Chapter 136 - 136

Words : 1249 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Despite Claire giving Adam his drink for free he still left 10 caps behind for her when he left the bar, she still needed to make money, after all. She could think of it as a tip if she needed. The rest of the day was spent leisurely, he wanted to tell Eve he was leaving too but he managed to miss her again, poor luck on his part. This time, however, he did have the other bartender pass along the message to her that he wouldn't be back for a bit in case she was wondering. Other than that he spent 42 caps on dinner and then went to sleep after enjoying his day. The next day Adam geared up, tipped the front man at The Layover 20 caps for all the times he had stayed here, and headed right to Jay's shop. "Good morning Adam." Jay said with a smile as he saw him arrive. 'Good morning Jay. My holster ready?" "Yessir." He said with a grin as he produced the custom magnetic holster and handed it over. "It's fitted for your pistol, has an adjustable strap, a variable magnetic clip with an option right here to move the magnets more or less out of position to strengthen or loosen the grip." He said pointing before handing it over. "Thanks Jay, this is perfect." He then looked down at himself, this was an issue he knew he was going to come to eventually. He had too much gear. He had a backpack on and that took up all of his back thus his rifle hung in front of his chest, along with his gasmask and binoculars. So a chest holster was out of the question. His waist was incredibly busy too because not only did he have his 10mm pistol holster on his side but he also had his large toolbelt, there was no more space for another. The knife was down on the bottom part of his left leg so he did still have space above it on his outer thigh, but it would likely rub against his tool belt all the time if he put it there. The only other option was to put it on his empty right leg's outer thigh more or less below the 10mm pistol, but it was terrible for ergonomics and looked lopsided. The only real option was to put it on his left leg but lower than he would like so it didn't bump into his toolbelt. Maybe one day he could rid himself of the 10mm pistol and put the laser pistol there, after all he was not even a big fan of it, however that day was not today. "I'll see you around Jay." Adam said as soon as he finished clipping his new gun to his body, finally freeing it from the prison of his backpack's back pocket. "Stay safe Adam." Jay said back with a wave as Adam began to saunter off to meet Deccanus at the gate. The two meet up and set out, heading along a path Adam had mapped out beforehand. If one just looked at the map it would seem Midway and The Pier are reasonably close however as he learned before there was a great wall of rubble that separated the easy access between the two towns, theoretically Adam could climb over it, but it was as dangerous as it was reckless. There was no telling how stable the rubble was nor if anything was hiding inside it, besides it was many stories high so it was not worth trying when he could just make the smart trip around. Even discounting all that his mission was to figure out what happened to the caravans, skipping the path the Caravan merchants used would be counter intuitive. The trip for a while was uneventful, this was a commonly used trail, not entirely safe but safer than the random paths Adam had been taking until now so nothing big would drop upon them. Eventually Deccanus stopped the two of them as he motioned to a random bathtub nearby placed on the streets. "There." he said as he pointed to it before walking over. Adam was beyond confused. Sure, it was weird seeing a porcelain white bathtub out randomly on the sidewalk, but there was enough weird random furniture out here that it didn't really stand out. "What is it?" Adam asked, still genuinely confused as he walked over with Deccanus. "Brahmin feeding trough." He said as he stuck his hand into the trough now seeing it was a gross mix of hay, meat, old food, and other 'food'. Adam frowned when Deccanus stuck his hand in but said nothing. "It has been used recently." He said as he then looked around for a moment and then noticed some droppings on the ground. He knelt down to inspect it, thankfully not touching this one but hovering his hand near it. "Likely in the last day or two." He said seriously. "Okay, so assuming the caravan was moving the goods by brahmin then this means they at least made it this far right?" "Perhaps." Deccanus said as he stood up. "Though brahmins are often used as pack animals by all types, this could have just as easily been from an unaffiliated party." Adam paused to consider and then nodded. "True." He admitted after a moment. "But this does confirm that the trail up to this point has remained at least somewhat safe for people coming and going." Deccanus concluded. "So what does that mean for us?" Adam asked, curious where this line of reasoning was leading Deccanus. "That either the caravans never left The Pier to begin with or…" He looked back the way they came. "There is some other conspiracy at play." He said, suspiciously. "What do you recommend?" Adam asked, at this point just trusting Deccanus' instinct. "I say we push on, there might be things to be learned if we back track from here, but it would be a fruitless endeavor if we are to learn they never left at all. It's best if we do not remain here, we still have much left to uncover." Adam nodded. "Alright, let's keep moving then, maybe we can find some clues along the way." Adam remarked, feeling a bit like a detective at the moment. Or, perhaps, a bit like Watson to Deccanus' Sherlock Holmes. He was just happy to be along for the ride. Walking another few hours yielded no new clues for the duo until they came to the turn that one would take to get to the other side of the mountain of rubble, now revealing the beautiful blue- er… mostly bluish green lake of Lake Michigan. The first time Adam had laid eyes on it since he woke up. It was… changed slightly, not as pretty as it once was but there was no doubt it was the same. However that was not what caught their eye, what immediately drew both men's attention was a long building at the turn, a two story store with lights on and one brahmin hitched outside and a sign that read 'Gourmand'. Both men weren't about to pass up the obvious possible lead so they headed inside only to be met with a silky smooth voice from a very handsome man standing behind the bar: "Welcome to the Gourmand." He grinned.

Chapter 136 - 136

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