Drew stood there by the door to
the cafeteria and watched while Amy told the others a story about
Angela, an old girlfriend of hers. He could hear the joy, yet also
the pain. It was a tale he had heard before many times. It was of how
they had met and of how they had almost immediately fallen in love.
It was a nice story, but he
knew that wasn’t how things had gone, not really. The truth wasn’t
quite so fairy-tale, especially considering how it had ended.
Sarah seemed enamored by it and
Drew couldn’t blame her. It was a nice story, one that a lot of
people would be jealous of and Amy told it well. In a different life
at a different time, she might have been a novelist. It was a shame
that most books were reduced to little more than charred-out husks
that were left to rot.
Colville, thankfully, still had
its library and the books had been kept in relatively good condition.
It was a pity that Drew didn’t have time to read. The last time
he’d done any serious reading was with Gemma. He missed those
nights when they did little more than read to each other. They used
to get so lost in those fictional stories of a world long gone. He
missed her. He missed her more than anything, and he knew Amy felt
the same way about Angela as did Jack about Grace.
He turned away and headed out
into the corridor. It had been three days since he had formally met
Ayma and Kiki and he hadn’t been able to get them out of his head.
Last night he’d even had a strangely arousing dream where he’d
been snuggled between Kiki’s colossal breasts. In the dream, she
had been much larger than reality, and yet instead of feeling fear,
he had felt safe.
With a sigh, he pinched the
bridge of his nose. He had felt appalled when he’d woken up, but at
the time, in the dream, it had felt like bliss.
“What is wrong with me?” he
muttered out loud to himself.
Before they had said goodbye,
Ayma had told him that they would be back in three days, but that had
been a maybe. That day was today and he was arguing with himself
about whether he should go. He was playing a dangerous game,
especially since he was keeping it from Amy and Jack, the closest to
family he had left.
“I have to see her again,”
he muttered as he made his way upstairs to the office. “I have to
find out if my suspicions about Ayma are true.”
After grabbing his coat and his
laser rifle, he headed out the door and walked quickly across the
parking lot onto the highway. He still ached a little from his fall,
but he pushed through it, maintaining his pace.
If
there was one thing that made him second guess himself, it was the
prospect of facing Kiki.
He wasn’t sure he was ready to see her again, though,
after last night’s strangely sexual dream about her, he had to
wonder if there wasn’t something his subconscious was trying to
tell him. Either way, five
minutes into the walk and
he
was already starting
to feel very nervous.
Thanks
to his fast pace and the occasional periods where he’d actually
broken
into a jog, he managed to cut down the three-hour walk down to two
hours and nineteen minutes. Though
it did come at a cost and that was exhaustion.
Seeing no sign of either Ayma,
Kiki, or any other Greenclaw, Drew perched himself on the hood of an
old car and waited.
The first hour went by, then
the second. Roughly a quarter of the way through the third, however,
he started to feel the rhythmic thumps of heavy footsteps which grew
louder and heavier the closer they got.
It
took some effort, but he managed to keep his breathing even, despite
his rising fear. That fear spiked as he saw Kiki’s gargantuan form
move into
view from
behind the Mega Stop with Ayma following
down
by
her feet.
He jumped off the hood of the
car, drawing their attention. He raised his hand and waved, which
received no response from Ayma. Kiki, on the other hand, waved back.
“Oh, hello,” the colossal
Greenclaw said, sounding a little disappointed. Wasn’t she happy he
was there?
Ayma walked towards him while
Kiki stayed back. Drew could tell just from her expression that
something was wrong.
“We have a problem,” she
said confirming his suspicions a moment later.
“A problem?” he asked. “Did
someone find out where you’re holed-up?”
Ayma shook her head. “Kiki
let slip your existence.”
“I only told Varan and Neka,”
Kiki said, turning her gaze down towards the ground.
“And word spread to the
others. Our matriarch found out and she was not happy.”
Drew didn’t like where the
conversation was going. “And what does that mean for me?”
“Matriarch Lotte knows you
have a Pipboy from questioning us. She wants to speak with you.”
Drew swallowed hard. “In
person?”
“Yes,
in person,” Ayma confirmed. “The journey will take most
of the day.”
“That’s
a long way.
“Yes, but if you let me carry
you it will only be a few hours.”
Drew
regretted coming. The thought of meeting a colony of Greenclaws
was far
from
appealing and meeting their matriarch was
even less so.
“I take it your matriarch is
big?”
Ayma’s response wasn’t what
he wanted to hear. “A third bigger than Kiki.”
He
swallowed hard. “And
how many of you are there?”
“Twelve,”
Ayma said. “More than twelve,
actually, but half the group left and
went their own way.”
“And how many guys?” he
asked. “I’ve only seen females up until now.”
“No males.”
That surprised him. “None?”
“No. Not with us, at least.
Too aggressive. Now no more questions. We need to get going. If you
have any more, then you will have the opportunity to ask them to our
matriarch.”
Drew rubbed the back of his
neck nervously. “Uh… right.”
Kiki
moved
in
a little closer. “He doesn’t have to come if he doesn’t want
to. Nothing is forcing him to.”
Ayma looked up at her. “Our
matriarch said…”
Kiki interrupted. “I know
Lotte was adamant we bring him, but we should not force him if he
doesn’t want to.”
He felt a little relieved at
that.
“We need his help, though,”
Ayma said. “You heard what she said.”
“I know, but he should be the
one that decides if he helps us or not.”
Drew didn’t know what they
needed help with, but it sounded serious, serious enough that their
leader was willing to risk revealing their home to an outsider.
Ayma looked at him. “Kiki’s
right, it is up to you.”
“What exactly do you need
from me?” he asked.
“Holotapes,” Ayma told him.
“We need someone that can look at the data that is stored on them.”
Kiki
explained. “Before
you ask why we haven’t tried to access them ourselves, there is a
problem.”
“What
kind of problem?” he
asked.
“We
smashed most of the
terminals
and the
few terminals we have left cannot
load holotapes.”
“You
smashed them? Why?”
“You
have to understand that when we first awoke after coming out of the
tanks all we felt was rage. It consumed us and we acted on it. We
had lost ourselves.”
“But
you got better?”
“Yes,” Kiki said. “In a
manner of speaking.”
Ayma
raised her massive
clawed hand.
“That’s
not to mention our other problem. The
keyboards are too small for us to use and
they’re password protected. You
might be able to bypass it. We hope you can anyway.”
“So
you need me,” he said.
“Yes.
Your Pipboy can take
the tapes. They
may tell us about
our origin.”
It
was a big decision, yet
he knew there was only one choice. The whole point of fixing up the
Robco plant was to help people by
offering them security.
Who was he if he denied the Greenclaws?
Besides,
if what he believed was true, then he would be helping friends and
loved ones from Paulson.
He rubbed his face with his
palms. “I’ll do it,” he muttered with a slow nod. “I’ll
help you.”
Ayma grinned toothily, which
quite honestly, was a frightening sight.
“He has agreed!” she
shouted up at Kiki.
“Great!”
Kiki
said,
sounding just as thrilled.
Ayma turned her back to him and
squatted down. “Climb on, it will be faster with you on my
shoulders.”
Drew
stared, unsure
how to proceed.
“Come-on, get on,” Ayma
urged. “If we let you walk we will not get there until tomorrow.”
“I
could carry him,” Kiki offered, taking a heavy step forward.
That was all that was needed
for Drew to make up his mind. Quickly and nervously, he approached
Ayma from behind.
He
still wasn’t sure how
to get ‘onboard’ her, though. He
didn’t want to hurt her or do anything inappropriate. What
he needed was instruction.
“So,
how
do you want me to do this?” he asked.
“Just climb up me and hold
onto my horns. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me.”
Awkwardly, he walked up
alongside her tail before he gently and cautiously placed his foot
down at the base of the limb. Resting his hands on her back for
balance, he stepped up fully onto her tail before he slowly and
carefully climbed his way up her back.
“Now put your legs over my
shoulders,” Ayma instructed.
He did just that, sitting with
his legs dangling, his crotch pressed up against the back of her
neck. The last time he’d done anything like it, it was when he had
been on his dad’s shoulders as a little kid.
“Hold onto my horns.”
Drew reached out and took them
in his grip and let out a small yelp as Ayma suddenly stood back up.
“Ready?”
she asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” he
said feeling nervous.
“Kiki, let’s go!”
Drew’s
grip on her horns tightened as she began to move.
It started off slow at first, but she soon picked up the pace,
running faster than he
could ever hope to run. Kiki walked quickly next
to
them, easily
managing to keep up.
As
they left the parking lot, Drew glanced
behind, his
gaze falling
on Kiki. First, he looked at her massive, powerful legs as the
muscles flexed with every step. His gaze then moved
upwards,
past her stomach, and stopped on her massive breasts.
His
thoughts fell back onto the dream he’d had just last night. He
could still recall the feeling he’d had laying between them as he
had
stared
up at the night sky. He had felt comfortable and content.
Realizing
what he was doing, Drew looked away feeling disgusted with himself.
It
was far
from
the time to ogle and creep on women but that’s what he was doing.
What made it worse was that it wasn’t really a woman. At least not
anymore.
Or at least he kept telling himself that.
Drew
wasn’t sure why he kept trying to unperson Ayma and Kiki. Maybe it
was that he feared that his infatuation with them was more than
simple curiosity. His
dream last night suggested it was definitely more than that.
How
had things
gotten so complicated?
The trip took a good several
hours. Little was said for the most part, though they did stop for a
lunch break, which involved Kiki tearing a freshly caught mutated
bear limb from limb and eating it whole, something that almost made
Drew want to vomit.
Seeing and hearing them tear
through the flesh with their claws and teeth was enough to almost
make him forget that they were sentient.
Drew ate nothing, even though
they had offered several times. Instead, he kept a lookout while they
ate.
Thankfully, they were soon back
on the trail and before long they had arrived.
“We’re
here,” Ayma said as they passed an old fence and several ‘KEEP
OUT’ signs. Up
ahead, partially sunk into the earth was a facility. Most
of it was hidden, but there was a massive steel door that looked like
it
was made for vehicles.
“Pretty
well hidden,” Drew commented as Ayma squatted down so that he could
climb off her back.
With his feet firmly back on
the ground, he followed Ayma as she approached the sealed door, which
opened with a heavy grind and a squeal.
“Follow
me,” Ayma said as she stomped inside.
Drew
followed her through the massive doors, his
heart racing in his chest. He stopped
briefly to watch Kiki as she got down onto her hands and knees and
squeezed herself inside. Thankfully,
the long corridor was wide and tall, but even so, Kiki had to move on
her hands and knees, which
looked uncomfortable.
“This way,” Ayma said as
she turned left.
Drew
continued to follow her and felt his fear spike as a door opened. A
relatively small Greenclaw
who
stood at about seven feet tall stepped
out and peered
at
him almost
like a predator eyeing its prey. Unlike Ayma or Kiki, Drew had the
feeling that this particular one had no qualms about disemboweling
someone.
“Is
this
the human?” she asked, glowering at him.
“Yes, Bek, this is Drew.”
“I’ll tell the others he’s
here.”
“Good. I will show him to the
matriarch.”
They continued down the
corridor which opened up into a large chamber. All along the sides
were giant vats, though that was far from the focal point of the
room. That honor went to the absolutely colossal Greenclaw that made
Kiki look small.
It had to be the matriarch and
she was absolutely vast. She had mint-green skin, thick
tree-trunk-like horns that were bigger than he was, and like the
other Greenclaws he’d seen, a healthy amount of breast. She also
had to be upwards of thirty feet in height. She filled up the end of
the room and looked nothing short of a queen on her throne, except
the throne was the floor.
His
legs started to shake as he stopped dead
in his
tracks.
The behemoth stared down at
him. “So this is the human.” Her voice rumbled loudly, shaking
the floor and the walls.
Kiki answered from behind.
“Yes, this is Drew the human.”
Ayma looked back at him and
gestured for him to walk forward, further into the room. He did, but
his legs were shaking so much that he feared he might fall down.
The
matriarch seemed to rise herself higher, sticking out her gigantic
chest.
“Gather
the others,” she commanded loudly.
Drew
tried to avoid staring at the massive orbs that
hung high above him.
In fact, he tried to avoid looking at her at all, but he couldn’t
help but wonder just how big they really
were.
Her breasts had
to be heavy and he was under no illusion that she could easily
crush
him with them. Then
again, she could probably crush cars with them, and could certainly
cave a roof in.
“Bek
said she was gathering the others,”
Ayma said.
The
matriarch nodded. “Then
we wait for everyone to convene.”
Drew
felt like he was going to pass out as the other Greenclaws
started to filter in. As
they walked past, they stared at him before they
lined
up
against the tall vats that surrounded the room on either side. All of
them were of different sizes and shades of green, though all of them
were much taller than he was. Thankfully, none of them were near as
tall as Kiki or the matriarch and only two
others
stood
taller than the ten-foot Ayma.
Matriarch Lotte spoke, her
voice was deep and loud, yet like the others still oddly feminine.
“Kiki and Ayma have brought this human here to help us. Neka
believes that the holotapes left by the human scientist may help us
understand what has happened to us.”
All eyes were on him and he
knew that he was completely and utterly at their mercy. He was like a
tiny mouse surrounded by cats.
Drew cleared his throat and
took a few steadying breaths before he answered. “I’ll do my
best,” he said as loudly as he could.
Despite
his best efforts, his voice trembled and
he swore he heard a snicker at
his expense from
one of the smaller Greenclaws.
He
couldn’t blame them.
He must seem so small and weak next to them. All it would take was a
single swipe from one of their claws and his guts would be spilling
out onto the floor.
He focused back on the
matriarch as she spoke, her voice rumbling through his bones. “Ayma,
Neka, escort him to where the tapes are and have him study them.”
“Understood, Matriarch,”
Ayma said with a bow of her head.
Another Greenclaw stepped
forward and Drew believed it was the same one that had been with Ayma
during his first encounter at the Mega Stop.
“Follow me, human,” she
uttered.
He followed, glad that Ayma was
right behind him. She had quickly become an anchor for him, someone
who he felt safe with. On the other hand, he didn’t feel safe with
Neka. The last time he had seen her she had wanted to disembowel him.
The three of them walked down
the large corridor before Neka stepped into a side room. Drew
followed, finding the place stained with blood.
He swallowed hard.
The one called Neka picked up a
box of holotapes and placed them on the table.
“Here,” she barked.
“Thanks,” he said as he
opened up the box and peered inside.
They all appeared to be labeled
and taking them all out he noted that they were numbered from one to
twelve.
He put the one labeled ‘tape
1’ into his Pipboy first.
As they had said, it was
password protected, but it took no time at all to bypass it. It
appeared the encryption was just tough enough to stop the super
mutants from accessing the data rather than anyone with a brain.
On the tape, there was only a
single file in an audio format.
“This is an audio tape,” he
told them. “Do you want me to listen?”
“No,” Neka said. “Check
the rest, then we decide what to do.”
As he had been instructed, Drew
took it out and put in the second. Like the first, it was nothing but
audio, the same with the rest. Every single tape, from the first to
the last was nothing more than an audio recording, though what those
recordings held, he’d have to listen to them to find out.
“They’re all audio tapes,”
Drew said.
“So
there’s
no data,” Neka said
in disbelief. “We
hoped that there would be data.”
Ayma stared at him. “This was
his workshop. The place he was when we killed him. In our rage, we
destroyed his terminal, smashed his machines that held data.” She
covered her face with her claws. “Only later did we realize what
we’d done. We hoped these tapes held that data. We had hoped that
they would help us understand what we are. Maybe how to reverse it.”
“They don’t,” Drew told
them. “Unless he can convey it audibly.”
Neka shook her head. “Are you
sure there’s no hidden data?”
“None,” Drew said. “There
are no hidden files that I can see, nothing. Just audio.”
Neka took in a deep breath. “We
must go back to the matriarch, then. Let everyone hear what is
recorded on the tapes.”
Drew put the holotapes back
into the box and picked it up, following Neka and Ayma as they led
him back to the large room where the others were gathered. The moment
they stepped inside, the matriarch spoke.
“What did you find?”
“Audio tapes,” Ayma said.
“Nothing but audio tapes.”
The matriarch didn’t look
pleased. A deep growl emanated from her throat and it appeared to be
directed right at him. For a moment, Drew thought she might actually
kill him.
Instead, she pointed a huge
clawed finger down at him. “You shall play those tapes for all of
us to hear.”
Neka gestured at a terminal.
“If you can plug your Pipboy into that, we should be able to ear it
over the speakers.”
“Good idea,” Drew said as
he stepped over to it. He plugged in his Pipboy and accessed the
intercom system. He then took the first tape, opened up his Pipboy,
and put it in.
After a moment of hesitation,
he pressed play.