Chapter 4: Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

The room was fairly spacious, which was good, as it had four beds. There were two bunks in the far left and right corners of the room. A closed door in the far wall between the two beds had the letters 'W.C.' on them, which Miho was confused by. Vault-Tec were an American company, apparently some of their mannerisms kept with them despite having a Japanese branch.

There was a carpet on the floor between the two beds, which seemed to be there for the purpose of breaking up the visuals of the floor, it was so thin it didn't look like it'd make the floor comfortable to kneel on and it was just a solid colour.

On her left, in the corner of the room, there was a strange table and seat setup. There was a cushioned wide seat that curved with the corner of the wall and the table was suspended by a single solid leg. Miho recognised it as a seating arrangement straight out of an American diner. She never thought she'd ever see anything like it in this country. Vault-Tec's mannerisms really were here to stay.

On the far right wall was a large chest of drawers with shelves built into the walls above it. There was a poster on the wall with the Vaul-Tec logo and cartoon boy mascot with the tag You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

There was a slight hiss from behind that startled her. She turned to look. It was just the door closing, its two halves sliding back together. She breathed a sigh of relief she had been observing the room so thoroughly that a simple automatic door needed to keep her on her toes.

So this was where she was going to spend... how long were they down here for exactly? That was probably going to be explained later. She guessed that it would've also been detailed in that leaflet the vault form had briefly mentioned if the bombs had given them time to arrive.

She wondered. Maybe the leaflet was in this shrink wrapped bag? That seemed like the kind of useful thing to put in what she presumed to be a start-your-life-in-a-vault starter kit.

Placing her bag against the side of the frame of the bed, she sat down on one of the bunks and... it was surprisingly comfy. She was expecting military standard: foam blocks wrapped in a layer of leather,like a prison mattress. But she sank into it as she sat on it. She peeled the mattress cover to look at it. It was literally a block of foam. Well she was half right. She guessed it was industrial grade.

Outside the dorm room, Miho could hear the footsteps and chatter of other vault residents looking for their rooms. It was fairly quiet, though now she was consciously thinking about it, she only just noticed the buzzing of the light bulbs in the roof. She hoped she'd forget about that before going to sleep.

She placed the shrink wrapped bag on her lap and undid the plastic zip. She pulled the tin box out first and placed it to one side, she wanted to find the leaflet first, if it was in there. She pulled the folded fabric out, pinched it with her fingers and let it fall. It was a jumpsuit, with the number 131 in yellow on the back. A little booklet fell out from within. She caught it between her knees before it fell too far, balled the jumpsuit up, put it on top of the box and looked at the booklet.

What to do in times of the apocalypse!

Yeah, this seemed to be what she was looking for. She flicked through it. There weren't many pages, each one seemed to detail some brief information on certain topics of the vault, presumably acting as a reference guide rather than an exhaustive list of information. The font they used was large, the text was broken up a lot, there were pictures and that mascot boy liked to hog a few of the pages as well. She glanced at the chapter names as she turned the pages.

'When they drop that bomb!' What to do when the bombs start dropping. Bit facetious, and a bit late for that.

'Facilities in the vault' Common rooms, mess halls, interior pictures of each to go with. Weirdly enough, the toilets were in the same rooms as the showers in the dorms. Was that an American thing? Worryingly enough, the vault also seemed to come equipped with an armoury. What would they need guns for down here? Japan's laws on firearms was very strict, and Miho was uncomfortable with the thought that she wasn't too far from an entire shelf of the things.

'Health' Stimpaks? RadX? RadAway? Miho had never heard of any of these... products? Brands? She peered up to look at the door to the dorm, remembering she had spotted a wall-mounted first aid kit, hanging just off to the side of it. On the booklet there was also a little table that showed what the different levels of radiation were based on how many "rads" the patient had absorbed. Well, she was down here in the vault, she wouldn't have to worry about radiation.

'Frequently asked questions' This might be what she was looking for. There was a cute illustration of the mascot scratching his head with a finger peering up to look at a question mark above his head.

'Q: How long do I have to stay in the vault?

A: Your time in one of vaults is dependant on a number of factors, most of which are out of our control! Ultimately, all vault residents will leave the vault when the Overseer relays that Vault-Tec has given them the All-Clear signal, which means it's safe to go to the surface! You mustn't go to the surface until the Overseer has received the All-Clear signal, there's all sorts of dangerous things up there, like nuclear fallout! Usually it takes about a year for fallout radiation levels to reach a safe level, but other contributing factors can mean the All-Clear signal isn't given until several decades after the door has been sealed.'

A year? That wasn't... too bad. And hey, Ooarai would only be caught in the fallout by what was carried by the wind from Tokyo, right?

She felt the ground beneath her feet shake. It felt like an earthquake, but... Miho somehow knew it wasn't. She instinctively looked up, to the surface. Silly thing to do really, but she couldn't help it. If anybody hadn't made it into the vault now... they were gone.

She gripped her fists, the pages of the magazine crinkled in her hand. She took a deep breath, not wanting to burst into tears again. She needed to be strong now. Breathe in through the nose... hold it... and out through the mouth. She released her grip on the booklet and put it to one side.

She picked up the tin box from underneath the jumpsuit. She tilted it in her hand, looking at it. On closer inspection, it had the Vault-Tec logo on it, the yellow font blending into the light shade of brown of the tin. The tin was very curvaceous, she didn't have a clue what was inside it. There was a latch on the box, kind of like what you would see on a businessman's briefcase.

She released the latch and opened the box. There was a little manual on top. The very first thing that caught her eye was the giant Pip-Boy text on the front. She picked it up with the intention of looking inside it but then saw what it was covering.

It was unlike anything she'd ever seen. Miho's affiliation with technology was that of any normal millennial: she knew how to use a smartphone and the basic functionalities of a laptop for word processing and Internet browsing. This device here was completely alien.

It looked like someone tried to make a bracelet out of a phone. It had a large, slightly curved screen, fixed into a bulky arm band unit with a couple of dials. It was sitting in a carved out block of black foam, which she could smell now that the box was open. She pulled it out. It was spotless, shiny; obviously brand new.

Like the box it came it, it operated on a latch. She slipped it on her arm and closed the latch. She pressed one of the buttons - any random button - and it started to rapidly click. She jumped slightly. The display then lit up and a bunch of green scrolling text raced by.

Some more text - complete gibberish, computer talk - typed itself on screen, before flickering a little animation played of the Vault-Tec mascot raising his thumb, his happy grin never leaving his face. Miho was starting to find that smile a little insufferable.

Then the display changed again to a complicated display of bars, boxes, numbers, another animation of the mascot walking on the spot and aaaaaargh!

She put her arm down. She'll figure it out another time.

She picked the jumpsuit up again and looked at it. It was lacking in taste. It looked like a heavy duty onesie, like if astronauts had to sleep in pyjamas she imagined this is what they would be issued. Were they being expected to wear these?

The doors to the room hissed, once again a little too loudly. Miho jumped again. She hoped that wouldn't wake them up if anyone ever left the room while they were sleeping. She looked over to the door, but she knew who was there before she got a good look.

"Miss Nishizumi!" the familiar voice of Yukari cried out upon seeing her beloved commander.

"Yukari!" Miho burst into a smile, and quickly stood back to her feet in surprise, dropping the jumpsuit. "I- I'm so happy to see you're alive!"

"Me too, miss Nishizumi. Err, I mean I'm happy you're alive, not me, though I am happy I'm alive as well." Yukari chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

She was dressed in her own set of forest camouflage pyjamas with a set of cargo overalls on top. Her hair was a complete mess. Miho cringed at the thought of having to comb it. Tucked under her left arm, Yukari was holding one of the shrink wrapped bags, and she had a backpack on as well. Miho was glad to see she followed orders and had put a pack of stuff together.

"How long have you been here?" Yukari asked, setting her backpack down beside the frame of the bunk opposite Miho.

"Not long," Miho responded. "Do you know if anyone else made it?"

"I saw Leopon team when I joined the school queue," Yukari relayed.

"Oh yeah, you must have come here with your parents."

"Yeah, I did. They made it in." Yukari sat down on the bed, hands on her knees. Miho also sat back down, and the two girls faced each other, glad to be in their company.

"Why aren't you with them?" Miho asked.

"I was up until we arrived at the vault. Kawashima wanted me to go in with the rest of the students that had just arrived by bus."

"Why?"

"Something to do with administration. I think they were trying to keep as close of a track on how many students they managed to get into the vault. She said I'd be able to skip the queue in if I did that."

"So you had to leave your parents?" Miho seemed more than a little horrified.

"Yeah, that... made me uncomfortable, as it did Dad. But Mum urged me to go on, she said if they were... unlucky at least I would be alive." Her face sunk a little as he said that, but lit up again with a glint in her eye. "And Kawashima said she saw you go in, so I wanted to go in to find you!"

Miho giggled, putting her curled up fingers to her mouth.

"That was sweet of you, Yukari. Thank you."

"What's that around your arm?" Yukari's attention was suddenly seized by the Pip-Boy strapped to Miho's forearm.

"Oh that," Miho had forgotten it was there, she had subconsciously wondered why her arm had felt heavier when she lifted it to giggle, "I think it's called a Pip-Boy, you should have-"

"Woah! They gave us Pip-Boys?!" Yukari burst out, snatching the plastic bag back up she had put down and unzipping it.

"You know what they are?"

"Sure do! Someone on a tank forum I follow mentioned them. They're an awesome bit of kit!" Yukari ran her hand over the tin box and found the latch. She undid it, opened the box and immediately tossed the manual onto her bed and pulled her Pip-Boy out of its foam.

She held it out in front of her with outstretched arms, her mouth open and her eyes shining like they did when she saw a tank she liked.

"This is so co-o-o-o-ol! I wonder which model it is..."

"3000 Mark 4.5," Miho read the the subtitle off of her own manual.

"Oh, awesome, we got the latest models!"

"What's the difference?"

Yukari lowered the Pip-Boy and peered over at Miho, her Panzer High expression frozen on her face.

"I have no idea!" she confessed, and then burst out laughing.

Miho laughed with her.

"Never change, Yukari," she said with a smile.

The high spirits were suddenly bought down again by a second episode of shaking. They could feel the vibrations in their feet, and the walls rattled a little bit.

The happy expressions of the two girls quickly faded away. They looked at each other, and nothing was said for a moment.

"Are your parents OK?" Miho finally broke the silence.

"Yeah, they're OK," Yukari said with a soft smile. "They signed the registration forms, so they made it through pretty quickly. By the time Yuzu handed me the bag and shooed me through the door I saw them stepping into the vault."

"That's great to hear! It'd be awful if they got caught outside."

"Yeah. I was a little scared the whole way here that we would be."

Another somewhat awkward silence enveloped them. Neither could concentrate on keeping the conversation going, their minds were distracted by the surface.

"D'you think they particularly don't like Ooarai or they just have that many bombs?" Miho asked. They were both wondering roughly the same thing. Ooarai wasn't anything special, so for two bombs to be dropped near it either meant they were targeting them specifically for some reason, or they had just that many bombs to use.

"I...don't know," Yukari said. "I hope everyone is OK," she said with a sigh.

They had noticed by now that the foot traffic outside had really died down since the first shake. Clearly because the vault was no longer taking any more residents.

The door hissed open once again, Miho didn't let it catch her off guard this time.

"Commander! Guderian!"

"Erwin!" the two girls exclaimed, and then they noticed who was standing behind her. "Saori!"

"Oh, Miporin, Yukari, you're ok!" Saori wailed, throwing her handbag and the kit Yuzu gave to the floor as she ran to Miho, her eyes tearing up.

Miho stood up and caught Saori as she flung herself onto her for a hug, which was broken very quickly so she could go and hug Yukari next, her sobbing echoing even in the halls outside.

"I'm- so glad you- you're all OK!" she managed to say between her voice flexing from the crying. Her voice was muffled from burying her face into Yukari's shoulder.

"I second that, commander, Guderian," Erwin approached Miho and thrust her hand out for a handshake, which Miho took up on.

Erwin held her fist out to Yukari, who just managed to reach out to bump it with Saori wrapping herself tight around her.

Erwin was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans, with her trademarked jacket, done up for once. That was secretly because she hadn't had time to slip anymore than a bra on. She had her hat though of course, she had her priorities straight.

Saori was dressed in a set of pink cotton pyjamas, her hair was uncombed with strands sticking out in all directions. She had get school shoes on, but without socks.

"So. This is it then," Erwin said, setting her hiking rucksack down with the plastic bag held on with a bungee cord wrapped all the way around. "We're in Vault 131 now. This is our new home."

"I DON'T WANT THIS TO BE OUR NEW HOME!" Saori cried out, letting Yukari go to grab fistfuls of her own hair.

"Miss Takebe," Yukari tried to say as cheerfully as she could. "Unfortunately it has to be now. We're down here to protect us from the fallout on the surface."

Saori had stopped her wailing, but covered her face in her hands, the tears streaming down her face, with the occasional sniff to break the silence.

"I hope my parents are OK..." she managed to say.

Miho reached out to her and put her hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her in for a hug. Saori moved in.

"We have to be strong now, Saori," said Miho. "We need to be strong for each other."

"So... did they all make it?"

"Yes, Overseer," Momo flung her clipboard onto the desk. "Every single student is alive and accounted for."

"That's good."

"Not without casualties, however," Momo quickly relayed. "The medical ward is full of patients suffering radiation sickness."

"Exposure from the first bomb dropping, I take it?"

"Yeah, we only just managed to close the door before everyone in the door room suffered lethal exposure. It wasn't just students, a few citizens are in the infirmary too."

"Anyone in particular?"

"Most of them are Student Morals Committee, they were lagging behind the last few students when the last bus arrived."

"So... Sodoko?

"Actually... she and Mako Rezei..." Momo stopped.

She swallowed hard.

She took a deep breath.

"They were locked out when the bomb dropped."

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Unfortunately, I am. However, they were right up against the vault door when the explosion occurred, and were nowhere near ground zero. There was no direct exposure to the blast."

"That makes it OK then," the Overseer was dripping with sarcasm.

"B-but they're back inside. They're now in the medical ward, suffering severe radiation sickness."

"Shit..."

"Your plans were amazing though, Overseer. You really outdid yourself, the organisation was some of the best I have ever seen. If anyone else had been in charge, I doubt we would've even got half the school inside, and while everyone was asleep when the alarm was raised no less!"

"Thanks Kawashima, but if Sodoko and Mako die, I... I'm not sure I'll be able to forgive myself. I'm... I might even be starting to regret taking this job."

Momo rubbed the bridge of her nose. She was starting to feel the stress too.

"Overseer, I hate to bring matters up, but there's also the introduction and presentation that still needs conducting, pretty much everyone is still in their randomly assigned rooms and nobody knows what's going on."

"... OK, you're right, get that prepared... but for God's sake I'm not doing it without a bag of sweet potatoes."

"Yes, Overseer."

A/N:

Hello readers! I would just like to take a moment to thank you for reading the story. If you've made it this far I can only assume that you like it!

Having said that, I would like to know your opinion on the story. I'm trying to keep a balance of realism and GuP logic with this story, as I'm trying to make it bleak but also keep some of that GuP charm. I would like to know if I'm succeeding, so a review would be most appreciated.

And I'd also just like to know what you think of my writing in general! I myself have noticed that it's fairly mediocre. I think my particular style only works in certain places, so overall it makes the story's quality generally "meh", nothing truly awful like a stereotypical fanfic but nothing amazing like Gup: Open Warfare (go check that story out).

Catch you in the next chapter!