Chapter 1:

An alarm clock blared and cut through the cozy darkness. A hand emerged from blankets and started to fumble around, searching for the snooze switch.

Saturday! The day of the big game! Andy forced her eyes to open and stared at the ceiling for a minute before forcing herself out of the warm, comfortable cocoon of blankets.

Not her big game, her cousin's, but she had to get up at 7 AM for it regardless. If she didn't, Jonathan would be disappointed, and Andy didn't want to let him down on one of her few weekends home from college. So out of bed, it was.

Andy's parents had died years before. Her father was an architect, her mother a biologist, so there was no other option than to go to college, damn the cost. Jeff, Andy's uncle, had seen to that. Jeff's wife, Andy's mother's sister, had died in the same car wreck that had killed her parents, so it was just the three of them left: Jeff, Jonathan, and Andy.

Jeff was a good dad, always made sure that Jonathan and Andy could come to him for anything. He'd taken them to their high school games, made sure that they were doing well in school, all while working for Mass Fusion. Really, he was a better dad to Andy than her own parents had been even with how busy his job kept him.

Breakfast was quick. Jeff and Jonathan were already awake. The sweet fragrance of coffee drew Andy immediately to the kitchen counter to pour a cup.

"Good morning, Mistress Andromeda!" Chirped the Jeeves, the Mr. Handy that Jeff had won in a work raffle the previous year. "How would you like your eggs this morning?"

"Over easy, Jeeves. Is there toast?" Andy replied. She hated her full name, but the Mr. Handy was programmed to be formal and she had resigned herself to being Andromeda to it.

"Of course, Mistress. By the orange juice," the Mr. Handy replied.

Jonathan was practically bouncing in his seat when Andy sat down.

"Ready to play today?" She asked him.

"More than!" He replied. "Shawna Reynolds is going to be watching today, and I promised her I'd score a home run just for her."

"Shawna, Shawna, Shawna," Andy said, trying to remember which one this was. "Is this the redhead from Concord?"

"Yes!" Jonathan practically popped out of his seat, gesturing with his fork. "She's the one! I'm going to ask her to the Winter Formal next month."

Jeff peered over his paper at the two of them. "Jonathan, don't stab your fork around like that. You'll take out someone's eye."

"Yes, sir," Jonathan replied, not at all subdued by the reproach.

The rest of breakfast was spent drinking coffee, reading news, and listening to all of the updates on Jonathan's school, baseball team, and friends.

Around 8, while Jonathan was busy getting dressed for his game and Andy was giving Jeff an update on her classes, a Vault-Tec representative stopped by. Jeff dealt with the man while Andy perused a book she'd brought with her from the Boston Library - The Herbal Apothecary. She looked up when the front door closed.

"What did he want?" She asked. "A million dollars per person who wants a place in the vault?"

Jeff shook his head. "No. Apparently they're giving out reserved spots. I managed to get you a place. He listed you as an adult female," Jeff scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I think he may have assumed that you were my wife."

"Oh." Andy replied. "Eww, Jeff."

He made a face back at her. "How do you think I felt?" Turning contemplative, he continued. " At least this way, if there is war and you're nearby, you've got a chance at being saved. It's a damned sight better than one of those Pulowski trash cans. If there is a nuclear detonation, it'll take at least 30 years for the radiation to clear up enough to come out, 50 years to do it without it being hazardous to health."

He looked at Andy, catching her gaze intently. "If we went into that vault today, at my age, I'll die in there before it's time to come out. Jonathan and you will be aged before those doors open. Realistically, we would live out our lives in there."

"Jeff, is there something you're not telling me?"

"One of my college friends in the military told me that things are getting tense. We met at a North Boston dive for happy hour yesterday. He," Jeff paused and licked his lips before continuing. "He said that there were unconfirmed sightings of Chinese submarines off the coast of California. If I may be frank, the fact that the baseball field is close to the Vault is a good thing. If it weren't, I would have insisted that we skip it today.. That Jonathan do something else instead today."

"Why would your college buddy mention anything to you? You're a civilian, and that's got to be classified information." Andy said in bewilderment. "Are you sure he wasn't lying? What if he was told to tell you that to see who you tell? They've done that before to people with that damned 'Loose Lips Sink Ships' campaign."

Jeff shook his head. "He looked haunted. Like it was the last beer he'd ever have. I think he was trying to let those he could know quietly. Or at least those who wouldn't panic. You should have seen his face, Andy. He was haunted by it, and it wasn't an act. Jim would never lie to me about that kind of thing."

"Even if something like that happened - there would be an alarm first, right?"

Jeff nodded. "Yes. We'd have at least a fifteen minute warning. Twenty, if we're lucky."

"Well, let's hope we're lucky and it doesn't happen at all."

The conversation was cut short when Jonathan came into the living room. "Are you guys ready?"

Andy nodded and smiled. "Yup. Cooler packed with sandwiches, beer, water, and snacks."

"Great." Said Jeff. "Lets' head out."

The three of them loaded up the black Corvega with the drinks cooler, lawn chairs, and Jonathan's gear before backing out of their driveway. Andy made sure to grab her backpack with her textbooks. She'd gotten in the habit of carrying a backpack instead of a purse. It was a long commute from her apartment to CIT and carrying a purse and all of the books she needed just wasn't practical.

Jeff's friend's prediction was proven right. Just before 9:30, right after Jonathan hit a ball straight to the right field right past a defender, sirens started in the distance.

Andy just looked at her uncle's stricken face before screaming at the top of her lungs for Jonathan to get to the car. It took ten minutes to drive close enough to the vault for them to get out and run. Ten harrowing, long minutes as they all waited for a flash of light while Jeff swerved around people and sped past other slower or parked cars. As soon as they couldn't drive anymore, they jumped out. Jeff took a few precious seconds to pop the trunk on the Corvega and pull out a duffel bag and put it on his back. Andy grabbed her backpack while he did that. And then they ran. Hard. Staying with Jeff, Andy and Jonathan kept their eyes on the top of the hill that was their target. It only took a few seconds to get past the guards at the fence who wouldn't let everyone in. People were screaming at the soldiers, and when they got to the top of the hill, Andy heard the sound of the minigun that a soldier in power armor held spin up and start to fire.

Breathless, they followed the directions of the soldiers to a blue-painted platform at the top of the hill. Altogether, there were ten of them on the platform. As soon as they reached the platform, Andy saw a soldier hit a massive red button through the window of a trailer nearby.

"You're lucky," a soldier shouted at them from nearby. "You're the last group we're sending down." He ducked and held his helmet down on his head as a large boom sounded and the world flashed bright.

"Don't look at it!" Jeff shouted at his son and niece, and flattened himself to the floor of the platform. Andy and Jonathan followed suit, getting as low as they could. Right as the doors to the surface boomed shut above them, Andy heard a massive blast of wind hitting the world above them.

It happened. The bombs fell. The War had finally begun.