The group was tired. The whole group was tired. They had been traveling mostly north for days and had been walking for weeks. They would alter their course whenever the one Geiger counter they still had made even the slightest noise. They didn’t have enough caps for radaway. Anything that they could part with had been sold or bartered for food. Every new terrain only served to depress them more, and now they were surrounded by swamp which soaked through their pants up to their knees in some places. They all picked their way through the mud, trying to stay on the highest ground they could find. Every now and then a ghoul would leave the mass of ghouls and wander into the water to grab something edible. Sometimes he or she would eat it, sometimes the food would be returned to the person in the lead. A lean, almost starving woman who carried an assault rifle in her hands and a near empty backpack.
In time, she stopped, letting the rest of the group catch up to her. “Stay here,” she ordered to the group before walking off alone. She made her way to mass of decrepit buildings and defunct overpasses. She started sneaking when she got close enough to worry, looking to see who may inhabit the area. Before she found an opening, a voice called out from a wall.
“Are you a raider?”
The woman stood up straight, no point in sneaking around now and she would rather keep some dignity. She looked up to see the person who chose to talk instead of shooting her outright. “No,” she affirmed. “What is this place?”
He was standing in a guard post looking down at her. A black bird stood next to him. “This is Quincy,” he said.
“Do you have room for more people?” The starved traveler asked.
“Haven’t you heard our recruitment broadcast? If you’re willing to work hard, you are welcomed here!”
“Does this settlement welcome ghouls?”
“We welcome anyone who is peaceful and hardworking.”
“I have some friends nearby, there are a lot of them, but we don’t want a fight. We need food, and a place to stay.”
“How many are there?”
“Six, unless you want to include me,” she added as if she was an afterthought.
“I will make sure our defenses are alerted, bring them in.”
Without a goodbye, the woman turned around and walked back to the pack of ghouls who were loitering in the swamp. One of the taller ghouls stepped forward to represent the group as a whole. She looked down at the armed woman with worried expectation.
“They didn’t shoot at me,” the shorter woman explained, “they said they are ghoul friendly. We need rest, I say we stay here, at least for a few days.”
The taller ghoul took the advice in. “I think you’re right. Sometime gathering food and supplies would be nice. Did you find out where we are?”
“They said the settlement is Quincy. I don’t know where that is, and I don’t care enough to ask right now.”
The ghouls agreed in and the mass followed the armed woman to where she had her prior conversation. They were too happy to get out of the water and onto dry land. There was a settler standing outside the wall waiting to show them into the settlement proper. The guard who first found the woman was still at his post, joined by the bird.
“Name’s Jack,” the man outside the wall said, “I’m the closest thing to being in charge around as many people as your group. Don’t worry about food, we have corn and tatos rotting in storage waiting for our boss. Please, follow me and I’ll show you where we have some food waiting for you.”
“Do you have anything cooked,” the ghoul with the Geiger counter asked.
“I’m fine!” the woman insisted almost defensively. It sounded like part of a longer fight, the way he looked at the Geiger counter in his hands, it probably was.
They followed Jack around the wall into Quincy.
One of the ghouls asked. “Those pictures, the ones that look like a skull with an X on the forehead, what do they mean?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Those are from the Gunners. They are a group of mercenaries in this area. But if you ask me, they are just a group of raiders who found they can make more money if they allow people to pay them for the privilege of deciding who their next target will be. They took over this place a little over a year ago. We got this place back, a few months later. It’s taking longer for the few Mister Handies we have helping us to clean off their markings than it took for us to take the place back. Unfortunately, the few members of the town who survived the attack don’t want to come back so if you were hoping for work, we have plenty of space for new members. We don’t discriminate either, so don’t worry about that.”
The man led them into what was once a church, and now looked more like a town center with a suit of power armor on display waiting for maintenance. They were led up to the steeple, the stronger members of the group helped the ones who were too tired and famished to make it up the stairs on their own. Several breaks were taken to let the group rest for the extra exertion.
As they waited, the ghoul representing the group as a whole spoke. “I’m Lisi, thank you for helping us like this. We’ve traveled for a while, I understand we are in Quincy, but where are we more generally?”
“This is the Commonwealth. Our boss is Nate, a vault dweller who decided to help clean up this area about a year ago. We haven’t seen him in a while, but I’m sure he’d be willing to let you stay. I’ve never heard of him turning anyone who just wants a place to live. Especially with the need for extra workers and extra security.”
“What about beds? We’ve been on the road a long time and could use a rest.”
“Beds are a different issue,” Jack admitted. “We have some open ones, but not seven, you all would have to share.”
Eventually, the group was able to arrive at the chapel’s roof and lead over a wooden bridge to a half-destroyed overpass. The settlement had wooden bridges set up over the buildings making several paths for travel. The overpass had the feel of a commons area with enough picnic tables set up for a whole town to gather for meals. The group took up one table, one side squeezing in to make sure all members got a seat. Three birds sat on top of the burned out semitruck watching the visitors.
Jack helped another member serve them food. It had the look of being cooked hastily, as if the cook made it all just for them, and probably did. The plates were scanty to help prevent overeating, but the cook promised to make more on demand. The group ate greedily. They were grateful for the food, but they could not be said to be in high spirits.
Lisi talked mostly to Jack, asking questions about jobs that they could fill. The other members talked quietly among themselves.
As their bellied filled and they were feeling content. Jack was dismissing himself to work on other needs of the community when the ghoul with the Geiger counter got Jack’s attention. “Where can we get some radaway?” he asked.
Jack was stunned by the question. He looked at the seven ragged and dirty members of the meal until his gaze fell on the supposed ghoul who still had a nose. He didn’t realize before that there was one person among them who was not a ghoul. Somehow, despite the fact that she was human, she seemed to fit into the group seamlessly. His own oversight made him uncomfortable. The idea of one human in a group of ghouls made him even more uncomfortable. “There is a pharmacy, they will have all the medicine you need.” He answered quickly and hurried away.
The woman who traveled with the ghouls smiled at his discomfort while nibbling on her third tato. “Idiot,” she mumbled under her breath.
Lisi shot her a reprimanding look, but she could tell that that the woman didn’t care. She then turned her attention to the whole group. “What do you think, guys? We can make a good life here.”
“The guy doesn’t understand ghouls,” the woman blurted out talking to the half tato in her hand. “He may not hate you, but he doesn’t get you. There’s too many of you, if you want to find another place, I’ll get you there.”
Geiger counter ghoul looked at her with concern. “We don’t have enough caps to pay you, Tink. Even if you are willing to work for food, we still need to buy radaway for you before you start looking like us.”
“But she’s right, Alex,” a female ghoul insisted. “We may be welcomed here now, but our novelty will wear off. Jack was already freaked out by the fact there was someone with us who was not a ghoul.”
“Is there a ghoul friendly place around here? Maybe we can go there instead?” a male ghoul asked.
“Maybe we can find more acceptance in smaller groups? Two or three of us per settlement. That would be less of a burden on any one settlement.”
“I’m not sure I want to be surrounded by that many strangers, I like being with people I already know.”
“May I make a suggestion?” Tink spoke up again. The ghouls went silent and Lisi signaled that she could. “Why not stay here for now? Get resources together. I’ll get a job that will take me out of here and I’ll ask around, when I get a job that brings me back, you should have resources that you need, and I’ll know the area better. We all should have information so you can make a decision based on more than assumptions. Jack the Idiot only seemed freaked out by me, so I feel safe leaving you guys here, at least for now.”
“We still owe you, and you need radaway,” Alex insisted.
“Get me a job, let the person know that radaway is a nonnegotiable part of the payment and we’ll call it good for now.”
“Thank you,” Lisi said.
“I’m going to find a bed; I’ll be back in the morning.” Tink stood up. She slipped a few tatos and corn into her backpack before slinging it onto her back. She took her assault rifle in hand and went out into the wasteland to find a place where she could safely sleep.
The six ghouls finished their meals with little conversation. More than three weeks of constant companionship made new conversations meaningless. As each member finished eating their fill, they got up from the table and started look for work for themselves and for their friend.