The Minutemen: United We Stand

Chapter 35

With her husband and Nick on her heels, Nora walked into the Castle and admired the view. Barracks and training grounds filled the courtyard. Men and women hard at work learning how to be Minutemen wandered the grounds. Turrets lined the top of the walls, and Preston stood by one group of recruits, talking to them as he paced the front.

"This is quite the establishment you've got here," Nick whistled. "Can't say it's ever looked better."

"Hot damn, Sunshine. Nice fuckin' work!" Hancock patted Nora on the shoulder.

She shook her head and turned to them. "This is my first time back since we cleared it out. Don't give me any of the credit, this is all Preston."

Dogmeat came bounding up from the far side of the courtyard, jumping up into Nora's arms. She caught him and stumbled back, hugging the massive dog as he licked her face. "Hey boy! I missed you too!" With a grunt, Nora set him down and patted his head as he became glued to her side.

Nora walked up to Preston as she adjusted the baseball cap on her head. "Lieutenant Garvey," she called, sounding as intimidating as she could.

He whirled around and his eyes went wide. "General? That you?"

Nora felt the blood in her face rise and her ears grow hot. "Who else would it be?" she asked, brushing passed the embarrassment as she wrapped the man in a hug. "How're things going?"

"Good! We had about fifteen new recruits join the Minutemen yesterday!"

"Wow! Where'd they come from?" Nora asked, turning to the group. Then she recognized one of them. "Gerald? You came!" She ran to the man and shook his hand.

"MacDonough fired me, so I figured why the fuck not?" he laughed, shaking his head. "I brought along a bunch of the other guards, too. We're done with MacDonough and his bullshit."

"Oh..." Nora muttered, turning to the men and women and staring at them. "Wow... You all..."

"They need their diapers changed, is what!" a familiar, gruff woman's voice called from behind. Nora turned to find an older woman with cropped hair and a beret dressed in military garb with a laser rifle in hand. "So you're the famous General I've heard so much about."

"I'll come check on you guys later," Nora assured Gerald and turned to the woman, straightening her shoulders and sticking out her hand. "General Nora Addy. It's a pleasure to meet a veteran Minuteman such as yourself."

"You're damn right," she growled, ignoring Nora's hand. "I was around back before Joe Becker got himself killed and the idjits took over."

"And then you left?" Nora asked, biting down her irritation.

"I was getting old anyway, seemed like a good time. But then I'm told there's a new General trying to get the Minutemen back on their feet so I figured I'd see what all the fuss was about." She held her laser rifle in the crook of her arm and looked Nora up and down. "So far, I ain't impressed."

"Do you have anythin' important to say, or are you just gonna fuckin' insult the woman tryin' to put the 'Wealth back together? 'Cause that'll fuckin' earn ya a bloody nose." Hancock stepped up beside Nora and glared at Ronnie.

"Easy, Sweetheart," Nora said, patting her husband on the chest. She turned back to the woman and smiled. "Look, if you have something to contribute, I'm all ears."

"First, what's your story? What makes you think anyone even wants the Minutemen back?"

With a sigh, Nora turned to the synth and ghoul beside her, and then at Garvey and the recruits beyond them. "If you've spent any time in any of our settlements, you'd know that the people need us, and appreciate us. In the last year we've signed on twenty-six settlements. With reclaiming the Castle, we're in the best position the Minutemen have been in for quite some time, from my understanding."