Chapter One

"Thank you for your contribution to Vault-tech, and to man kind." The man in the grey suit said. It was to mommy, but mommy didn't look like she wanted much thanks. She looked sad. It's kinda messed up. Mom looked very pretty, even when she was sad. The man looked at me. He seemed sad too. Or ashamed. I think. It's a new word for me. Mom had taken up homeschooling me when I was little. She wanted me to be smart. Smarter than the other kids she sometimes said.

"Okay little missy, would you like a cookie, and some milk?" He asked. Cookies and milk? How could I even say no?

He turns to my mom, who hands him a plate, and a glass of milk. She didn't look excited as I felt. hopefully everything was okay. I didn't want mommy to be sad.

I took a big bite out of the warm chocolate chip cookie and smiled. It was delicious. I didn't hesitate to wash it down with the milk they had supplied. It tasted good too. It kinda made me sleepy. Like, really sleepy. Something's wrong. Everything is fading away fast. I can't even call out to mommy. All I can do is sleep. I feel the warm arms of something take me up, and then nothing.

"There we go." Teddy Lanchester sighed, and caught the little girl he was supposed to collect today. It never got easier. He turned to the girls mother, and produced a syringe from his coat pocket. He calmly asked the woman to roll her sleeve up.

"Now this serum will help you forget... Trust me, it makes it easier." He lied. It was actually a huge dose of sodium thiopental," And this is the sedative that will help it go into effect." Another lie, it was a cocktail of pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. He pulled the rubber guard off of the first syringe, and injected it with a calm precision that was born from practice. The sodium thiopental would put her to sleep. The effects were already taking. While she dosed off, Teddy took another look at today's collection. He personally thought it was a fools errand. To collect these kids as a back up. Hell, they even had a vault made for them.

Teddy looked back to the girls mother. She looked to be sleeping peacefully. So, he pulled up her other sleeve, and injected the cocktail. Said cocktail would simultaneously paralyze her muscular system, which would stop her breathing. And stop her heart.

She died peacefully, or as peacefully as a woman who gave her child to the government for some half-witted plan for the future could die. Teddy picked the girl up, and walked outside. As far as the government was concerned, this family was no more. Just a grain of sand in the massive dunes of mankind. Hopefully this pipe dream was worth it.

"Subject 13" Teddy typed into the terminal.

"Name: Audry Moore."

"Age: 6"

"Height: Forty-six inches."

"Nationality: White/Caucasian."

"Designation: A3-88GO4"

"Purpose: A3-88GO4 is one of the few chosen as a clean slate. She and her fellow subjects will wipe out any unaffiliated causes, such as dangerous wildlife, communist decedents, and anything that would pose a threat to American vault dwellers. Well, those who are intended to survive. She and her Outfit, codenamed, Affinity, comprised of subjects; 5,8,1, 16, 13. Will be released two hundred and twenty years from now. They will be kept for two years to rehabilitate, and then will be informed of their mission and allowed to carry it out."

"Watermark: Oct. 23, 2077."

Teddy sighed, and reclined in his chair. He ensured that the connectors to her interface, that would educate her in all she needed to know, and then some were secured. He brushed a lock of her blond hair out of her face and sighed again. This really sucked. These kids were denied a future of their own. Albeit, with the tensions being as they are, it didn't seem bright. Instead, she was given this. Which wasn't much better. Alas he could and would not disobey his orders. He closed her cryo pod. These things weren't nothing to mess with. There is only one documented vault with this kind of tech. The feds found a way to recreate the pods, so they naturally made a program. Just to create itty bitty killing machines. They named it Project Sandman.

Anna, Teddy's wife, draped her arms around his neck. He looked stressed, and they were going to be underground for the rest of their lives.

"Teddy, it's okay. Think of it this way. You're giving them another chance. A way for them to make the world a better place." She reassured them. She put a hand on her noticeably large abdomen,"And you've given us a chance too." She smiled.

Teddy slumped, and conformed to his lover's embrace. She was right, somewhat. He just couldn't get over the fact that they would be emotionally, physically, and mentally tearing them from the world they knew. It was a horrible thing for them to do, in his mind. This was the first thing he would hide from the next generation. He was the overseer of eighty-six people who's soul purpose is to reproduce long enough to release these kids. He shook his head. This wasn't what he was supposed to think about. He was supposed to be elated. He was the person that could lead eighty-six people to salvation. To help the human race survive.

"You're right Anna." Was all Teddy had said. He had the rest of his life to witness in this vault. Might as well keep the optimism.

Alexander checked his Pipboy. It was almost time to let out the new company. In all, there were seven. Stargazer, Battlehorn, Affinity, Maystarter, Glory, Lumos and Longrun. Stargazer and Battlehorn had been released a little while before Alexander was born. It was almost time to let Affinity out of cryostasis. It was really weird. All of these kids were four years younger than him, but they had been that way for a really long time. His dad, the overseer, told him they would be waking up soon. He couldn't lie, he was kinda excited about it. He was told that they had been learning stuff from the computers for a long time now. Stuff about the wasteland too. He wondered if they were like robots. That's what it seemed like. Alexander planned to wake up early tomorrow. He wanted to greet the kids when they got out. Seeing as they would need a new friend. There were other kids too, that would be able to greet them, but they didn't care half as much as Alexander did. It fascinated him so much, he wanted to know these new kids. But that would be tomorrow. He could wait until then. So he turned off his light, and climbed into bed, hoping sleep would claim him soon, so he didn't have to wait as long to see the kids.

Sleep was benevolent, and granted Alexander's wishes. Daybreak was with the boy in an instant. Alexander made his way to the cryo chambers right after he finished his morning chores. He had made it just in time.

I woke up.

It was almost like emerging from a vat of water. Very cold water. Memories flooded my mind. Things I was sure I didn't know, I knew. Like all the pressure points of a human body, which is the easiest to lacerate and so on. It was terrifying on so many degrees. The first thing I saw, was light. The light on the ceiling above me. I was laying on my back, in some kind of machine. There were wires around me, and some went in me. Some people were hovering over me. They were taking the wires and... IVs, I think, out. It was like it was out of one of those sci-fi films. Or even Frankenstein. I could see blue, and white. There were a lot of different people in front of me.

A pair of gentle hands lifted me up so I could sit up straight. I started to cough. It really hurt, but after a while, it went away. I felt a blanket surround me. It was warm. My vision cleared and I could see what was around me. Thirty-five pods, identical to mine, were in a room. Ten of the pods had no lights shining on them. Somehow I knew the names of the outfits they belonged to, Stargazer and Battlehorn. Released Twenty and Ten years before us, respectively. How in the world do I know this? There was more people around me and my little group of doctors. I was surprised at how calm I was. I knew that so much time had passed, and that the world I knew was gone, but I didn't expect to be so relaxed about this. I looked around, and saw four other kids sitting up. Giving the same curious yet blank stare to the world around them. These kids were my outfit. My new family so to speak. We all stared at each other, as if we were communicating. I had a feeling I would find friends in this group if I was allowed to.

"Hello. Can you hear me?" The doctor in front of me asked. She had gentle blue eyes, and her voice was soft. I nodded.

"Do you remember your name?" She asked. I nodded,"Audry." I spoke. Much quieter than I remembered the last time I was awake.

"How old are you?"

"Six, give or take two hundred years." I found it in me to joke. I frowned, and thought of the action I had just made wasn't efficient, and thus I shouldn't do it. I couldn't help it though.

The doctor actually laughed,"Okay, let's try and get you up." She said, lifting me from the pod, to the side of the machine. She set me down, allowing me to stand on my own time. I stood, shakily, but I stood. First time in a long time. I was wearing a black jumpsuit, as were the other kids in my outfit. It looked military, with all the clasps and buckles. It was surprisingly comfy though. It had the number 13 on it. I guess I was the thirteenth kid to be inducted. Or abducted. However someone would look at it. They gave me a blue jacket, seeing as I was still as cold as a penguin in the middle of winter. It had the vault number on it, 009. It looked good on me if I didn't say so myself. I looked up for a moment, seeing the small crowd of people that weren't a direct part of the wake up process. It was mainly just a few old people, and one kid. He looked older than me, but he was so interested and me and my outfit, like he was at a zoo for the first time. He had tawny brown hair, that was a mess at the moment, like he had just rushed here from bed. He was wearing a blue and yellow jumpsuit with the same number as my jacket. He had intelligent green eyes, and a crooked smile that was slightly endearing. It was almost like he was smiling for us.

I walked around, mostly toward the other kids in my outfit. We were all six years old. I wondered what their birthdays were. I was never told that when I was asleep.

"Hi." I said first.

"Hullo." Matthew Phipps, his name was, said. He was a little taller than me. His hair was short, and stark black, and his eyes were a dark brown too. I could almost not see his pupils at first.

"Hello." May Tennits offered after him. She was a little bit shorter than me, but she was cute. She had curly red hair, and a face full of freckles. She seemed nice, and her green eyes agreed with that statement. They were full of wonder and joy.

"Yo." Addix Boreman greeted the group. He had long blond locks, and was constantly pushing them out of his sea blue eyes. They even had flecks of gold in them, like the sun. He seemed like a likable character.

And finally, Mira Kates spoke,"Um... Hello.. I guess." She said shyly. She was a meek little girl, with long brown hair, and large violet orbs. She was mousy in a sense.

"So. Welcome to the land of the living." I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm just trying to figure out I know your name." Addix frowned.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird, but kinda cool too." May quipped.

Matthew and Mira just stood there, nodding and looking at the walls around them. They had caught wind of the little group of people that was the audience of us waking up. We all looked at them, curious as to why we were so important. I mean, I spent two hundred years learning that I was an appliance of the government, which didn't even exist anymore. And we're still going to follow orders. What really is there else for us to do?

"Okay, welcome to vault 009 Affinity." The overseer greeted us from the crowd. He had the same features as the little gawker that watched us wake up. After thinking about it, I realized that the boy was the overseers son. We all stood at attention, which was again, kinda weird. I had never done that in my life.

"As you know, you will become part of our family here for a little while. I ask, with discretion, for you to not get attached to anyone here, seeing as it is very probable that you will die, or never return to this vault. While I may not grant you entry, you will always be welcome here." He said, which was a conflicting phrase in itself. Perhaps he was hinting at some motive he held to himself. Perhaps sympathy for us. It seemed reasonable. But I tried not to buy too much into it. I had a job to do.

"I suggest you should get oriented with the vault, where you'll be staying, and where most of your rehabilitation and training will be." The overseer said softly. We all nodded, fully intending to.

With that, he turned around and left. Most of the audience we had accumulated congragated out into the vault, presumably returning to their jobs, or fam...Families. I frowned again. Self pity was something new to me. I didn't like it. The young vault dweller didn't leave. He just stood there, watching our every move.

"Is he like, some kind of super secret spy or something?" May quirked,"Cuz, he's doing a horrible job."

"I-I don't think so..." Mira shook her head.

"I guess we're just that cool." Addix grinned.

"What do you expect? We've been on ice for two centuries. I would find that interesting." Matthew spoke up.

"Well, we better get moving." I said, and turned for the door. The overseer was waiting for us, and talking to his son. The boy seemed to be pleading for something, but the overseer thought against it. We all walked shakily in their direction. Some of us gaining their footing earlier than the others. I offered a hand to Mira, and she took it gratefully. Matthew did the same for Addix. And May seemed to be having a wonderful time, walking with a bounce in her step.

The overseer looked up to see us approaching. He smiled lightly. And checked something off of his checkboard. If I had to take a guess, he was monitoring for comradeship, and teamwork. Or something along those lines. I really don't know why, but after being in that pod for so long, I still felt lethargic and tired. Maybe I just need some food in me. We walked in a semi-formal line behind the overseer as he gave us the tour. We learned where the mess hall was,where the clinic was, and where the residential quarters were. We wouldn't be staying there. As we continued to walk, we went lower into the vault. Here we saw the huge power plant that kept the vault running, even with the cyro pods. There were two geothermal generators, and a third reactor that were all kept in perfect order. And farther along, there was the water treatment room. It was clean and functional, just like the other rooms. We rounded a bend to see a large vault door.

"And here. This is where you will be staying." The overseer said, and pressed the button for the door to open. Behind it was a training arena. It was almost as big as a foot ball field, and had the equipment to fill it. There were many wight lifting machines and a track that surrounded them, but there were more devices to teach you how to kill than to give you the stalk to do do so. Right in front of them, there was a canteen built into the wall, with a Mr. Handy robot, waiting to be booted up. There was a staircase to the next level of the room, which held their sleeping quarters. they would all be sleeping in one room, which conveniently had been labeled "Affinity" In large letters above the doorway. At the end of the second level, there was the door to the restroom. There was even an octagon, used for sparring matches.

"Woah..." May nearly squealed. She had all of this newfound knowledge, and had the means to execute it. There's no reason for her not to be excited. I was too.

"Yeah." Addix nodded, studying the room. It had been lived in before. That much was evident.

"I do hope you like it here." The overseer said quietly.

We all nodded. It seemed homey enough. The overseer smiled, giving us free reign of the room. And the first thing I... We did, was make a beeline for the canteen. Matthew booted up the Mr. Handy robot, probably had never done that before. After a hearty breakfast after two hundred years, I laughed. Like out loud. Everything was so weird, and messed up at that. But I was okay. I was awake.