Chapter 1

Pick Ourselves Up

Vault 101.

Once seen as the safest place in the wasteland, now a dystopia torn apart by its own inhabitants.

Its new overseer, Amata had a vision after the death of her father at the hands of the Lone Wanderer. Though she didn't blame him for his decision; nobody did. Though once they all saw what he was capable of he seemed more dangerous than the old overseer.

It was the Lone Wanderer and her father who served as inspiration for Amata to be better, but the pressure of leading caused her to grow weary. People looked to her for answers with everything and it eventually seemed hopeless to rebuild the vault after the brutal civil war.

It was one night when she was crying alone in her office that he answer came in the form of a knock at the door.

"Not now!" she sobbed with her head buried in her folded arms on her desk.

The knock came again. "Ma'am, it's Jax Sullivan. I... I think I may be able to help with these issues here in the vault."

Amata picked her head up and eyed the door. Jaxon Sullivan was somebody from her own class. A bit of a loner, but always ended up being smarter than everybody in class. Eventually his scores during the G.O.A.T granted him the job of Wedding planner.

And now he had a suggestion for fixing the vault. This should be good.

The overseer slowly picked herself up out of her chair and made her way to her big double doors. With a push of the button the doors disappeared revealing a tall, thin man with curly brown hair and a stubbly chin. He still clutched his clipboard in his hands from a job earlier that day.

"Come in." she sighed, shutting the doors behind them.

Jax waited in from of her desk as the overseer circled around and plopped down in her chair.

"Well?" she suddenly said.

"Right. " Jax nodded. "Well our main problem in the vault is people are still used to the anarchy of the civil war, right?"

Amata nodded. "Yeah. Everybody wants to retake the G.O.A.T but they don't understand we need those positions filled NOW."

"Well what you really need is a mass community test." he replied. "Gather everybody inside one area. The theater should be big enough." Amata peered up at him in confusion. "Then all you need is somebody to keep order. A trust worthy sheriff, not abusive guards like some prison."

Amata blinked and shook her head. "All these years you hardly say a word to anybody, now all of a sudden you have all the answers?"

Jax gave a sideways grin and shrugged. "Not all of them, Ma'am. I just figured I would try to help out with logic and reason, since everybody seems so panicked." he hesitated for a moment before he cleared his throat and awkwardly looked around. "And don't take this the wrong way, but people are starting to talk. They think you can't keep us safe."

Amata blinked though she wasn't all that surprised. She gave a slight chuckle and leaned back in her chair, burying her hand in her face with stress. "I can't keep order myself."

"You're stressing yourself out, ma'am." he said with a slight laugh. "I can see it in the bags under your eyes. You can't do it all by yourself. you're starting to lose them." he leaned over her desk and looked right at her. "Hey." Amata looked up and the two of them met eyes. "We're not too far gone."

She got a warm feeling from that. It was the first time she had gotten any real support as the overseer. Jax was kind and he was smart.

"Thank you, Jaxon." she nodded at him, timidly. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I assume you learned this from your adventures into the wasteland." Jaxon opened his mouth to explain but she simply held up her hand and shook her head. "It's okay it's okay. I'm sure you have your reasons. I don't have to know, I'm not my father." she said nearly choking on her words.

Amata buried her mouth in her hand upon reminding herself of her late father. Jaxon blibked. "You're still grieving." Amata turned away as tears began escaping. "I'm sorry." Jax turned towards the door. As he reached the terminal he looked back. "I'll speak to officer Gomez about applying for Sheriff. He's one of the good ones. You get some rest, ma'am."

Jax raced out the door and made his way down the hallway staring at the walls as he did. Bulletholes and grafitti riddled the place. It must've been truly depressing for somebody in her position to see the vault in this condition.

He walked faster down the corridors and stairs until finally he reached the Gomez residence.

To no surprise Freddie answered the door and gave Jax a snide grin. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just looking for your dad. Is he home?" he asked.

He only got a tight frown in response to that question and Freddie shook his head. "No."

"Well do you know where he is?"

"You're smart." Freddie replied with hostility. "You figure it out."

"Freddie." came a cool voice from he other room. "Who is it?"

Jax peered at Freddie with a sideways grin. "Not home huh?"

Officer Gomez came around the corner and approached the door in only pants and a white t-shirt. "What can I do for you, son?"

"I wanted to run something by you, sir. In private." Jax insisted and peered at Freddie who sneered and walked away.

The officer watched his son walk away and then he turned to Jax. "What can I do for you?"

"I've convinced the overseer to let us create a sheriffs department here in the vault." Jax explained then poked the former officer's chest. "And I want you to be the primary candidate."

Gomez blinked in astonishment and touched his chest. "Me? Sheriff?" Jax gave a quick and quiet nod. Gomez chuckled and shook his head. "It's a good idea, son, but they'll never elect me for Sheriff after everything that happened."

"But you were one of the good guys," Jax argued as he followed Gomez into his living room. The man sat down on his couch and looked up at him. "You have the heart and the experience. Perfect Sheriff material."

"They'll never vote for me." Gomez argued. "To them I'm just another corrupt vault security guard."

"At least try." Jax argued. "Put up posters. Write a speech. Help outing cleaning up the vault. They'll eventually see that we need somebody like you."

Gomez hung his head and looked up. "I'll try. I'll get Freddie and some of his friends to come help me clean up. Speckle and repaint the walls."

"I'll work on posters and set up your speech date. You start working on writing it." Jax nodded and stood up. He held out his hand and Gomez graciously shook it. "I look forward to working with you, sheriff."

"Me too." Gomez replied. "Jaxon was it?"

"Just Jax." he grinned and backed out the door. "Good luck."

Gomez watched the plucky young wedding planner leave his home and his son stepped out of the kitchen and shook his head at his father.

Setting up the campaign took two weeks. While Jax wanted it to only last mere days, the citizens of Vault 101 still refused to man their stations, so Jax, Gomez, and the Tunnel Snakes began putting in the work as it was needed while setting up the campaign in their spare time.

The walls were fixed and cleaned and for the first time in months Amata could look out her window and feel like she was doing something right. Posters were set up after Jax designed them himself.

'Gomez for Sheriff. The leader your vault needs.'

'Vote Gomez. He will protect you."

Other slogans were created and the pictures of Gomez littering the halls certainly caught everybody's attention, though not always in a good way.

Jax often found them vandalized and needing replacement. Citizens often expressed heir rather strong disagreement with Gomez for sheriff.

With Jax working the cafeteria people would come see him and stick around to help out. Though it wasn't permanent like Jax wanted. The campaign had to happen so thatthe new G.O.A.T results could be enforced.

The day finally came when Gomez would give his speech. They all gathered in the theater with Gomez on the stage with Jax and the Tunnel Snakes backing them up.

Amata took up center stage and grabbed the microphone. Every vault citizen turned their attention to the overseer as she tapped on the mic.

"Ahem* Thank you all for attending this meeting." she greeted in a nervous manner. "We are here today to tell the fate of our vault. As you all know when the Lone Wanderer returned to the vault he helped destroy what we had." the people all started nodding at the brutal honesty that she held. "Our security, our sense of community. But as a good friend of mine once said to me, we're not too far gone. We can rebuild, but I cannot do it by myself. So one of our dwellers came up with the decision to elect a sheriff, not a gang of corrupt guards."

"This ain't a prison!" came a chant from the crowd and the rest all chanted in rowdy agreement.

"Settle down!" Amata shouted once or twice loud and louder until she had their attention. "Here to give a speech on the vision of the vault is officer Gomez. Please give him your undivided attention."

Gomez hesitated then took center stage. The crowd went silent and Gomez immediately gulped.

"Stand strong." Jax shook his head.

Freddie looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?"

"These people can't stand him. To them he's just another asshole security guard." Jax explained, "The pressure may get to him."

Freddie immediately shook his head. "God. Come on, dad."

Gomez looked out at the hostile glares of the dwellers then gave a shaky wave. "Hello everyone."

"No no no. Inspiring, not casual." Jax hissed to himself.

"I am here today because this vault needs help." he nodded after swallowing his fear. "This place was broken after the lone wanderer. The overseer died and all of a sudden we question the way we live down here." he shook his head. "But we have to pull together. We need security; Community, again. And for that we need a sheriffs department. Not some corrupt squad of riot troops." he pointed into the crowd and nodded. "As you all said this isn't a prison. We don't need guards, we need watchful protectors."

"You're lying!" a woman screamed from the crowd.

"Just another guard!"

It wasn't long before everybody in the crowd was shouting and cursing at the former vault security guard. Jax rushed to Gomez and tapped on his shoulder. He nodded to the wedding planner and joined his son on the side of the stage.

Amata mouthed to him and shook her head. "What are you doing?"

Jax merely nodded and turned to the crowd as they continued to chant insults before slowly quieting down.

"Hey everyone. I'm Jaxon Sullivan as many of you probably know. I'm sure I've worked with a lot of you before." he grinned kindly then he shook his head. "Look I know the previous system was broken and many of the guards were corrupt assholes, but that's better than not having a system at all. What we're doing now, it's not good for this vault. We need a police that serves the people not the system. That's exactly what you would be electing Gomez here for." the citizens merely shook their heads begrudgingly at him.

Amata buried her face in her hand and shook her head. "Just fucking doomed us." she whispered to herself.

"Gomez was one of the good guys." Jax announced with a hand in his pocket. "When the riots were happened he was the only guard who helped the people. He helped me escape the vault on a regular basis so that I could go out and get food and supplies for you all." This earned him nods of from people starting to see his point. "He's not the bad guy. He's the leader that this vault needs. He's certainly the most experienced person here." Jax gave a shrug as he watched some people nod and some shake their head. The room was divided. "It's your call. Go cast your vote and the sheriff will be announced in a few days. Thank you all for your time."

At that Jax dropped the mic and turned around to join Amata's side. Everybody got out of their seats and went to the ballot table, manned by Butch.

The overseer let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"They needed to be encouraged by one of them." he nodded and folded his arms. "A citizen, not somebody they once feared. I'm sure I made them see the light, then again they might elect somebody else, who knows. Nobody else is running."

"Anybody else will need to be trained." she replied. "Gomez will be a part of this whether they like it or not."

It was three days later that Amata collected the ballots to be counted in her office. With a turn of the key she opened the back of the box and hundreds of slips of paper spilled out onto the table. One by one she counted the ballots, either shocked or hopeful with each and every need candidate she found.

Finally she smiled widely and pushed the button of her intercom and the whole entire vault went dead silent with anticipation. Jax lied in his bed, a lit cigarette between his fingers; suddenly he glanced at the speaker in his living room.

"Attention Vault 101. This is your Overseer speaking." Amata spoke with much pride in her voice. "The votes for Vault 101 Sheriff are as follows 5 votes for Butch DeLoria, 30 votes for Stanley Armstrong, 35 votes for Herman Gomez, 15 votes for Andy the Mr. Handy-"

Jax couldn't help but let out a loud laugh from that and apparently others found it funny too because he could here more laughter from down the hall.

"And 76 votes for Jaxon Sullivan." Amata finally said.

Jax's heart skipped a beat and he accidentally burned his finger with his cigarette. He picked it up and flicked the ash, before he looked up at the intercom.

"The winner and the newly appointed Sheriff of Vault 101 will be Jaxon Sullivan, effective two weeks from now on Monday August 21st, 2277." Amata finally said. "Other announcements. Replaceme. G.O.A.T exams will be held on August 22nd, 2277. Today on August 7th, we say Happy birthday to Lucy Palmer who turns eighty years old today, happy birthday, Lucy."

Jax could barely hear the rest as the cheers from the other residences surrounding his erupted with cheers of joy from over half the vault.

He let out a sigh and shook his head, puffing more on his cigarette, wondering who nominated him.

He couldn't do it. He hadno experience as a lawman.

In no time Jax made his way across the vault and marched into Amata's office with a strong fury.

"Okay you need to tell me what the hell is going on!" he said as soon as he entered the overseers office. Gomez and a bitter looking Freddie were in the room with her.

"You heard the news then?" Amata smiled in amusement.

"Don't play dumb." he pointed at her. "I was just helping out because I knew nobody else would. I never wanted to be in charge of anything."

"You inspired them, Jax." Gomez explained. "You took charge as a leader. Captured their hearts and minds without weapons and armor. If you ask me you're a better candidatefor Sheriff than me. I'm a grunt, not a king,"

Amata stepped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You can do this, Jax. I believe in you." she smiled warmly. "Gomez will be your first deputy and he'll be in charge of training you and your deputies."

"Having it just be you and I until the G.O.A.T exams will give you tons of practice." Gomez explained to him. "You and I will work out and hit the shooting range every day, then head out on patrol afterwards."

"Stanley will craft the badges," Amata added then stopped herself as Jax shook his head. "Hey, hey. I need you to do this. Please?" Jax looked up and their eyes met, Amata smiled warmly at him. "For me?"

Jax sighed and shook his head as he reached into his breast pocket for a cigarette. "Fine." he sighed as he lit it and inhaled. "I'll do it."