Bit of a short chapter today. But it's an important one.

Enjoy!

Everything became a blur after that. It was as if I didn't have anything to live for anymore. It was clear to me that Margret wanted more than what she was getting from me, but I was more then willing to let her down. Work soon became unbearable, and for the first time since I joined the Enclave I seriously thought of quitting. But with the attack on the Jefferson Memorial, we were unable to leave for fear of leaking information. Even if I promised with my whole heart I would never (which was a lie) they wouldn't let me leave.

The idea of running away became very attractive to me. I could arrange some sort of weapon, and as for the chip attached in my molar I could just rip it out and destroy it. Maybe I could even sneak into the armoury and 'borrow' a few things. Hell, it sounded like a kick-ass idea to me. I even began to search for maps of the Wastelands to set a course for where I should go. So far I haven't found anything. Day after day I kept adding more things to this plot, but I never seemed to gather the guts to actually put it into action. One day I got so sick of hitting dead ends on finding a map to the Wastes, I found I couldn't sit in my desk any longer, and I forced myself to take a walk. Margret was ignoring me, as she always did, so there was that. As I walked down the hallway, I tried to push away the thoughts of Charles, Lieutenant Martin, Colonel Autumn… I had walked down these halls with all of them at one point. Now they're all dead. Squeezing my eyes shut, I decided my walk was going to be longer than anticipated. Since the attack, Colonel Autumn's office has been completely empty. I decided I wanted to go and visit it, for old times sake. Hell, maybe I could find something to help me with my escape plan. I swung open the door, and was surprised that the lights were still on. Then my eyes settled on the person sitting at the main desk.

"Hello, Ms. Jordan." Colonel Autumn chimed, looking up at me, pleasantly surprised.

My eyes widened, and I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Autumn chuckled, looking amused at my utter shock.

"What's wrong? Did I scare you?" He asked.

"But… you…" I swallowed deeply. "You were dead."

Autumns eyebrows forwarded, and pain flickered in his eyes ever so slightly.

"No, not yet. I was just about to announce that very thing, until you so rudely interrupted. Have you not heard of knocking?" He asked cheekily.

I was not in the mood to fight with him. But I knew he was the only one who truly knew what happened to Charles… and I just needed to know.

"Did…" I started.

"Before you ask 'did Charles live, too', the answer is no. No he did not." He explained, suddenly getting very serious.

I guess it wasn't really much of a disappointment, since I had already thought he was dead. But still, it made me feel even worse that it was now clarified.

"Ms. Jordan, if you would please come and sit with me, I would like to explain a few things to you." He said.

I swallowed hard, preparing myself for whatever news was going to tell me.

Once I sat down, he folded his hands tightly on his desk, and looked me straight in the eye. Kai taught me how to see if somebody was truly healthy or not. And Autumn was not meeting the standards. Further more, whatever news he was about to share with me was serious business.

"The battle at the Jefferson Memorial was not a complete failure. We lost a lot of men, but, we go in control of the Purifier." He explained.

My eyes enlarged, and I could feel my hands shaking ever so slightly.

"The people in charge of the Purifier fled to the under ground tunnels. The squads followed them. Including Charles. There were mostly only Doctors, some old, and some young. But there was one other…. thing with them." He took a deep breath before continuing. "A Cyborg was with them. It went rogue after we took over, and it rampaged. It killed most of our men. Including Charles King."

A Cyborg? That was obviously something that wasn't in the research we had done. We heard no mention of one… Maybe if we had, Charles would still be alive.

"I am telling you this because…Ms. Jordan, I am sending you and your business partner over to the purifier. You two and some other workers will be in charge of getting it started."

I blinked a few times, trying to process what he had just told me.

"What about the Cyborg?" The question just kind of came out naturally, before I even had time to think. Autumns forehead wrinkled in a way I had never seen before. He was genuinely nervous about it.

"I'll be honest with you, Ms. Jordan. It got away. We will have soldiers defending your post. You will be able to work to the best of your ability with no worries of this Cyborg." He explained. For the first time ever, I was able to see right through Autumns shield. Whoever… whatever this Cyborg was, it scared the living shit out of him. I took that as a silent victory as I nodded my head in agreement. There was a form of accomplishment with seeing Autumn like that. One that I knew would stay with me for the rest of my life.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

The next morning I was awoken yet again by that horrible beeping from the 'pre-war' alarm clock. Anger flared in me, and I slammed my fist down on it, hard. Little metal parts flew everywhere, scattering across the floor, echoing in the silence of the morning. I sighed deeply. Today we were to travel to the Jefferson Memorial. Today I was to leave the place I've stayed in for five years. Not to mention that they didn't even know how long we were supposed to stay there…. in fact, they were rather vague on most of the details. Honestly it was nothing new for the Enclave. They always kept secrets from their workers. It was one of the downfalls of the Enclave. But in the old days I had learned to see past the downfalls. Now I see nothing but problems.

Travelling to the Jefferson Memorial was easier than I had anticipated. After packing everything I thought I would need into one huge suit case, which wasn't even half of my stuff, we were flied to the project by a fer-da-bird. I thought we would be in the air for much longer than we actually were. It must have been about five minutes tops by the time that we arrived. As I climbed out of the fer-da-bird, I became aware of how depressing it felt. I shook off the feeling physically, and followed my commanders inside the building. From there we were guided to the project itself. I was immediately taken by the sheer size of the purifier. It must have been the size of the fer-da-bird… maybe even two of them in one. Margret was equally as stunned as I was when we finally set our eyes on the thing. Around the purifier was a chamber with hundreds of machines, all in a circle around the giant purifier. As we walked in I noticed the chamber could be locked air tight. It was absolutely amazing how they had gotten this things working, from practically nothing at all. Which begged the question further… why was it abandoned twenty years ago? And why did they pick it up now? As time went on, I found out.

Hope you liked it! More to come.