August 17 2277

The blaring siren roused Amata from her slumber. Amata wondered what the siren was before deciding to ask her dad, the Overseer, about it. She dressed herself in her jumpsuit before heading for her dad's office.

Standing outside her dad's office, Amata paused when she heard her father's angry voice. "What do you mean James has gone?"

Another voice, that Amata recognised as the Vault's Head of Security, Chief Hannon, responded quickly. "He's left the Vault, Sir. He used the escape tunnel in your room and left."

Amata's father gave a frustrated sigh before he addressed all in the room. "Hannon, interrogate Jonas for everything he knows about this. Kendall, you find James' daughter and find out what she was told about this. Gomez, try to kill as many of the Radroaches as you can. Mack, you stay here with me in case anything happens."

Having heard enough, Amata quickly ran back to her father's bedroom and grabbed his 10mm Pistol before sprinting to Alexis' room, sneaking passed the guards and Radroaches. Approaching Alexis' room, Amata glanced around her, making sure she wasn't seen by any guards.

Entering the room, Amata shook Alexis until she woke. Alexis looked around dazed, before looking at Amata. "Hey, Amata," Alexis said flirtingly. "I was just dreaming about you."

Amata shook her head. "No, this is not the time for that," she said seriously. "Your dad has gone missing and my dad has sent his goons after you."

Alexis furrowed her eyebrows and blinked in confusion. "What do you mean my dad's gone," she asked.

"He's left the Vault, my dad's sent people to find if you knew about it. Did you know anything about it?" Amata questioned.

Shaking her head mutely, Alexis visibly deflated with sadness. "He didn't tell me anything. I've got to find him," Alexis said determinedly.

"Apparently there's an escape tunnel in my dad's office. We can get out through it."

Alexis couldn't help but smile when Amata said 'we' but soon became serious and grabbed her baseball bat. "Ready?" Alexis asked. Readying her pistol, Amata nodded and the two crept quietly out of the room and down the corridor.

The two stopped when they saw a Vault guard being attacked by a group of Radroaches. Amata held out her arm, stopping Alexis from interfering as she whispered, "That's Officer Kendall, my dad ordered him to find out what you know."

"We can sneak past while he's distracted," Alexis replied, making her way down the corridor.

The two were too slow, Kendall immediately looked up as he eliminated the Radroaches. "Both of you stop now," he ordered, holding his baton threateningly and advancing swiftly.

Amata aimed her pistol but hesitated with her finger over the trigger. Alexis didn't hesitate, the moment Kendall was within range, she swung her baseball bat at his face, cringing as his mouth became a bloody mess of broken teeth and his body crumpled.

Amata's hand rushed to her mouth in shock. "Oh my God," she exclaimed. "Is he … ok?"

Alexis rushed to his body and checked for a pulse on his neck. Apparently being the daughter of the Vault doctor came with some vicarious learning. "He's alive. He's just unconscious," she replied.

Visibly relieved, Amata nodded. "Let's go before he wakes up then."

Continuing down the corridor, the pair slowed at the sound of running footsteps from around the corner. The two had a mixture of thankfulness and frustration when Butch came around the corner and spotted Alexis and Amata. "You two, you gotta help me," he said, his voice full of desperation.

Amata narrowed her eyes. "We've got bigger things to worry about Butch," she countered. "My dad's gone crazy and Alexis' dad has left the vault, we don't have time for your little problems."

"Please, it's my mom, she's locked in a room full of Radroaches," he said with despair.

Alexis considered laughing at Butch, telling him it was ironic that they were the only people that could help, telling him to deal with it himself. "Fine, we'll do it" she said resignedly. "But we're doing it for your mom, not for you."

Amata sighed but nodded, readying her gun. Alexis adjusted her grip on her bat, before they both entered Butch's living space and heading to the bedroom.

Opening the room to what Butch said was 'full of Radroaches', the pair saw four Radroaches swarming an obviously scared and drunk Ellen DeLoria.

Amata fired a shot at the Radroach furthest from Ellen, its body exploding from the bullet's impact, showering the wall with blood. The Radroaches paused their attack at the loud gunshot and Alexis took the opportunity to attack, slamming her bat on the Radroach closest to her, the creature squeaking weakly before it died.

One of the Radroaches sprang through the air towards Amata, its pincers opening threateningly. Amata panicked, instinctively waving her pistol in front of her which connected with the insect's face. The Radroach landed, disoriented, before Amata stomped on it repeatedly, until it was a mess of detached limbs and blood. Alexis dealt with the final Radroach kicking it into the air and swiftly swinging her bat, the insect landing dead.

Butch ran in happily, having watched the fight through the open door. "You did it," he exclaimed joyfully. "You saved her." He took off his leather jacket and held it out. "Take it, you're going to need all the protection you can get."

Alexis nodded, taking the offered jacket, and putting it on. It was not a good fit; the arms were slightly too long and the bottom of the jacket was halfway to her knee. Still Alexis nodded gratefully. "Thank you Butch."

The pair continued through the Vault, pausing when the saw a guard with his back to the pair, fighting a group of Radroaches. Andy the robot was also present, burning the insects with his flamethrower while swiping at the close ones with his Buzzsaw.

The waited quietly in the doorway, letting the guard and Andy take care of the rodents. When all the roaches were dead, the guard turned around, revealing himself as Officer Gomez, and spotted the girls hiding by the door and approached them. He looked at the girls and seemed to be considering something to himself before he spoke carefully, "You know, the Overseer wants both of you girls to be interrogated." Amata subtly adjusted her gun, readying her finger over the trigger while Alexis not so subtly held up her bat, before Gomez spoke again. "But then again, he only ordered me to kill Radroaches, so it's not my job to bring you in." He grinned.

"Thanks Office Gomez," Alexis said, lowering her bat. "I always did like you."

Gomez smiled and nodded. "Least I could do, you dad's done a lot of good for the Vault. But you two bests be off, before somebody sees you."

The two girls nodded thankfully before heading to the Atrium. Amata stopped suddenly holding out her arm in front of Alexis, "There's voices," she whispered.

Alexis listened carefully and peaked around the corner seeing a man and a woman talk. The man was glancing at another door behind him talking to the woman, "Don't you see Mary," she said exasperated, "We could get out as well, if the doctor could do it we can."

The woman, Mary, shook her head. "Tom, the guards are everywhere, we can't go," she said.

Tom didn't listen and instead ran to the door he was glancing at and yelled, "It's me, Tom Holden." Gunshots rang out and Amata and Alexis could only look on in horror as Tom's body collapsed, blood pouring from various bullet wounds.

Amata ran and grabbed the crying Mary who had turned to run to Tom's body. "You can't do that, they'll just kill you to," Amata told her.

Mary sobbed loudly, "They killed him! They killed my Tom."

"They'll kill you as well if you try anything. Just go to your room and hide."

Mary continued to weep but nodded, looking at Tom's corpse before slowly walking the direction that Amata and Alexis came from. Amata waited for Mary to be out of earshot before speaking in hushed tones, "Those guards just killed a man to stop him leaving. They would only do that if my father ordered them." Amata looked crestfallen, realising her father had truly gone mad trying to stop everyone.

Alexis tried to console Amata. "Maybe the guards were corrupt or trigger-happy. Your dad might have had nothing to do with it."

Amata looked sad but shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Let's find my father and find out for sure." The two snuck to the other side of the Atrium and to a corridor, the guards unaware of their presence.

Continuing up the corridor, the pair killed multiple Radroaches stopping when they saw another guard pacing a room. Amata looked at the guard before whispering, "That's Chief Hannon, my father ordered him to interrogate Jonas."

Alexis had an idea. "Jonas! We can ask him what he knows about all of this."

Unfortunately, Alexis spoke too loudly and Hannon spun around, advancing quickly. "Stop you two, the Overseer has ordered we bring you in," he said authoritatively, already pulling up his gun.

The girls looked at each other briefly before making their choice, Amata aiming her gun and Alexis preparing her bat. Amata fired the gun, Hannon screaming loudly as the bullet shattered his right kneecap, screaming again when Alexis smashed his left kneecap with the bat. Hannon fell to the floor in pain and Amata quickly grabbed his gun and emptied its ammo, leaving him defenceless on the ground.

The two headed through a room, Alexis stopping when she saw a corpse on the ground and bending down to examine it. "Oh God," she muttered.

Amata looked at the corpse. "You knew him?" she asked.

Nodding, Alexis replied sadly, "Floyd. He was one of the other Vault repair workers. And now he's dead."

Amata rubbed Alexis' back soothingly. "We've got to find out what's going on."

Alexis nodded, straightening back up. The two continued, Amata stopping when they neared the Overseer's office. "My dad is in there with Officer Mack" she informed Alexis. "What do you want to do?"

"We need to find out what he knows," Alexis replied. "So, we're going to deal with Mack and ask your dad what the hell is going on."

Amata nodded and the pair entered the Overseer's office speedily, giving the occupants no time to respond. The Overseer ordered, "Officer Mack, do something!"

Mack reacted quickly, grabbing his baton and swinging, narrowly missing Alexis' head. Alexis noticed his lowered defence and struck, slamming her bat into his stomach, making him double over in pain, before she swung her bat upwards into his face, sending him backwards into a desk where he did not get up from.

Amata went over to her father angrily asking, "What is going on? Why are guards killing everybody?"

The Overseer replied heatedly, glaring at Alexis, "Her father has thrown the Vault in to chaos. Now everybody thinks they can leave. I'm just trying to protect everybody and keep the order."

Amata began to cry. "So, you did order the guards to kill people? You're protecting everyone by killing them!" she yelled.

The Overseer tried to sound reassuring, "It's for their own good Amata. They don't know what's best for them, but I do."

Amata adamantly shook her head. "You're best for nobody." She turned to look at Alexis. "Come on, let's go find your dad."

The two left, leaving the shocked Overseer behind. The two walked into the science office, seeing another corpse on the ground. "Jonas," Alexis yelled, running to his corpse. Studying the body, Alexis could see the blunt force trauma, likely due to repeated hits from a guard's baton. "Who did this to him?" she asked Amata.

"My father ordered Hannon to interrogate him," Amata replied. For a brief moment, Alexis considered going back to the defenceless Hannon and getting revenge for Jonas. "He's not worth it," Amata said, having guessed what Alexis was thinking.

Alexis sighed but nodded. "Maybe he knew something and wrote it down," she said, searching his pockets. She found a Holotape with her father's handwriting that said, 'Note from dad'. "Look." Alexis showed the tape to Amata.

"We can listen to it after we leave," Amata said. "My father has probably sent more of his thugs after us. The escape tunnel is in his room, if we're quick we can get out."

Approaching the door, Alexis attempted to open it, but it refused. "It's locked," she stated.

"I know where my father keeps his spare key." Amata ran out of the room while Alexis stood and watched for any guards. Amata quickly returned and unlocked the door and went to the terminal. "I already know the password," she announced. With the terminal unlocked, Amata selected the command, 'Open Overseer's Tunnel" causing the desk in the centre of the room to open revealing a descending staircase.

The pair went down the stairs and through a secret room, leading to a large area with an iron gear shaped door and a control panel. "This is the way out," Amata said in awe. "This leads outside."

Alexis looked at the control panel before pressing buttons at random before successfully pressing the right one, as a loud alarm went off and the gear door began to open.

"Amata," the Overseer's voice sounded from behind them. Alexis and Amata turned to see the Overseer flanked by two guards on either side of him. "Amata, stop this foolishness, and we can forget this ever happened." Amata shook her head. "I'm your father and the Overseer and as such I order you to stop." His voice was cracking, his anger showing.

This only incensed Amata more. "You are not worthy to be the Overseer," she yelled, as the Overseer's eyes widened with a mixture of shock and rage. "You are a power-hungry monster who orders your bullies to kill whenever somebody disagrees with you."

"For their own protection, Amata, we've been over this," he spoke with condescension, the way you would speak to a young child who was having trouble grasping a simple concept.

"Protection!" Amata angrily shouted. "Where was my protection when the Tunnel Snakes were harassing me? No, you are just a thug who thinks it's either your way or the wrong way." The Overseer opened his mouth to respond, but Amata interjected, "Don't try to defend yourself. You've appointed yourself Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Now, Alexis and I are leaving." The two girls began to walk towards the open door.

The Overseer turned to his guards and ordered, "Stop them now!" The guards pulled out their pistols and opened fire, Alexis and Amata sprinted as fast as they could through the door, bullets whizzing by them.

The door closed loudly behind them and the two were left alone with each other, the Vault behind them and an old wooden door in front of them. The pair stood in silence for minutes, realising they had both left the only place they had known as home. "We can do this," Alexis said, grasping Amata's hand, and interlocking their fingers.

Amata smiled. "Us against the world," she said. The two took a breath before leaving the Vault and entering the Wasteland.

So that's the tutorial out of the way

Now there's been actual combat, as well as characters reacting to the chaos and trying not to kill, I never understood how in the game the Lone Wanderer was so nonchalant about casually killing and seeing corpses with no reaction.