Caravan

We walked several for several miles and until we came to a small section of road that was surrounded by two large hills. It was facing east-west and extended for as far as I could see the road had no intersections instead there were overpasses connecting each side of the street. Leaving it as a completely unbroken section that extended for miles.

"During the pre war this used to be a toll road but, now it's just called Westroad it's the most popular trading route in the state. It stretches all the way from the Flatirons settlement in the foothills to the plains in the east where the famous Tentcity is" Aaron explained.

"And the caravan you mentioned is headed between these places?"

"Yes it's headed towards Flatirons. I have been watching the road and there should be one coming by today."

"Ok but, what are we going to do, are we going to trade with them using all the stuff you brought?"

"No we're moving."

"Moving" I squealed in excitement before calming back down and turning red at the embarrassing sound I just made." I couldn't help it though I was just so fed up with that stupid store and wanted to be somewhere else.

"Yes, moving we have been here for too long. In the past couple days I have had the feeling that we are being watched."

"That's impossible though I always stay in the store and you can turn invisible how could anyone find us."

Aaron didn't take his eyes off the road but, replied to me using the most sarcastic tone I had ever heard from him. "Maybe it has something to do with all of the guns you've been firing? Someone would have to be pretty stupid not to notice that."

My recovering face became even redder after that I couldn't believe I didn't think of that. So much for my Intelligence, maybe my level was too low so my 10 Int isn't very effective yet and that's why I can still be such an idiot sometimes?

Anyway I shrugged it off and asked Aaron for more information about where we're going.

"Flatirons is an old mall it has lots of large interconnected buildings and outdoor areas and is right next to the Rockies making it a good place for a trading settlement. Flatirons is Colorado's gate to the east it's where everyone who plans on crossing the mountains starts their journey and where they return to when they come back.

"Ok it sounds like a good to live, what about that Tentcity you also mentioned?"

"While Flatirons could be considered a haven for traders Tentcity is one for scavengers. It was built in the remnants of an old airport. The most important thing about the place is that it is only a day's trip from Denver."

"Is Denver a major settlement too?"

"No it's the exact opposite Denver is one of the most dangerous places in the state."

"Then why is it good to have a city near there?"

"Because Denver has some of the greatest prewar scrap left in the world. Since it is so dangerous it has barely been looted even after 200 years not to mention the amount of meat that comes out of that place makes it better than any farm."

"Meat? What kind of meat?"

Before Aaron could answer a loud bang exploded in my ears and a chunk of dirt shot up by our feet. I jumped down and screamed that we were under attack.

"They're here" Aaron answered.

I looked over and in the distance I saw rows upon row of all kinds of strange carts. The carts looked to be made of wood but, they had car tires instead of wooden wheels. Their outsides were covered in thin sheets of metal to protect against gun shots I guessed and they had all kinds of logos and designs painted on them.

"Why are they shooting at us" I asked not willing to get back up yet?

"It's just a warning shot they have no Idea who we are and want to let us know that they aren't easy targets."

"They could have killed us" I yelled.

"They didn't" Aaron answered as emotionless as ever.

Sighing I decided to stand back up a couple of seconds had passed and they didn't fire again so I assumed that Aaron was right.

Not long later they were almost at our spot. I counted at least a hundred different carriages. When I got closer I noticed something interesting the carts at the front and back of the group were all different colors and had different logos, while in the middle of the group there was at least 30 carriages that were all army green and had a picture of a man holding a rifle who looked to be sprinting on them.

I asked Aaron about this and he said that it was because the group in the middle was a big organization who let the other smaller caravans travel with them for protection.

"They don't look very protected" I told him.

"The protection is in the numbers. None of the smaller caravans trust each and all have their own ideas and motives. So they need a big caravan to come in and maintain order and make it easier to move in a large group."

"It still seems like the big caravan is getting a better deal. If they are attacked the smaller groups would be the first to be hit."

"The large caravans absolutely get a better deal aside from protection they also take a fee from every group who travels with them."

"What so they're actually being paid to be protected" I couldn't believe something like that would even work. "Why does everyone agree to that?"

"Because it's safer how is a single caravan supposed to protect itself from a group of Raiders or Supermutants. The answer is they don't if they travel by themselves there is a very real chance they will never make it to their destination."

"So they don't have any choice but, to follow the larger groups around" I turned to look at the caravans feeling a little sorry for them.

"Exactly" Aaron answered "but, that doesn't mean that there aren't people who choose to go alone. If a caravan travels by themselves and manages to arrive at the right time they can easily make double the amount of money the groups in front of us can make."

"That much" I asked!

"Yes the fee the bigger caravans charge is not small. Also the big groups tend to sell things in large batches. So if you can get your product to sale in between those batches you can have a small monopoly."

As we finished our conversation the first group of carts arrived in front of us.

"State your purpose" a guard in green leather armor shouted at us while aiming with his rifle.

I noticed he also had the symbol of a man running with a rifle on his chest piece so he was part of the big group in charge of the caravan.

"We are here to join the caravan we want an escort to Flatirons."

"The guard then put down his gun and said "500 caps 300 for you and 200 for the kid."

"Fine" Aaron spoke as he took a pouch out of his duster and handed it to the man.

The guard weighed the bag in his and then opened it to check its contents before turning around and heading back to his post.

"What now" I asked.

"We need to find a caravan to stay with."

"Didn't we just pay for that?"

"No all we did was pay the group in charge to allow us to travel with them. We still need to find a cart to ride on unless you plan on walking."

I cursed under my breath about how cheap those bastards were before I found something that didn't make much sense.

"Hey Aaron?"

"Yes."

"How did you have the exact change to pay that guard with I didn't see you counting out any money?"

"That's because there was over 700 caps in that bag. I just gave him all of our money so there was no need to count."

"What" I yelled "that was all of our money!"

"Yes that was all of the money I got from the Raiders who used to occupy our old base."

"Why did you give him 200 more caps than he asked for" I screamed at him.

"Because if I didn't do that he would have needed to count the money instead of weighing it to make sure I didn't short change him."

I ground my teeth "Is saving a couple of minutes really worth losing over 200 caps?"

"Yes it is remember I told you I felt we were being watched before."

"Yes I remember that's why we left what does that have to do with anything" I fumed.

"It's still happening I don't know who they are but, I can feel we are being targeted, and if they still have the will to do that even after we joined the caravan the they aren't to be looked down on. I gave him that money because I have the feeling we could be attacked at any moment so we need their protection and buttering a couple fingers could end up helping us a lot.

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While Aaron and Dan were talking a small group was laying prone on an overpass observing the caravan from several miles away.

A man wearing a full set of spiked metal armor and a black bandana around his face was staring at the group with a pair of binoculars.

"Boss" his walkie talkie hissed.

"Go" he responded without putting down his binoculars.

"You were right boss that guy and the kid left their little base and joined the caravan."

"Shit" the boss swore.

"Why do you care so much boss it's just one man?"

"What do you know you piece of shit that guy isn't simple. He's someone who can make a whole Raider camp disappear in one night and move around like he's a friggin ghost. You tell me if I should be worried."

"Still like I said he's only one guy no matter how strong he is he won't be able to stop what's about to happen, plus he seems pretty attached to that kid so he won't be able to disappear on us while he is still protecting him."

"Maybe" the boss whisper unsure while he put down his binoculars and looked at the massive weapon by his side while suddenly feeling a lot more confident about his chances.

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Aaron and I eventually found a caravan who would give us some caps and let us travel with them in exchange for the supplies we brought.

It was a trading group called Wasteland Dream they only had a single cart that was full to the brim with cargo. There was only a single middle man large grey beard and a little girl with bright red hair who looked about my age.

They didn't even have any guards so the old man was more than happy to let us join his group. He commented on how capable Aaron looked and how cute I was which made me very uncomfortable. Apparently the little girl was his granddaughter and this was their first trading expedition, he excited to see me because his granddaughter had never really gotten to play with other children.

The old man's name was Gayle and the little girl was Nikole. Aaron ended up talking to Gayle about the state of the Wasteland and what was going on at Flatirons. I was interested in hearing their conversation but, Nikole ended up talking my ear off.

She forced me to tell her about myself and what my life was like. I ended up telling her about my training with Aaron and all of the crazy things he has done to me. Nikole jumped when I told her about how he tested me the Radroaches.

After that I could see her shooting dirty glances at Aaron every now and again. Nikole might have been a little noisy and hyper but, she was a good person. I was happy to finally have someone else to talk to besides that block of wood Aaron. Though It bothered me a getting close to someone so young but, I relaxed a little when I realized that I was technically still just a child too.

I ended up relaxing a lot and was having a lot of fun on the journey, Aaron however was not I could see his looking at the horizon like he was expecting an army to come charging over it any second. I felt that he was being paranoid there were hundreds of well armed guards in our group. Not to mention that even if we were attacked there was still that mysterious group in the center of our caravan that looked more like a military squadron than a group of merchants. So I decided to just lay back and enjoy the rest of the trip and to let Aaron worry about all of that serious stuff.