Liam Donaldson walked into the Common Gentleman's Wealth strip club on Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, Boston. The ridiculous name just compounded his automatic dislike of the place. He looked around the dim strip club with mild disdain. Despite all the time he had spent in the Army being dragged to strip club after strip club both foreign and domestic, by squad mates desperate to blow off some steam. He had never developed a taste for them. Watching naked women having mock sex with pole never really appealed to him. Every time he went, he just got sexually frustrated to the point where he usually ended up in the red light district of what ever city he was stationed in, spending his well earned leave allowance, just to work out enough of the frustration to get some sleep.
Trying not to let the abundant flesh on display distract him he scanned the club for his target, as he moved toward the bar. Once at the bar he flagged down the bartender and ordered a scotch on the rocks then turned to scan the club again. It only took him a moment. He spotted the man he was here to see sitting in the far corner of the club at a table with his back to the wall. The spot allowed him to have a perfect unobstructed view of the whole club. Liam dropped a twenty on the bar and took his drink from the bartender before heading over to meat his contact.
Sean Morreti was a Sergeant Major posted to a quarter master position at Fort Hagen. A slim man in his mid 50s with a lean wiry build and ginger hair starting to go gray at the temples. That combined with his short 5'5" inches of height made him a singularly non intimidating person. He also had a very average face, neither good looking nor ugly. The most memorable thing about him with his height, which he used to his advantage. The position in conjunction with his impressive computer skills combined into an almost mystical ability to make hardware belonging to Uncle Sam vanish into the electronic ether never to be seen again. Until a gang member, or drug lord shot someone with the missing weapon a few months later on the other side of the world. It was that service Liam needed today, he needed the service badly enough that he was willing to overlook his aversion to strip clubs to get it.
Sean leaned forward in this chair to shake Liam's hand as he sat down in the chair across from him. Like Sean, Liam would have preferred to have his back to a wall. But he trusted Sean and he was almost certain that no one either knew about or would care what the two of them were about to do.
"Sean." Liam said as he shook his old friends hand.
"Lieutenant." Sean replied with a nod.
"It's Liam now Sergeant, I've been out for almost a year." Liam said with a rye grin.
"You will always be my L,T, sir." Sean said with utmost seriousness. Liam sighed internally, Sean was the type of soldier that could never even consider anything other than being a soldier. He practically had red white and blue stripes in his blood. That combined with the numerous combat missions they served together through the Anchorage campaign made Sean one of the handful of people in the world that Liam trusted completely.
"Did you get what I asked for?" Liam asked in a voice barely loud enough for the Sergeant to hear over the booming music and lewd shouts of the patrons.
"Yes sir, though I was only able to get two fusion cores." Sean replied looking uncomfortable like a kid sitting in front of his principle at a grade school.
"Don't worry about it Sean I wasn't actually expecting you to get any, two is enough for what I need." Liam replied, amazed that the sergeant had managed to make two fusion cores disappear from the Fort without anyone knowing, the cores were relatively new tech and arguably the most important piece of hardware the Army made. Without them the power armor frames couldn't function. Gatling lasers couldn't shoot, light troop transport vehicles couldn't drive. Almost all of the new tech getting cooked up by the Armed Forces RND required Fusion Cores to work. That being the case every single one was watched closely, carefully recorded from the manufacturer all the way to the bases. Liam shook his head with a grin, leave it to Sean to be able to do it.
"I brought an LTV with me, everything you asked for is in the cargo space." Sean said before Liam could ask.
"Let's get a move on then." Liam replied and stood up.
Liam got to his feet without another word and made his way to the front, dodging drunk men in business suits as he went. Once outside he got into his Corvega Hauler and left the strip club. The plan was for Sean to leave a couple minutes after himself and follow with a more circuitous route to the derelict school that they had chosen for the transfer point. The drive was a quick one, with the unrest building up all around the world most people were leaving home less and less these days. The subconscious idea that home was safe, found the majority of the population desperately trying to hold on to any sense of security they could. That night at 01:00 there were almost no other cars on the road. He pulled into the abandoned grade school only a couple of minutes after he left the strip club and turned off his truck, listening to the tiny reactor whine as it spun down. Less than a minute later Sean pulled up beside him in the Light Transport Vehicle. Liam got out and walked around to meet his old friend.
Sean stepped down out of the truck and waved Liam to follow him to the back of the military transport. The back hatch had palm scanner. The idea being that keys could be lost or stolen but hands usually stayed with their owners. Sean slapped his hand down on the scanner and waited the 3 seconds it took for the device scan his prints and release the locking pins. It clicked loudly then Sean pulled it up to reveal the cargo space. Inside there were enough weapons and ammo to supply a single marine for a year. Liam let out a small sigh of relief, he hated to have to take this precaution but with the increasing hostility of China and Russia over the last year. Along with the general break down of government in many European countries, he knew that it would be better to have the weapons and supplies if the worse case scenario ever came about.
"Thank you Sean." Liam's voice held a note of considerable relief and regret as he turned to Sean and held out his hand. The sergeant shook his hand, though he couldn't quite hide his concern.
"Sir," Sean took a moment as though he wasn't quite sure how to ask the question. "Are you in some kind of trouble sir?" He finally asked after a moment.
"No Sergeant this is just a precaution that I hope I never have to use." Then sergeant looked into his former CO's eyes for a long moment before nodding his acceptance.
"Yes sir, lets get this transferred." with that he reached in and hauled out a crate of 9mm ammunition.
It only took the two of them a couple minutes to transfer over the cargo. When they finished Liam stopped Sean with a hand on his arm.
"Sean thank you for this." he said feeling a sense of gratitude he knew he would never be able to repay.
"Any time LT after what you did for me in Anchorage it was the least I could do." he said with a small shrug.
"You saved me that day every bit as much as I saved you." Liam said with a grin. "If you hadn't made that kamikaze run with the fusion core right in front of the machine gun emplacements I would have been torn to ribbons. You should have gotten a medal that day Sean." Sean looked sheepish for a moment before changing the subject.
"How is your family doing sir?" he asked looking off into the night. Liam didn't mind, Sergeant Sean Morreti was the type of man who didn't know how to handle praise. So he just smiled.
"The wife is good, taking a couple weeks off right now. As for Sean, well hes taking after his namesake, getting into trouble at every opportunity and driving his parents nuts." Liam couldn't help the huge smile he knew was covering his face as he spoke about his family. Sean finally looked back at him with a grin.
"You take care of them Sir, and..." he paused his smile fading into serious frown. "I never did thank you naming your son after me. I just want you to know sir that you couldn't have given me a bigger honor than that." for a long moment the two men just regarded each other levelly. Before Liam nodded.
"Your welcome Sergeant." he said than saluted smartly, Sean returned the gesture before they shook hands one last time and went to their vehicles. Liam couldn't help feeling the sense of finality clinging to the darkness, like this would be the last night the two old friends ever saw each other again. A number of times over the last two years Liam had offered to get Sean on the list for Vault 111 with the rest of his family. Every time the sergeant just grinned and said, 'No way in hell sir, when I go out it's going to be looking my enemy dead in the eye, not hiding underground cowering like a rat.' Liam understood perfectly. If it hadn't been for his wife and son he never would have applied for the vault himself. But starting a family makes a man reevaluate his life. With one last shake of his head he started up the truck and headed home.
The drive from Cambridge to his home just outside of Concord took almost half an hour. On the way home he had plenty of time to think through this decision, he hoped against hope that the human race would find a way out of what seemed to him like certain destruction. But after his time in Anchorage he honestly didn't believe it was going to happen. The other nations of the world were so desperate for resources that he knew now that another war was coming, and this time he feared there would be no winner. So when he got home he cut the engine and went inside to check on Lara and the Baby. Both of them were fast asleep hopefully his son would choose tonight to break the cycle of midnight wake up calls for feeding. He went back out into the garage and activated Codsworth. The little robot sputtered to life with a series of happy beeps before his main thruster ignited and pushed him free of his charging cradle float up into the air.
"Good morning Sir, if I might ask what has you up and about at 2am?" Codsworth asked in this synthetic imitation of the old English serving class.
"We have a hole to dig Codsworth equip your muli-purpose laser and follow me please." Liam requested as he dug around in the back of the garage for the specialty storage crate he had ordered last month. The crate was a especially designed for long term storage in hostile conditions. Made of a ultra high strength titanium alloy it was capable of protecting it's contents in virtually any environment for decades. With the crate in hand he opened up the garage door and went about moving the gear from the back of the truck and into the garage. Codsworth helped him and the two of them got everything transferred quickly. Once finished he closed the door and turned to Codsworth.
"I need you to cut a 4' by 5' hole in the concrete here." Liam told Codsworth as the marked out a space on the solid concrete floor of the garage.
"Sir I'm afraid I don't have enough power to perform that kind of cut, I do apologize." the little robot sounded truly wounded by his inability to perform the task.
"Normally no, but I got you an upgrade while I was out." Liam said as he walked over to the pile of gear near the large specialized crate. Bending down he opened a small lead lined steel case and pulled out one of the fusion cores. Mr. Gusty model robots had seen military service for decades, one of the first semi-sentient robots ever made by Robco. Robotics. The Mr. Gutsy model came with a Fusion core that allowed them to run non stop for decades even centuries without a replacement. The extra power also allowed the model to run some very considerable weapons attachments. Lasers that could cut through solid steel, micro plasma launchers, micro missile pods, among others. After a few years the company expanded the line into civilian use.. The Mr. Handy however isn't equipped with a fusion core when sold to civilians instead it just runs off the back up lithium power cell that can be recharged at any 220 power outlet. Thus neutering the units ability to use any kind of dangerous hardware. However Robco. saw no reason to remove the fusion cell compartment and waist money when an ordinary citizen couldn't get access to a fusion core. So it was an easy fix to install the fusion core and get the full range of functions powered up and ready for use.
Liam stood with the fusion core and turned to find Codsworth hovering only a foot away, all three visual censor stalks pinned on the core in his hand.
"Sir I feel compelled to remind you that only official armed forces models are cleared for Fusion core integration." the robot sounded almost nervous. That was the other difference between the Mr. Gutsy and Mr. Handy models. The Mr. Gutsy models customized combat semi-sentience was almost comically blood thirsty with very little regard for any rules or regulations. While the Mr. Handy was the opposite, seemingly spineless when it came to breaking any rule or law.
Liam ignored it's statement and walked around behind it. The panel on for the fusion core compartment was made of lead lined steel but only secured in place with a single bolt. A few quick turns of a socket wrench and the panel was out of the way. Liam carefully slid the fusion core into the slot all the while ignoring the constant string of objections coming from the poor overwhelmed bot. When he felt the core click into place Liam lifted the panel back into place and secured it with the bolt before grinning at the still complaining Codsworth.
"Enough Codsworth what's you maximum sustainable output on your laser attachment now with the fusion core?" he asked.
"Sir..." Codsworth paused for a moment before turning around and fixing his visual sensors on Liam. "I am capable of producing a 1 gigawatt beam safely, any more power would result in unsafe heat build up in the focusing crystal lens."
"Good that's more than powerful enough to cut through tungsten, concrete should be no problem. I want you to give me a 2 centimeter thick cut in a 4 foot by 5 foot rectangle right here." he pointed out the center of the garage again. "Make sure the cut goes all the way through to the dirt below the garage." With one last scandalized comment Codsworth set about with the laser.
The next two hours went by in a blur of activity for Liam. While Codsworth cut through the floor Liam stored all the weapons and ammunition from Sean, along with a set of grade two combat armor into the reinforced titanium storage crate. He ended up with, two 92FS 9mm hand guns, a P90 PDW, an M4A1 Carbine, and a M14 Marksmen Rifle chambered for .308. Along with the kit needed to change out the chamber for a .338. Five thousand rounds assorted for the weapons, along with some basic survival gear. Portable water purifier, radio transmitter, antibiotics, the spare fusion core and 50 fusion cells rounded out the 'End of the world last resort kit'. He was as prepared as he could be for what ever happened next.
Once Codsworth cut through the concrete they carefully pulled the massive block out of the hole and broke it down into small chunks then he dug out a hole in the dirt beneath large enough for the huge crate of supplies. Once he finished that they lowered the crate down into the hole and filled it in with the chunks of old concrete and poured a new level on top sealing the hole. Once finished Liam had Codsworth use his laser on a low power wide beam to dry the new concrete then left him to clean up the garage and sweep out the excess dirt and chunks of concrete. It was nearly 05:00 by the time Liam took a quick two minute shower and crawled into bed with his wife. He was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.
Liam slept in that day until almost three in the afternoon, the feeling of soft hands caressing his thighs and cool air blowing over his skin brought about the first flicker of consciousness. Still half asleep he smiled and reached down to cover one of the hands with his own. Then a warm wet mouth closed over his morning wood and his eyes snapped open with sudden wakefulness. He looked down to see his beautiful wife looking up at him while her mouth slid a little farther down over his erection. Liam groaned in pleasure as his eyes fluttered closed.
Lara Donaldson stroked her hands over her husbands thighs as she greedily worked him with her mouth. Since the moment they had met almost 5 years ago she had never been more attracted to a man in her life. Liam was huge and strong, 6'2" and 225 pounds of raw powerful muscle. High sharp cheek bones, long strait nose, strong jaw and chin left him with a handsome masculine face that was off set by striking emerald green eyes and short raven black hair. To rough to be beautiful but irresistible all the same.
Lara moved one of her hands to work in tandem with her mouth as Liam started to shudder and moan in pleasure. She could feel her inner muscles clench as wetness gathered between her legs. Just before she brought him to orgasm she stopped and slowly pulled back letting his impressive erection slide free of her mouth. He groaned and cursed at the loss which only made her grin.
"Evil woman." he said with his eyes still closed as he fought to steady his breathing.
"Open your eyes husband." He did and looked down to see her standing at the foot of the bed wearing a pale peach sleeveless sundress that fell to just above her knees. He watched as she slowly pulled it up. His cock twitched in anticipation as it neared the apex of her thighs, his breath quickened. Then she pulled it off in one smooth motion leaving her standing before him completely naked. Her soft creamy white skin seamed to glow in the early afternoon sunlight streaming in through the bay window behind the bed. Her dark red hair fell around her in lush waves all the way down to her hips. Her large round breasts heaved with quick excited breaths as he drank in her incredible beauty.
"Ride me woman." It was supposed to come out a demand but even to his own ears it sounded more like a plea for mercy. Her grin broadened as she climbed up on the bed and crawled on top of him. His breath caught as she positioned her self above him. His hands slid up of their own accord to stoke the soft skin of her thighs as she held herself still above him. He moaned with the almost painful need pounding at him.
"Don't torture me today wench." again the words sounded more like begging than the command they had been meant to be. With a sultry grin Lara lowered herself down onto his straining erection. They moaned in unison as they came together, pleasure powering through their joined bodies. The coupling was fast and hard leaving them both gasping for breath and shaking as Lara collapsed afterward to lay limp on Liam's chest. They stayed like that for a long while just laying naked and completely at ease still joined together. Until a loud crash sounded from the kitchen followed by Codsworth's wail of dismay.
"Young Sean that is no way to treat your eating utensils!" Lara peeked up at Liam as a grin spread across her face, then they were both laughing. They clutched each other and laughed until they were gasping for breath and shaking with mirth. When they finally managed to pull themselves together Lara slowly climbed off Liam and retrieved her dress from the foot of the bed.
"I'm glad we bought Codsworth." she said with an impish grin.
"Me too, it's nice to spread the misery around a bit." he had a mild sting of guilt at what he had used the robot for last night but it faded quickly. If the worst happened then Lara would be grateful he had prepared and if it didn't then those weapons could just stay down there forever unused. Either way he couldn't bring that kind of worry and stress into his wife's life. She was so happy now for the first time in years, he couldn't bare to darken this happy time with his paranoia.
"Come on let's get a quick shower then I'll go rescue Codsworth from your son." Lara said with a teasing grin before yelping in surprised indignation as Liam leapt up out of bed and gave her ass a playful smack, sending her rushing off for the bathroom giggling like a young girl. He grinned and rushed after her.
The shower took longer than it should have by way of them getting distracted half way through, though they eventually made it out and headed into the open plan kitchen/family room in big fluffy robes. Codsworth was trying to spoon some kind of blended fruit based baby food into Sean's laughing mouth. The baby gleefully dodged his head back and forth avoiding the spoon with surprising ease. When Codsworth finally did succeed Sean happily spit the food back out with astonishing strength to splatter against the body of the robot in a stream of tacky yellow slime. Lara swooped in and picked Sean up out of the high chair trying nobly to suppress her laughter.
"Go clean yourself up Codsworth I'll take over from here." The robot dropped the spoon from his pincer attachment with obvious relief and floated around the kitchen island and out the back door to go spray himself down with the hose. An action he had been forced to do more and more often in recent weeks.
"It seems even a robot has a limit to it's patience." Liam said in a low tone as he caught Codsworth's mumbled remark on the evils of human breeding.
"I almost feel sorry for him." Lara replied with a happy grin. Liam snorted as he went to get a roll of heavy absorbent paper towels to clean up the mess all over the high chair and the floor while Lara went over to sit on the sofa and nurse Sean. By the time he finished Lara was rocking the baby and singing softly, Sean's eyes were drooping heavily with the sort of utter trust and contentment that only the very young could muster. He smiled as Lara got to her feet and left the living room to go put Sean down for his afternoon nap. Liam's smile faded as he sat down in her place and turned the TV to a news station. The anchorman was droning on about troop movements and ground to air missile platform deployments along the Chinese and Russian borders. Lara came back in and sat down next to him on the sofa snuggling into his side as Codsworth came back in through the back door and surveyed the kitchen.
"Sir I could have cleaned up after young Sean." the Robot said plaintively.
"Don't worry about it Codsworth why don't you go wash the cars we might be heading out a bit later." Liam replied only half paying attention to the poor bot.
"Of course sir." Codsworth said in a perky tone as it floated off to complete it's new assignment. Liam turned his attention back to the news anchor, a cold feeling grew in his gut as the increasingly bad news came in. He had thought that they may have had a few months maybe a year before things turned ugly again. But if the news was correct Russia and China were moving into the final stages of a new assault.
"It's bad isn't it?" Lara asked without taking her attention away from the screen. Liam wanted to lie, he wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine. But he knew better and Lara would know if he wasn't completely truthful.
"Yeah it's looking like weeks before a new offensive, instead of the months I was planning on."
"Do we still have our place in the vault?"
"Yes our spot is secure, there's no way they are going to leave one of the hero's of Anchorage out in the cold, our family will make it through what ever comes next I promise." the words sounded hollow to his own ears, because he knew that this war would be the last. With the nukes every super power had been stockpiling for the last hundred years. There wouldn't be a world left to come back too when they came out of the vault.
Then the anchorman's face went pale as he turned his head slightly to listen to his earpiece. His mouth fell open and panic flashed across his face for a moment before he shook himself and turned back to the camera. Liam's stomach fell, and a sense of cold spread through his limbs as shock stole through him. He knew what was coming, could see it in the mans shell shocked gaze.
"We have just received a report that a nuclear bomb has fallen on New York. The damage is substantial, Manhattan has been completely wiped out." he paused and turned his head again listening. Impossibly his face paled again, now sheet white he turned back to the camera.
"Philadelphia has also been hit. For those of you just tuning in, I repeat we have received confirmed reports of nuclear strikes on both New York and Philadelphia. Government agencies advise…" Liam stopped listening, he leapt to his feet and dragged Lara up after him.
"We have to get to the Vault come on." he said and dragged her toward their bedroom.
"It's happening, I can't believe it, it's really happening what do we do, WHAT DO WE DO OH MY GOD!" the last came out as a shriek of panic. Liam turned to her and grabbed her by the upper arms. She was trembling fiercely and her face was as pale as the news anchors had been.
"Lara we are going to make it, but you have to try to calm down and trust me okay? Lara look at me." he said it while giving her a gentle shake. Her eyes snapped to him and after a moment her eyes cleared of the panic and focused on him. She nodded jerkily.
"We need to get dressed quickly, jeans t-shirts and running shoes that's it nothing else. Do you understand?"
"Yes I'm okay, lets hurry." color was coming back into her face and the trembling was slowing down. Liam nodded to her and rushed back to the bedroom dragging Lara along behind him. He slammed the door open and went strait to the dresser, as quickly as he could he yanked on jeans and a T-shirt not bothering with underwear or socks before yanking his combat boots out from under the bed and pulling them on. By the time he had laced them half way up and stood Lara was already dressed in similar clothes and rushing out of the room. He snatched the three lanyards with their Vault Tech IDs off the dresser and followed her into the hall. Lara dashed into Sean's room just as the emergency air raid sirens blared to life outside. It woke Sean and he looked in to see Lara scooping him up into her arms as he let out an ear piercing scream that Liam could barely hear over the howling sirens.
Liam held out his hand for Lara as she came back into the hall, as soon as she took it he took off at a run. Down the hall and out the front door into the early evening sunlight. He didn't even glance at the cars in the driveway, instead he took off down the street at a run as startled and scared people started rushing out of their homes and diving into cars determined to get to the vault first. The street was already being clogged by cars as almost every single person abandoned their homes in the mad rush to safety. He had seen this before in other countries which is why he had bought the house way out here on the outskirts of the greater Boston area. It was only half a mile to the entrance of Vault 111, close enough that he and Lara could make it there in just a few minutes without needing a car. With the chaos around him as people shouted and screamed he kept a tight hold of Lara's hand and kept running, shoving the IDs into a pocket in his jeans as they went.
Two hundred meters down the street a paved walking path peeled off between two houses and went north almost strait up to the Vaults entrance. Only 15 meters from the path a huge luxury car suddenly swerved to miss young woman and her two young sons as she tried to cross the street. It was heading strait for himself and Lara. He heard Lara scream as time seemed to slow, he spun around and grabbed Lara in a bear hug before pushing off with all the was worth and launching them sideways into someones front yard. Fortunately the house didn't have a fence around the front yard, he twisted them as best he could as they flew through the air. They came down hard on the grass of the lawn as the huge boat of a car flew past their feet with only a few inches to spare. It careened forward and into the front of the house, at almost 30 miles and hour the 5 tons of steel smashed through the house like it was made of matchsticks. Splintered glass and wood rained down around them as the car continued on through the house to smash through its back wall and disappear down the slope to the river behind the home.
Slowly Liam climbed to his feet and helped Lara up after him, they both looked at each other for a long moment shocked by the near miss. Sean was stunned into silence by the whole ordeal, he looked up into his mothers face with wide terrified green eyes the same shade as his own. Liam bent in close to Lara to be heard over the sirens and screaming people.
"We have to keep moving are you okay to run some more?" He shouted almost directly into her ear. She nodded numbly and started moving towards the walking path. Liam took her hand once more and started jogging again. They past dozens of people on the way all of them slowed by bags or suitcases. One couple was even stopped in the middle of the path trying to scoop money and clothing back into a suitcase that must have broke open when it was dropped. Idiots, Liam thought, what good will your money do you when your still out here and a nuke falls on your head. He kept going gradually picking up the pace as they went. Up ahead he could see military personnel guarding a chain link gate topped with razor wire. Marines and Army rangers in T-51 Power Armor with Gatling lasers and Plasma rifles flanked both sides of the gate, backing up the sergeant standing at the head of a line of people who were all shouting and waving IDs and wads of money at the sergeant. He knew none of that would work, if you weren't on the list you weren't getting in, period. Anyone who tried would be shot. Even the Vault Tech salesman that had sold him his families space in the vault was being ignored as he shouted and threatened the sergeant.
As they made it to the back of the line Liam started shoving people out of his way, at that moment the only thing that mattered to him was getting his family to safety and screw everyone else. People cursed and shoved back at him but no one had the guts to take a swing at him thankfully. When he finally pushed aside that last person he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out the IDs handing them over to the sergeant. The older man looked at each photo on the IDs then down at his clip board, then back up into Liam's face and over his shoulder to Lara. Then with a feint nod he handed back the IDs and motioned them through the gate. A corporal moved forward and motioned for them to follow.
"This way sir up the hill follow me." the young man shouted as he headed up a wide dirt track to the top of the low hill. Liam didn't look back as they were led away from the crowd, he couldn't bare to see all the people that would die out there, the children. So he followed the young soldier up the wide dirt track to safety, trying to tell himself that his family was all that mattered.
At the top there was an elevated control platform with two Vault Tech personnel overlooking a 10 meter circle of concrete where about 30 people stood shoulder to shoulder. The corporal escorted them to the edge of the concrete before jogging back down the hill to escort the next group. Liam pulled Lara into his arms and held her close cocooning her in his embrace. She started shaking as she buried her face against his chest. After a moment he felt her tears start to fall soaking his shirt, Sean started wiggling between them and they pulled apart to look down into his cherubic face. He had stopped crying instead he just looked up at his parents with wide eyes. Liam sighed in relief and leaned in to kiss his wife before turning and looking out over the vista of Concord and the greater Boston area beyond. To the southeast he could see cars backed up for miles down highway 2 barely moving at all. A pang of remorse and sadness hit him as he looked over the beautiful country side. Hundreds of thousands of people were going to die, just here in this city. Millions had already died today, how many more would die before this one cursed day was over. He reached down and took Lara's hand lacing their fingers as the full impact of what was happening hit him like a truck. The worst was here, the world as they knew it was ending. He felt the tears fall on his cheeks but did nothing to stop them or wipe them away. All the death out there deserved at least that much from him, he could give them his remorse at least.
A family of four was led onto the platform with them. It was one of the groups they had passed on the walking path. The young mother was holding the hands of their two boys, no more than 5 or 6 years old. While the father in his late 30s glanced back the way they came with a mournful look. He remembered seeing them dragging along a number of suitcases with them when they had passed earlier. Well at least one person realized that family was more important that possessions. Liam thought as he turned to the sound of a loud speaker switching on with a screech.
"Brace yourselves and stand back from the edge of the platform, maximum capacity has been reached for this load, welcome to Vault 111." Liam saw one of the men in the boxy white control platform smack his hand down on something out of sight, then the concrete pad under his feet jerked and started lowering down into the ground.
To the south far, far in the distance a second sun burst to life. The light was so bright that even though he was facing away from it, for a moment he was completely blinded. Everyone around him started screaming he spun around to see a mushroom cloud expanding up from southern Boston. He gasped in awe as the plume of deadly energy expanded out at super sonic speeds. He pulled Lara against his side and watched as the blast wave flashed toward them. Then they were beneath the ground and two solid lead lined steel doors were closing above them. There was a furious gust of air in the cavern around them, he could see a wave of dirt and debris flash past over head through the crack in the doors before they shut tight, locking out the horror.
They all huddled there in the dark as the platform dropped farther and farther into the earth. The feeling of claustrophobia hit him hard and fast, his heart beat kicked up rapidly as they descended. He squeezed Lara into this side and focused on calming his breathing without much effect. Just before he thought he might pass out from the stress light peeked in near the floor at the far side of the platform. The light grew exposing the intake door of the vault itself, two Vault tech security personnel were standing on either side of the massive door on a short steel catwalk. They had stun batons clipped to their belts and Kevlar vests over there their one piece Vault suits.
The giant lift shuddered to a halt and the chain link gate blocking the way forward slid up with silent mechanical precision. People moved out of the lift with the kind of subdued shuffling steps that were usually reserved for the condemned. Children and some of the women were crying. Men all had the same look of pale blank astonishment as they glanced around taking in their new environment. Liam gave Lara a squeeze before letting his arm drop from around her shoulders and taking her hand again. She was whispering soothing words to Sean who was starting to make little sounds of distress. They shuffled along with the rest of the group waiting their turn and moving slowly. Up the metal stairs past the Security guard, down the short catwalk and through the huge door into the Vault itself.
Bright light shone down with garish intensity leaving every metal surface gleaming. They past a man standing to the left of the extended catwalk who was wearing a portable computer on his wrist making notes with a stylus. At the end of the cat walk they were welcomed by a young blond woman with a huge bright smile and told to get their Vault suits from the man to her left. Then they followed another woman down a long tunnel ribbed with pipes and cabling along the ceiling. Passageways forked off to the left and right every few meters. A woman farther up was asking where they led, she was told that they would be given a tour of the vault after orientation, along with a Pip-Boy that was equipped with a map of the vault.
They ended up in a huge changing room about 20 meters deep and 6 meters wide. There were curtains that could be drawn for privacy every few meters down both sides of the room. Liam and Lara ended up in one about half we down on the left side. He pulled the curtain and sat down on the bench that was bolted into the wall. Lara sat down heavily next to him with a little sob of relief.
"We made it." she said sounding as though she couldn't quite believe it herself.
"Yeah we did."
"What now?" she asked looking up at him while gently rocking Sean.
"A hot shower and a drink would be nice."
"You know what I meant." Lara's voice was brittle with stress and exhaustion.
"Yeah I know..." he paused for a minute thinking. "Well we stay here for at least a year though we could end up down here for a lot longer, these things are supposed to be equipped with enough food and supplies to last 25 years and I heard rumors that they were getting refit to allow for self sustainability over the last couple years."
"What are you saying? We could be down here forever?" It came out as a slightly manic shriek of fear. Liam put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
"No, not at all. I'm saying if something happens and we do have to stay down here for longer than we expected we aren't going to starve." Liam said in a calming voice as he tried to convince himself of what he was saying. He felt Lara relax against him and sigh deeply. Sean decided he was hungry at that point and started wailing at full power. Liam let out a snort of laughter and Lara giggled as she pulled up her shirt to feed their son. Once Sean was full and sleepy eyed they changed into the Vault suits. The suits were made out of some kind of semi-organic smart fiber that was capable of regulating a persons body temperature to a degree, along with being able to adjust it's size and mold itself to a persons body. Liam caught himself poking at the amazing material as Lara stuck her head out of the curtain and asked one of the staff for a diaper.
Once everyone was changed the staff led them all to a decontamination chamber. Sixty pods stacked side by side down both walls. They had multiple tubes attaching them to cabling and pipes on the wall behind them. The staff led them down to the end of the row on the left.
"Okay everyone if I can have your attention please." Said a woman with short black hair and wire rimmed glasses about half way down the chamber. Conversations died out as people turned to look at her. Once the room was quiet she smiled and looked around.
"Okay so we are going to ask all of you to enter the pods, they well clean you of any contaminants and radiation. We are all alone down here for now and it's best we bring as few bugs with us as possible, just follow the staff's instructions and this shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
When she finished a number of the Vault Tech staff moved forward into the chamber and got people ready. Pods hissed open and children shrieked with excitement at the new experience. Liam felt a niggle of doubt worming through the back of his mind at the whole procedure. In all his briefings on the Vaults both military and private he had never heard of a Decon procedure like this. But then there was a young man with brown hair and Hazel eyes coming toward them and he forgot about the little uncertainty as they were walked through the procedure. The kid assured Lara that 'No there was no way that the Decontamination could hurt Sean' that 'Yes it would be easiest if you just held him in your pod while the procedure was completed'. Once the kid had finally convinced Lara that Sean would be fine he got the door of their pods open and ushered them forward. Liam kissed Lara and stroked Sean's forehead before helping her up into the pod. Around them pods were shutting with a hiss of compressed air as people climbed up. He gave Lara one last smile through the glass of her pod before hopping nimbly up into his own and leaning back trying to get comfortable. The pod closed with a hiss and his ears popped as the pressure equalized. Then he saw Lara's eyes fluttering across the short space between them, her head fell back against the padding. Ice crystals slowly crept across the glass of her pod and his heart stuttered with disbelief.
Cryogenic storage, it made perfect sense if you thought about it. Just wait out the apocalypse in a freezer, it didn't matter how long it took for the radiation to fade if you didn't have to feed anyone, clothe them provide them beds or entertainment. Just sleep through the whole thing. But that wasn't what he had signed his family up for and deep down he felt a sudden sense of panic at being completely, utterly defenseless. He pounded on the glass of the pod and searched for an emergency release of some kind. But his head was getting heavy, the air had changed, it was sweet now, his head was spinning. He knew he needed out but he didn't remember why, it was getting cold too, with one last burst of strength he managed to put his palm against the glass before it fell away and the darkness claimed him.