Chapter Three

Escape

Feel no pain, but my life ain't easy

I know I'm my best friend

No one cares, but I'm so much stronger

I'll fight until the end

To escape from the true false world

Undamaged destiny

Can't get caught in the endless circle

Ring of stupidity

Out of my own, out to be free

One with my mind, they just can't see

No need to hear things that they say

Life is for my own to live my own way

"What do you mean my dad is gone?" Said Posey, she was wide awake now, but still confused, and much to Amata's distress, still in bed. "He can't be gone. He's probably just in his office, working late. What time is it?"

She was acting so nonchalant that Amata wanted to scream. Amata took Posey's shoulders and gave her a shake, "Would you please get out of bed for God's sake!" Shouted her friend, tears spilling out of her eyes. "You're dad has left the vault! And my dad has gone crazy! He had his guards KILL Jonas! And they're going to do the same to you!"

"Amata, my dad wouldn't have left without telling me! He wouldn't have left! I'm sure he's just in his office! Maybe he fell asleep behind his desk he does that sometimes, come one, we'll go look together."

"Posey stop being so damn naive!" Hissed Amata, "I know your dad left! I saw him do it! He's gone! He left the vault and you need to go after him or my father's men are going to kill you!" Amata picked up a empty duffle bag at the end of Posey's bed and started throwing things haphazardly into it, while Posey stared at her, head swimming.

"But,"

"I know this vault isn't perfect, sweetie, but you need to stay here."

"Of course I was born in the Vault."

"Born in the Vault, Die in the Vault."

"Posey, promise me, whatever happens, you'll stay here, where it's safe."

"I love you, never forget that, and I will never leave you."

"He-" Posey was staring blankly ahead, "He said,"

"Posey, you need to go! Listen, there's a secret tunnel through my dad's office. You can pick the lock with these." Amata handed Posey a handful of bobby pins. "You'll have to hack into his terminal to access the tunnels opening but it shouldn't be too hard. You know how to hack a computer, right?"

Posey nodded listlessly, "Jonas taught me." She said absently. Amata looked at her with concern, placing a comforting hand on her friends shoulder. "You have no idea why he left, do you?" She asked quietly.

"No," Said Posey, her eyebrows knitting together, "He always told me how important it was to stay in the Vault, that I could never leave because the Wasteland was dangerous."

"Well," Said Amata grimly, "The Wasteland isn't the only dangerous place anymore. Here, I found this in my dad's office."

She placed a ten millimeter pistol in Posey's grip and handed her the duffle bag she'd packed. Amata had thoroughly cleared out Posey's room, even adding a very battered copy of A Tale of Two Cities, a book they'd had to read for school, and the picture of Posey and her father on her tenth birthday. Posey slung it over her shoulder, and picked up the baseball bat leaning against the door frame. The pistol's holster had a belt that was a little too big for her, but she cinched it tight anyway and slipped it in. It was heavier than she expected, the weight uncomfortably present at her hip.

"I'll try and meet you at the exit." Said Amata, before vanishing.

I can't believe it, thought Posey numbly, he left, he left me..

Maybe he's just in his office, Amata could be wrong. Or maybe she's pranking me. She thought quickly, stepping out of her room and looking around the living room she and her father had shared for nineteen years. It looked exactly the same. Surely there would be some sign that he had gone, he would have taken something, or left a note! She turned, out of habit, to close her bedroom door, and then she saw it, an empty stretch of wall, where her mother's favorite passage use to reside.

He's gone.

That blank wall had convinced her more thoroughly than Amata ever could have. Her father had left the vault, and he hadn't said a word to her about it. There had been no sign, last night he had looked up from his paperwork and told her goodnight when she announced she was going to bed, and that was all. There had been no trace of deceit in his familiar, kind eyes. He had joked with her that morning, teased her about the date she had planned with Freddy Gomez for that weekend. Asked her if she was sure she didn't want to stay in with her dear old dad and help him file patient reports instead. There had been absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Now he was gone.

How dare he?! How dare he leave her here, when he knew, he KNEW how much Posey wanted to see what the Wasteland was really like! Why wouldn't he tell her! Where was he going? Why he was going...

She had stepped out of her living quarters in a daze, not really minding where she was going. She was brought back to her unfavorable situation by a shout from a guard.

"Hey! I found her!"

Posey's chin jerked up and she saw the man advancing on her, police baton raised and face twisted in a terrifying expression of animal like rage.

Her heart pounded a vicious and erratic rhythm in her chest and she felt rooted to the spot, paralyzed by some primal instinct of fear. Eyes wide, hands gripping the strap of her duffle bag so tightly her nails bit into her palms and her knuckles turned white, her lips slightly parted in an expression of utter shock mingled with fear.

Run you idiot! Her head screamed, but she couldn't! And he was coming closer, baton raised, ready to send it crashing down on her skull, when-

She heard them before she saw them. They're scuttling legs and harsh buzzing of wings, and an entire swarm of radroaches rounded the corner, accosting the guard, who swore loudly and started beating the creatures back.

"Don't think I haven't forgot about you, you little bitch." Snarled the guard, but the sight of the Radroaches had finally snapped Posey back to her senses. Funny how a couple of bugs could strike enough fear into her to cause her to bolt, while a blood thirsty man wielding a thick, wooden baton had not.

Whatever works, She thought idly.

Adrenaline had finally started to kick in, and Posey could feel herself moving faster. She remembered in one of her father's old medical journals, the effect adrenaline had on people.

The Adrenal glands, located on top of the kidneys, send a chemical receptor to the brain, more specifically to the hypothalamus where-

"Hey! Wait!"

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and Posey instantly switched from 'Flight,' to 'Fight'. She felt her muscles contract in a way that wouldn't have ordinarily been possible as she clipped whoever it was in the jaw with her elbow as she whirled around, hand flying to the pistol at her hip and pulling it clumsily from the holster at her hip.

She had it's trembling barrel pressed up under the jaw of Butch Deloria, whose eyes were enormously wide, and his hands were up in surrender.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy!" He stuttered, his voice cracking.

Posey was panting, and her hands were shaking but she immediately lowered the pistol, placing it back in it's holster. "Sorry Butch." She said, feeling suddenly pale and weak. Her short burst of hormone stimulated superpowers was over.

Damn it. She thought, pushing back stray hairs, That probably would have come in handy.

"I don't care, just listen! My mom is trapped in there with radroaches and you gotta help her!" Butch looked frantic and his chin trembled, and Posey felt a sympathetic twinge towards her old childhood bully, and a small thrill of something else.

This shmuck is really asking for my help? Oh Irony, my old friend. She thought, shaking her head. "Listen Butch, I've got a lot on my plate right now and considering how much of an ass hole you've been to me my ENTIRE LIFE you have got to understand the irony of this situation. It actually kind of makes me want to laugh out loud a little."

"I know! I'm sorry, but you know I never meant any of it right?"

Posey snorted,

"Please!" Butch was getting desperate, "I'll do anything you want! I'll be your best friend forever just please help my mom."

Posey sighed and unhooked her baseball bat from her duffle bag, "Where is she Butch?"

"Oh thank god!" He cried, actually grabbing her face and kissing her, full on the mouth. "Thank you! She's this way!"

Posey jerked back spluttering and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand before following him down the hall to his living quarters.

Dad leaves the Vault and Butch Deloria kisses me, the whole bleeding world's gone upside down! Thought Posey, wiping her mouth again.

She could hear Butch's mother's cries and the buzzing of radroaches as they approached the door and Posey charged inside before she could give herself time to think about how much she hated bugs and how many radroaches there probably were.

She saw Mrs. Deloria, cornered and screeching, waving her arms above her head in an effort to shoo the bugs away and Posey charged right in, baseball bat held at the ready, and brought it crashing down on the nearest roach, crushing it instantly and actually denting the metal floor beneath it. She disposed of the other creatures similarly and stood among their disgusting remains, arms soar and chest heaving.

"You did it!" Crowed Butch, bounding forward and grinning widely. "You creamed those bastards!"

He leaned forward but Posey quickly held up a hand, "Let's not do anything either of us will regret later." Said Posey shortly, and Butch smiled,

"Your alright kid, here, take this." He shuffled out of his leather tunnel snakes jacket and held it out to her. "I know it isn't much," He said apologetically, "but it's all I've got."

Posey hesitantly took the jacket and pulled it on. It drowned her slim frame but she didn't really notice. "This has been one hell of a night." She said simply. "You're being nice to me, and The Overseer wants to kill me. What has the world come to?"

Butch's smile disappeared, "What?" He said, frowning. "Old man Almodovar wants you dead?"

But posey was already on her way out the door,

"Probably best if you didn't see me tonight, savy?" She called over her shoulder.

"But, why?"

Posey was gone, swallowed up by the metal throat of the vault.

It was eerily quiet in the halls, nothing but her running footfalls echoing on the steel below, and around her. She felt she should have run into some guards by now. She wasn't complaining, but she wished she were closer to being away from here. How strange that she was actually running away, after always daydreaming about it when she was younger.

A slow smile crawled onto her face. She was leaving. She was going to see what the outside world was like. She felt partially terrified and partially ecstatic. So what if she was getting actively chased from her home? So far, she hadn't even received a scratch! She was going to rule the Wasteland. And her father thought she couldn't handle herself out there. Well, she certainly showed him!

"Hey kid!"

Posey let out a yelp and lost her footing, taking a painful tumble onto the hard steel flooring, and skidding to a stop, her pistol skittering away across the metal floor.

"Shit," She hissed, scrambling to upwards and backing up, still on all fours, feeling desperately for her gun, panic building in her chest. She felt someone haul her up under her armpits and her weapon was shoved back into her hand and she turned to see Officer Gomez looking at her, worry all over his face.

"You're lucky it was me who found you, the other's won't be so forgiving." He said hurriedly. "I don't know what you're up to, I don't understand what's got into people around here, you're a good kid. But you need to go, and quickly. Just clear out of here, and I'll pretend I never saw you."

"And I guess I'll pretend you don't work for a homicidal maniac!" Responded Posey shortly. She was tired of people telling her to clear out and get lost. She was working on it, after all! If all these people would just quit interrupting her.

"Don't I know it," huffed Gomez, looking around, his voice dropped to a whisper, "that's why I'm letting you go. I guess you're trying to follow your dad..outside." He shuddered, "Good Gravy, if I didn't know what The Overseer would do if he caught you I'd say don't do it, but it's your only shot." He patted her on the shoulder. "Take care, I hope you find your daddy."

A lump form in her throat at the mention of her father and she looked down clearing her throat before saying, "Thanks, Officer Gomez." He nodded and the pair separated, Posey heading towards The Overseer's office, and Officer Gomez, back up the hall.

"Wait! Officer Gomez!" Cried Posey, whirling around. The man stopped and turned around, looking back at the slight figure of Posey Bennett. Under the fluorescent lights, she looked deathly pale, and her light blonde hair almost glowed silver. Posey swallowed and said, her voice trying and failing to remain even. "Tell Freddy, thanks for the invite, it means a lot. But I don't think I'll be able to make that date Friday night."

Officer Gomez's eyes softened and he nodded gently. "I will."

"Thanks."

The novelty of escape had worn off now as she turned and hurried up the corridor. Sure she had wanted it, dreamed of it even, but it had been a child's fancy, an ideal dream. Her life was here, and her father was right, here was where she was safe. What was she thinking! She couldn't survive on the wasteland! She hadn't even fired her stupid gun yet, and the damn radroaches scared her. She was sure it would be worse up there, out in the open.

She heard arguing voices up ahead and stopped listening.

"Mary! We could escape here! That Doctor did it, why not us!"

"Tom, that's crazy, we have no idea what life is like up there!"

"It wouldn't have to be much to be better than here." Said the first voice bitterly, and Posey recognized it as Tom and Mary Cusham, a couple she had actually had in one of her counseling sessions.

"I'm going for it." Said the determined voice of Tom, while Mary pleaded,

"No! Tom, wait!"

There was a loud pop that Posey immediately recognized as gunfire and her heart stopped momentarily before she scrambled out of her hiding place, Screaming "Wait! Stop!"

But her protests were cut off by a high animal like scream of anguish and a sob from Mary,

"Tom!" She screeched, dropping to her knees in next to her husband, who was lying on his back, twitching slightly and lying in a pool of crimson. Posey stared in horror at the guards who were know taking aim at Mary, and her stunned feet carried her forward before she could think, her left hand was up, flagging the guards attention, while her right found her pistol.

"I said STOP!" She shouted, surprised at the steadiness of her voice, and her hand as she pointed the gun at the guards, who looked from the weeping form of Mary up to her.

"Holy shit, it's her!" One shouted, while they others let loose a hailstorm of bullets. Posey narrowly voided being hit as she scrambled behind a steel column and heard the bullets hit the metal around her, her heart pounding in her chest. "shit shit shit shit SHIT!" She hissed under her breath, trying to dislodge the safety of her gun as she heard the guards booted feet rushing towards her.

With another angry curse, she dropped the gun back in it's holster, gripped her baseball bat tight and whirled around the corner of the column, swinging her bat hard into the chest of the nearest officer, then grabbing him by the straps of his bulletproof vest and using him as a shield before ducking around him and whacking the gun in the hand of the remaining guard like it was a well thrown pitch.

The weapon flew threw the air and spun way on the ground and Posey held her bat up threateningly while the guard still standing drew his baton, looking slightly nervous.

She had no idea where any of that had come from. All instinct, she guessed. That, or too much time reading Grognak the Barbarian as a child.

"Listen," Said the guard in what she assumed was suppose to be a soothing voice, though it trembled too much to be of any use. "put down the bat, and come with me, The Overseer just wants to chat,"

"The hell he does." She snarled, "Which one of you bastards killed Jonas, huh?"

His hesitation was all she needed, she dropped the bat and punched him square in the nose, which resulted in him dropping like a stone and Posey clutching her now injured hand and wailing.

"Damn it!" She hissed, shaking out her hand. Her knuckles throbbed, and she guessed she fractured a bone or two in there on that idiots hard head.

She was wasting precious time, but she scooped up her baseball bat and ran to check on Mary, placing an aching hand on the sobbing women's shoulder. "Mary? Are you alright?" She asked softly.

"Of course I'm not alright!" She snapped, "My husband is DEAD and it's all your fault!"

Posey jerked back like the words had been a slap, "Mary I-"

"You and your selfish bastard of a father!"

Posey backed up, shaking her head jerkily. She looked down at what use to be Tom Cusham and felt bile rise in her throat. He had three bullet wounds in his chest, and each had a horrible dark red ring around them, staining the dark blue of his vault tec suit. His blank, glassy eyes stared up at nothing and he had a trickle of blood from his mouth. Posey turned and ran, forcing herself to breath in through her mouth to stop herself from vomiting. Mary's words still rang in her ears,

"This is all your fault! You and your selfish bastard of a father!"

Tears were blurring her vision as she stumbled against the vault's wall, the lump of unshed tears making it difficult to breath as she choked back a sob. She used the wall to hold herself up as she struggled to get a hold of her tears, and she heard a muffled voice shout.

"This is all your fault! Your stupid father! He had to go and run of to get himself killed and screw the rust of us over down here!"

She looked up to see a vault dweller she barely talked to scream at her through a plate of glass, while an officer upended all the belongings in his room. Before the officer could look up Posey was on the run again, her breath hitching in her throat. She kept running until she heard another cry of pain and stopped, panting and saying in exasperation, "Oh for the love of all things good and holy what NOW?!"

She jogged forward, breathing heavily and peered inside a room to see Amata cowering in a chair, The Overseer and Officer Mack standing in front of her. Posey reached the window just in time to see Officer mack deliver a vicious slap to her friend, causing Amata's head to jerk violently to the right. Posey felt like she herself had been slapped as she watched in horror as The Overseer simply stood there, regarding his daughter's bruised face impassively.

"That son of a bitch." Growled Posey, pounding on the doors controls and barging into the room. All the occupants turned to her and surprise, and Officer Mack charged forward, and before Posey could do anything, his baton had connected squarely with her cheek, sending a flash of white hot pain across her face and blinding her temporarily. She swung blindly, and heard her bat connect with something solid and a bit of swear word before Amata shouted, "Look out!"

Her vision was slowly returning as she saw Mack raising his weapon again, bearing his teeth in animalistic ferocity as Posey ducked quickly to the side, his baton still clipped her shoulder though, and she swung, aiming for his head this time. Her bat connected with a sickening crunch and Mack dropped like a stone. Which was good because her right arm was rendered just about completely useless from her aching, possibly dislocated shoulder to her fractured metacarpals and everything in between.

The Overseer looked at her through narrowed eyes, hands behind his back.

"I hope you're here to turn yourself in, young lady." he said, his tone as cold and unforgiving as the steel vault walls surrounding them.

"I'm here to stop you from abusing your daughter," Said Posey angrily, raising her bat threateningly, despite her aching arm.

"It is your fault Amata was in that position." Said The Overseer.

"My fault?" Posey let out a humourless laugh and used her bat to point at him, saying, "my fault that you're a psychopath who gets off on your so called authority? Almodovar, you're one sick puppy and that's no one's fault but your own."

Amata had slipped away as she saw the cold fury in her father's eyes, and at Posey's feet, Officer Mack stirred. Posey backed up slightly, heading for the door.

"My father is a brilliant man but he was wrong about one thing, this vault isn't the place for me."

"Your father is a foolish, idealistic simpleton!" Hissed the older man, "He didn't know a good thing when he had it and now you're both going to pay for his mistake!"

Posey smirked, "Who's going to make us pay? You?" She kicked Officer Mack's groaning form, "Your guard dog here? No, I'm not afraid of you, Overseer. Have a nice life, you son of a bitch."

She darted out of the room and started pounding buttons on the command panel next to it as Almodovar shouted, "Guards! Guards help!" The door slammed down and Percy smirked as she heard the lock engage. Another little trick she had learned from Jonas.

Jonas.

He was dead. Somewhere, here in the vault. Dead, and she was gloating over bashing in a man's head and locking another one in a cell, essentially. She felt sick suddenly and the pain in her arm increased dramatically. Her head swimming with pain and choking on despair, the doctor's daughter ran down the hall, practically tripping down a set of stairs and barely kept herself from falling at the bottom of them. She knew she was close. So close. She looked up, through the tears clouding her vision she could see the dim hallway that would take her directly to the office.

She was just starting to get a grip on her hysteria when she found him.

Jonas

Her breath hitched in her throat and she practically crumpled next to him, feeling waves of nausea overcome her and chills travel down her spine as she looked at her friend. He'd been an older brother to her, "The annoying brother she'd never wanted." She'd called him. Now here he lay, his leg at an unnatural angle beneath him, glasses askew and a smear of blood across his forehead.

Posey didn't bother holding back her sobs this time as she bowed her head over the fallen man, her trembling shoulders causing her injured one to hurt even more.

"I'm sorry," She said, eyes streaming, tears dripping onto his still face. "I'm so sorry Jonas."

She reached out a shaking hand and straightened his glasses on his face, and carefully straightened his lab coat. That's when she noticed his clenched hand, stuffed into his lab coat's pocket. Her name was printed on it, in very familiar, even handwriting.

Shaking worse than ever now, Posey carefully retrieved it from Jonas's cold hand. It was a difficult task, his body had already become stiff. He had clearly prevented the guards or the overseer from taking it.

"Thank you, Jonas." She said, wiping the tears from her face with the heel of her palm, and tucking the holotape into her pocket. She knew her father wouldn't leave without telling her anything. He wouldn't do that to her.

With one last agonizing look at Jonas, Posey got to her feet, took shaky steps back to the hallway, and up it, towards her goal.

One picked lock and hacked terminal later, Posey was stumbling through the secret tunnel under the overseer's desk then, she was standing in front of the enormous, cog shaped door. She simply stared at it, panting and aching all over.

The whole world rested on the other side of that door. Her father was out there, somewhere. A few steps more and she would be free. Escape from this place. This steel mausoleum with it's oblivious occupants, shuffling about in it's metal innards.

"You made it. I don't believe it."

Posey turned to see Amata, her bruise already blooming into brilliant blues and purples and causing her eye to swell up.

"Yeah, I don't believe it either." Said Posey listlessly.

"So, I guess this is goodbye." Said Amata, looking at her lifelong friend. Posey looked at the enormous door behind her, then back at Amata.

"It doesn't have to be. You could come with me."

Amata looked at the door, terror in her eyes. "No, I can't."

"Amata please, come with me!" Pleaded Posey, "I-I"

I don't want to do this on my own. She thought. Amata shook her head jerkily, "I can't, this is my home. It's where I belong."

"It was my home too."

"No," Said Amata, "I don't think it ever really was."

Posey jerked back, stunned and hurt. "Fine." She said evenly, walking over and yanking down the lever to open the door with more force than was probably necessary.

"Posey, I didn't mean that, it's just, you never really belonged here anyway."

Posey laughed, a cold hard thing, which was shortly drowned out by a grinding of metal on metal, and a short bang of a nearby fire arm. Posey looked up to see Guards rushing towards her, guns at the ready and she quickly vaulted the railing, landing directly in front of Amata who looked terrified.

"I'll see you around, Amata." She said bitterly, before ducking under the partially opened vault door and running over the now uneven ground.

She didn't have time to process that this was technically her first time her feet touched planet earth, that this was the first time she had breathed fresh air. She stumbled over the uneven ground, expecting to feel bullets in her back, or in the dirt around her,but there was nothing. She chanced a glance over her shoulder and saw the guards, hovering at the door to the vault. They didn't dare to chase after her.

"Cowards!" Posey called, slowing her ungainly run and turning around to face them full on. "What, you afraid of a little dirt!" She jeered.

In response, they raised their guns and fired. A bullet grazed her forehead as she turned and ran pell mell to the slatted wooden door at the end of the cave, blood quickly trickling down into her eyes as she threw herself without a second thought at the door.

Her sore shoulder connected with the centuries old wood and rusted metal and the whole door squealed in protest as and fell flat, quickly followed by the horrible crunch of metal on metal again as the vault door shut behind her.

Posey lay, curled up on the remains of the door and kept her eyes tight shut as bright bright penetrating light attacked her retinas, iris, rods, cones EVERYTHING. It was so warm too, bordering on hot, soaking right through her suit and burning her skin.

Sunlight. It had to be.

Posey hesitantly opened her eyes, but it was like she'd been staring straight into one of the vault's fluorescent lights. Everything was just white. But slowly, her eyes adjusted, and Posey felt her heart crowd up into her throat.

It was going to be impossible to find her father out here. She suddenly became aware of how battered she was. Her shoulder pulsed with pain every so often and her forehead stung from where the bullet had grazed her, sending a steady stream of blood down her face. She was alone, with no idea where to go, and she was angry. She missed her father, and Amata had all but kicked her out of the Vault, saying she had never really belonged there anyway.

She finally allowed the pain of her friends words to sink in, and Posey felt like crying. But she didn't have any tears left. Amata had been her best friend for nineteen years. They told each other everything. They defended each other and Posey had loved her like the sister she never had. And Amata had turned her back on her out of fear.

Posey wished she could cry, but she suddenly just felt exhausted. She knew she couldn't take another step today. She knew it had to be around midday, with the sun being how it was. She'd learned to tell time by the sun from her favorite Pre-War survival book. But she didn't care. She was tired. She got up on trembling legs and dragged the fallen door to a bit of cliff face next to the opening of the cave, and propped it against it, to form a sort of a lean to. She pulled out the blanket Amata had taken from her bed and laid it in the small space of shade her make to hut had created, and used her duffle bag as a pillow, after drapping her two spare jumpsuits at either end to enclose herself in her small, stuffy shelter. Posey lay on the hard, lumpy ground and stared apathetically up at the wood above her. "Dad," she murmured, feeling miserable. "Where are you?"

The pain in her shoulder was nothing compared to the pit in her heart her father had caused by his leaving, and his voice was what lulled her to sleep,

"I love you too, Posey. Never forget."

"Don't let me forget,"

Despite her quick and deep fall into slumber's embrace, a single tear slipped out of her closed eye.

Author's Note: So, you'll notice I've changed the structure of my chapters a little. I like having the AN at the end of the chapter, and I've also added some lyrics to the song I've chosen, the ones I feel fit the chapter best. So what do you guys think? Like it? Love it? Hate it and wish to damn me and my posterity to hell? I'd love to know so PLEASE review. I know I'm sounding whiny but this chapter really was a toughie to crank out. I want the action to be, actiony (wow, such eloquence, much words) but believable and I want to know what you guys think. I'm totally begging you guys here, review review!

I'll go back and change up the format of the previous chapters soon, but I just wanted to get you guys something because I was gone all weekend. I don't know how I feel about the end. Gah! Forget it, it's up. Just review please! And as always, thank you so much for reading! Goodbye!