Currently rewriting this story in third person and reconstructing plot points. I'm just letting you know now that some elements might be changing in the future, and writing style might be slightly different. Obviously help yourself to the rest of the chapters, but please know elements are subject to change as the story is redone. Regardless, read and enjoy.

Winter opened one eye and peered out of the window. The hallway was dark, the lights hadn't turned on. It wasn't morning time yet. She took out the clock from under her pillow and squinted to look at it. Five o'clock, she had one hour before all the adults woke up, and she had to go to school. She had managed to take the clock from her Dad's room without him noticing, she'd been worried that the ringing would wake him up, so she tried to muffle the inevitable noise by putting the clock under her pillow. She hoped that it worked.

Winter listened for noise before she got up out of bed. The floor was always so cold early in the morning, sometimes it made her hiss, but it made her wake up quickly. She slowly crept across the room and put on a jumpsuit. She had to squirm to get into it, she hated the stupid thing. If she didn't wear one, though, the adults would catch her and make her change. She'd get punished again, and would probably be made to go into detention. Again. The very thought made Winter annoyed as she sat down to tie her shoes. She concentrated and leaned forward. She tried to remember all the steps, her Dad said she almost had it right. She stopped when she realised that her tongue was sticking out again, Amata kept teasing her for it, almost as much as when she had to tie her shoes. It took her forever to get them tied, and she was worried that Amata would be waiting for her for too long. She quickly got up and opened the door. She crept past her father's room and went into the living room.

Her father sat on the chair, reading a book with a small smile on his face, "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Nothing, Dad," Winter said quietly.

"This doesn't look like anything," Dad chuckled, "Why are you dressed to go outside and play?"

"No reason," Winter looked down at her shoes, noticing that one bow was significantly smaller than the other.

"If you're going out to play with Amata at the playground, at least brush your hair first," Dad said patiently, holding out a brush.

"Dad!" Winter whined.

"Don't make me chase you down, sweetie," Dad joked.

Winter's shoulders sagged and she stomped towards her father, tilting her head down and letting Dad brush the mess of black hair on her head.

"Now," Dad said, "What do you say if you run into a guard?"

"That I'm sorry officer, I'll go home immediately," Winter mumbled.

"What if it's Officer Gomez?"

"Tell him that you owe Daddy twenty bucks."

Dad laughed and pecked the top of her head, "If he pays me with five dollar notes, how many bills will he give you?"

"…Five."

"No, sweetheart. Think, don't guess."

Winter frowned, "I don't know."

"Yes you do. What's four fives?"

"… Twenty?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"That's my girl. What do you do if you see a radroach?"

"Run home and tell you."

"What if you get lost down a corridor you've never been into before?"

"Stay where I am."

"You should always tell someone you trust where you're going, especially if you're going somewhere you're not supposed to be, to cause trouble," Dad said, turning Winter around. He leaned forward in his seat so he could look Winter in the eye, "What do you do if Amata wants to go home?"

"Take her home."

"What do you did if the Overseer is mean to you?"

"Don't be mean back."

"Why?"

"Because the Overseer is the leader."

"I know it sounds silly, honey, but he's the boss, OK? What he says goes."

"Yes Dad."

Dad put the brush on the table beside the chair and kissed Winter's cheek, "Go and have fun, but don't be late for school, your multiplication skills need work."

"Yes Dad."

Winter walked down the corridors of the Vault. It was always quiet this early in the morning. Occasionally she walked past an apartment that had a radio going, but nobody heard her walking past. She only had to crouch down a little to hide herself from the apartment windows anyway.

Winter walked down past the apartments and into the lower floors, where she wasn't supposed to go until the adults were awake, because sometimes the radroaches got there and sometimes bit people. She walked down until she thought she heard someone. She hid behind a corner and peered across. Amata sat against the door, a book in her lap.

"You took forever!" Amata complained when she saw Winter coming.

"Dad caught me," Winter pouted, "What are you reading?"

"One of Daddy's books. The War of the Worlds," Amata showed her the cover. Winter frowned at it. It was all faded, the title had to be rewritten into the book with a pen.

"What's it about?"

"Aliens attacking the earth," Amata said simply.

"Cool!"

"It's not so great."

"Do you think that's what happened? Before, I mean? The thing that ruined the outside?"

"It wasn't aliens," Amata sighed, "That's stupid."

"Why? Why couldn't it be aliens?"

"It was the Chinese. They launched their rockets on America and destroyed the world. Not aliens," Amata mumbled, "There's no Vaults in this book, either."

"Oh. Well where did all the people go to hide, then?"

"They didn't, a lot of people are dead."

"You're no fun today."

"Don't go home," Amata whined, "I'm sorry. I'm done reading anyway."

"Can I read it?"

"Can you read it?" Amata teased, "It's got big words."

"For your big head," Winter jabbed back.

Amata shook her head and stood up, "Lame."

"You're lame."

"Yeah, we'll see if I can beat your record today, smarty-pants."

Winter snorted and followed Amata to the playground. Winter kicked off her shoes and glanced up at the tree above them. Nowhere else in the Vault had a tree. It was big, she knew that because Dad mentioned it all the time when he brought her to the playground. It was so annoying when he kept talking about it, when all Winter wanted to do was climb it. Amata always hesitated, because the first few feet was always the hardest. Winter remembered where to put her feet and was already on her way to the top branch. She'd left her chalk up on the branch last time, she wanted it for this afternoon so she could draw on the walls of the Vault apartment quarters again. Every so often Winter glanced down to see Amata below her. She was stuck on where she always got stuck.

"Come on, you baby," Winter teased when Amata chose to stick to one of the branches.

"It's hard!" Amata complained.

"You're not gonna beat me!" Winter grinned gleefully.

"But I'm smarter than you, dummy," Amata yelled back up at her.

Winter pulled herself up on a branch and sat on it, "'Mata, look at that small branch."

Amata glanced up at it, "I can't grab a hold of that!"

"Don't be a baby," Winter whined, "Come on, you're being boring."

"I don't want to!"

"Then don't," Winter said, "Climb down, but I'm not getting your book you left up there."

Amata glared at Winter, before reaching up and gripping the branch.

"What are you buttheads doing?"

Winter groaned, "Go away, Butch."

Amata looked up at Winter and made a face. Winter and Amata both hated Butch. He was always mean, never nice. Winter remembered his Mom always being asleep in her room whenever Winter came over to play, Butch would be mean to her then. She'd hoped that Butch wouldn't be at the playground so early, but she knew that he sometimes got up early so he could be the first in the cafeteria for breakfast.

Butch crossed his arms and glanced up them, "You're not supposed to be up there!"

"You're not allowed here either," Winter jeered back, "Go home Butch."

"I might tell the Overseer," Butch threatened, a snide smile on his face revealing nasty teeth.

"Then you'll get in trouble, too," Amata said desperately.

"Not as much as you!" Butch grinned, "I'm telling! You two stole my coloured pencils yesterday!"

"Dummy," Amata muttered under her breath.

"Just keep climbing," Winter shrugged, "Go soak your head, Butch."

Amata lifted herself up, but stopped. The branch snapped and Amata screamed.

"Amata!" Winter shouted.

Amata's chin banged against the trunk of the tree and she barely managed to find her footing on the branch. Winter looked down and tried to find a way down to her. The branch to get to Amata was broken, and had almost fallen on Butch, who was too busy laughing hysterically to care.

"Fatty fatty! You broke the branch you're so fat!" Butch jeered. Amata looked up at Winter and started to cry.

"Go get the Overseer!" Winter shouted at him, "You'll get in trouble for not doing it!"

Butch seemed to understand that, and took off in the direction of the guard's floor.

Winter looked down at Amata, "Can you climb down?"

Amata shook her head and kept crying, "I want my Daddy!"

Winter winced and tried to find a way down for herself. The only way she could see down was the branch Amata was standing on, but she could have to jump across and down, and the branch was too thin to make it safe.

"It's OK, I promise," Winter told her, "Your Dad is coming, and my Dad will heal you."

And Amata's Dad did arrive, with five security guards in tow. Winter wasn't afraid of the Overseer normally, but the look he gave her made Winter not want to come down at all. He shouted at Amata to jump down, and not in a nice way. Winter got angry when Amata started to cry harder, especially when Butch and his friends returned to call Amata fat again. They were ushered away, and a security guard managed to catch Amata when she did eventually jump down.

"What about the Daniels kid?" an officer asked.

"Let her jump, Gomez. She'll be fine," the Overseer mumbled as he picked Amata up.

Officer Gomez looked up at Winter, "Winter, listen to me. You're going to have to jump, OK? Just- jump for the branch Amata was standing on."

Winter didn't waste time. She had planned on how to jump the entire time Amata built up the bravery to jump. Winter jumped, and realised she had jumped too short. Her arm hit the branch hard and she remembered hitting the ground hard. She sat up and Gomez ran up to her. Winter bit her lip and sniffled.

"Hey, hey you're alright, kid," Gomez said nicely, "You're alright."

"My arm hurts," Winter said quietly, she didn't want to cry in front of a grown up.

"How bad does it hurt, kiddo?"

"Bad."

"We'll take you back to Dad, alright? He'll fix you up good."

"You'll give him the twenty bucks you owe him," Winter sniffed when Gomez helped her up. Gomez laughed and walked in front of Winter, "Sure, Winter. Sure. That was brave of you, but don't climb trees anymore, alright?"

"OK. But why is it there?"

"Pardon?"

"Why's the tree there if you're not supposed to climb it?"

"I think it's just to look at, kid."

"But that's boring."

Gomez laughed again and ruffled Winter's hair, "It's boring, but it saves you a broken arm."

Gomez sat down with Winter in her Dad's waiting room. After a while, Amata came out looking at the floor, her chin was bandaged. Her Dad ushered her out, looking very mad. Her father walked out, but he didn't look mad at all.

"Oh sweetie," he sighed and gently gripped her shoulder, "Let me have a look at you."

"She took a pretty bad spill, Doc," Gomez explained when Dad lifted her up onto his bench, "Arm might be busted."

"I didn't cry."

"No, you didn't," Dad looked at her arm and nodded, "You might be getting an x-ray. By the looks of it you might not be going to school today either."

Winter didn't feel happy. She was still angry at Amata's Dad for how angry he was at them. It wasn't Amata's fault the branch broke, and she was hurt, so he couldn't be mad at her. Her Dad wasn't mad, he was sad that Winter had hurt her arm, like a normal Dad would be.

By dinner Winter had a cast on her arm that she hated. She had broken her arm and had a "bruised rib", according to Dad. The Overseer, regardless, had given her a detention, which had to be carried out by writing lines on the classroom chalk board, despite Dad's objections that Winter's writing hand was the one that had been broken. James promised that it would be sorted out, and Winter was ordered to bed so her arm could heal. It itched, and she was tempted to steal Butch's sharpened toothbrush to scratch it, but Dad told her to not think about leaving the apartment without him for a while.

"Do you think Amata's mad at me?" Winter asked when Dad tucked her into bed.

"What? No, why would you think that?"

"Her Dad's mad at me, so she might be."

"That's silly. You're Amata's friend, she won't be mad at you for wanting to play with her."

"But I told her to grab the branch, and it broke."

"That's just bad luck, honey. These things happen, nothing you can do about it. I'm proud of you, you were very brave today. Not many grown ups can handle a broken up as well as you did."

"Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome. Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Dad."