These people are clearly unfamiliar to you, but they look very... "extravagant"...

You hesitate in your surprise, not even bothering to brush off the dirt that has stained your clothes.

You see five young, skinny guys standing next to Nicholas, each wearing only a loincloth.

However, these rags can hardly even be called "loincloths"...

They are simply some kind of dirty, twiggy rags or even raw animal skins.

The bodies of each of these guys are covered in some kind of primitive tattoos depicting something vaguely resembling animals.

You also notice traces of primitive piercings on the faces of these males: small bones stuck into their noses or earlobes.

A characteristic feature: they all have extremely pale skin.

Then you cough nervously, seeing that each of them is holding small spears with sharp tips made of some kind of black stone.

"Fuck... They look like... savages! It seems my perception of the inhabitants of Little Rock as brutal savages was unfounded... There are someone much more savage in this cruel world..." - you think, realizing that your entire "civilized life" is probably a thing of the past - in your bunker.

"Thunderspears... To each of us! Do you promise us this, chieftain?" asks one of the savages, addressing the leader of the Vultures gang.

Nicholas strokes his mustache contentedly and replies: "I swear, you'll get what you want. There's enough trophies for everyone. The main thing is to keep your promise and help me and my people..."

Each of the savages loudly utters a strange phrase in a language unknown to you, and then each of them ritually slightly cuts the tip of finger on the spearhead.

Then they touch each other with their bleeding fingers...

And, to your surprise, Nicholas does the same!

"In the presence of the Cave Spirits... For the glory of the Great Father... For the good of the Dark Mother... Our oath is unbreakable!" - you understand only this phrase, spoken by each of them at the conclusion of the ritual.

Ren stands next to you, watching all this with the same dismay as you...

Finally, Nicholas hugs each of them and... the savages walk off somewhere towards the walls of the town.

Nicholas watches them all, smirking.

"Boss... What the bullshit is this?!" - asks Ren, rubbing his bruises and seeing that new "friends" have disappeared from sight.

"These guys know the area well... Tomorrow we'll have to head northeast from the town... Forested mountains... Several tribes of savages live in the caves... It would be foolish of me not to try to increase our chances of success..." - Nicholas replies.

"But our trophies…" - Ren begins to say, but a light slap from the boss interrupts his words.

"Is it really that hard for you to understand that they're only interested in any trivial item that even remotely resembles a firearm?! They obviously don't know about our main goal… In their caves, even the most low-quality, homemade pistol would be a 'wonder weapon'…" - Nicholas replies irritably.

Ren falls silent, frightened.

"And what do you think of our new 'friends', Jerome-Toy?" - Nicholas suddenly looks at you with his steel-gray eyes.

This tall, bearded man in a wide-brimmed hat seems to exude an aura of sophisticated cruelty and cunning.

You feel a lump in your throat…

"Do you have any ideas about what we're preparing for? Or is your head just not used to thinking? Maybe you're more used to opening your mouth not to say something smart, but to suck someone's dick?" - Nicholas's sarcastic remarks elicit a chuckle from Ren.