The courtyard was big and empty. Nick hated it. He was hoping Davey got scared and stayed outside. Then he would scoop him up and take him home. Instead, he was going to have to go inside. He and MacCready would probably have to go inside. They would have to clean the place out. Find any evidence of Davey’s body, and tell his dad that he was eaten by super mutants. Telling parents that he couldn’t return their kid was his least favorite part of the job.

The two men walked through the courtyard, staying near one side so MacCready wouldn’t be affected by the barrels or radiation in the middle of the opening. Nick opened the door, letting MacCready sweep the area with his gun, then Nick followed him in. The hallway was empty, but they expected that.

They moved down the hallway to find a dead super mutant. They looked at each other in shock. Nick moved up to it and looked closely at its wounds. There were several holes, all looking like they came from three different angles.

“Is Nate cleaning the place out again?” MacCready asked.

“No, looks like it was someone else. Nate would have sent in a bunch of synths with lasers to kill these things. These are bullet holes from a gun. Most likely medium range. It’s hard to tell details, with as long as it has been dead.” Nick stood-up, keeping his revolver ready. “Let’s see what else we can find.”

They made their way through the hallway. They found another dead super mutant, and a dead human. There was an assault rifle near the human. Nick went to inspect the body. He barely moved the head so he could look at the face when MacCready started reacting.

“Oh shhhhhhhhh…...ffffffu…...daaaaa…...” the young man didn’t seem able to say a complete word. Nick turned to him to see his friend’s eyes; large almost like they were ready to explode. It was like he saw a ghost come back to life and killed again.

“What’s wrong?” Nick finally asked.

“I know him,” MacCready said. “That’s a member of the Rose Gang.”

“You lost me.”

“It’s a gang of slavers back in the Capital Wasteland. Is…I mean Marian and I fought them pretty actively. They liked to focus on Little Lamplight kids, so if we saw them, we killed them. They kept trying to take us out, but when we were running together they were still a small group. That there is Thorn. He was one of the gang’s highest-ranking men.”

“I guess he just got demoted,” Nick said standing up. “Looks like that super mutant bashed his ribs in with that board. Still, it’s disturbing that they are here to begin with.”

“Marian said the Brotherhood of Steel was drafting people. Maybe slavers didn’t want to be part of that draft.”

“Possibly,” Nick agreed. “Trouble is, they are now here, and they are probably trying to set up business in the Commonwealth.”

MacCready was silent for a moment. Nick could have kicked himself. He forgot that what was a hypothetical situation for him, was life for MacCready.

“Look, kid, it’s possible they all got killed by the super mutants,” Nick said trying to comfort MacCready.

“Are you done with the body?” MacCready asked.

“Yeah, I think that’s all I’m going to get out of this guy.”

MacCready picked up Shard’s gun and took out the bullets. “Marian may need these,” he said as he pocketed the bullets that he couldn’t use.

Nick wondered why he hadn’t thought of that. He could give Marian more of the ammunition that she needed. He could do more to help keep her safe. It didn’t matter if it was him who did it. What mattered was that Marian had the ammunition to keep her safe. The more people who had ammunition for her, the more likely she would get some when she needed it.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

They continued down the hallway. There were more bodies. Super mutants, humans, and ghouls. Most of them MacCready couldn’t name. Nick and MacCready searched each room. MacCready took bullets out of every assault rifle. It didn’t take long for Nick to realize that every human had an assault rifle on them.

Nick was starting to worry. It had been a long time since he started thinking the worst of Marian. It could have been a coincidence that every one of these slavers had the exact same weapon as her. Still, he had to admit, he didn’t know much about her.

“What is going on?” MacCready finally asked, breaking Nick out of his revelry. “Why would a bunch of guys clean out a building, getting a bunch of their group killed, and then leave? It doesn’t make much sense?’

A question that was bothering Nick. He was glad that all of the bodies were adults, but he still couldn’t shake his concern that instead of dealing with super mutants, he was inspecting dead bodies and abandoned weapons. When they got to a room that looked like some sort of classroom, it hit him.

“This isn’t a place for slavers,” Nick finally said.

“What do you mean?” MacCready asked inspecting a trunk that looked like it had fallen on the body beneath it in the initial explosions, killing the poor sop 200 years ago.

“What would you need to start a slave ring?” Nick asked.

For MacCready’s part, he looked like he was trying to think about it. “I don’t know, collars?” He finally said.

“Those help, but they aren’t necessary. People were buying and selling each other for centuries before shock collars were invented. But they would need people to sell to, they would need merchandise, and a place to hold their wares.”

“You sound like Knick Knack. Like you’re just selling another product.”

“Slavers see the people they are selling as just another product. A means to an end.”

“So why didn’t they set up here?” MacCready asked.

Nick was thinking about the answer, and he wasn’t there yet, but he wanted to talk out loud about his thoughts. The way he used to do with Nate, the way he still did with Ellie sometimes. “There’s nowhere to keep them. Slavers would think of their wares as little more than talking animals. Animals are kept in cages. But humans are cleverer. If you wanted to keep a bunch of people and didn’t have any cages, you would want to keep them in a room with as few entries and exits as possible. Have one or two guards on the entries, and then they wouldn’t escape.”

“Why not here? There’s only one door?”

“If I closed that door, and left you in here, what would you do to get out?”

MacCready looked around. Nick felt bad, he forgot he wasn’t training Marian as his junior partner, he was traveling with her brother as a hired gun. He would have figured out the answer if he was in the situation, but imagining the situation was something else.

“I would throw a desk through one of those windows,” Nick said, rescuing MacCready from the setup Nick made. “If there were five or ten people in this room, they could scatter as they jumped out the window. It would be risky, but better than the alternative.”

“Why not that room upstairs? It only had one door.”

“The janitor’s closet? That could hold one, maybe two people before they suffocate. The bathrooms weren’t much better. If someone wanted to hold multiple people for sale, they would need a large area they could keep multiple people quietly. Preferably where they could have more people to sell than sellers to split the profits.”

“So where would they go? MacCready asked.

Nick thought about it. He thought about places where large numbers of people could be held. Either too many doors, too many windows, or not enough space for people who were off the clock could rest.

The location near Covenant made sense. It was small, only one entrance, and there was still the torrent there which could be used for extra security. It made sense, but why didn’t it feel right? It was right across the stream from Covenant. Too many people would notice activity there. The location kept making him think about another location. One that was underground.

“Were you with Nate when he dealt with Theodor Collins?” Nick finally asked.

“You mean that guy who was putting feral ghouls into the potted meat he sold? Not really. I think he had Deacon with him on that one. Why?”

“I’m trying to remember what they said about the place. There was an elevator, right? Lead to an underground area. With a fenced in portion.”

“Yeah, I think I remember them talking about it. Didn’t the elevator get stuck at the bottom, and Nate had to figure out how to get out?”

“It wouldn’t have taken much to secure that one exit either. Just one or two people inside with the gunner’s turret to scare away anyone who might think about to make a break for it. You then have a space for several people when you’re starting out, and then move the guards back towards the door as your stock grows.”

“Do you think that’s where they are staying?” MacCready asked.

“It’s worth a look. I can’t think of anywhere better.”

MacCready looked at the windows. Nick realized they were getting darker. He forgot that his young friend had an aversion to traveling at night.

“We can start in the morning,” Nick said, sparing MacCready from the obvious question. “You choose the settlement you want to stay in. I need to make some notes in the file anyway.”

The two men left the building to make their way to a nearby settlement. There was nothing left for them to find in the old college ruins.