Spectrum chapter 3- Escape from the Vault, pt.2
The armory was a long, narrow room, with barely enough available space for one person to fit through. Shelved packed with identical pistols, magazines, bullet boxes, batons, holsters and other equipment of the such were on one side, and mannequins stood on the other side. Most of the human shaped statues were bare, with the exception of two that wore black bulletproof vests, with matching boots and gloves that covered the hand from the palm all the way up to the elbow, and a helmet with a transparent face shield.
Raph quickly entered the room, and hammered on the console. The thick metallic object closed.
He kicked off his shoes, as he had no time to open the laces and properly take them off. He put on the thick, shiny boots, slid on a pair of gloves and a vest, tightly strapping it around his body. He put on a special security weapon holster, and took the helmet off of the mannequin, leaving it completely naked as he did, wiped the blood that dripped from his forehead, put on the helmet, and approached the far end of the room as he fastened its straps under his chin.
The Vault had a limited supply of bullets, so only security workers were authorized with the comfort of practicing with a pistol. Raph had spent hours upon hours with his BB gun, but that wasn't nearly the same. That didn't stop him from breaking into the armory and disassembling every single item in the room, though. When boredom hit, no obstacle was too much for his Ingenuity.
At the end of the room was a plain looking safe. Raph skillfully rotated the locking mechanism to the correct numbers and unlocked the door, to reveal a bulky and metallic device laying on the floor of the safe. It had what appeared to be a handle with a button on it at its rear end, and another set of metal rods attached to the handles ends, forming a rectangle.
It had a thicker cube at its opposite end, with a thick wire that started at its front end and disappeared inside it around the middle. The word 'Caution' was painted onto the chassis in yellow letters, and AEP7 was carved into the metal rear in small letters.
Raph grabbed the Laser pistol, and flipped the switch on the side. The weapon immediately began humming as its capacitors were coming to life, energy rushing through the advanced circuitry.
There were also three energy cells in the safe, each contained three high-powered, finger-sized carbon-fiber batteries, strapped together in a small metal ellipse, and a small suitcase, twice the size of an open palm.
Raph grabbed two of the cells and put the suitcase in his backpack. After a moment of thought, he took a few pistols with loaded magazines and inserted them into the backpack as well. He'll have to learn to use those sooner or later. He then opened a small panel on the gun's side, and slid in the third cell. The device immediately responded with somewhat louder humming, and Raph could feel the lever get slightly warmer, which meant it was ready to fire.
The young man, now fully armored and with an advanced weapon in his possession, turned to the door, lowered his face shield, and pressed on the console.
He raised his weapon into firing position and the door opened, disappearing into the ceiling, to reveal a bunch more Radroaches creeping at the end of the corridor. He exhaled, and pulled the trigger, preparing for the worst.
The gun emitted a soft sound that reminded Raph of a short, distant thunder, as those could be heard on the Vault's top level on rare occasions. A weak yet clearly visible red light, a beam, was emitted from the gun's end, and hit near one of the scattering creatures, burning a small crater in the floor. It had no recoil whatsoever.
Raph nodded to himself with ease, his face assuming his usual blank expression. The giant bugs seemed unaware of the danger they were in.
He aimed and tried again, this time hitting one of the creatures, effectively turning half of its body into dust, the transparent material poured out of the remaining half.
He stepped closer with the weapon, raised and fired again, and again. All five threats were easily neutralized, befouling the Vault's floor with their mucus-like liquids.
He calculated the energy cell's capacity, then compared it to the weapon's power draw per shot. He should have at least twenty shots left in the current cell, and about seventy shots total. That is, if the cells hadn't deteriorate too much from years of lack of use.
If.
He sighed as he lowered the gun, and began running through the metallic corridors. It was then he noticed how heavy was everything he was carrying, as every step felt more like a stomp. But there were so many discomforts piling up one on top of the other, that he just didn't care anymore.
He halted by the hall that lead to his room, sent one last grieving glance, and moved on, both physically and mentally.
It wasn't long when he saw a figure coming towards him. He immediately raised his weapon and almost squeezed the trigger when he realized the figure had its arm in the air. I surrender, the armed dweller interpreted.
A few steps closer revealed that the figure wasn't wearing security armor, save for a black leather jacket over a resident's jumpsuit. Butch.
Raph swore. On every other day he would have recognized him the minute Butch have stepped into his sight. The hangover was really getting to him. Never. F***ing. Again.
The young man angrily raised his facemask. He was ready to give the idiot the lecture of his life when Butch interrupted. "Are you out of your fu-!"
"-You gotta help me!" he pleaded. "My mom's trapped in there with the Radroaches!"
The armed dweller was stunned. Never in his life he had seen the hairdresser so desperate.
"Where?" he demanded.
"In my dorms! Please, hurry!"
They both ran into the room's entrance. Raph barely managed to hear the chatters from outside over the blaring alarm, along with a feminine voice. A cry of pain.
The young man lowered the face shield and entered the room, sharply aware of the fact that his peer did not follow him. The outer room was a mess, broken dishes were scattered across the floor and a vase with flowers was broken and knocked over, with spilled plant soil covering porcelain shards. He entered the room, holstering the gun after realizing that firing it was too much of a risk, and whipped out his melee weapon, which was already sullied with slimy Radroach's fluids.
He opened the door to the bedroom, which made the living room look like heaven. Papers, broken liqueur bottles, and pools of freshly spilled blood were all over the place. A chair was flipped over, the bed's mattress was torn apart.
And in the corner was the source of the blood. Ellen DeLoria, Butch's mother, was crouching in the corner, hands over her head, screaming. Both her suit and the skin underneath were torn in multiple places, her long, blonde hair was messy and stained red, and in her eyes was the expression of a person who stared death in the eye. Three giant cockroaches were leaping at her, tearing more tissue and spilling more blood with every lunge.
Raphael swung the baton at the unaware insects with all the strength he could muster. One creature was squashed immediately, twitching yet immobile. Another two swings neutralized the remaining two, which were still busy assaulting the poor woman. Once they were immobilized, killing them was easy. A single swing to the head promised a quick, painless death to the disgusting abominations.
Ms. DeLoria hesitatingly raised her gaze to look at the armored dweller. "What's going on?" She gasped in a drowsy, confused voice. Along with the smell of blood and Radrocach bowels, Raph managed to catch the strong scent of liquor, coming directly from her.
Butch came up behind him, and helped her up. "We did it! My mom's gonna be okay!" He exclaim as he helped her to the couch, and pulled the surprised dirty dweller into a tight grip. "You're the best friend I ever had, man!"
He pulled away and took off his jacket. "I know it isn't much, but I want you to have my Tunnel Snakes Jacket." He handed it to the dweller.
Raph pushed his hand away. "I don't want your Jacket." he snarled.
Butch's eyes widened, both in shock and offense. "But.. why?"
Raph scoffed. "Because when I'm going to be out there, probably struggling for every breath, I don't want the memories of us fighting, or of you picking on my friend, or of you being an absolute Ass," he spat the word, "to people, to my friends, to me."
He raised his face shield, to reveal an expression of stone on his features, and locked eyes with the barber. "I understand that you've had it hard over the past years." He glanced towards the drunk women, who seemed oblivious to her multiple injuries, and stared into the empty bedroom, drooling. "You could have talked to me about it. Express your frustrations. And I would have done my best to help. We could have been friends. But instead," His stone like features turned into what could only be described as pure contempt. "You chose to make everyone as miserable as you were." He sighed, sliding the face shield back down. "Keep it. As food for thought." his voice was muffled by the barrier of compressed plastic.
The former bully looked down at the Jacket he was holding, his face showing what Raph hoped were sadness and regret.
He turned his back and walked towards the exit, stopping in front of where the door should have been. "Maybe, if you change your ways, we can become friends in the future." If he will still be alive by then. Raph wasn't sure who he referred to with this thought.
"But for now.." He bit his tongue, barely managing to hold off some more very harsh words. "Goodbye." And he ran back into the monotonic, metallic halls.
He was tired. His head was bleeding for some reason, and the blood burned his left eye. The alarm was hurting his ears and the lights hurt his eyes. The armor was heavy, and everything he did only seemed to make his already head-splitting headache worse. Dad was gone, security was after him, and Paul and Amata were in trouble. Maybe even dead, for all he knew. He cursed himself. There was nothing he could do for Paul, but at least Amata could have been safe if he hadn't been so stupid, sending her to fend for herself against these.. creatures.
For the first time in his life, he felt himself on the verge of tears.
Enter the LAYSAH! (Which by that I mean laser.. yeeeah. Forget I said that.) Vampwalker kinda read my mind there.. Dude, spoilers!
I know, I know. Shorter than usual. But the vault escape is just sooo freakin' long, it would take forever to complete. I just felt I had to upload something. So here you go. ^_^
Credits for my sistah (Deliberately misspelled) for story Beta. Did I mention she's awesome?
If you can point out mistakes in grammar and spelling.. you know the deal.
Thank you all for reading this, it means a LOT. And for the even awesomer people who take their time and review.. You guys are amazing.
More coming up,
Peace.
