Leaving New Vegas (PC)

After an enternity of wandering the desert wastelands, having passed through a town ravaged and left crucified as a warning to others, I came to Novak. A small town watched over by a tall lizard statue attached to a motel.

Here I found kind people, scraping to survive. Watched over by a pair of former soldiers with sharp eyes and perfect aim, the town was as safe as any. I managed to drag conversation out of Boone, one of the snipers protecting the town and he asked me to help him with a terrible task. Discover which of these kind people was responsible for the loss of his wife to slavers. A cold, dangerous man, Boone only raised his voice when talking of his lost wife. I agreed to help.

I quickly learned she was not well liked by most and often spoke of leaving for the big city. Only one of the residents implied that she may have left on her own, the manager of the motel. She seemed kind.

I picked the lock on the safe in the motel office and found a bill of sale, credits in trade for the woman. Following Boone's instructions I invited her to follow me to the base of the dinosaur and placed his beret on my head. With no reason not to trust, she followed.

With a punt of compressed air, her head exploded into chunks of blood and bone. I paused a moment realizing any person I had asked to follow me, innocent or guilty, could have been taken. I suffered no pang of guilt that this woman who traded the life of another for money was gone.

For a moment though, I staggered, wondering what might had happened if I made the wrong choice.