The next day they set off while the sun was still rising, somewhere beyond the clouds. Justin didn't normally like moving until dawn was long past - predators were always more active before the sun was fully up. But the sooner they started walking, the sooner he'd be done with this mess.

"So you see that?" He pointed to a dip in the hill to the north. Through it the main skyline of Seatac should have been somewhat visible - on a good day, one could barely see the shapes of skyscrapers. Today it was as if the clouds never stopped, and a wall of grey mist hung like a specter over the horizon.

"Those clouds up top, that's the Shroud. And below, that fog, that's the Choke. Radioactive to hell, can't see for shit through it. It kind of gathers in the low valleys, there's some areas of the city that no one's been able to go into for as long as anyone can remember, just huge dead zones. Well aside from feral ghouls and stuff like that. I've never seen it this huge, must be some weather moving through. It should clear up by the time we get in. Hope y'all have some Rad-X just in case."

"Nobody said nothing about rad clouds." Hardy muttered.

Justin shrugged. "I mean if they're trying to recruit, why would they. Not exactly a good selling point. 'Come to Seatac! We've got sea monsters, land monsters, mountains of death, and rad clouds!'. Personally I'm shocked there's not pilgrimages all the time." He stared off into the distance for a moment. "Actually we should be swarming with Children of Atom. Why aren't we? God we're too terrible for even them."

"If you're the welcoming party I'd fucking leave too." Bethany said.

"Hey I'm not making you follow me. And I'm a deli- shit!" Justin held up a hand and stopped walking. Ahead he'd heard the snapping of twigs. Big ones. The raiders froze. He had to hand it to them; when they needed to act like a combat unit, they rose to the occasion.

Justin crouched, setting the Supercomputer on the ground as quietly as he could. He reached back and grabbed his pistol from it's holster, putting a finger to his lips as he did.

Seeing him reaching for his weapon, the raiders followed suit. They stood there in silence for a few tense moments. Justin strained to hear, and considered sending Lock ahead to scout out.

"Maybe we scared it off." Silverado whispered.

Justin nodded. It was probably a radstag, spooked by the sound of them approaching through the trees. Shame, really. Radstags could feed a person for a whole week. If they'd snuck up on it they could have made some easy dinner. Better than candied apples and potato crisps, at least. The forest was silent. Justin let out a few shaky breaths and let his finger relax on the trigger of his pistol. "Alright I think we're good. We should b-"

A blur of leathery skin and claws burst out of the foliage. Justin had only enough time to take in cruel, curved horns and a snarling maw before chaos erupted.

"BARREL, ENGAGE!" Justin screamed.

The eyebot turned red, and with a whir of power the laser rifle slung around, lancing crimson beams at the ravening monster. Gunfire exploded on all sides as the raiders scattered. The deathclaw roared and charged, it's talons scraping up chunks of dirt and dead grass. It slammed into Matt and sent him flying, then swiped with it's arms. One caught Justin on the backswing, powerfully enough to make him tumble backward, armor frame and all.

Silverado butted her shotgun up against her shoulder and blasted it in the chest. Chunks of armored skin and blood went flying. The deathclaw screeched and lurched forward, bearing down on her. She went under its hulking form.

Justin got to his feet, took two loping strides forward, and kicked it in the head. One of it's horns cracked and it stumbled sideways, letting out a canine yelp. Silverado scrambled backward and Bethany helped haul her to her up. The deathclaw clambered to its feet, turning beady eyes on the pack of them. Blood leaked from it's cracked horn, dripping onto its face and exposed teeth. The raiders emptied bullets into it, but most didn't seem to be penetrating, instead imbedding themselves into its thick hide.

Lasers bolted from somewhere above, striking it in the face. The deathclaw snarled, it's skin sizzling where the lasers had hit, and turned its attention to Barrel, circling overhead. It swiped up, once, and Barrel easily rose above it's reach.

Unfortunately, the deathclaw was clever enough to know a lost cause when it saw one. It sprang forward again, swiping and scattering the group like bowling pins. Justin heard ripping leather and smelled the copper sting of blood. The deathclaw barreled through them, and it's claws found Jacob's torso. They dug in, and he let out a choked scream that cut off abruptly as the deathclaw slammed him into the ground and dragged him through the dirt.

"FUCK!" Silverado shouted, emptying her shotgun into it's back. The slugs shredded into it's skin and it screamed and whirled, hauling Jacob's broken body along like a red ragdoll. Barrel whirred and pelted it with more laser fire. Justin added his own pistol to the mix, though his piddly .10 mil might as well have been water against its hide. Finally laser fire - Barrel or Hardy, it was impossible to tell - burned a sizzling hole into one of the thing's eyes. The deathclaw howled, putting one hand over its face. It snarled but took a step back, glaring at them with it's remaining eye.

Seeming to decide they weren't worth the trouble, the deathclaw roared and rose up on its hind legs, it's tail thrashing the dry foliage. It dug its claws into Jacob's body, then turned and thundered into the woods, barreling trees over in its wake.

The six of them were left speechless, panting and in shock, until finally Hardy let out a scream. "What the fuck! What the… FUCK! That- that thing-!"

"Hardy, I know-" Silverado tried to interject, but it was too late.

"That thing fucking killed him!"

"We have to go get his body back!" Matt spoke up. His face was pale. Bethany turned on him immediately.

Bethany spat. "Are you fucking kidding? We're lucky it got away with just him, we need to get the hell out of here before it comes back for seconds!"

"You wanna leave him to get eaten?"

"YES!" Silverado roared, startling the rest into silence. She took a deep breath, then fixed Matt with a hard stare. "Bethany is right. We don't have the firepower to go after it. We're lucky it only got one of us, we need to move while we can. Scavver," She turned to Justin. "What's the quickest way out of this hellhole?"

"We're on it." Justin said. He looked at their faces, tired, hurt, angry, and swallowed nervously. "Look I… Jesus, I'm sorry. They only ever come through here when they're like… young and looking for territory, or old and got kicked out of their pack, this… This isn't where they're supposed to be."

Hardy and Bethany's expressions were pure poison. Matt looked away and wiped his eyes, trying to be inconspicuous about it. Gus blinked wordlessly. Silverado shook her head. "Shit happens. It's the fucking wasteland." She turned back to the others. "Check yourselves, don't want a bunch of us walkin' around on injuries we don't know about. Be quick about it, we shouldn't linger."

Justin walked back to the Supercomputer, putting a hand on the rough metal and trying to stop his head from spinning. The air hung thick with the scent of blood and gunpowder. Lock, Stock and Barrel hovered nearby, beeping quietly. Justin looked up at Barrel and gave him a weak thumbs-up. His hand was shaking. "Good job, boy." He said under his breath. Barrel chirped, his lights back to their calm green.

Justin took in a shuddering inhale and ran both hands through his hair. It was a little bit too long, barely hanging in his eyes and it felt rough with dirt and grime. The stubble on his face had gotten thick. His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline still pumping. It would break any moment, he knew. He closed his eyes and put his head up against the Supercomputer. He probably looked about as ragged as he felt.

"Scav."

Justin opened his eyes. Matt was looking at him with concern. "Are… are you gonna…" He pointed. "You're bleeding."

Justin looked down. Sure enough, the spot of red on his jeans from the previous day had gotten larger. He groaned, slouching into the Supercomputer even more. "Fucking perfect." He muttered into the metal. His patch job on the bullet hole yesterday must not have been up to snuff. What a shock.

"Yeah I'll handle it." He said. He grabbed his medical bag and stomped over to a nearby rock, putting his leg up on it. This time when he pulled his leg out he ripped the bullet hole in his jeans open fully, wondering why he felt the need to try and save them in the first place. Blood smeared everywhere and the gauze he'd haphazardly wrapped the day before was a jumbled mess. "Shoulda just done this in the first place…" He muttered, fishing around in his bag for a needle and thread. He pulled out the alcohol bottle and poured some out on the thread, then splashed a bit on the wound, clearing away blood. He peered closely at the skin, hoping not to see signs of infection. Blood oozed from the puncture, but it didn't look significantly worse than the day before. It probably just opened back up in the fight.

"You gotta pay better attention than this." Justin berated himself, beginning to sew up the puncture wound. "Get your shit together, you're a fuckin' mess."

Stock made that low beeping noise she did, and while he knew it wasn't in response to him, it did make him feel a bit better.

Justin pulled the sutures tight. He'd gotten fairly practiced at this over the years, but they still looked sloppy. They'd hold, though. He wiped his bloody hands on his jeans - he wasn't going to keep them after all this. Once he was rid of these raiders he'd scrounge up a new pair. He pulled out more gauze and wrapped the wound up once more, then shoved his leg back into the armor frame and closed the clamps. He threw his supplies back into his med bag and returned it to its proper place on the Supercomputer.

Looking back to the others, he saw Bethany wrapping gauze on her arm. Hardy was helping Matt, whose back was a mess of purple blotches where he'd been thrown by the deathclaw.

"Y'all alright?" Justin asked.

"Fine, scav." Bethany snipped. The others ignored him, except Matt, who nodded quietly before looking back to his brother.

Justin returned to the Supercomputer. He slipped back into the armor frame torso welded to it and hoisted it up, ready to continue on. He stared at the ground as he did so. It was amazing how being alone had felt less lonely than this.