PROVING GROUNDS

Damon walked along the streets of Westside under the blanket of the night sky. A few people remained on the streets, including junkies, prostitutes, and armed guards. Up ahead, past the decaying structures, was a sign that pointed towards The Thorn. He had heard about it for months and now summoned the courage to enter. The entrance was a manhole cover that led underground. Before he entered, he looked behind him.

Inside the Thorn was a crowd of shady characters who were cheering. In a pit below, there was a fight between two men. One of them was a muscular man, and the other appeared to be a raggedy drug addict. Damon made his way to the front and placed his hands on the fence that surrounded the pit. The cheering grew louder as the fight went on. While the crowd mindlessly cheered and begged for blood, Damon watched the fight, studying the larger man. The addict stood no chance as the muscular man pummeled him into the ground. Then, a few armed guards dragged him away as the muscular man gloated to the crowd. Damon looked upward at the platform and saw a woman in leather armor with short red hair. He assumed it was Red Lucy, the owner. Damon knew why he was there and that was to fight. He needed to prove himself.

Red Lucy made her way to the fighting pit with another fighter alongside her. He had long hair and tattoos covered his body. Red Lucy looked among the crowd.

"Who dares to step into the pit?" She announced to the crowd.

The crowd fell silent. Then, Damon pushed his way to the front and held up a wad of cash.

"I'm in," he said.

Red Lucy nodded. Damon was now in the pit, standing in front of his opponent. He had taken off his coat and only had on a tank top, jeans, and combat boots. He noticed the tattoos on his opponent's chest. One of them was a two-headed bear. The crowd cheered as the fight began. The two fighters circled each other. Damon threw the first punch, but the man moved out of the way. He quickly threw another one, but the man grabbed his arm and swung him into the fence. He tried to kick Damon, but he rolled out of the way. As he rolled, he went over dirt, blood, and teeth. The man tried another kick, but Damon grabbed his leg and struck him with a few elbows to his face. The man grabbed his throat and held him up. Damon gasped for air. Then, he struck the man with a knee to the face. The man threw him down and spit out blood. Damon was on one knee, trying to catch his breath. The man quickly ran towards him, but Damon kicked him in the face. As the man stumbled back, Damon delivered a series of punches to his stomach. The man fell on his hands and knees. Damon locked him in a sleeper hold until he fell unconscious.

The crowd cheered as a guard next to Red Lucy rang the bell. Damon was now in front of her with his coat slung over his shoulder. There were two guards standing behind her.

"You fight well," she complimented.

"Thanks."

"Here's your reward."

Red Lucy handed him a wad of cash, bigger than the one he had before.

"If you're ever looking for work, I can make it worth your while," she proposed.

"I appreciate the offer, but not right now."

"Well, come see me if you change your mind. My jobs always pay well."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Damon made his way back to the Casa Madrid. He leaned against the wall outside of his room and counted the cash he received. Red Lucy's offer was tempting, but he felt he needed to protect Dawn. There was also a secret he kept from her. Eventually, they would make it to Junktown and she would find out. Telling her about his true identity made him nervous and his friendship with her could be broken. As he was about to open the door, he thought of an excuse as to why he was out and then realized he didn't really need one. He walked in and locked the door. Dawn was still asleep. He saw the bourbon on the desk which had been consumed. Then, he laid in bed, listening to the silence around him.

The next day, Dawn and Damon continued their trek across the Mojave and had not seen any members of the Outcasts. Dawn had wondered why Damon had not needed much water. The heat was also not affecting him as much.

"So, Damon, what made you come to the Strip?" She wondered, "It seems like a long way."

"I was looking for opportunities."

"Like robbing people?"

Damon laughed.

"No, just exploring and trying to make it on my own."

"So how much further is Junktown?"

"Well, when we see the Mojave Outpost, we'll be close."

They walked along a cracked road, passing derelict buildings with the Strip in the distance behind. Unknown to them, a gang of thugs ran behind them, crossing to the other side of the road. Dawn had not left the Strip in years and suddenly realized they were near the Monte Carlo Suites. It was run by a gang called the Scorpions. She got her assault rifle ready.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked.

"This is Scorpion territory."

"Scorpions? Never heard of them."

"Yeah, well look out for them."

Damon got his assault rifle ready. Then, a flaming bottle struck the ground in front of them. As they moved back, another bottle struck the ground. Dawn saw an opening through a window in the building nearby.

"This way!" She shouted.

Dawn climbed through the window and Damon followed her into the building which was abandoned. All that was left was a pile of brick, stone, and wood. They headed up a staircase. Damon sprung ahead and went up another set of stairs. As Dawn ascended the staircase, it collapsed. She was able to hold on to the railing as the debris fell to the floor. Damon quickly laid down on the top and extended his hand. He pulled her up to the top floor.

"Thanks, good catch there," she praised.

Damon looked outside through a blown-out hole in the wall and saw the Scorpions heading towards them. The gang was dressed in leather armor and appeared to be heavy drug users due to their bloodshot eyes, skin infections, and decaying teeth.

"We got company!" Damon shouted.

Dawn ran up near a broken part of the wall and began firing. The Scorpions fired back, hitting the brick wall and creating bullet holes. Dawn and Damon returned fire, striking down the oncoming gang. Then, everything fell silent.

"They have reinforcements," Dawn warned.

Damon saw that the only way out was to jump across the other building. There was a large hole to the side of them.

"We can make it across," he said.

Dawn saw more Scorpions heading towards the building. Damon jumped across and held onto a window sill which had been boarded up. He jumped on top on the roof. Dawn looked at the building and took a deep breath. She leaped across and held onto the window sill. Damon pulled her up. Suddenly, an explosion occurred in the building they previously occupied.

"Shit! They have an RPG!" Dawn shouted.

The building they were on was large but unstable.

"This roof looks like it will collapse," Damon pointed out.

The wall from the other building collapsed into the building they were on. Then, the roof collapsed. It slanted downward in the direction where more Scorpions had gathered. As Dawn and Damon slid down the roof, Dawn shot any of the Scorpions she could with her .45. They came off the roof and hit the dirt below. Dawn felt a bit dazed but saw the Scorpion with the RPG. As the RPG was fired, Damon used his rifle to fire a shot directly at the missile. It exploded, killing the nearby gang members. He helped Dawn up.

"Nice shot," she complimented.

"Nothing compared to that slide and shoot you did. That was awesome."

"Yeah, well you saved us from getting blown up."

Dawn and Damon continued through the Mojave, leaving the wreckage and dead bodies shrouded in smoke.

The Outcasts gathered in Jeeps and military vehicles and began driving across the desert. They were well equipped and highly trained. The leader of the Outcasts, Rowan, walked towards the vehicles as the others ran past him. He had on a dark brown duster with the Outcasts logo on the back, had black hair that was slicked back, appeared to be in his late thirties, and had a small muscular frame. He got into the back of a Jeep and ordered his men to drive into the Mojave. As they drove, he looked through a pair of binoculars.

"That bitch will pay," he muttered.

The vehicles drove through the hot desert sand. The man put down his binoculars and continued to look across the desert.

Dawn and Damon made their stop at a town called Novac for the night. In front of the hotel were a few bunkers and a large dinosaur which was a souvenir shop and also had an outlook post in the dinosaur's mouth. After checking in, they settled in to their room. The rooms were kept in neat condition, surprisingly for a hotel in the middle of the desert. Damon sat on his bed and took the clip out of his .45. He cocked the barrel back and pulled the trigger, creating a click sound. He did this a few times.

"You should make sure there's no round in there first," Dawn advised.

"Trust me, I always know."

Dawn placed her .45 on the desk near the bed.

"I'm impressed," Dawn complimented.

"With what?" He wondered.

"With you. It's amazing you managed to make it across the Mojave with little resources, little knowledge of firearms, and little wasteland experience."

"Yeah, well, it's a little easier when you avoid conflict."

"I wish it were that easy."

"Since I've been with you, I've seen quite some adventures."

"I have a gut feeling we're gonna see a lot more."

Damon loaded the clip into the .45.

"I have faith in you," Damon muttered.

"What?"

"You and me, we will survive this."

Dawn smiled.

"I'm still worried," she said.

"About what?"

"Maddie. I can't stop thinking about her. She's all alone in that asylum. Something could happen to her."

"I heard a lot about her. I wouldn't worry, she's like ninja warrior. Who's gonna mess with her?"

"You're right, I can't help but think about her."

Dawn laid down in bed, contemplating about no matter how hard she tried and no matter where she went, there was always trouble. It made no difference how many fights or how many bullets she fired, trouble always came back to her. It was a force that could never be put down. Damon was an excellent ally, but she still wished Maddie was here with her.

When Dawn fell asleep, Damon rose out of bed. He put on a black trench coat over his black sleeveless shirt, black pants, and black boots. Damon looked at Dawn and made sure she was sound asleep. Like the night before, he left the room and wandered out into the Mojave. He walked around Novac, passing the sign which read, "NO VACANCY" with the letters A, N, C, and Y barely visible. The town was in ruins, but in better shape than most of the towns he visited. He walked down the road, passing houses and a farm. Down the road was a scrapyard with residents and travelers entering. When he reached the scrapyard, there was a crowd of people scattered around the piles of steel and salvaged cars. Before he could venture in, a large man stopped him.

"Whoa, kid, you got the cash?" He said in a deep voice.

Damon reached into his coat and handed him the cash. The large man signaled for him to enter by tilting his head. The crowd had gathered around a six-sided fighting pit which was made up of dirt and rocks. There were steel barrels lit on fire placed outside the cage on each of the six corners. Two fighters were inside the cage and appeared to be vagrants. One of them slammed the other against the cage and then threw him to the ground. The scrapyard had a set of old bleachers surrounding the area. Damon sat down next to what appeared to be raiders. They had shaved heads, tattoos, and raggedy clothing. He watched and studied the fight as everyone else mindlessly cheered. Then, Damon noticed a few NCR troopers on the other side. The fights that occurred across the Mojave were not illegal and the only reason he could think of why they were there was to fight. That was the challenge he was looking for.

Another fight was about to begin, this time between two women. The crowd cheered louder as the two women fought. They appeared to be regular citizens looking to take out their anger on each other. The fight went on with hair pulling, clothes ripping, and them rolling around in dirt. Damon remained seated as the crowd roared with excitement. He did not care who won. After the fight, Damon saw an NCR trooper getting ready. He stood up and walked towards the pit.

The NCR trooper wore an olive drab shirt, camo pants, and tan boots. He had a shaved head and was clean shaven. As he was warming up, Damon entered the pit with his trench coat removed. The NCR trooper smirked.

"You look a little young for this, kid," he mocked.

"That's the least of your concern," Damon scoffed.

The bell rang and the two squared off. Damon ignored the crowd noise and thought of a strategy. Before he could, the NCR trooper ran at him and tried to kick him, Damon rolled forward. He knew a ground fight would mean a quick defeat, so he needed a good striking game. He threw a punch, but the NCR trooper blocked it, and kneed him in the stomach. Then, the NCR trooper kneed him in the face, knocking Damon to the ground. The NCR trooper got on top of him, but Damon struck him with an elbow, knocking him off. Then, he attempted a sweep kick, but Damon jumped. When he landed, Damon kicked him in the face. The NCR trooper checked his face for blood as he got up. Then, Damon charged at him, throwing a variety of punches and kicks. Some connected and some missed. The NCR trooper tried another kick, but Damon grabbed his leg and struck the side of his knee with a downward elbow strike. He screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. Damon grabbed him from behind and held him by the chin, pulling his head back.

"Say it," Damon ordered.

The NCR trooper remained silent. Damon lightly tapped his upper back with the palm of his hand. The NCR trooper tapped the ground, signaling the end of the fight. Damon released him as the NCR trooper crawled away. He collected his winnings and left the scrapyard.

Damon quietly entered the room. Dawn was still asleep. He removed his trench coat and laid down in bed. Then he turned towards Dawn. They were getting closer to Junktown and he knew he would have to tell her the truth about him.