A wide yawn left Drew’s mouth as he stepped into the cafeteria for the second time that morning. The first time it had been dark, but now there was light streaming through the grimy windows that sat high up on the walls.

That was when a pungent odor struck his nose.

“What the fuck is that stink?” he asked before he noticed two dead radstags had been dropped near the counter which separated the cafeteria from the kitchen.

“We brought you some food,” he heard Neka say.

He looked behind him to see her and Gemma ssitting in the corner leaning up against the same wall as the doors. It was why he hadn’t noticed them when he had entered.

“Uh, thanks,” he said, feeling like he might have accidentally insulted them. “Do you want them cooking or…?”

Gemma waved her clawed hand dismissively. “We’ve already eaten, thanks.”

He heard the doors squeak open and he looked back over his shoulder to see Amy enter. She held her nose as a look of disgust washed over her face.

“What is that smell?”

He pointed at the offending corpses. “Our guests brought us something to eat.”

Amy looked at the dead radstags. “Where are they now?”

“Who?”

“Gemma and Neka.”

He pointed. “Sat over there in the corner.”

Amy’s entire body stiffened as she looked over at them.

“Resting after a morning hunt,” Neka said.

Amy looked nervous. “Oh, hello. I hope I didn’t offend you.”

“Of course not,” Gemma said with a smile.

Drew was glad that things were progressing so well. Even so, he decided that today they were all gonna sit in the cafeteria and talk, especially Jack and Sarah. By the end of the week he wanted them to not necessarily be comfortable with them, but at the very least not be scared.

“Amy, can you go and fetch the others,” he said. “I think we need to have a good long chat.”

Amy nodded. “Sure,” she said as she quickly turned and left.

Drew turned back to the two dead radstags. It would take a good few hours, but he was sure that with the help of the others they should be able to get a good amount of meat off of them. In fact, Drew believed that dicing up the stags was the perfect distraction for getting everyone more comfortable with Gemma and Neka. At the very least it would give them something to do while they talked.

At some point, he wanted to get a pot so he could make some strew and keep it on the boil. He hadn’t had the chance back at Colville, mainly because the power to the house hadn’t been particularly reliable.

“So,” Gemma began as she stood up. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “How are you?”

“Slept a little rough. This place has unfamiliar sounds and smells.”

“I slept fine, thanks for asking,” Neka added.

The doors opened and Amy stepped in with a nervous expression. Behind her was a worried-looking Jack and a rather terrified Sarah.

“Morning,” Drew greeted.

“Uh, yeah,” Jack said, looking at Gemma, then down at Neka who was still sitting in the corner on the floor.

“I-uh…” Sarah began, her voice trembling. “I wanna try and um… Get to, you know. Get to know our-uh… guests.”

Drew appreciated her trying despite her clear terror.

He gestured to the radstags. “Neka, Gemma, do you mind taking those into the kitchen? We’ll all be through shortly.

“Of course,” Gemma said, making her way over immediately.

Neka, on the other hand, complained. “I just got comfortable.”

“I know,” Drew said. “But I want everyone in the kitchen so we can all talk and work at the same time.”

Neka groaned. “Work? We went hunting this morning. We’ve done our work.”

“You don’t have to do anything. Just take the other radstag into the kitchen and then you can sit in a corner.”

Gemma picked up both of them. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it.”

She ducked down and squeezed herself through the double doors into the kitchen while Drew folded his arms and slowly shook his head at Neka.

“What?” Neka asked.

“Nothing.”

Neka let out a groan. “Fine, I’ll go help,” she said as she pushed herself up off the floor onto her feet. “As long as I don’t have to move for the rest of the day.”

“I won’t ask anything more of you,” Drew assured her.

“Good.”

She stomped across the floor and ducked through the doors into the kitchen.

“Was that a good idea?” Sarah whispered. “Talking to it like that? What if it got violent?”

“She won’t,” Drew said assuredly, though he quickly remembered how Neka had wanted to rip him apart when they had first met. She had since claimed she hadn’t but he had his doubts. “Their looks are deceiving.”

“If you say so,” Sarah said, sounding timid.

“Come on,” Drew said waving them onward. “Let’s get into the kitchen and prepare those radstags.”

He led the way, with the others following him close behind. He pushed the doors open and stepped inside finding Neka sitting in the far corner and Gemma standing in the middle of the room.

“I placed them down on that table,” she said, gesturing.

Drew smiled at her. “Thanks, Gem. You can sit with Neka, we’ve got it from here.”

Gemma walked over to Neka and sat down next to her while Drew got to work. He grabbed a large knife from the drawer and plunged it into the stomach only for Amy to stop him before he went any further.

“Hold on, before you do that…” She walked over to a cupboard and opened it. “There are some aprons I found the other day. Should help keep the blood off our clothes.”

“Good thinking,” Drew said, taking one from her. “Everyone go get an apron.”

Jack and Sarah both grabbed an apron and put them on while Drew made his way back to the radstags. With the knife back in his hands, he cut it open.

“Disgusting,” Sarah muttered as she turned away.

“Any other knives?” Amy asked.

“None that will do the job of skinning,” Drew told her. “You can help me with the skin, though.”

Amy stepped over and helped him peel the skin off the animal before they did the same with the other. With the skins off, Jack collected them and rolled them up before placing them in the corner.

“Jack,” Amy began, “Those skins look to be in good condition.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I was thinking of making something out of them later. Maybe some new leather armor or something.”

Sarah glanced at the Greenclaws before quickly looking away. “How about making them something to wear?”

“Who?” Jack asked.

Sarah nervously ran her hand through her hair. “Uh, Gemma and uh, the other one. So they aren’t… You know… swinging all over the place.”

“Neka is my name,” Neka said. “And yeah, if you wanna make us something to wear then I’m up for it. Can get cold in the mornings.”

“I’ll do that,” Jack said. “But later.”

Drew agreed. “Yes, it will have to be later.” He looked at Sarah. “Have you done this before? Skin an animal I mean.”

“No,” she said, looking a little sick.

“I can tell. Jack, you and Amy take this one and I’ll prepare the other one with Sarah.”

“Sure thing,” Jack said.

Drew could already tell that he was going to do most of it by himself. He had hoped that by being a doctor that she was a little less squeamish. Though he supposed the sight of a skinned animal was perhaps a little too much for her. It had been for him when he was younger, but with the life he lived, he’d gotten used to it. They all had.

As they made cuts of the meat, Neka couldn’t help but comment. “Glad we don’t have to do that anymore. Seems like a hassle.”

“It’s worth it,” Drew said. “Mainly for the lack of vomiting that can come from uncooked meat.”

“Weak stomachs like everything else.”

Drew held up a hand and wiggled his fingers. “At least my hands are still dexterous enough to work a computer keyboard.”

“See if you can once I bite them off!”

Sarah gasped and moved around to the far side of the table while Gemma slapped Neka hard around the head, the sound echoing loudly through the room.

“Owww!” Neka said, rubbing the back of her head. “I was only joking.”

Gemma gestured towards Sarah. “You’re scaring them.”

“So? Can’t blame me if they can’t take a joke.”

Amy stopped what she was doing and stared.

Neka stared back. “What? Have I got something on my face?”

“No,” Amy said.

“Then what?”

“You’re Veronica,” Amy said. “The same sense of humor and way of talking. You’re definitely her.”

“I wish I could say you were as familiar to me as I clearly am to you,” Neka said. “The name sounds familiar, though. Veronica. I like it.”

Gemma agreed. “You want to be called Veronica from now on?”

“Call me whatever you want.”

Drew smirked as some less-than-kind names popped into his head. He decided wisely not to verbalize them.

Veronica had been Angela and Amy’s friend. He hadn’t spent all that much time with her other than when he had needed her help. She had been very good with computers and while he wasn’t a slouch, he was more of a mechanics kinda guy.

Jack cleared his throat loudly, causing everyone to look at him. “Uh, is there a Grace living with you? At you’re um… place you live?”

Gemma answered. “I am not going to say she is, but it’s possible. Most of us survived. The females at least.”

Amy opened her mouth to say something but closed it again as she focused back on what she was doing. Drew knew she was going to ask about Angela, but at this point, it was probably best not to. Not until they had got back more of their memories. If they got more of them back that was.

“It will come back to you,” Drew said out loud, deciding to remain hopeful. “We just have to help you remember.”

“Appreciated,” Neka said, before adding, “You know I’m only teasing you, right?”

“I know,” Drew said. “If Amy’s right, then you liked to tease your friends before as well.”

“Did I?”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, you did. You used to tease me and Angela all the time. You were a good friend.”

Neka smiled her strange Greenclaw smile. “Maybe we can be friends again. I’d love to give you a piggyback ride sometime.”

Amy smiled at that. “Yeah, sounds like fun.”

Neka looked at Drew with a sparkle in her eye. He already knew what was coming. “Drew seemed to enjoy it when Ayma gave him a ride. If you ask me, he liked it a little too much.”

Drew felt himself blush, though he quickly hid it as he got back to work. Unfortunately, Neka seemed to pick up on it.

“I think I embarrassed him.”

He knew he could either try and deny it, ignore it, or roll with it. He decided on the latter.

“It wasn’t the first time I’ve ridden her.”

There wasn’t a response, at least at first, and Drew decided to keep himself busy as he could feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“Gemma’s blushing now, too,” Neka said a few moments later.

He glanced over and his eyes met with Gemma’s. She quickly looked away, her cheeks crimson. He felt his heart flutter as he focused his attention back on the radstag’s insides.

Amy then spoke up. “How much do we need?”

“Need of what?” Drew asked looking over at her.

“We’ve cut enough meat between us to last two weeks. Any more and it will go bad before we can eat it.”

He agreed. “You’re right. Clean up the meat in the sink and then I guess we’ll let Gemma and Neka dispose of the rest.”

Neka stood up. “We can take them downstairs for an evening snack.”

“Later,” he said. “We’ll clean up the meat, put it in the freezer, then go back into the cafeteria.”

“Fine by me,” Neka said as she sat back down.

It didn’t take long for them to wash most of the blood off the cuts of meat and place them in the freezer. With their aprons off and their hands washed, they all headed back into the cafeteria where they sat themselves down, with Gemma and Neka perching themselves on the cold hard floor.

Drew felt bad about it. “We’re gonna have to make you two something to sit on.”

“We’re fine,” Gemma said. “Doubt anything you made would be strong enough. We’re very heavy.”

“Speak for yourself,” Neka said.

“Umm…” Sarah began nervously. “We should also give you both a-uh… a-um medical exam at some point. Your changes might have unseen complications. We should catch them early to avoid problems later on.”

Neka agreed. “Sounds like a good idea.”

“It does,” Gemma also agreed. “However, let’s leave it a little bit. Don’t want to put Sarah through any unnecessary stress.”

Sarah visibly sighed a breath of relief which of course Neka picked up on.

“If you’re still feeling uncomfortable with us, you could always come and sit on my lap. I’ll hug it out of you.”

Gemma groaned though it came out as more of a growl. “Leave her alone.”

Sarah began to nervously rub her hands. “Anyway, speaking of checkups and things, I want to grab more equipment from the hospital. Not right now, but eventually.”

Neka offered her assistance immediately. “We can help with that. It’s one of the places our sisters have been grabbing supplies from. If you go it would be best if we went with you to avoid any unwanted interactions.”

Amy frowned. “What do you mean by ‘unwanted interactions’?”

“We’ve been scaring anyone off that gets too close to us or are near any supplies we want. If they refuse or get violent, then… well…”

Sarah stared at them wide-eyed. “Have you killed people?”

Neka didn’t pull any punches. “Yes, we have. People that probably didn’t deserve it, too. People who were just trying to survive.”

Gemma looked down at the floor, a look of shame on her face.

“It’s not like we wanted to,” Neka continued. “And some of them definitely deserved it. Just a month ago some raiders shot at us near a rest stop further east. We tried to scare them away and one got Axa good in the butt. So we killed them. Tasty, too.”

Sarah gasped and covered her mouth while Amy stared in shock. Jack, on the other hand, went pale.

“It was a joke,” Neka said.

Gemma quickly tried to repair the damage her friend’s comment might have caused. “Neither of us has eaten any humans. I promise.”

Sarah let out a nervous laugh, but in all honesty, it sounded more like a sob. Meanwhile, Jack and Amy continued to stare at them, eyes wide.

Gemma glared at Neka. “Nice going, idiot!”

“Not my fault if they can’t take a joke.”

“We’re trying to prove to them we’re not monsters. That’s a little difficult if you go making dangerous jokes like that.”

“Dangerous?” Neka asked incredulously. “It was a joke. How is that dangerous.”

Gemma looked back at the group. “I assure you, we have never eaten human flesh. Only the matriarch has done that.”

Renewed shock rocked through Jack, Amy, and Sarah, while Neka literally face-palmed, a sight that Drew found rather peculiar on a deathclaw.

“Why did you have to bring that up?” Neka asked in despair.

“I’m sorry, it was a slip of the tongue,” Gemma defended. If it was possible for a deathclaw to look like they were going to cry, Gemma looked it at that moment.

“Now who’s saying dangerous stuff.”

“I’m sorry.”

Neka focused back on the group. “No one is going to be eaten, I promise.”

Things had been going so well, and now Drew could see the trust was starting to erode away.

Amy looked at Drew. “Did you know about this?” Her tone sounded accusatory.

He had lied so much recently and knew further lies could only do harm. He had to tell the truth.

“Yes,” he said. “Their matriarch was intent on eating me until we managed to convince her otherwise.”

There was silence. It was the most uncomfortable silence Drew had felt in a long time. All eyes were on him, both human and Greenclaw.

“I don’t blame any of you,” he said. “Not Gemma, Neka, Axa, or Kiki, or anyone else. Charlotte was out of line, though, you all know it.”

“We know,” Gemma said.

“She can’t just eat people just because she can.”

Sarah held her mouth. “I’m gonna be sick.”

Drew continued. “I think it’s important to say that Neka and Gemma were among those that defended me.” He decided not to mention how Gemma had initially relented to Charlotte. “If it wasn’t for them, I’d be dead. I owe them both my life. I trust them implicitly.”

“Thank you,” Gemma said.

“We’re safe with them here,” Drew assured the others. “Safer than if they weren’t.”

Once again there was silence. Things had been going so well before Neka had made that stupid joke about eating some raiders and then Gemma’s slip of the tongue. Now he could feel a thick layer of tension permeating the air.

“As I recall,” Drew said after several moments, “Sarah said she needed some equipment from the hospital.”

“I don’t need it,” Sarah said, her voice shaking. “But it would be nice to have.”

“Then we should take a day trip out there. It will be good to take a walk, get some fresh air, and with Gemma and Neka with us, we should easily be able to carry whatever you need back here.”

“That will take hours,” Amy pointed out.

“Yes, it will. Three or four.”

Neka cautiously raised a clawed hand. “If we carried you like Gemma did with Drew, we could get there in a third or a quarter of the time.”

“Riding deathclaws?” Jack asked nervously. “That sounds terrifying.”

Sarah shook her head. “Forget I ever said anything. I can make do with what I’ve got.”

“Don’t worry,” Neka said. “I’ll protect you.”

Gemma glanced at her. “I think it’s us she’s afraid of.”

Drew held up his hands disarmingly. “Okay, so this is starting to take a bad turn. Maybe we should all start again. Get a fresh slate Let’s introduce ourselves to each other. I’m Drew.”

There was silence except for Gemma. “My name’s Gemma.”

“Anyone else?”

“I’m Neka.”

He looked at Amy, Jack, and Sarah who all averted their eyes.

“Are we gonna start again or are we gonna let this bad aura hang over us?” he asked. “My name is Drew,” he repeated.

Amy cleared her throat. “My name is Amy.”

“Gemma.”

“Uh… Jack.”

Neka looked at Sarah before she spoke. “My name is Veronica.”

Drew smiled at her using her former name before he looked at Sarah, who swallowed hard.

“My name is Sarah,” she said. “Uh… Nice to meet you.”

Drew was pleased. “Now that’s out of the way, let’s tell each other a little about ourselves. I’ll start.”

He cleared his throat before he began. “My dad was a vault dweller and my mom was a wastelander. They fell in love and eventually my mom had me.”

Gemma’s eyes grew wide, something that didn’t escape Drew’s notice. “Your mom was killed by super mutants,” she said. “And your dad died to mirelurks.”

Drew nodded slowly. “You remembered what I told you?”

She smiled. “I do.”

He continued his story. “After both my parents died I wandered, slowly making my way west. I spent a good few years alone until I found a disabled Assaultron and fixed it up and called her Izzy. We were together for a while before we met three people. They became my close friends and I fell in love with one of them.”

Drew stared at Gemma and she stared back.

“Eventually, we found our way to a place called Paulson. It wasn’t the plan originally to settle down there, but life has a strange way of taking you down paths you don’t want to.”

Drew decided not to tell them how that had ended. They all knew. Well, apart from Sarah. The super mutants had come and wiped the place off the map.

Amy rose a hand. “I guess I’m next,” she said.

“Yeah, you’re next if you want to be,” Drew said.

“My story, Jack’s and Gemma’s is mostly the same. Our town was attacked and wiped out by this group called the Caesar’s Legion. Most were captured but we managed to escape. Before then, me and Jack didn’t really know Gemma, but the two of us, me and Jack, had been friends since we were little kids. We drifted for years, never settling in one place. Then we met Drew. At first, Gemma told us to be cautious of him as she didn’t really trust him.”

“I remember that,” Gemma said. “I thought he wanted to use us. Like that guy, Troy did.”

“Troy,” Jack repeated. “I’d forgotten about him.”

“Same,” Amy said. “Wow, your memory really is coming back.”

“Yeah, it is,” Gemma said. “I’ve also been having dreams about when we were locked up by the super mutants.”

“That must have been awful,” Amy said.

“In the dreams, we were terrified.”

What about the men?” Amy asked. “There were also men taken with you, remember? Are they still alive?”

“No,” Neka said. “Well, mostly. None of those that are still alive are with our group.”

“What happened?”

“They were very dangerous,” Gemma said. “Most came out of the tanks feral. We were forced to kill most of them. Even then there were more of us, which I might have told you, but half the group left.”

“Yeah,” Veronica said, “Because they didn’t want to follow Lotte.”

“I think it was because they were from a different settlement,” Gemma said. “I think the ones that stayed were mostly from Paulson. I think we stuck together because deep down we knew we were friends.”

Sarah looked unsettled. “So that means there are other Greenclaws out there wandering?”

“Yes,” Gemma confirmed. “That’s exactly what it means. Mostly female with a few males.”

Sarah slumped while Jack asked the obvious following question. “How many were there?”

“Maybe ten or eleven went their own way,” Gemma said.

“I thought it was more,” Veronica said.

“Our memories from back then are a little hazy.”

Amy leaned forward in her chair. “Do you know how long you were in those cages? Before they… You know… Changed you?”

“I feel it was a long time,” Gemma said. “I don’t know how long we’ve been changed, but I feel like it must be months.”

“Months in captivity?” Drew asked

“No, months since we were changed. Like maybe eight or nine months.”

That didn’t add up. “Paulson was attacked almost two years ago.”

Both Greenclaws stared at him. It was clear from their expressions that they hadn’t realized so much time had passed.

“It’s true,” Amy said. “We’ve been living in Colville for something like eighteen months.”

“Nineteen,” Jack corrected. “Or maybe twenty now that I think about it.”

“I can’t believe it,” Veronica uttered. “Two years? Has it really been that long?”

“Close to it,” Drew said. “Two long years.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “It’s been really tough.”

“They’ve had it worse,” Drew said, gesturing at Gemma and Veronica. “I can’t imagine it. Becoming what you’ve become. It must be really difficult.”

“It is sometimes,” Gemma said. “But we’ve learned to live with it.”

Drew heard a sniffle. He looked to see Sarah wiping her eyes. Life had been tough for all of them, but for those that had been turned into the Greenclaws, life had definitely been tougher. He almost felt guilty for thinking what he’d gone through was even remotely the same. At least he was still human. He could go to Colville or Riverside if he wanted to. Neither Gemma nor Veronica could do that. They’d be shot on sight, killed, and might even have their heads mounted on a wall.

He slouched in his chair. “I think we should call that a day. I wasn’t expecting the conversation to get so heavy.”

Despite having only woken up less than two hours ago, he felt exhausted.

Sarah stood up. “It has been fun,” she said a little too eagerly. “Suzy and I are busy finishing indexing that data we got from the hospital and I’d like to try and finish it today.”

Drew checked the time on his Pipboy. “Sure,” he said as he saw that it was only ten-fourteen in the morning. “We’ll cook some of that stag for lunch which I guess should be ready around one-ish.”

“Okay,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll be done by then.”

“Still up for heading north to that hospital tomorrow?” Veronica asked.

Sarah looked at her nervously. “Uh, sure,” she said before she hurried out of the room.

Drew also stood up. “I think I should head to the factory floor, I’ve been slacking on bringing this place back online.”

“Need help?” Gemma asked.

“I do, actually,” he said, before looking at Veronica. “You up for it?”

“Sure,” she said, standing up.

Amy also stood up and so did Jack, and together, they all headed out of the cafeteria.