Prologue
"NO! GET AWAY FROM THEM! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Logan yelled banging his hand against the glass of the cryo pod.
Two of the three intruders, the ones wearing some sort of hazmat suit took a step away from his pod, as if scared of his threats. The third, a balding man with a scar over his left eye, took a closer look at the trapped man while scowling deeply.
"Open the hatch." The balding man commanded, his gaze never leaving Logan's
One of the three turned to the console located next to Nora and Shaun's pod. Inputting the command the pod hissed expelling the air from the pod. The same person, a female, who entered the code stepped in front of a confused and disoriented Nora. Attempting to take Shaun out of Nora's grasp, the unknown woman's attempts were hindered as Nora flinched away from he reaching hands.
"No, I have him." Nora slurred.
"Let go of the kid. I'm only going to tell you once," The sandpaper like voice of the balding man threatened. Pointing a massive handgun at Nora.
"I'm not giving you Sha-."
Nora's protest were cut short as a thunderous explosion erupted from the gun, the round finding its mark in her heart. The other woman, without missing a beat, stepped up and removed Shaun from Nora's loosening grasp
"NO! NORA! LEAVE SHAUN ALONE, I'LL KILL YOU!" Logan raged bashing his hands against the glass in another futile attempt to gain freedom from his prison.
The scarred man looked away from the body of Nora and back at Logan.
"Let's go," He said to the two Hazmat clad figures, "at least we still have a back-up."
"Cryogenic Sequence Reinitialized." A female synthesized voice intoned.
"Nora..." Logan whimpered his hands falling from glass as he was overcome with an all encompassing white.
A racking, sputtering, cough was the first thing Logan heard and felt as the whiteness began to fade. Reaching forward he tried to push open the door again, knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything. Until the hatch hissed and began swinging upwards, allowing him to fall face first on to the cold wet floor.
Grunting Logan slowly climbed on to all fours looking around for any signs of life. He looked up at the capsule in front of him and saw Nora. He smiled seeing his wife's beautiful face. His smile fell immediately as he remembered the thunderous boom, Logan began to panic. Standing he rushed to the capsule and with dread looked fully into the glass port. What he saw broke him all over again.
Nora's head lay to one side, as if she were only sleeping. Logan breathed quick bursts through his nose as he examined her further, the only sign that she were not alive was the hole punched through her heart. Logan felt tears streaming as he looked for anyway to open the capsule. Spying a console to the right of the capsule Logan stepped over trying to do anything to free his wife's body.
Nothing. Nothing he did worked, trying to input commands using the buttons, grabbing the handle on the console and pulling it up. Logan had found some sort of tank lying off to the side, the gauges read that it was empty of its contents. Using it as a hammer Logan bashed the tanks against the glass. After many attempts at bludgeoning the capsule, Logan, sat on the ledge of his capsule sweating and breathing heavily.
Shoulders sagging Logan walked back to the glass and pressed his head against it, wallowing in his emotions at the futility of it all. He looked at his wife again, burning the image into his brain, so he would never forget her face. Finally he pressed his forehead against the cold glass and stood there for a moment.
"I'm sorry, Nora," he finally whispered, "I'm sorry I failed you, I'm sorry I failed Shaun."
Logan stepped back from the capsule, kissed his hand, and placed it on the glass.
"I love you." Logan whispered as he turned away.
Logan stumbled to a small set of stairs leading to a door with "111" in black and yellow on it. As he approached the door, the doors sensors registered his movement and opened for him. What awaited passed the door was a short hallway, the lights allowing him to see a door to his immediate left and another door at the end of the hallway.
Remembering the door he had first come through on his arrival, Logan began making his way to the door at the end of the hallway. Closing in on the door Logan saw another door that he had not seen from his end of the hallway. He pushed forward just wanting to leave this horrible place. Arriving at the far door Logan almost collided with it as the sensors didn't automatically open the door. Placing his hands on the manual grips for the door Logan tried to push down. The door wouldn't budge no matter how hard Logan tried.
Giving the door a slight kick in frustration, Logan began walking to the door he had passed before. This door's sensors worked as it slid open when he approached. Passing through the threshold, Logan was greeted with another small set of stairs leading to another room. What greeted him gave Logan a jolt of surprise.
The room he walked into had two doors to the right one leading straight and the other one heading to the right back towards the way he had come. A window that overlooked, what Logan assumed was the vaults generator, had a massive cockroach clung to it. It took Logan a moment to realize the roach was on the other side of the window, but knowing that it did little to satiate his surprise (and admittedly fear).
"Giant... Cockroaches?" Logan asked himself
Looking at a small crate that sat under the window Logan saw a security baton. Grabbing it he flicked it, extending the baton to its full length. Logan didn't want to take any chances, especially with giant roaches around.
Heading to the opened right door Logan saw a small office like room, or possibly a supply closet. The room held an assortment of chairs, filing cabinets, and a few desks. On one such desk sat a terminal, still powered on. Logan sat at the computer placing his baton to the side, he wanted to check to see if the computer had anything useful and extend his time before he would have to deal with the oversized bugs. Oddly enough this actually brought to the forefront of his mind the question: Where was everyone else
The terminal wasn't locked so he had no trouble looking through the assorted files. What awaited Logan on the terminal shocked him. The Vault was created to test suspended animation on human subjects. The terminal even went into what was to be done with anyone who had gained entry that were not on the manifest, which left Logan angry.
Before Logan logged off he saw a file labeled "Security Logs" detailing the months that the Vault-Tec personnel had to go through. It gave Logan a somewhat sadistic feeling of satisfaction at what the personnel had to experience in their time in the vault.
Standing Logan grabbed his baton and made his way to the only other doorway available, continuing on his mission of finding an exit from this hell hole. Stepping through the door Logan was greeted with a barely lit hallway leading into a curve that veered to the left. Following the hallway Logan was met with another door.
Vault-Tec sure likes their doors, Logan thought.
Stepping through the door Logan was met with a roach. Upon seeing him it started making a noise that Logan could only define as a "screech mixed with clicking." Without even thinking Logan ran up and struck the bug with his baton, crushing it downward. Logan stomped on the creature, one to make sure it was dead and two, to relieve himself of some of the emotions ricocheting through his mind. He hated bugs, even when they weren't massive, and the satisfaction he received from killing the disgusting creature helped him get his mind off his wife and the situation he found himself in, even if it last only a moment.
Leaving the crushed and mangled creature where it lay Logan stepped through an open door and was met with a table sitting in the middle of the room, a terminal in the back left, a kitchen to the right, bathroom further right, and finally another room which looked like the bedroom or barracks. Logan began looking though the rooms and attempting to find anything useful, after 10 minutes of searching Logan deemed the search useless.
Leaving both rooms behind Logan backtracked and went through the only door he hadn't been through yet, the door that led to the vault's generators. Upon entering Logan was greeted with another giant roach, and two generators. One generator was damaged and as Logan readied himself to attack the giant insect the damaged generator shot out an electric bolt and struck the bug, causing the roach to screech in pain and then fall to the ground with small wisps of smoke floating off it's body.
Bypassing the generators Logan made his was to the opposing wall and entered another hallway with another small set of stairs. After ascending the stairs and pushing through a doorway Logan was greeted by the Overseers office. A skeleton lay on its' back foot dangling over a toppled chair, the first Vault-Tec personnel he had found since exiting the cryo pod.
Examining the room Logan's eyes fell on a pistol laying on the table, a box of rounds sitting next to the pistol. Logan had never seen a pistol like the one laying on the table, but as he examined it he saw the manufacturers name on it. Advanced Arms was displayed on the slide, along with the model: Witness. Logan had heard of the weapons maker Advanced Arms before, they had been a leading guns manufacturer selling expensive guns to the military and anyone who could afford them. Apparently Vault-Tec had decided to outfit their personnel with some cutting edge weapons.
The gun that Logan now held, the Witness, still fired 10mm rounds but was much smaller than the average 10mm pistol. Mostly because the receiver was made to be more compact. Honestly it looked like more modern colt 1911. After looking around a little more Logan found a few more magazines for the Witness, a holster, and a stimpack. The only problems were that his jumpsuit didn't have anything to attach the holster to and with the extra stuff he found he would need some sort of bag.
Loading a new magazine into the Witness and chambering a round Logan moved to, what he assumed was the security armory. The large door to the armory stood open and everything inside looked to have been thrown around. Looking around the small room Logan found more 10mm rounds and another Witness. His arms full with boxes of Rounds and another pistol Logan placed the supplies on the Overseer's desk, before turning around and heading into, what could only be, the Overseer's quarters.
Looking through the room Logan found a half box or rounds and three packs of Cigarettes. Noticing the Overseer's bed and the dusty old sheets that lay on it, Logan had an idea to solve his need for a bag. Removing one of the sheets from the bed Logan began making a bag for his supplies. The end result was a haphazard arrangement, but it looked like it would work at least until he found something more suitable. Logan stood and exited the room.
Finally stopping at the terminal he had bypassed Logan reset the chair the skeleton's leg was dangling from and took at seat. Looking through the logs on the old terminal he went straight for the one that stated: Open Evacuation Tunnel. With some grinding the door across the room from Logan opened. Exiting the room Logan was greeted with the sound of clicking on a metal surface. Finally locating the sound Logan saw three roaches moving along the floor.
Raising the weapon Logan took aim. Smoothly pulling the trigger back he was surprised with the smooth operation of the mechanics in the gun. Smiling with a sense of profession Logan felt as the pistol shot, recoiled smoothly, ejected the spent casing, and chambered another round all in a short smooth motion. The round he noticed had shredded the body of one of the cockroaches. After he finished admiring the gun he noticed two things, the ringing in his ears, and the pissed off screeching of the other two insects.
Aiming, squeezing, shooting, resetting. Logan took his weapons fundamentals to heart as he dispatched the last two insects. Smiling as he looked at the aftermath of his actions, and saw that all three roaches lay spattered on the floor and walls.
Logan replaced his magazine, determining that a full magazine in this place was better than one with a few rounds missing. He began moving through the long hallway, passing a few more doors he finally arrived at the entrance.
Looking through the room he was greeted with the smiles a few more skeletons strewn throughout the room. Logan spotted one skeleton lying by the console for the door, lab coat torn and shredded, it's arm a few feet away from its body. Said arm held a pipboy. Walking over to the skeletons escaping appendage Logan took the dusty pipboy and placed it on his arm, attaching the latch and securing it closed. Pressing the power button, Logan was greeted with text appearing on the little wrist-mounted computer.
While waiting for the pipboy to finish starting up Logan began wiping away the dust from the screen, and attempted to remove any other dust around the buttons and switches. A small beep alerted Logan that the pipboy had finished its initial setup and was ready for use.
Looking back at the console, Logan saw a small port to the left side. Grabbing the cord and plugin from the pipboy, Logan inserted the cord and watched as the glass case surrounding a red button opened. Pressing the button Logan stepped back as Alarms began ringing and yellow lights appeared.
"Vault cycling sequence initiated," stated an automated voice, "Please stand back."
Logan watched as a machine lowered and moved to the cog-like vault door before inserting itself into the door. A loud screech and some sparks came from the door as it dislodged from its resting place and began rotating to the side, a bridge extending out over the gap.
Walking around the railing Logan moved to the bridge and down the stairs where he was greeted by the elevator that had brought him to this loathsome place. Stepping onto the elevator Logan gave one last look at the nightmarish place and sighed, vowing to one day return to this place and retrieve his wife's body. The elevator jerked and began its' ascension to the surface, and Logan's new life.