Fallout

The sun rose sleepily over the houses of parliament, Golden beams of light found their way through the windows and cracks in the buildings, adding to their majestic sight. The shadows slowly retreated over London giving new life to every building, every street. Finally it climbed up the prominent tower, higher and higher until finally the face of Big Ben glistened in the new morning. The Hands forever stuck at twenty past two with the second hand having fallen of some one hundred years ago. The sun light moved through the cracks as fluid as water until finally it reached Jacob. Standing above the world enjoying the sunrise in Cat boots, torn blue denim jeans with duct tape slapped on over tears, a greying vest and a green R.A.F jacket, his grandfathers to be precise. Jake breathed in and out slowly and enjoyed the few minutes left on his watch because he knew, this would be the only minute's peace he would have today. He took three steps back, turned, grabbed the metal ladder and slid down. Were it not for his fingerless leather gloves he would've cut his hands for sure.

His boots hit the wooden floor panels with a thud and dust flew up from the floor, as they did birds scattered from the rafters. Jake skipped down the stair case two at a time until he finally reached the basement door. Gripping the Rusting protruding handle, Jake tugged and the door swung open with a lazy groan. Ahead of him there was a staircase which seemed to trail of into blackness past the first three steps. Jake sat on the third step pulled out his lighter and looked around for the light switch in the flickering light. His hand found a small breaker box, Jake yanked open the cover and shoved all the switches from standby to online. A familiar hum made the stairs shiver slightly and Jake smiled as the lights started to blink on one by one.

"It's going to be a good day" he thought to himself, pushing is hair out of his eyes. Jake stepped down into the complex where the power for Big Ben and probably the back up power for the houses of parliament were kept.

Jakes feet clanged on the metal floor as he walked down the steel corridors, he rounded a corner and passed a large wall of lockers and found what he was looking for, the central hub. He punched in the numbers 229 into the door code and felt the heavy locks shunt open. The door glided open silently and Jake grinned at the sight before him. A dozen sleeping bags and mattresses littered the floor all circling the central generator hub which kept this room warm even in the freezing nights. Jake watched as his family slowly rose from their sleep. In the furthest corner on the left side of the room a single mattress lay with Chris and Sarah asleep on it. Chris was well built, covered all over in brown hair except for his beard which even though it made his chin look an half an inch thicker than normal, was a strange rust colour. Laying on top of him was Sarah a small girl with long, deep red hair that came down just past her shoulders, She lay their fiddling with Chris chest hair happily. On the parallel wall Balai's green sleeping bag was visible his ludicrously long, tangle of black hair covering his stubbly chin and green eyes. Nearing the centre of the room 2 mattresses pushed together made the bed for Michelle, a very cute girl with blonde hair that she pulled back in a pony tail, blue eyes which hid behind thick square glasses and forever draped in her green and brown striped jumper. Her boyfriend Ryan was lying next to her, his short black hair sticking up like some Japanese comic book hero and skin so pale he could pass for a ghost. At the foot of this mattress were the last 2 sleeping bags, in them Ben and Richard slept, Ben with shaggy blonde hair that had a fringe which refused to show the world his blue eyes and Richard, with jet black hair which he always managed to keep strangely tidy.

Jake kicked the hollow casing of a broken computer to awaken the crowd, they all groaned and writhed like they were god forsaken zombies from strange horror flick.

"I'm living with ghouls" Jake thought to himself laughing as he did. He needed them up to talk to them sooner rather than later, they all chose not to worry about it and decided things were fine but Jake knew, the generator wasn't going to last forever and without fuel to keep it running they'd have to find somewhere new to live and that meant moving, and nobody liked moving. Soon the group had woken and pulled back on their shirts and trousers and whatever elements of clothing they removed to sleep. They usually slept in most of their clothes though, to keep warm. They all moved through the complex to what use to be the computer terminals, however since they were just going to eat up power, they had agreed to disconnect the computers and get rid of them so they could use the desks to sit down and eat or talk. The dishevelled group sat down at the make shift table and began to pick at the food scavenged from vending machines.

"Ok so who wants too much salt, and who wants too much sugar?" Ryan asked loudly as he scooped up sweets.

"Sugar" Michelle called back, her eyes half closed and her head in her arms on the table.

"Salt for me" Chris yelled from the end of the table his feet up on a spare chair.

Jake waited for the hungry bunch to finish throwing food to one another and then he spoke.

"Alright guys" he started stepping forward, "we've been living down here for how long now?"

"18 months" piped up Balai checking his pip boy.

"thanks mate" continued Jake " 18 months is a long time and quite frankly we've been really lucky that the generator has lasted this long, but we're going to need fuel to keep it running or we're going to have to find a new place to stay."

Jake stopped because the reaction he thought…no…knew was coming came.

"move again!?" Chris groaned tilting his head back.

" but we're living in a clock!" Shouted Ben distraught, Richard just leaned back on his chair poking at his black leather jacket whilst Ryan, Michelle and Sarah just sighed.

"Yes it's a bother" Jake started up again, "Yes it's a pain in the arse having to get back up and move out, but do any of you really want to risk what might happen if the generator goes whilst you're all sleeping down there, or what might happen if we stay here too long and raiders find us? Or worse Slavers?" The group fell silent and gave each other sideways glances; Chris put his arm around Sarah who had tears in her eyes. Jake knew that Chris was going to be pissed at him later but he didn't have time for that right now.

"look…" Ryan got up slowly as he spoke, "Why don't we use today to find some food and fuel then we'll have more options about what we do, and it'll give us some time to actually plan out where we're going to move to." Ryan looked around hopefully

"I like that idea actually" Richard said a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"yeah, at least this way we've got some time to think about it and decide as a group" Michelle sounded excited. Jake couldn't blame them having a chance to move about and find new supplies kept everyone happy for longer and the more things they had to keep their mind off their situation the better. Jake wasn't sure on the details, he only had bits and pieces of information gathered from books and people he'd met, what he did know was this. Some time during the 1950s nuclear power became the cleanest, the safest and the most efficient way of powering everything around the world. Across the west things became nuclear over a matter of months, Cars, computers, homes, planes, anything the world needed, was nuclear. Then the cold war came. Communist aggression from the red armies of the Soviet Union and the red star of china had combined to create a serious threat to the capitalist nations of the west including America and its democracy. After this Jakes knowledge got sketchy but apparently the red army invaded Alaska and America viewed this as a sign of aggression so they liberated Alaska, not long afterwards the communist army used nuclear warheads and Jake could only guess but judging from the wasteland England had become, he would bet anything that any country with a warhead fired it at something without a moments hesitation. Now some 200 years later Jake and his dysfunctional family had been trying to survive for as long as he could remember.

As soon as Jake realized they were better together he made it his job to keep them all safe. Everything else didn't matter; he'd even forgotten how old he was. The last time he remembered his age he was twenty seven but that was two or 3 years ago, he'd lost track of time until he found Balai with his Pip-boy 3000.

"Alright then" Jake said clapping his hands together, "we've got a long day if this is what we're doing, and we all know what the deal is when we go outside. No one goes anywhere alone, everyone stays within radio contact and everything is up for scavenging but the most important things come first, fuel, food, ammo you know the drill."

"Alright then" Chris half shouted jumping to his feet. The band of friends made their way through the corridors to the stair case Jake had come down before and moved up to the heavy set of double doors which barred Big Ben from the rest of the world. Jake, Chris and Ben kicked open several large crates they had situated at the foot of the stairs and took out the contents, Ben passed out hand held radios to their friends who had started separating into groups. Jake pulled out a rusted shotgun and slung it over his shoulder then he threw a 9mm pistol Ben and another to Michelle. Ben had spent most of his childhood shooting rad-roaches with BB guns making him very adept at shooting. Michelle before they found her lived in an arcade in a shopping centre that still had power thanks to the nuclear power generator. Needless to say her life had been one epic video game. Jake pulled out a revolver checked it had all 8 shots then slipped it into it's leather holster strapped to his vest under his jacket.

"Alright guys, 5 hours, and then we meet. Balai send out times on the hour. We meet at upturned double Decker bus ok?"

"Got it"

"Gotcha"

"No problem"

"Aye sir"

"Right" Jake said, he turned lifted the wooden two by four that kept the door sealed, and pushed the doors open. The dishevelled looking band broke off into groups and proceeded through the wreckage that was London.

Michelle and Ryan always paired off together, they loved having time to spend together alone, not that the wasteland was much of a romantic atmosphere, usually the only sign of life they would come across would be a merchant caravan or a brahmin. Ryan always found Brahmin hilarious, not because of the fact that horrible amounts of radiation ahd mutated regular cows into two headed brown freaks, but that Brahmin tipping was the funniest thign on the planet. He and Michelle loved the idea of watching the helpless creature keel over to the roaring, monotonous sound of "moo". However since they had moved closer inland and away from the country he hadn't seen a brahmin in quite some time. Michelle and Ryan walked hand in hand down what was left of the English road untill they came to a familiar T junction.

"We've gone left here the past 6 trips," Ryan said scratching his chin "since this may be our last, i say we go right, we may get lucky and find a tin of hotdogs."

Michelle smiled, she loved her boyfriends sence of humour.

"yeah or maybe a five star hotel with clean beds and a bathtub" she said turning right and starting to walk "you could definitly use one"

Ryan had been staring absent mindidly at a burnt out billboard, suddenly came to at the remark and hurried after Michelle an argument already forming in his mind. On the otherside of the thames, Richard and his crew were busy prying open the boot of an upturned Ford. Richard wiped a beat of sweat from his brow and breathed deep, watching hsi friends work so hard made him consider helping, but something shiny on the floor caught his eye and he lsot all interest in the groups toil. Ben and Chris were furiously wrestling with the hatch, which had been bent so stubbornly inward that somehow the whole concept of what might be inside seemed like a giant "Fuck you" to anyone who tried to get in. Sarah lay back in the sun happily watching her "man" work. Chris had always managed to find time to stay in shape, an admirable traight considering all anyone else could manage was to just survive. Balai stood upon pile of rubble just next to the ford, absorbed with his pip-boy 3000.

"You got any music for us today?" Sarah called up to him "that station you got last time was brilliant"

"I might do" came Balais reply, his eyes not leaving the tiny green screen, "THat station last time came from america though and i only got it because of the boosted signal strength from the electric pylon."

Sarah closed her eyes and basked in the sun, "Less nerdy more musicy." She replied

"For Fuck Sake!" Chris shouted angrily as the car door failed to open yet again. Ben Kicked the metal chassis in frustration only to find the bones in his feet were somewhat weaker than the handle of a car door. As a result to his action he slumped to the floor clutching his foot fighting back tears, his blonde hair falling into his face. Chris turned to Richard who seemed utterly amused at what had transpired.

"why are we opening this thing again?" Chris asked, somethign in his tone suggested that it had better be bloody interesting.

Richard leaned on a stop sign just behind him and spoke in a semi-patronising tone "Because judging from how it turned over, i'm guessing it reversed from parked over the messed up trolly just infront of the wheele."

Chris faught back his urge to slap Richard for being a ponce and asked "sooooooo?"

Richard smiled and stepped forward, "so look at what it was parked infront of" Chirs turned and glanced up at the large store just next to the road. He couldn't make out the writing but it was obvious fro mthe design that it was a supermarket. Chris let his shoulders slouch and eased up a little.

"so you think someone was shopping here reversed the car, then crashed?" He said already knowing the answer.

"Precisly." came Richards semi-patronising tone yet again "but think we might need something to smash this open."

"what an astute observaton einstein, please go on!" said Ben the pain in his foot bypassing his manners.

"I suppose we could..." but what richard thought would have to wait, for at that point, the ground next to him shifted and dust flew up from the ground and an all too familiar "Crack" rang out through the air. Richard dove left towards the shop and as he did so shouted

"RAIDERS!"

All at ocne the group moved, Sarah rolled over onto her stomach pushed up with her arms and ran full pelt towards a knocked over telephone box. Ben rolled to his left and ducked behind the ford whilst Balai, standing atop his mountain of rubble glanced around and hesitated.

"Balai! get down!" Ben shouted at the top of his he did so he felt a gush of wind past him and saw Chris run full pelt up the rubble grab Balai by the shoulders and force him down the otherside and out of sight. Ben would have to figure out what happened to them later, right now he had to worry about where whoever was shooting at them was and how many there were. Richard had flown through the frame of where a glass window had once stood and was kneeling by some shelves in the supermarket, He pulled out his radio and held down the switch.

"Jakob this is Richard come in over" He said, each second it took for Jakes reply seemed like a lifetime, he saw sarah glance over the telephone box and heard another crack as the box dented.

"What's the problem richard? over" Came Jakobs voice distorted by the reciever.

"We've got raiders just across the Bridge." Richard said not daring to stick his head out from cover to look for the others.

"I'm on my way, stay down" Came Jacobs reply then the radio went silent.

Chris was lying on top of balai and pinning him to the ground his breathing sounded like thunder in the deadly silence of the situation. Balai was looking to his left, his vision enclosed to whatever he could see underneath the parked car next to them. He saw a foot stet past the rear tire, he hed his breathe. Not like a normal foot, this one was tanned colour, cooked in the sun with red sores travelling up the ankle as far as he could see. Brown straps of leather wrapped around it so tightly he could see where it was cutting into the flesh. Chris stopped breathing when he saw and the pair of them lay there as quiet as the grave, praying the Sadist raider wouldn't pass the car.

"Fuck it" Ben whispered to himself, and as he did so he turned and stood over the upturned car wreck and as he did so he saw them. three raiders moving slowly in a scattered formation, drifting through the concrete wreck like ghosts. All the sound in the world seemed to disapear andall Ben could hear was his own heartbeat as he raised his pistol. The front raider was grinning wildly, a matted and black beard surrounded his mouth like a some diseased sore. He clutched some kind of rusted rifle at his hip, THe woman next to him was half bald and her face was looked in some manic look of hysteria. The raider to the far left and furthest back was wearing a dented welders helmet and clutched a pool que like it was some kind of spear. These first images burned into Bens mind forever as he realized this moment might be his last. Bang.

Ben pulled the trigger once and the front raiders head jerked back, blood spraying out all over the paving stones, He fired again and the crazed lady screamed as the bullet tore through her chest, the demented look of insanity still glued on her face. Ben didn't fire a third time, instead he felt a pool que collide with his left temple and a second later, felt his right temple collide with the ground beneath him. Seeing double he looked up at the Helmet clad raider who for a moment seem to consider picking up Bens pistol. The raider reached into his putrid overalls and removed a rusted and jagged piece of metal, he cocked his head to one side and took one step forward, then two steps back. Sarah had jumped from her hiding spot grabbed hold of his mask and yanked it back with all of her might. The raider moaned a deep moan as he was pulled away fro his prey. Sarah pulled the straps attaching the helmet to his mottled skull refusing to think about what mgiht happen to her if the raider won this fight untill she felt a hand grab her hair. The raider had thrown his arm over his head and in one swift motion pulled Sarah up by her hair and threw her onto the ground next to Ben. Winded sarah looked up at the raider and stared into the emotionless visor that hid his eyes. The raider dropped to his knees and grabbed Sarah by her shirt and started tugging. Sarah kicked frantically and screamed with whatever capacity her lungs had. Ben leaned over and feebly grabbed the raiders arm but he knocked it away like he was made from paper. Sarah heard a ripping noise and punched as hard as she could at the monstrocity ontop of her, then she felt her arms pinned to the ground by one powerfull fist above her head and felt a disgustingly hot clammy hand grab her chin and force it to look into the visor of the raider. For one horrific moment she prepared herself for what was about to come, and then blinked as the contents of the raiders chest exploded over her.

Jake Tore the corpse from ontop of his friend and threw it against the wall. Though already dead that didn't stop him from tearing off the helmet to reveal a cross between a bloody mess and a human head, burying hs shotgun in it's mouth and disintergrating it with one shell. The wall was painted red like some gothic sunrise and the headless body flopped to the ground. Jake turned in one swift motion pumping his shotung, the rust made an awefull scraping noise like grinding teeth and stopped. Jacob breathed one deep breathe then let his weapon slide back to his hip. He dropped to one knee and helped Sarah up. Sarah was shaking uncontrollably, one hand held the left side of her shirt up while the other clutched her stomach, she took one look at Jake and then doubled over wretching on the floor. Jake winced and pulled Ben up from the ground. Ben was still seeing double of a fashion but gave Jake enough attention to say

"i've got one mother of a headache", Jake smiled and sat his friend down propped up against the wall of the street, he turned to sarah who was finally starting to calm down.

"are you ok?" Jake asked nervously, he had no idea how much of a traumatizing effect that could've had on Sarah, he had flashbacks of his sister louise, a haunting green hand dragging her backwards down a corridor, her ginger hair leaving a trail through the rusted radio active rooms, her wide eyes bulging through a tank. Jake clicked his fingers loudly, it brought him back to the present, he shouldn't...couldn't think of that now, not ever. Sarah looked up at, her dust covered face had white lines where her tears had washed it white. The hopelessly Tomboy girl looked more like an angel than ever at that moment, her blue/green eyes bloodshot her bare shoulder exposing luminously white skin, her red hair contrasting everything about her. Sarah breathed deep, stood up on tiptoes and kiss Jakob lightly on the cheek and whispered

"Thank you".