With Amy more than happy to
stay at the old Robco plant like she had the last time, Drew and Jack
once more headed into town, leaving her under the protection of Suzy
and the two Gutsies. They wanted to hand over the parts to the folks
at the water treatment plant, then move the rest of their stuff
before finally handing over the keys to the old place.
Since they got up early, they
managed to arrive at Colville well before midday, giving them plenty
of time to do everything they needed. Even so, they wasted none of it
and headed straight to the water treatment plant.
“Where the hell have you
been!?” was the greeting they received the moment they stepped
through the door.
The one who had spoken was a
wrinkled old miserable piece of shit by the name of Nigel.
“I quit,” Jack said with a
shrug.
“You can’t quit. You have
work to do!”
Drew took off his backpack and
began to remove the components, placing them on the table to the
side.
“We’re here to deliver
these,” he said. “They’re the parts you wanted.”
The man grumbled as he walked
over and looked at the parts. “Yeah, these’ll do.”
“I’m glad,” Jack
muttered.
“Our payment?” Drew asked.
“Charlie!” Nigel yelled.
Charlie
stepped in from the back room.
“What’s up?”
Out
of everyone that worked there, Charlie was the only one that wasn’t
a complete asshole. Sure, he could be a
little short with people at times, but considering who he worked with
he was like a monk in comparison.
“Got those parts we need. Get
the reward payment.”
“Sure thing!”
Not a minute later, Charlie was
placing down a box of caps. Nigel opened it up and gathered a
handful, placing them down on the table by the parts.
“There you go.”
Drew stared in disbelief.
“Twenty caps? That’s it?”
Nigel squinted. “That’ll
get you a few beers.”
“Sure, but I was expecting
more gratitude considering without these parts you’re screwed.”
“Yeah, and so are you,”
Nigel responded with a limp shrug. “You need clean water as much as
we do.”
Charlie clenched his jaw. “Just
give them a decent reward.”
Nigel folded his arms with a
sniff. “Why? They’re lucky I bothered giving them a reward at
all. Jack left us in the lurch, remember? I could charge him back the
cost of the reward for that alone.”
“We
could just take these parts back,” Drew said.
“Until we take the caps
the exchange hasn’t happened.”
“You dare and I’ll have you
thrown out of this town!”
Charlie stepped over and picked
up the box of caps. “There’s two-hundred in here. The parts are
more than worth it.”
“Don’t you dare!” Nigel
shouted, jabbing a rigid angry finger in Charlie’s direction. “It
will come out of your wages!”
Charlie pointed a finger right
back. “If we want to keep the purifier running then we need a
steady supply of parts. We don’t get that if we stiff the ones
getting them.”
“It ain’t stiffing,”
Nigel objected. “If they want to keep drinking clean water then
they’ll get us the parts.”
“That’s not how it works,”
Charlie said as he held out the box. “We pay people who do us
favors.”
“Thanks,” Drew said, taking
it from him.
Nigel stormed off in a huff
while Charlie rubbed his eyes with an exasperated sigh. He didn’t
deserve to have to deal with all the drama. Unfortunately, it just so
happened that anyone that walked through the doors ended up having to
endure rudeness and outright hostility.
“You’re one of the good
ones,” Jack said to Charlie. “Please don’t turn into a sour old
bastard like the rest.”
“I’ll try not to. See you
both sometime. And thanks for the parts.”
The two of them offered a wave
as they left the water treatment plant and headed out into the
street.
Drew glanced down the road. “I
want to head to the mayor’s office to hand over the keys to our old
place. First, though, I want to make a tally of what we’ve got left
to move.”
“Sounds good,” Jack said.
Stepping inside the old house
for what could be the last time felt strange. They had only been
there for around two years, but it felt like a lot longer and in a
way, it had become home.
With everything they still
wanted to keep placed near the front door, Drew made his way over to
Leanne’s garage. Unfortunately, she was busy so he had to book a
truck for another day, paying in advance for the stuff to be moved
before he headed back to the house, telling Jack the situation.
With that, they locked up
the old place for the final time and made the walk to the mayor’s
office.
After waiting in the foyer for
a good few minutes, the receptionist finally allowed them through.
The mayor, a man by the name of Brenner greeted them with a warm
smile and an outstretched hand.
“Good to see you, Drew. How
are things?”
“As well as can be.”
“I guess you’re here to
hand in your keys?”
“How did you know?” Drew
asked as he held them out, them jingling in his hands.
Mayor Brenner took them and
placed them down on his desk. “I keep track of these things. Sorry
to see you go. You have been a great asset to the community.”
“I still will, that won’t
be changing. I just feel that I can do more good if I bring that old
robot plant back online.”
“Yes, I agree. I’m aware of
the rumors that there may be deathclaws in the area. Not sure what
they are exactly but from what little I’ve heard they’re not
pleasant.”
“They’re not,” Drew said.
“Up to nine feet of muscle, claw, teeth, and horns. Can outrun a
man and their thick hides make them difficult to kill. Most who come
across one meet their death.”
The mayor shuddered.
“Terrifying.”
“It’s why I decided to make
the leap and not wait any longer. Once the claws get settled, it
could be difficult to get rid of them. We need to remove the threat
sooner rather than later.”
“Agreed,” Mayor Brenner
said with a nod. “I’ve been speaking with Jarik and he said a
similar thing. The problem is we don’t have the weapons or the men
needed to deal with it.”
“I hope to get you those
weapons in the form of Gutsies and maybe some Protectrons. Still have
to look at what the plant can manufacture, but we might also have
some Sentry bots or even Assaultrons to send your way in the future.”
“We could certainly do with
more of those,” the mayor said.
“We’re still weeks off, but
as far as I’m aware, deathclaws are slow to breed so if we’re
lucky we still have time.”
“I just hope one doesn’t
attack us in the meantime.”
“You’re well enough
defended to scare it off or at least take one down.”
“But how many will die doing
that?”
“A lot, probably,” Drew
conceded. “And if more than one shows up then you’re in a lot of
trouble. Short of finding a way to concrete a wall around the entire
town, you are at risk and that’s not to mention the farms.”
“Then I hope you’re able to
get the old place back online before they attack anyone.”
“I feel the same, but that’s
up to the claws.”
Mayor Brenner held out his
hand. “Good luck.”
Drew shook it. “Same to you.”
“Anything else?” the mayor
asked.
“Just one more thing.
Tomorrow, Leanne and a few of her guys will be wanting the keys to
pick up the last of our things.”
“That’s fine. I’ll make
sure they get the keys.”
“Thanks.”
After the mayor shook Jack’s
hand, the two of them headed out, stopping by the cafe near the main
gates to grab something to eat before they headed out.
Roughly an hour into the walk
back home to the Robco plant, Jack stopped in his tracks and placed a
hand on Drew’s shoulder, halting him.
“What is it?” Drew asked.
“You hear that?”
Drew’s ears strained as he
listened. At first, all he could hear was the wind, but with a moment
of calm, he heard deep rhythmic thumps from somewhere up ahead.
Drew recognized them almost
immediately. They were heavy footfalls from a large animal and by the
rhythm of each step, it sounded like it was bipedal.
“Shit.”
“What do we do?” Jack
asked.
Drew grabbed his friend’s arm
and pulled him into the treeline where they both squatted behind a
fallen tree. There the two waited, their hearts racing in their
chests as the deep pounding footsteps grew louder and louder.
Neither
of them spoke. Both
held their weapons tightly
against their
chests,
neither
daring to steal a glance over the log they hid behind.
It
sounded like a deathclaw
and
a huge one at that.
If it saw them or even smelled them, it was likely that both of them
would
be dead soon
after.
Drew just prayed that the wind stayed settled.
To
their combined horror, the
pounding footsteps stopped. Drew
held his breath as he focused on Jack. His friend’s eyes were wide
and the pistol he held was shaking in his grip.
Time
seemed to stop as they both waited
for any sign of movement. There was nothing, at least at first.
A
deep thump echoed through the ground making Jack jump in
fright.
For a moment, Drew feared he was going to accidentally squeeze off a
round but thankfully he didn’t.
With
a second thump, then a third, and a fourth,
it was clear the creature was once more on the move. Both continued
to stay as quiet as possible, listening
closely to make sure it wasn’t headed their way.
To
their combined relief, the heavy thumps of the creature’s footfalls
grew quieter and more distant as it continued on to the south. Even
so, they both remained where they were, not daring to move just in
case it returned.
“That came from the direction
of the plant,” Jack whispered, after what had to be several minutes
of silence.
Drew felt his stomach drop.
“Shit, you’re right. We need to get back.” He stood up
cautiously, his gaze to the south.
“You
think the
claw
attacked?” Jack
asked.
“I
don’t know,” Drew said, silently cursing himself
as
they both broke into a run.
He
had seen one of them by the factory before, and it had even tried to
get in. He
had knowingly
moved
Jack and Amy into
the plant despite
knowing of the danger.
Worse,
he hadn’t even told them, keeping it to himself. If
anything had happened to Amy, he knew that he would never be
able to
forgive himself.
As fast as they could, they ran
back to the Robco plant. Even when Drew’s legs began to tire and
his stomach started to ache, he didn’t slow down and neither did
Jack. At least not until they were both in the parking lot of the old
robot factory.
“Amy!?” Drew shouted the
moment they were inside. “Are you here!?”
A scarce fifteen seconds had
passed when they heard the pattering of footsteps. A moment later
they saw Amy round the corner and run towards them.
“You’re back!” she said
sounding shaken.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked,
giving her a hug.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she
said returning it. “One of those green deathclaws stopped by.”
“Did it attack?” Drew
asked.
Amy shook her head. “It was
chasing a woman. Suzy says she knows her. Sarah or something. I
thought we were dead.”
“A woman?” Drew asked,
wanting more information.
“Yeah, Sarah or something. I
let her in and the Greenclaw lost interest and ran off. It was
fucking huge.”
“Yeah, we heard is stalking
back up the highway,” Jack said. “Absolutely fucking terrifying.”
“No kidding,” Drew said.
“Where is this Sarah now?”
“In the nurse’s office. She
collapsed the moment she got inside.”
“I want to see her,” Drew
said.
“Sure, this way.”
Amy
led the way back to the nurse’s office. Just as Amy had said, the
woman was there on one of the beds clearly unconscious. The
blue coveralls and the Pipboy on her arm didn’t
escape his notice.
She was clearly a vault dweller, though he didn’t know of any
vaults around here other
than the one by Colville, and that one had been abandoned for the
last fifty years or so.
The Miss Nanny, Suzy, turned to
him. “Ah, you are back.”
“Yeah,
we are.” he said. “What can you tell me about her?”
“She
is ze nice lady who was at ze ’ospital a few days ago,” Suzy
said.
“From what I can tell, she overexerted ’erself and ’as
collapsed because of it.”
“Yeah,”
Jack said, staring at the unconscious woman. “Running from a
deathclaw
will do that.”
Drew couldn’t say he was
exactly comfortable with the prospect of a stranger being there.
“Keep
an eye on her,” he told the others. “The moment she’s awake, I
want to know.”
“Oui,”
Suzy said excitedly. “I am so ’appy to ’ave a new patient after
all zhese
years.”
Drew
didn’t respond. He left the office with Jack and Amy following him
out.
“Ame, I want you to stay with
Suzy and the patient.”
Amy frowned. “You think she’s
dangerous?”
“Potentially,
yes.”
“Suzy thinks she’s nice,”
Amy said.
“Maybe,
but
I can’t dwell on it now. I have work
to do. It’s only a matter of time before the Greenclaws
start killing people, if they haven’t already, and
we need to be ready to deal with them.
The
roads aren’t safe at
the
best of times but with them about they have just gotten a whole lot
more dangerous.”
“I’ll
keep an eye on her. See
you at dinner, then,” Amy said as she stepped back into
the nurse’s office.
Jack sighed. “You think it’ll
come back?”
“Maybe,” Drew said. “But
not for a little while. Claws are smart. If they think it’s
worthwhile, they’ll find a way in.”
“So
what’s the plan?”
“We’re close to bringing
some turrets online. Time to fix and activate them.”
Jack
thought for a moment. “Why
do you think they’re green?” he
asked. “The
deathclaws, I mean?”
Drew made a guess. “Mutation,
I suppose.”
“Last time I saw a big green
monster it was those super mutants.”
Drew shivered. “I hope you’re
not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“What
if someone was messing around and somehow
mutated
them?”
“Super mutant deathclaws
sound terrifying.“
“You think it’s possible?”
Jack asked.
“I
have no idea and
I don’t like what
that could mean.
If there is
a pack of super-claws
out there, then we might be fucked. Deathclaws are tough to kill as
is. A super
mutant
variation might make them near impossible to take down.”
“So
I guess we better hope that their skin
color
is just a mutation.”
“A benign one at that.”
Jack shrugged. “Whatever that
means.”
“It
means that it doesn’t come with any more alterations. If it’s
just skin pigmentation then they
will be just as easy, or rather, just as difficult to kill as
a regular one.”
“If
it does come back with more, are we in danger?”
“We’re always in danger
while deathclaws are about. Thankfully, this place was built like a
fortress.”
“I
guess that means we’re somewhat safe.”
“Somewhat is a good way to
put it. Come on, let’s get to work.”
Jack rested a hand on his
stomach. “Can we have something to eat first?”
“Sure,”
Drew agreed
as
the two started towards the cafeteria.
“Then we need
to
get on the roof and take a look at the dysfunctional turrets. I want
full coverage before the week is out.”
“I’ll
definitely feel safer. What about the two Protectrons that meander
about outside?”
“I’ll
bring them in for
reprogramming eventually.
For now, though,
they’re fine doing what they’re doing.”
They
stepped into the cafeteria and headed straight for the kitchen.
Drew
opened up the
temperamental refrigerator and
pulled out two mutfruit’s, passing one to Jack.
“We
got anything else?” Jack asked, looking at it with
a frown.
“Sorry, no. We have some
meat, but it’s uncooked and we still need to fix up at least one of
the ovens.”
“I guess it’ll do,” he
said, sounding disappointed as he took a bite.
As they left the cafeteria,
they heard the patter of footsteps on the hard concrete floor.
“Drew!”
Amy called to them. “She’s awake.”
Jack gestured towards the
ceiling. “Do you want me to take a look at those turrets while you
talk to her?”
Drew thought for a moment.
“Sure, you go take a look. I’ll be up shortly.”
Jack headed off to the roof
while Drew and Amy made their way back to the nurse’s office.
Inside, he found the woman whom Suzy had identified as Sarah sitting
up in bed, her fingers webbed as they rested on her lap.
She looked over at him, a
concerned expression etched on her face.
“Um, hello,” she said
nervously.
“How are you feeling?” he
asked courteously.
“Feeling okay, I guess. Just
exhausted.”
Drew nodded, understanding. He
would be exhausted too if he had run from a deathclaw.
“Sarah, right?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s
right.”
“Drew,” he said pointing at
himself. “Amy,” he said, gesturing to Amy.
“Pleased to meet you.”
Drew decided not to beat around
the bush and got straight to the point. “What can you tell me about
the deathclaw?”
“Is that what it’s called?”
she asked.
“Yes, that’s what it’s
called.”
“Well, I don’t really know
all that much. I found a Red Rocket Mega Stop and decided to see if
there were any supplies I could get. I wanted to sell them down at
the Riverside settlement further south.”
Riverside was a makeshift
settlement. Fishing was its trade, and they did pretty well by it.
She continued. “That’s when
I heard a growl. I see the thing stalking towards me. That’s when I
notice two more and one of them was huge. Like toweringly big. Like a
walking building big. I turned and ran as fast as I could.”
Amy looked at Drew, fear in her
eyes. “The size of a building?” she asked with a quiver in her
voice. “That can’t be true.”
Drew
hoped not. Even so, the
fact there were three there made him wonder if it was a nest. There
was food and shelter there
so
it made sense. The
fact that Sarah had described one as being the size of a building was
definitely concerning, but he imagined that she was exaggerating.
Fear often made things look bigger than they were.
“There is one thing I can
tell you,” the woman said with realization. “I don’t know much
about deathclaws, but they appear to be some kind of lizard.”
“Yeah, they are,” Drew
confirmed.
“Well, something is very
wrong with their anatomy because I’m pretty sure… Well-I…”
“What?”
Sarah
held
her hands out in front of her chest. “They
had breasts, and
big
ones
at that.
That’s a mammalian feature. Lizards,
reptiles, or anything else doesn’t
have breasts as
they don’t produce milk.
In fact, it was
a human feature considering the placement on
the chest,
size, and shape.”
Drew and Amy exchanged a
glance.
“Are you sure it’s not a
growth?” Drew asked.
Sarah shook her head
vehemently. “Absolutely positive. I saw areolas and nipples and
they were on all of them. The underside looked almost soft like human
skin, with thick scales and spikes along the spine. They scared the
shit out of me. I ran as fast as I could until I got here. The thing
was right behind me the whole way.”
Drew
was skeptical. “All
the way from the Mega Stop?”
“Yeah.
I ran and didn’t stop.
I thought the thing was
going to kill me.”
“That’s
a good four or five miles you must’ve run,”
he said.
Sarah stared at him for a
moment. “I didn’t realize it was that far.”
Drew
rubbed
his chin in thought.
Something wasn’t quite adding up. “There
is no way you
managed to keep ahead of a claw all that way.”
“What
do you mean?”
“I mean that I don’t think
it was trying to catch you.”
Sarah
shivered. “Are
you
saying it was toying with me?”
“I
don’t know. But for it to stay right on your tail for four or five
miles? Either
it should have caught you or you should have escaped. There’s
no way that your running speeds matched up like that.”
Sarah
looked past him at the wall then
shivered.
“Why
would it do that?”
“I
don’t know,” Drew admitted.
“Perhaps
to see where you would run to?”
“Are
they that intelligent?” Sarah
asked, fear
creeping into her voice.
Drew shrugged. “How
intelligent deathclaws are is up to debate. Some say they’re just
dumb beasts, others say they’re calculating and unnervingly smart.”
“What do you think?” Sarah
asked.
“I’d say they’re
generally somewhere in between. Either way, it’s best to avoid them
at all costs.”
“Unfortunately, they know
we’re here now,” Amy pointed out.
Sarah
looked down at the floor. “Sorry
I led it here.”
Drew
slowly shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It
does mean we have to fix up and reactivate
the rest of the turrets, but it’s best to do it now rather than
later. Speaking of which, I should probably get to that.”
As
he turned to leave, Sarah spoke
up, stopping
him.
“Wait, I need to ask you something!”
Drew
turned back around to face her. “What?”
.
“Do you need a doctor?” she asked, as
she started to play with her fingers. Drew put it down to nerves.
“I’m
medically trained,” she
continued.
“I’m from a vault.”
“I
guessed that from the jumpsuit and the Pipboy,” Drew said.
Sarah
looked at his left forearm.
“Are
you
from a vault, too?”
He shook his head. “No, but
my dad was. This was his.”
“Was?”
“Dead.”
“Oh,
I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. He’s
been dead a long time. Killed on the other side of the country.”
He
shivered as he remembered the giant
Mirelurk
Queen that had risen up out of the water.
It
was a monstrosity he hoped never to have to face again.
“I’ll
think about it,” he said finally, not
wanting to mentally relive the details of that
attack.
“Your
offer of
being our doctor,
I mean.”
Suzy
spoke up for the first time, offering her support. “Oui.
Please
do. It would be nice to be able to work under a doctor again and
Sarah is very nice.”
“Like
I said, I’ll think about it.” He looked at Amy. “Keep an eye on
her.”
“Sure thing.”
He stepped out of the room and
made his way up to the roof. There, he found Jack studying a defunct
turret. From the looks of it, the thing was seized up solid.
“How’s it going?”
Jack looked over at him.
“Rusted up. Water seeped into the housing.”
“We can replace the parts,”
Drew said, squatting down next to him.
“So, how’s our guest?”
Drew grunted. “Fine, I guess.
Ran all the way here from the Mega stop.”
“Holy shit,” Jack uttered.
“That has to be four miles away.”
“Yeah. Four or five. I guess
people can do the impossible when they’re scared shitless.”
“I guess. No wonder she
collapsed.”
“Yeah. Says she’s a doctor
trained in a vault. Has the jumpsuit and the Pipboy, so I’m
inclined to believe her.”
Jack gave him a sideways
glance. “You don’t trust her, do you?”
“I don’t trust her enough
to let her stay here, no.”
“But you do the Nurse robot?”
“It’s a Miss Nanny, and
robots don’t tend to be conniving pieces of shit like humans can.
Remember Rebecca back a Paulson? The shit she pulled just because her
dad was in charge. She did her best to fuck everyone over as much as
she could. Glad her dad wasn’t an idiot otherwise she might have
succeeded.”
Jack shrugged. “Sure, humans
can be pieces of shit, but robots can malfunction, and when they do
they have this unfortunate tendency to want to kill everyone around
them.”
“I’ve gone over her code
and fixed a lot of errors. As long as I do maintenance on her, she’ll
be fine. Same with any robot.”
“And I’m sure this Sarah
will be fine, too.”
“You think it’s worth the
risk?” Drew asked.
“We could do with a doctor,”
Jack pointed out. “We’re gonna be dealing with a lot of heavy
equipment. One of us is bound to get hurt.”
“We have Suzy,” Drew
pointed out.
“Suzy is nowhere near as
dexterous as a person. I think she should stay.”
Drew clenched his jaw. “Fine,
I’ll feel her out.”
Jack raised his eyebrows.
Drew rolled his eyes. “Keep
your mind out of the gutter. What I meant was her personality; what
she wants, what she’s after.”
“It’s up to you. You’re
in charge.”
“I
know, but I value your opinion. Amy’s, too.”
“Then
give her a chance.”
“Okay,
okay,” Drew relented. “I’ll give her a chance.”
“I
hope so,” Jack said standing up. “So, we gonna fix this?”
Drew nodded. “Yeah, let’s
get to it.”
With that, they got to work.