"I don't know how you feel about small talk," I sit next to Lori on the porch, "but... what's been on your mind since we left Cauldron?"

She looks briefly at me, then down at the ground, hesitating.

"I know what I think, how about let's start with you?"

Well, shit, I'm nervous too.

"The people I left behind, and the nice warm bed. The people weren't really friends, but of course, some part of my mind wonders if they would have been, had I not... left."

Her shoulders and chest are turned towards me, but she's still looking away.

"Warm bed, heh, same. I miss my bunny, Beth."

"Beth? A real rabbit?"

"N... no. It's a stuffed animal. I don't even remember where I got her, but I spent all my life with her, and I held her close. I left her behind because of how sick I was of my life, but with great victory comes sacrifice, I guess," she mutters.

"I know I'm no replacement, but I'd like to try and be your new Beth, I want to be your warm, soft bunny," the idiot in me wants to say.

I just look at her like a mentally deficient puppy instead. She glances at me, then back at her feet.

"What would it take for you to go back?"

A pause.

"Dunno. And I don't really see the point in thinking about it. Better question is, if they'll even let me– or, us– back in."

Something is hurting her. What does she need?

"Well... regardless, in case you... didn't notice already, you're awesome, and I'm a huge fan of you, even after you're gone from the show," I feebly smile.

She grins, ever so briefly. "Thanks. You're... kind."

I wonder how self-sustaining this community really is. They scavenged stuff from the UWWA trucks that came by. Or did they? Or did they go and–

"Cory!"

~~

The sprouts we sowed slowly emerge from their spots in the soil. I guess they're genetically engineered to be a cut above other normal crops, and it blows me away that the soil was good enough for them.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Lori looks... adorable to say the least, wearing a bonnet to keep the sun out of her face. It's a picture straight out of the movies. She's adjusting to the routine far better than any of us expected.

Adel, being nearly a head taller than her, looks funny in her setup as well, but nonetheless we're a tight bunch. I guess this is what real "friendship" feels like?

We're kind of sent in the same direction, rather than "finding each other". I don't know. I guess I should just appreciate it anyway.

We'd all literally be dead otherwise... Dead, or dying, in one way or another.

~~

“‘We like to pride ourselves as a self-sustaining community free from Cauldron’s obligations!’ Tch, self-sustaining, my ass. No way one man can haul this shit, what, how many kilometers from Cauldron? And get past the Fence?” Adel grumbles, in an unusual, irate tone.

Lori quietly sits beside her, quietly eating another piece of bread.

“How did these people even… start here?” I say as I come out of the bath house.

“Right on time, we just ran out of hot water in the first tank,” Adel says, tweaking some bolts in the rusty boiler with a screwdriver alongside her bot, wiping sweat from her forehead. The two pipes she’s trying to reconnect are blocked with two rags, barely holding the water back.

The door behind us creaks open. “Oh, wow, it’s flowing again! Aren’t all of you so handy? By the way, we cleared the living room, you three can sleep inside," says Malithe with a smile, walking over to the spigot at the bottom. Marveling, she opens it to release a steaming stream of water.

Malithe then approaches the bucket-sized robot assisting Adel in the repair job. “My, what a gadget! How does it… oh?” she cocks her head, wide-eyed. The four-armed robot slowly raises the joining segment, quickly prying the rags out, and jams the short piece of pipe in, and quickly welds them shut at either end as water gradually stops jetting out.

“All of you?” It was mostly Adel doing the work…

~~

The three of us lie triangulated on the floor. For no clear reason, I can't quite sleep. There's shuffling and murmuring on the other side.

In the faint gloom of the space, it's coming from Lori. She's not sleeping well either.

Shit, do I wake her up? Or leave her be?

I slowly approach her, as she struggles with something in the dream world.

Sometimes, hesitating is worse than just doing something.

"Lori, you okay?"

As she’s still wiggling, I find what I think is her shoulder, and try to nudge her awake. She flinches and bursts from her sheet, staring right at me, relaxing after seeing it's me, and not whatever else she thought I was.

"Fuck," she collapses back onto her sleeping mat, going back under her sheets, head turned aside, staring at the wall in the corner.

"...nightmares?" I ask.

She sighs.

"I guess."

"How... often does this happen?"

"Can’t remember when I didn’t have them. The nightmares themselves, I don’t remember all of them... thankfully."

Silence.

"I guess I owe you another thanks for interrupting this one," she says.

I nod, grinning.

"No problem. Take care."

I guess this is what she "kidnapped" me for.