Part 27: A Heroes Reward
Standing still, with hands up and blood pouring from Arcane’s knee, we came face to face
with several of the residents, all sporting their firearms. One old man seemed
to stand out from the rest, and I assumed he was the leader. He motioned with
his fingers, to which two of the residents walked outside and inspected the
area, seeing that we had killed all of the bandits who had kept them imprisoned
in the casino. After they had checked it out, they nodded to him, and they
lowered their weapons. They shut the door behind us, and the old man came
steadily towards us. With his wrinkled skin, dusty dungarees and two goggles
fastened firmly around his neck, he seemed like an old farmer, more than a
citygoer.
“Don’t know what brought you to Primm, youngster, but you might want to rethink your
plans. Town’s gone to hell.” He said in a texas drawl. “Don’t know how you
killed the bandits, but it’s a hell of a favour to us.”
To the side of me I heard a groan, and remembered that Arcane had a serious
injury. His blood soaked pants were now beginning to drip onto the casino’s
hardwood flooring.
“Can you get my friend here some medical attention?” I asked.
“Just..get me to some medical supplies, I’m a doctor; I can fix myself.” Arcane added.
A few of them took Arcane by the shoulder and carried him off into an adjoining
room. The old man came back to me.
“Johnson Nash’s my name. Husband to Ruby Nash. Lived in Primm going on eight years now,
thick and thin.” He said, giving me some background information on himself.
“Came to town as a traveller once, liked it enough that I decided to settle in.
Got ourselves a small pasture of crops and bighorners; enough to supply the
whole town. Ran into a little trouble a couple of days back, when crazy gun
toting’ lunatics came to town, shooting everything in sight. Those lucky enough
to survive boarded up here in the casino, and we’ve been holding out here ever
since. Looks like you came just in time; we’re almost out of food.”
“Well, it looks safe enough outside. You could probably walk out of here safely.” I
replied.
“You sure did one hell of a job for us, and it won’t go unrewarded. However, the
Bison Steve hotel is probably still swarming with the bastards. You can see it,
just across the road from here.” He answered. “Since you’ve taken the ones
outside, we’ll support you in taking it back. You shouldn’t have to go it alone
after how you’ve helped us.”
“Of course, just give me a moment with Arcane.” I asked, and headed to where Arcane
had been taken. I found him sitting down in the Manager’s office, with various
medical equipment hastily strewn around the desk. He had put a leg brace around
his leg tightly, took a painkiller, and cleaned the area up with some water, as
well as rubbing antibacterial soap onto it.
“How are you doing?” I asked, looking down at him. He didn’t look too concerned,
which was rather surprising, given what he just experienced.
“I’m Good. I can sleep it off, be good as new in a couple weeks.” He replied without
any effort, it was like he wasn’t even concerned about it, but then again, I’m
not a skilled medic. It looked serious, but he’d know how bad it really was.
“It might be, but for now you should stay here and get some rest. I’m going to head
out with some of the townsfolk and get rid of the bandits still hiding in town.
I’ll be back to help you soon.” I said
“Make sure that you come back in one piece.” Arcane retorted.
With Arcane checked on, I headed straight back to Nash, who was still busy planning
our assault on the Bison Steve hotel. Residents donned their haphazard leather
armour, and firmly grasped their assortment of weaponry. Eventually, Nash took a
stand on one of the Casino’s tables and delivered the plan.
“Alright everyone. We know this town like the back of our hand. They’ll be expecting us
from the front door, and they almost certainly heard the commotion outside. Our
best bet is to either break in through the second story windows, or take the
back entrance by the kitchen. I want you to make sure you pay attention to who
you’re shooting at. As you all know, Deputy Beagle is still being held hostage
by them, and we have no idea where they’re keeping him. Now, we plan on
splitting up into two groups; one for each entry point that I mentioned
We don’t know how many of them there are still alive, but I will guarantee that we will
send them a message about invading our town!” he shouted to the crowd that had
formed in front of him.
His words were powerful, and it wasn’t a bad plan to be
honest. With that, the group poured out and surrounded the building, before
splitting into two, to flank them. I decided to join the group who were busy
upstairs.
Before we broke in for good, a little further preparation was done. A few townsfolk
took the time to strip the bodies of the bandits clean, to give them an edge in
the coming battle. They seemed to be armed with lots of dynamite, and ten
millimetre handguns, the kind that the NCR uses commonly.
They were wearing prison guard armour, and it strongly seemed as if they had looted somewhere to
gather all of the equipment, but I was sure I’d understand it all later; right
now I had a different priority to mind. I checked my ammunition supply, and had
two grenades that Arcane hadn’t used, handy at my belt. This was it. I kicked
the dirty glass window, which shattered all over the floor, and stormed in.
