Chapter 16: Camaraderie.
Rem sat down in the shade but didn't go anywhere he couldn't still see Autumn. As he sat there, he watched her, standing in the same place as before aiming the cowboy repeater from one thing to the next. Each time he saw her tilt it a little further up, he could tell she was aiming at something that was further away. "Hey," he heard, and the voice immediately snatched his attention and caused him to turn to its source very quickly. It was Ricky, not wearing a helmet and in his two hands, there were nuka colas. The sudden glee he felt when he saw that there was moisture rolling down the side of those bottles would have shone brilliantly, like headlights, in his eyes if it weren't for the fact that is was biologically impossible. "Oh man, thanks," he said, reaching out for one of them and taking it into hand. It was cold against the skin. Ricky nodded and began sitting down.
Both of them opened the bottle and stashed the cap, and just as Autumn turned around to look for Rem, she watched them drink nuka cola in unison. It looked comedic from where she was standing. Right after the initial, refreshing swig, Ricky motioned to Autumn just as she was turning away. "What's up with the girl, sir?" Rem's shoulders slowly lifted, shrugging, used to being called sir at this point and without the desire to advise Ricky against it anymore. "Am I with her? Or?" Ricky took a drink, "No, in general." Rem rook another drink, enjoying every drop of the cold soda, "Where'd you get these, by the way?" Ricky responded after taking another drink. They were downing the stuff so fast that each of them had less than half of what they had started with. "Michelle's got a working fridge hooked up to a pair of fission batteries. She charges extra but," he shrugged as he reached his point, "it's worth it."
Rem nodded to him, bending his knees and resting his arms on them. "Remember the trouble I told you about with those super mutants?" Ricky answered with a nod and nothing more. "Well," he breathed, too lazy to tell the entire story. He decided he had to, just about, regardless of how lazy he wanted to be about it. "Well, the Followers lost a supply crew at one of their safehouses and I volunteered to investigate. I got there and found lots of blood all over the floor." Ricky responded, drawing entirely on experience alone, "Night stalkers?" Rem shook his head, "Well, I thought so, too. There were drag marks, so the bodies had been dragged off." Ricky raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Rem, immediately understanding how anomalous this was, given it sounded like it hadn't been night stalkers. "The super mutant cannibals." Rem took another drink, nodding at the same time.
"Yeah but the problem is, I went looking for the corpses thinking I was going to deal with night stalkers, or any kind of Mojave wild life. Didn't do any scouting." Ricky listened, still looking ahead in Autumn's general direction. There was still some soda in the bottle but it looked like now that there wasn't much left, he was savoring it. "I found a cavern in the hills the safehouse was in and went in. Once I was inside I realized that there were no drag marks, and so, you know, couldn't be night stalkers. Just when I was leaving they arrived, so I started running inside to find a place to hide." Ricky spoke, "Damn, sounds bad, sir." Rem nodded to acknowledge the statement, "What I found was two teens. A boy and a girl," he said, taking a drink and dragging his gaze towards Autumn afterwards. "Autumn's the girl that was in there and her brother didn't make it."
Ricky took in the last drink and set the bottle aside, "And now you're teaching her the ropes."
"Yup, long story short."
There was a long pause and each of them watched Autumn. As they did, she fired a shot. Rem counted how many she had fired up until then and concluded she still had at least five more shots worth of practice. "How'd you get out, sir?" The question came out of nowhere, like somewhere amidst Ricky's train of thought he realized that little detail of the story was missing, and given he knew what kind of soldier Rem had been in the past, he was interested in knowing. "The bulk of them left a few hours later, and there were bottlecap mines in there that they had probably stolen. I stole them and set one up on one of the far corners and when they came back, I threw a pebble in the direction of the mine. One of them heard it and went to check it out, and set off the mine, giving me the chance to escape." When Ricky heard it he started chuckling, clearly amused by it. "Damn sir, that what they teach you at Ranger academy?" Rem smirked, "No, they don't. When you go to Rangering school, you have to have that already." Then he took another drink, enjoying every bit.
Ricky asked, "And then?" Rem glanced at him, amused that he wanted to hear the whole thing. "I ran out and left some mines in my wake. One got caught, and then one started babbling on about eating me. I played along but I gradually stopped responding as much, and then I went completely silent. The leader thought I was getting away so, I don't know what happened in there but there was another explosion and he came out running. I was hanging off a ledge nearby, and they missed me completely. When they were gone, it left me free to rescue the girl. You know, looking back, the guy probably tossed one of his subordinates at the frag mine. Dumb ass didn't think about throwing a large rock at it instead." Ricky smiled widely while Rem pictured the images of what it looked like inside when he went in to rescue Autumn.
As this conversation was going on, he started to reminisce on the days when he was actually still in the NCR. Even though he felt he had great reasons for not being in the NCR anymore, the days he spent as a soldier with them seemed more and more vibrant the more time went by. "Sir, why'd you leave?" Rem shook his head as he released a breath, tired of that question, and he took the last drink. "Never mind that. Tell me about you, instead." Ricky leaned back and rested his weight on his hands, beginning to talk as another shot from Autumn's cowboy repeater clapped. "Well, they haven't selected me for Rangership yet, so I guess I'm just another soldier." Rem shook his head, "You don't need that funky looking hat to be a good soldier." Ricky tilted his head, looking rather thoughtful, "It's easy to say that when you've been at the top, sir." Rem glanced at Ricky as he continued, "You've had your black armor before, sir." Rem glanced away.
"What'd you do with it, anyway? Won't suppose you'd let me borrow it," Ricky said, mouth widening into a smile as he did. Rem just laughed softly, "Threw it in a dumpster." Ricky started laughing a bit louder, "Shit sir, which dumpster?" When Ricky asked that Rem started laughing a little louder, too, and Ricky continued, "Cause I swear on my momma's peaceful soul I will find that dumpster, sir." Rem continued laughing, and so did Ricky, and after a couple of moments the both of them digressed. They each still had a very vivid smile on their faces, however. This was one of the reasons why Rem missed being in the NCR. Camaraderie.
"This heavy trooper suit fits you better anyway," said Rem, reaching out to pat Ricky's iron shoulder. "Provides better protection in the legs anyway." Ricky's eyebrows furrowed and he responded quickly, "Yeah and it's also real damn heavy, sir."
"So is the black armor."
Ricky shook his head, "Not as heavy. But I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't mind being a heavy trooper. They armor us up proper and arm us to the teeth. Love the minigun I've got." Rem started nodding in approval, "Yeah, I remember feeling easy when heavy troopers arrived on scene. When you guys are working in units, your firepower makes life simple." Ricky smiled, "Yup." All of a sudden, he loved being a heavy trooper. "Alright sir, gotta get back to my post, otherwise I'll catch hell." Rem dragged his eyes over to him and nodded, "Thanks for the cold drink." Ricky answered, "Any time, sir." Rem watched Ricky walk away, putting his helmet on as he did, and when he turned to look at Autumn he noticed she was approaching.
As she arrived, he glanced up at her, like he was expecting something wrong from her. It made her uneasy. "I'm . . . done," she said, uncertainly. Rem stared at her for a while with the same look and started nodding. She could feel that he was scrutinizing her. Doubting her, too. "What?" she asked. "Nothing," he responded. She placed the butt of the rifle on the floor and stared. Rem was staring back. "I didn't . . . I know I have some more shots to spend practicing, but I think I got it." At this point in time, Rem was just starting to feel very giddy about how uneasy he was making her feel. He shrugged and looked at her like he had no idea why, at all, she was explaining herself. "Oh no it's fine. Nothing's the matter." Autumn's eyes stared him down still, and every once in a while, she would look to one side and then right back to him.
Man, you're so green, Rem thought, as he studied her. Even though she was clad in that leather armor and armed with a cowboy repeater, she still looked so inexperienced. She would have reminded him of himself when he wasn't a combatant, but honestly, he thought that he was never that bad. You don't even know, he continued, thinking about how uninterested she was in her weapon and her apparel. She didn't seem to care how her gun worked, and she didn't even care to ask how good leather armor is. After a while, she tried to exit the awkward situation, "So, where are we going next?" Rem's shoulder raised slowly and dropped quickly, "Not so sure right now." Autumn felt his answer left her stranded in the same awkward situation, "Don't we have someone we have to go help?" Rem smiled and started standing up finally, "I mean yeah, but it's not like I have a list on hand of people that need help or anything." Once he was standing, he took off his hat and used it to pat himself off. Very little dust came off, and as he tidied up, she spoke, "Then . . . what are we going to do?" Rem answered quickly, "Going back to my place for the time being."
After he responded, she stared at him questioningly. She wasn't all too sure what he was thinking, but she had the suspicion that he was being lazy. Rem, on the other hand, figured that the long walk from here to his home, which was off towards Goodsprings, would be a good way to start teaching her how to travel. On top of that, given the fact that he frequented those regions, he knew which paths were dangerous and which ones were not, and without a doubt, he'd be dragging her through the least safest paths to get her in situations where she'd have to use her weapon. Hell, he might even let her get roughed up a little. Start teaching her about pain, and even traveling with that pain. And maybe even . . . maybe even take her scavenging. Yeah, it'd be a great idea to take her scavenging. Already, he had a place in mind.
Some time in the afternoon, after Rem had stocked up with necessary supplies to make the next trip, he approached Ricky. "It's time for me to get going." Ricky turned his body in Rem's direction, answering as he did, "Oh? Okay sir, it was good seeing you again. Come by again some time." When Rem reached him, they each reached out for each other's hands and shook. Rem smiled, "Definitely. You take care our here, alright?"
"Of course, sir."
When their hands were disjoined Rem turned around and started walking, with Autumn waiting in the distance. When he reached her, she turned with him as he walked past her. Rem threw his eyes her way in one quick glance and when he saw that she was carrying the cowboy repeater in hand, he smiled. She noticed it. "What?" Somehow, she knew the smile had something to do with her. "Nothing," Rem responded. He wondered if wether or not she'd get tired of carrying that thing around like that, and he also wondered how long it'd take for her to realize that tying it onto your back was so much more convenient. Why did he find that he was enjoying himself with this so much?
Autumn started following a couple of paces behind but eventually, she quickened her pace until she was standing next to him. She was shorter than he was. Maybe just an inch above his shoulders. When the 188 trading post was behind them, Rem spoke. "Alright, when you're traveling, you have to keep in mind that the guy that sees the other guy first has the advantage. So, you gotta keep an eye out on everything. On top of everything, you don't want to pace on high places all too much. Some people, and animals, too, are perceptive enough to see even the smallest flickering object in the distance." Autumn glanced at him as they walked, listening and taking it all in. When he noticed, he smiled, "Don't look at me. Look around." Her eyebrows raised along with her shoulders and she turned her eyes out into the surroundings, glancing. All she saw was dirt, and other things in the distance.
When she tried to look eastward, the sun was in her eyes, so she raised her hand and placed it above on her forehead above the eyes to block out the light. Rem didn't fail to notice it. The way she was struggling with the sun, he was sure that it wouldn't take too long for her to recognize that she should have taken the hat he was buying for her. That in mind, he looked ahead, and then around, and then ahead again, continuing along with relaxed gait.