Radiation leak. Cave in. Reactor meltdown. Old age. Boredom. These were the ways Talia expected she would die in Vault 101, the underground nuclear shelter she called home. She'd never have guessed it would be Johnny from Vault Security in the cafeteria with the police baton.
"You should have left with your daddy, kid. Would've been easier for you. Now, keep your hands where I can see 'em."
Talia circled the dining booth, keeping Officer Kendall on the opposite side to her. Fuck, he was right. Her dad left the Vault maybe an hour ago. Nobody was supposed to enter, nobody was supposed to leave. The original inhabitants were sealed inside when the whole world nuked itself to oblivion two hundred years ago, in 2077, and they'd been down here ever since. A microsociety with all the mod-cons Vault-Tec Corporation provided them. A mini kingdom over which the Overseer loved to rule, like the keeper of an ant colony. Only, her dad had busted out. And the Overseer was pissed.
Talia was pissed. Dad hadn't told her a thing despite her constant questions about the outside world. Didn't he know she wanted to leave? That she would be hunted down like a rat just for being related to him? He probably never thought about it. He'd been preoccupied as long as she could remember. More so since she started full time work duties at age sixteen.
Still, she'd have preferred to face the dangers of the surface with him instead of being beaten to death by some overgrown bully next to the coffee ration dispenser.
Talia smashed the salt and pepper shakers on the table between them with her baseball bat. She'd grabbed it from her room after her friend Amata warned her security was searching for her. The burst of mineral and glass caused Kendall to falter, which gave Talia the time she needed to scoot across the booth and strike him in the chin with an upward swing of her bat. His security helmet came flying off and he staggered backward, spitting blood.
It wasn't quite as devastating as she'd expected.
"Oh you're in for it now, girlie." Kendall readied his baton and started toward Talia, swinging for her head.
With a squeal she ducked his blow and leapfrogged the corner counter.
"Smart move, dumbass. Now you've got nowhere to run."
Shit. She had cornered herself. Frantically she began throwing everything the counter contained in his direction. Crockery. Cutlery. Cutlery trays. Coasters. Unsurprisingly it did nothing much but annoy him.
"Wear yourself out, kid. There's nothing you can do. You can run round and round this Vault, but no way you're getting out. You're toast."
Scanning for anything else that wasn't bolted down, Talia's eyes landed on something on the floor amidst the mess. Heavy, metal, it had fallen from the counter in the commotion. A toaster.
Raising it high with both hands, she lobbed it hard as she could. It struck Kendall on the head with a dull thunk. He fell to the ground. She didn't know if he was dead or dazed, and didn't stop to check. She picked up her baseball bat and jogged to the door. She had quite a way to go before she could potentially escape the Vault herself.
Hesitating, she peered back at the man she knew first as security, second as dad to one of her peers. "Sorry, man, you probably deserved butter than that."
We all do.
The Overseer's office was just down the hall. Amata, Talia's friend and the Overseer's daughter, had been the one to warn Talia that her dad had absconded and she was in trouble. She said if Talia could make it to her father's office, she could reach the Vault entrance via a secret tunnel that connected the two. Amata promised to keep her father distracted to give Talia time to get into the office.
Talia probably wouldn't have made it out of her bed if it wasn't for Amata. Still, it hadn't been easy making it this far. There were more where John Kendall came from, patrolling the corridors and guarding the doorways to various levels of the Vault. But she knew these tunnels better than the back of her hand. Every space to hide, every shortcut, things that could be moved or rigged to fall, the best spots to place firecrackers for optimal pant-ruining effect. She'd spent enough time indulging in such pranks over the last decade that she had gained an edge on the security guards who were mostly bored, having nothing more exciting to deal with than the occasional radroach infestation.
Only one, Officer Gomez, had let her pass by, advising her to leave and find her dad. She realised then, if one of security thought she should leave, shit really had hit the fan. She took the opportunity to break into her dad's desk in the clinic. She knew he kept a pistol in there (along with a bottle of scotch). She'd found it when snooping around as a teenager, trying to discover what the hell kept him so busy even after his shifts as Vault Physician had finished.
For whatever reason, he hadn't taken it with him. Talia hadn't questioned too much and tucked it into her belt.
As if to reinforce her decision, she then witnessed a couple of other kids, siblings Tom and Mary, gunned down by security while they made their own attempt to escape the Vault. She'd owned an illicit BB gun since her tenth birthday. She'd even familiarised herself with the pistol since she found it. But, being a lowly nineteen year old Vault technician and not the best shot in the Old West, she instead slipped by in the commotion.
Still, she wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for Amata. Which is why she chewed her lip as she crouched just outside the jail room, where she was being held by the Overseer and Officer Mack.
"I told you, I don't know anything," Amata's voice was strained.
"Be reasonable, Amata," the Overseer sounded as arrogant as ever. "Officer Mack may enjoy this but I don't. Just tell us where to find your friend so we can talk to her." Talia could hear the shit-eating grin on his face.
"She's my friend. I was worried about her. What does she have to do with any of this anyway?"
"Probably nothing, which is why you need to tell me where she is so I can talk to her…" He sighed in the silence that followed. "Okay, go ahead, Officer."
He won't… A sickening thump and Amata's cry confirmed the Overseer had ordered a beating.
"Again," he instructed.
Jesus. Talia ground her teeth as she wrestled with the urge to go in there and smash both their heads in.
But Amata was covering for her. She should sneak by and get out. Amata was his daughter. Surely he wouldn't go too far?
Talia crept down the hallway, swallowing the knot in her throat. Her own dad wouldn't hurt her, but he had left her to this psychotic Overseer and his savage goons. What if she couldn't get out? How was she supposed to defend herself? He had a lot to answer for.
As she reached the reception room to the Overseer's office she paused to listen for movement. Nothing but the hum of the air circulation. Breezing around the corner, she stifled a scream. A body lay sprawled on the floor. It was Jonas.
Jonas had been her dad's assistant and friend for as long as she could remember. He'd been there for her, too. Without a mother since birth, and living in this enclosed community, he was like part of the family to her.
Breaths coming shattered and fast, she crawled over to him, placing a hand on his arm and gently shaking, hoping for a response. She knew to expect none; Amata had told her that one of the guards had killed him. But finding him, battered and bloody, dead...
Rage gripped her. A deep, animal enmity flourished in Talia's chest. It swelled through her limbs, tugging at her like a marionette.
Dad abandoned her. Jonas was murdered. Amata might be next. The Overseer and his thugs were animals.
Her breath rattled across her throat, almost a growl. She whirled back to the corridor. Her knuckles shone white around her baseball bat. Her boots drummed a count on the ground as she returned to Amata.
"There you are," came a voice behind her.
Security Chief Hannon. Talia span to see the head of security coming for her, baton raised. He was already close. She raised her bat in defence just in time to take the hit. The bat clattered to the floor. She blocked another with her forearm. As she winced in pain another struck her on her side body.
She was not going to be dragged in front of the Overseer like a piece of tenderised meat. She flung herself at Hannon's arm, grabbing the baton and his wrist. She clung and clawed, trying to pry the weapon out of his grasp.
She was no match for his size or his training. He slammed her to the ground quicker than she blinked. When she'd got her breath back and caught up with events, she remembered what had made her so angry and resumed struggling. He had her pinned but she managed to twist beneath him so she was no longer eating linoleum. To her right was her dropped bat. Her free hand reached for it and in one swift motion hammered the butt into Hannon's helmet. She repeated. The impulse jarred Hannon enough that his hold went lax. Talia shoved him and wriggled free. Scrambling up she pulled the pistol from her belt and fired in his general direction until he stopped. She stared at him, hanging against the wall. She squeezed the trigger again to put him on the ground. Call her paranoid, but he was a big guy, and wearing body armour. She fired into him once more to satisfy herself that she was safe for now.
Her ears were ringing like hell. She could still hear gunshots. After a few seconds she realised it wasn't newly acquired hearing damage- there were gunshots coming from the jail room. She rushed to the door and punched the entry panel. The door slid open and Talia bowled in to find Mack on the ground, blood pooling under him. Amata was stood in the corner holding a pistol, staring at his body.
"Oh my God, Amata, what have you done!" The Overseer didn't even seem to notice Talia's entry.
"He made me do it…he left me no choice..." She sidestepped around the body and the Overseer. When she had a clear run to the door she bolted.
Talia's blood was pure adrenaline. "You touch Amata again and you're dead!"
The Overseer merely turned his attention from the body of Mack to Talia as if she had asked him the time. "Now then. If you really care about Amata, you will see how dangerous your father's actions were."
"Is that what you said to Jonas before you killed him?" Talia spat.
"Oh, come now, turn yourself in and we can resolve this whole thing peacefully. Just because your father betrayed us doesn't mean you have to."
Talia balked briefly. "My father… is no traitor. But you're a murderer and a thug."
"I can see you don't believe that. Look, I know it must be hard for you. Hand over your weapons and put an end to this dangerous situation."
Talia glared. Dad had betrayed her. But she was almost out. Free. Free of this box and its grey walls and its Overseer and his schedules and his goons. And she didn't like what she'd just seen. She never did trust the Overseer.
"Alright, you've convinced me. Just give me your keys and password and I'll be on my way." Her voice was acid.
The Overseer's face dropped into a scowl. "Do you think I'm scared of a snotnosed punk like you? I was running this Vault when you were still crying for your dead mother."
She barely remembered emptying the rest of the magazine into him. Something had taken over. Something that said he deserved it.
A minute later, Talia returned to where Jonas lay. "Why didn't you tell me, Jonas?" She stared for a few moments before snapping herself out of it. She had the Overseer's keys. Time to go.
"Good, you're leaving. I guess you were trying to help me but you didn't have to kill him!"
Amata scolded Talia in the entrance to the Vault. Talia simply watched in anticipation as the huge, steel, bolt like hatch rotated and retracted out of its sealed position. Dust rained from the ceilings as the whirring machinery shook the dank steel foyer in which they stood.
Talia spoke quietly. "He was a murderer. He deserved to die."
"And who appointed you judge, jury, and executioner? I know he wasn't perfect, but he was my father-"
"Perfect? No one's perfect, Amata. There's a difference between… between being forgetful or something, and killing people for no fucking reason. He wouldn't even do it himself. Just set his thugs on us all."
Amata was bitter. "Oh, and I suppose it's somehow more noble if you do all your killing yourself?"
"You tell me. I had no idea you were so good at shooting people."
The anger drained from Amata's voice. "Oh, don't… don't even start. I don't want to think about it. I had no choice. Officer Mack… he…"
Talia stared at the emerging exit tunnel. "Yeah, well… neither did I."
Amata drew a deep breath. "So you say. Maybe one day I'll forgive you but not now. He was the only family I had. I thought you of all people would have understood that. Just leave. Before I change my mind and call the guards."
Talia started toward the bare rocky shaft, which shimmered with an unfamiliar light. Light from the surface.
After a few steps she paused. "You could… come with me," she ventured. "Why not?"
Amata glared, though her brow furrowed slightly. "No. Not with you. Not now. Just go. Find your father. I have to go bury mine." She faded back into the belly of the Vault, leaving Talia alone in the cold passage to the outside world.
She stood in limbo until the sound of footsteps and shouting voices spurred her forward. The opening mechanism must have set off alarms. More guards were on their way. Talia ran to the light.