FALLOUT: War for Vegas {WattyAwards 2013 Contender (Did not make Finalist) }

Chapter 5

Henry lay in his four-poster bed. He felt exhausted from the day's events. He looked down at the letter he wrote, it said:

Dear Mom and Dad,

              Sorry that I haven't been able to write recently, it’s just that there have been some "sidetracks" that could not be avoided. It's hard to believe that it has been almost nine years since we left the vault near the old city of Portland, and it has been seven years since I left Portland to work for the Courier business.

                You won't believe this next bit of news but, I am now the leader of all the Mojave Wasteland! There is an abundance of fertile ground here so you guys can leave that dumpy shanty town and come down here. I know you guys like farming so you can grow the farm of your dreams. I will send transportation if you decide to come

Love, Your son

    Henry Rameriz.

Henry read the letter several more times, then ordered his serving bot to take it to the Mojave Courier station. He then turned off the lights and fell into a deep sleep.

Henry dreamt something from his past. Long before the present, before Benny shot him and left him for dead, before he joined the Mojave Express and was known as Courier Six. He dreamt he was back in New Reno; well, outside of New Reno. He set up camp in a abandoned shack. He planned to stay the night then move onward in the morning. That night, very long ago, while he was asleep a wolf came in at attacked him. Henry managed to kill the wolf before it caused severe damage, but it left a scar across his cheek and several bloody gashes across his arms and legs.

Henry woke up with a start. He reached his hand out just in time to catch another hand holding a knife, racing towards his chest. He twisted the hand so the knife would drop from his attackers hands, then he kicked upward, feeling his foot connect with the jaw of his assailant. Cursing, the figure moved back, clutching his jaw. Henry flipped on the bedside lamp in order to get a better look at his attacker. He was dressed in a black suit, fedora, and bandana so his identity would be concealed. The assassin pulled out a silenced .22 pistol and fired three blind shots at Henry. Seeing the gun, he ducked on the other side of the bed, grabbing his .9mm handgun on the way. Henry popped back up and pulled the trigger on his gun. He saw the attacker crumple as the bullet pierced his side. He vaulted over the bed and grabbed the assassin by the collar. He pulled the bandana off of his face to get a look at the man. Henry recognized him somewhere, but he could not remember where.

"Who sent you?" Henry demanded.

The figure spoke not in English, but in a hard Latin. "Mortem ad Caesar hostis." Then he bit down on something in his mouth. He started convulsing. Henry dropped him on the carpet as foam oozed out of the assassin's mouth. Then his attacker lay still. Dead.

"Arsenic pill." Henry mumbled. Two securitrons rushed in. They removed the body and left Henry by himself. He kept thinking about where he saw the man and what he said before he died.  Then it hit him, like a kick in the nuts:  Latin, Ceaser.....Nipton! Henry remembered where he saw the man. He was part of the group that massacred the people of Nipton. Now he fit the pieces together. Ceaser wanted him dead, but Henry knew that this wouldn't be his only advance on his life.