During my time in The Capital Wasteland I killed over 2500 people and creatures. I’m in the process of putting together my final stats from my almost 200 hours of gameplay and it was during this review that I remembered my encounter with a ghoul named Gallo.
You can find Gallo down in a dark chamber in the County Sewer Mainline. Be careful of the booby traps that surround his place. When I first saw Gallo he was in the process of celebrating his birthday with his two favorite garden gnomes. I slowly and quietly entered his home and was thinking of befriending the ghoul before he noticed me and without hesitation was set on killing me. Within seconds, blasts from my combat shotgun took Gallo down and ended his life.
Killing comes easy after spending time wandering around a war torn Washington D.C., whether its a Deathclaw or a Super Mutant the new law of the land is kill or be killed, but unlike these other casualties something didn’t sit right after taking Gallo’s life. It didn’t surprise me when he threatened my life, I had become accustomed to assaults on my life on a daily basis and my instincts took over. However, after looking down at Gallo’s lifeless body a feeling of remorse came over me. Yes, he was a hostile cannibal that would have enjoyed eating my entrails, but even so, I saw him as a ghoul…wait, make that a person making the most of a bad situation. I had encounter hundreds of feral ghouls roaming train tunnels just looking for their next victim to attack, but Gallo seemed to have a sense of purpose to his bizarre life. He had a huge Nuka-Cola collection; from Nuka-Cola bottles, Nuka-Cola trucks, a Nuka-Cola neon sign…etc. While most ghouls spent time feeling sorry for themselves and their position in the post-apocalypse world, Gallo had carved out his own place and made something of himself. He was independent, organized and had purpose. In addition to his Nuka-Cola collection, he had pet radroaches, and a closet filled with a variety of useful items.
Gallo was indeed evil. Some would say it was just a matter of time before the toxic radiaition in the sewer got the best of him. Others would say what was the point of his stupid collections of nick-knacks and trinkets? People can say what they want, and even though I blew his head off, I saw more humanity in him than most of the “civilized” citizens who still walk among us.