Alright bear with me through this chapter. It's extremely difficult to write the escape from the vault. I tried to make it different from the game, but the escape part is hard to do different without changing the whole story. But the second chapter is going to be longer and more different, I hope.
Now I've changed some stuff about the world though, but just small things like the fact that I've added seasons. And I've added some new weapons and other stuff. Please REVIEW after reading!
Chapter I
His destiny unfolded
Today's job had been hard, the door to the cafeteria had been on the frits again and it was Jonathan's job to fix it. As a vault technician his job was to repair everything that broke down in the vault, and it happened a lot because the 100 year old stuff wasn't exactly stable. As much as he liked his job, now he started to regret that he didn't take the G.O.A.T seriously.
He slid open the door to his home and kicked off his boots. They landed on the floor right in the middle of the room with a loud thump.
"Pick up those boots." He heard from the bedroom.
He sighed and put the boots neatly next to the door as ordered, the tool belt was unclipped and fell down at the same spot with a metallic clatter.
"When did you get home?" Jonathan asked his father.
Who was busy with something in the bedroom, with what Jonathan didn't know. Much less cared.
"I didn't have any patients booked in for the rest of the day. Besides if there is an emergency
Jonas will page me. It's not a long walk." James, his father and the vault doctor, said.
"One of the many positive things of living in a hole in the ground." Jonathan pointed out sarcastically, and sighed.
Jonathan remembered something, this was the first time his father had taken the day of. He practically lived in the clinic otherwise. At least from when Jonathan was old enough to take care of himself.
Jonathan threw himself down in the sofa, and his father joined him in one of the armchairs.
He looked at his son. Jonathan was a big man, unlike his father, and a lot of hours down in the vault gym had shaped a muscular body. But just like his father he had short black hair, and deep blue eyes. James wondered where he had got his length and build from, probably from his grandfather. Sometimes those things could skip a generation.
He could see that his son was troubled, a father never missed those signs. He saw it in his eyes.
"Is everything alright Johnny?"
"Nothing I won't survive. Just had a hard day." Johnny quickly answered.
They looked each other for a couple of seconds. James once black hair was filled with gray streaks and his face full of wrinkles. His beard seemed to get grayer quicker than his hair.
"I know what it's about." James suddenly said, smiling.
Johnny raised an eyebrow and smiled back.
"Oh do you now, old man." He teased.
"I was once your age you know. I know that look."
There was a short pause.
"It's girl trouble? Isn't it? Everything fine with Susie?"
Jonathan was a handsome man, and that had gotten him the prettiest girl in the vault. They had been together for two years. But her father, Allen didn't like him, for some reason unknown. Her brothers Wally and Steve had even threatened him to back off or they would beat him so badly his father wouldn't recognize him. Although he knew that Wally wasn't serious, being a tunnel snake he got threats from him all day long as did all others who opposed them, but it was Steve he worried about. He was a sadistic son-of-a-bitch who hated Jonathan over everything else, and he was a security guard. That meant he had access to weapons. But as long as Jonathan stayed out of his way he would be fine, he hoped.
"It's not Susie. You know how the Mack's are."
His father looked at him seriously and said with the most serious tone he could.
"Have Wally been giving you a hard time?"
Johnny raised his head.
"I can handle Wally, no problem. It's…" He hesitated but decided to continue his sentence. "It's Steve I worry about."
There was a couple of seconds of silence. Jonathan worried he had said too much, that his father would confront Steve about it. But that was just empty worries, his father knew better than that. He had always been an understanding person.
"But don't worry about it, I'll handle it." Johnny assured his father.
Nevertheless James looked worried. His eyes showed it even if his face didn't.
"If you think you can handle it I won't intervene." He said, and Johnny trusted him, even if he was worried out of his mind.
James turned on the radio on his Pip-Boy to break the silence and the jazz started to spread across the home. It brought a kind of warmness with it, it made the steel walls seem a little less like a bunker.
"Well, I'm off to the gym." Johnny said and stood up to put on his boots.
"I thought you had a hard day?" His father remarked.
Johnny just laughed and slid the door open. He was about to exit the room when he heard his father's voice behind him again.
"If your mother would have seen you now, she would have been so proud of you. I'm proud of you, and I love you."
What had brought this on? Johnny thought.
"Love you too." Johnny wasn't a man who said those words often. It happened on special occasions like birthdays and such. Sometimes not even then.
On his walk down to the gym, he encountered Butch and his tunnel snakes, with Paul Hannon Jr. and worst of all, Wally Mack.
He didn't make eye contact with either of them, at least he tried not to. But they were eying him like he had four arms, especially Wally.
"Well well, look who it is." Butch eventually said and blocked his path.
Jonathan just gave Butch a stare.
"Butch, I'm not looking for trouble. Why don't you just crawl back into the hole you came from?" John said calmly.
He realized that insulting him probably wasn't the best way to stay out of trouble. Wally looked really pissed, as usual. And Butch had held a grudge against him ever since Johnny gave him a fat lip when he was ten.
"I say we teach this guy a lesson!" Wally suggested, although it was more of an order than a suggestion.
Right after those words his fist was on a rendezvous with Johnny's face. He quickly stepped to the side and followed through with a hard uppercut to his chin. Wally fell down like a sack of potatoes. Before Paul and Butch knew what happened, Johnny was gone. He heard the cursing and screaming behind, and laughed for himself. But somehow he just knew that this would get back to him, maybe in the form of a certain security guard.
Johnny arrived at the gym, and changed into a white tank top, sneakers and track pants. He ran on the treadmill for half an hour and pumped the weights for 40 minutes. Johnny liked to work out, It kept him in shape. There wasn't much else to do other than reading. And frankly Johnny wasn't much for reading. When he was done he hit the showers.
He was standing under the shower, feeling the hot water against his body, when he heard someone enter the room. He thought it was someone going to take a shower, he wasn't prepared for what was about to happen. The shower curtain was pulled to the side and Susie, naked from head to toe was just standing there.
"You have room for one more?" She said with a sensual voice while stepping under the hot water.
They had done it before, but this time he was stunned, it had never happened like this. He got his mind in one place.
"This is the male showers, what if someone comes in here?" He asked her and put his hands around Susie's naked waist.
"That just makes it more exciting." Susie countered.
"I love you." Johnny said and kissed her passionately.
After the shower they got dressed and were walking back to their rooms hand in hand like they had just met. Right now they didn't care about Steve or Wally. Those problems were put aside, for a couple of hours at least. When Johnny came home his father sat on the couch reading a book. He looked up from the pages and looked at Johnny, who was smiling and seemed happier than before.
"I take it the problems are settled?" He asked.
"Nope." Johnny answered.
"They probably got a lot worse. But I don't care." He said happily.
His father sighed and put down the book on the table. He looked disappointed and at the same time proud.
"What did you do?"
"I eh… I think Wally will have a sore chin for a couple of days." Johnny laughed and sat down in the armchair.
James sighed again.
"John that's no laughing matter, if you keep fighting with them the overseer's going to have you put in jail."
"Hey! I'm not the one starting it! I'm just defending myself!" Johnny countered.
"That won't matter to the overseer. You…" But he stopped there.
"Just be careful, son. Promise me that."
Johnny just nodded his head and stood up.
"I'm going to bed, there's nothing else to do."
"Good night son." James said and returned to his book.
When Johnny sat down on his bed, trying to slink out of his jumpsuit, which was pretty tight on the shoulders, he saw his old BB gun on the desk. Memories flashed into his mind when he held it. He remembered when his father got it for him. It was his 10th birthday, they were down in the lower levels, where Jonas and his father had set up some targets. His father gave him the BB gun as his birthday present. He had spent a lot of hours down there, honing his aim until it was flawless. These days he didn't use it, he had grown out of it. As he lay down in the bed his mind started to wander, and it ended up on Susie, he didn't want it to end. What they had was amazing. Although it probably would end, eventually. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.
Jonathan awoke at the sound of a female voice.
"Jonathan! Jonathan wake up!"
At first he thought he was dreaming, so he just pulled the cover higher up. Trying to drown the voices out. But the female voice kept shouting.
"You got to wake up!" The female voice sounded persistent, almost angry and a little chaotic.
Jonathan opened his eyes, and through the mist you awake in every morning he thought he saw his friend Amata.
"Ah, let me sleep." He said and turned around.
Then the covers were torn away. And a sudden cold struck his almost naked body.
"Hey! I need that!" He complained.
"Good, I hoped you had at least a little bit of clothes on."
Johnny realized he was just in his boxers. He couldn't resist joking with her about it.
"You sure you didn't wish I was naked?" He chuckled.
"Oh god! Can't you be serious for one second?!" She sounded angry as well as panicked.
"My father's men are looking for you!" She continued as she was packing what supplies she could find in a big leather satchel. A clean t-shirt and a clean tank top, a stimpack from the medical cabinet on the wall, as well as adhesive bandages, a roll of bandages, tape and dressing. She also packed some vault emergency food cubes and two bottles of water.
"They've already killed Jonas! You've got to get out of here! Right now!" She franticly said.
Those words struck like a dagger in the hearth of Johnny. Jonas had been a good friend, almost like an uncle. And his death was like losing a part of himself, but he managed to get a few words out.
"They killed Jonas?! What the hell is going on?!"
Amata turned to Johnny, putting the satchel down on the floor in front of him.
"It's your dad." She said calmly. "He's left the vault, and my father thinks Jonas helped him escape! Now they are scouring the vault looking for you!"
The sadness she tried to bury found its way to her eyes.
"He had his men…"
Johnny grabbed Amata's arms and held her. He managed to get the last part of the sentence out of her before she burst out in tears.
"They just beat him, and beat him! They wouldn't stop, they… killed him." She franticly said. Tears were running down her cheeks.
Johnny hugged her and told her everything was going to be okay.
"You have to stay strong Amata, calm down." He said with a calm voice.
He wanted to say that everything was going to be okay. But the truth was that it wouldn't. Johnny wished it was a dream, then he could just go back to sleep and Jonas would be okay. He would go and see his father in the clinic and then pop up late for work. As usual, but it wasn't a dream. It was the cold hard reality. Amata finally calmed down, and Johnny wiped the tears of her cheeks. It was hard for him to grasp it all. His head was in chaos. But he managed to get a tank top and his jumpsuit on, as well as his boots.
"We've got to go now, Johnny! Trust me, we don't want to be here when my father's men show up." She said trying to rush Johnny even more.
"Where to?" He asked, even though he knew the answer. But it felt better to hear it from someone else, for some reason.
"I fear you have to follow him, to the wasteland. You can't stay here." Amata answered the unnecessary question.
"Didn't your father tell you he was leaving?"
Jonathan thought about it for a second, now it made sense. Yesterday, why he was so nice and forgiving, and why he came home early. He was trying to spend one last afternoon with his son.
"I truly had no idea…" Johnny said.
He felt betrayed, left behind. Why would his father just leave him? He knew that he had to find him, that much was certain. He needed answers, nothing could stop him now!
"Really? You sure? He doesn't seem like the kind of man who would just leave his own son. Maybe Jonas was supposed to tell you everything?" Amata pointed out.
"It doesn't matter now. I have a plan. I know how you can get out." She continued.
Johnny listened as carefully as he could, this plan could save his life after all.
"Listen. There's a secret tunnel that leads directly from my father's office to the exit. But you'll have to hack his computer to get it open."
"Don't worry about the computer, the Pip-Boy will handle that." Johnny said and pointed to the computer on his wrist.
"It can do that?" Amata asked looking at her own Pip-Boy.
"I kind of modified mine, with the help of Stanley. It can get the computer unlocked. And the door won't be any problem, I work with the bloody things daily. Are you sure the tunnel isn't guarded?"
Amata snapped back to her original plan.
"I'm sure about it. Nobody knows about it except for my father, and me of course. Trust me."
There was no question about it. The tunnel was his best bet if he wanted to get out alive.
"Oh, and before I forget. I found this in my father's room. I have no idea where he got it." Amata said as she handed Johnny an old pistol. Johnny gripped the handle, and he recognized the model. He owned a book about guns, which he had read about 20 times over. This model was a Walther P99, an old pistol from the 1990s that chambered 15 9mm rounds per magazine. Where did the overseer get this? Johnny pressed the release for the magazine and it popped out. It was fully loaded, his lucky day.
"Wow, this will come in handy." He said but Amata was on her way out, shouting as she ran.
"I'll try to meet you at the exit!"
Johnny put the pistol between his jumpsuit and the belt, and ran out into the corridor. Instantly a guard spotted him.
"Hey you, stop right there!" He screamed with the police baton in his right hand.
John didn't want to shoot him, so he did the only thing he thought of. He rushed as fast as he could towards the guard. Blocking the guards swinging baton with his right arm, he grabbed the shoulder straps of his flak vest and with all his strength he swung him around into the nearby wall, knocking him unconscious. Then John's mind slowed down to a normal speed and he heard the sirens and saw the red blinking lights. That meant radroaches, they were a common problem in the vault. But easy enough to kill. And suddenly three of them appeared around the corner. John drew his pistol and fired a round, one of the roaches exploded spewing green blood and guts. He fired two rounds again against the other two, one of them missed, but the other one hit one roach in the side, blowing his legs of and making it unable to move. As the last one got nearer he kicked it as hard as he could, it flew across the corridor and splattered against a wall. The wounded one also got a taste of his boot.
He headed for the diner when he was stopped by Butch. The last person he wanted to meet now. His eyes showed fear. With the pistol in his right hand he screamed to Butch.
"I don't have time for your fucking bullshit right now! Get out of my way!"
Butch seemed really scared of him now, which made John feel good inside.
"It's not that! It's my mom, she's trapped in there with the radroaches. You've got to help!"
John was stunned, Butch asking him for help. Hell just froze over it seems.
"Why do you need my help all of a sudden? Afraid of a few radroaches or what?" John asked.
Butch hesitated but then gave John the all familiar look that he knew so well, and answered with an angrier tone than before.
"Alright so I'm afraid of those bugs. So what?! Just please help me!"
John had already decided what to do. Ellen DeLoria wasn't going to pay for her son's mistake. It wasn't right.
"Alright I'll help you." John said.
"But I'm doing this for your mother, not for you."
Butch almost hugged him when he heard John.
"Oh thank you!"
And he ran off into his apartment with John after him.
"Where is she?" He asked Butch.
Butch pointed on the door to the other room. John tried to open the door, but it was jammed. But from his experience with these doors he quickly figured out how to open it. Then almost jumped into the room and squished one of the giant roaches, he made short work of the other ones with a heavy lamp. He helped Ellen on her feet. But he didn't even get a thank you or anything from her.
"Thank you so much! Here…" He said and took off his leather jacket.
"I want you to have this as thanks."
John didn't want anything from that asshole. But forced the jacket into his satchel, maybe he could sell it or something. If he got out of this alive that is.
John ran past the diner and up the stairs which led to the Atrium. He smelled something that reminded him of rotting fried meat. He saw Andy, the robot, grilling some radroaches with his flamethrower. He saw Stanley right behind him.
"Don't worry Johnny I won't say anything. I don't care what you have done just get out of here." Stanley assured him.
Then Johnny heard an all too familiar voice.
"You're lucky it was me who found you! The others won't be so forgiving."
It was Officer Gomez, he had always been nice to Johnny. It was him who turned a blind eye towards him when he gave Butch a fat lip. He had even protected Johnny from Steve a couple of times.
"Tell me about it. There is one of you down there unconscious." Johnny said and pointed to the stairs.
"Alright I'll take care of that. Now you get out of here! Before anyone else see you."
"And John! Be careful."
John continued towards the overseer's office, when he reached the Atrium. He ran past the Mack's room. He didn't see Susie inside, so he didn't bother to stop. Her father were banging on the window and cursing though. He ignored it and continued to the systems room. The first thing he noticed was Floyd Lewis lying dead on the floor, he paid his respects and bent down to pick up his aviator sunglasses and a wrench. He put them both in his satchel. He heard footsteps behind him, but reacted too late. It was security chief Hannon, he used his baton to try and strangle John. He stepped back, smashing Hannon into a metal beam. But he didn't let go. He tried to pry his arm of, but in a grip like this it would require massive strength. John was running out of air and had to do something soon. He grabbed Hannon's arm and with his remaining strength he heaved him over himself. He crashed down to the floor head first, a loud crack was heard. And Hannon was dead, his neck broken. John fell down on all four, coughing and trying to catch his breath. He only let himself rest for a couple of seconds, any longer and more of them might catch up. His legs protested as he ran towards his objective. He reached the security room, and heard voices coming from inside. Crouching down under the window he carefully peaked inside. What he saw was Amata sitting in a chair, and the overseer and Steve standing in front of her, they seemed so be interrogating her. Amata's cheek was red and bruised.
"Tell me where your friend have gone Amata, don't make officer Mack here hurt you." The overseer said to his own daughter.
"I'm telling you! I don't know where he went! Why are you doing this?!" Amata screamed, tears running down her eyes.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this Amata." The overseer said and nodded to Steve.
Steve raised his hand to hit her with the baton. Then something exploded inside John, all his rage and hate he had against Steve was released. He grabbed the gun from his belt and burst into the room.
"Hit her and I'll put a bullet between your eyes!" John screamed, holding the gun in one hand.
Steve looked at him and Johnny gave him a look that would make the devil tremble in fear.
"You! You're dead!" He screamed, but didn't even flinch when he saw the pistol.
"Amata, come here." John said to her while pointing the gun towards Steve and the overseer.
Amata ran up to John's side, her eyes were red from the crying. Suddenly when she made a move towards the exit, Steve moved as well. Thinking that it would divert Johnny's attention, it didn't. That was Officer Mack's last mistake, he came about half a meter when John pulled the trigger. The bullet came flying out of the barrel at 400m/s, lodging itself in Steve's skull. He was dead before he even hit the ground. The overseer backed away, slowly. John pointed the pistol at him, and forced him down the chair. He put the mouth of the pistol against his forehead. The overseer was terrified, almost shaking in his seat. Then John bent down and whispered closely in his ear.
"Don't come after us…"
The overseer didn't move one inch from the chair and John rushed after Amata.
What he saw outside the office made his flood freeze in his veins. The body of his former friend Jonas laying in a pool of his own blood. The once white lab coat was red with blood, only some spots of white had escaped the blood. His face was bloody and beaten in. The gruesome sight made Johnny look away, but not before he spotted a holotape in one of his pockets. He didn't have time to listen to it right now, so it went into his satchel with his supplies.
"Thank you for not killing my father. He's not himself!"
He seriously doubted that was true, but didn't say anything. Instead he put a hand on her shoulder.
"You know that's not my style. Are you going to be okay?" He asked calmly.
"I'll be fine, I just need to think. You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you."
John tried the door to the office, it was locked. So he removed the panel underneath the electronic lock and located the wires he wanted. He didn't have time to fuse them together to bypass the lock. Instead he just yanked them out. It was fine as long as you didn't want to close the door again anytime soon. There was a spark of electricity and the door slid open. Once inside the office he first checked a locker. He found two extra magazines for the Walther, they went into his jumpsuit pocket. A bottle of Rad-X went into the satchel. Now for the Pip-Boy to work on the computer, he yanked the cable from the Pip-Boy and connected it to the computer.
"Now let's see if this works" John said to himself.
The Pip-Boy blinked for a couple of seconds. Then started to go through every possible password, about 30 seconds later the Pip-Boy let out a sound. And a lot of files appeared on the computer screen. He downloaded them all to his Pip-Boy. He found something called Open Tunnel. So naturally he selected it. Then the floor started to hum, and shift. John almost jumped at the sound. He unplugged the cable and headed down the stairs and through the dark passage. The two radroaches he encountered on the way got a taste of lead. He ended up in a dead end, at least that was what it look like. But he instantly flicked a small switch and the wall hummed and disappeared down into the floor. He entered a stale chamber, everything seemed sterile and dark. It reminded him of a crypt form an old monster flick or something. After he searched some crates he found a wire cutter and two screwdrivers. The vault door was shaped like a huge cog and could be opened or closed on a nearby console.
The console was easily navigated and the door came to life, it screeched across the metal floor and compressed air spewed out from the sides. It slid to a halt at the side. Then Amata popped up behind him, which made John jump. He had been so fascinated by the display that he didn't hear her, or she was really sneaky.
"I can't believe you actually opened it. It's…amazing." She said, as stunned by it as John was.
"Well, I couldn't have done it without your help."
She smiled.
"No you didn't need me. If anyone can survive out there it's you." She said.
That felt comforting at least.
"So, I guess this is goodbye." She pointed out.
"Why don't you come with me?"
Amata seemed like she wanted nothing else in the world. But at the same time she seemed afraid of it. And that was understandable. John was also afraid of it, he didn't know what he would find outside.
"It's tempting, believe me. But this is my home, and I won't let my father chase me out."
John started thinking. Had Amata been strengthen by this day? Maybe she wasn't that brittle girl she used to be anymore.
"Alright, goodbye Amata. I hope we see each other again."
"Yes, take care of yourself out there. Bye"
Then they stared at each other, and ended up in a long hug. He knew he probably wouldn't see Amata ever again.
John smiled and left the vault…
Now the second chapter is coming soon, I'm currently hooked on the DEATHLANDS series Graphic Novels, so not much writing going on. But I'm working on it!
