So I uploaded this Chapter half baked by accident a few fays ago sorry about that. I finished it on my phone, it didn't save and I went ahead and put it up without checking, but its all fixed now.
Freezer Burn
"FUCKING REDS!" Ben shouted causing Shaun to cry.
"What are we going to do Nate!"
"We need to get to the vault NOW"
"What should we pack?" Nora asked frantically.
"No time, how long do you think it will take for a missile to get here, I give us twenty minutes tops." Ben stated.
As fast as he could he ran to their bedroom, pulling his footlocker out from under his bed he grabbed out his 10mm and as many boxes of ammo as he could, jamming them into his pants he then for the door but he was quickly called to a halted.
"What should I do Suh?"
Codsworth.
The robot was practically a member of the family, his most helpful friend In a way. Free thinking to a existent leaving him alone would be terrible, But in the end he was just a robot.
"Codz... Stay here and guard the house until we come back. Don't worry buddy we'll... we'll be home soon." He struggled out for the robots sake.
"Suh yes Suh." replied the robot with a chuckle then looking down "Goodbye Mr. Howard. I'll watch over your things with my life."
With that he left his robotic butler in the house to catch up with Nora and Ben, Once past the threshold he looked up and down the street. His neighbors had clearly heard the news of impending doom, air raid sirens where screaming through the air and people where panicked running about trying to flee the area with whatever they could carry.
Nate found no ease in trying to find his wife in the mess, and only did because Ben was relatively tall causing him to stand out, joining the trio they all began the run to safety.
The vault was a mile west of Sanctuary, making speed of the essence, and they needed to get there before the line got too long. Nate and Ben where above the average neighbor physically, remnants of their time in the military leaving Nora with difficulty keeping up on the dirt trail.
As they ran along Nate watched the other groups, Many had elderly or kids to large to carry slowing them severely and others where trying to keep calm walking in an orderly fashion. One group even stopped to try and repack their bags, much to the horror of the wife, Nora had almost stopped but Nate urged her past the scene. His family took priority.
Soon they reached the foot of the hill the vault rested on and reality began to set in. Everyone in the local area knew about the vault it, was some of the main gossip, How it had brought in so many jobs and gave the people of the area some security. So whether or not they where on the list didn't really matter to any of them, they all flooded towards the great shelter.
The crowd of people was between them and the gate was hundreds of people thick, in the time it would take to sort through all of them it would be to late. Nate glanced at his family for a moment, THEY took priority however selfish it was, so he took Nora's hand and she grabbed Benjamin and they began pushing their way through the crowd.
He was yelled at by many people but as he passed he simply said he was on 'the list' thank god for the vault-tec man. half way through Nate was sent sprawling into the dirt by a heavy punch to the nose. Nora jumped from the man as he walked to face Nate.
"YOU THINK YOUR FAMILY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MINE YOU BASTARD?" he screamed. The crowd quieted down as Nate began to rise and formed a circle around the two. Nate stood up wiping the blood from his now broken nose though he did not feel it and starred daggers at the man.
"Yes"
"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?" he barked back.
Before Nora could stop him he was upon the man landing blow after blow on his throat and face, Nate pounded on him until his knuckles split once again not feeling a thing. The world was gone, Nora begged him to stop and people screamed though he didn't really hear them, only the enemy existed.
"MY FAMILY IS MORE IMPOTENT THAN YOURS YOU YOU FUCKING YELLOWSKIN" Nate screamed at the now still man. It wasn't until Monty tackled him that things in his mind finally calmed as he realized what he had done. He couldn't see him breathing. He scrambled back as two kids ran to the mans side, crying and begging him to wake up.
Looking at the walls of the circle didn't help, they all where terrified of him. He knew many of these people from the station or personally and they where scared of him, like the family dog had gone rabid. A few men began surrounding him, probably with the intent of killing the crazed man. But before they could reach him he drew his gun fired into the sky causing everyone to jump back.
"Move out of my way or I WILL kill you." Glancing at Nora, She was scared too.
The people parted and they walked away from the scene to the gate, Which was just far enough away for them to not be completely aware of what had happened. The vault Representative was begging the military to let him pass into the vault but they would not budge. He was chased away by a power armor revving his mini gun.
If he was outside then his papers where not in yet.
"You sir. Step forward." said a man with a list.
"We need to get into the vault NOW, were on the list." he lied.
"Last name?"
"Howard"
"I don't see any Howard."
"Sargent HOWARD?" few yard behind the fence a taller man was looking his way, Nate had no idea who he was. "His last name is Howard, don't worry he's on the list." another lie? "What are you doing here?" He said walking towards the gate pushing the list man aside.
"I live here, Who are you again?"
"I never really talked to you I suppose, I'm Commander Nicholson, I was in Alaska at the refinery. Jingwei was about to chop me in the yard before your ass rushed in like some kinda guardian angel." The man said ecstatically. Nate did remember this man, One of two prisoners when they breached the compound
"We got to get you up to the platform stat its about to go down." he said taking Nate and Nora through the gate, but Ben was halted by the armor. Nate and Ben shared a glance of terror for a moment but Nate would not leave him.
"I need Montgomery in this vault commander." he said as stern as he could.
"Sorry sir. If hes not on the list he can't get in. My hands are tied." a air of sadness in his voice
"Please just let him through" pleaded Nora, obviously she to cared about Benjamin in her own way.
"I am so sorry ma'am, but I can't just pick and choose."
"Bend the rules, he was just as impotent in all the ops I was, if it wasn't for him I would have been dead long before we saved you. MY GOD The world is about to end why do you still care." Nate then had a epiphany, this man HAD to care. Nobody else did, these people would just run the gate or riot if he didn't do his job, Somebody had to care even if it meant he didn't get into the vault.
This man had already lied for Nate's sake he wasn't really on the list yet but he wanted to return the favor. He shook his head clear of those thoughts, His family took priority. Swiftly he grabbed Nicholson and pulled him close to whisper in his ear, this did not go over well with the other soldiers but they stood down.
"I know you lied, were not on that list and I want to thank you for it, But I would rather die out here than have to leave my brother this close to safety. So if you can't let him in then let me trade places with him, take my wife and him to the vault please... I have to know their safe." he spoke pleading, begging him.
"Alright... alright let him through."
"COMMANDER YOU CAN"T JUST LET SOME RANDOM GUY GIVE ORDE-" shouted one of the guards but they where quickly silenced by their CO.
"Last I checked I am in command here, Don't presume to tell me how to do my job... You weren't in Anchorage Kid. We all owe these guys."
The Armor hesitated but let Ben through and he sprinted up to the group relieved. It most behind the gate didn't feel the same, they started shaking the gate and screaming, calling the men murderers and throwing rocks at the military.
"Alright, Get these people up to the pad NOW."
Nate, Nora, Shaun and Ben began following a man clad in Vault-Tec riot gear up the dirt trail and away from the riot. Nora questioned endlessly about the people behind the gate but Nate was lost in thought.
He never really had a violent temper save the war, what had caused him to assault that man in the crowd like that? He was so anger lately, he had called the man a Communist as well, not a mistake he would or could make it just... he just believed so. yet another thing to scare him was he didn't feel bad either. He couldn't afford to let it become a habit now that he would be stuck underground with the same hundred people for the foreseeable future.
Nate focused again once at the top of he hill they where lead onto a cog shaped platform along with a few of their neighbors. Nate had seen vaults on TV but his one was different, No big door cut into the side of a mountain, He could only assume that the main complex was bellow them. Glancing at the control booth he saw man gave a thumbs up and the ground shook with the sound of heavy machinery.
Nora grabbed his hand for support, Only then did Nate really see how scared she was, all he could hope for was that she wasn't scared of him too. "Were almost there, I love you, Both of y-"
The flash was unholy, so bright it nearly blinded him. Nate had only heard story's about Nuclear bombs just like any American had, such a destructive weapon that it held the entire world at a stalemate for a century and a half. But to see one so close, to feel the earth shake and watch it tear through the sky, he was left frozen in place watching the mushroom rise.
Terror began seeping into every corner of his soul. it was moving so easily, Ripping through his whole world like knife on paper nothing stopped it, the shockwave approached just as his head dipped beneath the rim and the hatch began to seal. And with that it was silent. He only realized how bad he was shaking as he fell to the floor tears streaming. Wails and cries filled the blackened tunnel, mustering all his will he crawled to Nora intent on embracing her and his son.
OoOoOoOoO
It felt like and eternity, being lowered to the bottom of that chasm, but it did end eventually. The survives eyes where assaulted by fluorescent light momentary blinding the view of their new home, finally his eyes dilated he was able to get a proper view of the vault. It was... like every other he had seen on Television, the underground segment must have been added recently for extra protection.
The concrete yellow and blue walls embroidered with the signature cog left open to them. Pipes and crates spilled out of the entrance people where scatted about the chamber whether Vault-Tec or civilians. The safety grate raise and they where approached by a plump ginger with a mustache, the signature vault boy suit clinging to him in all the worst ways, he was quickly taken back by the state of the people.
"Alright everybody please step off the elevator and proceed up the stairs in an orderly fashion." He said in a calm Boston accent, perhaps he didn't know what had happened. Those not in shock started asking questions frantically, the Vault worked was stupefied by some of them and had to fall back on speaking over them to deliver the script.
"NO NEED TO WORRY FOLKS, We'll have everybody situated in your new home soon, Vault One-Eleven." He shouted jogging away giving one last moto as he went no doubt to tell the rest of the staff that this would be the last group.
Grabbing his wife's hand they walked towards the stairs passing some of their neighbors. Ben followed them of the lift be halted at the foot of the steps saying he 'needed a minute'. He and Nora obliged and walked up the stairs then got in the entrance line.
"We made it, We're safe now." He huffed, just saying that relaxed him greatly, But Nora looked uncomfortable.
"Nate... our house, Codsworth all those people... its all gone Nate." she said somberly. "You almost killed people Nate... You saved us I know but you scared me and Shaun, I SCREAMED FOR YOU TO STOP ... but you wouldn't, and when I saw your eyes YOU scared me... You killed him didn't you?"
Shame rose up in his chest, She was scared of him. How could he have lost control like that in front of them. "I don't know".
"Bullshit Nate you've killed countless times I know you Know..." she quickly composed herself and got back to the point "But you save us I want you to know that, if we had waited we would be dead. So I thank you" She whispered.
"Somethings wrong Nate. You don't eat, You don't sleep and when you do its all nightmares, Your anger has spiked you just space out all the time and you overreact if I even drop a pan... Why don't you ever talk about Anchorage?"
Damn it she noticed the Nightmares. "You know I can't talk about Anchorage Nora" She never asked before, she respected his privacy about the war and when she didn't he would say it was classified. To start pushing now she would have to be really worried about him.
The conversation was put on hold by them reaching the front of the line and a perky woman in turn.
"You'll need your suits before entering further into the vault." she said smoothly handing them a packaged suit.
"Why can't we wear our normal clothes?" inquired Nora.
"You can't wear those forever can you? Best get used to the suits now. Also No metal, that includes the rings and... Your gun sir" The weapon clearly made her uneasy. "Put all of it in this box and wright your name on it, don't worry it will be put in the lockup for later."
They both took one thanking her and walked to the temporary changing area, it consisted of small walls facing openly towards the recipients leaving little privacy. Nate changed first into the neon blue jump suit zipping it up, it was a good fit.
Nora changed next after handing Nate the baby, He tried to stand in front of her not wanting people to see his wife changing and caught one of the staff men doing so. A death glare was all it took to subdue him. They tossed their belongings into the box, Nate's fathers lighter, his gun, ammo, his dog tags, and of course they're wedding rings.
"You look nice sweetie, that suit really highlights your chest."
"You too" Nate replied giving a sly grin causing Nora to blush wildly.
They walked up to the woman again for the next step and where directed to a older graying man who they followed deeper into the vault.
"So this is our new home" questioned Nora half to her self scanning the walls, the doctor was quick to reply.
"Oh your going to love it here. This is one of our most advanced facility" He chimed. He seemed to have caught him self and followed up "Not that the others are not great mind you."
The coment about other vaults brought him to remember Chase's insights into Vault tec"I've heard that vault-tec has most vaults set up with tests? To preform while in operation on the inhabitants" Nate knew he touched a sore spoke as the man stiffed.
Breathing out heavily the doctor replied carefully "Yes that is true. They didn't want to waist the opportunity, I don't agree. And I will tell you, we have a test for this vault as well."
Nora cut off the tense conversation very quickly "How long do you think we are going to be down here?"
"We'll be going over all that in orientation, just a few medical items to go over first."
As they walked deeper they passed a few rooms filled with, the only word that came to his mind was pods, the look of them put Nate one edge. A mess of pipes and wires spilling out on all sides into a similar groups in the rafters. It only got colder as they walked but they made it to a room at the end of the corridor filled with more of the strange pods.
"What are these?" Nate finally asked.
"These are decontamination units, our test is to have people live in an environment free from bacteria. These will decontaminate you then Take you further into the Vault." replied the doctor but Nate wasn't buying it. These would need to remove all the bacteria the body including inside, but he didn't really have another option. why would vault-tec bring them down here if it was to harm them, they could have left them outside for that.
"Alright sir, step into this pod and ma'am, you and the baby will be right across from him." They followed the instruction with Nate helping Nora into her pod then passing her Shaun, The baby started to cry once he left Nate's arms but he climbed into his pod across the way.
"Alright, we will wait until every unit in this room is full, then begin the posses."
It took a few minutes for enough people to enter the room, one of which was Benjamin who was placed down in the outlying pod on Nora's right, but soon they started the pods. The doctors walked up and down the lines refusing to answer questions as they hooked a I.V. from the pod into his arm and two small suction cup electrodes to his torso.
They did this to every person including Shaun who did not take the needle well, soon the doctor walked down the isle speaking to the group in general "The pod will decontaminate and depressurize you before we head deeper into the vault" He exclaimed as the doors began to close
A robotic voice came over the speakers, seemingly announcing the procedure
"resident secure. Occupant vitals: Normal." The I.V. filled with a grey fluid and poured into his vainand he suddenly became dizzy.
"Procedure complete in-"
Nate quickly made note of how fast the temperature was dropping he could see his breath in the air as frost crept across the porthole. Anchorage seemed a beach day compared to this cold, his vision began to fail him and he could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness.
"Fuck"
"5...4...3...2...1..."
OoOoOoOoOoO
"Manual override initiated, Cryogenic stasis suspended."
The words where hollow, robotic, drifting around in his fog covered mind, he thought it had eternity since he had heard a voice in the darkness but he wasn't really sure, time didn't make sense at the moment. He knew someone was in the room the problem was seeing them, his eyes refused to adjust to the lighting, it was as if he had been underground his entire life.
His hearing was fuzzy at best but he made out a male voice along with two undefined.
"This is the one, here"
"Open it then" responded the male.
They where getting them out, thank god. How long had they been down there? His muscles felt stiff and cold, like a frozen steak, but vault tec was letting them out now. Nate strained his eyes against the light to see their rescuers but all he could get where forms, not really helpful but the pod was heating up, built in heaters most likely.
Two where wearing some form of hazmat suits, pure white with a logo he had never seen, working at something across from him... The pod. He remembered now, The pods the cold, They where trying to get into Nora's pod. he looked closer his vision getting better every minute, these people were not Vault tec. He studied them for any information he could get, then he noticed the gun in the third mans hand, this was not Vault-Tec.
He started pounding on the glass as hard as he could with his Rigamortus limbs, punching at the porthole he reopened his wounded knuckles and spread blood all over the window. The pod opened and they never even looked at Nate as they moved in on his wife.
"Is it over? are we okay?" Nora questioned between coughs. She clearly didn't see the gun or Nate, she probably couldn't see anything yet.
"Almost. Everything going to be just fine ma'am, we came to help, hand us the baby and well help you down." said the man. One of the hazmat s began reaching for Shaun, but Nora wouldn't give insisting she could handle him, Nate began to scream to her but try as he may his voice wouldn't work so he beat on the glass with all of his might.
"I'm not giving you Shaun get away from me!" She shouted, the woman backed off but the man did not.
"I'm only going to ask you one last time... give us the kid now." He said, Nate knew that tone, only killers had it and this guy pulled it off. He brought down the sights of his gun on Nora, Nate finally was able to to scream to his wife.
"NORAAA!"
"Nate?"
And with that the man fired, the bullet impacted right in her chest. She went limp with shock leaving the woman only a moment to catch the falling baby and fell back into the pod gasping and crying out for him. Nate pounded on the pod as hard as he could painting the porthole red and screaming like a mad man but to no avail. She was so close and he couldn't reach her, hot tears burned down his face he watched his wife's suffering.
Shaun wailed at the sound of the shot and the man ordered her to get him out of the area, The murderer closed the pod and the computer signaled refreezing. Then for the first time he looked at Nate dead in the eye. Balding grey hair and a metal arm casing, a large scar across his left eye, but the part that Nate really cared about was the eyes, cold unfeeling, he didn't care.
"At least we still have the backup." He announced to Nate.
"I'm gonna FUCKING kill you." Nate growled.
The man began walking away leaving Nate trapped in the pod and gave him parting words from behind "We'll see... We will see." he said turning off the lights as he went and re initializing the cryo-pods.
"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU" Nate howled from the darkness, The machine pumped the fluid and the temperature dropped, he was refreezing and he knew it.
"5...4...3..."
"I will kill them all."
"...2...1"
OoOoOoOoOoO
"Critical failure in Cryogenic array. All Vault residents must vacate the area immediately"
He was awake and alive so he assumed, Nora!. pushed against the thick fog of his mind begging it to let him think and his muscles to move but it only strained him worse. The pod opened and dumped him onto the cold metal floor blind and stiff, but he crawled towards her with all the will he had left.
Who knows how long he sat there at the foot of her pod, hours, days maybe. He cried and he wailed and screamed and he cursed god as if it would do something, but by the end he was left sitting there alone in a grave yard. He probably would have starved there if he had not been brought back by a single desperate thought in his tortured mine, Shaun.
They had his son and he still needed to kill them, he needed to save his son, Nora might have been gone but Shaun was not and he needed his father now more than ever.
So he stood up on his dead legs and he opened his eyes now that he could see and started to walk as best he could towards the door, but stopped in his tracks, Ben. He would need help to save his son and he couldn't leave his friend here, speaking of which, why had his pod opened and not everybody else?
His grief was out weighed by curiosity, he looked into one of the pods and found the occupant looking wrong, bent and limp like thawed meat. Checking the panel it read critical failure. The next pod was the same and the next, but but finally he found one still working, his neighbor Mr. Able was inside and frozen, the panel confirmed this pod was still operational and set to open in... 2300.
What was going on? he checked the one across the way and another and they all had the same date set. How had his opened if they where all set to the same date, and how where so many people dead?
"Critical failure in Cryogenic array. All Vault residents must vacate the area immediately"
That was it. The pods where failing leaving the person inside to thaw and die, no remain dead. He checked his chest to confirm the theory and sure enough he had burns where the wires where. The body can't survive being frozen like this, but The I.V. must have pumped them full of cell preservatives and induced a state of cardiac arrest, and when the pods thawed them, they restarted their hearts.
His must have broken in a different way than the others so it let him out. He needed Ben, but once he got to the pod that should have contained his friend he got confused, it was open and empty where was Benjamin, he poured over the panel for any information there was.
Occupant: None
Unit Status: Operational
Last Operational: N/A
Release Date Set: 1/1/2300
Last opened: 6/23/2286
2286? This thing had to be broken right, where the hell did Ben go, if he got out then he would have let him out, unless these things where locked, they had to be locked, but then how did they get Nora's open? He didn't have time for all these questions he needed to find Shaun and Ben then-.
His train of thought was interrupted by blood, his blood of course, dripping onto the panel he now rested his hands on. His knuckles had remained split and kept bleeding once revived.
He jumped back to Nora's pod intent on looking at the shot, clean into the chest it defiantly hit her heart, But she was alive when the pods tuned back on, then they killed her like they normal would, so if He could get her wounds sealed then all tehy would have to do is restart he heart like the pod would do on another person.
But the pods where breaking, if hers gave out she would stay dead and there was nothing he could do, time was of the essence. The pods where Breaking in succession towards the back like rot, one by one. Checking the 'last operational' dates gave a rough four months between failures of each. Four more pods in line before Nora gave him a year or more to get help, plenty of time.
"Time to get moving... Don't worry baby, I'm going to save you, and I'll get Shaun back."
He tried to release Mr. Able, if only to have someone else in this dungeon with him but the computer confirmed his theory about the lock "Cryo-unit manual release overruled by overseers office, have a Nice day" He was alone.
Clearly he was going to have to show himself the way out, looking around the place gave him the impression it was abandoned with all the cob webs and dripping. He stepped across the frozen floor as quiet as he could, it felt wrong to disturb the silence. Making his way the bulkhead like door he flipped the switch entering the hall to the Vault door.
Walking past the other cryo rooms he tried to come up with a Plan for he need a plan with so much to do. Ben, Then a doctor and then find Shaun while they helped Nora. The path was cut off by a wall of ice, a burst pipe must have sent water into the hall to freeze, this place really was falling apart at the seams. He would need to find another way out. Backtracking he found a door that lead to a restricted area and entered as he had no other option, going down a flight of stairs he found himself in what must have been the staff area, ancient blood stained the beds and everything was overturned or broken. What happened to these people.
Continuing deeper into the staff quarters only lead to more questions, broken glass, dried blood, and dust covered the kitchen along with the occasional body. The 'bodies' where really just dried bones in a loose old vault suit but they didn't die from old age no, the suit was covered in bullet holes, the only gun in the vault he knew of was his ten millimeter digging through the suit and finding a bullet confirmed it.
No point in morning the people who he didn't know he thought as he left the room.
Soon he found himself at the main reactors. They where on there last legs by the looks of them, copper wiring burning up and sending stray bolts loose off of the coils. Running through the middle of them was not a good idea, he had taken more than his fair share of shock therapy in his life so he crept along the outer rim slowly until at the other side, where he found another one of the staff.
He knew how long it took a body to decompose and this one was old, fully dried and decrepit, and he to was killed by Nate's gun. Nate realized that he really did feel bad about it, he introduced the weapon into this environment where it never should have been, but they chose to use it in the end, not him. Going up another set of stairs was at last in the 'overseer' office, and with it he found the overseer, in his chair with a hole in his head and yet another pile of bodies at the adjacent door.
There must have been some kind of mutiny and he used Nate's gun to end it, then himself. Nate walked up and found his gun on the floor with a thick layer of dust on it, he picked it up and placed it in his belt then searched the office. A few boxes of ammo rested on the desk as well as a few stimpaks, on the floor by the bodies he found a baton and pack of cigarettes taking both.
He had planned to use the Overseers terminal to unlock the pods but that idea was ruined by a bullet hole through the computer leaving all but useless, He would need to find someone who could open the pods soon.
He took a moment to look at a sort of storage and spotted the box with his name but the door was locked. It should have felt wrong to search the overseers body but he needed the key, these bastards lied to him about the vault they didn't deserve his sympathy, but of course he did not find it, that left only one place to look.
Doing a full search of the mans bedroom brought forth the item in question and veil of med-X from his dresser, the last of his stash as it seemed, of course the overseer was a drug fiend but he couldn't really blame him, the world had ended. Nate didn't have a use for morphine any more so he threw it at the wall and continued to the lock up.
Opening the gate he quickly grabbed the box, his fathers lighter and the wedding rings and the tags where all that was left after the gun ad been taken. He replaced his dog tags, it felt deeply wrong to have them removed and he was eased by the cold metal touching his chest. Nora's ring weighed heavily in his palm, She never took it off, not for the dish's or work or gardening so nether would he. He put a rings on both his ring fingers, they wouldn't come off until he gave it back to her in person.
Something on the wall caught his eye, in a bullet-proof case was a weapon unlike any he had ever seen. A large gun that was by no means refined looking rested inside, pipes feeding towards the muzzle read 'Liquid Nitrogen, it must have been some sort of, for lack of a better word freeze gun. The only problem with taking it was the case worked on a six digit combination and he doubted the overseer wrote it down.
No point in waiting around for something he couldn't get. As went to leave a noise scared the hell out of him, whipping around to the source he found the overseer had fallen over, and a Pip-Boy fell from his wrist and slid across the floor.
Nate had always wanted a Pipboy and this one was 3000 Mk-IV, the newest version to date. Rather than a alphabetical series that most people had with the glove and metal prong, the numerical series focused more on the user than previous. It was supposed to be able to measure your 'traits' and vitals, as well as all the other handy things they where know for.
He held onto it and searched the overseers desk for a paperclip, he found it and another Stimpak, jamming them both into a pocket on the jumpsuit belt he stepped over the body pile at the door and walked down the tunnel, to his relief he was now at the vault door. At the control pan he found a Note and a marker scribble that said "Opens door" written on the dash with an arrow pointing to a large red button, he recognized the handwriting as Ben's and quickly read the Note.
Hey Nate, Jesus where do I start. I'm alive and awake, the other pods are still on and I can't get you or anybody else out so I guess I'm alone, your pod says it will release in 2287, that I guess is a year form now so I'll be back to get you then.
I saw Nora, Nate god I am so sorry this happened to you. When we all woke up I couldn't see her but I could see your pod, had a clear view of you bashing in your hands to save her and I'm so sorry but you couldn't do anything Nate, I know your blaming yourself but you couldn't have saved her. I know Shaun is gone and I'm leaving to try and find him before you wake up.
-Benjamin Montgomery
Also I spent almost 30 mins trying to open this damn door, it turns out its the big red button I was afraid to press just so you know.
At least he knew Benjamin was alive, and he left the vault in search of his Godson. He said he would be back, god only knew what had kept him. Nate pressed the button Ben marked and the door came to life.
"Vault Door cycling sequence initiated, Please stand back." The metallic arm lowered and a bolt sunk into the massive cog, Nate could see sparked fly off in the orange emergence light and after an ear piercing screech the door was open. He walked along the ever extending walkway and down the stairs, It seemed like ages ago that he had been here with Nora.
Pressing a button the gate lifted and in a few seconds the elevator would move, stepping on an with a deafening groan of the machines the pad lifted, It sounded like it had not been used in an eternity.
"Enjoy your return to the surface, and thank you for choosing Vault-Tec"
If he ever in his life came to a point where he needed Vault Tec again, he would rather take the Nuke. He supposed It would take a few minutes to reach the surface so he began playing with his new Pipboy.
The only reason they Mk IV's where not more popular was the metal spikes, he could see they didn't retract yet as as the previous user never told it to do so what with his apparent suicide. The trade off for more accurate scans was that five metal needles would need to sink into the skin, flesh, muscle, bone and an artery to get the readings, this deterred most people as it just wasn't worth it.
But Nate hardly cared he wouldn't feel it at all and this was a fine piece of technology, he put the paperclip into the small reset hole on the back. Once the reset was in motion the spikes retreated and the signature vault boy came on screen to wave goodbye before it was complete.
He placed it on his wrist, engaged the latch and held the power button, in a moment the screen was back on and read "initializing". He sensed the spikes eject but it caused no pain and the wrist guard began to inflate until firm on his arm at a comfortable pressure. The screen went wild with code before he got the thumbs up.
It showed a quick tutorial that he couldn't skip telling him all there was to know about the machine. Each of the needles read a different system that all fell under the RobCo "S.P.E.C.I.A.L" scale, from what he read of Strength of instance, was measured by a body Muscle/Fat ratio found through one of the needles combined with heart rate and blood pressure from the built in blood pressure cuff that held the Pipboy in place.
All the other statistics where loose at best from what he read and measured things similarly. Not all the stats could be measured by the body of course, and they where left blank to be determined or tested later.
The Pipboy read: Strength 7, Perception 7, Endurance 10, Charisma T.B.D, Intelligence T.B.D, Agility 8, Luck ?
Nate could only guess how one could measure Luck but the others made sense as he was in the military and kept himself in good health. Heart rate, blood pressure, fatigue, Blood alcohol content, it was all there it even showed damage done to the body displayed on a little vault boy, He was in perfect health at the moment besides a high blood pressure. But the time caught his eye in an instant, 19:39 EST 9/23/2287 Jesus Christ the pods where right, he had been frozen for over two hundred years.
A thunderous noise sent him back to reality once again, he drew his pistol in a flash and frantically scanned the platform for the source, As it turned out a Tv had fallen into the elevator shaft from the now opening hatch door above. He took a moment to calm himself and glance at the Pipboy to see how high his heart rate jumped but was distracted by a ticking sort of noise, the Geiger counter.
The bombs how could he have forgotten about the god damn atomic war nobody was up there to help him or Nora what was the point, No, there must have been people who came for Shaun and shot Nora? They had to come from somewhere and Benjamin had to have gone somewhere, There was life there must have been after all it had been over Two hundred years right? That last part bugged him deeply but he ignored it for now.
Checking his the Geiger counter once again it turned out he had jumped to conclusions, there was infact a minimal amount of radiation dispersed through the air though this was not nearly enough to harm him from what he knew, it probably could only harm a group of people over generations if at all. Almost to the top of the shaft he steeled himself for what he might find, what was left of the world he had been hidden away form, but nothing could have prepared him for what he found in that dark night.
"God, how could we let this happen" he asked himself as he looked out over the area.
"You know I ponder that same question every time I walk outside." responded a voice from behind. Nate froze, slowly he reached for his gun. "No need for that friend, I ain't a raider. Come over to the fire and lets talk."
Against his better judgement Nate let go of the gun, if for no other reason than they had the drop on him and could shoot before he even turned around. He turned and saw a camp fire ten yards away and a figure sitting by it with what looked to be a cow tied off to a tree, he decided to take a seat and see what this person had to say.
"Good choice."
