The Story of the Reaper: Goodsprings

A Story by Loyd Harken

In the second part of the story of Deveritt, he has left his old shack and is on his way to Cottonwood Cove, but when he runs out of water he decides to stop by the old town of Goodsprings.

The sun in the wasteland is brutal, and I have to constantly make stops to get out of the rays. As I sit under an overhanging boulder, I check my Pip-Boy’s map to see how much distance I’ve covered. In this heat I’ve only been able to travel just over two miles, and I find myself close to Goodsprings. I reach into my bag and find my water bottle, as I gulp down the last bit I find myself longing for a good Nuka-Cola or even a Sunset Sarsaparilla. I toss my bottle bag into my bag and pull out the pouch that I carry my caps in; I am able to count about 40 caps. I sigh and stand up, then I set a waypoint on my map for Goodsprings. I step out into the heat of the wasteland, the dust caking my body as the ground crunches under my feet. I see the dead grass spurting up in patches from the cracked earth, begging for water or nutrients; I try to imagine what it would have looked like before the bombs fell, but my mind can’t even wrap around it. I step onto the cracked and dilapidated road, beginning my journey to the old town. I walk for a period of time until I see the old dust covered town in the distance, and my mouth waters at the thought of drinks. I step onto the porch of the old saloon, and nod a greeting to Easy Pete as I step into the building.
“Deveritt, Jason was just here yesterday. Did you find some more loot?” the redheaded Sunny Smiles asks as I walk in, and I pull off my mask and hood.
“No, I’m just going on a trip real quick. I ran out of water on the way here, so I decided to stop in to see if Trudy has something to drink for me.” I say and she smiles as I walk over into the main part of the saloon. I sit down at a bar stool and Trudy is behind the counter grabbing a beer for another settler.
“What can I get for you s-oh! Deveritt, what brings you back over here?” She asks as she turns around and realizes it’s me.
“I’m going on a trip, and I ran out of water. You got any drinks?” I ask and she pulls out two sarsaparillas and a Nuka-Cola, setting them down in front of me. I go to reach into my bag to pull out my caps, but she reaches out and grabs my arm.
“No charge, and I think that the bed in the old gas station that Ringo used is still there. Go rest up a bit then you can move on.” She says, so I nod and, grabbing the drinks, I leave the saloon and head up the hill to the old gas station. I stop by the vending machine next to the door and kick it, and a Sunset Sarsaparilla falls out so I push that into my bag to. I then open the door and step into the old dusty building. I look around and see overturned merchandise shelves and a few crates and burlap sacks. On the other side of the counter I see the old mattress lying on the ground. I take off my machete, satchel, and trench coat and lay them down next to the mattress. I then open up a Sarsaparilla and pocket the cap. I drink it down and the feeling of the cool soda running down my throat just sends shivers down my spine. When I’m finished I toss the empty glass bottle next to me and it clanks around then rolls away. I check my Pip-Boy and see that it’s starting to get fairly late so I lay down on the old mattress, my sheathed machete in my hand.

I wake to the feeling that there’s a presence in the room, so I slowly unsheathe the blade as I see a dark shape walk past the counter. I ready myself to attack until I hear a familiar voice.
“Deveritt, are you in here?” I hear Sunny ask, so I turn on the light for my Pip-Boy and I feel her dog Cheyenne come over to me and lick my face. I scratch behind her ear as I stand up, I go to speak until I see that Sunny has a worried look on her face.
“What’s going on?” I ask her as I pull on my trench coat.
“NCR showed up, I don’t know why but they have a Desert Ranger with them. Trudy’s speaking with them now.” She says shakily, so I quickly slip on my satchel and machete. I make sure that my .357 is loaded and push it into my holster. I nod to Sunny and step out into the night, that’s when I see three NCR soldiers and the Desert Ranger down by the saloon talking to Trudy and Chet. I see the ranger look up at Sunny and I as we walk towards them, and when we walk up the conversation stops.
“What’s going on?” I ask and the lead soldier steps forward, and the ranger focuses on me.
“Deveritt, the NCR is just wanting to annex Goodsprings and set up troops here.” Trudy says, and I look directly to the soldier.
“This is NCR business citizen, no need for you to be a part of this.” He says, but as he goes to turn away I grab him by the shirt and I draw my .357 and point it at another one of the soldiers. Chet points his shotgun at the final solider, and Sunny draws her weapon on the ranger.
“I would suggest you leave and tell your superiors that this town is off limits, this is one of the only NCR-free towns and I’d like to keep it that way.” I growl, causing the ranger to reach for his gun but the man that I’m holding just calmly holds up his hand.
“Stand down, if this man doesn’t want us to take it we’ll just have to come back later.” He says, so I let go of him just long enough to put a bullet through his head. I shoot the other two soldiers before they even have time to react, and soon the ranger finds himself with three guns pointing at him as well as Cheyenne growling at his feet. The man looks at the three dead men, then back to me. He lifts his hands causing us to grip our guns tighter, but he simply just claps softly, and I look at Sunny.
“See those three have been getting on my nerves since we left the Mojave Outpost, so you just did me a great favor.” The man says through his helmet, so I lower my gun and Sunny and Chet do the same.
“So do you even care that we just killed your own people?” I ask, but Chet steps forward.
“Actually Deveritt, you killed them, just to to point that out” he chips in, and he steps back as soon as he sees me glare at him. The ranger laughs.
“Care about them? Of course I do, I care about the fact that they did all the talking and I did all the killing…but that’s about it. I was planning on ditching them at some point and pray that the NCR would just declare me MIA. Though you’ve seem to help me with that problem, so I thank you for that, and I’m just going to continue on my journey. Do you by any chance have any change of clothes, I want to ditch this armor.” He says, and I smirk a bit and Sunny looks at me with confusion.
“Well there’s probably somewhere in this old town with a change of clothes, but if you’re going to ditch it anyways I’ll take that armor off your hands.” I say, and the man pulls off his helmet and tosses it to me.
“It’s as good as yours Deveritt, I’d rather not be able to be tied back to the NCR and be brought back. Just help me find some clothes and it’s all yours.” He says, so I nod and holster my weapon. I gesture for the ranger to follow and I walk over to one of the abandoned houses.

I stand in front of that old dusty mirror, looking at my new modified NCR ranger armor, and smile a bit at out different I look. Instead the normal brown and gray armor of the Desert Ranger, it is now spray-painted black with the detailing in red, and I have also traded out the brown trench coat in favor of my jet black hooded trench coat. I smile a bit as I slip on my helmet and step out into the town of Goodsprings where Sunny, Trudy, and the former ranger wait. Sunny gives a slight whistle as I walk out, and the ranger, donning his new citizen outfit with a straw hat, smiles a bit.
“Wow Deveritt, if I didn’t already know that was you I wouldn’t recognize ya.” Trudy says, and she says her farewells and head back into the saloon. Sunny walks up to me and pulls on my helmet so my face is level with hers.
“Just because you got that new fancy armor don’t mean that you can start acting like the NCR, and you had better come back here and visit me as often as you can. You understand?” she warns, and under the helmet I smile and quietly say yes ma’am, causing her to smile as she heads back into the saloon.
“Something going on between the two of you?” the ranger chuckles, but then looks at me again seriously, “Take care of my armor, and use it well. I already appreciate the changes you’ve made to it, and I’m gonna love staying in this old town… I have a feeling I’ll be here for a while.” He says, and I step forward to shake his hand.
“Take care of this old town while I’m gone, you got it?” I say, and he nods as he shakes my hand. We turn and step away from each other, each one of us heading in our own direction until he turns around and calls my name.
“Oh and hey, don’t you worry…I’ll stay away from your girl!” he yells, causing me to smile, and I pull my hood up around the helmet as I set back out into the wasteland…to the next town on my trip to Cottonwood Cove.