Fallout Equestria: Mindless

Fallout Equestria: Mindless

Chapter 4
Friends

by LunaOnTheMoon

After flying for a couple minutes we finally reached the facility. Everything was different. I couldn’t remember, what it looked like before we
escaped that night. And in that night I only saw fire.

Now I was able to see the whole damage the fire had done. The walls were black and many of them had bullet holes. The windows were
shattered and there were big holes in the walls. One part of the whole facility had crumbled.

The corrosive impact of fire was mesmerizing.

I was so exhausted from the flight that I collapsed, after we landed. My head was spinning and I got nauseous. I rolled over on my side to
counter the dizziness.

Lightning landed next to me and looked at me.

"Looks like you haven’t recovered completely."

I groaned. It was a nasty feeling.

Lightning walked around and examined the facility from different angles. I moved my head on the ground to keep her in my sight.

After a while I was able to sit up. Lightning flew over and put down the rifle.

"Here, we can switch. I think I miscalculated a bit. You take the rifle, I take the other stuff. The rifle is much lighter. It’s too dangerous. We
have to be able to move quickly if anything happens."

"I can make it. Don’t worry." I answered.

She looked at me with her head cocked, took the bags from my back and slung the rifle around it. I blushed hard, when she came close to
me. I have never felt pretty confident amidst strangers. It was awkward, that I felt so comfortable being around her. I coughed and looked at
the ground shyly.

What was going on? I didn’t even know her that well. And since when did I liked mares?

She didn’t notice. Then she took her PipBuck and put it around my leg. I looked at her face, while she was working on my right leg. The
synergy of the colors of her coat and her mane were stunningly beautiful. And her face. Her eyes. The way her mane was styled.

I almost fainted. Everything went dark. I swayed and threatened to fall over. But Lightning noticed and stepped forward to support me.

"Wouw. You okay? You better sit down for a minute." she said and looked at me.

Without noticing I had held my breath, while I admired her.

By Celestia, this was awkward.

"No... ehm... I mean it's alright." I said loudly and began to move. I wanted to leave before she noticed.

"Wait. I’m not done." she protested. I turned around and raised my leg so she could finish her work. This time I didn’t look at her. I looked
down at the interface of the PipBuck, where she was fiddling with some buttons. I saw it flashing. The renowned profile of a pony appeared
and I was reassured to note, that every bar was completely filled.

"Done?" I asked her, when she took away her hooves and put them down on the ground.

"Yep. Don’t forget, be careful with the rifle. Emergencies only. And remember SATS. If we meet anyone in here, who wants to hurt us, you
are the one to defend us." she explained and looked sternly at me.

"Do you think there is someone here?" I asked and got an uneasy feeling. The thought of someone still being here, scared me.

"You never know. For whatever reason the raiders attacked. Maybe they’re still here. And searching for it. Supplies, slaves, weapons,
information."

"Slaves?" I interrupted her.

"Yes.” she answered and threw me an incredulous look. "You know what slaves are, don’t you?"

"Of course I know." I said annoyed. "But I didn’t know raiders kept slaves."

"They don’t. They sell 'em to slavers. And those guys resell them to the highest bidder.

I swallowed. Well that was more than disturbing.

"Hey, don’t be scared. I'll look after you." she said encouragingly.

"Thanks." I answered quietly.

"Well then, let’s go inside." she said and got going. I followed her closely and minded the PipBuck, which showed a yellow mark in front of
me. Hopefully there wouldn’t be another mark. Yellow or red.

We slowly walked towards the main entrance. On our way we saw much more destruction. Stones on the ground, which had crumbled
from the walls. Doors bent in their hinges.

It was worse inside. The walls were black. There was debris everywhere. Whole furnishings and decorations got shattered. Everything
was destroyed. Books torn apart. Chairs and tables down to their pieces.

The smell made me gag. It smelled burnt with some other scent I couldn’t identify. It reminded me of that one can with meat inside. I prepared
for the worst.

"What are we even trying to do here?" I asked whispering.

"I want to get into the bureau of my father. I want to know, why all this happened. Why... he had to die."

"If I look at things here, I don’t think they had any reason at all. They just destroyed stuff. And scavenged."

"Raiders would never ever raid such a facility. It’s much too risky and well defended. There are guards here, who could even defend it in
case of an assault. There not only here to look after patients. Furthermore the attack was well planned. They hit us hard and fast,
so that any defense was futile. We didn’t stand a chance."

"You know what I'd like to know?" I asked her, while we were wandering in the hallways and tried to make our way to Doctor
Hippocampus's room.

"What?"

"Where are the corpses?"

She stopped and looked at me.

"You’re right." she said and came closer. I got goose bumps, like I was about to be struck by lightning. She seized my leg and stared at the
PipBuck. She looked through many different settings, let go of my leg and deliberated.

"What now?" I asked curious.

"I’m not sure. But do you smell that?"

I answered with a gag, because I took a deep breath, to figure out what she meant.

She nodded. "Decay."

I shivered. Now I got really sick. Thinking of corpses lying around here somewhere scared me. It felt like one of my dreams.

"Take the rifle and follow me."

I winced. I popped the rifle with shaking legs and put the trigger into my mouth. It was an amazing device.

"Houw am I supposhed to walg wish thish thing in my mouf?"

"You only take it into your mouth, if you really want to shoot something. Be careful!" she hissed at me.

"Oh." I put it out of my mouth and took the rifle with a hoof. Then followed Lightning hobbling on three legs.

We crossed the canteen and arrived in the part, where I was stationed. The old hallways made me shiver. Everything was so dark. Barely
any light penetrated the shattered windows. All the stuff laying around made it impossible for it to reach far, although it was very bright outside.

I winced again. But this time my body stayed tense. I couldn’t control it. I inadvertently clenched my teeth. It didn’t last longer than a second.

What the hell was that? I have never experienced something like this before. I had stopped and now could barely see Lightning. She
was a couple of steps in front. I hurried to catch up.

Then we went around a corner and were in the hallway that lead straight to the door of Doctor Hippocampus's room. At the end of it,
directly above the door was a single ceiling light. I stopped. And winced. And again my whole body tensed, but this time it went longer.

I groaned with my teeth clenched, like I would try to lift something heavy. Lightning turned her head jerkily and looked at me. Then I heard
steps.

Lightning swooshed over with a beat of her wings and covered my mouth with one them. Shortly after, it stopped and at the end of the
hallway a pony appeared.

He or she, I couldn’t differentiate, had its hair like spikes and was massive. I could see... her, I think, wearing some kind of armor, which
consisted of stitched together pieces of leather. She wore several necklaces around her neck and at her side were two pistols. She was a
Unicorn. Then she disappeared.

She went straight past the office. Lightning looked at me. I hadn’t moved, just rolled my eyeballs to the left to look at her. She took her wing
off my mouth and put it in front of her lips to signal me to be quiet.

I nodded and we slowly sneaked forward. My whole body was shivering. That was too much. Plus those strange seizures. What if it
happened again? I couldn’t control myself. I had to tell Lightning.

“Lightning.” I whispered as quiet as I could.

She jerked her head back and looked at me angrily.

“I don’t think I’ll…” was all I was able to say. She hit my nose with her wing. It didn’t hurt. The tip of Pegasi wings was soft. But I stopped
speaking.

She turned around again and went on. I followed her and mobilized all my willpower to suppress the next seizure.

It seemed like forever and we didn’t get far. Every five steps Lightning waited for me, signaled me to come closer and took a look at the
PipBuck. One green mark. No red marks. So we went on.

After what felt like an eternity we stood in front of the office. Half covered by shadows, Lightning took a few steps closer and looked
around the corner. The she signed me with a wing to go, while she was still watching the other hallways. I slowly started to sneak
towards the office, but she signed again to tell me to move faster.

I started to trot, very cautiously, so I didn’t make any noise, when it hit me. I winced and my whole body got tense. I tripped over my front
legs and flew into the door of the office with a loud crash. The door swung inside crashed into the wall.

I could hear the echo of the sound resounding. Lightning jumped into the room, pushed me aside and closed the door fast, but quiet.

“Hey. Did you hear that?” I heard a deep, foreign voice calling outside of the office.

“Yes. Bucket, was that you?” another, female, voice called.

“Bucket?” she called again.

Then silence. In the distance we could hear steps, which echoed through the halls.

Lightning crouched beside me and covered my mouth with her wing. My tension held and I couldn’t move. The struggle and pain made me
groan. Tears ran down my face.

Then we heard someone trying to open the door.

****************

I stared at the door with my eyes wide open. If it would open now, I would die, I was sure of it. Lightning moved quickly, but quietly to the
door.

I didn’t know what she intended to do. But as she was about to reach the door, someone pushed against it from outside. But the door didn’t
move.

“Hey, it’s stuck.” Someone said outside.

„Stop pretending.“ Someone else said.

“It won’t budge. Try it yourself.”

“Stand aside.”

BLAM. I jerked really badly. Lightning dived away from the door and placed herself defensively in front of me. I felt like I was petrified.

The raiders had shot the lock. Now the door was open.

“It still won’t work.” They pushed against the door, but it still wouldn’t open.

“Whatever. Let’s got back.” I heard steps from someone getting quieter.

“This can’t be.” Again someone pushed against the door. But still, it was jammed. Maybe I had bent it, when I had crashed into it or it had
latched when Lightning closed the door.

Whatever it was. It didn’t matter, we were safe.

“Damn door.” I heard the others leaving.

Both of us stayed in our positions for a moment and listened for any sound that would tell us, if someone was still outside. Then again I felt
my body tensing, like I was about to throw up, but only the tension and the pain waved through my body.

Again I groaned and couldn’t move. It was just like my mind was separated from my body. I was fine, but I lost control of it. Tears were
streaming down my face.

Lightning turned around and looked at me horrified.

“What is that? What’s going on with you?”

I was barely able to move my eyeballs and looked at her. Then it was over. I took a couple of deep breaths. I was so exhausted, I couldn’t
get up.

“Vex?”

“I don’t know. Some kind of seizure. My body is just tensing up.”

“Did you have that before? And why is it happening just now?” she asked confused.

“I don’t know. But it hurts.”

“Rest up, I will hurry and then we’ll get the hell out of here. It was very wrong to come here.”

“No!” I cried out. I was startled by my own volume. “No.” I said quieter. “I want to know, why they attacked. And I want to know where 21
and 17 are. And I want to know that name in my file.”

Lightning nodded.

Heavily sweating, I rose into a sitting position and started to look around. I recognized the table and the leather chair, which belonged to Doctor Hippocampus.
Both of them were heavily damaged. What drove raiders to destroy helpless chairs and tables? I couldn’t imagine.

Everywhere was debris and other stuff. Files, loose sheets, books and pictures from the walls. It was pretty dark in here. Lightning used
her flashlight to search for the information we needed.

I picked up a file and read something about a Patient 42, who thought it was still wartime and attacked anybody, who was striped. Even if it
was striped clothing.

War. Memories of thousands of soldiers, who were flying in endless rows appeared in front of my open eyes. Explosions. Shots. Death.
The princess.

What did it all mean? Where did those memories come from? Everyone who had fought in the war had crumbled to dust long ago. What was
wrong with my brain? I tapped my hoof against the side of my head.

“Vex. I think I found something. Here’s your file. And some notes from my father. Especially the last ones, he had written down, before...“
She lowered her head.

I went over and put my wing around her.

“Thanks.” she said and smiled.

“Something about 21 and 17?” I asked nervous.

Her smile disappeared. She shook her head. „I don’t think we will find anything.“

“Why?”

“Vex, 21 and 17 are… ehm…”

“Yes?”

She seemed to deliberate. I frowned. „Ehm... nothing. Hey, why don’t you look over there, I will search here, maybe well find anything after
all.“

I hesitated. Then I walked over to the other side of the room and looked for any clue, which could tell me anything about 21 or 17.

“I can barely see. It’s so dark.”

“Look at your PipBuck. There is a tool for that.

I looked down at my leg. How should I know where this thing had a light?

“You have to hold down the big one.”

I did as she said and… indeed. A little cone of light appeared around me. I couldn’t see very far, but all the better around me. I started to
search.

After a while I was so exhausted, that I had to lay down. My eyes closed. My body was done with this day.

“Lightning. I can’t find anything here.” I said with my eyes closed. Lightning came over.

“Me neither. I think we should go. Before the raiders come back.

“But… 21 and 17.” I thought I was already dreaming. Everything was spinning inside my head.

“Vex. Come on. You’re in no shape to do anything right now except sleep. You need to rest.”

“Okay. Can we come back tomorrow?“

“Of course.” She said and touched the back of my head.

I got up and picked up the rifle. I was about to sling it around my back, when I felt a seizure coming.

“Oh no.” I said with the trigger of the rifle in my mouth.

Lightning looked at me. “What?”

BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. The rifle emptied its whole magazine. The recoil made me fall backwards and I shot at the ceiling.
Lightning dove behind the massive desk to escape the deadly bullets. I crashed to the ground and the rifle came flying out of my mouth. I hit
my head on the ground and thus ended my seizure immediately.

I didn’t know up or down. I gagged and coughed. Breathing became hard. I was at the end of my tether.

Lightning’s head appeared behind the desk.

“What did you do?” she asked whispering.

“I… I… “ I wasn’t able to speak. My legs were shaking and my eyes got dark.

We could hear several ponies arriving. Many raiders were on their way here. This was the end. Lightning came to me and took the rifle.
Then she stood straddle-legged in front of me, ready to defend me.

“Lightning… don’t. Hide. I… “

She turned around. Her eyes were filled with fear.

“What do you mean? I can’t just let you die like this.” She said with a shaking voice.

“Go. I… can make it. I… “

The raiders threw themselves at the door. It was incredibly loud, when they hit it. I got a thumping headache.

“No.” Lightning cried out.

Then the door went flying through the room and the raiders tumbled in. I pushed myself on my legs and with all my strength I pushed
Lightning aside. The raiders grabbed their weapons and took aim.

Then I felt a seizure coming. But this one was stronger. My whole body tensed and I felt like something was about to break out of my chest.

Then suddenly all the tension uncharged through my heart. It felt like someone pierced my heart with an icy arrow. I saw blue sparks
around me. Then everything went dark.

****************

Funny. Wasn’t it? I was surrounded by dead bodies. They were all standing upright and circled around me. They had the faces and bodies
of 21 and 17. If those were actually their real names. Where could they be?

The bodies took a step backwards and those standing directly in front of me, stepped aside and revealed a path.

A golden way led up to the horizon. Around me was a blazing light. Grass so green, that my mouth watered. Odd. I didn’t even know what
grass tasted like. I had only seen it in pictures. Pictures of long bygone days. Before the war. Every time it was „Before the war“.
Everything had changed.

I was in a place without pain. Without memory. Everything was well. The sky was so blue, it didn’t feel right and above me was the sun,
beautiful like never before. I went along the way, not knowing where it would lead me. But I didn’t mind. I would stay here for the rest of my
life.

Was this death?

After a while I saw buildings. Painted with the most beautiful colors. It was peacefully. Flowers grew underneath the windows. Water
splashed in little streams. And music in a faraway distance.

But something was missing.

Life. Other ponies. It was a ghost town. I couldn’t see anyone. I went past a humongous tree, which had a round door in its front.
Something was drawing me there. The music was coming from in there, too.

I went closer to the door and knocked. When no one answered, I pushed against the door, opened it and stepped into the room.

Everything was other than what I had imagined. It was this throne room again. I recognized it. In that cone of light had been the princess.

If I would only know, who that princess was.

Behind the light a steep stairway led up to a massive throne. And sitting on it was a shadowy shape. A pony. Deep black and still
translucent.

„Hello?“

„Yes.“ The shape answered with a female voice. It was beautiful.

“Yes?“ I asked confused.

„Yes.“ She repeated.

„Yes... what?“

„They‘re alive.“

„Alive?“

„Yes.“ She said again.

„21 and 17?“

Light appeared around the shadowy shape and pervaded it. Then it dissolved. And with it everything around me. Darkness.

Then I saw dots. Many dots. Everywhere around me. Other dots appeared and merged with the others. Like a gigantic puzzle. Piece after
piece everything was combined. When it was finished, I was hovering weightlessly in Doctor Hippocampus office. I saw my body lying
beneath me.

I could see Lightning, standing next to it and touching my forehead. I was able to move. With the power of my thought I could move my
hovering body. Was I dead? I moved my body through Lightning. No reaction.

I looked at my real body and noticed that my chest was rising and falling. So I was still alive.

By the goddesses I looked weird. Filthy and somehow… out of shape.

I breathed in sharply and jerked awake. I looked around franticly. The room was brighter. The flashlight of Lightning beamed at the wall in
front. The PipBuck’s light created some light around me. Lightning was lying next to me. No sign of raiders.

“What happened? Was that a dream?” I asked frantically.

Lightning groaned. „Oooowwww.“

I stood up and went to her. She was holding her head with her eyes closed. When I touched her briefly she startled up and raised quickly.
Then she took a few steps backwards.

“What was that?” she asked me full of fear.

“What?” I answered confused.

“You… you have….” She stammered.

I looked at her wondering.

“You knocked me over. And then… you touched your chest and suddenly blue lights erupted out of it. They were like snakes. Made of light.
And they went to the raiders. And... you killed them.“ She told me whispering.

„Killed?“ I asked horrified.

„They dissolved in front of my eyes. They seemed to be glowing inside and then the light erupted out of them. Like with you, but
everywhere. There came more and more light. And then, they were gone. Just like that.” She said quietly.

I stared at her with my mouth open. Then I felt my stomach rumbling and its contents spilled out of my mouth.

“What was it?” she asked again.

“I have no idea.”

She looked at me unbelievingly.

„Lightning. If I would know, what’s going on with me, why do you think I’ve been here, in this facility the whole time? This never happened to
me before.” I said, trying to convince her. I waited for her reaction.

She looked at me for a long time.

“Please, Lightning. I can’t go on. You’re my only friend. 17 and 21 are probably dead. Please. I don’t want to be alone. Please believe me.“ I
pleaded her.

„I believe you.“ She whispered. „But I’m afraid. What if you can’t control it?“

“I was never able to. I always got my medicine for it. That retained my seizures. But you know… they couldn’t help me anymore.” I said
sadly. I got the feeling that I lost her as my friend.

She thought about something.

“Okay. I believe you, Vex. I don’t want to hurt you. But I think we should keep our distance for a bit.”

“I understand.” I said sadly.

“We should go.”

“Where?”

“Back to the house. We can rest up there for the night. Then we’ll make our way to Starshine. Maybe they can help us.”

“Okay.”

“Lead on.”

I turned around and went towards the exit with my head hanging. Now I had even lost my only remaining friend.

****************

What had happened? Everything drew to an end. Wasn’t it easier to just give up? 21 and 17 were gone. Lightning was afraid of me. My
seizures were back. Right now I was fighting one. Why would I want to go on?

I clenched my teeth and then my body did on its own. It tensed up. My teeth clenched so hard like I was about to bite through metal. My
heart felt like it was about to explode.

I had problems walking and tumbled, but was able to catch myself.

“Everything alright?” Lightning asked.

“Everything alright.” I answered quietly.

I coughed. The dry air filled my lungs. It became hard to breathe. It was just a reflex by now. My body breathed, because I couldn’t control it
anymore. I turned my head and coughed again. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at Lightning. She was a couple of meters behind me.
Keeping her distance. I didn’t blame her. As bad as I felt, I was scared, too. What if I lost control and hurt her. Or killed?

I saw the little wooden house in front of me. Nothing had changed. At last.

Cautiously I went down the hill. The hot air stung in my lungs. My eyes watered and it was hard to picture anything. But my hearing was still
okay. Noises came out of the shack.

“Do you know, when she wants to return?” I heard a muffled voice.

That wasn’t possible. 21? Without hesitation I ran inside.

“Hey. Wait!” Lightning called after me.

I ran up the stairs and pushed open the door. With my mouth open I stopped.

Both of them were standing there. 21 and 17. Unchanged. They smiled at me.

I ran towards, jumped into and hugged them.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”

I was crying for joy. Celestia, Luna thank you. My friends were alive.

“How did you…? Where? When? What happened?“

I barraged them with questions. They were just lying there, looking at me.

“Oh… please excuse me.” I did a couple of steps backwards to let them stand up.

“Go, tell me!” I urged them.

“16, I was so scared for you.” 21 said, came to me and drew me into an embrace. She had a lump in her throat. “We searched for you all
the time, how did you survive? So much time has passed.”

My heart jumped out of joy. The whole tension vanished. “Well. It’s a really odd story. Somehow I have escaped. I can’t explain how. It was
like a dream. Anyway I woke up outside. And then there was Lightning. Ehm...“ I had thought about her just that moment.

„Lightning, she is, ehm... was, a guard in the facility. She treated me well.” I looked at her. She was standing in the door and looked at me
sadly. I wondered why. But there was more important stuff now.

“Well, she followed me, but she was hurt.” I continued. “I carried her on my back all the way down here. We stayed here since. After we
had recovered, we went back to the facility. Lightning wanted to find out, why the raiders had attacked us. But we ran into some of them,
when we arrived and… I had a seizure. I cant remember anything.”

I got cold. „Suddenly they were all dead. At least Lightning told me that I… have…” I looked down. “I have killed them.”

“You…killed them?” 17 asked me terrified.

“I… couldn’t control it. I don’t know what happened. It was a seizure.“ I begged him.

21 looked at 17 fiercely. “Hey, don’t be like that. They wanted to kill her. She’s alive and that’s all I want to know.” She said.

Then she embraced me and stroked my mane. It was very comforting. Everything seemed to be far in the distance. Exhaustion
overwhelmed me.

“21, 17. What happened to you? Where have you been the whole time?“

“We have never been gone, Vex.” 21 said and kissed my forehead. Then I fell asleep.

****************

I woke up. My body was jittery. Too many emotions. The exhaustion and pain additionally. I couldn’t blame it for the need to rest. But now I
felt joy.

Everything was alright again. We were together. Now we could start to live.

They had put me on the mattress from which I raised. The room was empty. Apparently they went outside.

I stepped outside. It got dark in the meantime. How long had I been asleep?

“21? 17?” I called out in the dark.

“Vex?” someone called back. It was Lightning. I went towards the direction from which I thought the voice came. Lightning was sitting on a
little rock and looked at me.

“Where are the others?” she asked me.

“Why do you ask me? I have slept until now.”

She just looked at me.

“What?” I asked confused.

“We should go.”

„Now?“

„Yes. It’s cool at night. And were harder to spot.” She explained.

“Arent there monster at night?” I asked amused.

She looked at me like I had lost my mind. „There are no monsters here or anything that could hurt us. Except raiders or slavers. Briefly, other
ponies.”

“Okay. Should I get our stuff?“

“I got it all here already.” She said and showed the rifle to me.

“Then I’ll get the others.”

She hesitated. Then she answered. „Hurry.“

I turned around immediately and looked for them. Where had they gone again? We had just found us a few hours ago. And now they were
gone again. Or hiding somewhere.

“21? 17?“ I shouted.

„Over here.“ It sounded on the other side of the house. I went there.

„What are you doing here?“ I asked them. „We have to go. We want to leave this place. We’re heading towards Starshine. That’s a big city,
not very far from here.”

“Oh. Okay. Let’s go then.“ 21 answered.

The three of us went around the house towards Lightning.

“What were you doing back there?”

“Talking.” 17 answered.

“About what?”

“You. And Lightning. And what we should do now?“ 21 said.

“And?”

“Well. We dont know really. We have just found you. We looked for you everywhere.“

“Well now were together.” I said laughing.

“Yes. But what now? We don’t know this place.”

“Lightning does. She knows this place. She wants to take us to Starshine. We can see about it there.”

“Vex. Ehm... we have to talk to you.“ 21 said and stood in front of me. We were just a couple of steps away from Lightning.

She lowered her voice. “We don’t trust her.”

“Why?”

“She was a guard in the facility. And we don’t know her? Why does she want to help us?”

“I trust her. She has saved me and taught me stuff. We helped each other. She treated me good. Even back in the facility.“

„Did you know her before… you know, all this?”

“Well. The day before the attack, we… met each other.”

“And before that?”

17 followed our conversation patiently.

“Before that… I don’t know. The guards were always wearing armor. I don’t know, I couldn’t determine if it was her or not.”

“You trust her?”

“Of course.”

“Have you ever thought about, that maybe she has something to do with it?”

“I don’t think so. She’s the daughter of Doctor Hippocampus. The raiders almost killed her, when they attacked. And when we were there
yesterday, she defended me.”

“And you’re sure about that? Maybe she’s lying.”

“Why should she?”

“I don’t know. It all sounds a little suspicious to me. She’s the daughter of Doctor Hippocampus. Is there any proof for that? The raiders
almost killed her. Maybe they planned every single bit. You saved her and since then you two were together. You went back into the facility.
What was your business there?”

„Lightning wanted to find the last records her father made and our files. Yours, 17’s and mine. But only because I wanted her to look for it.”

“Maybe she’s working with the raiders.”

Now I was getting upset. I responded fiercely. “She cried. She broke down, when she told me about her father’s death. She saved me from
the raiders. We are friends.”

“That doesn't look like it. She didn’t even look for you back in the house. She’s keeping her distance, and she doesn’t even want to talk to us.”

I had to swallow. “She's afraid of me.” I said quietly. „Because I killed the raiders.“

„Exactly.“ I looked at her quizzically. „You’re not as helpless as she thought.“

“21. Stop it, immediately. She gave me her PipBuck and her rifle. Why are you behaving like this?”

“We're just trying to protect you.”

17 nodded.

“You, too, 17?” He looked at me sternly. I couldn't believe that both of them were against me. And her.

“Fine.” I said angrily. Then I started to walk. Past Lightning.

“Everything alright?” she asked me.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” I answered shortly. What had happened? Somehow I had imagined it all different. Why were 21 and 17 behaving like
this? I trusted Lightning. She never gave me any cause not to.

And still it created doubt in me.

Maybe all this was a gigantic ruse. But why? Why should anyone go through all this just to…whatever?

I stopped and turned around. Lightning followed me with some distance. She stopped and watched me. 21 and 17 were following
Lightning with a little distance, too.

We were an awesome group. The joy, I had felt about our reunion, faded away slowly. In exchange I started to feel the beginning of a
seizure. Again.

****************