Vault 101 was in chaos and it all started with a Radroach infestation.
The mutated bugs were relentless in their assault and it took very little time before the sound of the alarm woke every Vault 101 resident and the halls were filled with the sounds of screaming and fighting.
Amata hadn't stepped more than two feet outside her own residence before her usually stoic father had shoved her back inside with explicit instructions not to go anywhere or else. She'd always walked a fine line between absolute obedience and outright defiance and it didn't take long before her concern and curiosity won out this time around.
Walking through the ruined halls of the Vault and thinking back on it, she wondered how differently the night might have ended if she hadn't reached her friend in time.
James would have already made his escape, she was certain of that.
Jonas would have still been killed. For aiding James in his escape or hiding information or both.
A broken sob escaped her as the image of his beaten and bloody body came to mind. She wiped at her tears and grit her teeth as she came to her destination.
The door slid smoothly open just like it had done when she'd first ran through hours before when her heart had been racing and with only one thing on her mind: get her best friend as far away from Vault 101 as soon as possible.
The living area was a mess of overturned furniture and shattered ceramic from a vase that once held a bouquet of fake flowers. Her father's security force hadn't been kind in their search for the resident's only occupant, a teenage girl who would be put to trial for the sins of her father.
Amata turned away from the scene and headed for the only other door in the room.
If the living room had been a mess then the bedroom was an absolute wreck.
There was a ringing in her ears as she took in the flipped desk with the drawers ripped out and tossed carelessly aside. The metal bed and mattress had been given a similar treatment. Glass crunched beneath her booted feet from broken picture frames as she made her way to the center of the room to take it all in.
She didn't know when the ringing had turned to screaming until her voice gave out and she had to take a painful gulp of air. Amata fell to her knees then back onto her butt to let out all of the anger and heartbreaking sadness that had been building up since she stepped foot from her own room earlier that night.
Tears flooded her eyes and overflowed to obscure the mayhem that surrounded her.
But now she knew exactly how the night would have ended. After all, they had only been steps ahead of the officers her father, no, the Overseer had sent to grab the girl. It was only making use of the various hallways and connecting rooms that had given them the upper hand.
Ultimately Amata hadn't even been able to accompany her best friend all the way to the end. They had just been turning a corner when they spotted the Overseer with a small group of guards heading their way. Luckily they had been deep in a discussion so the duo had just a few seconds to come up with an alternate plan. After giving the other girl instructions about the Overseer's secret Vault exit, Amata had been forced to cause a scene as she confronted her own father to distract him and the officer's he was with to give her friend the time she needed for her escape.
She was lucky that Butch had joined in the shouting match. A veteran at arguing with everyone since birth, he took one glance at the doctor's daughter as she snuck around a corner before waving around a bloody baseball bat covered in Radroach guts and started bellowing nonsense at the top of his lungs.
He had to be physically removed but their manufactured bickering had bought them just enough time for the security officers that had originally been on their heels to catch up and explain their target's disappearance.
The look the Overseer had given her had been chilling but he hadn't said anything other than to take her to the security office.
It was only when she heard her father's shouting that she realized her friend had escaped if only just by a hair. The ball of stress in her gut had loosened enough for her to get antsy and the overwhelming urge to get out had her up and moving before she could second guess it.
Amata had moved in a daze, taking everything in with an odd sort of detachment she hadn't felt before. There were an overwhelming amount of bodies and blood of both the Radroach and human kind. Familiar faces were slack from death, eyes half lidded and mouths open as if they had gone down screaming.
Which is how she ended up on the floor of her best friend's destroyed bedroom.
She didn't know how long she sat there but it was only once the tears no longer fell and her body hurt from all the sobbing that she found the strength to stand on shaky legs with the intention to leave it all behind.
The sound and feel of a square foot of metal grating giving beneath her feet made that plan fly right out the door.
Amata frowned then crouched to push a hand against it carefully. The piece dipped slightly and maybe it was nothing. There had been a lot of people trampling through there after all but something nagged at her to stick her pinky through one of the holes and tug.
It pulled up to reveal a stash of holo tapes, a handkerchief and medium sized photo album.
Amata once again found herself tipping back onto her ass as she examined the items before her. She picked up the handkerchief first.
The soft pink fabric was made of silk with delicate flowers embroidered at the edges and it wasn't one Amata had ever seen her best friend carry. Strangely it didn't even smell like the girl's usual perfume either. Trying not to feel like a creep, she gave the cloth a quick sniff and, yup, it had a more musky scent which was oddly familiar.
Her lips lifted in a small grin as she thought of the secret beau the teen must have had. Already imagining her friend's blushing face at someone admitting to finding her sunny smile and charming awkwardness as lovable.
Amata carefully placed the bit of silk into one of her pockets as a keepsake then reached for the photo album. It was heavier than she expected and well loved with a worn cover and spine cracked from constant openings. She found out why with the very first picture.
A beautiful woman with dark skin and hair with kind eyes smiled back at her. It was a portrait shot of the teens mother, Catherine. Amata had only seen the picture once or twice but it had been in James' bedroom which the two girls had snuck in to play hide and seek.
She bit her lip and tried to push away the pain those memories brought up and turned the page.
It was a blurry photo of James and Jonas posing in their white coats and what looked like birthday hats perched on their heads. Her breath hitched at the sight. It had to have been the doctor's daughter's 13th birthday. Amata remembered the girl being incredibly excited with her newish camera. She had been an unstoppable force with it and photographed everyone at least once.
She must have placed those in a different album, however, as the only photos she found from that time were of James, Jonas, herself and surprisingly one of Butch with his much younger face sticking his tongue out.
It wasn't the only one of him though.
The last few pages actually included them both.
One was of them standing close with Butch draping an arm over her shoulder, strained grin on his face and uncertainty in his eyes. In stark contrast, the girl he had his arm around was beaming brightly and she had her own arm wrapped tightly around his waist.
Amata let out a strangled sound at their closeness and scanned the page for any hint of a date or telling piece of evidence as to when this relationship began because that was undeniably what she was looking at; a fledgling romance taking it's first steps.
She turned the page again and had an approximate answer.
They were sitting this time behind a desk in the Vault's only library. There were full shelves of books behind them and a few severely outdated computers. They were obviously more comfortable with each other telling by Butch's relaxed smile and loose arm behind the teens back. Amata's best friend had her head tucked beneath Butch's and wore another sickeningly sweet smile. Her jumpsuit was slightly unzipped and her hands were above the desk and she looked to be fiddling with a holo tape recorder.
Amata glanced down at the small pile of tapes and wondered what they held.
Onto the last picture…
Her eyes widened and her cheeks heated. The two were in bed with nothing but a white sheet keeping them, well, maybe decent wasn't the word but Amata barely had two working braincells at that point.
Butch lay on his back with his girlfriend lounging comfortably on top. His hands were splayed across the sheet that covered her back as if he wanted to rip the cloth away, unable to bare even that much skin be unavailable to him. They gazed at each other with soft eyes and satisfied smiles and one of the girl's fingers was dragging playfully across his chin.
Amata closed the book and held it reverently to her chest for a moment. When the heartbreak she felt dulled to low throb she moved onto the holo tapes.
They were each labeled with the title of a book and it took a moment to remember why.
In a fit of self proclaimed brilliance, Amata's 18 year old self decided it would be a great idea to create audio files of the Vault's most popular books. It had been green lit by her father but then came the hardest part: finding someone to actually do it.
Amata had read a few pages aloud herself but didn't play back more than a minute before she trashed it. Why didn't anyone tell her she sounded so whiny?
So she created a list of the most pleasant sounding voices she could think of and started from the top.
James had given her a fond, slightly amused smile but also a polite no. Okay. Fair enough. The man was busy.
Mr. Broth agreed to do one small poetry book but that was all.
She'd briefly considered her father but being the Overseer took precedence and honestly she heard the man talk so much already she didn't need to feed his ego any further.
Beatrice had actually volunteered which seemed like a great idea until she turned in her first recording. Minutes into 'Murder on the Orient Express' Beatrice decided to start commenting airly about the wording and how she could make a much better story and Amata listened to the entire train wreck of a first chapter in a state of shock.
Beatrice wasn't allowed to do another one but Amata kept the initial recording to share with her best friend. They had laughed themselves silly and it was the other girl's comment of, "How hard is it to read a book?" that had Amata grinning with glee and asking, "Wanna find out?"
The library held the books she had managed to complete so the copies Amata held must be the outtakes. She warned with herself on listening to them then and there and decided to do as much of the first one she could handle. She popped the first tape in and pressed play.
Tears sprung to her eyes as the familiar lilting voice filled the room for what would probably be the last time.
"When it's all over. When-" There was the sound of the library door swishing open.
"Hey sweet thing,"
"Butch!"
Amata pressed a hand to her mouth.
"What are you doing here? I told you I would be busy for a few hours today…" she sounded more amused than mad which Butch must've heard as well.
"Exactly!" A small click of a lock filtered out. "Hours all alone and uninterrupted, whatever could we do?"
"Butch!" Giggles then the smacking of lips meeting. A chair being dragged away. There was a breathy moan then the sound of a zipper coming undone. "This-We're in a library, Butch. We can't do that here!"
Butch's words were little more than a breath. "Who says? The Overseer?"
"Pretty sure that's exactly who says," she laughed. "Besides, I really have to finish this. Mata is counting on me."
Butch groaned with displeasure, obviously knowing when he's been beat. "Okay, okay. You win. Cock blocked by a buncha books. I knew you were a nerd but I didn't think you were this bad." But the words were said with fondness, lacking any of the bite Amata was used to hearing lacing his every word.
Another quick kiss and a muttered "thank you, babe". A few seconds of silence passed then the chair was dragged back and this time another joined it.
Amata could see the moment perfectly. She had literally held the scene in her hands several minutes before hand.
"Butch?"
"Come 'ere, baby. Let's take a picture."
There was a breathy gasp of delight then the sound of holo tapes being disturbed and a book being pushed aside. A few more thumps hit the table, more books acting as a camera stand probably, then both teens were back in their seats.
"Say cheese!" The girl chirped before they both repeated the word and a camera flashed.
Amata shut off the tape. An aching hollowness spread through her body as she looked at the memories spread out before her. Why her best friend hadn't confided in her about their relationship she didn't know and at that moment it didn't matter. Looking in from the outside was heart breaking enough. She didn't know if she could've handled it had she known all along.
Butch's active participation in helping the other girl escape made a lot more sense now…
Adrenaline flooded through her. Where was he? How was he taking this? She needed to know.
After a quick search Amata unearthed a ratty looking backpack and carefully put everything inside. Then, without a glance back, she set out to find Butch DeLoria.
The halls were slightly cleaner than before. The bodies were gone at least. She didn't meet any resistance as she made her way to the DeLoria residence but once she arrived there was only a haggard looking Ellen sitting on a sofa with an open bottle of wine.
Amata hesitated.
"Ms. DeLoria? Are you okay?"
Ellen blinked once slowly before turning red rimmed eyes to meet Amata's own puffy ones. "No," she admitted softly. "I don't think I am."
Amata let her gaze wander over the cuts and bruises marring the woman's dirty jumpsuit. A few dead Radroached lay in pieces near her feet.
"Do you need medical attention?" she asked then swallowed down the urge to vomit at her own words. After all, the Vault's only doctor was missing and the medtech was-was-
Ellen glanced down at herself. "No, I'm fine." She gave an empty laugh. "Woulda been a lot worse if my Butchy hadn't heard me yelling and come running like a bat outta hell. I knew he had a mean swing but, Jesus."
"Have you seen him? Butch…"
Suddenly coherent eyes turned toward her. "You haven't heard?"
Dread pooled in Amata's stomach. "No," she said shakily. "Heard what?"
"He left. Security dragged him in here kicking and screaming. I guess he was raising up a ruckus out there or something." Ellen chased the words with a swallow of wine. "Wasn't here for more than a few seconds. He grabbed a bag, filled it with crap then said he was going to go save the girl he loved." She gave firm nod. "Good for him. God knows he was never happy in this hell hole."
Amata took a deep breath. "Did he make it? To the outside?"
Ellen gave her a curious look then smiled. "Yeah. Officer Asshole #1 came by to let me know. Apparently he got the drop on one of them and grabbed their gun. Threatened them back then took off with his future bride to be like the lead in those fucking romance novels." She shook her head. "Always one for the goddamned dramatics that one."
The older woman lleaned back and closed her eyes. "Close the door on your way out. And knock next time, for fuck's sake."
Dismissed, Amata did as she was told.
Back in the safety of her own room, she emptied the contents of the backpack and tucked everything away into a locked drawer of her desk. She would have to find a better hiding place but it would have to do for a time. She kicked off her boots, undid the tie holding her bun together and fell exhausted onto her bed.
The familiar metal walls that surrounded her no longer brought a sense of safety. The day's violent actions of those that she thought she knew, hell, had considered family only brought a bone deep sadness. Their way of life had been irrevocably fractured and things needed to change.
Mind buzzing, the teen dipped a hand into her pocket to pull out the silky handkerchief. It had to have been a gift, she thought. Possibly an anniversary or birthday present.
Maybe she would find out once she had the strength to listen to the rest of the tapes.
Better yet maybe, one day, she would be able to hear the story from the girl herself.