Spectrum chapter 7- Out of the box.
He knew it was time to go. Mostly because of the security guard that could be heard from behind the main door. "I need this door open, now!" he yelled into his Pip-boy radio.
Raph quickly made the math. Once the officer would gain access to the entrance room, the only way to stop him would be badly hurting him.
So he broke gaze with Amata, and turned towards the giant gear-shaped hole in the wall.
"Get this door open, now!" The guard hammered on the door. Amata looked at the main door behind her, where the guard was yelling and hammering, and back at the Vault's entrance, where her blood-stained best friend was standing. The gear-shaped gate was slowly rolling back to place.
"Wait, Raph!" She yelled, sprinting to the door.
Raph turned around to see his best friend running towards the gate, her raven black hair flailing behind, and the main door behind her opening, with a security guard bursting it open.
The gate was slowing down with a horrible screech.
Amata looked at the guard, and back at the gate. The space that was left was too small for her to fit through.
Thinking quickly, she pulled out the holodisk and threw it through the tight space, just in time for him to catch.
"It's from your father!" She yelled, barely audible over the sound of the screeching and the Vault's alarm.
The gate rolled in and blocked his view, just as he managed to see the guard sprinting towards Amata. The last thing was her face. She was scared.
He saw tears.
Wide eyed, he yelled, hammering on the gate just as it slid back into its socket, seemingly fusing with the wall.
Before the gate was sealed completely, he managed to hear a gunshot. Then everything went quiet. And dark.
Desperate, he looked around, running his gaze across the dark room with sharp movements. His eyes laid on the only object that kept the room from going pitch black. A console that was standing next to the gate, which consisted of two small lights, red and green, above a lever.
Franticly, he lunged at the device, pulling down the lever with brute force.
After an effort that left him bushed, he managed to pull down the piece of rust which functioned as a lever. The red light flickered.
Then turned off, leaving him staring at absolute darkness.
It was only then he realized how dark the room actually was.
He pulled out the 10mm pistol, slid the magazine out, pocketed it, then cocked the gun.
The weapon ejected the bullet sideways, making room for another. But with no magazine inserted, it remained empty.
Now, with the risk of shooting himself out of the way, the blood stained teen used the gun to hammer the console, holding the gun from the barrel. After a few swings that felt worse than moving a mountain, the console was knocked loose, revealing an entanglement of wires. Any average person would have been taken aback by the sight. But for him it was nothing but a simple, sophisticated puzzle, and he easily figured what he was looking for.
He ripped off the edges of three wires and connected them together. The green light on the console flickered momentarily as the teen stared at it impatiently.
Then it burned out.
He fell to his knees.
Even if she was okay, and that is a big 'if', he would never be able to see her again.
Growing up in the Vault, which wasn't much larger than a small town, the only reason he wasn't able to see anyone is if they were dead.
Mere minutes before, he was on the verge of tears. Now, for the first time in his life, he cried.
Amata is dead. Paul is dead. He will never see them again.
He felt a bump under his knee. But he didn't want to move.
He couldn't move.
Forcing himself to send a hand down, he lifted the item Amata threw at him in their last moment together.
From the feeling of the flat, square shaped device he could recognize the holodisk. A device that was used to store files in a mobile, lightweight solution.
With his experience he recognized the old model, which was usually painted black.
He searched his pockets and took out his flat, rectangular pip-device, and pressed it against the holotape's port.
"Loading" was briefly flashing, then the screen displayed the words "External storage" at the top in green letters, and below it a file named "For Raphael."
He recognized the icon, marking the file as an audio file. He highlighted it and pressed "Run".
The words on the screen were replaced by a progress bar, filling up slowly as the message was playing.
"Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first." Raph's mind begun racing as he heard his old man's voice.
"I.. don't really know how to tell you this. 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." The recording sighed. "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." He sounded pleading, even apologizing.
"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." Raph humped inaudibly.
"Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going."
Dad, you're an idiot.
"Don't mean to rush you, Doc, but I'd feel better if we got this over with." Jonas's voice was heard. Raph's heart skipped a beat before he realized it was from the recording.
James from the recording sighed. "Okay. Go ahead." He mumbled. "Goodbye. I love you."
Raphael laid down, dropping the device on the ground. Somewhere, between his brain and his body, a vortex was created. And that vortex sucked into it every bit of information his body and his brain were trying to commune with each other.
He laid on the floor, staring at the ceiling in the pitch black surroundings.
After hours, maybe days, he managed to close his eyes, and after a few hours more, he fell asleep.
He woke up, having lost sense of time.
He simply opened his eyes, staring once again. He didn't know how long it was until some far corner of his brain decided it had enough.
Sit up. It commanded. He obeyed.
Eat.
Searching in the dark, he slowly reached into his jumpsuit backpack, and took out a survival meal, tearing the wrapping. He tried to take a bite, but something was in his way.
You'll need to lift the face shield for that.
After lifting the helmet's shielding, he slowly ate, mechanically chewing bite after bite.
Don't lose the crumbs, you need every bit of it.
He put one hand below his meal, catching the falling crumbs.
He swallowed the last bite.
The crumbs.
He tossed the crumbs into his mouth.
Drink.
He took out a bottle of water, gulping it down. He was amazingly thirsty.
Slow down.
He obeyed.
Stretch.
Dropping the empty bottle, he begun the familiar routine which he used to do before and after training, systematically moving from neck, to shoulders, chest, hands, stomach, and legs.
The injuries are most important.
He stared, gazing into the darkness with dead eyes.
Limbs.
He repeated the exercises in his arms and legs, stretching slower and longer for each
exercise.
Rest.
He laid down on his back, closing his eyes.
The helmet's padding was surprisingly comfortable.
He woke up again.
He stared for a few moments, before some distant part of his brain decided it had enough.
Sit up. It commanded.
He obeyed.
Eat.
He opened his eyes, having vaguely remembered what happened before he ended up inside this cave.
At least, he assumed it was a cave, judging by the feeling of... something that was definitely not the Vault's floor.
He fiddled with his pocket until he got hold of his pip-boy, held up against his face, went to settings, and maxed 'screen brightnes'.
At first his eyes were full with tears, as the light was blinding compared to the darkness he became so accustomed to. But a few minutes passed, and he still felt blinded.
That's when he realized the pip-boy's light was facing the wrong way.
Self-conscious, he turned the device around to finally get a look at the cave. He was immediately startled.
The floor, walls and ceiling of the cave were rocky, dusty and non- symmetrical whatsoever.
But instead of finding himself going nuts over the litter, or fascinated by the nature of the cave's build, what caught his eyes was a skeleton.
Several skeletons.
They were laying on the floor, in poses which clearly suggested they did not have a peaceful death.
He stared at the skeletons, feeling the will to live leaving him once again.
He was about to spend the remaining of his existence staring when the distant corner of his mind snapped.
Enough!
He shook his head until he got dizzy, as if trying to get rid of some hideous aura.
Dad's out there, and whatever happens, I need to stay alive. This stupidity ends now!
He breathed deeply, thinking about his next steps.
Evaluate: situation, surroundings, equipment.
Nauseated, he inspected the crumbling bodies.
Some of them were holding signs saying "Let us in, motherfuckers!" And "We're dying, assholes!"
Bodies of the unfortunate. Probably people who didn't have the luxury of having a Vault reserved for them when the bombs hit, Unlike his great-great-great-great-great grandfather who was so high up in the family tree that Raph never even heard of him.
He inspected the narrow cave, which was actually more of a tunnel, connecting between the Vault's gate, and a door leading to the outside world. Boulders covered by earth were bulking out of the tunnel's… Walls. He found himself hypnotized, having seen actual stone for the first time in his life. So complex, so…
Fascinating, yes. Relevant, no.
Shaking his head once again, He pulled out his energy weapon from its holster, just to find he left it on the entire time.
Shouldn't have thrown the empty energy cell. He frowned.
One hand holding the weapon, and the other lighting the way using the Pip-boy. He stepped toward the rotten, wooden door.
He took a deep breath, and opened it.
He quickly closed it again, cowering from the inferno which he assumed was sunlight. Comparing the Pip-boy's light to it was like comparing a germ to the entire earth. Respectively.
So he took off his helmet, realizing he had it on the entire time, and set it down between the door and the wall, preventing it from closing entirely, and letting some of the… sunlight, pour in.
He winced, forcing himself to look at the light. It took about half an hour before his vision was passable.
He turned to the inside of the cave, where his jumpsuit backpack laid.
He took off the armored vest, and laid it spread on the floor next to the bag. He felt relieved.
He took the backpack, and emptied its contents on the open vest.
Two 10mm pistols, three magazines, six boxes of 10mm ammo, Palm-sized briefcase, a few stimpacks, a small first aid kit, the magnet glove , two bottles of water, a tooth brush, and one last survival meal.
After cleaning his wounds and replacing the bandages, he packed his belongings.
Reluctantly, and with an inaudible sigh, he wore his vest.
He fiddled with the device, activating the recording function.
"Survival log, entry one. August.." He skimmed the device's screen, "Twenty-one, twenty-two seventy-seven. I've been barely conscious for three days. I assume from the combination of massive body trauma, blood loss, and combat stress. No entrance back to the Vault, which leaves me with two options: slowly starve to death, or leave the Vault behind, possibly jumping into a quicker death."
He checked his Pip-boy, going over the Vitals menu as the device kept on recording. "I had time to heal, so aside from a minor blood loss, everything seems to be in order. End entry."
He pocketed the device, as it saved the file.
He stepped toward the entrance, picked his helmet and put it on, and opened the door completely.
He looked back, at the Vault's entrance, where the gear gate was embedded into a metal wall, took a deep breath, and left the cave.
Squinting, he found himself astonished by the vast view, his mind having trouble comprehending the large field of vision.
He also felt his stomach sink. The whole area was burned to the ground. Nothing more than a desert. A wasteland. Two hundred years of radiation fallout has left its mark.
Humanity at its lowest, if there are any humans left.
The ground was spreading farther than his eyes could see. He managed to spot broken street lamps in the distance, along with crumbling buildings in the horizon. But closer to him, the terrain was mostly unconstructed, aside from a broken asphalt road.
He started walking down the hill, and quickly slipped, falling to his rear. The rocky ground was nothing like the Vault's metallic floors, and the hill was nowhere near resembling a staircase.
Unstable, he managed to stand up once again, this time making a couple of steps before tripping again, this time landing on his stomach.
Baby steps.
He stood up, taking a careful step, trying to figure out the earthy floor he was standing on. It was painfully slow, but at least he didn't fall this time. But once he finished with the hill, the Asphalt road was much easier to walk on.
He strolled uphill on the half buried Asphalt for a while when he heard it.
At first it was faint, from a few miles away, but the wasteland was quieter then a cemetery. He pulled out his laser gun, flipping it on.
The source for the noise was getting closer, making Raph able to distinguish it as mechanics.
A few nerve-wrecking moments passed, then he saw it. On the hill, near a pile of cement pieces, three towering figures were strolling down, each of them holding what seemed to be a large version of his laser gun, with the exception of the third character, which was holding a gigantic, six-barreled Minigun.
They were wide, metallic, humanoid figures. The head had two pipes coming out from its front which disappeared behind it, and where the eyes should have been there was a glass-like substance that reflected light. Huge and bulky arms and legs were attached to a rather monstrous torso, and by the sounds it made, Raph assumed they were heavily motorized. They had to be, otherwise that behemoth of a.. robot? Shouldn't be able to move.
They were raising small dust clouds with every step.
All three beings were black with red markings all over them. They walked past him, not even bothering to give him a second look.
"Excuse me?" He spoke unsurely.
They kept on walking.
He cleared his throat. "Excuse me!"
One of the behemoths turned to him, effortlessly holding the gigantic Minigun over his shoulders. "What?" It spat in a mechanized voice.
Raph took half a step back, intimidated by the creature's size, towering two heads above him.
But the way it spoke, confirmed Raph's speculations. It was a human, or at least possessed human traits. Even if it wasn't the best ones.
For some reason he found that fact very mind-settling.
"Where's the nearest town?" He asked curiously.
If that's even a thing anymore.
It made a few steps, making Raph wonder how something so heavy can be so quick.
It stared at him for a couple of seconds, having the Lone Wanderer wondering if he was supposed to show fear.
Before walking back to its group, the metal man raised his free hand, pointing at a general direction. "Megaton's this way."
Author notes: Once I decided to skip the parts where I need to simultaneously play the game to write, Iv'e actually been writing a lot. But since I'm barely home, I can't play, thus, I can't gap over the missing parts (Did I say that correctly?). Hopefully I'll get around it within the next month. Peace!
