That was what ran through my mind as I fell, surely to my death. Behind me there were men dressed in scraps of armor, pulling the triggers of shotguns and machine guns and a few handguns. There were at least thirty of them, and when faced with the choice of jumping off a cliff that fell into eternity, or facing them, I jumped.
And so I fell, wind ripping past me, my heart pounding. Why the hell would it be pounding if I had cast myself to this willingly? Jeez, the human body can be a real retard sometimes.
I hit cold tiles. I groaned, a sleepy mumble of thoughts that weren't quite words yet. The smooth checked floor was cold against my face. It was pretty relaxing actually, at least until the pain from the fall slammed into me. I jolted upright, both hands to my throbing head. For a second I was confused by where I had woken up, on the floor of the Cafe on the third level. But then the memories of last night started to come back to me, and I continued to rub my throbing head, now a headache being added to the bruises I was sure would turn up later. I had been waiting for Carmine, and when she didn't show up, I just couldn't bear to leave. Some part of me had wanted to do nothing more than stay there forever, waiting for her, and I had obliged it, and ended up falling asleep.
And look where it had gotten me. A headache, bruises, cold, hungry, and probably late for my morning shifts. Little bitch had probably been fooling around with somebody else last night anyways. This is why I always left notes to self saying not to commit myself too deeply to one way of looking at things, it always ended up with me having a headache. Still, it may have been worth it to get to feel the momentary bliss of having a girl say yes to going out with me. I climbed back up into the soft leather booth chair, and layed my head down on the table. Screw work today. I had enough sick days piled up to take a month off, so heck, maybe I would today. But as if to tell me off right then and there, my pip boy began to ring its annoying bell that woke me up every morning. So I rose, walking back to my room. It took me a good fifteen minutes to get there, so there wouldn't be any time for breakfast, but I decided to take a quick shower, to let the water cool my head.
Water poored down on me, Icy and cold. Fucking vault. There was always something wrong with it, whether it was that the water was broken or the food processor had decided that everything should taste like broccolli for this whole week. I banged my head against the wall of the shower, sighing again. Life sucks. But it was home, and fore some reason I loved it. Then I was out, pulling on my leather jumpsuit and pipboy, having to pull on the glove a few times before the right fingers went thought the right holes. I walked out the door and reported to my post. I knew it was going to be a great day when the first thing a student asked was why another was eating paste. Kids are obvious and plain about what they said.
"'Cause he's stupid, Sarah."
So was I. She seemed satisfied with this awnser and skipped back to her desk in the front row. The lesson began and ended just like any other, starting with history; essentially a list of how and why America was so damned patriotic and would have won the war if China hadn't gotten in a cheap blow. In all truth I would have loved to tell the children the truth, that we were just as bad as the 'Evil' Chinese communists, extorting third world countries to keep our frail 'American Dreams's together. But I didn't. It wasn't part of my job description, and it probably would have just confused the hell out of them. The lesson went on to science, then grammar, then mathmatics. And then it was over, and I was free to wander about the vault untill curfew, which was still five hours away.
Now, I'm not saying that I hate the vault... Oh wait, yeah I am. But in truth I'd begun to love it too. The cold steel walls that kept out the bad things of the waste, the Air conditioning and refreshing units that kept us alive;even though they woke me up every night. Even the children that pestered and annoyed me every day of every week (Excepting sunday), had their own small soft spot in my heart. I had grown used to it all, and all of my hate for these things slowly faded away. But there was something I truely did hate. The Ideals. Vault 48, the vault named after the fifty three states of old; though that was probably coincidence. Everything in the vault was propoganda that they pumped into the peoples systems; Posters hung through out the vault, proclaiming the old worlds values and how they were what we would remain true too, and how great America was.
Unfortunantly, As a teacher, I had clearance to the more... Informative history texts and files. They were much more true than what we taught the children, and spoke with neither hate nor love toward any country. It was through these I had learned the truth of things in the world. Or at least in my little world. A den of patriotic feelings, cultivated by lies that I had been forced to teach. Not even the overseer knew all the truths that I did. Sure she probably knew that America hadn't been all it was cracked up to be, but she wasn't the type of person who sat down with history texts and poured over them like I was. She was strong and couragous, and even though she had inherited her position though birthright, she had earned it too, though careful and rightous use of her powers as Overseer. She was quite a looker too; blond hair that had never been cut, braided around her face, flowing past her shoulders, and a curvatious body that made me nearly start to salivate.
Damn it! Stop getting off track. Stupid brain. Let's just say that her tight leather vault 48 uniform left very, very little to the imagination.
I bet she even knew my name, even though we'd only been introduced once or twice. She'd been in the grade above me, always the shining star of her class, while I'd been... more of a dull mud planet. My only skill lay in retaining history. That's about as far as it goes.
I passed though the grey coridors of shiny gray steel, hands in the pockets of my suit. I hunched over a little, trying to look like as little of a threat as possible. It was a habit I'd developed, since my 6'1" height stuck out a little in a vault where the next tallest was 5' 11", and the next was 5'8". I passed by people I knew, not to say that there were more than a handfull in the vault I didn't. Being a teacher had that effect. You tended to meet a lot of people, whether as students or conserned parents.
"Hey there! , right?" A clear voice rang out. I knew whose voice it was, since it was on the speakers every morning, and she said the pledge with us though a recording every day in the classroom. Her blond hair flipped and curled as she moved. The Overseer. Wait what? I nodded dumbly as she continued talking. "I wanted to see you later. I know you know more about the history of our great country than anyone else, and I want to ask you a few questions."
"Um, okay, I guess? Are you sure, er, aren't there any others more qualified than me?" My voice faltered as it left my throat, and stumbled on the words. Wasn't every day that I got to talk to the Overseer, And suddenly the thoughts from a few minutes ago came back to me. Stupid brain.
"Nope, not in all the vault. I've seen you reading those old texts, even while eating. Everybody says you know everything about history. Stop by my office at 18 hundred hours. See you then." She smiled as she walked off, hips swaying in a way my obnoxious brain couldn't help but point out.
What just happened? My first time talking to a girl that wasn't half my age in practically a month, not including the deli sandwitch girl or over a terminal, and she not only asked me out, but to her room, on an evening when neither of us would have anything the next day, do to my teaching duties and her ability to do whatever the hell she wanted.
I sighed, then continued my walk down the hall, the gray walls started to seem opressive again. Naturally. I bet she really did just want to talk about history. Just wanted to probe my mind to find out the truth of what had happened in some unimportant place hundreds of years ago. Then my smile returned. Actually, that didn't sound half bad. History was one of the few things I enjoyed, and the only thing above that on the list was spending time with a pretty girl, and since I got to do both I got pretty excited. There wasn't a downside to this equation. Either I got to spend a night romantically involved with the most beautiful woman in the vault, or at least in my opinion which was what mattered, or I go to spend it with the most beautiful woman in the vault talking about my favorite subject. Win-Win.
My jaw had practicaly unhinged itself, because of how wide my grin was, by time I got back down to the cafe where I'd spent the night. The memories soured my face for a few moments, but my smile lept right back onto my face as pretty quickly.
"Gonna spend another night here? Maybe I should bring in a matress." A beefy armed, and angry eyed chef wearing a typical chef hat said to me, cleaver in one hand and a slab of meat in the other. Now if I was anybody else in the world, with exception of my dad, I probably would have pissed myself at the sight. Fortunantly for the floor I was me, and I had grown up with the guy.
"Hey Chef. Nice knife." I said nonchalauntly as I took a seat at the bar. Chef grinned at me, eyes seeming to stare right down to my soul.
"Like it? I just had it sharpened. Nice to see that damned over there work for his keep for once.
The Hovering in the corner beeped angrily, speaking in a shrill computerized voice, "Hey! I do plenty around here! When was the last time you saw a radroach? Never, that's right, because I torch 'em before they get within a hundred yards of this place!" He raised his flame tossing appendage to emphsize his point.
Chef just laughed. "Last time I saw one? This morning!" He wagged his knife to point to a box full of dismembered radroach. The unit beeped indignantly, then floated back to his corner and promptly shut off.
My eyebrow rose. "Uh, Chef, not that I'm questioning your cooking or anything, but whats up with the box of radroach meat?"
He put the knife down and pulled a beer from the fridge unit embeded in the wall. "To feed the hounds. They can't tell it from normal meat, and they much prefer it over the stale pellets that the food production units in the underwing puts out." I shrugged. What Chef did with his robotic hounds was his buisness. I'd never really liked the things myself, robotic parts clicking, their brains easily visible, always looking at you like they'd eat you in a moments notice if their HUD read you as a non-friendly. Which they would. I nodded thanks to Chef as he handed me the beer. So what if I was a teacher? Drinking was one of the only releases this vault had, and it was my right as an American to drink!
Geez, look at me. I'm starting to sould like the people from the old holovids. Oh well, I did what I did best;Shrugged and chugged.
"Sorry about last night," I said, almost to myself, "I just didn't want to leave. Some part of me wanted to wait for her."
Chef chuckled, his eyes never changing. They had always been angry looking, as long as I could remember. "No harm done. But you really should start to get home before curfew."
"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled. I took a second look around the cafe. There weren't many people here, just a older man drinking coffee and reading a newspaper and a couple sitting by one of the viewports into the magma lake that sat right next to the vault. I had heard that they found it on accident building this place, then, to lazy to change anything, just kept on building right next to it. Meh, it's probably what I would have done too.
I stayed and chatted with Chef for a while; Him, the unit, and me all laughing to jokes we'd thought up during the day. I'd never met a bot like that in my whole life. He was at least two hundred and twenty years old, and yet all he seemed to use his collected wisdom to do was come up with better jokes than us. And that he did. Before I knew it, it was already 1730, so I scooted off to my room to try to brush the smell of alcohol out of my mouth, and change into some less... worn clothing. People always commented on how my Vault suit looked more like a Utility suit that anything else. I hesitated to tell them that it truely was a utility suit. It was just so comfortable I couldn't stop wearing it.
But, that comfort would have to wait for another day. I stripped off the worn leather and sweaty undershirt, and took a quick shower, more of a hosing down than a real bath, but I didn't have time for it. I'd spent just a bit to long with Chef and the . The cold water washed over me again, but this time, instead of chilling me to the bone, my new mirth kept me warm. I could barely remember the last time I'd been alone with a pretty woman. I got out of the shower and put on the fresh leather outfit I'd layed out, checking the clock on my pip boy as I did so. 1756. Nice. That left me just just enough time to get to her quarters exactly on time. If I ran.
I ran.
I checked my pip boy clock as I got to the steel yellow striped door, small words saying 'OVerseer' just beneath to the overly large bolded forty eight, and it told me that I was just on time. Even so, I decided to wait a few minutes to catch my breath. Didn't want to go in looking like a total idiot. Plus, I'm pretty sure women like guys who are fashionably late. I hoped.
I knocked on the hard steel door, and it rose shockingly fast.
"You're late." I heard, as she grabbed my collar and pulled me into her room. So much for fashionably late. She looked terrible.
Well, not terrible. That was probably impossible. But compared to when she requested me just a few hours ago, she had gone to hell. Her hair was fussed up, and her eyes were red. Had she been crying? What the hell? Her vault suit that was normally all perfectly giglined and orderly was wrinkly and off balance. She walked to a felt couch in the middle of her quarters, next to a large coffee table and more than a couple of book cases. There was clutter everywhere. Hadn't her mom taught her too pick up? Shit. Her mom and dad were dead. Right. Not going to bring that one up. As she walked pulling me behind her, she began to explain why she had requested my presence.
"You see, I was trying to sleep yesterday, but I couldn't. I practically never can now days. I generally get away with sleeping in my office when I nod off, but I wanted to get some rest anyways. But when I decided it was hopless, I walked over to my terminal, trying to see if any issues had come up that I could ponder over, or any work to do, but I'd already done all of that the night before. So I, being bored, began to dig though some of the old history holovids, and texts."
Shit. Please tell me this is heading somewhere else than I think it is.
"And I found something I really didn't... like."
Fuck.
"You know more about history than anybody in the vault, right?" She turned to me, and gestured towards the couch as she took a seat herself.
"Well, I guess." I shrugged. I was trying to act non-chalant, but my brain was burning. I knew where this was going. I wanted to run out of that room, tell her that what she had found was wrong. But for some reason, I just couldn't; something about her just made me want to tell her the truth, and hope she could accept it.
"Good. So tell me, why did America support the panamanian revolution? Even when they knew that hundreds would die in the finging?" Her crystal blue eyes stared at me. In any other situation I would have told her how beautiful they were, but unfortunantly for me, I'm me, and like hell would I ever get into the circumstances where that would be acceptable. Damn it.
"They knew it would be the most beneficial thing. They knew that with that, they would be able to easily move their navy from one side of the world than the other." I shifted uncomfortably on the couch. She frowned and looked down. Then she searched over the coffee table with her eyes, and snatched up a magazine. She flipped through a page and pointed to a small picture in the corner.
"So why did they try to keep cuba under military rule? According to this article the Cubans hated America, even though it became the 53rd state later." She got closer to me, I could feel her warmth even though her leather suit and mine. Damn it brain, stop that shit; she's obviously going though a hard time, learning that America isn't all it was made out to be. But she was so soft...
"Uh, well, they really wanted it as a buffer from the east, at least that's their main excuse. Other than that it was a wealth of sugar and cheap labor, with beautiful land that the government would have made millions selling." I said pretty cofidently. I might not know how to comfort a woman going through a breakdown, but I knew my history. I think I'd rather have the other one right now though. Sigh.
"Huh. So they just wanted it because they would benefit them. Not because the spanish were oppressing them?" Her eye's seemed to sparkle with hope. Fuck. I was getting tired of shutting down her dreams.
"Well, I'm not saying that that didn't play a role in it, but from what I've read, the only real reason that that was ever brought up was to turn the citizens into bloodthirsty warmongers, who would excuse anything the government did as long as they thought that they would come out looking like heroes."
"Oh." She sighed too. "So what was it when we invaded Japan?"
"We wanted a station in Asia to run it from."
"And with Thailand?"
"Same thing. We wanted more control. Once we had a taste of ImpeCarminelism, we just couldn't stop."
"What about with Brazil? The people where truely suffering there!"
"Yeah, but what wasn't suffering was us when we got control over all of the uranium deposits underneath their rainforests."
"What about Greenland?"
"We benefited."
"Puerto Rico?"
"ImpeCarminelism."
"North Australia?"
"Now that, was a lot of gold."
She crumpled. Everything she had ever known was just torn from underneath her. Her America, the patriotic feelings that this vault was built on, suddenly died in her. She sobbed. She just sat there on the couch for hours, her face in her hands, just crying. It was probably much worse for her than it had been for me. I'd never really cared about America, plus I'd always assumed that it had darker motives. There were to many gaps in our textbooks for America's economy to make any sense otherwise. But her... She'd been raised on this. Her mother, her mother's mother, they'd all been raised on the knowlage that America was the greatest country in the world, that it was brave, and couragious, and strong; and they had modeled themselves after it. She probably had had it so branded into herself that America was perfect that learning all of this was like chopping off a arm. She could live, but she'd never be the same. Damn it brain. I knew she might not be the same, but I could hope. I didn't try to comfort her with false words, or even softer truths. I just held her shoulders, and let her cry herself to sleep.
I lowered her down on to the couch softly, trying not to wake her. I tried not to think about what she might think now, or how she might change. Instead, I went to her bedroom, and pulled a blanket out from inside the chest that held the bed mateCarminels. I set it over her shoulders softly, tucking in as best I could without making any noise. I shut the lights of then I made my way out through the pitch black of the room. I walked to the large metal door, which made far more noise openning than I'd have liked, and began to step out, when I heard a voice in the darkness.
"I'm sorry." Her voice echoed thoughout the room. It wasn't loud, or said with much force, but it was the only sound in the air. Heck, maybe she had said it in her sleep.
"Don't worry about it. I'll always be here when you need me." I whispered back. The vault brand automatic door came down with a clang.
I walked through a cold, pitch black hall. I could hear the sounds of steel doors opening and closing all around me, but I could see nothing, and all I could feel was the cold air around me. Then there was a light off in the distance, faded, not bright enough to illuminate more than a few feet around it, and it glowed the yellow of vault emergency lighting. Where the light hit, I could see a small child, holding a skull. Then as I watched, he smiled, and his smile grew and grew until his face ripped, his smile continuing to grow, then there were mouthes on the walls. Bright gnashing teeth filled the darkness, there were hundreds, thousands, and all of them were comming for me. There was no one to save me. I was all alone, and I screamed as the gaping jaws ripped me to shreds.
My heart beat furiously in my chest as I all but sprang from my bed. I had to escape, the teeth, they were... not there. Just a dream. Again. I covered my face with my hands and sighed. There was nothing here. No monster in the darkness waiting to snatch me up. Sometimes I wished there was though. I checked my pip boy, looking at the chronometer. 0336. I'd only been sleeping for a couple of hours. Another sigh slipped from my lips. I hoped that I hadn't screamed during the dream. I did that sometimes. It was one of the numerous reasons I was glad to have separate quarters from my parents. I guess that was a good thing about having a vault that was a few hundred under it's maximum capacity.
Vault 48 had been designed to hold an amazing two thousand people. Not that that would have really helped all of the people who weren't able to get to the vaults in time, or the over 331 million people who wouldn't have been able to fit into them. I'd done the math, and that was assuming that each vault had the capacity to hold a thousand people, and that they'd finnished building all 150 vaults. Another thing that I knew that others in the vault remained to be blissfully ignorant of.
Oh god. It all came back to me, the memories of the night before. I'd told the Overseer what was really happening, and she'd seemed pretty messed up about it. Shit.
Double oh god. What I'd said... so lame. There I was with an oppertunity to say any number of heroic and majestic things, things that might have made her see me in a different light all together, and I'm pretty sure I just friend-zoned myself. "Why in the hell am I so lame..." I muttered in the darkness, before rolling into a comfortable position and falling back to the wonderful oblivion of sleep in my warm, comfortable bed.
Waking up again was not nearly as pleasant. The bed was warmer, I was comfortable, and everything was peaceful. Except for my Pipboy screeching at me. I slammed my fist down on my Pipboy bearing wrist, but immediatly regretted it. Jesus, what did they make these things out of? With my right hand throbing from the impact, I rolled off my bed and stood up in one swift and effecient manner I'd perfected over the years. Sure I wasn't smart, but at least I could get out of my bed effeciently. The vents put on quite a show of making as much noise as they could, and shaking violently to pump out air before going still. Seemed like every piece of machinery in here was going to break. I glared at my Pipboy to try to find out what had woken me up, after all, it was a sunday, and was suprised to find a message from the Overseer.
Meet me in the library. ASAP.
Wow, Nice detail. I just hoped she wouldn't try to go through the extensive histories in the library just to dig up even more of America's dark secerets. My hopes were made to be dashed anyways, so why not. The time read 1130, which I decided was enough sleep for one day. So, I picked my Utility suit up off the floor, and pulled it on. I would be damned if I was going to end up smashing the rest of what little pride she had left in our vault and America, but I'd be double damned if I did it wearing something uncomfortable.
And so once again I set out thought the dark and cold steel halls of my vault, not knowing that it would be my last, for a long, long time. I passed by the reactors and brightly lighten signes that spoke of where to go. What idiot would ever need them though, having grown up her already? But the halls and the lights and sounds of grumbling air proccessors calmed me down. It was peaceful. Roughly. I sighed as I came to the doors of the library. I had no real reason to obey the Overseer, since every real decision she made had to be put through the citizens before it was enforced at all, and I somehow doubt that she'd have put a request like this through, and doubted even more that anybody would have given it more than a passing glance before they denied it, petty as it was. But I still pressed the large button that opened the door and stepped through.
She was looking a lot better than she had the night before; she'd cleaned up her hair and put on a cleaner and unwrinkled suit. She sat at a hard metal table surrounded by books, trying to read more than one at once, it seemed. Her eye's followed me with a unsettling furiocity as I entered the library, and took a seat across from her, plopping myself down in the rough and hard metal chair. I immediatly found myself regretting leaving the comfort of my bed.
"You're late, again." She said, her eyes never leaving mine. I shrugged.
"I only woke up about ten minutes ago." I said, putting my hands behind my head and leaning back in the chair, the front legs quivering ever so much off the ground. She scowled at me again. Why the hell did she look so angry?
"I guess that makes me feel a little better about what I've done." She sighed and then rubbed her temples. What had she done? I was opening my mouth to say something when she elaborated. "I deleted all questionable files from the vault database." I gaped, front legs of my chair slammed down to the ground.
"YOU WHAT?" I shouted, drawing the attention of the libraCarminen, who gave me a dissaproving look as she put her index finger to her lips. God damn it. I started again in a hushed voice. "You did what?"
"I deleted all of the files that made America look like the bad guy, that way the next Overseer and teacher won't be able to see them and they won't ever question america in any way." She explained calmly, fire still burning in her eyes.
"Wait, wait wait," I said, now I was really confused. Sometimes, I wished I was smarter. Okay, a lot of times. "What do you mean, 'Next Overseer and techer'?"
Her furious glare turned to one of slight dissapointment, like a father after his son fails to hit a home run in the final inning. She said to me simply, "We're leaving the Vault."
Just like that. Like it was the simplist thing in the world. Even though for all our lives, we'd been taught that the radiation of the waste would kill us all if we let it. Even though we'd been told that the radiation had mutated the once glorious people and animals of our great country into blood thirsty monsters that would destroy everything we stood for without a seconds hesitation or notice. "WHAT!" I shouted again, only to earn another annoyed look from the libraCarminen, who promptly turned her nose at me and walked away. I guess that was a perk from being with the Overseer, nobody wanted to mess with you.
"It's for the best. Without us, all of these seditious thoughts will be brought down, and our vault will go back to normal. Happy, and blissfully ignorant of America's faults." She said matter of factly. Her self confidence was starting to piss me off.
"Yeah, I can understand that, but why you? You could just forget this ever happened and live your life in ignorance yourself? And I sure as hell could! I've already been doing it for three years!" I was just a step away from slamming my fist down on the table. LibraCarminen's scorn be damned!
"First, no, I can't. I'll never be the same. Second, have you looked at your progress and personality testings for the last three years? Every score of yours has been dropping. The charts say you'll probably be unstable by the end of the year. And all of this started when you gained access to the information that... Doesn't matter any more. So, we're leaving now. You have three hours. Meet me at the door on the ground level. Don't talk to anyone, I'll take care of the excuses as to why were gone." She rose from the chair and took her stack of books with her. Now I could understand what she'd been doing. She'd been finding all of the books with informaqtion that could have been considered seditious. Fuck. FUCK FUCK FUCK. She meant it. If I didn't leave who knew what she'd do.
Meh, a voice in my head said, not like we ever really liked it here. Maybe it was right. Wait, hell no it wasn't! I'd just started to like it here! What about Chef, and Mr. Handy? What about Mom and Dad! Hell, I'd even miss Carmine! Even DeGrasse, the school bully who'd thrown me down a flight of stairs! This was my home! And, and... it sucked. I stopped fighting. I layed my head down on the table for a few minutes. What the hell was going on...? Then I rose from the table, accidentally knocking a book onto the floor. It was a manual on survival in predicted wastland conditions. I took it, then walked out of the library. Three hours wasn't a lot of time to get my stuff together.
Nothing like leaving everything you know and love behind to make you realize how little you knew and loved. I mean, I'd really didn't want to leave my dad, or my mom, or Chef, but that was about it on a list of people who I thought would even notice I'd be gone. Oh well. I packed my meager belongings in a small rucksack. A couple BB pellets, about thirty stimpacks (I'd always cleared out the ones in the First Aid boxes. They'd be replaced by the seemingly endless supply from the Infirmary anyways, and I let the blame fall on jerks who deserved it.), a few shots of Med-X, a couple of bobbypins, a 'Vigilante' Comic book, and a picture of my mom and me as a baby. That was all I had. Next to that lay a baseball bat, which I planned on taking. I mean, who knew what we'd find out there?
I found a bottle of Wonderglue, and two rolls of Ducttape, and added them to my bag. The I thought about it for a second, and pulled out the wonderglue and one of the rolls of Duct tape and pulled off my Utility suit. I grabbed a bunch of metal scrap that was lying around and got to work aggumenting my suit. When I was done, I looked at it and grinned proudly. I wasn't sure how well it'd block bullets, but it definantly looked a good deal more badass. I donned my newly awesome armor and slung my pack over one shoulder, grabbed my bat from where it lay, and started up to ground floor.
I've told you before that Vault 48 was big, but I was just beginning to truely appreciate just how big. And by appreciate I mean start sweating because of it as I ran to catch my appointment with the Overseer. Or not Overseer. What the hell was I supposed to call her now? Overseers didn't retire, they normally just died. Meh, I'd ask later. I arrived at the massive steel gear door about three minutes before three hours was up, and still was met with a familiar greeting. I ignored it only because of how huge that gear was. I mean, holy shit, did they want to block a nuclear missile directly? Oh, right. They did.
"You're late." She said, tossing me a pistol, looking more tough than I would have ever imagined in her fully decked out pre war security armor. Way to make me feel insecure about my armor. The pistol landing in my arms was rather supprising, and I just stood and stared at her for a few seconds.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, flipping the pistol around in my hands, looking over its worn metal and grip.
She rolled her eyes. "You know, point and shoot? It's really not hard." She mimed out the actions of aiming and pulling the trigger for me.
"Yeah, I caught that, but why the hell are you giving it to me? I've never really used one before." I explained, still examining the pistol. Seemed like a 9mm. Judging by the size of the hole. Okay, I have no idea what type of gun I was holding.
This seemed to catch her by suprise. "Really? I thought parents all taught their kids?"
"Not mine. They were more pasifists. Peaceful protest and all." I said, putting the pistol into my bag.
"Hippies..." She murmered under her breath. "Okay, let's get rolling!" She said excitedly as she started working at the consoles that controlled that massive gear. Holy sit. I still couldn't get over just how massive it was.
"Wait, so what did you tell everybody? About us leaving?" I questioned. This I at least wanted to hear, I couldn't imagine anything that would explain both of us dissapearing so suddenly.
"Thats obvious. I just hacked into the reactor subframe and manipulated the cameras to show us meeting down there to have some... adult fun... then slipping and falling into the magma lake." She blushed as she said adult fun. Cute. Wait what?
"You did what?" I shouted again. "You made it seem like we were, um... well..." I stopped talking. Actually that seemed like a pretty awesome note to leave on. Leaving my family and friends thinking that I was fucking the most powerful woman in the vault. Not to mention making everyone else jelous.
As I muttered to myself she finished up with the controls and pulled a lever, and the gear started to pull back, then was rolled aside by the most powerful hydrolic machinery I'd ever seen. Once again, Holy shit. "Ok, I've rigged up the sensors so that as long as the door isn't opened for more than ten minutes, it won't register it as ever being oppened. Are you ready?" She asked, as she put a pistol into a holster on her side, then shouldered a rifle.
"Meh. I guess." I said, as I walked out into that cold, damp, rock cavern, where fifty feet away there was a broken and battered wooden door with light streaming through it. I stepped out of the Vault, not knowing what lay ahead, not knowing where we were going, or even really why. My last thoughts as we both put our hands on that wooden door handle, even as the gigantic gear pulled into place behind us, was:
'I need to be more assertive,'
