Prologue
Vault 101, the supposed safest place a person could be, so safe in fact that entry and exit into its corridors is forbidden. One of over half a dozen safe havens designed to weather the effects of nuclear fallout and keep those inside unharmed.
We're told as kids that it wasn't always like this and yet even Old Lady Palmer couldn't remember a time when that was true. We're constantly being told that as long as we stay here no harm can come to us. The Overseer is the one most adamant in that line of thinking, I always thought there was something wrong with him.
No matter how much he tried though, I was never fooled. I could see that there was something else going on, I just went along with it because there was nothing else I could do. It started on my tenth birthday.
I walked into the dining area and the lights went on without warning, Stanley nearly blinded me by doing that. I should have expected that my father and Amata would surprise me like this. It was at this point that I was approached by her father, The Overseer.
He handed me my own Pip-Boy 3000, not strange at all considering that everyone in the vault received one at age 10. He sat down and I began speaking with everyone at my party starting with Amata. She was my best friend and for my birthday got me a comic of my favorite hero, Grognak the barbarian.
She went to go talk with her father, at which point I spoke to some of the other guests and got a sweet roll from Old Lady Palmer. I saw Amata walk away and decided to talk to her dad I asked why he didn't help out more with the party and he said that his duties as overseer come before those of being a father. If it was my father, he would have said the exact opposite.
After a humorous incident when the robot ordered to cut the cake instead destroyed it, I had to deal with a problem. The vault bully, Butch, was upset about the cake and to be fair I was too. He overheard me getting a sweet roll and wanted it for himself because he was hungry. I offered to share it, but he threw that right back in my face.
That pissed me off a little so I whispered to him, "In that case you're not getting any, so what are you gonna do about it Bitch DeLoria." This straight up infuriated him and in hindsight probably wasn't the best thing to say. However, considering my other options it wasn't that bad of a choice.
He tried to attack me and I just kept dodging, mostly because I didn't know how to fight. Soon the fight was broken up by Officer Gomez and my dad took me down to the reactor to see Jonas. We ran into Beatrice on the way out and she gave me a poem. Although I said I would treasure it always I was fairly disappointed, but my dad's present would more than make up for it.
Jonas had a little joke about a kid being at the reactor, but I responded appropriately. Once my dad made it down he gave me my own bb gun, I laughed when he mentioned borrowing Butch's switchblade. I had some fun shooting targets with it and I even got to kill a radroach that wandered in. Things were fine until the day that we had to take the G.O.A.T.
Trying to play sick is almost never a good idea, even less so when you dad is a doctor. At the time it seemed like a good idea to avoid taking the joke of a test, but as hindsight is 20-20. I made my way to the classroom, yet was stopped from entering by a scene that I found upsetting. Butch and his gang were picking on Amata, so of course I had to step in.
I've never been good with my words so I had to resort to using my fists. While still not great it was adequate in forcing them to back off. With them gone She and I were free to enter the room and complete the test. The majority of the test was rather amusing, although I wonder why there was a question about your grandma asking you to shoot someone. It was the last question that was more concerning.
Who is indisputably the most important person in the vault? Like all the other questions there were four choices, but they were all the same answer. We handed in our tests and were told on the spot what we would be. Amata and I were supervisors and Butch was to be a hairdresser, if you asked the guy he'd claim he was a barber. Of course I wasn't the only one who saw the test as a joke. Mr. Brotch let me choose what I wanted to specialize in.
Everyone else started to hand in their tests at which point I left the room with Amata for a snack. It all seemed like a dream, which is rather ironic considering the next situation I would find myself in.
"Come on you've got to wake up," and wake up I do to Amata standing next to my bed. I was still half-asleep so it should come as no surprise what I happened to say next.
"What a coincidence. I was just dreaming about you." Although I was the one who just got out of bed it seemed like she was the who just woke up. She seemed to be trying noticeably hard not to let her eyes stray.
"Ugh gross. Never mind that now we've gotta get out of here." She sees my confused expression and decides to elaborate. "Your father's gone and Jonas has been killed." If the rest of me wasn't awake before, it was now.
"What do you mean my father's gone? He left the vault?" Her nod was all he confirmation that I needed. "So how do I get out of here?" She thinks for a second before answering.
"There's a secret tunnel in The Overseer's office that leads to the door out. My father has the key to get in, but their might be a copy somewhere in his room. Here I took this gun from my father, it should offer some protection." It was, what looked like, a brand new 10mm pistol.
"Thanks. With the way things are going I might need it." She seemed a little off put by those words, but gave a reluctant nod in understanding.
"That's enough talking we have to go, now!" She left the room practically hysterical so that meant that I'd have to be the one to keep my cool. You don't have to be as perceptive as I am to comprehend the urgency of the situation. Of course the expected thing to do would be to run to the office as fast as possible, but I didn't become this intelligent by being predictable.
