» Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:10 am Richard stared blankly at the darkness around him, quietly the other boys around him snored and he could hear a few scared whimpers scattered in the tent. It was late, and Richard knew he should be asleep by know but he couldn’t. He was thinking of Roland. Roland was the most amazing boy Richard had ever met, and he thought that he was falling in love with him. Shorn blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, and his lips so full… Richard knew that the masters would never allow it. He knew slaves weren’t allowed romantic affairs of the kind he was wishing for.
He had made himself proud the last time they had met. The two of them were working together to move scrap for the Legion’s caravan coming through to give the masters guns. The two were moving the wreckage of what once was a clever old machine called an “ottomoble”. “Do you think we’ll get feast leftovers for this?” Roland had grunted, his hands being cut by the old bumper of the strange machine.
“I hope so, but I’ll hardly be able to eat it with these hands” Richard replied with an attempt to smile through his imperturbable grimace.
“Amen, friend”
“What’s your name?” Richard had asked, fully knowing what it was from the nights he spent watching him
“Roland, yours?” he smiled warmly
“Richard.”
“Well Richard, lets get back to work, Centurion Legio is coming over”
“Right…”
The pair had returned to moving torn scrap of the old world off the road the caravan would be traveling, both of them smiling now. Richard was unsure but he thought maybe he had made a friend, a most disgraceful secret and his new happiest memory. Richard slipped into sleep, thinking only of Roland and smiling harder than was really appropriate for a boy like himself.
Richard awoke with a start. Gunfire and yelling, the other boys were waking up most of them were crying. A Legionary burst into the tent looking frightened and enraged “The caravan was a trick! The NCR are attacking! Protect your masters!” This man expected them to do their final duty, to die to protect him. Several boys stood up and ran out towards the sounds of battle, but Richard froze. The Legionary suddenly yelped as his body suddenly was filled with holes from behind, blood flowed violently from all of his wounds. One boy ran over and tried to help him. Richard saw the man who had killed the Legionary, he was tall and clad in black armor, with a tattered brown trench coat draqed over it and was wearing a sort of masked helmet and was holding a strange type of rifle he had never seen. “Boys! Run! You’re free! Go, hide we’ll find you when this is done!” The strange darkly dressed man darted back to the fray.
Richard reacted. He ran out away from the shots, towards the other tents. He needed to find Roland looking into the empty tents, some of the girls had been killed the same way the Legionary had. Richard burst into the last tent on camp. “ROLAND!” he shouted at the empty tent. He kept running, now screaming at the whole camp “ROLAND!”. The Legionaries had formed up on the Centurion’s tent throwing spears at the advancing men, similarly dressed to the man who had killed the first Legionary. It was here he found Roland, facing the men attacking the Masters a spear in his back. Richard froze one more; he wanted to charge to Roland’s body, to save him. But he saw that there was no hope, he was lying in a pool of his own blood deep enough to drown in.
Richard ran to the men, hid behind them. The last of the men who had been his Masters were going to die. He was free. The feeling was indescribable and so confusing knowing that Roland was laying a few yards away dead. The men in black threw small stones into the tent and a few seconds later there was a deafening explosion that knocked the tent apart. The dawn was here now; first light broke as the men shot the dying legionaries. Richard looked desperately at these men, who were now walking towards him utterly silently.
“Are you hurt?” One of them asked a medical bag at his side.
“No, I’m fine, nothing worse than a beatings worth.” Richard replied respectfully.
“What is your name, boy?” demanded one of the men.
“Richard sir.” Richard stuttered
“Well Richard do you want to come with us? We’re heading north to NCR territory you’ll be safe from them” He said, looking disgusted at the last word he had said.
“Please sir. But where are the other boys? Where are the girls?”
“Dead or ran off into the wastes. You’re the only one in camp, our men are sure of it.”
Richard left with the men. Along the road they explained they were Rangers of the New California Republic a “government” that controlled a large part of the wasteland. They stood firmly against slavery and the Masters of the Legion in particular. The Rangers were the best of the best coming up from a place called “Baja” far south. Richard liked these men. They were gruff, but they all were fighting to help people like him. He felt heartened.
“Sir?” He had implored one of his favorite Rangers, a ghoul named Kharon
“Yeah, kid?”
“How do you join the Rangers?”
“You have to be a soldier in the NCR Army, and then you have to be good enough to get the special training. Then you have to do the special training, and that’s harder than it sounds. Then you get to be one of us.”
“I’ll get armor just like yours?” Richard had whispered hopefully
“No, you’ll have to work for this stuff. We’re the best of the best.”
“Oh…” Richard was more disappointed than he cared to show.
“Don’t worry kid, if you put the work I bet you can earn this armor.”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah, I do. How old are you?”
“15 years old.” Richard had answered proudly
“Well in 6 years you can join the army and if you really work hard, you can be a Ranger”
Richard arrived in a place he had never seen before. The ground was covered in yellow, grainy stuff. Like the salt he had seen the Centurion put on food, but hot. It wasn’t long after they found the “sand” the got to the first camp. They walked into a camp, a flag with a two headed bear flying high above and many soldiers holding guns greeted them warmly. “Who’s the stray?” inquired one of the Soldiers, his face obscured by goggles and a dust cover.
“A slave from a Caesar’s Legion camp we freed. He wanted to come and join the NCR.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Rangers babysitting?”
“Yeah, I do. The kid’s only ambition in life is to be one of us now. We are helping him.”
“Alright, just find him somewhere to live that isn’t here.”
“Fine. Wasn’t gonna leave him with you anyway.”
Richard felt strange hearing these two talking about him this way. He felt like a burden.
“Kharon, where am I going to live now?” Richard asked perplexed.
“Kid, you can live in my house until I’m done serving. You’ll be ready to join up with these guys by the time that happens.”
“Really? But you just met me. You trust me?”
“Remember the first Ranger you ever saw? The one who killed the Legion guy who wanted you all to go be human shields? That was me. I saw the look on your face. It reminded me of me.”
“Thank you. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“You’re going to work in town, get money to feed yourself. Put any extra under my bed. That’s how you can repay me.”
“I’ll do that Kharon. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, kid.”
Richard was so happy he had almost forgotten the circumstances he met these Rangers under. He loved the NCR. They saved his life. He saluted the flag before he followed the Rangers to the bunks. He fell asleep, knowing he was safe. Safe and Free because of the NCR. He smiled as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
The next day the Rangers reached the town where Kharon lived, and he went to the house with the key he had been covertly handed that morning. The house was nice. It was cozy, well built and had a bed set up. But best of all it had a cabinet of guns. Kharon told Richard to practice with those guns so he could join the NCR with a little experience. And he did. Richard spent most of the next five years either moving through the town doing odd-jobs for townsfolk or practicing his shooting. He grew to favor revolvers, the .357 in particular. He was becoming a really excellent shot.
He was 20 when Kharon came back. He walked into the house in the middle of the day, his armor badly damaged. He was bleeding. Richard sprinted to him and caught his body as he collapsed in his front room. Kharon didn’t look good. His body was covered in wounds, some he couldn’t imagine what could have made them.
“Death…claw” groaned Kharon
“Death claw? What are you talking about?” Richard begged, tears welling in his eyes
“It was a Deathclaw what did this to me, kid. I’m not going to survive. I only made it here on account of the Hydra.”
“Don’t talk like that Kharon.”
“Kid, it’s…” Kharon trailed off
“Kharon! KHARON! KHARON!” Richard screamed at the corpse in his arms for nearly 10 minutes before he realized he was gone.
