Chapter 95: Family and Faith
The chariot thundered across the desert ground, Cheslie snapping the reins as May Lin helped Rosa get dressed. Hiking her jeans up to her waist, Rosa glanced over at Cade as he kept watch over the rear, watching the enflamed encampment slowly sink into the retreating horizon. He kept his rifle at the ready, fully expecting dog cavalry to eventually catch up with Scorpio's prized chariot, his two bed slaves, his hostage he didn't yet have his way with, and the man who instigated a slaughter right in front of his very seat of power. Cade glanced back as he saw Rosa kept wiping her eyes as she fitted her boots back on. The gunslinger scoffed, why she was wasting tears on a useless, angry geezer was beyond him. Thankfully, the May Lin girl was there to comfort her, leaving Cade to handle more important matters that were imminently approaching.
"CHESLIE!" Cade screamed. "TAKE EVASIVE MANUEVERS!"
"WHAT?!" Cheslie screamed, right before tracer rounds shot off around them, kicking up dirt as the hounds bayed and panicked. Cheslie held onto the reins with all her might, with May Lin and Rosa joining to help her, while Cade raised his carbine at the two attack craft pursuing them.
"Kappa 9-3, it doesn't look like they quite registered our warning shots."
"Affirmative, Beta 7-1, looks like this'll be time to break out the hammer."
"Rog, arming rocket pods."
"Think there'll be any rewards if we bring back anything identifiable?"
"I don't think the new Caesar is interested in paying off bounties. The fact that Jefferson is keeping him from being crucified by his new army is all he can afford right now."
"So why are we going after these guys again?"
"Because professionals don't leave loose ends, Kappa."
"Affirm, preparing to deploy-"
Machine-gun fire immediately bracketed off the hull of Beta 7-1. Kappa 9-3's co-pilot turned to watch the other attack craft begin to spin out and crash. "…That was Mu 6-6!" the flight officer told his commander.
"MU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kappa 9-3 screamed into the radio receiver.
"GET OUT OF HERE AND SAVE YOURSELF, PLEASE!" the voice on the line wailed, pleadingly.
"SILENCIO, IDIOTA!" another gravely voice snarled over the intercom. As the attack craft came into view, Kappa 9-3 began to immediately notice, aside from the haphazard flight pattern of the craft, the large shape hanging at the side of Mu 6-6's hull. As he tried to process this information, a forced rocket launch sprayed towards Kappa 9-3, who tried to evade it only to be struck in the tail-rotor by a rocket and forcibly spun out.
"Who called the cavalry?!" Rosa laughed in disbelief as she watched their other pursuer shot down in short order. As Cheslie and May Lin kept focusing on driving the chariot, Cade looked at the third newcomer as it drew closer and closer. "…Damn it…" he seethed as he immediately raised his rifle and began plugging shots at the attack craft.
"Cade, what are you…" Rosa stopped as she saw the large dark reptile clinging beneath the craft, its orange eye glimmering with bloodlust. "KILLITKILLITKILLITKILLITKILLITKILLITKILLIT!"
Nemesio clutched his hand over the pilot's neck as he calmly and dispassionately relayed his specific instructions on how to handle the escapees. "…Cut off their escape route to the north, force them to yield. Fire only upon the hounds, all four shall promise to be excellent acolytes once I'm through with all of them." Normally, this would be a poor time for recruitment, but with his Ministerio effectively granted their timely martyrdom, with so much work left to do, what else could a shepherd do but pick up a new flock and start all over?
"…You don't have to do this," the pilot pleaded with tears in his eyes.
"OJOS AL FRENTE!" Nemesio snapped, causing the craft to jerk and almost making Sawney lose his grip on the chassis. Slowly, the grip around the pilot's neck became a paternal hand on his shoulder. "…Tell me, child. Do you fear death?"
"What?" the pilot quivered.
"You climb into this machine to deal out mass devastation. You've doubtlessly killed countless, or at the very least prepared to. Don't you think it odd that someone prepared to take lives is so hesitant to give theirs?" Nemesio pondered as shots bounced off the hull, Sawney crawling to the pilot's side of the door as he hissed at the gunslinger.
"I… don't know what you're saying?" the pilot said.
"It's not a riddle," Nemesio shook his head. "You are under the delusion that your life is special. It isn't. Mine isn't. The Revelacion, well, his mission is his purpose, but our lives aren't worth how pathetically many cling to them. People think I'm insane just because I've accepted death long ago," Nemesio explained as he took a hit from the concoction that kept him "alive." "You'll see soon enough that if our time on this earth was something to cherish, there'd be something about it worth fighting for."
An explosion snapped off just above the cockpit. The pilot looked to his console and saw his meters plunge. "We just lost control of the stabilizer!"
Sawney swung under the attack craft and pried open the co-pilot's door. Reaching out his claw, Nemesio climbed onto the deathclaw's arm and onto his back.
"YOU'RE NOT GONNA LEAVE ME HERE, ARE YOU!" the pilot pleaded. Sawney glowered at him, felt the hand of the priest on top of his head, and reluctantly opened his palm to motion for the pilot to escape. With the pilot safely in the palm of his claw, Sawney leapt onto the desert floor before the attack craft spun out of control. Without respite, Sawney immediately began sprinting after the chariot.
"Oh sweet- I'm alive? I'M ALIVE?!" the pilot began to say. "…I'M ALIVE!" he screamed, right before his head disappeared into Sawney's mouth, the lizard tearing away his morsel and discarding the rest of the body.
"A fantastic way to end the lesson, mi Revelacion!" Nemesio praised as he ignited his sword.
"Eh whas wayyen me daoun! En I's doan leik etten on tha roon!" Sawney replied as he sprinted on all fours after the chariot.
"Oh shit, CHESLIE, DRIVE!" Rosa shrieked as Cade was forced to reload.
"I can't go any faster!" Cheslie cried as she kept snapping at the reins. The chariot was being pushed to its constructed limits, the axel was already beginning to rattle and both the hounds were panting with heavy strain. As the pursued thundered forward, a loud crash behind them jolted May Lin to look behind her, only to gasp in horror. Sawney had launched himself onto the back of the chariot, forcing Cade to fall back while the priest, perched atop the deathclaw's head, had grabbed Rosa by the arm with one hand while rearing back his flaming sword with the other. Rosa, having readied her machete, swung back in kind, parrying the strike as hard as she could. The impact, however, had allowed sparks to land in Sawney's eye, and the creature bucked as he fell from the back of the chariot, taking the priest and Rosa with him.
"ROSA!" Cade screamed as he jumped off after them, missing being grabbed by Cheslie and May Lin. The two women desperately tried to get the hounds to heel, but with so much momentum going forward and all the loud noise and bright lights behind further spooking them, the hounds ignored their handlers, leaving the four behind to their fate.
As Rosa began to reorient herself, she heard the sounds of boots approaching her. A hand grabbed her shoulder and forced her to her feet. "You broken?" Duncan asked.
"Aw, you do care," Rosa spat as she pushed him aside. "Where's Ugly and Uglier?"
Laying on the ground like a board some distance away, Nemesio sat his torso up while the heap of lizard jolted itself upright. Rosa and Cade both tried to bolt away, but the lizard was faster, sprinting through the two as they dove aside and cutting off their intended retreat. Nemesio took his time getting up, relighting his flaming sword as he turned to look at his new disciples, one way or another.
"…You liberated many of my brothers from their mortal coil, Cade," Nemesio began, holding out his arms in an attempted brotherly manner. Cade scowled at him while Sawney began pacing around his prey. Rosa eyed the lizard wearily. "…You can understand me, can't you?"
The lizard began to smile. "…Some time back, did you come across a blind guy?" Rosa asked.
"…As a matter of fact, we did," Nemesio reminisced. "I do remember coming across a number of unsaved souls during our travels in the desert. The man wearing a blindfold dove atop a woman to save her from being freed by the Revelacion while Vulpes cut another woman's throat."
Rosa stared at Sawney, watching the saliva pool under his half-cooked jaw as his eye was locked onto her. "…Duncan," Rosa said as she pressed her back against the gunslinger.
"What?" her half-brother replied.
"The lizard is mine," Rosa muttered.
"Suit yourself," Duncan replied.
The two split off from one another, rushing their opponents. Cade plugged away shots at Nemesio, the bullets piercing through the binds of his suits as it leaked its ooze while Rosa ducked under a swipe of Sawney's claws. She swung her blade at Sawney's claw, causing him to fall back, his missing digit still fresh in his memory. Nemesio rushed Cade, bringing down his sword while causing Cade to block it with his carbine, locking the two in place as they struggled with one another until Cade cracked his rifle against Nemesio's mask, driving the bishop back as Cade pulled out his knife.
Sawney tried to gore Rosa with his horns, his contempt overriding his usual instincts and turning him into more of an animal than even he usually was. Rosa, not used to being this much smaller than her opponent in a fight, used her size to every advantage she could, staying as close as she could to the lizard and forcing it to swing wide and buying her time to find a tendon or soft spot. Sawney, however, was fast, always maneuvering himself around Rosa and forcing her to stay on the run, the two of them playing a game where the first one to make a mistake would lose everything.
Cade felt the flames lick against his face as he blocked every strike he could with his knife. Nemesio was stronger than he appeared to be, and as the fight had gone on had demonstrated that he was a capable duelist. Every time Cade found himself in a close-quarters "fair fight," he knew he had to have messed up somehow. He threw a leg kick at the bishop which barely caused the priest to stagger. Cade pondered what he felt as he disengaged while he pulled out his hatchet. He knew he felt bone when he threw the kick, but it wasn't flesh or muscle around it, that much he knew. It felt like pulp, like byproduct from a butcher shop. Lard.
Rosa and Sawney continued to circle around one another, refusing to give the other an opening that they were not prepared fully to punish. "What are you doing, you handbag?" Rosa taunted. "We playing "Ring-around-the-Rosa" until you get dizzy?"
She felt something slam against her ankle. Sawney was violent, impulsive, vicious, and sadistic, but even with all this applied, he was still capable of playing the long game. He had been training this girl to think all about his teeth and claws and horns, she forgot one other thing that she needed to keep an eye on. As Sawney's tail sweep her off the ground, Sawney's skull had already gotten under her, slamming his head into her back and flipping her over his body. As Rosa arched through the air, she once again became reacquainted with Sawney's tail, knocking her out of her trajectory and sending her careening into the dirt, leaving her rolling and, Sawney cawed in triumph as he saw it tumbling away from her, without her machete.
As Rosa came to a stop, her empty hand suddenly caused her to panic. As she looked around for where it landed, she was immediately beset by the lizard, its jaws already wide opened as Sawney immediately went to bite a chunk out of the girl. Panicking, Rosa put her arms up to try and block the upper jaw and used her leg to stop the lower one, locking in place with the lizard as it pushed her against the desert sand.
Cade saw the sight from the briefest of moments, and instinctively went to draw his magnum. This distraction was all Nemesio needed to break through Cade's guard and struck him in the leg with his sword. As the flaming metal sank through Cade's thigh, the gunslinger let out a scream as the three hunters drew ever closer.
Rosa let out some cries and sobs as Sawney snapped at her, her own strength barely keeping his maw at bay. Sawney's slobber was making it harder for her to maintain her steadily loosening grip, and soon enough she would have no choice but to sacrifice a limb before her entire body would be devoured. Soon enough, Sawney would eat the gunslinger too, and then he and his pet would make a new pack, and Sawney would finally show Poppa that he had taken his rightful place as the true apex predator of the wasteland. It was then that his eye caught something glimmering right above his nostril that the girl had in her hand.
The deathclaw hesitated for just a moment, the one moment Rosa needed. Drawing her hand off the lizard's mouth, Rosa plunged the blade of the trench-spike into Sawney's remaining eye. The lizard let out a scream as Rosa scrambled away while the lizard thrashed. Nemesio turned to see his prophet in peril right before Cade grabbed at his breathing mask, ripping a tube from the apparatus and causing the priest to spasm while Cade pried the blade from his leg.
Rosa dove towards her machete, turning back to see Sawney screaming incoherently as blood gushed from his other missing eye. The lizard was now completely blind. "…THAT WAS FOR JOE!" Rosa screamed as loud as she could. Sawney immediately snapped his head towards her. "…DEYD PHUCKEN HYUUMON!" Sawney roared as he charged towards Rosa, horns at the ready.
Cade drew his magnum and fired every shot he could at Nemesio. The suit continued to be pierced and leaked, but it also continued to seal as quick as they appeared. Cade began to understand more about what Nemesio was. Contrary to what he initially thought, Nemesio wasn't a standard ghoul. Whatever mutation he had undergone, it changed him radically. That was why shots that would have killed anything else were shrugged off by the bishop. Whatever his body had turned into, so long as it was intact it would remain that way. So, Duncan thought as he gripped his knife and hatchet, he had to find what part of the body was keeping everything else together. The head and heart were too obvious targets, and limbs were too vulnerable. As Nemesio fixed his breathing mask, Duncan made his decision.
Sawney knew he charged her. He knew he hit her. He knew he sent her flying. He knew she should have landed by now and that he should have heard it. He knew she should be a pile of gore by now and his mouth should be covered by familiar stains of viscera. He knew that somehow the priest had to be riding him again, even if his weight felt a bit off. And he knew that it would take more than an iron machete to penetrate his bones. All of this information was true, but amongst his slight miscalculations, there was one thing he didn't realize until it had come to pass. Rosa's machete was made by her father out of a rare and mysterious alloy known as Saturnite.
The blade plunged into his skull, piercing it down until it breached through his throat. Sawney's scream had been cut as soon as it began, the great and terrible lizard collapsing onto the ground as Rosa kept slamming her elbow into the pommel of her blade, cursing out the deathclaw as it spasmed.
Cade sank his hatchet into where Nemesio's liver should have been, but now was a cluster of pseudo-nerves that kept that facsimile that was Nemesio's humanoid form somewhat recognizable. Not quite a ghoul and not fully one of the ghost people, Nemesio had owed his resiliency to a new mutant organ that had developed many months after his exposure to the Sierra-Madre Cloud. That organ was currently spilling out of his suit, along with the rest of what had once been Nemesio's flesh and muscle but was now some sort of gelatinous meat. Cade did not wait for any backup measure to take place and proceeded to keep hacking at and slicing at Nemesio's body while the priest tried to utter some garbled prayers in a mix of Spanish, English, and increasingly mangled Latin.
"DONDE ESTA TU DIOS AHORA?!" Cade taunted as the last of the meat gel poured onto the wasteland floor, leaving only the suit, a handful of organs, and the stained skeleton of Bishop Nemesio Del Juarez. As the adrenaline began to recede, Duncan fell to his side as his leg began to flare up. The nice thing about being stabbed through the thigh by a flaming weapon was that it tended to already cauterize the wound, should it have missed any major veins or arteries. Fortunately for Duncan that happened, even though his leg was still nonetheless broken.
Duncan collapsed onto the ground as Rosa pried her machete from the skull of Sawney as she looked over and saw Cade's broken and mangled leg. Rushing over, she slid to her knees as she got a better look at it. "…You aren't going anywhere," Rosa shook her head.
"I'm not staying here," Duncan seethed as he began tearing into his leather jacket. "I'm making a splint."
"With that open wound?!" Rosa cried out. "…I'm wrapping it. If I can find some material we can stitch or stimpak it later."
"Fine," Cade tried to bark, only to soften from the pain. He grabbed his hatchet while Rosa took to using dry pieces of Nemesio's frock to cover the wound. "…You hungry?" Rosa asked, trying to keep Duncan's mind occupied as he began assembling his splint.
"Not really. Why?" Duncan asked.
"Cuz I was thinking maybe we could take some chunks out of that lizard there and-" Rosa stopped as she turned and saw the three other deathclaws looming over the fallen one. One of the reptiles gently poked at the wound atop the skull while another fatter one looked over all the wounds their brother had accumulated. The third lifted his nose in the air as he smelled his brother's blood still coating the machete of the girl. The three all turned their heads towards the girl. Sonny may have been wicked and a clutch-killer, and the three may have united to overpower and kill him, but he had been theirs to kill. No child of their Father's was meant to fall to human hands, and the notion that one did, even one as deranged as their brother, offended them all the same. Their lips curled as they extended their claws.
Cade desperately tried to find any spare ammo he could while Rosa stood before him, machete at the ready. The three deathclaws snapped and snarled as they made their approach. Rosa fought back her tears, whispering silent apologies to those who she tried so hard to make it back to. Duncan began to see and hear the world around him with more clarity, a side effect of every time he had some close to death. He closed his eyes and took one last whiff of the wasteland night air that he'd made into his home. If this was it, so be it.
"TAKE WHAT YOU CAME FOR AND LEAVE!"
The voice boomed and echoed throughout the air. The lizards hesitated, looking at one another as they backed away slightly. The fat one took one last look down at his dead kin before reaching down and grabbing the corpse by the horns, dragging it away as the other two brought up the rear. Rosa kept her eyes on them until they were some distance away.
"…You're not real. None of you are real!"
The hesitation and shakiness of Duncan's voice drew Rosa's attention to it immediately. Turning around, she saw that she was surrounded by dozens of ghostly figments. All of them seemed to be wearing Old World combat armor, police-style, and carrying pistols, rifles, and automatic weapons. The man at the center of them, however, seemed to be on fire, though his flesh did not burn. Rosa looked down to Duncan, and saw that his eyes were wide and in shock.
"It's that freak Young, isn't it?!" he snarled. "This is his doing?!"
"He requested our assistance, yes," the burning man at the center replied.
"You aren't real!" Duncan shook his head as tears began to form. "You're all… none of you… ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD!"
The Guard of New Canaan stood at casual ease as Duncan tried to crawl back, the pain in his leg acting with every motion.
Four of the guards in particular strode forward, as if to block any further retreat. Duncan seemed to recognize these in particular, settling on using the stock of his carbine like an oar on land. He ran into Rosa, who then held the weapon in place and locked him down as the senior-looking member knelt down beside Duncan and looked him over.
The ones who approached him were the shades of Duncan's old squad from the New Canaan Guard. The one with the rifle slung over his shoulder was Preston Lockwood, possibly the only tracker Duncan had ever really considered an equal. The ones toting automatic Thompsons were Hudson and Ray, two men who at one point were probably the closest things Duncan had ever had for friends. And the one kneeling beside him was his old commanding officer, Lieutenant Doyle. Duncan braced himself for upcoming admonishment and condemnation.
"…I'm sorry we left you when you needed us," his old commander stated, solemnly. Duncan looked up and saw not anger and judgment in the faces of those he knew, but sadness, sympathy, and pity.
"Guess things have been pretty rough for you since that night?" another shade approached, John Langdon, a second to another lieutenant in the NC Guard, and someone who helped train a near feral wastelander kid into an officer of the peace.
"Still, I thought you'd hold the lessons we taught you closer to the heart," said Carl Northrup, another guard who always made time to help him through his Scripture studies after work hours.
"I mean, I thought I set an excellent example for you to emulate," a chipper guard named Nathaniel Porter spoke up. Duncan didn't really care for Nate.
"…I… I tried my best," Duncan confessed. "I fought as hard as I could, but… we lost so many people. And when I saw everything that was left, I… I just couldn't…" his voice began to waiver.
The burning man then made his approach. Duncan drew his unloaded magnum and pointed it once again at the man he had blamed for everything. "IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
The burning man stared at him as the rest of the guard watched silent. "…The destruction of New Canaan was my burden, yes, and I agree with you on that point. The pain that I lead to our people, yes, our people, Duncan, is something I never quite got around to forgiving myself for. On that issue, I believe we have common ground."
"They were your people, Graham!" Duncan snarled. "And you damned them all and they still accepted you! I wanted you gone, and I was cast out!"
"Oh, that's bogus and you know it!" Nate yelled.
"NATE!" several of the guards reprimanded.
"…I distinctly remember you leaving of your own volition after that particular incident," Graham continued, undeterred.
"…Well, what good is protecting people who don't want to be protected," Duncan snarled.
"I don't know," John Langdon shrugged. "Why did you still shadow our people's caravans when they head through Arizona?"
Duncan looked to him. "…how did you…"
"We're dead, Schmitt, we have all the time in the world to see what you're up to," Nathan replied, chipper. "And while a lot of your conduct has been pretty upsetting," he took on a more serious tone as he looked at Graham, "you also can't fool us. Somehow you keep looking after caravans and scaring other people out of jumping ours. Guess you didn't completely ditch New Canaan, after all!"
Rosa looked down to Cade as he could no longer bear to look his old comrades in the eyes. "…If you knew anything about the people I run with, the new elders would have had enough sense to learn the lessons the old ones failed to."
"We're not an island, Duncan. We can't just shut ourselves off from the rest of the world, regardless of the pain," Lt. Doyle gently admonished him. "Building a fortress would have been the easy way to die off and extinguish the light we were all called to spread. Everyone who got out of New Canaan had to find their new paths on their own. Only it seems you cut yourself off from the light. I guess it was all too easy to get lost without any guidance. My only question is why, though? For the money?"
"…I was looking for freedom," Duncan admitted. "You all told me that freedom came from service to a higher purpose than myself, and I tried to believe it until the town went up in smoke. Then I joined the RMX, and they told me I could purchase it."
Preston stroked his chin. "…I can't say I see you going on a spending spree, Dunk. You were always too much of a miser."
"What? Waste my money on booze and whores?" Duncan scoffed. "I just wanted a nice, remote plot of land and enough gear to let me live out my days as I saw fit."
"By yourself?" Hudson and Ray asked simultaneously.
"…I was thinking of bringing someone along with me, once," Duncan admitted.
"Amy says hi, by the way," Nathan interjected.
"GO TO HELL, NATE!" Duncan snapped. Nathan just stared at Duncan for a few moments before bursting out in laughter. "…Bit late for that! Ha-ha!" he giggled as a few of the other guards started to join in.
"So, now with that particular dream dashed," Lt. Doyle spoke again. "What will you do now?"
Duncan felt a flare of pain shoot through his body as Rosa began fastening the splint to his thigh. "…First, I'm going to get this one back to her father if he's still alive," he gritted as Rosa began dressing his wound. "Then, I figure out where to go from there."
"The wasteland will never lack for angry murderers," Graham spoke up. Duncan once again drew his weapon towards the shade of Graham. "…I think we both know that it isn't going to work this time," Graham slowly replied. The laughter and joviality amongst the spirits soon began to lessen. "…Did it help?" Joshua asked.
There were two people in the wasteland who personally knew about the ultimate fate of Joshua Graham. Duncan himself and the Rose of Sharon Cassidy. Neither of them were of a mind to idly gossip about such an event, Duncan in particular wasn't keen on informing others about his Robert Ford-style feat. He only informed Abacus to collect the bounty, and any further information was buried in the countless information archives that resided wherever Abacus did.
"…Why didn't you shoot?" Duncan asked.
"…Perhaps I was surprised to see a familiar face after so long?" Joshua mused. "Or perhaps after a life spent so long at conflict, I figured there was a certain poetic beauty that I would be brought to eternity by a fellow New Canaanite? Or perhaps time itself finally caught up with me. Whatever the reason, I do not resent you."
Duncan slowly lowered his weapon. "…Out of everyone here, I figured you'd be the least happy to see me."
"I'd lost the right to condemn you long before I met you," Graham slightly smiled. "Your sins are not unlike mine. The only difference were that your hands were a bit busier while I was leading others to ruin by the thousands. Apart from that, we aren't any different, my prodigal brother. We both turned a blind eye to the sins around us, using wrath and apathy as our armor. But you aren't locked on the road to damnation, Duncan. Not yet."
"…I'll never be accepted by the New Canaanites. I'll be shot long before I reach their part of Vegas," Duncan shook his head.
John and Doyle both looked like they were about to speak before thinking over what Duncan said and both nodding in acceptance of his logic.
"…You can find God's house anywhere, if you look hard enough," Joshua replied. "…I'd advise going to the east, dip south so you can get around the descendants of Edward and I's greatest mistake. From there, hug the coast until you find the flooded city. Look for a church near the graveyard, you'll find some familiar faces ready to welcome you."
The shades of the guards then readied their weapons as the sound of baying hounds began to grow louder. "…It is as the girl predicted. The cavalry has been sent to collect you," Joshua growled as the New Canaanites turned away.
"I'm so glad we never had to fight these guys while we were alive," Carl muttered to John.
"I don't know, I think having some giant hounds of our own could have made patrolling so much easier," John argued.
"I say we would give shovel duty to the probys and have Duncan in charge of dog food permanently," Nathan proposed. "All in favor?"
"AYE!" came the universal reply as the guards all laughed in unison as they marched off to confront the hounds. Duncan felt a pair of hands pull him from the ground and drape his arm over Rosa's shoulder.
"You there, girl," Joshua said as he looked to Rosa.
"Me?" Rosa asked.
"…I never got around to thanking your father for taking my people in and giving them shelter. Please give him my warmest regards and blessings," Joshua bowed his head.
"…Loud and clear, Mr. Ghost-Man," Rosa nodded as she tried to hobble away with Duncan.
"WAIT!" the gunslinger cried out. Joshua stopped as he turned and looked at Duncan. "…I… I just wanted to say that… I…" Duncan began to hesitate.
"…I know," Graham nodded. "…And I forgave you a long time ago. Whatever you go forward and do now, don't let it be for my sake."
"…Goodbye, Joshua," Duncan got out with the faintest whimper, likely a side-effect from the immense pain in his broken thigh.
"…Farewell Duncan. And take care, Rosa. Joseph and Marcy will tether us here until you've reached safety."
"Safety? Where's that?" Rosa asked.
"I imagine the girls you rode with have already reached them by now. Now, be quick with it. Keeping us here puts an immense strain on both of them. You must hasten with the time we bought."
"…Well, you heard the man, Duncan. Let's go," Rosa said as she trudged forward, Duncan hobbling as best he could while hopping on one leg and using his carbine as a crutch. Joshua watched them off before turning to join with his true brothers in battle as they readied to scare away the hounds. While the specters were frightening, especially to animals, it wouldn't take long before the riders recognized that they were not obstacles that could actually block their path, the ghost being literal figments of the collective imagination of those who view them. What those who would eventually break through would find, however, were that the three deathclaws carrying the corpse of a fourth were very much tangible, quite agitated, and far, far deadlier.