San Antonio was once a gleaming example of Southern Americana, a vibrant downtown life that stretched from the early morning and to the dead of night. The streets were alive with life as people went about their lives, working in one of the tall office buildings that dotted the sky, or exploring the river that cut nearly directly through the city center, marking where the tourist and resident areas began or ended. The area surrounding the city was lively for another reason, Sprawling military bases conducted a large portion of the American nation's armed forces, primarily focusing on aviation and army practices. This military presence also made the city a target, once the situation surrounding the raging war began to deteriorate, frequent civil unrest and military action began taking place, disrupting the once idyllic city life and turning it into a tense stalemate between Military forces and Civilians.

Upon the grand climax great shelters of steel and lead once built as a precaution when the war began to spiral out of control roared open and began accepting those who reserved their places within for their families. The national organization who manufactured these shelters, Vault-Tec promised that those inside would be sheltered and allowed to live their lives as if nothing had occurred. They lied, many of these shelters, these vaults housed cruel social and biological experiments that led to the deaths of many or all of their residents. Some, however would be spared from this fate, either by the hands of an overseer defying the orders of the corporation or from the luck of obtaining one of the few control vaults their populations survived and thrived for many years as the land above was washed away in nuclear fire.

One of these vaults, Vault 43 would soon open to the world as their population experiences for the first time, a mutiny among a few of their residents that would lead to the cataclysm of events that may shape the future of this once great city and determine how the lives of those still living there may end, or continue.

Blake opened his eyes as the shrill tone of his alarm clock pierced his sleep. He groaned and slammed his hand on the off button. It was 8:30, he had to report to his maintenance bay along with the two other maintenance workers of the vault to get his daily assignments within the next hour. He still remembered the angry message he had received yesterday when he did not report to his station until 9:45, 'Drury, if you are late one more time it will be more than food credits and recreation hours that will be docked from your dossier.' He knew what that meant. The overseer would mark his dossier for salvage duty in the decommissioned areas of the vault for a month straight. The Vault had been experiencing extreme failures in multiple sectors leading to much of the accessory corridors and rooms being abandoned and left to rot until the maintenance staff either fixed what was wrong, or the area had been stripped for necessary components when it would have been useless to try and restore functionality to the sector.

Blake rolled out of bed and stood before stretching, he checked the time before he went about his morning routine, he showered, making sure his hair and other important areas were clean before stepping out of the shower and over to the mirror. Running a comb through his hair he checked the length. His brown hair was streaked with blue that he had originally colored artificially with a powder he found and mixed with water while exploring one of the abandoned sectors. Later he found that his home made dye had one side effect, whatever it was had permanently stained some of his hair follicles the same blue color. While he was okay with it he remembered his parents grounding him to only school and his room for a month for going into the 'Dangerous' areas of the vault and putting mystery powders on his head.

Fifteen minutes later Blake was dressed in a fresh vault suit bearing the vault's number and sporting an added tool belt containing every vital tool a vault maintenance worker required, along with a few extra holders for any extra equipment, and the final piece of his outfit, the Pip-boy bestowed on every vault resident above the age of 18. Once he was satisfied he had what he needed and his grooming was up to snuff he left his room, jogging down the corridors and towards the maintenance bays, passing by familiar faces as he went exchanging greetings over his shoulder or stopping to chat for a minute as he waited for a door to open. Either Blake, or his two other coworkers would have to go around and check each common area door to ensure they are in top working order to avoid delayed openings like the ones he was experiencing.

After 10 minutes and a flight of stairs Blake entered the maintenance bay with five minutes to spare before his shift had officially begun. He was of course the last one to show, his coworkers Mike and Valerie already waiting at their workstations. Valerie was reading through a worn copy of 'Handymans almanac: Electrician Edition' and Mike was finishing a game of solitaire. Blake sat at his workstation, and was greeted by one of Valerie's sharp quips

"You're a minute earlier than yesterday Drury!"

She spoke as she turned the page of her magazine, Blake rolled his eyes

"I want to shower tomorrow, Val, had to show up on time."

Mike chuckled as he put away his cards

"Overseer Barstowe is just making empty threats Blake. He wants us all working at our best, but he doesn't have the right mindset to ask nicely. "

"Right, and what he did to make sure the cafeteria staff actually cooked the food right was just an 'Empty Threat' "

Blake spoke sarcastically as he turned to his workstation, just as his terminal lit up with a new message. The automated system that divided up their jobs already dropped the daily workload in their inboxes.

"Looks like I have electrical work today."

Valerie said as the sound of her mini-printer beginning to print out her job list,

"Mechanical malfunctions and pipe breaks."

Mike chirped as he pulled his printed out jobset from his printer

"What about you Drury?"

Valerie asked before stepping up behind Blake and leaning down to read his screen.

Blake stared at the three lines of text on his screen and printed on the small piece of paper to his right.

'Evaluate integrity of Sector 5-9'

'Air Contaminate Detected'

'See security chief Reitger before commencement of job'

"Looks like Blake got salvage duty today, and it has a special instruction."

Valerie sighed and pat Blake on the shoulder

"Good luck, and come back in one piece."

"If they give you a gun remember the Basics, don't shoot unless absolutely necessary."

Mike picked up his toolbelt and put it on before leaving the maintenance bay.

"Chief Reitger is nice Blake, don't let his rank intimidate you. I should know, he and I have met a couple times before."

Valerie chuckled and left the room as well, leaving Blake alone.

He hated evaluation details, the sectors were always creepy, dusty and full of weird sounds. With a sigh Blake ripped the paper from its printer and left the bay as well. Making his way through the halls of the vault and into the security office, disturbing a group of guards off duty playing a card game similar to poker. The sound of the door opening caused the guards to flinch and one to drop their cards revealing a hand that made the other guards groan and throw down their own hands.

"What do you want, Grease Monkey?"

One of the guards demanded as he gathered the cards and began shuffling them

"I need to see Chief Reitger."

Blake stuttered as he watched the guard

The guard shuffling the cards bridged the deck before pointing at a door marked 'Chief' and dealing out a new hand to the other four guards. Blake went to the door and raised his hand to knock, but it opened before his knuckles touched metal. Security Chief Reitger was an older man, his hair was white and remained only on the sides of his head, he had a well kept white beard that framed his mouth and contrasted with his sharp blue eyes. Standing beside the desk was a security guard wearing the standard vault armor.

"Mr. Drury, come in."

The chief spoke in a strong, commanding voice as he waved a hand. Blake did as told, the door closed behind him.

"We understand you were given a salvage job for the sector with air contamination."

Reitger said as he motioned to a chair in front of the desk, as if it was placed there just for Blake.

"Evaluation, but yes, I was."

Blake sat down as the Chief waved a dismissive hand,

"Those jobs always end in salvage Mr. Drury. I am going to require you to have a guard with you as you go through the job. We have reason to believe that the air contamination there is caused by something that had broken into the area after it was abandoned."

Reitger motioned to the guard standing by the desk,

"That will be T.C Anderson."

The guard nodded when he was referred to,

"Its my pleasure to accompany you."

He said in a practiced tone of voice

"He'll make sure you get the proper equipment, now go get your work done."

The Chief dismissed both Blake and Anderson who waited for Blake to stand. He then left the room and Blake hurried to catch up with the guard who led him to the vault armory. Using a security key Anderson opened the armory and entered with Blake closely behind.

"You're not authorized to carry a gun, but you can have this."

Anderson handed Blake a telescoping baton and a gasmask with a large plastic faceplate that allowed full visibility

"With the air contaminants that panoramic mask is golden. Keep it on until I say otherwise, just consider me your light in the dark today."

Anderson picked up a 10mm pistol with extra magazines as well as his own gasmask before motioning to the door.

"I will meet you at the sector entrance. There are some things I need to take care of, do not go in until I get there."

Blake nodded and left the armory, he clipped the mask and baton to his toolbelt and left the security office. Anderson left after him and took the hallway opposite of the way Blake went, towards the residential suites. Walking down the halls Blake thought about the coming job, normally the evaluation jobs don't require and armed escort. The fact that he was getting one at this point scared him enough that he thought about trying to get Valerie or Mark to take it instead of him. He knew it would get him in trouble, swapping jobs and similar actions were against regulations for maintenance workers.

Resigning to the fact he may see something he didn't want to see, Blake quickened his pace and arrived at the sealed door to the sector he was to evaluate. As he waited for his escort he fiddled with his Pip-boy, using the inventory feature to catalog his items. A screwdriver, wrench, hammer, and other tools along with his baton and gasmask. Everything was where he needed it and then some. While he continued to fiddle with the menus and maps on his device he heard footsteps. Looking up he found Anderson marching towards him, his gasmask on and secured.

"Put on your mask, Grease Monkey."

The guard ordered before lightly shoving Blake to the side and beginning to unseal the door. Blake did as told, pulling the mask off his belt and placing it over his face. He could feel his hair being pressed against his scalp and being caught in the straps as he pulled them tight to seal the masks respirator over his nose and mouth.

"Ready? Alright, let's get going."

Anderson finished unsealing the door and opened it, the stale air of the sector flooded out and around the duo's feet as they entered and sealed the door behind them.

Blake studied the room they were in as Anderson turned his Pip-boys light on, it was once a recreational area. The arcade cabinets Blake recognised from his childhood stood dormant in their corners while the couches, tables and chairs dotted around the room stood empty, and covered in multiple layers of dust.

Blake flicked his Pip-boys light on as he checked his map, the markers of the rooms, panels and wiring boxes he was to check were marked in the local map among four rooms in the sector. One of which was in the room that he was currently standing in.

"Let's make this quick Drury, this place gives me the creeps."

"It's amazing how much dust can gather so quickly, I think this area shut down last year."

Blake commented as he walked across the room, he rubbed a hand across the cushion of a chair pulling it away to find his palm almost completely gray. He wiped his hand off on his vault suit and approached the wiring box that stood between two arcade cabinets. He produced a masterkey from his toolbelt and used it to unlock the panel, he found wires chewed up by some sort of bug. He sighed and made a note in his Pip-boy before closing and locking the panel before continuing to the next room.

He continued this procedure for three more rooms, finding chewed up wires or panels of fuses almost completely wrecked by animal activity. He stood outside the last room making his notes and organizing them on his Pip-boy. He reached for the manual door release but Anderson suddenly grabbed his wrist. The guard held a finger up and over his mask's breathing apparatus, silencing Blakes speech and pointing at the door.

Listening to the silence Blake could hear what sounded like a faint scratching movement on the other side. There was something alive in the next room. Anderson motioned for Blake to stand to the side and drew his pistol, pointing it at the door. Blakes hand hovered over the door release, while his other one held the baton. Anderson took a shuddering breath and nodded, Blake threw the switch to the manual door release.