About forty-five minutes later Justin stumbled off the path. He slapped at the release for the Supercomputer, which fell behind him with a loud, echoing 'thud'. He staggered a few feet, dropped to his knees, and vomited.

Gus checked his watch. "Yeah, that seems about right."

Justin groaned and shuddered, his head hanging. His hair was damp with sweat and he was shaking. "Oh my god…" He gasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the fuck… What the fuck did you guys give me?" For the first time that day he sounded sober.

"Jet." Gus said cheerily, crouching down next to him. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Right after Matt gave you too much Med-X. Never seen anyone so fucking high in my life. You're one tough cookie, you know that Scav? I was pretty sure you were gonna die."

"Still feel like… I might die." Justin groaned.

"Yeah you're prolly dehydrated to shit. Got any water?"

Justin nodded. "On the… computer." He said. "Black bag… left side."

Gus dug through the bags until he found a dirty plastic bottle filled with only slightly less dirty water. He came back and knelt next to Justin again. "Alright close your eyes and count to ten. If you don't think you're gonna throw up again after that, you're probably good."

Justin closed his eyes and hunched down, counting under his breath. After the time had elapsed, he reached out and took the water from Gus. It was gritty and had a chemical aftertaste, but he gulped down the whole thing anyway. It made his stomach churn, and he grimaced, fighting against the nausea. Eventually it passed and he was left breathing heavily, exhausted, but all things considered, alright.

"Think you're gonna make it?" Gus asked.

Justin sighed and nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright, sweet. Come take a look at where we are. Been following your directions, mostly, but…"

Justin looked around. They were on a road, flanked by low buildings on either side, dead husks of trees and snarled vines darkening shattered windows and doorways. They had to be close to the city proper by now, but he didn't recognize this particular spot. "Oh Jesus. I don't remember getting us here at all."

"Yeah, figured not. We okay?"

Justin got back to his feet. He had a dim recollection of pointing them north a few streets back (at least he thought). He walked to the middle of the road, turning around and looking up at the buildings. He could see tall skyscrapers further inland, so they were at least going in the right direction, but how far east or west they were was a bit more challenging to figure out. Finally he caught sight of a sign, half hidden behind some low fog. It had once been pink, but the neon hadn't worked in decades and was now a sort of dull, reddish brown. It was still very obviously an elephant. He snapped and pointed at it.

"Aha. I know where we are." He put his hands on his hips and looked around, then up at the sky. "Good job, me."

"Well where to now?"

Justin rubbed his chin. He knew where they were, but it was significantly further east than his initial plan had been. Columbia was only a little ways north of their current location, but if they continued much further on this route they were going to run into one of the areas where the Choke was particularly heavy, effectively blocking their path. "Why didn't we turn west back a ways?" He muttered aloud, trying to piece together what his plan must have been. He closed his eyes, trying to picture a map of the city, populating it with the little pockets of civilization he knew still existed.

"Oh. You clever bastard." He opened his eyes and pointed to a side street. "We're heading that way."

He returned to where he'd dropped the Supercomputer, hoisting it up once again.

"How much longer, Scav?" Bethany asked.

"Only a few hours, then you'll be rid of me."

She scoffed. "Fantastic. Can't fuckin' wait."

They continued walking. Justin made sure Barrel and Stock's patrols remained close by, and kept an eye on the dark windows they passed. They were closer to the Choke than he liked, just barely on the outside of what he considered the 'safe' zone. Feral ghouls and all other sorts of nasty things liked to lurk in the remnants of the city, and with the buildings this close by, it could be hard to tell something was close until it was far too late. He berated himself for not getting Lock fixed up the night before. "Only a few more hours." He told himself. "A few more hours and you'll be done with this fucking nightmare."

"Hey, Scav."

Justin looked over. Matt was walking close by.

"I uh… wanted to say I'm sorry about… earlier…" Matt said. "I didn't mean to, I... I just panicked, and…" He shook his head and looked away, scratching the back of his neck. "I was really scared I'd accidentally killed you. I'm glad you're okay."

"Well, I ain't gonna lie, it fucking sucked." Justin said. "But I know you were just trying to help. Maybe next time let people do their drugs themselves, huh?"

"I uh… yeah." Matt said. He fell silent for a time, but Justin knew more questions were coming. The kid was young still, and the world hadn't quite extinguished that spark of curiosity. Justin wasn't entirely in the mood for pleasantries (his mouth was horribly dry and gritty still, and he was hungrier than he'd even been in his life), but he'd be damned if he was gonna be the one to kill the kid's fire. Columbia would do it soon enough.

"Does that… happen a lot?" Matt asked, hesitantly.

"Does what happen?"

"This morning, your back."

"Oh." Justin looked down at the street. He shrugged. "Not really. Only when the weather gets bad. That storm that came in kind of rocked my shit."

"And that's because of… the landslide?"

Justin tried to keep the discomfort out of his voice. It had been nearly 4 years, but he still did not like discussing it. "Yes."

"So you…" Matt's eyes went down to the power armor frame. "You really can't move your legs?"

Justin heaved a sigh. "No."

Matt immediately looked away. "Sorry," He said quickly. "I just…"

"Was curious."

"Well, yeah. I mean, where I come from, people like… like that… don't tend to make it very long."

"Don't tend to here, either." Justin said.

After that, Matt seemed to get the message that this was not a great topic of conversation, and he fell silent.

"I'd uh…" Justin began, his voice low, "I'd appreciate you not tellin' folks about that. Especially not at Columbia. I've got a reputation to uphold, and…" He shook his head and let out a small humorless laugh. "Life's hard enough without, well… people knowing."

"Shit, yeah man, I won't tell." Matt said.

"Thanks." Justin muttered. That didn't solve the problem of Bethany or Gus, but it was at least something. He'd have to rely on the hope that neither of them cared enough to talk about him. Hell, maybe they hadn't even noticed. Most people didn't.

"Earlier today, you were talking about Columbia."

Justin glanced over at the kid. "Listen, I wouldn't put a lot of stock in anything I said. I don't remember most of the day, who knows what I was blabbing about. I'm amazed I got us here in one piece."

Matt didn't smile, just adjusted his backpack and kept walking, eyes on the ground. "You said you didn't think I belonged there."

Justin took a few seconds to contemplate his next words. "Well… truth be told, I don't." He admitted. "It's a raider fort, kid. People are always coming in, thinking they can make it big there. All they ever find is blood, people literally climbing over each other trying to reach some fabled top that no one's ever seen." He shook his head. "I dunno about your brother, or how you got wrapped up in all this, but I just… I think you could do a lot better than ending up in a hellhole like that."

"Like what?" Matt asked, his voice heavy with cynicism. "Become a fucking wandering merchant and hope no one shows up to rob me? Join the NCR, or the Brotherhood, and pretend that's somehow better than any other fucking group of people just out for themselves?" He shook his head and kicked at a rock on the ground. "I've been all over, and no matter where it is, everything's always the fucking same."

"Yeah, life sucks." Justin shot back. "So you wanna be one of the ones actively making it suck even more? You know what I've never had to do? Try and sleep knowing I hurt someone who didn't deserve it. I've never had to wonder if the food I'm eating came from someone who's gonna starve to death. I've never fired a bullet at someone who didn't shoot me first."

"Sounds like a good way to get killed."

"Yeah, they've tried. The whole fucking world has tried. It ain't gotten the best of me yet." Justin shook his head and looked away. "So maybe it will one day, who the fuck knows. No one's making it out of here alive anyways. I'm not gonna let that stop me from living on my own terms." He let out an angry sigh. "And you shouldn't either."

They stopped talking after that. Eventually Justin pulled back ahead of their little pack. Slowly they edged back into the area of the city that Justin considered fairly safe - traders came through here often enough, bringing goods from the Port Authority northeast to Bellevue and then on to the smattered communities held by the Council of the City. Justin stopped looking in every single window they passed and instead started making plans for what he was going to do after they parted ways.

"Should probably see where Tanner is." He muttered to himself. "I think a doctor's visit would be a good idea." That meant sending Stock out to find her, but he had some medical supplies he wanted to drop off for her anyways. People tended to be a lot more receptive to his presence when he offered useful stuff up front.

He looked up to check where they were now, and relief spread through his weary bones. On the corner ahead, a building stood at the top of a severe hill. It's roof sagged to the side, and it pulled most of the building with it, creating a strange illusion of the building leaning out over the incline. It looked vaguely horrifying, but its facade sported a large glowing neon sign. 'Hostel Territory' it declared in cheerful blinking letters. Justin had been a semi-regular for nearly ten years now, and while everyone liked to claim the building had been steadily moving closer and closer to the edge, he had checked it himself and found the foundation stable. He didn't go about spreading that information, though. The proprietors enjoyed the fame their locale gave them, and Justin liked seeing the looks on people's faces when they saw the place. He picked up the pace, trying very hard not to break into a full-out run to get to the front door.

"What's that?" Bethany called.

"This-" Justin turned so he was facing them, but kept walking backwards towards the Hostel, "-is, unfortunately, where I leave you."

"Is it now?" She asked. Justin wasn't sure if he imagined the challenge in her tone.

"Yep!" Justin reached the front door, and he stopped walking. He pointed north. The road leading that way was clear, only a few wisps of mist curling about in the low places, tendrils spilling up out of gutters and drains. "You should have a straight shot to Columbia from here. This road leads right up to it. Should only take you about an hour maybe, less if you hustle." He jerked his thumb at the door behind him. "I'm gonna pop in here and take a break, get some food, restock if I can. Still not feeling all that hot from our um… medical adventure this morning. Carlos and Suzie are good folks. Y'all are welcome to join me; if you need any supplies they'll prolly be able to set you up. At a fair price, of course." He added. "Their security doesn't take kindly to dine-and-dashers."

He stood there, hand on the door knob, and watched them. This was it; if they were going to try and take anything from him, now was the time. He could see the calculation in Bethany's eyes as she stared him down. She looked from him to the door, and the brightly lit sign hanging overhead. He could practically see her sizing up the odds.

"Gonna do it?" Justin mumbled. "Gonna rob me in broad daylight on someone's front porch? Won't end well for you."

Matt, meanwhile, was watching him with a different struggle. The kid looked unhappy, scared almost. Doubt played across his face as he looked from Bethany to Justin.

Justin noticed. He stopped paying attention to Bethany and her anger, stopped looking at Gus, who was peering north up the road. He stood in front of the doors and didn't go in, not while the kid looked like that.

"You know," Justin tried one last time, "There's folks around here who are always hiring. Y'all went through hell to get here, I can vouch for that. You're good in a fight. The Port Authority is west of here, and far enough east you'll hit Emporium, where I'm from. Up north, on the locks, the Council of the City of Seattle-that-Was. There's more for you here than Columbia." He nodded, this time locking eyes with Bethany. "You followed me this far. I'd hope you trust my judgement."

Bethany's lip curled. "Fuck yourself, Scavver." She turned away, facing the street north. "Gus, Matt. Come on. Let's get the fuck outta here."

Gus chuckled under his breath. He raised a hand and waved, following Bethany. "It's been nice, Scavver! Ever need more Jet, I'll give you a discount!" He called.

Matt didn't move. Justin stared at him, drumming his fingers on the doorknob.

Finally, hesitantly, Matt took a step toward the Hostel.

Bethany glanced behind her and stopped. "Hey, Matt! The fuck you doing?"

Matt stopped walking. He stared at the ground. "I-" He swallowed hard. "I don't want to… I'm not going to Columbia."

"What did you just say?"

"I'm not going to Columbia." He repeated. He remained where he was, staring at the ground, but his voice was stronger this time.

Bethany looked from him to Justin, and her eyes were bright with rage. She shook her head and glared at Matt. "After everything we've been through, you're just gonna piss off now?" She demanded. "After everyone who fucking died to get us here, after your brother-"

"Don't talk to me about him!" Matt yelled, whirling to face her. "You didn't fucking know him! He was- he was fine until you showed up and filled his head with shit about it being better up here! I never wanted to cross those fucking mountains! I never wanted to go to your fucking promised land! But he did, so I came with. And now-" His voice broke. "Now he's gone. And I don't have to listen to you anymore. I'm not going."

She stared at him in stunned silence for a while. Finally she scoffed, but her eyes never quite hardened like they had before. "What… what are you going to do, then?" She asked. She nodded at Justin. "Go and join the Followers? Be useless? Guard some fucking traders, and get killed in the middle of nowhere over scrap?"

"I don't know. I'll figure it out." He turned away from her and hoisted his backpack. "Goodbye, Beth."

Bethany and Gus stood there and watched him walk to the Hostel. Bethany locked eyes with Justin. Anger and hurt played across her face, and he stared her down, waiting for her to make a move. She held her rifle tightly - he could see her knuckles white on the metal. Gus looked from her to Matt as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"Really, man?" He called, his voice heavy with betrayal.

Matt didn't look back. He reached the door to the Hostel. Justin gave both Gus and Bethany one last look before dropping the Supercomputer just outside the door. Together he and Matt walked inside.

Suzie was standing at the front counter, looking toward the back of the building, wearing a big floppy hat she'd knitted herself. After months of being alone, and three days of constantly watching his back, another familiar human being who he knew for sure wouldn't try to kill him made Justin almost lightheaded with relief.

"Hey, Suze." Justin said. "This is Matt. You would not believe the week I've had."

At the sound of his voice, Suzie turned. Her face was a grotesque mess of skin and tumors. Her breath wheezed, and when she saw them she let out a gargling shriek.

The bottom dropped out of Justin's stomach. Matt drew his gun. Upstairs, feral screams erupted, followed by slamming and scraping of flesh on wood. Suzie ran at the counter and scrambled over it, her mouth wide and gaping. In a flash of panic, Justin realized his gun was outside, still strapped to the Supercomputer.

As Suzie vaulted the counter, Justin dove forward. He caught her on his shoulder and used her momentum to send her into the wall. Matt fired his pistol and her body shuddered with the impact of bullets, but she didn't stop moving. "OUT, NOW!" Justin screamed, backing toward the door. His eyes went to the stairs at the back of the room. Dust was quaking off the ceiling, the pounding and screeching growing louder.

Another feral burst through the door to their left. It dived at them, slamming into Matt's back and sending him tumbling forward. Justin reached to try and pull him up, but two more thudded down the stairs and he had to lurch backward to avoid them. They descended on him, snarling teeth and slashing limbs, and he screamed, punching and kicking. The armor frame caught one around the middle, and he lunged forward, pressing his weight onto it and eliciting a series of horrible cracks and snaps. It gurgled and writhed. The other one climbed up onto him, grabbing his hair and trying to sink it's rotted teeth into his neck. He twisted and wrenched it off of himself, feeling it's nails rip into his clothes. It slammed into the counter.

The one pinned under his leg thrashed and snarled. Justin stomped, grimacing at the sound it made, and it stopped moving. Gunfire erupted, and the ghoul he'd thrown into the counter jerked out, brains splattering. Justin grabbed the back of Matt's collar, hauling him to his feet. Matt kept firing, putting bullets through another one's head as it skittered out from the far room. The feral ghoul that had once been Suzie leapt, her bony fingers grabbing Matt around the shoulders and yanking him forward. His jacket slipped out of Justin' grip.

Justin screamed as Suzie, sweet Suzie who always gave him extra food because 'he was too damn skinny' and knitted weird backpacks from brahmin hair, closed her teeth around Matt's neck and ripped his throat out.

By the time Matt realized what had happened, he couldn't even scream. Blood cascaded down his front and he let out a small sort of shocked gurgle, eyes wide and glassy. The gun tumbled from his hand and clattered to the floor. He collapsed, and Suzie clawed and ripped and bit at him.

Justin's vision went red. He dove forward, tackling Suzie around the middle and ripping her away from Matt. They slammed into the counter, a tangle of limbs and metal. Suzie shrieked and flailed, twisting in his grip. She grabbed onto his hair and slammed his face into the floor. A discarded Nuka-Cola bottle had shattered there, and Justin screamed as the shards of glass dug into his chin. She broke free of his grip, but he lashed out, catching her ankle enough to make her stumble. He pushed himself up off the floor, ignoring the glass that bit into his hands, and kicked her in the side. The metal connected, and bone snapped. She sprawled on the floor, still rasping and clawing, but her back didn't look right, and her legs didn't move.

Justin stared, chin dripping blood, breathing heavily. His ears rang and his heart hammered in his chest. "Oh, god." He choked, his stomach turning. "Oh god oh god-"

Her hands scrabbled at the floor and she dragged herself forward, nothing but animalistic hunger in her sunken eyes. It snapped Justin out of his horrified shock, and he grabbed for the gun Matt had dropped. He aimed, and his hands shook. He knew he didn't have time for sentiment.

"Sorry," He said, and fired. Her head snapped back, and she finally stopped moving.

Justin grabbed Matt and hauled him up, hefting him over his shoulder. He knew the kid was already dead, but Justin would be damned to leave him here to get torn apart by feral ghouls. He felt the back of his shirt grow warm and damp with blood.

He slammed out of the front door. His eyes swept the street, and he had only enough time to realize there were bodies out here now too, malformed things in ragged clothes. More ferals. Then a voice boomed.

"YOU!"

Justin's eyes snapped up, and he tripped on a body he hadn't seen. He stumbled and fell to his knees, and Matt slipped from his shoulder, sprawled on the concrete in front of him.

Gus was standing further down the street, pointing a familiar-looking rifle at him. His face was spattered with blood and his eyes were wild. He glanced, briefly, to Matt's body. The rifle in his hands shook and he let out a pained scream. "You-! You killed them all!" He howled, tears rolling down his face, streaking the blood already there.

"Gus-"

The raider came forward, and Justin stayed where he was, his eyes on the rifle pointed at him. Barrel, hovering by the Supercomputer, beeped, his lights turning red, and came forward. Justin opened his mouth to tell the eyebot to stand down, but Gus raised the rifle and blew Barrel into pieces. Justin flinched, but somehow managed to bite his tongue before something stupid came out of his mouth. It was amazing what staring down a rifle did for your self-control.

"You- You fucking freak!" Gus screamed. He came to a stop in front of Justin, sidestepping Matt's body. He looked down at the kid, and he was close enough now that Justin could see the tears in his eyes. He took in a sharp breath and fixed his attention on Justin again. The pain on his face was overtaken by rage, and he stepped forward, shoving the rifle barrel under Justin's chin.

"They're all dead now, and it's all your fucking fault." He snarled, his voice shaking. His finger was on the trigger of the gun, and Justin could hear it rattling.

Justin glanced back to where Gus had been standing. A body lay close by, and even from this distance Justin knew who it was. Well, at least she'd gone down fighting. It seemed right, if nothing else. Justin swallowed and felt his adam's apple scrape along the gun barrel. The look in Gus' eyes was not a sane one. Justin couldn't blame him. He remembered very well how it felt to lose everyone. It made you insane, for a while. If you were lucky, you got better. He took in a shallow breath, trying not to move too much. "Gus…"

"Shut up!" Gus roared. He jabbed the barrel into Justin's throat, making him choke. "Just shut the fuck up! I don't give a shit what you have to say." He looked up, and then nodded behind Justin. "Call your robot over." He ordered.

Justin chanced a glance behind him. Stock was orbiting the Supercomputer, beeping pleasantly like she always did. Justin looked back up at Gus.

"...Why?" He asked.

"Did I fucking stutter!?" Gus demanded. "Fucking do it!"

Justin looked at the rifle, and for a moment anger flared in his chest. He wanted to tell Gus to go fuck himself. Justin looked back to Stock. He swallowed and then tried to whistle. He couldn't, his mouth was too dry, his heart pounding too hard. "S-Stock." He called. She turned, beeped, and flew towards them.

Gus shot his hand out and caught her by one of her antennae.

"Please don't hurt her." Justin said. Gus looked back at him and his lip curled.

"Everything went to hell once you came along." He snarled.

Justin had no response to that. It was true - truer than Gus knew. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to say he'd warned them how things always went when people got involved in his business. Or, maybe when he got involved in theirs was a more accurate description. He should have known better. But he had been lonely out there in the wilderness. He'd selfishly decided things would work out, even though that had never once in his life happened. He looked at the rifle, then back up at Gus. "If you're gonna do it, then do it." He said.

Gus stared at him, and Justin realized there was something else alongside the rage and pain in his eyes. There was fear. Gus stood with the rifle, ready to blow his brains out all over the street, but he hesitated. "Hardy was right." He said in a shaking voice. "You are the Devil."

"Gus, I'm so fucking sorry." Justin tried. If nothing else, he had to at least try. "I didn't want any of this to happen."

Gus lowered the gun, slightly. He nodded. The fear was still bright in his eyes. "I believe you." He said. Then he flipped the rifle in his hands and smashed the stock into Justin's face.

The world went dark.

When Justin awoke, it was to find himself alone, surrounded by corpses. Every inch of himself that he could feel hurt, and his mouth tasted like copper, dirt, and bile. He groaned and pushed himself off the blood-sticky cement. His arms shook and his vision spun. Slowly he managed to fight himself up onto his knees, and he blinked, looking around. Lying just in front of him was a body, on it's side as if it had been thrown there, which was almost accurate. The blood on the pavement was from it, and with a twist in his gut Justin realized his clothes were soaked. He wrung his hands.

"Ah, god… fuck kid, I'm sorry." He muttered. The body in front of him didn't move, not that he expected it to. Justin had carried him from the Hostel in an act of defiance, not of hope.

Scattered about on the street were more bodies, lumpy and grotesque. Feral ghouls, the remnants of the tiny group who once lived here. Justin had seen them all, not two months ago, when he made his usual stop at the Hostel on his way south. He'd chatted with them, exchanged stories and information, bought supplies. They'd all been fine. He looked around the street and a shocked, horrified sob worked its way out of his chest.

"What… the fuck happened?" He asked no one.

Behind him, he heard soft beeping. He turned and saw Stock puttering around the Supercomputer. She was listing to the right, the metal casings that covered her storage chambers bent and ripped open.

"Stock." Justin called.

She flew to him. He reached out a hand, putting it on the cold metal, and he smiled. "You're alright." He said. He tilted her to look inside, unsurprised to find her chassis empty. He sighed and released her, and she started circling him, beeping quietly.

Gus had cleaned out his supply of Med-X. Justin looked over to the Supercomputer. The bags that hung from it were torn and tossed. He had probably cleaned him out of more than just drugs.

Justin got to his feet. The armor frame on his legs whirred and whined, blood dried into its gears. He walked over to the Supercomputer, but didn't have much of a plan after that. He stared at it rather helplessly for a few minutes while Stock orbited him.

Coming back to his senses, Justin looked to Stock. He whistled and she stopped orbiting, turning to face him. "Stock, you need to go find Dr Tanner." He said. While Barrel could only recognize some vocal commands, and Lock even less, Stock had always been reliable. She beeped and the lights on her chassis blinked blue for a moment, and then she turned and puttered off. He'd programmed Dr Tanner's usual rotation schedule into all three of his eyebots some time ago for this particular case. If he remembered correctly, she should be less than a couple days walk from here.

Justin turned, looking back to the bodies that lined the street. There were more inside the Hostel. Matt still lay where he'd been thrown, and down the road was Bethany, surrounded by the ghouls she had felled in her last moments.

'These people were at least worth the time it takes to bury them.' It was Tanner's voice in his head. She'd taken the time to help him bury the remnants of his old life, almost 4 years ago. Ever since, he'd tried his best to do at least that. He coughed. His jawline burned where the glass and who knew what else had ripped into it. His stomach couldn't decide if he was ravenously hungry or if he was going to throw up everything inside him. He wanted to pack up what remained of his supplies and flee west, to Port Authority, and drown the last week in alcohol. Instead he sighed, turning back toward the Hostel. He couldn't leave quite yet. He had a job to do.

The End