Forgotten Memories (Walk-In RP)

Josh's boots touched the dirt on the ground as soon as the wheels of his bike slowed to a stop. Freeside; he read across. Josh touched the side of his Pipboy, and the light blue screen glowed to life. After reading the memo he gave himself earlier, he nodded. This was the place. The young man hopped off of the bicycle and kicked it to the side. He wouldn't need that anymore.

When he walked in, he saw a handful of poor unfortunate souls who were either too hungry to move or too dead to care. There were several kids running around though. Poor parents. They must be starving themselves. Not even two minutes into the wreckage, he was attacked by two men who were desperate enough to attempt theft. He kicked the two back and drew both of his revolvers. V.A.T.S. wasn't required at this close a range. Two shots. Two Bullets. Two Lives that weren't taken.

"What did we learn?" Josh asked them. The two men sprung back in anger, slashing at him in furious cuts with their cleavers. Josh dodged them all. "I won't give you both a second chance."

Despite his warnings, the two continued their attacks. Josh holstered his guns then grabbed them both by their wrists, taking both of their blades. In one continuous motion, he slashed both their backs. The two men fell down, slowly fading away. Josh dropped the cleavers and turned away. New Vegas, he began to think, why do these people worship such a low-scum joint? He continued walking, making his way towards Silver Rush.

Standing in the front of the weapon store, two figures stood: a man equipped heavily in metal armor with a plasma gun in his hand and a girl dressed in filthy rags, a small pouch in her hands. "Let me in- I have caps!" The female informed, showing the male what she was holding. The male didn't care though. "Get out of here already! You're not coming in here!" And with that, the man pushed her, letting out a series of swears as she stormed off away to the store across from the Silver Rush, she stopped.

Turning her head to the side, she saw a male coming down the street. She was used to seeing people come and go through Free Side. After all, who would want to be on this side off the wall? She would follow their footsteps and pass the gate into the Strip except for the fact that she had barely any caps to pass by the robots guarding the entrance. Knowing this and assuming that the stranger heading in her direction's next destination was the strip, she glared at him with both envy and hatred. With that, she opened the door to the Atomic Wrangler.

The world's going to hell, Josh thought to himself as he witnessed the girl get shoved off by the guard. He rolled his eyes and sunk into his facade. He smiled, "Tyrone long time no see," He said with a slight chuckle. The man he addressed was not amused. Tyrone gripped onto his plasma gun tightly, keeping a finger on the trigger. "You don't seem that happy to see me Ty."

"I ain't in no mood to be playing games with you today," the man replied. Josh's left eye twitched. Tyrone used a double negative. "You're not coming in here, just like that scrub."

Under Josh's smile was his clenched teeth. He held back his anger.

"Let me speak to... What's that %^*^&!'s name again?" Josh was met with a rifle to his head. Tyrone was completely enraged now. The anger seemed to seep out of his eyes; saying that his glare was like daggers would be an understatement. The threatening aura Tyrone showed was that of a Deathclaw.

"Don't you dare talk about Gloria like that!" He yelled. Josh stepped back and put his hands up. His face unchanged: his stupid smile still shining. "Ya think this is funny don't you?"

"Yes. Very much so." Josh replied. Tyrone shot at the ground between Josh's legs. "I think you just wasted ammo there buddy."

"Don't call me your bud," Tyrone said, "My friendship with you ended when you left me for dead with those damn Khans."

Josh chuckled, "You're still alive aren't you?"

The barrel was at Josh's head. Tyrone stared straight into his eyes, his face contorted, "I hope you rot in hell."

Tyrone took his shot and his last breath. In one quick step, Josh was behind him. A red line appeared on his neck. Josh lied again, Tyrone thought. His last moment was ironic in a way. He spent his life hunting for him, but it was all now gone to waste. He wasn't here for Gloria. Josh was there for him. He realized that. Goddamn bounty hunter.

A slight numbness went into Josh's leg. He looked down. It wasn't there. Despite such, Josh stood standing. He turned back to see Tyrone, clinging on to life, holding onto his wound and the plasma gun. Josh responded first by throwing a stimpak on both of the wounded parties. Tyrone was breathing again, and Josh's leg stopped bleeding. He immediately took out his gun, and shot both of Tyrone's wrists. He screamed in pain.

"The funny thing about karma," Josh said, placing two more shots into Tyrone, both of them shooting off his forefingers. "It never seems to drop when I kill pitiful people like you."

After shooting Tyrone a couple more times, Josh made his way to the Atomic Wrangler. He was going to need some much needed rest, as well as a couple more caps to replace his leg. He hopped in.

"Back already?" An older woman in an old business suit with her hair pulled back tightly in a bun said as the younger female walked in and sat down at a table. "You should give up already Holly. She is gone and she owes us and you know how me and James feel about debts so-welcome to the Atomic Wrangler! We've got liquor, chems, and whores a plenty. Pick your fix and we'll oblige. Our only rule is no sampling the merchandise. Caps paid in advance." The woman's tone quickly changed from irritated to friendly. The girl looked up with a hopeful expression but was quickly disappointed to see that the woman stood there drying a wine glass as a male made his way in- the same one she saw earlier. Except, there was something different about him. The stranger had a limb missing. The older woman noticed this, therefore commanded Holly to help him find a seat. She as well was expected to clean up the trail of blood the injured male was making. Grumbling under her breath, she stood up from her seat, went over to him then grabbed his arm and placed it around the back if her neck, trying to support him so he could move around easier.

Josh felt the young girl come from underneath his arm. Good kid, he thought. They don't come around often. How unfortunate that she'd have to live her life within Freeside. He gave a smile and placed the caps on the table; it was more than enough, but at this point Josh didn't care. He patted the girl who helped him on the head and hopped up the stairs taking the corner room. He closed the door behind him.

Holly's eyes grew wide at the amount of currency the mysterious man had placed on the table. Right as she was about to take it, she was stopped. Hearing a thud behind her, the girl turned to see the older woman glaring at her with the wine glass on the counter. The woman then began to make her way over to the child.

"Leave it! How many times do I need to tell you? You OWE  us! Both you and your w**** sister!"

She then raised her hand up, as if she was about to strike her, causing the girl to flinch. The woman didn't hit her though. Instead, she brought her arm back down and a satisfied smile grew on her face. Holly looked angrily at the floor and the older of the two kneeled down and gently lifted the girl's chin up so both of them could have proper eye contact.

"... How old are you Holly?"

"I'm-"

"It doesn't matter. People are desperate these days." The woman stood up and crossed her arms, a twisted smile on her face. "With your sister gone and oweing us, you'll be responsible for paying her debt."

A look of complete terror grew on Holly's dirty face. She knew very well how she would be forced to pay back the owners of the Atomic Wrangler. Shaking her head side to side,  she began to back away from the woman. Noticing the girl making her way away from her, the woman frowned.

"You're going to do this of you like it or not!" The woman screamed, unaware that her shouting was creating a scene. Yet, the girl continued to back away until she was up against a wall. She was now cornered.

Looking around frantically for an escape route,  Holly's adrenaline began to rush throughout her body. Raising her hands up to her chest, the child pushed the surprised woman and headed for the door, grabbing the caps along the way.  Yet right as she was about to reach the exit, a bullet was shot, grazing her ear.

"Don't make me do this you little s***. Just turn around,  give me the caps, and do as I say or I'll shoot you here and now in that empty head of yours."

"OKAY! WHAT THE %^*^&!!?" Josh yelled at the top of his lungs.

The man glared out, looking at the entire crowd. He barely had enough time to change his clothes before being so rudely interrupted, but the blood splatters on his clothes made him all the more intimidating. The casino stayed quiet in disbelief. Most of the gamblers bet on whether or not this stranger was going to live to see tomorrow. Josh just stood there analyzing, his eyes stopping at the exit. The girl who helped him earlier was now standing at gun-point, the woman he paid earlier having her finger to the trigger. Josh let out a heavy sigh. What the hell is wrong with this God-Forsaken world we live in?

The crowd watched as the man reached into his bag grabbing out a small makeshift bottle that read "Hydra+" and a half-empty stem-pack. After putting the two together, they stared awestruck as he injected it into his open wound. Blood spewed, but only momentarily. Suddenly, a new leg appeared. The mysterious man jumped down from the second floor and made his way towards the girl, taking the gun away from the owner. He now stood in between them.

"Getta load of this guy acting like he's some sorta Powder Ganger!" Before the ghoul on the stage could continue his comment, Josh gave a sly smile. A knife flew across the room and went between the comedian's legs. Gasps from the crowd were heard.

"If you're talking about Joe Cobb, I already took the bounty on his head," the man proudly stated. After looking back to the girl he saw the bag of caps he left. He rolled his eyes, and turned back towards the angry, stunned woman next to the counter. The fucking scuffle was about money. Despite the fact that he was filled with anger, he tried his best not to show it. Now 'tried' was the key term because no matter how much he 'tried' to make it seem like he wasn't angry by smiling, the anger was shown by his piercing stare.

"You want caps kid?" Josh asked. As he did, he reached into his coat and gave her a bag-full. "Here. This was from my previous job, I had to kill several Khans for that 3000 there."

Josh smiled kindly to the girl, but turned back to glare at the owner. He reached into his coat again and threw several caps on the ground towards the feet of the woman.

"You can have some too, and while you're at it, why don't you pick up your dignity. You seemed to have dropped it." He continued to throw caps at her feet until he finally threw her gun back. He took the girl's hand, and reached into his coat once more.

"And now..."

As the crowd became disoriented from a sudden white flash, Josh dragged the girl with him out the door, laughing heartily.

"We RUN!"

Despite the fact that the male had pulled Holly outside, the girl decided to take charge and lead him away from the Atomic Wrangler. Sure, he may be brave, strong and smart but when it came to this part of New Vegas, Holly knew everything from the number of bricks in a pile over by Dixon, the local drug dealer, and what- or who- was apart of the "fresh" meat being sold in the area. Running as fast as her bare feet could take her, she continued to pull on the strangers hand. The child was surprisingly fast- she had to; running was her only option of surviving in this mad world.

Knowing that the two were being chased, Holly continued to sprint, turning swiftly at each corner and climbing several obstacles that consisted of a dumpster, a destroyed car, and two piles of debris. After what felt like an eternity of running for her life, the gunshots stopped and they were no longer being chased. Slowing down, she reached her destination: an old, destroyed building.

Assuming that the man was still behind her, she entered through the doorframe and pulled a couple of boards larger than her away from the wall. Once taken away, a hole was revealed. Climbing in, she turned around to gesture him to join her. Through the hole, a room could be seen- small but big enough for the two of them.

"Hurry." She whispered, "before anyone sees." The hidden room was introduced to the girl by her sister. It's only purpose was for emergencies and since this man had saved her life, she trusted him. Knowing that she could never go back, Holly was aware that she needed to find her sister.

"Hurry, before anyone sees." he heard the girl say, pulling the rubble aside.

To be honest, above all of the surprise, Josh was out of breath. Running had not been his way to survive in this mad world, confrontation was. That last bit earlier was just suppose to be a diversion to break into the gun game he was going to start. He wasn't expecting a full on parkour badassery showdown against some random kid he saved (which he lost by the way. Josh kept running into things). He crawled in and sat down, gasping for air, after the girl followed, she closed off the entrance, causing the thugs who were chasing them to pass by.

"Nice call kid."