Nervous. Drew felt it and he
could tell that Jack felt it too. He was sat on the far side of the
dispatch warehouse watching Jack who was with Grace. Neither of them
had said anything yet, though in truth it had only been ten minutes.
Drew
had positioned himself
where Jack could see him, though
he made sure not to stare. In fact, he was keeping himself busy
deleting old unneeded files off his Pipboy which he’d been meaning
to do for a while. Occasionally,
he would stop what he was
doing and look over to make
sure Jack was doing okay.
Sekka’s
voice interrupted Drew as he was reading through an old note he’d
left roughly ten years ago regarding the location of some parts.
“I
still don’t remember much,” she said, breaking
the silence. “Some
memories from when I was little and other bits and pieces. I also
keep having these dreams. You’re in them and I’m… Well, I’m
normal.”
Jack
who had been staring at his feet, looked up at her, then
quickly looked away.
“I
know, I’m hideous,” Sekka said. “I can barely look at myself
either.”
Jack’s
gaze rose back up to meet her eyes, but
he didn’t refute her.
Instead, he slowly nodded before looking back down at his feet.
“You
mentioned remembering us under the stars,” Jack
said quietly.
“We did that a lot. Is there anything else you remember?”
Sekka
glanced over at Drew, who quickly looked back down at his Pipboy.
“It’s okay,” Jack said.
“I wanted him here. I trust him not to repeat what we say. Not even
to Gemma.”
Sekka focused back on Jack. “I
remember us laying there next to each other. You were telling me all
the shapes the stars made.”
“Constellations,” Jack
said.
“Yeah, constellations.”
Jack smiled wanly. “We did
that often. You were so excited. You loved it when we stared at the
stars.”
“I remember you proposed to
me one night.”
It
was Jack’s turn to look over at Drew. “I had wanted to ask you
that for a long time. I
spoke to Drew and Gemma about it and they said I should go for it.”
Both eyes were on Drew now and
he decided to speak. “I’d actually wanted to ask Gemma to marry
me, but I was too scared like Jack. Easy to give advice, harder to do
it yourself. It only put more pressure on me and I knew my Gem was
waiting for it. I felt I had to wait though as I didn’t want to
steal your thunder.”
Jack
nodded then looked back at
Sekka. “I
was so happy when you said yes.”
“I know you were,” Sekka
said, bringing a clawed hand to her mouth. “You climbed on top of
me and kissed me passionately.”
“Because
you completed me.”
“And
you completed me,” Sekka said as her hands drifted down and rested
on her breasts. “I remember how you caressed my
body. How
your hands slipped up my shirt.
You
made me feel wanted.
You made me feel like
the luckiest girl in the world.”
“And
I was the luckiest guy,” Jack said, wiping the tears from
his eyes. “I
thought you’d never want to be with a guy like me. When we first
arrived, you didn’t seem to like me.”
“I
don’t
think I did,”
Sekka
said. “I
wish I could remember. I wish I knew why I changed my mind.”
Drew
knew exactly
why
she’d changed her mind and given Jack a chance. Gemma had talked to
her and
explained
how Jack came off
as weird and creepy because of his nervousness.
Gemma had told her that Jack was a really nice guy with a lot of love
to give for the right girl. When
they had got together, Drew had felt so happy for them. True love had
blossomed quickly and he had
thought they would
be together forever.
Unfortunately,
life had decided that none of them deserved their shot at true love.
Jack
sniffled. “We never got the chance to get married. A few days later
the super mutants started
their attacks.”
“I
don’t really remember that. I recall a cage with other people.”
“That
must have been awful,” Jack said. “I thought they had killed you.
The first time they attacked we weren’t in town. Drew, Amy and I
were out scavenging with Gemma. When we got back you had been taken
with a load of others. We were planning on hunting them down to try
and rescue you before they killed you, but before we could organize
it they attacked again, taking Gemma and the others.”
As
Jack
wiped his eyes, Drew felt tears prickle his own.
Jack had gone after them with Amy and a few others while Drew was too
injured to move. There
had been a firefight, but several had been killed, Jack had been
seriously injured and Amy had almost died. They
managed to escape, but by the time they had all recovered, the super
mutants were long gone.
“We
looked for you, for
months,”
Jack said. “But we never found you. All
we found were the remains of someone half-eaten. We thought they’d
done the same to all of you.”
Drew
spoke up. “Now that I’ve been to where the super mutants took
them, I know why we couldn’t find them. It was because they were
smart enough to lead us astray. They headed the wrong way for
twenty-five
miles.
We
could have looked for years
and never found them.”
“So
why now?” Jack asked. “Why
were you out here?”
“The
Red Rocket Mega Stop,” Sekka answered. “It was on a map in the
facility and Lotte thought it could hold a lot of
supplies.” Sekka looked at Drew. “The map also shows this place
and Colville as
well as another military facility to the south.”
“Another
military facility?” Drew asked. “I don’t know anything about
that.”
“Lotte has been thinking of
sending a team out that way to check it out.”
“Why?” Jack asked.
“For
supplies,” Sekka answered. “Or at least that’s what she
claims.”
“You
don’t trust her?” Jack
surmised.
“There’s
a fracture forming. There is team Kiki and team Lotte. Kiki has more
on her side, but Lotte is so huge that she could probably kill all of
us just
by
herself.”
“Whose
side are you on?” Jack asked.
“Kiki, all the way.”
“I
remember Kiki,” Jack said, looking over at Drew. “She
was really nice. Had
a thing for Drew.”
“She
still is,” Sekka said. “She’s twenty feet tall but super sweet.
She’s almost a motherly figure far more than Lotte will ever hope
to be.”
“So why is Lotte in charge?”
Jack asked.
“Because
she’s thirty feet tall, an extra third bigger than Kiki. She
took control back when we were still confused and
more animalistic.”
Sekka
shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about that, Jack. I want to
know more about us. I want to remember things.
Tell me, how did you ask me out?”
“I
didn’t,” Jack said. “You were the one that asked me. Well, you
didn’t actually ask me out. One day, you asked for
help.
One
of the sprinklers had failed for the crops and you wanted me to help
fix it.”
Sekka
shook her head. “I
don’t remember.”
“Well, I told you that Drew
would be the better person, but you said Drew was busy with something
else. So I fixed them for you.”
“I
wasn’t busy,” Drew said. “And
Grace knew I wasn’t.”
Sekka
frowned. “I did?”
“After
that, you started hanging out,” Drew continued. “I’ve
never seen two people hit it off so quickly. Well,
once you gave him a chance that is. You
were perfect for each other. I had never seen Jack so happy.”
“I
was
happy,” Jack said sadly.
“I
wish we could be again,” Sekka said with
remorse. “I
wish I’d died rather than…” She gestured at herself. “…
Rather than become this.”
Jack
reached out for her, but she was too far away. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s
true. You said so yourself.”
“Grace,
I was wrong. I thought that I couldn’t still love you, not like
this… But I think
I
do. It’s
just… I don’t know.”
“I
do, Jack. I’m an ugly reptile.”
“You’re
not ugly, Grace. Not
where it counts.”
“And where does it count?”
Jack
looked at Drew before resting a hand on his heart, tears
streaming down his face.
“Like
Drew said. In
here. All
that matters is in here. I wanted to spend
my life with the person, not the body. The body that you’re in
doesn’t matter. Just the mind.”
“My
mind is broken, Jack. Until today I couldn’t remember my old name.
I had been searching for it for so long and every single time I hear
it from your lips it makes me feel sad.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you
to feel like you have to love me. There is a nice normal human girl
out there that is looking for a man like you.”
“There
is a nice girl right
here that needs me more.”
Drew
stood up. “I think this is where I leave. You two need to continue
this alone.” He smiled sadly.
“I hope that you both can find what you need.”
Drew
made his way out of the warehouse and headed back to the cafeteria,
wiping
the tears from his eyes as he went. He hoped they could find a way to
be together just like he hoped that he could find a way to be with
Gemma again. But
what about Kiki? Could he really share his heart with her as well?
Could Gemma and Kiki share their hearts with him? What if Gemma
ultimately chose Kiki over him?
Back
at the old
government facility,
Kiki had said that there was room in her
heart for both Gemma and him, and Gemma had said the same. He still
wasn’t certain if they had meant it, or if they had simply said it
to save his life.
He stepped inside the cafeteria
to find Amy talking to Veronica, Axa, and Gemma. They turned to look
at him, with Amy being the first to ask about Jack and Sekka.
“How’s it going? Are they
getting on?”
“Great,” Drew said as he
sat down next to Amy at a table. “They’re bonding faster than I
expected.”
“Have you been crying?” Amy
asked, studying his face.
He rubbed his eyes. “It’s
been really emotional.”
Amy understood. “I don’t
know how I’d react if I saw Angela again as a Greenclaw. I think it
would be too much. I’d be a sobbing mess. It’s too awful to think
about.”
“But you’d want to see her,
right?” Drew asked. “To know that she was alive?”
“I honestly don’t know,”
Amy said. “I guess it depends on whether she was happy.”
Veronica looked at Axa. “Axa
could be Angela.”
“No,” Axa said, shaking her
head. “I don’t think I was. I think I loved a guy and I think he
was in the cells with us.”
“Oh,” Veronica said,
awkwardly. “So we probably killed him.”
“A few of the males escaped,”
Gemma pointed out. “So he might be out there somewhere.”
“Hunting, killing, and eating
people,” Veronica muttered.
“Maybe,” Axa accepted. “I
just hope they started regaining themselves just like we did.”
There were murmurs of agreement
from Gemma and Veronica.
“Can you tell me the names of
your friends?” Amy asked. “How many live there?”
“Twelve,” Axa said. “First,
there’s Lotte our matriarch.”
“Which I think is Charlotte,”
Drew said.
Axa continued. “Then there’s
her right-hand woman, Charan. She’s third tallest after Lotte and
Kiki.”
“Who we definitely knew,”
Amy said.
“Then there is Varan, Darla…”
“We knew a Darla,” Amy
said.
“She doesn’t remember much
like the rest of us,” Veronica said. “But she remembered her
name.”
Axa continued, listing off the
rest of them. “Then we have Grunt. We called her Grunt because she
used to grunt a lot. Eventually, she started talking, unlike Glower
who does nothing but glower at people. Finally, there’s Bek, and
then of course there’s me, Veronica, Gemma, and Sekka.”
The door to the cafeteria swung
open and Jack stepped inside, followed by Sekka who crawled through
the door. Jack let her pass before he followed her to the other
Greenclaws. She sat down next to Gemma while Jack stood next to her.
Veronica eyed them. “Went
well?”
“Yes, it did,” Sekka
answered. “We have come to an understanding.”
“Yeah, we have,” Jack said
as he sat down on the floor next to her and leaned against her giant
arm which was thicker than he was wide.
Veronica grinned. “Maybe you
should sit in her lap?”
“Let’s not,” Sekka said.
“I think we need to take it step by step.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “Step
by step.”
It was beautiful. Drew could
see that there was still some reticence between them but they had
made amazing progress. He found himself staring at Gemma and she
stared right back. He knew that he would have to have a long talk
with her before the week was out to see where they stood regarding
their relationship. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he knew
that it had to be done.
Drew stood up. “It’s been a
really long day and I think we should get some rest.”
“Yeah,” Sekka agreed. “I
am feeling tired, too.”
Drew looked at the two visitors
as he realized they didn’t have anywhere to sleep. “So, we
haven’t got any rooms for you.”
Axa shrugged. “We’re fine
sleeping here.”
“Are you sure?”
Sekka nodded. “Yeah. We’re
comfortable.”
“If you’re certain,” Drew
said. “Just note, if Sarah comes in here try not to scare her.”
“Don’t worry,” Veronica
said. “I think I’ll sleep in here too. The basement’s too far
away.”
“Same,” Gemma agreed.
Drew looked at Amy. “How
about you?”
“I’ll sit here for another
half-hour then call it a night.”
“Okay. I’ll go tell Sarah
that our guests are sleeping in the cafeteria tonight.”
Veronica grinned. “You mean
warn her?”
“Yeah, warn.”
Drew headed out of the
cafeteria and made his way to the nurse’s office. He pushed the
door open to see Sarah sitting at the desk typing on the computer.
It was Suzy that greeted him.
“Oh, ’ello. ’ow are you this evening?”
“Fine, Suzy,” he answered
before focusing on Sarah. “I came to let you know that our guests
will be sleeping in the cafeteria.”
Sarah glanced at him. “Thanks.”
“So, how did you get on with
Veronica today?”
“It was okay,” she
answered. “She’s more human than she looks.”
“They all are.”
“She’s funny, too. And very
scary when she wants to be.”
“Wants to be? What happened?”
“Some zombies attacked. She
pretty much killed them all by herself.”
“You mean feral ghouls?”
“Yeah, ferals. We were
leaving the hospital and they came out of nowhere. She was on them in
a second, her claws ripping them apart. I was more terrified of her
than them.”
“You seem to have gotten over
it.”
“Yeah, well she gave me a
hug. That was terrifying too, at least at first. But she’s a pretty
good hugger considering what she is.”
“Sounds like you two bonded.”
“Maybe a little. She’s
still scary as hell. She could kill all of us if she wanted and we
wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“How have you been sleeping?”
“Not well. I’ve been having
nightmares about them. Last night, I dreamed that Gemma came into my
room and ate me alive. It was horrifying.”
Drew took in a slow breath. “I
do have a solution, but you’re not gonna like it.”
“You’re gonna tell me to
talk to them. Get to know them, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“I did talk to Veronica
today. A lot. Well, Amy talked to her. I mostly listened.”
“And?”
“And just like I said; she
can be really funny. When she hugged me, I fought like hell to get
out of her grip, but she’s really strong. I’d still like to give
her and the others a medical exam.”
“If you think you’ll be
comfortable enough.”
“I won’t be comfortable,
far from it. I think I’d want you or Amy in here with me.”
“Well, when you decide to
give them a medical, let me know.”
“Sure thing.”
“I hope you have a better
night tonight.”
“Me, too. Goodnight.”
“Night.”
Drew left the nurse’s office
and made his way upstairs to the manager’s office. He sat down on
the chair and stared out of the window into the darkness beyond.
The last few days had been very
strange, but what was more odd was that it was starting to feel
normal. The fear was almost gone, yet there was still some anxiety
there, particularly when they were behind him. He wondered if it
would ever go away. He hoped so because he would hate to think that
he would never truly be comfortable with Gemma again.
That thought was enough to
break his heart.
After staring out the window
for a few more minutes, he stood up and made his way to the side
room, and laid down on the old mattress. It was likely that Axa and
Sekka would be leaving tomorrow. He would be sad to see them go, but
also happy that they would be able to tell Lotte that there was
nothing to worry about.
After everything that had
happened, the day’s events told him that things might turn out just
fine after all.