Out that Door

"Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need". - Sarah Ban Breathnach

This vault has been my home for 22 years of my span of life so far. It's all I ever known besides the recycled knowledge we have in school, the low hums that can be heard when in the lower levels of the vault; the painted murals across the hallways to make the vault not as depressing with its dull, gray, metal walls. Hardly anything is known that isn't in the vault, other than the fact that there is absolutely nothing outside of it, at least that's how we were taught. But today. Today... definitely proven that to be a lie.

Today will scar the vault forever, what the deeds that the security force had done will drive them to guilt, and worry just as I will. It's almost as if the vault was a child that knew so little, and when a bully took the child's toy away from him, the child was no longer an innocent youngling when he stood up and punched the bully's face. Things will never be the same, too much has changed already. Betrayal from the inside? Orders for assassination from the Overseer? Vault Invasion that killed more than half our force? All of this in a single fucking day.

In history class, they taught American history. Oh! How the American nation was the best damn nation in the whole goddamn world! The prosperity! the progress! the freedom! America was apparently on a fucking golden age before the war began. All history class is just American history and never taught us any history or even mention what the other countries were. I used to think that all that American greatness was going on right outside that vault door, and that we were missing out on it. Now I saw what is (or what it could be) out there, and I'm happy we never took part of it.

And now here we are. Year 22 of my life.

"I've been looking into both water filtration and food recycling facilities, something terrible has happened..."

Honestly, I keep thinking this is a dream. How worse can things get?

"Before the firefight you had with the invaders near the vault door, one of them snuck into water filtration and stolen a vital piece from the main hardware...He's stolen our vault's main WaterChip, without it... this vault can no longer filter our water."

Very worse.

"I'm going to hold an assembly later on to discuss what can be done about this, and I want you to be there."

I knew those invaders had a cause, they wouldn't just bust in here for no reason. They may have killed most of us but we did made a good number of them that forced them to pullback. They may have tricked Hark into helping them open the vault doors so that they can go for our water chip. These invaders looked, rather dirty and even unintelligent, they may have been brutes hired to steal the chip. That means there is definitely something or someone out there that knows we are here and wants that waterchip for themselves.

"I'll be at the assembly sir, I'd like to hear everyone else's input on this."

He nodded, we both stood up, I saluted and left the room.

...

We're all in the faculty hall near the overseer's office, various people of different occupations are here to discuss what to do about our current situation. Engineers, Teachers, Doctors, you name it. All of us gathered around a long table

Doctor Frollo, A scientist that looked into our water supply and core systems began to debrief the situation to the rest of this assembly.

"Now...I'm sure you're all wondering why you are all here, So I'll just get straight to the point. Before the massacre near the vault entrance, one of the intruders sneak into our maintenance shafts and made their way into the water filtration facilities. Now... while this was happening there was no power to the water facilities, meaning, the intruder must have been able or override the console settings and detached the WaterChip.."

"What does that mean?" an engineer said.

"It means this Vault can no longer produce fresh water."

After he said that, murmuring began to spread throughout the faculty hall.

"People please!" said the Overseer. "Let Doctor Frollo finish! he must have a solution!"

"Actually, ...It isn't... Look. I understand this may seem a big situation for everyone, but from now on this vault needs to have precautions. I looked into the integrity of the water supply we have, If we continue using water normally, we would run out of water in a few weeks. Unless we take on strict water restrictions, we can conserve our water to last us to about 3 months at best."

"Three months?!" someone yelled.

The murmurs became yelling, and panic streams all over. The Overseer attempts to calm the crowd.

"ORDER. I SAY ORDER"

It just goes on, and on... About half an hour into the conversation, the (newly made) head Engineer and several maintenance workers made a decision and stood up from the table.

"Overseer Sir, I think our best course of action is to combine work efforts to try to come up with a workaround system in order to get the water filtration facilities working again..However, It may take more than a few months..."

Now I know what you may be thinking, why isn't there some sort of procedure or a spare WaterChip in case the old one gets stolen or broken? Well, there never was a procedure and for 200 or so years we never thought of making one since we never encountered a situation like this before, but before the great vaults closed their doors there were rumours of vaults having spare WaterChips.

The Overseer nodded, "Contacting the other Vaults has proven useless. We lost contact with the Vault Network a long time ago."

Other Vaults..,

"What is being discussed here, can not leave this room, I want this to be completely confidential. We don't want the vault to go into a panic now, do we?"

Leave...

"We need a second plan, we can't simply depend on this one plan that may not be able to save us in time. I don't suppose any of you have some Ideas?"

Save us...

For 22 years This vault has been my home, and I was meant to die here. I was meant to serve many years of Security before I retire at a certain age. What do I have here, that makes these 22 years have good value? and the next 60 or so years worth living?

Have kids? Huh, maybe if I had a chance with a woman. It's not like that I'm unattractive or anything, (at least thats what I hope) but it's usually because I was such a nervous fuck when It comes to talking.

Family? All I got is my mom, and she's a drunk. She isn't that bad though, like she wouldn't hit me or nothing, she's sweet and kind. The alcohol doesn't make her angry or violent, she says it always helps her cope being single.

My dad? I never had a dad, ran off when I was born. When I was twelve I was told that he was dead, no funeral or nothing, straight to the incinerator. (That's what we do to dead bodies in our Vault) My mom says he killed himself...or fell down a flight of stairs... She always changes the story because she's always so drunk... poor mom.

If I suddenly went missing, my mom would just go into a drinking binge, which is what she does everyday.

Friends? HA! very funny Eh, I guess Liam is a friend of mine... My only friend, sorry. He was more of a big brother to me back in school, always watching over me. Sure he can be an ass sometimes, but for what he's done for me I learn to forgive and forget over time.

Liam is a different kind of guy though. One day when he saw my face bleed from a bunch of bullies in the school canteen all he did was smile. He didn't smile in the way that he's teasing me, but more in a 'It's gonna be alright buddy' way... Even though he just says "Get up you loser, I'll get 'em back later."

I have no talent, nothing about me makes me unique from others. A good shot? Like that's fucking useful in a Vault. Really... There isn't much of anything that's keeping me tied into this Vault.. this very Life. So why the fuck not?

"I have an idea to propose, sir" I said out loud.

The room, that was filled with arguing and panic, suddenly fell into silence for me to say something.

"Is that so Meirson? what do you propose?" said the Overseer.

I stood up from the table and began to say my plan out to this little assembly of panicking people.

"You said, that there were other vaults other than this one correct sir?"

"Yes..There is, I already confirmed that attempts to contact any other vault will not work."

"Of course, but what I propose is... "

I was shaking a bit at this point. Ah, shit. what am I doing?

"I-I Propose that, we need to locate another Vault, perhaps one that has a second WaterChip and retrieve it back here."

Everyone's eyes widened at what I said. The head engineer chuckled a bit and said

"You're...not insisting that we actually leave the vault and venture out there?"

I nodded at him, "You have your plan of making a work around system, but you can't guarantee that you will have it working within 3 months... I think it's a good idea to have this second plan. Say if one plan fails, there will still be hope for the other to succeed."

"But there is nothing out there but dirt and rock! what makes you think finding a WaterChip out there is even possible?! Let alone finding a vault!"

The Engineer had a point, what if it is total nothingness outside?

The Overseer stood up to add "Actually...I do have old map data of what our surroundings used to be, that includes other Vaults...Our Vault resides in the American State known as Massachusetts, There are several Vaults around the state that you can look for, the closest one is In a town called Worcester."

"Then that will be a place to start." I said.

"Despite the fact that the world may be blown to ash, There are Vaults out there which means they must have survived like we have. Are you sure you wish to go on such a dangerous journey?" he added.

I nodded.

"Then it's settled, Officer Meirson, assemble a team to embark on your mission."

"No. No teams, I can move faster If I'm on my own. And you need what remains of the security force here." I said.

A doctor spoke out "What makes you think you're qualified to survive out there?"

"I'm alive aren't I? I was in front of the massacre. The men that attacked us looked dirty but looked strong and even a little healthy, meaning survival out there won't be as impossible as you think." I said.

"Very well. Meirson, Take what you need from this vault, I'll upload the map data to your PipBoy." said the Overseer.

...

I wasn't going to say goodbye, I wasn't going to pray, neither did I plan on telling anyone else about this. With authorization from the Overseer, I gather what I needed. I did not want to switch out my Combat shotgun, It's kept me alive so far. I gathered ammo, food, water and a medkit all in my backpack. I take a look at my PipBoy, it showed that our Vault was near the outskirts of a small town called 'Barre'.

I walked along with two other officers (with heavy weapons) to the Vault entrance. The Overseer activated the Vault door manually, The Officers and I raised our weapons, hoping that the invaders were not there. when the door opened, it only showed a dark tunnel made of rock. I remember seeing a small light beaming at the end of the tunnel, but it is no longer there.

"Good luck, man"

"Godspeed, Meirson"

Was what the officers said to me, they took a few steps back.

I looked at the tunnel, the light gone. weapon in hand. I decided to take one last look at my home, turning my head, I saw the overseer. He gave me a salute then turned around to the leave the room. I faced the tunnel once again, I gulped and closed my eyes hard.

It only took a few steps, a few steps that will really take me farther from home than anything before. Being farthest from home. Took only a few steps. To leave my home, find the other vaults, and save the residence.

Just a few steps, Out that door.