At this point, I wasn't talking to Mrs. Sandy who was a loving mother but to Dr. Sandara Nichols—who was still a loving mother—but a medical professional who was highly regarded in her field and would put aside everything else to give the best for her loved ones even though she was the one suffering for it.
This was the type of person I'd give everything for because they so deserved it and I believe anyone's hard work should be recognized in one way or another.
But as much as she wanted everything to be perfect, we should meet halfway because she was talking to me.
Not to brag in any way or to metaphorically swing my big dick around, I'm the fucking Nerd in the Apocalypse who has a wide range of skills, several "titles", plenty of achievements, and insane connections to the regular folk, the government, and the criminal underworld when the world fucking ended—and I have more fucking pull than the Head of the Cardiology and the ER Department.
I didn't mean to shit in her in any way—because anyone would be fucking lucky and should be grateful to have her in their fold—but even if she was part of the 1% of the top rankers in her field, her particular repertoire was too specialized to be able to live on her own.
To be honest, I was somewhat like her with my particular set of skills but going into the real world before the world ended made me realize I needed to expand my skillset as much as I could while forming connections with other people—especially with people like her in this instance.
As bad as this may sound, I need her value as a medical practitioner more than anything else she could offer because I only know what I've read in books about what she could do—or honestly speaking, completely jack shit—while the same thing could be said about her if we were comparing each other—and that's what was beautiful about forming connections with people.
'It's a you scratch my back, I scratch yours type of situation...'
Though I still answered her with respect, "Dr. Nichols... I agree on that, I do, but you have to understand that even though I occupy a few universities and know people who also occupy a few universities in their territories, I lack the professors and the teachers to give Chloe a full-on college education but—"
She cut in while looking displeased, "Then—"
"Let me finish, please. I lack the means to give Chloe the college education she deserves but— she's also studying to be a doctor while being a varsity in swimming, right? But let's be honest here, if you'd take a look at this place's current curriculum in medicine, how much do you think we should take off the list?
When you studied here for a decade plus extra, how many things in that damned curriculum did you think was a fucking waste of time and money?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Umm... Dr. Nichols, I didn't want to say this but I'm not barring you from speaking—"
She suddenly threw me a cutesy glare, "Hold on! I'm thinking!"
"Ah... M-My bad..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"As an example, I studied Information Technology in this place, and at least half of the things we studied were dated and most of the things that led me to have a job when I graduated were things I taught myself—"
She let out a sigh as she looked at me pensively, "Agreed, there's a lot to shave off and I do understand your point but you can't just teach yourself things from the medical field—"
"But you and our doctors can."
"What do you mean?"
"Yeah, s-shut up..."
"But before I forget, what about our little arrangement?"
"What arrangement?"
"I don't really like to bring this up now, but since our 'donor' kicked the bucket, do we have a replacement—"
"Pssh. Don't even worry about it. I found more than ten people and four of them are around the same age as that kid. They're fairly active too so that's a plus, so if the General calls you over for a chat, just tell him that and he'll shut up. He only cares about his kid besides his real job but most parents are like that.
That's a few things off my back just from that but I'm only regretting not being able to give more things to the ones he—"
"You didn't do anything wrong and you shouldn't be the one paying for his sins. Even if he's not here anymore and somehow paid for it in his own way, I'm gonna assume you don't think that it's quite enough but what are you gonna do with this house and your cars? If you know, you decided to actually switch bases..."
"Bold of you to assume we'd drive off to the sunset with you—"
I chuckled, "Don't lie, you've already decided, and bold of you to deny such an invitation with all the benefits that come along with it. But yeah, if you really want to give them one last payoff, you could pawn this house and your cars—because you'll ride with me anyway for your and Chloe's safety—and give them the credits they'll need while shaving a few off the patients you'd be leaving.
Don't worry, we'll provide you with anything you'd need—even another car—even though the hospital is within walking distance, and you'll only have to prepare your personal items plus extra."
Chloe cut in, "W-When are we l-leaving anyway? I-I do take some time packing..."
"Today."
"Today?!"
"The sooner the better but we'll probably spend the night in Quinn's place before setting off to Cuervo Heights and using the ship to get home. I'm gonna tell you straight-up that those places are way~ different from this holy land of sorts but you're with me so you don't have anything to worry about.
Though I'll advise you not to leave my side or any in my group just to be safe because some people do be crazy around those parts..."
Mimi added, "A-Also... I a-assumed this was gonna happen one way or another so I prepared all of the forms needed and y-you only need to sign them... Once you do, I'll just have to give them to the director a-and that's that..."
Dr. Nichols couldn't believe her ears, "You little— Haa... fine, you all got me. How much time do we have left?"
"I'm waiting for the summons right now but I'll advise you two to pack up your bags and head over to Ron and Allyssa's— do you know them perchance?"
She nodded, "I know Allyssa. She approached me a few times regarding the changes she wanted to implement here and even though I agree with her, it's gonna be impossible with these people, realistically speaking. It will be better if she comes with us."
"I agree, but she probably set on doing things her way. But if she comes with us, I'll still take them both, no questions asked."
"Then that's a conversation for another day. Do we drive over to their house after?"
"Yeah—"
"And then what?"
"If the General takes too long, we'll drive over there and finish whatever he wants to talk to me about before going our own way. We'll be back on the road once again and hopefully, we reach Quinn's place before sunset."
With that said, the two asked a few more questions before we bid goodbye for the moment, but I still needed to finalize a few more things with my friends and a certain someone who wanted to be set free from his father's grasp.
But yeah, the easiest way to make contact with all of them was through Andy so I picked up my radio to try to reach him first.