Prologue: Foregone Conclusion
So this is what it came down to. Her, the purifier, and an ungodly amount of radiation. Violet vaugely remembered reading somewhere that you couldn't feel yourself being irradiated, that it was a painless process and that that was why radiation was so deadly; she begged to differ. Her body felt weak, and with each step she took towards the control panel, she felt her legs would give out underneath her. It felt like her insides were on fire, but the tips of her fingers were cold. All that could have been her imagination though, or maybe just her body's reaction the to the knowledge that she was about to die, a fear reaction as it were.
God, she was afraid.
She'd been in deadly situations before, but none where her chances of survival were absolutely zero. Still though, she'd hoped she'd be used to it by now. She'd survived super mutants, slavers, a whole town full of deathclaws, and more raiders than she could count, and in the end, it would be radiation that would do her in. Like Sarah had said, not exactly how she imagined going out. Looking back on everything though, she couldn't imagine a more suitable end for her journey. This was the dream her parents had been striving for. The mother she had never met, the father she had adored.
Her father…he had given up on his dream, turned his back on Project Purity, all to keep her safe. He'd returned though, and it cost him his life. He sacrificed himself to keep the dream alive, and now she was going to do the same, following in her father's foosteps for the last time. She heard her friend pounding on the glass window behind her, but she didn't turn around. She was afraid that if she did, she would lose her nerve. She knew he was probably shouting at her, begging her to reconsider, or perhaps cursing as he was apt to do when he was upset, but she couldn't hear him over the hum of the purifier.
She reached the control panel and looked down. The numbers swam before her eyes, and she put a hand on the glass to steady herself. Were copious amounts of radiation supposed to make you dizzy? She wasn't sure. Maybe there had been a chapter about it in Moira's book, the book she had a hand in researching but had never gotten the time to read. There were a lot of things she had never gotten the time to do. She shook her head a little to clear it, and eventually the numbers came into focus. Her father had never directly told her what the password to the purifier was, but there was no doubt in her mind as she slowly typed in the numbers.
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely," she said softly to herself. Her mother's favorite passage. She finished typing in the numbers and hesitated, her hand hovering over the enter key. She turned her head and met her friend's eyes through the grimy glass. He had stopped trying to break through. He just stood there, a look of miserable resignation on his face. Neither of them said anything; they didn't have to. She turned back to the control panel and pressed enter.
AN: Hey guys! This is my first time writing anything longer than a one-shot. I already have the whole story planned out, but it'll probably take me a while to get the whole thing onto the site. Updates probably won't be too frequent; sorry, I'm pretty busy lately ^_^; Anyway, reviews are welcome of course, as are friendly criticisms. Thanks for reading!
