CHAPTER 2

TWELVE HOURS LATER

I woke to another bright light and thought to myself "am I going to keep having this nightmare?" My fears went up in smoke as I started to feel the gravel I was laying on dig into my back. I pulled my head up and shook it a little, my eyes started to clear. I stood up as my vision was blasted with a stream of light, groaning as I stretched after the much needed rest. As I looked around I began to piece together where I was, it was a cave. It brought back memories of when I was younger and would look out of the windows of the Vault that overhung a cavern. I would ask my father often what the outside world was like and he always said that maybe one day we would find out. But when I was 15 my father became Ill with radiation poisoning and was placed on his death bed by the doctors inside of those stone-cold steel walls. I never forgave those doctors, and not too long ago, I watched them become nothing more than charred meat and brittle bones.

I decided that I was done taking a trip down memory lane and zoned back into the present. I looked around and noticed that behind me was a huge steel cog shaped door with the number one hundred in the middle of it. I automatically assumed that I was formerly a resident of Vault 100. In front of me was a long pathway covered with stone on all sides. This pathway leads to a wooden door. Some of the planks were missing on the door that allowed light to flow through, allowing me to see some of the rest of the cave that was dimly lit.

Between the wooden planks was a kind of wire that probably strengthened the integrity of the door, I started to approach the battered wooden door, one step at a time. Every step I took echoed throughout the cave and vibrated back into my eardrum. I was finally at the door; I started having second thoughts as I grabbed the wooden doorknob. I began to push against the door and I felt the resistance of the nuclear wind on the other side struggling to keep the door shut. I threw my shoulder into the door and fell through it like a hot knife through butter. My haste sent me tumbling to the warm ground. I had my eyes shut as I stood up but the immense light flooded through my eyelids.

I opened my eyes and was attacked by an overwhelming light unlike anything I had experienced inside of the Vault. Once my vision was back to normal I noticed what the landscape was like, it was Hell. The ground was a light brown color; chunks of white rock littered the terrain. I had never seen anything like this before. I remember seeing pictures of the outside world in the Vaults museum section. What I had seen was towering structures of stone and glass, but all I can see now is what remains of an ancient civilization that once was. Several mounds of rubble dotted the horizon as far as I could see. I heard something scurrying around in the cave I had just come out of.

Fearing for the worst I looked around the ground for something to fend off attackers with. Finally I found a decently sized rock and picked it up and held it on my shoulder. I got into position at the side of the door and waited to strike. I heard sounds of struggle on the other side of the door. Suddenly without warning, he door flew open and a figure fell out of the doorway onto the ground. I suddenly came to my senses and dropped the rock and hurried over to the downed figure. The figure on the ground was James.

I was glad to see him and I quickly helped him to his feet. "You're still alive I see." I remarked to him "Yeah, good to see you too." he replied in a hushed tone. "We don't have time for pleasantries, James." I scowled "We have to find shelter before night fall, any idea where we should go?" James pondered the question for a moment and said "How the hell should I know, I've never been out here before!" I decided we should head towards the horizon where the rubble was. We started down the hill and towards the rubble.