There was a crying baby, surrounded by beeping machines.
"Are you a boy, or a girl?" Asked The Voice.
A boy, came the unheard response.
"Its a boy? A boy! We've got a son Catherine! A beautiful, healthy, baby boy."
"Heh. Oh, oh James…"
Mommy…
"We did it. A son." The breathing was ragged, "A beautiful son."
"You've got a bright future ahead of you, son. I'm sure of it. Look at you. Look at you! Hi there, I'm your Daddy, little guy. Daddy. You're going to need a name, aren't you? Your mother and I have been talking, what do you think about Abel?"
The baby cried more.
"That's a good name, don't you think?" Daddy continued, "Fits you perfectly. Looks like they've finished the Gene Projection. Let's see what you'll look like when you're all grown up."
A monitor was pushed into view. On it's flickering screen, there was a Caucasian male with brown eyes. His face was rather basic, clean shaven, nothing remarkable, other than his long brown hair. It went down to his shoulder.
"You're going to look a lot like your Dad. See that Catherine?"
"Oh… Oh… Very strapping."
Mommy sounds faint… Is Mommy okay?
"It's a big world out there son, full of all sorts of people. What about you? What kind of person are you going to be?"
The machines started beeping faster.
"...James…"
"We'll just have to wait and see."
"James…"
"Catherine? Catherine!" Daddy turned away, "She's in Cardiac Arrest! Start compressions, get Abel out of here! Move, move! One one-thousand, two one-thousand! Come on! Come on!"
"Don't look straight into the lights, pal. You'll hurt your eyes. Just something you need to get use to down here." Daddy leaned down, "Come over here, son. Come on, walk to Daddy." He patted his legs.
The toddler began to take small steps.
"There you go. Just a year old, and already walking like a pro." He sighed, "Your mother would of been so proud."
He walked away, once Abel reached him, and shut the playpen gate.
"Listen, kiddo, I know you don't like it when Daddy leaves you alone, but he needs you to take care of yourself for a moment. You just stay here, pal. Daddy needs to go to his office. I'll be back in a bit."
Abel fell down next to his favorite toy, a big red ball. He pushed it away, and crawled to it. He smacked his little hands against it, and it bounced, landing outside of the pen.
Abel pulled himself up, using the gate. It clicked open, and he moved toward his ball.
Then he saw The Book. It was his favorite book in the whole world. He plopped down next You're SPECIAL!, and opened it:
S is for Strength, and that means I am strong!
I can carry more toys and swing stuff all day long!
There was a six scribbled on the opposite page.
P is for Perception, a long funny word!
It means what I tasted, smelled, saw and heard!
There was a bright pink five nearby.
E is for Endurance, and that's how long I can play!
I'm always really healthy, and have energy all day!
A small, hastily made six covered the picture.
C is for Charisma, it's why people think I'm great!
I make my friends all laugh and smile, and never want to hate!
Three crooked lines crossed the two pages.
I is for Intelligence, it means I'm really smart!
I use my brain for lots of stuff, like science, math and art!
There was nine little dots across the page.
A is for Agility, that's how I get around!
I move real fast and easy, and I never make a sound!
Seven little dashes, with seven little colors decorated the picture.
L is for Luck, and it's simple, you see!
It means that good things always happen to me!
Under the picture was a backwards four.
Abel made to turn the page again, but the door hissed open. Daddy was back!
"Ha ha ha, you're quite the little explorer, aren't you? Serves me right for trying to pen you in."
Daddy sat in his sitting chair.
"Come over here, I want to show you something." He motioned to the framed words. "See that? It was your mother's favorite passage. It's from the Bible. Revelation 21:6: I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."
He stood, and dusted himself off. "Come one, let's see if your little friend Amata wants to play."
All I saw was a bright flash of light.
"Surprise!" Came six voices.
"Stanely, you turned the lights on too fast! You've blinded the poor kid!" Officer Gomez said, annoyance on his voice.
"Happy Birthday!" Everyone said.
"Can you believe it? He's growing up so fast." Ms. Palmer said to Overseer Almodovar.
"Happy birthday Abel. I can't believe you're already ten." Daddy said to me, "I'm so proud of you. If only your mother…"
The Overseer rudely cut Daddy off, "Congratulations young man. I don't have to tell you how special this day is, do I? Down here in Vault 101, when you turn 10, well, you're ready to take on your first official Vault responsibilities." He held something out to me, "So here you are. As Overseer, I hereby present to you your very own Pipboy 3000! Get used to it. You'll be getting your first work assignment tomorrow." He laughed at me. He actually laughed at me.
I looked back at Daddy.
"Well, enjoy the party. You only turn 10 once, so have fun."
I might of cracked a smile as Paul came up to me.
"Thanks for inviting me to your birthday. Really cool party, and everything. I know that me and Butch give you a hard time, but ah… Don't take that personally. Happy birthday. I got to get back to… Ah…" He walked away, going back to Butch. He's the only one of the group I really liked. I heard them saying some insults, but I tuned them out, turning to my best friend.
"Hey Amata."
"Happy birthday. I bet we really surprised you, didn't we?" She giggled, "Your dad was afraid you were onto us, but I told him not to worry. You were so easy to fool."
"The party's great. Thank you. Really, thank you."
"You're welcome. But really, your dad did most of it. I just helped with the decorations." She let out a little gasp, "Hey, bet you can't guess what I got you for your birthday! Go on, guess!"
"Hm. Baseball cards?" I asked. I new Amata pretty well, but she always managed to surprise me on my birthday.
"Ha, I knew I'd surprise you. Who's your favorite barbarian?"
"G-Grognak?" She couldn't of…
"Issue 14, and with no missing pages."
I threw my arms around her. There were no words to explain how thankful I was. Now I had them all!
"How?" I asked her, backing away.
"I found it in a box of my father's old things, believe it or not. Imagine him reading comic books. I guess everyone was ten once. Well, I guess I better let you get back to 'mingling' with your guests. We'll talk later, okay. Happy birthday." She said, waving as she walked away.
"Thank you. I'll see you later."
I clutched the comic, before heading over to Daddy. I passed it off to him, asking him to keep it until we got to our room. Ms. Palmer waved me over, a soft smile on her face.
"Are you having a nice party? Ten years old, my my my. Seems like only yesterday your daddy… Goodness, listen to me ramble! You're waiting for your present, aren't you?"
"You didn't have to get me anything."
"Fiddlesticks! What ten-year-old doesn't like presents? I was ten once, believe it or not. My goodness, the Vault was practically crowded back then. Not like today, so few young people around… But here I am rambling again, and you listening so politely."
She pulled out something wrapped in brown paper. It smelled wonderful.
"Here you go! A nice sweetroll that I baked for you just this morning. And it's all for you, no sharing required today!"
"Thank you Ms. Palmer," I said, already unwrapping it.
I noticed Butch coming closer.
"Happy Birthday nosebleed!" One time. One time, and it was his fault!
"Attention everyone! It's time to cut the cake!" Andy the Mister Handy cried out from behind him.
Uh oh. He's using the buzzsaw. This isn't going to end well.
Cake shot out. It hit Butch in the back of his head.
I couldn't help but to laugh.
"You're going to be sorry you little!" He pushed at me.
"Little? I'm bigger than you." I jumped backwards, nearly falling against the bench. I turned away, and clambered over the table, putting it between us.
He tried to go around, but Officer Gomez grabbed him.
"Butch, what are you doing? Leave him alone!"
"Tattletale!" I wasn't even…
I let out a sigh as he was dragged away.
"What's his problem anyway? Trying to start a fight at your own party. What a jerk." Amata had gotten beside me.
"I know. He's a butt. At least Gomez got him before it got too bad."
"Exactly what I was thinking."
She turned to Overseer Almodovar, and chastised him for being so official.
I went over to the destroyed cake to get a party hat. Stanley stopped me.
"Those are covered in cake, kiddo." He motioned to my Pipboy, "How do you like it? Fit alright and everything?"
"It's really cool. Did you fix it up for me?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. I'm glad you like it. Some may think that the A series is a bit basic, but I've always preferred them for their reliability."
"Thanks Stanley."
"Don't mention it. Oh, I almost forgot. Happy Birthday. Not much, but I hope you like it." He passed me a baseball cap. It was red, with a white capital C on the front.
"I like it." I say, putting it on, "Thank you."
"I pulled some strings, over at the work station. You'll be working under me tomorrow, and I'll show you how to set that thing."
I gave him a great big hug, "Thanks Stanley. Thank you."
I went back to the table, where I had dropped my sweetroll. Luckily, it wasn't stepped on. I finished unwrapping it, and went to Daddy.
"Are you alright? Butch giving you a hard time again?"
"Don't worry, I can handle Butch." I said, offering him a piece of the roll.
"Thank you." He said, taking it, "And I'm glad to hear it. Once you start letting bullies push you around, you'll never hear the end of it. I bet someone else got a present for you." The intercom beeped, and Daddy went to answer it.
Officer Gomez waved me over.
"I hope Butch didn't hurt you. Want to tell me what that was all about?"
"It was nothing sir."
"I'm glad to hear that. I don't want you to let Butch bully you. He's going to be a handful in a few years, if his mother doesn't keep him in line. Well, no harm done. Why don't you go back to the party?"
I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Daddy.
"Hey, that was Jonas on the intercom. We've been cooking up a surprise present. Go to the Reactor Level. I don't think anyone would mind if you stepped out for a moment."
I nodded, and left. I searched around for a bit, before I found it, and went down the stairs.
"What are you doing down here young man? I thought kids weren't allowed on the reactor level." Jonas said, stepping out from behind me.
I spun on my heel, clutching my chest, mock anger on my face. "I'm not a kid! I'm ten years old!"
"You sure are. Look at that, Pipboy and everything. Is that part of the A series?"
I nodded.
"Well, your dad will be down in a moment. I think he'd like to give you your surprise himself."
"Ready for your surprise?" A voice whispered from just behind me, causing me to yelp.
"W-What surprise?"
"The Overseer gave you your Pipboy, and you're old enough to work, so I thought that you were old enough for this," Daddy said, pulling something long from behind his back. "Your own BB gun! It's a little old, but it should work perfectly. Jonas found it down here, it was in pretty rough shape. Took us a good three months to find all the replacement parts. You know how tough it is to find a spring that small? Good thing Butch misplaced that switchblade of his."
I got punched for that.
"So, what do you think? Want to give it a try?"
"We can't shoot here."
"We sure can't, unless we want the Overseer beating down our door. But me and Jonas found a place." He put his hand on my shoulder, and led me away.
"Thanks Dad. Thanks Jonas." I was a bit in shock from the whole ordeal."
"No problem buddy."
"Enjoy it Abel. You only turn ten once."
I saw the targets a bit away, and we all stopped.
"Go on." Daddy said.
I lifted it up, and pointed it at the target on the right side. I jerked the trigger, and hit the wall behind it.
"Breathe in, and hold it when you fire."
I held the breath, and fired again. It hit the edge of the target.
"Hold on." Daddy took the rifle, and messed with it.
"The sight was off." He said, handing it back.
I hit the next target much easier.
"As far as I can tell, you're a perfectly healthy teenage boy. So yes, you do have to take your G.O.A.T. today. Go on now, you have a G.O.A.T. to take." Dad shooed me away, "And I have patients to see."
I left with a sigh. On my way out, I might of palmed a Stim. Never know when Butch would try to fight me. I ran my other hand through my hair. It was buzzed short. Kinda wish the Overseer would let me grow it out.
I heard Amata saying something down the hall. Turning my head, I saw that the Tunnel Snakes, as they liked to call themselves, harassing her. I should try to find a peaceful way to stop them, but I know they won't ever stop. Not unless someone teaches them a lesson. I came closer.
"What do you want?" Butch turned his head to me.
"Looks like you're having fun." I said, a small smile forming, a course of action set.
"Damn right. And you'll stay out of it if you know what's good for you. No one messes with the Tunnel Snakes. Especially not this stuck up daddy's girl."
I grab him, and jerk him close. "If you don't leave her alone, you answer to me. Is that understood?"
"You little twe-" My fist slammed into the side of his jaw, and I pushed him back. I jerked backwards. His little friends had stumbled into each other trying to get to me, and I threw another two punches. Then I lost the advantage surprise gave me.
Butch's fist slammed into my gut, and his friends tried to circle me.
"Too much of a pussy to fight alone?" I called out between punches. I slammed my fist into someone's dick. Not sure who. That was when Mr. B broke up the fight.
"Alright, alright. All of you, break it up! You three, get away from him." He helped me up. "The Overseer will be hearing about this. Inside, now!" I stumbled in, and took my seat. My day was off to a great start.
Well, I'm back in the saddle again. First Fallout thing I've done in a long time. This is the prequel of Legend of The Lost Courier. I understand that there are going to be inconsistencies, and ask that you don't comment on them. Assume that LoTLC is non-canon, because as of now, it is. When I finish this, I will rewrite it, and the new version will be the canon one. Editing will be an ongoing process. Hope you enjoy this.