Traveling in such large groups is usually far safer than travelling in small ones. Simply put, there is safety in numbers. Unless the area is an active warzone, like it was until recently, no raider, bug, creature of the wasteland, or even wasteoid would dare try to attack a group this large. This meant that the worst issue was the slow pace they were keeping.
Once more Hades and Buddy were setting the pace at the max speed their legs could carry them. Even if Hades was carrying many bags of goods on his back at once, while Buddy only had one. But they were not much slower than the slowest refugees, some of whom were swaddled with the burden of their own bags and carrying a child. Still, a slow pace was a far better issue to have to contend with than a conflict with dangerous elements. Most of his friends were injured in some manner, himself included. If a fight were to occur right now while he was confident they would win he was not confident they would win without casualties.
Still the slow pace meant that they made camp far short of where Adam had hoped to be by this point. Having to stop earlier than normal to let the less athletically inclined rest.
While camp was set up Adam was relieved to see that the refugees had brought their own food. He had worried what to do since he certainly did not have enough rations for this entire group. After all, only him, Deccanus, Mira, and Pearl needed to eat so he packed food with just those people in mind. The refugees were not flush with food but at the bare minimum they would not starve tonight and would likely make it back to the vault and contribute to the central food bank.
As Adam set himself up for the night he noticed the Ranger fiddling with his revolver barrel as he sat by himself in a corner. Adam decided to join him for a conversation.
"That's a nice revolver." Adam said as he approached.
"Ranger Sequoia." The Ranger said back as he let the barrel snap back into place with a satisfying click. "Its a sort of medal back where I come from. A sign of a soldier's service to the NCR for more than 20 years." He said with an almost wistful tone as he looked at the gun, clearly seeing something in the reflection of the metal more than his own face. A past Adam couldn't see.
"20 years huh?" Adam said as he sat down nearby. "I didn't even serve that long. I always thought lifers were crazy. I can't imagine being in service that long." Adam said, jokingly. Keeping the mood light.
"Oh?" The ranger said as he looked up. "You served? Who'd you fight for?"
"Ah…" Adam said as he scratched his head a bit. The fact he was a clone was no longer a secret, between Baxter blabbing about it and no doubt Mr. Cantelli doing everything he could to make sure it was common knowledge he had nothing left to hide. But explaining he was from Pre-War was a bit harder. Still, being open about it allowed him to be honest. "33rd Infantry Division under the Alaskan Command, US Army." The ranger seemed to look him up and down for a moment confused.
"Well you ain't a ghoul, nor are you Enclave, so what'chu you mean? You ain't saying you are some sort of time traveler." He chuckled.
"No." Adam laughed softly too. "But I have the memories of a 200 year old war veteran. He is me and I am him so for simplicity's sake I just say I am him." The ranger raised an eyebrow.
"Well that's certainly different. But then again the wasteland has all types. Even if you were a time traveler I wouldn't bat an eye. You learn to take these sorts of things casually after a while."
"I bet." Adam smiled.
"But the US Army huh? What was it like, serving with a force like that? I grew up hearing the NCR military was formatted similarly to the old world's army but I ain't got any idea if that's true."
"Well I don't know much about the NCR but it was a highly structured and organized fighting force, with top down command structures, field officers, NCOs, boot camp, the works. Though honestly, most of that was par for the course back then. Then again no one did it as well as we did." Adam grinned a bit, feeling a bit patriotic for his country. Who would blame him anyway? Or more to the point, who would refute him?
"Yup, that certainly rings a bell." The ranger laughed a bit. "You boys got rangers too?"
"Oh yeah, sure. The rangers were tough as hell. Sure, some people might say they fall short of the Green Berets or the Navy Seals, but no one would ever look down on a ranger."
"Well I don't know nothing about the other two but glad to know my namesake had seen action in The Great War too." He smiled. "How'd you get involved in that whole affair anyway?"
"Truthfully it was just the natural thing to do. At least for me. My country was at war, they needed warm bodies, and I had just gotten out of high school so I jumped at the chance. I did my tour and then got out when I could. One tour of duty was enough for me." Adam joked lightly.
"Crazy to think that no matter how far back you go people still find ways to go to war." The ranger chuckled.
"As I once said to my friend Deccanus, War never changes. Just seems to be in human nature." Adam shrugged. "How about you? Why did you join?" Adam asked. The ranger seemed to hesitate though.
"I suppose not too dissimilar to you, I got a past is all, and joining with the NCR forces seemed like the best way forward. Once I was in I never looked back." He said, clearly not ready to divulge his story yet. Adam was fine to give him a pass.
"What's the NCR like anyway? I've heard about other groups like the Legion and the Brotherhood of Steel, but while I've heard the name thrown around no one told me anything about the NCR."
"Well I'm no history expert, so take this with a grain of salt." He cautioned. "But from what I learned, the NCR was made to resemble the old world, the same military, the same government, the same tax system, all that jazz." He let off a mirthless chuckle. "Who knows, if you ever visited the NCR you might even recognize what was built."
"I might like to someday." Adam smiled. "Though that certainly seems like a far off goal, right now I'm building something here, in my hometown."
"Yeah, well you ain't missing much so I wouldn't worry too much about it." The ranger smirked a bit.
"Well I'll leave you be, I'm sure you are tired from the trek too so I'll go head over to the others and find a comfortable place to sleep for the night." Adam said as he turned around to begin walking away but was stopped by the ranger speaking up again.
"Percy." The ranger said, making Adam turn around.
"What?" Adam asked, not sure what he was referring to, though he had a pretty good idea.
"My name. Percy." He paused. "Percy Black. Figured you oughta know my name at least if we will be sharing a Vault together."
"Nice to meet you, Percy." Adam smiled. "I look forward to getting to know you better."