Freedom's Faults
Chapter 2: Letting Go
(A/N: Changed the boy's name from Theo to Danny. It feels like it fits better.)
Despite the twins being packed up in a manner of under half an hour, they didn't leave for quite some time. Dan had explained to his sister that they wouldn't be able to just waltz right out when everyone was still awake. Once more, against her will, Sage listened to him.
It was painful to her, what they were doing. They were leaving. Without so much as a goodbye. Surely if someone else knew, their plans would be ruined.. but still. Their dad had come to say good night about an hour ago. Sage bit her lip open in an attempt to stifle her tears. They weren't the closest of families, by far, yet knowing she would never see him again was hard on her.
Dan hardly reacted. It worried her. In fact, she couldn't help but notice that he was excited, maybe even happy to be getting out.
The two went to sleep at around 10pm, like normal routine depicted, soon after the white noise was shut off. Both twins had covered their ears with pillows through it. At 3am on the dot, Danny's alarm went off. He hit the snooze button out of reflex. Even through the situation, that made Sage laugh quietly. Slowly the siblings forced themselves out of bed and gathered their things. To make things easier, they'd both slept in their clothes.
"You're not bringing that, are you?" Danny inquired, regarding Sage's violin case which she held in her hand. Blushing slightly and seemingly flustered, she put it down gently on her bed. He noted that she was reluctant to release the handle.
"Force of habit," she whispered. He didn't bother responding.
Silently slinging his bag over his shoulder, he went for the door - and stopped. Sage started to ask what her brother was doing, wasting their time, but her unspoken question was soon answered as he made his way over to his dresser and opened the top drawer. After a moment of consideration, the twin withdrew an old handgun, as well as a few rounds that he stuck in his back pocket.
"D-Dan..?"
"You never know.." he said quietly. She wondered if he even knew how to fire the thing. For that matter, where did he get a firearm? So many questions flooded her mind about things her own twin was keeping from her. She decided against wasting any more time, instead opening the room's door and stepping softly outside. Danny followed.
They stuck to the shadows of the dark vault. Everyone was asleep, of course - had been since the dreadful noise was shut off. But just in case someone wasn't. They didn't want to be taking any unneeded risks. Neither of the twins could shake the feeling that they weren't alone. Perhaps not being followed, but a seperate presence was felt by both of them. Something a few feet behind them clattered to the metal ground.
"The hell was that?" Sage whispered in alarm, grip on her bag's shoulder strap tightening. Her brother covered her mouth with one hand and looked around while she struggled against him. It was no use; the vault was just too dark. He could hardly see a thing.
"Probably nothing," Danny whispered back, but his eyes remained fixed on the darkness that concealed the noise's source. He let his hand fall away from Sage. "The exit's close. Let's go."
Hesitantly, they began moving again. Both continuously glanced over their shoulders. Whatever was back there, that unknown presence, it wasn't going away. It followed the twins up to the main foyer, where Sage waited uneasily for her brother to pick the door to the exit's lock.He made quick work of it.
"Dan.. there's something.."
"I know." he cut her off grimly. They closed the door behind them, picking up the pace as the giant steel exit finally came into view. A sense of relief and heart stopping fear washed over them at the same time. "There's the computer. Hold on-"
The sound of the door they'd just come through opening and closing again stopped both of their breathing. Sage's eyes filled with tears and she shrank back behind her brother. His eyes fixed on the black doorframe.
A low chuckle filled the twins' ears. Neither had ever been so petrified in their entire lives. The laugh grew and grew, slowly getting louder and more manic as it drew nearer to them. After what felt like hours of clueless fear, a shape appeared, seeming to be struggling to walk.. and, they realized in horror, foaming at the mouth. Closer and closer it limped. Danny snapped out of his frozen state and fumbled for his gun, clicked the safety off and aimed it at the unidentified monster.
Until they saw it wasn't an unidentified monster at all.
It was Toby.
"Oh my god!" Sage sobbed from behind him. Danny lined up the shot, willing his hands to stop shaking.
"Don't look," he told her, blinking away the tears that had come to fill his own eyes. Toby, or, what was left of him, continued to walk towards the siblings, a sick, psychotic grin just barely visible through the darkness. It forced Dan to step backwards in response. Unable to tear his gaze off what used to be his best friend, he couldn't see if Sage was doing as he'd said or not. Nevertheless, he knew what he had to do.. but his trigger finger wouldn't comply.
"Dan.. it's getting closer.. Dan!"
He fired the shot.
His aim was too shaky. The bullet missed.
Dan took a deep breath, along with another step backwards, away from the steadily nearing Toby. He had been hoping this was a joke his friend was pulling, but even Toby wouldn't keep trying after a real gun fired a real shot. Another deep breath. He aimed again.
Shot.
Had the room been lit better, the boy could have watched the blood trickle down his best friend's forehead before he fell to the floor. The handgun fell as well, dropped from Dan's limp hands as he lowered himself to his knees beside the wounded teenager.
No.. not wounded. Dead.
A shoulder came to rest on Danny's shoulder. He flinched.
"Dan.. I'm sorry.. but we don't have time for this.. somebody must have heard the shots." Sage told him gently. Without a word, he stood up again, but otherwise didn't move. His sister had to take him by the hand and pull him away from the body. Pushing him in front of the terminal that gave off a faint green glow, she worried he wouldn't continue with the plan, but he soon began tapping at the keys.
While she waited, Sage walked back over to where the handgun had fallen and picked it up, turning it over a few times in her hands. She turned the safety back on. Her brown eyes then trailed across the floor, back to the form of her friend that lay still there.
Before she knew it, the large mechanism that would release them from the vault was moving. She quickly wiped the tears from her pale cheeks and watched it. The machine connecting with the large door, there was a moment of silence - and then a screech so painfully loud that both the twins clapped their hands over their ears and shut their eyes tight.
It felt like forever before the terrible noise stopped. Matching brown eyes were opened slowly, hesitantly, before Dan and Sage relaxed. Not bothering to take the time to walk around the terminal and down the steps, Dan just jumped over the guardrail and stood in front of the open entrance, his sister joining him.
"This is it," he said, reaching over to take the pistol from her and holster it. There was a shabby looking wooden door at the end of a short tunnel. Light peered through the cracks in it.
Joining hands, the twins hesitantly stepped out and towards the wooden door. Dan put his hands against it. It creaked softly.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
Sage took one last glance over her shoulder. So this was it. She'd never see Cass again, or her own father. But there was no way they could turn back now. Not only had Danny just killed Toby, but even if they were welcomed back, it was only a matter of time. Whatever had gotten into their friend wasn't going to stop. She turned back to her brother and nodded sadly. "As I'll ever be."
They pushed the door open together. Thankfully, at such an early hour, the sun they had never before seen wasn't high enough to blind them. The two did, however, look up and take their sweet time in marvelling at the sky. Beautiful contrasts of blue, from navy to a lighter, almost baby blue lit up most of the atmosphere. While the time neared towards five in the morning, blue gradually faded to a light yellow, and far on the horizon, the teens could see magnificent hues of orange and red.
That's where it ended. As their eyes left the wonderful colours of the sky, they fell on the earth that so horribly clashed against it. There was not a single blade of grass in sight. What they were shown during classes, what the world used to look like, what it was supposed to look like.. it wasn't like that at all.
Miles upon miles of grey. That's all either of them could see.
"It's..." Dan began, but was at a loss for words. He didn't know how he could possibly describe a place like this. So he didn't. "I'm glad to be out of the vault," he said instead. Sage nodded in agreement.
"We should get out of here.. away from here.. far away." she said quietly, glancing at the pip-boy that rested on her arm. The residents of vault 92 all had one, yet hardly any actually used them. They never found a use to. Now, however, Sage flipped a few dials and brought up the small map installed in it. Excluding vault 92 itself and vault-tec HQ, there were no points marked out.
"Helpful," Dan remarked sarcastically, then shrugged. "I say we head South. It doesn't look like direction matters out here. Unless the big city's still intact."
Another nod. "Yeah.. I bet it's hell out there." They both looked on Sage's pip-boy and studied the map carefully. It was vague, but detailed enough to tell the general areas of a few places they were taught of. Dan pointed to a section that looked busier than the others, separated by a fairly large body of water.
"That has to be it," he stated confidently. "We should steer clear. At least until we get a little knowledge of this.. place."
Sage pulled the map back to vault 92 and traced her finger around it. "Should we check out the locals?" she inquired, glancing around.
"I don't know... we were only shown the larger settlements.." Dan paused and looked around as well. Down in the ditch, his view was much too restricted. He took Sage's hand again and climbed up the steep pathway, immediately greeted by the sight of shattered highways, a few bases for torn houses, and a run-down looking ghost town. "Looks dangerous," he muttered.
"Everything out here looks dangerous." Sage pointed out. Sadly, he had to agree.
"I guess whatever's in there can't be worse than everywhere else."
Without another word, the siblings began their walk towards the town. They stepped over and around large piles of rock, concrete and broken streets. Unease was shared between them, but neither of them felt the need to say anything about it.
A single turn at what used to be an intersection showed them the worst destruction they could imagine. For a moment, Dan and Sage only stood in the middle of the rubble-littered street, crumbled buildings all around. A sense of dread buried itself deep within their chests. Willing their feet to move, the two carefully made their way through the rocks, stumbling and tripping past the heavy mess. Dan, who was ahead of Sage by a few steps, came to the end of the street and stopped.
"Wh-" Sage began to ask, but her brother turned and raised a finger to his lips, the urgency in his dark brown eyes shushing her immediately. On his right was a giant crater and a dead end. On his left, an alley and an open street. Nothing in sight. He didn't trust it.
"Thought I heard something," he told her softly. She looked scared. He regretted saying anything at all.
With much reluctance, Sage followed him again, to the end of the street and glanced around. Once she saw with her own eyes that nothing was there, she relaxed slightly.
Dan grabbed her wrist and pulled her along behind him. Despite that she usually would have, she didn't try to argue. It wasn't the time or the place. She wondered if it ever would be again. But the thought didn't have enough time to stick; Dan ducked into the alley. Another dead end, but there was a small, greenish box and a first-aid kit. Looked handy enough.
"Either of 'em locked?" Danny asked, drawing his pistol from its holster and moving towards the street again. Sage took the hint.
"No, thank god," she sighed in relief, checking both lids before the contents. In the little green box was some ammo she wasn't able to identify, but took it anyway, dropping it into a small satchel at her side. The white box contained a bottle of pills entitled "Rad-X" and three needles. She held them up. "What're these?"
Dan returned to his sister's side and took one from her open palm. Studying it closely, he found only the brand name - "Stimpak" - and instructions on what to do with it. Turning it over a few times, his face finally lit up with understanding. "Adrenaline," he answered. Honestly, he'd expected more questions about it from his sister, but Sage only nodded and took the needles, stuffing them in her bag.
She stood and they cautiously rounded the corner. Another crater broke the street to bits. Danny stumbled on a dislodged section of concrete, almost plummeting head first into the large hole.
As the sun rose a little higher in the sky, a deep orange light was cast over the monochrome grey terrain. It helped the ghost town to look a little less dead.
For a reason neither twin could explain, there was a wall that seemed to have been made after the bombs dropped on the other side of what looked like a parking lot. They were left with another left-or-right choice. With the left path leading out of the town entirely, Dan and Sage went right. Their footsteps echoed quietly on the ruined stone around. They could both swear there was another set.. but neither said a word.
There were more buildings now; one that looked fairly well intact, but the doors and windows were completely boarded up. The one across the street, however, was hardly intact at all. Its doors were covered as well. Not that it mattered - most of the walls were in piles on the ground.
The siblings climbed over the rocks and into the building. Nothing was there.. except a door that wasn't boarded. In fact, it was only the frame. Outside was a road, a guardrail, and tons of skeleton houses. Sage, who was just glad to be out of the town, swung one leg over the railing before her brother stopped her.
"... Did you hear that?" Danny whispered, head cocked to one side as he listened.
"Hear what?" Sage asked, but Dan had brought his finger to his lips again and was backtracking inside the ruins. Sighing, Sage followed.
Standing in the doorway, Dan had a good street view. An old highway was in sight; one he didn't even feel the desire to check. It had to be on its last legs over there. He was about to turn around again when it stepped in to view.
A creature that was so large, so terrifying, that it made what had happened in vault 92 look like a six-year old's birthday party.
Thankfully its back was towards them. It stood like a human being, its front 'legs' slightly stretched out in front of it with claws that had to be at least a foot long each. From where Dan stood, he couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like it had horns, as well. The thing was hideously bony, and might have even had scales. Its long tail lay on the ruined ground behind it. Judging by what he could see, Dan assumed its teeth matched its claws.
Sage saw it too. A light gasp left her lips before she could stifle it.
The creature froze.
Turned its head towards them; small, white eyes locking with Dan's. He had been right about its teeth.
His heart stopped.
