New Vegas: Sheason's Story

Chapter 51: Putting Down The Beast

When things get really, really bad, sometimes you just have to take stock of the things that are going right. For instance: yes, I'm still stuck in a Pre War hellhole. I'm still thousands of miles from the Mojave and my friends, with no visible way back. I still have a bomb collar strapped to my neck, and I'm still being bossed around by a murderous psychopath.

But on the plus side? I can breathe. And fuck me, I'll take it.

I hadn't really been able to appreciate that fact earlier, what with all the other things on my mind. But now that I had a quiet moment to myself in the lobby of the Sierra Madre, I was able to notice something very important: I could neither taste nor smell anything even resembling Cloud.

The air tasted like... well, air. It was recycled, stale air that had probably been pushed through the same filters for the last 200 years, like the air in the Lucky 38, sure... but it was still air. It was clean enough to breathe without worry.

Another bonus: there weren't any Ghost People here. That fact I had noticed... but it was really hammered home when I was standing all by myself in the lobby: the silence was positively deafening. I don't think I've ever been in a place THIS quiet. Back in the world, there are always sounds from animals, mutated insects, raiders or whoever. Hell, even in the Lucky 38, there was a constant thrumming noise vibrating slightly through the whole tower.

I started walking toward the closest marker - the one in the Cantina Madrid - and each footfall on the hard-tile floor echoed and bounced off every surface. It didn't sound like I was walking. It sounded like I was pounding on metal pots with a mallet.

"Fuckin' hell..." I said aloud, to try and drown out the sound. "That's gonna drive me bonkers before too long!"

"Hurry up and deal with the FEV reject," Elijah's voice blurted out over the speakers as soon as I opened the doors. "He's of no use to us. It looks like he's in the kitchens... there must be a back entrance somewhere." There was a crackle and a pop, and Elijah's voice disappeared.

The inside of the Cantina Madrid reminded me of some of the restaurants I'd been to on the Strip - except it was empty. There was a podium with "Cantina Madrid" written in large, gold plated letters and some kind of fancy script behind it. Beyond the podium were row upon row of empty circular tables filling the room. On the far end of the large room was a bar, backlit in orange.

I've been in plenty of abandoned buildings and derelict ruins before... but for some reason, the more of the Sierra Madre I saw, the more I got thoroughly creeped out. The Cantina Madrid was especially bad, but - initially, at least - I couldn't quite explain why.

Maybe it was the fact that even buildings that had been abandoned by humans for years, decades, or even centuries always seemed to have something living in it. Usually it was just a colony of radroaches or some giant mantises, maybe a colony of radscorpions. Occasionally, you'd find a cluster of feral ghouls that had taken up residence. But so far, everything I'd seen of the Sierra Madre's interior was empty room after empty room, with absolutely no signs of life at all - not even radroaches.

There was something else unnerving - everything around here was entirely too clean. There was no dust. No cobwebs. Not even ancient footprints in the carpets. All the tables in the Cantina Madrid were all set. Even the chairs were still in place, positioned perfectly. Nothing was dirty. Sure, there were a few signs of wear and tear - a crack in the wall here, a few broken or missing ceramic tiles there - but aside from that, the Sierra Madre looked almost brand new.

And that's when it hit me: since entering the Sierra Madre, I hadn't seen a single skeleton. There were absolutely no bodies anywhere. I hadn't seen any outside in the Villa either, but that at least made a certain amount of sense. With all the Ghost People around, and all the radroaches I'd seen outside, there was plenty of explanation as to where any bodies on the outside might have gone... but here?

Inside the Sierra Madre, there were no signs of life, and there were no signs of death. For some reason, that notion made my skin crawl.

So, if there was no signs of life... what the fuck was making that noise?

"This is turning into that stupid horror story only two sentences long... how did that go again? 'The last man on Earth sat alone in his room. There was a knock on the door,' or something like that?" I shook it off, and headed deeper into the Cantina Madrid, and with every step the noise got louder and louder. It was... somebody speaking. No, wait... two people sp-

Wait. I know what this is. There were two voices: Dog and God were both speaking - which in itself was odd enough - and it was like they were finishing each others sentences... run on sentences. As soon as I got to the kitchen door in the back, I could hear the voices more distinctly, and could actually make out what the two of them were saying... and the longer they spoke, the more desperate and pleading God's words seemed to sound - and the more angry and in control Dog sounded.

"... going to make casino burn, no more being..."

"... back in the cage! Stop what you're doing, we can..."

"... can hear you now. Not much longer, not..."

"... listening to me! Tired of being your minder, tired..."

"... of putting Dog to sleep. He wakes up in cage, hungry... Dog wants..."

"... to protect you! I always wanted to protect you, the reason I have to take control is..."

"... Master. Master set me free, Dog needs to...

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"... listen to me - if you do this, we both..."

"... die. Dog wants to die. Don't care any more. Tired of you. Tired of place. Master will..."

"... help us... Please. Let me help us... If you don't, then you're..."

"... going to make casino burn, no more being..."

I listened at the door to the kitchen while I tried to find some way in. It was like an endless cycle of the two of them talking to one another. Dog sounded more in control... whenever God spoke, it was like he was straining just to speak.

Of course, none of this could really distract me from a simple fact: yes, I was at the kitchen door, and I could quite clearly hear him inside talking to himself, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to open the door. That may seem a bit daft, and proof that I have indeed gone insane. However: there was no door handle. This wasn't even like the metal doors I'd seen before that slid into the ground and opened with a giant hatch wheel and hydraulic pistons. It was just a flat metal door, devoid of any visible way of opening it, or any features at all other than a small plaque which read "Cantina Madrid kitchens."

"Alright... so how the fuck do I get in here?" I said out loud, inspecting the door once again - maybe I missed something? There was a crackle and a pop from above me - it seems the dead man walking had more to say.

"Damn!" Elijah said over the speaker. "Not only has that idiot smashed all the cameras in the kitchen, but he's opened the gas valves as well! A single spark - or he sets off his collar - the whole casino's going to burn, us along with him! The door is hermetically sealed due to the gas leak, but I should be able to override the lock from here... but only once. It won't open again until you turn off the gas valves. Get in there and deal with that idiot, before he kills us all!"

The door clicked and hissed, sliding outwards slowly. I slipped into a short hallway covered in stainless steel, and immediately felt lightheaded. Right. Okay. Gas. Flammable gas. Gotta do this qui-

Thud.

Silence. Dog and God had stopped talking as soon as the door slammed shut behind me. That was either very good, or very bad. Either way, I had to be quick. There was a large pipe running from the ceiling to the floor, with a gas valve right in front of me about halfway down the hallway. The cloud of gas escaping it was so thick, it was like I was watching heat rising off pavement in the middle of the day. I held my breath, trying to listen for any change in noises from the other room... and slowly turned the valve until it closed completely.

"Hnnhh..." I heard Dog growl from the other room. While he spoke, I hunkered down close to the ground. Hopefully, I'd be able to sneak around him and turn all the gas valves off... The kitchen was fairly large, with more stainless steel kitchen surfaces, stainless steel cabinets, and stainless steel everything else. Maybe it was a trick of the light, or the massive amount of gas in the room screwing with my head, or the fact that I was practically kissing the floor I was so low - whatever the reason, I couldn't see the Nightkin anywhere in the room.

But I could hear him.

"Dog knows you're there... can smell you... you..." There was a clatter of something metal against the floor off to my right, and I heard a sort of indistinct grunt, followed by God's voice. I tried to shut out the sound, stay as low as possible.

"You have to... hnh! Get out! Get away from... us... while you..."

SLAM.

A giant fist slammed against the counter right above me, denting and warping against the super mutant's massive ham-hands. The vibrations shook me so thoroughly, that I fell flat on my ass. I had no choice but to look up... and up... and up some more. I always seem to forget how tall super mutants are...

God - or, more likely, Dog - was looking down at me with his one good eye. He was snarling and growling and breathing heavily out of a face contorted into pure rage... directed at me.

All of that was frightening enough. But what really made me want to empty my bowels was what I saw in his right hand. Both his hand and the small piece of metal he was holding were covered in a slimy, dripping fluid which looked like vomit. The small piece of metal was rounded, and had a small glowing red light - exactly like the light on my bomb collar.

Oh fuck. He'd regurgitated the detonator.

"You... Master?" Dog snarled at me, sniffing the air and getting closer. I backed up, trying my best to get on my feet; no use trying to be sneaky any more, I guess. "No... no, not Master. Dog remembers you." He started slowly advancing, looming over me. I remembered when Lily (or was it Leo?) tried the same kind of thing in Charleston Cave, so I steeled myself and stood my ground... not that I had anywhere left to go. I'd already been backed against the wall. "Left Dog in cage. Mean to Dog... now, Dog..."

Dog stopped in his tracks. At first I didn't know what was going on... until he started backing up and started clutching his head with his free hand. He grunted, and spoke to me again, except now it was God speaking instead of Dog.

"... hrnn! Dog... will kill us both unless you do something..." God seemed to stagger backward, and clutched at one of the kitchen counters trying to steady himself. As he frantically tried to find grip, he knocked a few more pots and pans off the counters and onto the ground. "Never... hnh! Never felt him so... so strong before! He won't listen to my voice... he's... he's..." God doubled over for a few seconds... and then looked up at me again, a trail of saliva starting to drip out of his mouth.

"...hungry." Dog got up, and started toward me again, reaching out at me with his free hand. "Come here, so Dog can feed. Dog will chase you, break you until you no run anymore..."

It was in that moment of sheer pants-wetting terror that I had a sudden flash of inspiration. It was a stupid idea, but it was the only one I had. And hell... it had worked on a Nightkin that had gone nuts before. Right?

"Dog! Stay! If you don't, Master will be mad!" I shouted with as much authority as I could muster. Right before Dog reached me, he hesitated, and his expression changed from rage to... was that confusion? I couldn't really tell. He was still looming over me, and still looking down at me, his mouth working up and down slowly...

"Hnh... Master?" Recognition finally dawned on Dog's face. "Don't want Master to be mad... what does Master want Dog to..." Dog shook his head, backed up half a step, and set his massive empty hand against a nearby kitchen counter.

"...hrnnnn..." He only grunted, but I could tell that it was God speaking now, not Dog. "Get... get Dog to listen to you..." He pressed the hand holding the detonator against his chest, and looked up at me with a grimace. "...tell him... tell him to pull on his chain, as hard as... hnnh!" God doubled over again in pain, looking down... and then his head started to nod over and over again.

"...Dog can! What ever Master wants, Dog can do! Please... please don't be mad with Dog..."

"Dog," I held up my hands in a disarming gesture, but didn't advance. "The Master sent me. He commands you to listen to my voice now. Can you do that?" I asked. Dog just kept nodding more and more.

"Master? Master... Dog... Dog is listening..." He grimaced and shut his one good eye.

"...both of us are." God spoke up. His voice still felt strained, but... it didn't seem as bad now. "Tell him... tell him to listen to me. Then... then we can get out of this... finally... and..." God grunted, and his whole body shuddered; the metal of the kitchen counter started to warp and buckle under his hand, as all his weight was being pressed down on it.

"...now Dog is listening to voice. Listening to your voice only..."

"Dog, I need you to listen to the other voice inside you. Can you do that? Can you go to sleep, and let him come out?" Dog stopped nodding his head. He was silent for a very long while.

"If... if other voice comes out... Dog... Dog won't wake up," Dog's whole body seemed to sag, and he backed up again, shuffling his feet rather than picking them up and setting them down. "Dog doesn't want to sleep, please don't make him..." Dog dropped down to one knee, his hand still trying to clutch at the kitchen counter.

"... go to sleep..." God spoke up, not even bothering to pick his head up to look at me. "Good. Yes... make him sleep. Please..."

"...don't make Dog go to sleep... I... Dog is tired." Dog's whole body seemed to sway... what little of him was still upright, at least. He was perilously close to collapsing entirely. "Can't... keep eyes open... Sleep... Dog needs to sleep..."

Despite my better judgment, I started advancing toward Dog... or God... or whoever he was going to be in the next few minutes. I reached out, and started patting him on his bald, blue skinned head, to try and comfort him like I would a dying animal.

"Close your eyes, Dog. It's time for you to sleep now. Only open your eyes if the voice tells you." I said, stepping to the side; Dog's body was swaying severely now. He tried to pick up his head one last time to look at me.

"...I..." was all Dog was able to say before his good eye rolled back in his head, and he collapsed face first onto the kitchen floor with a heavy thud that shook the whole room.

I stood there for a few minutes, staring at the collapsed Nightkin at my feet, trying to catch my breath. It was really hard to breath... and at first, I thought that it was just the adrenaline crash, but then I remembered:

"Oh right, flammable gas. I need to fix that."

There was only a total of three gas valves in the kitchen, and they were all easy enough to find. What's more, there was a terminal mounted on one of the walls. It was unlocked, so it didn't take me long to find something useful: a function for the "Kitchen Ventilation System." There was a dull clunk in the ceiling, followed by a heavy whirring - and a few minutes later, the air became much easier to breathe. Out of curiosity, I started poking around the rest of this terminal's functions, just to see what I could find... and I was about to click on a function labeled "Starlet Code Snippet" when I heard a crash, and a long series of hacking coughs from behind me.

"Dog?" I called out, grabbing the spear off my back... just in case. On the far end of the kitchen, I saw a massive blue hand reach up and clutch at one of the counters. Soon after, the rest of the super mutant followed.

"No..." It was God's voice. "It's... it's me. You did it. You... I can't feel him struggling any more."

"Are you alright?" I asked, walking toward him and trying to put the spear back as nonchalantly as possible. God stood up, and clutched at his head.

"I'm..." God coughed again, and turned to look at me. "I'm in pain, and..." he grunted again, leaning on the counter. "I hate to say it, I'm starving."

Perhaps putting the spear away had been a mistake.

"You're not going to try and eat me now, are you?" I asked, keeping my distance. At first, it sounded like the Nightkin was coughing more - but then I realized that he was laughing. That took me a minute to process. God... laughing? The universe must be broken. That's the only explanation.

"No... heh... no, I'm not going to eat you." He finally stopped laughing, and let out a heavy sigh. Slowly, he started to shake his head, and then he sat down, leaning his back against one of the kitchen counters. "All I wanted was for him to listen to me. So I could take care of him. Keep him from hurting himself..."

I started walking toward him again, and was about to try and console him when he said something very unexpected.

"And now I can."

"Wait, what?" I said, stopping in my tracks. "You're gonna have to run that by me again. I mean... isn't Dog... uh... isn't he gone now?" God looked up from his spot on the floor, and shook his head.

"No, he's not gone. Not entirely. He's just... asleep. Deep inside, and away from... everything. One day, when he's ready, I'll... let him out. When we... understand each other."

"So... he actually went to sleep?" I asked him. God nodded his head. "Well, fuck. I thought that was just a metaphor. And you're sure he's not going to come out and try to kill us anymore?"

"Of course not," God grumbled. "I can tell... he's not going to return anymore unless I decide to let him out."

"So, does that mean you're going to let go of the bomb collar detonator?"

God looked down at his right hand, and just... stared at it for a few minutes. I could almost hear the gears turning in his head as he stared down at the vomit-stained hunk of metal. Slowly and steadily, he got up from his spot on the floor and tossed the detonator away, onto the counter between the two of us. It skidded and spun to a halt, leaving a thin trail of sick in its wake.

"Oh, that's wonderful." I said, picking up the detonator with a grimace. Ugh, it was all slimy. Not quite as bad as the feel of Cloud, though, so there was that. I turned it around in my hands, wiping away any flecks of vomit too thick to see through. "So, how the fuck do I reset this thing?"

"Reset?" God asked, raising the brow over his one good eye. "Why do you -" I tapped the side of my own bomb collar with my thumb before he could finish.

"Because of this. Until I figure out a way to get this thing off, I'm still working for that fucking old man. He's gonna be a dead man when I get my hands on him... But right now, I'm just glad whatever's in the floor is messing with the signal."

"Something in the floor?" God asked. I nodded, continuing to study the detonator.

"When I turned on the casino's power, he flat out said that he would've blown all our collars once we got inside if he could - but he can't. Something about the floor interfering with the signal, I don't know, I'm still trying to work it out in my head... I figure if I can reset the signal, it might take the collar off the network - make Elijah think the collar's been destroyed." That was true enough... No sense telling him this is what Elijah actually sent me in here to do.

"Underneath the light, next to the latch," God spoke up, leaning over the counter toward me. "There should be a small pin switch. Find something small and sharp, like a needle. Press it and hold for ten seconds."

"Well, that seems simple enough," I said, taking out one of my stimpacks and using the needle to reset the pin switches - first on his... and then on my own (after I found a surface reflective enough to use as a mirror). "So. What now? You gonna get out of here?"

"No... at least... not yet. I'm still..." God grunted, and rolled one of his shoulders. "I've never been completely used to moving around in this body. I need some time to rest and... recuperate after fighting with Dog for so long... I'll find my own way out. Eventually."

"So, you're seriously going to be alright then?" God nodded.

"Yes. Things here... are... under control." God looked me straight in the eye, and his expression turned to stone. "Go. Find the one that dragged us here... and end him."

When I left the Cantina Madrid and entered the lobby, I was suddenly hit by a familiar and wholly unwelcome sensation: there was a faint hint of something in the air that was stinging at my eyes, nose, and mouth. Was that? No... no, it couldn't be. This place was closed up. It couldn't be Cloud...

Could it?

That's about when I heard an odd sound: it was muffled by the weird acoustics, but it was a shuffling noise... a sound like heavy boots scratching against tiles. I was definitely no longer alone anymore.

Put those two together, and whatever it meant, it couldn't be good. I started running toward the noise, to try and find out what was going on. As I ran, another unwelcome sound graced my ears: Elijah's voice over the speakers.

"You've gotten one of the floors re-established, good... good." Elijah coughed several times, and then continued as if nothing was wrong. "Accessing the music archives now... only two more to go. Oh, what's this?" By that point, I'd rounded the final corner, and was face to face with exactly what 'this' is - there were a pair of Ghost People in the lobby.

Right, break's over.

I pulled the spear off my back in a flash. It felt almost like instinct now. A pair of green eyes darted one way, and then the next; a spear started hurtling through the air directly at me. Either it went wide or I was quick enough to duck out of the way. I jammed my spear into its shoulder, grabbed it by the wrist, and pulled. There was a squelching sound, followed by a pop, and its arm was ripped messily free of its socket. I twirled the spear around in my hand, and sliced its head off for good measure before it collapsed to the ground.

"Oh..." I heard Elijah over the speakers as I moved, trying to get in a good position to engage the second Ghost Person. "It seems the Casino has uninvited guests... the Villa inhabitants were pounding at the doors - and now it seems they have found a way inside..."

"Old news, old man!" I shouted, my eyes never leaving the other Ghost Person in the room; it was lugging around one of those Gas Bombs, but it hadn't thrown it. Yet. It was just staring at me... "Fuck off if you're not going to help!"

"Hmm... let's see... yes, here. Something to help you deal with them."

There was a sound like a thunder crack in the middle of the room. halfway up the stairs; the Ghost Person stopped looking at me, and its attention was now focused completely on the scribble of blue cubes hovering in the air above the stairs and trying to take shape. The light shifted into focus with an electric fizzle, and suddenly another hologram of Vera Keyes was standing on the stairs.

Well, that's useful as a distraction if nothing else. I dropped the spear and pulled out the revolver under my arm - the Ghost Person was still staring up at the hologram, all its attention completely focused on the ghostly image of Vera.

And here I was with a clear shot at the gas bomb it was holding. Unfortunately... I didn't really get a chance to fire. In the half a second it took me to line up the shot, the hologram switched from blue to yellow, brining its hands up to its forehead, and then the hologram switched to red. As I started to squeeze the trigger, a laser burst out of Vera Keyes' eyes.

The laser sliced through the air, hit the Ghost Person in the middle of its chest, and kept going until it blasted a small hole in the tile floor behind it. The Ghost Person glowed red hot, and dissolved from the inside out, collapsing into a pile of smoking ash on the floor. I don't know how, but somehow the gas bomb was completely unaffected by the disintegrating Ghost Person; it wobbled in place for a second or two, and then collapsed on its side, hitting the ground with a loud metal clang.

The lobby fell silent as Vera switched from red to blue once again. I looked around, and tried to take stock of the situation; there weren't any more Ghost People, but I finally saw how they'd got in. The front doors - which looked about 4 inches thick - were wrenched open, but not all the way. It looked like the doors had been bent inwards, but only after having been weakened by chunks of door that had been sliced and carved out. No points for figuring out how that had been done.

"Damn," I said, walking up to the opening, letting out a low whistle. "What a thing to miss." I looked out, and down the stairs, toward the Villa below. I couldn't really see the Villa, because beyond the stairs was this giant miasma of Cloud obscuring everything. I did see a few Ghost People on the stairs, but they were a long way off and didn't notice me.

I ran my fingers along the edge of the opening in the door. The amount of damage that had been done... I could only assume there were still more Ghost People that were already inside that I just hadn't seen. I suppose it was just a matter of time before I ran into them.

"I'm seeing more of the Villa inhabitants on the CCTV's around the casino..." I heard Elijah's voice over the speakers, confirming what I was thinking. "Deal with them - and don't try and leave yourself, or I'll let the collar do its work. You still have work to do." The speakers crackled and fell silent.

I took one last look outside the shattered and warped front door... and then turned back into the casino.

"Fuck... this day just won't end."