Heart and Claw Update

3k words

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“Been teaching them English in my spare time, which is all the time really,” Pearl explained, switching languages as she translated for the others. “They mostly understand yes and no, so if someone tries anything just say no, they should get the message. I’ll go get the carcass.”

“I’ll come with you,” Cooper said, hurrying along after her. She smirked at him, but didn’t say anything, the two plucking the dead brahmin by its hooves, hauling it inside. When he asked why they didn’t just eat there, Pearl explained that the deathclaws didn’t like the sunlight as much as she did, they preferred eating indoors.

As Cooper cooked up his portion, setting his stove up a considerable distance from the carcass, the pack delved in on Pearl’s command. She seemed to hold absolute authority over each of them if she got to decide when they ate. They ripped into the dead cattle like vultures, fleshing stretching taught from bone, joints snapping as they used their claws to sever chunks of meat. Cooper shouldn’t have been surprised to see the beasts tear into the brahmin the way they did, but the sight still made him grimace.

Before long, one of the deathclaws separated from the grisly feast, apparently full to capacity. It looked like the smallest one out of the pack, but it still towered over Cooper at about eight feet when it wasn’t hunched over, its scales a more creamier, beige tone that reminded him of varnished wood.

It lapped at its claws with its forked tongue, its claws about the length of Cooper’s hand. Once it had cleaned each digit, it set its creamy eyes on Cooper, beginning to inch closer to him. Unlike the others, this one seemed almost hesitant in the way it approached him. Perhaps it was far younger than the others, or maybe just more curious than them. There was something endearing about watching the clawed beast slowly build up the courage to get a look at him, when it could just rip his face off if it so pleased.

“She’s quite harmless,” Pearl said, placing a reassuring hand on his knee. “She’s the youngest, just turned an adult by human standards.”

“It have a name?” he asked, the deathclaw blinking the moment his words left his mouth.

“Nah,” Pearl replied. “Well they do, but it’s sort of a unique growl I don’t think you could pronounce. Sometimes when I’m bored I just call them mate or girl or DC one through to five.”

The runt of the pack gained enough courage to poke him on the leg, the beast aware enough to keep the sharp edge of its claws clear. He let it pick at his clothing for a while, and then the little beast sat between his and Pearl’s feet, its tail wagging behind it as it looked at the two expectantly.

“Think she wants to learn a few words,” Pearl said. “I know that look.”

“They can talk?” Cooper asked.

“Yeah! Didn’t I tell you before? This one’s a pretty quick learner, try getting her to say something.”

“Uh, hello,” Cooper tried, the deathclaw blinking its reptilian eyes at him. He repeated the greeting, but the creature didn’t reply. Frowning, he tried something different. “My name’s Cooper. Coo-per.”

“Coowa,” the deathclaw chirped.

“Close enough,” he said, Pearl snickering beneath her hand. The runt glanced at Pearl, then made a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone clearing their throat.

“Purr,” it said, unless it was actually purring, but Cooper was sure it was the former.

“That’s me, Purr the alpha,” Pearl said. The runt started making incomprehensible noises that might have been words, Pearl nodding along, pretending to understand the random sounds.

“So just how smart are these things?” Cooper asking, watching the deathclaw grow tired of the one-sided conversation, curling up into a ball of scales, exposing its teeth in a yawn. “Does it actually understand what it’s saying, or is it just copying us?”

“The Enclave scientists compared the ferals to parrots, so they’re smart in their own way,” Pearl explained. “Could say they’re kinda like… I don’t want to say petscause I’ll sound like a weirdo, but I’ve seen what domesticated dogs and cats are like in human society, and these guys are sort of the scaly equivalent.”

“Don’t think it’s strange comparing your own kind to housepets?”

“Of course I think it’s strange. I’m part them, and part human, I’m literally the definition of strange. I’ve wondered my whole life what deathclaws and humans are to me, who I identify more with, but it’s… weird. I’m slap bang in the middle of both species, makes my whole existence a confusing mess.”

“Does that… bother you?” Cooper asked.

“Only when it comes up,” Pearl answered, chuckling in an attempt to stay humorous, but it wasn’t convincing. “I didn’t really think about it all that much when I was young, back when I was surrounded by Enclave and the other deathclaws, but now that I’ve got so much time on my hands… it nags at me sometimes, like an itch or something. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the pack’s company, but it’s… they’re not like me, you know? And that makes me feel alienated, even though I’m the alpha. I’m probably explaining it really bad, aren’t I?”

“Maybe you should take up your search again,” Cooper suggested, Pearl lifting her eyes from the floor to look at him. “You can’t have been the only hybrid to escape the Enclave, maybe talking to someone who’s like you could be good for you.”

“Cooper, even if the others did manage to escape, they’d have gone into hiding just like I am, or took up with a feral pack and moved on, they could be literally anywhere after all these years. It’s pointless.”

“But they’re as close to family as you have,” he pressed. “You can’t give up on them. Maybe you could return to this Enclave after winter, see if the trail’s still there.”

“I have all company I could ever need here,” Pearl insisted. “The pack… you. I get what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it, but I just don’t see it ever working.”

“I’m not telling you to go out right now it’s just something to think about,” Cooper tried. “I know if I was the only one of me around, I’d like to talk to someone like me eventually.”

Pearl shrugged in response, stroking the younger deathclaw for a while before speaking up again, changing the subject.

“See you picked up a new toy,” she noted, gesturing at his energy weapon. “How’s it handle?”

“Pretty good,” he answered. “Lifted six cells off that guy, but the sights are a little loose.”

“I have tools, next to our writing desk,” she explained. She’d called it our writing desk as though Cooper owned it alongside her, but he didn’t choose to correct her. “Go give it a tweak if you want.”

“You seem to have everything in this den of yours,” Cooper noted. “Next thing I know you’ll be telling me you make your own fuel.”

“I have a refinery out the back,” Pearl said, snickering at his bewildered expression. “Nah I’m lying. Hey, do me a favour and cover up the books while you’re there? The pack like to chew on the pages if they see them.”

“You’re not coming?”

“Think I’m just gonna stay here for a while,” she replied, glancing up at him as he stood. “Need a bit of time to unwind after being lasered. And don’t give me that look, you trust me, right? The pack won’t harm you even if I’m not around, seriously.”

He believed her, but he still gave the pack a wide berth as he circled the carcass, which was now little more than a pile of bones at this point. He felt the eyes of the deathcalws following him into the passageway, Cooper suppressing a shiver as he heard one of them snap the brahmin’s ribcage apart.

-xXx-

Cooper wiped down the laser rifle with a rag, the fabric coated in a layer of oil. As Pearl had said, she had a basket full of handheld tools and replacement parts hidden away in one corner, things that one would need in order to maintain a basic electric grid like the one she had employed for the mine. It turned out fixing the sights was a simple case of turning a few loose screws, the hunter had kept his weapon in great condition. Cooper was more familiar with ballistic weapons than those that fired energy, but maybe Pearl had a book somewhere that could help him get started, as he didn’t fancy parting with such advanced weaponry anytime soon.

As he picked through Pearl’s collection, grinning when he saw the cover of Gamma Season, he found what he was looking for, a copy of Nikola Tesla and You. He opened it up to the index, taking a seat as he perused the various topics inside. Apparently, it was possible to recycle used energy cells, though the process required more advanced machinery than what Pearl had on hand. A nearly unlimited amount of ammo would be useful indeed if he ever found the right equipment.

He browsed the book for a while, only pausing when he heard something coming down the hallway behind him. He turned, expecting it to be Pearl, his expression darkening when he saw it was one of the ferals.

It paused in the doorway, wrapping its claws over its flanks as though it was folding its arms, its bright eyes watching him, lacking any sort of pupils. It was the same one that had pinned and then licked him earlier, the memory causing him to shift in his seat.

“Hope you’re not planning on doing that again,” he sighed, expecting no real answer but saying it anyway. The deathclaw, ever fascinated by his speech, tilted its head like a curious dog’s, walking slowly over towards him on its giant legs. They were as thick around as his torso, flexing with even more muscle than Pearl’s was. Surely this giant beast was too big to be bossed around by Pearl. Maybe the two had fought, it was hard to say.

He bristled as it approached, forcing himself to calm down. Pearl had told him to trust her that no harm would come to him, but the memory of these things charging him down from the dark mineshafts was still fresh on his mind. The deathclaw paused a few feet from the desk, opening one of its hands. Something was clutched in its huge palm.

“What have you got there?” he asked, the beast tipping its hand over, a chunk of meat slapping wetly to the desk. It must have been leftovers from the brahmin carcass. Drips of blood pooled over its edges, but the surface was browned, slightly cooked. Had Pearl sent him this meal, using this deathclaw as a proxy?

“I’m good, thanks,” he said, pushing the books clear before the blood could make a mess of them. The deathclaw hovered nearby, and when it saw he wasn’t going to eat, it reached out and pushed the meat closer to him.

He glared up at it, hoping his body language would translate better than his words would, but the deathclaw just stared back, miming with its hands as it demonstrated how to eat. Did it think he didn’t understand how to feed himself?

“Fine, if it’ll get you to leave.” He picked up the lustrous meat and took a bite, making sure the deathclaw got a good look while he did. He swallowed down a bite, but the deathclaw didn’t seem satisfied, encouraging him to eat the whole thing. Maybe it felt bad about getting all personal with him before, and was offering the meat as a sort of peace offering.

He was hungry, and he guessed there’d be no harm in entertaining the creature. He finished off the portion, nodding and rubbing his tummy with a hand. “Mm, yeah very tasty, thank you.”

The beast huffed, seemingly satisfied at the display. As he returned to his book, the creature plonked itself down behind him, the impact shaking the ground, the beast so tall that it could easily hover over his shoulder to watch what he was doing. It looked on in silence as he wiped the rag over the rifle, its face moving left and right like a pet tracking a tasty treat.

“This is a laser gun,” Cooper began, the beast turning its gaze to him. “Can you say laser? Pearl said you were like parrots.”

The deathclaw blinked, only reacting when he said Pearl’s name.

“Not a big talker, huh? Fair enough.”

The beast kept him company as he worked for a while, apparently never boring of watching his dexterous fingers strip away parts of the weapon, Cooper taking note of some of the internal components, using the book as a guide. He didn’t dare fully dismantle the weapon, afraid he might never get it back in working order, but the idea that he might as well tend to his other weapons while he was at it crossed his mind.

“Pass me my syringer, would you?” he asked the deathclaw, the beast following his finger towards the weapon laying nearby. It blinked in reply, so he gestured picking the weapon up, and then pointed at himself. The creature seemed to get the picture, standing up and plucking the tubular weapon off the ground.

It held the syringer up to its face, a wave of recognition flashing over its features. It opened its mouth wide, its fangs curling out towards the gun. “No!” Cooper shouted. “Don’t eat it, I know I shot you with it, but don’t do that.”

Pearl had said they understood yes and no, and the deathclaw paused with the gun inches from its maw, reluctantly thrusting it into his outstretched hands.

He wasn’t all that familiar with how the gas-powered syringer operated, but it wouldn’t hurt to clear off the dirt and grime. He read more of the Tesla book while he worked, but then the deathclaw soon grew impatient, reaching for one of the other books on the desk.

“Pearl said you shouldn’t touch them,” he chided, the deathclaw freezing mid-reach. It gave him a deathclaw’s equivalent of puppy-eyes, and somehow that had an effect on Cooper, and he eventually relented. “Fine. You can’t even read, but whatever, just watch those claws…”

It seemed to understand the warning in his tone, and the deathclaw plucked a copy of Guns and Bullets from the pile, setting it carefully down next to the one Cooper was reading. It flipped the book open to a random page, slipping a claw between the pages to use as leverage, then brought it face down, pretending to read the scrawling text.

Cooper couldn’t help but laugh when it turned the page at the same time he did for his own, matching his reading pace down to the last second. He flipped the same page back and forth a couple times, amusing himself for a few minutes as the thing copied him to a fault. These creatures seemed to like imitating, they were still animals, but there was a certain intellect to their actions, more than any other creature that Cooper had come across.

There wasn’t a whole lot of use for the syringer anymore, but Cooper thought he might be able to sell it somewhere, or use it against other deathclaws if he ever got caught out by them. Next came his rifle, which was in better condition save for the empty magazine, Cooper teaching the deathclaw how to load the bullets into the case. The claws made the process clumsier than it should have been, but it eventually got the hang of it, huffing in satisfaction as it handed him a full mag. Aside from the browner colouration of its scales, it wasn’t all that different from hanging out with Pearl, albeit this one hadn’t uttered much more than few huffs and grunts.

Eventually his arsenal was back in working order, and he stood up, shouldering his fresh weapons before stacking the books away, hiding them under Pearl’s robe. He wasn’t about to go wandering around without a gun at hand, not because of the pack’s reawakening, but because of the close call with the hunters.

“Let’s go find Pearl,” he told the deathclaw, the beast rising to its feet and following him out. It stuck close to his side, like it was afraid he might run off or something. When they passed the brahmin carcass, the animal reduced to a few slops of red meat, the deathclaw made a grunting sound to get his attention. He watched it pick up a stray chunk, dangling it out at him.

“I’m good,” he said, sighing when the creature moved its hands insistently. Did it think he was hungry, or was this yet another offer of peace? He might have just been adopted by this creature if it was the former.

It couldn’t understand his words, but it could gleam his intent from his tone of voice, the deathclaw soon getting the message that he wasn’t hungry, downing the chunk in a single bite.

He looked around, but couldn’t see Pearl, and it seemed that the pack had dispersed after all the food was gone. Seeing he had the time for it, he picked a random direction and started walking, surmising he could take the time to explore the mine a little bit now that he wasn’t in danger of being torn apart by the locals.

The way was still lit by the glow of the lightbulbs, allowing Cooper to see all the way down each shaft until the turn. He noted that his follower seemed to shy away as it drew closer to the lights, and he vaguely remembered Pearl mentioning something about them favouring more darker spaces. It could have destroyed the lightbulb with an idle flick of its claw, but chose not to. Had Pearl forbidden damaging them, maybe?

Just as Cooper was starting to feel like the mine was abandoned, another deathclaw walked into view from the turn ahead, Cooper recognizing it as the smaller, chatty creature he’d taught his name to before. It came bounding down the passage, Cooper resisting the urge to run as it sprinted full kilter. The second before it crashed into him, it dug its talons into the gravel, pivoting to the left and beginning to run circles around him like an energetic dog. It avoided colliding with him, but his follower wasn’t so fortunate, the tall deathclaw shooting its smaller counterpart an annoyed look.

“Coowa!” the creature said as it paused in front of him, jumping from left foot to right as it hopped on the spot. It was panting hard from its mad dash, flinching towards him in a mock charge as Cooper watched it curiously. It seemed to want to play. When it made to run another circle around him, he intercepted it, grabbing fistfuls of its scales and attempting to bring it to the ground, the deathclaw resisting him easily. It purred as it leaned its weight on him, the two crashing to the floor, Cooper laughing as it wrestled with him, surprisingly considerate of his limitations.

His ward scolded his new playmate, growling under its breath as it chased the runt away, the deathclaw darting out of its reach, sprinting into the tunnel behind them. It was the first time Cooper had heard it ‘speak’, and that was only because it seemed to be fussing over him like his personal guardian.

After dusting himself off, they proceeded deeper into the mine, coming across the runt again after a few minutes. Like before, it was rushing down the mineshafts, taking the turns that didn’t intersect with Cooper’s path. Maybe it was exercising, or trying to keep itself warm by doing laps, but it was an amusing sight either way.