A Wanderer

Chapter One: An Escape From Vault 101

I've been playing Fallout 3 long enough to create this. Enjoy, as I try a first person style.

A rough hand was on my shoulder, shaking me back and forth, and my head slamming into my cot. I groaned, the blow sharpening me into consciousness.

"Ow?" I moaned, putting a hand on the bruise, pulling myself into a sitting position. Someone was talking next to me.

"God damn it, wake up!"

The voice was blank in my mind before registering into…Amata?

My vision clicked into detail, and I looked over to Amata staring at me, a panicked look on her face. "Hey girl...why the shaking?" I said weakly, smiling.

Amata pulled me up into a standing pose. "Stop daydreaming Adam, you have to listen."

I brushed her hand off, and rubbed my eyes. I was t-i-i-red. "What's going on?" In the background, I heard alarms going off in the Vault, but they barely made a dent in my murky consciousness.

Amata looked into the hall; eyes full with fear that made me really concentrate. She never looks scared unless it dealt with Overseer plus me. "Your dad's gone!"

I dropped my hands. "Wha-what?!"

Amata nodded quickly. "He's left the vault! I have no idea how or why, but he's gone, and my dad freaked out. He got his men to kill Jonas, and now he's looking for you!"

My mouth must have hit the floor, and my mind went blank with shock. I actually waited a second or two for the 'Surprise!' to ring out from behind my furniture, and everyone to pop up and yell and laugh and be fine.

But Amata's fear was very, very real.

I absentmindedly grabbed her hands. "They killed Jonas?!"

Amata nodded. "My father's gone crazy, and now he's looking for you! But I can't let him find you."

I gripped her palms hard. "So what the hell are you going to do? Sit here with him until the guards come?"

Amata shook her head. "No, no! You have to leave the Vault!"

The sentence was about as silly as "You have to eat your ass!" in my world, but it was probably my only option once I gave it thought.

Amata continued talking, faster and more panicky. "My dad has an escape tunnel in his office; you can get out from there!"

I nodded, and started to walk away, though my hands were still clenched on hers. "I'll make my way there."

"Wait!" She grabbed my shoulder again. "My father...He's sent his security officers on you! I stole my father's gun, so you can defend yourself."

She handed me a silver pistol, that my brain registered as a 10mm. Little did I know that my male interest in firearms and weapons would prove very useful later.

But… use a gun on the security officers, who I ran into more than any average vault dweller should. People I knew for a long time….shooting them didn't register in my brain.

I pushed away the pistol. "I'm not going to shoot them. Keep it."

Amata nodded, and slipped it down her pocket. "Be careful Adam."

We might have kissed then, but I can barely remember it now. I slowly pushed myself away from her, nodded, and ran out of my room into Vault 101.

Of course, I ran for about five seconds before I noticed a security officer, I couldn't tell which one, everything was a blur, notice me and yell, drawing out a police baton.

Then the panels on the walls suddenly exploded as a dozen Radroaches crawled forth. The security officer's eyes flitted down to the roaches, and I took my chance. Nerd rage time.

I ran forward, balling my hands into fists. When my foot landed on the little roaches body with a crunch, I used the bug to spring myself forward, hurling myself onto the officer. He cursed as he fell over, me landing on top of him.

Quickly, my fist flew into his chin before he knew what the fuck, and I heard a definite crack. The officer roared. "Fuck you, little runt! I'm going to drag you in by the…" Then another fist by me smashed into his visor, and he stopped talking, eyes rolling back. The glass shattered around my fist, but when I pulled myself up my knuckles were bleeding.

I stared down at the officer. Shit, he was barely breathing. Fuck, I didn't ask for this! I kept my bleeding hand limp as I turned tail and ran down the hallway.

I don't know how long I ran down that hallway, but long enough to get my head rolling. I did it. I killed that officer. Adam Lambert, cold blooded killer. Jeez, and to think yesterday all I thought of was getting Amata to actually take a romantic interest in me.

Calm down, calm down. That officer was going to be fine…what the fuck is the Overseer doing? Sure he was a crotchety old coot interested in only breaking my spirit, but murdering…killing…

Shit, Jonas is dead. And where the fuck is Dad?

Dad later, escape now.

Eventually I stumbled into the Atrium, and the two other people…I barely knew them, Mr and Mrs something, were talking of escape.

I muttered, "Join the crowd," as my eyes scanned the area. Stairs, right in front of me. I walked quickly over to the door, while the other two both started to run down to Maintenance. They left my sight.

Then gunfire. Two shots. My eyes perked wide, and my feet carried me to that hall. The woman was cuddling the man, though he was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. And down the hall, waving pistols…

Two other officers. Fuck.

They immediately began to rearm their pistols, advancing up the corridor. I balled my fists again, and ran straight down the corridor. Back off, Adam Lambert coming through, cold blooded killer.

I rammed into the one on the left, throwing him to the ground. The other one aimed his pistol at my chest. Thank god for my nineteen year old body, as I batted away his arm, and threw my fist into the biggest weak spot, the neck. The man fell over as I grabbed the police baton from his belt, and turned to the one getting up. With a quick swipe the baton smashed the head down.

I stood there for a minute maybe, breathing heavily. This is wrong, my heart quivered. Fuck off emotions, just for a bit.

The woman barely noticed me as I walked away from her, and back up the stairs.

On the top of the stairs, I was bolting down the hall, holding the police baton tight. Sure, I won't shoot them. But I'm going to need another weapon other than fists of steel.

Then another officer stepped right in front of me, and I roared, prepping for battle. The officer waved his hands. "Wait, wait kid, I'm not going to touch you!"

Good old Officer Gomez. I calmed down, then realized how much of a freak I must look like. He realized too, and patted my shoulder. "You need to get going kid. I'll say I never say you."

Behind him, a flame leapt into existence as Andy floated into view, burning some roaches down the hall. Stanley followed him, wrench in hand.

I gave Gomez a weak smile, and kept running down the hall, past Stanley.

When I wheeled the final corner to the Overseers office, my heart was racing. Freedom so close!

Then I looked to my left and stopped dead in my tracks.

Amata was cuffed to a chair, eyes wide with fear. Officer Mack stood by her, pulling her hair up at the end, scowling.

And the Overseer was talking to Amata. Something about me and…torture.

That motherfucker.

My heart was pounding in my ears as Officer Mack smashed his hand across Amata's face. Her pistol was on the floor, and she quivered as he raised his hand again.

I had no idea how I reached the door so fast, but I opened it, and Officer Mack barely had any time to notice me before I let loose a wild roar and pounced on him, knocking over Amata's chair.

I let loose with the baton, fury pumping my heart, as the blood of Mack stained my suit. That bastard…hit Amata….

My head cleared when a gun cocked near my head. "Stop."

I stopped hitting Officer Mack, breathing deeply. The baton was red. My suit was red. And Mack..was dead. Fuck.

That's it. I'm fucked. I dropped the baton, and put my hands on my head. "You killed Jonas you bastard."

The Overseer rammed the pistol into my head. "And you killed an officer of the peace in your mad rampage. I'm going to end your horrific path here."

I grit my teeth. "What about your fucking daughter? You were prepared to torture her."

The Overseer opened his collar slightly. "The vault safety must be upheld, more than my daughter's safety."

Suddenly the pistol went away as the Overseer grunted, and collapsed to the floor. I turned my head, and saw Amata, struggling on the floor with the chair, her legs tripping up the Overseer.

I quickly seized my chance, and leaped onto the Overseer, whipping my fists into his face. The Overseer's face was batted about like a dead chicken.

Amata cried out. "No! Don't hurt him!"

I stopped, realizing I had the pistol in my hands, aiming into the bastard's forehead. The man below me was sweating, but he kept his cold eyes on mine.

I groaned, and tossed away the pistol before smashing my fist once more into his face, then standing up. Amata stared at me, pain creasing her face.

I walked over, and began to untie her. "S'okay, he's just not knocked out."

Amata, once free, stood up, and rubbed her wrists. "He's going to be pissed."

I grinned. "Lucky me…" I turned my head, and instantly the events of this morning blasted into clear focus as I saw the body of Jonas farther down the operations room.

Instantly I was at the body's side, staring into Jonas's bloody face.

"Fuck…Jonas…"

The guy was like a cool uncle, helping me with my old BB gun, teaching me about the reactor, discreetly joking about girls…

And his body now lay limp in my hands. My face scrunched up. Amata put a hand on my cheek. "C'mon, we gotta get you out of here." She walked over into her fathers office.

I was about to follow when I noticed an audio tape in Jonas's lab pocket. Now, I'm not a thief, but it had my freaking name on it. I mean, literally, it had Adam Lambert on the label. I grabbed it instantly and stood up again.

I followed Amata into the office, and leapt at the computer there. Now hacking was something I was good at. I inserted a little hacking chip I carried around with me everywhere into the side port, and started the process.

Amata looked over my shoulder. "Looking for the password?"

"Yeah…" Wait. Why the hell was I doing this?

What was the thing the Overseer valued next to the vault?

I stopped the program, and simply typed Amata into the password. Instantly, the monitor changed to the basic commands.

I scrolled past everything until I saw the emergency hatch command. Click.

The desk in the center of the room immediately rose, and there was a small tunnel under it. I grinned. "Bingo."

Amata gaped. "We actually did it. We found the emergency exit."

I dropped into the tunnel, and looked up at Amata. "You coming?"

Amata rubbed her hands. "I…I can't."

I understood, but I still stayed there. "Amata…you can come with me."

She shivered. "I'm sorry… I have to stay."

I nodded. "Goodbye then."

The massive Vault door slid open, and I walked blinking into the cool cave. I was actually going to do this. I was going to escape Vault 101. But…

I stopped, and pulled out the audio tape. Before I go… I switched it on.

"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first! I don't really know how to tell you this. I hope you understand and I know you'll feel angry. I thought about this for a long time but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong, and there's no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now, you're ready to be on your own. Maybe some day things will change, and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the Vault isn't perfect, but at least its safe there. That's enough to keep me going."

"Don't mean to rush you Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with."

"Okay. Go ahead."

"Goodbye… I love you."

I blinked. Dad…I felt cool tears as I walked over to the wooden door.

I love you too Dad, and I WILL find you.

I pushed open the door.

Okay, may be a bit rushed, but I thought this style, this writing as I go, could work with Fallout 3.

EDIT: Document Manager screwed up with this one. Sorry about it.