This is a story I wrote because these characters have been floating around in my head for years and I figured I needed to get heir story out before I could commit to writing anything else. I'm writing it for myself more than anything but I figured I'd post it just in case this was exactly what someone was looking for.

I own nothing but my own characters

My Sister and I

Alex was vaguely aware of an alarm penetrating the depths of her consciousness. Each wave of noise tugged harder and harder trying to pry her from sleep. Alex groaned and tried to will herself to stay asleep longer. Each beep added to her growing irritation and she sat up on the edge of her bed mashing her palms against her eye sockets. This was her day off, and it was supposed to be her chance to sleep in. She sighed and looked at her Pip-boy on her left wrist which was glowing a dim green color, still in sleep mode. Alex tweaked a knob and the screen came to life flashing, notifying her she had messages.

Alex toggled over and saw that they were all from the Overseer, she scrolled up and saw there were at least fifteen. Before she could even scroll back down another message pinged into her inbox. This one was from Bethany, "what the hell?" she mumbled. Alex selected the message and jumped as someone banged loudly on her door. She pushed off her bed and padded across the metal floor of her single-room apartment. Someone banged on the door more urgently. "I'm coming, I'm coming calm down." She called out.

Alex pushed the green button on the keypad and the heavy door lifted with a whoosh revealing her wide-eyed twin sister Bethany. The alarm was much louder from the hallway, the sound invaded her room and echoed loudly in her ears. "What are you doing? You have to get dressed!" Bethany urged. Bethany pushed past her roughly almost knocking Alex over. Amata, who she just now noticed, followed suit. A sarcastic comment died in her throat when Amata gripped her arms and shook her lightly "Come on, you need to move!" she pleaded. Alex recoiled from the touch immediately.

She glanced at Bethany, who was quickly tapping the keypad locking the door behind them. She had her bag thrown over her shoulder and her free hand was tightly gripped around a …was that a gun? Alex shoved Amata off her and backed up. "What the hell is going on? Why do you have that?" She jabbed her finger at the weapon in her sister's hand. It looked like the small black pistols the security officers had holstered on their hips. Bethany ignored her jamming the gun into her belt and moving past her into the small apartment. Alex chased after her sister as she grabbed Alex's tool bag and started throwing items from the desk into it. Alex grabbed Bethany's arm and yanked her around to face her causing her to drop the bag. Bethany's eyes were the size of saucers and they would not focus. Alex's heart dropped into her gut, "Beth, please tell me what's going on?"

Bethany took a shaky breath, "Alex it's horrible, Dad left and I don't know why and they killed Jonas and now the Overseer is after us!" The words rushed out of her all at once and Alex stared blankly. Bethany's eyes watered, and Alex's own stung in response. Bethany threw her arms around Alex and buried her face in her shoulder. Alex gripped her back instinctively, "What do you mean left?" she questioned, unable to comprehend. None of it made any sense, where could he go? She turned her head to look at Amata, her face was grim and she wouldn't meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this, they could be here any minute. You need to leave." Amata responded. Bethany released Alex and picked up the bag she'd dropped at their feet.

"She's right." Bethany stated, wiping her eyes. Alex stirred as the gravity of their situation finally settled in.

"You mean he's left the vault." Alex didn't need to look at them to know it was true, their silence was confirmation enough. She went to her dresser and riffled through it tossing two vault suits to her sister. Bethany caught them and stuffed them into Alex's bag. "Okay, what's the plan?" she said pulling the zipper of a clean vault suit up to her neck.

"You need to get to my dad's office, he has a terminal in there that opens a secret passage. From there it's a straight shot to the vault door." Amata pulled the edge of the blinds back looking out into the hall. "The coast is clear, for now, anyway. You guys need to get going."

Alex took the bag from Bethany's outstretched hand and shrugged it over her shoulder with a grunt. It was heavy, containing her work tools, clothing, and anything else Bethany deemed a necessity, but she could manage. "How exactly are we supposed to get there? You said he's looking for us, there must be security all over." Alex prompted. She shifted her weight, anxiety was making her muscles tense.

"I'll be running interference with my dad, that's why I gave Beth the gun, I'm hoping you guys don't have to use it, but after what they did to Jonas…" Amata trailed off her voice cracking. Bethany put a comforting hand on her shoulder and turned to her sister, "Speaking of which; here." She held out their old BB gun, a gift from their father. Alex shook her head, taking her dented baseball bat down from the shelf.

"Keep it, it'll just weigh me down, besides, you've always been the better shot." Bethany gave a curt nod slinging it back across her shoulder.

Bethany's hand hovered over the keypad next to the door and looked back at Alex. The two looked at each other steeling the other for what awaited them outside, "Alright. Let's go."

Being out in the hallway was an entirely different experience than being in her room. The combination of the blaring alarm, and the flashing red lights were already bringing on a massive throbbing in her head and they'd only left the room thirty seconds ago. Alex pushed back against the pain and looked at her sister jogging through the empty hallway in front of her, she could tell just from the set of her shoulders what this was doing to her. She wasn't sure Bethany was going to let Amata go play decoy a few moment before, but she had and it was taking its toll. On top of everything else.

Bethany and their dad spent a lot of time together, even before the G.O.A.T. she'd spent pretty much all her time in the clinic. Their dad was a pretty private person but... She called out to her sister, "Are you sure you had no idea about all this?"

Bethany slowed not bothering to look back, "No I didn't, but I'm sure he has a good reason for keeping it from me." Her voice cracked, Alex reached her arm out to her sister. Overhead the announcement about the "radroach infestation" sounded on the P.A. for the millionth time. "Beth, I-"

"Don't." Bethany cut her off, "Let's just focus on getting out of here." As they rounded the corner they ran right into Officer White in full security armor.

"You two stop right there!" He commanded, he grabbed onto Bethany's arm tightly and she squeaked in response. Alex lurched forward shoving him off her. He stumbled and landed on his side with a grunt.

"Go!" Alex shouted pushing Bethany down the hallway to their left. She whirled to see if he was following them to find that he was being attack by radroaches pouring from a nearby vent. She didn't want to give either of them a chance so she turned back around and started running. So the radroach infestation wasn't just a cover. Alex screamed as one of the overgrown bugs flew at her face. She swung her bat wildly knocking it to the ground. Bethany stomped on it and kept stomping until it was just a pulply stain. They locked eyes for a moment and Alex laughed breathlessly.

"Come on." Bethany said gesturing her forward. Alex focused on the sound of Bethany's hard breathing and the sound of their boots slapping against metal in tandem. They were almost out of the living quarters now. This was near Butch's apartment her brain supplied. She'd been down this particular hallway more times than she could count. Another figure came flying around the corner and Bethany raised the pistol in response. Speak of the devil. He was uncharacteristically disheveled; sweaty and panting.

"You need to get out of here Butch, go home, you'll be safe there." Bethany said lowering her gun. He ignored her completely and grabbed ahold of Alex's shoulders. Man that was getting old fast.

"You- you gotta help. My mom's trapped in there will all those roaches!" he cried.

"Shit." Alex cursed under her breath. She threw her bag down and grabbed the BB gun from Bethany.

"Are you kidding me?" Bethany asked. "We don't have time for this make him do it. They're just radroaches."

Alex didn't stop moving, "Stay here, I'll be right back. Butch come on."

"No way man. I'm not going back in there." He paled and backed up a little.

She thrust the BB gun into his hands, "Butch, it's your mom."

He shook his head, "You're right."

She led the way glancing back to make sure he was still following her. As she entered his apartments she could hear Ellen cry out in pain. She bolted towards the bedroom door and it opened automatically. She ran in and started swinging. She could hear the crack of the BB gun from behind her as she wrenched one of the creatures off Ellen's back and crushed its head under her boot. She felt the sharp sting of a BB pelting her thigh, she gritted her teeth and kept swinging. Between the two of them the bugs were dead just as quickly as they'd arrive.

Alex gently lifted Ellen to her feet and guided her to the sofa. She crouched down and looked into her face. "Hey, Ellen, you okay?" Alex questioned. A dreamy smile drew across the older woman's face. She reached out and stroked Alex's cheek. "Such a good girl, always good to me and my Butchie." She was drunk, and aside from a few scrapes, looked no worse for wear. Alex straightened and looked up at Butch, who was scowling at his mother.

"Enough of that Ma." He turned to Alex and his face softened. "Thanks. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come by."

"You would have done what you needed to do." Alex said. Butch didn't look too convinced. He rubbed his neck and avoided making eye contact.

"You leaving?" He asked. His tone was weird, too soft, too sad, not Butch enough.

"We're going after my dad." Alex said. She felt like there was something she needed to say, should say, an explanation maybe, but when she met his eyes she couldn't find the words. Ellen had moved from the couch at some point, and she could be heard fumbling around the room. He stared down at her, he opened him mouth and then closed it. She couldn't remember the last time they'd actually had a conversation.

"I need to get back to Bethany," she began to turn when Butch grabbed her roughly dropping the BB gun with a clatter. He pressed his whole body against her, hands tangling in her hair while he pulled their faces together. It wasn't a nice kiss; it was hard and urgent. Their lips moved together and she grabbed onto his jacket in an attempted to pull them closer. He pulled back and studied her face, their lips still inches apart. Alex stepped back and Butch shrugged off his leather jacket pushing it into her hands. "Here, to remember me by." Her stunned look melted into a lop-sided grin, he looked naked without the thing.

"Take care of your mom okay?" She said as she turned to leave. She had to tear her eyes from him as a lump grew in her throat.

"Good luck out there Alleycat." He said, some of his usual cockiness returning to him. She forced herself through the threshold into the hallway. "Give 'em hell!" He called out after her. She glanced back and mumbled, "Always do."

Bethany chewed on her lip, she focused on the hallway her sister disappeared down a few minutes ago, or was it seconds? The alarm was still blaring but by now even that couldn't keep her from feeling the heavy silence in the halls. Maybe it was a good thing they hadn't run into much opposition yet. Maybe this would be easy. She rolled her shoulders and tried to loosen her tense posture. It's not like Alex couldn't handle a few radroaches, there were very few things Alex couldn't handle. But multiple armed security guards was probably one of those things. They'd been lucky so far, but staying here in the living quarters for so long was bound to get them caught. They were still too deep in the Vault. The strap of her bag was digging painfully into her shoulder so she shrugged it off and set in on the ground beside her.

Her head snapped to the right at a muffled noise. She took a tentative step forward and squinted. There was a shadow moving along the wall from around the corner. She turned her body and aimed the pistol at the corner trying to recall what her father had taught her during shooting lessons. It had been ages since she fired a gun, and never a real gun, but hopefully the basics translated well. She was so tense her finger was just twitching on the trigger.

Slowly a man in security armor moved from around the corner, everything about him was cautious, that is until he laid eyes on her. Security Chief Hannon immediately raised his pistol and his body language said only one thing; aggression. "There you are."

"Stop!" She called out fearfully. "I don't want to hurt you." Her voice was shaking almost as badly as her hands. She heard him snort derisively as he began to take aim advancing on her. "First your sister, now your father. Your whole family is trouble, the vault will be better off without you." She faltered and stepped back. He was only a few yards away now, if he fired he'd kill her.

"Stop, stop, stop!" She cried as he started to squeeze the trigger. She stumbled backwards and tripped over her bag. She squeezed off a few rounds as she fell and he grunted and his body collapsed. Alex sprinted from around the corner and stopped short when she caught sight of them.

"I- I didn't mean to." Bethany whispered. Her legs were still tangled in her bag and her hands were shaking so badly now that it was a miracle that she didn't drop the gun completely. Alex looked and Chief Hannon and moved towards her slowly removing the gun from her hand. Alex was crouched in front of her, saying something but she couldn't focus. She just stared at her hands as they started to blur. She just killed a person, someone they knew. She'd treated Chief Hannon at the clinic before. His son had a crush on her. She didn't mean to kill him, but he wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop.

"Listen to me!" Alex said forcefully, shaking her. Bethany locked eyes with her sister.

"You had to, okay? You had to kill him or he would have killed you." Alex stared at her imploringly.

"I had to." Bethany said slowly, the words heavy on her tongue.

"You had to." Alex affirmed. She squeezed Bethany's shoulder before walking over to him. It. The body. Bethany squirmed and tried not to look at what she was doing. "It was quick." Alex stated. She came back with his vest and helmet. She tried to place the helmet on Bethany's head but she flailed knocking it out of her hand.

"What do you think you're doing?! It's covered in blood!" Bethany recoiled. Alex picked it up and scowled shoving it down on her obscuring her view temporarily.

"It's not like you've never seen blood before, and besides it's a hell of a lot better than you being full of bullet holes. Now put this on and let's get out of here." She grabbed her by the arm helping her to her feet and handing her the vest. It was too big, and she had to focus on not vomiting, but she supposed it was better than nothing. She carefully stepped over his body as she tightened the last buckle, his eyes were closed, and she wondered if Alex had done that. She had to jog to catch up with her sister. With her head back in the right place she noticed what Alex was wearing. It looked like she finally got her Tunnel Snake jacket.

She was beginning to resent the sheer number of turns there were in the vault. Alex stopped suddenly in front of her, backing up raising her hands up. Bethany spotted another officer, gun raised, just beyond her. She couldn't make out his face under the visor from this distance. Bethany cursed herself for letting Alex tuck their only gun into her bag. They were all impossibly still for what felt like an eternity before he relented, lowering his gun and pushing up his visor. Officer Gomez, which certainly explained why he didn't shoot Alex on sight.

"You're lucky it was me who found you." He said. Officer Gomez stepped aside and gestured them down the hallway. "Go on." Alex nodded and they jogged past him. Bethany silently thanked him with her eyes. Near the end of the hall Alex turned back and called out, "Tell Freddie I said-"

"I'll tell him you said goodbye." He interrupted her, "Now go and don't make me regret this."

"Wait!" Bethany yelled veering down a hallway Alex just passed.

Alex started, "Why are we going this way? It's quicker if we-" Bethany waved off her question.

"There are some things we need to get from the clinic." Alex didn't protest so Bethany continued moving. They rounded yet another corner and stumbled across Andy, the resident Mr. Handy, torching radroaches. She didn't know he had that function. They watched him for a moment and when the last critter was a crisp he saluted them, "Good evening Madams." The clinic door slid open and Andy puttered off through it. Stanley stepped out and relief washed his face. Alex darted towards him engulfing him in a hug.

"Glad to see you're okay kiddo." He said ruffling her hair, nodding at Bethany. Bethany bristled at the affection between the two. Since she'd been assigned to maintenance Stanley had been filling the role of father figure for Alex. She knew Alex didn't mean it as a betrayal, but it still stung like one.

Bethany walked around them giving them a wide berth to survey the clinic. It was a mess, tables and gurneys were turned over and her dad's desk has all the drawers open. She'd only seen the clinic like this once before; when Alex was arrested. She snatched the Vault Boy bobble head off the desk and stuffed it into her bag. The picture frame on his desk was notably empty. The photo was of the three of them, on her and Alex's tenth birthday. She could picture it now, the two of them standing on either side of their father, Bethany grinning triumphantly while Alex pouted because she was a crappy shot. She was glad they hadn't been able to trash that bit at least.

Bethany turned her focus to the computer in front of her. She plugged a cord from her dad's computer into her pip-boy, she typed a few keys bypassing the security as she'd done a million times before and hit 'download'. Now she'd have all his records, and hopefully some answers.

Being in the clinic made her feel steadier, and in control again. This was her home and they couldn't take that away from her. She groped around the underside of the desk until her fingers closed around sharp metal edges. At least whoever ransacked the place had been too stupid to look under the desk. She yanked the key out of the tape and went to the cabinets on the far side of the room.

She looked through the shelves grabbing syringes and tins, stuffing them into her bag. Bethany reached her hand towards the back of the shelf. "Come on, I know you're here," she muttered. "A ha!" She exclaimed her hand landing on the edges of a metal box. She pulled it off the shelf and opened it ignoring the dust now coating her hands. Just like she'd guessed, two vials were missing.

"What's that?" Alex inquired leaning over her shoulder to peak at the case in her hands. Bethany ignored her question tucking two small brown vials into her pocket. Her eyes locked onto the wall where a poster of the circulatory system used to sit. Alex followed her gaze.

"Since when is there a safe in here?" Alex asked. Bethany rushed forward and peered into the safe, its door left open haphazardly. Only dust occupied it now.

"I don't know." She muttered.

"It seems like there's a lot we didn't know." Alex said flatly.

Bethany turned around, giving the clinic one last visual sweep. She turned and left not allowing herself to look back.

Alex stood rigid, her ear pressed firmly against the Atrium door. During any other day the Atrium was the busiest part of the vault. Bethany stepped closer whispering, "What is it?"

"I hear voices, not sure who." Alex frowned moving away from the door. Bethany reached out towards the keypad and paused waiting for Alex, she nodded. Bethany hit the button on the keypad as Alex raised her bat. The door wooshed open and beyond it stood Tom and Mary Holden. "Come on, now's our only chance!" Tom shouted to Mary as he bolted, running across the ground floor of the Atrium. The second he was even with the threshold of the hall to main entrance his body erupted with blood and he collapsed. Bethany clamped a hand over her mouth smothering a scream.

"Tom!" Mary wailed running out after him. Bethany lurched forward to stop her but Mary's body sprayed blood as bullets tore through her, she fell just short of her husband. Bethany looked frantically at Alex, whose face was grim. On the other side of the Atrium was the way to the Overseer's office, normally it was a short walk across the ground floor to the stair case, but today it stretched out as far as an ocean. The door to where they needed to go had a set of lockers wedged in it keeping it open, but not for long. That door was putting nearly a ton of pressure on the lockers and they were already groaning under the weight.

Alex pulled something from her bag and threw it out in front of the hallway. Bullets shredded the vault suit to scraps before it even reached the ground. Bethany gulped and stepped back involuntarily, "No, there has to be another way. We're not going to make it." She felt any small amount of hope slipping right through her grasp like sand. Alex took her bag off her shoulder and slid it across the floor, there was a small burst of bullets the bag stopped a few feet in front of the lockers.

"C'mere." Alex murmured. She took the bag off Bethany's shoulders and did the same with it. "Alright," she said pressing the gun heavy with a new clip into Bethany's hand, "You are going to fire into the hallway and were going to run across as fast as we can." Bethany wasn't ready, she couldn't do it, but Alex didn't care. She just started running.

Bethany darted out after her opening fire down the hallway. She fired a quick burst and slammed into Alex on the other side. Alex righted herself with ease and picked up her own bag and heaved Bethany's over to her. Bethany didn't have time to appreciate their victory as she heard shouts from behind them. Bethany charged forward ducking her head slightly to get under the door. As she ascended the stairs she realized Alex wasn't behind her. She turned around as Alex gave the lockers a hard kick, they didn't budge. She tried again harder and they screeched in protest moving only an inch or so. Alex gave the lockers one last kick throwing her weight into it and the lockers launched out from under the door, which closed heavily in time for it to spare Alex the peppering of bullets currently assaulting it.

Alex crept along the wall, she could hear muffled voices coming from the jail. She motioned for Bethany to stop behind her. Alex paused and listened. "I told you I don't know anything!" Amata cried. Alex cocked her head to the side trying to make out the words. "I don't know what she has to do with any of this anyway, please stop!" Amata wailed. A resounding smack echoed out into the hallway. Her eyes went wide. Shit. Bethany dashed forward, Alex tried to grab Bethany to keep her from rushing in, but she'd anticipated her grasping hand and managed to dodge it. The door opened automatically and Alex scrambled after her. Bethany stood perched in the doorway gun trained on Officer Mack and the Overseer. Amata sat in a chair across from them, her cheek bright red and tear stained.

"I hope you're here to turn yourself in, young lady, you're already in enough trouble as it is. Oh and look, your criminal sister is here too, that saves me the trouble of tracking her down." The Overseer drawled. He sounded calm and in control, despite the fact that he was staring down the business end of a death machine. Officer Mack sneered at Alex where she stood close behind Bethany. Her hackles raised and she wanted nothing more than to spit in his face.

"Come on Amata." Bethany growled. He voice was stone but her hands trembled as she and the Overseer locked gazes.

"Thank you." Amata breathed in relief jumping up from the chair rushing over to them. She ducked behind Bethany next to Alex.

"Give me the password to the secret passage." Alex demanded moving forward slighting.

"Oh sure, can I get you anything else while you're here?" The Overseer stated his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'd rather die than see the safety of the vault compromised again."

"Pretty words from a murderer." Alex spat. She grabbed the pistol from her sister's hand and yanked Amata in front of her by her ponytail. She elbowed Bethany aside as Officer Mack lunged at her. He stopped short when she pressed the barrel hard against Amata's throat. Bethany stood still her mouth open in shock.

"You wouldn't dare." The Overseer gasped.

Alex yanked Amata's hair and she whimpered against the metal. The Overseer stared hard at her and Amata sobbed. His shoulders slumped. Relief flooded Alex.

"The password is 'Amata'." He gritted out slowly, hate permeating every syllable.

"That's all I wanted." Alex assured. "But if you're lying, her blood is on your hands." She tossed Amata behind her into the hallway with Bethany and jumped back shooting out the keypad. "That should hold them." she stated turning to look at her companions. She was met with a hard glare from Bethany.

"He- he almost let you shoot me." Amata stammered out, as Bethany helped her to her feet.

"I wouldn't have done it." Alex offered.

Amata scoffed bitterly and turned away. "Let's just go, that door won't keep them for long." Officer Mack banged hard on the window startling the three of them. Alex handed the gun back to Bethany who tucked it into her belt.

They jogged over to the door to the Overseer's office and Amata opened the door for them. Amata hastily retreated into her apartment. Alex took point and she scanned the room for anything useful. "Oh my god." Bethany gasped out, she rushed forward and collapsed onto her knees in front of a prone figure on the ground. Alex peered around her. His face was a bloody and bruised mess and his glasses had been smashed. Bethany hesitantly reached her hands out but yanked them back and covered her face. Alex crouched next to him. She felt her chest tighten. She pulled his glassed off and tucked them into her bag, he was barely recognizable.

"They didn't even move him." Bethany choked out. She looked up from her hands, her eyes were red and her cheeks were streaked with mascara and tears. They needed out of there. She patted him down gently careful to keep from touching the quickly congealing puddle of blood beneath him. She felt a palm sized square in his lab-coat pocket and she snatched it out turning it over in her hands. What is it?" Bethany asked leaning it to get a better look.

"Nothing." Alex said slipping it into her bag as she got to her feet. A loud BANG came from the door startling Bethany. "Come on, we need to go." Alex said helping Bethany scramble to her feet. Amata reappeared, her eyes in a similar state to Bethany's.

"Go, I unlocked my dad's office for you. I'll hold them back as long as I can, I'll try to meet you at the entrance if I can." She said. Alex grabbed Bethany's arm and guided her through the waiting room and into the Overseer's private office.

"Raid those lockers and I'll try and get this 'secret tunnel' open." Alex commanded. Bethany sniffed and nodded. Alex searched the desk throwing papers out of her way. Not finding anything useful she headed to the terminal. She tapped out A-M-A-T-A and the terminal pinged in response. She skimmed the screen and found what she was looking for. She hit a key and the room was filled with noise.

The desk rose up and revealed a staircase down into the dark. "Let's go." Alex said.

"Wait what's this? 'Scouting reports'?" Bethany questioned her face illuminated green from the terminal.

"Doesn't matter now." Alex said grabbing her sister away from the terminal and pushing her in front of her. The descended the steps together and Bethany hit the button at the bottom closing the office above them.

The sirens echoed off the walls of the dark cave as the heavy door began sliding into place. Amata stood alone at the top of the steps and Bethany stared back at her helplessly. When the door began closing the remailing foot of space the doors behind Amata sprung open and she was grabbed by vault security officers. The sounds of Amata's struggle filled the cave now too. "Amata!" Bethany cried out springing forward but something grabbed the back of her vault jumpsuit throwing her to the ground hard.

The vault door closed with a hiss effectively sealing her off from everything she had ever known or loved. "No!" Bethany wailed as she wrenched herself free from her sister's grasp. She pounded on the door calling out Amata's name until her fists were sore and bruised. She turned and slid down against the vault door. The cave was now deathly silent. She stared straight forward and a horribly buzzing sound filled her ears. Gone. All of it. Everything. She started gasping for air and her vision blurred. Why would he just leave them like that? Whatever he was doing she could have helped him. Did he not trust her enough? So many secrets. He must have had his reasons.

She sniffed and looked at her Pip-boy. "Do you think I could send a message to Amata?"

Alex shook her head and stared straight ahead. "No, the vault has a signal jammer that keeps from messages going in or out of the vault, I always thought it was weird that…" Bethany stopped listening and slumped back against the vault door.

Her eyes snapped open. She toggled through her Pip-Boy menu over to DATA. She skimmed the files she pulled from her dad's computer and her heart deflated when she realized they were just medical records. Bethany kicked her foot out in frustration and accidentally slammed it into Alex. Alex grunted and glared at her. Bethany's eyes lit up with realization.

"What did you take from Jonas?" Bethany demanded. Alex looked up and squinted at her through the gloom.

"What?" She blinked slowly.

Bethany lurched forward and dragged Alex's bag in front of her. She rifled through the pockets frantically and began throwing small items out until she had the small grey square in her hands. Alex, who had been angrily stuffing everything she threw out of the bag back into it, sat up suddenly alert. Bethany inserted the tape into the slot on the top of her Pipboy and the speakers crackled to life. Her heart gave a painful jerk at the sound of her father's voice.

"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first.

I don't really know how to tell you two this. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. Even you Bethany. I know that if I told you, you would insist on coming with me, and I can't have that. So many things could have gone wrong, and there's really no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously, you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You are adults now. You have each other, and I know that you can make it on your own. Maybe someday, things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the Vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going. Alexandra, I know we haven't seen eye to eye much lately, but know that my leaving had nothing to do with you. Take care of your sister. You two may be all the other has someday."

"Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with." Jonas spoke. Bethany clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you." Their father finished. The cave was dead silent. Then Alex began giggling. The laughter sounded unnatural and it burbled out of her throat uncontrolled. She began laughing fully and then it turned into bizarre strangled sounding noises while rocking back and forth. Alex stopped and gasped for air and Bethany stared at her, unmoving. Alex lunged and grabbed the tape out of Bethany's Pipboy and hurled it against the rock walls and it broke into pieces on impact.

Bethany jumped to her feet and slapped Alex hard across the face. "What is wrong with you?! That could be all we have left of him! Now how are we supposed to go after him?"

Alex got to her feet unfazed, "Don't you get it? He left us. If he wanted anything to do with us he would have brought us with him." Alex began pacing and rubbed at her cheek absently. The fire in Bethany's gut settled, replaced by something far colder and heavier. Her hand still stung.

"We have to do something." Bethany said meekly. "Don't you want to know why?" Alex stopped pacing and looked at her. She looked away and went over to pick up the pieces of the tape. She approached slowly and placed the pieces into Bethany's hand. She reflexively closed her hand around it. The hard edges biting into her skin.

"Let's go then." Alex sighed. Alex slung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her bat in two hands. Bethany stared at her for a moment before pulling the two brown vials out of her own bag. She ripped open a plastic package and dropped it on the ground. She took the new needle and plunged it into the vial pulling the clear liquid into it.

"Give me your arm." She commanded and Alex rolled up her sleeve and held her arm out towards her wordlessly. "It's a vaccine, sort of." She said as she depressed the plunger into her sister's vein. "Dad told me about them a long time ago." She explained, "It's supposed to inoculate us against all the potential illnesses we might encounter upon exiting the vault."

Alex rolled her sleeve back down as Bethany prepared a new syringe for herself. "So we were supposed to leave eventually." Alex noted.

Bethany winced as she pulled the needle back out. She dropped it on the ground as well. "I think we all were."

"Alright." Alex grabbed her bat again and Bethany pulled her bag onto her shoulder. The syringe crunched under her boot as they blindly made their way down through the dark passage way. A strange whistling was carried on the air and a light breeze teases her hair from its braid. "There!" Alex said rounding a corner. Up ahead was what looked like an old wooden door will light pouring through the cracks. They scrambled over loose rocks. Alex gripped the rusty latch on the door and squinted against the light.

"One more thing." Alex said. Bethany was vibrating with anticipation and her heart was in her throat. Alex reached over and shoved some sunglasses onto Bethany's face. Right, they're eyes would need time to adjust to the light in the surface. Bethany reached up and flipped the visor of her helmet back down. Now her vision was almost completely black.

"On three?" Bethany breathed.

Alex nodded pulling her welding visor down over her face. "One."

"Two…" Bethany braced herself.

"Three!" Alex flung the door open and they were blinded by light.

So I finally got around to editing out all the grammar mistakes and repeat sentences. If you like the story or you have critique, please leave a review.