Chapter 91: Family Affairs

Mel sat on the couch, playing with her ring. It had been a few months since Joe proposed, and in the time since, things had gotten a little dramatic within this little community in North Vegas. As a member of the church board, Joseph was wired into every little happening within this section of the town, largely as a key contributor to the Missions Outreach Program and as a junior minister. He was respected, loved by these people and quite a few outside it.

He was the only man who could treat a walk through Freeside like an afternoon in a park and not a low-level warzone. The only man who could minister to drug addicts and their dealers alike. The only man who could walk into a strip club and coax out someone too scared to leave a life that was all they felt they knew. It was he who was the architect of the partnership between the Followers of the Apocalypse and the New Mormon Church, and now Melody found herself likely the reason it would fall apart.

While the Mormons were by and large a rather accepting people (one look at their current home would indicate they had to be), there were certain taboos even the most open-minded of them had trouble shaking. Like a Mormon marrying someone outside the church. And an Elder, at that, marrying someone who never gave even the slightest consideration to the spiritual. It wasn't that Melody ever looked down on those who had faith, it was that she never partook in such beliefs herself. Her parents never instilled in her such concepts when she was young, and her years afterward as a slave did little to ingratiate her further to the idea. Upon her freedom, she was brought into the Followers, where she devoured all scientific matters voraciously, doing everything in her power to alleviate any physical suffering she encountered. And then there was Joe, whom she had met so many years ago as their relationship developed over the years. A stranger. Her friend. Her best friend. Her boyfriend. Her fiancé.

The day he proposed was the happiest day of her life. The days since, however, had been dramatic. Every dinner she had come to since, when Joseph walked through the door, she could tell that he had been screaming. What started as a dispute between him and the other elders threatened to erupt into a schism that threatened the foundation of the Church itself. Though the elders did not agree at all with Joseph's choice of wife, censuring him was a difficult matter to consider when one looked at all the people Joseph had brought into the church. Addicts, prostitutes, gangsters, each and all that anyone else would disregard as scum, but through Joseph, they were given a new lease on life and purpose. These people made up a significant portion of the newly rebuilt New Mormon Church and they all looked to Joseph as their light, and if Joseph was punished, it could split the church in half. So instead the Elders spent meeting after meeting citing verses and precedents, while Joseph shot back with his own. Melody knew that there was a lot about religion she did not understand, but she didn't think seeing religious leaders turning their book of worship into a weapon was encouraging. So she figured that perhaps, against better medical advice, it would just be easier to just rip the bandage off right now to save drawing out any further agitation, she thought as the lump in her throat continued to build

There was a knock on the door. Melody stopped playing with her ring and stood up to answer it. She took a deep breath as she gathered herself. "… OK… ok, I can do this," she muttered to herself. She walked across the hall to open the door. "…Joseph, we need to- Oh, Hannah!" she let out in surprise.

The stern-looking guardswoman took off her cap as she motioned to enter the home. Melody nodded as Joseph's older sister entered the room. Hannah wasn't someone Melody had often talked to, seeing as whenever the woman wasn't on duty or at a service she was either on a caravan or sleeping. She did know that the two were on fairly cordial terms, but certain differences and decisions had left the two siblings nearly estranged. Melody had seen Hannah at a few gatherings after being introduced by Joseph when they were younger, but she never had the opportunity to really get to know her.

"…Been a while since I was last here," Hannah said to herself as she set her hat and Thompson on a rack. "He's running late?"

"The meetings with the Elders tend to go long," Melody nodded.

Hannah winced. "Some things never change. Melody, I'm not here on business. I wanted to catch Joseph, but I really don't have long. There's a caravan going out east that I'm taking part in, so you'll forgive me for making this quick."

"Hannah, I know the community at large isn't thrilled with Joe's decision. I've done some thinking, and I think that maybe-"

"I wasn't aware that it was the community's responsibility to make Joseph's decisions," Hannah interrupted.

"…I mean, maybe we kind of rushed into things a little quickly without considering…"

"Making Joseph not do something he wants to do is the definition of futile," Hannah added.

"Well, with the Elders-"

"Screw the Elders," Hannah interjected.

"I'm sorry?!" Melody finally let out, exasperated.'

"The Elders act on His behalf, but they are not of Him. They are not divine, they are as human as the rest of us, lest they forget that. The Elders are not perfect, they are as prone to error as the rest of us. I watched it personally happen many times," Hannah explained.

"Joseph is an Elder, too!" Melody shot back.

"And he understands that better than anyone. I doubt anyone understands that man better than either of us," Hannah replied. "Joseph is a product of man, in all its flaws and imperfections. Even his gifts are not divine. Joseph is a mutant, a pest, he can be sanctimonious, naïve, a meddler, and doesn't seem to understand or respect the nature of the power he has over others sometimes. And I love him. And so do you."

"…Yes," Melody nodded, smiling.

"And he loves you too," Hannah added.

"Joe loves everyone," Melody scoffed.

"Not like he does with you," Hannah countered. "Half his converts would do anything to be his one and only. But he chose you as you chose him. As far as I'm concerned, that's all He needs to hear for His will to be carried out. The more time we spend trying to interpret His will on this rock, the less good we can accomplish on our own."

"…You're not like the others, are you, Hannah?" Melody asked.

Hannah smiled. "…I traded finding a husband for a gun. I guess I've had a different view of faith after what happened to my sister. Can't expect God to do all the work looking after us, can we?"

Vice-Captain Hannah Young was possibly the most talented gunner in the Mormon Guard. A few years back, the Marshals were looking to hire an OPFOR for their training exercises, and Hannah and her guardsman were selected for the war game. Lo and behold, the rookie marshals, thinking the church-going security guards were pushovers, found themselves constantly flanked and hounded by the outgunned militia. In the end, quite a few of the Guard were offered positions within the Marshals, but most, including Hannah, declined. As Joseph would later explain, both he and his sister chose to serve God, but he chose the book while she chose the sword.

"Who taught you how to fight, anyway? I've been meaning to ask that for a while," Melody said.

"Someone who was a bit too comfortable with violence, in retrospect," Hannah replied.

"…So, you aren't bothered by me being a non-believer?" Melody asked.

"All I ask is that you keep an open mind. While you may not believe, Joseph has always vouched for your commitment to service. The Lord works on his own time, not ours. Just remember that the next time you're stuck with a problem and have no other course but faith. I suppose what matters is that Joseph believes in you, and maybe that's enough for me," Hannah explained.

"…Still, it'll be a little embarrassing for an Elder to get married by one of the Kings," Melody softly chuckled.

"…Elder Albright is open to having his mind changed if someone knew how to twist his arm enough," Hannah offered.

"…Are you joking?" Hannah asked.

"I'm not speaking literally. Mostly," Hannah replied. "But Isaiah and I go way back, and I'm friends with his wife. It pays to be the godmother to three of their kids."

"He should give that poor woman some air one of these days," Melody said under her breath.

"You and I both know whose idea it was to go for twelve," Hannah countered.

The two women shared a laugh as Joseph came inside the door, suppressing his fuming regarding the earlier meeting. He was so lost in his thoughts that he only realized that there was a visitor when he entered his own home. And it was someone he recognized, at that.

"…Hannah?" he said.

"…Joseph," Hannah replied, wearily. Joseph shut the door behind him as he rested his cane against the wall. With his other hand, he crept it over the nightstand by the door, onto the arm of the loveseat, and on top of one of the pillows.

"Joseph!" Hannah called out as he took the pillow from the couch. "This was a very serious conversation I am having with your fiancé! I would appreciate it if you treated it with the same sense of gravity!"

"I'm serious too, Hannah," Joseph replied, grimly. "You know I have to stay true to my principles."

"…Lord Above, Joseph, I'm in my thirties!" Hannah pleaded.

"And you think that should save you?" Joseph countered in solemnity.

"Melody, tell your future husband to grow up!" Hannah begged Melody.

"…You want me to hold her down, Joe?"

"Please and thank you."

And so, Doctor Melody Smith found herself pinning down Vice Captain of the Temple Guard Hannah Young to the couch while her younger brother, Acting Elder and Parson Joseph Young wailed on her with a pillow. As Hannah screamed about what a brat Joseph had and would always be, and as Joseph fulfilled his duties as the younger brother, even he could see out of the corner of his mind's eye his eldest sister, in spirit, doubled over in laughter. What other measure did he need to know that he was doing the right thing?

Melody squeezed out the rag as she placed it on Joseph's forehead. They had arrived late last evening and finally had a chance to properly rest. As Javier and Antonio bickered a floor below them, Tia was helping Melody look after Joseph, changing his sheets and checking his stitches to make sure they hadn't burst. She took her tasks in stride, Melody always reassuring her that she could make a fine nurse one day. It helped her take her mind off the fact that her mother was miles away in a much more dangerous place.

This burnt-out husk of a city was the closest thing to a sanctuary she'd seen since… perhaps Fort Abandon, now that she thought of it. Fort Abandon, that felt like a lifetime ago. Back when this was something of an adventure and not… whatever everything had turned into. A small part of her wanted to tell Javier and Antonio to pick up the stretcher and keep marching until they were back in Vegas, but right now everyone was exhausted. Even now, wells and waterlines were being dug up by the walking wounded to make sure everyone had enough water.

This city had fallen many years ago to Caesar's Legion, a monument to his brutality and arrogance, and abandoned when it no longer could suit the purposes of a dead man and his more pragmatic followers. She figured, if she were more spiritual, she would worry about all the ghosts of those who passed away still lingering here. Now, though, it was the wounded and desperate who called this city home. Phoenix. Even the name brought up feelings of hope.

"…Melody," Joseph called out, hoarsely.

"Yes, Joseph," Melody immediately pushed her thoughts to the side.

"…Which way is east?" he asked.

"…The opposite way you're facing, I think," Melody answered. She watched in horror as Joseph attempted to climb out of his chair, straining his back as he groaned in pain. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"…Need… help…" he gritted.

"SIT BACK DOWN! Tia, push his chair around!"

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it!" Melody growled as she forced Joseph back onto the seat. Working together, the two flipped the chair around, Joseph now facing a window he couldn't possibly have any use for. "Next time you want help, you ask!" Melody scolded her husband.

"…I have to help them…" Joseph whispered.

Melody watched Joseph. "Tia," she said, not taking her eyes away. "Go and see how Javi and Toni are handling breakfast."

"Got it, doc," Tia replied as she ran down the stairs. Melody kept watching her husband. She had seen him in a state like this before, like before he went into the Res-by-the-Res and before he went into the tunnels by himself. He was probably also like this before he saved her from Sybil. Joseph was concentrating on something, preparing himself to use whatever it was he had for the good of those he cared for. Melody didn't know how to help him. Enraged by her helplessness, Melody turned away from her husband.

…If you're listening, I have something to say to you. I know we haven't really talked before, and I'm not entirely sure I'm doing it right, but my husband loves you. He loves you on a level that I can only begin to imagine, and right now he needs your help. I know you aren't a genie, so I can't wish or will you to do anything you don't want to do, but please, he needs you now more than ever. I beg you help him with whatever it is he needs to do. You HELP my husband! You… if you can do that… we'll talk again. Thank you.

Melody took a deep breath as she straightened her lab coat, choking back tears as she departed the room to go and check on Tia and the others. Alone in the room, a tear streaked under long dead eyes, down the whiskered cheeks, and around the crook of a smiling mouth. "…Amen."

The wounded and battered deathclaws all milled about as their patriarch counted out their numbers. Twenty lizards, eight of whom could talk, including himself. They had started the week with thirty, then that giant gecko invaded their territory. It had been a costly war, but at least now they wouldn't have to worry about going hungry anytime soon, he thought as he took a bite out of the foot he was currently crunching on. His first-hatched son approached him, agitated as usual. The patriarch gave him the briefest of acknowledgments.

"…Something on your mind, Sonny?"

"Our numbers have further diminished, father."

"So they have," the patriarch replied.

"How do you expect us to survive when we find ourselves fighting every freak we come across?" Sonny snarled.

"You have a better solution than allowing monsters to trespass our territory?" the patriarch asked.

"These monsters come from humans. Let them wage war against those that they created in their arrogance. Then, we take our rightful place as the apex predators of these lands," Sonny hissed.

"You don't know what irony is, do you, Sonny?" the patriarch almost laughed. "Our pack was bred to fight for survival. We were created to fight a war. You see what lay before you, child. It's one of our kindred."

"We fought this beast so the humans would not have to suffer what they wrought," Sonny's lip curled.

"We fight them so we can prove to this world that WE are the greatest creation the humans have ever or will ever bring about on this world!" the patriarch snarled back.

"…You're so full of shit, Father," Sonny snarled.

"WHAT?!" Johnny roared.

"You're soft on the humans. Too soft. A predator like yourself shouldn't be playing favorites with your prey. It's beneath you," Sonny chided.

"…You speak with such certainty, boy," Johnny growled. "Where has this misplaced confidence arisen, I wonder?"

"Watching my brothers and sisters fall in your petty crusade to save human lives, Father. From the idea that perhaps this family needs a new patriarch, one who will put deathclaw lives above those of humans," Sonny snarled as he extended his claws. Johnny bit into his gecko foot, snapping bones and tendons as it dropped from his maw. The patriarch stood to his full height, towering over his impudent son. "…Brave little Sonny," Johnny growled.

The two fought wildly, the rest of the pack surrounding them to keep them centered in the middle. Amid the chorus of howls and hissing, Sonny put everything he had into fighting his father. Every rack across the back, every drop of blood that pooled under them, every spasm of pain and impact from fang or claw was buried under instinct and hatred, a will to dominate and prove himself the true Apex predator. Sonny was younger, faster, and crueler than his Father. Johnny, however, was bigger, stronger, and far more experienced. He allowed the younger deathclaw to tire himself off during an onslaught that came from the wrong-headed belief that his father was demonstrating weakness and hesitation, rather than a lure into a trap that the younger challenger failed to recognize until it was too late. Johnny racked his son across the legs, bringing him to the ground before his triumphant patriarch.

"…Submit to defeat, boy," Johnny hissed as three of Sonny's siblings jostled for a better position amongst their family.

"*ack* You aren't a leader, Father! You're a pet to humans!" Sonny screamed.

Johnny reached down and grabbed Sonny by the horn, yanking his body off the ground. "SUBMIT!" Johnny howled.

"YOU'RE A PET, FATHER! A PET!"

Johnny's skull slammed into that of his son. The pain surged through Sonny's body as his father reared back and delivered a follow-up blow, followed by another one. Sonny fought to stay upright, to little avail as each blow drove him further to his knees. Every now and then, Father would seize and scream at Sonny to submit, and Sonny would refuse. He could feel his waist as Father reared his head back as far as it could go. Three other deathclaws intervened to stop him, and Father released Sonny as the other three pulled him away.

Johnny was furious. Sonny questioned his leadership and challenged him in front of everyone. As was his right, and Johnny could not have been prouder. But Sonny, upon his failure to defeat him, refused to accept that he had been defeated. Failure to accept his defeat meant that Johnny could no longer trust his son to do right by the pack, and failure on Johnny's end to punish his son meant that his pack would no longer trust him to be the leader. It killed Johnny to do this to his son, almost as much as he nearly killed Sonny.

As his three of his other children pulled him away, Johnny roared out to his son. "…You are banished, Sonny! If you won't live under my command, then leave and make your own clan and do as you will there! You are no longer welcome in this pack, boy!" he screamed as Ronny, Wally, and Davy pulled him away.

Sonny, blood trickling from his head, gingerly picked himself off the ground as the rest of the pack hissed at him. "…Yer a dead lizzud waulken, Poppa. A dead lizzud waulken, yuz hearen mez!" Sonny stormed his way out of the pack, pushing aside Billy, Petey, and Keith. "YUZ AIN'TS BEEN HEARENS THE LASTS OF ME IF MY NAME AIN'TS SAWNEY!"

It would indeed not be the last time the pack ever heard of Sawney. Years later, as the pack made its way through a narrow canyon while hunting a pack of bighorners, Sawney instigated a rockslide that killed over half of the pack. While the survivors of the hunting party dug themselves out of the debris, Sawney attacked Johnny's nursery, killing two of his mates and smashing clutches of his eggs.

Ever since, Johnny and his surviving children made a pact that whatever happened, they would do everything they could to bring their wayward brother to heel and pay back every last drop of the blood he spilled.

"And that was my fifth title defense of the Open-species Championship! I swear, we're still finding Nightstalker teeth in the ring floor!" Lionel boasted as he rode atop Ronny with Andrea trying to keep up beside him. Davy was keeping his nose close to the ground while Petey kept watch around the shrubs. Petey understood the power that ambushes could have, both in his favor and against him.

"Oh, well done, you torture animals for entertainment!" Andrea shot back.

"Are you always this hypercritical or just in one of your moods, today?" Lionel snapped as he climbed off Ronny.

"On and on you've been talking and not once asked if I wanted to listen in the first place!" Andrea screamed.

"I've been asking and you never complained, or even said anything at all! What, am I supposed to read your mind like that guy who lives under the overpass?"

"Well, maybe if you spent less time screwing around with your scaly friends and more time worrying about everything else, you'd have picked up on it!"

And what am I supposed to do about the rest of the world? Are we in any position to influence anything at all!"

The argument continued as Davy motioned to his siblings about a finding he had uncovered. Petey hovered over his brother while his sister stood beside him. Looking at both of them, Davy pushed his hand forward, cleared some shrubbery, and revealed to his siblings a relatively fresh deathclaw turd. In conjunction with the sets of tracks surrounding it, it became apparent that they had just rediscovered Sonny's trail.

"…We're getting closer," Davy informed his siblings.

"That's not all," Ronny motioned to the other sets of tracks surrounding them. "These are… human?"

"And lots of them," Petey salivated. "…Hang on, they're around the same consistency as Sonny. But that doesn't make sense. How could so many humans share the same space with Sonny so closely?"

Davy and Ronny looked at one another, impressed by their brother's deductions. "…Maybe he was taken prisoner by these humans?" Ronny shuddered.

"…Or maybe he finally found his pack?" Davy replied. Davy sniffed the air. He could detect the faintest traces of gunpowder. Whoever these humans were, they were heavily armed. And there were a few odors that seemed to bother Davy. Perhaps it was only as many as two individuals, but there was something off about their scents.

"…There's something wrong here," Davy muttered. "Sonny, of all our kind, allying with humans and these others? There's nothing good about this."

"After all those years of him getting on Father's tail about being soft on humans, now he goes back on all of that talk? We should kill him for his hypocrisy alone!" Ronny scoffed.

"Unless these humans are as messed up as he is," Petey said, offhandedly.

The three lizards paused, their silence only broken by the increasingly agitated argument behind them. The lizards looked ahead of the pass, knowing that it would ultimately lead them to a final confrontation with Sonny. To a fight to the death with their brother. A labor they all agreed to spare their father from.

"…What about the humans?" Petey asked.

"…Against this many, they won't survive. I'm not confident we will survive," Ronny assessed. Davy nodded. The three stood as they looked at one another. "…It was always going to come down to the three of us," Petey muttered. Davy looked behind him. "…I think they'll be fine on their own. I think they're eating each other." "Then they won't go hungry," Ronny said. "Let's go, we're ending this tonight," she said as the three deathclaws kicked up dirt as they galloped down the pass, leaving their human charges behind.

Andrea's tongue was currently locked in combat with Lionel's, her leg hooked just above his rear as his hand pushed her neck to crane up towards his. The building belligerence between the two had culminated towards the both of them arriving at an impasse; neither were emotionally committed to allowing their time together to continue as it was, so logically they both decided that the only way to resolve all future issues were to either kill each other or screw. Human behaviors were and always would be cryptic to deathclaws, and most humans would not disagree.

"…I hate you so much," Andrea breathed as she broke her kiss from the fighter.

"What are you going to do about it?" Lionel smugly taunted as his hand rubbed against her side. Andrea shoved him onto the ground as she climbed on top of him. "I swear, I'm going to be the first woman in history to screw a man's brain IN!" Andrea purred violently as she realized the two of them were alone. "…Hey, where's the lizards?"

Shoving Andrea off in a panic, Lionel got to his feet as he saw the disappearing shapes of the deathclaws trampling away from them. "…WAIT! NO! COME BACK!" he screamed as he ran after them, leaving Andrea behind. "I LOVE YOU GUYS! DON'T LEAVE M-" was all he got out as a man wearing power armor tackled him to the ground.

Andrea let out a scream as some familiar faces emerged from the shrubs. "…Good call to hide our scent, Ulysses," Boone told the elderly tribal.

"Mud and dirt have their uses, properly applied they are a hunter's greatest weapon," Ulysses nodded as Malocchio watched the deathclaws vanish down the pass. Arcade hauled up the kicking and screaming Lionel as he sobbed reaching towards the shrinking shadows of his three best friends. "LET ME GO-HO-HOOOOO!" he whined.

Andrea, recognizing the figures surrounding her, took a sigh of relief as she straightened out her shirt. "…You guys came right in the nick of time."

"I'll say. Wouldn't want to see someone screw Lionel's brains in," Boone said with a grin as he went to help Arcade pacify the inconsolable pit fighter. Suddenly, Andrea found herself sharing Lionel's wish to remain with the lizards, she thought as the blush began to cover her entire head. At long last, the escapees from the bunker had finally reunited with one another.