"So how is she Doc?" Adam asked as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, letting her have some privacy.
The doctor looked up from a copy of the D.C.Journal of Internal Medicine he was reading.
"She's doing much better." He said as he put the book down on the counter and then stood up to chat with Adam. "Her wounds were pretty severe, but mostly it was the accumulation of stress and damage that had brought her to that state. She will have a hard time functioning fully for a while, but I believe she will be fully back on her feet in a few months."
"Has she spoken about family, or where she is from? Does she have a family to go back to?" Adam asked inquisitively.
"I do not know. It was my hope that she would tell you such things." The Doc said. Adam shook his head.
"She didn't tell me much about herself, she just wanted to know about me and I wasn't going to push." The Doctor nodded and then sighed.
"Well, in time she will either open up about it and we can maybe send a message out or she will keep her mouth shut and do her own thing." He shrugged. "It is not my place as a physician to dictate how she should live her life, just to make sure she keeps it."
"Do you think the town would be willing to take her in if she needed it?" The doctor raised an eyebrow as he contemplated the question for a moment.
"Probably. I can't speak for everyone but Naper isn't going to shy away from a bit of charity." He mused.
"I'd offer to help too, it seems as though she trusts me. But I'm probably leaving soon."
"Leaving? Pray tell where are you going?" The doctor asked as he leaned on the counter.
"Midway." Adam said back quickly.
"Really?" He said with some surprise, then paused for a moment. "What would make you go to such a ghastly place?" Adam laughed softly.
"I have to look for some answers and the place I need to go to is much closer to Midway. But that's the first time I've heard it called ghastly." Abbas chuckles darkly.
"You'll understand when you get there." He said as he began to turn around to resume his own business, before stopping to look at Adam again. "Oh yes, if you see a Doctor Yewon there, tell her I said… hello." He grinned and then sat back down in his chair with his book.
"Alright, I will." Adam said with a nod as he headed for the door to head back to the Inn, the same sense of restlessness he had before present once more. He didn't know how to spend the day, but he knew he needed to rest. His body might have recovered far more than he expected but not everyday can be a day outside the walls. A break after each scavenging run was a good idea anyway.
Once he got back to the Inn he noticed Salvaotre standing outside the front door, leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette.
"You know smoking will kill you." Adam said jokingly as he passed by.
"Ain't done me in yet. I can't get that lucky." He said as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and then snuffed the ember between his fingers.
"Kid, wait, we gotta talk." He said, stopping Adam at the door. Adam turned to look at him, giving him his full attention.
"You were exhausted yesterday but I want to work out some details for the contract. Afterall I can't just simply accept the money if you are going to do something stupid…" He said before petering off and entering a moment of contemplation. "Nah, who am I kidding, I'd do it anyway, but the point is I want to be clear about the ground rules."
"Yeah, sure. No problem." Adam nodded.
"Good, follow me, we can talk in my room." Salvatore put the cigarette away back inside the pack and then headed into the Inn, leading Adam along. He walked over to his room and opened the door ushering Adam inside. Adam was astounded by what he saw.
Unlike Adam's own room he rented from Mandy this room was very much customized to Salvatore's liking. There was a liquor cabinet on the far right wall that was suspiciously empty, there was a desk with a computer on it and a copy of red menace next to it. On the same desk was a mostly used carton of cigarettes. His bed had a black bed sheet and comforter, the walls had a few posters on them, mostly of pin-up girls, he had a tapestry on one wall, the most colorful thing in the room.
But what truly drew Adam's attention the most was the entire left side of the room which was converted to a miniature armory. The wall was full of guns, armor, and ammo all with their own neat and organized spots. It wasn't nearly enough to outfit more than a few people but for one man Salvatore was packing a lot of heat. He had quite a selection to choose from, far from just his rifle and shotgun, he seemed more than capable of switching up his loadout for whatever the mission required. In addition to all of this there was a weapon workbench on that same wall where he could fix and augment his guns as needed.
"Stop gawking and get inside." Salvatore said as he brushed past Adam on his way inside his own room. "And close the door behind you." Adam obliged and then took a seat in the chair that sat in front of the workbench and opposite where Salvatore sat on his bed.
"First off I am not going to do suicide missions, you ask me to do something that goes too far I'm going to say no." He said as he leaned a bit back on his bed and began to lay out the rules.
"Yeah, that makes sense." Adam nodded.
"Second, As I said you will be responsible for my lodgings and food and drink whenever we are out on a mission, there are exceptions at certain places but I'll get to that when it happens." He took out a cigarette and sat it in his mouth and let it remain unlit.
"Third, just as I said before, if I'm unneeded I will go find another job if I can, I am not going to follow you around like a lost puppy unless that's what you need me to do. Fourth, you die, i'm not responsible for your body. Our contract is void with your death." Adam once more nodded about to open his mouth to speak before Salvatore held up a finger to stop him.
"Fifth I am not your monkey. I am a mercenary, I will not do tricks for you on command, I run protection and fight, if you need someone to put on a USO show, find another ghoul." He said with a bit of bite. Perhaps something happened in the past to make him include this rule, he was oddly poignant about it.
"Lastly, and this is one that just pertains to you…" He took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it over to the desk where it landed gently. "You are hiring me to accompany me on your runs, yeah?"
"Uh, yeah." Adam responded, taking in the information and at least a small bit surprised Salvatore picked on this immediately. Though this just proved that his supposition was correct, Salvatore had accepted the money knowing what Adam would ask of him. Salvatore just nodded.
"I figured as much. I don't mind. I discouraged you from Scaving originally because it is dangerous, lost a lot of friends that way. I don't mind following you into old ruins or whatever, I'm not going to even ask for a cut, all I ask is that you don't act stupid." He paused. "If i see you walking into a hallway full of turrets knowingly, i ain't going to die with you." He grinned. "If you got a death wish you can die alone." He chuckled.
"Oh! And I'm not a pack mule. I am a mercenary. You want someone to carry your stuff, hire a porter." He added sharply.
"That's a job you can hire people to do?" Adam asked curiously.
"There's all kinds of weirdos out there, finding someone to carry your stuff can't be that hard." He said before he stopped studying the contemplative look on Adam's face for a moment. Adam was doing recalculations. He had assumed that Salvatore would be carrying things too, it didn't change that he wanted to hire him but it did lower the amount of goods he could bring back if Salvatore was unwilling to help.
"Look." Salvatore said, interrupting Adam's thoughts. "I'm not saying I won't carry anything, you give me a backpack I'll wear it and you can throw things inside." He paused as he considered how best to word this before continuing. "But I'm not carrying anything more than I'm comfortable with, I don't want to burden myself with junk to the point I can't fight properly." He crossed his arms and continued.
"I heard what you did to get so exhausted yesterday, you walked for hours with hundreds of pounds of guns strapped to you. I'm not doing that. I will take one full bag at max." Salvaotre stated, putting his foot down. Adam nodded slowly.
"I understand." He then chuckled and laughed softly. "To tell you the truth I regretted my actions yesterday so much I swore I would never do that again. So from now on I do not plan on grabbing more than I can carry."
"Good." Salvatore crossed one leg over the other resting his right ankle on top of his left leg. "So, what's the plan?" He grinned, ready to get down to business.