Chapter III
Loose ends
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
The sound of sand bouncing off my armour echoed around me, I was in this canyon to look for the eye of the STORM. This job was meaningless, but I was doing this to keep the morale of the runners up.
"Boss?" came the voice of Pilot through my radio
"What?" I snapped back to her
"One of the scout teams reported two men just on the other side of the mountain range"
"And you tell me this why?" i asked with a growl "Incase you have forgotten... I'm in the middle of STORM!"
There was silence for a few seconds and then I switched off my com, and walked deeper into the storm
Walker eyes flicked open. He had had a good rest, the snow made the ground cold, but surprisingly comfortable. Walker sat up. Alex could have easily made off with all of Walker's supplies and left him for dead by now. It wouldn't of been the first time if he had. Walker scanned around the embering flames.
Alex woke to the feeling of someone staring at him, calming down from the shock Alex looked back to Walker "mornin', how's the sleep?"
Walker smiled wearily "Great, glad you stayed here. Always would have helped if any nasties had stumbled upon us." Walker stood up and started to pack up his gear. "Looks like you'd better be off then, assuming you have somewhere to go."
"No, not really, i was almost freezing when i found you, you got a place to go?" Alex asked packing up his own gear.
Walker thought for a moment, and then shrugged "Well, no, but I was kinda thinking about heading to some settlement north of here. Might be able to get some supplies from there. You can tag along I guess."
Alex smiled, " Sure, been a while since I found a person who didn't want to fill me with bullets then take everything i have"
Walker put his pack on his back, picked up his gun and chuckled "Well, actually, you're a first when it comes to that matter". Walker checked his compass and set off, heading north.
Alex began following Walker while putting his pack on, his hud flickered for a second then returned to normal.
"That's a mighty fancy watch you have there." Walker said without turning around
"Yeah, It's my dads old pipboy. Said it took him weeks to get it off" Alex said twisting the dial idly
"Weeks? can't you just slip the thing off or something?" Walker replied
"Oh, no" Alex laughed "They have biometric locks, won't get off unless you unlock it or you have been dead for years"
"How'd your dad get it off then?" Walker said surprised. He then smiled for a bit, then realised that his dad may of chopped off his arm, quickly removing the smile off his face. Alex had seen the smile "No, he had a key, but he lost it just before I left"
Walker motioned towards the Pipboy while stepping up onto higher ground " Well, hope that thing never stops working, that'd be a real nightmare having a piece of useless attached to your arm, eh?"
Alex stopped, thought for a bit, then simply shrugged "Yeah, well, these things have survived nukes! Its not going to stop any time soon"
Walker laughed "Better hope so"
Alex stopped when he noticed his hud flicker again, he then looked at the device on his wrist and saw the screen flashing many errors like 'PipOs-Error code 77-somethin'
"Oh! that's bad!" he said with a hint of panic in his voice. Walker spun around and ran over to him and asked "What the hell? What's happening?"
"This is happening" Alex said showing Walker the screen that was now saying 'PipOs-Error:Storage disabled,Warning! mass system crash imminent'
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Walker exclaimed.
just before Alex could answer the Pipboy made a distorted beeping noise and the screen buzzed out then cracked. Walker slowly looked up at Alex with raised eyebrows "Survived nukes huh?" before turning around and kicking the snow. Walker let out a yell and stormed back to Alex "Where the hell do you get keys for these things!" Gripping his jumper as he spoke.
"The Vaults had whole Pipboy technician teams, maybe there is a key in one of the vaults". Walker stared angrily at him for a moment, before setting down his pack and grabbing a map out of it. He lay the map out on a rock and pointed at a gear drawn in pen "There is a vault nearby. Was your Vault A12?" Alex looked at the map for a second "Well you tell me" he then pulled his coat off showing A12 written on his back in yellow. Walker stared for a moment, then quickly packed the map into his pack and said sternly "Get your stuff together. You're going home"
Alex and Walker walked for most of the day. It was a large hike to get to the Vault. They had to maneuver various cliffs and valleys to get to the entrance. When the duo arrived they found that the vault door was still open and the metal that made up most of the door and interior of the vault was starting to said quietly as they entered "Ok, I want in and out. No splitting up, I've heard these vaults can go for kilometers." Alex nodded "Well from what my dad told me, pip tech rooms are in the maintenance levels… so, just above the reactor level" Walker notion forward. "We leave our packs behind this rock. Carry extra ammo in those pockets. I want to be light if something jumps us" Walker advanced into the gloomy steel corridors, But waited for Alex to advance as well. Getting focused on the job at hand, Alex shrugged off his pack and stuffed Cross-rifle mags into his pockets, he then grabbed a few E-Cells too "Lets go then"
Walker turned to Alex "I'm not the expert here. You lead" Waiting for Alex to proceed.
"OK, i think the elevator should be just past the atrium" Alex said walking through a doorway saying Atrium.
"Must be fairly exciting experience, Goin' back to your ancestors home, eh?" Walker whispered while scanning the area for anything that could be consider dangerous, also taking note of various supplies.
"Eh, I can't see a couple hundred people living in this concrete box their whole lives, let alone whole generations"
"You can't seriously be telling me that you're not enjoying seeing what your grandparents saw as kids" Walker asked with a hint of surprise in his voice. Walker notice a faint blood stain while passing by a room.
"I'm interested, but it's just the thought of never seeing grass, or the sky or even snow!" Alex said with a bit of cheer at the thought of more snow. Walker exhale heavily through his nose "What grass?" He stared at a blob of strange goo in the room across from Alex. Walker said cautiously " I don't like this place, Hurry up. Are we there yet?"
"Yea! the elevator is here" Alex said pressing the down button. When nothing happened he pressed it again, then again "Damn it!" he yelled hitting the control panel. It flashed and made a whirring noise "It has power!" Walker exclaimed "Lucky bastard!". Pulling out a screwdriver, Alex began to pry the panel off "If I can trick the elevator into going up". Walker turned around and thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. But by the time he had focused his eyes, there was nothing there. Walker stared for a moment, then convinced himself that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
"GOT IT!" Alex shouted as the doors slowly opened. Walker said confidently " Good work techie, now, let's get that Key, unlock your chunk of metal, and get out of here"
Alex grabbed Walker before he stepped into the elevator and pulled him back "There is no cabin in the shaft! I didn't call it yet". Walker's eyes bulged at the descent. The dark shaft could have gone down for at least 1km. Walker stumbled backward, and spoke with a bit of shock "Christ. Thanks, might have ruined the family tradition just there."
"Don't mention it mate, Just let me call the cart" Alex said calmly. he then began messing with more wires and circuits "Okay, this looks like the control circuit… and, its covered in something that is making the Geiger counter click. Hey it still works with no power or a processor" Walker marvelled at Alex's skills. 'Glad I didn't shoot this one' he thought to himself.
"Now this looks interesting, what is this goo? got any clue Walker?" Walker looked at the tan goo. It looked like melted human flesh! almost…
"I saw some a few halls back. That stuff looks and smells terrible" Walker murmured, eyeing the goo cautiously. " How's the elevator going?" Alex growled "The goo is screwing up the controller circuit… I can't call the elevator, but i can however unlock the ladder that leads down to the reactor level"
Walker grumbled under his breath " All right, lets go."
After a few minutes the two had climbed their way down the dusty, rusty and musty ladder. the emergency lights in the lower levels had burnt out years ago and it was hard to see in the halls but Alex had managed to turn a still working emergency lamp into a torch "These tunnels go for ages, I wish I could use the map on my pipboy" Alex muttered as he looked into a room that had lots of scrap and parts. Walker said as merrily as he could given under the circumstances "Never mind about the techno-junk maps, lets find a staircase to get to the maintenance floor"
"I guess you're right" Alex muttered opening the next door to find an access tunnel to the next level up "Over here!" Walker jumped at the loudness "Shh, something might be down here." Alex chuckled "Mate, there is nothing down here" Walker looked over to Alex concerned as they advanced up into the maintenance floors. "Aright, is this it?" Walker said as they exited the tunnel.
"This should lead straight to the Pipboy technicians workshop, so thats where the key should be" As they traveled forward through the halls, Walker began noticing more blood stains, and more goo. Walker had always hated bunkers, going into a vault was a trip to hell for him. Walker began to sweat. " How much further?" Walker asked with a hint of fear in his voice. "This door here" Alex said pushing the door open to find the room filled with mutilated corpses and tan goo "Oh god!" Alex yelled backing away to vomit in a corner. Walker tensed up and turned white and began breathing deeply and quickly. He slumped against a wall, not moving. He looked up to notice a small metal rod on a table. Walker pointed his quaking hand and said "Th-Th-There i-it i-i-is" Alex had stopped vomiting to see the rod on the table "o- ok… just in and out? I got this" he said in fear as he ran into the room and grabbed the key and gagged when he saw something in the corner still moving. Running out of the room still gagging Alex grabbed Walker "Wh- we n- need to get out of here!" Walker didn't move. He didn't want to. He was too busy staring at the monstrosity behind Alex. The creature filled the entire corridor. It's entire body was like a tortoise's shell, but with cracks, leaking out the goo that they had observed earlier. It stood silently for a moment, Before letting out a deafening roar that sound like the voice of a 100 dying men. Walker's skin went from white to almost red. Walkers instincts cut through his fear of such a monster. Walker shouted "MOVE ALEX!" and pushed Alex out of the out his rifle, he fired. The creature stumbled backward, obviously never experiencing a gun before. Unfortunately, the bullet merely put a dent in it's shell. Walker realizing that the creature would take more than bullets to kill the abomination, he yelled as loud as he could "RUN! RUN! MOVE!" Dragging a stunned Alex into a frantic sprint for their lives.
The hallway seem to drag on for ever. Walker didn't even bother to turn around. "This is why I never ever go to these places!" Walker thought frantically in his head.
Alex was jolted out of his shock when he realised he was over Walkers shoulder "Walker!" Alex yelled looking at the monster behind him "I can't reach my gun!" "Well I would stop if I could!" Walker yelled while he kept running "And it doesn't care about bullets!" Remembering his laser pistol, Alex reached to his leg and pulled out the rusty AEP7. "This might end badly" he said quietly to himself as he took Aim. He then remembered his pipboy had stopped working "Damn it! no VATS!"
"Just shoot!" Walker yelled when he saw the end of the hall up ahead "Out'a hall!"
Alex gave a small prayer to whoever was meant to listen as he began to fire, three out of the six shots he fired hit the monstrosity. swearing under his breath Alex saw the switch holding a door open. "This could end badly!" Alex yelled to Walker "But go through there"
Seeing where Alex was pointing, Walker ran towards the open door. Once he passed through Alex fired the rest of the pistols clip into the lock. With a hiss, the door slid shut and locked, followed by the sound of a large creature hitting the door
"That was bloody close!" Walker panted after letting Alex off his shoulder "Too close mate"
"Well hopefully we can find a way out of this room!" Alex said as he took out the Pipboy key and placed it in the lock on the side closest to his hand "You're doin that now?" Walker question as he looked around the room
It was obviously an old bedroom, though the mattresses looked worse than the ones in the wasteland. Not that he was planning to sleep there. He was pulled out of his thoughts when there was a click and the clang of metal hitting metal."It feels kinda odd without this thing on my wrist" Alex said putting his hand around the pale skin that was under his pipboy "Can you fix it?" Walker asked walking over to pick up the device "Maybe, now that its off my wrist I can get better access to the motherboard and storage drive".
"Well lets first get out of this room, feels kinda hot in here" Hearing that Alex grabbed the Pipboy and tapped the little guage that showed the results of the inbuilt geiger counter. It began to click quickly "Oh! FUCK!" Alex yelled "We're stuck in a giant microwave!" when he saw walkers face he sighed "prewar devices that cooked food".
"So we're being cooked?!" Walker asked
"From the inside out by radiation" Alex said in mocked sarcasm
Walker's mind raced. "Never should have bloody came down here, Never should have listen, Never bloody should have bothered at all" Walker angrily slammed his fist against the wall. Walker's mind sparked. He looked over to Alex, who was panicking over in a corner.
"Not bloody today" Walker murmured. Walker scanned the room. Over in the corner was a box of E-Cells, and the control panel leaked a few wires. Walker smiled deviously. Walker said in a dark tone "Alex, don't give up just yet." Alex looked up frantically "Don't give up?! Walker! We can't leave, the doors jammed, There is a monster outside, and this room is a candle of fucking radiation! What the fuck do you mean by 'Don't give up?!'" Walker grabbed the E-Cells and grabbed 2 long wires out of the walls. "What I mean is, stand the hell back." He started methodically wrapping wires around the cells. He then picked up the device and placed it against the door. Walker stood back, looking at Alex, now backed against a wall, who looked at the box with fear. Walker, with a wire in each hand yelled "CLEAR!" before slamming the two wires together.
Alex was pulled out of panic by a sharp bang as the door was blown out of its tracks and into the monster on the other side. The dust from the explosion had barely settled when Alex yelled "OUT OF THIS ROOM! NOW WALKER!" as he charged into the hallway "AND WATCH THE MONSTER!" The creature started to shift under the doors mass as Walker sprinted past it "It's startin' to move Alex!" Walker warned.
"Then lets go!" Alex yelled back as he began to jog down the hall towards the access hatch. Alex sped down the hall and down the staircase, with Walker trailing behind, often looking over his back to see if the creature had managed to break free. The two stopped at the shaft ladder to catch their breath. Walker looked over to Alex, who looked wearily back.
"I hate vaults" Walker said breathlessly.
" You don't say?" Alex replied " I think it's down for the count".
Walker smiled weakly "Sure hope so" The two spent a few seconds before a thunderous roar tore through the silence and heavy thumps resonated through the halls. Alex responded to this by throwing himself up the ladder, followed by an equally hasty Walker. By the time Walker had reach the top of the elevator shaft, Alex had already made it halfway down the hallway, with no intent on stopping. Walker stopped for a moment, wondering if Alex would leave him, before sprinting after him as a portion of the monster revealed itself, leaking out of the shaft. Walker ran as quickly as he could, attempting to navigate through the iron halls.
Eventually he made it to the exit, with Alex trying to prepare his weapons to fight the creature. Walker grabbed him and yelled "No point! The bastard shrugs of anything! I told you this earlier!" Just as Walker finished the sentence, the monster rounded the corner in the vault with a mighty thud. Alex looked for an escape before noticing the door control console and yelling "WALKER!" Walker looked to the console as the creature began to close upon the entrance. Walker pulled out his rifle, saying to himself "Com'on Lucky!" before firing at the console. The panel sparked as the vault door began to slide shut. Alex and Walker stared as the creature sped towards the closing door. The creature lunged towards the door, getting trapped as one of the cogs on the door caught it mid-flight. The creature roared with pain as goo began to leak out of the cracks of it's shell. Audible cracks were heard as parts of the creature's shell shattered into dust. The creature roared again as it was compacted by the door. The two stepped backwards as the door slowly crushed the creature. Before long, the door was left open only a crack, with the monsters roar reduced to a mere whimper. Walker walked forward, aiming his rifle into a crack in the monstrosities' head. "Boil in hell you mutant bastard" Walker grumbled as he unloaded an entire clip into the monster's head. Walker turned away from the silenced beast to see Alex staring at him in slight awe. Walker frowned and said "Grab your pack, we're getting out of here." as he grabbed his pack from the rock as the two left the cave.
small gurgles came from the dead creatures head as little fleshy worms crawled out and into the small rays of light. they began to hiss as they made their way after the two men
Authors Notes:
so these chapters are getting longer. the next chapter will be a while as we haven't even finished the draft yet.
Fallout and Fallout related themes in this story are property of Bethesda softworks, Obsidian entertainment and any other copyright holders. we claim no ownership for anything in this story save characters (unless stated otherwise)
This story is made from headcanons. nothing in this story is canon unless stated otherwise.
Opening POV was written by Danbrixton.
Chapter body was written by Danbrixton and Lez
Authors Notes were written by Danbrixton