Rob nodded and pocketed the caps. At first he hadn't planned on joining a caravan, but the lure of company and free brahnim milk was too much. Besides, travelling with the caravan was much safer. The wildlife left them alone, and the couple raiders they had encountered had more bullets then sense.
Besides the name of the town Rob know little about Boneyard. He knew that the Gun Runners operated out of the town, so perhaps he could find a better weapon. More importantly Rob was out of leads. Nobody in Junktown or the Hub even knew that someone was making mutants, let alone who could be doing it. If Rob was lucky, someone in the Boneyard would know what he was talking about.
"Hi, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"
"Shoot away."
"So what exactly do you do around here?"
"I'm one of the Regulators. We keep the peace here in Adytum, and are responsible to protect the town. My boss, Caleb could tell you more."
"Adytum? So the Boneyard is divided up into different sections?"
"Yeah. East of us are the Followers. They're a bunch of peace-nuts. A group of skags calling themselves the Blades live to the north. The Gun Runners live past the Blades if you're looking for them. A far ways south of here is the Cathedral. That's the religious centre for the Children. If you have anymore questions you should talk to Zimmerman. Maybe he could help you."
"Thanks for your time."
"No problem."
"What do you want?"
"Who are you?"
"Where are my manners? I'm Jon Zimmerman, the mayor of Adytum. Hmm... If you're looking for work, I might have a job for you."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Have you ever dealt with a murdering gang of thieves before?"
"Let me guess, you have a gang problem?"
"Yeah, how did you-"
"Lucky guess. What have they done so far?"
"Well, they've been preying on us...
And our children."
"Preying on you? How?"
"What happened to him?"
"Luckily the Regulators got to him before he could get close enough. I saw the body myself."
"Alright, back to the job, what do you want me to do?"
"I WANT YOU TO TEAR THAT FUCKING BITCH'S THROAT OFF AND SHIT DOWN HER FREAKING NECK!!!"
"Woah. What did she do to you?"
"She kidnapped, tortured and killed my son."
"Wow. I'm, I'm sorry. I'll work right on it."
"Thank the gods. Their camp is to the north. Come back when you're done and I'll give you 2000 caps."
Rob would hardly have described the Blade's camp as a den of thieves and murders. From what he see they were hardly even a gang. The guard at the front door was the only person to look menacing in any way, shape or form. Everyone else in the hideout was scrawny, their eyes shrunken in and their actions slow and strained. To Rob it looked more like a refugee camp than a hideout for a gang. At least their leader was easy to spot. She was the only one in the place to move with a sense of purpose, firing off orders to the people around her and saying platitudes to those around her. Yet for all her energy wrinkles were prematurely etched onto her face, speaking of terrible hardships that she had to endure.
"Hello?"
"Yes? How can I help you?"
"Are you in charge of this place?"
"Bot officially, I suppose, but everyone comes to me for direction."
"Well, Zimmerman sent me."
"Um... For what?"
"To pay you back for killing his son."
"Uh... Who?"
"The Regulators. They're the ones who killed Josh! I would never do anything to hurt him. Josh lived here with me... a... I... I mean us. He knew the truth of what was going on in Adytum. They told him that they would kill him if he came back..."
"They killed him? What did he do?"
"Well, late one night he tried to sneak into the town to tell his father. I was monitoring the radio transmissions that night and... they... When he got caught...
...
It's here on this audiodisk, if you want to listen to it."
"Why haven't you talked to Josh's father?"
"The Regulators would kill us before we even got close."
"Oh.
...
Why, why don't I give him the disk?"
"You'd do that for us?"
"Sure. I guess. Just give me the audiodisk."
"Here, take it. But I don't think the Regulators would listen to us if we didn't have the threat of violence. They're thugs, it's all they know. What we need are some weapons from the Gun Runners."
"Where are they?"
"They're a little to the east of us. But we've never spoken to any of them."
"Why not?"
"Well, there's a Deathclaw nest between us and them."
"Ah. Err... Yeah. I'll just be going then..."
"Best of luck."