Curious & Curiouser

Chapter Two

⠀ ⠀The courier's feet dangled in what had once been her grave. The grave was shallow, and her blood still littered the surrounding dirt. A cigarette, which she had found at the grave side and pocketed, was held loosely between her lips.
⠀ ⠀ The sun was rising over Goodsprings, and the little town was starting to wake up. The courier had spent the night in a bedroll beside her former grave. A final tribute to whoever she had been.
⠀ ⠀"Rest in peace, whoever you were." The courier spit the butt of her cigarette into the grave and got to her feet. Next stop: Primm.
———
⠀ ⠀ "More powder gangers?" The courier rolled her eyes, "I'll get back your deputy, and see what I can do about the bastards trying to overtake your town."
⠀ ⠀Johnson Nash had been nice enough. He'd given the courier some important information about the Mojave Express, but even then they had little to no information about who she had been before the bullet carved away her memories. Not that it would matter too much, Courier told herself. It wouldn't matter what anyone else said if she couldn't remember.
⠀ ⠀Maybe it was better this way, Courier lazily thought. She could've been a horrible person before; good people scarcely found themselves in unmarked shallow graves. Or maybe they did, maybe the Wasteland was unforgiving and picked no favorites.
———
⠀ ⠀This fight against the powder gangers prove slightly more difficult. The varmint rifle still didn't fit completely comfortable against the couriers shoulder, and there were far too many for the courier to rush in with immediate melee as she had done back in Goodsprings. It felt like maybe every other bullet met its mark, and ammo wasn't free. The courier hated to destroy the towns hotel, but Easy Pete had given her dynamite for a good reason.
⠀ ⠀Eventually the courier had been able to fight her way to the deputy, who had fled quickly from the slightly hint of danger.
⠀ ⠀"Coward." Courier grumbled under her breathe as she injected a stimpack into her arm, just as the good doc had taught her.
⠀ ⠀Her arm burned, and then it felt freezingly numb, then she could fee the bullet wound in her shoulder closing itself. For a minute, Courier allowed herself to be amazed. But her amazement ceased, and she continued her fight.
———
⠀ ⠀By the time the Courier exited the Bison Steve Hotel, she was covered in blood. She tried to wipe it from her face, but she she did was manage to smear it around. She was sure there was a stab would somewhere in her abdomen, and some ganger with a tire iron had managed to sneak up and beat her a few times while she had been focused on shooting one of the guys comrades; that wasn't even to mention the cuts and bruises from stray bullets. But, the courier wore a smile. Her busted lip bled more as she grinned, but the adrenaline pumping made her not care. She had to go tell the towns folk the good news: their town was safe.
⠀ ⠀"Good heavens!" Ruby Nash rushed to the courier, "You came stumbling in here like one of 'em ghouls! You're lucky you didn't get shot."
⠀ ⠀The couriers eyes knit together in thought. She couldn't place what a ghoul was, but asking would make her seem dumb and that would be a weakness. So instead of asking, the courier shrugged and laughed. She had lazily down in a chair inside the Nash residence, and itched for a cigarette.
⠀ ⠀"I took care of yalls powder ganger problem." She pulled a cigarette out of a pocket under her armor; the cigarettes had blood splatters on them but that didn't make the girl hesitate, "And i saved yalls deputy."
⠀ ⠀Ruby Nash disappeared for a few minutes, and returned with a wet rag. Ruby plucked the cigarette from between the girls lips, and stomped it out before she began to wipe the drying blood from the couriers face.
⠀ ⠀"Cigarettes kill, young lady." The woman scolded, "Didn't your mom and pops ever tell you that?"
⠀ ⠀Somewhere deep inside Courier's chest, she ached.
"I wouldn't know," the courier mumbled and shrugged, and looked around for a distraction. Her eyes landed on a broken robot on the counter, "What's with the robot?"
⠀ ⠀"It's broken. Some other courier left it here, and I wanted to fix it up for courier work but I can't get the damned thing to work." Johnson Nash said as he poked at the robot, "If you can fix it, it's yours."
———
⠀ ⠀ED-E beeped happily in the air behind Courier. The eyebot did a good job at seeing bad guys before the courier did. The trip to Nipton felt a lot easier than her trip from Goodsprings to Primm. A little companionship was nice, even if it was from a robot.
⠀ ⠀Courier could smell Nipton before she could see it. Smoke billowed into the air, and Courier's stomach dropped. A series of red flags surrounded the town and they danced in the wind, they were a warning of what was to come should anyone visit the city. But, Courier Six was never one to shy away from danger. She stopped just outside Nipton, and searched around in her bag. She pulled out a shawl to wrap around her face, and put a trooper helmet and googles on her face. If this was Legion, as she suspected it to be, they didn't have the best reputation with women. So maybe if they believe the courier to be a young man, they wouldn't bother. If they did bother her, that was were ED-E would intervene and she'd make a break for the mountains.
⠀ ⠀It was a fool proof plan in the couriers eyes.
———
⠀ ⠀"What lessons did you teach here?" Courier did her best to lower her voice to mimic as mans; being parched from her long walk aided in this.
⠀ ⠀"Where to begin? That they are weak, and we are strong? This much was known already." A man with a dog-faced hat attempted to lecture.
⠀ ⠀The courier got the feeling that the man was used to being feared, maybe he even thrived on that fear. But the courier couldn't be more disinterested. Everyone talked so much of the Legions atrocities, but looking at the squad around her the courier was disappointed. How could this be the Mojave's biggest threat to democracy? Scrawny men with swords and skirts? Was the Mojave truly that weak?
⠀ ⠀She looked up at the crucifixions. Most of the men on the crosses her powder gangers, so the courier couldn't help but smile a little. At least the Legion had gotten to the gangers before she had.
⠀ ⠀"Sure, I'll deliver your message," the courier said at last with a shrug.
⠀ ⠀The doghead-wearer squinted his eyes at the courier. In a flash he had rushed forward and he held her arm in his. Under his scrutinizing gaze, the courier could feel a little unsettled. Before a question could leave her lips, the shawl covering her face was ripped down and her goggles soon followed. A chuckled riddled with cruelty echoed lowly from the mans lips, and Courier wanted to take back anything she had previously thought about the man.
⠀ ⠀"You almost had me fooled, woman." The word woman dripped from his lips like it was the Mojave's worst insult, "Maybe I should have you lashed to a cross for your pitiful attempt at tricking the Legion..."
⠀ ⠀Couriers blood ran cold, but she managed to stay externally calm. With yet another shrug, the courier cleared her thought and rubbed at it exaggeratedly.
⠀ ⠀"Not sure what you mean," the rasp was still in her voice, "I'm not trying to trick anyone."
⠀ ⠀"Oh really?" Courier could faintly see the mans eyes squinting behind his own goggles, "The shawl, the goggles, the voice? Was it all not some ruse to make believe you to be some man worthy of my respect?"
⠀ ⠀It was the couriers turned to squint, but this time she did it with feigned confusion. "The goggles are to protect my eyes from the sun, and the shows to keep the dirt out of my face," she cleared her throat again, "As for the voice... I've been walking all day, and I need some water."
⠀ ⠀Silence fell between them. For a moment, the courier worried the man saw through her lies. Instead, though, he called something in a foreign language. As the courier reached her for pocket knife, a younger Legionary ran to her - a bottle of water in his hand. He extended the water to the Courier, and ran back to his position behind the doghead-man as soon as the bottle left his hands.
⠀ ⠀"What is your name?" The doghead-man asked; it may have been a question but the courier knew it was a demand.
⠀ ⠀"Courier Six," the courier answered after a gulp of the water.
⠀ ⠀"Well then, Courier Six. Do not disappoint me." He yelled some more words in the unknown language and the men turned to leave, "Vale, Courier Six. I expect I'll be seeing you again."
⠀ ⠀The courier tried her best to pronounce the strange mans goodbye, it sounded more like 'Wall-Aye' as it fell from her inexperienced lips. As the Legion finally moved out from the destroyed town, the Courier let out a sigh of relief and looked up at her eyebot.
⠀ ⠀ "Well ED-E, looks like Novac's gonna have to wait a little while longer," she took a sip from the gifted water, and looked at map on her pipboy, "Mojave Outpost, here we come."