Queen's note: I'm aliiiive... I think. Maybe.
Welcome to the Wasteland
Chapter Nineteen:
Territory
It was very early in the morning when Valory made it back near the Abernathy farm. Before even the predawn false light, that time when everything was dark, still and quiet for the most part.
Each step throbbed but it was her left that had the sharper pain. It had dulled only slightly from when she had gotten it an hour before. At least she had a meal out of the trouble of those brothers, and some more for later in the form of a deer buck that she took from them. Not the moose, that bull had finally calmed down to doze near the co-op. There was another prize in her other hand too.
Valory had not been expecting to find another Deathclaw near so soon. Let alone a team of two big brothers that had already started to blatantly push into her newly marked out territory. Strut in really, and start to hunt game she was carefully monitoring, and then they started to stalk the Farm.
Valory was not the kind of female to tolerate this behavior, even back in the Rocky Mountains. These were not willy-nilly hunting grounds but what was marked as her new inner home territory. A semi safe zone for deer to reproduce and gather, pick up in numbers until winter for just in case. Then leave a good breeding number for the next year.
She was over eighty years old and the matriarch had the experience, knowledge and frankly the sheer size now for making pack laws and enforcing them. Valory was hurt from the encounter, yes, but she had what most local deathclaws did not: humans with small hands and medical knowledge. Wounds on her could be cleaned, stitched up and help with any possibility of infection. By tomorrow afternoon a mix of that aid, and her kind's own normal healing rates, the sharp pain would be a dull pulsing. Gone completely by the next week.
There was a low growling that vibrated out of her as she caught the scents of the farm. Valory paused her walk to set down the deer, shifting to rest balanced on all fours, feeling her hips shifting a little more pronounced then normal. It eased pressure off her new bad leg for a bit as she started scenting. Valory could not risk limping yet, her pace was a slow deliberate one as she checked for any other signs of intrusion.
It was times like this that Valory missed her brothers and sisters. Maybe she should have accepted Lucky's offer to come along. Her own pride turned him down, though politely. It was her human's daughter that was heading out for the first time so far, her role as honorary Matrearch…
Her brother would have been able to help keep an eye out while she had been distracted by Moon Ridge's small but daring attentions and the moose finally calving.
With the visual excuse of pausing to scent the ground and then lifting her head. She could rest a moment just in case there was another watching.
Valory caught an odd mix of scents though. Not the brothers, they had a heavier scent of blood then she did. This was...human.
Old fear stink that lingered, blood that was old and semi new, medical things... infection? There was the cooking fire and scents of more people then she left this place. Even the trace smell of the generator working later into the night then normal.
For a moment, Valory worried she missed another important thing when she was resting from moving the trailers and crates. Had raiders dared to come in? How did she not hear them…?
Leaving the deer for now, Valory shifted into a slow stalking pace to get closer to the farm, staying on the darker side. Where it would be hard for human eyes to see her darkly mottled form unless they knew how to look for it. Slowly and methodically getting closer to get a good read on the scents, all the different blood scents, that sick stink with the sharp, not quite rotten scent of infection.
She saw Mary sitting by the animal pens, counting far more brahmin then there had been yesterday when Valory had left. Lots of young calves and those two fawns that had been put in the pen by Moon Ridge. She saw his dark form not too far away next, silver eyes glinting off and on in the dim lights. Much closer than he had ever been before, enough to stand and take only a few steps to get to Mary's spot, as well as being down wind in the light breeze to monitor the scents.
Mary tensed as she heard a deep chuffing sound, not from the sleeping and dosing brahmin but behind her from one of the gaps between the new half barn shelter and the next crate. Turning around half expecting a predator, she was met with one but not a feral one, and, surprisingly Mary started to relax once seeing the reflection of golden eyes peering back at her from the darkness.
"Valory?" Mary asked softly, turning on her stool.
"What happened?" the matriarch asked in a low voice, not scary but...protective? "I smelled blood, infection and others that were not here before."
"There's refugees that Deegan doubled back to bring here." Mary reassured right away, carefully getting up and using the rails of the pen to help balance and come over to where the deathclaw was.
Valory shifted to offer a long arm for the girl to brace on once closer, "Ref-ugi? Gee. Why are there... refugees here?"
Leaning on the solid muscle arm, and noticing there was the smell of semi fresh blood now that she was closer. Has something happened to Valory? "He found Minutemen and others that survived the massacre on the other side of the Commonwealth. They've been starving and hurt, I think they were attacked by feral ghouls...erm, Lost Ones, not long ago. That's likely the infection source. Are you okay?"
"I had...a territory...disputed. " Valory chuckled, being reassuring to Mary in reflex like she would do with Lana, "Brothers came, disrespectful males. But they have learned I am the new Matriarch around here."
May smiled at the low chuckle. Daring to check what she could of the Deathclaw. "How long will it take you to heal? Do you need a stim?...do stims work on you?"
"I will heal fully in a week." Valory purred, her bad leg well out of sight. "How many are here now?"
"Umm… another...10," May paused, doing a mental count, fuzzing with her hands on the black arm, "13 more than us and the kids? That are semi able bodies at least, there's a few more that aren't doing so well. Most are, or are on the verge of starving."
"Hmm, go to where... the new place your sire set up. I have a deer for your family, it may help feed. Make a soup as well, to cook for overnight. All night. Softened, small bits of meat is easier on small stomachs than steaks. Good broth for later too." Valory half started to speak, seeming to take charge of the overall situation very rapidly. Oddly the thought did not to brother Mary, as the Deathclaw just, had a sense of experience and confidence that even her parents had not fully had.
Maybe like how Mr. Deegan was?
Had Valory been in a situation like this before? Lana said she was experienced with humans from all over. What kind of experience did she really have? Would the deathclaw matriarch still help them?
"We still have what you left the night before?" Mary started to ask, pointed out.
The big head dipped and shook, horns avoiding the metal containers around her. "Meat will go much faster than you expect, young one. If you are going to be keeping, helping, those...refugees long, you should start planning ahead now. We will see what small things can be caught and farmed... more plots for growing. When it seems too much, you will have enough for so many bodies healing and becoming strong again."
Valory shifted, drawing back as she stood up, leaning forward to touch her muzzle against Mary. "For now, I will be back with the deer, you will need as much sleep as possible, tomorrow will be... very, very busy."
"I'm on look out," Mary noted, feeling oddly sort of touched, that Valory was showing a small sign of affection for her like she had seen done for Lana.
Vallory chuckled at that, "You are a tired lookout. He has been here for some time."
"He?" Mary frowned, scanning around the dark but not seeing anything. Then a large arm extended, pointing with two thick fingers and claws at a spot in the dark. It took a full ten seconds of confused staring before Mary tensed.
Not even twenty five feet away, just in the darkness past the closest pool of light from the house… was a deathclaw. Not as big as Valory, dark hide and silver eyes glittering in the night, staring right back at Mary.
"He is the male I aloud... close. Closer to me. Not one of the brothers that intruded, he has been here for some time, we parted hours ago? An hour." Valory chuckled as Mary shifted closer to her, leaning on the metal crate behind her. "He has been watching. Just watching with the scent of blood and infection."
"He won't hurt us still?" Mary asked, her voice soft, not looking away, not that she could see the big (not as big but still big deathclaw) male tilt his head back at her.
Valory hummed, rumbling something in a questioning tone, and the black male shifted in the grass to chuff back.
"He is watching, lookout, guarding, not hunting." The matriarch assured, rising to her hind legs, "Go to the meat shed your sire made. I will be back with the deer."
As Valory alarmingly almost melted into the darkness of the night, Mary shivered. The young woman was unable to help it as she looked for where the male deathclaw was, and saw him shift to be leaning into a more lounging position instead of crouched and watching. His tail even came around over his legs to add to the deliberate image of calm.
The young woman moved slowly over to the area that her father hung the last half of dear and had butchered with Lana and Lucy.
By the time Mary made it there, and struggled to open the door that would keep any scavengers or bugs out. It was surprisingly clean inside, Mary was not sure when anyone had time to clean it, or, where the bones went? Did her dad scrape and bury them? Did… did Valory eat them?
Once some of the bones were buried and aged, and cleaned, her mother Connie knew how to carve them, and the antlers. Even ones found out in the woods.
Heavy footsteps was Mary's only warning before Valory came out of the darkness again. Not as silent, and her giant seemed off even with the stag carcass the Deathclaw carried. There were a few claw marks, but an odd pattern, it did not seem to match up with what had been seen before. Had Valory stolen the kill of the intruding deathclaws after driving them off?
Well...that did make a kind of sense. So far too Mary was learning that Valory tried to not mawl any of her proper kills, letting Lana butcher it or doing her best to keep most of the hide and pelt intact.
Mary could at least tie the hind legs with a chain and let Valory lean into the shed to lift and hock the radstag (deer?).
"Go rest." The matriarch nudged Mary to her small trailer by the house. "Morning will be here soon, little one."
She waited long enough to be sure that Mary did listen to slowly climb into the old camping trailer. Arching an eye ridge as she saw the human peeking out, but held her pose calm and steady. Slower then her normal stride, but it seemed to be reassuring as Valory walked back into the darkness.
Even with favoring her bad leg once on the last part of the road back 'home' to the Co-op. Buck was dozing in his spot near but not too close to the homestead, and Valory could smell the familiar scent of fresh birth again. Bemused by all the creatures her Little One and the others had found since coming to the Commonwealth.
The settlement was calm, Valory could see the one moving figure just outside of the moose pen. Setting another pot of water on the grate over the fire. Feeding the flames some sticks and making sure clean cloths or towels were hung up near to dry after being scrubbed.
Inside the pen Lana shifted where she was leaning against Luna, her getting groomed as much as the calves were. Though they were dry at this point, sleeping in balls against the young woman, though between human and the exhausted and half dozing cow.
Grace was still standing for now, half dozing, half keeping watch in instinct. A long time ago, before the bombs dropped, before mutations and heavily selective breeding, the moose would calf alone, though both of these cows had always given birth in some sort of barn or protected area with other cows and humans around. If anything it was strange to not have more vets and humans helping out other than Lana and Jake.
That trader and her guards seemed to be asleep in the cabin given to them for the night.
That was good, less to deal with for now. No need for any chance if panic, well rested and full humans had an easier time adapting to new things. Like hatchlings.
Valory snorted softly.
She chuffed at the two awake humans, Jake pausing with cleaning the next clothes. Lana stirred and looked up from her spot.
"Val?" Lana asked, blinking in the dimmed down lantern light as she came out of the doze. Trying to figure out where the darkened form was in the night as Grace was not reacting to the bigger creature the cow knew.
There was another chuff and a shifting as Valory moved into the light, around the cafeteria building. "Lana."
The young woman got up at the call, making sure the calves would be safe for a bit and walked over to the gate. "what happened? I heard your voice in the distance and some others?"
"I was... reinforcing my new territory." Valory explained as she settled on her good side by the fire. It had a lot of embers and heat bleeding out still.
"It wasn't…?" Jake started to ask, reflexively grabbing one of the clothes he had just cleaned and picked up a lantern as Lana came out and over. Seeing the glossy dark spots down Valory's leg and hip. "Dear gods."
"It was not Moon Ridge." Valory said, shifting to let Lana check her over, "Two brothers, rude brothers. They came to hunt where I… marked? signed? for no hunting." She snorted, the horned head tilting so the lantern light was not in her eyes.
"Rude," Lana agreed, using one of the clean water buckets to start cleaning the open wound as the scarred man held the light up. She was tired but still moving with the confidence of experience doing this. Seeing the look on Jake's face Lana spoke up to explain, "This isn't really uncommon for Deathclaws and territory disputes. Also care like this is part of my job as the human with thumbs."
"Doesn't look like it's still bleeding." Jake shifted and offered a cloth to Lana, watching what she was doing. He held the lantern closer to the leg as it was cleaned off.
"No, but it does look like you'll be grounded to sun bathing for a week Val," Lana frowned, and pulled something out. Tilting it to the light and grimacing at the claw fragment. "Or that I'll be getting much sleep tonight..."
"There is other news," Valory noted, that uncanny valley expression in her voice and expression of reluctance to say something. "There are more humans at the farm. More… cows. Brah-min cows and calves."
"New people?" Lana paused, thinking about the kids, and those in the bunker still. As well as the trader and her guards.
"New People." Valory nodded, "Moon Ridge is watching, being guard there tonight. They will need help, I could smell infection from… far, farther… away."
Lana took a deep breath as behind them in the pen, Grace gave a low, long groan as she settled down on the ground. She looked up at Jake, down at the leg wound on the thick hide. "I'm going to be really tired tomorrow night eh?"
"We'll be here to help," Jake reassured, reaching out with his free hand to rub the younger woman's back. "One thing at a time here and now, and I can stay up all night for a few days but it won't work as well for you. You should be able to get a few hours of sleep before checking in on the Abernathys."
"Grace is an experienced mother at least. But I'd still want to make sure that the Rad-storm didn't hurt the calves." Lana glanced back, still fussing with Valory's leg. She needed to make sure it was cleaned and disinfected. Maybe even stitches, with the thick line 'thread' in the medical kit for Valory.
Reviews!
Justsomerandombastard:
Thank you! lol almost done with the animal stuff...maybe. Not sure, as its supposed to be early spring in the story where critters are birthing RIGHT after the last big winter storm. But hey, more Minutemen next chapter!