Drew pushed the double doors closed before he leaned his head against them, wondering what he was going to do. The moment of him working a plan off the cuff had passed and now he knew that there was no way he could let them inside. He also knew that he didn’t have it in his heart to turn them away.

“What’s going on?”

Drew looked around to see Gemma peeking around the corner.

“A huge problem. That’s what’s going on.”

“Why are they here?”

“They were attacked by those Brotherhood guys. They’re essentially refugees.”

“So what are you gonna do?”

“That’s the problem,” he said as he ran his hand through his short hair. “I can’t turn them away.”

“Well, you can’t let them in,” Gemma argued.

“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Drew said. “I honestly have no idea what I’m gonna do.”

Gemma moved out from behind the corner and rested as much of her massive hand as she could on his shoulder.

He looked up at her. “I can’t turn them away.”

“What’s the plan?” she asked.

Drew slowly shook his head. “Delay while you gather all the Greenclaws into the warehouse. I’ll have them all go to the cafeteria and have them stay there until I can figure something else out.”

“This plan is terrible,” Gemma said. “There’s no way you’re gonna be able to keep us hidden from them.”

“I’ll keep them in the cafeteria,” Drew said. “There’s a bathroom next to it, which still works. Give it a few days, and I’ll have them relocate to Colville.”

“Why didn’t they go to Colville to begin with?”

“I don’t know,” Drew answered. “I think we’re closer. Regardless, I’ll get the answer, but for now, I need you and the others to make yourselves scarce. At least for a little bit.”

“Lotte won’t be happy.”

“I’ll deal with her later,” Drew said. “For now, I need to get them inside. A lot of them look injured and I’ll need Sarah and Suzy to take a look at them.”

“This is not going to go well.”

“It might not,” Drew accepted. “But they’re hurt and worn down. They need help and I can’t turn them away.”

“You’re too good hearted for your own good,” Gemma said. “It’s going to get you killed one day.”

“I’d rather die early with a good heart than live a long time with a bad one,” he said.

“Corny as ever,” she said as she turned around before glancing back. “Give me a few minutes to gather everyone.”

Drew nodded then watched as she strode off out of sight. Bringing them inside was a calculated risk which could have heavy repercussions for everyone involved, yet he felt as though he didn’t really have any choice. All he had to do was keep them apart and considering the distance between the cafeteria and the warehouses, he was certain that he could accomplish it given nobody went for a wander.

Deep down, though, he knew this would go badly.

“Deal with the injured, get them patched up, then send them on their way,” he muttered to himself.

He stepped over to the front doors and stopped, leaning his head against them. Inside, he was debating and arguing with himself. A big part of him wanted to turn them away to keep the Greenclaw’s existence safe, but another part knew that a lot of them might not survive. They were injured, tired, and worn down.

He briefly considered heading back out but realized that he needed to give Gemma more time. The last thing he wanted was for their new guests to bump into one of the Greenclaws.

“Shit,” he said as he pushed himself back away from the door before he checked the time on his Pipboy. The time read: 16:22, and he decided to give Gemma ten minutes to gather everyone up. Hopefully, those from Riverside could wait that long.

As the clock turned to half-past, Drew heard footsteps and turned around, finding Jack walking towards him.

“They are getting restless out there,” Jack said. “What’s the plan?”

“We let them in,” Drew said.

“Seriously? We can’t do that! What about the Greenclaws?”

“Unless we want folk to die, we don’t have much choice,” Drew answered.

He looked past Jack to see Sarah and Suzy moving towards them.

“Heard there were injured,” Sarah said.

“Yeah,” Drew replied with a nod. “A lot.”

“Why are we standing here, then? They need help.”

“Giving Gemma time to round up all the claws. Don’t want them bumping into each other.”

“Wise,” Sarah said. “But I think she’s got everyone into the warehouse.”

Drew nodded as he took in a deep breath. He then turned around and reached for the handles before he opened them.

The crowd was right where he left them on the far side of the parking lot, with Amy standing talking with them. He glanced back at Jack and Sarah before he stepped through them, the others following him outside.

With each step, his feet felt heavier and heavier. It was like he was walking to his doom, and while he knew he wasn’t, at least in the literal term, he also knew that by inviting them in, he was bringing a lot of trouble his way. Trouble that he simply couldn’t afford to deal with at that moment.

“Okay,” Drew said, feeling nervous as he clasped his hands together. “Sarah and Suzy, the robot, will lead the worst injured to the nurse’s office. The rest will follow Jack and I to the cafeteria.” He looked at Amy. “You go with Sarah.”

Amy nodded. “Understood.”

“Injured go first.”

Those on the converted carts were rolled past the others. That was when Drew noticed a familiar face on one of them. It was Jarik, and he was covered in blood.

He didn’t say anything as they moved past and headed inside. He turned back to the others. “Follow me inside. Don’t wander or deviate, the place is pretty dangerous and run down in spots so for your own safety follow Jack and I to the cafeteria.”

“Understood,” the mayor said. “And thank you. This means so much.”

“I couldn’t turn you away,” Drew said as he and Jack led them inside.

It didn’t take them long to reach the cafeteria. Thankfully there were enough tables for all of them to sit down. They looked absolutely exhausted, more now than they had outside.

“I don’t think we have enough food for all of you,” Drew said. “But we’ll try and cook you something to eat, even if it’s just a bite.”

There were murmurs and “thank you’s” from all around them.

The moment Drew and Jack stepped into the kitchen, Jack spoke in a hushed tone. “We don’t nearly have enough food. Not to mention the Greenclaws. They have to hunt daily and if they leave the warehouse even through rear door, they are likely to be spotted. This is going to end badly.”

“I know it is,” Drew said. “But it might be the start of something, too. Perhaps this is the best time to…” he trailed off as he shook his head. He was going to say ‘to introduce them to each other’ but decided that it was still too early for that and doing so could only end in disaster.

“I’ll put the oven on,” Jack said. “Cook what’s raw.”

Drew nodded. “Yeah.”

“We have to be ready for the fallout when they inevitably stumble on the Greenclaws.”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens,” Drew said.

“Luckily Sekka and Axa brought us a Radstag this morning, so we have a good chunk of meat,” Jack said.

“That’s good,” Drew said.

“Without it, we’d have no chance of feeding them all.”

“Let’s just focus on the task at hand,” Drew said, feeling like he was being told off for bringing an unwanted friend home for dinner.

Cooking the meat took the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. With every cooked batch, Drew took them through, starting with the closest tables and slowly working his way out until finally everyone had a little something to eat.

The whole time, his heart was thumping hard in his chest. He half expected Glower or Bek to come wandering in, oblivious as to what was going on. That fear eased off as time went on, but it never truly faded.

After having something to eat themselves, Drew and Jack sat down with the mayor to find out more on what exactly had happened.

“They showed up in force,” the mayor began. “An army of men in heavy armor and robots. That alone would have been bad enough, but they also had this flying machine.”

“What did it look like?” Drew asked.

“A fat thing with two propellers that move up and down.”

“Sounds like a Vertibird,” Drew said, his shoulders slumping.

Them having access to Vertibirds complicated things tenfold. Dealing with soldiers on the ground was one thing, but dealing an attack from the air was an entirely different thing. He wasn’t sure the sentry turrets on the roof were powerful enough to take down a Vertibird and if they had more than one then they were in a lot of trouble.

A voice came from another table. “Are you gonna fight them?”

“Maybe,” Drew said.

“It’s why we’re here,” the mayor said. “We heard about your robots and thought it might be the safest place to be.”

“You might regret that decision,” Drew said. “All the robots means we’ll be a target.”

“But you’re in a much better position to defend yourself.”

While that was true, he felt they would have been better off heading to Colville or even to one of the farming towns.

“We are in a better position,” Drew said with a nod.

“Makes those Deathclaws not seem as much as a problem,” the mayor said.

“The Greenclaws? They aren’t a threat anyway,” Drew said.

He heard a snort which drew everyone’s attention. “You been talking to Mandy and Eddie?” a man of pale complexion asked. It wasn’t an actual comment, but it did sound somewhat rhetorical. For one thing, Drew had no idea who either Mandy nor Eddie even were.

“Laugh all you want!” a woman who Drew assumed was Mandy said. “But it saved us.”

“Sure,” another disbelieving, chastising voice said. “The green Deathclaw with tits saved you and your brother.”

Drew was intrigued by the revelation that the Greenclaws had actively helped people. As to who it was, he could make a few guesses.

“Mandy,” he said loudly. “Can you and Eddie come over here?”

“Eddie is in the clinic,” she answered as she stood up, walked over and sat at their table.

“Tell me about them.”

“Well, I only saw one,” Mandy said. “A Yao Guai jumped out of nowhere and attacked. He was hurt, and then the green Deathclaw seemed to appear from nowhere. It fought off the Yao Guai and then vanished into thin air.”

From the corner of his eye, Drew saw someone roll his finger in a circular motion next to his head, indicating that he thought she was crazy.

“What were you doing out of town?”

“We worked at the nearby farm,” she answered.

“Continue with the story,” Drew said.

“Well, I helped my boyfriend back to his feet and back to town.”

The mayor rolled his eyes. “And you know it followed you despite it being invisible?”

“Well, I could hear its footsteps, and there was also a strange shimmer. Like it was still there but made itself invisible.”

“No creature like that can make itself invisible,” the mayor dismissed.

“Actually, there are,” Drew said. “Deathclaws, certain types of Mirelurks and likely others. And as to the Greenclaw helping Mandy and Eddie, I believe it.”

“You seen something similar?” the mayor asked.

Jack rested his hand on Drew’s shoulder. He looked at him to see he was shaking his head.

The mayor saw it. “Why is he shaking his head? What do you know?”

“Let us just say that I’ve had a few interactions.”

“And?” the mayor asked. “Are they not hostile? Because a group of non-hostile Deathclaws would be a load off my mind. Easier to kill.”

“Why do you think they need killing?” Drew asked.

“They’re Deathclaws,” the mayor replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world and while Drew would have agreed with him once, he certainly disagreed now.

“And what if they were intelligent?” Drew asked.

“Nonsense,” the mayor dismissed. “They’re animals, nothing more. If it did kill the Yao Guai and followed them it was because it might have thought they would lead it to more food.”

Drew looked at Mandy. “You think it saw you safely back to town?”

“It was four miles,” she answered. “It was trailing us the whole way.”

“You weren’t armed?” Drew asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t fancy shooting at it, and Eddie only managed to get a single shot off at the Yao Guai.”

Drew took in a deep breath, glancing at Jack who once more shook his head.

“Dumb idea,” he muttered.

“What’s a dumb idea?” the mayor asked. “You say you’ve had encounters? What happened?”

“It happened at the Mega Stop on the highway south of here,” Drew began. “I was gathering supplies when I had a run-in with two of them. Green mammalian Deathclaws. They let me go. One even fetched my laser rifle and gave it back to me.”

Mandy grew excited. “See, it happened to him, too. Me and my boyfriend aren’t crazy.”

The mayor shook his head. “He’s making fun of you. That’s what he’s doing. Next, he’ll be telling us that they can talk.”

Drew looked at Jack, who sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go ahead, Drew. You might as well tell them everything. You seem intent on doing it even though it will bring a lot of shit our way.”

“The Green Deathclaws; Greenclaws as I call them, they are not wild animals. They have already agreed to fight with us against those soldiers in power armor.”

The mayor looked bemused. “I’m not sure whether you’re joking or if you genuinely believe this nonsense.”

“Ask Jarik. He knows.”

Jack sat rigid. “He does? How?”

“He paid us a visit the other day.”

“And you didn’t tell us?”

“I figured that it wasn’t important,” Drew said, keeping his focus on the mayor. “You will be able to go home and rebuild, I promise you. With my robots and the Greenclaws we’ll show those motherfuckers not to fuck with us!”

Everyone looked different levels of confused and concerned, all accept for Jack and Mandy. Jack looked irritated, while Mandy looked hopeful. There was no doubt in Drew’s mind that she and her brother had been taking shit from the others for her story.

“The Greenclaws are intelligent,” Drew told them. “They can talk and they can be reasoned with. They are people in their own right, and I can prove it to you.”

“Stupid,” Jack muttered. “We need to give them more time to settle before we drop this on them.”

Drew continued, ignoring Jack’s warning. “This place is our home and we’re not gonna let outsiders come along and drive us away. As I said, with my robots and the Greenclaws at my side, we will stop them before they can turn this place into just another wasteland!”

It was done. Drew had revealed the existence of the Greenclaws yet he could tell by the expressions from those around him that he wasn’t being believed. That would change, but only time would tell as to their true reaction to the Greenclaw’s existence.