It's always a very strange morning to find yourself waking up on your bedroom floor, taking half of the sheets with you. But no matter how long you want to wait, you'll eventually get up. Shaking off the remaining grogginess from last night (Football Sunday), I slowly dragged myself towards the bathroom, flipping the light switch and waiting for the light's flickering to stop. The clock by the tooth-brushes read '4:23 AM', I tried thinking of all the reasons why I woke up that early, but all trains of thought brought me to the same conclusion... I hit the floor hard enough to break me away from dreamland.

"Yeesh, I couldn't imagine my luck getting worse..." I said through a mouth full of toothpaste.

I brushed, rinsed, spat, and rinsed again to get the taste out of my mouth. I met my gaze in the mirror, noting whether or not I should get a haircut, I mean, my hair is a bit longer than I usually have it cut, with my bangs and sides cut short, styling it to the side, my hair is now slightly above my eyes and straight. My ears suddenly perked up, noticing a small clinking noise coming from the kitchen. Figuring that someone else, probably Dad, was already awake, I might as well try to do something productive.

"...Le's see..." Dad mumbled, shifting through the fridge.

I knocked on the wall, immediately catching his attention, dad grabbed a carton of orange juice from the fridge and two glasses from the cupboard.

"Morning, Jason..." He tiredly said before yawning loudly and taking a seat at the table.

"Mornin'." I responded while taking a seat next to him.

Dad poured orange juice into the glasses and nudged one to me, I gladly took it and started drinking.

"So, apparently school will be cut short from the nuclear threat." Dad suddenly said, almost causing me to nearly spit my drink out.

I flashed him a look that said, 'Seriously?! Why now?!', making Dad laugh a bit.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. I heard that the war will be ending soon."

I sighed with relief, before remembering something that I wanted to ask for a while.

"Hey, can I see the stuff in the basement?" I asked.

Dad nodded and downed his orange juice in a single gulp.

I placed my glass on the table as dad opened the backdoor and unlocked the basement, I followed him down to where he keeps his great-great grandpa's things, as well as a some of his old military stuff. He reached for the light switch, showing the decorations of the room, old medals kept in cases, an older army jacket, and an old M1 carbine.

"Jaysus... Fanatic much?" I joked.

Dad chuckled, "I just find it respectful. If you join the army, it's advised that you commemorate your family."

"Then I'll stick with being a runner." I replied.

~Five hours later

"...Now, will you stop hogging the mirror and give me a turn?" Mom demanded.

"Right, right..." Dad sounded almost defeated.

I sat on a stool next to Shaun's crib, staring down at the small, sleeping body, gently caressing his forehead. Seems like I was stuck in a trance for some time.

"Jason! Codsworth made breakfast!" Mom called from the other room.

Codsworth overdid himself again, I could smell the bacon and pancakes. Yum, my favorite. As soon as I sat down and started eating, Shaun started crying in the other room, Codsworth immediately flew over with some fresh nappies... His dialect is getting to me, OH GOD ITS SPREADING!

There was a knock at the door, Mom immediately raised her head before turning her attention back to the paper.

"Hey, Nate, can you get the door? It's probably that salesman again, comes for you everyday." Mom shouted.

"I'll be there in a second!" Dad yelled from the bathroom.

Dad walked to the door and opened it, outside was a guy in a yellow trilby and trench coat.

"Morning, Vault-Tec calling!" He said enthusiastically.

"Hello, do you need something?" Dad asked.

"I'm a representative of Vault-Tec, sir! I'm just here to ask you and your family a couple of questions." He said, pulling out a pen and handing it to Dad.

Dad stared at the little design on the pen, what looked like an eyeball and with two short lines and a longer one on either side.

"Vault-Tec... Remind me, what are they about?"

"We are about you, to help secure your future. You see, Vault-Tec is the foremost builder of state-a-the-art underground nuclear fallout shelters. A luxury accommodation, where you can wait out the horrors of nuclear devastation. I just glad to have finally got to meet you sir, I've been trying for days, a matter of utmost urgency." He gladly stated, reaching his free hand out.

"You too." Dad said as they shook hands, "But what is so important that you need to make a house call?"

The Vault guy adjusted his hat and handed his clipboard to Dad, "It's a small matter of gathering some information, you've been pre-selected into the local Vault 111, because of your family's service to our country."

Dad nodded and motioned for Mom and I to sit with him on the couch, he and Mom just had to fill out a description of their physical attributes. Dad handed the clipboard and pen to me, where I got a good look of what this thing is all about.

'List the seven defining attributes that make you SPECIAL! Rate yourself!'

Strength - 4

Perception - 6

Endurance - 5

Charisma - 8

Intelligence - 7

Agility - 8

Luck - 6

Dad got up and handed the clipboard back to the guy.

"Thank you, I'm going to walk this over to the Vault. Oh, and congratulations on being prepared for the future! And keep the pen." He said before getting into a van.

"Um, thanks..." Dad mumbled as he got back on the couch with us.

"Hey, it's peace of mind. Worth a little paperwork, right?" Mom asked.

For you and the kids? No price is too high... Right, Dad?

"For you and the kids? No price i-

READ LIKE A BOOK!

Shaun started crying again, I got up and walked over to his room, Codsworth meeting me halfway through the hallway.

"Um, young Shaun has been changed, but he absolutely refuses to calm down. Perhaps you should use that 'brotherly affection' that you seem to be so good at." He said.

"I'll get right on it. Thanks, Cods..." I said before letting Codsworth pass, walking into Shaun's room.

Shaun was crying in his crib, I patiently walked over to him and held out my hand. Noticing that it was me, Shaun stopped crying and wrapped his little fingers in my palm.

"You're a piece a' work, you know that?" I mumbled, keeping my hand out while Shaun started cooing.

"And how are my two boys doing?" Mom said from the doorway, "Spin the mobile around, he loves it."

Sighing, I pressed the button on the mobile and it played a soft tune and spun slowly.

"Hey, I was thinking that we should go to the park after we clean up." Mom said.

"Planning a get together with friends?" I asked with a smug look on my face.

"Um, Mum? Jason? You should come and see this!" Codsworth called from the other room.

"Codsworth? What's wrong?" Mom asked as she ran from the room.

I looked over to Shaun, "Sit tight, I'll be back." Shaun cooed in response, "Love you too."

"Followed by flashes... Yes, blinding flashes... Sounds of explosions. We're trying to get confirmation. We have four reports of nuclear detonation in... New York and Pennsylvania." The TV reporter read.

"We need to get to the vault. Now!" Dad called, "Jason, grab Shaun!"

I ran back to retrieve a crying Shaun, I could her someone over a loudspeaker reminding everyone of how fucked we are. Everyone ran through a forest path and up a hill, I handed Shaun over to Mom, my hands sweat a lot in times of stress. I could hear that Vault-Tec guy yelling at someone, we got up there and Dad had a short talk with the Vault guys, "Infant... Teenage male... Adult male... Adult female... Alright, go ahead." was about all I heard.

"Step on the platform, in the center!"

The platform looked like a gear with 111 written in yellow, how this is going to help, I don't know.

"Almost there, we're going to be okay!" Dad said, pulling Mom and I into a hug.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something falling, when it hit the ground, an explosion made everyone turn to the loud banging noise, slowly rising and reaching towards us. But before it got any closer, the lift went down and a metal plate sealed above us.

"We... we made it." I said through deep breaths, felt like having a damn heart attack.

The lift went down for a few seconds, before stopping. We were instructed to walk up the stairs, grab a jumpsuit, and follow the doctor. He told us to step in a pod looking thing and put on the suit, we did, and I got a long look at the pod, it had a round shape on the inside, leg holders and three head rest, two on the sides and one in the middle, but the space makes it so it's built for two people.

"Mom, Dad, I'll see you in a bit." I said before stepping in and taking a seat in the middle. Getting a view of Mom, Dad, and Shaun across from me.

"The pod will decontaminate and depressurize you before we head deeper in the Vault, just relax." The doctor said before walking off.

"Easy for you to say, asshole." I muttered under my breath.

The last thing in saw before my vision clouded up was my parents, they looked at me like everything was going to be okay...

They were dead wrong.