Chapter 2: The Young Girl

It was morning now, on December 15th. The sun woke me, with it's feeling of warmth on my face. I reached into Ian's bag to get a sip of water. I didn't look into the bag, rather I felt around in it until I could feel a bottle. My hand slid on a smooth bottle, and took the bottle out. I looked at the bottle then. It was made of glass, and filled only to an inch below the neck. The top had something that was plugged in the hole. I guess it was a lid of sorts. I yanked the object out of the hole, which made a popping sound. The sound woke Ian, and he turned to me. I was really thirsty, so I lifted the bottle straight up and drank. Only problem was, this was not water I was drinking, but instead something hard to drink. It burned my throat and nostrils, then I coughed violently. I put the object back into the hole of the bottle and angrily threw it back into Ian's bag.

Ian had a good laugh as he rose to his feet and stretched. "Don't you think it's a little early to be hitting the bottle, Al?" I had no idea what he was talking about. I finished coughing and cleared my throat.

"I wanted water, what the hell was that?" Ian reached into his bag.

"That was booze, it's actually good stuff. But not if you're thirsty for water. Here." Ian handed me a different bottle. I hope there are no surprises this time. I carefully lifted the bottle, and was satisfied with it's contents. I could still feel the taste of the booze though.

I got up from the ground, and started dusting myself off. Ian began to dust off his leather jacket. His jacket was a strange one, I wasn't sure if it was supposed to look the way it did or not. It was missing it's right sleeve, which made it look odd with his finger-less gloves on his hands. The color of the jacket was so faded it looked like he left it out since before the war. Ian's hair covered the neck-area and the top of the shoulders on it. His hair went down past his shoulders and had curliness to it. After he cleaned out his hair, he lifted his bag over his shoulder. "Ready to go to Shady Sands?" he asked. I kicked my boots on the cliff side and answered.

"Yeah, lets go." Ian put his hand out, signaling which way to start walking.

It took less than an hour to arrive at Shady Sands. The settlement was protected by solid walls that surrounded it's entire area. There was a single opening in the walls, that was guarded by two men, one on each side of the frame. Ian went ahead of me and walked up to one of the guards. It seemed like Ian knew the man well. "Hey man, a friend of mine here wants to know something about Vault 15," Ian said, then signaling me to ask my question. I stepped forward and kept my head up high.

"Yes, would you know whether or not if Vault 15 would still have it's water chip?" The guard shrugged his shoulders before specking.

"I don't know, I'm just a guard. Maybe someone else in town can help you."

"Thank you for your time," I said before walking into the town. Ian said something quick to the guard and followed me into town.

Shady Sands was beautiful compared to what I've seen walking out in the wastes. There were farms with green crops growing in great abundance. A well was located in the center of town, with children around it getting what looked like fresh water to drink. There was a young woman helping the children, dressed better than the other citizens of the town. She might know about Vault 15. Ian noticed me looking at the woman, and spoke to me. "That's Tandi, she's the town leader's daughter. Very intelligent. She's pretty sweet too, but I've got someone waiting for me back home." Intelligent? Then she must be able to help in some way. I decided to go up to her and ask her for help.

I approached Tandi with my hand raised level with my head. She noticed me, and gave me a polite bow. "Yes traveler, can I help you? And hi, Ian."

"Yes, I'm looking for a water chip to save my vault, and I was wondering if you would know if Vault 15 would still have it's water chip?" Tandi helped the last child get water from the well and walked closer to me.

"Of course, they never took it with them. The inhabitants only took the G.E.C.K they were given with them. Besides, a water chip would be useless out here. Can I take you there, or do you know where it is? I know the safest way to get there, and my father never lets me leave town." I turned to Ian, and he didn't say anything. I looked back at Tandi.

"Um, sure, but I don't want to get in any trouble with your father…"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm going to go ask him now. You'll need rope in the vault, because there's no power in there for the elevators. You're going to need to climb the shaft, so I suggest you get some rope while I go ask my father, okay? I'll meet you back here," Tandi said before she ran off.

I turned to Ian and looked around. "Got any rope?" I asked him. Ian scratched his head.

"No, but I'm sure there's a trader around here somewhere with some. Lets have a look." He walked back to the gate of the town, and I followed him. He spotted a trader with some rope. Before we went up to him, I stopped Ian.

"What are we going to give him for it?" I asked Ian.

"Some of the stuff I stole, I guess. Or if it's cheap enough, caps," Ian said before going up to the trader. Ian pointed the rope.

"How much for the rope?" he asked the trader.

"How about 50 caps?" the trader asked back. Ian reached into his bag. He pulled out a dusty, old box and a bottle of booze. He presented them to the trader. "Alright, that plus 10 caps would be a good trade," the trader said now. Ian threw 10 bottle caps to the trader. The trader handed Ian the rope. I stared confused at Ian as we walked back to the well.

"Bottle caps? What good are they?" I questioned Ian.

"Otherwise known as Hubbucks, that's what everyone here in the core region of southern California uses as currency." We continued walking back to the well.

Tandi stood at the well with her hands on her chest. I could see excitement in her eyes. She shouted to us, "My father said I can take you there! Isn't that great! Come on, lets go!" She rushed past us towards the gate. I smiled at Ian over seeing her reaction to being able to take us to Vault 15. Ian smiled back.

"That's Tandi for you." We picked up the pace so we could keep up with Tandi. Tandi skipped passed the gate guard.

"I'll be back!" she said happily. Ian nodded to the guard as we passed him. She kept the same speed outside of town, but we kept up with her.

The way to Vault 15 was safe, as Tandi said it would be. She asked a question when I was walking next to her. "So, what's your name, vault dweller? Why are you the one getting the chip of all the people in your vault?"

"My name's Albert. The Overseer of the vault made the healthiest men draw straws. Of course my luck would make me draw the shortest. I don't think I'm the best choice for the job though. I'd be dead already if it weren't for Ian." Tandi looked back at Ian.

"Ian's the best caravan guard, he's a great guy. Oh, we're here already. See?" Tandi pointed at a cave in front of us. I bowed to her.

"Well thank you very much for taking us out here, Tandi." Tandi smiled at me and bowed back.

"You're welcome, Albert. Come back to Shady Sands and let me know you found the water chip. Bye." She skipped her way back down the trail, out of sight.

Ian and I headed into the cave to find the entrance to the vault. "You talk a little too well, Al. Does everyone in your vault talk like that?" Ian asked me. I continued walking.

"No, it was just my field of work back in the vault. My job is difficult to explain properly, but I was like a pre-War lawyer. I would speak for a person or group of people to another party as a spokesperson or negotiator. The last people I worked for were a bunch of rebels in the vault, who wanted me to convince the Overseer to open the door and go out into the world. I wonder how the rebels are doing now that I've left." We spotted the entrance to Vault 15. The vault door was open, giving me a bit of a scare that there could be anything in there. We headed on into the vault. I couldn't see after walking 15 feet into the vault, there was no power and thus no lights. I guess this is why the Overseer gave me flares. I probably should have had one ready before walking into the dark. Luckily, Ian gave a bit of light with a lighter he pulled out. I could see where I put my flares and lit one up. I knew that these things didn't last forever, so I handed one to Ian for when after this one goes out. We proceeded further into Vault 15 with caution.

Vault 15 quickly turned out to be a disappointment. When walking down the hallway to the elevator, I discovered that the elevator was blocked by rubble that went from the floor to the ceiling. Ian got my attention quietly by pulling on my arm. "I think there's something in here," he whispered into my ear. I tried to listen to hear if there was anything. I could hear breathing, heavy breathing. No human could sound like that. I could tell it was from down another hallway we were in front of.

"Get that next flare ready," I whispered back to Ian. Ian held the flare ready to ignite it. I took a deep breath, then I threw my flare down the hallway. Right after I threw my flare, Ian lit his flare.

We both looked down the hallway to see what was breathing so loudly. I couldn't see much of anything but something sticking out of a doorway down the hall. Ian pulled my arm hard and ran back to the vault's entrance. I did as he did, for I had no idea what it was that we saw. After we were out of the vault and in the sun again, Ian threw his flare back at the vault. "What was it? Why'd you run like that?" I asked. Ian caught his breath first.

"That my friend, is the worst thing since the A-bomb: a deathclaw. What we saw was just the end of it's tail. If a deathclaw's eyes sees you, you're dead. They have claws as long as your arm. It can cut through you like a knife through paper. Man that was close, we're lucky it didn't hear us."

So we were lucky to escape the deathclaw, but my vault still needs a water chip. Ian mentioned last night that he heard of other vaults in the area. "Ian, you said last night that you heard of Vault 15 and Vault 12. Do you know where Vault 12 is?" Ian shook his head.

"I have no idea. I heard it was somewhere near where Necropolis is, but no one wants to go wandering into the city of the dead, not even me." Damn, I might lose Ian now. I came up with something. I cleared my throat and turned to Ian.

"Do you know where any other towns are around here besides Shady Sands? Maybe we can find out more about other vaults in the area." Ian wiped his face with his hand and pushed his hair out of his face.

"Yeah, lets see: there's the Hub, and Junktown is along the way to the Hub. Crimson Caravan Company is in the Hub, and they would run caravans from there up to Shady Sands and back. They even went south of the Hub to the Boneyard occasionally. I could take you to Junktown then the Hub, but I don't know where Boneyard is." What a relief, Ian's volunteering to take me to the Hub and Junktown.

"You'd do that? Thank you very much, Ian." Ian swatted his hand in the air.

"I'm out of a job now, I'll gladly help you with yours. Come on, lets go to Junktown. It's about a little over a weeks walk, but there's no danger in the route I take. We'll head back to Shady Sands first though. I only know how to get to Junktown from there. And Tandi wanted to see you again." Ian led the way back to Shady Sands. Ian is one of the nicest people I've met, out here and back in the vault. But I'd quickly learn soon that not everyone out here is as friendly as Ian.