"You find those answers you were looking for?" Mandy said as she passed Adam his third drink of the night, Grant having already gone home to speak with his family.
"Yes…" Adam said, tepidly, as he sipped at the drink, putting down a total of 30 caps now for his two extra drinks. "I got answers. Just not the ones I wanted."
"Bad huh?" She asked with a sympathetic smile as she leaned on the counter.
"Worse." Adam chuckled dryly as he gently sipped at his drink.
"Care to share?" Mandy asked, inquisitive. Truthfully Adam was unsure how much he wanted the truth about him being a clone to spread around. He wasn't exactly keeping it a secret, but he wasn't exactly making it public knowledge either. Even if he had come to accept he was a clone, would other people? He didn't know for certain. But this was Mandy, just like Chuck and Salvatore she was here for the start of his journey, through all the rediscovery he had to do before he could set out to head to Midway. He trusted her. And for him, that was enough. Sooner or later people would learn he was a clone, it was inevitable, he was simply not always as careful as he should have been, might at least give her the answers she wants.
"I am a clone, Mandy." He said somberly with a light sigh as Mandy leaned back off the counter.
"A what?" She asked, both confused and uncertain.
"A replicated human, the original Adam probably died when the bombs fell, I am his replica, an exact clone of the original with all his memories intact." Mandy remained silent for a few moments before she poured another drink and then drank it herself.
"Sounds heavy." She chuckled as she looked at Adam.
"It was, for a while." He smiled. "Took a lot of soul searching to figure out who I was and what I am. But I live with it now. I have come to accept it. But it was not easy getting to that point." She nodded.
"I bet." She then leaned on the counter again. "But if you ever doubt yourself again, just remember, there are people that like you." She said as she gently tapped his chest with her finger. "Not the other guy you might be the replica of. You. And that's because of the kind of man you are and the actions you take. So no matter what you may have been in the past, it's who you are now that matters." She smiled, tapped Adam's head with her hand once gently, and then walked off to do work elsewhere in the Inn. Adam was left there alone to sit with her words as he quietly sipped at his drink.
Adam rented his room and a second room for Pearl that night, Mandy was kind enough to grab an extra bed and drag it into the room so Pearl would have more space for sleeping comfortably. Adam enjoyed a nice long hot shower before turning in for the night himself. Tomorrow he had work to do, tonight he could enjoy himself and get a good sleep.
The next day came and Mandy cooked breakfast for Adam for free, she even cooked a large portion of food for free for Pearl, almost exclusively meat, which Pearl ate happily.
Eventually it was time to go, and, as Adam headed with Pearl back to his APC, he was approached by a large number of people including Grant and a few of the guards.
"Adam…" Grant said trepidly. "As I have said yesterday I plan to come with you to help you fight but some of these people have another request…" He said looking off to the group behind him.
"Adam… please… will you let us come with you to your Vault?" A woman from the crowd asked. "I am worried about my child…" She said as she gently ran a hand over her clearly pregnant belly.
"I was worried we would have to flee Chicago altogether but if there is a vault…" Another man in the crowd said.
"Please we all talked this over, we will work hard! We will clean up after ourselves, we will help you do whatever you need doing in the vault, even if it's just until it's safe, let us come with you!" Another citizen begged.
Adam was at a loss, he was not sure what to do about this, he didn't want to outright deny them, but there were a lot of issues. He trusted the people of Naper, but letting them into the vault… wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of keeping his base secure? But then again the last time he was in the Vault it was in a massive state of disarray, it will take him weeks with just his small group to make it usable, but if he had a bunch of hands it would be much much faster. Plus the vault was quite sizable, way more than enough for his little group he had put together, even with this crowd he wouldn't be even close to utilizing all the space. There were pros and cons to both. But mostly, Adam didn't want to leave them out to dry. He knew that the people here were trustworthy but it very much caught him off guard.
Adam let off a sigh.
"Alright, you can come." Adam said to the crowd with a serious tone. "But you will all need to work as you said, and the Vault isn't exactly in a great state at the moment, in addition I need to repair the reactor, which is going to take a lot of effort. But if you are willing to go this far I won't deny you."
The crowd of people seemed relieved and a few jumped for joy. Adam was not sure if it was the right call or not, but having hands to help fix up the Vault did not seem like a bad idea, and truthfully it's not like even if they wanted to steal stuff, they could. The vault had items, sure, but not enough for him to worry about. However, all his rationalization aside, he simply couldn't leave them here when he could maybe save their lives by bringing them with him. He was a softy, he would deal with whatever consequences would come with bringing them with him down the line.
He did recognize a few faces in the crowd of people, namely Eric, which was interesting, but he decided to focus on the task.
"I was planning on leaving soon, are you all ready to leave?" Adam asked the crowd. There was a mix of responses to which he just nodded. "Alright, I'll postpone leaving by an hour, meet me at the north gate and we can set out together." Adam said before the crowd dispersed to get their things, Grant then walked up to Adam.
"I'm sorry about putting this all on your shoulders. People here have been getting anxious since they first learned about Famine, one family already left, trying to escape the city. The rest were talking about a mass migration or worse." He frowned. "I think those that come to your vault will behave, I know it's not what you expected but I promise they are just people looking for some safety." Adam nodded in understanding.
"I don't blame them… if I was in their shoes I would probably do much the same." Adam shrugged. Grant smiled and then patted Adam's shoulder.
"You are a good man, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"Thanks Grant."
"Well, since a crowd will be going with you I think me and the 3 who will be coming to your fight will join with the convoy, I might be crashing at your vault for a few days if you don't mind. Just until it's time for forces to gather." Adam nodded.
"That's fine, we can all move out together."