War never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything: from God to justice to simple, psychotic rage. In the year 2077, after millennia of armed conflict, the destructive nature of man could sustain itself no longer. The world was plunged into an abyss of nuclear fire and radiation. But it was not, as some had predicted, the end of the world. Instead, the apocalypse was simply the prologue to another bloody chapter of human history. For man had succeeded in destroying the world - but war, war never changes. In the early days, thousands were spared the horrors of the holocaust by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, known as vaults. But when they emerged, they had only the hell of the wastes to greet them - all except those in Vault 101. For on that fateful day, when fire rained from the sky, the giant steel door of Vault 101 slid closed... and never reopened. It was here you are born. It is here you will die. Because, in Vault 101: no one ever enters, and no one ever leaves.
"Wake up! Wake up!" He hears a voice yell. A familiar one. His eyes fly open and he lays up instinctively. He turns.
"Amata? What's going on?" He asks.
"Look, there's not much time," She says as he gets off his bed, "Your father is gone. He left the vault. My father and his men have already killed Jonas, and right now they're looking for you. You need to get out of here, now."
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down. My fathers gone?"
"Yeah, no one's sure how it did it either. But we don't have time to figure it out. You need to get out of here too."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"My father has an emergency escape tunnel in his office that you can access with the terminal behind his desk.""Alright. I'll get over there as quick as I can." The kid says. His mind is stirring. Only a wake 30 seconds and he's running for his life.
"I'm hoping you won't need this, but I took my father's pistol." She says, holding the pistol out for The Kid to take.
"Thanks, Amata. I'll only use it if I need to." He says, giving the most convincing smile he can given the circumstances.
"I'll try and meet you at the Vault entrance, but if I'm not there just go without me, alright?"
The Kid nods. Amata gives a fearful look. The kind of look you give to a friend just before a that last goodbye. She turns and leaves his room. The Kid turns to his desk. All those years he'd spent doing homework didn't mean anything anymore. Laying on the side of the desk was his old friend. The friend that helped him smack the ball into the Overseer's head during the big game against Butch's tunnel snakes. He grabbed it, and looked at the old toy BB gun his pops gave him as a kid. Kid used it to take shots at the radroachs in Jonas' office. But it won't do him much good anymore. He puts the pistol in his pocket, and grips his old friend before stepping out of his room.
The alarms blare across the halls, as the sound of screams and combat make the place sound like hell. Kid has no idea what's going on, but he don't have much time to think about it. He starts down the hall, when Mr. Peters the guard sees him.
"Hey!" He calls, "C'mere you punk!" He pulls out his baton, and has every desire to smash the kid's head in. But before he gets the chance, he gets blindsides by this intense pain his side. The radroachs had gotten in again, and this time they were playing for keeps.
Kid rushes forward, cocking his friend back ready to swing. He reaches Peters, and all he can say before the kid whacks him is:
"No! Don't!"
Kid hits him hard right on his temple. Peters falls down after one smack. Kid wasn't willing to play cat-n-mouse. After he smacks the radroach, he continues the trek.
Kid's on his way to the Atrium, when another face comes his way.
"Ya gotta help me, man!"
Butch DeLoria. Butch had messed with The Kid for as long as he can remember. Ripping his comic books, taking his sweet rolls, the works.
"Butch, I don't have time for you right now." Kid says, shrugging him off.
"Forget about me, man. My Ma's getting eating by those roaches. Ya gotta help her!"
"Why can't you do it? I thought you were apart of the Tunnel Snakes, toughest gang in Vault 101."
"I am, and don't you forget that! It's… it's just I don't like roaches, okay?"
The Kid lets out a big sigh.
"Okay, I'll help you. Let's just get this over with."
Butch lets out the big, stupid grin he'd always give whenever he was pulling Amata's hair or clapping his fists together to make The Kid do his homework.
Kid and Butch run into his house, see the door to his mother's room is wide open, couple a dead roaches lay in front of it.
"Butchy! Help me!" She yells.
Kid runs into the room. They're swarming her, ripping off parts of her suit and skin alike. Clumps of her graying hair on the floor. Kid starts bashing the roaches with his ole bat, doesn't stop until the roaches stop moving. One of them turns to The Kid and leaps at him. Kid moves to his left, causing the roach to fly right by 'im. Kid kicks it hard as he can, sends it crashing into the wall. Butch runs into the room after all the screaming and fighting stops. He picks his mother up.
"Ya'll right, Ma?" He asks in a gentle tone. His mother's been ripped up good. She gives The Kid a long look as Butch picks her back up. Then Butch looks at The Kid.
"Thanks, man! I owe you everything. Here," Butch says, taking off his Tunnel Snakes jacket and tossing it to The Kid, "You're an honorary member of the Tunnel Snakes now."
"I'm honored…" Kid says, rolling his eyes. Kid puts on the jacket, but doesn't have any time to stick around any longer. Runs outta Butch's house quick as can be and heads for the Atrium again.
Kid runs down the hall and takes the left to the Atrium, and gets greeted by fire flying all over the place. One of them robot butlers Andy was using one of his handy dandy fire throwers to roast the radroaches. With him was Officer Gomez, another one of the Overseer's grunts. Now Gomez had always been nice to The Kid, and always helped when Butch was messing with him. Kid kept his friend down, and approached Gomez as he and Andy were finishing with the roaches.
"Officer Gomez…" The Kid said quietly.
"There you are." Gomez said with relief, "Everything's gone to hell. After your dad left the Vault, the Overseer snapped. I don't know why, but he's making us hunt you down. He really wants you dead."
"So does that mean…" Kid says, getting ready to reach for his pistol.
"No… no… You're a good kid, and James had always been a good friend. I didn't see you. Just… just get out of here, okay?"
"Thanks, Officer Gomez. You're a good guy." Kid says gratefully, then runs right by him towards the Atrium.
Kid enters the Atrium, and it's more destroyed than any other part of the vault. Chairs lay on there side, floor bathed in the blood of the people he's known for years. Standing in the center are Tom and Mary Holden, couple got married not too long ago.
"It's our only chance, don't you see? We're gonna get outta here like the doc. I'm not gonna let anyone stop us." Tom says to her, then the boy turns and runs down the corridor behind him.
"It's me! Tom Holden! Let me through!" He yells, only to be answered by the brightness of muzzle fire and the cold floor.
"Tom! No!" Mary yells, and runs down the corridor, only to be met with by the same guns that had taken her man. Kid doesn't stay to grief, runs across the room down another hall before the guard's pull their triggers.
Kid slides through a jammed security door, and only just steps into the stairway before a radroach leaps at him. Hits the Kid square in the chest, knocks the breath right outta him. Roach falls to the floor, but the Kid doesn't give it much time to recover. Stomps it with his boot couple times before he rips off one of it's legs. 'Nother roach starts crawling down the stairs after The Kid. He leaps into the air and lands dead on it. He charges up the stairs quick as his legs'll take him. Steps through the doorway at the top of the stairs, and he finds himself in the upper level of the Atrium. Kid scans the area, and all but one of the doors is locked. He runs to it, and jumps when he hears banging on the wall. Sees a man knocking on a window yelling at him.
"It's you! Your damn father is the reason all of this is happening! He had to leave the vault and ruin the lives of all of his friends!"
Allen Mack, an angry man who wasn't very fond of any sort of therapy that didn't come in a bottle, least that's what the kid remembered the women used to gossip about. But The Kid ain't about to take the man's trash. He swings his old friend back, and decides to take out all his frustration on the window. Smacks it as hard as he can, and it falls apart quick as Mack's courage. Mack steps back shocked, doesn't say a word. Neither does The Kid, who just heads through the door.
Kid turns the corner and starts hearing some talk.
"Now Amata, Officer Mack doesn't want to hurt you. He and I just want to know where your little friend is." A voice says, and The Kid knows just who it belongs to. The Overseer of Vault 101. Amata's father. He always had a thing against The Kid, used to think he had a little thing with his daughter. Kid looks through the window of the room their in. Amatas sitting in a chair as Officer Mack, the son of the man The Kid just scared the hell outta stands over her with his baton drawn as The Overseer paces around the room.
"I'm telling you, I don't know where he is!" Amata pleads.
"You're lying Amata. Only you know where I keep my gun, and it's gone. Where is it, Amata?"
She doesn't say anything. Just stares at the ground. Kid's seen enough. He charges at the door and steps in, drawing the pistol at Mack.
"You have some nerve showing your face during all of this." Overseer says to The Kid, "Coming in, threatening my men with MY gun!"
"Can it, old man!" Kid barks at him, then he turns to Mack, "Your Pop's is a pussy, Mack. And so are you, so drop your weapon before you see what happens when you bring a stick to a gun fight."
"That's might tough talk comin' from someone who's never even held a real gun before." Mack says back.
"Everybody starts somewhere, I guess."
"That's enough, children!" Overseer cuts in. He starts again with The Kid, "Your father has compromised the safety of this vault, and you come in with a loaded weapon with the intent of using this? This doesn't look good, son."
"Neither does releasing the hounds on your own daughter." Kid says quick.
Mack moves quick at The Kid, releasing a cry which transferred to something along the lines of: I'm sticking this baton in your eye socket. Kid flinches before smashing the trigger of his weapon. Bullet flies right into Mack's neck and goes straight through, flying into the wall. Amata screams loud as her voice'll let, and keeps screaming as Mack hit's the ground. Kid falls over as he tries to avoid the corpse. He crawls away from it, not believing he done what he just done.
"Oh my god…" Kid says to himself.
"Is he… dead?" Amata asks. Tears start falling down her face.
"Of course he's dead. And your friend is responsible for it." Overseer says calmly, "That was a bad choice, young man."
Kid stands up and starts collecting himself.
"Give me the gun, or you won't give me any other choices." Overseer warns.
"Fuck you, old man!" Kid says, half terrified, half pumped-up, "What's the password to the emergency exit?"
"Why would I tell you that? You kill me, you never get the password. You have nothing to threaten me with."
Kid looks away from him, tries his darndest to think of something. He raises his gun at Amata.
"What on Earth are you doing?" Overseer yells.
"I'm threatening you. Give me the password." Kid says.
"Don't do this! There has to be another way!" Amata says, flat out sobbing. She looks at her father.
"There is no other way, Amata!" Kid yells, "I need to get outta here, and you're my only way!"
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" The Overseer cries, "The password is Amata. Just please, get out of here and never, never come back.
Kid holsters his weapon, and begins to step out the door.
"Just know," The Overseer says, "if I ever see you again, I'll kill you myself."
"I wouldn't expect anything less." Kid says before walking through the door.
Kid runs into the Overseer's office and heads to the terminal behind his desk. He starts punching the letters onto the screen.
"A-M-A-T-A." He says to himself.
ACESS GRANTED.
Kid starts down the list of options the terminal allows, and selects "OPEN EMERGENCY TUNNEL". Then he starts hearing loud gears turning behind him. Turns around and starts to see the desk transform, fly into the air. Turns out the staircase was right under him all along. Kid heads down the stairs. Only gets darker the further he goes down. When he reaches the bottom, he enters a room with a panel he doesn't understand. Ignoring the panel, he heads to the room behind it, and then he sees it. The vault entrance. Kid used to have dreams about what it looked like. He figured it something like the gate keeping the demon's away from the shepards. It was an old, dusty gear with an old, worn 101 painted on it. Hard to believe this is the thing that'd kept him safe all those years. But now wasn't the time for safety. He took in one big breath before he pressed the button he assumed opened the gear. The shifting was loud and slow, as the large gear moved slowly, exposing a light at the end of the long tunnel he and so many others have lived in. He stepped towards the exit, but stopped when he heard movement behind him. Overseer and two of his guards behind him, aiming right at him.
"I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for." The Overseer says, almost sincerely, "And I hope to god it's worth all you've given up."
Kid doesn't say anything, and turns and heads to the old wooden door that lead to freedom. He put his hand on the knob, hearing the gears shift behind him one last time. There was no going back. He held his hand on the knob for a long time, replaying the events that had just occurred in his head dozens of time. He slowly, and opened it slower. It only took a second before The Kid was blinded. He stepped through the door with his eyes shut, and could already feel a difference in the air. He opened his eyes for the first time, and was greeted by a Wasteland.