“You just let him go?” V growled through her teeth. She stood facing Suzi at Jack’s New Gad camp. V put her hands to her temples and released a restrained scream. She wore black and grey Enclave underarmor and ratty leather armor she made herself. Suzi stepped back instinctively but knew she wasn’t in danger: if V was going to fight her, it would not have been up close and personal, and it wouldn’t have been announced.

“What was I supposed to do, V?” Suzi said, defending herself.

Tyler and Jack hung back to let V and Suzi talk. Jack showed Tyler his new .45 revolver he just acquired from a fellow 76’er named Bigfoot (it was Zack back in the Vault). Tyler once had a mind to learn pistols. He had heard about the romanticized stories of the American gunslinger, but mainly he wanted to be like Jack. But after multiple attempts at target practice under Jack’s patient supervision, he thought better of it and decided to embrace his natural talent: punching things. Ty was a bruiser. He was strong, fast, and tough as nails. He kept things simple, using a legendary pair of bladed brass knuckles as his go to. He would sometimes use a boxing glove he snagged off a ghoul at the Whitesprings Resort. The glove was his most monetarily valuable three-star item in his inventory, but Tyler preferred the hard crack the knuckles made when they connected with bone.

“That’s awesome, Jack. Is that legendary? Ty asked, starting to sweat in the heat.

“Anti-armor,” Jack replied.

“Like my knuckles, Tyler said, grinning. That’s a sweet gun. I like it.”

“Why don’t you take that jacket off, man? You look like you’re roasting. Tyler was wearing the motorcycle jacket Jack had given him shortly after leaving the vault. It was a vintage leather jacket that Jack used before the war. He didn’t expect he would be riding any time soon, and he noticed Tyler eyeing it up. He even caught Tyler trying it on a couple times. Jack liked how the young man looked up to him.

“Naw I’m good, man. It’s not so hot out here.” Jack smiled.

“It sounds like it’s getting pretty hot over there,” Jack said, nodding his head toward Suzi and V.

“Why would he just take off, Suzi! What did you do?” V looked as if she would bleed from her eyes if she didn’t calm down. The vein on the side of her head throbbed.

“Back off V!” Liberty shouted as she approached the two. “Let her talk.” Liberty attempted to position herself between the women, but V rebuffed her.

“You need to go,” V said sharply, holding out a blocking hand. Liberty got a chill from V’s tone and understood the truth of the statement. She slowly backed up three paces.

“He wasn’t right, V. He wasn’t himself. I mean he was, but he wasn’t,” Suzi tried to explain.

“Jack,” V said loud enough for the boys to hear, her eyes still locked on to Suzi’s. “I’m gonna kill your little tramp if she doesn’t stop taking in circles.”

“V, on me,” Jack said. “Wine. Lots of it. Let’s go inside. I have some crossbow bolts for you too, but you can’t put any in my wife. V stood in place, shaking with anger. Tears welled up in her eyes, but none fell. “V. Let’s go inside.”

“How much wine do you have?”

“Lots.”

“She’s pissed,” Tyler said. Liberty shook her head in agreement.

“Yeah. she’s pissed.”

“So how are you doing?” Tyler asked Liberty, doing his best not to look at her body, even though that is what he wanted to do.

“I’m fine.”

“Good. That’s good.” He searched for more words but ended up repeating good a couple times.

Later that evening the group sat by the fire drinking the rest of the wine Jack had collected. V had calmed down enough to listen to Suzi’s story. The last of the sun went down behind the ruins of New Gad. “So. What is Project Warchilde?” V asked.

“I have no idea,” Suzi replied with a bit of a slur. “No one knows what he is talking about.”

Jack looks down at his feet. Took in a long drag on his cigarette and blew out the smoke completely. “That’s not exactly true.”

All eyes were on Jack.