Well here's the second chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Oh and all time frames from here on out will be calculated using a rough size of 8.5 km squared (website won't let me put the 2 above km) and average running speed of 5 m/s.

'Thinking'

"Talking"


Out of Time

October 23rd 2287

Jackson was awoken with a start when his pod opened up dumping him on the ground unceremoniously. Once he regained his bearings he rushed over to his mothers pod, stumbling just once, and then to his fathers opening up each as he went. "Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!" Jackson cried out as they opened revealing his parents corpses, his mother shot in the head and his father in the heart. He collapsed to his knees in what was, although he'd never admit it out loud, a major panic attack. Given the circumstances this was quite appropriate and would be quite worrisome if he had no reaction whatsoever. "I'm sorry," he said to his parents, "I'm so, so sorry," he continued between sobs, "I failed... I failed my little brother and I failed you," he cried even more, "I couldn't protect him," he continued crying, "I-I couldn't... god damn it!" he cursed hitting the metal floor with his hand. He continued like this for several minutes cursing his failure as an older brother, adopted though he may be. During this he tuned out pretty much every noise around him until his brain stopped producing adrenaline and noradrenaline and forced itself to calm down. After calming down he began to try and figure out what to do next.

His epiphany occurred when the Vault's synthetic voice repeated for what seemed like the bazillionth time, "Critical failure in cryogenic array. All vault residents must vacate immediately." That was it! He could leave and search for him of course there was the very likely possibility that a significant amount of time had passed between Shaun being taken and him being reawakened, but he had to try damn it!

Getting back to his feet he approached his parents and took both their wedding rings so in a sense they could be with him as he searched. "I'll find Shaun and I'll get him back," he said to his parents, "I promise." This would be the second promise he's made to them since Shaun was born. The first being that as his big brother he would keep him from harm, which of course he failed when Shaun was taken. He headed towards the same door he and his family entered through before they stepped into the cryogenic pods until he noticed a computer on the wall. Deciding to quickly take a look to see if there were any other survivors he was dismayed to find that all other pod inhabitants of this section had died of the same cause: asphyxiation due to Life support failure. Hitting the computer once with his fist he opened the door and he remembered seeing Cindy with her parents and assumed there to be a second group of pods. He opened the door and located the computer on the middle of the backmost wall. Upon opening it he checked all the pod occupant statuses only to find all had perished with the same cause as the other group. All, that is, except for the last person listed there: Cindy Cofran. The computer listed her status as deteriorating and the percentage was at ninety-eight percent and dropping. This was due to a triage order on the pods in case of emergency power failure.

As soon as he finished reading it he located Cindy's pod, pod C15, and opened it up. Unlike himself Cindy remained in place when the pod opened since Jackson was pressed up against the door trying desperately to get to Shaun when he was refroze. Once the pod opened up she was completely defrosted in about thirty seconds and her eyes began to flutter open taking in the surroundings. Upon realizing that one: she was in the same area of the vault that she started out in, and two: the person standing in front of her was definitely not a Vault-Tec employee she immediately had questions.

"J-Jackson?" she asked clearly confused on why her schoolmate had woken her up, "What are you doing?" she asked as she stepped out of her pod, "What's going-"

Jackson interrupted her, "I know you have questions," he said as Cindy's foot caught something on her way out causing her to stumble and would've fallen had Jackson not caught her. Upon leaving his grasp Cindy noticed a shade of pink adorning his face as he continued, "B-but we need to leave. Now," he finished slightly stuttering at the beginning after holding his crush like that.

"But what about your parents?" she asked not seeing him flinch slightly when she said that, "My parents? And all the others? We can't just-" she tried to say before being interrupted again.

"Cindy!" Jackson said grabbing her wrist as she tried to head to her parents pods. She looked at him and he looked dead serious. "They..." Jackson started, uncertain on how to break this news, "We... we were the only ones to survive."

Cindy's expression turned to one of shock and horror for several seconds before adopting one of anger. "You..." she started, fists shaking with rage, "You liar!" she screamed shoving him away making him fall right on his ass. Cindy now towered above him with a furious expression on her face, "I've heard the stories about you, you... pervert," she yelled at him making him flinch at the accusation. During the year prior at school before the bombs fell one of the school bullies he had the unfortunate pleasure of being said punching bag for spread a nasty rumor about him trying to and succeeding in forcing multiple girls at his school and beyond to have sex with him. Completely unfounded since he was to this day still a virgin but the teachers and principal got the police involved and he was suspended indefinitely until the investigation was over. The police investigation turned up evidence, luckily for Jackson it was evidence that proved he was innocent and his name was cleared and he was able to return to school. The teachers and principal apologized to him for this but Jackson couldn't fault them completely, they were only doing what they thought was right. However the court of public opinion was not so easily convinced and was still heckled over it. Jackson counted himself lucky that his friends not only believed him but they remained his friends until the bombs dropped. Unfortunetly for Jackson though it seemed the entire female population of his school and every girl they told didn't believe him and tried to avoid him like the plague. "You probably did this so you could take advantage of me! Try to get me as one of your harem girls of the Vault, is that it?" Cindy screeched at him while running over to her mothers pod at the other end of the room. It was no secret that Cindy's mother was a mixed martial artist fighter, "Well it won't work!" She activated her mothers pod as Jackson slowly got up knowing what she'd find inside.

Cindy's mothers pod opened up fully and Cindy stood outside it flashing a 'you're going to get it now' look on her face since her mother, like Jackson's father, was military and her MMA training helped her in it. She looked back to her mother after she didn't step out of the pod or say anything with what Jackson could only guess was a mixture of surprise and shock. "M-Mom?" Cindy asked. Upon getting no response from her she placed her fingers on the side of her neck to check for a pulse and upon finding none she gasped and backpedaled, hitting her back against something in the process. That something turned out to be Jackson and upon realizing that Cindy got away from him as fast as she could and headed over to her father's pod. Upon opening it and finding the same results as her mother Cindy placed a hand on her mouth and collapsed down onto her knees.

Jackson walked over to her and spoke, "I'm sorry," he said to her, "I truly am and I know how you're feeling."

"How could you possibly-" she began before stopping herself when she remembered that he claimed to be the only other survivor meaning his family was also gone. Her head dipped low in a mixture of defeat and despair, tears flowing from her as she softly spoke, "I'm sorry..." she said through her tears, "You're right... My parents, your parents, everyone else just..." now the tears came down much quicker, "What do we do?" she finished quietly.

Jackson stepped towards her and when he was in front of her he knelt down and placed a hand on her cheek making her look up at him. "I don't know," he replied, "At least in the long run. But I do know we can't stay here. This place is falling apart and I highly doubt there's any edible food left. We'll die for certain if we stay, but if we leave we have a better chance." Cindy flinched slightly at the prospect of what was essentially an alien world to them so Jackson continued in an attempt to make her feel better, "Hey, look at me," turning her face so she could look him in the eye, "We'll get through this, together," he continued removing his hand from her face and taking both her hands into his, "I promise nothing will happen to you as long as I breathe." It was the same promise he'd made to his brother, albeit not word for word and in a different set of circumstances. This time though he'd make damn sure it wouldn't be broken.

Cindy had a very light tinge of pink adorning her cheeks when he said this. Taking her silence as acceptance Jackson continued, "Alright we need to escape and the quickest way is the way we came in. Follow me." After pulling her up with him he released her hands and the twosome headed out of the cryogenics bay and headed left towards the exit. Unfortunetly their journey out was short lived as the door refused to open.

"Malfunction in emergency door override. Please contact your Vault-Tec maintenance representative for service," the synthetic voice announced.

"Broken," Jackson said.

"What about this door?" Cindy said pointing to a door to Jackson's right as she opened it up.

"Guess we have no choice but to see where this leads," Jackson replied. After travelling down a short staircase they were forced to take a right turn and continue down the hallway. Heading down the new path Jackson noticed something on a nearby Vault-Tec case and went to investigate. It was a collapsible baton that police or security would use. After picking it up a shape on the other side of the window above the baton darted across the window. Upon seeing that Jackson decided it would be extremely prudent to have said weapon ready.

After extending it to its full length Cindy asked, "What are you doing?"

"Saw something on the other side of the window move. Pretty safe to assume it probably isn't friendly," Jackson replied. After approaching the closed door he took a quick look to his right and saw a something reflecting off a broken locker and went to investigate. Finding a stimpack on a desk near a security terminal he grabbed it and made his way back to Cindy. Giving her the stimpack he said, "For you, if and when you need it." After getting a quick nod of confirmation the two headed out the door and down the hallway which curved left to another door.

Opening it up they were shocked to see what looked like a gigantic cockroach scuttling around on the floor. Upon noticing the duo it proceeded to charge at them and once close enough leapt into the air at them. Jackson was quick to strike the creature dead in midair killing it instantly. Seeing the dead creature on the ground Cindy pretty much summed up what they both were thinking, "Giant Roaches? What the fuck?"

Well, Jackson had an additional thought on his mind, "I wonder if they're edible?" This got him an 'are you insane' look from Cindy as he sighed and explained, "It could potentially be eat things like this or starve to death since most food from our time would be heavily expired."

"Let's see if we can't find some food that isn't bugs first though," she cringed at the thought of eating cockroaches. As they approached the area where the cockroach came from Jackson spotted a second baton on a table near another window.

He grabbed it and handed it to Cindy who took it as he spoke, "Just in case there's more than one in there," gesturing to the windowed area. Reaching the shut door they opened it to find what looked like a reactor with electricity arcing around it, "We need to move quickly, but carefully if we don't want to get zapped."

Moving along the edge of the room to try and avoid the electricity Jackson saw two more cockroaches ahead of him after they mad a right turn. He managed to kill one before it could attack him but the second jumped at him right after. After managing to block the roach with his baton he quickly followed up with another strike killing it in another single blow. After hearing the sound of metal hitting metal behind him he turned and saw Cindy trying to kill one that had gotten behind them and seemed to be faster than the other three he killed. After Cindy's missed blow the roach tried to attack but fortunately for Cindy the roach was hit by some electricity from the reactor killing it. Breathing a sigh of relief Jackson and Cindy continued forward to find a skeleton with a Vault 111 vault-suit on it. Cindy was the first to speak up, "What happened here?"

"I don't know," Jackson replied. The two headed through the door on their left and saw two more roaches at the top of a short flight of stairs which were quickly dispatched by Jackson. Opening another door they found themselves in what Jackson had to guess was the Overseers office. Finding three stimpacks on the desk he quickly handed them to Cindy before spotting a 10mm pistol and some ammo in the middle of the desk near the Overseers terminal. Picking up the pistol and keeping the baton on his waist he approached the door only to find he needed to use the terminal to open it. As he approached the desk something caught his eye to his left. An odd looking gun in a protective case, one that, upon seeing the lock, Jackson couldn't pick despite the skills his dad taught him. Sitting down at the desk he turned to Cindy, "While I try and get the door open can you scrounge around for anything useful?"

"Yeah, I can do that," she replied, "Like what?"

"Guns, ammo, stimpacks," Jackson answered, "basically anything we can use to survive." Cindy nodded and started looking while Jackson accessed the computer. After quickly looking over the Vault 111 Overseer Instructions and the Overseer's Log, both of which showed exactly what Vault-Tec had been planning and what happened to the Vault respectfully. Seems people were tired of being cooped up in a small confined space. 'Imagine that' Jackson thought sarcastically. He was about to open the tunnel until he spotted an automated message from Vault-Tec to the Overseer dated ten years ago. It was a warning that promised the Overseer would be reprimanded for altering the triage protocol on the cryo pods. Checking further the report didn't say what had been changed but Jackson assumed it was safe to assume that it changed his mothers pod to be at the top of that list by the people who took Shaun. It was the most logical assumption given Shaun's importance to these people. Unfortunately the terminal couldn't place where the alter originated from only that it was done remotely. Sighing at the dead end he accessed the open door option and stood up just as Cindy came from around the corner. She had a 10mm pistol, two boxes of ammunition for it and a stimpack in her possession. "Do you know how to use that?" he asked her about the pistol.

"Aim and pull the trigger?" Jackson facepalmed at this, "Alright my mom was military but didn't teach me to shoot, happy?"

"My Dad taught me, so I'll teach you," Jackson replied, "But first we leave this place." Heading out the door and turning left they were surprised to find significantly more roaches than before. "Or this could work," Jackson said bringing up his pistol, "Hold your gun up like so and pick a target," he said to Cindy who began copying his moves, "Now line up the front sight in between the back one, not too high and not too low," she nodded and did what he asked, "Next, finger on the trigger and when you fire you squeeze the trigger when you exhale. You'll increase your accuracy that way," Jackson continued, "Whenever you're ready." Right after he finished he heard a gunshot and a startled yelp beside him and he fired right after and both bullets hit both targets, Cindy's on the right side of the hallway wall and Jackson's on the floor that was moving around. After both shots were fired however the remaining four roaches quickly swarmed them but were cut down after Jackson fire two more bullets and Cindy an additional seven due to slight panic. As soon as the roaches were dispatched they headed down the hallway, down a right curve through a door, down the hallway to the right, and approached a second door that had a roach feasting on the bones of what was once a scientist if the two lab coats and Pipboys were anything to go by. Jackson dispatched the roach and before he could stop her Cindy rushed into the room eager to leave the Vault.

However a second roach appeared from the floor grate in front of her causing her to fall onto her ass. Fortunately this gave Jackson a clear shot at it and hit it for an instant kill. Cindy got up and uttered a muffled 'Thanks' and they approached the closest skeleton. Jackson picked up the Pipboy on its arm and handed it to Cindy before heading over to the one near the door controls and taking that one. Booting it up he was amazed to see it still worked after all this time. After taking out the part needed to open the vault door and plugging it in he hit the button after removing it causing warning lights to activate and the synthetic voice to say, "Vault door cycling sequence initiated. Please stand back," as the mechanism in front of him approached the door and opened it up with a loud noise. Once open and the ramp had extended he and Cindy headed back to the same lift that brought them down to begin with. The two of them stepped onto the platform and Jackson spoke up to Cindy just before the door shut and they went up. "Well, this is it."


When the top of the elevator opened up both teens shielded their eyes from the sun after the first time seeing it in god knows how long. After the platform stopped their eyes had adjusted to the light enough to take in the view and both of them let out a shocked sigh at the same time. Everything was different now, all the trees that were once green and full of life were now stripped of their leaves and almost all vegetation seemed to be about the same. The houses that once been their home neighborhood had significant damage to them. Jackson almost didn't register that Cindy was getting closer to the cliff's edge until she was in his view. He stepped up to her and spoke. "Hey," he said getting her attention, "You alright?"

"No," she said in a quiet voice, "I'm not. Though I'm surprised you are."

"Truth is," he said getting her attention, "I'm not. I haven't been alright since I woke up the first time when I saw my parents murdered in front of me. I guess I'm just better at hiding it because..."

"Because what?"

Jackson sighed before continuing, "Because Shaun still needs me," he answered, "truth is about ten years ago someone accessed this Vault remotely and kidnapped him. My parents tried to fight them off and were killed in the process," Cindy looked at him in surprise, "Shaun was the entire reason they were down there. My parents and I were considered 'backups' by one of them," noting that the male down there specified the word a when he looked at him.

"Backups?" Cindy parroted, "Backups for what?"

"I don't know," Jackson said, "But whatever it is Shaun's been at their mercy for ten years. When I find those assholes they're about to see what a 'backup' can do," he finished gripping his pistol tightly.

To his surprise he felt Cindy's body against his as she pulled him into a hug. After a few seconds she released him and spoke up, "If you ever need to talk or vent I can help."

Jackson looked at her surprised before talking, "I'll... consider it," this was out of character for her, but there were more pressing matters to attend to, "We should get back to Sanctuary Hills." Cindy nodded and the two of them took off back down the hill they came up to get to the Vault. A little over thirty seconds later, at running speed, they made it back to Sanctuary Hills and fully took in the destruction. Specifically Cindy's house that had been completely destroyed by the shockwave. Cindy brought her hands up to her mouth in shock as Jackson wrapped an arm around her to comfort her.

Hearing a noise from their left, however made them separate and draw their weapons. They approached the area that they thought the sound had originated from, which happened to be Jackson's house, and slowly made their way to the front door. Once there though something moving to their right surprised both of them enough to yelp but not fire their weapons, which was fortunate for the object in question. It was Codsworth who was just coming around the corner of the house from the driveway. When he saw he had guests and the identity of one of those guests he spoke up, "As I live and breathe..." he said speaking to Jackson, "Oh, it's... it's really you!"

"Codsworth! What happened... to the world?" Jackson asked him.

"The world, sir?" Codsworth responded, "Well besides our geraniums still being the envy of Sanctuary Hills, I'm afraid things have been dreadfully dull around here. Things will be so much more exciting with you and your parents back!" he continued, "Where are your parents, by the by?"

Jackson came to a realization that the intruders most likely came through Sanctuary Hills in order to get to the Vault, "They came into the Vault... Maybe you saw them? Armed... wearing strange outfits?"

"Hmm," Codsworth said deep in thought, "Only Ms. Rosa's boy, running around in his Halloween costume, more than a week early. I swear, the nerve of that woman leaving her brat unsupervised," Jackson looked at Cindy to confirm that indeed she was hearing the same thing before looking back at Codsworth, "Ha ha. Not like this family, sir. Your parents have always been such a... responsible couple. Where are they, by the by?" he asked again.

"They... they're dead Codsworth," Jackson responded with tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Sir..." Codsworth replied, "These things you're saying. These... these terrible things... I... I believe you need a distraction. Yes! A distraction, to calm the dire mood. It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers. Or perhaps charades. Shaun does so love that game. Ha ha ha ha. Is the lad, uh, with you?"

"Codsworth... listen to me carefully..." Jackson started thinking something was wrong with him, "Have you seen him? Have you seen Shaun?"

"Why, the... the missus had him last, remember? Ooh, perhaps she's gone to the Parker residence to arrange a playdate? I'm sure she'll be back with him momentarily."

Getting slightly frustrated Jackson spoke again, "No! God damn it Codsworth, someone kidnapped Shaun! And I'm going to find him with or without your help, so help me. I'm getting by baby brother back."

"It's worse than I thought. Hmm hmm. You're suffering from hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for two hundred years will do that, I'm afraid," Codsworth said like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Two hundred years?" Cindy finally spoke up trying to wrap her head around it, "What? Are you...?"

"Uh, a bit over two hundred and ten actually, ma'am," Codsworth replied to Cindy, "Or give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to the ol' chronometer. That means you're, uh, two centuries late for dinner! Ha ha ha ha ha. Perhaps I can whip you two up a snack? You must be famished," he finished not noticing the concerned look on their faces.

"Codsworth, you're acting... a little bit weird. What's wrong?" Jackson asked.

"I... I..." the robot started to say before his pent up emotions, so to speak, came bubbling up to the surface, "Oh sir, it's been just horrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve," Codsworth then began moving to their left and right back and forth as he continued, "I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets out nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. Nothing! And don't get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car! The car! How do you polish rust?"

Jackson managed to grab Codsworth as he passed by making Codsworth look at him with his three eyes. "Whoa, whoa. Focus Codsworth."

After taking a proverbial breath of air Codsworth continued, "I... I'm afraid I don't know anything, sir. The bombs came, and all of you left in such a hurry. I thought for certain you and your family were... dead."

"Thank you Codsworth," Jackson replied. After the robot sniffed and said a quick you're welcome he continued on, "The two of us are here and alive that's something right?"

"You're right," Codsworth said, "Now. Enough feeling sorry for myself. Shall we search the neighborhood together? The young master Shaun may turn up."

Jackson realized it was probably a long shot, but perhaps those who did may have left a clue behind somewhere, "All right. Lead the way."

"Proud to serve, sir," Codsworth replied before floating off to Jackson and Cindy's right. Approaching one of the neighbors houses Codsworth spoke up, "I'm detecting something-" before he was cut off by a projectile launched at him that he dodged. Jackson raised his pistol up and killed the giant fly that appeared from the doorway before two more came flying at him from a window from the same house. After killing one of them and Cindy killing one as well, Codsworth spoke up again, "Nothing here but a few flies," before pointing his head in another direction, "Wait... my sensors are picking up movement from another house. Follow me!" as he floated out of the house and towards a blue house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Again another fly launched a projectile at Jackson this time who dodged to his right just in time before Codsworth entered the house and he took up a position right outside the door. Turning he raised his gun and shot at two flies that appeared from the hallway as Codsworth killed the one that tried to attack Jackson. After killing the insects Codsworth turned his attention to the two humans and spoke, "Your family isn't here either. They're... they're really gone, aren't they?"

Jackson couldn't place the blame with him, it was in no way his fault but he still felt bad for Codsworth, "Thanks for trying, Codsworth."

"You can't give up, sir. What about the city?" Codsworth asked him, "Concord is nearby, and, well, the people there have only shot at me a few times..."

"There's still people alive in Concord?" Cindy asked him.

"Yes, although they're a bit rough. You remember the way? Just across the southern footbridge out of the neighborhood and past the Red Rocket station," Jackson nodded in confirmation that yes he did remember the way. Codsworth continued, "I shall remain here, and secure the Homefront."

Jackson turned to Cindy and spoke, "I want you to stay here with Codsworth."

"What?" she replied, "But I can help you in Concord!"

"I know," Jackson responded, "But regardless we need someone here making sure we are able to live to see tomorrow. That means food, water, medical supplies, hell, even some beds to sleep on. I need you here making sure that we can survive this as long as possible. That's far more important than helping me in Concord."

Cindy sighed and relented at his logic, "Fine, but if you die then so help me-"

Codsworth chose this moment to speak up, "Well, it looks like you and Miss Cofran are already married what with the way you keep acting towards each other."

Jackson and Cindy both had blushes on their faces at that as Jackson yelled out, "CODSWORTH!"

"Ha ha ha ha," Codsworth chuckled to himself, "Almost like he never left."


For the record Cindy's house is the demolished blue house that you see when entering Sanctuary for the first time after you escape the Vault.

In case anyone is wondering here are Cindy's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats and Jackson's if you've forgotten

Cindy/S.P.E.C.I.A.L./Jackson

5/S/6

4/P/4(without glasses, 6 with)

4/E/3

9/C/6

3/I/8

5/A/4

5/L/4

And lest I forget, the part everyone comes to see, the Zoid

(V)_(;,;)_(V)