Author's Note: Hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy the chapter, and as always, reviews are welcome.
After informing Ranger Ghost about the Legion's presence in Nipton ("Legion?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"), the four of them found an old shack a few miles outside of Nipton where they could decompress after what they had just witnessed. The inside was dirty, with a stove, a bed and a fridge. ED-E stayed outside, as did Cass, who said she needed to think. Mark and Amata sat down on the bed. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Something about what had happened bothered Mark. He had seen people strung up before. Mostly it was raiders who had put people up on meat hooks, but they were high most of the time and had no idea what the hell they were doing. What the Legion had done, they were well aware of what they were doing and seemed to enjoy doing it.
Mark shook it off and took some mutfruit and water out of his bag and handed them to Amata. "You hungry?" She was staring into space and didn't notice them at first. He nudged her a bit, and that seemed to bring her out of it. "Sorry, what'd you say?" He held out the mutfruit and water again. "Food, water, take them." She took them and took a bite out of the mutfruit. Mark ran his hand through her hair. "Amata, are you okay?" "I…umm…" she said, trying to find the words. "You're wondering how people can be so cruel, right?" "How did you know?" Mark sighed.
"I've had that same look on my face before. Amata, I'm not gonna lie to you. There are some cruel, evil people in this world, and you will never know why. I've told you what I saw in DC. You know that not everyone is like that, though. There are still good people in the world. Sunny, Doc Mitchell, Trudy, they're good people. Chet was a bit of a dick, but I digress. You know, I remember a quote from a book I read in the vault once. It said something like: "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing." You see, an evil man only fights because he wants something. Land, technology, whatever. A good man fights because he wants to protect his home and the people he loves. That's why good will always win, because the good man knows he has more to lose if he fails."
She took a sip of water. "It's just…when I was listening to the radio in the vault, when Three Dog told us about all that stuff that you did, half the time I was wondering how you didn't die. It seemed like you tried to fix everyone's problems. Like when you blew up the Enclave's base at that old air force base, you yourself told me you were in that vertibird for less than a minute before it was blown up. With all the evil that exists in the world, and with all the close calls you seem to have, I'm afraid that one day you're going to go off on some adventure and never come back." Mark put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Hey, look at me." She turned to look at him. "I will always come back." "Mark, you can't possibly know that. You're only human." "Eh, maybe. Then again, I am the Lone Wanderer. I have been known to do the impossible from time to time. Plus, I have a new reason to fight," he said as he put his hand on her stomach. A smile crossed her face. "There we go. That's what I like to see." They started to kiss, and they didn't notice when Cass opened the door. She coughed to get their attention. They stopped kissing and looked at her. "Ya guys ready ta go, or do ya need a few minutes ta bang?" Amata blushed, got up, and got her bag. Mark got up and got his bag as well. "Yeah," Mark said, "we're ready."
By the time they reached Novac, it was close to 8 pm. The town wasn't much. It was mainly and old motel from before the war. The town got its name from a "no vacancy" sign, with the last few letters having fallen off. There was an old gas station directly across the street, and next to that was a makeshift clinic and a makeshift diner. There were also a few houses a little way down the road. The only thing worth noting was the giant t-rex holding a thermometer.
"What is it with people and giant statues around here?" asked Amata. "I don't know," said Mark, "maybe it's-." He stopped mid- sentence when he saw a very familiar looking securitron. "Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit. If it isn't my friends from Goodsprings." "Who the hell is that?" Cass whispered to Mark. "This is Victor," he whispered back. "He was the one who found me when I was shot." Amata spoke up. "What are you doing here, Victor?" "Don't rightly know," he said, "Just got the feeling to head to Vegas. Guess I'll find out why when I get there." "Uh-huh," said Mark. He started to see Victor in a bit of a different light once they found out it was him who had set up the delivery that got him shot. "Good night, Victor," said Mark. "Happy trails, partner."
The four of them entered the lobby. The lobby had peeling white wallpaper, a tile floor with a few tiles missing, and the ceiling had a few chunks of plaster missing. There was also a Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine, a Mojave Express drop box, and a radio playing some music. Sitting at the counter was a middle-aged woman, with grey hair sitting in a bun. She had a long, thin nose and a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses that made her eyes look twice the normal size. "Well, welcome to the Dino Dee-Lite Motel. You all look tired from the road. Why don't you relax, and let this town take care of you? Oh, but where are my manners? I'm Jeannie May Crawford. I run the motel." "Hi," said Mark, "we'd like to rent a couple of rooms." "Well, I think that's wonderful. I'll give you a flat rate, and you can stay as long as you like. Sound good?" Mark nodded. "Excellent. That'll be twenty caps a night for each room." Mark took out his caps, counted forty of them, and handed them to her. She gave him two keys. "Your rooms are upstairs, closest to the lobby. Just let me know if there's anything else I can do for you folks." Mark turned around and gave one key to Cass and the other to Amata. "You guys head up. Amata, I'll be up in a minute." "Ok," said Amata, "just don't take too long."
Cass and Amata walked outside, and ED-E stayed with Mark. "Ya know," said Cass, "yer boyfriend didn't have ta pay for ma room. I still got plenty of caps from selling ma caravan." Amata waved it off. "Ah, it's nothing. We're not hurting for caps. It's our pleasure." Cass took a swig out of her flask. "Damn. You've got a nice, good looking, smart boyfriend who ain't too stingy with tha caps. Ya bagged yerself a winner, honey. Between yers and his genes, that baby is gonna be somethin' special." Amata grinned as she unlocked the door to her room. "Goodnight, Cass." "G'night, 'Mata."
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I hope I didn't get too philosophical for anyone in the third paragraph. I just thought it helped with Mark explaining the whole 'evil people' thing. Until next time.