Chapter 188 - Bountiful Harvest?

Afton just sighs and reluctantly hands over 100 caps, his time was more important than the cash anyway, so getting the information as soon as possible was preferable. "Now, tell me what you know."

Old Ben checks the bag and slowly nods to himself, "Well, first off if you are looking for your friends, they won't be in the strip." he says, causing the group to give him confused looks.​​

"What?" Afton asks, if this was the case he'd be very surprised to say the least.

Old Ben nods, "Yep, your friends lacked a licence and didn't have enough caps to get into the strip."

...

"So... Where did they go then?" Afton mutters, more to himself than to the others. Tamia seemed hellbent on getting revenge on that checkered suit-wearing douche who'd shot her, he doubted she'd just give up like that. Not to mention he had no idea why Veronica was travelling with her, he thought she'd be more worried about getting supplies to the bunker than wandering around with a courier.

Old Ben smiles, "Well, I may have overheard their conversation, but it seems to have slipped my mind... Maybe some encouragement would help?" he asks, trying to con him out of more money.

Afton returns the smile, "You need encouragement? Sure, whatever you want."

*BANG!*

Old Ben crumples to the floor while holding his foot, Afton having just shot clean through his dirty trainers. He squirms on the floor with tears coming from his eyes, clearly in immense pain.

"That enough encouragement for you? You don't seem to have remembered it yet so let me try again." he says, pointing his weapon at the man's other foot.

"NO! N-no! I remember! Just don't shoot me again!" Ben gives a panicked shout.

Afton had gotten caught up in the moment and had completely forgotten about the Securitrons... Usually they'd intervene in any violence close to the gate, but for some reason they seemed content to just sit and watch the situation... It was lucky as Afton really needed the information Old Ben was trying to con him into paying twice for.

"Well then, speak."

"They left! They were talking about something on the radio! A Happy Trails Caravan headed to New Canaan!" he quickly says, not wishing to get shot again.

Karl raises a brow, "The group who've already left on their expedition? Shit."

"You said that New Canaan wasn't somewhere you could trade in peace, think Tami and Veronica'll be fine there? If not then I'm going after them, I don't care how long it'd take." Afton states.

"I don't if it's accurate, but New Canaan is apparently completely ruled by many different tribes. All vying for control over the region, Caravans rarely dare to venture there due the never knowing which tribe they're going to deal with. Some ambush caravans, some trade, while others ignore them completely..."

Afton sighs, "We need to go after them."

Karl shakes his head, "The canyons, caves, and abandoned trails leading there are incredibly hard to cross. You would need someone who'd mastered the route to reliably get anywhere, and that's not even mentioning the creatures you'd encounter on the way. Face it kid, they'll have to work through this on their own." he says with a sympathetic tone.

Afton rubs his face, he wasn't sure what to do... He trusted Veronica's strength and knew Tamia could handle herself, but that didn't mean he wouldn't worry about them. If he was alone he might've been tempted to brave the passageways to get to New Canaan. Unfortunately he had reliable companions that he couldn't very well abandon, they still needed to rescue Karl daughter, as well as getting revenge for Boone's wife.

"They'll be fine, we'll be here to see them once they get back." Afton states after coming to a decision.

"That's great and all, but what now?" Boone asks from the side, still looking down uncaringly at Old Ben who's still writhing on the floor in pain.

"Well, we still have some Bounties to collect. The Fiends aren't going to be killing themselves... Probably." Afton mutters before returning his attention back to Old Ben, "You've caught me in a bad mood, I was thinking about tossing you a stimpack, but you can hobble your way to the Followers of the Apocalypse if you want healing." he spits on the floor beside the man before taking a seat on Dirt-Bird.

The others follow and he drives off in the direction of Camp McCarren to get more information about the bounties on the Fiends.

A few of the Kings nod at them as they drive out of Freeside's gates, it doesn't take long for them to start encountering small groups of NCR soldiers on the highway. Most seemed to somehow know who the group was and simply let them drive past, while others had to be stopped by their allies before they attempted to stop them.

Camp McCarren itself was a repurposed airport, huge concrete walls encasing it with large watchtowers giving the NCR a huge tactical advantage should they be required to defend the position.

Even now Afton could see many NCR soldiers watching them from atop the wall, all carrying higher calibre weapons than he'd seen any NCR trooper wield. Truly, the Fiends would have to be insane to try and breach this place... Which is why there had apparently been many attempts in the past.

Regardless, he drove Dirt-Bird in-front of the entrance and was immediately stopped by the many guardsmen there. A few traders were waiting around, and it looked like they'd be forced to wait as well...

"State your business." one of the soldiers asks in a bored tone, not even looking up from his clipboard.

"We're hoping to get rid of your Fiend problem."

...

The man looks up from the clipboard and raises a brow at them, "Ah, so you're... Yes, Major Dhatri is in charge of paying out bounties, I'll have someone escort you to him. Welcome to Camp McCarren." he states, more respectfully than he'd been to the traders, all of which had scowls on their faces due to it.