Good Night, Vegas Lights

Chapter 19

Vincent stood warily against the wall. His vision was blurred, and almost entirely useless. Noah was glancing up and down the hallway. Surely someone had heard that explosion.
  "Vince, come on! I told you not to be drinking, and look at what happened when you did!"
He was now clearly quite angry. Vincent pushed himself off the wall, and almost fell, but regained his balance. Noah began to hastily sprint away, but when he noticed Vince's sluggish progression he once more showed his anger.
  "Vincent, I swear to God I'll leave you here if you don't pick up the pace."
  "Go, go on ahead. I'lllllll catch up in a bit."
He gestured towards Noah, and then further down the hall. For a moment Noah seemed hesitant, probably thinking back to Sam's instructions. Though to Vince's surprise, Noah yelled out to him just before running down the hall.
  "Find Shannon, and then lets meet up at McCarran's gate. You got that Vincent?"
He nodded in agreement, even though he barely absorbed what Noah'd just said. As he strolled down the hall, he desperately tried to shake himself from his drunken stupor. His previous suspicions had been confirmed, at the end of the hall an Omerta stood guard by a door. On the other side of the door, banging and harsh yelling could be heard.
  "You shit-heads! Let me out of here!"
It was definitely Shannon. The guard looked tired and annoyed, so Vincent took the advantage. He sobered himself up as much as possible before the guard noticed him as he walked. Just as Vince was about to pass, he threw a punch at the guard's jaw. Though he missed. Horribly. Before he even had time to recover his shot, the guard kneed him in the gut. Thats actually just what Vincent needed to get himself awake. He quickly retaliated by grabbing the guard by the collar, and slamming him into the wall. Then again, and again. He slumped to the floor, unmoving and unconscious. Vince quickly rummaged through the guard's pockets and found a key. When he unlocked the door and stepped inside, he was momentarily confused. It seemed Shannon had disappeared. That was until a board was slammed directly into his face. The impact sent Vincent stumbling back into the hallway. Shannon appeared in the doorway, and immediately began to apologize frantically.
  "Oh my God, sorry! I just thought-"
He wiped away the blood that was now pouring from a gash on his lip.
  "Eh... Its no problem"
  "Are you sure? I-"
Vincent hadn't noticed that the jacket that had previously hidden Shannon's shoulder's was now gone. Even more so that her shoulders were deeply scarred.
  "Um... Shannon"
  "What?"
  "Your coat... Where is it?"
  "Oh... Its in the next room over I believe. Along with a necklace of mine. Be a dear and retrieve them please. I'll wait here..."
  "Okay, I'll be back"
He did as asked and went into the next room. It had a handful of lockers inside it. He knew he had to be quick, so he got to work. Vincent rummaged through the first locker for Shannon's belongings. Something else caught his eye, however. A familiar wad of papers. The sharecropper wages. Vince snatched them along with a 9mm pistol including the few bullets that accompanied it, and continued on to the next locker. Inside was just what he was looking for. Shannon's necklace, and jacket. After grabbing them he sped back to the room where Shannon was and handed them to her. While she returned herself to a normal state, Vincent read the sharecropper papers to himself.
  'These papers hereby bestow the single child of Alex and Pam Williams, Samantha Williams, a total of 1,847 NCR dollars for her time served as a sharecropper in support of the NCR's military defense.'
He stopped reading. According to these papers, Sam was an only child.
  "...Do I smell smoke?"
Shannon spoke while looking towards the ceiling where wisps of white danced.
  "Read this"
He handed her the paper, and she looked it over.
  "Sam, who's Sam?"
  "A former companion of mine. Noah told me he was her brother. He lied according to this."
There was rage building within Vincent. His drunken stupor was nearly negated by now.
  "Lied? So?"
  "If he's not who he says he is, then who the fuck is he?"
  "Look Vincent, I understand your angry, but could we please leave? Lets get somewhere safe, find Noah, and then talk it all out."
He looked around angrily, and realized that the fire was engulfing the hallway.
  "...Fine. Lets go."
With that, they hurriedly left to find the nearest exit.