"Oh, Jesus Christ!" I shouted as the rat exploded in gore. It's guts and blood busted out from its sides, and splattered on the surrounding walls in its blotches of red. I've lost count of how many times this has happened, but I assure you it was a lot.

"Heh, heh. Big mess again." A low booming voice

Looking behind me, I see the hulking mass, that was Max Stone. His grin at the freakish spectacle was only thing that seemed different from his not very expressive face. His eyes were always slightly shut, as if the life was always lulling him so sleep. The only time I ever see anything of seeming awareness is when violence occurred.

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" I sighed.

He boomed with his unenthusiastic laugh and lifted up a bat. "My turn!"

Max did what he did best. He ran up to the rat that was closest to is and swung the bat down as hard as he could on the rat. The rat looked up with its nose only to be slammed back down into the floor. Its small head caved in from the bat's impact, and made blood leek onto the ground. He deserved the last name of "Stone."

The overseer wanted us to deal with a little rat problem that was threat to the little food we had. Somehow they manged to tunnel a hole into the vault command center's locker. How they made it was far beyond me as Vault tec was suppose to make these impenetrable to nuclear blasts, but I guess anything that burrows is bound to get at something eventually.

"Uugg..." Max sighed as he lifted his bat from an rat that tried to escape into their hole.

"What's wrong buddy?"

"How you make them explode like that?" he asked in a disappointed tone.

I shrugged, "I don't know, I just aim and shoot."

"Huh..." He stated. "Give me that gun."

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" I asked. "Last thing I'd want is to patch one of those eyes."

I immanently regretted what I said as Max looked over to me. There were only about three emotions that Max was capable of: unaware, happy, and pissed off. Right then I was fearing for my life as he marched towards, and towered over me. I was feeling a lot smaller despite being only about 5 inches shorter than him.

"You know you make make a convincing argument! I think you have a right to this, sir!" I motored out of my mouth as I distanced the 10 mm pistol from me to him.

He snatched the pistol by the frame and wielded it in front of him. He held it up to his face with glee as he stared at the barrel. He'd probably thought he was one of the his hero's on the holotapes the vault carries.

Aiming down the sights, another rat scurried across the floor from the hold. He steadied his aim as it tracked his

BANG! Squeek!

The rat didn't pop as the one I shot. Instead the hole Max placed in its shoulder oozed its blood on the floor. Max and I both looked at it with

"T-try another!" I told him.

Another scurried across, Max shot it, and it happened again. The blood Oozed out onto the floor. He did it again with another. And another. AND another.

Eventually, we were staring at a body of dead rat bodies, and one busted out rib cage and guts. Max slapped the gun. He stated that it was broken.

"Holy hell! I don't believe it!" I exclaimed

I seemed to have been cursed with people around me dying in the worst way possible. Well, okay that's not true. Many that I knew have died from this or that disease or something of regular occurrence. However, if I saw you die it would almost always be the worst way possible.

Slammed through a screen? Check. Get eviscerated by a cook who snapped? Check. Get on Max's bad side? Check. Getting squished in one of the doors the overseer refuses to fix is always a favorite, and god knows how many times I've seen people died from just slipping. Brain bits EVERYWHERE!

However, I think it disturbing that now I seem to not only see it, but somehow cause it. I just seemed to aim and shoot and guts goes everywhere.

Just then a familiar face walked in. It was radiating that of a model, or a salesman with his brunette hair was slicked over to his left side, and squared, well shaven jaw.

"What with all the bloody m- oh."

He looked down at the mess of dead rats at were surrounding our feet. His face scrunched up in disgust as he tried to keep down whatever gruel we got in from the lunch room. He never was one for blood, gore, and much in the way violence.

"Hey Albert," Max said waving at him. "We're huntin' rats."

"I uh... see that." He told us. "Hey, what happened to that one?"

He was pointing at the rib cage that was in pieces surrounded by blood, and whatever else was left of it. Max instantly pointed to me.

"Scott did it! He's a damn good shot!"

"I don't even know anymore! It's like things want to die horribly around me!"

"Shit," remarked Albert as he patted me on the back. "Just remind me not to be under the knife with you as the head. Ha ha!"

Smart ass. All that charm's was going to his head. I if wasn't for that and his wit I'd say he would be the most insufferable of three people I knew down here. Well, I did know more, but the damn door took em. Still he was the closest of them I ever knew.

I gave him a half hearted grin and ask him, "I'll let the others know of your concern. But can't promise results."

Albert looked at me with a little snicker. "That reminds me, Scott! You're coming to the meeting to night, right?"

"Ah, geez Albert I don't know."

Albert was the leader of a small minority group of the vault that actually wanted to go outside of the vault. I mean I have my curiosities about the outside world, but I wasn't sure if that was for best. It's been a desolate planet since the Great War of 2077, I doubt that we could survive out there.

Albert and his posy was adamant however, and would speak with the overseer regularly to convince him of their plans. That works about as well as you expect. The overseer wasn't going to just to pack up and leave because some wanted to go outside. However, he never suppressed them. I don't know if that was because our overseer was benevolent or Albert's personality saved them from getting made into swiss cheese.

Albert was designated to be the "lawyer" of the vault on the account of him being able. I always saw him more of a politician though with his little "party." The way he spoke about his ideals, and goals always sounded similar to the presidents we talked about in pre-war history classes. They sounded like they were from the heart and well meaning, but you could never know for sure.

Albert wrapped around my shoulder. "We're so close, friend. If we just had a few more members..."

"Albert, even if I wanted to go the ones behind would still need someone like me."

"We'd need someone like that, too!" He insisted. "And the others will come around, you'll see. Will start our own society, and we'll be free of the overseer's micromanagement."

"Where the hell do you plan to get the supplies for a 'society'?" I asked mockingly.

"We could always just take some fro-"

Just then we heard Max, "Stupid gun! Why aren't you shooting!"

Albert and I turned around to see Max attempting to shoot at a rat that was about forearm length. Though attempting was a kind phrase because he was firing blanks.

"You didn't give him another clip?!" Albert shouted in a scolding tone.

I began to fumble around in my pocket for another. "Well wasn't expecting there to be a small battalion of them now was I?"

Max spared no time in trying to do his bashing technique with butt of the gun. Hit right on top of the rat's head. The rat wasn't pleased with that, and jumped on the muscled bound man. In the surprise he lost grip of the gun and began to grapple with the rat which bit him in the wrist.

The pistol was fortunate enough to land not to far from me. I finally found the clip at the very bottom of my pocket, and hastily unloaded the empty clip.

Once it was loaded and I took aim, I couldn't help but notice that Max was still doing a number of the rat. He was literally punching the rat so hard that I swear it was bruised, but it just kept moving, and clawing and biting around him.

A bullet rang out as I shot it. It sored out and landed right one in the back of the rat. I heard it squeak in pain and then...

Red. All we saw was red. Red on the walls, red on our suits, hell there was red on our hair. Once again a rat killed me burst in to a glorious image of gore that only you'd see in slasher flicks. Max was still holding the the remains of the rat's upper body.

We just sort of stood there in shock for a bit with us bathed in the blood of our most fearsome enemy yet. A giant rat. Max and Albert looked towards me in fear of what I was capable of. Albert made special caution in back away from me. Max let go of the remains, and began to fail at whistling.

My began to felt tense as I stared at the gore I had just created, and raised my hand towards the lunacy of it all, "YE SEE!"

After doing some cleanup of the bodies, the three of us headed down to the clinic to disinfect Max. He was covered in claws and bit marks in almost every conceivable place you could think of. I was surprised he was still conscience from all of the pain if not blood loss.

Max grumbled, "Why do I have to got to go medical?"

"Because the last we need is a feral Max running around."

"But I got my shot!"

"Not taking the chance," I snapped authoritatively at him. "That and I rather not try to amputate anything from infected blood!"

Since I had that gift of seeing the worst ways to die down here, I grew a sort of fascination with organs, and how the whole body works. How things like blood gets recycled with our hearts and the liver detoxes the poor drunkards around here. With around 10 years of working for the vault, I became a well respected medical professional down here. Even the overseer seems impressed with the

We came to my clinic to the surprise of someone already in there. There was a particular woman in the clinic. A particular Woman that had a very hard time comprehending the concept of personal property. Especially, my property as a of late.

"What are you doing here Natalia?"

Natalia Retracted her hands from my desk and put them behind her back. Her Russian face tried its best to look innocent.

"Oh! I was just looking for some... Gauss, Comrade." She stated.

"Really?" I asked.

"Da, well..." she started to say before changing the subject. "OI! What happened to three?"

She seemed to have just caught notice of our jumpsuits soaked in blood, and Max's wounds.

Albert chuckled under his breathe a bit, "ask pest control over here."

I sighed in some annoyance. "Max and I were sent to kill some rats for the Overseer, and things got a little messy, Okay!"

"I can see that part," She admitted look us up and down. "And comrade Maxwell?"

"Big rat." Max stated.

I pulled Max over to an operating table, "And now we're going to patch up, and disinfect Max here." As Max got up to the table, I thought of something. "Say, Natalia?"

"Da?"

"Since you're here you wouldn't mind restraining him to the table would you?"

"What!?" Max looked at me with a glare.

Natalia's face smiled in a forthcoming way. "But, of course, Doctor."

"Good!" I told her as I started to walk off to one of the covers, "You see there are restraining belts hooked to the sides of the table. I'm just going to get the polyspoin."

Max began to growled as Natalia approached. "I never agreed to this!"

"It's probably for their own protection," Albert said. "I doubt we wan another flu shot incidence."

"Why you little...!" Max gritted from the table.

He began to get up from the table with the look of utter murder in his eyes. He'd almost certainly would have as all see it if Natalia didn't get in the way with her hand reaching across Max. He glared over in her direction, and she glared back at him. Albert would tell me it was like a stare down with tarantula and scorpion. Both were deadly in their own right, but neither advanced on the other. They just looked at each other until Max backed down.

Natalia was said to be the grand daughter of a Soviet consulate from before the war. This spread rumors about if her being trained by the soviets in combat in and infiltration. Even more were ones about her mother being a last minute addition to the vault so she could undermine vault-tec for other soviet invaders.

Most of them were unfounded dribble because of her ethnicity. It wouldn't even matter if it was true if the stories about great war are true. There's not even a United States anymore never mind the commies. It's always sad to see that perspectives take so long to change.

Though even if she wasn't a Russian, it wasn't like her being a thief was winning anyone over. IT was almost anything she could get her hand on. Money, documents, jewelry, candy, God damn Pencils. Who the hell steals a pencil? Apparently, Natalia Dubrovhsky that's who.

"Ah there it is!" I said aloud.

As I turned around from the cupboard to see Max strapped down to the table with the brown, leather belts across his body, and limbs. Natalia was looking down at him with her arms crossed. I think she had a bit too much pleasure from

"Okay so this is going to sting a bit." I told him as a started to put on the Ointment.

Sting it did. As soon as I started apply it, he began to wiggle, and struggle in his bonds. He would bite down on his teeth with every wound I swabbed. I've never seen a man with such bulk be such a child.

In the middle of disinfecting Max it, the bored Albert spoke, "so, Scott. About the meeting..."

I rolled my eyes and continued to work. "Albert, I'm needed here. I'm not going on some ridiculous adventure with you just because you think the overseer is tyrant."

"Ridiculous!?" Albert responded offended. "We live in a glorified metal shack with no sunlight, or contact of anything, but ourselves! The people who came before would think we're mad!"

"Those same people made a world of scares, and ashes from their lack of foresight."

Natalia interjected, "What are you two talking about?"

I was about to answer her, but Albert stepped, "Glad you asked Nat."

"Don't call me that, comrade."

"Natalia. Some of us here realize that we can't sustain the human race by just sitting underground in this bunker like trapped animals. Sooner or later we need to surface, and find other people." Albert looked over to me expectantly. "And we need important persons if "

"And some will stay here if you get your way!" I snapped at him. "They also need the doctors. Good doctors."

"There are doctors other than you." Albert pointed out, "and you know your way around with gun. I mean look at the rat you killed!"

"I am not just going abandon people because you're going on a suicide mission!"

The two of us glanced away at each other from our heated discussion. Silence spread across the room. The only noise was that of Max, who was snoring from going to sleep. Probably from staying to long in one place.

"There's nothing," he broke the silence, "I can do to convince you to join us?"

"Not unless I can see more of a game plan from you, or I can see anyone surviving out there." I admitted as I turned back around to Max and stared to apply the bandages.

Just then, a person over the speaker phone called out in its robotic tone. "Scott Oddy. Report to the front vault door to speak with the overseer, immediately."

"Ah crap" I muttered. "I can't keep him waiting. And I was almost done too."

I got up from the stool I was working on, and began to head out the door. I past Albert on my way around and I exchanged a pitiful smile at him.

"I'll be back guys."

"H-hey!" Albert said trying to stop me. "What about him?" he pointed at Max.

"Oh! You'd too would be fine to wrap him up so long as he's asleep. I won't be gone that long anyways. If you need the anesthetic they're in my desk."

I ducked out of the clinic just them. Natalia, and Alebert looked at each other with concerned faces. Max meanwhile was sleeping there loudly.

Being the gentlemen he was, Albert motioned Natalia to work her magic.

I made my way toward the front of the vault wondering what the overseer could want. He almost never left the control center, and was hardly one to talk to anyone unless it was strictly important. He was a grouch if you wasted his time with anything.

What could be so important? Am I getting a promotion? Is there an issue he's got with me? Is he finally getting me to fix that door?

Right there in front of the entrance of the vault was the overseer himself. A much older man than I with gray hair and a beard. His head looked over in my direction and I straightened my back.

"You're here, good!" The overseer turned to face me and told me something that's still very vivid in my mind. "We've got a problem. A big one..."