Chapter 2: I'm a Marston
"Jace, are you willing to plunge our home out of the darkness, and save your loved ones?" I looked to my side and I saw Rachel staring at me, her mouth open, her head shaking slightly. I raised my head.
"I'll… do it." I said with no emotion.
The crowd gasped and was followed by talking. The Overseer raised his hand to quiet the crowd.
"Very well. Meet me in my office to discuss your objective." I turned around and walked out of the crowd that continued to stare at me. I walked into the Overseer's office and saw him sitting in his desk.
"It's a brave thing you're doing." He said to me.
"Yeah."
"It's time to talk about what you're doing exactly. Samples of the air outside by our scientists show that it still is safe to breathe, so you are to go out and find food, supplies and water to bring to us. We will give you the finest equipment we have to do it."
"Alright."
"Follow me to the armory so we can get you suited up." I followed him into a room with armored doors. The Overseer opened it with a keycard. The doors slid open and revealed a wall filled with equipment. The Overseer took weapons and equipment from the wall and put it into a black, single strap pack and handed it to me.
"Keep this pack on you at all times, it's important. It's got medicine for you, and extra ammo for this pistol." The Overseer handed me a holster for the gun and put the pistol in the bag. I put the holster on and put the bag on.
"Meet me at the vault doors when you are ready." I walked out of the armory and through a hallway. I fell against it, with my armor and weapons slumped against me. I was scared, I was sad. I cried and thought about what was happening. And when the last tear drop fell off my nervous face, my brain snapped, and I figured out something that I would learn to hate and love at the same time. I was alone. And my first order of business was blaming others.
I left my home and walked down the hall to the vault doors. There, I saw The Overseer, waiting for me. The Overseer opened the blast door. I pulled him over to talk in his office.
"Yes, Jace? Ready to leave already?" The Overseer asked.
"Why did you lie to me?" I asked.
"Lie to you about what?"
"Why are you trying to have me killed?" I demanded an answer.
"Well, I gave you a gun."
"You're not telling me anything about what I'm doing!" I shouted.
"You're better off not knowing the truth, Jace. There are just some things in here that you can't or won't understand." The Overseer postulated.
We looked at each other. I looked into that liar's eyes and felt like I knew everything there was to know about him.
"Who was really the candidate for this?" I asked him. He seemed to have been caught off guard for the question. He sat in silence.
"It was Rachel, wasn't it?"
No response.
I shook my head and exhaled in anger. "You… coward." "No." He retorted quietly. "You couldn't throw away your own flesh and blood out there, but you could throw me out, no problem?!" I yelled. "No!" He said loudly back. "She's stronger and smarter than I'll ever be and you're too afraid to let her go and do what's right!"
"You leave Amata out of this!" He yelled at me in blind rage.
I looked at him with my eyebrow up. He stared into my eyes, he knew his mistake.
"Who the hell's Amata?" I asked him.
There was more silence as The Overseer sat down in his chair. The rumble of machinery in the door behind us rattled as it slid open. Rachel walked through the door.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Nothing." I said dryly.
Rachel pulled me aside and held me by my shoulders. She looked into my eyes, hers were as red as mine. She had been crying, too.
"Why?" She asked.
"Why what?"
"Why are you going out there and throwing your life away?"
"Rachel..."
"Answer me." She seemed angry.
"Do you know why I did what I did to Chip? He was going to hurt you, maybe worse, and now everyone, including you, are in danger. What choice do I have? You know me more than anyone else, how can you even ask that question? I have to." My voice was stern, but she understood.
"'Have to'? Or 'Want to'?"
"The only thing I want is for you to be safe, for my dad to be safe, because our moms weren't. Now they're gone and I don't want that to happen again." I walked away from Rachel and went inside my home. My father was sitting there, waiting for me.
"We need to talk, son." My father said. His jumpsuit was off, and he was wearing an old leather jacket over a white t shirt and boxers. He didn't face me as we talked.
"Talk about what?"
"I tried so hard to keep you safe, but now, there's nothing I can do about it. It's in your hands. And before you go out there and make something of yourself like I know you will, I have to tell you everything… everything… All your life, I've been lying to you."
"What?"
"Your teacher says the vault has been closed for hundreds years. He's wrong."
"How?"
"There is life out there, there are still survivors, and we were living among them. When your mother had you, we decided this isn't the life we wanted for you, we wanted you safe. We searched almost every vault in D.C. All of them were empty, destroyed at times. When we finally discovered this vault was here, you were four we started heading towards it. That's when we were attacked. Raiders wanting to murder us and steal our supplies. They shot me and I was bleeding out with you in my arms. The leader, a young guy, they called him Chain grabbed her. He took her...h-he took Cindy and he... " I placed my hand on his shoulder.
"They left us to die afterwards. I managed to get up and crawl into the vault's outer chambers. I begged The Overseer to let me in on my dying breath. He only did it because I was with you. She wanted you to be safe, she didn't want this for you, to go back out to the same place she died in. And when he opened those doors, the raiders poured in, and since Rachel's mother was head of security… she got taken, too."
"I thought they died in a riot here."
"It was a riot. Just not in the sense that you thought."
"Like mom, I have to do this to save the ones I love."
"It's not that black-and-white, son. You're a child."
"I have a chance to do something with myself and I'm doing it. There's nothing you can do about it... Goodbye dad, I love you." I hugged him, and he just sat there, empty inside as his bloodline was detached from his forever. I walked to my dresser and packed extra clothes and put them in my bag. I walked down the halls to the blast door, where Rachel was waiting for me.
"What are you doing here?" I questioned.
"I just wanted to see you off, say goodbye and good luck." She hugged me.
"Please be safe." She whispered.
"I promise."
"There's going to be change here, I swear it. We don't have live in secrets anymore." I added.
I walked out the blast door and it opened up into a small tunnel. I grabbed my pistol and put it in the holster and followed the tunnel until I saw light. I gasped and swallowed hard.