The lights flashed on as a hissing sound whirred through James's ears. The door in front flew open as if begging to be released causing a sudden wave of decompression of the room he was in. James look around, scratch that, he was in a tube of some kind. James willed a hand to move, but found that it didn't move the way he wanted to. Taking a step forward, James could only lean and then found that he could not control the lean and then promptly fell on his face.
"Ow." He moaned as he balled his fists and placed his knuckles against the cold, tile floor. He pushed himself up and threw an arm against the side of the tube, reaching for a handle. A gloved hand forced its way through the haziness and the fog and into James's face. He looked at it for a long, hard moment and took it.
Whoever the hand belonged to clearly belonged to a friend as it pulled James to his feet and helped him stand.
"You're James?" the man asked, at least the voice belonged to a man. James knew that much. The man wore a sophisticated gas mask, types that you only see Out West. Really far west. James nodded haphazardly, in the distance lights flashed and searched rooms and corners. Voices called out to one another and shouted. "Come on, we're getting you out of here." The man threw James's left arm over his shoulders and helped James limp away from the tube.
"Who are you?" James mumbled. The man clearly didn't understand him, as the man looked at James for a few seconds before looking forward and continued helping James out of the long dark hallway. After what seemed like hours, the man led James out of the long hallway and into the open night. A chopping noise infected the night and a harsh wind cut through James's hazy world.
"Sorry it had to be this way!" The man shouted through the chopping wind as James attempted to squint through his blurry vision for a sense of clarity. "It just took so long to find you!" The man then lifted James into some kind of vehicle where another person dressed similarly lifted him into the seat.
"Is that everybody?" A voice from inside the vehicle shouted. James turned to the man standing outside. He waved his arms at someone James couldn't see.
"No! Albert's still in there!" the man shouted. Suddenly, blue rays of light flashed and blasted its way into the night air. The man ducked before returning fire with his own set of neon green lights. James instinctively reached for his sidearm only to discover that it was nowhere to be found. He looked up at the source of the voice on his right.
"We need to get out of here! I'm taking too much damage!" the voice shouted.
"Dammit!" The voice on the ground said. He jumped into the vehicle and James reached to help him. "Go, now! Go, go, go!" he shouted as if the more gos he said, the faster the vehicle would move. James felt the vehicle move as he looked out of the bay door. The vehicle had flown a good thirty seconds when suddenly a brilliant blue explosion lit the night and made it seem as though day had arrived before suddenly shifting back to darkness again.
"Shit! We're too close." The voice on the right shouted. "We're going down!"
The chopping noise that once graced the silent night sky, suddenly shifted to a whirring screech as James's stomach lurched. They were feeling, he soon realized. The bay door flew open and the man who guided James to safety flew out of it. James threw his arm out of the door and felt the tips of fingers only miss the man as he fell to his doom. As the vehicle fell and spun to the ground. James quickly got a glimpse of the night sky. Time seemed to freeze as the stars shone brightly above. Then he crashed.
James opened his eyes to hanging upside down within the dead vehicle. A fire was lit not too far from his face. Sparks shot up into the air from shattered circuit boards. The sun was rising. James could tell as the black night shifted into orange-pink day. James looked up and found his legs were trapped by the minigun. He shifted his hands and tried to pry it off his legs.
"Well look what we got here." A voice said gruffly and whistled from outside. James looked up and found a large group of raiders approaching the vertibird. James looked around for a weapon but could only find a pistol. He reached for it but it was on the floor.
"Must've come from the Institute." Another voice said. "So much for the boogeyman of the Commonwealth. Huh?"
James reached further, his arm straining. His fingertips just touched the handle of the gun.
"Hey, man, you been living under a rock or something? Don't you know that the Brotherhood took control o' the Institute a while back?"
"What? When'd that happen?"
"Like two years ago?"
"No it's been longer… I think?"
"Whatever, let's loot the bird and get out of here." James looked at the raiders. His fingers wrapped around the gun. James lifted it when a rain of plasma fire destroyed the bridge. James sighed and let his gun arm relax. Another light shone into the vehicle bay. A familiar voice called out to James.
"Hey there, boss." The voice said. James squinted in the light as he raised his arm to try to block the unwavering light. "Guess you got yourself in quite a jam huh? Let's get you out of there. You've been sleeping long enough anyways." The man turned off the light and waved someone over before helping James out of the vertibird.
"How long have I been out?" James grumbled as he stepped into the light and out of the vertibird. As he stepped out the sun rose over the horizon. James watched as the bright sun slowly hovered over the Commonwealth, revealing the sights and landscape as far as the eye can see. James almost let himself smile as he enjoyed the sights of the Commonwealth. He looked back at the man next to him. "How long?"
The man sighed and shifted in place before taking off his mask. "Three years." Nate said sternly.