The gear shaped platform lowered down with creaks and squeaks but steadily. Lucas held jacklyn in his arms tightly as they descended deeper. About a minute in, they finally saw light as the platform slowed to a stop. A grated wall stood in front of them and then it was slowly lifted. Together they stepped off of the metal platform and onto the concrete flooring, meeting a long line of unorganized and terrified people. All of them were proud citizens of New York city this morning, now they're just survivors. The line of people were slowly moving forward as Lucas and Jacklyn joined them at the back of the line, the grated wall slowly coming down behind them. Apart from the crowd, two of the vault suit wearing engineers stood at the platform controls.
" Should we send it back up? " One of them asked quietly. " There is no point in it, it won't get up there fast enough " The other engineer said softly though there was plenty of lost in his eyes.
Within the line was concerned voices, the tone of panic still lingered in the people. They were led to believe they were safe from any danger above ground but no one was completely certain. Whispers of what would happen next floated about. A overhead loudspeaker sounded off, a falsely optimistic voice spoke through. " Newly citizens of Vault 46, please follow the yellow line through the stations to your new lives! " Lucas's arm wrapped around jacklyn's tightly as the herd of people pushed along the lane.
Suddenly a loud thud hit from above ground, the sound and vibration shook the vault hard, dust and pebbles dropping from the dirt ceiling of the entrance tunnel. The crowd screamed and the children cried as the lights shut off but quickly flittered back on. Lucas and Jacklyn held tightly onto each other, breathing hard as they made sure they were still alive. The cries of the nuclear blast survivors filling the large metal tunnel.
" We survived the blast, everyone continue moving forward so we can take you inside, inside the vault is safety!" A blue and yellow suit guard shouted loudly and firmly. The crowd relucantly moved forward, sensing that anywhere is better than up right now. Finally stepping infront of the crowd, Lucas and Jacklyn came to two people. A fairly thick middle aged man and an older and thinner woman, both outfitted in the same strange blue and yellow suits.
" I know it's been a strange and difficult day for you both, here, these are on the vault. " The older woman said warmly with a well practiced smile and passed two large plastic bags towards them. Lucas and jacklyn picked up the bags and saw the same suits inside of them. The only difference is the labeling on the front, one saying Males and other saying Females.
" There's fitting rooms down the hall, men to the left and women to the right. After you two are done, head down the hall and take a left to the large room " The thick man said, busy with opening another box of plastic bagged suits to hand out. "The suits may be tight at first but they'll stretch to fit your body, its mostly a 'One size fit all' deal" the older woman said quickly while grabbing a pair of the suits from the same box. Lucas and jacklyn started moving down the hall, arms still linked.
Lucas pulled jacklyn tightly to him, whispering in her ear "If anything happens, get away and get to me if you can, if you can't find me, call me in " Lucas nudged to their radios on their shoulders. Jacklyn nodded and added " You do the same " Lucas nodded and let her go, quickly walking into the men's changing room.
The room was small, meant for one or two people at a time. The only features of the room being a small bench and mirror against the wall. Lucas pressed his hands against the walls and felt around, making sure none of them had some secret door for a possible ambush. It wasn't that Lucas didn't trust the people here, he just wanted to make sure he wasn't having any more unpleasant surprises today. The room seemed safe enough. Lucas unhooked the small shoulder police radio from his shoulder strap and placed it on the door hook so he can change but also to be able to quickly grab it incase jacklyn called. Striping out of his shirt, Lucas slid off his belt, a 10 mm loaded pistol, a harden plastic baton and a ultilty knife securely strapped in. He placed the belt onto the hook too, stripping out of his pants. Ripping open the plastic bag, the blue vault suit unfolding out. The design simple with a long zipper down the center from the neck to belt line. Turning it around, a bright golden 46 branded on the back. Lucas stepped into the suit and zipped it up. The suit was a bit snugged and hugged his body tightly, the fabric flexible enough to breath and move around though. Lucas still strapped on his radio and slid his belt in the belt loops of the vault suit.
Picking up his police uniform, Lucas stepped out of the changing room, another man rushing in before the door even closed. Outside the ladies room, jacklyn stood with her uniform in her arms too, her vault suit seemed very similar but different from the one she got. The design was the same but the suit seemed different in certain areas and shaded darker.
" Quit staring, i had to swap suits with one of the staff to find one with the right cup size " Jacklyn remarked, walking towards Lucas.
" Well it very certainly looks good on you " Lucas replied back, viewing how well the suits hugged her curves.
" Stay focus, we need to…..to…" Jacklyn started but couldn't finish the sentence. Lucas noticed her face was very pale. Lowering herself onto the ground, Jacklyn sat down and tried to keep herself from the verge of tears.
" What even happened?...it happened so quickly it's so hard to believe…." Jacklyn stared at the floor, her voice shaky. Lucas sat down next to her and held her in his arms.
" I don't know either. I'm sure we will find out something. We just have to stay together now. " Lucas said calmly. He was honestly scared, not sure about anything about today. He hoped that he was actually still in bed, in a city that wasn't on fire right now. After a minute Lucas stood up.
" We have to keep moving forward, you with me? " Lucas held out his hand.
Jacklyn looked up at him and softly smiled, taking his hand as he pulled her up. They slowly walked down the loud hall and through the metal doorway into the main halls. The vault, loud with voices while the nightmare hellscape that was left of New York city burned brightly, the air darken with ash and filled with the horrid of screams.