Hello! I'm imagining you've probably read the first chapter by now, and if so, please give feedback! I will probably be updating this weekly from now on, so keep it locked. Now, where were we?

9 years later...

It's my 10th birthday, but nobody has said anything to me. Nothing. I'm pissed, but also a bit peckish, as I haven't had breakfast. I guess some light snacking can't hurt. I head towards the diner and its lucrative frozen yoghurt machine. I flick the switch and walk into the completely dark room. I know it well enough to be able to find the lights, but I barely take a step inside the room when they come on.

"SURPRISE!"

The room is filled with smiling Vault-dwellers, all applauding me.

"Stanley, you turned the lights on too fast! You blinded the poor kid!" exclaims Officer Gomez.

"Happy birthday, pal! I can't believe you're already 10." says, Dad, "I'm so proud of you. If only your mother..."

"I don't have to tell you how special this day is, do I?" He is interrupted by the Overseer, Alphonse Almodovar. He's kind of like the vault's leader. "Down here in Vault 101, when you turn 10, well, you're ready to take on your first official Vault responsibilities." I shudder at the thought of hard labour. "So, I hereby present to you your very own PiP-Boy 3000. Get used to it. You'll be getting your first work assignment tomorrow." He laughs a little to himself, then takes a seat.

Examining the strange device now attached to my wrist, I figure out that the three buttons on the bottom of the display govern whether I am looking at Stats, Items or Data. The device is wired into my brain and bloodstream, and so, is the most useful information processer ever made.

"Enjoy your party, Chris. You're only 10 once."

"Happy birthday!" Amata says, a little loudly. "We really surprised you, didn't we? Your dad was afraid you were onto us, but I told him not to worry. You're SO easy to fool."

"You didn't fool me, I just pretended not to know," I lie through my teeth.

"You're such a liar! Hey, I bet you cant guess what I got you for your birthday!"

I genuinely don't know, so I take a risky guess. "Um, a date with Christine Kendall?"

"Ew, gross! I didn't even know you liked girls!" I knew I'd made a mistake. "Oh well, I guess I'd better give this to someone who likes Grognak the Barbarian better than Mean Christine!" She says, handing over the comic anyway. "I found this in a box of my father's old things. Imagine him reading comic books! I guess we're all ten once."

I thank her, then move forward to speak to Paul Hannon, who is looking nervous.

"Hey Paul, what's up?"

"Hey, uh, really cool party and everything, uh, I know Butch and I give you a hard time, but you don't take that seriously, right? Anyway, happy birthday, and I'd better get back to, uh, you know."

"OK, Paul."

Old Lady Palmer is sitting in a booth, humming an old tune. I decide to walk up to her.

"Hello, Mrs Palmer."

"Ten years old, my my. Why, it feels like only yesterday that your daddy came..." The Overseer is giving her nasty looks from across the table.

"Goodness, listen to me ramble. You're waiting for your present, aren't you?"

The best reply I can muster is a simple 'Yes Ma'am'

"Such a nice polite young man you are! Don't ever lose your gift of speaking your mind so directly." After more such drivel, she finally presents me with my present: a freshly baked Sweetroll. I eat it hungrily. At this point, Andy (the Vault's resident Mr Handy robot) shouts out that it's time to cut the cake.

"Andy, no!" But it's too late. Andy's circular saw blade has cut clean through the cake, sending half of it flying across the room. A heavy sigh rises from the room. I have already eaten, so I'm not really that fazed. I turn on the spot and speak to the Overseer.

"Are you enjoying the party, sir?"

"Of course, he replies. I hope you appreciate the effort Amata put into this party. She seems to like you, for some reason."

"But of course she likes me, I'm a really charming guy!"

I instantly knew I'd cocked up. "Don't presume too much on her friendship, young man. I'm still the Overseer, and I'm still in charge of this vault and everyone in it."

I move up the diner, and speak to Wally Mack.

"This party's pretty cool, I guess. For a little kid. Balloons, Party hats. Not as cool as MY party, though. Remember how Stanley got Andy to do magic tricks? And we all played hunt the mutant in the atrium? Oh, that's right. You weren't invited to my party. Too bad, man. It was really fun."

Butch then gets up, walks up to me, and says "I'm hungry, and that stupid robot destroyed the cake! Gimme that Sweetroll you got from Old Lady Palmer!"

"Oh, it sure was nice when I ate it a few seconds ago." I inform him, in a leering manner.

"You what! Oh, dang, I love those sweetrolls Old Lady Palmer makes!"

"Dick," I say to myself.

"What'd Butch want? I thought you were in trouble there for a second."

"Oh, it was nothing, Amata. Just wishing me a happy birthday."

"Sure. That's what it looked like."

Just then, I noticed a small *bleep bleep* from the intercom by the doorway. Curious, I investigated.

"Hello?"

"Oh! Hey there, sport, listen, could you put your dad on?" Being the nice, obedient child I am, I did just that. The two of them chatted for a little bit, and I noticed the Overseer leaving.

"Hey, Chris, that was Jonas on the intercom. He and I have been cooking up a surprise present. Why don't you head down to the reactor level?"

I left the diner, brushed past Beatrice, and came to the stairs down to the Reactor level. I saw the Overseer going up the stairs next to them, so I hid, and eavesdropped on his conversation with Officer Kendall.

"Did you enjoy the party, Sir?" Kendall queried.

"Bah! I only went because Amata's friends with the brat. Give them five more minutes, then clean up and get them back to work," he said, heading back to his office.

I knew this wasn't the best place to be right now, so I quickly made my way down to the reactor before he saw me.

"What are you doing down here, young man? I thought KIDS weren't allowed down on the reactor level." Jonas was trying his best to seem intimidating.

"Jonas, you know as well as I do that I'm allowed down here. So can it."Ok, hey, I think your dad will want to give it to you himself."

"Are you ready for your surprise?" Dad had crept up on me, and surprised me.

"What kind of surprise?" I ask, excitedly.

"It's your very own BB Gun! The Overseer gave you your PiP-Boy, and you're old enough for work, so I figured you should have this as well." This was not what I had expected, but I decided to roll with it.

"We can't shoot a gun here, can we?"

"No, we can't! But fortunately, Jonas and I have found a place. Come on." We moved through a door to where a crude firing range was set up, with three targets. I managed to hit all three with relative ease. But then, out of nowhere, a large, orange-brown creature appeared. It had six legs and kept exercising its two wings, which were hidden beneath it's armour plated body.

"Careful, it's a Radroach. Think you can take care of that with your BB gun? Just aim and shoot, you'll be fine." After a short while observing it, I managed to find its head. 1 shot should take care of that. Aim...FIRE! The creature's head was blasted across the room, and into a corner.

"So, what do you think? You can come down here and shoot anytime you want." And I did. Almost every day after school, I would come down here with Amata and shoot, whilst talking about various things. Eventually, I built up the courage and broke into the armoury. Walls, lined with weapons. I took a .32 rifle, a .556 assault rifle, and a Laser Pistol. I got to know everything about guns and maintaining them. It was my passion.

That's the end of Chapter 2, folks! Stay tuned, because Chris will be tested next Friday. Make sure to give feedback and criticism.