Slowly, Drew regained consciousness. It wasn’t a pleasant return to the world as he was greeted by a pounding migraine and a stiff, aching back. Something was propping up his head and it took a moment for him to realize it was his backpack.

As to what had happened, he had absolutely no idea. His memories were hazy, though from what little that he could actually remember, he had a terrible feeling that it might have included the Greenclaws.

“Wha…” he stammered as his eyes drifted open.

His vision was blurry, so he couldn’t quite make out the figure that loomed over him. It was more of a shadow than a person, illuminated by light shining on the side of its body. He was inside and at a guess, he was at the Red Rocket Mega Stop.

Slowly, he began to piece together the events. He remembered the footsteps, going outside, hiding behind the dumpster, and then the colossal Greenclaw as it had peered at him over the side of the roof like a predator hunting for its prey.

Drew rubbed his eyes as he tried to focus on the figure. Had Jack or Amy found him unconscious? Was it a scavenger? He had no idea who it was that was standing over him, though that soon changed as his vision began to clear.

It was a Greenclaw and it was staring right at him.

“Shit!” he uttered in fright as his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

It, no she, blinked, then glanced outside before focusing back on him.

“Uh, hello,” he said, trying to keep the tremble out of his voice.

It then spoke. “You took a nasty fall,” she said. “I do not think you broke anything.”

She was talking to him, and there was something eerily familiar about her voice.

“Wh-what happened?” he asked, his voice shaky and uneven.

“Kiki terrified you so much that you tried to leap to your death.”

Just at the mention of the gargantuan Greenclaw, his heart rate spiked and his chest started to feel tight. The Greenclaw looming over him was right, Kiki terrified him. He had never seen something so horrifying in his life. The closest that he’d seen was a mirelurk queen, yet somehow, it didn’t feel nearly as terrifying.

“You’re scared of her,” the Greenclaw observed. “Are you scared of me?”

Even though he knew he should be cautious of what he said, he decided to tell her the truth. “Yeah, I am.”

He had been lying far too much recently and he didn’t want to get off on a bad footing, though he feared he’d already done that.

“Not scared enough apparently,” she said as she stopped leaning over him and stood up. She paused and looked back down at him. “I’m Ayma. The other one is Kiki like I said.”

“What are you gonna do to me?” he asked, his voice hitching in his throat.

“Nothing,” she said as she turned away and began to stomp off.

“Where are you going?”

“What we came here to do,” she said as she disappeared down an aisle.

Briefly, Drew considered getting up and getting the hell out of there, but he realized that the ginormous Kiki was probably waiting outside. That was easily enough to keep him exactly where he was. Besides, his back still hurt and his head was still pounding like a tiny man was inside his skull sledgehammering his brain.

Not a minute after disappearing, he heard Ayma’s stomping feet get closer as she returned. She emerged from behind an aisle with a crate in hand and placed it down on the floor next to another by the front doors. She then turned around and headed back towards the warehouse before returning a minute later with another crate. She then stacked them atop one another.

“You taking everything?” he asked.

“Eventually,” she answered. “Do you want some of this stuff?”

“I want stuff for cleaning, mostly,” he said. “I’m fixing up the old Robco plant.”

The moment he told her he realized he probably shouldn’t have.

“I know you are,” she said. “I have seen you there. You waved at me by the gate. Neka and Axa mentioned some people had set up residence there. I figured it was you because that was the direction you went the last time we met.”

Two more names meant there were at least four of them. He figured it was either Neka or Axa that had been the one that had wanted to tear out his intestines before Ayma had thankfully stopped her.

She walked over to him. “What do you plan on doing with the robots.”

Again, he was a little too honest. “Since I arrived in Colville and discovered the plant, I wanted to fix it up. The plan was to secure the region with the robots and make the place safe. It was a dream, but I just wasn’t getting around to it. Then there were reports of green deathclaws in the area, which kicked my ass into gear.”

“So you want to use the robots to hunt us?”

“That was the plan, I guess.”

“Was?”

“Yeah. I’m still trying to figure out if you’re a threat or a potential ally.”

“Ally?” She slowly shook her head. “The towns and settlements would never accept us. They will hunt us down given the chance.”

“You’re probably right,” he accepted glumly. “Still, it would be nice to have you around. You’d be able to keep the region safe.”

“What if we don’t want to?”

“It’s up to you,” Drew said. “But I can tell how strong you are and you’re intimidating as all hell. You could really do a lot to help folk around these parts.”

Ayma held out a clawed hand. “Are you okay to stand?”

“Uh, I think so.”

Nervously, he reached out, his hand looking tiny inside her claw. She gripped him and pulled him up with enough power to almost lift him clean off his feet. He stumbled forward, pain shooting through his back before his free hand made contact with something warm and hard.

It took him a moment to realize that his hand was on her strangely human-like stomach. Unthinking, he ran his fingers down her strong abs, feeling every contour. The muscles underneath felt incredible, like rock, but the thick skin also gave her stomach a peculiar softness.

That was when he realized what he was doing. “Shit,” he uttered snatching his hand away. He felt embarrassed and mortified over what had just happened.

“Enjoying yourself?” Ayma asked. She didn’t sound angry, more amused, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t overstepped a boundary.

“Uh, sorry,” he uttered quickly.

“No, I am the one who is sorry,” Ayma said. “I pulled you way too hard.”

He turned around and picked up his backpack with a pained groan. He hoped his stunt hadn’t permanently messed up his back.

“I’m gonna grab some cleaning fluids and some fuses and stuff,” he said.

“Go ahead. I will be fetching two more crates, then we will be heading back.”

“Back where?”

She tapped her nose, or in this case her snout, an action that reminded him of Gemma when she had known something she didn’t want him to know.

Drew decided not to press her on the issue. If she didn’t want him to know where they had made their nest then it was fair.

He walked off; or rather he limped off, and checked the shelves, finding a few items that he needed. He placed them in his backpack then made his way back to the entrance and waited for Ayma.

Honestly, he was too scared to step foot outside alone. Not with the colossus out there.

“So,” the Greenclaw began as she placed the crate down. “What is your name?”

“Drew,” he told her.

She paused for a moment, a frown crossing her features.

“I know that name.”

Drew stared at her in disbelief, his heart once more starting to race in his chest. “You know my name?”

She nodded. “It sounds very familiar.”

He glanced through the doors. The other Greenclaw wasn’t currently visible, but he knew she was still out there.

“I used to know a Kiki,” he said. “Nice girl. I could tell she had a thing for me, but I was already dating someone.”

“What was her name?” Ayma asked.

“Gemma.”

The Greenclaw’s entire body flinched. “Gemma,” she repeated.

“Yeah, Gemma,” he confirmed, not wanting to even consider the implications. It was too horrifying to even think about.

He was starting to feel sick. He had searched for Gemma and had tried to find out where they had taken her and the others, but he had never been able to find them.

“I know you,” Ayma said pointing as she stepped closer. “I’ve felt that way since I first met you. It was why I let you go.”

“So your friend was actually going to kill me?”

“Depends,” she said. “Usually we scare people away.”

“Usually?”

She looked away before focusing back on him. “Sometimes people attack. They shoot at us, try and kill us.”

“I wasn’t going to shoot you.”

“No, maybe not, but we are also told to kill those that may have discovered our intelligence. She sees them as a threat. She would see you as a threat.”

“You were told to kill people? By who?”

“Our matriarch.”

Drew thought for a moment. The Greenclaws weren’t inherently hostile, clearly, and if he wanted a truce he needed to speak to their matriarch, or at least get a message to her.

Honestly, he would prefer the latter as he didn’t fancy facing their leader. If Kiki was anything to go by, then their matriarch might be absolutely colossal and there was no guarantee that she was as friendly as Ayma.

“Kiki and I agreed to walk you home to the factory to make sure you make it back safely.”

“Uh, you did?” he said, surprised. “You don’t have to do that. It might be better if you don’t. The turrets will shoot you.”

“We won’t get that close.”

He didn’t know if it was possible to talk her out of it and decided not to bother. If they wanted to go with him, he wouldn’t stop them. His only fear was that someone saw them. In all honesty, not many people used the northern side of the highway as the majority of the settlements and towns were all to the south.

Ayma gestured to the crates. “Do you want to help me move them outside?”

Drew looked at them then shook his head. “I’d love to, but I don’t think I can carry them. Too heavy.”

She made a sound that almost sounded like a snort. “I forgot how weak humans are.”

Drew tried to think of a clever rebuke, but nothing came to his still fogged-up brain. Thankfully, his migraine was starting to ease off, but it was still there pestering him as a dull ache that seemed to pulsate in tandem with his heart.

“I guess we are,” he said instead as he watched Ayma walk over to two sets of stacked crates and gawked as she lifted them together.

“Show-off,” he muttered as she carried them outside.

As he stepped towards the exit, he realized he didn’t have his laser rifle on him.

Ayma took notice as she re-entered. “Looking for something?”

“My rifle.”

The Greenclaw walked towards a checkout and reached behind it, pulling his weapon out before she handed it over. It honestly looked like a tiny toy in her massive hand.

“Thanks,” he said taking it, holstering it on his back.

She quickly explained. “I hid it because I didn’t know how you’d react when you awoke.”

“Good thinking, I guess,” he said.

“I thought so,” she said, her mouth forming into a smile, which looked more than a little odd, perhaps even sinister, on her reptilian face

“I’ve got two more crates to take to the van. Then we’ll be taking them with us.”

“Sure,” Drew said with a nod.

She picked up the last two crates and he followed her towards the doors, gritting his teeth as a pain shot down his back and through his left knee, likely a result of the fall.

As he stepped through the doors, he looked around, his eyes falling on Kiki’s gargantuan form as she sat on the dirt hill across the far side of the parking lot.

Fear rose up from his gut and he found himself gripping hold of Ayma’s taught forearm, his eyes locked on the behemoth.

“You seem to like touching me, don’t you?”

The question from Ayma forced him to let go. He stepped away from her, still unable to take his eyes off of the behemoth. In fact, he was so preoccupied that he slammed into the side of the old van.

He heard snickering from Ayma as she placed the crates into the back and pushed the doors shut.

“Did that hurt?” she asked.

It was odd to see a deathclaw smile, let alone laugh.

His fear was rekindled as his focus fell back on Kiki as she stood up. She began to walk their way and even as Amya moved clear of the van, he found himself frozen to the spot, unable to move.

Finally, Ayma grabbed him and yanked him away, almost pulling him off his feet.

“You can pick up the van, now,” Ayma said before she stood in front of Drew, blocking his view of the behemoth. “She is not going to hurt you.”

He wrapped his arms around her forearm, unable to keep his eyes off of Kiki. His fear wasn’t helped when she lifted up the van with ease and rested it on her shoulder like a barrel.

She looked down at them. “I am not scaring you, am I?”

He couldn’t even answer.

“I think you are,” Ayma answered for him. “He is shaking like a leaf.”

Abject terror wasn’t something that Drew felt very often, but a twenty-foot-tall deathclaw had revealed phobias that he didn’t know existed.

Actually, that was a lie.

Memories flashed through his head, ones from long, long ago, back from when he had been a kid.

At the time, he had been living in a settlement far to the east with his parents. It was the only place he had ever known having spent his entire life there.

Every now and then, the town was attacked by super mutants, the big green monsters that no one knew the origin of. They had no idea where they came from or why they attacked.

One day, though, the super mutants had come with a friend. It was a lumbering behemoth, perhaps twenty feet tall, the same as Kiki.

It had torn through their defenses and pulverized those that tried to defend the settlement. Drew had never felt such terror before, watching as it killed everyone.

The cries of his mom still haunted him to this day.

His father had died a few years later.

They had been living further east on the coast. His dad had joined a group called the Minutemen and they had both lived in a place called ‘The Castle’ which had been the group’s central headquarters.

Like the behemoth, the monster that had risen from the sea was crisp in his mind as were the mirelurks that came with it.

The wall of the castle had been pulverized and everyone was in a panic. While they had the means, they hadn’t had the time to take it out. Though they had certainly tried.

His father hadn’t been so lucky, crushed under falling debris in the initial attack before anyone knew what was happening.

Those final moments with his father was something he still dreamed about on occasion. Holding his hand, his father pleading for him to flee. As a final gift, as his organs had shut down, his father had given him his Pipboy. A second parent lost to a towering monster.

There was this fear there, a phobia, one that Kiki provoked by her mere existence.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Kiki said, bringing him out of his thoughts. “I promise.”

Drew un-holstered his rifle, forcing his attention away from the colossus. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Are you sure you are okay?” Ayma asked.

He nodded, though it came off more as a jerk considering how much he was shaking.

“I can carry you?” Ayma offered.

“No, I’m fine,” he said.

Ayma stepped beside him. “Your reaction is why we have to remain hidden. Even though Kiki has assured you she means you no harm, you’re still terrified.”

“Let’s go,” he said, ignoring her. “You wanna walk me home, then walk me home.”

Ayma looked up at Kiki. “Stay behind us at a distance.”

“I understand. I feel so bad.”

Drew could have laughed at that. Kiki could swallow him whole and yet she sounded saddened that he found her so terrifying. It was strangely comical and if it wasn’t for her sheer scale he might have even called it cute.

“It’s not your fault,” he said loudly. “Just some things that happened in the past. Bad memories.”

Not much else was said as they left the parking lot and made their way down the off-ramp onto the highway. The deep pounding of Kiki’s footsteps made him feel skittish, like prey that was being pursued by the predator.

As strange as it was, Ayma made him feel safer despite the fact that she was a nine or ten-foot wall of death.

Drew glanced back and saw Kiki looking down at him. She smiled, showing off her teeth, which didn’t help his fear.

Knowing he had to get his mind off the behemoth behind them, he focused on Ayma.

“Where did you come from?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“I don’t mean where you’re living right now. I mean before that? Do you remember?”

“Who says we lived anywhere else,” she said before looking down at him. “To answer your question, I think we are from further north. I can’t really remember. Everything from before…” she trailed off. “I do not want to talk about it.”

“Ever hear of a place called Paulson?”

Ayma stopped dead in her tracks, a heavy look of confusion on her face.

The heavy footfalls of Kiki then stopped a few moments later. “Something wrong?” she asked.

Ayma focused on him. “It sounds familiar.”

There were a few more heavy footfalls and before Drew knew it, Kiki was looming over them.

“What are you two talking about?” she asked, leaning in. “Something important?”

Drew held back his urge to run. He kept his eyes forwards, ignoring the rhythmic blasts of her warm breath. Once again he felt like he was the prey at the mercy of the giant predator. If she was so inclined, Kiki could eat him whole and probably without even chewing.

“Paulson,” he repeated loudly. “Have you heard of Paulson?”

“I don’t…” Kiki stopped speaking as Drew found himself trembling uncontrollably in fear. She took a few steps back. “Oh, sorry, I got a little close. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Ayma rested a clawed hand on his back. “He just wanted to know if you remembered a place called Paulson.”

“I don’t think I have,” Kiki answered. “I’m not sure. Maybe?”

Ayma looked back down at Drew. “We’ve lost most of our memories from before,” she said, speaking loudly. “Kiki has more than most of us, but we’ve still got gaps.”

“Gaps?” Kiki asked, barely able to hear them. “Yeah, lots of gaps in our memories. I remember things from my childhood, but everything after about eight or nine gets really hazy.”

“I don’t even remember that,” Ayma said. “All of it’s a fog for me.”

“I remember a bit about our captives, actually,” Kiki said. “They were big and green. We killed them.”

Drew swallowed hard. “Super mutants?”

Kiki leaned down towards them. “What was that?”

“Super mutants!” Drew shouted.

“Yeah, I think that’s what they were,” Kiki said. “There was this scientist, too. I think he was helping them.”

Ayma stared down at the road. “I don’t remember much. Just pain. It lasted for weeks.”

“I remember that.” Kiki shuddered. “My pain was worse than yours and Lotte’s was the worst of anyone. We were growing a foot a day and we were ravenous. I recall hunting down, killing, and devouring every last… What was it our new friend called them?”

“Super mutants,” Drew said loudly, his voice quivering.

“Yeah, super mutants. We even headed out into the wilds finding food where we could. Memory of that is foggy though.”

Drew didn’t want to hear any more of it in fear that they had been behind the disappearance of a small settlement fifty miles to the west. One day, a caravan had shown up there and the place was deserted.

Most of the small wood huts they had built as homes had been pulverized and there had been a staining of blood covering nearly every surface. The caravaneers hadn’t stayed long and had promptly spread the word to all other traders in the region.

As to what had happened to them, no one knew, but now he had an idea what might have happened and he didn’t like it. Then again, it could be a coincidence. He hoped so because the alternative didn’t even bear thinking about.

Drew looked at Ayma. He wanted to put that thought out of his mind. He felt like he had to show them that he wasn’t scared.

“You know,” he began, “I don’t think I’ve been escorted by a deathclaw before, let alone spoken to one.”

“We are not really deathclaws, we are abominations.”

Drew fell silent. He could hear the hurt in her voice and decided that it was probably best to leave it there. Again, his thoughts fell on that settlement that had been wiped out and he had to wonder if her answer was an admission of guilt?

“Sorry,” he apologized. “It’s just that there’s a lot of questions in my head. I guess I can save them until next time.”

“You probably shouldn’t seek us out again,” Ayma said firmly. “We cannot be friends.”

“Why not?”

He had felt like they had been getting on rather well. Apart from Kiki stomping several paces behind them, that was. She was still terrifying and he couldn’t see himself getting over that anytime soon.

“It would not work out,” Ayma said.

“Why? I think we’re getting on okay.”

Ayma stopped and held up a clawed hand.

“What is it?” he asked, looking around for any sign of danger.

“This is where we will part ways,” she said. “Goodbye, Drew.”

Kiki spoke, echoing what Drew was thinking. “We’re still over an hour away from the robot factory.”

“I know, but this is a mistake. Someone might see us. We should head back home as quickly as possible.”

“The journey only takes a few hours,” Kiki said. “We have the time.”

“No, we do not.”

Ayma rested her clawed hand on Drew’s back once more. She looked almost sad.

Drew swallowed hard. “Is this goodbye, then?”

“Probably, yes. We might not be coming out this way again. It is becoming too dangerous.”

He let out a sad sigh. “It was nice to meet you.” He turned around and forced himself to look up at Kiki. “It was nice to meet you, too!” he shouted, trying hard to keep his composure. The urge to run was almost overwhelming.

“Same,” she said in return as she turned to leave, her massive feet causing the ground to tremble.

“Goodbye,” he said sullenly.

She paused and glanced back at him. “We might be back at the Red Rocket stop in three days,” she said before walking away, Kiki waiting until she had passed before following behind.

In silence, Drew watched as they both headed back up the highway. Without him slowing them down, they moved a lot faster, with Ayma running, while Kiki appeared to be walking at a slow pace with the van still on her shoulder.

“Goodbye,” he said solemnly.

He didn’t know if it truly would be the last time he saw them, but he hoped not. There were too many questions that still needed answering.

He just hoped he got the opportunity to ask them.