One small step

There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors.

- Jim Morrison

I already felt nauseous when I took the step that was outside the border of the Vault door. For a moment there, I thought my boots would melt. Soon enough, I took another step.. I clenched my combat shotgun harder. I began walking in a steady pace, slow, but the floor I was walking on was so uneven...The rock leveled up and down, it was not as flat as the vault's floors, and it was nothing like stairs.

Now a few yards into the tunnel. A loud screeching sound of metal made me jump, I turned around. I saw the Vault door rotating back into place, I see lights flashing as it fits into place and locks itself in. Now, I am definitely on my own.

I continued to walk, until I tripped over something and fell. I landed my face on something that wasn't rock. I quickly stood back up as soon as I realized that I tripped on a skeleton with faded clothing still on it. I wanted to vomit, But I've seen enough sickening scenes today. I pushed myself to continue walking.

As I continued walking down the tunnel, I saw a door of some sorts near the end. What It was made out of was strange to me, It looked like wood, only more rotten and moldy. I slowly brought out my hand to grab the handle, It was cold to the touch.

When I opened the door I looked out, now I was outside, It made me very dizzy. A vast amount of land can be seen past the horizon.

It was dark, not as dark as the cave though... Hm.. what's lighting this world? I looked up. stupidly expecting a very dim giant ceiling light.

I quickly fell and landed on my back. THERE IS NO CEILING. It was infinite! Looking at the sky made my head spin. So is this what sky is? A dark never ending ceiling riddled with puffy shapes that looks like something painted with watercolor? My eyes were spinning, but then I saw the light source.

it was magnificent compared to the puffy shapes, but from what I saw, it looked like it was far behind the shapes because it was slightly transparent. A giant circle of white, I can see shadows within it, and the light it created. Sooner or later, I remembered some classes about this thing, It's called the "moon" so that means it's "night" right now.

Oh of course it's night time! I took a look at my PipBoy, and it showed that it was 11pm. I switched the module on my PipBoy to "local maps" and it showed there was a small town near me called 'Barre', switching it to "World Map" showed a large amount of land but not the entire country (No clue why it'd be called world map then). It showed that much farther southeast of me is a much larger town called "Worcester" the town that the overseer says, held another Vault. Another reading showed an even larger town farthest to the east called "Boston" the Icon which indicates the town shows a Star, meaning it was the capital of this state.

I was on top a hill, took a look at my bearings and saw that there was nothing but rock, dirt, and dead trees. Looking to the South I saw several flat, burnt out buildings. perhaps looking in there wouldn't be a bad thing.

It took a while to get used to the new terrain I was walking on, I would trip over a rock every so often. Walking down a hill was nothing you would ever experience in a Vault. When I hit the bottom of the hill I saw a long road stretching out to the general direction where all the buildings where, it was mostly flat, so I figured it would be best to take the most comfortable route.I've never seen a vehicle in my life, but I did know what they were. They were a way to transport people and even items all around the country. Rows on Rows of vehicles lined up from where the street is to the main road heading southwest.

Looks like before the bombs fell, people were trying to get out of the cities.

When reaching the town, I realized something I should have known a few hours ago. I'm Tired. Today has been filled with so much violence and adrenalin, I didn't noticed my body was exhausted. I wished I realized this later, because now all I wanted to do was sleep.

The town was small, so hopefully there wouldn't be too many people around finding some loot. Looking over a row of houses, I chose the one that seemed most structurally sound and with the most cover, despite the fact that the windows are all blown off. The other houses seem to have giant gaping holes from the back and fronts of the houses.

As I walked toward the house I chosen, I looked at the street. The long rows of cars still stretched on, but I was starting at one vehicle in particular that stood out from the rest. From what I know of vehicles, some were created for war, some that fire bullets from a mounted machine gun, Some that carry dozens of soldiers into battle, but what intrigued me the most were the ones that fire giant bullets that create explosions when it hit the ground or it's target. I was staring straight at the cannon of a tank.

It was covered in moss, fungus, rust and had faded painting. Instead of heading into the house I chose, I walked closer to the tank to have a better look, the hatch door on top of the tank was unlocked. Putting my shotgun aside, I used both my hands to lift the rusty hatch open. A peek inside showed the tank unoccupied, empty. the tank already seemed to be looted, the turret basket was missing a mounted machine gun, and all the contents inside the containers were missing.

Well, after 200 years I'm sure that tank would have been looted eventually. but then again, you'd think society would be restored after 200 years... Right?

I went inside the house, I wanted to scout the entire building before deciding it was safe. Shotgun ready, I slowly walked into the house, past the front door is a set of stairs and doorways leading to other rooms. I peeked my head into a room showing a kitchen that very much resembles the ones in the Vault, only not destroyed,faded, and covered in moss. Checking all the cabinets and drawers, the kitchen has been completely looted, I then moved on to the living room. The room was missing just about everything,it was empty, but I took a close look to a burnt mark at the center. Someone must have made a camp here recently, this made me a bit nervous, it could have been the former camp of those invaders. I slowly walked up stairs, just as my head was reaching the second level I heard tiny footsteps that couldn't possibly be from a person.

Suddenly, a large shadowy figure jumped at my face with a loud screech. I fell on my ass as it hit it's head on the stair railing, It had a furry body with a naked face, It's glowing yellow eyes petrifying me. It squirmed around and then ran down the stairs past me. Was It scared of me more than I was scared of it? I beg to differ. Luckily I already vomited out everything in my stomach, otherwise I would have shitted my pants.

I recovered from the fright and continued upstairs, it showed a hallway that lead to three different rooms. one was a bathroom, and the other two bedrooms. Both bedrooms, by the looks were used as places for the invaders to rest, many empty bottles were scattered around and the burn mark of the campfire was still here.

Perhaps the invaders retreated elsewhere, and gathered what they got here in a hurry and left. There were some makeshift sleeping bags made of rags, blankets, and an old flattened pillow. Next to such beds was an unopened bottle of soda. I picked up the glass had black liquid inside, It read "Nuka-Cola". This surprised me, they also had this soda in the Vault and they tasted delicious! Licking my lips, I fought the urge of just downing this drink, and stored the drink in my single strap backpack.

I knew if I wanted to sleep in for the night, I needed to make a sound alarm somewhere, near the entrance of the stairs, I placed broken glass from the bottles all around, if anyone was coming upstairs they would make a lot of sound. Hopefully waking me up if I was sleeping. The bed was ripped up to bits, no place to sleep on it, so I took one of the sleeping bags. It looked relatively clean, so I covered myself in it and sat behind the bed, if someone would walk in the room, I would have the bed as cover. I looked under the bed, and found something oddly familiar. Just like the Nuka-Cola, this was something we had in the Vault, A digital tape recorder that usually holds messages in them. Usually in the Vault, when missing a lesson of school, a friend would be kind enough to record the lesson with such a tape. These tapes were called "Holotapes". The halo taped I held seemed in good condition, I played the tape and listened to the recording.

"Just hold on a second...I said, to FUCKING HOLD ON. Christ, everyone's so timid now.

When we get back to Tyrio, I'm demanding a better reward than just a few hundred caps, we lost a lot of fucking guys in that Vault cunts were more geared than we thought-Wha?...For fuck's sakes I'm coming!

What's important now is that we have the package Tryio's been wanting. I know we left some guys in that cave, If you find this tape, head to Jento's Rock. We're regrouping there before heading to Worcester.

I know you guys prefer walking the '62 east of here, but stop being fucking lazy and walk through the forest. I don't want you fucking idiots run into a cavern or worse, a fucking patrol.

ALRIGHT I'M COMING. We're moving out now, Hope to see ya guys in Jento's rock."

The Holotape made a beeping noise, indicating that the recording was finished.

At first, a bit of worry rushed in my head, but I realized whoever that was left behind, may have already found this tape because the whole camp is empty. That and some items were tossed around the room, showing that they may have left in a hurry. There was plenty of evidence that they already got the message and left, even if they did came back, I have my sound alarm ready and cover behind a bed.

Was I already accustomed to this world? I've seen so much in one day, but something tells me, that I still have a lot more to see.