June 6, 2283 – 4:41 pm

The door opened smoothly and let me pass from the horror behind me. I had to find the atrium, which usually wasn't that hard, but also needed to look out for more bots ready to kill me. Luckily, there was no blood in this hallway, and I stumbled over to the diner amidst the sound of distant gunfire.

Inside, several people sat crouched underneath the tables, scared out of their minds. A small girl was crying hard into her mother's shoulder, and Pete Sieher held a hunting rifle down the tunnel to the reactor, from which I could hear plenty of fighting. He turned to me, scoffed at my presence, and focused back on his sentry duty.

"What's going on here?" I simply asked him. But, the guy was unemployed, unmarried, and extremely cranky right now.

"Shut the hell up!" he hissed. "I have no time for your fuckin' questions. Either grab a gun, or hide in the corner like the coward you are."

It was pretty strong talk from a guy who actually failed his GOAT, became a trash collector, and then was fired. He had never even held a gun before. I replied by turning out the police baton. Sneering, he took one look at it and giggled.

"And what the hell is that gonna do, asswipe?"

You'd be surprised, loser. The thug just turned back to watch. I had no idea why he wouldn't go down there to help the screaming people, besides the fact that he was a total wimp. For all he knew, his drunken sister was down there.

For all I know, Jessie or Mom is down there. That was the thought that kicked my mind back into focus. I immediately rushed down the hallway, actually surprising Pete, and took cover behind the wall. Being the moron that he was, Seiher followed, whispering threats behind me: "You're an idiot. You'll lead them to us. You don't even have a good weapon. Your whole family is a bunch of nuts. Why can't you - "

I hit him… with the baton. He fell back on the ground, stunned, and I swiped his rifle. At least he was right about one thing – I needed a better weapon. But almost at once, he was back on his feet and he pulled out a 10mm, aimed at my head. Cocking it, he smirked sinisterly.

"I been waiting long time for this, you ass." I wanted to hit him again, but knew he wouldn't hesitate to shoot me.

"What did I ever do? You're just a futureless son of a bitch, taking it out on me."

"Yeah, well, you don't need to have leadership or nothin' to survive outside. That much I could tell… It's too bad you won't get to experience that too."

He pointed the gun at my head and I braced for the shot. I just survived a fight with a Sentry-Bot, and here I am about to die at the hands of a loser.

I heard a bang. Then I heard another, and another. Pete swore loudly and started firing in a different direction. I opened my eyes to see him shooting down the hallway to the reactor, and there were plenty of bullets coming back at him. He inched back towards the diner, but never thought to take cover, and eventually he fell. I stayed at the side of the door, waiting for the robot to pass by, which it did. I don't know why it didn't see me, hugging the wall in absolute fearful anticipation. But it drove on towards Pete's body, back turned to me.

Hell, this was the opportunity of the day. I raised the rifle high, pointing at the slightly exposed battery in the back, and shot it at least five times. The kick wasn't strong, so I held it firm against my shoulder, striking the battery over and over again. Like its friend, this one imploded.

I didn't even look back at Pete's lifeless face as I ran down the stairs to the reactor level.

June 6, 2283 – 4:50 pm

Running down the steps, I caught Father Helm holding a bible, singing psalms to himself, the grey-streaks in his hair showing even more than ever before. Two desks piled on top of one another protected him, but even as I passed by, he didn't acknowledge me. So, I continued on.

I had only been to the reactor room once, on a class field trip (if you could call it that), but I had remembered it as a sterile room with a huge power core in the middle. Mr. Nikitin had told us of their pursuit to conserve the energy from this machine, so that we could use it longer and without many problems.

It was working now, but the area around it was chaos. Several of the engineers who came to work down here lay dead all around. From a small door on the far side of the room, an endless supply of Sentry-Bots crawled out, guns blazing. Closer to the computer room, Officer Matheson and many of those who came with him hid behind stacks of supply crates, returning fire.

I hid behind a smaller crate, but none of the guns were aimed at me. Thus, I began firing from there. The robots were focused on the engineers, so they didn't expect me. Even so, it took at least a dozen shots with the rifle to put one down. After I felled three, I noticed I was running low on ammo.

Swearing to myself, I stopped shooting and watched the fight. The bots were slowly converging on the fighters, and I was in the middle of the gunfire. One of the engineers held a police baton up, pressed the button, and threw it. It impaled a Sentry-Bot, sending a slight shock through it, but continued on and nearly blew its attacker to bits. When I saw this, I had a brilliant idea. Taking out my police baton, I removed the canister of electric gel that was inside it. Then I took out the rounds from the rifle and placed them on the floor. No one was shooting at me, so I had time for this.

I picked up each individual round and squeezed some gel onto the tips. I only had thirty of so bullets, so it didn't take long to "electrify" them all, and stick them into the rifle. Hopefully, if the plan went well, I'd only need to shoot a couple of times at each robot.

I aimed, cocked the gun, and shot at the nearest rogue. The round went straight through the armor, and the Sentry-Bot just stopped, looking confused… for a droid. Suddenly, it started shaking, its insides exploding loudly so even the engineers heard it over their gunshots. They almost stopped to watch, but the other bots were still firing at them. My victim quickly stopped moving, its armor deformed and its lights out. There was fire licking the edges of a hole, obviously marking it as dead.

Having only taken one shot, I killed a total of ten more droids, some with two rounds, leaving me with seventeen more in my gun. Matheson finally spotted me, and signaled me from behind his cover. Before long, I saw him, and waved back in acknowledgment. I had to be careful though – some of the Sentry-Bots realized I was actually there and were discharging their lasers in my direction. When I'd taken care of a couple of these, I turned back to the chief, who held up a little green and yellow sphere.

Now, I knew what they were. We had learned about grenades and their use in history class, but I never thought that there were any down in the Vault. Apparently, the security had some in stock, and Matheson had one on him.

I couldn't hear him over the noise, but he pointed to the grenade, and then the little hole where all the dangerous automations were pouring out. He did this several times until I nodded in understanding. I knew what he expected me to do, and it actually made sense.

When there was a cease-fire for a fraction of a second, the chief rolled the weapon over to me, bumping lightly against my thigh, innocent as far as the unwary knew. After terminating a rogue that got too close, I carefully picked up the weapon, marveling at the simple design, wondering why it took so long for man to think of, and why it was even created in the first place.

My last question was answered when a laser blast zoomed past, almost scorching the nose off of my face. I ducked immediately as more of them whizzed by overhead. Grabbing my rifle, my body seemed to instinctively aim and pull the trigger, the bullet burying itself in my enemy's "head," burning its inner workings to a crisp. Suddenly, the grenade was back in my hand, and I was running at the source of the evil machines.

I wasn't even thinking. It was like when I killed that first one; all instincts went into overdrive as my body pumped adrenaline into my veins. Such a useful tool, adrenaline. It allows you to do things you would never do otherwise… like what I was doing now.

All the Sentry-Bots turned their attention to me at that moment, unfortunately, but the engineers were still shooting, so many went down before they could discharge their lasers. Even so, I had to dodge a great number of bursts, and one even hit me in my left arm. Good thing I was a righty, or I wouldn't have been able to bite the metal bit off and throw the explosive right into the small door.

I threw myself to the side of the hole and soon enough, the fire erupted out along with several pieces of what was now scrap metal. I expected to get shot now that I was on the ground, but after the dust cleared, I heard no more. Sitting up, dizzy and disoriented, I looked around at the carnage of the reactor room. All of the Sentry-Bots stood idle, aiming their guns at me but not firing. I realized that I was laying on the body of old Mr. Bogle and jumped off in an instant.

The walls were smeared with blood and the floors with oil. I found myself among several bodies, but I did not know them, thank God. Officer Matheson and the remaining engineers rushed over to me, grabbing me by the hand and lifting me to my feet.

"Good God, boy!" the chief congratulated me. "That was the best display of ridiculously outmatched fighting I've ever seen!" The other guys spoke up as well.

"You are the bravest young man in this Vault!"

"I can't believe anyone would have the balls to do that."

"And how you electrified your shots? Genius!"

I didn't speak, just staring ahead in a dazed way, barely acknowledging the compliments, but basking in them at the same time. My eyes wandered and landed on Grandpa Bogle's body again. He had to be one of at least eight on the floor, except he had someone standing over him. Joey Bogle stood over his grandfather, closing the blank eyes with his fingers and whispering a prayer. He had learned all his mechanical skills from the old man, and had been exempt from taking his GOAT ever since he'd helped fix the worst pipe leak the vault had ever seen when he was ten years old. Now he was here, saying goodbye to his teacher.

I wanted to say something when he came back and congratulated me with the rest of the engineers, but I didn't. I just picked up my gun, nodded at the whole group and started up the stairs.

"He's a bit stunned, I think," Matheson murmured as I left. He couldn't have been more right.

June 6, 2283 – 5:23 pm

We reached the diner as one, Father Helm having seen us and put his bible away for now, and came upon a makeshift hospital covered in blood and vomit. There were only three doctors: Doc Lee, his assistant Dave Sanders, and Olaf – our Mr. Handy. Dave was just an apprentice, really, and couldn't deal with heavy-duty surgery. Olaf was… a robot. He made mistakes, like cutting in the wrong spot (when he wasn't even supposed to be cutting) and applying anti-addiction shots to burn victims, but Doc Lee was directing him as much as he could. I began to think that no robot was ever good at medicine.

Stumbling past the tables, piled with a few people at once, I felt like crying. I stepped into someone else's gore or barf more than once, and my breakfast felt like it was about to join them on the floor. Then I remembered that my stomach was already empty, and was thankful that it was. The painful sting in your throat as you throw up is positively retched, and I'd rather not have gone through it again.

There were people I knew, too. My teacher, Mr. Nikitin, had an open wound at his hip. Mrs. Cherny, my old nanny, had broken both of her legs. Ms. Tien had a slight cut across her neck and Dave was trying to suppress the flow of blood. And then I passed Pete. His blank face stared up at mine, and a hole was open in his cheek. He still held the gun, and I noticed the fingers were broken, having been clenched in a death grip. I couldn't continue to look at the former bully, so I moved on.

There were at least a dozen people screaming in this room and in the hall outside, so why I happened to hear this one above all others is unknown to me. Maybe it was because I recognized it as someone I knew. Two engineers carried a stretcher in with a girl on it, bleeding from the chest. She was losing consciousness, and couldn't scream anymore. She also happened to be Doc Lee's daughter, Janey.

I was surprised her father hadn't heard her, until I realized he was setting a bone on a man without any painkillers, so Will Heim was screaming his head off.

The escorts just left her on a table to bleed, and all the doctors were busy. I contemplated telling Doc Lee, but he was still working hard on Will's leg. That in my mind, I rushed over to the table and an eye-fluttering Janey. She was shot in the shoulder, in the leg, and a blast had skimmed her waist. She was about to go out, so I quickly examined the wounds.

Her leg wasn't life threatening – it was a lot like the shot I got. I had to get a knife to open her jumpsuit, but the waist injury was just a burn, though it looked extremely painful. Her shoulder, however, was bleeding heavily and might have been making her dizzy with the loss of blood. By this time, she had fainted, and I searched frantically for something to hold the wound. No cloth, no towels, no clean water! I finally picked up the knife again and cut off the entire right arm of my suit, packed it all together, and held it on the lesion.

The blood spurted out faster then and I panicked, thinking that I was killing Janey. I grabbed a bottle of water from Olaf, who passed right by me, and poured it on the wound, washing away the blood. Putting the cloth back on, it slowly stopped gushing, but that didn't change the fact that she had lost a ton of blood. I really had no idea what to do, but I'd seen Doc Lee do things like this. Still holding the wound, I cut off the other arm of my jumpsuit, wrapped it around Janey's shoulder, and tied it together. It stopped bleeding for now, and I congratulated myself for doing it right.

I ran over to Olaf again, who was about to administer some antiseptic to Mr. Nikitin, and asked him for burn cream.

"Would you also like some disinfectant with that, sir?" he questioned while handing me what I asked for.

"Um, yes! I would. And a couple of stimpaks too, please!" I told him.

"Very good sir!"

Hurrying back with my supplies, I almost fell on top of Janey's table, but righted myself before toppling everything. Spreading all the stuff out, I went to work on her other injuries. Antiseptic to the burn, followed by burn cream and soaked in a towel, a stimpak directly to the shoulder, below the wound, and more antiseptic to the light abscess on her leg. She began to groan, so I grabbed another water bottle and tried to feed it to her lips. At first, most of it was just spit back out, but it began to go down as she regained consciousness. After a few minutes, her eyes opened, and she looked around frightened. When she realized where she was and what was happening, she looked up at me and tried to speak, but it only came as a whimper. At least she was alive.

It was now that I realized that Will Heim had stopped screaming. Before I knew it, I heard a sharp gasp behind me, and was pushed to the side. Doctor Alan Lee took my place in front of Janey, looking scared as hell. He went over all her injuries, whispering to her, giving her water and reinforcing what I had done. Janey still couldn't talk very much, only squeaking out inaudible words. I tried to listen to what she was saying, but even the Doc didn't understand. He just kept comforting her in a fatherly way. After a while, she fell asleep.

Doc Lee looked on at her, wiping her face of the grime that had accumulated from the whole ordeal, still whispering to her. Finally, he just looked over at me and smiled sadly.

"Did… did you help her?" he asked me breathlessly. I just nodded, and he did too. "You did a good job, you know. Great first aid."

I watched as he tied up her hair and wiped away some blood, then kissed her lightly on the forehead. In an instant, he spun back to me, all business, and handed me another water bottle.

"If she wakes up, give her this and tell me, okay?"

"Um… Yes, sir," I mumbled.

He patted me on the back. "Thank you for saving my daughter." After that, he just left to examine Will again, and I sat down.

June 6, 2283 – 5:55 pm

Once again, that cold titanium door was back open, and everyone was filing out silently. We all gathered back into that little canyon, awaiting word from our Overseer, but for half an hour, we heard nothing as more and more survivors appeared out of thin air. In the end, 27 people died and 64 were actually injured. Our population of 156 had been reduced to 129 due to a stupid malfunction, and now we have retreated back to the ugly, desolate wasteland.

I sat with my mother and Jessie's family. Eventually, Doc Lee and Janey sat next to us, her arm in a sling and her leg on a crutch. It was strange and somewhat painful for her to sit down, I could tell, but at least she could walk a little bit. My mom was engaged in a heated debate with Mrs. Kang about the robots when she crawled over to me and said hello. I gave her a quick hi and looked back down at the ground.

"My dad said you saved me," she said. I couldn't help but look at the bandaged mess on her shoulder.

"Naw," I replied sheepishly. "Your dad was busy and you were bleeding. Anyone could have done it."

"But no one did except you."

I blinked several times in wonder and looked at Janey. She was a short girl, with black shoulder-length hair, and she was close to tears. She would be dead if I hadn't done anything, and she knew it. I looked back at the ground and sighed, not saying a word. She stared at me for a few seconds, then struggled to get up. I dunno if it was out of the goodness of my heart or anything, but I grabbed her hand to steady her, and gave her the crutch.

"I just wanted to say thank you, Daniel." Then she hobbled off to her dad. It was a short conversation, and I somehow expected her to say more. But, I just turned back to doing nothing.

Everyone around me seemed to be crying for some loved one or friend. Thankfully, I didn't lose anyone, but it was the worst feeling right now. I wanted to break down and cry, but my tears were dried up. I wasn't hungry, even though everything I had eaten that day was now splattered against some floor. Thoughts rushed through my head, but I didn't pay attention to them.

Finally, someone saw the Overseer exit carrying a crippled Grandma Meier on his back, and we all turned to his faltering figure. Placing his rider on the ground, he silently stood at the center of attention, his face a couple of decades older, and his eyes the most bloodshot I'd ever seen on a human being. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, as if trying to figure out just what to say to his people after what had happened. Finally, he just looked at the ground, loosed a tear, and announced:

"We're staying here tonight." And he said no more.