Hello out there! This is my (hopefully) triumphant return to this lovely site. I honestly can't believe some people still read/like/favorite my old crap. It's over five years old now, holy shit. I hope you all enjoy this story as well. Thanks for giving it a look!
Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately.
Betty woke from her frigid slumber with a deafening scream, heard by not one other soul save for a few radroaches scurrying through what remained of the mysterious Vault 111. She tumbled onto the floor, her clear, blue eyes still sensitive and not used to what little brightness given off by the emergency lights within the vault. The alert system for the vault continued in an ominous loop, drilling its message into her skull. She peered up at the cryogenic pod across from her and emptied her stomach, the bile burning her throat. When she closed her eyes again, she heard him. She heard Nate's voice clear as day, moments before the final nuclear warhead slammed just outside of Boston, surrounded by screaming soldiers and hysterical neighbors.
"It's gonna be fine...I love you."
Betty screamed, her voice hoarse with tears. The love of her life was gone and so was their only son, Shaun. She had nothing. Not a damn thing save for the clothes on her back. She remembered the pods closing their doors and Nate reaching out to her with a smile one final time.
Procedure complete in 5...4...3...2...1...
She rolled onto her back, muscles weak from atrophy, and stared at her own cryogenic pod with lifeless eyes. It should have been her coffin and instead, it gave her life. Instead, it was Nate, the beloved war hero of their tight-knit neighborhood who was gunned down, nothing but an annoyance and an obstacle for the cruel man who ripped open his pod and kidnapped Shaun.
"At least we have the backup.."
Why? Why did that man call her 'the back up?' And for what? Betty struggled to her feet but her head refused to quit spinning and she stumbled towards Nate's pod. She sobbed as she looked into the tiny window, the gunshot wound a blight on her husband, frozen in time. She tried to open the pod, refusing to leave Nate behind in a place so tainted. The controls for the pod seemed simple, but in her state, she wasn't able to open it. Just as well. It's not like she would've been able to drag a former soldier weighing almost 200 pounds through the vault and back to their home on her own. One day soon, when her strength and coordination returned, she'd give Nate a proper burial.
"I'll find who did this, and I'll get Shaun back. I promise," Betty whispered to Nate as she rested her cheek against the cold glass.
Betty looked around the gleaming, metal room. Wires shorted out, sending out small flares much like the sparklers one gave to young children on Independence Day. The vault computer continued with its recorded warning message, the alarm wailing in a steady rhythm. She checked the other pods as she shuffled by and all held contorted faces of death, some better preserved than others.
"I...I can't be the only...hello? Hello!?" Betty shouted with her last bit of vocal strength. Nothing. There wasn't anyone left at all.
She shuffled through Vault 111, doing her best to jog her memory into retracing her steps back towards the surface. The vault itself wasn't very large and as a result wasn't as well-stocked. Betty sifted through desks and lockers, but most everything was picked clean with the exception of a 10mm pistol and a half a box of rounds. She walked past a window to the power room, where energy flew freely in an arc high above and occasionally came down like a bolt of lighting. A radroach jumped at Betty from behind a window and she shouted with surprise, falling into the wall behind her. She held up the pistol, pointing it at the massive insect before realizing the glass would hold.
"Giant roaches? What the hell?"
The pistol felt heavy and unfamiliar in Betty's hands. When she was a young girl, her father often dragged her along on his many hunting trips. As he had no other children besides Betty, he was intent on making her 'the son he'd always wanted.' But her skill was with a rifle, not a pistol, and certainly not close-quarter combat, even if it was nothing more than a giant roach. Who knew what sort of diseases it carried?
Over an hour later, an exhausted Betty found her way back to the entrance of Vault 111 after finding an emergency exit in the Overseer's office. She stood for a minute and stared at the gargantuan door. How in the hell would she even open that? Her foot nudged something below the door controls and there, still attached to its previous owner's skeletal arm, was a pip-boy device. She heard about these miniature computers before. Nate even wore one when his platoon fought against the Chinese during the siege of Alaska and told her that the little machine was the sole reason he came back in one piece. That this Pip-boy could do almost anything...maybe even open a door. Betty picked it up from the floor, the scientist's bones clattering against the metal walkway, and slid her left hand and arm through. She marveled when the Pip-boy sprang to life, brought back to the present time from the warmth of her skin beneath her blue vault suit. All she had to do was connect the Pip-boy to the door controls and maybe she'd be able to escape this frozen, metal hell.
The controls on the vault door lit up, and a prompt appeared on the Pip-boy's green tinted screen that read: 'Open Vault 111?'
"Get me the hell out of here," Betty said with a bit of strength returning to her voice, and she slammed her fist on the red button.
Betty watched as the vault began the steps to open the door that at the very least protected her and her family from nuclear fallout and certain death, but did nothing to stop a bald menace with a scarred face from kidnapping her son and murdering Nate. The vault door lifted in a hail of steam and screaming, corroded gears. All that was left was the elevator and she prayed with all her might that it would still be functional enough to transport her back to the surface. Just the walk from bridge, down the stairs, and onto the elevator itself drained Betty of what little energy she had left, but she made it. It felt like hours, hell, it probably was at least three, and she was about to set foot out into the unknown. She couldn't fathom what she'd encounter out on the surface and hoped that she wouldn't be annihilated the moment the elevator lifted her to the surface. If she were to die, she hoped it would be quick.
The seal to Vault 111 unlocked and a bright light streamed into the elevator, to the point that Betty was forced to shield her eyes. She held her breath. She didn't think to search for a hazmat suit of some kind while rifling through the remnants of the vault, but it was too late for that now and the elevator locked into place at the Earth's surface. Eyes still squeezed shut, Betty took a gamble and drew in a deep breath, eliciting a coughing fit on her stressed lungs that brought her to her knees. At least the air seemed harmless...for now.
"I don't wanna look, I don't, I don't," she whispered to herself. "Please be okay, please.."
With no other choice but to open her eyes, Betty would never for all the rest of her years forget how she felt when she gazed upon the ruined wasteland of Boston with a gasp of utter shock for the first time. Her home still stood upright in Sanctuary Hills below her, but many of the other houses did not fare as well, their foundations crumpled beneath them. Electrical towers bent harshly in the horizon, all in the same direction from the nuclear blast. There were no leaves, the grass weak and withered; no life around her whatsoever. The world as she knew it was dead, murdered by desperate yet powerful leaders, and it struck Betty that there was a chance she was the only human being left in Boston. Maybe even the world.
"Oh...god, what have they...what have they done?" she whispered, looking around her. The sun inched past the horizon, bringing forth a new day of Hell for the Commonwealth and its misfortuned inhabitants. "Is this all that's left?"
For the briefest of moments, Betty wished that someone...if anyone was left out here, would walk up behind her and shoot her in the head. But who or what could possibly live through this? For all she knew, Shaun was dead. Nothing so small and delicate could ever make it in a world so brutal and hopeless. She knew, however, if Nate were in her place that he wouldn't give up. Neither would she. Revenge for her late husband and missing son would be her fuel. All she had to do was stand up and walk.
"C'mon, Bets, get up!" Betty grunted aloud, forcing herself on her feet. "Get up and find Shaun! Be a god damn mother!"
Where to start? Where else but home.
Nothing around her seemed familiar anymore. The vault may as well have gotten up and physically moved elsewhere from how disorienting the environment was for Betty. She lived in Boston all her life, from when she was just a 'twinkle' in her father's eyes as her mother once put it, to the day she promised Nate she'd love him for all time at their courthouse wedding, and until the world ended in blistering heat and destruction. She trudged down the path leading from Vault 111 to her old neighborhood. Her old life. The one that was never coming back. Despite the annihilation, Betty could see from a distance at the entrance to the vault, Sanctuary Hills was spared in comparison. A few houses were destroyed beyond repair but as she limped down her street, a brief moment of happiness found its way into Betty's heart when she found her once perfect home still standing strong, a little beat up, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little effort.
Betty heard the unmistakable sound of propulsion jets and dashed into the brambles that now grew beside her home. She reached for her pistol and tried to remember how many shots she fired as she freed herself from the depths of the vault. Was it three or four times she fired at those roaches? The propulsion jets grew louder still and Betty screamed as a Mr. Handy drifted around the corner.
"As I live and breathe! It's...it's really you!" the Mr. Handy shouted. His visual sensors scanned Betty and the robot asked, "Miss Elizabeth, are you quite all right? Your heart-rate is skyrocketing and my sensors tell me you are severely dehydrated. Would you care for some water?"
"C-Codsworth?" she asked with wide eyes. He wasn't human, but she was thrilled to find someone out here in post-apocolyptia.
"At your service once again, mum!" A small compartment opened just beneath Codsworth's second visual sensor and produced a bottle of water, which he retrieved and handed to Betty. She tore open the cap and swallowed every last drop of the pure, cool liquid. She didn't think she'd be so thirsty but other matters weighed heavier on her mind.
"My god, they did it. All that fighting and for what? Everything's...dead," Betty said with a sob. She sat on the sidewalk bleached white by the sun's scorching rays and sniffled as she wiped her nose with her sleeve.
"Everything's dead? Ah, yes, the garden. The posies have been problematic, I'll admit. If only sir were here to help! Where is Master Nate, by the way? Has he gone off again to help destroy those nasty, little communists overseas?"
"They...they fucking killed him. Now, I'm going kill them, too," Betty snarled, anger coursing through her veins as she attempted to stagger back to her feet. Still lacking the muscle strength, her knees gave out and she crashed back to the cement with a pained grunt.
Codsworth floated back a bit before he asked, "No, no that cannot be! Who would do such a heinous act?"
"I don't know, Vault-Tec maybe? But why would they do something like that?" Betty asked, knowing Codsworth probably wasn't sure himself. "Doesn't matter. Whoever it was, I'm going to hunt them down and shoot them in the head like they did Nate."
"Mum, these thing you're saying, these... terrible things, I...I believe you need a distraction. Yes! A distraction to calm this dire mood. It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers, or perhaps charades? Oh, Shaun does so love that game. Is the...uh...is the lad with you?"
"Do you see him with me? Here, in my arms? Do you?" Betty shouted. "He's gone! Whoever murdered Nate took Shaun too; they stole my baby!"
"Ah, it's just as I thought: hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for over 200 years will do that, I'm afraid."
"200 years? W-what? Are you sure?" Betty asked. She sure was glad to already be on the ground after hearing how long she'd been frozen for. It had felt more like a night's sleep than over two centuries of slumber.
"A bit over 210, actually, mum. Give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor...dings to the old chronometer," explained Codsworth as he turned himself around and pointed out several bullet holes peppered into his metal shell. "That means you're two centuries late for dinner, ha ha! Perhaps I could whip you up a snack? You must be famished!"
"What? Food? Yeah, sure..just need a minute to think."
Codsworth floated into her home and Betty wandered in after him. The house remained strangely neat, well, as neat as a house that survived a nuclear blast could be. Most of the larger furniture remained in place and even two of the paintings survived. She faced the hallway, afraid to see what was left of her former life. She took a few steps and peeked into the baby's room. His once bright, blue crib was now peeled and splintered; the mobile Nate had fixed the same day they rushed for the vault hanging haphazardly. She picked up a "You're Special!" book that sat on the dresser and leafed through it, hot tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Her and Nate's bedroom didn't fare as well as Shaun's, but enough memories remained to force fresh tears out.
Betty's robotic butler hovered over to her, holding a plate of steaming hot Instamash, Cram, and BlamCo Mac & Cheese all shaped into a smiling face. She took the plate and inhaled the scent of something that remained familiar before she walked over to the couch to begin her feast. Her mind was clear and blank now that she got some food into her withered body, not at all used to the bony protrusions of her wrists and ankles. Two weeks of meals like this, and she'd gain back the bit of weight she lost. Betty thought of nothing else but how absolutely creamy the mac & cheese was and for a few minutes, she was at peace. On the other hand, Codsworth muttered to himself, dusting areas around the home with greater and greater urgency. He let out a shriek that almost sent Betty's plate of goodness flying out of her lap.
"You okay there?" Betty asked. "I'm afraid you're about to literally blow up on me...can that even happen? Please don't."
Codsworth faced Betty, and she swore if he were able to, the poor Mr. Handy would be sobbing as hard as she had been for the past several hours. He turned off his jet propulsion and sank to the floor before he replied, "I'm...I'm so sorry, Miss Elizabeth, it's just...I'VE BEEN SO BLOODY LONESOME! More than two hundred years of no one to serve, nothing to do! I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets out nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. NOTHING! And the car! Oh god, how does one polish rust?!"
"Come on, Codsworth, focus. I'm here now, it's all right," Betty assured him while she pat the top of where a head on a human child would be on a Mr. Handy. "Is there anything you can tell me about...what it's like out there now?"
"I'm afraid I don't know anything, mum. The bombs came and you all left in such a hurry. I thought for certain you and your family were dead. I...I found this holotape while cleaning one day. I believe sir was going to present it to you as a surprise, but then...well...everything happened." Codsworth handed Betty the holotape and took the now empty plate over to the kitchen.
"Thank you," she said in a small voice. "Would you hold onto it, actually? Just until I can handle listening to it. If I do that now, I'll never leave this house."
"Of course, mum, and you're quite welcome," said Codsworth. "Shall we uh, search the neighborhood together? We may find something of use to you."
"There's nothing left here. It's all gone."
"If you wish to venture to parts unknown, I won't stop you. You could try Concord; I've seen people walking about there and only slightly...heavily armed. I shall guard the neighborhood in your absence."
Remembering his outburst moments ago, Betty asked if he would like to join her on the short trip to the nearby town.
"I must be honest, Miss Elizabeth, I don't believe I'd be any use to you out there. I did, however, notice a handsome German Shepard dog rummaging about near the Red Rocket. He appears well-kept, so it seems he is tame compared to the other mongrels that chase me down the street every now and again." Betty stood up and Codsworth handed her a ratty knapsack filled with snack cakes and bottled water. "Good luck in your search for dear Shaun...and give those who took sir from us Hell."
Betty was about to leave the relative safety of her neighborhood when she shielded her eyes from the morning sun and slammed the pip-boy into her forehead by accident, forgetting it was even there. She turned the knob a few times and noticed there was a radio option. She tuned in, not expecting anything but dead, static air, and instead heard a young man's voice say, "And here's 'It's All Over but the Crying' by the Ink Spots on D-Diamond C-City Radio."
"It's all over, but the crying...and nobody's crying but me. Friends all over know I'm trying, to forget about how much I care for you..."
She was stunned and unable to move as the song played; there was life out here. A dog barked and she snapped her head up in time to see a large hound by the Red Rocket snap its jaws at what appeared to be a giant fly and shake it furiously. Time to make a new friend.