The war was getting crazier, and the threat of total atomic annihilation growing more worrisome every day. Thankfully, with all his wealth and resources, Michael was able to secure a spot for his family in Vault 111. After a lot of pleading, Michael got a spot for Trevor as well. The family took a plane to Boston, and now here they all were, getting off the elevator, following the directions of the Vault-Tec staff. The place had a very science-lab sort of feel to it. Trevor already felt uncomfortable. He was sad that Michael couldn't get Ron, Wade, or his mother into the vault, but Trevor would learn to live with it. He was also sad to have to say goodbye to TP Enterprises, but again, just a price he would have to pay to save his own skin.
Trevor followed the De Santas and the other residents through the underground compound, herded like sheep. They were given blue vault pajamas to put on, all with yellow 111s on their backs. It was quite comfy. Eventually they came to a row of pods big enough to house people. The doctor said they were decontamination pods, and they must all step inside of them. Trevor thought this was really weird. He wasn't comfortable stepping into this thing. It looked like a coffin with an arm chair, or a shuttle and they would send him deeper underground once he stepped in.
He thought of shouting at the doctor and making a big scene, but then he felt Michael's hand grasp his shoulder firmly. He looked over his shoulder at Michael.
"Don't, T," he said. "Now's really not the time." It was as if he could read Trevor's mind.
"Don't know what you're talking about, Mikey," Trevor replied innocently.
"Look, I know this is rough," Mike continued, "We're all on edge right now. But everything is okay. We're all safe down here. Let's just do whatever this prick says, and then we'll get ourselves settled in."
Trevor smiled and nodded, feeling reassured. "I'm with ya, Mike!" He held out his hand, and Mike grasped it.
Jimmy and Tracey were both barely keeping it together. Trevor went over to them and gave them a each a tight hug, and that seemed to calm them down somewhat. He offered Amanda a hug, but she… politely declined.
Trevor stepped into the decontamination pod, right across from the one Michael was getting into. The lid closed down over him. He felt trapped. The doctor walked over and stood before him.
"This pod will decontaminate and depressurize you before we head deeper into the vault," the doctor said. "Just relax."
Trevor sighed, and saw Michael give him a thumbs-up across the hall. Trevor flipped him off.
"Resident: secure," a soothing computerized voice announced. "Occupant vitals: normal.
Trevor heard a hissing sound. It suddenly got very cold in the pod. Was this how decontamination worked? He noticed ice starting to form on the window. He suddenly found he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He felt terrified. His entire vision turned a bright white.
"Procedure complete," the computer continued, "in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"
He was awoken when he heard the computer speak again. "Manual override initiated. Cryogenic stasis suspended."
Trevor's vision slowly started to return. Everything was still white and blurry but his eyes soon adjusted. He saw someone in a white HAZMAT suit walk past Trevor's pod.
"This is the one, here," a woman's voice said as she pointed to the pod beside Trevor's. He couldn't see whose pod it was from his angle.
A second figure walked past Trevor's view. A bald man in a dark shirt and appeared to have a robotic arm.
"Open it," the man said in a gruff voice.
Trevor heard a latch being lifted and the pod door opened. Trevor could hear Jimmy's voice, coughing as he stumbled out of the pod, the ice on him melting. He slowly got to his feet as he caught his breath.
"Woah!" Jimmy gasped. "What's going on? Who are you?"
"Take it easy, kid," the man said. "Everything is going to be fine."
"Please follow us this way, James," the woman said.
"Woah woah woah, wait a second," Jimmy stammered. "Who are you guys? What about my parents and my sister?"
"They will be fine here," the woman answered. "This way, please." She gestured the way out, out of Trevor's view.
"No, wait," Jimmy stuttered. "I'm not leaving without my family."
Trevor heard a gun being cocked. "Get. Moving." The man said sternly. "I'm only going to say it once."
"Woah! Woah! Okay man, just be cool," Jimmy stammered. "I'm going. I'll go." Despite his hysteria, he started walking in the direction they wanted him to go. All three of them passed Trevor's view. Trevor just barely got a look at the man's bald, scarred, stubbled face as they all walked away.
Who the fuck are you? Trevor wanted to scream, but he couldn't speak. His body still felt to weak from being frozen. Where are you taking Jimmy? He weakly banged on the door.
"Cryogenic sequence reinitialized," the computer said. Trevor felt his pod freeze over once more.
"Critical failure in cryogenic array," the computer said. "All residents must vacate immediately."
The door opened, and Trevor stumbled out, finally free. He coughed, trying to catch his breath. He felt frail, stiff, like anything could snap his body which had been frozen and unmoving for so long. After a minute, he stood up.
What happened? What freed him? Where had those bastards taken Jimmy?
He turned to all the other pods. He opened Michael's pod first, and was horrified to find he had died. No pulse. He was a frozen corpse. Trevor hurriedly opened Amanda's pod, then Tracy's but found them dead as well. Everyone in the vault had died. He was the sole survivor. He fell to his knees and cried, grieving the loss of this family he had considered his own.
He had nothing. Everyone he knew was dead. All except for one person, or so he hoped.
He rose to his feet, then looked at Michael, then Amanda and Tracey, and made them a promise.
"I'll find who did this, and I'll get Jimmy back."
Author's Note: Updated. Originally I was going to have Michael play the role of Shaun, but then after one reviewer made a comment about it, I thought about it and decided Jimmy would fit the role better, growing up into an old man that Trevor wouldn't recognize, with a synth of him as a teenager, so I changed it.