Even as I crept through the darkened steel tunnels I couldn't help but think the last few hours have been a dream, dad vanishing without so much a word, security hunting me down as if I was a murdering sociopath and the over seer himself demanding me to be brought to him dead or alive. I couldn't even control my breathing, my hands shaking as they clutched the 10mm pistol given to me by Amata. I was studying to be a Pip-boy programmer, looking forward to working with Stanley. When I presented him with the blue-prints for a custom hand held Pip-boy he jumped at the idea, constructing the shell from left over scrap as I worked on the guts of the small machine. My left hand drifted from the grip of the gun and my fingers briefly brushed the steel of the result of the project, a Pip-boy Personal Data Assistant. A smile tugged at my lips when I heard Stanley's voice calling from the deepest reaches of my memory.
'If we can find the resources, we could make this the new standard for the vault! Your dad is going to be thrilled!'
We just finished the prototype the night before, I was going to surprise dad with it, show him that while the rules of the vault were occasionally… strange to me I was more than willing to excel at the profession the G.O.A.T chose for me. Then he was gone… and all this happened. My jumpsuit was sticking to my body from sweat as I opened another door, peeking through the crack with a quickened breath and a racing heart beat. No security, no rad roaches. I continued on, trying to keep my mind from going back to those same questions, why did dad leave? Why didn't he bother to tell me? Why is the overseer out for our blood? I managed to narrowly avoid having to use the gun in my hands on actual people, these people were my family, and I couldn't bring myself to kill them… could I?
The final door, I slipped into the massive room where I found a massive machine attached to a thick and even larger Cog shaped door and a console. I rushed to it, quickly glancing over the controls and operating a switch and lever. Dad left me a note saying how while the vault isn't perfect it was safe, with only a few sparse notes detailing where he might be, a place called Megaton not far from the Vault. Safe, the word felt like a lie now. A chill rolled up my spine as an alarm sounded and amber lights flickered to life and spun, the shudder of heavy machinery and the shriek of poorly oiled gears sounding off as the cog was pulled back and slowly began to turn away from the opening, air hissing as it escaped. I heard security at the door behind me, I cursed for the door to open faster.
"You Did It! You opened The Door!" I spun and found Amata standing beside me, staring as the door rolled aside "My god, I-I almost didn't believe it was possible!" She turned to me, her eyes lit up with awe. There was so much I wanted to tell her, so much I wish I could do. I almost asked her to come with me… instead I told her good bye as my eyes fell to the floor grates.
"Goodbye… Listen, if you do catch up with your dad, tell him I'm sorry. For… you know, Jonas, and My father, and everything…" She reached for my hand, stopping only because vault security finally got the door open.
"THERE HE IS! GET HIM!" I shot a glance to them, then quickly swung myself under the rail and made a mad dash out. I could just hear Amata screaming as she tried to buy me some time, distracting them as I ran through the rocky cave to an old wooden door and barreled on through. I tripped as I made it through, blinded by the light of the outside world, my hands and knees scraping against rock as I failed to catch myself. I took a breath, then another; I heard the vault cog door shrieking as it once again closed back in the cave behind me. Finally I forced myself up, it was all so surreal, a world not of corridors and tunnels of metal but of nature's bounty of earth and flora. My eyes finally adjusted to the sudden abundance of natural light, gazing up into the wild blue of the sky and the soft fluffy clouds that hung above. The air was warm, humid, filled with exotic scents. My arms slowly spread as I took another breath of fresh air, it was almost intoxicating. A smile crept to my lips as I for the briefest moment forgotten all about dad, the vault, the overseer and Amata, only to be brought back to reality by a deafening bang.