The first thing I noticed was the cold. It felt like it was radiating out from my very bones and seeped into every fiber of my being. I couldn't really see, my vision was cloudy and everything was spinning. After a while I finally seemed to get my bearings straight. I was in some kind of metal box and I could make out a window of some sort in front of me.
I looked through the glass and saw a man slumped over in another metal box across from mine but I couldn't see his face because it was obscured by frost. I felt panic rise in my chest for some reason and I froze up as it all came back to me. The bombs, the screaming, the Vault, everything surged through my mind faster than I could comprehend. It was becoming too much and I could feel my chest about to burst from the stress when suddenly the door of the pod I was in opened up and I went tumbling out.
With a loud crackle and burst of static an intercom came on overhead. "Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. Vault residents must vacate immediately."
Gasping from the unexpected fall I looked around the room I found myself in and found nobody there. I directed my attention to the pod in front of me which contained my husband. With tears in my eyes I frantically tried to pry the door open. In my hysterics I couldn't think straight. "C-come on. Th-there has to b-be a release… " Eventually I calmed down enough and I found the release. I pulled the red handle down with a sob and the pod opened up for me. "Come on, come on, come on. Oh God…sniffle…please!"
Inside my son was gone and my husband was slumped over dead. Grief began to manifest and take hold of my heart. His body was covered in ice but I didn't care as I grabbed him, hugged him to my chest and cried. Just cried. I couldn't bring myself to do anything else, my husband had been killed and my son was gone.
The pain from the hole in my chest was matched only by my sudden sense of failure as I thought about my son. How I failed to protect my little boy. Soon I was able to stand up and my training kicked in. Right now I had to survive. I had to try to catch those bastards who killed my rock and taken off with my angel.
"I WILL find the ones who did this and I WILL get our baby boy back Jason. Then I'm going to MAKE THEM PAY! I promise." I said to my husband as I cradled his head bringing our foreheads together as I cried.
I kissed him one last time with tears blurring my vision before resealing the pod and turning towards the large door to my right. The lights were flickering and in some cases were broken completely. The walls and the floor looked dusty and unkempt. There were pipes and tubes all around the room that were leaking water and spouting blasts of freezing cold fog.
Passing the other pods I realized they were all full except for one, and that they were all dead. All of them were covered in ice and staring blankly at me through the windows. In some cases they appeared to be sleeping. In others they had obviously been trying desperately to get out. These were people I had known.
Rosalita and I had had morning coffee together everyday since we both arrived in Sanctuary. Mr. Jones had spent days in his garage with my husband, drinking Nuka-Cola and talking about the glory days. These were people that I had loved as much as my own flesh and blood. "Oh God. . . Why would Vault-Tec do this? They're. . . They're all dead." I said as I looked around the room more carefully, praying that I might find at least on other survivor. The only hope I found was an empty pod at the end. "I can't be the only one left. . . HELLO! ANYONE!?"
At the base of the stairs on the left I noticed a terminal on the wall. Going over to it I turned it on and as the screen burst to life I looked for anything that might help me find who did this. On it I found out that Life Support and the Cryogenic Array had failed due to isolated manual and remote overrides that had been detected. This caused the other occupants to die of asphyxiation due to life support failure. The system had failed to log the times and dates they occurred so I couldn't determine how long it had been.
Going through the door I recognized the hallway we had come down after entering the vault. For a moment I thought I could still hear the panicked voices and cries for loved ones. To the left I found another room with pods but once again everyone in the pods were dead. I left the room and turned left. Straight ahead was the door separating me from the main entrance.
It looked like it was jammed shut. Judging from the tools and repair equipment around the doorway. Figuring that it would be a waste of time to try and pry the door open I turned to the right and headed deeper into what was starting to feel like a tomb. I just hoped that there was another way out, I had seen another doorway in the main entrance on our way in. Maybe that was my way out.
I eventually I calmed down drastically and I was able to function almost normally. I eventually found myself in the security room where I found another terminal. This one outlined Vault 111 Security Instructions, Operations Protocol, and some Security Logs. Nothing really interesting until I read the Security Logs.
From what I read I could tell that they weren't supplied with enough supplies to last much more than a year underground. Eventually some realized they were going to run out of food and that there was never going to be an all clear from Vault-Tec. A riot soon broke out between the Overseer/science department and the security/staff.
Moving on to the next area I opened the door and across the room was the biggest cockroach I had ever seen. It had to be the size of a small dog! As it slowly crawled around on the wall I stood still as a statue in the doorway. On a table nearby I found a security baton and just in time as almost immediately after I picked up the weapon it lunged for me. Instinct and training kicked in as I proceeded to beat the ever loving shit out the bug until it stopped twitching. Looking around there didn't seem to be any more but I kept my guard up and my weapon ready just in case.
In the nearby kitchen and cafeteria I found a terminal with a copy of game Red Menace. 'Score!' I thought to myself as I ejected the holotape. I enjoyed the little holotape games and how they distracted me from reality. It was nice to forget it all sometimes.
My stomach rumbled and I noticed that my throat was dry. I searched the rest of the room and what appeared to be barracks for any food or water. Ever since waking up I had been starving and I felt like I could drink a lake. I couldn't find any food but there was a sink that still poured out clear water.
Making my way through the generator room I was confronted by more huge roaches. After fighting them off I went to exit the room when I saw the first skeleton on the floor. It was wearing a Vault 111 jumpsuit and there appeared to be bullet marks on the floor next to it. I wondering if they had been killed during the riot or by the man who killed Jason. 'What happened here? Is this all that's left?'
I soon found myself in the Overseer's office. On his desk I found a 10mm with ammo and some stimpacks. 'Thank God, now I at least have some firepower.' On the floor behind the desk was the skeleton of the Overseer. 'Is anyone alive? Did anybody make it out?' I asked myself as I looked around the room. I still hadn't found any trace of my son or the people who took him but I wasn't ready to give up yet.
In the back of the room was the Overseer's quarters. Inside I found a working bathroom. After taking care of business I looked into the mirror above the sink. My reflection looked back at me. My vibrant red hair stood out the most, then my green eyes. My face was a little scarred on the left side a vertibird crash while in the Marines but its not to bad. I like to think it adds a certain edge to my appearance. It amazes me that I don't look any different than I did the morning that the bombs fell. It just seems like so much has changed that I'm happy that at least something is the way I remember it.
Going back out into the office I noticed a case on the wall inside a security cage nearby. Inside I found an odd looking weapon that I learned was called the Cryolator from a terminal on the Overseer's desk. I was able to pick the lock on the case and I grabbed it. Who knows, it could definitely be useful later. I went back over to the terminal on the desk and opened the evacuation tunnel.
Inside the tunnel I was assaulted immediately by at least a dozen more of those giant roaches but this time I was well armed. Using the Cryolator I was able to freeze them all in mere seconds. It was actually kind of fun and I was a little disappointed when they were all finished. Oh well, I was sure there would be plenty more where they came form.
Soon enough I found myself at the vault entrance. On the floor were more skeletons and even some roaches picking away at whatever was left on the bones. I pulled out my 10mm and opened fire on them when a roach as big as I was tall crawled out from under the floor. "Oh my god that's a big bug." Was all I could say as it barreled toward me. I don't remember aiming or emptying the clip. When it was over all I could think about was how big it had been and the panic that had set into my very core when it popped like a daisy from beneath me.
I had still not found any clue as to where the kidnappers and my son could have gone. It is now obvious that they are no longer here in the vault. Using a Pip-Boy I found on a skeleton I opened the vault seal and made my way out of the vault that had been my tomb for who knows how long. I was both eager and terrified to see the surface again. On one hand it would mean fresh air on the other who knows what I would find up there.
As the platform lowered and the gate swung open I boarded the elevator that would take me back up to the world I had left behind. Looking up questions buzzed through my mind. The intercom buzzed to life again before I ascended the tunnel. "Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault-Tec."
