Chapter 12: Trouble comes in pairs.
Hours later, Autumn was helping Sandra around the outpost. There was a man in there who had been attacked by three geckos, so his legs were shredded up, but luckily enough, there was nothing severe about it. There wasn't an infection to be worried about. "Pass me a gauze, some whiskey, and some bandages," Sandra commanded, and Autumn complied. She walked up to a cabinet that she'd been taught held these supplies and grabbed everything she needed. On her way back to Sandra, she even picked up a safety pin, which was custumary for when bandages were being used. "Here you are, ma'am," she said, just as Sandra turned and took the supplies into hand, noticing the safety pin that came with it that she didn't ask for. Made her feel like Autumn was paying a lot of attention.
The man winced when Sandra began cleaning the wounds with the whiskey. It hurt like bloody hell, and the man, who looked like he was in his early fifties, gritted his teeth and tensed his body. "Agh . . . god damnit," he uttered, as Sandra continued working as gently as she could. Meanwhile, Autumn turned her head to the door, which was opening, and saw Rem come through without a limp. It looked like he had recooperated by then, and with that in mind, she was sure that she'd be able to leave as soon as the other outpost green lit them. When he took a seat on a chair a couple of feet away, she looked away from him and looked back down at Sandra. "Some of these are deep, and they're going to need stitching. Don't worry though, we'll use med-x for that part of the procedure." The patient didn't respond to that, still preoccupied with the pain from the whiskey. Sandra stood up afterwards, "Medley, come finish this up and prep him for a stitch job."
Another doctor, one nearby, turned away from a medicine cabinet he was refilling and nodded, "Yes ma'am." With that, Sandra stood and started heading in Rem's general direction, and once she arrived, she looked down at him. "While I wait for that, I'll check up on you. How's that leg?" Rem started to take off his shirt, which revealed a lightly scarred body, like anyone in his line of work might have. "I can walk on it now. Feels good. So does my stomach, but I still have problems breathing sometimes. As long as I don't exert myself, however, that should be given enough time to heal up on its own." Sandra nodded, "Exactly. Don't over work yourself," she paused, "In any way any time soon." Then he glanced up at her, curious as to what she meant by that. Somehow, he knew she was talking about sex. "Lean forward," she said, as Autumn watched the other doctor arrive to continue Sandra's progress.
Rem leaned forward and moments later, he felt a cold stethoscope pressed up against his back. Made him shy away from it for a moment but then he got used to it. "Breathe," Sandra commanded, and he took in a breath and exhaled. "Okay, now breathe again, but take as big a breath as you can." Rem took a deep, long breath and released it." Sandra started nodding again, "Looks good. Now I want you to breath in and hold it. Deep as you can," Rem glanced up at her, wondering if this wasn't the type of thing to provoke damage. When the stare lasted long enough, Sandra realized what his concern was, "Don't worry. It'll help me get a grasp on your status and it'll help you understand what's too much." Rem nodded and looked away finally before taking a long, deep breath and held it. A couple of seconds went by and then he released the breath, coughing heavily.
Sandra wasn't surprised to see the reaction, but she waited until he had regained himself to ask, "Pain?" Rem nodded in response, "Yeah, just a little. Probably shouldn't be doing any swimming any time soon." Sandra nodded, "Yeah. Well, otherwise, you seem alright." Rem started putting on his shirt, and he stood as he did, "Yeah, I can travel in this condition." Partly, Autumn was watching the doctor work and partly, she was listening to Sandra and Rem. When he said that he could travel now, she glanced at them. So soon, but it was a good thing. She was tired of sitting here at the outpost, waiting, even though learning from Sandra and the other doctors here had kept her relatively busy the entire time. "Can we radio in to the other outpost?" Rem asked, and Sandra responded, "Yeah, you go ahead and radio." Rem, once his shirt was on, started walking out the room.
When he reached the radio, he sat down on the chair in front of it and picked up the microphone. "This is the West Novac Outpost radioing in for Doctor Alvarez, do you read?" He paused and looked to one side, casually thinking about the way they'd get there. There were hardly any places in the Mojave that he hadn't been to before, so when it came to traveling, he was an expert. It took him a couple of moments while he was considering the route when he realized that he hadn't been responded to. He looked at the radio again and pressed the button, "West Novac Outpost. Doctor Alvarez, do you read? Over." Then he looked to his left this time, watching some of the dotors walk by, and then he watched Autumn emerge from the emergency room. When he looked back, there was no answer still. "West Novac Outpost. Doctor Alvarez, do you read? Is anyone there?" Nothing. Rem got a bad feeling about it all of a sudden.
"This is the West Novac Outpost. Freeside outpost, do you read?" He waited for a couple of moments and he got an immediate answer, "Freeside outpost, we read. Over." Rem spoke into the speaker again, "We're unable to contact South Camp Golf outpost, can you? Over." The voice came back quickly, "No, we've been out of contact with them for about eight hours now. Over." When Rem heard that, he leaned back in his chair and went silent in thought for a long, long while. "West Novac? Do you read?" he heard, and he brought the speaker back to his mouth, "I read. Do you know anything about an outpost migration? Over." "I'll go ask Julie. Give me a few minutes, over." With that, Rem continued sitting there, wondering what exactly was going on. When he heard a response, he heard a female. Julie Farkas. "This is Julie. Last time we spoke to them, they asked for supplies, which we sent over. Over." Yeah, hearing that, it was clear something was wrong. "Why do you ask? Over." Rem answered into the radio, "They told us they sent supplies out from their outpost because they were going to migrate. So if they asked another outpost for supplies after telling us that . . . " he looked from side to side, thinking, "They're being held hostage." There was another long pause, "Over."
Sandra was lecturing Medley on the upcoming stitch job the aged patient was going to receive when Rem stepped back into the room. She knew it was him from the way his boots sounded, "What'd they say?" Rem paused, "They're not responding." There was something inside Rem's tone that indicated that he felt like something was wrong. The idea of that made her turn to face him, with her eyes looking up at his slender face. "You think something's wrong?" she asked, causing Medley to stop doing what he was doing to glance at them and listen to the conversation. "I know something's wrong. They radioed the Freeside outpost recently and asked for supplies to be sent in." That caused Sandra to stand up, crossing her arms under her breasts out of habit, looking like she was suddenly concerned. "Which leads me to believe that they're being held hostage and whoever is doing it got them to have supplies sent in." "Shit," responded Sandra, "Seems like every other day, there's another fucking problem." Rem went silent and so did Sandra. She turned her side to him and bit on the side of her index finger, pensively, and then looked back at him, "What are you going to do now?"
"Well, left or right, forward or back, I'm going to have to go check out the outpost," he responded. Sandra lowered her eyes and nodded, before turning her back to him and pacing away slowly. Then she turned back to face him, "What about Autumn?" Rem lifted his shoulders into a shrug, "Well, I guess she'll stay here." Autumn butted in all of a sudden, "No, I want to come with you. What if we're wrong and it's just radio trouble?" Rem glanced at her, eyes small because of how ridiculous her proposition was, "It's not radio trouble. Why would they tell two outposts two different things?" Autumn was silenced as Rem looked away from her, "Either way, I can't stay here." She turned to Sandra quickly, "Is there any chance the Freeside outpost would take me in?" Sandra shrugged, "You could radio them and ask." Autumn, in irritation, narrowed her eyes and shook her head, "No, I'll ask them in person. Rem, can you take me there, instead?"
Rem glanced at her and then back at Sandra. Sandra shook her head in disapproval, and when she did, Rem glanced back at Autumn. Autumn spoke quickly, "You said you wanted to help me any way you could. Help me by taking me to the freeside outpost, please." Rem looked away from her and thought about it. Then he sighed and gave in, "Yeah, I can take you there. But we're going to go by the South Camp Golf outpost, first." Autumn nodded hard, "No problem. That's fine." Rem turned away from her and released another breath, looking at Sandra, who shook her head, "No, she could get hurt. Gail would want to kill us both." Rem shook his head at her, "No, I won't let her come too close to the outpost with me. Once I'm done there, and trust me I wont be doing anything dangerous that I don't need to do, I'll take her to the Freeside outpost and if they can't accept her there, I'll bring her back here."
Sandra listened to all that and shook her head, "Fine." After that, the both of them went silent. Rem had his gaze lowered, with his arms crossed over his chest. Sandra was glancing at him. When enough time went by Autumn stepped close to them, "When are going to leave?" The question snapped Rem out of his rumination and he started pacing to one side. "Now. We'll leave right now."
Didn't take Autumn long to be ready, and it didn't take Rem long to be prepared, either. In the time that he spent recovering, he had washed his jeans to the most thorough extent possible and even though all the blood hadn't come off, and they still had bullet holes in them, he still wore them. His white shirt was over with so he was given a light brahmin skin shirt, which he didn't particularly enjoy, and he also equipped himself with the combat armor plate on his chest under the shirt. The trench coat he had been wearing usually was also kept, with the least amount of blood, and even though it had bullet holes on the tail. Finally, he also still had his cowboy's hat. And while he was standing in the common room, tying the trail carbine to his back and securing the duffle bag around one of his shoulders, Sandra came in. "Hey. Need any supplies?" Rem shook his head, "Got enough food and water in the duffle bag."
He had enough water and ammo, and enough food to get him to the 188 trading stop, but what he really felt he was lacking was land mines. However, he speculated he wouldn't need any until he got to the outpost, and along the way, he'd be able to purchase some at the trading post. Moments later, Autumn came in from the barracks, carrying two sleeping bags for them. When she was ready, Rem glanced at her and then back at Sandra, "Alright, time for us to go. Thanks for everything you've done for me," he said, to Sandra, and she shook her head. "No, thank you. Make sure you're safe. There wont be anyone by to help this time around." Rem smiled, "I know. Take good care." Then he glanced at Autumn, "Let's go." He turned around and started walking when he heard his name, "Rem." He turned around, glancing at Sandra, "If you ever need anything, come by." She held her hand out to him, and Rem looked down at her hand. Then he reached out and grasped it softly, before shaking it just as gently, "I wont hesitate."
Just as Rem let go and started walking towards the door, Autumn hugged Sandra. "Thank you for everything you did for me." Sandra returned the embrace by wrapping one arm around the younger woman's torso, and responded, "I was happy to help. That's what I do best." Autumn couldn't help but smile at the comment. That readiness to help was why she admired Sandra, and Gail, too. When she let go, she nodded to her and headed out the door. While autumn was descending the ladder, Sandra came out as well and stood on the outpost balcony, watching Autumn jog a bit to catch up to Rem. Watching them put more and more distance between them gave her the same feeling she got when Casey and Gail left. Felt like friends were leaving. Autumn looked back to see Sandra so pensive. She smiled widely at her and waved, which took Sandra out of that thoughtful state and freed her to wave in return, smiling all the while.
When Autumn caught up to Rem, he spoke, "How much have you traveled?" She stopped walking faster once she was walking next to him, "Not too much. We lived in our parents' place for a while after we were orphaned. A few years later, we saw a deathclaw nearby. We knew that they travel in groups and we felt like we had to leave, so we did." Rem glanced at her, "You made the right decision, actually. Sticking through as that deathclaw migrated in would have been a really, really bad idea." He said, looking ahead again. He gazed far into the wasteland, as far as he could, and there were so many hills that he couldn't even see the horizon. He turned back to look at her and saw a dim gaze on her countenance, aligned downward, and that's when he realized he had said something very wrong. Maybe . . . they would have had better chances escaping the deathclaws, after all. And maybe, if they had died, it wouldn't have been so torturous.
"Casey and Gail said they'd radio in when they could, right?" Autumn glanced up at him, "Yeah." Rem nodded, "She really cares about you." Autumn glanced down again, "Yeah." Rem continued glancing at her, and then he removed it from her. Damn it, he thought, gotta be more careful with what I say. "I was asking because . . . I'm not sure if you know how to travel properly." Autumn looked towards him. Though her eyes didn't reflect it, she was slowly becoming irritated by the fact that he was talking to her so much. She didn't want to talk to him at all throughout this trip actually. "I know how to travel, don't need to teach me," she said, entirely just to get him to stop talking. Honestly, she hadn't a clue how to travel safely. Rem inhaled and exhaled, "Alright. Well, stay behind me and follow the same trail I follow." When he said that, she felt instantly at ease, glad that he sent her back so she wouldn't have to talk so much. She fell back, and Rem continued.
Once she stepped back and was out of his immediate attention, he started to focus on the wasteland. It had been a while since he had set out into it, so doing it now felt a little alien. But it didn't take him too long to start feeling at home with it. To start feeling at home with all the loneliness surrounding him and Autumn, and with the fact that there could be danger over every hill or around any corner. Nowhere was safe, ever, in the wasteland, and when traveling, the best defense a man could have is an unfaltering perception with which he could see the enemy before the enemy saw him. So with that, he became ever watchful, ever cautious of all the things that surrounded him.
Autumn watched how cautious he was. There were times he'd hold his hand back and ask her to stop, then he'd go up on a nearby plateau and look around to see if he could spot anything. If there was nothing, he'd motion for her to follow and she'd follow. A couple of times along the way, they were attacked, but never by anything Rem's trail carbine couldn't take care of. Twice geckos and once a radscorpion, but Rem didn't pick anything up from them. She remembered when she was living with Jesse, they picked up anything they killed. For food or to sale, no matter what, but Rem didn't. Looked like he had everything figured out, knew what he needed and didn't need, and though she still wasn't easy traveling with him, she did feel safe.
Hours later, she finally spoke, "Hey, Rem." He paused and turned his head over his shoulder to glance at her. When his eyes settled on her, she was trailing up a hill with her eyes looking at where she walked, "How long have you been in the Mojave? You seem like you know your way around." Rem turned ahead and responded as he walked, "Came here when I was twenty six, from Baja, California. I'm thirty one now." Autumn continued walking, watching her step until she was going downhill behind him, "You were born in Baja?." Rem landed on the base of the hill and looked ahead. He saw cactuses and more sand into the distance, but nothing other than the wind moved. Then he continued walking, "I was born in Santa Clarita. Very small town. Had a small population before the war, and it had an even smaller one after the war." Autum listened and as she did, she continued walking, watching her step whenever she felt she needed to.
They traveled for another few hours and eventually, there was something in the distance. Not lights, but the semblance of a town. A town that had seen war before. "There's boulder city. We'll rest there and make our way to the outpost after we get some sleep." Autumn looked at it from where she was and for a couple of moments, she understood, but as Rem started to walk, she spoke, "We're not going straight to the outpost?" Rem shook his head, "I imagine you're feeling a little tired, so we're getting a rest stop." Autumn thought for a moment but then she shook her head vigorously, "No! I'm not tired at all. We should go straight there. What if we get there later and we're too late?" Rem stopped and turned to look at her, a little surprised with her reaction. Before he spoke, he took a good glance at her, trying to make note of whether or not she looked tired. She didn't look tired, at all, "You sure?" She answered assertively, "Yes."
Rem looked towards Boulder city and then in the direction of the outpost, "Alright. Well, let's go then." He started walking in another direction, and Autumn followed. "You thirsty?" "No," Rem turned to look over her shoulder when she said that. "I'm not going to think you're tired if you're thirsty. If you're thirsty, you're thirsty." There was a pause, and then Autumn spoke, "A sip then." Rem stopped, "In my duffle bag." She walked up to him and stuck her hand inside the duffle bag and after digging around, she procured a purified water bottle. She opened it and started drinking while Rem began walking again.
It was starting to get dark, and the more they walked, the more he kept wondering if Autumn actually was holding up. As for him, traveling was easy. He couldn't necessarily go forever without resting but he could go a long while before he needed to sit down and get a long, lengthy rest. "You holding up alright?" he asked, and Autumn exhaled as she navigated the wasteland. "Yes," she responded, a little breathy. When he heard the breathiness he stopped and turned around to look at her. She stopped, too, and she glanced at him, realizing immediately why he had stopped. "I won't lie to you, I'm tired, but I'm not drop dead tired. I'm not going to stop until we've gotten to the outpost." After she said that, Rem reached up and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll give you a ten minute rest. Have some food," he started reaching for his duffle bag, and she retorted, "No, no. No time to waste." "Eat something, otherwise you'll be more trouble for me than I need." When Rem spoke, he spoke sharply. "Sit down."
Reluctantly, she sat down and he pulled out some food from his duffle bag. Iguana bits, and handed the stick to her. She looked up, reached for it and took, "Don't eat it all. Otherwise you'll cramp up when we walk." She nodded in response and started eating, while he paced away and secured the duffle bag around his shoulder. He turned his back to her and turned in the direction of the strip, where the Lucky 38 could be seen jutting into the sky, brighter than any star up there. He remembered a long time ago when the strip was the dream. The place to go and be. Not so much anymore. It was more like an unnecessary gem that didn't need to be around anymore, because most of the energy from the Hoover Damn was being funneled into it. Days like this, he thought that if the NCR were led by a man who was more interested in protecting the people, then more people would side with the NCR, and things wouldn't be as bad as they were.
While he stood there, Autumn could see he was thinking. The breeze caused his trench coat to billow gently, caused his blonde hair to flutter, but the rest of his body looked like a statue. She wasn't so fond of Rem but as she watched him, standing there like he had a lot of his mind, she started wondering what he might have been through in the past. Everyone had a story in the post war world, what was his? "Rem," she called to him. He didn't respond, and when she noticed that, she spoke again, "Rem." He turned his head back to her suddenly, like he realized he didn't hear her a first time. "What is it?" She bit down on a piece of cooked gecko and spoke, "Why aren't you in the NCR anymore?" Rem raised an eyebrow to the question, wondering why she was suddenly interested in asking stuff. With enough thought he figured that since she was traveling with him, she might as well. It wasn't because she liked him.
"I guess our ideals don't match anymore." "Anymore?" she asked, and he nodded as he lowered and sat down on his rear. "I joined up because of what they represented. They were a military for the people, but the larger they got, they started representing that less. They became a military for the military." Autumn listened, but didn't understand entirely because of the odd way he had of saying things. "What do you mean?" "Well, I don't know if it's because of the pressure from the Legion and the Fiends, but after a while, they weren't out to share technology with the people that needed it anymore. For example, the Hoover Dam is built to funnel energy to a lot of places, not just the strip and Camp McCarran. They don't do that, however." As Autumn listened, she nodded, to show him she understood. "On top of everything, it's hard to help people sometimes when you're in the NCR. You can't save a life without clearance. Things like that discouraged me and I never signed back up."
Autumn, though she still found it hard to give him credit for anything, realized that, well, that wasn't a bad reason to leave the NCR. "Did you fight in Boulder City?" Rem shook his head, "No." The straight forward response she got for that question discouraged her from asking any more like that one. "What do you think about the Legion?" Rem was glancing away after he said no but when she asked that question, he looked back at her, as if he thought it was a ridiculous question. "They killed a lot of my friends, so I feel towards them the way any NCR soldier might feel towards them. Other than that, they're hell in the Mojave, need to be put down. Even now, after the second battle at Hoover Dam, they're not entirely gone." Autumn responded, "Yeah but what's left of them is being hunted down." Rem nodded, "Yeah. But, you know, it'll be hard to. They haven't even raided cottonwood cove yet. You would imagine they had already, but I guess they want to let them get their strength back again for another go." Autumn took one last bite and put the gecko bits away in one of her compartments.
Once she felt rested enough, she stood, "I can go now." Rem nodded to her and stood, then he turned and started walking. This time, Autumn spoke, and while Rem occupied himself with being watchful again, he didn't even notice the big change. "I heard explosions during the second battle of Hoover Dam. What was that about?" Rem responded quickly, "A bomber from Nellis Air Force base flew over the Dam and blasted a lot of Legionaries to pieces during the battle." Autumn raised her eyebrows in awe. "Woah. The Boomers helped?" Rem nodded his head. "What were you doing during all of that?" "I fought at Camp McCarran. The Legion attacked lots of places that day." "Were you still in the NCR?" Rem shook his head, still looking around, "No."
Talking, the hours went by faster, and after another hour or so they saw the 188 trading post in the distance, with an NCR flag billowing proudly overhead. He started heading in that direction, and when Autumn noticed that, she spoke, "I don't need to rest." "We're close enough to the outpost so I'm going to leave you here and be on my way there. When I'm done scouting, I'll make my way back to you. Besides, I need to buy some stuff here." Autumn paused for a couple of moments, thinking things through, "I want to go with you." "No." She furrowed her eyebrows, "I want to help." "You can't help me here, Autumn." She started getting progressively angry, "Yes I can. If you find more than one person there, you wont be able to bring them back by yourself." Rem continued walking, still not convinced to bring her along, "Depending on what's happened there, I'm not even going to go inside. I'm there to scout." Autumn stopped walking, and when Rem noticed that, he stopped and turned around to look at her. She was staring at him, with her eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Didn't you say you wanted to help anybody you could?" Rem responded quickly, "Yeah, but if I die this time around, you're not getting to the Freeside outpost. So, to make sure you get where you have to go, I have to be safe." Autumn shook her head at him, "No, go there to help them. I can get to the Freeside outpost by myself if something happens." Rem crossed his arms over his chest, "No, you can't." Autumn exploded angrily, "Yes I can! Don't tell me what I can and can't do, alright! You don't know what I can do!" He was a bit stumped all of a sudden, but more than anything, he felt a pang of fondness towards her. She was righteous, and these were the types of people he could get along with. Finally, he felt better about having saved her life. She continued, "You said you wanted to do whatever you could to help me. Help me by helping whoever is still alive in the outpost." Rem added, "If." "Whatever," she responded, "If they're alive, you'll find out." Rem stared at her, and then . . . well, he smiled at her. "Alright then." Honestly, he was kind of glad she was asking this of him. There was no doubting that he wanted to help in the first place but he knew he couldn't if he wanted to ensure Autumn's safety, and now that she had allowed him, no urged him, to do so, he felt more at ease.
It didn't take them too long after that to reach the 188 trading post, and the moment they did, they were met by a heavy trooper and two NCR troopers. Rem watched them calmly when he heard something unexpected from the heavy trooper, who was wearing power armor that had been stripped of some of its internal parts for the purpose of not requiring training to use it. "Remington." Rem stopped, glanced at the heavy trooper and didn't take his eyes away. The man set his minigun down and started reaching for his head, and started removing the helmet, revealing a light skinned african american man with short, buzzed hair. "Hah! Ricky!" Rem smiled immediately, grinning widely and reaching out to make a deep handshake that reached their forearms. Rem tightened his grip and pulled him close, and when they did, they each gave each other a heavy pat on the back. "Jesus Christ man it's been forever," Rem continued smiling as he spoke, and Ricky nodded. "Yeah. How've you been, sir?" Rem shook his head, "Don't sir me. Anyway, I've been alright. Got into some trouble the other day, with super mutants." Ricky nodded, "Those super mutants are useless. Trouble, nothing more." Rem's face went a little serious, and Autumn just listened to them.
"These were a little different. Not the type you see in the way of Jacobstown." Ricky noticed how Rem's face went a little serious, and knew that he should take this more seriously. "Well . . . what were they like?" Rem answered, "They were more yellow than green and they were cannibals. They ate people." Ricky stared at him, "Oh, shit. I've had to deal with cannibals before, but not super mutant cannibals." Rem nodded, "Look for the yellow skin if you ever have to deal with super mutants." Ricky nodded deeply to give Rem the indication that he understood, and then spoke, "Anyway, where ya headed?" Rem started walking inwards towards the 188 trading post. "Before that, this is Autumn. Autumn, Ricky." Ricky glanced at her and nodded, "Nice to meet you." He didn't say anything other than that, figuring that maybe, she was Rem's girlfriend. Autumn replied, "Nice to meet you, too." She followed as they walked.
"I'm helping out the followers. You know the uh, the outpost northwest of here?" Ricky nodded in response, carrying his helmet under one arm and the minigun in his other hand. "Well, I think they were being held hostage and whoever was doing it got them to ask for more supplies from the Freeside outpost. Then we lost contact with them." Ricky responded, "Oh, so they're probably gone man. Probably shouldn't bother anymore." When Autumn heard that, she realized just the type of people the NCR were, and she also started to understand why Gail wasn't so fond of them. "I know, but I have to go check it out, just in case, you know?" Ricky shook his head, "Probably a waste of time." Autumn cut in, no longer able to hold herself back, "Excuse me, what if we have friends there? Don't you think you might be being insensitive about this?" Ricky turned to look at her, and well, he was put down by it. "Sorry," he said, simply, and looked back at Rem. Autumn withdrew herself, still angry, but she continued following. Rem glanced at her and then back at Ricky, "But yeah, I have to go check it out."
With that, he started heading in the direction of the gun supply." Ricky looked in their direction and then back to Rem, "What do you need?" Rem responded, "Frag mines." "Michelle's asleep right now. I'll ask Samuel to wake her, since this is urgent." When they reached Samuel, he looked at both of them, "How may I help you, gentleman?" Ricky spoke, "Can you wake Michelle? This is urgent." Samuel nodded, "Give me a sec." When Michelle arrived, groggily, she didn't say a thing. She just waited for them to speak. "Four frag mines, if you got any." "Got three," she said, as she started getting them. She handed them over, "Two hundred and ninety caps." Rem reached into his duffle bag and went through the process of counting them, and then handed them over. "Thanks," he said. "You're welcome," and she went back to sleep.
Once Michelle was gone and Rem went through the process of strapping the frag mines into four convenient compartments on the inside of his trench coat, he glanced at Ricky and spoke, "Time for me to get going." Ricky nodded as Rem started walking, and followed along with Autumn, and when they started to reach an area away from the 188 trading post, he spoke, "Yo, Rem." Rem turned back and glanced at him. He could see that Ricky was reluctant about something, "I would go with you, but orders are clear." Yeah, he wanted to come with them, but if he did, he'd likely be punished. "It's alright. Can't spend resources without clearance and all of that, I know the drill. Don't beat yourself up for it." Ricky stopped walking as they began leaving the trading post. Autumn didn't say a thing, seemingly keeping something to herself.
The while that they spent walking was silent. Every now and then, Rem would turn over his shoulder to glance at her. He could see that she was thinking about something. When she finally spoke, he had been expecting it. "It's not even like the trading post is far away. If NCR soldiers were injured, the followers would help them." As Rem walked, he nodded, agreeing with her without saying a word. She saw that, and then continued, "Can't spend resources? Why the hell do they have guns then?" She was sounding increasingly irritated, and then she exhaled in frustration, "The NCR is so damn useless." Rem heard that statement many times, from many different people, and each time he did hear it, it never settled right. He cleared his throat and responded simply, without a desire to elaborate, "Sometimes." She looked at the back of his head as he continued walking.
"Sometimes?" Rem exhaled, reaching up to adjust his hat, and then he responded, "They're useless in the sense that they're not helping out the Followers, but they're extremely useful in the sense that they didn't let the Legion ravage the Mojave." Autumn looked down, in thought, and responded, "I guess, but it's a job half way done when they're only bothering with the Legion. With all the people they have, with all the resources, they should be helping out as many people as they can." Rem responded, "You're right, but even though the NCR is huge, they're spread too thin. They have to deal with Raiders and the Legion, which is a lot to take in by itself, and if you throw in all these other small things inside like wildlife, petty thieves and all criminals in general, it's way too much to ask from anyone. Sometimes it doesn't feel like they do everything they can do, but nobody ever thinks about how much they're already doing."
"I guess . . . " she answered, and Rem nodded. The conversation had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. He had frequented this topic so much that every time he did, it made him feel like a broken record, and it made everyone else seem like a broken record, too. He was just glad Autumn hadn't seen enough to be angrier than she was now. If she had, then this wouldn't be such a relaxed discussion. Moments after the conversation he paced over a small sand hill in the Mojave and immediately spotted the outpost. There it was. When Autumn reached him, she stopped beside him and stared. Honestly, even though Rem made it clear that something had more than likely occured at the outpost, she wasn't ready to see it. One of the windows was shattered with blood staining the broken shards. Bulletholes covered some of the wooden expanse of its composition, and oddly enough, the lights inside were still on.