"Out of Time"

Chapter 2

"Manual override initiated. . . Cryogenic stasis suspended."

"Where am I?" Nate is disoriented but conscious. He wipes away the fog from his pod's window when a woman in a blue hazard suit approaches Nora's pod. "This is the one."

A bald man wearing a metal brace around his left arm crosses in front of Nate's pod. "Open in it"

The woman lifts a lever on the side of Nora's pod and the sound of depressurizing air echoes through the vault.

"WHAAAHAAA" Shawn's crying pierced the silence of the vault.

Nora slouches over with Shawn in her arms. "Is it over? Are we okay?" Nora askes her awakeners.

The bald man steppes forward. "Almost, everything's going to be fine."

The woman in the hazard suite steps closer to Nora and reaches for Shawn. Witch only made Shawn cry louder. Nora began to tug her son away, "No, wait no I've got him!" The woman in the hazard suit simply tugs back. Nate though still disoriented began to bang on the glass of his pod in a futile attempt to get the strangers attention.

The bald man raises his right hand, and points his gun strait at Nora's head. "Let the boy go! I'm only going to tell you once!"

Nora having gained full consciousness began to tug hard on her son, this time she kicks the woman in the hazed suite. "I'M NOT GIVING YOU SHAWN!"

"BANG!" The sound pierces Nate's ears as he watches his wife fall back into her pod. "NOO!" Nate still shivering, weak and disoriented, began to bang on the glass in a desperate attempt to shatter it. "NO! NO! NO! NO!"

"God damn it. Get the kid out of here, and let's go. . ." The man approaches Nates pod. "At least we still have the back up." Nate peers deep into the man's eyes as he begins to freeze. The man has a deep scar that runs over his left eye.

"Cryogenic stasis re-initialized."

Raiders spool up for another attack on the Minutemen held up at the Museum of Freedom.

"Colonel Hollis! They're coming back!" The sound of gun fire erupts behind the Minuteman.

"Everyone get to your positions! We can't let them get into the museum!" Colonel Hollis burst out from the church that stands next to the museum.

Just outside the museum seven Minutemen take up their fighting positions as their left flank gets peppered with ballistic fire. The Minutemen had set up a perimeter made up of sand bags, car parts and other junk that could stand up on its own.

The raiders advancing on the road next to the church take cover behind a burned down building and cars that litter the road. Jim, one of the Minutemen yelled out, "HEY! They're coming up the main road!"

More raiders join in the fight and are forced to take cover as the Minutemen return fire. "Preston get the hell ou . . ." a bullet hit the Minuteman on the left side of his head painting the wall of the church red. Preston grabs his laser musket and darts out from cover of the sand bags.

He takes up a position just in front of the museum and set up behind a sheet metal barricade. He brakes cover and fires his musket into the chest of one of the raiders coming from the church road, completely disintegrating his torso. "Hollis! The left side is down!"

"Critical failure is cryogenic array."

"All vault residents must vacate immediately."

Nate coughs violently as he struggles for air. He leans up against the pod door, and since it has come loose the door flings open making him fall face first onto the floor. He barely catches his breath when he suddenly realizes, "NORA!" He rushes over to his wife's pod, "Come on COME ON! WHERE IS IT?" He fumbles around for few seconds before finding the lever, and giving it a violent jerk.

The pod's door pops open with the sound of compressed air. Nate's heart sinks as he takes in his worst fears. His wife is still covered in ice crystals, his son gone and just above her left eye is a bullet hole. Her blood has frozen over her face. "Oh god . . . no." He began as he reaches in and takes hold of Nora. "You're ok baby, come on." With his wife in his arms he falls back up against the pod and slides down onto the ground.

He brushes away her frozen hair and looks into her lifeless eyes. "Come on baby, please." He rocks here back and forth still in disbelief that she is gone. ". . . . Please wake up . . . Please" Nate's sobs turns into wails, and his face is now drenched in tears. " . . . Please . . . Don't go . . . Please baby, come back . . . Please, I need you. . . "

He can't bring himself to stand. The air around him is cold, damp, and the chamber they lay in is quiet save for Nate and his cries of desperation. He closes her eyes and just sits there rocking back and forth with Nora held close to his face. "Please baby . . . I don't know what to do without you . . . please . . . please, come back. . . "

"Critical failure is cryogenic array."

"All vault residents must vacate immediately."

Back at the museum one of the raiders shoots out from cover, "No! You will pay for that!" The raider proceeds to charge into the perimeter and head straight for Preston. Hollis turns and fires his musket blowing the raiders head off his shoulders.

Raiders continue to appear from both sides as they lay down fire on the six remaining soldiers. Jim joins Preston on the left flank, "We can't hold out like this for much longer."

The raiders have the Minutemen pinned down and out gunned. "I know, just keep fighting!"

The duo come out form cover and fire their muskets into the charging raiders turning one to ash and ripping the arm off another. "You and I both know there is no one coming!" Jim takes aim with his musket and scores another hit on a raider making a move for a new firing position.

Sam darts from cover and adds her laser fire to the church road. "They have us pinned at the main road. Hollis, Carmen and Bill have them on their toes but if we can't get rid of the left flank we are done for."

Preston fires his musket into the gut of another raider. "Hollis! We need to make a move! NOW!"

Hollis removes a detonator from under his coat and tosses it to Preston. "Wait until they are in front of the church and bury them!"

The explosion can be heard for miles as the tower of the church comes crashing down onto the road instantly killing five raiders. The few raiders on the other side of the ruble scramble as they take in the scene of the now completely blocked road.

"Preston, Sam, Jim! Get over here, more raider just showed up on the right!"

The trio turn their attention to the right flank. Just as they break from cover a .308 caliber round blows out Sam's chest. "NO SAM!" Horrified Jim charges towards the raiders.

Preston spots what had just happened behind him. "No Jim, wait!" Too late, Jim was already over the perimeter and headed towards the raider with the .308 hunting rifle. One raider jumped in front of him. Jim plunged his bayonet into the raiders gut, and ripped it out with a violent jerk. He turns and continues his assault into the group of raiders.

Preston fires his musket at a raider coming up behind Jim and reduces her to ash. Jim draws his machete and charges at Sam's killer. The raider pulls out a chainsaw riper and swings it at Jim's head. He quickly dodges the attack with a slide and slits the raider's Achilles tendon as he slides past him.

The raider lets out a blood curdling scream and falls onto the ground. Jim approaches the raider and plunges his machete into the raider's throat. Jim makes his way back to the perimeter and a .308 round blows through the right side of Jim's skull. His body gets peppered buy more bullets before collapsing to the ground. "JIIIIIMMMM!" Horrified, Preston fires his laser musket at the now exposed raider and blows off the top of his head.

With all the raiders on the right dispatched, Preston joins Hollis, Carmen, and Bill on the main road.

The raider leader Gristle steps out,

"Everyone fall back!"

Nate doesn't know how long he lay there with his wife. He lifts his head just enough for the light to reflect off of her wedding ring. With his cheeks drenched in tears, he got up and carefully places his wife back into her pod. "I will find who did this . . . and I'm going to get Shawn back." He kisses his wife's forehead, "I promise, I'll make them pay for this." Nate closed the pod door and dries off his face.

Nate makes his way through the door of the cryo chamber. "Hello! Is anyone there?" He continues down the corridor and enters a room to his left. This room is lined with the same pods as the Chamber Nate just left. After a quick search of the terminal at the far end of the room he discovers that every single resident held in these pods are deceased. "Am. . . Am I the only one left? . . . HELLO! . . . ANYONE?"

Nate leaves the room and makes his way through a corridor on the right since the door to the screening room is sealed. When he makes it to the reactor room a cockroach the size of a small dog charges and jumps up towards Nates chest. Quickly realizing what is going on, he swings his arm and knocks the roach to the ground. The roach recovers and charges at Nate again. This time Nate is ready and he plunges his foot right into the back of the insect "CHRUNCH."

"What the hell was that?" He brushes himself off and makes his way to the reactor. At the end of the reactor he pauses at what looks like a make shift guard post. "Holly shit." At his feet is a skeleton wearing a blue jumpsuit. "What the hell happed here?" He moves past the check point and makes his way into a large office. At the desk is a skeleton wearing a white lab coat.

He notices a 10mm pistol in the skeletons hand and takes hold of it. The pistol is loaded with 11 rounds. On the desk is a clip with 12 rounds and a holster. He straps the holster around his waist and places the pistol in it. After a quick search through the terminal on the desk, Nate discovers that the vault was nothing more than a science experiment. To think of himself as a lab rat is not only sickening but infuriating. His Family is in shambles all because Vault Tech wanted to see what would happen to people that have been frozen for an extended period of time.

He finds personal files the overseer of the vault had typed up. The last entry explains that there was a mutiny due to supply shortages. Judging by the state of the vault, his best guess is that it was bloody.

He decides to look for anything else that may be useful to him. "Bingo!" Nate exclaims as he pulls out a box labeled "Pip Boy 2,000". He places the portable computer on his left wrist and Clears the dust away from the screen. Nate powers it on and the screen starts flooding with lines of text. Shortly after, the Pip Boy displays another set of words:

"New user detected."

"Initializing user pairing."

"Pairing complete."

Not knowing what to make of it he returns to the terminal and selects the file labeled "Escape tunnel." A door on the far end of the office pops open.

Nate runs into another large roach but makes quick work of it. He then makes his way to the screening room at the end of the tunnel.

Nate searches the control board to the right of the large door and spots a socket in the control panel in front of him labeled, "Coupler Ignition." He pulls the plug from his Pip Boy and plugs it into the socket. The words "Vault Door Remote Access Ready." flash on the screen. He activates the coupler and alarms start blaring across the vault.

"Vault door cycling sequence initiated. . . Please stand back!"

Nate takes a step back as the giant cog door is pulled out of the wall and rolled out to the right. He steps out onto the scaffolding and down to the elevator. Looking back at the vault he whispers to himself. "I'm going to find our son. . . I promise." He takes in a deep breath and steps onto the elevator.

"Enjoy your return to the surface!"

And thank you for choosing Vault Tech!"

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