Nuclear Winter
Chapter 11
" Ok everyone, please enter the room and find a seat, you will be received in the hall when it is over." A blue suited woman said loudly to the large crowds of panicked people. Lucas held onto jacklyn's hand tightly as they reached the front of the crowd. Within the large hall was multiple large cylinder-like rooms. The large metal sliding door of one of the smaller rooms slid up as a staff member pushed jacklyn and lucas aside from the door. "I'm going have to take those off of you." The man said, notioning to their police tool belts. "And why is that?" Jacklyn asked defensively. "The machine is a very delicate one, we can't have any loose items or clothing in the room while activated in fear of a malfunction. And trust me, we don't want that." The man ended his sentence very seldomnly.
Lucas glared at the man for a second, not sure about fully trusting him but knew they really didn't have a choice. Reluctantly they stripped off their police belts, now only in their vault suits without their pistols, batons or radios. "I'll place them in the storage area so you may pick them back up afterwards." The man said very politely but Lucas knew in his tone that he could care less. The man scurried off with the police couple's belts and lucas and jacklyn stepped through the doorway of the cylinder room.
Inside the center of the room was a large rod that connected floor to ceiling. Along the round walls was large seats with multiple seatbelts. Some people were already strapped in and some picking their seats. Lucas and jacklyn quickly sat next to each other on the hard plastic seats. Looking around, Lucas noticed how overabundant the seat belts seemed. Two seat belts came diagonal across the torso, another around the waist and strangely two more sets of seatbelts, one across the wrists to the armrests and one across the thighs to the seat itself. Lucas and jacklyn looked at each other, hesitant on buckling themselves in. Everything about this vault was setting off red flags all over Lucas's brain.
Lucas was about to stand up when a strong tall staff woman pushed him back into his seat, quickly strapping his seatbelts like it was the everyday routine. "Ma'am! What is going on?!" Lucas asked though it came out as more of a shout. The staff woman ignored Lucas, forcing his hands down on the armrests and strapping his wrists in, leaving him helpless as she was finishing up his seat belts when jacklyn stood up, her hand grabbing the woman's shoulder and turned her around quickly.
"Let him go!" jacklyn scream, her hands balled up in fists. Lucas knew where this was heading but he couldn't move at all and he doubt he could talk her out of this fight. "What seems to be the problem here?" an old but gentle voice sounded in the room. Both women turned to find an old man, vault suit with a grey beard from one cheek to the other. His steps were slow with his slight hunch but he stepped confidently, well-knowing either woman could crush him in her fist but he acted as if they were children. "I'm tired of not knowing what's going on! Bombs one minute and this the next! What is going on, the truth now!" jacklyn shouted, small veins lined her fists with how tight she was holding them. "I must admit, today has definitely been a strange one, but that is not an excuse to act animalistic." The old man simply said. "It's reason to not panic when you trip on a curb and scrape your knee or if you're driving and end up in a car wreck. When bombs fall from the sky and destroy your home and kill everyone around you and then have yourself shoved in a hole in the ground, I think that's a real good fucking reason to panic!" jacklyn protested loudly to where even lucas could see the distress on the faces of the people in the room with them start to grow. "I've noticed you and your friend here walk in with police uniforms on, save that energy for these folks." The old man told jacklyn, slowly waving his hand around the room towards the people in it. "What do you mean?" "You have a caring character to you, one shown through force and protection. Your boyfriend appreciates it I'm sure" The old man said, a small smug smirk added this time. "How did you know we were dating?" Jacklyn asked suspiciously, her fists slowly unwinding. "Please dear, after eighty-seven years of existence, you see things so much you can predict things the second you see it." The old man gave a short raspy giggle.
"You didn't answer my question." jacklyn said. "Yes, this machine you're in, is a g-force training machine. The reason why this is necessary is because Vault Tec has a secret railway system underground to connect all the vaults to a certain classified area." The man began pacing back and forth in the room. "And at that classified area are spaceships to fly people off into space to a space station on the moon. This machine is to separate the people who can handle the g-forces and those who can't." The man continues. "This sound crazy, and what exactly happens to the people who can't go?" jacklyn interrupted. "This sounds crazy yes, but didn't you see on the weather channel the one hundred percent chance of atomic fire?" The old man snapped back, a small bit of spike in his voice. Jacklyn slowly backed down, sitting down in the seat but still refusing the seat belts. "The people who stay will live here until they are strong enough to withstand the forces or if they never can, to live out their days here. We have supplies to keep this place going for a very long time but I'm sure living in a safe place that you can look upward and not see dirt would be a much more preferably place to be." The old man finished.
The room was silent. Lucas sighed and looked at jacklyn. "Crazy or not, I'll be there for you, no matter if we are going to space or tra-a-la-la land." Lucas said with a small smile. Jacklyn smiled back and leaned over and kissed him before sitting back in her seat, doing her own seatbelts till the woman had to help her with the ones on her wrists. The woman then stepped out and the old man looked around the small round room at the many faces strapped into their seats, young and old. blonde, brunette and red haired. White skin, black skin, tan skin. Almost a small unity of those all over from a world recently caught on fire. "I wish you all luck, I really do." He said quietly and then stepped out.
Lucas leaned his head back and exhaled. The door shut behind him and loudly locked. The headrests shifted, the sides turning to perfectly fit the head between the sides. Lucas nor jacklyn could turn their head, the headrests keeping them staring forwards. The lights in the room dimmed and the room shifted to life. Very slowly the room started to spin, the large rod in the center of the room seemed to be rotating. The room started to spin slightly faster, a whoosh sound each rotation that happened. "Lucas?" Lucas could hear jacklyn's voice filled with hesitation. "Yes?" Lucas answered back the best he could, the room was spinning faster, making his mind feel dizzy as if he was in a carnival ride. "In case we don't make it out of here. I love you." Jacklyn said loudly, trying to make sure Lucas heard her. "I love you too." Lucas answered. The room was spinning on a rollercoaster level now, his body definitely feeling the pressure as he closed his eyes. The whooshing sound came faster and faster as everything started becoming a heavy blur, forcing Lucas to close his eyes and grip the armrests tightly. The spinning got so fast to the point where Lucas couldn't tell the last time the room rotated, the whooshing sounds became one sound. Lucas found it hard to breath, his whole body feeling crushed under the pressure. What seemed like minutes passed when suddenly a different sound came. A creaking almost wobbling sound like something came loose. The room suddenly felt hotter. Lucas forced his eyes open. The color of the room was not dark but orange. The rod in the center violently wobbled and bend until a loud snap noise rang out through the room. The rod broke into three, sending the large center part flying outward. The ear-splitting sound of the room creaking and sparks flying underneath his feet.
Lucas felt like screaming but knew it wouldn't help anything if he did, his hands white from gripping the armrests as the room started to slow. There was no whooshing sound but he felt it, the rotations happening less and less. The seats dropped a bit, some parts scraping against the concrete floor. Lucas held his eyes close again, the room feeling even hotter than before. After a painful minute of creaking and scrapping, the seats slam to a sudden jolt, stopping all the seats instantly and the headrests popping loose to let the heads of the seat dwellers free. Lucas's head felt dizzy with a head-splitting headache. His eyes slowly open to a devastating sight. The room had caught flame, fires bursting out of the walls but no one responding. Sparks zapping in and out of where large spinning rod used to be. Lucas gasped for air as black smoke rose up from under him and filling the ceiling of the room.
Something fell into Lucas's hand. Looking down, he found a large shard of metal that fell from the ceiling. The leather bounds still held Lucas to his seat. Flipping the metal in his hand, Lucas started on cutting off the leather strap. Within a minute the strap was cut and his arm free. Lucas quickly undid the rest of the straps. Pushing himself out of the seat, lucas's legs collapsed underneath him, causing him to hit the ground hard with a painful grunt escaping his mouth.
The room around him seemed to be spinning but he knew that was just from the dizziness. A groan sounded from Lucas as he slowly dragged himself to jacklyn's seat. His hands gripped her armrests as he pulled himself up. "Jac-Jacklyn" Lucas weakly called out to her. His vision fully came back to him as he saw she was simply unconscious, her head slump down but her chest still heaving back and forth. Undoing her straps, Lucas caught jacklyn before she fell out of her seat. Slowly dragging jacklyn across the room with him, Lucas looked around. The room lit up by fire blowing through the holes along the walls. A small red puddle grew on the ground under one of the seats near lucas. Looking up, Lucas saw the gruesome sight of where the large midsection of the rod flew off, impaling one of the vault suit wearing victims in his seat, his head hanging low as red hot blood ran from his gut and onto the floor. Holding back a gag, Lucas dragged jacklyn to the large metal door. Pulling the emergency level, the door slowly creaked upward. Lucas pulled jacklyn out of the cylinder room just before the room exploded on the inside, the door slamming down just before the flames caught them. Lucas laid out on the floor, exhausted and feeling extremely light headed. He slid his head to jacklyn's chest where he heard her heartbeat and her breaths. She was still alive. Lucas rolled to lay down next to her, staring at the dirt ceiling above him. His eyes slowly closing as slow footsteps approached him before he blacked out.