I fell out of the cryopod. My arms and legs felt like lead. My fingers were still frozen. My teeth were chattering. I tried lifting my head, but the blood rushed up too quickly and I felt a low, pulsing pain. The air smelled stale. The floor was cold and wet.

"Come on Jo…" I groaned to myself. Now my arms felt like spaghetti. I held onto a metal bar as I pulled myself up, dusting the dry ice off my vault suit.

The second I looked up I immediately regretted it. It was Mom. There was frozen blood splattered everywhere, on her chest, her face, and the walls. And Shaun wasn't in her arms like before. Then I remembered everything; a bald man shot her and I saw it with my own eyes. I pounded on the metal door to try and save her from the strange suited people who took Shaun away. But they couldn't hear me.

They shot her and took Shaun away.

Shaun was crying. Mom was trying to pull him away from the strange people. Then they finally grabbed him and the man shot her in the neck. The gunshot still rang in my ears. It still echoed. Then the man came over to me and said, "At least we still have the backup."

What did he even mean? What was he talking about?

This wasn't happening. This was all just a bad dream. This was a nightmare. I pinched myself, slapped myself, pulled my hair. I needed to wake up. Wake up Joanna, wake up.

It wasn't working. I blinked my eyes open and Mom was still there, limp and dead. She was so pale, her skin was almost as blue as the suit she was wearing. My lip trembled. There had to be a way to get her out of there. I reached out and pressed a big red button, and suddenly the door creaked open.

I heard beeping. Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All vault residents must vacate immediately.

"Mom?..." I croaked out. No response. She was gone. There was a growing pit in my stomach.

I steadied myself and walked over to the pod next to her. Dad. It was Dad! I pushed the red button next to him and the door slowly opened.

"D-dad? Can you hear me?" I inched closer, pressed my hand against his chest. No breath. He wasn't breathing. "Dad?" I repeated.

Nothing.

My heart sank. I looked over to Mom, and she was still frozen. Dad was frozen. I ran over to the other pods. My neighbors were frozen too. I pounded on the doors, kicked them, screamed at them. Nothing.

My pulse started to race again. I remembered the bomb, the chaos, the confusion. And I slid to the floor in defeat, my cold hands clawing my face in frustration.

"Tell me what to do, Dad. I don't know what to do." I swallowed the sob that threatened to erupt from my throat. I rested my head against my knees, and I sat in front of him and Mom.

Wait. Shaun was still out there. They took Shaun. He's still out there. Alive.

I shot up from the floor and suddenly a fire started from within me. I took a deep breath as I rubbed my eyes, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

"I'm going to find Shaun. I'll make you proud, Dad. Sleep tight." And don't let the bedbugs bite, he would reply back. But not this time. I closed the door as I saluted him, a proper soldier's salute like how he taught me. I made sure it shut tightly, and I walked over to Mom.

"I'm going to avenge you. And Dad. I promise."

As I walked away from the pods, I looked back one last time. I clenched my fists.

Whoever those people were, they were going to pay. For everything they did.

I needed to find a way out of here. Water was dripping from the ceiling. I ran down the halls, trying to find doors that could be opened. Then I stopped.

Holy…

What in the world was that? I stopped my breathing, walking backwards slowly. Ohmygodohmygod. What was that?

It was the biggest roach I had ever ever seen in my entire life. It was just a roach. It was just a bug. It couldn't hurt me. I needed to kill it and then I could move on. Come on Jo, you can do this, I told myself.

I sneaked up on the bug, making sure it wouldn't notice me. Then I steadied myself, planted my foot into the ground while the other rose high in the air. Stomp! I heard its guts splash under my boot and I cringed. Why was it so big? Disgusting.

The room next to me had more of them. But they were all on the left side of the room. There were charges of electricity flashing in the middle of the room though. That wasn't safe at all. My eyes drifted to the right side. I just needed to stroll through and I would be fine.

I lurked quietly through, trying not to disturb the strangely enlarged roaches as I passed through. Then I gasped. There was a skeleton splayed out on the floor. Wearing a vault suit, just like me. I took a deep breath and continued onwards.

Then I felt a crawling sensation up my leg. I froze up and turned my head, expecting the worse.

"Aghhhhh!" I shrieked and shook my leg violently. The roach flew off, but came flying to my face instead. I screamed bloody murder again, punching it as hard as I could. More came my way. I found myself fighting against a horde of the giant roaches.

When I was done, my hands were sloppy with giant roach guts. I stuck my tongue out in repulsion. It smelled horrible. I wiped it away on my vault suit, but it didn't make things any better.

I continued to walk down the hall, finally reaching the lobby. But when I looked behind the desk, there was another skeleton. It was wearing a scientist's coat. The same one the Vault-Tec overseer wore, I remembered.

"Am I the only one alive here?" I asked myself. The thought didn't make me feel any better.

There was a pack of bullets sitting on the desk. I read the package, and it was filled with 10mm ammunition bullets. It would've been a good find if I actually knew how to shoot a gun. Still, I shoved them in my pocket. I'd have to teach myself how to shoot if everyone I knew was gone.

As I tucked away the bullets, I turned on the rusty terminal in front of me. Maybe this thing could tell me why everything was so messed up.

I pressed a key that read Pod Occupant Status. Everyone died of asphyxiation. They had no oxygen. I sighed to myself.

I'm alone. And parentless. Everyone I knew and loved is dead. Except for Shaun.

I read the journal entries. The last one that had a date read April 23, 2078. Was I frozen for a year?

I was done. I didn't want to know anything else. I opened the evacuation tunnel using the terminal.

A closet caught my attention. I quietly opened the door, peeking to see if any of the roaches were hiding in there. The coast seemed clear. When I saw a lone pistol lying on the top of the shelf, I pumped a fist of victory.

"Now if only I had Codsworth to help me out here," I mumbled. Was he still alive? He had to be. He's a sturdy robot. He had to be out there still. And I needed to find him too.

I was on my tip toes again, and miraculously I was able to reach for the gun. I wish Dad would've taught me how to shoot. Of course, Mom would've never let me. While Dad was on the range with his army buddies, I was stuck at home helping Mom around the house.

"Next time I go on the range, I'll persuade your mother to let you go. I promise Jo," Dad said to me before he went on what would be his last trip to the shooting range. Before the world went to crap.

I looked back and I would've given anything in the world to be there again; to sit on the couch reading while mom embroidered and knitted. To help her around in the kitchen to cook and taste test her food. It only feels like those times happened yesterday, but now I'll never be able to do that with her. I'll never be able to ask my dad to go to the shooting range. Not until I see them in death.

I began to have that heavy feeling in my chest again. I bit the inside of my cheek to distract myself, and moved onwards.

My eyes widened. It was like I found the discovery of the century. It was the coolest gun I had ever seen, like something straight out of a Grognak comic! I didn't know what it was, but I just knew it was cool. In my stupidity, I tried punching open the case. That only ended up with me getting a sore hand.

"I'll come back for you next time," I muttered.

I ran through the halls, the pistol heavy in my hands. I ran past the giant roaches as quietly as I could. I didn't want another disgusting pile of giant roach guts on my hands again. Then I came to the entrance of the vault. Where everyone arrived.

"Is that?..." I came across a box full of everyone's clothes. Mom's blouse, Dad's white button up, and my dress. Reluctantly, I picked up the blouse. It still smelled exactly like her. Cherry blossom perfume and all. I bit my lip and moved on.

There was another skeleton scattered on the floor wearing a scientist's coat. Only this time...Was that a Pip-Boy? The thing was strapped onto its hand, which somehow got detached from the body. I grimaced, picking up the device anyways.

"Sorry buddy."

I strapped it onto my left wrist, searching for the power switch. Once I found it, the Pip-Boy started up, the loading screen flashing green. The controls for the entrance were right in front of me. But how would I get it to turn on? Experimentally, I pressed the big, square button.

It beeped. Pip-Boy interface required to activate Vault door cycling sequence. Have a nice day, the voice prompt finished.

"Today has been everything but nice so far," I scowled, finding the plug that fits into the hole next to the button. As soon as I inserted the thing, the Pip-Boy said "ready." But was I?

I held my breath. Then, with a finger, I pressed the square button again. There was a second of silence, then everything went dark. I jumped at the loud alarm that started as red lights began flashing. Vault door cycling sequence initiated. Please stand back.

A giant machine started to unscrew the vault door. My stomach churned. I was leaving them behind. Everything. The metal bridge unfolded before me. The door was open. I began stepping down the stairs. I walked into the huge elevator that brought me down here when the bombs dropped. And I waited.

Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault-Tec.