October 23rd, 2077

The bombs were launched by God knows who. Most people didn't go to the Vaults when the alarm went off, thinking it was a false alarm, the Vaults sealed themselves, never to let anyone in... or out...

Chapter 1

January 15th, 2277

"Here in Vault 909 you can choose where you want to end up." "No need for chores, trusty Mr. Handy will clean up after you." "Are you hurt? No problem, just come purchase some Stimpacks!"

Josh Romano slammed the snooze button on his alarm clock. He looked at the time: 6:30a.m.

He laid back down to sleep, but was hastily shaken awake. He looked up to see his older brother Johnny.

"Johnny," Josh said in a sleepy tone. "What the hell?"

"Come on Josh!" Johnny urged, "Get up! Something is wrong!"

Josh sat up in his bed. Aware, now, that the emergency alarm was going off.

"What's wrong?" he asked his brother.

"I don't know, but Josh," He said, a sad look in his eyes, "Mom and Dad are dead."

That was it, that was the deciding factor, Johnny wasn't kidding. And now Josh realized that they had to get out of there. He jumped out of bed and got his jumpsuit. He ran to the wardrobe and grabbed his medpack, and his money, and he put it all into his new and improved Pip-Boy 3000.

Turned to Johnny, and gasped. There was a man with a gun behind him aimed at his head.

"Johnny look out!" he shouted, but it was too late as soon as he said it, the man pulled the trigger and Johnny was dead.

"NO!" Josh yelled. And he charged at the man and tackled him. He kneed the man in the groin and punched him in the face. "you... son... of... a... bitch!" he yelled between strikes. He took the man's gun and held it to his head.

"Go ahead Vaulty," the man said, "shoot me, reading about killing is different from doing it. Go ahead! Unless your not man enough!"

Josh look at him, and shot him in the gut. "Let the bugs get to you," Josh said. And he turned to leave. He looked around, there was no one around. He crouched, easier to sneak that way, and made his way to the auditorium. He rounded a corner but quickly jumped back around. There were three men with big guns. He jumped out of his hiding spot and ran forward several feet. The men turn just as Josh went into his VATS mode and chose selected both their heads. He felt his arm being pulled up by the Pip-Boy, and then pulled the trigger, one man down. His arm was pulled again and the Pip-Boy beeped and he pulled the trigger just as the man was pulling up his gun. He crumpled to the floor. Josh walked up and picked up the two men's guns. He started forward again, passing by dead bodies, people he knew, and grew up with. He rounded a corner and just narrowly managed to duck as someone swung a baseball bat at his head. He looked up and saw his best friend, Briana Larson, ready to swing again. Then she caught glimpse of his face and lowered the bat.

"Christ," Josh said, standing up. "Bri, watch yourself will you?"

Bri blushed, "Sorry," she said, "I thought you were one of those damn Wastelanders."

"Wastelanders?" Josh asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Those guys!" She explained, "The ones that set off the alarm, they came through the Vault door!"

"What! But how? The Vault has been sealed for 200 years!"

"Well, I guess they found a way to open it."

Just then Josh saw a man run around the corner behind Bri.

"Shit, get back!" he yelled and pulled her around the corner as the man started to fire. A bullet lodged itself into Josh's arm as he dived behind the wall. They heard footsteps running toward them and when the man turned the corner Bri slammed the baseball bat against his head. As she hit him he went along with the bat and hit the wall, his head squished like a grape. Bri turned to Josh, who had slid to the floor.

"Are you okay?" She asked him he pulled a stimpack out of his pocket and injected it into his arm. He felt the bullet being forced from his arm and heard the *clank* and felt his skin begin to heal itself.

"Yeah," he said, wincing a little as his skin tugged. "Let's find a way outta here."

"You mean... leave the Vault?"

"Yeah, we have no choice! We have to leave."

Bri looked defiant, but realized he was right.

"Okay," she said. "Do you know where the Vault door is?"

Josh looked down at his Pip-Boy, it showed the Vault door on his map and he set a marker so the GPS would show him where to go.

"This way," he said turning to run down the hall he had just come from. They ran for awhile, not meeting anyone along the way. It wasn't until they got to the corridor leading to the Vault door when they stopped dead. There were voices coming from the other side of the hall door leading to the exit to the Vault.

"Alright, eliminate anyone left in the Vault, I want them dead got it?

Josh didn't know how they were going to get out of the Vault with all those guys in front of the door.

Just then, the door flew open and a big burly man was standing there. He had a bushy mustache and a balding head. He looked down at Josh and Bri and smiled.

"Well hello Boy-o," he said, grabbing Josh and Bri. He shoved Bri into a group of men who "hoho"ed and "Hey there sweetheart"ed. They all started to grab at her and she screamed.

"Hey!" Josh yelled, struggling to get out of the burly man's grasp, "Hey, leave her alone assholes!"

The men closed in on Bri and she screamed on last time, then there was a gun shot. The men turned and saw the burly man clutching at his side. No one bothered searching Josh and he managed to get a gun from his Pip-Boy. He was currently aiming at the men. The laughed and started walking toward him.

BANG! One man dead. They all looked at each other and charged at Josh.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! They all fell.

Bri looked up and saw Josh standing over her, hand outstretched to help her up. She accepted the help and they looked at each other. They turned and started toward the exit of the Vault, they couldn't stay, the gun shots would surely attract anymore men in the Vault and they couldn't risk still being there. They walked out into the sunshine, squinting their eyes. They were accustomed to the florescent lights in the Vault. Nevertheless they walked forward a few feet. They looked around, looks of disgust on their faces. The wastes were worse than anyone in the Vault could've ever imagined.

"We should get going," Josh said, starting forward. Bri followed close behind him.

They walked for about an hour when they came across a sign, it was a large pallet of wood with words sloppily painted on it. The sign read: Ailsville.

So they made their way in the direction the sign pointed, but when they had only gotten 10-15 feet from the sign they were stopped by a man dressed in all leather and aviator sunglasses. He had a metal baseball bat that he was resting on his shoulder.

"Hey kiddies," he said, bringing the bat down and bringing it up and down on his hand. "there's a, uh, tax to get any further."

"A tax?" Bri asked.

"A tax," the man repeated. "I'd say, 100 caps."

"Caps?" Bri asked, confused.

"God," the man said, "what, did you two just crawl outta a hole or somethin'?" he looked down at their clothes and looked back up. "I guess so... well, okay, how about this," he looked at Josh and said, "You gimme the girl and I'll let you through."

Josh looked down, he let out a fake chuckle, and looked back up.

"Or," he started and he whipped out a machine gun he had take from one of the Vault intruders and aimed it at the man's head, "you can just let us by and in payment I won't scatter your brains across the ground."

The man turned a sick looking greenish color.

He took a few steps back and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Heh heh, I was just kidding man, go ahead through." He turned and ran away.

"Come on," Josh said to Bri, and they started back toward the town again.

They walked in silence most of the way, then Bri broke the silence.

"That was pretty stupid thing you did back there," she said.

Josh looked at her, he said, "I'm not gunna let some asshole stand in our way when I can just flash my gun in his face and get him to move."

"Not that," she said, looking at her feet. "In the Vault. You could've gotten yourself killed."

"Yeah," Josh said, he looked back ahead of him, "But at least you would've gotten out of there alive."

Bri looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. But before she could say anything more they turned around a giant boulder and there was the town of Ailsville. It was a dinky little place but they went in nevertheless. When they got to the gate a voice caught their attention, they looked around but couldn't find the source.

"Hey, up here!" they looked up to see a man in what seemed like a guard post. "What do you want?"

Josh cleared his throat and yelled up, "We need refuge. Some men are after us, they killed everyone in the Vault to the south."

The man seemed to comprehend what Josh was saying. He yelled, "Open the gates."

He called down the Josh and Bri, "Alright you two you can come in, but keep your gun holstered."

The two Vault dwellers walked into Ailsville and looked around. There wasn't much there, some small houses and a bar. They looked over and saw the guard that was in the guard tower walking down to them.

"Welcome to Ailsville," he said. "My name is Mark, I'm the leader of Ailsville. If you're gunna start trouble you'll have me to answer to."

"We don't plan on making trouble," Josh assure the Mayor of Ailsville.

"So who are these people who are after you?" Mark asked.

"We don't know," Josh said, "they just broke into the Vault and attacked."

"Well, do daily chores around town and we will keep you safe."

"Wow, thanks!," Josh said, surprised people in the wastes actually looked out for strangers, "Can you point us toward a place to stay?"

"You could try the bar, there's an inn in there."

"Thanks," Josh said to him and he and Bri went towards the bar. They walked inside and were bombarded with the smell of vomit and alcohol.

"Mmm," Josh said, feeling sick, "Home sweet home. Wait here," he told Bri and he walked over to the bar.

"Excuse me," he asked, the man behind the bar turned around and Josh was shocked to find that the guy had no hair, his skin was peeling off and his eyes looked like marbles. "Jesus Christ!" Josh breathed.

"What?" the man said. "Never seen a ghoul before?" The man looked over Josh and saw the big 909 written across his chest. "Oh, another Vaulty."

"I'm sorry," Josh said, "Did you say, 'another Vaulty'?"

"Yeah? What's it to you?"

"Well... when did you see another Vault dweller?" Josh asked.

"Uh, just half an hour ago."

"What! What was his name?"

"I don't know and I don't care, he paid for his drink and left. I don't have time to learn all my friggin' customers' names!"

"Sorry," Josh apologized, "It's just, the Vault was attacked this morning. Men stormed the Vault, killed everyone except me and my friend," he jerked his head toward Bri. "And if someone got out, I figure they might no more on the attack."

The ghoul looked sympathetic, he said, "Hey, man I didn't mean to snap. I've had quite a day. Your Vaulty friend came in with these two big thugs and they caused a lot of problems."

"Wait," Josh said, "Thugs? Were they wearing these jumpsuits?"

"Nope," the ghoul said, "they had these weird eye piece things though."

"Son of a bitch..." Josh swore. "Someone on the inside of the Vault let those guys in..."

"Well if it helps this guy seemed pretty old. He probably went into the Vault 50 years ago when it was open."

"Wait, it was open before?" Josh asked shocked.

"Yep, they had it open for decades, then decided to close it up for some reason."

"Wow... thanks, hey you guys have a room open?"

"Yeah, we got one. You lookin' to stay?"

"Yeah, but we don't have any of these cap things you guys use as currency."

"Ah, well no big deal. Tell you what, why don't you work for me, and that will be payment for your room."

"Really? You would do that?"

"Sure! Just until you get a place of your own."

"Thanks, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, Shawn. Shawn Johnson."

"Well, Mr. Johnson. It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Josh Romano," he said, extending his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, kid," Shawn said, shaking Josh's hands.