Beware! Graphic descriptions of blood, gore, and similar stuff is rampant in the second half of this chapter. Read only if you're over the age of 13.
With school coming back after Holiday vacation, I might not have as much time to write these. Expect a pretty long lull between each chapter. Sorry for any inconvenience!
June 6, 2283 – 3:48 pm
It had taken a couple of hours, but the Vault that our Overseer has promised would never open again, was opened again. The giant metal door turned, twisted, and rolled away into the side of the tunnel, open for its residents to see.
We didn't like what was seen.
All the lights were out, except for a bunch of flashing red ones above our heads. We couldn't see very far in until they flashed. Nothing had changed, except the primary power in the Vault had been turned off. I knew that it was probably for good.
Hector Fogarty turned on his flashlight, and the beam cut through the darkness like butter, allowing everyone to see for the most part. One by one, each officer flicked their switches too and the rest of the residents turned on their Pip-Boy lights. With all of them on, we could make our way through perfectly. The little kids under age ten had to stay by their mother or father's sides, without a Pip-Boy to use.
Officer Matheson strode up to the front, recovered from his one-on-one with Father Helms, and faced the crowd once again.
"It looks like we're gonna need any and all engineers here to help fix whatever's going on," he announced conclusively. "Other people with mechanical experience can help also. If you fit that profile, step on up."
At this, at least a dozen or so bodies walked up to the security chief, including Peter Helms and Don Kang, Jessie's father. After all of the men, and one woman, stood before him, Paul nodded approval and led the way to the power core, leaving the rest of us behind. We weren't sure what to do at first, but Mr. Krakauer quickly spoke up with authority.
"Until the mess down at the power core is settled, I want each family to get together separate from the rest of the residents." We did so. I found my mom easily, her teeth shining brighter than anything with the flashlights all around. In no more than two minutes, each family was in their own group, separated from the others as much as possible. The Overseer looked satisfied, and counted our numbers.
"Besides the fifteen that left, it looks like we have everybody," he said.
"But wait!" shouted Stephen Granger, our plumber. "Only thirteen went! Where are the Herberts?"
Everyone went quiet. The Herberts were an older retired couple who lived in a room near the diner. I had never actually met them, but I had seen them before…
"Maybe they both went with the engineers," someone suggested. But Steve countered it.
"No, I checked. Thirteen people, including Paul, went to the core. No more."
"What if they're still outside?" a young man called out. Now I felt sick to my stomach at the realization. The Herberts had been at the mountain ledge and hadn't been seen since.
Everybody started talking at once. It was a wave of noise and slight panic that attacked my eardrums without cease. Were they killed? Locked out? Are they panicking? Sobbing? Could they have gotten lost? No way! Yes way! How? It was confusing, and I just stood there, thinking that I was probably the last person to have seen them. Everyone was talking at once for what seemed like forever, but the Overseer had managed to reach an intercom and shouted into it.
"Everybody, quiet down!" They followed his orders obediently, and the volume of his voice helped shut them up also. Anthony continued:
"I don't know where the Herberts are, but if they are still outside, we can go get them. If they went to the core, then there's nothing to worry about."
Everyone had calmed down, but were still shifting nervously, as was I. I couldn't grasp the fact that I was the last to see them. I knew that they were still out there, and I could only imagine what was happening to them.
"Now," the Overseer continued. "Everyone is going to wait here until the mess is sorted out. Should I hear Officer Matheson on this phone…" He held up a walkie-talkie for everyone to see. "… then we will know the extent of the damage."
People started to sit down on the floor, and I eventually followed suit. Soon, all 138 people were sitting, leaning, or napping on the cold titanium. I was bored, and started playing around on my Pip-Boy, which I had installed with a game of Blackjack. It was easy to play with a computer, but I could never find anyone who wanted to play for real, mainly because we could never find any cards.
I was sure that I was about to beat the little microchip that ran my Pip-Boy's memory, when the lights above us flickered and lit on. I heard people groan with relief and a couple of little kids cheered. The Overseer was speaking into his walkie-talkie and had a satisfied look on his face. The engineers had fixed the power station, and we were free to move through the Vault.
Even though they hadn't been told to do so, all of the residents began filing down the hallways to their homes, and Mr. Krakauer let them. All we had left to do, it seemed, was gather a brave rescue party to search for the Herberts. My mom was back in her talkative mood and started rambling:
"Well, it's a good thing those guys know what they're doing. It would've been a disaster without power down here. We might've had to stay outside. What do you think it would be like to live outside? I think it'd be creepy. We wouldn't have houses. At least not right away. And what about food? No Nuka-Colas that's for sure. I'm not sure where we would've stayed or gotten food. What do you think? Do you think we should stay in here? I do."
I was surprised that I was used to her conversations. Any average human being would probably have committed suicide by now. It made me proud that I was stronger than that, and I had to deal with it every day… I still lived with my mother and would continue to until I was out of school.
My thoughts were suddenly scrambled when the lights went out again. My mom instantly stopped talking, and everyone around us was looking up at the ceiling, as if it could tell us what had happened.
"Probably a blown fuse," someone commented bitterly. Then, there was an explosion somewhere in the Vault. It was so loud, even deaf old Grandma Meier heard it. The ground shook, and a pipe fell from above, clanging loud against the floor, and spewing water everywhere. We were lucky it was just the water main, but that was the least of out worries, to use a cliché. A siren, one that no one had heard before, began to wail, also making us cover our ears. The red lights were back on, blinking on and off to the tune of the alarm.
More explosions, and the sound of what might be gunfire. People screamed. Everyone ran back to the Vault door, and I followed them. Somewhere in the chaos, my mom was lost from me. The whole Vault was rushing in the same direction, and most of us didn't know what from. I remember trampling something on the ground, and almost stopped when I realized that I had to keep moving so that I wouldn't be trampled too.
It was absolute pandemonium. We were pushing to get away from something and were running to a door that was locked. I had nothing to go by except the screams and flailing limbs and the gunfire just down the hallway.
June 6, 2283 – 4:23 pm
Anthony Krakauer walked casually back to his office, quite prepared to fall into his chair and sleep for a good while. It had been an incredibly long day, and he was surprised that so much excitement could be stored in less than 24 hours.
With the power back on, he could see as well as any other day. If he didn't know better, he'd say that he was just returning from his daily afternoon meeting with the other Vault leaders – Matheson, Helms, and Lee. If he could just reach his armchair he'd not be any trouble for the rest of the week. His family could contest to that.
The Overseer opened the door and peered in… no alarms, no blinking, and no mayhem. He happily strode in and sat at his desk. The leather chair he was in welcomed a short nap, and Anthony was just about to close his eyes. But there was something on his monitor. He opened his lids again and took a closer look at the terminal, not sure what to expect.
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING VAULT-TEC.
PEST CONTROL SYSTEM NOW ONLINE.
PROCEEDING WITH AGGRESSIVE PEST
ERADICATION IN:
2:08:47 MIN.
WARNING! DO NOT BE INSIDE VAULT DURING THE
DESIGNATED 24-HOUR SYSTEM OPERATION!
THANK YOU AND HAVE A NICE DAY!
Krakauer immediately jumped from his chair and ran back down the hall.
June 6, 2233 – 4:27 pm
In just two minutes time, the happy little fantasy that we would be returning to the Vault for good had been literally blasted away. We knew for sure what was happening now. One, because we saw what was causing the problem. Two, the problem was that Officer Fogarty's liver and kidneys were pasted onto the wall behind him. As he fell, several women and girls screamed, drawing the attention if the Sentry-Bot that stood over the body. Helen Fogarty rushed to her husband, who continued to spit up blood, and I imagine that she regretted that decision – her head was shot off.
Far too graphic for any living soul in the vicinity, we all hurried away from the rogue robot, which fired blindly in our direction, shouting some digital language that none of us understood. Though most of the crowd escaped the hallway – and closed the door behind – at least three more people had fallen… me included.
My leg had been badly burned by a haywire laser blast and I lay on the ground, writhing in pain. Two more people were behind me, doing similar things, except one of them was bleeding on the floor. The door was just ahead, but the control was too far away for me to reach and open. I looked back and saw the Sentry-Bot move slowly and silently down the hallway in my direction, like the bad guys in one of those entertainment disc movies.
The man who was bleeding was an officer, and as the droid approached him, he took out his police baton and attempted to strike his attacker, but the stick bounced off of the armor and flew out of his hand. Sensing hostility, the robot opened fire on the helpless man, and I looked away for fear of retching all over myself. When it was done, the Sentry-Bot moved on to the second victim, a middle-aged woman who looked familiar, but it was probably because she went to the same book club every week as my mom.
All the same, I turned away and began to crawl for the door, but out of the corner of my eye I spotted the police baton lying against a pipe to my right. I looked back and realized that the rogue was nearly on top of the woman. I tried to stand up, but a wave of crippling pain overtook me. I could hear the robot charging up its gun, and I braved another attempt to stand on my good leg. Although it hurt tremendously, it was less than the first time, and I hobbled to the fallen officer's weapon.
The bot was coming close to the woman now, its cells charged and ready to fire. I tried to grab the baton, but pain took over my leg again and I fell to the floor with the stick in my hand. I instantly stumbled back to my feet and whirled around to face the evil machine - and I immediately vomited.
The Sentry-Bot had fired upon the woman the moment that I turned to face it. After ten seconds of non-stop discharge, the body barely looked like a human anymore, much less a middle-aged book club member. I continued to throw up onto the floor in front of me, and the Sentry-Bot took notice. I stared at it, as if willing it to leave me alone, but I knew that mind tricks don't work on robots. It continued to roll its way towards me and charge its gun back up.
I don't know what compelled me to do it. My mind probably knew in an instant that I was going to die and that if I didn't do something, this rust-bucket wouldn't be coming with me. It was about five feet away when I decided to jump onto it. I flailed my arms and landed on the thing, so cold to the touch I would've fainted if there hadn't been adrenaline rushing through my veins. The droid was about as surprised as a droid could be, it started firing its gun but couldn't aim for itself. It kinda wished that it could, because it would've made the job a little easier.
As it struggled, I brought up the police baton, flicked the switch that drained this electric gel to the end of it, and brought it down hard into the Sentry-Bot's head. It shook a little and I pushed the stick down farther, knowing that its combat inhibitor was in there somewhere. Finally, the robot visibly sizzled, the inside mechanisms actually blowing apart, and I jumped off just in time for it to implode.
Though the pain in my leg was searing, I stood up facing my enemy, the dreaded SB-006, as it read on its armor. After saying a quick prayer for the Fogartys and the two other residents over the siren, I practically crawled for the door, wanting nothing more than to leave this place. I kept the baton. It made me feel safer after my experience with it, and I knew that when there was an SB-006, there had to be SB-001 through 5 also.