FALLOUT: FIRST CHAPTER
Jacob scoped in the high caliber sniper rifle sitting on the ridge of an enormous sandstone canyon deep in the Mojave desert. He could see the black dots of men, thousand meters away, lining up in ranks before a man on a mobile throne. Alyssa came up from behind Jacob and went prone, like he was, to peer over the edge of the canyon.
"Spoon says he's ready on the other side." She whispered into his ear. Jacob grabbed the broken piece of glass from his back pocket and aimed it at the other side of the large crack in the ground. The sun was high above at this time of day, almost three o'clock.
Jacob got a response from the other side with same flash of light from another piece of glass.
"All ready." Alyssa scooted over, likewise Jacob, and peered down the sight of the sniper. Her red hair was tied tight into a bun underneath her NCR Ranger's beret. God she was beautiful. Her tight cargo shorts and leather jacket adorned with metal pins from her service in the New California Republic. Jacob was too scared to ask her for her hand in marriage. It wasn't such a good idea especially when she was poised with a weapon of sheer destruction. The two exchanged many "intimate" formalities on a regular basis, and marriage isn't something commonly heard about in the wasteland. But Jacob wanted it to be real.
He pulled binoculars up from around his neck and sighted himself in on the man sitting in the throne. The golden metal and red leather made him obvious, even to a blind man. The shining pieces of armor threw light all over the face of the canyon. The men at attention in front of him, maybe twelve thousand or so, wore similar armor, but far less grand as the man on the throne.
"Accounting for wind resistance?" Jacob smiled.
"Of course." Alyssa responded. She was the damnedest shot with any weapon for any range. She never missed. Jacob looked back over to the other side of the canyon. He focused the binoculars to see Spoon already aiming his rifle. Two men stood next to the man on the throne, one with short black hair, the other, adorned with a crown. Spoon was to shoot the man with short hair, and Alyssa was to shoot the man on the throne.
Fuck. Jacob sighted a slight shimmer around the throne. A force field.
"Shit, Alyssa, he's got a damn force field around him. How the hell?"
"Fuck!" She cursed under her breath. "Get Spoons to shoot out the transponders."
"I don't see them."
"Should be close by, maybe a meter away from him, behind his big fucking chair." Oh Jacob thought she was sexy when she was mad.
He looked near the throne. Nothing.
"I don't have the view to see behind it." Jacob said.
"Maybe I can shoot through the chair and hit it."
"You'll miss."
"I never miss..." She looked over into Jacob's eyes. Damn it, he would let her try.
"Spoon should know what to do when the field goes down. He should see it." Jacob assured her. He quickly looked back at Spoon through the binoculars who was looking right at them through his own. Jacob stuck his left hand up and pointed at the chair. Spoon nodded and went back to the rifle.
"Here we go." He whispered.
Alyssa let out a breath and pulled the trigger.
6 WEEKS EARLIER
The cold metal floors of Vault 34 were beginning to eat at his raw feet. The blisters on his heels began to burst and caused shots of pain to shoot up his spine every step he took. Walking through a pit of acidified liquid salient wasn't the best way to start the day. Rad-roaches had begun their inhospitable infestation in the reactor rooms, far below. Power had been lost twenty-four hours ago, but the emergency generator had kicked in, and the red flashing lights and deafening sirens roared proud every several feet along the thick Vault walls.
Vault 34 was buried one mile underground the city of, or what use to be, Las Vegas. And it's existence was only known to few people. Very uncommon for VaultTech. They usually boasted of the nuclear hardened walls and safe living conditions for the "people of tomorrow". Of course, that was just the marketing ploy.
Jacob had been born in Vault 34 in the year 2267 and had grown up learning Vault-dweller activities, such as gardening, kicking a rubber ball around in the halls, and running errands for his parents. There wasn't much for friends, but at least he had some. When Jacob was three, he met Cameron, his best friend. They had grown up together in the Vault playing pranks on their parents, and often called up to the Overseer's office to explain the blue sludge dripping from the men's bathroom ceiling. Jacob was now seventeen, and Cameron, eighteen. The age gap mattered not to them.
Cameron had taken his G.O.A.T. (Generalized Occupation Aptitude Test) last year and become the Vault's Armorer thanks to the test results. He knew his firearms and had taught Jacob most of his skills, which he was now using. Cameron had only a limited supply of ammunition, and most of it was trapped. Buried underground during an explosion next to the Overseer's office.
Jacob gripped the 10mm pistol in both hands as the sweat dripped off his finger tips. He shivered and gritted his teeth as he came up to the corner of the next dark and ominous hallway. He leaned around and let out a breath. His carbon dioxide was visible in the cold temperatures and his ripped Vault 129 jump-suit was nothing for warmth. Jacob quickly stepped into the hallway and the pain came back. He let out a soft wine and winced, then continued back down the hallway to the male living quarters.
A shadow danced behind him, the shadow of something big. Something he had seen before. A man in metal armor. Or was it a man? A figure. "It" hadn't seen him when it walked right by him hours earlier.
Jacob tried to muffle the sounds of his foot steps, but he hadn't the energy for even simple tasks. Holding the pistol had become difficult and heavy. Jacob's eyes drooped. Ahead, about ten meters was the next door. The sliding automated slab of metal was bent out of place, jammed halfway down the doorway. Jacob neared and crouched down. The pain was incredible. He quickly fell to his back and screamed out. Jacob's voice echoed down back through the hallway behind him. He laid the pistol on his chest and grabbed the bottom of the twisted door. The words Vault 34 painted in yellow on the other side of the door greeted him covered in red blood that dripped onto his legs.
Jacob gasped and pulled himself through the small gap despite the pain and scrambled from the door. Sparks shot out from exposed wiring jutting the door jam and hit his left leg. Jacob screamed again as another shower of sparks emitted from the top of the jammed door and fell to his back, some burning holes into the jump suit and into his skin. Jacob clawed forward as sparks stuck the ground behind him.
He pulled himself up and reached for the pistol on the ground just in front of him. Jacob pulled it up and turned to see a shadowy figure run through the nearest doorway on his left. The figure looked female on shape. The door shut quickly with a loud metallic slam. Jacob slowly walked to the door and hit the keypad next to it with his fist. The door opened upwards and a woman stood several meters away from the door, trying to fit herself into one of the standing lockers, pulling clothes and shoes out from one of the lockers. The woman spun and looked him in the eyes. A look of sheer terror shot across her face as she looked down to his pistol lightly gripped in his right hand.
The woman screamed and fell to a fetal position on the floor. She began to cry and yell at Jacob.
"Don't do it! Please!" The woman repeated this phrase several times before Jacob tried uttered his words.
Jacob coughed and fell down onto the floor, blood splattered on his hands he covered his mouth with. He looked at the ceiling as the dim red light lit up the woman's figure who jumped beside him, and grabbed his gun out of his hand. The distant sound of sparks clashing with the metal in an epic battle caught his mind. He shifted his head onto its side just in time to see the sparks collide with the ground, a beautiful array of colors. A good time to die.
Jacob gave a small smile and the world went into slow motion. Images of his mother flashed in his mind, at the information was pulled from his memory. The images of his father, Cameron, his mother's miscarriage of his to-be sister. His happiness turned to sadness. Jacob turned back up to be face-to-face with the woman to pointed the gun at his forehead. The weapon shook. Jacob raised his hand and grabbed the woman's wrist softly, almost tenderly, and moved the fire arm away from his head. He finally got a good view of the woman.
"I'll shoot, god damn it! Please!" She was young, probably twenty something, with red hair. She was crying and cursing at him. Jacob's brown hair, covered in grim dust and blood, and his nose, broken and bleeding badly. Jacob looked into her blue eyes.
"Put the gun..." Jacob's sentence was interrupted by a cough. Jacob rolled over on his side and coughed the blood onto the metal floor of what he assumed was the woman's room.
"Put it down." He uttered in between violent coughs and shaking. The woman finally collapsed on the floor beside him and cried. She called for her mother and father like a baby. Jacob found the energy to lean up and searched the floor for a shirt or cloth, and tied his feet up. Jacob stood and leaned on the door. He turned around as the woman was still crying, the pistol inches from her hands.
"Give." Jacob pointed at the 10mm and swallowed. The woman punched the gun to Jacob's feet.
"Get out!" The crying began again. Jacob knelt down and picked up the weapon into his shaking hands. He stepped out into the hall as the cloth around his feet soaked up the puss from his blisters and immensely helped with the pain. Jacob began walking at a steady pace down the hall, steadying himself with one hand on the wall.
A white and faint charred light emitted from the next door way, which was a cross section, one direction leading to the reactors, and the other to the male living quarters, upwards. The signs posted on the wall had been charred, and so had most of the hallway, by an explosion coming from the reactor rooms on the stair well to left of Jacob at the cross. The sirens shrieked yet again at Jacob. He shivered and began to cry.
The cold had made his toes completely numb. Jacob entered the doorway and began his ascent up the stair on his right up to what he hoped was the main living section, and the Overseer's office. Each step was the worst pain he had experienced all night, on par with being showered in sparks. But Jacob pushed up. His legs shook violently and he nearly slipped off of the next step. He was so close. Jacob wiped the blood from his nose. Once at the top, he encountered overturned crates and food rations scattered on the floor. Jacob tumbled onto the floor and the 10mm slid across the floor.
He pushed his arms under him and attempted to lift himself back up but fell back down. Jacob closed his eyes and pulled himself up. Jacob regained balance one his feet. Then the sound of a scream caught his ears. He perked up and looked all around him. Taking in the familiar, now tarnished and dimly lit, surroundings. The scream was high pitched, maybe a small child. Hard to tell male or female. But it scared Jacob.
He hobbled over to the gun, wincing every step and stopping every meter to wipe his sweat from his forehead. When he reached the 10mm, he leaned down to pick it up. The sound of quick footstep began as soon as he bent down, running at him. Jacob quickly spun to see the face of a metal pole smash his temple and knock him out. The limp and seemingly dead body fell to the cold metal floor with a loud thud, and the shadow quickly carried him up to the Overseer's office.
Hours had passed before Jacob finally woke from his concussion. He felt for his temple. As his fingers glided over the enormous bump on the left side of his head, he jumped. The pain was terrible, definitely securing the number one spot on his list above the spark-shower.
He was lain on one of the Overseer's leather and steel benches, opposite the intimidating desk and swiveling chair. Jacob leaned himself up and felt his forehead and wiped the blood from the bridge of his nose onto his torn jumpsuit. All of the lights in the office were blinding white, quite a contrast to the dark red. And there was no sound of sirens. Just a quiet office in a quiet Vault.
Jacob looked over to his right, out of the bubble shaped window overlooking the area he had been in hours earlier. He could see his pistol still lying on the ground, barely visible, poking out behind the nearest overturned crate. Jacob squinted hard as he surveyed the area outside of the bubble in the sharp white light.
A voice caught his immediate attention and caused him to jump as the Overseer's chair spun to show a woman sitting, relaxed and composed.
"Mr. Hulum. It's time we leave." The woman's voice was arrogant and young. Maybe she hadn't meant the tone she presented.
"What?" Jacob said as he looked the woman up and down, well, her visible torso that was above the desk. Her Vault 34 jumpsuit was in perfect condition, her hair, a beautiful dark black. She even had the audacity to wear pink lipstick. The woman arched a brow at him like he was insane. She looked him over.
"What the hell!" Jacob nearly jumped out of his seat, but he was reminded of his feet when he stood and quickly sat back down.
"Mr. Hulum, please stay calm. This is a serious matter." The woman's tone was quite opposite of the words she was speaking. Jacob's mind was exploding. He was racing.
"What?!" Jacob panted and wiped his brow and looked at the floor, wide eyed. Is this..? What?!
"Calm down." The woman stood from her seat and walked out behind the desk. Jacob got to look her up and down fully now. She was armed with two Chinese pistols holstered on either side of her hips. He was wearing feminine combat boots, laced inches up her legs, almost to her knees. She stopped feet in front of him and kneeled down to his height. The woman placed her hand on his forehead. She gave a puzzled look, stood and walked back up to the desk.
"What is going on?" Jacob squinted and struggled to look at what she was doing. The woman was typing things in to a keypad on the desk. She turned and a mechanical sound erupted from behind the Overseer's chair.
"Mr. Hulum, please follow me." The woman smiled and disappeared behind the chair that was inches taller than the woman.
"Who the hell are you?" Jacob stood and hobbled over to the chair. Behind the chair, a small passage had opened on the back wall behind monitors and informational screens flashing red and reading the words WARNING. But Jacob had no choice. At least, that's what he thought. There is always a choice.
He followed down the passage, crouching to stay lower than the wet ceiling. Each step was the same excruciating pain. The two had barely spoken but twenty words to each other and he was trailing meters behind her in a secret passage outside the Overseer's office.
"What's going on?" Jacob shouted ahead to the woman who wasn't slowing for him.
"I have told you, Mr. Hulum, pay attention." The woman rounded a corner and Jacob picked up the pace, limping terribly.
"No, tell me what is this? I was told nothing, and you said so yourself." Jacob coughed and it echoed down the passage.
"All of this," The woman circled her pointer finger around her head, signifying all of what was happening. "It was planned. The power was cut to your Vault and rad-roaches were bred inside of your reactor rooms on purpose. We allowed the power to the emergency generators, otherwise we wouldn't be able to extract you and your assets from all the chaos." It became darker the farther they walked from the opening, but small lights placed at even intervals emitted enough light for a safe escape.
"Where are we going?" Jacob asked as he stopped to tend to his feet. The woman continued her earlier statements, completely disregarding his question.
"Mr. Hulum, when the power was cut, you reacted very differently than we had anticipated. It was the middle of the night when the sirens began. You jumped out of bed, hurried to your friend who held the key to the armory, and grabbed one of the twenty 10mm pistols. What has his name?" The woman stopped moving and rubbed her forehead. "Cameron? Was it?" She turned and smiled at Jacob then went back to walking down the now winding passage, with Jacob trailing behind.
"How come I've never seen you in here before?" Jacob questioned.
"Because I don't live here." Jacob stopped.
"That's not possible." The woman turned again.
"Look, Jacob, there is a lot more going on right now that what you assume. It wasn't my intent to whack you in the head with a lead pipe. And you nearly died. This all needs to be presented to you in the right way."
"No, no, no. Life outside of the Vaults is impossible. It's a god damn nuclear waste land. All hell went to shit a long time ago." Jacob winced and tried to grasp the thought of all of this.
"No, Mr. Hulum. It's not. We need you now." The woman looked him in the eyes.
"What about my parents? Cameron? My friends?" Jacob became wide eyed.
"It's not important right now." She said.
"Yes, it is..." There was a pause.
"Jacob, we know you know, don't"
"Fuck you." Jacob interrupted.
"Fine, you really want to know?" She became angry and violent in that instant. "Jacob... you saw your parents die. And Cameron... he, he died trying to save them. There, was it worth it?" Jacob's jaw fell. Then a long pause struck between them.
"What?! No! I... I never saw this! What the hell did you do with them?! Where are they, god damn it!" Jacob screamed and cursed at the woman. He yanked back from her hand, which was attempting to grab his Vault jumpsuit.
"Jacob! Calm your shit!" This is the first time Jacob saw the woman lose composure. She teared up. "I'm trying to help you!"
"What is going on!" Jacob yelled at the woman.
"Let me explain, god damn it."
"Then do!"
"This is all really happening. Everything you have been told is a lie. Life outside the Vault is possible. Your parents... killed by Enclave. Or at least the remainder of the Enclave. Only three people in this Vault knew about it their plan, and those three helped the bastards get in. Both your parents and Cameron just happened to be the first executed. I'm sorry."
Jacob looked wide-eyed at the woman. His eyes began to tear. Had he seen it? Had he seen his parents and best friend killed?
"Who... are you?" Jacob just looked blankly as his voice began to quaver. He was being kidnapped, and blatantly agreeing to place the bag over his head. His instincts told him to run and find his parents. All of this will get better, he told himself.
"I can't tell you. Follow me." The woman turned. Jacob cried and looked back down the passage to the Overseer's office.
A figure crossed over the passage. A one he'd seen before. It looked huge. The entities shoulders curved upwards and gleamed in the dim light. The entire body of the creature was covered in metal, bent in peculiar ways that made for an aesthetic delight. It pointed at Jacob and shouted out.
"I've got him!" The figure reached to his back and pulled out a rifle, very long with a coiled barrel and tubes jutting from the sides from small fuel cells. What the hell?
"Jacob, run!" The woman pushed him behind her and pulled out both of the Chinese pistols in unison and fired at the figure, bullets flying out of the barrels at an extremely fast pace. Seemed modded to be automatic. The bullets ricocheted off the grey metal armor and bounced into the floor, denting the old passage's metal floor grates.
A green light emitted from the coiled barrel and shot out an orb of liquid hot plasma. The bolt his just behind Jacob and knocked him up, forcing his spine to connect to the warm liquid of the dripping ceiling.
Jacob fell back down and hit the ground hard. He coughed up even more blood. The woman behind him rolled to her left, dodging the next on-coming bolt which whizzed past Jacob's head.
Two more of the armored demons entered the passage way, single filed. The woman turned on her heels and ran to Jacob, throwing him onto her back. She sprinted down the hall at lightning fast speeds. Jacob struggled to hold on to the woman's shoulders. The next green bolt struck inches from the back of the woman's heels.
"Move!" The armored behemoth shouted. The two filed in behind him and were forced to duck several inches down as the armor added an extra foot to their height already immense height. Jacob looked back at the men who were closing, but slowly.
The woman rounded around a corner, through a metal doorway, tossed Jacob off her back and punched the blue glowing control panel that controlled the sliding metal door they just entered through. The metal slab fell down and hit the floor as dust shot from the gated teeth of the blast door.
They were now in a small room with a glass shield. On the other side of the glass, the opened Vault door. Jacob stood up and hobbled over to the glass and pressed his hands up against the glass. He could see someone waiting in the entrance. The woman, now standing behind Jacob and resting her hand on his shoulder, spoke.
"Let's go."
"Wait." Jacob backed up and looked at the woman.
"Jacob, we need to leave. Those men," she pointed to the doorway. "who just chased us, they want you dead or alive. And I'm not waiting here for them to break through." At that instant, the door bent in the middle from impact on the other side.
"I don't know..." Jacob slid down the wall and looked at his hands.
"Jacob, I don't care. I'm taking you with me."
"My parents... I don't believe you." Jacob stood.
"We can talk later. Move." The woman grabbed Jacob's jumpsuit, hauled him to the other side of the small room, and drug him down to the Vault entrance. The man waiting at the entrance came up to Jacob and lifted him up onto his shoulder, now having both arms around the woman and the mysterious man. The two began to converse with each other.
"Ave. What took you so long. I told you, ten minutes from infiltration." Ave? Latin? What the hell is going on here? Jacob Thought. The man had a black bandana tied around the back of his head, concealing half of his face. His hair was thick but short. The man was clad with leather boots, shoulder pads, and chest piece. Every other spot not covered by dried Brahmin, was covered with sloppily welded pieces of scrap metal. The leather on his chest had an eagle painted inside of a orange circle. It looked almost tribal like.
The two were dragging Jacob through the tunnel that led from the Vault door. The cold Earth rubbed onto Jacob's feet. The pain was beginning to subside from his feet, but he was still attempting to resist the two by jamming his heels into the dirt.
"Enclave." The woman sighed and grunted.
"I knew we were too late." The man said and cursed under his breath.
"Wait. Stop. Who the hell are you people?" Jacob demanded. The two stopped halfway down the tunnel. The man turned his eyes to meet Jacob's.
"Caesar's Legion."
He felt a sudden prick in his side. Hurt like hell too. Jacob quickly turned to the woman. She stabbed him with a syringe. That Bitch. The woman quickly removed and pocketed the syringe. The two people dragged him off to the doorway of the cave.
"Go to hell..." Jacob whispered as his limbs became limp and his eyes closed. The black consumed him and he fell out of consciousness.
