. Then, I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the Pip-Boy. In addition to my Map, and notes I noticed that the Pip-Boy kept track of my vital signs and scanned the condition of my equipment. Another neat feature to the device was in the upper left corner was a geiger counter. The Pip-Boy also kept track of how much I've been exposed to radiation with a Rad counter. Perfect to keep track in case I need to take Rad-Away or pop some Rad-X.

As I took a few steps away from Doc's I saw a Securitron rolling towards me. Normally you don't see a securitron outside of the Strip so the sight of this one began to confuse me. Another strange characteristic of this Securitron was that its face was that of a cowboy not the usual angry policeman.

"Howdy partner! You sure look better than when I found you and took you over to Doc's three days ago!", said the Securitron

"You're the one who rescued me?", I asked

"Why I surely did! Pulled you right out of the dirt and brought you down. Name's Victor. Glad to have you back on your feet partner.", claimed Victor

"Victor, did you see the men who shot me in the head and buried me?"

"Who fancy-pants and his friends? Sure I saw them after they had buried you, went into the saloon but ain't seen him since." "Partner you should head to New Vegas when you're good enough to travel, Mr. House in the Lucky 38 would like to speak with you."

"Thanks for the information, Victor, and tell Mr. House I will do that when I can."

"Eww Weee alright partner, you take care now."

With that Victor rolled away. I decided to take Victor's advice and head towards the Goodsprings Saloon.

As I walked into the door, I was greeted by the growl of a dog ready to attack, by instinct I jumped into a defensive position until I heard, "Easy Cheyenne, no need to jump at this one. Sorry she doesn't take easy to strangers. Name's Sunny, Sunny Smiles, you must be that guy the Doc was patching up.", said Sunny.

"I am, Levi Mathis, Courier for the Mojave Express, Doc Mitchell said to speak with you about some survival tips.", I said. Although I knew through my NCR survival training as well as my special forces training how to survive in the wastes, but I thought she may have some extra tips for me to use.

"Sure thing, follow me outside to the back of the saloon.", Sunny said.

As we walked out of the saloon Sunny handed me a 5.56mm rifle more commonly known in the Wastes as a Varmint Rifle as well as 25 rounds.

"Over there on the fence post try aiming down the sights and hitting the bottles"

I did as she asked and missed two of the bottles on purpose. No sense in hitting all the bottles when I had just recovered from being shot in the head. I figured this should keep a good cover as a civilian.

"Not bad you got most of them, but I do need to go take out some geckos plaguing our watering holes, you are welcome to tag along if you like. There is some compensation in it for you if you do."

"Sure why not? It could help with my aim."

"That's the spirit! Better take a few more rounds before we go.", said Sunny while handing me 50 more rounds for my Varmint Rifle.

We went to three different watering locations and took out a few geckos. I managed to save a woman who was fighting off a few of them. Sunny paid me in caps for helping her take out the geckos, brought me over to a campfire and showed me how to make a local remedy called Healing Powder. While we were heading back to town I started to ask Sunny about the men who ambushed me.

"So have you seen the man in the fancy checkered suit that came through a few days ago?"

Sunny replied, "I saw him and his friends, but didn't mind them much. You should probably speak to Trudy at the saloon about them seeing as they were bothering her."

"I'll do that and thank you for the help."

"Anytime, if you're ever low on caps come and see me. I always have plenty of work available." Sunny then headed off to the other side of Goodsprings to speak to someone.

I headed back into the Saloon to see Trudy.

When I walked into the saloon, I saw a man in NCRCF security armor arguing with a woman beside the bar, who I assumed to be Trudy.

"...we'll find him but if you don't give him up there will be hell to pay.", said the man and he started to walk away.

"What seems to be the problem?", I asked him

"Name's Joe Cobb and I'm after a man hiding in town named Ringo, he owes me and my friends money.", Joe said.

"Maybe I can help."

"Not talking here, meet me at the edge of town and we'll talk.", Joe said as he walked out of the Saloon

"Who is Ringo and why was Joe threatening you?", I asked the woman next to the bar

"Ringo is a man that we are hiding, came to us a couple of days ago saying that he was being chased by crazed individuals. We assumed Fiends or Raiders, had we known it was the Powder Gangers, we probably would have handed him over, but that's not our way. Name's Trudy, I own and run the Goodsprings Saloon. You must be the Courier Doc was telling me about.", Trudy said

"Levi Mathis, Courier with the Mojave Express, at your service. I may be able to help you with the Powder Ganger problem in exchange for some information about the man that shot me in the head."

"Levi you have a deal. You get rid of those Powder Gangers and the whole town will be mighty appreciative of you."

"I'll see what I can do.", I said while walking out of the saloon.

I made my way next door to the general store to grab some ammo and perhaps find supplies needed to deal with the Powder Gangers. I know that with my assignment I need to stay in deep cover, but they never said that helping people in the Mojave was out of the question.

When I walked into the store the owner, Chet greeted me and showed me his wares. I found a few frag grenades and a silenced .22 pistol that could come in handy dealing with the Powder Gangers. I bought the grenades, the pistol, and a few rounds for all three of my guns. I placed the pistol and grenades in my backpack and I walked back towards the saloon to ask Trudy about Ringo.

"He's hiding in the old gas station at the top of the hill", she claimed.

I thanked her and made my way to the gas station. When I opened the door, I was greeted with a 9mm pointed at my head.

"Who are you and what do you want?", the man exclaimed

"Easy buddy! Name's Levi Mathis, I'm a Courier with the Mojave Express. I'm not after you but you must be Ringo, if I had to guess."

"Yeah, sorry about that I can't be too jumpy with the crazed people after me."

"You mean Joe Cobb and the Powder Gangers? They are here looking for you. I'm looking to help the town out with the problem."

Ringo replied, "Yeah I feel bad dragging the town into this but I had no other option, I work for the Crimson Caravan and they felt they needed us to pay them, so after my caravan was looted I shot one of them and ran."

I looked at Ringo like he was crazy, "How did you manage to escape?"

He exclaimed, "They fired on me but once I got far enough, they were only worried about the caravan, but somehow they found out I was hiding here."

"Sit tight and I'll see what I can do about this, but don't go anywhere until I return.", I told Ringo

I walked over to the General Store and asked Chet if he had any wire and a walking stick.

"What are you going to do with those?", he asked

"Eh could be anything but its always good to have a few spare items.", I replied.

I walked to the edge of town and met Joe Cobb. He was propped up against a house on the very edge of town.

"Took you long enough, and what's that a walking stick? You getting adventurous or something?", He asked

"Sorry it took so long I've been searching for Ringo." I replied

"Me too. He owes us money for shooting one of my boys."

"Is it just you out here? I thought you were with a group."

"My boys are waiting just on the other side of that hill about a half mile from here."

I looked over and saw the hill. Luckily it was getting dark so I could easily make out a campfire and could see that no one was watching from town either.

"So what's the plan? Go in shooting everyone until you find Ringo?"

"If he doesn't come out soon, yeah but if I can find him then we take him and anyone who helps."

"Sounds like a plan I'll see what I can find out."

"I like your style, with you working with us, they will never see it coming.", Joe said as he let out a small laugh.

I mumbled, "Neither will you." I pulled my silenced .22 pistol and pulled the trigger.