With a yawn, Drew stepped through the front door and dropped his backpack at his feet. He felt beyond exhausted, and it was thanks to the fact that he hadn’t slept in almost forty hours. Even then, thanks to a nightmare, he’d been functioning on only three hours of sleep.

Honestly, now that he was finally back home in Colville, he felt like he could sleep for days.

“Drew is that you!?” Amy called out as she rushed into the room. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried!”

She didn’t sound happy. In fact, she sounded the exact opposite of that. He couldn’t blame her. after all, he hadn’t told either of them that he would be gone for so long. Then again, he hadn’t intended on being gone for so long, either. His plan had been to go up there, spend the afternoon then come back.

“At the Robco plant,” he said as he made his way over to the old tattered armchair and sat down heavily with a groan. “I got the turrets working. Some of them at least. Had to rebuild a lot of code and it’s still not fully repaired. The tracking is still off, but I’ll get to that later. Once that’s done, I have to check how many of the turrets actually still work. So I guess I didn’t get them working. Just the code. Still need to check the turrets themselves. But later. Tired now.”

“You’re rambling,” Amy said.

“Am I? Sorry. Feeling a little tired.”

Jack strode down the stairs. “Hey, D. When are we making the move?” he asked as he reached the bottom.

“To the Robco plant?” Drew asked for clarification.

“Yeah,” Jack said with a nod as he leaned against the wall by the stairs.

“Not sure,” Drew answered honestly. “Eventually.”

“Can it be soon?” Amy asked.

There was something about her tone of voice that told him that something was wrong.

“Why do you want it to be soon?” he asked.

“Because Kalvin is a creep.”

Drew pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He was far too tired to deal with this. “What did he do now?”

“He keeps making passes at me and he’s started doing it in front of customers. Some of them think it’s okay to join in, and when I tell them to stop they tell me that they’re just complimenting me.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No point. I quit yesterday. He doesn’t know yet, though. He will when I don’t show up.”

“While I would tell you that you shouldn’t just quit without even telling the boss, fuck him. Let him be short-staffed.”

“My thought exactly,” Amy said.

Jack piped up. “And I’m thinking of quitting, too. Those guys that work at the purifier are all assholes. Well, most of them are, anyway. They constantly talk down to me just because I’m not an old piece of shit like they are. Nothing I do is good enough for them, even though they get me to do most of the work.”

Drew had known this was coming for a while. Amy often complained about Kalvin, and Drew had even confronted him about his behavior. Things had seemed to be going better, but it had been only a matter of time before Kalvin’s true self began to peek out once more from behind the cover.

As for Jack; the guys that ran the purifier could learn a thing or two about respect. They treated him like trash because he was young and thus in their eyes meant he was worth less. It didn’t help that Jack wasn’t the kind of guy to stand up for himself. He tended to be more laid back and reserved.

“I would say we need the caps, but we’re good for a little while.”

Jack looked hopeful. “So that means we’ll be moving soon?”

“Within the next week if you want. I can have some Gutsies help us move our stuff.”

Amy frowned. “If you bring Gutsies here, won’t the town want them for themselves?”

“Like Izzy?”

“Yeah, like Izzy,” Amy said with a nod.

“That’s only if we’re still living here,” he pointed out. “Izzy was an exchange. We gave them Izzy and in turn, we could live here.”

“It was a shit exchange,” Amy muttered.

“Yeah, it was,” Drew agreed, not wanting to think about how their robotic friend had been blown to pieces.

“Anyway,” Drew said quickly, getting back on the subject, “we can also move a lot of stuff with the help of Leanne.”

“You mean rent her,” Jack said.

Amy rolled her eyes. “Don’t say it like that, Jack. You make her sound like a prostitute.”

He shrugged. “But that’s what we’re doing?”

“If you mean that we’ll be renting her as a driver for one of her trucks, then yeah,” Drew confirmed. “It’ll be pricey but we can move a lot in that old thing.”

Jack nodded. “I was also thinking that if we’re fixing up the old place we might want some medical supplies. Injuries can happen, I should know, they happen a lot at the water plant and a lot of them happen to me.”

“We could buy them,” Drew said. “Though I could grab them from the hospital in that town north of the border. I want to head there anyway. Hospitals have a lot of good tech and materials we could use. As far as I know, it’s remained relatively untouched since the bombs.”

“You mean the town that was hit by a nuke?” Jack asked. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It wasn’t hit, it was almost hit,” Drew clarified. “The town itself was missed by a good five miles.”

“That’s still close enough to turn the place into a wasteland,” Jack pointed out.

“You’re right. Even so, I’ve been wanting to check the place out for a while, but it’s too far. At least from here. The Robco plant is about halfway between. All I have to do is follow the main highway.”

“I think Jarik was up there recently,” Amy said. “He told me that there were some crazy orderly Handy robots hanging around and a lot of feral ghouls. We might need to hire some security to come with us.”

“Security shouldn’t be a problem since I fixed up some Gutsies,” Drew told them. “They should be enough to deal with them then I can scavenge them for parts.”

“Sounds like we’ll need multiple visits,” Jack said.

Drew shook his head. “Nah. The Gutsies have storage of their own and I can add to that. It’ll slow them down a little but they were equipped with laser pistols for defense, and the fix I made should give them a little more oomph. And besides, there is no ‘we’. I’ll be headed there alone with the Gutsies.”

Amy frowned. “Why? We could help.”

“No,” Drew said with another shake of his head.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s too dangerous. You could get hurt. Or worse.”

Jack sided with Amy. “We can handle ourselves. We used to go scavenging with you, remember?”

“I can use my shotgun,” Amy said. “It still works and I can still shoot.”

Drew folded his arms. “And what will Jack use? He sold off his rifle, remember?”

“I still have that pistol,” he said with a shrug.

“It’s too dangerous,” Drew said, standing firm.

Amy wasn’t backing down. “If it’s so dangerous, then why are you going?”

“One person is safer than a whole group.”

“Not if you plan on scavenging it’s not,” Amy said. “You need extra hands to help carry the loot.”

“What if you get hurt?”

“And what if you get hurt?” Amy asked right back. “There’ll be no one to help you.”

“Amy…” Drew began, but she cut him off.

“You think we’re weak!,” Amy yelled. “We’re not weak. We can help you!”

“It’s not that at all!” he shouted back. “The more of us there are the more likely something will go wrong. I don’t want anyone hurt because of me. You’re safe here and later you’ll be safe at the Robco plant once all the defenses have been set up. But for now, here is where you should stay.”

“We were never hurt before when we used to go scavenging,” she argued. “Why are you so afraid now? You haven’t let us go anywhere since Paulson!”

Drew slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. “Because I’m afraid to lose you two!”

Amy’s expression softened. “This is about Gemma and the others isn’t it?”

He was silent.

“That won’t happen,” Amy said. “Not if we’re together. We know what it’s like to lose loved ones, Drew. I lost Angela, Jack lost Grace and Jarik lost Marianne. Those Super Mutants destroyed a lot of lives. We can’t let them keep destroying ours. We have to move on, live our lives.”

“I know,” Drew said as he slumped in his chair. “I still think about her. About all of them. They were taken and we don’t know where or why.”

“And we spent a long time trying to trace where they went,” Jack said.

“And the trail was cold,” Drew said rubbing his eyes.

Amy slowly nodded. “They’re gone. It’s been hard to accept that.”

“Yeah,” Drew said. “Harder to know they were still alive. Who knows what they did to them. How they tortured them.”

“We have to stick together,” Amy continued. “It’s a long hike to that town up north, and to make it worthwhile, you need to be able to carry as much as possible. For that, you need us.”

Slowly, Drew began to nod in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“We used to make a good team. I miss those days.”

Jack agreed. “Yeah, same.”

“Okay,” Drew said as he slowly stood up. “You’ve made your point.”

“So you’ll let us come along?” Amy asked.

“Yeah.”

“When are we heading off?”

“In a few days,” he told them. “I need to get some rest. A lot of rest, actually.”

“So, what do we do in the meantime?” Jack asked.

“You keep working the purifier.”

“Speaking of that, they keep getting on at me about you fetching those spare parts.”

“Did you tell them I haven’t found what they need yet?”

“Yeah, but they say you’re being lazy.”

“It’s not like I can order the parts out of one of those pre-war catalogs,” Drew mused. “And besides, I have my own stuff going on.”

“I know, but it’s getting kinda annoying.”

“Well, what they need might be at the hospital, so tell them to hang on for a few more days.”

“I’ll let them know but they won’t be happy.”

“Too bad,” Drew said as he looked at the time on his Pipboy.

Jack made his way over to the old refrigerator and pulled it open. “Have you had something to eat today?”

“Nothing much,” Drew said as he lowered his arm back onto the armrest.

“What do you want?”

“What do we have?” Drew asked as he stood up and stepped over to Jack.

“Not much. No one’s been food shopping.”

Drew looked at the bits of meat and bowl of tatos with a grumble. He was sick of tatos and there was too little meat to do anything with.

“You know what,” Drew began as he turned for the stairs. “I’m going to bed before I fall down.”

“See you tomorrow,” Jack called after him.

“Yeah, goodnight,” Amy added.

“Night,” Drew called down as he reached the top of the stairs and stepped into his room. He took off his outerwear and climbed onto the old bed which creaked and groaned under him.

Not ten minutes later, he was fast asleep.

* * *

The following day he got up late. He still felt tired from the extended time awake over the previous two days, but he knew that it would take time to catch up on the missed sleep. Still, he decided to pack more things ready for the move before he headed downstairs and grabbed something to eat. Unlike last night, he found some mutfruit, purified water, and some brahmin milk, which meant either Amy or Jack had gone out that morning to the store to get some supplies in.

He grabbed a mutfruit for himself and headed out, making his way to the old truck depot where the few remaining functional vehicles were stored. As he stepped through the front doors, he found just the person he was looking for.

“Leanne,” he greeted.

She turned her head and smiled at him. “Hey, Drew. How’s it going?”

“It’s going okay,” he said. “Listen, in a few days we might be needing one of your trucks.”

“I figured as much. Moving out, right?”

Drew’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You know about that?”

“There’s been some talk,” she said. “Sure, I’ll give you a ride. And since you’ve been helping keep these things up and running, you get a discount.”

“Thanks,” Drew said, glad to see that his help and hard work hadn’t gone unappreciated. “We’ll be moving some things up to that Robco plant.”

“Sounds like you’ve already got it all planned out.”

“I do,” he said. “I was also thinking of hiring you to take us up there in a few days. Maybe Friday. Then up to the town across the border.”

“Why the hell would you want to go there?” she asked.

“Parts,” he answered. “You don’t have to stay. Once you’ve dropped us off, you can head back.”

“And how will you carry these parts your salvaging back?” Leanne asked.

“I have some Gutsies fixed up. They’ll be able to carry some stuff and so will Amy and Jack.”

“It’s a long way to walk,” Leanne pointed out.

“We won’t be heading all the way back to town. We’ll be stopping at the Robco plant.”

“It’s still a long way to walk.”

“If you want to wait for us, you’re free to do so. But if you want to leave, you can. I won’t hold it against you. The town isn’t exactly safe, not since it’s near a radiation zone.”

“Well, if I see any radiation clouds floating my way then I’ll leave. Other than that, I don’t mind waiting for you.”

“There’s not just storm clouds you have to worry about. There’s also feral ghouls, radcats, and mutant bears.”

“I know,” she said with a shrug. “But as long as I stay out of sight I’ll be fine. And if things get hectic, there’s a Gatling laser in the back.”

“If you’re sure?” Drew said.

“We’ll see,” she answered. “What time will you be leaving?”

“Early. Around six. I want to get to the hospital before it gets too late. It’s gonna be a long day.”

Leanne slowly nodded. “Be careful. I heard that place was full of crazed Handy robots.”

“Orderly robots, actually.”

“Handies with a different name is still a Handy,” she said.

Drew had to admit, she had him there. “I’ll see you later, then, Leanne.”

“Sure,” she said with a nod. “And good luck on the move.”

“If things go as planned, then Colville and other settlements should have a lot more robotic security.”

“That’s good. I heard that there were some roving raider groups coming up from down south, attacking the southern settlements.”

That was news to Drew. “There is?”

“Yeah. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating, but there were two attacks. One on Flattop farms and another in Fairview. There’s also those deathclaws that people have seen. The green ones.”

“I know about those,” Drew mused. He definitely knew about them. “Finding where they are coming from and getting rid of them is high on my list of priorities.”

Leanne approved. “Good. The last thing we need is those things wandering about. Makes traveling a lot more dangerous than it already is.”

“Considering a deathclaw could tear through one of your trucks like paper, I’ll say.”

He decided not to mention that he had already seen one of those Greenclaws out on the highway and another at the factory. He knew it was a shitty thing to do, but he needed her truck to make the move as easy and stress free as possible. It was also unlikely that a deathclaw would outright attack a truck. Animals, deathclaws included, tended to be cautious of things they didn’t understand and working vehicles were such a rarity that it was likely a deathclaw had never even seen one.

Leanne’s trucks could also go pretty fast, the condition of the roads permitting. The highway was still in fairly good condition, all things considered, so he was confident they could outrun anything on the road.

There was also the aforementioned Gatling laser in the back, so anything that decided to try and chase them was seriously putting themselves at the risk of death.

Leanne patted him on the arm. “Is that everything?”

Drew nodded. “Yeah, that’s everything. I’ll see you in a few days, yeah?”

“Bright and early. I’ll even have the gun in the back charged and ready.”

“Good stuff,” Drew said as he turned to leave. “See you in a few days.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

He stepped out of the garage and made his way up along the street back home. He was going to take a good few boxes with him, mostly his extensive set of tools, and drop them off at the factory when he went to retrieve the two Gutsies. From there it was onward to the old hospital where he would grab as much as he and the others could carry. If he was lucky, then he would also find the components for the purifier in town. He might be moving out, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still going to help the people of Colville.

After all, out of all the places he had been on his travels, Colville and the surrounding settlements had been hit the least and was the closest to actually rebuilding a society he had ever seen. It was something that needed to be protected and he would be damned if he wasn’t going to do everything in his power to be that protector.