After much labor and re-writing, I have finally got the first chapter to my new story up.This is also a stress relief, so please pardon the graphic stuff. I hope you like it.
NOTE: This is a post apocalyptic story. It's rated M for strong language, adult situations, possible sex scenes, and graphic violence that would make Frank Miller proud. So read at your own discretion. If you don't like any of this, don't read it! You've been warned. I also don't own Kim Possible or the game Fallout.
KP:
FALLOUT
War. War never changes. Throughout the history of the human race, war has been waged over many things. It has been waged over love, power, and wealth. In the mid Twenty-first century, the world's resources were becoming scarce. Because of humanity's abuse toward their world, the natural resources of planet Earth were becoming scarce. The Oil Wells of the Middle East soon ran dry, and uranium was becoming more precious than gold. Instead of coming together to seek a way of helping the world, the nations began fighting over water, fossil fuels, and certain types of vegetation. England became separate governing states while the United States annexed Canada. Before anyone could even blink, the worst nightmare had come about. World War 3 had begun. In the middle of this war, martial law was declared in North America and allowed the military factions to take control of the country.
Fear of a nuclear holocaust drove many states to build massive structure's that would protect people against the radiation of nuclear bombs, fallout, and the war outside in the outside world. Being constructed underground, or inside massive mountains, what would soon be left of the human race took cover inside these massive structures of steel and technology. They were known as Vaults.
Soon, the bombs fell, eliminating the world we used to know. In two minutes, everything was ash. What was left of the technology and the human race as we knew it was safe inside the massive Vaults. Our story begins here, at Vault 13.
Five minutes before Ground Zero.
Panic was what had begun. The people were running and screaming in pure terror. The alarms outside blared almost to the point to rupture the ear drums of the frightened people, letting each of them know that the nukes were on their way. The end would soon be here. People were running through the cave passage, trying to make it to safety in time. Four people, wearing cobalt blue clothes with yellow accents were ushering in people as fast as they could. In gold, the number thirteen had been printed on each of their backs. Each wore a gun belt with one pistol and two clips of ammunition for them in case things turned ugly. They were doing their best to get people inside before the computers would activate the automated systems and lock the Vault door closed. After that, they wouldn't open the massive Vault door for at least thirty years.
"HOW MANY MORE?" the eldest shouted, as he helped a woman with children into the Vault.
"Not too many. Most of the people arrived a few days ago. Most of these people here are refugees from the near by cities and counties. How much time do you think we have left?" the young man asked his superior.
A giant explosion was heard in the distance, causing the ground and the passage to shake with force. Stones became loosened and started to fall all around them and the fleeing people, screaming in fear
"We're out of time!" the old man said as his eyes grew wide with fear. "GET THEM IN NOW! THE DOORS ARE GOING TO LOCK!" the old man shouted as he saw the entrance lit with a bright light from the outside world. The other men ran inside the metal passage, making sure the last few citizens were in.
"OVERSEER, HURRY!" the young man shouted as the alarms started to sound off; signaling the door was about to close.
The middle aged man looked as part of the ceiling started to fall in larger chunks. The man still stood in the same spot until a large stone almost fell on top of his foot. The near impact seemed to jolt him out of his trance. The middle aged man realized what was going on and immediately started to bolt for the metal passageway as he heard the hydraulics prepare to close the large vault door. He wasn't that far from it. Twenty feet, ten more feet, five feet left to go! That's when a large chunk of the cave broke loose and fell on to the man's leg, crushing it as soon as it made impact.
The man let out a yell of pain as he hit the hard cave floor face first and shattered his nose. He looked at his limb that was pinned beneath the large stone and could see part of his femur piercing through the flesh like a knife through the hide of a roasted turkey. He could also see the crimson liquid that was beginning to pool around the crushed limb and knew if the bombs or the boulders didn't kill him, he would bleed to death.
"Overseer! I'm coming to help!" the young man shouted as he began to run toward him.
"NO! STOP! YOU CAN'T HELP ME, THE VAULT'S CLOSING!" the man said as he raised his hand, watching the large door beginning to roll into place.
"KEEP THOSE PEOPLE SAFE, DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO! YOU'RE THE OVERSEER NOW!" the man shouted as he saw the look of anguish and pain on the young man's face as the door soon hid him from view, and sealed him inside the massive structure where he and the others would be safe from the hell of the world outside.
The man looked back to the cave entrance, and could see the bright glow of another nuclear bomb hitting the ground, before the bright blast burned away his corneas.
"Good bye, son." The man said before the massive blast of intense heat filled the cave and burned away any trace of the identity the now burned skeleton used to posses.
For over forty years, the vault doors remained sealed closed as time outside kept going. Unaware of what changes had been going on, or even trying to figure out if anyone has survived. The Vault dwellers lived without worry or without a care. For a while, the Vault's were in constant contact with one another for many years. Not too soon after Vault thirteen sealed its door, they lost contact with one Vault. All contact and readings just stopped. Only three Vaults remained. After a few years, they lost contact with Vault's 12 and 11. Then the last to go off line was Vault 15. That was over ten years ago, and many suspect that Vault 13 was the only remaining Vault still in operation. If that was true, then they were the only hope for humanity that was left.
27th of December.
Everything was as it usually was inside the control center of Vault 13. Many operators were at their stations, making sure all systems were still nominal. To sustain the lives of thousands of people required a lot of attention to detail and knowledge of advanced technological systems. On a raised platform that sat in the center of the large control room, like Zeus on Mt. Olympus, sat the Overseer. It had been forty long years since the old man took command of the Vault, ever since the original Overseer had died. He used to be a skinny young man with an athletic build. Now he was a slightly overweight old man whose thick mane of brown hair had turned to grey. He had to force himself to grow up on the day when he assumed this seat, and it hadn't been easy.
He looked up as he saw the band of young men and women working at the consoles that were placed in different places around the room. Their faces weren't the ones he used to know. Only one tech remained that was there when the Vault went online, and she was fixing to retire. The rest of them were young men and women. He could swear he had been at the birth for over half of them. It was strange how these people he used to know as young squinting infants were now full grown Vault Dwellers. He shook his head and went back to his work. The others that were at those stations were either enjoying retirement, or had been recycled after they had died. In the Vault, nothing was wasted.
He ran a few diagnostics on the systems as he usually did, and noticed something. A warning light kept flashing in the water treatment center. The computer said it had some sort of problem, but the computer wasn't giving any specific information. It looked like it could be a failed circuit board, or a disconnected wire.
"Overseer to Bryan." The Overseer said as he activated the comm. system.
"Bryan here, sir. What do you need?" the man replied.
"I've got a malfunction in the water treatment center, can you see what's going wrong?" the old man asked.
"No problem, sir. I'm heading there now." The man replied.
It didn't take long to reach the water supply. It was almost in the bowels of the Vault and not giving that much light. The systems inside the halls and passageways had once been brand new pieces of equipment and technology when the Vault was first built. Now it looked more like a patch work quilt of a computer hacker in the early twenty-first century. Many wires and systems had been re-spliced or reconnected to different systems and main frames with either aluminum foil to melted and reshaped pieces of silverware. Where the young man was headed was connected to a few elaborate machines next to a window that showed the liquid that gave everyone in the Vault life.
He put the kit he was carrying down beside him and booted up the small terminal. He did a few quick commands and a few diagnostic checks, but all of them said the same thing. It couldn't find the problem for some reason. That meant he would have to open up the control panels. He pried away the old panels and saw that the circuitry was even worse than the exposed systems around him.
"I'm surprised this thing hasn't burned up yet." The young man said to himself.
He took out the small flash light and began looking. Knowing his luck, it was probably a burnt up wire that he would have to replace. As he looked about the old computer's insides, he froze in place. He saw the problem. The old water chip, the one thing that controlled all purifying procedures, was partially smoking and had black spots where heat had melted part of it.
"Okay, no problem. This thing has been repaired before and it can be done again." He said to himself.
He slowly began to separate damaged pieces from the old chip and began splicing. He felt like a surgeon performing brain surgery as he tried to prepare it. If he couldn't fix this thing, they would be royally screwed.
After one and a half hours of delicate reworking, it looked like had gotten the chip back to a working state. All that was left was one more wire and the chip would be ready for a test run.
He connected the wire, sealed the panels, and went back to the station. He booted up the computer and commanded it to do a systems check.
Power: 100
Memory: 87 free space
Connections: Established
Water Chip:
That's when the panel exploded in a shower of sparks and fire, scaring the poor technician half to death. With his training going through his head like programming, he quickly grabbed the near by fire extinguisher and doused the flames in a mist of white. After the fire was out, he shut down all power systems and began to wave away the smoke.
"This is the Overseer, what the hell just happened down there? I've got fire alarms going across my panel in your sector." The old man's voice sounded over the comm. systems.
"The fire is under control, Overseer. I had to rewire the water chip and there must have been a power surge. I'm examining the damage now." The tech said as he pulled his flashlight back out and looked inside again.
What he saw made his confidence collapse and made his small twinge of fear start to flood his brain.
"Overseer, we have a problem. The Water Chip is gone. It's completely melted. There isn't anything left." The tech told him. For a little while, he was only met with static. "Overseer, how long until we can construct a new one?" he asked.
"We can't. We don't have the resources to build one from scratch. May God help us." The Overseer said as he shut down the link.
Even with the millions of gallons of reserve water they had, time would now be precious. With out fresh water, the Vault would die.
One Month Later.
The loud bangs echoed across the small room, causing the young man to blink almost every time he held the old weapon in his hand. He lowered the fire arm and looked at the virtual display. He gave a small goofy smile as he saw the results. Studying a little bit in anatomy had paid off as he saw two shots in what would have been a man's heart and in between his eyes.
"Nice shooting, Stoppable. I'm impressed." The voice echoed in his ears.
"I've been working hard at it. Deactivate simulation." The young man said as everything in front of him went black. Ron lifted his helmet off and shook his unkempt blond hair back to its normal shape.
"How did I do, Zita?" Ron asked.
"Believe it or not Ron; you've done better than me. I can't believe I came in third place." Zita said as she read the computer screen.
"Third? You came in third? Who came in first?" he asked her.
"Who do you think?" Zita asked him.
"Mankey. I never trusted that guy." Ron said to his good friend.
"Is it because his name almost sounds like Monkey?" Zita asked him.
"I'm not answering that." Ron said quickly.
When Ron was four years old, his parents showed him a classic movie they thought he would like since he liked the old Godzilla movies. They thought he would like King Kong, but it had the opposite effect. Ever since then, Ron had been terrified of anything in the ape family. His friend he had known for years, Zita Flores, tried her best to help him get over his fears but she had no luck. It seemed that Ron was doomed to be scared of monkeys for the rest of his life.
"Attention! Attention! All trainees are to report to the Overseer at once!" a voice announced over the comm. System.
"This has been going on for several weeks. What do you think is going on?" Ron asked his friend.
"Don't know. Everyone has been really tight lipped lately. That's not the only thing though." Zita told him.
"Oh?"
"I'm not supposed to say anything, but I caught a glimpse of some of my mom's orders. They're fixing to start rationing water."
"What? That doesn't make any sense." Ron said to himself.
They spent the rest of the walk in silence. Two floors down and fifteen meters of glimmering metal finally brought them to the nerve center of the entire vault. In the middle of this nerve center was the raised platform of the Overseer, his aged face smiling warmly at them while his eyes seemed to look right through them. There were three other young Vault dwellers among them that stood before the Overseer. Brick Flagg, Josh Mankey, and one young man they knew from their classes named Frank Miller. Ron and Zita joined them and waited for the Overseer's words.
"I'm glad to see you could make it Mr. Stoppable and Miss Flores. As all of you know, you were selected for specific training for the past month. These tests haven't been easy for any of you, I'm sure. But it is for a good reason. A special mission of vital importance will be carried out by one of you. Out of all the testing, I have gone over all the results, and I have made my choice." The overseer said to them.
"Here's where Mankey's head gets bigger." Ron whispered to Zita, causing her to snicker.
"The one that will carry out this mission is Ronald Stoppable." The Overseer said, causing all the young people's jaws to go slack and made Ron's eyes almost bug out of his head.
"Wha?" was Ron all asked.
The Overseer waited in the conference room for Ron. In all the years he had been put in charge of the Vault, he never saw someone pass out like that before in his life. He hoped the young man was all right and didn't hurt his head when he hit the steel floor. Soon, Ron entered the room while rubbing his soar head.
"Good, you're here." The old man said.
"I think I am. Overseer, before you say anything, why did you choose me?" Ron asked him.
"Ron, you're the only one qualified. I know Mankey scored the highest, but he's too confident in himself. He thinks he can breeze through anything and relies on his weapons. I haven't just looked at your scores, I've gone over all the data about you." The Overseer told him.
"How can you do that?" Ron asked him.
"Each Vault Dweller has a chip planted in the back of their neck. It records just about everything. This is supposed to make the Medical Personnel's job easier." The Overseer said.
"Sounds more like techno stalking. That is just sick and wrong!" Ron said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ron, what I need to tell you is important. You may want to sit down first." The Overseer said as he pointed to a chair. Ron sat down in the cold metal char as the Overseer took a deep breath.
"Ronald, we have a serious problem. A month ago, our water chip bit the dust. We can't build another one, and we have enough reserve water left for a maximum of two years. Frankly, we're dying. Our only hope left is for one of us to find one of the other Vaults, and salvage their chip." The Overseer said.
"You m-mean send someone outside the Vault?" Ron asked him.
"Yes, Ron. That's why we had the tests and the training. We were trying to see who would most likely be able to survive outside the Vault. Ron, you're the one that has to go out there." The Overseer said and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder, trying to comfort the boy the way a grandfather would.
"How soon do I have to leave?" Ron asked as he felt enormous pressure bearing down on him.
"As soon as we're done talking. We don't have any weapons except a knife. We'll give you two flares, but that's all we have left. I have a map to Vault Fifteen. That was the last Vault that went off-line. Hopefully, it'll have a water chip. We're counting on you Ron." The old man said to him.
Ron was trying his best not to hyperventilate as he stood at the massive door. All his life, he would look at this door and wondered what was on the other side. Now he was fixing to find out and he was ready to completely piss his pants. He was told the chip in his neck would open the Vault door when he returned, so he didn't have to remember any code.
As Ron took a few cleansing breaths, he saw red lights start to flash and a small alarm start to sound. That's when a loud hiss was heard and forty year old air was released and new air blew in to the small corridor. Ron took a few steps into the corridor, adjusting to the small amount of heat that was in there. The door behind him slid close and locked itself, and the massive door in front slowly slid out of its place. Then it rolled to the side and gave Ron a view of the massive cave out front. Ron was so scared that he couldn't stop shaking. Gathering his courage and biting his lip, he walked through the short passage, and into the massive cavern. As soon as Ron crossed the threshold, the massive Vault door rolled closed and sealed itself.
The cavern was pitch black for a moment, giving Ron the sense that he was blind. After a moment, the light over the large door came on and gave the large cavern some illumination. As he looked at the giant formation of rock, he began hyperventilating. It was like something you saw in a bad dream. He could hear water drip from the stalactites and scratching along the floor. Ron knew what was at stake though and had to move on. Ron took his first step, and tripped over something.
Ron fell onto his chest and let out a slight moan. As he turned himself over, he screamed in pure terror as he saw what he tripped over. It was a skeleton with most of his clothes in tatters and burned away. It looked liked it had been there for some time and its right was leg shattered. Ron shivered as he wondered how this poor guy bought it. Ron kneeled next to the human remains and brushed away some of the dust and ash that was on the tattered clothes, and gasped when he saw the clothing. It was blue, and even though it was faded, there were the remains of a gold number 13. This guy was a Vault dweller. Ron briefly wondered if this would be him. Ron pushed the thoughts aside and began searching the remains for anything of use. The only thing he found was a gun belt with a fully loaded gun and a few spare rounds. He also found a knapsack that had five Stimpacks. Ron had seen them before in the medical bay. It was a syringe filled with red liquid that accelerated the healing process with any wound and was almost an instant cure for whatever injury a person suffered.
Maybe this was a good start. Ron slung the knapsack around his shoulder and strapped the gun belt around his waist.
He removed the gun and cocked the bullet into the chamber, The weapon was ready, but how did he know it still worked? Ron was about to move when he felt a sharp pain at his ankle. Ron jumped backwards and saw a large ugly rat looking at him. The rat began to run, seeing Ron as food. As a result of his training, Ron raised the weapon, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. A lout shot rang through out the cave as a brief puff of smoke came from the weapon, and Ron saw the rat's upper half explode in a shower of fur, blood and organs that fell to the ground like rain and covered the cavern walls in a brief splash of crimson. Ron was still shaking as he looked at the other half of the rat as its blood leaked from the ripped opening and pooled around the corpse. Ron could see the tissue of muscle and skin and hints of shattered bone and organs.
Ron turned to a stone pillar, fell and crawled a few feet, and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the smooth rocky floor. The smell was foul as he saw what was left of his breakfast sit on the dirt floor. Ron wiped his mouth with his sleeve and saw the specks of smeared red. Ron wiped his hand across his face and saw more little smears. That's when he realized that the dead rodent's blood was on his face! Ron used his sleeves to wipe away the rest of the blood and found a puddle of water that was dripping from the ceiling. He cupped a little bit of water in his hands and splashed his face with it twice. He used his shirt again to wipe his face and clean away the rest of the blood.
Ron looked at the reflection in the puddle and was satisfied when he saw his face was clear. Ron looked over his shoulder and saw that other rats had come out from their hiding places and were already tearing at what was left of the dead rat. Ron knew he was going to be sick again if he didn't get out of there fast! Ron got to his feet and bolted down the cavern. He knew he must have stepped on the tails of a few rats because he heard them shriek with pain as his feet stomped against the ground. He didn't stop until he saw something ahead of him, something bright. As he got close, he had to shield his eyes for a moment. He realized he was at the cave entrance and he was actually seeing the outside world! He could see blue sky, the real sky. White clouds, and even though it was barren, he saw the real world. He thought it was beautiful as he looked at it and felt the breeze blow on his face. He saw that the remains of a dead animal lay before the cave. He would have sworn it was a cow, but it had two heads. Maybe it was two animals?
Ron shook his head back to now. He took out the map and the small compos that he was given with it. He got his bearings and looked at the map. He knew which way he had to go, and hoped this mission was a short one. Ron stepped out of the cave and into the heat of the outside world. He took a deep breath, and started moving east, to Vault 15.
Reviews are welcomed. And yes, I'm still working on Eastbound and Down.