Here's a little something special for all my readers. Hope you enjoy! :)
Chapter 17: Vault 108
For the next three days Kirk and I traversed across open plains, confined streets surrounded by large buildings, and even a dead forest. We hadn't met much else aside from a few wild dogs and a couple of feral ghouls.
I checked the map on my Pip Boy and realized we only had a few miles to go before we reached the tunnel that would lead to Vault 108. I really didn't know what to expect from this Vault. Would it be in as good of a condition as Vault 112, and would there even be anyone still alive inside? My questions would soon be answered.
A large rock cliff shot up a couple hundred feet from the ground. At the base a single wooden door sat in waiting.
"We're here." I said sternly. I pulled the Sawn-Off from my thigh and made sure it had been loaded. Kirk pulled one of his SMGs from his belt and chambered a bullet.
"Keep on alert, we don't know what we're going to find in here." I suggested, and he agreed.
When I pulled the old rotting door open it partly fell off of its hinges.
A cloud of dust erupted from the tunnel and I covered my mouth. When the dust cleared I could smell a musky aroma coming from within.
I turned the light on my Pip Boy on as we entered the dark rock tunnel. Kirk let loose a few coughs which echoed off the walls.
About a hundred feet in I gasped in shock at the fact that the Vault door already lie ajar.
I could already tell that this Vault would be nothing like 112, evident by the rusted out walls and dim lights flickering on the ceiling.
"Damn, look at the state of this place. I thought these Vaults were meant to last for hundreds of years." Kirk commented as we stepped over various pieces of garbage strewn about the floor.
"It seems like this place might've been emptied out a long time ago. Still, there could be new residents lying in wait." I told him.
We made our way down a long steel corridor which led to the Vault living quarters. I held my wrist out to illuminate the large room. Overturned furniture and thrashed desks and lockers covered the cold metal floor. Papers and other miscellaneous objects also littered the floor.
I looked up and saw two catwalks stretching out overhead. The air in the room was thick with dust, and it made it hard to breathe.
"Damn, what happened here?" Kirk whispered under his breath.
I simply shook my head and then pointed to an open doorway on the other side of the room. We walked through it and started up the flight of stairs we had happened across. The stairs led up to the second level and we stepped out on to the catwalks, which creaked under our steps.
Everything was deathly silent, and even though I had company it didn't help to ease the sinking feeling in my gut.
We searched through the various rooms in the living quarters for anything that we could sell for some spare caps. We managed to salvage a few medical supplies which we split evenly, and even found a nice stash of ammo crates in the library.
When we finished our search we headed down a flight of stairs which led down to the inner sanctum of the Vault. We found another electric door at the end of the corridor which had a dust covered plaque next to it. I wiped the dust away and held my light up to read what it said.
"Cloning Labs." I said aloud.
"Cloning Labs? What kind of Vault is this?" Kirk commented.
"I don't know. In the data file I read it said something about a cloning lab, but it didn't specify its purpose." I replied.
Kirk looked over his shoulder with an uneasy look in his eye, "Let's find this G.E.C.K. of yours quick, this place gives me the creeps." he said.
"Me too." I said to myself.
I pressed the button on the panel next to the door and it slowly slid open. My wrist light helped to light up the large room we had stepped in to. Various medical tables on wheels could be seen lying around, and many smaller curtained rooms lie separated from the main part of the lab. We found some more medical supplies here as well.
A sudden crashing noise scared the ever loving shit out of the two of us. I shined my light where the source of the noise came from and saw that one of the tables had been overturned.
"What the fuck was that?" Kirk said as his eyes darted around the room.
I shook my head, my hands shaking, "I don't know, maybe a Radroach or something."
As we reached the end of the lab my eye caught a large object lying atop one of the medical tables and signaled for Kirk to keep close. When we came closer I could make out the shape of a person.
I plugged my nose with my hand when I realized that the person was missing their head.
"God damn, what the fuck kind of sick shit is this?" Kirk asked.
Another loud noise caught our attention and I shined my light in its direction. Another medical table had spilled over and a few medical utensils littered the floor.
"Okay kid, I think I've had enough of this place." Kirk said.
"Wait, the control room is right through that door. We should find the G.E.C.K. in there if it even is there." I told him.
We kept low and crept over to the door. It opened up with a loud creak and we stepped inside.
"No…" I whispered when I saw that the main power source of the Vault had been partially destroyed, which explained why only certain parts of the Vault were lit by the backup lights.
I searched frantically for what the computer had described about the G.E.C.K. A small metal box encrypted with coding on each side. After searching for around twenty minutes I picked a piece of the half destroyed core off the ground and tossed it at the wall.
"Damn it!" I shouted.
Kirk placed a hand on my shoulder, "Sorry kid, I was hopin' you'd find what you were lookin' for. Now what's say we head back up to the surface? I think we've overstayed our welcome."
I collected myself and then turned to leave. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a rustling noise coming from the lab. I glanced in Kirk's direction, and he already had his SMG at the ready. I brought my fingers up to my eyes and then pointed at the doorway. He nodded and then positioned himself next to the closed door.
I made my way over to a single glass window that looked in at the lab. I saw multiple shadows moving around. They were tossing the medical tables against the walls and would even hit each other every so often. I held three fingers up to Kirk so he would know how many there were.
They suddenly stopped there rampaging and seemed to look in my direction. They started for the door which led to where we were and I frantically searched for a place to hide. I hid behind what remained of the power core and turned out my light.
I could hear their footsteps right outside the door, but they hesitated in opening up. Suddenly, the door slowly slid open and I could make out the three shadowy figures waiting on the other side.
"Hehe, Gary…" one of them said in a low voice.
"Gary?" another one said.
"Gary! Gary!" the third yelled out.
Gary, what the fuck?
They cautiously entered the room, and I saw Kirk aim his gun at their backs. I held my hand up and signaled for him to hold his fire.
The three figures made their way about the room attempting to search for whatever it was they had seen. They tossed the various crates in the room around and kept spouting off about this "Gary".
Once they seemed sure that no one else was in the room, they headed back towards the exit. I let loose a sigh as the last figure exited the room. I went back to the window and made sure not to leave until they had exited the lab.
Kirk came up next to me and was breathing heavily, "Who, or even what, were they?" he asked in a whisper.
I shook my head, "I don't know, but it seems like they're gone now." I answered.
I decided not to use my light as we headed back towards the exit, which made it a little more difficult getting back.
We re-entered the living quarters, and when we made our way in to the common room, the flickering lights on the ceiling suddenly went dark, and the door at our back slammed shut.
I readied my weapon and aimed it around the room, though I couldn't really see anything.
"Gaaaarrrryyyy." a chilling voice rang out over the silence.
"Kid, turn that light of yours on." Kirk whispered to me.
I brought my Pip Boy up and fumbled for the switch. When the light flashed on, Kirk and I pressed ourselves against each other at the terrifying sight before us.
At least twenty men who looked exactly alike had us completely surrounded. Each wore a smirk on their face and held various melee weapons in their hands.
I gulped hard and tried to keep my aim steady.
I guess this is what the cloning labs were for.
Without warning the clones suddenly leapt for us.
BAM!
I took two out with one shot from my Sawn-Off and splattered their brains against the wall. Kirk unloaded in to the oncoming attackers and took at least four of them down without much trouble. I quickly loaded two more shells in to the shotgun and took aim once again.
One of the clones brought a wooden bat down on my arm, which caused me to drop my gun. The clone brought his bat down again but I was quick enough to catch it.
I pulled the bat from his grip and swatted him across the side of his head and he crumpled to the floor.
"I could use some help here!" I heard Kirk shout as six clones closed in on him. He took two of them down before his clip had been emptied. He attempted to load another magazine in to the gun but was knocked to the ground by the clones.
They started to beat him, so I ran forward and jumped in to the group, knocking them all off balance. I batted one of them across the back and knocked him to the ground, then spun around and slammed the bat in to another clone's side.
"Gary!" one of them shouted angrily. I felt a set of fingers wrap around my neck form behind and dropped the bat. I reached up and attempted to loose my attackers grip, but he held firm.
A shot rang out and the clone suddenly let me go. Kirk lie on the floor with his spare SMG in hand. Another clone made a go for him and he pulled his machete off his leg and drove it in to the raging clone's stomach. Blood trickled down the blade and ran off on to Kirk's hand.
I aimed my light at the ground and searched for my sawn-off. I picked it up when my light passed over it and blew another oncoming clone in to the wall, leaving a large hole in his chest.
Kirk got to his feet and sliced another clone's arm off, then chopped in to his side.
"Ga…ry…" the clone sputtered as it fell to the floor.
I thought that was the last one until I took another blow to my back, but my armor absorbed most of the blow.
A clone with an angry look on his face stood behind me. He swung at me again but I couldn't react quick enough this time around. The pipe struck my jaw and sent me toppling to the floor. I spat two teeth from the back of my mouth up, followed by a good amount of blood.
"Hey Gary, forget about me!" Kirk taunted from the other side of the room.
"GARY!!!" the clone shouted and charged Kirk in a blind rage.
Kirk lodged a single bullet in to the clone's eye and he fell to the floor. Everything had become silent once again.
Kirk walked over to me and helped me off the cold floor. "You alright kid?" he asked noticing the blood leaking from my swollen mouth.
I nodded, "And you?" I asked, noticing that his face had been pretty bloodied up.
He cracked a small smile, "I'll live. It'll take more than a bunch of crazed clones to take this old timer out." he replied.
"Come on, let's head back up. Then we can treat our wounds properly." I said, and we helped each other back towards the Vault exit.