Chapter 1: The Vault
War. War never changes. Oh sure, the weapons change, the reasons for it are rarely the same.. But War will always be War. People die for their countries and make other people die for their's. This happens over and over and over until one side runs out of people. At least that's what I've read in the books we managed to save before the War.
My name is Thor. I Live in Vault 94. What's Vault 94 you ask? Well, A Vault is a type of subterranean installation designed by Vault-Tec. Officially, they were designed for the sole purpose of sheltering up to one thousand dwellers from a nuclear holocaust. It's like a little town undear the earth. It has citizens, Us the Vault Dwellers, It has a Police Force, or more like a small squad of Security guards and it has a mayor, also known as The Overseer. The Vault was sealed when the bombs dropped. Nobody comes in, nobody goes out. It's been like that for as long as I can remember. I was born in Vault 94. And I'll die here too. Or at least that's what I thought. It's what I was told.
A Few months ago, life in the vault was what it had always been. My 17th birthday rolled around and my mother and I were having breakfast in our Vault-Chamber when my best friend Rick walked in. Rick is a tall guy, his hair is always messy, he doesn't bathe very often and when he walks in, you notice a pungent odour in the room that wasn't there before. So why do I like him? I don't know, but for some reason, Rick was always the only guy I was able to really connect with. The others kids always ignored me, called me ugly or threatened to beat me up. I only have two real Friends: Rick and Karen. Karen is the Overseers daughter and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't always had a huge crush on her. Don't laugh at me, it's not polite to laugh.
''Yo, Thor'' Rick said, smiling at me as the Automatic doors slid open, allowing him entrance into our humble abode.
''Hey, Rick'' I replied as I scooped some SugarBombs into my mouth from the bowl on the table.
''Morning Mrs. Erikson'' Rick smiled at my mom.
''Good morning, Richard'' Mom said into her eggs.
''You have anything planned for your b-day?'' Rick turned his attention to me.
''No, I figured I'd just.. You know.. Sleep..Sit around here..Read.. What we normally do'' I replied.
It's true, life in the Vault wasn't exciting, but it was better than the life you'd have on the outside. The outside had been bombed in the war. What used to be Washington D.C was now nothing but a ruined Wasteland, crawling with Mutant monsters and evil people that would rob you blind, kill you and spit on your corpse at the first chance they got. Well, The mutant monsters would probably do just kill you. That's why we were down here. The Vault was Safe. Safe from the Radiation, The Mutations and the Legions of unsavory Characters.
''Oh, No you ain't gonna do none of that! Not on your birthday! You're gonna do something Special today!'' Rick exclaimed. I shrugged.
''Like what?'' I asked him.
''Like throw a huge party with me and Karen!'' Was his answer.
I'm not sure If I mentioned this, but life in the Vault was Boring. Parties were something that Never happened. Not Ever. The Overseer thought of it as a needless waste of food and energy.
''A Party?'' I asked.
''A Party!'' Rick confirmed, smiling.
I didn't waste any time in getting out the door. I fetched my BB Gun and My Baseball cap, things that I Always carried with me. The Cap was a gift from my dad, and the BB gun was just something that I kept around to shoot the walls. It was more fun than staring at them. Rick and I headed through the halls of Vault 94. The Chrome and Steel Plates on the walls were bolted together with faults here and there, really showing off the age of the building. It was a miracle that this broken-down building could keep out the radiation on the surface. We walked through the residential area, past Rick's Vault-Chamber and Past Karen's. We made several turns, walking quickly through twisted metal corridors, passing at least 16 other Vault-dwellers on the way. We walked down the stairs heading for the Reactor Room. Other people were getting to be a rare sight by now and that was how we liked it. The Vault was somewhat crowded, but nobody ever came down here, so the Reactor room had become what I guess you could call our hideout. Karen was there waiting for us.
''Finally you two show up!'' She exclaimed. I blushed softly.
''Sorry'' I excused both of us. Karen smiled.
''Happy birthday, Thor'' She hugged me.
Karen and I had been friends for a really long time and I had had a crush on her since the day we met. She is the sweetest, most wonderful girl in the whole vault. Not to mention the most beautiful. Her eyes are the deepest shade of brown you've ever seen and her hair is dark blond. Her smile summons my own every time I see it and her laughter is the sweetest music to my ears. It's always been like that. But enough of my ranting.
Karen and Rick presented me with their presents. Rick had scraped together what he could and had gotten me a couple cases of BB's for my gun. These were hard to find in the Vault, so I knew he'd gone through a lot to find them.
''Thanks Rick'' I smiled, sticking the BB's in the Pocket of my Vault 94 Jumpsuit.
''You're welcome, dude. Enjoy 'em while they last'' Rick replied.
Now it was Karen's turn. She dug around in her pockets, but she didn't find whatever she was looking for.
''Oh, no! I forgot your gift in Dad's office!'' She whined.
''Oh, Karen, That's alright, you didn't have to get me a gift anyway'' I said.
''No! I'm getting you a gift if it's the last thing I do!'' She replied.
''But-'' I began, but she cut me off.
''No Butts!'' She said. ''I'll be right back!''
And then she ran off. Rick and I waited around for her to come back for about ten minutes before we started to really get restless.
''Man, what's keeping Karen?'' Rick finally asked.
''I don't know, but.. She'll be back soon, she said she'd be back soon'' I said.
''Maybe we should just go and loo-'' Rick began, but was cut off by a loud buzzing alarm.
The Alarm Buzzed loudly Four or Five times before we heard a deafeningly loud metallic screech, followed by a roar of rusty metal scraping against even rustier metal. A second of Silence and then the roar sounded again, being followed by another loud metal screech. Then, everything went silent. We heard commotion upstairs and people asking what had happened. Rick and I didn't know what to do, so we decided to go see if Karen was alright. We had no idea what had happened. We headed out of the Reactor room, up the stairs, through the corridors and over to the Overseers office. We saw the Overseer in the hallway outside his office. He was frantically running around, trying to find something.
''What are you looking for sir?'' Rick asked him.
''What am I Looking for?'' The Overseer barked back at him. ''My Daughter!''
''What about Karen?'' I asked.
The Overseer didn't seem to mind me for a minute, while he ran around the hallways. We followed him, trying to keep up.
''Mister Overseer, Please, you've got to tell us what happened to Karen!'' I yelped at him.
''I can't find her!'' The Overseer whimpered.
''We gathered that, but do you know Why you can't find her?'' Rick asked. The Overseer shook his head, obviously fearing the worst.
''What was that sound we heard?'' Rick asked.
''That was Nothing! Don't think about that!'' The Overseer barked back, as if he was hiding something from us.
Rick and I decided to go search for Karen elsewere. We knew she had been going to the Overseer's office so we decided to check there, just in case the Overseer hadn't thought she'd be there. Once the Doors opened up, we realised she wasn't inside se we'd have to search the rest of the vault, but what we did see took our minds off that small setback: Right in front of the Overseer's desk where the floor used to be was a staircase leading downward. We stared at it in stunned silence for a moment before coming to the conclusion that Karen must have gone down there.
''Thor, What.. What is this?'' Rick asked me.
''I have no idea..'' I replied.
''You're supposed to be the expert on the Vault! You spend so much time reading about it, one would think you'd know what a big staircase in the middle of the Overseer's office was for!'' He exclaimed.
''Well, I don't!'' I whimpered, inching closer.
''You suppose Karen went down there?'' He asked.
''I can't imagine she'd be anywhere else..'' He took a step down.
''What are you doing?'' Rick asked.
''Looking for Karen'' I whispered, afraid of going down the staircase. I took another few steps.
''Are you crazy? You don't know what could be down there! Radroaches maybe! Or Something worse!''
Radroaches are basically Giant Cockroaches, mutated by the radiation. They infest the lower levels of the Vault and given the darkness of the area below the staircase, it was almost certain that some would be hiding down there as well.
''Just shut up and come along!'' I growled at Rick, who grumbled something I didn't catch and followed me down the stairs. The Darkness below the staircase was overwhelming. I couldn't see a foot in front of my face. I turned on the flashlight on my Pip-boy and sure enough, Radroaches scattered in the distance.
Oh, did I forget to mention? The RobCoPip-Boy is an electronic device manufactured by RobCo Industries, using ultra-modern super-deluxe resolution graphics, It has the capability to store large amounts of information and transfer data to and from Holodisks and from data tubes. It is mounted on one's wrist like a watch. It is basically a small computer that you wear on your arm. The 'PIP' in Pip-boy stands for 'Personal Information Processor'. All Vault Dwellers got their very own Pip-boy at around age Ten and Rick and I were no exceptions. We never took out Pip-boy's off. We couldn't have even if we wanted to. The Pip-boy uses a Biolock that means it can only be removed by a skilled Technician. If one of those isn't available, a Bonesaw is also a viable option.
The light from my Flashlight revealed the dark corridor, much like the rest of them, but it looked like this corridor hadn't been used in years. It was dusty and the walls had rusted into discoloration. At the End of the Hallway was a large room that I had never seen before. There was a control console on the left of the room and in the middle, on the wall opposite from me was a giant metal door. It looked like a Gear from a machine and the number '94' was painted in Big yellow font on the front of it.
''What in the name of god is that?'' Rick asked, pointing at the door.
''It's.. A Door'' I replied.
''Leading where?'' Rick whined.
''Rick..'' I began. ''This door.. This is The Vault Door. This is the Exit.. What lies behind this door.. Is the Surface..'' I said to my friend.
''The Surface!'' Rick exclaimed.
I nodded and walked to the console by the door. There was a big lever and some buttons on it. From the tags by the buttons I deduced what I needed to do to open the door.
''Rick.. The sound we heard.. That was this door opening and closing again'' I said to Rick.
''How do you know?'' Rick was desperately trying to persuade me not to even suggest what I was thinking about doing.
''Rick.. We hear the loud noise and suddenly, Karen's gone? She left the vault! Rick, We have to follow her! It's not safe in the Wasteland!'' I ignored his question.
''No, Thor! She's probably already dead!'' Rick whimpered.
I wasn't about to listen to that sort of talk. I wouldn't. I couldn't.
''No! Dont' say that!'' I whimpered.
''Listen, Thor.. If Karen's out in the Wasteland.. She must be dead..'' Rick said it again.
''NO! She's NOT DEAD!'' I yelled.
Rick seemed to see that I wasn't about to be persuaded and so he accepted what we were about to do.
''Alright.. Thor.. But if.. If this gets us killed..'' He began, but he couldn't finish the sentence. There was nothing else to say. He and I both knew we were going out there to look for Karen. There was no question about it.
I fiddled with the control console for a moment before putting my hand on the lever.
''Here goes..'' He whimpered before pulling the lever down. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, we heard a click behind the door, followed by the same, deafening, metallic screech we heard before. Rick and I covered our ears, gasping at the loud noise. The Roar followed shortly after and the Giant metal Gear rolled to the right. Once the dust cleared, we could see a dark cavern and in the distance, a crude wooden door. Cracks of sunlight seeped through cracks in the old wooden door in the back of the cavern and Rick and I could do nothing but stare at it for a moment.
''Let's get going'' I finally said. Rick hesitated, but nodded and followed me. I put my hand on the door. I could feel a breeze from outside. For the first time in my life, I was feeling actual wind. Fresh air. I took a deep breath and hoped it wouldn't kill me. I opened the door and stepped outside into the blinding sunlight with my friend following quickly behind me.