Jacob Scott Ramsey's Journal
"The following Journal was the property of the late Jacob Ramsey, former Austinite. This man was the first to witness the monstrosities that were later to engulf the city of Austin." — Miles Parker
-3/17/56
My name is Jacob Scott Ramsey, born and raised in Austin's wasteland. I have one little sister, Jean Ramsey, who will be fourteen by the end of the month. She is the one thing that keeps me from blowing my damn brains out, for without me she would most likely end up a slave or whore to some wasteland bastard. I feel horrible leaving her behind while I search for this "Forgotten Vault", but I know she is in good hands. The people over at New Austin are good people, they would never lay a hand on little Jean, I would trust them with her life. Today we began our search heading East, the way those Union guys claimed to hear a distress signal. I must say I don't quite trust those fellas as much I would a normal citizen, but they seem to be of good intentions, at least for now. The mission was simple for the food and protection the Union was providing: Find the vault, get inside, look for survivors. I'm still a bit iffy on that last part, survivors? My pa mapped out each vault in the area and even helped pry them open, but that at least 40 years ago, before Jean and I were even a thought. Well, that's it for now. I outta get some rest for tomorrow's hike, you never know what to expect in the wasteland.
-3/19/56
Nothin' happened yesterday cept' for walking and more walking, so I decided it wasn't worth the time to write about it. But today, today we found something that intrigued me beyond me very own comprehension. While trekking down the old I-35 highway, something below us caught my eye, something shiny. I mentioned the figure to Hadds, so he decided to take a look. As soon as he saw the shiny figure, he upholstered his revolver and fired 5 rounds into the unmoving object. I reaction to this was mixed at first, but soon I would realize what it was and why exactly Hadds had done what he did. Now Hadds may be an old man, he may look as if he should be resting in a bed all day, but this man is one of the most adventures I know. And when I see him frighten, I know something is wrong. He told us to arm ourselves and follow him down the highway, the whole way down he was twitchin' and aiming his pistol at the first sound, this was not looking good. Once we reached the bottom and slowly made our way to the shiny figure, I quickly realized that it was a mans body, or at least that's what it looked like. Hadds gave us the 'stop' signal and approached the body all slow like, constantly aiming at it. It took him about 5 minutes of pokin' and kicking the corpse until he told us it was dead and safe to look at. Upon approaching the metal hulk, I analyzed the features.It seemed to be a human inside of a menacing suit of armor, the armor itself covered in tubes and straps. It also had a gas mask. He or She carried some sort of weapon with them, this gun was something I had only seen in the ol' comics from my youth. It scared me. The cause of death, although not certain, seemed to be from a wound to the forehead, but we couldn't be sure as Hadds didn't allow us to remove the armor. Our theories were fortified when we found a .308 round later on the highway. My guess is more of them anarchists. That's about all I could get out of it, we burned the body and moved on. I tried to ask Hadds what it was, he just kept telling me to never trust them. I later overheard him and Jamal, his friend, talking about it. I only got fragments of the conversation, most useless, but there was one thing that sounded important. Hadds called em' the Enclave.
-3/20/56
The whole Enclave thing has scared everybody up, makin' them paranoid and all. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn't help myself. What was that thing? Was it human, or was it some sort of robot? It's got me all jumbled up, none of us had seen anything like that in Austin before. I came feel something bad comin', I can smell it in the air. I'm afraid. But on to today, we've been hiking through some forest for awhile. The map says to look for a big ol' hill, and on top of the hill, a tower. They said the tower used to be some sort of radio tower, biggest ever build in the US, said it shouldn't be that hard to find. We found the hill awhile ago, the tower got knocked down by something though. It fell right onto some little town, I hope nobody was living there at the time. We made camp here tonight, the view is amazing. I've been writing this while looking onto the endless forest and desert covering most of the land. In the distance I can see the fading skyline of a city, it seems pretty far away. I wonder if there are people living there, just like we were livin' in Austin. So far, I haven't met anybody not from Austin. Hadds says he's from Mexico, but I don't really believe him, sometimes I think he just pretends to be something he's not. I wonder what little Jean is doing right now. She's probably on top of the UT tower, looking out at the world. I taught her that, we both would stand up there for hours, waiting for something to happen. Now I wonder if she is just waiting for me. I better get some rest, Hadds says tomorrow we reach the vault.
-3/21/56
We found the vault today, the damn thing was hidden in a damn cave. Took at least 9 hours just to find the thing, now we gotta open it. Something is strange though, like someone's been here already. Well, I know people have been here already, but that was about 100 years ago, there would be no trace of them. It's looking like someone's been here recently. Footprints, the occasional package of food laying around, even recently put out campfires. Maybe the Union was right, maybe there still are survivors here. If so, where are they? I gotta get back to digging this damn door out, I'm just afraid of what's behind it.
-3/21/56
I don't usually put two entries a day, but I think this qualifies. We got the door open, it took hours upon hours of chiseling and digging, but we got the damn thing open. Just as I opened it, I expected something to jump out at me, but there was nothing. We explored what was called the "Atrium", not one thing living was there. No trace of life. I had expected at least some people or something living in here to be safe from the dangers of the Wasteland , but there was nothing. What happened to all the people? We decided to sleep outside and get some rest before exploring the rest of the thing. We all agreed that if something is in there ready to kill us, we better be rested enough to fight it. I couldn't sleep. I just couldn't get the image of the "Enclave" out of my mind, I know that it is in someway connected to this god-forbidding place. I think that Hadds thinks it too, he keeps mumbling in his sleep about some Oil Rig, maybe he's crazy.
-2:35 A.M: I had to write this down, I felt it necessary. Hadds took off, we don't know where, he just slipped away while we slept. He left a note though, I didn't even know he knew how to write. I attached the note to my journal below. "'I heed all of you a warning now, leave this tainted fragment of Hell. What resides inside is the very work of the devil himself, his masterpieces incarnate. I am already marked by the beast, my soul condemned to eternal damnation. I leave you to save you from its hunting. It will track me down and murder me, as will it to any near me. I warn you again, leave this Hell." I can hardly breath, what in the world made that man speak such words? My other two comrades, who have known Hadds longer than I, tell me that he has gone mentally insane from past experiences in the wasteland, they thought he was well enough to travel with us to the Vault, but they said they were wrong. I'm not convinced though, I can feel death around me, maybe even inside of me. They said we were still going in the vault tomorrow. God help me.
-3/22/56
My lord, what is going to happen to me? I can barely handle to write this down as my whole body is trembling with fear. As planned, we continued into the Vault even after Hadd's departure. I knew something was wrong, the air smelled different, it smelled like death. We decided to enter the Living Quarters first, agreeing that if there were survivors, they'd be in there. What we found was very confusing. The Atrium, being completely empty and wrecked, was the opposite of this chamber. The beds were made neatly, glasses still on tables and even filled with liquid. Something was wrong, it was all too... perfect. We decided to make our way out of there, all of us had the same feeling of being watched. I wasn't until one of the group members, Jamal Theard, made a horrifying discovery. My memory got a bit blurry from the fear and adrenaline, but I will never forget what I saw. Somebody, or something, was splattered across the utility closet, with him a single .44 Revolver. It seems that he, or she, was trying to hold off from something. I'm scared, whatever did that to that person is still in here, and it knows we're here. We made our minds up, we were leaving. Nothing in this Vault was worth dying over, nothing. We all had the same plan, escape with our lives and hopefully, most of our sanity. It was all crushed when we reached the vault door. Instead of the wide open door we entered through, there was the tightly closed vault door marked "There is no escape", I saw it on the way in, but was too afraid to even write it down. What happened in this place? I can only write this because we barricaded ourselves in one of the recreation areas in the Atrium for the night. Jamal says we have to go through the maintenance tunnels at the bottom of the vault to get out of here, he says that there's always another way out in there. My other comrade, Victor Abend, agreed with him, saying that he would rather take his chances attempting to escape than to sit here and die. I don't know what to think. I think I'm going to die here.
-Last Entry, 3/23/56
This is my last entry, and I am going to die. I can't even pray anymore, why would such a forgiving God allow this utter evil to exist? I can here them crawling around, muttering their devil tongue. All I have now is this journal which I have kept so dear, what else could I do but write? Maybe someone will find this, maybe someone will read this and finally remember old Jacob Ramsey. I just hope my little Jean is alright. It seems that I have some time before these things break through this door and tear me to pieces though, I might as well tell my story. Jamal, Victor, and I all agreed on going to the maintenance tunnels for escape. I don't even know what I was feeling, it was a mixture of fear, adrenaline, and nausea. After a little while of going over every precaution, and praying, we headed out. The Atrium felt different, it felt as if we were being watched. Oh God, if only I realized then what was watching us. We crept into the section marked "Genetic Editing", I didn't think of it much, mostly because I didn't know what it meant. As we entered the chamber, I felt a great lose of oxygen. It was as if this section of the vault hadn't been entered in ages, if only we knew what was inside. As we walked to dark hallways, shooting at every shadow, flinching at every noise, all of us had the same feeling flowing through us: fear. It happened in an instant though, all of it. As I remember, I first heard Victor scream, and then silence. Jamal and I turned back to see Victor's limp body in the hands of... of, I can barley describe this thing. It seemed to be some sort of humanoid, maybe it used to be human. It stood on steel blades that replaced what used to be legs. It's arms were nearly the same, just blades. It's head was detached, only being held on by a mechanical contraption. It did not have a face, instead there were just straps covering the head and eyes. There's more to this creature, but that cannot even be explained on paper. But as we turned around, the thing held Victor with it's arm blades through his chest. Victor died. Jamal and I ran, to where? We didn't know. I don't remember much here, I do remember running through a hallway filled with rooms occupied with more creatures, but one thing stood out the most. I saw more Enclave, the same Enclave that we found the body of earlier, the same Enclave that drove Hadds to the brink of insanity. What is this place? Jamal and I managed to lock ourselves in a Utility closet in the Reactor room. We waited here for hours, both of us tremblin' with fear. Finally, after about three hours of waiting, Jamal told me he was going to check outside. He told me to stay, saying that one of us needed to survive to tell our tale. He also told me to take care of his little kin if he died, I'm sorry Jamal. He left and never came back, it's been almost 5 hours now He's dead. Rest in Peace Jamal, I just hope you can. I can hear them outside, I peeked out and saw another Enclave down the hall, they're trying to get inside. I've blocked up the door with everything in here, but that won't keep them for long. I'm just delaying the inevitable. Before I die, I want anybody who finds this journal to tell my dear sister Jean that her brother, Jacob S. Ramsey, died fulfilled. Tell her that I love her, that I will never leave her side, in life or death. I'll always be with you J.
-Jacob S. Ramsey, beloved brother to Jean Ramsey.