2077
"War never changes..."
"Hon?" Nora stepped out of the house, leaning over her husband, who was sitting on the porch and gazing thoughtfully into an old family portrait of his father.
Nate sighed, turning his gaze onto her. "What's wrong?"
Nora wore a particularly troubled expression, rubbing her round, plump stomach. "I think... I think my water broke."
Nate went pale-faced, shooting to his feet and shoving the picture in his pocket. "O... okay. This is it. This is it... what we've been waiting for. A-all right, honey. Get in the car. Let's go to the hospital."
"Don't ask," Nora said with a pained smile. "Remember... when we get there... don't ask..."
"Don't ask about the baby's gender, I know," Nate agreed. "We both planned to be surprised. We'll name it Shaun if it's a boy... after my father."
"And Nina if it's a girl... after my mom," Nora grinned, her eyes beginning to water. "I... can't believe it's finally..."
"Okay, let's go, come on."
Nate rushed her into the car and started it up, pulling out of the driveway and backing over the curb.
"What about the delivery?" Nora panted from the back seat. "S-someone has to be here to sign for it..."
"I told them to leave the Mr. Handy on the doorstep if we're not here," Nate replied, speeding down the street of Sanctuary Hills. "I told them you're expecting. Don't worry. They're meeting us halfway."
"Oh... good..."
They arrived at the hospital in no time, and after a long ten hours, Nora gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who had a head of strawberry blonde hair, just like her mother.
A week after Nina's birth, Nora was home and rested, and Nate was preparing for a meeting at the veteran's hall.
"War never changes..." he uttered, squinting at his reflection in the mirror and wondering if he ought to give himself a clean shave before leaving.
"You're gonna knock 'em dead at the veteran's hall tonight," Nora beamed, leaning into the bathroom and pecking him on the cheek.
Just then, they both heard newborn Nina squealing from her bedroom. Just then, their new Mr. Handy floated down the hallway attentively.
"Oh, dear... sounds like someone made a stinky," the robot said, tending to the baby.
Nora peeked out, watching as the robot gently removed Nina's diaper and cleaned her up.
"You know... I was nervous at first, but I'm glad we got Codsworth," she remarked. "He's a Godsend."
"True," Nate agreed.
The robot, Codsworth, hovered down the hall again and disposed of the full diaper.
After Nate ran his hand over his five o'clock shadow for the tenth time, he and Nora went to the bedroom, smiling and leaning over each side of the crib.
"Who's a good girl?" Nora grinned, Nina's big turquoise eyes shining up at her.
Nate tickled Nina's tiny stomach, making the infant giggle.
"So... if I get home early enough this afternoon, I was thinking we'd go to the park, maybe have a picnic," Nate suggested, smirking at Nora. "Like we used to."
Nora shot him a caustic smile. "Right. Because I totally wanna get pregnant again."
Nate laughed.
The two shared a kiss, then spent a moment simply watching Nina in her crib, kicking gently and sputtering out a few high-pitched noises.
"Sir," Codsworth called from the living room, sounding oddly worried. "Ma'am, you should really come and see this."
"Codsworth?" Nora replied. "What's wrong?"
Nate scooped Nina out of the crib, and they all marched into the living room with a brisk stride. Codsworth pointed at the television.
The news anchor reported that numerous cities have been hit by atomic fire, and after naming the fifth city, he stopped and cradled his head. Nora and Nate traded fearful expressions, and seconds later, the television went to static.
"Shit..." Nate swore.
"Get to the vault," Codsworth requested frantically. "Go!"
Nate and Nora didn't need telling; they raced out of the house without bothering to grab any of their belongings, jogging down the street as Nate held Nina, their hearts now hammering, their wonderful day crushed by fear and dread. The other neighbors were outside as well, many of them either rushing toward the vault on the hillside or trying to drag bags of their belongings out of their houses.
On the hillside was a fence, separating the hysterical civilians from the vault's entrance. Many of them were shouting in protest, as the guards weren't allowing them entrance to the vault. Thankfully, Nate's family military background made them eligible for a spot in the vault months ago; the guards gave them a thumbs up, and they rushed by, hurrying toward the circular metal platform atop the hill.
"What's gonna happen to everyone outside the gate?" Nora panted regretfully, glancing back at the other civilians.
"Try not to think about it," Nate replied grimly, kissing Nina on the forehead as she began to cry. Five of their neighbors stood on the platform beside them, and moments later, the ground abruptly shook beneath their feet.
Many of them screamed; a mushroom cloud reached into the sky in the distance, a blinding light sweeping over the scene.
"Don't look at it!" Nate screamed, remembering what he'd learned during his drills. "Shut your eyes! The light will blind you!"
He doubted anyone could hear him; everyone was yowling in absolute panic now, and the platform began to move downward, painfully slow. The citizens ducked and yelled as the platform took them lower, ash, wind, and fire eating away the surface of the earth above.
After nearly ten minutes of laying, sitting, or hunching on the metal platform, it finally reached the bottom, stopping at the vault's entrance. Nate, Nora, and the other survivors gazed upward for several minutes, still able to hear the screams of those dying above, even long after silence fell.
The only sound now was Nina, crying timidly into her father's chest.
After a few long minutes, the survivors shakily reached their feet, stepping into the vault and being greeted by Vault-Tec representatives.
Nate and Nora exchanged frightened, yet relieved, looks.
"Well... here we are," Nate breathed. "The start of our new life."
"I can't believe..." Nora exhaled. "It was so sudden... so..."
"It's okay, honey. Don't think about it. We're safe. That's what matters."
"I know..."
They followed the instructions given to them, marching down the hallway and entering a room filled with mysterious, human-sized pods.
"Step into the decontamination chambers," a nearby doctor advised. "Then, we'll get you settled into your new homes."
Nora planted a kiss on Nina's cheek, then another on Nate's lips. They stepped into the pods opposite each other, and an automatic door closed behind them, sealing them in. They both expected the process to be quick and easy, but the pods soon filled with cold air, blisteringly cold.
Before they knew it, their bodies went rigid, and Nate and Nora knew no more.
2270
The vault sat in ruin for almost two hundred years. Dwellers were dead, those in stasis either deceased or missing from their pods. Kellogg and his assistant had no clue what led to the destruction of Vault 111, though neither of them much cared.
"This one," Kellogg said, pointing to the chamber containing Nate. "This is the one."
"It's remarkable that they're still here," the assistant in the hazmat suit responded, pressing a large red button and making the chambers open up. "The Institute was authorized to do this ages ago, right? What changed?"
"Our dear leader changed his mind," Kellogg replied with a grunt of disapproval. "But now... he's on his last limb. He won't be calling the shots for much longer. Now, we can bring real life to the institute. Real, uncorrupted life."
Both Nate's and Nora's chambers opened, as well as all the others. From two of the chambers, a couple of frozen corpses fell out, and the rest were empty or surrounded by skeletons. Nate regained consciousness after a few seconds of coughing, tightening his grasp on Nina and completely unaware that any time had passed.
Nora fell to her knees behind Kellogg and the assistant. She hazily looked upright, fixating her gaze on the strangers and her family.
Nina began to cry, Nate coughing and clinging onto her. The assistant tried to take the baby from him, but he jerked away.
"No... she's my daughter," Nate rasped between coughs. "She's fine... I've got her... I've got her..."
The assistant tried to pry him from the infant, but Nate snapped away from her again.
Kellogg quickly lost his patience. He pulled the 44 from his hip and pressed it to Nate's head.
"Let the kid go," Kellogg ordered. "Now."
"No!" Nate protested.
BANG.
Nora jumped; she tried to scream, but her throat was much too dry. The bullet ripped through Nate's skull, making his arms fall limp. The assistant took the baby into her own arms, turning to leave the vault alongside Kellogg.
"W... wai...!" Nora tried to holler, but she only managed to produce a few light rasps.
Kellogg and his assistant marched out of the room, carrying the crying Nina away.
Suddenly, Nora found the strength of ten, forcing herself to her feet and darting wobbly after them, her head spinning, her limbs feeling like they were made of jelly.
As Kellogg and his assistant stepped on the platform and prepared for their exit, Nora stumbled after them, tripping on a pile of bones and falling hard on the metal catwalk. She glimpsed around, seeing that she'd tripped on a discarded black Pip-Boy, which sat snug around the dead man's arm, looking almost brand new, save for the dust.
In a moment of desperation, Nora ripped the Pip-Boy from the corpse's arm and pitched it, hitting Kellogg in the back of the head and falling to the floor of the moving platform.
Kellogg grunted and spun around, furious, raising his pistol and leveling it with Nora's head-
"Don't," his assistant advised. "It's better if we leave at least one of the spares alive."
The lights powered on, and an alarm sounded throughout the vault, indicating that the exit was about to open. Just when the platform began to rise, taking Kellogg and Nina away, Nora blundered to her feet again and sprinted down the catwalk, diving onto the platform and landing inches away from Kellogg's feet.
"Stupid bitch," Kellogg spat, kicking her harshly in the stomach. "Don't you know when you've won? I didn't kill you. Now would be the time to walk away and leave well-enough alone."
"My baby..." Nora breathed, glaring up at him. "You took... Nate... and... Nina... away..."
"Boo-hoo," Kellogg mocked. "It's for the greater good. The kid would do much better with us than she ever would with you. Believe me."
As the platform rose further and further, the sunlight began to wash over them all. Nora was fuming, furious with Kellogg and even angrier at herself. She couldn't fight back, couldn't save Nate, couldn't rescue Nina from the kidnapper. She hated feeling so weak, especially when her family was in danger.
"You..." Nora's gaze shifted from Kellogg to the assistant. "You said... I was a spare...?"
"Yes..." the assistant said hesitantly. "I did."
"So... whatever you're using Nina for... you could use me for it too, right?" Nora asked, dizzily reaching her feet. "Then... take me instead."
Kellogg and the assistant traded faces. Nina continued to cry from the assistant's arms.
"The baby is a better option," Kellogg told her. "Cleaner. Less tainted. Perfectly preserved."
"But you can use me too," Nora repeated. "Use me instead. Please... whatever you're doing... leave her out of it. Please, just... use me instead."
Kellogg gave her a long, surveying stare.
The platform came to a stop on the surface, the sun shining brightly over the wasteland, autumn leaves dancing in the wind and landing in piles near the skeletons around the vault's entrance.
Kellogg and the assistant stared at Nora for a moment. Then, Kellogg motioned for the assistant to follow, and they began to walk down the hill.
"Please!" Nora called after them, snatching up the Pip-Boy and preparing to throw it again, though she couldn't find the strength. She was certain that she'd use up all her remaining energy if she tried to toss it a second time; she felt as if her legs would give out any second.
So, Nora continued to follow Kellogg and the assistant at a distance, led by the faint sobs of Nina, not wanting to let the soft cries leave her earshot.
For a while, Kellogg tried to ignore her, but Nora persistently followed, her legs shaky and her heart pounding.
Kellogg and the assistant waltzed into Sanctuary, and Nora didn't bother to take in the ghastly sight of her old neighborhood, now destroyed and sitting in ruin; her focus was on the kidnappers, on her baby daughter.
"Please!" Nora pleaded, the Pip-Boy hanging limply from her weak fingers. "Please, just use me instead! Please!"
"For fuck's sake, give it up!" Kellogg raised his gun again, thoroughly fed up with the nagging woman.
Nearby, a rusted Mr. Handy suddenly stopped trimming the bushes outside of his house, perking up when he heard a familiar voice.
"As I live and breathe..." Codsworth gasped, his three eyes zeroing in on the scene down the street. It was her; the mother he knew two hundred years ago, the same exact woman with the same motherly voice and the same strawberry blonde hair, having not aged a day.
As Codsworth drifted closer to the altercation, he began to question his own internal clock; it had been two hundred years, hadn't it? How could Nora be here, alive and in the flesh?
Nina's cries echoed through the broken neighborhood, and Codsworth spotted the baby in the arms of a stranger.
"Please..." Nora's eyes welled up, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please... just leave her alone. Take me instead. Please..."
"We need the baby," Kellogg snarled at her. "We need it a lot more than you do."
"Excuse me," Codsworth interjected. "The 'it' you're referring to isn't a thing. She's a person, a living child... and she isn't your child, you bloody brute. Unhand her, now!"
"Codsworth!" Nora gasped.
Kellogg turned his aim toward Codsworth. "Fuck off, robot. This is none of your business."
"I beg to differ, sir. That's my family you're harassing," Codsworth retorted. "Leave the girl be this instant!"
Nora's eyes darted to the assistant woman, who was holding Nina. The assistant was watching Kellogg and Codsworth, perfectly distracted.
Nora bolted forward, slamming into the assistant and wrapping her arms around Nina, hysterically yanking and jerking the baby away from the stranger. Nora tried to run, now holding Nina tightly against her chest, but her body refused to cooperate; she hit her knees, exhausted.
Just when Kellogg whirled around, Codsworth shot forward, stopping abruptly in front of Nora and scooping Nina out of her arms, cradling her with a single metal arm.
Kellogg fired off a shot; it bounced off of Codsworth's rounded armor, making him float backward several feet and leaving a dent in his exterior.
Codsworth spun his arms, activating his flamethrower and blasting flames in all directions, manifesting a wall of fire between himself and the kidnappers.
"Go, Codsworth!" Nora cried. "Get her away from here!"
Kellogg was enraged; he spun around and kicked Nora in the face, snapping her nose and knocking her onto her back.
"Ma'am!" Codsworth shouted.
"Go..." Nora tried to yell, but she couldn't make a sound now. "P... lease..."
Kellogg glanced around, trying to find a quick way around the raging wall of fire, but to no avail. Even angrier now, he fired another shot, this time hitting Nora squarely in the chest. The bullet tore through her, her vault suit staining with blood, and she fell motionless.
"Jesus!" Kellogg's assistant shrieked. "Kellogg, for God's sake-!"
Kellogg didn't hear her; he grabbed Nora's body and dragged it away, throwing it down the hill and gesturing for the assistant to follow. He kicked Nora over a ledge of rocks, making her fall helplessly into the creek.
Codsworth didn't stick around to watch; he hid himself in a hurry, keeping a tight hold of Nina as he did.