Intro

In the small town of Hunter’s Hollow, up the mountainside from the great hub that was Gatlin City—the life of rural America pressed on day by day. The town played host to misfit travelers and country-folk homebodies alike, a peaceful, welcoming community that put many others in the country to shame. In Hunter’s Hollow, everybody seemed to know everybody, and most spared little time for squabbles or trivial aggravations. Everyone simply talked, worked, drank, relaxed, and survived together, and their day-to-day lives carried on.

Terra Holloway sat in her room—a room decorated with many posters and colors, as well as shelves of several salvaged things from Frankie’s pawn shop that she’d bought and restored herself. She sat slacked back in her chair, feet propped on the desk with her radio playing Gatlin City Rockabilly softly from the corner or it, tinkering with her black Pip-Boy 3000 and finishing screwing the casing back together before snapping it back around her arm.

She looked down at it, frowned, and sighed, feeling the usual sense of accomplishment she did whenever she successfully fixed or modified something—but she couldn’t feel quite as pleased about it as usual, a heavy concern clouding over whatever pleasant thoughts she had.

Her father, Rob Holloway—a councilman and general spokesperson for the town—had left four days ago in order to help resolve a conflict between the tribe and the city, and he hadn’t returned yet. Her father told her he would be back within a few hours, or the next day at worst. He’d been gone from Hunter’s Hollow for far too long now. Everyone kept telling her not to worry, and that her father was a fairly strong and competent sort—but the longer the week carried on, the more unsettled she felt, and she simply couldn’t help it anymore.

She briefly considered delving into her saved caps and paying a few people to accompany her out of town to go find him, but she repeatedly dismissed the idea, as Sullivan would usually talk her out of doing such a dangerous task.

“Ma’m?” the mini Mr. Handy said, breaking through her thoughts and hovering into her bedroom doorway. “We’re meant to meet with your uncles in about five minutes.”

“I know,” Terra sighed, rising from her chair. “Let’s go.”

She grabbed the rusty toolbox from her shelf—containing the various household appliances that her uncles had paid her to repair—and walked out of her bedroom, Sullivan floating along behind her as they strolled out of their house and marched off the front porch.

The two headed directly toward the woodlands bordering their home, following the thin dirt path that led directly to the old, yellow trailer with the diamond-shaped window on its door.

Her older uncle, Billy Holloway, sat on the small porch of the trailer with a case of moonshine beside him, and the front door of the trailer swung open, her younger uncle—Theo Holloway—strolling outside and taking a mason jar from the case.

Terra and Sullivan approached the two of them, just in time to see Billy upturn his head, watching as Theo began taking a large swig of the moonshine, wiping his face with his arm. Billy gazed up at him for a long, quiet moment, ogling him as if he had just smacked him across the face.

“Now where… in the hell… do you get off just drinkin’ out of my goddamn customer merchandise?” Billy griped at him. “I don’t give a flyin’ fuck how much you deliver. That don’t give you no right to come out here skimmin’ off the top.”

“P’shit… I helped make the shit. I’ll have some if I want to,” Theo laughed, screwing the lid back onto the jar.

“You gon’ shut the fuck up now is what you gon’ do,” Billy snapped, jabbing a finger at him.

“Hey, dipshits, hello? I’m here now,” Terra announced, giving them a wave and setting the toolbox on the porch between them. “Here’s your shit-garbage back.”

“You get that remote fixed?” Billy asked.

“Yep,” Terra affirmed. “Everything you gave me is in there. I just went ahead and fixed everything all at once.”

“Alrighty… pay the woman,” Billy ordered, snapping his fingers and waving for Theo to do it. “Make yourself useful, now. Go on.”

Theo nodded, flipped a middle finger at him, and vanished into the trailer.

Terra frowned, staring at Billy and sighing. “Have you heard anything yet…?”

Billy stroked along his mustache, shaking his head. “Ain’t heard nothin’ yet, no. Ol’ boy ain’t tellin’ us a goddamn thing… but you know he ain’t no good.”

Terra nodded quietly, knowing for certain that Billy was talking about Ben Sanders, the mayor of Hunter’s Hollow. The mayor had been rather standoffish and elusive about the topic of his missing councilman, and the Holloway family was growing more and more impatient with him as the concern for Rob grew steeper.

“What if I put up some posters asking to hire some bodyguards or something?” Terra suggested. “Then I can just go look for him myself.”

“No… now… you know damn well your father ain’t gonna want you wanderin’ halfway across the Smoky Mountains,” Billy argued. “He’ll make his way back here. He always does.”

Terra frowned at the ground, feeling unconvinced. Her father had returned home late from his expeditions in the past, but he’d never been four days late before.

“Look… did you see what I did with Sully’s hand?” Terra asked, motioning back to her small robot butler, pointing to his weaponized appendage. “I removed the flamer thing and put a laser there instead. He’d be a good bodyguard, too… and I also have the proton thingy. It’s not like I’d be totally vulnerable if I actually left town for once.”

“You best not,” Billy said seriously, raising his eyebrows at her. “I’d say give it a full week, T. If he still ain’t back by then, then we’re all gonna come together and work out a plan from there. Ya’ hear?”

Terra glared at him, not replying.

“I best see you in church come tomorrow,” Billy stated. “Don’t go runnin’ off tryinna pull some crazy shit. This ain’t the time for it, way everything is.”

Terra paused, squinting questioningly at him. “Whaddo you mean, the way everything is…?”

Billy looked away and ran a hand down his face, not answering her.

Theo emerged from the trailer with a heavy purple bag of caps and handed it off to her.

Terra took it, surveying it strangely. “Why does this bag say Crown Royal on it…?”

Billy and Theo traded eyes and smirked.

“I’ll show ya’ on your 21st birthday,” Billy remarked.

“Shit fire… I bet she’s done had her first drink without anybody knowing a goddamn thing,” Theo commented. “Lord knows I did way before I was her age…”

“Yeah, okay… I’m gonna go,” Terra said, turning to leave. “I have something else to do today, anyway. Seeya later.”

“You takin’ off already?” Billy asked. “What’re you gonna do today?”

“Things,” Terra replied shortly, walking off without another word.

Her uncles exchanged thoughtful looks with each other as she marched off down the dirt path again, Sullivan hovering along behind her.

“Ma’m,” Sullivan said, floating a little closer and tapping a tiny metal finger to her shoulder. “You’re not really going to put up all of those posters, are you? Are you actually considering exposing yourself to the hazards of the wasteland…?”

“Considering? No,” Terra replied, quickening her pace and marching toward her two-story home on the hillside. “I’m deciding. I’m doing it. End of story.”

Sullivan let out a sighing sort of noise from within his metal shell.

Terra entered her home, collected the stack of posters that she’d made and prepared the day before, and left her home again—and the remainder of her day was spent walking all over the isolated mountain town of Hunter’s Hollow, placing posters in every place she knew that all the homebodies would eventually see.

The posters were headlines with bold print that read HIRED GUNS WANTED , and the description below read as follows;

Seeking travelers who are capable with a weapon, well-traveled, have useful skills, and have experience of some kind in the wasteland. You will be required to accompany me on a long journey searching for a missing person, with partial payment up front, and full payment once the man is found. If interested, please contact Terra Holloway.

Once the posters were placed all over town, Terra returned home, anxiously anticipating what came next—but, as of now, this was the waiting game that came before the journey.

Hopefully, some interested party would be knocking on her door soon.