Chapter 2: Create a Safe Location

For some long moments, I just stood there, feeling sick and confused; I had just killed someone, OK, it was self-defence, as he was trying to kill, and that gas this vault was pumped full of was probably the cause of that red madness that had filled me during that fight, but it was simply wrong, and worryingly I could feel that madness lurking at the back of mind, ready to overwhelm me again.

I was also confused, I had read stories on the internet, of people being sucked into computer games, but they had always arrived as the main character, or as themselves unchanged, appearing at the location their character had been in the game. If that was true, then I should be in Vault 101, not Vault 106, and from the various aches and pains, and other strange sensations, this was definitely not my body.

OK, first things first 'Whom am I?' Looking around the room, it had clearly been some-ones living quarters, with lounge area, bedroom, and bathroom facilities, which seemed in working order, despite the chaos.

I moved over to the sink, and ran some water into the basin. Initially, the water murky, and full of crud, but after a few minutes, it ran clear, so I risked a mouthful. Apart from a slight metallic taste, it seemed fine, so I drank several glassfuls, (once I had washed the glass out), and felt a lot better.

A look in the mirror didn't reveal much at first, as I could barely see any reflection in the filthy glass, so I starting cleaning it, using some cloths and mops, along with some Abraxo Cleaner that were lying in the corner of the room, and then I cleaned the sink..., and the toilet..., and the shower, and ...WHOA!

I suddenly stopped, as I realised, I was about move out of the bathroom in my cleaning frenzy; "What am I doing?" I gasped out loud, as I turned and stared at the gleaming bathroom, which probably hadn't looked this good since before the war. I had never been much cleaning fanatic, but this was extreme.

As I moved slowly across the spotless floor, I deliberately avoid looking at myself at the mirror, until I was right up to it, at which point, I stared right and gave a gasp, as I looked at a familiar face. No, not my normal face, but that of the female character, I had been created; OK it wasn't 100% identical, the face in the mirror was filthy, and had a stunned expression on it, and the long red hair clearly needed a good wash, but was definitely her.

The one other disconcerting fact was her eyes or I suppose more accurately now my eyes; Yes! They were the beautiful green eyes that I had chosen, but there was a kind of maniacal gleam in them, warning of some kind of insanity.

All, in all, she, or rather I looked just like what you expect a crazed resident of Vault 106 to look like, and by twisting my back towards the mirror, I confirmed that, by the fact that my Vault Suit had the required 106 on the back.

But that didn't explain, the cleaning frenzy, unless... as I slowly returned to my reflection... the one major non-Vault 106 resident thing about me, was my HAIR, it was dirty, which is what you would expect, but it was also neatly styled, not in one the rough styles, but in the style that was called "Domestic Goddess". Damn, maybe that mean something more than just how the hair is cut, maybe includes a degree of mental attitude, which in my case includes a clean home.

"Right, Okay! Since I am stuck in the loony bin from hell, and outside isn't much better", I muttered "The first thing I need is a safe base to operate from, or where at least I can sleep, without the risk of waking up dead". Looking around living quarters that I was currently in, it looked like this would be a good place to start. There was an upturned bed, and knocked over lockers and shelves, and boxes of stuff that may be useful. There was even an intact computer access port that may still work, although the computer terminal itself was smashed to pieces. Plus the bathroom was now spotless, and it would be a shame to waste that.

Only problem was the dead body in the middle of the room, and the faint-blue miasma, that filled the place. Well, one problem at a time, the body I could do something with.

So, to start with, strip the body of anything useful, which was not as easy as it is implied when playing the game.

The net result was:

1 Dirty Vault Suit (106), they seem to one-size-fits-all cut.

3 pencils and 1 Marker-pen

1 pack of Radaway

1 knife, which was in reasonable condition, which I stuck through my belt to replace my broken baseball bat.

OK, now where to put the body, I crept to door, opened it, and carefully peered into the corridor. All Clear! The corridor entrance to the left was closed, and to the right, the corridor descended some stairs to a lower level. Tip-toeing to the head of the stairs, I stopped, and looked and listened for anything. Apart from some distant shouts, there was nothing, although it did seem that the air at the bottom of the stairs was a darker blue, implying that there was even more gas down there. Maybe the psychoactive gas was slightly heavier than air, if so the higher I am, the safer I'll be.

Across the corridor, from my room, was what had presumably originally been another set of living quarters, though it was very hard to tell, as the damage was even more extreme, than rooms I had arrived in. Perfect for dumping unwanted bodies, so I quickly dragged the body across the corridor, and into the remains of the rooms' bathroom, and left the body lying next to the room's extraction vent, to prevent any future smell of decomposition from disturbing me.

That bit of knowledge disturbed me, how did I know that was the extract vent, also as I thought about it, I realised that I had other info in my brain, like how to strip clean a 10mm pistol, and that a full operational Vault-Tec air purification system would remove any toxic/unwanted gases out of the air, which means that something must be preventing it from clearing the psychoactive gas,... "How on earth do I know that?" I muttered "Right, I need time to think!"

Okay, then if I am going to use these wrecked quarters as my dumping ground, I had best clear good stuff across to the other side of the corridor. That took some time to looking under broken shelves, in boxes, picking up anything that looked still usable, putting them in boxes, and lugging them across the corridor. Most of it was of dubious value, but did hit a couple of jackpots, such as a still operational computer terminal (carried that across very carefully), a beat-up .32 pistol, with about dozen rounds of ammo, which I will checkout later, and a couple of books a "Deans Electrical" and a "Tumblers Today".

Right, all done. Just a parting note, I used the Marker pen to write "Morgue" on the bathroom door, where I dumped the body and 'Vault Dump' on the door which opened onto the corridor.

Once back into my set of rooms, I set about securing the door, which turned out to be very simple, as there was a manual bolt mechanism, for locking the door solidly in place.

"So safe at last – well for the moment" I gave a wry smile at that thought. I was exhausted, and hungry, so after a brief meal out of a tin of 'Pork N Beans', of which all I can say is that they were edible, but I bet the mattress would have probably tasted better; I turned out the lights and crashed out on the mattress, and was dead asleep within seconds.