"I can show you a real tunnel snake, Amata!" Butch sneered, as him and his gang cornered the girl. She cringed into the wall.
Butch was just leaning in when somebody tapped on his shoulder. He spun around to face none-other than the doctor's kid.
Angry at the disturbance, he snarled at the boy, "Yeah? What do you wan-"
BAM!
Butch's nose snapped with an audible crack, as the boy delivered a swift punch straight into his face, sending him staggering backwards. After regaining his composure Butch swung a fist wildly, throwing him off balance and allowing the boy to smoothly sidestep. Butch missed completely, the force of his punch having sent him straight past the boy… and into the face of fellow tunnel snake, Paul. The boy smirked at them before turning his attention towards the shaking Amata.
"Are you alright?"
Her eyes gleamed with the emotion of it all, and she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. Her voice came out shaky, "Oh, Charlie! Thank you for saving me!"
Just then Wallis, the third gang member lunged for him. Charlie, still embraced with Amata, swung his fist out to the left to collide with Wallis's jaw, instantly knocking him unconscious. The tunnel snakes all lay collapsed on the ground, Butch and Paul glaring in contempt but in no condition to get up.
A small feminine hand landed on Charlie's arm. He looked down to see Christine Kendall gazing up at him, "You're so strong, Charlie. Please will you go with me to the 'Vault Couples Night'?"
"No! I wanted to ask him," Cried Amata.
"I asked first!"
"He's mine!"
"No, bitch! He's mine!" Christine miraculously pulled out a pillow and whacked Amata over the head with it. Amata, mysteriously covered in mud, retaliated with her own miraculous pillow.
Suddenly, and much to Charlie's dismay, Mr Brotch stepped between the two fighting girls.
"Calm down, ladies. You need to get up." He ordered angrily. Huh?
Amata stomped her foot in fury, "But the bitch is trying to steal my man!"
He glared down at the two of them, "Make up!"
Charlie would have much preferred to have seen them make out, but before he had an opportunity to vocalise this suggestion Mr Brotch stepped forward to shake him.
"Make up!"
Startled, Charlie tried to pull away. "Hey, I'm not arguing!" The shaking was becoming more vigorous. Charlie started to feel a little disorientated.
The teachers voice suddenly turned extremely feminine, "Wake UP!"
Charlie bolted upright to find himself in his bed, Amata leaning over him with her hands on his shoulders.
"Hey," he grinned.
She frowned deeply, apparently not amused. "Snap out of it! You've got to get out of here, you're dad is gone and my father's men are looking for you!"
He yanked the blanket back over, "Big deal. You're dads mad at my dad. What's that got to do with me?"
"Stop being such an idiot, I said you're dad is gone. As in left the vault!"
That got his attention. He threw the blankets off again. "What do you mean left the vault?"
She growled, "I mean left the vault- I- we don't have time for this!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet, rushing to the wardrobe to yank out various items of clothing and throw them in a bag. Shoving it into his chest, he noticed the blood drain out of her face. Her voice caught, "They killed Jonas."
"WHAT?"
"I'm sorry…I know he was you're friend." She pulled out a 10mm and her eyes sought his meaningfully, "I stole this from my father's desk. Take it, just in case."
The gun felt alien in his hand. He felt a need to drop it tugging at him- drop it and kick it away. A loud clatter came from outside his room, followed by an angry man's voice shouting obscenities at something.
He gripped the pistol tighter.
Amata whispered quickly, "Listen, there's a secret tunnel that leads directly from my father's office to the exit. You'll have to hack the computer in his office to open it."
I have to leave the vault? I don't know what the hell is even out there! Horrified he opened the door, he was going to find the goddamn overseer and sort this all out. No way was he going to be forced into leaving his home.
"There he is! Hold it right there!" Shouted Officer Kendall, aggressively marching over. His baton was raised in the air like he was going to strike. Charlie's eyes widened in panic and he stumbled backwards.
"Whoa, Officer. I- I haven't done anything," He stammered. This seemed to do little to pacify Kendall, who was now only a few feet away with a twisted smirk on his face. Suddenly his attention snapped to a radroach scuttling over his foot. It bit hard into his shin.
"AAH!" He cried, swinging his baton and sending the insect flying against the wall in little pieces. Another four scurried around the corner, and Kendall turned away from Charlie to focus on them.
Charlie took his opportunity, creeping through a side door and down a hallway. Why are they trying to attack ME? I haven't done anything wrong! He thought despairingly. He could see another guard to his left walking away from him, and he crept past as stealthily as possible.
Unfortunately, stealth has never been one of Charlie's strong suits. He had made it around the corner when, so busy watching the guard, his nose collided with something very hard. Ah, yes- the door. If the guard failed to hear the thud of hitting the door, then he most likely have heard the smacking of Charlie's head against the floor as he fell backwards. He most certainly, however, would have heard the loud, "Oof!" that followed.
Clutching his head with his hands, he groaned quietly in pain. There was the sound of footsteps approaching. His eyes flickered open.
"Man, you got to help me!" Cried the voice of Butch. Charlie quietly stood up, resisting the will to peek around the corner.
There was a grunt, and the sound of a small scuffle. "Get off of me!" Ordered a deep, angry voice- the guard.
"My mum! She-She's stuck in there with the radroaches. Listen, I know I was a brat! B-b but PLEASE!"
"Fuck off, kid!" The guard snarled, oblivious to the creaking open door, and with it, Charlie's departure.
He sprinted down the hallway towards the atrium. Suddenly, a flame shot out in front of his face, the heat burning his eyes momentarily. He stumbled backwards, blinking rapidly, to see Andy float by scorching a swarm of roaches. Charlie stared at the robot incredulously; bit of a change from Andy's usual protocol he thought, remembering the unhelpfully dysfunctional robot attempt to cut his birthday cake. Since Andy didn't appear to be exhibiting any kind of hostility towards him, he quickly walked past it- careful of the flamethrower.
Just as he stepped into the atrium he thought he heard the robotic voice of Andy.
"Sorry, ma'am. I did not see you there."
Charlie spun around immediately to see another officer, a few feet from the robot, staring at it in dismay. She lifted her visor up, face looking annoyed, and rather frazzled. Officer Christopher. He considered going to her for help – she was always one of the kinder guards – but when she shifted her glare onto him, eyes widening slightly, he ran.
"Hey, stop right there!" She ordered.
He heard the heavy thumping of her boots behind him, and sped up, darting around a corner and up the stairs. As he reached the top step he felt her hand brush his arm – she was catching up fast, and in a few moments would only be a breath away.
All too swiftly… she was. The breath was knocked out of him as a heavy weight hit him from behind, tackling him to the floor.
She pressed her knee into his back whilst he struggled, effectively pinning him.
"Please!" He cried, gasping for air, "I haven't done anything wrong! You've got to let me go!"
He heard her rattle around with something metallic- handcuffs. Oh shit.
Her voice came out sympathetic but firm, "I can't do that, Charlie. Can't just pretend you've done nothing wrong, even if I want too."
Charlie sneered, "Really? Because you seem pretty capable of pretending you don't work for a homicidal maniac."
The metallic rattling stopped.
"What the hell are you talking about, kid?"
"Jonas!" He spat, feeling rage bubbling up inside of him. "How could you, you bitch! He was one of the kindest fucking people in the vault, and my friend! And now he's DEAD!"
She leaned back in shock, the pressure of her knee lessening. He took his chance when he felt her hold on him loosen, hurling his arm backwards and his elbow into her face.
She yelped, falling back onto her heels. Before she had a chance to react he pulled out Amata's 10mm.
His voice came out breathless and angry, "I hate you." Charlie slowly staggered to his feet, keeping the gun still trained on Officer Christopher, who froze. "Don't try to follow me, or the next time we meet I won't be so forgiving."
After staring intently at his face for a moment, she did one curt nod, and he walked backwards away until he stepped through the door.
As soon as the door closed he ran. He flinched as he heard a shrill female scream.
"TOM!"
Mary Holden, from his science class. She was standing behind a pillar, shuddering. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and she was gasping and crying.
Charlie ran over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder "Mary, what's happened?"
She spat straight into his face, recoiling from his touch.
"You! This is all your fault! You and you're stupid father! He had to go and leave, didn't he? He had to mess things up for everybody!"
Charlie wiped his face in shock. His gaze moved past her to a body on the floor several metres away. Tom, Oh my God.
Mary snarled in his face, "They thought he was you. It's you they're after! I'm going to end all of this!"
She turned and ran towards the main entrance, her hands waving. "Guards! I've found him, I've-"
Her body jerked backwards with the sound of a bullet, followed by another, and another. The third penetrated her skull, spraying blood and bone on to Charlie's jacket. All over his jacket. Oh my God. On his face.
A hoarse scream snapped him back to attention, and he realised it was actually himself. He forced himself to go silent before the guards heard him.
"Hey, who's there?"
Too late.
A bullet whizzed past his head as instincts took over and he sprinted across the room, through the door leading to the top floor. His mind was spinning, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. He took the steps three at a time. The sound of gunshots the ever present reminder that one faltered step and he was going to die. Like Mary. And Tom. And Jonas.
Radroaches tried to bite his feet as he ran, their presence only known by the high pitched rattling noise they made, and the occasional scratch of their claws.
As he rounded the corner a large black object hurtled towards his vision, and white hot pain seared through his skull. Everything went black.
Charlie stared up at the ceiling for a moment, dazed.
A smiling face came into his line of sight. Oh shit.
"You didn't really think you could get away from us, did you?"
Security Chief Hannon roughly grabbed him by the collar with his hands, angrily hoisting him up to his feet. Charlie swayed, disorientated. He blinked.
Amata sat on a chair. Her father, the overseer, stood several feet away staring disappointedly at her and speaking in a low, threatening voice. Her stare shifted onto Charlie. There was a dark black ring around her left eye.
The overseer followed her gaze, "Ah, I'm glad to see you're awake now. We've been waiting." The words were pleasant but there was an underlying tone that promised…violence.
Hannon's hand pushed him down roughly into a hard metal chair.
"You see, your father has done some very bad things. Abandoned us, abandoned you. By doing so he has inflicted a great deal of danger upon the whole of the vault." The man walked around Charlie as he spoke, until he was directly behind him. He leaned down to the boy's ear, "We need to find him. Where is he?"
"I don't know where the fu-!"
Hannon backhanded him straight across the face, sending Charlie sputtering and coughing.
"Stop it! He doesn't know anything!" Amata screamed. As she spoke, a small trickle of blood trailed out of the side of her mouth and down her chin. Charlie stared at her in shock.
As if knowing his thoughts the overseer responded to Charlie's expression, "I place the good of the vault above everything, even my own paternal feelings." His voice was cold.
He circled back around Charlie to stand in front of him, "We must not allow sentiment to cloud our judgement. Now tell me, where is your father going?"
Charlie's voice was weak, "I told you, I don't know. Please! I just- I don't know what's happening!"
Hannon chuckled darkly.
The overseer's eyes narrowed, "Young man, I grow tired of your games. Put an end to this situation! There is no need to join your father as a traitor to the vault."
Charlie shivered uncontrollably. He just wanted all of this to be over. He's not cut out for this – he's going to die. They're going to kill him. He squeezed his eyes shut in terror, tears leaking at the edges. Please, let this be a dream! Wake up!
He opened his eyes again, only to be met with the overseer's cold blue ones. His face was stern, his lips twisted downwards into a frown.
Finally, he sighed, disappointed.
"He doesn't know anything. Kill him."
Amata screamed as Hannon stepped towards him menacingly, slowly pulling his truncheon out. Charlie's breath came in short, quick gasps. Adrenaline coursed through him and survival kicked in as he lashed out at the guard with his boot, forcing him back several metres.
Jumping to his feet, he turned to run when hands grabbed the back of his shirt, yanking him backwards. Lunging his elbow out, he heard it collide with a sickening smack on Hannon's nose. Hannon lost his footing, sending them both tumbling to the floor.
"Ah, fuck!"
The guard clutched his bleeding nose with his sleeve, blinking rapidly. Charlie swung around with his fist, but Hannon saw it coming and grabbed it, throwing a punch with his other hand back into the boy's own face.
Charlie's eyes blurred. He saw at the corner of his vision the supposed outline of the overseer pointing a black object at him. Another blur was latched onto his arm, throwing it off direction. He thought he heard Amata crying.
The black object skittered across the floor towards him.
He blinked to clear his vision. The gun. Scrambling across the floor, he kicked at Hannon's hands trying to grab his boot, and stretched out his arm to reach it and swing it around.
BANG! Hannon's face exploded with red as the bullet left the chamber. Charlie froze. He hadn't meant to pull the trigger, it just…happened. Oh my God. Time seemed to stand still as the faceless guard slowly dropped to his knees, then forward to the ground. Blood and brains seeped out of his skull and pooled across the floor.
Charlie struggled to his feet, in shock, and turned towards the overseer, still struggling with Amata. He levelled the 10mm in his face.
"Give me the keys to your office."
Amata turned to look at him, then shifted her gaze past him to the floor. 'Oh my God' she mouthed in horror, eyes closing in revulsion. They snapped back open again an instant later when she realised where he was aiming the gun now.
"No! Don't Charlie, He's my father!"
Charlie growled, "Give me the fucking keys!" The overseer watched him warily as his finger twitched against the trigger.
Amata immediately stepped between the gun and her father, her hands diving into his pockets to search for the keys.
"Amata, get out of the way." Charlie snapped, his anger wavering. He didn't want her anywhere near the guns line of sight after what had happened to Hannon, but equally he was too terrified to lower it. He didn't want that to happen to him either.
She pulled out a rattling object from her father's vault suit pocket. The keys. Charlie caught them as she threw them to him, and their eyes met for one last second.
"Run." She pleaded.
Her brown hair wisped around her face in locks, having come loose during the ordeal. Face pale, the dark bruise on her eye became all the more apparent. This was not how he wanted things to end.
Throat aching, he turned… and he ran.
