Chapter 3
Location: Vault 24
23 Minutes after party
"So, everyone got what they wanted?" I asked, looking at my group of assembled friends. Everyone except John had arrived by now with their possessions and some with things from their jobs. Roy had brought with his combat shotgun and 4 drums of 12 shotgun shells. Nat, Alex, and Dusk had brought their scientific discoveries and records. Nat and Alex also brought some medical supplies and Nat's German Shepard, Boxer. In addition, Dusk brought some books and holotapes she thought would be useful, and Alice brought with 4 spare pip-boys, as well as a large repair/maintenance kit for them.
"Yeah but, where's John and Lucy?" Chris asked.
Before anyone could say anything, John burst through the doors, pushing a cart full of his own possessions and the armory loot. Before anyone could ask why he had all of this, John said "I figured that since we might be in for a fight, we might as well bring the big guns."
While I and Alice knew that he was slightly lying and hiding the full truth, everyone else either seemed to agree or were still too shocked to argue.
"Alright everyone, we'll wait for Lucy, then figure out what to do from here." I said, with everyone nodding or grunting in agreement. As we waited for Lucy, I decided to check my special projects. While the Mister Gutsy still didn't have any weapons, it would still be useful as a scout, among other things. However, the helmet, which I decided to name the 'Combat Tactical Helmet', or CTM for short, was all finished, and I had the V.A.T.S system on the hard drive downloaded into my pip-boy before giving it to the rest to download as well. Meanwhile, I established a network link between my pip-boy and helmet. So basically, any seeable systems in the pip-boy, like V.A.T.S, it's map, inventory management, and body condition, would pop up on the bullet-proof glass.
I decided to start packing my things into one of the survivalist packs instead of the much smaller Vault backpacks or a bag. I packed a couple of spare Vault suits, my family pictures, my mini-terminal, which I've decided to start called a laptop for short, a couple of manuals and books, some parts and tools that I figured would be more rare and valuable, several fusion cores and batteries to keep objects powered, and couple of mini-solar generators.
I had just slung my crossbow and bag of bolts over my shoulder when Lucy entered the room, pale and full of fear. "Is everything ok Lucy?" Roy asked, concern in his voice.
"N-no it's not, th-the vault door, it's op-open." She said quietly. We looked at each other and John was about to say something, when Lucy talked again, slightly more calm "They let in a group of rough looking, dirty people from outside. I'm not too sure who they are, but I heard the Security Chief mumble something about slavers.".
We were speechless for a few seconds, until Chris said "Alright, we definitely have to get out of here. Now does anyone have any ideas as to where we could go?" John immediately suggested leaving now, but we decided against it. After all, we weren't nowhere near ready to leave the vault. Plus, there would likely be guards we'd have to deal with.
After a bit more thinking, I remembered somewhere. "Hey, what about the junk room? It isn't where people would live, and it's on the 10th level, which has already been swept through by security."
Everyone thought about it for a second, and then agread. After making sure the cameras were frozen, thanks to Alice, I activated the mister Gutsy, and we all went down the elevator. Luckily, we met no residents or security along the way, and we made it to the junk room in without being seen. After we settled in, while John and Chris barricaded the doors and Alice set up an area to observe the vault from the cameras, the rest of us settled down or started looking for anything useful in the junk.
It mostly was, as implied, junk, but Roy managed to find a nice machete and Dusk a box of matches, both of which would be useful.
4 Hours later
It was about 11:30 P.M when we heard the announcement on the Vault's broadcast system. Apparently all of us were wanted now, which would make things harder for us to leave the Vault, which we all agreed that it was the only option left.
We all huddled around as Chris and I told everyone the plan that we had come up with. From what Alice had found on the cameras and data she's been able to hack into, there's a small, hidden garage near the entrance with a couple of jeeps in it. What we would do is launch a series of raids on the armory,clinic, and cafeteria for supplies at midnight by using the vents. Either once that has finished, or no word has been received from one of the raiding parties by 1:00, then we head to the elevator to the top level, and get into the garage.
Nat, Alex, and Roy would be raiding the clinic, Dusk and Lucy the cafeteria, and me, Chris, and John would go for the armory. Alice would be staying behind to watch the cameras and cause distractions if need be. Each group would have a weapon just in case, with the armory group being the most well armed with the combat rifle, a 10mm pistol, and my crossbow. After we gave each person a walkie-talkie and the right frequencies to use, we set off to cause some chaos.
