Chapter 2

Too Far Gone

Vault 101 was thriving.

With Jax as their Sheriff, or as they called him, Sheriff Sully, the people weren't afraid anymore.

Jax was smart enough so that Amata could come to him for advice. As the G.O.A.T came and passed, the Vault was up and running again. Those who sought to be deputies, but didn't pass get good enough scores were placed on the scavenger team, trained by Old Lady Palmer, though she was far too frail to join them. Nevertheless the scavengers lead by Butch and Freddie Gomez brought some much need supplies. Weapons for the Sheriffs department, books to restock the library, and whatever miscellaneous food and tools they could find. However, there was only one rule that Jax enforced as Sheriff.

There was to be absolutely no trading with anybody other than people from Megaton.

Amata agreed, as the vault doors opening put the people in grave danger from Raiders and others. And of course the return of the Lone Wanderer, so the scavengers often never wore their vault jumpsuits.

101 was a safe haven for several months. Sheriff Sully was the best thing to happen to the vault and it seemed that they would thrive forever.

However, the day eventually came when the outside world would come knocking at the vault's door.

It was early in the morning and Jax was about to start his early morning patrol. He got up and put his jumpsuit on and his badge. Strapped his holster to his hip with his prized forty-four magnum at his hip.

He stepped out into the hall with a paper cup of coffee in hand and nodded at his neighbors who smiled and waved at him. He reached the end of the hall where Gomez stood on patrol.

"Morning." Jax greeted before taking a sip of coffee.

"Morning." he smirked. "Just waking up?" Jax nodded before he could even swallow. "The overseer wanted to see you. Said it was important. "

"Alright, good man." he nudged him. "Go ahead and radio Wally. Tell him he can turn in, I'll take his place up there."

"Yes sir." Gomez nodded as Jax continued down the hall.

The people certainly grew to respect him. Waving to him as he passed by them. They would look up from work and greet him before going back to work. The kids would look out with excitement from he classrooms before getting scolded to pay attention.

Jax certainly grew on them.

As he neared the Overseers office he patted Wally Mack on the shoulder. "You're good to go, buddy. Go ahead and turn in."

He entered Amata's apartment and knocked on her office door. They flung open and Amata sat facing away from Jax in her chair, her eyes on her monitors.

"Come in, Sheriff." she bellowed, shutting the door behind him as he entered.

"What's this about ma'am?" he asked as he stood alertly in front of her desk.

Amata spun around in her chair and looked at him with a wide smile. "Team one came in last night. Brought something I think you should have."

Jax gave a light chuckle and looped his thumbs trough his belt. "Your important message was a present."

"I never said it was important." she corrected with a wave of her finger. "Gomez must be mistaken, but still close your eyes."

Jax peered at her with suspicion, but she merely nodded and insisted. So the Sheriff shut his eyes and heard the overseer get up and walk around behind him. Then all of a sudden he felt a tight squeeze on the top of his head followed by something being placed over his shoulders.

A hat.

"Okay." she said excitedly. "Open."

Jax opened his eyes to see his reflection in a handheld mirror held by Amata. She had placed big black sheriffs hat on top of his head and a leather jacket with white fur on the inside of it.

Jax raised his eye brows and looked at her with much doubt. Though the hopeful look in her eyes couldn't bring him to express his dislike for the hat, so he humored her.

"Wow." he nodded with a sharp grin. "I love it." he skipped his arms through the sleeves of his new jacket and pinned his badge to the outside of it. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Amata." she corrected then rubbed the back of her head with a shy laugh. "Call me Amata." she grinned.

Jax secured his new cover to his head then tipped his hat jokingly towards her. "Have a good day... Amata."

Jax stepped out of the office and into the hallway. He turned right and walked to the end, only to see empty hallway.

When he circled back around by the overseer's office he passed by the holding cells across the hall and looked in the window.

There was nobody in there. No guard, and no prisoner. The cell door was wide open, as was one of the lockers.

Jax pushed a button on his pipboy. "Gomez, who was supposed to be guarding the cells?"

"New guy, Earnie." the deputy replied as Jax made his way into the empty cell.

The sheriff drew his revolver and radioed Gomez again. "Who were we holding in the cells?"

"Hang on." Gomez radioed back. Jax waited, keeping watch out the door. "Floyd Lewis and Jesse White."

"Get everybody inside. We have a jail break." Jax radioed back before he stopped and looked inside the empty locker. "Earnie helped them escape, prisoners are to be considered armed and extremely dangerous."

He marched out into the hallway and aimed his revolver both left, then right, then left again before he went back inside and grabbed a spare pistol from one of the lockers and a Chinese assault rifle.

He rushed out into the hallway, with his rifle aimed out in front of him. He frequently looked over his shoulder for anybody who may ambush him. Finally he reached Amata's apartment and barged into both of her bedrooms for intruders, and when those were found to be empty he turned around and went to her office door. With one hand he held his rifle up and point it at the door with his other hand on the button. Finally he pushed it and raced inside, only to find his deputy Earnie alone in there with Amata as his hostage.

"Put your weapon down!" Jax shouted with his assault rifle aimed at Earnie's head. The deputy simply held his sub machine gun to her head and shook his head. "Put it down now, Earnie!"

"I'll shoot her, Sheriff!" he replied shakily. "Really, I-I will!"

"Okay." Jax panted, slowly inching closer. "It don't have to be like this, Earnie. Just put your weapon down, and we can walk away from this."

"No. I'm leaving this vault, my job is done." he shook his head with watery eyes. "She's gonna escort me and youre gonna give me that rifle."

Jax held out his weapon. "Alright." he said with his hands up. "Why don't you take me instead. They can always elect a new sheriff." Earnie furrowed his bushy eyebrows and shook his head. "Come on, Earnie. Take me, let her go."

There was a moment of silence as the sheriff and his deputy sized each other down with complete distrust.

Finally Earnie nodded. "The revolver, set it on the floor, kick it to me." Jax nodded and did just that. Earnie nodded and pushed Amata to the floor, slung the Chinese assault rifle over his shoulder and aimed his sub machine gun at Jax's head. "Let's go, Sheriff."

The deputy opened up Amata's escape tunnel and walked Jax down the stairs, leaving it wide open.

The two of them walked down the dark, damp hallway and Jax kept his hands up every step of the way. He could hear Earnie's heavy, unsteady breath behind him. The man was unsure of himself. Suddenly the alarms sounded and the overseer's voice sounded on the intercom.

"Attention all Vault 101 residents, we have a hostage situation in progress. All citizens are advised to stay in their homes at all times."

"Why you doing this, Earnie?" Jax asked with his head forward as they rounded the corner towards the door. "I saw you out on patrol, you like it here. Why do something this selfish? You know they'll know where we are in a heartbeat."

"Jesse, he has a plan." Earnie said as they reached the door. Jax pushed the button and the door opened, closing them in a big empty room with a huge steel slab between them and the vault entrance. "He told me about it. This place is doomed by now. Get that door."

Jax looked over his shoulder and pushed the button once Earnie tapped his head with the automatic weapon. The steel slab opened up. And Jax only saw the corpse of one of his deputies lying against a blood soaked panel with a knife in his throat.

Jax shut his eyes with regret as Earnie shoved him forward and the two of them made it down the steps. There he could see Jesse White and the corpse of Floyd Lewis right behind him. The door was wide open with the midday sun filling the room. The shaved head vault dweller looked up at them, a combat shotgun in his left hand and threw up his other in confusion.

"Um, Earnie." he said with his voice raised. "What the fuck are you doing? I specifically asked for the overseer, not the Sheriff."

"I uh, I figured he'd be an equal trade." the deputy explained.

"Its not about the trade, I just wanted to..." He shook his head with an annoyed look on his face. He let out a big sigh and made his way towards him. "Well sheriff, I guess you get the honors."

"Why are you doing this?" Jax asked in confusion. "This place is better than anywhere else out there."

Jesse pursed his lips then pointed at him with a big wide smile. "No! No it is not. See we had a problem with authority down here, so what was your solution?" Jax shook his head and Jesse leaned over and met eyes with him. "More authority!" the man shook his head. "Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is."

"People need to be free." Earnie added with a shaky grin.

"Right," Jesse pointed at him then looked back to Jax. "But unfortunately we can't be free out there as humans, we're too weak." The Sheriffs eyes widened as he looked up at Jesse. "So I came up with a plan that I feel helps everybody."

Jax's heart sank and he shook his head. "What did you do?"

"I." Jesse looked up thinking of the right word as he back up towards the control panel. "I consoled some friends who agreed to spare Earnie and I if we got them into 101." he smiled and nodded at the sheriff. "So I did."

"You idiots." Jax breathed and hung his head. His hat dropped to the floor. He looked back at Jesse. "You fucking idiots! They won't spare you, they'll just chop you up and throw you in a net!" Jesse shook his head and snapped his fingers at Earnie. "You're nothing but dinner to-"

The wind was taken out of him as Earnie hit him in the stomach with the butt of his rifle. The sheriff dropped to his knees. He gasped for air as he looked around, but he couldn't.

Jesse shook his head with an amused chuckle. "Floyd reacted the same way when we got this far. Its okay."

Jesse's attention was taken when a shadow covered the entire room. He shielded his eyes and looked up towards the vault door.

They were here.

He smiled wide as a group of about fifteen super mutants marched their way down the path.

Jax's breath still hadn't come back. Jesse held up his hands and placed his weapon on the ground in front of him.

"Greetings friends." he smiled shakily. "I-I'm-"

A giant blast filled the cavern as one of the super mutants shot Jesse, blowing his arm clean off. Then another blast sounded and dropped Earnie as two super mutants attatched charges to the vault door.

The sheriff immediately picked up Earnie's assault rifle andhis hat and bolted for the door to the inner vault, firing at the group as he did. He reached the inside of the room and pressed his back to the wall as a hail of bullets hit the wall. He looked across the hallway and shot the door panel, closing it behind him.

He heard a massive explosion from the room and a crash as the vault door came crashing down for good. Jax shook his head and bolted up the stairs. He could hear the mutants blow the door down from the previous room, then another each time he closed a door another one was opened.

"Gomez!" he radioed in. "Evacuate the vault! Super mutants have invaded! I repeat. Super mutants have invaded! Take as many people as possible and get them to the Overseer's tunnel now!"

"Roger that!"

He reached the atruim as about ten of his deputies had rounded up and set up barriers.

"Sir. We're ready to make a stand." Stanley nodded holding up an assault rifle.

"Set charges by the doors, get Andy in here, now!"

Not too long after that the mister handy was floating by the door.

Five deputies crouched behind barriers on the ground floor, while Jax and four others waited from above. Suddenly the door exploded forward and two super mutants rushed in, only to get blown up by frag mines. The deputies fired down the hallway and the mutants immediately fired back, getting closer to the end.

Suddenly Andy floated into their path and slashed at the first super mutant with his razor blade, cutting his stomach open, the spun around and set the next one a blaze. Then with a flurry of bullets Andy was destroyed and thrown out the hallway into a barrier, two deputies were crushed under the weight.

Jax looked down and saw Gomez and a group of civilians trapped down there. "Gomez! Get ready to run on my go!"

"Roger that!" he called back over the pipboy.

Jax reached for Stanley's chest and grabbed a plasma grenade and a frag mine and made his way to the center of the catwalk while Stanley provided covering fire. Jax fired at a super mutant then ceased fire. As soon as one of them exposed themselves he pushed the button and threw the grenade into the hallway.

"Now!" he shouted into his pip boy as soon as it exploded.

Gomez ran to the center officer room and provided covering fire for about thirty people who ran across he room only to be mowed down. The deputy was knocked aside by a deputy behind cover as the entire group of civilians was brutally gunned down.

Jax looked down at the slaughter and shook his head. They were all going to die. He had to think of something, but he couldn't. There was no solution for something so powerful.

Stanley shouted at him in a muffled scream that the sheriff couldn't even understand. The engineer finally ran to him and pulled him aside as the super mutants rushed the atrium and two of them were gunned down. However, the rest of the deputies including Gomez was gunned down.

Stanley slapped Jax across he face. "Jax! Jax! What's your call?" the sheriff merely shook his head in immense remorse and failure. Stanley slapped him again. "Jax!"

"I'm calling it." looked at him with a shake of the head. He stepped out towards the overseers office.

"What about everybody else?!" he shouted back.

Jax simply shook his head. "We gotta go, Stan. We gotta go."

It was hopeless. Cruel as it was, not all of them could survive. So Jax threw the frag mine down below and ran to the door as it blew up some super mutants below them. He and Stanley made it to the office and opand the tunnel just as the mutants reached the upper levels. They shut the door behind them and that was that. Everybody else was dead.

Stanley shook his head with tears in his eyes at the thought of all the lost children in there. Jax simply made a slow limp down the hall. No emotions came out; he just wanted to find out if anybody else survived.

"Wait up!" Stanley called, running to his side as they rounded the corner.

They made it to the door and Jax hesitated, his fingers dancing around the button as he prepared himself for the damage done to their population. Finally he hit the button and he and Stanley stepper into the room. The bug steel slab prvoiding safe haven for whoever made it.

Stanley closed the door behind them and pulled the wires out of the panel, shutting it for good.

Jax limped inside, shaking his head at the extremely low number of people who made it. Freddie Gomez, Butch DeLoria, Christine Kendall, Old Lady Palmer, Amata, as well as himself and Stanley. Only Eight of them left.

He dropped to his knees and hung his head at his failure. The people all looked at him as Stanley joined them, giving hugs of relief to those he knew.

Freddie Gomez approached him hesitantly. "My father." he said, his voice shaky. "Jax, where's my father."

The sheriff simply shook his head and Freddie backed away, huffing. And puffing before he dropped to his knees in tears. Amata circled them and made it to Jax.

"Is this really it?" she said.

"It was planned." Jax sniffled and looked up at them. "Jesse White, the scavenger. He made a deal with them." he touched his chest. "Us on exchange for him being turned into a super mutant." the people all shook their heads. "They killed him anyway."

"That moronic fool." Lady Palmer hissed and shook her head.

"Always going off on his own." Butch shook his head and kicked the wall. "How fucking long does it take one man to take a piss?"

"What's our plan now?" Christine asked.

"We gotta get as far from here as possible." Lady Palmer suggested.

"Get in there and ambush them." Butch suggested. "We got the element of surprise on our side now."

"No, she's right." Jax nodded and got to his feet. "This place belongs to them now."

"All those people." Christine breathed. "Its so horrible." She shook her head, throwing her arms around Butches shoulders, erupting into tears.

Everybody was either in tears or fighting to hold their composure. Amata stood in he corner, her head hanging.

"Amata." he said.

"I couldn't keep them safe." she sobbed. "I wish my father was here." she shook her head with regret. "He would've been able to keep us safe."

"Hey." Jax said, leaning over to meet her eyes. "We don't get to grieve right now. This was caused by the greed of one man, nothing else." he said with an angry snarl. "Right now we have to go. Get away from here."

He turned to Lady Palmer and pointed. "Megaton. They've got walls, food, people. It'll be safe. You've been there."

"No." Butch shook his head, Christine still leaning on him. "That place is gone. Some dickless asshole nuked it. Blew that place sky high."

It had been so long since he was out in he world anything would have surprised him.

"I know a place." Palmer said looking up with a nod. "Rivet City. Its a big steel boat, but its a bit of a walk."

"We can make it." Stanley said clapping him on the shoulder. "You and Palmer have been out there the longest. We go where you go."

Jax looked up to see the hopeless nods of the Vault dwellers and Freddie Gomez still lying silently on his back.

His eyes met Amata's and she stuffed his revolver in his holster. "We're not too far gone, Sheriff." she smiled.

Jax looked around and nodded, getting to, his feet. He looked down at Freddie. "Your father." he began hesitantly. "He gave his life for us. Held them off all by himself." he nodded down at Freddie. "The man died a hero."

Stanley smiled wide at what he knew was a lie, but it was a sweet gesture and a secret that he was willing to keep.

Freddie smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yep, that sounds just like my old man. Toughest son of a bitch I've ever met." he sat up.

"Are you gonna make him proud?" Jax asked him with his hands on his hips.

Freddie nodded and jumped to his feet. "Yeah its like you said, we don't get to grieve just yet. I'm ready when you are, sheriff."

Jax chuckled and nodded and Butch stood at the big door panel. Jax and Stanley readied their weapons and aimed them at the door after reloading.

"Everybody take cover, we don't know how many are in there." Jax ordered as everybody else took cover on the sidelines. "I heard them blow the vault door down, so look out for explosive charges." he said to Stanley then looked to Butch. "On my call." he and Stanley shared nods. "One... Two... Now!" he called as butch pushed the button and the huge steel door swung open.

A huge super mutant stood in their way and turned around once the door opened. Jax drew his revolver and shot him point blank in the face and the monster fell back onto the control panel. Jax and Stanley took cover on opposite sides of the door. From the entrance room a super mutant overlord roared and began letting loose a hail of lazer fire from a gatling lazer.

Jax held up his hand, signaling for Stanley to wait as Butch threw Stanley his sniper rifle and the two traded weapons. The mechanic loaded the rifle and readied it as lazer fire it the walls. Suddenly it stopped and they heard the big gun drop to the floor as the mutant attempted to swap weapons. Jax nodded and Stanley leaned out, firing a single sniper shot into he monster's helmet.

It didn't do anything except knock it onto its back. That's when Jax rounded the corner, jumped down the stairs, sprinted at the downed mutant.

Amata watched from the background. "That's dangerous! Jax come back!"

The sherrif kicked the lazer rifle from he mutants hands and fired multiple rounds into its exposed mouth. It lied there dead and Jax immediately nodded to Stanley. "Now! Run for,the door!"

The group sprinted down the steps and Jax picked up the laser rifle and the ammo before he looked to the corner to see Jesse's severed arm, but no Jesse. The sheriff shook his head and ran out the door with them, nearly blinded by sunlight.

The group finally stepped out into the wasteland which reeked like dead bodies, smoke, and sewer water. Christine covered her nose as soon as she smelled it, but everybody else couldn't help but look to the sickly Grey green sky and the crater that was once Megaton and Springvale. The school was barely hanging on by a threat.

Power lines were no longer standing, megaton was nothing more than a big pile of rubble. Billboards stuck out of the ground, and rusted cars were split in half sticking out of the dirt.

Jax turned to his pip boy and tapped Lady Palmer's shoulder. "Rivet City, where's it at?"

She leaned in and tapped the map on his wrist. "Right there on the river."

Jax nodded and saved the location on his map. "Okay guys, we've got a bit of a walk, lets head out and if we can scrounge up some supplies for the night."

And so with a single call, the survivors from Vault 101 made their way south, towards Rivet city. Unaware of their futures and full of fear. They spent that night at Super Duper Mart with nobody uttering a single word to each other.

Now was he time for grieving.