He felt hands firmly on his bare shoulders, shaking him to a stir. His eyes closed tighter to fight them off. Damn it dad leave me alone.

"Wake up!" He heard someone else screech at him. His eyes opened quicker than he would normally waking up. He saw Amata above him, her face was puffy red with tear streaks as well.

"Amata? What are you-"

"Your dad left the vault!" She shouted once more. "And my dad has all of his men after you."

Poet could hardly even mutter a response. His eyes wondered hastily before settling to the ground. The sounds of the vault emergency siren was going off in the background.

"You didn't know, did you?" Amata had shed her scared demeanor, her eyes still teary yet they didn't cry anymore. Poet shook his head. Amata sighed, looking around awkwardly before pulling a pistol out, making Poet jump.

"The fuck Amata!?"

"I stole this from dad's armory!" she quickly said. "They killed Jonas and... And I think they might kill you too."

Poets eyes widened. "Jonas is dead?" He shook his head again in disbelief.

Poets brown eyes looked up at Amata. "Why is he doing this?" There were sounds of screaming outside of Poets apartment room,

She stepped away from his bed and looked through the door way. She couldn't see whatever she was looking for in the window, turning back to Poet, who looked like a lost puppy.

"I... I think he's scared. I don't know why, I've never seen him act this way before." She placed the ten millimeter pistol on Poets desk, and walked back to his doorway. She looked back at Poet, who stared the pistol down with fear. "I have to go to my dad. Maybe I can talk some sense into him. But if I can't... My dad's got a secret tunnel under his office. I'll meet you at the vault if I can't reason with him."

She turned back and went out of the room, leaving Poet alone with his thoughts.

There was the most expected of thoughts, such as what the fuck do I do? And what was he thinking?

Frozen on his bed, his mind began to flood with thoughts, actually scared for once in his life.

Sure, he had been scared before; kids are easily frightened of stories and teenagers more so of getting caught or mocked for something embarrassing. But his dad left him alone and now the overseer wants to in act punishment. On him. He shook his head before becoming frantic.

He shifted suddenly, his thoughts of fear and his anxiety fading.

What if I go to him, and prove him I had nothing to do with any of this? Surely, he thought, surely he'll have to listen. He's a stickler for rules but he's not some egomaniac!

He stood up and finally got dressed in his vault jumpsuit, pulling his long auburn hair above the fabric before zipping it up. His shoes were in the corner. The memory came to him, of kicking his shoes off in a desperate urge to get them off. He began putting them back on, when he heard some one screaming in the hallway by his door.

One shoe barely on, he stepped near his bedroom doorway, looking at the window. He couldn't see anything, he just heard a man screaming "get them off me!" More desperate each time he had to repeat himself.

But his words became nothing but screams at the end, becoming grating sounds before it finally stopped.

Poet put his other shoe on, and looked up at the gun on his desk. A sigh escaped as he grabbed the gun up and put it in his suit.

He stepped outside of his room, and looked down the end of his hall, seeing what made scurrying noises;

these big bugs, radroaches as they've been called for the most part, giant cockroaches that grew within the many years that they crawled the irradiated earth.

And now they crawled along officer Kendalls body, his eye being chewed through as his mouth was filled with a smaller radroach till it went inside.

Poet recoiled at the sight of them, dashing through the bathrooms instead.

What did you do, Dad...

As soon as he went through the men's restroom area, he heard Butch yelling too. The thought of his bully being eaten by those things made him wince.

Poet didn't like Butch but he didn't want him dead. Poet pulled his pistol out and made his way towards his home. They lived near each other, a fact that bothered him when he was a kid but got use to eventually.

When Poet reached the front of Butch's place, he found him crying, looking back at his home before back at the hall and catching Poet. His face was filled with fear but was gradually giving off some relief. "Hey! You gotta help me man!" He cried. "My mom's trapped in there, I can't do anything!"

"What? How?" Poet asked.

Butch shook his head, the gang leader had tears forming in his scared eyes. "Those roaches are in there! My mom's trapped in with them, please!" Poet rolled his eyes and let out a slighted breath before pulling his pistol out.

"Alright, I'll go help your mom. Wait here." Through teary eyes, Butch watched him walk in his home, and waited for him to come out. His body shook when he heard gunfire, several times.

When it stopped, Butch walked into his home and saw a few bullet holes in his wall. But he sighed the deepest sigh of relief when he saw his mom on the couch, shaken but guzzling another bottle.

Stepping out of her bedroom, Poet looked at Butch expected a thanks. He got tackled with a hug, knocking the air out of him. "Thank you thank you Thank you ma'aan! I'll never bully you again, man! I promise!" He let go of the boy he bullied for so long and gave him the jacket he'd always worn. "Here, your apart of the gang now!"

"Heh, Thanks Butch..." Poet held the jacket in his hands, staring down at the leather before looking back at Butch.

"By the way... I don't care if you and Paul are... I don't know, dating or whatever -"

Before Butch could continue, Poet yelled "Oh shit, Paul! Do you know where he lives? I gotta make sure he's alright!"

Butch nodded. "Yeah, man. He lives in the upper houses with his dad, like the last room at the far right. You'll see it when you get there."

Poet smiled and thanked him before darting off, Butches jacket flying on the boys shoulders. He faced through the halls, running past the lunch room where he ignored someone being crawled over by the radroaches.

He made his way near his dad's clinic, and saw officer Gomez and Stanley's octopus like robot, Andy, fight the roaches.

He joined, firing shots at some of the big bugs while flame roasted most of them. Gomez beated down on the rest before the bugs were finally dead.

Officer Gomez looked over at Poet, adorned in a leather jacket and holding a gun. He asked about the gun Poet held but he shook his head. "Forget it, I don't want to know. Just I'm glad I found you, the other guards won't let you go like me."

Poet placed the gun back in his suit. "I heard. I need to talk to the overseer, I didn't have anything to do with my dad abandoning the vault."

The security officer shook his head, his eyebrows raised with a look of regret. "It's not just that. The overseer's gone crazy. He thinks you two are trying to destroy the vault, said you'd turn the other boys away from their biological obligations. And Jonas... It's all wrong. Jonas didn't do anything to deserve what the others did to him, and you don't deserve to be chased down like an animal."

Poet looked away, a bitter breath left his mouth filled with clenched teeth, and he struggled to fight away his tears. "So... I really got to leave? There's nothing I can do?"

The officer only stared at him, not entirely sure what to say. Poet slowly shook his head. "That sucks."

He quickly moved past the security officer, and the mechanics Mr. Handy. "Wait, Kid!" Officer Gomez called out.

Poet turned back at the man, who stood up and walked to him. He handed the younger man a clip from his own gun. "I can get another once this is all over. If your going out there, you'll need it a lot more than me."

Poet froze for a moment, his eyes still on the officer. His cold and saddened face glowed when a grim smile formed on his lips. "You always were the best, Gomez. Thank you for being there." The man smiled back at him, only nodding before the two parted.

Poet made it to the upper living courters, making his way up the stairs to see the rooms, curtains covering their windows. Outside these apartments were Tommy and his sister, they hadn't really seen or noticed Poet who was walking towards them.

"I don't care what the overseer says!" Tommy told her. "We're getting out of here, just like the doc."

When he ran towards the doorway at the center of the left wall, his body danced as bloody chunks flew off him, his sister screamed as she watched holes being made in him before he fell down oozing crimson on the concrete floor. "Tommy!" She gasped as her eyes quickly filled with tears. She ran towards him as well, Poet tried to stop her but she suffered the same as well.

Jesus! He thought, looking at the bodies on the floor. Gomez wasn't kidding. It's really gone to absolute shit!

He looked at the other end, looking for Paul's room. When he saw the door at the end he quietly walked over to the door and knocked on its steel.

"Paul?" He said in a low tone. "Hey, it's me Poet." He didn't hear anything. Not even anyone moving around.

"I just... Wanted to make sure you're okay... If you're in there, stay in there. It's bad out here." He looked down at the bottom of the door, another brief and bitter breath leaving his mouth. "God I hope you are in there, even if it means you're ignoring me."

He stood there for a while longer, thinking some more. Maybe he thinks it's my fault. I wish he'd let me explain that...

He stepped away from the door, not letting the thought continue. There was hardly a point to it anyhow. He reached a doorway with a locker stuck in place, keeping the door open. He wondered briefly if the siblings did it before continuing on.

Up the stairs were more of those roaches, he was surprisingly good at shooting the gun even if it had a kick to it. It wasn't a strong kick but still different than a pellet rifle.

As he made his way closer to the overseers office, he saw the man himself staring down at him through his window. Poet stared back up at him, he felt their eyes meet and they were like daggers sparking as they met steel to steel. He continued on after staring too long.

He heard some man pound his window, yelling "This is your fault" but Poet walked past him.

The circuit room was lit up in red, and now standing at the other entry way was a tall dark figure clad in security armor, his dark skin glowing under the red light as well as his dark eyes shining from the bulb fading on and off.

"Mr. Hannon!" The boy blurted out. "Is Paul okay? I have to-"

The man flicked his wrist and in his hand a baton, the hard flick extending it to its full reach. Poets eyes met the end of it, then ran back to the man's face. "Please..."

"You think you can ruin my family's reputation that easily?" He hissed. "My boy was fine till you forced yourself on him!"

The man walked towards Poet, who quickly pointed his gun at the officer. "Please don't make me use this."

The officer only continued forward, raising his weapon. Poet fired the ten millimeter, but it missed and was hit out of his hand, pain surging his fingers.

He cursed as he backed away, trying to feel the area that got hit. But Officer Hannon didn't stop, hitting Poet across the face. "And now, you're shooting at an officer? You and your father are vermin!"

Poet was on the floor, he could feel his nose painfully pulsate as the man was coming down on him. The leather back of his jacket was being beat on, but He still felt every bit of it and cried out.

"You only want to destroy the lives in this vault!" Officer Hannon hollered while wailing on the young man. "Just like the overseer said!"

With each hit, the pain crossed several parts of his body.

It instilled the fact that everyone really did blame him. For everything.

He began to curl into himself, trying to protect himself as much as he could while the security officer beat down on him and yelled his thoughts.

"Dad! Stop!" Poet heard another person yell. He looked up at Paul, who was looking down at him. The look of concern was there, and Poet would hate to say it but it made him happy.

"Stay away, Son! Or I'll get you with this baton too!" Paul didn't listen, he tackled his dad into the ground and told him to stop again. His dad, however, kept trying.

Mr. Hannon struggled to get Paul off of him but when he did, the young was thrown to the side. When his dad got up, he looked down on his son. "I told you to step away."

Poet quickly schooched over to his gun and lifted it up just in time to aim it at the man, his baton raised for a hit. His finger pulled down on the trigger, it felt heavier on a person he noticed. When his gun went off, the bullet hit the officers hand and lodged itself into the handle of the baton.

As Paul's father whined about his pained hand, Paul made his way to Poet, who was bruised and bloody. "Sorry about.. Shooting your dad's hand." Poet awkwardly smirked. Paul shook his head. "It's okay. He was gonna beat the both of us."

"Yeah. Too late on me... But I wouldn't let him do you like me." He spat, bloody saliva hit the floor. "I think I gotta... I gotta get out of here."

Paul's eyes looked into his, frozen for a moment when his thoughts were suddenly barraged with this news. He shook his head. "No, Poe. Please -"

"It's not like I want to." He was looking over at the officer on the ground, who's eyes glinted with anger. "But I think this whole vaults gonna tear me to pieces just cuz they think it'll solve everything."

Paul shook his head sadly. Sighing before he responded. "Well, could I at least... Walk you to the vault door?" Poet looked at him, he slowly smiled and nodded, getting up with the help of Paul.

As they walked to the hallway across the room, Poet kicked the officer in the face. "Asshole." He exclaimed before walking on, leaving a groaning man on the ground.

They walked through the hallway, reaching halfway towards the overseers office till Poet stopped them, hearing Amata weeping.

"I told you! I don't know anything!" She sobbed. "Daddy please! Listen to me." He could hear the smack of metal on flesh.

"God damn it, thats enough!" Poet growled as he stormed into the office Amata was being held in, and saw officer Mac with his back facing the man they sought.

"There his is!" The overseer shouted, pointing his shakey finger. Before the officer could do anything else but turn around, Poet pistol whipped him, the barrel coming down hard on his head.

The guns gaze fell on the overseer next, who looked at the leather clad Poet being hugged by Amata, and behind him Paul.

"You better have a good reason I shouldn't shoot you," Poets voice was harsh and hissful. "You fucking psycho."

"You want a good reason?" He hissed back "Because I'm the overseer!" His head shook as his eyes glared at them. "I'm the only one stopping you and your father destroying this vault, it's residents!"

"I said a good reason, not your crazy shit." Poet shot back.

"Maybe... Maybe you don't mean to do it!" The old man suddenly said, this time less aggressive and more questioning. "Maybe you can't control yourself. You don't mean to spread whatever it is you have." It was short, however, as the wrathfull look set back in. "But I will not let it be set upon my vault. Your father knew what he was doing! I'll have to contain you, to keep them safe! Just..." Like flipping a switch, his gaze seemed less hateful. "Surrender. For all our sakes."

"Please don't kill him." Amata whispered. "He's still my dad, even if he's gone crazy."

"You want to contain me, huh?" Poet snickered. He told Paul to search the overseer, and grab what was in his pockets. The old man yelled but didn't fight back as Paul took what he had. A key and some paper with a password. "Now, I like your idea, Alph. I'm stealing it." He pointed his gun to the jail room, and back at the man. "Go in there. For our sake."

The man protested, but one motion towards shooting and the overseer walked backwards into the cell room, the door locked so he couldn't get out. "Maybe he'll cool off after awhile." Poet said under his breath.

After that, the three made it to the office. The door slid up, and lying on the floor was a bloodied Jonas. Poet felt his blood still, the hairs on his back raised as he stepped towards the body.

Jonas' eyes were still open, his glasses broken obviously from bludgeoning. His torso was shot through, some small bit of mercy maybe.

Poet slowly sat on his knees and pulled the broken glasses from Jonas.

"I'm sorry, Jonas." his voice let out shakely. He pulled his friends eyes down, and pulled him up for a hug. "If my dad wasn't so stupid..."

He heard something fall from Jonas' body, a clattering item of sort. He placed him back down gently and found a holotape beside him.

Poet picked it up, something was written on it.

For Poet

I'll listen to this soon. I promise. He stood up from Jonas and ran into the overseers office with the others.

the password was for the computer inside. On the monitor there were a few files, but they didn't have time to read them. When Poet pushed the emergency exit command, the office desk lifted up, and a slab of concrete slid back to reveal a set of stairs leading to the tunnels.

They went through them, reaching the entrance of the vault.

They hardly ever saw it much, Poet remembered at least one time he came down to look at it before being told by Stanley that he couldn't be there. Now he was standing at the button, plugging his pip-boy to the vaults door operator.

Within moments, the screams of age old metal scraping together attacked their ears, but the sight of the door opening caught their attention more. "I can't believe it." Amata whispered. "It's actually opening."

When it finally stopped, there was a light at the end, and the fear came back to Poet. What could be out there, after so many years after the bombs dropped?

The thought was interrupted by his friends, who couldn't notice the hesitation building up in him.

"I guess... This is goodbye." Amata began shakily. "I can't believe that I won't see you again. Hopefully, my dad will calm down when you're gone." She couldn't help but cry, and she threw her arms around him when she did. It took Poet everything not to cry with her. "I'm gonna miss you Amata. You better be here when I come back for my stuff, maybe afterwords you can visit my new place."

They chuckled, Amata following it with a few sniffles.

She let go of him, and Paul stepped forward. "Poe... I'm gonna miss you too." The two locked eyes, something was supposed to happen, Poet thought. He didn't know what though. "After everything we been through, hiding from my gang, meeting in the storage room just to get away from everyone... I can't believe we finally danced in front of them."

"Me neither." Poet chuckled. Paul joined briefly.

Then they heard the door behind them start rattling. "He's getting away!" They heard. "We gotta stop him!" Paul looked at Poet, the two stuck for a moment. It was sudden but Pauls lips flung themselves upon Poets, and the two finally kissed.

It was Poets first, at least. He'd never really get to know if it was the same for Paul, but he didn't care right now. He only knew that this was the closest he'd get to Paul, a bitter slice of the life they could of had together. If only they were in a different life.

The door behind them opened, and Paul told Poet to run. He ran down the narrowed path to the light ahead, hearing the door scrape shut once more.