What waited for Farnan and Nadine on the other side of the door was unlike anything they could possibly have imagined or prepared for. White hot roofing nails driven through their eyes and partway down their optic nerves only scratched the surface of the intensity of the agony the two experienced in their first exposure to natural sunlight. "I might have wanted to cover my eyeH, eh" said Nadine as she turned to face the spot she thought Justin was standing in, not wanting to take her hand away from her eyes. "The old leaving the vault video that was part of standard security forces training mentioned there might be a slight adjustment phase to the different intensity of natural light, but this is definitely not the impression I was given" Farnan said, opening his eyes in tiny increments as he adapted to the outdoor light level. It was then that he got his first look around at his surroundings; the light streaming in from above came from a rip in the ceiling of the canvas walled structure covering the entrance into the tunnel. He did a quick listen check, which yielded the rushing and whistling of wind, the creaking of the canvas, and...nothing. Not a chirp of a bird, a sound of an engine, any indications of movement or life or temperature and humidity level in the tent was becoming readily apparent by the beads of perspiration popping up on both his and Nadine's foreheads. "Well, shall we" said Farnan, indicating the open front door of the tent. "I...I went first last time, it's your turn to be the first vault dweller out of the tent." Farnan muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "pussy", and Nadine wound up and smacked him. hard. He stumbled out of the tent, holding the palm shaped welt on his face. She followed, starting to say something about how proper persuasion could work wonders, but when she opened her mouth, it kept opening wider until she was gaping in awe at the scenes of devastation and carnage around her. The first thing she noticed was the grass, or rather the lack of it. There were little charred husks of what might once have been grass, but then burned down to less than an inch high and went from yellow near the tips to brown the closer it got to the ground. This resulted in a field of what looked like dirt with specks of yellow here and there. As she followed the former grass over to a building, she saw that the roof was caved in, and that like most of the buildings in the area, it was composed of red brick with peeling olive drab paint stubbornly clinging to about half of the side. She then noticed the star logo that represented the old U.S. Army on several of them, as well as two rusted out hulks of what might once have been cargo trucks, one of which appeared to be spilling crate stacks from it's bed due to tilting backwards from a long since blown rear tire. "I wonder what's in those crates" Nadine said, indicating the rusting cargo truck. "It's a good bet those aren't girl scout cookies" Farnan said said as he took off towards the boxes. A few minutes of trying to pry the boards loose later, Farnan sat back to pull the splinters out of his hands with his multi-tool. "I don't suppose this might come in handy" Nadine said, producing a claw hammer from her toolbox with a smile and look that were the picture of sugary sweet innocence. Farnan didn't know whether to kiss her or shout something obscene. Eventually choosing a compromise, he hugged her and then took the tool from her, giving her a dirty look that said simultaneously where was this five minutes ago and I'll get you for this. "I had to let you Grognak your way through the problem at least for a little while after you ruined my already bad hair day at dinner last night" she said, pushing a raven black strand behind her ear. Upon hearing the word dinner, both of their stomachs did their best to make their intentions known. Dinner wouldn't be such a bad thing right now would it, they both thought simultaneously. Back in the vault, all that would mean was a quick walk to middle level and whatever was on the menu for the day was theirs for the asking. Out here, wherever here is, Farnan thought bitterly, who knew what or when they would ever eat again. The crate popped open with a squeak of old nail on older wood. Inside, Farnan found a good size handful of 5.56 Nato rounds, most of which had gotten wet and were thus rusted and useless, but he managed to fill two of the empty magazines he also found in the case with what he deemed to be reliable ammunition. Forty eight bullets that I don't have a gun for might not do me much good, but if our luck continues to hold there might be something around here we can do to change that. A piercing scream from Nadine split the air, and Farnan dove over the side of the truck and came up with his pistol ready. Nadine had pried open the drivers side door of the truck before looking inside, and was now locking eyes with the eyesockets of the perfectly preserved skeletal remains of the driver. The arm that had pulled the door closed as the bombs hit was now jostled for the first time in two hundred years, and had landed in a way on top of Nadines such that it appeared to be grabbing her, thus the scream. Taking all this in, Farnan let out a belly laugh as he engaged the safety on his N99 and took a closer look at what just happened. Nadine glared murder, death, and orbital strike bombardment lasers at him simultaneously, then, brushing off the cracking bone fragments, sank to the ground against the side of the truck, letting her terror subside and replacing it with what passed for a laughing sigh of relief. Farnan had a better eye for business, however. "These guys were loaded for bear" he exclaimed as he ran his hands over the shoulder plates of their combat armor and longingly eyed the assault rifles of the four occupants of the extended cab. Three of the four rifle barrels were slagged or rusted through, but when Farnan broke everything from the rifles down he found tha he had enough working, relatively rust free parts to assemble one working rifle. The combat armor was going to be another story. None of the suits were entirely intact, although by picking and choosing plates from all four sets, he was able to piece together a working suit. He pretended not to notice as he snapped bones and slid them out of the arm and leg holes of the suits of armor before breaking those down as well. Mismatched, covered in grime, and showing different patterns of sun bleaching, the final assembly of his armor worked out to cover all the vital areas it was designed to. Farnan was convinced it would stop a bullet, but still wasn't anxious to test his theory. "Sexy" said Nadine after Farnan finished donning the new armor and spun around so she could admire his handiwork. Farnan gave her a rougish grin, and she pretended not to notice. The two of them had been down this road before, once they figured out that boys and girls were different and the birds and bees videos were shown to them in school. Nadine liked him well enough, she just didnt like the fact he was a him. She had known she was different from a young age, but still couldn't bring herself to violate her principles and "do her duty to the vault". Jason had stuck with her since they were children, however, and for that she was eternally grateful. He protected her from the other kids (and mental midgets) who wanted to get rid of her, and from those who couldn't find it in themselves to pass her by without a comment or a giggle or a murmured opinion. Rumors got around that he had "set her straight", which ended in more than a few fistfights, which his quick moves and quicker fists always won for her honor. He didn't seem to mind that she wasn't ever going to sleep with him. There had been other women, he still had the hormones issued to any young man at puberty, but in the end nothing came of it. He was married when he turned twenty to a striking redhead from medical, but after two years of trying they were still childless. Several medical tests and emasculating conversations with Doc later, Jason found out he couldn't have kids. His wife divorced him, and he once again found himself in the group barracks for single men. The bond between Nadine who wouldn't have children, and Farnan who couldn't, was never before stronger than that point. Their relationship developed into a non-sexual partnership, where they became a de-facto couple, even though they were forced to live separately by vault law and weren't acknowledged by any but the most socially progressive or liberal residents. Life went on, and the higher on the ladder they both climbed in their respective careers, the less snickering and murmuring they heard in the corridors. After the long day's work, they hardly had the energy left to do any more searching or talking or even thinking. When the sun set, the whistling of the wind served only to highlight the rapidly falling temperature, and they both walked back to the tent to seek shelter. They had already sorted out the bedrolls and army blankets from the rest of the useless items in the packs of the unfortunate soldiers in the truck, so had already fashioned a crude sleeping surface in their 'shelter'. Farnan told Nadine to take it; he would sleep on the ground. After tossing and turning on the ground for a while trying to get comfortable, Farnan found himself looking at Nadine. She was holding open the edge of the army blanket, indicating Farnan to join her. "You know I've always wanted to sleep with you" he murmured into her ear as he draped his arm over her. "Don't go getting any ideas" she whispered back, snuggling up against him as they both drifted off to sleep.
