The day started off innocently enough. Lucy Howard woke up before her husband, Nate, and took a moment to watch him sleep. His nightmares from the war were becoming less and less frequent. When he had first come home, he woke up screaming and sweating more nights than not, his hazel blue eyes wide open but seeing some horror from war instead of their bedroom. She did her best to comfort him on those nights, holding him tight and stroking his soft black hair while she whispered soothing things into his ear.
But for now, his face was peaceful, eyes flickering behind their lids while Nate dreamed away. Lucky matched her breathing to his own, stroking his face gently for a moment. Next month would make it seven years that they'd been married but every time she saw him she fell in love with him all over again. A faint smile passed over her lips as she remembered the day he'd asked her to marry him. It'd been after Thanksgiving dinner with his family. He took her aside and down the hall to his bedroom, pretending he'd needed her help looking for something. While he rifled around in his closet, he asked her to check his top drawer in his dresser. Sitting there on top of his clothes was a small black box. She lifted it out gingerly, hand shaking slightly, and turned around to find him down on one knee. When they returned to the living room, his entire family cheered and clapped while she practically beamed with joy.
The soft cries of her son broke her out of her reverie. She sighed and gave Nate's cheek one last stroke before rolling over and swinging her legs out of bed. She sat for a moment, trying to remember what it was like to sleep in. At least they'd been able to sleep through the nights since their purchase of their Mr. Handy robot, Codsworth. As she pulled on clothes, she heard faint mechanical whirring as he sprung to life in their laundry room. By the time she opened the door, Codsworth was already in Shaun's room, trying in vain to placate him with a bottle.
"Good morning, Miss Lucy," Codsworth greeted, turning one eye to face her.
"Morning, Codsworth," Lucy returned, stepping over to the end of Shaun's crib.
"Sorry, mum, but the little tyke seems to be uncooperative."
Lucy gave him a small nod, smiling to show there were no hard feelings. The robot was easy to work into a tizzy if he failed to accomplish the household tasks they assigned to him. "Don't worry about it. I'll take over from here. You can go get breakfast ready."
He turned, handing over the bottle with a blink of his three eyes. "Yes, mum. Right away."
She stepped to where he had been, setting the bottle down in the crib momentarily while she picked up Shaun. His crying faded into unhappy gurgles and his eyes slowly opened as he was comforted in his mother's warm embrace. "Hey little guy," Lucy murmured, picking up the bottle while bouncing Shaun gently. "Are you hungry?"
Shaun cooed and let out a sigh that seemed befit for a world-weary, middle aged man. "It's just so tough being a baby, I know," she continued in a soothing voice, hoping that they hadn't woke Nate up. She held up the plastic nipple to his mouth and Shaun accepted it, content now that he had both is mother and some food.
She sat down as she fed him, giving him a small kiss on his forehead before looking up at the window out into their back yard. The October leaves had turned to brilliant jewel tones and rustled slightly in the breeze. They had moved to Sanctuary Hills shortly after Nate had been dishonorably discharged, eager to start their new lives together in the quiet little cul-de-sac. On warm days she liked to open the windows and let in the sounds of the neighborhood: housewives chatting, children playing, and the faint sound of the nearby river running. It always brought her peace.
Lucy closed her eyes as she thought about her life. When Nate had been sent away to fight in the war, every day was filled with worry that he wouldn't come back to her. She begged him not to go to Alaska when he was assigned to the Anchorage Front Line several years after China invaded. She told him that he could go AWOL and they'd run away together to some little tropical island that had been left untouched by the war. His sense of duty and honor had been too great, though, and he had been insulted at her suggestion.
Despite coming from a military family (or perhaps in spite of it), Lucy had always been a pacifist. She had joined the beatniks in college, though she often found them to be only pseudo-intellectuals and irritatingly haughty. Her father had nearly disowned her when she joined the small, ever-receding groups of anti-war protesters. She understood that they needed to protect themselves from the Chinese invaders. That was just a fact. But she found America's actions towards its allies, especially Canada, to be reprehensible. She could hardly believe it when she found herself falling in love with a soldier.
After nearly three years of him taking tours in Alaska and China, Nate had returned home right after Canada had been annexed. He'd been wounded and nearly died and was sent home with a small box full of medals and the title of "war hero." She felt a strange mix of relief and fury when she greeted him at the airport, only managing to say "You idiot," before she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, crying into his chest until she had no more tears left to cry.
From the moment he was home, Lucy didn't want to be parted from him. For weeks, she was constantly trying to maintain contact in small ways – holding hands on the couch, cuddling next to him in bed, or just brushing against him when they passed each other in the house. During that time was when they conceived Shaun. A little too much concealed wine in the nearby park had left them both tipsy and hungry for each other. She still blushed at the memory of them trying and failing to be sneaky as they entered a Pulowski Preservation shelter, handsy as a pair of teenagers.
"Morning, gorgeous." Nate's baritone voice, husky with sleep, caught her attention.
She turned her head to look at him, a warm smile breaking across her lips when she saw him leaning forward against the door frame. "Morning, handsome. Sleep well?"
He nodded and pushed himself back with his forearm. His jaws and cheeks were covered in a slight stubble. She was a fan of the look, but Nate would no doubt do a clean shave before his speech tonight. He was ever the properly groomed soldier. "I did. I was dreaming about the day we met."
Lucy let out a pleased little hum at his response, though anything he dreamed about was better than his PTSD induced nightmares. "Ready for your big speech tonight?"
Nate winced in response. She knew he didn't like the attention, but he had felt it was a big honor to be asked to speak at the Veteran's Hall in Concord and he'd been unable to turn it down. "You'll do great," she assured him with a warm smile, placing the empty bottle on the table next to her and bringing Shaun up to her shoulder to burp him.
"Let's hope so," he replied while leaning down to give her and Shaun both a kiss on the top of the head. "I'm going to hop in the shower and start getting ready."
Lucy nodded as she patted Shaun's back gently, coaxing a couple small burps and a small amount of spit-up out of him. "Make sure you hurry up, unless you want me to go smelling like baby puke," she called after him as he headed toward the bathroom. At least Shaun's spit-up was one of the least offensive things that came out of him.
Soon he was sleeping again and she placed him in his crib, watching him fondly for a moment before heading into her bedroom to change. For now she went with some casual wear, putting off choosing a dress until later that evening. She wondered vaguely if she'd have time to head over to Fallon's in Concord to pick out a new dress when she heard the shower turn off. At the very least, she should get her hair and makeup in order. She chose a record from her old collection as she waited for Nate to get dressed and open the bathroom door.
She was proud of her record collection, despite how small it was. She'd collected most of them during her protest days. Most of them were rare records of unpopular folk and psychedelic bands that had only gained traction in the small pockets of countercultures that shrank with every year the war raged on. Nate often poked fun at her for not listening to music on holotapes like the rest of the world did, but there was just something about the sound of vinyl records that appealed to her. Of course, she had them recorded to holotapes just in case anything should happen to them. And despite the anti-war themes present in some of the songs, even Nate admitted to enjoying a few of the bands.
Music was one of her few passions in life, the love of it imparted on her by her maternal grandmother. Even after she drew away from the counter-culture groups she once belonged to, she still found herself in clubs playing music that never would have found its way onto the radio. Outside of her record collection, she had perhaps hundreds of holotapes with a vast array of music on them. Her tastes ranged all over the place – from country to rock-and-roll to jazz and a little bit of everything in between. Her most prized possessions was an expensive crystal holodisk that contained her entire music library. It contained almost a full 2 terabytes of songs that she'd collected over the years and was locked away in the same safe where Nate kept his pistol.
This morning she selected an old blues record. It just didn't seem right to play Creedence Clearwater Revival when Nate was preparing himself for giving a speech. She hummed along as she headed into the bathroom, sneaking up behind Nate as he wiped the fog from the mirror.
She stayed back as he muttered to himself. "War never changes..." She frowned for a moment before sidling up next to him, hoping to break him out of the foul mood that seemed to be brewing in him.
"You're gonna knock 'em dead at the Veteran's Hall tonight, hon," she told him, looking at him in the mirror with a supportive smile.
"You think?" he asked, looking at her for a moment before turning back to face the mirror.
"Absolutely." She winked and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. "Now get ready and stop hogging the mirror."
"Right," he replied with a quick smile though his features quickly became serious as he studied himself in the mirror, shaving off the stubble while Lucy admired him from over his shoulder. His brows were thick, hanging heavy over his hazel blue eyes. Despite just having turned thirty, there were deep creases between those brows. His nose was strong and aquiline and his lips were soft and full. Her eyes lingered there, eager to give him a kiss once they were finished getting ready, before traveling back up to his. "Your eyes... they're one of my favorite things about you," she chimed, earning a small smile from him as he rinsed off the shaving cream. "They're the reason I said yes when you asked me out."
He smiled, shaking his head as he pulled out the pomade to style his hair back. "I thought you said it was my great ass?"
"Hmm... That too," she replied with another wink, tempted to reach out and give it a squeeze.
He rinsed his hands and returned the pomade to its place in the medicine cabinet. Lucy stepped forward as he stepped to the side. "My turn, big guy." Nate took his place where she once stood, watching with interest as she got ready.
She washed her face and moisturized, looking up to the hall every now and then as Codsworth bustled about the house. She studied her own features as she applied her makeup. Her own eyes were a light green ringed in a darker green with small flecks of blue and gold and she wore black browline glasses due to poor vision. Her lashes were thick but needed to be curled in order to show off their length. Her nose was on the wider side, though Nate often said it was cute whenever she bemoaned it. The bridge was slightly crooked from the only time she'd ever been in a fist fight. Overall, her face was more rectangular than ovular, with a broad jaw and chin. She envied her neighbor, Mrs. Sumner, for her round face and high cheekbones. Her hair was a mousy, ashy blonde and she often considered dying it red.
She pulled out the curling iron, giving Nate a quick kiss before plugging it in. "You go ahead and get breakfast. This might take a bit." Nate nodded and wandered into the kitchen as she curled her hair. Even if she thought the whole event tonight was ridiculous, she wanted to look as good as she could sitting next to him in front of all those people.
Half an hour and a tired arm later, she headed into the kitchen to join Nate. Codsworth greeted her with a pot of fresh coffee in one hand. "Your coffee. One hundred seventy three point five degrees Fahrenheit, brewed to perfection."
She took it gratefully, grabbing a mug off the table to pour a cup. "Thanks, Codsworth."
"Of course, Miss Lucy." With that, Codsworth returned to the small pile of dishes next to the sink.
Lucy brought the mug up to her mouth and breathed in the heady aroma before taking a sip. Her law school days had been fueled by gallons upon gallons of coffee. Back then, she took whatever swill would give her enough caffeine to make it through countless all-nighters, adding in so much creamer to cover the bitterness that she wasn't sure if the buzz was from the coffee itself or the excessive amounts of sugar. This coffee wasn't much better, but at least it wasn't as bitter with Codsworth brewing it at the right temperature. Perhaps once she started working again she could splurge on some better beans.
She leaned against the counter, lazily leafing through the Grognak comic as Nate flipped through the paper. Lucy liked to tease Nate about his comic collection just as much as he teased her about her records. Grognak the Barbarian and the Jungle of the Bat-Babies, she mused to herself with a small laugh, flipping back to the front cover to take in the ridiculous art. Before she had the chance to tease him about his choice in barbarian characters, Shaun started crying.
"Ah, sounds like someone made a stinky! I shall attend to young Shaun," the Mr. Handy robot chimed, setting aside the dishes to hover off to Shaun's room. Lucy sat her coffee down with a sigh. She couldn't imagine what life would be like without having the extra help.
As if sensing her thought, Nate looked up from the paper. "I know we were nervous at first, but I'm glad we got Codsworth."
Lucy gave a quiet murmur of agreement as she looked to the television set. There'd been so many worries despite General Atomics's assurances that their robots were top-of-the-line and perfectly safe. Could Shaun be pacified by something made of cold metal? What happened if Codsworth went on the fritz? Those appendages could be awfully dangerous if something malfunctioned and he went haywire. But so far their worries had been calmed and with every minute of down-time or sleep Lucy got she was more and more grateful for their purchase. Perhaps, once she and Nate both returned to the work force, they could look into purchasing a Miss Nanny well.
She grabbed the discarded bits of the paper that Nate had set aside and sat on the couch, hardly paying attention to the words that she read. It was all the same these days. The resource wars still raged on. Even here, in the midst of their peaceful little suburb, it was hard to ignore. It had been over a week since she'd last spoken to her father when she dared to suggest that maybe America should lend a helping hand to China when it came to fusion energy. It could be the olive branch the world so desperately needed. He had yelled at her for it, calling her a "Commie sympathizer" before hanging up abruptly. She knew it was naive of her but she couldn't understand why America couldn't lift up the rest of the world instead of trying to conquer it.
The ring of the doorbell brought a welcome distraction to her thoughts. Nate heaved a sigh and placed the paper on the counter as Lucy stood. "It's that salesman again. I don't know why he keeps bothering you."
She shrugged and rolled her eyes, putting on what she hoped passed for a polite smile as she opened the door.
The salesman gave a tip of his hat and stepped forward. "Good morning!" he greeted in a cheery voice. "Vault-Tec calling!"
Not one to be impolite, Lucy replied with a smile of her own. "Good morning."
"Isn't it? Just look at the sky out there!" He cleared his throat, seemingly uncomfortable with the situation. "You can't begin to know how happy I am to finally speak with you. I've been trying for days. It's a matter of utmost urgency, I assure you."
A small amount of guilt welled up in her stomach as she recalled the handful of times she and Nate had previously avoided his attempts at soliciting them. "Then I'm glad you caught up with me," she replied, making a point to ignore Nate's frustrated groan from across the room.
"Now, I know you're a busy woman, so I won't take up much of your time. Time being a, um, precious commodity..." The way he phrased it sent a shiver down Lucy's spine. Perhaps it was what he intended. There was no better way to get someone to sign up for a place in one of those vaults than make them think that a nuclear armageddon was just around the corner. "I'm here today to tell you that because of your family's service to our country, you have been pre-selected for the entrance into the local Vault: Vault 111."
Lucy gave a worried look back at Nate who simply rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the paper. She turned back to the Vault-Tec representative, beginning to think that perhaps signing up for a space in the vault wasn't such a bad idea after all. "But there's room for my entire family, right?" If she was worried about anyone, it was Shaun. Even if the war wound down eventually, who knew what could happen in his life time?
"Of course, of course! Minus your robot, naturally." Just as she was about to inquire about the costs, the representative continued. "In fact, you're already cleared for clearance! It's just a matter of verifying some information. Don't want there to be any hold ups in the unforeseen event of..." He cleared his throat, nervousness clear on his face now. "Um, total atomic annihilation. Won't take but a moment."
She supposed as long as it didn't cost anything, there was no harm in it. She shrugged, stepping a little closer to him in case she needed to fill out any forms. "Sure, let's do it."
After a few minutes of answering some questions about her mental state and her family, the Vault-Tec representative was finished. "Wonderful! That's... everything..." he said, lowering the clipboard to his side and stepping back slowly. Lucy narrowed her eyes slightly at his behavior. Did he know something about the state of affairs? "Just going to talk this over to the Vault! Congratulations on being prepared for the future!" He was already half-way down the road by the time he finished speaking.
Lucy shook her head as she closed the door behind her. "Did he seem... suspicious to you?" she asked Nate as leaned against the back of the couch.
"It's peace of mind," Nate responded as he sat down. "That's worth a little paperwork, right?"
He did have a point. "For you and Shaun, no price is too high." Even if she had to make her way to the vault itself to secure them positions, making sure that they were safe if the unthinkable happened would be worth it.
Nate let out a short laugh, glancing back and forth from her to the television. "Good answer."
Lucy winked, rounding the couch to sit on one of the stools at the counter. "I have my moments."
Shaun's crying reverberated throughout the house just as she finished speaking. Nate made a move to stand up but Lucy made a motion with her hand for him to stay put. Codsworth greeted her as she headed down the hallway.
"Mum, Shaun has been changed but he absolutely refuses to calm down. I think he needs some of that 'maternal affection' you seem to be so good at."
Lucy gave him a tight-lipped smile, not wanting to further the robot's distress. She knew robots were supposed to be the helpers of the future but she had the feeling that their money might have been better spent on a human housekeeper or nanny.
"I'll be there in a second to help," Nate told her as she headed down the hallway and into her son's room.
Every time Lucy stepped into the nursery she inwardly cringed a little at the décor. It had been standard with the "House of Tomorrow" but every time they talked about remodeling, something had always come up. Something was offputting about the way the monkeys on the wallpaper looked like they were screaming as they rode their rocket-ships. She wanted something more along the lines of a Beatrix Potter themed room while Nate still wanted the standard "blue" for boys. She poked fun at him for it, telling him to give up on those antiquated gender roles a little, and suggested using zoo animals as a middle ground. Maybe she would poke around Fallon's if she had the extra time before the speech...
She leaned over Shaun's crib, tickling him a little and making cooing noises. "Hey there sweetie," she spoke as she rubbed her right forefinger over his eyebrows and down his nose.
"My boy isn't giving his mother any trouble, is he?" Lucy looked over her shoulder as her husband leaned against the door frame as he had earlier. Her chest tightened as she watched him watching them. A warm, loving smile relaxed his features, premature crows-feet wrinkling in the corners of his hazel blue eyes. He was just as handsome as the day they had met. If she did make it into Concord, she'd have to pick him up something to show him just how lucky she felt to call him her husband.
"I fixed that mobile on his crib the other day," he continued, making Lucy realize she'd been fawning over him like a schoolgirl. A warm blush creeped across her nose and cheeks and she turned her attention to the little rocket mobile that hung over Shaun. "Why don't you give it a spin?"
She nodded and followed his suggestion, giving it a gentle push to get it in motion. Nate stepped into the room and closed the door behind him as a lullaby played from the mobile.
"That's my boy. On his best behavior, just like his dad." He paused as he stood at the end of the crib, gazing fondly at their son. "Well, most of the time anyway," he said with a smirk as he looked up at Lucy. "Listen, after breakfast, I was thinking we should head to the park for a bit. The weather should hold up."
Lucy returned his smirk as Shaun giggled in his crib, satisfied now that both his parents were with him. "Oh, right. The park. With you. Because I want to get pregnant again."
Before Nate had a chance to reply to her quip, Codsworth's worried voice called out to them. "Sir, mum, you should come and see this!" Her heart dropped though she tried to tell herself it must just be a spot the robot couldn't rub out of a plate or something.
"Codsworth, what's wrong?" Nate questioned. The robot didn't answer and Nate shot her a worried look before picking up Shaun. She opened the door to the nursery and headed into the living room with Nate on her heels. The news reporter on the television had a grim look on his face as he read off the latest headlines.
"Followed by yes... Followed by flashes, blinding flashes, sounds of explosions. We are trying to get confirmation, but we seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations."
A chill shot through Lucy's body and Nate spoke up from beside her. "Wait, what did he say?"
"We do have coming in... confirmed reports..." the newscaster continued. "I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God."
Lucy's body shook as the newscaster placed his head in his hand. The screen went into standby mode and alarms began to sound. Without a second thought, she turned. "We need to get to the vault now!"
Nate was already rushing out the door with their son in his arms. "I've got Shaun!"
She paused only for a moment at the door to look back at Codsworth. "Codsworth, honey, stay safe." With that she made her way out into the street. Mass panic and chaos had erupted. Her neighbors were hugging each other, vertibirds flew over head, and soldiers were directing people to the direction of the local vault. Her heart raced as they ran down the road and up the hill, the only thought on her mind being the worry that they might not make it in time.
When they approached the gate to get to the vault they found the representative that had just greeted them not even an hour ago arguing with the soldiers posted there. "That's absurd. I amVault-Tec!"
"Sir!" the soldier with the clipboard warned as the two soldiers in suits of power-armor trained their guns on the representative. He backed up with his arms in the air before turning to run, shouting that he would be reporting them as he fled the scene.
Lucy's heart broke for him and the others who were outside the gate. Some were crying while others were sitting quietly, having accepted their fate. She didn't understand why they couldn't just let everyone in. If she didn't have to worry about Nate and Shaun, she would have argued with the soldiers. It was heartless.
She had to remind herself that she couldn't worry about them, though. The safety of her husband and her son were her top priority. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped forward as the soldier shouted that only those in the program should step forward and all others should return home.
"We need to get in. We're on the list," Lucy told him, tone aggressive.
"Infant, adult male, adult female..." the soldier spoke, reading off his clipboard. "Okay, go ahead." Was that it? What would have happened if another couple with a child had approached them? Would their spot have been taken?
She had to force herself to stop her thoughts from going down that road. They didn't have the time to spare. She hurried past him with a nod, Nate following behind her. Her husband thanked the soldier and they wished each other good luck. What about everyone else? Had their luck simply ran out?
I can't think about that now she told herself as she ascended the hill.
"What's going to happen to all those people outside the gate?" Nate asked the soldier who led them to the vault.
"We're doing everything we can. Now keep moving!" Lucy doubted that but there was no time for arguing. She simply sent up a silent prayer to whatever god or gods were listening, hoping that Boston would be looked over in the attack. If New York was hit, maybe they would avoid the rest of the east coast?
"Almost there," she said, more to herself than anyone, as she and Nate stepped on the center of the platform. "Is Shaun okay?" she asked as she turned to her husband.
"He's fine," Nate told her in a soothing tone. "We're gonna be okay. I love you."
Just as he finished speaking there was a large flash of light and an explosion to the south. Her mind went numb and her knees shook. The screaming around her was replaced with a ringing in her ears as a mushroom cloud ascended toward the sky. "Hold on!" she yelled, fighting to keep her eyes open despite the light and the shockwaves as she turned to Nate and Shaun. If she was going to die, she wanted to make sure the last thing she saw was them...
By some miracle the elevator made it down into the vault. "We did it. We made it. We're okay..." she murmured as they finished their descent. She couldn't bring herself to think about all the poor souls that had been left behind.
The next few minutes were all a haze to Lucy as she stumbled along the vault induction. Doctors and scientists buzzed around their little group as they made their way deeper in the vault, each one of them being handed vivid blue jumpsuits with the number 111 emblazoned across the back of it. All the while Nate was her port in the storm. He offered her words of comfort as they shuffled along the brightly lit hallways. "It's okay, hun. This is our home now."
Everything they had was now gone. Her record collection, his comics, that hideous wallpaper in Shaun's room. Everything they had worked so hard for was gone in a literal flash.
Her hands started to shake as they entered a room filled with pods. She only vaguely registered what the doctor was telling them as he told them to change into their suits and enter the pods. They would be decontaminated and depressurized before moving deeper into the vault. Just how deep did this vault go?
Shaun's crying brought her out of her haze. She drew in a deep breath, trying to ignore the distinct chemical cleaner smell that lingered in the air, and stepped toward her husband and son. "He's being fussy. Could you...?" Nate asked as he closed the distance between them.
She tickled his tummy for a moment before rubbing his forehead. "Who's my little guy?" Lucy asked, kissing the top of his head gently. "I'm not going far. I'll just be over there." She moved her hand to Nate's upper arm, giving it a quick squeeze. She had to stay strong for them both. They shared a quick kiss as a nearby scientist urged them to hurry into their decontamination pods.
She changed, unworried about decency in the light of what had happened, and settled into the pod. Lucy kept her eyes on Nate, reaching out a hand to the glass as she mouthed 'I love you'.
A faint hiss startled her before she realized it was just the pod, no doubt releasing some sort of chemical designed to kill bacteria. She held her breath for a moment, wondering if the chemicals were safe to breathe. On her exhale she noticed that her breath came out in a fog. The temperature had dropped suddenly. Her brows knitted together as she stared across the hall to Nate and Shaun's pod. Ice crystals had already started spreading out from the edges of the window on his pod. Her look of confusion and worry was the last expression she made before her world went dark.
Lucy was disoriented and stiff when she came to. The sound of footsteps brought her slowly to her senses. She couldn't feel her extremities and the window to the pod was covered in a thick layer of frost. She shivered as she flexed her fingers, willing them to work. Was this what they meant by decontamination? Freezing all the bacteria off? As long as it worked, she supposed she couldn't complain.
She leaned forward a little and scraped the frost off the window. She saw Nate across from her, still holding Shaun. Her heart jumped a little, hoping that Shaun made it through that process okay. She turned her eyes to look at a feminine figure in an odd hazmat suit. She was pointing at Nate. Were they being let out? Another figure joined her. He was dressed in odd clothing, like something out of a movie, and he was carrying a gun. What was happening?
Her heart rate increased and she leaned forward even more as the strange woman opened the door to Nate's pod. He coughed almost stumbled out, asking if the war was over and if they were okay. Lucy put a shaky hand to the window, senses screaming at her that this was all wrong. She wanted to yell, to tell Nate to run and hide, but all she could do was watch as the woman reached out and tried to grab Shaun.
The man who had joined her assured Nate that it was almost over. "Everything's going to be fine." Lucy didn't believe him. Were where the other scientists? The doctors? Shouldn't they be checking to see how everyone was doing?
The other woman continued to try and take Shaun. Nate refused to give up their son. If they were really from Vault-Tec, wouldn't they let Nate hold onto their boy while they were checked out?
The man pulled up his gun and pointed it squarely at Nate. "Let the boy go." Why was this happening? Why would they want Shaun? A part of her almost wished Nate would just give him up. They could find Shaun later, together.
But Nate refused. "I'm not giving you Shaun!" he screamed. Lucy's own scream was frozen in her throat as the man shot Nate at nearly point-blank range, closing the door on the pod like some metal coffin.
Lucy slumped back in shock as the man approached her own pod, sneering as he peered inside. "At least we still have the backup." What did he mean? Why had he done this? Even when the bomb had fell, she still had Nate and Shaun. Now she had nothing.
As her world faded to black once more, she made sure to commit the man's face to memory. If she ever managed to get out, she was going to find him, even if it killed her.