Darrel and Loogie ventured onward, on their fingertips were the remains of sand that stuck to their skin only because of the blood from the body they buried. Neither of them had said anything and Darrel had stopped singing, their moment of joy had been brought to an abrupt end when they both realised the harsh realities of the Mojave. Step by step and drudging their feet through the sands of the wasteland both of them thought, they remembered back to when they were children how hard things were just to stay alive. Darrel turned to Loogie for a moment, he wanted to ask him about his thoughts on a shared experience, he felt the words begin to formulate but before he ask anything Loogie slightly turned his head and bitterly stated, "I know you wanna ask me something but I…I just don't feel like talking right now"

Darrel didn't say anything; he knew what the reason was and didn't want to make things worse. In that moment of silence both Loogie and Darrel had the same memory inside their mind, both of them remembered that one job they took and thought it would be a walk in the park but instead it changed everything.

Without warning the silence they both shared ended abruptly when loud shot gun blasts were heard, Darrel and Loogie pulled out their weapons and ran as fast as they could toward the origin of the noise. Bolting around the corner Loogie raised his rifle and looked down its barrel, slowly turning in each direction to spot anyone. Darrel took out both of his pistols and pointed outward, he too looked around trying to see anything that could be a threat. Both of the rangers found themselves in a wide open space, silence had returned and neither of them could hear or see anything that would lead to a cause for what was happening.

"Might be more Ghouls," Darrel guessed, "I'll take point, you follow behind".

Both of them ventured forward, as Darrel took the lead while keeping his wits sharp and Loogie followed behind protecting the rear. With a tight nit formation the duo quickly advanced ready for anything both of the rangers remained focused. Coming around the side of a ruined building they both saw an elderly man clutching a shot gun as he was within arm's reach of a dead mole rat. The tense feeling disappeared when both Loogie and Darrel realised who fired the shot gun, they both put away their weapons as they approached the old wastelander.

"Alright Tim," Darrel said, "How you doin' ?"

"Good, thank ye," Tim replied, "Just gettin' me something for dinner"

His voice was deep and crusty, living in the desert with little water and eating poorly cooked meals over many years gave his speech a rugged tone. He was wearing a coat with many pockets with stains on it along with a few pouches along his belt. Lowering his shot gun this aged hunter nodded at both of the rangers before taking out a knife and going over to the slain beast and began to slice pieces of the beast's flesh.

Both of the young men continued on their way one of them wondered something, taking a quick look at Tim before going on their way Darrel whispered to his friend, "…strange that"

"What?" Loogie replied.

"Hunting with a shotgun; be better to use a rifle, only way not to pick pieces of metal out of your meal,"

Loogie cared little, shrugged his shoulders before stating, "It's his hunt, he can use whatever weapons he wants"

As they continued to walk onward Darrel looked back, the aged hunter was now nothing more than distance figure from away. Meeting with Tim only a few times over their whole lives both Darrel and Loogie thought of him as a distant friend and occasional hunting companion. As Darrel looked toward the direction of Vegas and saw someone running toward them, being so far away it was impossible to tell who it was but he gave his friend some fair warning, "Possible threat at six o'clock"

Loogie stopped and turned around, now both of the rangers could now see the approaching stranger only to be surprised when they realised who it was. Racing toward them at great speed was a young child no more than eight years of age, his long scarf fluttered in the wind as he ran. When he was close enough both of the rangers could see this scrawny street urchin clearly as his stained and torn coat was his most memorable feature. As he approached he was gasping for air, having to run at such speeds was not his strong suit but when he was getting paid for it he simply did what was asked of him. Now standing close enough to the rangers he looked up and straightened his jacket before speaking, "Hey guys…I got….got a….message from….from Lexi"

"That is?" Loogie asked.

Taking off his jacket there were visible sweat marks under his arms as the young boy threw his coat over his shoulder, as his panting began to slow down he was able to continue, "Lexi says…all Rangers have to…to go back to HQ right now"

Darrel became annoyed and deeply frustrated, "We're in the middle of something and we can't just walk away from it"

"Give me the job, I'll do it and give you the caps,"

Some of his anger subsided and knew the young boy would remain true to his word, "Ok, thanks Doug. You can keep half of the caps if you want"

"Walk out all this way and we gotta turn around and go back. Fuckin' priceless,"