#lt monroe

I don’t care what’s right or wrong,
I won’t try to understand.
Let the devil take tomorrow
but tonight I need a friend.
—“Help Me Make It Through the Night,” Sammi Smith (1971)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’
#14 - Boulder City

Collaborative Issue!
Guest Inks and Colorist: CSGM (Twitter)

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Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes:

Do you know anything about the men who shot me?

It’s been an incredible journey working on this comic since I published the first issue on June 15th, 2020, and fifty-two pages later, this is it: the conclusion to Volume 1: “The Death of Agnes Sands.” There’s plenty, plenty more to this story, so stay tuned for the cover reveal and beginning of Volume 2 coming soon. Keep your eyes on @fallout-lou-begas​ for announcements, naturally.

This issue wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible artwork of CSGM, a comic artist whose work you can find and follow on Twitter at @smakkine. I thank them so much for taking an interest in my comic and for turning in such breathtaking work, and they’re open for commissions if you’d like to give them money for artwork of your own!

Original Pencils (click for full size)

As with all guest ink and colorist spots, I do my own original pencils that the artist then draws over.

As an added bonus, here’s some of my original thumbnails, plus reference/practice sketches for the Khan characters: Jessup, and then my original characters Grant and Kari (who I named after the Mythbusters B-team). They’re both extremely cool, almost too cool for one-note characters, but in the words of Ranger Ghost: not all of us get to have a legacy. Some of us just get shot and die.

Transcript

INT. BOULDER CITY - GREAT KHANS HIDEOUT.

MacMURPHY is unconscious on the floor of a bombed-out pharmacy. JESSUP is shaking him vigorously, trying desperately to rouse him. They’re flanked by KARI, who’s keeping lookout by the front window, and GRANT.

JESSUP:Come on, Mac, come on…just wake up…don’t…don’t…fuck!

KARI:Forget it, Jessup, he’s gone.

JESSUP:I’msorry,man, I…I’m sorry, I didn’t…

GRANT:Hey. It’s not your fault that asshole screwed us, okay? We’ll find him and get him back.But for now,we have to get outof this.

JESSUP:Wecan’t get out. We’re not gettingout.

EXT. BOULDER CITY - RUINS

NCR TROOPS, rifles raised, surround the Khans’ hideout. LT. MONROE barks into a radio receiver, barely lit by the Khans’ own lookout fire in the rubbled streets.

JESSUP:We’re surrounded, we’re outnumbered…we’re under fucking siege! What do you want me to do,man?

INT. BOULDER CITY - GREAT KHANS HIDEOUT

GRANT grabs JESSUP by the collar and slams him against the wall.

GRANT:You’rein charge! What do you want usto do?

JESSUP:I don’t know…just couldn’t go back empty-handed…I didn’t want Papato…to… (trails off)

KARI:Grant. Jessup.

GRANT and JESSUP turn towards KARI, expectant. Outside, SOMEONE in a black coat and boots with a pink mohawk skulks in the shadows of the ruins.

KARI:Someone’s coming.

JESSUP:…what?

KARI (leaning out window): They’re sending someone over. A woman, unarmed. NotNCR, no uniform.

GRANT:A negotiator?

JESSUP:Or a trick.Hold your fire, but be alert.

A gloved hand reaches for the front door of the store.

SFX: KNOCK KNOCK

The Khans glance towards the door. It creaks open. The negotiator arrives.

CASS:Hey, handsome.

JESSUP:Uh…who’re you?

CASS:Apasserby.Heard there was a good place to get a drink around here.

GRANT and JESSUP stare at CASS, confused.

KARI:Is this some kind of joke!?

JESSUP:Not sure if you saw all the troops outside, lady, but you just walked into a goddamn hostage situation. You’d better have something real important to say..

Around the corner in the storeroom of the ruined store near the back door, two NCR HOSTAGES squirm in their buildings. Outside, SOMEONE is kneeling in front of a door, working on picking the lock.

JESSUP:…or you’re not getting outof it.

CASS (shrugging): Right…the hostages. I’m not here for those.

JESSUP:…what?

HOSTAGE:…what?

CASS:I’m here for you.About a mutual friend.

JESSUP:Mutual…?

JESSUP, initially confused, sours with sudden realization.

JESSUP:Oh. Yeah, I might know him.

CASS (bristling): Uh…alright. Anyway, you’ve been by Goodspringslately, right?

JESSUP:A while back.

CASS:Business or pleasure?

JESSUP:Nothing pleasurable aboutworking for that rat. Complains about the heat, takes foreverjust to shoot somebody, ditches us without even fucking paying. I’ve got kids, lady, I neededthose caps. And not like The Chairmen should be hard up for cash,right?

GRANT and KARI listen to JESSUP recount how he got suckered, a suckering which got them all into their present situation.

JESSUP:So…yeah. How’d Benny fuck youover?

CASS:Wait, hang on. Benny?Who’sBenny?

GRANT and KARI’s eyes widen in alarm. What does she mean “Who’s Benny?”

JESSUP:…what?

CASS:Whatever. That’s enough,anyway.

Around the corner in the back room, the NCR HOSTAGES are gone. SOMEONE is inside, walking towards the front.

CASS:When we heard about the stand-off, we had to make sure you were the right Khans, is all. Heridea.

JESSUP:Her? We? What do you mean? Aren’t you a negotiator!?Youbitch,I’ll—

SFX: CLIK

The sound comes from behind JESSUP, from the entrance to the storeroom. He looks behind him and sees SOMEONE.

It’s AGNES SANDS.

She’s holding a 10mm sub-machine gun.

She’s found the man who dug her grave in GOODSPRINGS.

She opens fire.

SFX: DAKKA DAKKA

…

EXT. BOULDER CITY - OUTSKIRTS

CASS leans against a disused train car while AGNES sits and smokes on the ledge of it. They’re approached by LT. MONROE, who addresses CASS.

MONROE:Thanks for your help. If it hadn’t been for you two, our men would still be in there.

CASS: Hey, no thanks necessary.

MONROE:Did you find what you were looking for in there? You mentioned you neededsomething–

CASS:Yeah. We got it.

CASS looks aside towards AGNES, who’s staring into the horizon, eyes frozen wide, one hand cupped tightly over her mouth and clutching to her cigarette.

She’s a wreck, shaking with tears.

CASS:As much of it as we’ll everget.

MONROE turns and walks back into BOULDER CITY. It’s just CASS and AGNES.

Alone.

END OF VOLUME 1