Queen's note: …
Welcome to the Wasteland
Chapter Twenty Four:
Mirelurks and Foraging
"What...are they?" Lana asked as she peered down the dam's side with the other two young women. She was laying down on her front on one of the wider platforms along the sides, almost squished under the sisters. Hazel eyes fixated on the bulky, seemingly hard shelled… "Bugs? Inbred spider horrors crossed with old world crabs?"
Lucy snorted a laugh despite herself, covering her mouth and shivering from trying not to laugh out loud and startle the creatures below on the 'dry' side of the dam. More wetland but not a full swamp as there was some water flow with the stream. "Ohhh...no. Those aren't spiders."
"You don't want to meet a spider." Mary shivered at a memory, lowering her binoculars, "Just thank the leftover gods, that dad rooted out and killed all the nests of those things in the area."
Lana lowered her head and propped her chin on crossed arms. Despite the calm motion she was looking very worried, maybe a little pale, "...not an inch or so big?"
"Umm... more like the size of the cat that found our place, erm… your cabin." Mary paused and gave a reassuring pat to Lana's head, ignoring the smirk from her sister. "Don't worry, like I said, dad got rid of the nests. He's really good at spotting signs of those creepy things. And knows how to burn the things up."
"...eeeeuhph."
"That's about right." Lucy nodded at Lana's sound, and then scrunched her face while taking the binoculars from her sister. "But those things down there are Mirelurks. I...don't think they laid eggs yet, but both of our homes will have a problem once there's consistent hatchlings swarming around."
Mary tilted her head as she hummed. "At least with the mirelurks being in freshwater, they are really good for eating. If they're not rad soaked."
"Those shells look really useful..." Lana muttered, focusing without extra help as Mary had taken the second pair of binoculars. All three young women went back to staring at the nesting spot, "Wonder if that would work for a better quail coop, at least a roof."
"Huh... Never thought of using shells like that." Mary considered the creatures, she knew some people used the smaller bits of the shells as a roofing tile. But that wide top shell could be useful for other things too.
There was the issue at hand of possible eggs. The strawberry blond paused, blinking and then lowered her binoculars, turning enough to look down the bridge, cleared off from the cars and trucks a while ago. Valory was lounging beside one of the smaller bus station cover-sheds that she had been pulling over before her leg started to hurt. Resting on the warm cement and dosing in the afternoon sun.
"I want those eggs." Mary said, she brightened up as the woman looked at her sister and Lana.
"Why, they're not that good. The eggs taste muddy and gritty." Lucy snorted from her spot, rolling onto her side a little more than on top of Lana. "And those quail eggs are much better even if they are small… and the quail are super cute."
"But mirelurks mature in… what? A few weeks?" Mary was grinning wide as she looked back down the dam's side, "At least to the size where there's a lot of meat and they're claws aren't strong."
"But why do you want the crab bugs?" Lana asked, looking puzzled, as Valory finally rolled on the road to be closer to the edge of the dam. Propping her large head up on the edge, the tree of life painted on her forehead was still holding up after a day. The deathclaw was trying to look over without getting up. For some reason it seemed to endear the sisters to Valory when she did things like that.
"They do have really good meat." Lucy started to admit, paused and squinted at her older sister over Lana. "Wait, you can't really be wanting to raise the eggs?
"Like bitty chicks?" Valory asked, looking puzzled herself and finally getting herself up to look over the bridge edge proper, downward to where the shelled things are starting a...
It looks like a dance, maybe a courtship dance? All wrong for Valory's tastes, but apparently it proved to be a smashing success after a few minutes. "How much meat?"
"Maybe enough for you...might take two," Mary hummed, staring at the bridge, "one would feed all us, Lana and my family- and the boys!-at least for a couple days. The other adult for you. Plus, side dishes!"
"Ooh, maraz noodles, mirelurk and creamy tato sauce sounds so good." Lucy set her binoculars down. "That would be amazing... We could sell extra or just have some to try dry after cooking for the winter.
"We could set something up here for the hatchlings and after they are big enough to breed, we can harvest them after laying eggs. At least a male, those females lay for like a week. And soft shell meat is better before that cap hardens. And they get extra dangerous."
"It's something to consider." Lana grinned as she poked the other two until they, and then she was able to get back on the road. "You have to figure out how to set the pens and whatnot." Lana wiggled her eyebrows, "And convince Valory yourself about moving the things.
Valory glanced over and snorted, quite ready to quit for the rest of the day. The shed-like cover could wait until later. She was tired as the deathclaw was getting back into a more natural half nocturnal state... She was also hungry judging by the sudden rumble.
"Oh dear." Mary blinked as she watched the ground like dragon grunted and rolled over to flop out on the road fully once more
Lana laughed, starting for her home in the Co-op. "Let's go get a hunk of that deer for Val cooked up. And finally go looking for mushrooms!"
"Oh my gods, you've been just waiting for that the last few days haven't you?" Mary demanded as Lucy hopped down to pick up the cane Mary had to use off and on now instead of the crutches.
"Why are you surprised?" Lucy snorted as they caught up to their friend. Valory was unmoving though as she glanced back at the deathclaw. "It should be safe for us to go rooting around in the woods."
"Yep!" Lana glanced down to be sure the path was still clear, keeping her stride shorter to match May's pace. It was almost tempting to get Buck hooked up to the wagon to some bigger samples. She thought that one odd patch was more wild growing carrots, the local kind.
"Hello!" a shy though cheerful voice called out as the three were coming into the Co-Op. Megan was waving at them from the center building that was turning into the workshop and wagon storage building. She was caring over what looked like a cleaned up metal grate to the largest building that Fredrick was fusing over-
"Is the oven finished?" Lucy brightened as she saw what the Mr. Handy was feeding wood into the stone and brick oven.
"I do think it is miss!" Frederick swiveled one of his optic stocks to watch the young women coming over, "I'm seeing nothing off about the cement, but going to have it burn hot a bit before trying to cook anything. Need to make sure the heat is even. But I did not forget my promise of a squirrel casserole for you!"
"But that sounds so good," Lucy playfully lamented, waving to Preston as she noticed him on a porch. Cleaning his laser musket carefully, but he glanced up to smile and acknowledge the three coming back in. It was nice to see that Preston was up, after almost sleeping a full 24 hours he had worried everyone after bringing the new group to the bunker.
"What are you guys doing?" Preston asked as Lana checked the cooking fire, it had already been started by Megan and some sort of… kabobs she called them? Not just meat but also had tato chucks, some mushroom bits all divided by thinner cut carrot slices between everything. The ghoul woman had used some type of marinade mixed with whisky of all things.
It smelled really good.
"Lunch, then going to go hunt for fungi and anything else in the forest!" Lana chirped getting the cut of meat that Valory liked, as well as that same marinade.
"We should look for nests," Megan mused as she checked the cooking fire, taking off several of the 'kabobs' to make room for the cast iron pan to start warming up.
"Iguanas or squirrels?" Mary asked as she sat on one of the flat rocks that Valory had moved out of the way for the crops.
Megan shook her head, smiling as she offered a kabob to each of the girls and as she walked to give Preston one spoke, "No, I mean we should find some turkey and chicken nests."
"Aren't turkeys those big territorial things? Like a shorter, fatter stork?" Preston arched an eyebrow as he took a careful nibble of the port top chunk on the end. There was some heat in the spices but… it was really good!
Megan snorted and grinned, "A little, but different. They're a lot bigger nowadays then what they were, and chickens are what most call rock hens."
"Oooh, wait, I remember you talking about them being around here?" Mart tilted her head, "I think we've seen a rock hen now and then. How do you find their nests?"
"I know of a few places," Megan hummed, sitting to eat by Lucy, still keeping an eye on the cooking grill. "At least that I saw them before. During the day we would have better luck finding the turkey nests. If we find chickens, we'd have to come back at night time to get any. Even then hens do bite pretty hard."
Not that Megan blamed them, the birds were protecting their nests after all.
She did remember how friendly the babies grew into being once with her. Megan also heard that there was some other families groups that still had the chickens.
Looking around, seeing the girls, Preston, watching Noel coming uphill with the kids to get lunch and to bring some back to those recovering in the bunker. Megan felt a warmth spread in her chest that was not radiation. It was a feeling of being not just a happy with where she was, but also pride.
She was not alone, but was slowly doing things to help others. Never thought she would take charge of helping survivors of raiders and storms. To find out she was excellent at organizing not displays but supplies to help.
The scarred woman was even entrusted to help raise the valuable rabbits and quail! Lana even gave her one of the smaller ones to have not as a breeding stock but a pet. A lovely little furry companion that seemed to really like Megan.
"Let's try and find some nests today." Megan said once the kids were happily eating and she took off the finished kabobs to set in a pan for others.
Lana looked up, surprised as she was starting on a second kabob that had been offered. The young woman shoved the surprised-shocked expression to beam at Megan. Lucy and Mary seemed to be having the same reactions, though the former was trying not to choke on her food while the older sister shove a chunk of venison in her mouth to hide her shock.
Megan wanted to go outside the bunker and Co-Op!
"You know? That would be super fun! We can look for mushrooms, other plant samples, and even find some more isopods!" Lana sat up, then quickly had to check the cuts of meat for Valory so they would not burn. Finding a pan to put the half cooked meat in, and picked up some of the bigger chunks of port top mushroom caps that could be cooked in the juices.
"And squirrels," Lucy grinned, pulling her legs up on the large rock, "I'd like to really look at that buss across the dam. I wonder if we can move it."
"What for?" Preston asked as he came down to the cooking fire, finding a spot to sit on the ground. He blinked as a second kabob was offered and happily hummed, "Thank you."
"I think it could be turned into another house, more so if we seal up the broken windows," Lucy hummed, glancing up at hearing something large moving. But relaxed as she recognized Valory finally making it over to the settlement-turning small village.
Darla made an interesting sound from her spot in the work barn, still shocked every time she saw the deathclaw.
Lucy continued as Valory was settling down in her spot. A sunny patch of grass that let her head stay in the shade of the largest building. "There's a few buses around the area, I think we could find uses for them. Also there's a lot of people now."
"True," Noel said, settling down with the younger pre-teen boy. Though the kiddo was still thinner then Noel might like, David was filling out at a good rate. Being able to go between the Abernathy Farm, Co-op and the Bunker seemed to also be helping the boy mentally. Having tasks to help not just his surviving family but others. Save for the youngest sister Lori, though Abby seemed to be happy to stay around in the Bunker helping Megan.
The older ghoul spoke up after a few minutes of content eating all around, "The bus by the dam doesn't have its engine, so we could take some things out while keeping the axels… have to replace the wheels though."
"There's some at the shipping lock up, they seemed to have been stored pretty well." Lana considered, motioning to one of the storage cabins, then to the trailer that had been modified into a shelter for the moose. "Also there's the stuff that Blake and I found in the trailer that's used as the barn cover, thing… now. Shelter! That's the word I was looking for. Same set up like the farm."
"We could get it rolling," Noel hummed, making sure all three kids were eating everything, satisfied they seemed to be enjoying it all. "Just where to put it?"
"The farm would be the more reasonable place." Megan noted as she took off the last of the cooked kabobs, and started adding the last of the raw ones into the grill as Lana moved her pan off to a cooking rack.
"It would," Lana agreed, finding Valory's large bowl to fill it, "It's a flatter and wider space. Could use the outer frame to add some more space in the fence gap. Or a goal for a new area?"
"New area," Lucy hummed as she chewed on a carrot slice, "We should find some higher fence panels for the ra- the deer but then they two head types don't really jump much when they feel safe."
"That one momma from bunker entrance seems to like being with the brahmin." Lana noted as she pulled her head band out of a pocket to help keep growing bangs out of her face. Then she was looking for her sample bags and the large woven baskets that they used for the edible mushrooms. "...how big are the turkeys?"
"We should bring the wagon," Megan paused as she measured out a distance between her hands, a few feet wide and then almost to her hip height wise. "The birds are about yay big? They can be over fifty pounds for the hens, the toms- males, can reach 90 pounds."
The younger adults, and three kids all gapped, shocked. Those that knew turkeys present had seen turkeys only from a good distance, or parts that had been already butchered.
Noel laughed as Abby leaned onto his shoulder. "Pretty big huh?"
"...yeah, we're bringing the wagon." Lana starred as Megan laughed as she gathered the pan of kabobs.
"I'm going to bring these down to those in the bunker, should be enough for everyone to have two." Megan smiled as the kids got another each from the cooking pit. "Then we can go?"
"Yeah, it'll take a bit to get Buck set up and things into the wagon." Lana nodded, still thinking about the things needed. She did remember to go get one of her acorn squashes from her cabin, and a part crockery pot taken from a house in Concord. She had been saving it for the oven and a bread idea. But she had another thought as she had the new potbelly-like stove in her cabin now. "Are you staying the night, Mary?"
"I think so." Mary smiled, and then beamed, "I would like to yeah. You think you can let mom know Lucy? Later on that is."
"Sure." The other sister nodded.
The girls did not seem to notice how Noel smiled, turning to make sure the kids were getting enough to eat. He glanced to his left, where the down hill was, and saw Megan glancing back and grinned wide. Preston was trying really hard not to drop a chunk of meat off his kabob.
"Fredrick, can you make sure everyone has night fires started in the evening?" Lana was saying, cutting her squash carefully and saving the seeds inside. Grabbing some of the leftover veggies and meat chunks from lunch. They were likely going to be turned into a stew for the nighttime meal. Lana was trying to do this real quick before packing the wagon, getting a slightly different dinner started on cooking slowly for the rest of the day. Though Lana had grabbed one of the nicer cuts of meat that were not chopped up yet.
"Of course Miss Lanna," Frederick drifted over, and offered to take the dish once it had everything the young woman wanted inside plus some water. "Shall I mind this for you too?"
"Yes please," Lana smiled gratefully, and despite her next words the young woman was happy, "Looks I'm going to be busy for a while."
"I'll make sure it's back in your cabin by evening, and some utensils for both of you." Frederick promised, giving a delighted chuckle as both Lana and Mary flushed. This time Preston and Lucy spotted it at once and the teasing started.
"Ohhh," Lucy crooned, "I think this might be a date! Big sister is getting to go on a daaaate!"
"Lucy!" Mary yelled, throwing a pebble at her sister.