AUTHOR NOTE: (This is baby's first attempt at sharing a written work- so I apologize for formatting, and grammatical errors. Expect inconsistencies; and if this is in anyway well received I may continue it. Finally, although it may not seem that way now, it will become more "Fallout-ie" in time; for now it is mostly just lore stuff and background.)
AUTHOR NOTE2: (Hi; me again. I appreciate Agent for his review and have attempted to take that into consideration for the re-write of this Prologue/First chapter. Even if only a little; having it be seen by others has given me cause to continue it; so expect better quality formatting in the future. I attempted to adjust the formatting, but since i write in Word it doesn't translate formatts well; sorry about that. Oh; and anything that may seem inconsistent is likely ambiguous on purpose i just suck at ambiguity. Thx; see you in the next chapter!)
It was cold for once, something you didn't see but once a few generations in the wasteland. Snow blanketed the dried and cracked salt basins of the desert Mojave and the plains of Texas. The snow was greenish, almost neon; the sound of crackling Geiger-counters flowing out of buildings and settlements alike- almost as if a chorus of sounds. The alight cities of Vegas, The Boneyard, Dayglow; and so many more began to shut down, the remaining wasteland lights being turned-off. Across the northern plains- the Frost Gang began their tirade against the wasteland; travelling down on large, spiked snowmobiles and dogsleds pulled by ferocious hounds, bred for war.
Somewhere, likely in the Midwest.
"… Captain." A private- voice hoarse and tired; even with his face disguised by the shade of his cap one can tell he is beyond exhausted.
"I know private. I'd like to know what the hell happened myself… But what do you bet he isn't going to tell us anything else." Another man; older, more worn and clearly more decorated stands in front of the private. His eyes show of wisdom and experience; however they show of terror and distance as well. The man- the captain looks over to the left; and in the center of the dark room a window across from them sits a man tied up in a chair.
"Never would've thought them to come after us even two hundred years later..." The captain mumbles. The man in the chair is adorned with blackish power-armor, his helmet missing; and a spotlight shines a bright light down on him, forcing him to squint his eyes. Another man walks passed the captain and private in the corridor; he is adorned with similar patches to the captain, however he wears a serious expression; and is clearly much younger. "Captain Royce" He says, stopping and saluting him.
"Nice to see you to commander." He stops for a moment, bending slightly and sighing; before straightening himself and turning back toward the two star corporal.
"Any report?" Royce says, gruff, stern, and slightly concerned.
"Yes sir." The two star corporal stops, gulping in before continuing.
"The entirety of the battalion has been uncovered- however, aside from Alpha platoon and Bravo platoon the rest are goners. The engineers have only begun to repair the facilities computer systems, so it's unlikely we'll get a total report on damages for a few weeks." The two star corporal stops, his breathing harsh and quick.
"Damnit…" Royce mumbles under his breath, turning his head away and grabbing the back of his head.
"But that's not all…" The corporal pulls his cap off, revealing his torn and scarred face; a large cut going the length of his face, recently stitched together.
"!?... What happened?" Royce says, lowering his stance; his face showing concern and minor disgust at once.
"… It was somewhere on the fifth floor…"
On the fifth floor; approximately sixteen hours prior.
"Corporal!" A man donning a green military jumpsuit and a thin body; akin to a tooth pick; and an expression of regret and sheer panic in face of urgency. The corporal- Johnny is on the floor, hands down and on his knees; staring straight down into a puddle of water on the cold, grey concrete floor; staring into his own reflection. He is gasping; interlocked in a staring contest with his reflection.
"Corporal!" The engineer shouts again; running up and grabbing him by the arm; lifting him up and pulling the arm over his shoulder. "Sir! We've got to go!" The engineer begins to limp; tugging Johnny along the floor, up a small set of concrete stairs and to a moving steel door; almost bulkhead like. Johnny begins to snap out of it; time almost slowing down around him. The walls seemingly distort; but as he feels reality re-stabilizing he realizes that the facility is shaking. Sparks from electric panels that adorn the walls like decorations fly into the room like confetti; as the engineer begins to shout across the room, "What the hell are you guys doing! Get over here!" The engineer stops, leaning Johnny up against the door; and begins to fiddle with the small control panel next to the wall. Johnny looks down; seeing the space below, where he just was. Lined up, wall to wall, are large pods made of thick steel and metal. Large pipes and insulated tubing line the walls and floors, and water is consistently leaking from the largest lead pipe in the center ceiling, above the walkway. Some of the pods are sparking; the closer pods beginning to open up, but the occupants simply begin to fall out. Toward the opposite side of the room; a group of four soldiers are fiddling with the farthest from him pods, trying to get them open, but are having significant difficulty with the task.
"What… What the hell is happening?" Johnny shouts, turning to look at the engineer fiddling with the door controls. The engineer has the panel completely flipped up and is using a piece of warped metal to cut and maneuver wiring. "I… I don't know! We were supposed to wake up a while ago, and, and…" The engineer begins to sob, but forces himself through the pain and snips one final wire.
"… Got it!" He says, closing the control panel harshly; slamming his fist against a button and running over to Johnny. He lifts Johnny up by the arm and pulls his arm over his shoulder; the door slowly sliding up.
Johnny turns his head; the soldiers on the other side having not gotten the door open yet.
"Get your asses over here, now!" He shouts, and the soldiers turn their heads to look. One immediately darts, rushing over and running up behind Johnny, grabbing him by the other arm and lifting him up; putting his other arm around his shoulder. "Corporal!"
"Lieutenant Myers!" Johnny says; practically laughing, Myers and the engineer begin dragging him into the room behind the door, having to duck under it due to its slow pace. The helmeted soldier trips; and Johnny falls backwards, and as they try to pull him by the leg through the door, his pant leg gets caught on a piece of metal.
As the other soldiers begin to pass through the walkway, the pipes begin to cascade, with one of the back pods collapsing and falling onto the walkway; pipes begin to violently release liquid nitrogen and other various chemicals. The violent reaction of a single pipe exploding and flying upwards; its arc scraping it against the wall causing large cascading sparks to fly and fire to be lit. Within seconds, the entire room is filled with fire; as the pods begin to fall over and explode with fervor. The other soldiers have passed through the door too; however Myers and the engineer carrying Johnny are struggling to pull his leg out of the door. "Come on dammit" The engineer shouts, falling backward again after his hand slips. Johnny still stuck outside the room on the ground in the exploding room, narrowly missing a falling metal beam. The other soldiers grab his legs and tug him through the door, his pant leg loosened. However, a large piece of flying metal flies by at the last minute, slicing through Johnnies left check and temple; flying through and stabbing another soldier in the abdomen, sending him tumbling backward. Johnny is pulled through the door; and the other soldiers quickly split up. One runs to tend to the wounded soldier, the soldier named Myers rushing to the back wall to grab a mounted medical kit. The engineer runs up to the door, and begins to fiddle with the controls, slamming the button as the fire nearly breaches into the room they are in. As the door creaks closed; the soldiers not tending to any wounded begin to relax, the engineer falling against a wall, sliding down it into a seated position.
Johnny is leaning against the wall the door is in; and is being tended to by the soldier named Myers. "What happened back there!?" Johnny shouts; his patience running thin due to his wound.
The helmeted soldier pipes up, "We… Sir…" He stops for a moment, looking at the floor in shame.
"First I think we have a more pressing concern…" The engineer says; looking at everyone collectively.
"We've been asleep for nearly two centuries."
Everyone stops in their tracks, the eyes of each soldier collectively widening in surprise; some make surprised expressions, whilst others make expressions of horror.
"Two… Two hundred years?" Johnny says quieter, and more tense.
"Yes corporal. I… I was the first to wake up, at least on this level. The other pod bay over there is where I was stationed." The engineer pauses, pointing at another closed door on the left wall. He begins to sob lightly, "I… I didn't know what else to do! I… left them all. I-"He gets cut off by Johnny interjecting. "… You're okay son, I'm sure you have your reasons; but right now all I want are answers." The engineer nods; breathing slowly and with purpose, trying to calm himself. Myers stabs a Stim-pack into Johnnies left shoulder; almost on the collar bone. Johnny begins to gasp, but quickly bites his tongue and grits his teeth, enduring the pain.
"When I woke up, I was confused, no one else was awake; so I checked the computer terminal for the section to see if there was any… any errors." He pauses, and begins to breath slowly; in through his nose and out through his mouth.
"It said that we'd been asleep for two-hundred years; or something like that. I didn't know what to believe at first, but then I checked the system status- it was critical. I managed to get power to door control by… by rerouting some from a few pods…" He pauses, looking down at the floor.
"Continue, this is important." Johnny says, looking at the engineer.
"Yeah... Anyway, I continued through the door, and headed to the corridor; I was going to try and get to the seventh floor reactor room and try and repair it at least somewhat." He stops, and stands up; walking to the back wall, where another door sits. He bangs on it, "No more reactor room." He chuckles nervously.
"How do you mean?" Johnny asks, wearing an extremely worried expression.
"Checked the door out; was unable to open it. When I managed to get into the system terminal in my pod bay- and check the status of the fifth-eighth floors, I found that everything below seven either doesn't exist or has been destroyed."
Johnny looks down, and Myers stands up, closing the medical kit and walking over to the wounded soldier. "Everything?" Johnny asks, standing up.
"I'm not sure. The lowest levels might be okay but they won't be in great shape that's for sure." The engineer replies. "Dear god…" Johnny mumbles.
Johnny walks over to a set of stairs against the back wall left from the metal door; and leans himself against it, hacking and coughing all the while. "I… We need to get up there. If anyone else is here, they'll be up there; and we can't stay here much longer anyways." Myers begins to speak- all the while tending to the injured soldier.
"I think we all can agree on that." Johnny replies.
"However, this man can't be moved." Myers speaks up, all the while using the first aid kit to preform minor surgery.
"What?" Johnny says, walking over and looking down at the injured man.
"His abdomen has been pierced by a metal fragment. Right now, he's stable, but if we try to move him to much the fragment could come loose and he could suffer major internal bleeding" Myers says, standing up to meet Johnny.
"…" everyone looks down at the injured man.
The injured man begins to speak, "How many flights…?"
"At least fifteen, all metal, no railings." The engineer replies.
The other soldiers begin to look away, and mumble under their breaths, "Damn" and "Jesus".
"…Just leave me." The injured soldier says.
"But-"Myers begins to speak but is cut off by the injured soldier.
"How long till this place is under?" He asks.
"If the deconstruction rate of the complex so far is anything to go by… Maybe five-ten minutes?" The engineer says.
"Hehe… Thought so. I don't want any ifs or buts, I'm staying. If's really been two hundred years; then I want to meet my family up there." He says, looking up at the ceiling with partially glazed over eyes.
"…" Myers stands up, and picks the medical kit up.
"Let's go. If we waste any more time we'll be dead too." Johnny says, picking himself up and shuffling to the stairs. Myers and the engineer follow after, and so do the other soldiers; all the while the injured soldier is smiling softly; his eyes close. Within minutes after they leave, the pod bay doors begin to dent- warp and mold. Soon, a fiery explosion envelops the entirety of the room; and the injured man is no longer visible.
Sixteen hours later- in the interrogation room corridor.
"So it's really that bad…" Royce says, Johnny sliding his cap back over his head.
"I knew it had been a while; but two-hundred years... Those bastards may have already won." Royce mumbles under his breath.
"It most definitely is sir." Johnny replies.
"Follow me corporal." Royce says, turning and walking out of the corridor.
Johnny quickly follows behind like a duckling, trailing Royce but still being mindful of things. After travelling through a few concrete corridors, they find themselves in a small room; an office. A semicircle desk sits opposite the door, and the walls have near holographic maps of the local terrain and height maps of the local hills. They are most definitely in the Midwest.
Royce sits down in the concave office chair behind the desk, and Johnny stands in front; his hands behind his back and standing straight.
"Corporal- no Johnny; wasn't it?" Royce says, taking his beret off and placing it on the desk. He grabs his right shoulder and begins to squeeze it lightly, his eyes squinted.
"Yes sir." Johnny replies.
"Johnny; I've got an important task for you." Royce lets go of his shoulder, and places his elbows on the desk; clasping his hands together.
"Sir?" Johnny says; somewhat confused, as the base was only just partially recovered.
Royce sighs; and begins to speak, "Johnny, I haven't got much time left…"
"-!?..." Johnny makes a surprised expression; but no words come out.
"It was my pod- malfunction. Those damned engineers left a single screw out of the operation; and over the centuries we were in there bacterial microbes invaded the space. I've got a mass infestation of illness; and as soon as they've fully thawed I'm guaranteed a painful death."
Royce begins to lean back in his chair.
"But sir-" Johnny is cut off by Royce.
"I've got about two weeks left- and I'll only be coherent for one. Once I'm gone, you're in command." Royce interlocks eyes with Johnny, making a determined and serious expression.
"I understand sir." Johnny squints his eyes, clearly upset; and stands up straight. Johnny raises his right arm and salutes; before relaxing and lowering his arms.
"Right now, just worry about keeping the facility from exploding; it's got about two days before it loses all integrity and nukes the entire area ten times over. If that can be managed try and get some information out of the man we captured." Royce says; rubbing his head.
"Sir, if I may ask; does this have anything to do with what you discussed with us before we went into cryo-sleep?" Johnny asks, preparing to leave.
"It does a great deal. We've managed to extract one piece of info from him so far." Royce looks at Johnny with a slightly worried expression.
"He's with the Enclave."
An hour later; somewhere on the fourth floor.
Johnny, Myers, and the engineer alongside around six soldiers are standing around an elevator shaft; the elevator is no longer there, it's wires having snapped recently sending it falling down the shaft. Johnny looks at the engineer.
"Derrick, right?" The engineer- Derrick nods.
"Sargeant Derrick Lance of the 456th battalion engineer regiment!" He barks; standing up straight.
"No need to be like that; you saved me and most of my platoons' asses back there- your fine by me." Johnny replies; placing his hand on Derricks shoulder. Derrick relaxes, and approaches the elevator shaft; grabbing onto the metal door way sides and peering down the shaft.
"What exactly were you doing down there anyway sergeant; I could've sworn the Engineering Regiment was stationed on the ninth floor?" Johnny asks
"I...
"You are likely the only engineering crew not attending to something important right now; so were requisitioning your assistance for this." Johnny says; stepping and peering down the elevator shaft with Derrick. "Don't worry; you're just here to assess the damages, the repair teams will do the fixing if it's possible." Johnny continues.
"I figured." Derrick says; looking down the elevator shaft with worried and scared eyes.
"What's the situation on the lower levels?" Johnny asks.
"… If the sixth floor is still somewhat intact we might be able to reach the decontamination bay. Grab a few rad-suits and other supplies and venture into the reactor chamber. We can't clear the radiation already produced; but we can try and stop more from leaking." Derrick says; stammering somewhat.
"Got it. Do you think the reactor will be salvageable?" Johnny asks; stepping back from the shaft with Derrick.
"Unlikely; but there's a chance." Derrick replies; walking behind the soldiers and to a previously obscured rolling cart with tools and supplies on it. Derrick grabs a rope from the bottom of the cart and walks to the edge of the elevator shaft. The other soldiers reach onto the cart and begin to grab things; three soldiers grab ten millimeter pistols- whilst the others grab wrenches and toolkits. Johnny reaches down to his belt; and pulls as forty-four magnum revolver from its holster. He looks at it; and spins the cylinder open; revealing it to have only four shots.
Johnny squints, and closes the cylinder, sliding the gun back into its holster.
Derrick reaches down and tightly knots the rope around a piece of elevator shaft frame; tying it tightly, the rope falling into the blackness of the elevator shaft. Derrick stands up; stepping out of the way as the soldier's line up on the rope.
"Anything we should know before going down there?" Johnny asks, preparing to go down the rope.
"… We established heat sensor logs for the floors past eight; and although mostly muddled recently; it appears as though something may be living down there." Derrick replies.
"How long ago were the logs?" Johnny asks.
"Around one-hundred and fifty years ago." Derrick replies.
"...Be prepared for anything then. No one really knows what could be going on down there; considering it's been a few centuries." Johnny says; the others nodding in conformation. Johnny grabs onto the rope, wrapping it loosely around his waist and jumping into the tunnel; bouncing off of the wall like a mountain climber.
Scaling down the wide elevator shaft, Johnny descends into the darkness; and as he does, he reaches his right hand up to his helmet; clicking a small, nearly invisible button. As he does, his combat helmet lights up; revealing the elevator shaft as damp and cold; the metal framing surrounded by cracked concrete; every noise echoing loudly.
After descending past five sets of dented metal doors; he reach the sixth floor elevator door. The Geiger=counter on his waist belt begins to tick as he lowers his feet onto the ledge at the bottom of the large metal elevator door. With only an inch of clearance for his feet to sit on; he is forced to hold onto the sides of the elevator shaft framing to not fall. He sweats and shakes slightly; clearly nervous and scared. He reaches for a panel on the left of the elevator door; and tries to pull it open. When he does, it creaks and groans; but no movement is made; it is rusted shut. He reaches down to his waist belt and pulls a combat-knife out; and proceeds to begin carefully sawing the seam of the panel with the saw-tooth edge. After carefully sawing it; he begins to grow slightly impatient; sawing faster and faster; until the panel snaps open, the force and noise so loud that his hand slips and he drops the knife. As it hits every metal frame piece on the way down; it finally hits the bottom after nearly thirty seconds of sustained falling.
His hands are shaking heavily; and covered in sweat as his feet begin to lose their grip on the ledge. He pries open the panel; and inside is a small lever. He pulls it up; and the door in front of him begins to creak and groan as it slowly pulls itself in half to open. The bottom half goes down; but the top half jams half way through its operation, leaving it only partially open. Johnny ducks down, and unties the rope from his waist, entering into the sixth floor.
He looks around, and sees that it is pitch black aside from where his light shines; and that the entire floor is ashen, as if a fire spread through it entirely. Pipes in the corners of the walls are rusted, cracked, and blown open from the inside, and bullet holes dot the walls in varying degrees of size. Johnny un-holsters the revolver, and spins around slightly concerned, completely focused on his situation. When suddenly from up the elevator shaft, "Are you okay corporal!?", Johnny snaps out of it, turning and ducking under the door, leaning his head out. "Yeah! You can descend; but the door only opened halfway so keep that in mind." As soon as he says this, "Heading down then!" is shouted indiscriminately down the elevator shaft, and the soldiers begin to descend.
Within minutes the eight or so soldiers fill into the corridor and set up minor defensive positions as Derrick and Johnny discuss the layout and plan, "The sixth floor is set up; I mean it's got the armory, med-bay, and even an engineering room with a decontamination zone!" Derrick says, talking like a kid in a candy store. "I got it Sargeant; I know. But where here to keep the facility from exploding; the supply hunt can wait." Johnny replies, moving towards the right of the elevator door. "Is it this way?" Johnny asks, pointing forward; right from the elevator door.
"No, this way." Derrick says, pointing behind him, left of the elevator door.
The soldier's line up, the three with weapons in front with Johnny just behind them; and behind him Derrick and Myers. Behind them are the rest of the soldiers.
They pass through the corridor, and go right into another scorched corridor; and then soon after that left, and then right again. After passing by some doors, a few unreadable signs, and more bullet holes; they reach a metal door with a readable sign, "Engineering."
"Were here." Johnny says, getting up to the door and looking at the button on the control box next to it. It flickers red, cracked and clearly used; but a layer of dust now sits over it.
"I'm surprised this is still getting power." Johnny says, pressing it; to which the door opens up nice and smoothly.
"Sixth to top floors run emergency lights to back-up power. But sixth floor emergency power is low on priority." Derrick replies, walking through the door with starry-eyed glee.
Johnny and Myers, alongside the six soldiers tactically back into the room; while two of the soldiers with pistols wait outside. As they enter, they find a control-room esc center with control panels, consoles, and computer terminals lined up like a buffet. Most have been gutted, or scorched to uselessness; however a few still glow a greenish hue with activity, still running codes and programs over centuries.
At the far end of the room to the left is a metal door rusted beyond recognition; however the red text on it is still somewhat visible- reading "DECONTAMINATION" and below it an even more faded smaller red text reads, "TO SEVENTH FLOOR REACTOR CHAMBER".
"That would be it; I'd imagine." Myers says, walking to the door alongside the soldiers. Johnny follows Derrick as he rushes over to a still active computer, bending down and beginning to fiddle with it.
"-?... We need to go." Johnny says, perplexed as to what Derrick is doing.
"… If I can log on; I might be able to get an actual systems report on the reactor." Derrick says; slightly annoyed. "Okay. We'll be headed down through the decontamination bay; grab a few suits and head back." Johnny replies; and within that second, the computer terminal flashes a harder green; more text has appeared. "Ha-ha! I got it!" Derrick nearly shouts.
"Keep quiet! We don't know if it's safe down here." Johnny says, grabbing Derrick on the shoulder. Derrick nods, and bends back down to the terminal.
"It appears that one of the coolant pumps was… tampered with? I don't understand… It says that it "has been removed", but that's not possible it's over two and a half thousand pounds." Derrick says whispering, Johnny looks down slightly peeved.
"I didn't mean that smart-ass." Johnny says, dead-pan.
"I apologize." Derrick says, standing up straight from the terminal; back to normal speaking voice. "…" Myers stares at the two expectantly, the soldiers now gathered around the door.
"Let's go." Johnny says, walking over to the door and pressing a more pristine but unlit red button. The door slides open; it creaks and groans, the rust impeding the gears slightly. After opening, the group head into the small chamber. The corridor goes right; and heads into a metal door. On the right of the corridor is another metal door.
The group heads into the corridor, turning to the right door; and Johnny finds another button. He presses it, but nothing happens.
"Dammit." He presses it again; again nothing.
"…" Derrick stares in disbelief.
"You knew that wouldn't work, right?" Derrick says, looking at Johnny.
"…Yes." Johnny says, looking away slightly; stepping back from the door.
"Just fix it." Johnny says; Derrick flipping the button box panel open.
"Did you really think that work a second time?" Myers leans in and whispers to Johnny.
"… I never said I was the brightest berry in the bush." Johnny replies, looking down.
Myers chuckles; and at the same time Derrick finishes fiddling with the wires, and closes the panel, pressing the button and allowing the door to slide open.
The group step into the room.
Although scorched, it is in better condition; as no pipes litter the corners, and rather a large window sits at the right; once sealed but now cracked with time. At the windows, just beneath them are two sets of control consoles, with two office chairs sitting In front of them.
At the back of the room are two sets of lockers; and one is opened and empty. A bench sits in between the lockers; typical mechanic jumpsuits embroidered with "U.S Army Core Engineers" sit dusty and moldy on the bench; left to rot by their owners.
"This place… it smells musty? I don't know how to describe it…" Myers says, walking to the cracked window. "I really hope this place was sealed; and that these cracks are only minor…" Myers continues, carefully running his hand along the glass; gathering dust on them. Myers wipes the dust off onto his pant leg; and Johnny and Derrick head to the lockers.
They open them up one by one; and pulling out equipment. The collect the equipment onto the bench, the other soldiers helping them organize it. They have two toolboxes of equipment; some I.D badges, a worn keycard painted with a big red '3" on it; and five rad suits.
"This is more than I was expecting." Johnny says, lifting up and looking over one of the orange, space-suit like rad suits. Derrick finishes inspecting one as well, "Yeah, decent condition too." He replies to Johnny.
The group look over the suits; and Derrick looks over the console, pressing buttons and turning dials at random. "Damn; this isn't going to open the decontamination bay doors…" Derrick walks over to a soldier; one holding a pipe wrench. "I need that." Derrick asks. The soldier looks over at Johnny who is inspecting a rad suit vigorously. Johnny looks at him and nods half-heartedly; clearly absorbed in what he is doing. The soldier hands Derrick the wrench; Derrick turns around and walks back to the window. Derrick raises the pipe wrench and smashes down hard; as hard as he can, gripping the wrench tight. As it impacts the glass, it makes a loud *crunch* sound, as the teeth of the pipe wrench go through it like a spear. The bottom parts don't, but that isn't important. He lifts his leg and places his foot onto the console below the window. He yanks the wrench out with force; nearly falling over as it swings out. He lifts it over his shoulder; preparing a baseball like swing, smashing into the window. "Hey, hey, hey! What the hell!?" Myers says, running over to Derrick. Johnny looks over and scoffs, returning to his thorough rad-suit inspection as if nothing's wrong.
"Making an entrance I guess?" Derrick says, shrugging his shoulders.
"An entrance!? Do you even know how much radiation could be in there?" Myers nearly shouts, catching the attention of the rest of the soldiers.
"… Does it matter? We'll get just as irradiated if we try to cross through the decontamination bay doors." Derrick responds, relaxing and resting the wrench on his shoulder.
"… Do whatever you want sergeant. I warned you." Myers says, walking off; back to inspecting the equipment. Derrick continues swinging and smashing against the glass; huffing and puffing all the while. Eventually, he opens a gap big enough to lodge the wrench mouth around; and begins tugging the glass off. He eventually opens up the window in its entirety; and at this point the entire group is surrounding him watching. "… An interesting approach." Johnny says, walking up behind Derrick who is resting on one of the office chairs. Derrick hands Johnny the wrench; and Johnny hands it back to the soldier whom it belonged to. "Let's go; you and you, and you are staying." He points at one of the soldiers wielding a pistol; and two other soldiers wielding equipment. "Let's suit up." Johnny says, walking to the lockers.
After equipping the rad-suits, the group now comprised of- Johnny, Derrick, Myers, and two other soldiers, one wielding a pistol. They climb over the broken consoles, landing into the decontamination bay; and walk to the metal door on the right. The door is less rusted, more warped; and the paint on the door is readable.
"REACTOR ROOM MAIN CHAMBER-FLOOR 7"
"This is the place alright." Johnny says, walking up to the box panel on the right of the door. Instead of a button, there is a seam the size of a card; and on it is the number "3" painted in bold red- large text too. Johnny reaches to his belt, now loosely wrapped around the waist of his rad-suit. He pulls from it the keycard from the previous room, and with it he swipes down on the keycard reader. *beep*- the keycard reader responds, as the door begins to slide open.
Opening only partially, the group looks down the narrow elevator shaft- in comparison to the previous elevator shaft, this one is clearly made for individuals. That, and on the right is a still intact ladder going down the length of the elevator shaft- painted red, although worn.
"I'll go first; follow in suit if I give an all-clear." Johnny says, nodding before looking at the group. They all look at each other; and then nod. Johnny swiftly climbs into the elevator shaft, and begins descending the ladder. Although not broken or breaking, the rad-suit makes scaling the ladder difficult, as Johnny must keep a tight grip on the ladder in order to not slip. After descending about twenty rows, he lands his foot onto the elevator locked at the bottom of the shaft. He shouts up, "It's clear, just watch the ladder with the rad-suit gloves, its slippery!" Although no reply, he can hear the sounds of people descending the ladder.
He kneels down to the elevator roof; and begins to touch all over it. His helmet light still shines through his helmet but it blinds him; so he doesn't use it much while in the rad-suit. Due to this, he is forced to "feel" around for the hatch to get in the elevator. After a minute or so of this, he finds it, and pulls it up; banging it against the concrete wall of the elevator shaft. At the same time, the others reach the roof of the elevator. "We've got to go through here." Johnny says, sitting with his legs dangling into the elevator. He pushes himself up, and slowly drops himself into the elevator. The elevator door is split down the middle; and the left part is tilted wrong. The right part is open correctly however. The elevator clearly fell, as the lip from the elevator doorway is clearly visible. As he climbs out of the elevator, the other follow behind him; and they arrive at the reactor room.
Above the elevator door is a red light glowing a red hue into the reactor room. The reactor room must be sixty feet high, and sixty feet wide; the reactor a large, bulky metal contraption the size of a building taking up the majority of the room. Around it are catwalks, metal paths, and along the walls are windows into rooms that make up the seventh floor. The group steps out into the room, and travels toward the wall away from them, eventually reaching a metal staircase leading to the catwalks around the reactor. They scale the staircase, eventually making their way to the top most catwalk, finding themselves at a dead end. At the end of this narrow catwalk is a control terminal just in front of the center of the reactor. Behind them directly is a door into the concrete wall; metal and locked tight. "This should be it." Derrick says, walking toward the terminal. It is surprisingly still active; however Derrick notices something quickly.
"Guys, we've got a problem." Derrick says, approaching the terminal.
"What is it?" Johnny asks, walking to the railing of the catwalk and looking down.
"… This was tampered with." Derrick says, bending down to fiddle with the terminal.
"How so?" Johnny asks.
"The mainframe was temporarily disabled around fifty years ago, and the coolant pump wasn't just removed… It was rigged to explode." Derrick responds, quickly typing key after key on the terminal keyboard.
"… Is it fixable?" Johnny asks.
"Yeah actually; that and it's pretty simple." Derrick replies.
"The reactor was built with this situation in mind; so if a coolant pump or some other critical system is damaged the rest of the system gets shut down temporarily." Derrick continues.
"… This doesn't seem temporary." Myers states, looking in awe at the reactor.
"Yeah I know, it's temporary but someone disengaged the un-locking mechanism and it never returned to proper status; leaving it in a sort of limbo where it created power with nowhere to go." Derrick replies.
"Isn't that in and of itself a problem though?" Johnny asks, not totally following what is going on; but in worry as to the situation itself.
"… That's what's caused the damages so far; the overabundance of power overloaded the minor and secondary systems like the pods, communications, and any and all mechanical radiation seals- and before you ask those are reparable, but the power's got to be rerouted and regulated first. So once we get this fixed the engineering teams upstairs are going to have a hell of a time repairing all of the minor stuff." Derrick responds, getting slightly annoyed at the insistent questioning.
"Got it!" Derrick says, as the reactor begins to rattle and clang to life.
Within minutes it begins to make tons of noise, the large fans and functional coolant pumps springing to life and making horrendously rusted noises. However, it functions; and the lights suddenly begin to flicker to life.
"What's with the lights?" Johnny asks, staring up to the ceiling.
"*sigh* the lighting and door control systems are specifically locked down under the pretense of reactor tampering. When the temporary reactor shutoff was supposed to end the doors would have unlocked and the lights came back on. They still work, they just were turned off one day and never turned back on." Derrick says, clearly annoyed.
"What about-"Johnny is cut off, "Please no more questions, I think I just heard something…" Derrick responds.
…
The group turn to face the door behind them, now lit up by a light above it. The door begins to rattle and clang as the sounds of groaning and growling fill the air.
"…What in the hell?" Johnny says, un-holstering his revolver and moving toward the stairs with the group. The door begins to slowly move as it creaks open; and as it does, it reveals the horror lurking behind the door.
Feral ghouls.
Around fifteen feral ghouls, ravenous and withered; decayed and rotten. They all don military attire and are surprisingly quick. The ghouls begin to rush down the catwalk at high speed, trampling over one another to reach the group.
"We've got to go now!" Johnny shouts, the group descending the stair case; him behind them. One of the ghouls pounces over the railing, lunging at Johnny. Johnny raises his revolver, and fires, hitting the ghoul in the arm. The bullet sends the ghoul spiraling onto the ground; hitting the floor at high speeds.
"Go, go, go!' Johnny shouts as the group descends the staircase as quick as they can.
After running and running, the group reaches the ground floor; and run to the elevator. They reach it, and find the door closed. "Fuck!" Derrick says, running to the elevator button panel next to the door. The group turns around, "Defensive positions!" Johnny shouts, the group taking a circular shape around Derrick. "Derrick, you've got two minutes to get that damn door open!" Myers shouts, unsheathing the combat knife from his waist belt.
The group of ghouls are running at them like a wave; Johnny and the soldier with a pistol begin to fire.
Johnny aims, waiting a few seconds, breathing in; and holding his breath, and as if time stops- he aims.
The head- he thinks, blasting his third magnum round into the skull of the front-running ghoul.
He turns, breathing out, then in; aiming down again.
The leg- He shoots his second to last round into the leg of the second-frontrunner ghoul; hitting its kneecap. The ghoul falls, and it trips the rest onto the floor; however they still clamber onto each other in an effort to get to the group. The soldier blasts fifteen rounds into the ghouls; tearing apart six of them; the rest still recovering from falling over. Myers and a soldier wielding a pipe-wrench run up and begin bashing into the skulls of the ghouls; Myers dropping his entire weight onto the blade downward into the skull of a fallen ghoul; falling back as he pulls it out. The pipe wrench wielding soldier smashes horizontally into a ghoul running at him; smashing its brittle skull to pieces, the pipe teeth getting stuck in its skull. However, in his attempt to pull the wrench out of its skull, the other five remaining ghouls pounce, landing on him like ants.
He screams and screams, as they tear him apart; the group almost stop in their tracks, the unexpected horror of what is occurring almost too foreign to imagine. Myers stands up, knife in hand; and backs up to the wall with the group.
The sound of the elevator door opening is followed by the group quickly climbing into the elevator, and using each other as footstools to climb through the hatch. Just as they make it through to the roof of the elevator, the ghouls catch up. As Johnny slams the hatch down onto the elevator, the rest of the group climbing up the ladder; Johnny takes one last look at the hatch.
It begins to rattle.
Johnny quickly collects himself and begins racing up the ladder; the others having already made it to the top.
"Come on, come on!" Myer shouts down at Johnny. As he climbs up and into the corridor, the hatch on the elevator opens. The five remaining ghouls quickly begin to climb the framing of the elevator shaft and the ladder, climbing up with extreme speeds.
The group quickly turn, and climb up through the glass and into the decontamination control room. "What happened down there?" The soldiers they left behind ask.
"Contacts, like nothing we've ever seen before." Johnny says.
"Like something out of a holofilm!" Derrick stammers, nearly interrupting Johnny.
"Get ready!" Johnny says, un-attaching his rad-suit helmet; his face dripping with sweat. He pulls out his revolver, and looks in the cylinder.
One round, just like I thought; he thinks, closing the cylinder and aiming at the glass.
As the group aims there weapons at the glass, the ghouls begin pouring into the decontamination bay- and quickly climb up through the glass. As they clamber up the wall; the two soldiers with pistols begin firing, the one that fought in the reactor room firing twice before running empty; the other firing a solid fifteen shots, tearing them to pieces. The final two pounce; the soldiers running dry of bullets. Myers charges one, stabbing it into the gut and pushing it out of the glass into the decontamination bay; landing with it. Derrick dodges as the second pounces; the ghoul landing onto the floor beneath the lockers. As the ghoul struggles to stand, Derrick quickly shoves the heavy metal lockers over with all his might, crushing the ghoul flat. As greenish black blood pools under the lockers, Johnny rushes over to the glass, to find Myers struggling with the ghoul on the ground.
He aims, breathing in, then out and holding his breath; and as if time itself stops-
The head- he fires his final shot into the head of the ghoul, missing Myers by a hairs width.
….
END CHAPTER 1