December 25, 2077

I woke up to find Anita still fast asleep. I smiled and got up. Christmas Day. I wonder if it still snows in a world ravaged by atomic weapons. I went outside and gasped in horror, I saw some people carrying out of a room a person. They saw me and they hurried along, I ran to them to ask what had happened but then a Mister Gutsy showed up and knocked me out.

I woke up at the Medical Rooms I saw a nurse standing over me and the Overseer standing behind her. The Overseer then dismissed the nurse. After the nurse left, she locked the door. We were alone.

"You're awake now and we're alone, I notice that you've been snooping around at night searching bodies" she told me.

"Hey I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Don't bullshit me I know what you've been up to; do you think I'm stupid? I know you locked Geneva in that room, that you stole from the Storage room, gone into a locked rooms, and that you've had sex with Anita again"

"Hey how did you?"

"I'm the Overseer I know what happens in my Vault. Everything that you've done would allow me to hold your execution for crimes against the Vault"

"No look please you don't have to do that, I have people I care about! Anita-"

"But I need your help in something that can only be accomplished by you and you alone"

This shut me up. I admit I got scared when the Overseer talked about a death sentence but she said she needed my help? I had to know.

"Ok fine I'll do anything, what do you need?"

"Well let's begin. I think you've noticed when you were sneaking around that 2 members of the Vault have unfortunately died"

I nodded my head.

"During the attack of those Roaches, they must have done something to the Vault's reactor because it's malfunctioning. It is now poisoning the Vault; this is the reason for those people's deaths. There is no way to fix the reactor without spare parts, and there was an error in the construction of the Vault and there are no spare parts. Are you seeing the problem?"

"Yes I am, how are we going to fix the reactor?"

"Well this is where you come in. There are only 2 places to get spare parts. The Vaults and the Vault-Tec Headquarters."

"Ok so you want me to go to another Vault and get some parts?"

"It's not as simple as that. I have no clue as to where the other Vaults are, their locations were not given to us."

"Ok so to the Vault-Tec Headquarters instead!"

"Yes this is what must be done… but there are some difficulties to be faced"

"Such as"

"According to our scientist's best calculations, the Vault reactor will poison and kill everyone in the Vault in a year. You have about 10 months to find the parts."

"This worries me… it seems hopeless Overseer. So where is the Vault-Tec Headquarters?"

"Washington D.C."

"So what you're saying is I have about 10 months to travel to Washington D.C, find the Vault-Tec Headquarters, get the parts, and come back?"

"Precisely."

"It's suicide. Is there any chance for survival if we don't fix the reactor?"

"There's a 2% chance of survival. Not the best odds I'm sure you're aware."

"But how will I survive out there? There must still be a hell of a lot of radiation!"

"I can help you with that. I will provide a General Atomics Radiation X Suit. They can withstand any amounts of radiation, other supplies will be provided of course. So what do you say to my proposal?"

I sat there in that chair for a long time thinking. It was obviously a death wish to do this mission. There was no guarantee that I would come back and I didn't want to die. I'm only 27 years old for Christ's sake! I want to keep living! But then I thought of all the innocent people in the Vault and realized that it wasn't just my life at stake. I thought of Anita and I knew I wanted to spend my life with her. If that was to happen, I would have to go through hardships. Now I know how the soldiers who fought on the front lines at Anchorage felt.

I looked up at the Overseer.

"I'll do it."