"Adam Baxter?" Silver Ray asked as he approached Adam, hand extended.
"I am. Silver Ray Johnson?" Adam asked back with a smile as he shook the hand in front of him.
"The one in the same!" He said back with an energetic and friendly tone, one hand in a finger gun pose until they broke the handshake. "But please, just call me Ray, Silver Ray Johnson is my stage name. Actually my name is Ray Silver Johnson, but I swapped it around for stage presence purposes." Ray added, a bit quickly. Not in a motor mouth way but in a chatterbox way. Like this man loved to gab and took any excuse to do just that. Though Adam already guessed that just judging on the show Ray ran.
Ray looked, for all intents and purposes, like a very normal guy. Nothing particularly stood out about him other than his seemingly infectious energy. But when he spoke there was no doubt it was the same Ray.
"Well, Ray then." Adam let off a soft chuckle. "I must say this is a surprise. I didn't know you ran your show out of here!" Adam said, feeling a bit giddy. It's not like he was meeting a movie star or anything, but he did listen to Ray on the radio moderately frequently, and being one of the few non-governmental public figures in Chicago made Ray the next best thing to a movie star. So it was understandable he was a bit happy.
Adam had noticed though that after the cult was defeated new radio stations had popped up. First, War's radio station had gone away, as expected, leaving one station gone but in its place was a station that played exclusively Country music. Next was a radio station that played songs original to the post-nuclear war, it was actually nice to hear original music. There was also a new radio station with a radio host who, like Ray, ran their own radio show. However she was clearly inexperienced and the signal was not very strong. Still it was nice to see some variety in his options. However Ray was still the best. And even among all these choices, Adam would choose Ray's radio in a heartbeat.
"You are telling me!" Ray laughed. "I live here, who would have guessed the talk of the town would just show up at my front door?" He smiled brightly.
"Well that's a bit much. I'm just a scaver." Adam blushed a bit, feeling embarrassed.
"Ah nonsense. Don't sell yourself short, man!" Ray said, keeping his energy high. "What brings you into town? I've heard you have been busy."
"Well actually with everything wrapped up with the horsemen and the stuff finished at home I was finally getting back out here to go scaving again. I had a backlog to complete and money to make so I figured, now that I had the chance, I would take the opportunity to see some places I hadn't visited yet. This being one of them."
"Oh man! That's awesome!" Ray laughed. "Hey, you gonna be here for a bit? Got some time?" Ray asked, puppy dog eyes already growing.
"Yeah well, I just got here, so I don't plan on leaving for a while." Adam said back, not sure what he was getting at."
"Sweet! Do you mind?" Ray gestured to the door behind him, with an unlit 'LIVE' neon sign above the door. Clearly his recording studio. "I'd love to have you in my show for an interview if you can spare it." He asked, hopefully. Adam was completely unprepared for this, the last thing he expected when coming to this new settlement was to be interviewed by Ray. He was so unprepared.
"I um… don't know. I've never been interviewed before. I mean, aside from jobs. I'm not really prepared for this." Adam said, hesitantly.
"Don't worry. I'm not trying to put you on the spot or anything. Just think of it as a chat with a friend!" Ray said brightly. "I'm a pro at this. I won't press you or anything." Ray said with an inviting smile. Adam continued to hesitate for a few more moments before he sighed and nodded.
"Alright, I can sit in for an interview."
"Awesome!" Ray said as he opened the door to his studio, revealing a very normal looking recording setup that Adam had pictured in his head. "You cool with doing this live?" Ray said with an almost shit eating grin. Adam almost went pale at the comment causing Ray to laugh. "I'll take that as a no then. No biggie, I can just record it and clean up the audio later for live playing tomorrow or something."
Ray then headed into the room and Adam followed him in. Taking a seat at the table opposite Ray as instructed.
"You don't gotta worry about plosives, or strange noises, I got you covered. Just respond with whatever comes natural alright?' Ray coached, gently, as he put on headphones and gestured for Adam to do the same.
Once Adam put on the headphones Ray counted down from three with his fingers and then flipped a switch turning on a red light on the tables in front of both of them.
"Welcome back to W.C.U.R., The Wolf!!! AOOOOOOWOOOO!" Ray began, saying his signature opener. "Today I have a special guest who showed up on my doorstep unexpectedly. We have the star of Chicago, the world mover, the slayer of the apocalypse, ladies and gentlemen, the man, the myth, the legend, this is the one and only Adam Baxter!" Ray said, doing his job to really hype up an imaginary crowd and talk Adam up at the same time. "Why don't you say hello, Mr. Baxter." Ray said before gesturing to Adam with his open hand.
"Hello everyone." Adam said, a bit stiff but trying his best to sound professional. "And you can just call me Adam, Ray." Adam smiled.
"Wonderful. I'm happy to have you on the show, Adam."
"I'm happy to be here Ray."
"I'm sure there are a ton of questions the listeners will have for you Adam. I get mail sent to me all the time about the most random things about you. Though I'll try to spare you from the more personal questions." Ray laughed.
"You get mail about me?" Adam asked back.
"Oh sure! All the time! People have all sorts of questions. You move around a lot, never stay in one place too long and are quite the public figure. It makes sense most people don't have a good means to sit you down for interviews like this." Ray explained. Adam just chuckled a bit. "Anyway, I think the question on everyone's minds is the most recent battle with the Cult of Pestilence. Or rather the Church of Salvation. Heard a lot of people were involved in that one." Ray began, creating an opportunity for Adam to explain.
"Yes, it was quite the operation. Even more mercenaries than were utilized during the Famine fight. However the real MVP was War, committing his whole army to the cause. Thanks to him and his warfighters I didn't need to go around asking for help from the communities again."
"Which brings up a fantastic question. Was this fight harder than the one you had with Famine?" Adam seemed to pause for a moment to consider.
"Honestly. That is a tough one. Both were hell in their own rights. The fight against the horde was exhausting and felt like at any moment we could be overwhelmed and die. However the fight with the cult was truly life or death. I came the closest to dying in that fight and came out of it with my fair share of injuries to show for it. So picking between them is impossible." Adam said with a pause before adding: "Though let's just say that there were a lot less bullets fired at me when I was fighting, Famine." He chuckled.
"Point taken!" Ray laughed too. "What I want to know is where you learned to fight like that."
"Ah well, everyone has a secret or two." Adam laughed.
"Have a favorite weapon?"
"For sure!" Adam said as he tapped his laser rifle in his bag he placed on the floor. "The AER9 laser rifle is always my go-to pick for any sort of engagement. But I try to carry a variety of options in case my baby doesn't pack the right kind of stopping power."
"I noticed you are still wearing your Vault suit under your armor. Any reason? Nostalgia?"
"Oh. Actually this is reinforced, a moderate bit bullet proof and stab proof. Courtesy of a certain armorer in Midway. But aside from that it's actually quite a good piece of clothing, cleans easily, breathes well, and does well in most environments."
"And what about your plans for the future? You managed to save Chicago from its external threats? What does Adam Baxter have next on the horizon?"
"To be honest, I don't know yet. After all, I didn't exactly expect to get into a fight with two of Chicago's biggest boogeymen. It just sort of happened. I hope I can scavenge more peacefully from now on and build myself a place here, in Chicago, my home." Adam said with a warm tone.