Just My Luck
Third Chapter! And officially the longest story I've ever written. Thanks to everyone that read it and special thanks to anyone that reviewed it. I love encouragement! Now, to clarify, like I said, I might play around with it but it's not every part that will be different, but there will be a few twists, mostly minor but this story is one of my first so I'm following the games story arc on the most part. And I've also been made aware I ain't too hot at grammar but I will try to fix it in future chapters so bare with me. Now on we go!
Chapter 3:Crime and Punishment
Noel, I won't always be here to look after you
Noel didn't know why that phrase haunted him, before he fell asleep, it rang in his mind, he wasn't sure when it was said to him, but all he knew was it was his father that had said it.
There's no way Dad could high tale it outta here, and why would he?
I was wrong...
"Wake up, wake up!" Noel's eyes flashed open, "You've got to get up now!"
It was Amata, she looked distressed, her hair was strung all over the place and there were tears in her eyes.
"Amata, what's wrong?"
"You have to get out of here," she stammered, "my father's men are coming for you,"
"You're dad's goons?" Noel asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "Why?"
"It's because of your Dad, he left the vault!"
"Say, what!?" shouted Noel, springing to his feet.
"You're Dad; he opened the vault door and escaped"
"Why would Dad leave me?" wondered Noel.
"I don't know, he never said anything to you?"
"No, never,"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but he would have to have a reason to open a door thats been locked for 200 years,"
Something clicked in Noel's head.
"The door's open?" said Noel more to himself.
Oh shit, I can see this coming a mile of.
"I take it I'm going to have to get the hell out of the vault?"
"Yeah, but it's more than that,"
"I don't need any more details," he said as he walked for his vault suit. He picked up his baseball bat and BB gun.
"Noel you don't understand"
"I understand just fine, I'm getting the hell out of here" he said, drowning out her protests," besides what could they have done that could possibly surprise me?"
"Noel, they killed Jonas,"
He stopped. His gun was in his hand.
"I'm sorry what did you say?"
"He's dead, Noel, I'm sorry,"
"No, you're not sorry," said Noel, straightening up, "You're psycho Father is going to be sorry,"
He started to run out, Amata caught him.
"No! Please I know Jonas was your friend but that's my father," she said, "I don't know what's wrong with him, but he isn't in his right mind,"
"Amata, the jackass has been looking for any excuse to throw my Dad and me in jail since I can remember, I'm sure as soon as he realised he couldn't get Pap he decided to go for his best friend."
"No, that's not what he was thinking,"
Noel was fuming, nearly foaming at the mouth, why didn't she get it?
"How do you know!?"
"How do you?" she said, she was still holding his arm back with a grip so tight it was like she was trying to close out his blood. "Listen, you have to get out of here, people are already calling for your blood, the security is itching to kill you, and they even tried to catch me before officer Gomez sent them the wrong way."
"Tried to get you?" as evil as the overseer seemed he had never once tried to harm Amata.
He must have really gone round the bend; but that still doesn't mean he can't be taught a lesson.
"I won't kill your father Amata, but he still has to answer for his crimes,"
"He will, as soon as everyone calms down, please, no one has to die again today," she said, "I'll help you, but you have to promise, you'll let my father survive today, and as many security guards as possible, they're just following orders,"
"I promise you, but I will let you know, if I ever see any security or even your father when I'm out of the vault, I won't think twice"
"I understand," she resigned, "Okay, here's the plan, security isn't as tight up here because Officer Gomez has fed them some false leads, and they think you're hiding on the reactor level. Despite this they left some of the higher rankers up here: Kendall, Mack and Security Chief Hannon, and all the doors leading to the vault door are locked and several have armed guards,"
"How do you know all this?" asked a greatly impressed Noel, Amata was speaking as if it were a military operation, she had a glint in her eye as if she were born to lead.
"I do my research, plus Dad never checks if I'm in the next room while he gives out orders." She said, "Now your best bet isn't to go down to the vault door, it's to go up to it,"
"Eh?"
"My Dad's office," she said, " there's a secret tunnel there that goes right down to the vault doors in case of emergencies, you have to sneak into my dad's office, open the tunnel, and escape through the tunnel,"
"Easier said than done," scoffed Noel.
"You're public enemy number one, nothing's going to be easy," her expression softened, "listen, as much as you may be hating this place right now, there are still people here who love you, and want you to survive, especially me, so, I stole this from my Dad." She pulled out a 10mm pistol, it was in great quality and the sights were perfect to a decimetre. "I think you should use it for protection, in case they try to, you know"
"Yeah, thanks but I shouldn't, I won't be able to trust myself," declined Noel, "and you might need it more than me."
Amata hesitated but agreed "Okay, but please be careful, I'll try to meet you there if I can, but don't wait for me if I'm not there,"
"Right, goodbye Amata,"
"Good luck," she said, she left the room in a hurry and left Noel alone, he sat on his bed to collect his thoughts, Jonas dead, Dad gone, and he was a hunted man.
So much for a quiet life
Noel didn't bother locking the door; he took everything that mattered most to him and everything that might be important and crept out of his room, he decided to keep a low profile. Noel was no pushover but some of these guards were pretty damn scary.
He was going to creep right the way through the vault until he reached the vault doors and escape. That is if he could manage to stay out of sight.
"There you are!" came a yell from across the hall.
Shit
Officer Kendall had his baton out and ready to charge until a radroach burst at him from his left, he was distracted, Noel slipped past as quickly as he could and charged down the hall.
He wasn't looking at his sides as he was bee-lining for the stairs, so he never saw when a grease ball on his left crashed into him.
Noel and the person went crashing to the ground.
Noel looked up and saw Butch rising quickly to his feet, he locked eyes on Noel.
"You," he breathed
"Listen Butch, I don't want any bull right now I'm-"
"You gotta help me, man!" he said, quickly "My mom she's trapped in there with those roaches, you've gotta save her,"
"I...Butch I don't have time for this," he said.
"Please man I know I haven't been the best guy to you, but I'll do anything," he whined, "please man,"
Noel bit his lip, he needed to get the hell out of here but he also didn't want to leave Butch's mother to die.
"Allright, I'll help, but you owe me one," he said, Noel got to his feet, Officer Kendall had apparently moved on after killing the roaches.
Noel raced past Butch and into his living quarters, he ran into the room and saw Ellen DeLoria surrounded by radroaches. He swung his baseball bat at the closest bug and watched it smoosh, he swung again and again and again.
The bugs were all dead and a drunken Ellen stood up.
"You did it!" yelled Butch, running back in.
"Damn straight, I did now move!"
"No man, wait," Butch pulled off his jacket, "here, you can have this. You're the best friend I ever had,"
Friend?
"Thanks, bye," he said simply rushing past him, no time for pleasantries.
Noel rushed up the stairs, his sneaky exit wasn't going quite the way he planned.
He looked around him, he saw vault security at the bottom of the hall, and he ducked and went around the corner.
"Ah, hello there young man!" said Andy, the robot, very loudly.
I really hate that thing.
Noel shot up; it looked like he was going to have to deal with the officer. He pulled out his bat and charged around the corner, only to be met with Officer Gomez.
Noel never put his bat down.
"Woagh, kid I'm not gonna stop you, I just want to talk." He said, his weapons were all away and his helmet was removed.
"Listen, I'm not sure why your dad did what he did, but he's bound to have good reasons, and you're a good kid, so I'm just gonna let you go free."
Noel lowered his bat, "Thanks, Officer Gomez, I always liked you,"
"Allright, you just be careful, the other guards won't be as forgiving as I am."
Noel left and Officer Gomez began to patrol his corridors.
Noel went through the door, he was getting closer and closer to the exit, and as he moved he couldn't help but think about what the outside was like, were there monsters? Bandits? Were there any forms of civilization?
And as he thought about the outside, he was oddly excited, as if he was always meant to go out there, as if this was going to be his life.
But he had to get out there first.
Noel stopped, there were voices around the corner.
"We're getting out of here, just like the doctor!" is what he thought he heard, a woman said something but Noel couldn't make it out, he crept closer, it sounded to him like someone was going to take a really stupid, unnecessary risk.
Noel moved around the corner, he knew exactly what was going to happen. He sprinted for them, the man had already run but the woman hesitated, he knew he had one chance.
"It's me, Tom! I want-," bullets rained down on the man, as his face exploded in the hellfire.
They saw Mary and began to open fire, but before they got a shot in, Noel dived, he dragged her out of the way, they rolled through the door.
"Hey was that the doctor's kid?" Noel heard from the outside, he kicked the locker out of the way of the door and it shut, just as the guards came around the corner.
"God damn, that was too close." Exclaimed Noel as they began to bang on the door.
Mary Holden was unconscious, she must have fainted. She had to be hidden or else something bad could happen to her if she were found. Noel placed her inside another locker but didn't lock it, she would get out when she woke up.
Noel proceeded up the stairs, he was almost there, and he had so far avoided any real fights.
He walked through the atrium and was about to walk into the boiler room, when there came a sharp bang on the window.
"You, this is your fault," yelled Allen Mack, "you and your stupid father."
Noel walked on, there were radroaches in here but they didn't seem interested in Noel, but Security Chief Hannon sure did.
"Hey!"
Shit
Noel pulled out his bat as Hannon ran for him. Noel ducked to the right as the guard missed, he swung his bat for him but the guard dodged to his side.
Hannon attacked again and Noel couldn't dodge in time. It struck him right in his face and Noel felt the blood go spitting from his mouth. The guard swung again but Noel ducked under this one.
He brought his bat up to Hannon's jaw, in an uppercut. He saw the teeth go flying out of his mouth.
Hannon tried to swing again but Noel moved again, exposing Hannon's side, Noel swung straight for the kidneys, Hannon let out a groan and Noel swung for the head, he heard a sickening crack as Hannon fell to the floor.
He was still barely conscious and he tried to get up, although he seemed clearly dazed and almost zombified. Noel put his foot on his chest; Hannon gave up and just closed his eyes.
Noel picked up the baton and moved on.
Around the corner he heard distressing sounds, he ducked down so as not to be seen but kept an eye on the situation.
Amata was sitting on a chair, surrounded by 2 men.
One was Officer Mack, a known sadist, the other was the Overseer.
"I had to help him, he's my friend." Said Amata, she sounded worried.
"Amata, I don't like this anymore than you do, but if you don't tell us where he is, then I'm going to have to let Officer Mack go ahead and persuade you..."
That sick bastard!
Before Noel could even do anything, Amata made a move.
"Look out sir, she's got a gun."
"Stay back, or else I'll kill you!" she yelled.
"Amata, where did you get that gun?" asked a furious Overseer. "Officer Mack, stop her!"
Amata shot.
"My god, Amata, you've killed him!" cried the Overseer.
"You made me do it!" she yelled as she ran from the room.
Noel walked in.
"What are you doing here?" he said, "I can only hope you're here to turn yourself in, after turning my daughter into a sociopath!"
Noel stayed quiet, pulling out his baton.
"What are you doing? You surely wouldn't kill your best friend's father"
"I'm not going to kill you; I'm just going to teach you to never, EVER, touch Amata again."
Noel approached him.
I'm gonna enjoy this.
Noel sat beside Jonas' mutilated corpse. A lifelong friend, brutally murdered by the sick bastard coughing up blood and nursing his twisted legs.
Noel found the message he was holding, more than likely he was on his way to give this to Noel before he was cut down.
He played it.
"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first. I... I don't really know how to tell you this Noel. I hope you'll understand, but I know you might be angry. I thought about it for a long time, but in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong and there's really no telling how the overseer will react when he finds out. It's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I'm gone. It was something I needed to do. You're an adult now. You're ready to be on your own. Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going. I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe. Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going." At this point Jonas interrupted him.
"Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with,"
"Okay. Go ahead. Goodbye. I love you Nu-Nu."
Noel's eyes had blurred, they weren't tears of sadness, but they were tears of anger, tears of confusion, what was more important to his father than staying with his family?
"I'm sorry, Noel" he turned around and saw Amata behind him.
"Don't be, none of this was your fault, it was the doctor's"
They stayed silent for a few moments.
"Come on Noel you have to get out of here now," she said.
"Ok," said Noel getting to his feet.
Amata hugged him, Noel held her close.
"Oh god, Noel I killed a man,"
"You didn't have a choice."
"But it was so horrible. There was so much blood." She cried. "Please, take the gun, and look after yourself. I'll try to get out there."
She turned and went away leaving Noel with his gun.
Noel stood at the door, this was it, this was the moment he was going to leave his home behind, he had thought about it before but anytime it crossed his mind it was surrounded with glory, he was the vault champion, and the women swooned and the men wanted to be him.
It was nothing like this.
Amata was there too, she didn't say much, just goodbye.
Noel opened the door as the guards began to knock on the locked metal one behind him. Amata fled back through the tunnel. Noel stepped forward he stepped onto the rocky floor on the outside of the door.
The guards came out, they were reluctant to leave the vault premises even though he was only a few feet away.
Noel ignored them as he turned towards the rickety wooden door at the end of the cave. He ignored the signs from 200 years ago that said help us in scrawled writing.
He heard the vault doors behind him close.
He put his hand on the wood.
It may be a cliché but this time it works.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life.