Edward was woken up by Curie who gave him heated canned food.
- Thanks. He said sitting down on the desk where he slept.
- You're welcome. Curie replied, sitting down next to him.
- What are the others doing? he asked after a moment of silence.
- Preston guards the door, Shaun plays with the dogs, and Piper and Cait try to get the radio to work.
Edward nodded, got up and walked to the waiting room. He approached the two women.
- It work? He asked.
- Doesn't work. Piper answered.
- Let me try. Edward said.
He raised his fist and hit the radio with all his might, it lit up and of on. The radio began to emit noises which after a while turned into a mechanical voice repeating some coordinates.
Edward reaches behind the counter and grabs a rolled-up map, runs his finger over the map and finds the spot. Sometimes, when he went for longer walks, he sometimes went to those areas and knew that there were small wooden houses and huge silos nearby.
- Not that far. He muttered.
- Are you sure you want to go there?... Preston asked from under the window... Who knows who is there. I've watched enough movies and series to know this could be a trap.
- These little huts are surrounded by a solid metal fence... Edward said... It's worth the risk.
- All right... Preston sighed... But if we're eaten by cannibals, all I'll say is "I told you so."
The group left the police station and walked down the alley to the back road, they had to go and towards ArcJet Systems, then turn left and walk another half a mile.
When they were close to ArcJet Systems, rain began to fall from the cloudy sky, the group went under the roof of the building for shelter.
Then they heard heavy footsteps, everyone rushed from behind the cover, expecting a giant ghoul, what came out from around the corner of the building was much worse.
The creature resembled a reptile, was nine to ten feet tall, had thick skin, horns, and long, razor-sharp claws.
The skin bore the marks of Ghoul bites, some veins glowed green, though the corruption progressed much slower than that of humans, people changing within minutes to hours. Deathclaw, because that's the name that came to everyone's minds, circled the parking lot and climbed onto the wreck of the bus, looking around .
- Go inside. Edward said as loud as he dared.
They started to creep towards the door, unfortunately Cait stepped on the bottle causing it to crack.
Deathclaw spun around and roared defiantly.
- RUN! Piper screamed
Edward kicked the door open and pulled out his pistol, shooting the deathclaw, to slow it down. To his shock, the deathclaw began dodging, several bullets landed, making small holes where they hit.
Once everyone was inside, Edward jumped inside and closed the door. Deadclaw slammed into it but seemed to give up the chase because it didn't hit the door again.
Everyone looked at Cait, woman put her hands behind her back, looked at the ceiling and started whistling innocently.
The building was apparently empty at the time of the ghoul attack. They found neither ghouls nor humans, just a few off protectrons. They found some candy and bottles of nuca-cola.
When they went down to the basement, it turned out that there is a huge rocket engine that scientists had to work on.
As they back upstairs, the roar of a deathclaw echoed outside. They looked out the window to see how the ghoul's corruption would take hold of him.
His scales began to fall off, a greenish-yellow scab-like crust appeared in their place, his claws seemed to be dripping with blood, when you look closely you can see that they became corrosive, on his chest you could see the heart growing and pulsating with light as well as his eyes.
When the transformation was complete, deathclaw looked their way.
He rushed to the door and started banging on it, when he realized he couldn't get through it, he spat sour blood on it and the door started to melt.
- Go the basement! Edward shouted.
They saw the turrets and protectrons turn on and start firing at the deathclaw.
They closed the entrance to the basement and blocked it with a heavy wardrobe.
- Now what?... Piper asked... Once he's done with security, he'll probably look for us, and he'll come down here eventually.
Nobody told anything.
Edward headed to the engine room, walked over to the terminal and checked it out.
- Okay... He said... The engine is ready for testing. We'll get him down and start the engine.
The shots on the upper floors became fainter by the moment.
- It's a crazy idea. Cait said.
- If you have a better idea, I'm listening carefully.
- I don't have... She said... But I want to be bait. It's my fault he noticed us.
- Ok, let it be. Edward said.
Deathclaw picked up the last protectron and ripped it in half, threw the destroyed robot to the ground and began to search the building for people.
A glass bottle flew through the air and crashed against his head, he looked at the glass next to his foot and then in the direction it came from. Cait was standing there screaming at him.
- Over here bastard! You'll never catch me! She screamed, showing both middle fingers.
Deathclaw roared as if he understood the insult, and charged at her.
Cait started to run, she heard thundering footsteps behind her.
- Shit, he's fast! She thought as she turned the corner.
As soon as she turned the corner, a large desk slammed into the wall, deathclaw started throwing objects.
She ran up the stairs and started running down, Edward was standing there with a gun in his hand, he started shooting to make the chase more difficult.
He backed up as Cait ran downstairs, hit the button to close the door, Cait jumped and barely made it to the other side.
Deathclaw spat on the door, but it was made of better steel, so it didn't dissolve as quickly.
They ran to the control room and triggered the sequences.
- Engine start in ten seconds... A cold mechanical voice said.
Deathclaw looked up
- Nine.
Deathclaw stared at them through the glass.
- Eight.
He jumped on them, hitting the glass with his horns.
- Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three...
The glass began to crack.
- Two...
Deathclaw seemed to be smiling, taking the last run away, lunging headfirst.
- One.
Edward and Cait jumped out the door at the back of the room as the deathclaw smashed through the glass and the engine started up.
They jumped away from the door which was starting to turn red from the heat, the heat was so intense that they could feel it from across the small room, hidden behind the generator.
Finally the engine turned off. They had to wait for the door to cool down so they could go out, and then break the door open because the heat made door stick to the door frame.
The deathclaw lay on the console, burned, Edward turned around as Cait picked up something, it was a strange looking thing, if he had to guess, it was a weapon.
They found a note on a table at the back of the room, apparently someone had compiled it to get revenge on colleagues who had laughed at him. This gun, the junk jet, could shoot just about anything.
They went up, where the others hid, took the elevator to the surface and continued their journey.
It was starting to get dark when they reached their destination, Edward wasn't lying, five wooden huts and one metal hut were surrounded by a high metal fence, the gate was a metal door with actuators in a concrete frame, they could see an automatic turret over the fence, someone was standing on a makeshift observation tower.
It was a man, his hair was black, his eyes blue, he was wearing a black leather suit, he had a double-barrel shotgun in his hands, he wasn't aiming at them just at the floor of the tower.
- Who would have thought?... He said as they got closer... That beacon worked.
- We heard a message on the radio... Edward began... Is it true that we can take refuge with you?
- If it were up to me, I'd let you in already... The man said... But I must first inform my colleague here. Wait a minute. He turned and disappeared from view.
After a while another man appeared on the tower, wearing a black leather jacket, camouflage trousers, army boots, a large revolver and a knife on his belt, he was almost bald and had a scar on his face similar to Edward's.
- I'm Conrad Kellog... He started... You'll be allowed in if you answer a few questions. You understand?
- Ask. Edward said
- How many ghouls have you killed?
- A lot of. Edward replied.
- How many people have you killed?
- It hasn't happened yet.
- What did you do before ghouls appeared?
- I am ex-military. Curie worked in a hospital, Preston was a museum curator.
Kellog seemed to think, then nodded.
- Open the door John.
John Hancock opened the door and waved them inside.
Upon entering, they saw that there were a lot of crops, two water pumps, the whole area was lit by work lamps, powered by a Fusion generator.
They were led to a long shed where it turned out to be a kind of canteen, rows of metal tables stretching from one end to the other, there were two cooking stations, next to it was a table with tea and coffee kettles.
Protectron the cook prepared food for them. Admittedly, there was not an ounce of meat in it, but for someone who had been living on bars, chips, sweets and the like lately, potatoes with vegetables were a nice change.
- It's just the two of you here?... Preston asked... Not counting the robots.
- There's another guy, I think he's military, we found him a mile from here in an army car. Medical Protectron diagnosed a concussion but said he might wake up soon. John said
- I'll examine him later. Curie said.
- Tomorrow... The kellog said... You need to get some sleep today, you're all barely standing. There are only two beds in the huts, enough for everyone.
Edward and Curie took the cabin above the others, Shaun and Preston took the one next to it, and Cait and Piper across from Kellogg and John.
In the huts, apart from the beds, there was a fireplace, two chairs, an empty bookcase, two armchairs in front of the fireplace.
Curie sat on the bed across from Edward.
- Who's guarding the gate when everyone's asleep? she asked.
They have an assaultron named Ada here. Interestingly, she is self-aware.
- Really? Interestingly, it is rare for typical war models to reach this state.
- Yes. My superior in the army had one as his bodyguard. It was rumored that he had a platonic love for this robot.
- Just love... She said... Up there on the roof of the police station...
- Hehe.. Edward chuckled, blushing... You know... Nora would probably want me to be happy...
He didn't finish because Curie came up to him, sat on his legs and kissed him.