Nuclear Winter

Chapter 14

Jacklyn opened her eyes, the wakemaster alarm ringing loudly on the nightstand next her. She reached her arm over and slapped the yellow box on it's head, silencing it. Jacklyn's eyes adjusted to the dark room although it didn't take night vision to be able to read the clock. The numbers and arms of the clock glowed green against the darkness. 7 am she read. Jacklyn rolled onto her back and sighed heavily as she stared up at the concrete ceiling. She never thought she would miss the ordinary white flower themed drywall ceiling of her apartment. Jacklyn turned her head to see the blonde man laying next to her. Pushing his hair up a bit, she silently smiled as Lucas looked a bit like the Vault Boy mascot for Vault-tec.

Jacklyn's smile disappeared, remembering what she had to do this morning. Sliding lucas's arm off her stomach, jacklyn quietly slid herself off of the bed. Taking a moment to stretch and looking back down at the Lucas. "I'll be back for you." she silently said to the sleeping blonde man. She knew that he would stand by her and support her, given all that had happen, he has had many chances to abandon her but never did. Jacklyn knew she much hold up her end and help him however she could and right now that's finding a way out of this metal hole in the ground. Jacklyn turned towards the nightstand besides the bed, her police belt laying on it. She slid the belt between the belt loops on the hip area of her vault suit. The small radio and baton were attached but she was more focused on something else. Jacklyn undid the leather strap on the holster attached to her hip, her hand wrapping around the grip of the pistol and pulling it out of the leather bounds. Her thumb pressing the small rough button on the side of pistol, the clip inside popping out from the bottom of the grip just enough for her to grab. Jacklyn pulled the clip out, inspecting it. The clip was filled with brass jacketed bullets, the first bullet laying at the top in the clip, appearing almost eager to be shot after waiting for so long. Jacklyn slammed the clip into the bottom of the gun, cocking the slide back as the clink sound of the bullet being loaded into the chamber. Jacklyn walked towards the door, pressing the red button on the control panel that slid the heavy metal door upwards, and stepping through the door frame.

Jacklyn ventured down the hall, the faded colored floors and walls and the flickering lights above her head almost made her think of a horror film, however with her loaded gun and determination, she challenged anything that would charge at her from the darkness. Before the war, what she is experiencing would have quickly been labeled as insanity, although for now she was willing to believe it as survival. Jacklyn tried to remember the path she had taken when she first arrived. Down the hall she came across the large room she had remembered so long ago. The room with the dirt ceiling, a metal platform that stood on supports about twelve feet up off the ground. A small control panel built in against the railings along the edge of the platform with wires running from it and up the walls and down the hall. Towards the far right of the metal platform, a metal staircase led straight down from the platform to the ground. Jacklyn stepped up to the control panel, beyond the staircase was the area where the staff held the people arriving from the platform to the surface. In the very back end of the room she saw a large round area that was sealed off by a metal grate wall, the area where the gear shaped platform lifts back and forth from the surface to down here. She noticed something out of the corner of her eye, between the staircase and the control panel, there was a long piece of rope tied to the railing and just hanged halfway down between the ground and railing. Jacklyn dismissed the strange piece of rope and looked back up at the control panel. It was pretty small, she able to place both her hands on each end. The panel was a faded yellow metal with a large level and a red LED bulb above it, a small circle port in the right side of the panel that looked like it should be hooked up to something. A metal panel was under the level but it was sealed tight with screws. She tried pulling the level, but nothing seemed to happen and the light remained red. Jacklyn's head flared with pain, causing her to groan loudly. The flashback of the crowd of panicked people filled up the room. The sounds of their wails and screams echoed painfully in her head. Jacklyn fell forward, her hands catching onto the top of the control panel that kept her from hitting the ground. She remembered looking up from the crowd and at the control panel, the man there was controlling the metal platform to the surface from the panel, however she just remembered a strange device attached to his wrist that connected to the panel. Jacklyn's head started to calm down, letting her be able to stand up without hanging onto the panel. I must need one of those wrist devices in order to call the platform in she thought to herself. Jacklyn doubt Lucas would know what she was talking about, even she couldn't describe it well, but she did have an idea on who might. Jacklyn stepped away from the control panel.

Jacklyn walked down the hall until she stopped at the second door down. Her left hand pressing the button on the door panel as her right hand tighten on the pistol grip. The door creaked upwards, the room was too dark to see in. Her left hand felt the wall until she found a switch, flipping it caused the lights to slowly fade on as to not blind anyone's eyes instantly. The room was lined wall to wall with vault-tec themed beds. All of them were dirty and partly faded except for one. Closest to the furthest wall away from the door was a brightly colored bed of the same theme, but jacklyn could tell that the bed was actually properly taken care of. It also had a sleeping man in it. Jacklyn walked over to it, joshua was snoring quietly on his side facing her, his body wrapped tightly with the blanket. Jacklyn shook his shoulder until the old man slowly opened his eyes. "Yes? What is it jacklyn?" He asked in a welcoming voice as he slowly stretched his arms above his head. "How do I get control of the panel that brings the platform in." Jacklyn demanded in a harsh and hurried voice. Joshua placed his hands on the bed, slowly pushing himself to sit up. "So, you've been snooping about have you?" Joshua asked, all the welcoming tone had left his voice. "I believe I'm the one asking the questions, now how do i-" "And what makes you think I'm gonna let you or him leave?" Joshua interrupted jacklyn, looking her in the eyes, his face starting to become one of anger. Jacklyn gave him a smug smirk, she had decided the moment she laid down in the bed last night that spending her whole life in this place and never knowing what truly lies above her head was much scarier than an weak old man who struggled to simply climb stairs. She grabbed the collar of the old man's vault suit and pulled him towards her face, slamming the pistol flat against his chest with the barrel pointing up underneath his jaw. "This 10mm pistol says so, and if that doesn't give you your kicks, I can solve your walking problem by making sure you can never walk again." Jacklyn challenged the old man, looking him straight in his eyes back, her face tensing up as her eyebrows came together. Joshua leaned in without jacklyn pulling him inwards. "You think out of all the work I've put into this, that I'll just let you two walk out?" Joshua whispered in jacklyn's face. "Yes." She answered as she moved the pistol down to his knee and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out through the vault, waking lucas in his bed. The hot brass shell popped out the bolt and rolled down the side of the bed as another bullet was loaded into the chamber. Joshua's face lit up in alarm, his eyebrows raising and eyes opening as widely as they could, his mouth opening to scream but jacklyn placed her hand over his mouth, forcing him back down on his back on the bed. Joshua's chest rapidly heaved inwards and outwards as he tried to swing his fists at jacklyn. She had more reach than he did and simply leaned back away from his fists but kept her hand firmly over his mouth. After a minute of trying to fight jacklyn, joshua's face seemed to relax a little, his hands reaching down to try to put pressure over the bullet wound that had stained both the leg of the suit and the bed with red. Jacklyn slowly lifted her hand off of his mouth. "If you don't tell me now, I'll put one in your other leg. If you refuse to tell me then, I'll unload every bullet in this gun into your body. If you manage to live after that, I'll happily beat you until you stop breathing and me and Lucas will figure out how to get out of this hell on our own. It may take a while but we will figure it out eventually or you can help live a little longer and tell us how to get out of here." Jacklyn said to the bleeding old man in the bed in a non-sympathetic voice to make sure he got the point that she'll only help him as far as he would help her. Joshua looked up to jacklyn, his face filled with confusion and hesitation.

The sound of the door sliding open scared both of them. "What's going on? I heard a shot." Lucas asked. Jacklyn turned towards the blonde man who had his own pistol drawn. Jacklyn's face turned white with fear of what his reaction might be when he sees what she did, however her body right now was covering joshua's wounded leg and the bloody part of the blanket. Jacklyn opened her mouth to answer but joshua beat her to it. "Lucas, if you would kindly, go down to the supply room. There should be a couple large duffle bags. Fill them with all the food and water and ammunition you think you two can carry, however there are two things you must absolutely get, those are radiation suits and pip-boys. You'll find them in the overseer office which is up the stairs in the supply room." Joshua said to lucas in the best calming voice he could manage. Lucas looked to jacklyn, who nodded her head. Lucas sighed, sliding his pistol back into his holster and hurrying away from the doorframe. Joshua looked towards jacklyn "I guess you go do whatever it is you feel like you want to do." Jacklyn grunted and turned away from the old man, stepping away from the bed and towards the door. "Don't worry about me, I'll catch up." Jacklyn could hear joshua say behind her from the bed in a sarcastic tone. He appeared to take being shot pretty well jacklyn thought to herself as she stepped out of the door.

Jacklyn's head instantly started pounding again, looking down at the pistol and slammed it back in it's holster. Her hands grabbed her temples as she fell to a crouch against the wall. How could I have done such a thing? Why...surely there was another way of getting the answers from him. Jacklyn's head hurt even more. What could I have done? He still knows something I don't...I-I know it was bad but it's so that me and Lucas could know the truth. She tried to reason with herself. Her head started to calm down again. Jacklyn stood up with her back still pressing against the wall. She stumbled down the hall towards the room with the lift to the surface.

After standing at the control panel for a few minutes, jacklyn saw lucas coming down the hall, his arms stuffed with the green duffle bags and radiation suits. She walked over to him, taking one of the duffle bags off of him, the cans of food rattling against each other inside. "Here you go, much like the vault suits, these seemed to be one size fit most." Lucas said as he handed her one of the yellow rubber radiation suits. Jacklyn reached out to take the suit but stopped and grabbed his hand, turning his forearm over. "What is that?" She asked loudly, nodding to the large device on his left forearm that appeared to be the same from her flashback. "I'm not sure, it's some kind of computer thingy. I saw them in the overseer office in a glass case labeled 'Pip-boy 4000' they looked like they go over your forearm. Mine is kind of loose and keeps sliding up and down my arm." Lucas explained to her while handing her one too. "That's because you need one of these" A weak raspy voice said behind them. Jacklyn and Lucas turned around to hear the small clanking of metal against concrete. Joshua was limping towards them, using a metal fold-out chair as a walking crutch. His entire leg was red and somehow he appeared even more pale than usual. Lucas looked down at the leg and then at Jacklyn. "You shot him, didn't you." Lucas asked although it sounded more of an assumption. Jacklyn couldn't look at him. "Lucas, it was my fault, I forced her, I'm fine" Joshua answered him while finally reaching them with the metal chair. "You need medical help! I'll carry you to the infirmary, just point in the direct-" "I already bandaged it up, I'll treat it after I'm done here." Joshua interrupted Lucas as he held onto the metal chair with his left hand and reached out with his right arm, two leather forearm pads in his hand. Lucas and Jacklyn laid down their stuff on the floor and each took a leather pad. Jacklyn watched as Lucas turned his left arm over, undoing the metal latch that attached the pip-boy straps together on his arm and slid the leather arm pad between the vault suit and the harness of the pip-boy. The leather pad fit snugly on his forearm. His fingers latching the metal hook on the top strap onto the metal bit of the bottom strap. As a way of testing it out, lucas waved his arm up and down, the pip-boy staying secured to his forearm without moving one bit. Jacklyn looked down at her own pip-boy and followed everything that lucas did. The large device was a little bit heavy for it's size, weighing in about a pound. Jacklyn pressed the button on the right top side of the brown colored pip-boy. The screen lit up and displayed code up and down the screen as the device loaded it's operating system. A little green Vault-boy appeared after the codes fell to the bottom of the screen, giving his iconic wink and thumbs up. Under the vault-boy was a little bar with the words "enter name" above it. Jacklyn tapped the bar on the screen and a tiny keyboard appeared in the left corner of the screen with a large four arrow key pad with the center key being a circle to the right corner of the screen. The virtual keyboard had the letter Q highlighted. She pressed the down arrow on the arrow pad and the letter Q switched off, the letter A being highlighted underneath it. She quickly got a hang on how it worked, pressing the arrows until the letter J was highlighted. Jacklyn pressed the virtual circle key in the middle of the arrows and the letter J appeared in the bar. She did this multiple times until the name "Jacklyn" appeared in the bar. She moved the highlighted key until it lit the Enter key and jacklyn pressed the circle button again to confirm the name. The vault-boy then started walking off the screen to the left as Vault-girl walked in from the right on the screen until she reached the center of the screen and started walking in place, little green bars appeared over each limb of the virtual girl and the name Jacklyn underneath her. Guess it decided Jacklyn was a girl name she thought to herself. Tabs along the top of the screen read "Stat, Inv, Data, Map, Radio" alongside with a dial on the top right corner of the pip-boy that had the list of the topics vertically next to it. Jacklyn used the dial to switch between the tabs on the screen, but each tab was empty. Right next to the screen was a little glass dial that read "Rads" in the center, within the dial and left of the word was a little gauge reading 100 at each point and a needle at the bottom of the gauge. Jacklyn was happy to take that as a sign of the vault being radiation free. To the bottom right corner of the pip-boy was another dial and gauge, but this one was different. The needle on the gauge could be controlled by the dial with the word "Radio" next to it. Speakers lined the area between the Radio dial and the pip-boy subjects dials. The left side of the screen, letters reading "Pip-Boy 4000" lined out long-wise. "They're a prototype pip-boy device, however not much was put into it before the war. You'll have to update it as you go along." Joshua told them.

Lucas's pip-boy flashed bright yellow, blinding him. "What the hell?" Lucas asked, turning his face away from the pip-boy and touching all over the pip-boy with his right hand trying to find the way of shutting the excessive light off. Jacklyn looked down at the pip-boy, pressing her finger on the screen and holding it, the screen flashed brightly green, becoming almost like a flashlight. She squinted, looking deeply into the screen, where she could see a small color wheel. Her finger pressed it and spun the virtual wheel, the color that the pip-boy flashed faded from green to purple. Jacklyn was quite pleased with the color and held her finger on the screen once again, turning off the flashlight of the pip-boy screen. Jacklyn noticed that the HUD had changed from green to bright purple. Lucas noticed what jacklyn had done and held his finger against the screen too, the light dying down from his pip-boy.

"Now that you're done playing with your new toys, put on the radiation suits, trust me, you're gonna need them." Joshua told them from sitting in the chair that he had brought with himself. "How do you know that?" Jacklyn asked. She knew this had something to do with what he hasn't told her yet. "You've been up there...haven't you?" Jacklyn asked in a accusing tone. "No, I have not." Joshua defended himself boldly. "You're a liar!" Jacklyn shouted angrily at him. "Yes! I've lied, but I am telling the truth about never being up there." Joshua shouted back although his voice quickly grew faint with the last few words. "What is it you've lied about?" Lucas asked curiously. Joshua looked down at the floor, hesitant to answer until he realized he was barely able to keep his eyes open. "I've lied about no one coming back from the surface." Joshua started, taking a moment to breath in before continuing. "A couple months after the chamber before yours was open and the people inside went up to the surface, only one man came back. I met him right here, the alarms normally go off every time the platform comes in or out, and he was absolutely traumatized. I remember it like yesterday. His vault suit was tattered and torn by scratches and and what I could have sworn was bites. His body was bleeding in multiple areas, or died with blood. His hair was falling out in clumps and eyes bloodshot. He told me how hell moved up from under us. That you couldn't see five feet in front of you because of the thick green fog. He went out with twenty four other people. Four of them got lost in the green fog. Ten of them died from radiation poisoning. Ten of them died from beasts he couldn't describe. He just said that they looked like us, moved like us only faster, and hunted them like no other animal. He told me about how he watched a woman be torn piece by piece by the beasts, and that the man next to him fired several shots at them, only to be tackled and torn apart by the same bleeding beasts. He was the last out of the group he went out with." Joshua told them, his voice flat the entire time. "What happened to him?" Jacklyn asked. Joshua looked towards the rope attached to the railing. "He killed himself." Jacklyn and Lucas followed his gaze to the rope and then back to him. "I have to know what's up there. There could be survivors. Maybe even a small civilization." Jacklyn said to both lucas and joshua. Lucas looked at both of them, not sure who to side with. Jacklyn reached down and picked up her duffle bag and radiation suit and headed down the stairs.

Lucas looked at Joshua, whose head was bobbing up and down trying to stay awake. "What are you still doing here?" Joshua asked, his voice quiet. Lucas looked at the dying old man. "Just...Make sure you're still here if we come back." Lucas said before heading down the stairs. Joshua slowly picked himself up out of the chair, stumbling slowly towards the control panel. Joshua reached into his pocket and pulled out the computer part of a pip-boy, pulling the connector and cord out of the top of the device and plugging it into a port on the control panel. The LED bulb above the level turned green and Joshua pulled down the level. A loud clanking noise rang through the room.

Jacklyn was already halfway in her radiation suit when lucas joined her. "I know I can't change your mind so I'm coming with you." he said as he set his things out and unfolded his radiation suit. Jacklyn zipped up the zipper along her stomach to her chest. "Ok." Jacklyn simply replied back. She flipped the head piece attached to the suit over her head, the gas mask covering her face. She could hear her breath brushing off the inside of the mask. She had taken off her pip-boy in order to stuff herself into the radiation suit. She started latching the computing device on when suddenly she was embraced by lucas. "Do you remember what I said to you when we first came here?" he asked in a whisper. "We have to keep moving forward." Jacklyn answered. Lucas stepped back and held out his hand " are you with me?" he asked. Jacklyn's breathing quicken. Her eyes started to tear up. Her hand shaking and rising slowly up to meet his. Lucas took hold of her hand. Tears started coming down jacklyn's cheeks as she hugged him. "I didn't know what to do." Jacklyn told lucas. He wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, just...try not to shoot me alright?" he gave out a short laugh to try to cheer her up. He was pretty happy when she gave him a small smile. "No, I won't shoot you, not ever." she promised him. "Good enough for me." Lucas said back with a confident smile.

By the time lucas strapped himself inside his radiation suit, the large heavy metal platform arrived to the room, the blue rusty metal grate covering the way to the platform slowly lifted. Jacklyn and lucas looked over each other, they had strapped on their police belts to the radiation suits, their radios on their shoulders in check. Both of them had their police batons, 10mm pistols and two clips of ammo each. They had their own green duffle bags over their shoulders and glowing pip-boys on their arms. Jacklyn slid her hand into lucas's and stepped onto the platform. Lucas nodded and followed her, the metal grating slowly closing behind them. Lucas looked back at the control panel where joshua sat in his chair. Joshua looked up at lucas and nodded, pulling the level upwards. Lucas nodded back as the platform shifted back to life, slowly clanking upwards. Jacklyn stared upwards, not only because she couldn't face joshua after everything she put him through, but because she felt like after all she had put in motion, facing the direction she was going made the most sense to her.

The platform lifted out of joshua's view. I guess I've done everything I can do Joshua thought to himself. He looked down at his untreated bleeding leg. He couldn't feel it anymore, although now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel anything anymore. He sighed, It's in their hands now, joshua smiled and laid back in his chair and closed his eyes.