"War. War never changes.

The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.

But war never changes.

In the 21st century, war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired. Only this time, the spoils of war were also its weapons: Petroleum and Uranium. For these resources, China would invade Alaska, the US would annex Canada, and the European Commonwealth would dissolve into quarreling, bickering nation-states, bent on controlling the last remaining resources on Earth.

In 2077, the storm of world war had come again. In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders. And from the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new civilization would struggle to arise.

A few were able to reach the relative safety of the large underground Vaults. Your family was part of that group that entered Vault Thirteen. Imprisoned safely behind the large Vault door, under a mountain of stone, a generation has lived without knowledge of the outside world.

Life in the Vault is about to change."

…

Prologue: Vault 13—December 4th, 2161

Life in Vault 13 was a peaceful one. There was no malice, no prejudice, no violence, and most importantly, no wars. My family has been living here starting back in October 2077-The day the bombs fell. My grandparents had made it to this shelter in the nick of time. My parents and I were quite lucky to be born in such a safe place. A diamond in the rough, I guess you could say, considering the irradiated nothingness of the world surrounding this vault. I had lived in this place ever since I was born 23 years ago, and life was quite monotonous. Don't get me wrong: it wasn't completely boring as there was always something you could do there whether it be hanging out around the cafe, or just being with your friends, Vault 13 always had something to do. I would always spend my time hanging out with my three best friends: Max, Albert, and Natalia.

Max Stone was the first friend I had ever made. He may appear brutish due to his massive size and lack of intelligence, but he's a true friend. I'd sometimes get bullied as a kid, but Max would step in and stand up for me. Unfortunately, Max was dropped on his head as a baby, which caused a slight retardation in his developing mind. Often we'd be seen shooting our BB guns at the rats that were crawling through the vents of the vault's second floor, and boy, were we both pretty good shots!

Then there was Natalia Dubrovhsky. She was the granddaughter of a Russian diplomat, and was extremely agile. Unfortunately, she had no understanding of the concept of "personal property". I'd catch her eying my wallets suspiciously to the point where I hid everything of value from her as did most of the other vault residents. We dated when we were in our freshman year, but it fell apart after around junior year. I don't think she's still forgiven me at this point... as if I was to blame at all for our relationship ending. Still she did teach me how to sneak around in the vault at night, and I still remember those rather helpful lessons.

Finally, there was Albert Cole. The guy was a natural leader! He was extremely charismatic and always had girls swooning over him. He was involved in a group that was interested in the outside world, and served as their negotiator, and for good reason: Albert could convince anyone that his way was the right way. The kid could turn God himself into an Atheist! After years of hanging out, that skill of master persuasion seemed to have rubbed off on me, which honestly, I didn't mind.

Despite having three friends that obviously cared about me and loved to spend time with me, I felt the novelty of living in the vault wearing off. Nothing interesting ever happened to the vault residents-unless you were chosen to become the overseer, which was probably one of the greatest blessings that a vault dweller such as me could have bestowed on them. Another thing about Vault 13 is that nobody ever left. Well... Until "that day" had arrived...

…

Flipysrevenge96 presents…

It was the first time in my entire life that I was scared. In my entire 23 years of existence,

I've been cooped up in the safety of Vault 13. We all had order and were truly safe, but ideas of safety and order don't exist outside the vault.

That was where I was headed.
My name is Anthony Breznican.
And this is my story.

Based on "Fallout: Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game" by Black Isle Studios…

I remember it as if it was yesterday. The date was December 4th, 2161. I was called to a meeting by the overseer of the vault. I'd figured it was a maintenance check or something. So, a fraction of the vault's population was crammed into the meeting room. I found it odd that he didn't offer us any bottled water like he usually does during meetings. No one else seemed to notice, so I ignored it. We sat and talked amongst ourselves for a few minutes before he walked in. Silence suddenly fell over the room. He sat at his chair with a grunt before speaking.

"Hello fellow residents of Vault 13. It has come to my attention that we seem to have a maintenance problem. The damned machine is broken beyond repair, so we need replacement parts. Vault-Tec doesn't send anything except jumpsuits and food, and we have everything we need right here. That means that we can't receive anything unless it is by filling out a request form. That could take a year or two to approve of it. Unfortunately, we don't have that kind of time." He sighed. "I've been up all night pondering this decision. Now I know that it is our only option." There was a dramatic pause.

"Someone has to go out there. They have to leave the vault, and secure a new part for the machine."

The whole room fell into chaos while the overseer tried to calm us down. No one had ever left the vault before. It was our home. Our life. Our grave. After a minute or so, the overseer finally calmed us down a bit. Albert raised his hand. "Overseer, would you mind telling us what machine needs fixed?" The overseer shook his head sorrowfully.
"It's the water purification system."

In the next few minutes, everyone flipped out and started panicking, myself included. It took about five minutes for the overseer to calm us down again, which I could tell got on his nerves a bit. I couldn't blame him either considering that in a time of turmoil; it would be easier to herd a particularly dim flock of sheep during an earthquake than it would to calm us down. He began to tell us his master plan of how he is going to decide on who goes out there. He pulled out a handful of hay and held it in his closed fist. "Everyone, draw straws." He said, hollowly. He was kidding… He had to be joking. This guy is going to put the fate of the vault in someone's hands just because they drew the shortest straw? Was he fucking retarded? I didn't object though, and I instead did what everyone else did and picked a random straw. Mine was about an inch long. Everyone else's was noticeably longer. The overseer gave me a smile that said 'You're totally fucked, but thanks for going out there involuntarily.' He walked over to me and threw his arm around my shoulder. "Looks like Anthony here decided to go out there for us. Thanks pal. You're a lifesaver!" Asshole. Everyone cheered for me as the overseer took me to his office. When he closed the door, he turned to face me. His hand rested on my shoulder. "Anthony, I know that many things are going through your head right now. You are probably frightened, and you do not want to leave the vault, but we are really counting on you. I'll give you the details of your mission tomorrow. For now, get some rest. You'll need it."

I followed the overseer's orders and walked down the sterilized hallways of Vault 13 towards my dorm. I stopped right in front of the door to my room and pulled my access key out. Just as I unlocked the door, I heard my best friend, Max's voice behind me.
"Good luck, Anthony."
"Thanks Max."
"Yep. I really hope you don't die."
I sighed and thought a bit before looking at him. I gave him a smug grin and said, "Same here."

I opened to the door to my dorm and threw myself onto the bed. I didn't exactly sleep that well that night. I was going to be risking my life for the first time ever. Part of me just wanted to tell the overseer that I wasn't up for it, and that I would take whatever punishment in place of going out there. However, another part of me was excited to see something new for a change. To be able to go on an adventure would be a dream come true. I honestly didn't know which side was winning, so I just set the alarm on my Pip-boy 2000, forced my eyes closed, and willed myself to succumb to sleepiness.

I woke up the next day. The day was December 5th, 2161. I got about seven hours of sleep last night. I looked all around my room, searching for clues to see if it was all just a dream. As soon as I saw the satchel on my dresser with a post-it note that read "Survival Gear—Good Luck," I'd figured my chances of it all being a dream were 1-to-down the shithole. I groaned and sat up in bed. I rubbed my eyes groggily, and got off the clean mattress. I walked over to the satchel and checked its contents. It included a 10mm Pistol with ammo, a knife, 6 stimpaks, 2 flares, some sort of tool, a lock pick set, 2 buffouts, 2 mentats, 3 Vault 13 canteens, and a first aid kit. I really hoped I didn't have to use the first two things, but I knew deep down that out in the wasteland, not using these things was suicide. So unless I wanted to die, using the weapons was inevitable.

I ate very little breakfast. I wasn't all that hungry. I brushed my teeth, and then took a shower. I changed into a fresh vault jumpsuit and forced my leather boots on. It was the usual schedule, despite the sick feeling in my stomach. I grabbed the satchel and ran out the door. My orders were to wait at the vault entrance. As I walked through the clean hallways, I got looks and stares of awe, fright, and disgust from my fellow vault residents. Some pointed, and others whispered amongst themselves. I felt like I was on death row, headed towards the electric chair. Now that I think of it, I would've much preferred getting the electric chair than this. Anything but this. I rendezvoused with the overseer at the vault door control panel. He whipped his head around, which caused his medium length silver hair to bounce. He stared at me with a small smile on his face.

"Ah, You're here. Good. We've got a problem, a big one. The water chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost! We can't make another one, and the process is too complicated for a workaround system." His eyes showed true fear. "Simply put, we're running out of drinking water." He pointed at me in emphasis. "No water, no vault. This is crucial to our survival! And frankly, I…" He trailed off, looking for the right words to say. "I think you're the only hope we have. You need to go find us another controller chip. We estimate we have four to five months before the vault runs out of water." I quickly jotted down a note that read 'Things to do: Get the water chip 150 days left,' and posted it to my Pip-boy. The overseer continued. "We need that chip. We marked your map with the location of another vault. Not a bad place to start, I think." I brought up my Pip-boy and pressed the 'map' button. Sure enough, the map showed Vault 13 surrounded by a completely darkened out map besides a dimly highlighted area far to the right which I guess is Vault 15, our sister vault. Once I was done viewing the map, I refocused my attention on the overseer. He sighed before saying, "Look, just be safe… Okay?" With that, he turned to face the control panel again, and pressed a few buttons.

Alarms sounded, red lights flashed, and the door that I was standing in front of opened. I looked at the hallway that led to the vault exit as the light of my home shone behind my back. I waved everyone goodbye, and cautiously yet confidently, I strode to the vault's exit door. It looked sort of like a gear with the number '13' on it. I stopped to look at the computer panel that I was right next to. I saw the words 'Type a command' written on the terminal, and I typed in, "Open vault door." More sirens went off, the gear-shaped door slid out of its encasement, and a metal arm shot out and rolled it towards the side, thus opening the vault. I walked straight towards the exit, and left the vault.

There's no going back now.

My life will never be the same.

My fate is sealed.

…

A/N: Hey guys, I decided to do a near complete revise on the opening chapters for this story. I hope you all enjoy!