Chapter 8 - Come and Gone

As Marilyn stood on her tiptoes, she thought back to when she was a kid. For a brief time when she was younger, she'd hit a growth spurt earlier than her peers and towered above many of the other kids. Unfortunately, she didn't grow much taller past that, watching her classmates catch up and eventually surpass her in height. Nowadays, she was actually fairly short comparatively, and maybe even the shortest of their age group. Her shortness looked even more extreme compared to Dick, who was tied with Timbo on the other end of the spectrum, both being among the tallest in the Vault.

All that to say, Marilyn wished she hadn't taken her brief stint of height so for granted. Being so short made it very hard to see past the rest of the crowd. The entire Vault, short of the infants in the nursery, had gathered before the Vault door. Ahead of the crowd stood six figures, each the same age as her, though only Greg Velline and Judy Russell had been in her class. The others she recognized as George Castelluccio, Maria Serrano, David Fagan, and Tina Rockwell.

George was the grandson of Officer Castelluccio, and had always shared his grandfather's tendency to ramble on for far too long. He had curly brown hair, freckled cheeks, and sharp green eyes. He was pretty short too, so Marilyn had always felt a sort of kinship with him, even though they weren't close or anything. Seeing him assigned as a Scout made sense to her, given how dutiful and studious the rest of his family was.

Maria Serrano had her wild black hair pulled into twin braids over each of her shoulders, her dark eyes focused ahead on the door. Marilyn didn't know her very well, but the two of them weren't on very good terms. For some reason Marilyn couldn't quite fathom, Maria had developed a crush on Craig when they were younger. Everyone knew Craig was only interested in Marilyn, though, so it led to a lot of unpleasantness between the two girls.

David Fagan was one of the more familiar faces out of the bunch. She recalled him often offering to let her play with him and the other kids whenever Dick wasn't around. His willingness to include her had led to her developing something of a crush on him for a short time, until she had actively realized how similar he looked to Dick. He had that same olive skin, curly black hair, and warm brown eyes. But his eyes lacked Dick's mischievous glint and his smile just didn't make her feel the same.

Last of the group was Tina Rockwell, whom Marilyn had always regarded with a hint of jealousy. She was universally considered the prettiest girl in their age group, with silky golden hair and piercing blue eyes. She was also incredibly smart, always getting good grades, and naturally athletic. Of course, she was incredibly popular, too. All the boys of their age still seemed to hold a candle for her, even the married ones. Heck, even Craig and Timbo would sometimes get flustered in her presence.

Marilyn strained to look over the shoulders of the various dwellers who blocked most of her line of sight, unable to see more than bits and pieces. She could just barely make out the figure of Carmen making her way towards them, but it was hard to tell what she was doing beside that. Giving a frustrated sigh, Marilyn looked down and just relented that she'd miss most of the ceremony.

But then she felt a pair of warm arms encircle her waist and lift her up off the ground just enough that she could see past the crowd. Blushing, both at the contact and being manhandled, Marilyn glanced back over her shoulder, seeing Dick's smiling face.

"I gotcha," He gave her a nod, pulling her back against his chest, "That better?"

"Y-Yeah, thanks," Marilyn mumbled, glancing ahead and hoping he didn't notice how red her face was.

Though she watched Carmen shake the hand of each Scout, it was hard for Marilyn to focus. Between the warmth radiating from Dick's body and the spicy scent of his aftershave, it was all a bit distracting, to say the least. But when Carmen finally turned to address the crowd, the ceremony finally had her full attention.

"Today is the 23rd of October, 2177. And in just a few minutes, it will be 9:42 AM," Carmen began, ushering a still silence from the crowd, "It was on this day, at this time, exactly one century ago that the first nuclear bombs struck the United States of America."

Carmen paused for a moment, and the tension in the room increased.

"Those initial bombs struck the nearby cities of Philadelphia and New York City. Caught in the crossroads of these two impacts, our home, New Jersey, quickly fell to chaos," Carmen explained, " But thanks to the Vault-Tec Corporation and their wise decision to build Vault 31 far from those two major cities, Vault 31 was able to save the lives of many people. Every one of us who stands here today is alive because of these people, and because of this Vault."

Carmen moved over towards a podium which held a single lever, labeled with the words "open" and "close" on it. She set her hand at the base of the podium, but didn't yet touch the lever.

"From this day forward, October 23rd will not only be known as the day when Vault 31 closed," Carmen continued before grasping the lever, "It will also be known as the day when Vault 31 reopened."

With a resolute nod, Carmen pushed the lever upward. A yellow emergency light began to flash and an alarm began to blare. Marilyn winced, not wanting to cover her ears and miss anything, though she saw several others in the crowd do so. As a result, those individuals missed the loud hiss overhead. Marilyn looked up and saw a large hydraulic arm descend from the ceiling, moving towards the gear-shaped door. Once it made contact, the tip of the arm spun and locked into place. And then it pulled back.

A heavy metallic scraping joined the cacophony of the alarm as the door was pulled away, hoisted up towards the ceiling. It happened simultaneously far too slow and far too fast at the same time. Marilyn could only stare wordlessly at the dark gaping maw of the open gear-shaped doorway. Bits of loose soil and other small debris trickled from the edges of the frame, hitting the metallic floor with a quiet clatter.

"Today, these six brave individuals will leave Vault 31," Carmen said with a gesture towards the six Scouts, who each stood up taller, "As Overseer, I speak for all of us now when I thank you for your courage and sacrifice. From all of us here in Vault 31, good luck out there."

Each of the Scouts stepped forward, towards the door, one by one. Each stopped to salute to Carmen before approaching the threshold. The first to cross was Greg, who hesitated only for a moment before George set a hand on his shoulder. Then, together, they stepped through the open doorway. Marilyn heard a quiet splash as they did so, and wasn't sure what to feel about the fact that she knew why. After them went Maria, followed by David, and then finally Tina.

Everyone peered out to the darkness beyond, watching them disappear down the tunnel until there was no sign that they'd ever come and gone. Marilyn felt a wistful bitterness, the urge to throw everything aside and chase after them. But she knew that she couldn't. And so she could only watch in silence, along with everyone else.

After a moment, there was another loud metallic whir and many startled at this, including Marilyn. The hydraulic arm lowered back down, pushing the massive gear back into place with little fanfare. And as it locked in with a resounding boom, Marilyn was suddenly struck with a deep and overwhelming sense of despair.

"Thank you all for coming to attend this momentous occasion," Carmen said as she turned back to address the crowd.

"Yeah, not like it was mandatory or anything," Dick mumbled under his breath before moving to set Marilyn back down.

Marilyn didn't respond, quietly smoothing down her Vault suit instead. She could read the concern on his face as he watched her, so she forced herself to give him a reassuring smile. It was all she could do not to start crying.