Chapter 10 - Now or Never
That morning, Jim found it particularly difficult to focus on writing the prior day's journal entry. After the lockdowns had arisen in response to the New Plague and he was abruptly forced to return home from college, he'd decided to make a daily chronicle of his day-to-day life. It wasn't exactly chock full of interesting entries, but it did help him to parse out his thoughts. Thoughts that he wasn't exactly comfortable telling his parents or scaring Violet with. Things about the riots, the Plague, the war.
Jim had a lot of worries and, if he was being honest, he wasn't sure how much longer things could go on as they were. Every day left him more restless than the last and he saw the state of affairs like a rubber band pushed to its limit, ready to snap at any second. It felt like just a matter of when. That was part of why he wanted to keep a journal, too. Just… in case. If it all fell apart, if that rubber band finally snapped as his gut told him it soon would, then he knew it was important to preserve as much as he could. He wouldn't exactly call these happy days, but he knew it could be a lot worse. A whole lot worse, indeed.
Even so, it was getting a lot harder to detail his daily events in an interesting manner. Or at least a unique one. Every day was the same as the last, it seemed. Pausing to twirl his pencil against the edge of the page, Jim was trying to figure out how to make another day of reading sound exciting when he heard the front door open and shut with a slam. Perking a brow, he sat up at the desk, peering from the den's doorway to the main hall. He saw the figure of his father zoom past, still adorned in his coat and hat, something in hand.
Curious at this, Jim pushed out from the desk and moved to the doorway, peeking out just in time to see his father quickly ascending the stairs like his life depended on it. His curiosity piqued, Jim jogged up the stairs behind him.
"Dad?" Jim caught his father's arm at the landing, "What's going on?"
"We don't have much time," He said in a hushed voice, bordering on the brink of panic, "They'll be here any minute."
"Huh?" Jim blinked at him, "What? Who?"
"James, listen to me. I can't explain right now, but I need you to get your mother. Pack some things, quickly. Essentials only."
"Pack? What?" He asked, feeling himself begin to panic as well, " Dad, what's going on? Are we going somewhere?"
"We don't have time for this, Jim!" His father shouted, grasping his arm tightly, "Just do as I say! I have to attend to your sister!"
Jim glanced down to his father's other hand, seeing the needle he grasped tightly by his side. He had so many questions, but now clearly wasn't the time for them. He nodded anxiously, and his father finally released him, hurrying down the hall towards Violet's room. Jim turned and hurried back down the stairs, nearly running into his mother as he rounded around the railing.
"James? What's going on?" She asked, voice fraught with worry.
"I don't know, but dad says we have to pack. Essentials only," Jim responded uneasily.
"What in the world?" His mother perked a brow, taking off her apron to reveal her pronounced baby bump, "You wait here. I'm going to have a word with–"
She began to ascend the stairs but Jim grabbed her wrist, making her look back at him.
"Please, mom," He pleaded, "Let's just do what he said."
She turned to glance up the stairs once more before nodding, coming back down the last few steps.
"Alright, you're right. Help me gather some food from the larder," She said as they moved towards the kitchen.
They were packing some cans and other food items when there was a knock at the front door. Jim and his mother exchanged uncertain glances before she went to stand, but Jim grasped her wrist again to stop her. She shot him a questioning look as the knock came again from the front door, to which Jim just shook his head. Before he could even think of what to whisper to her, his father appeared in the kitchen doorway with an unconscious Violet hugging over his shoulder.
"Darren? What's going on?" His mother whispered, glancing over her shoulder when there was yet another knock.
"Here, take Violet," His father whispered back as Violet was swapped between them, "I want you to take the kids to your brother's house."
"No, Darren, you tell me right now what's—"
There was a loud splintering of wood as the front door was kicked in.
"Look around! Dr. Alden can't have gone far!" A gruff male voice ordered.
"I'll explain in the car," His father whispered quickly as he practically pushed everyone towards the kitchen door leading to the garage.
They all piled into the station wagon, with his mother keeping Violet in her lap. As soon as the engine was started, the kitchen door was thrown open and several armed men in army fatigues spilled into the garage.
"Get down!" His father managed to shout mere moments before the soldiers began peppering the vehicle with bullets.
Jim could only grip the back of his father's seat as his mother screamed, trying to shield Violet with her body. The station wagon peeled backwards out of the garage at full speed, smashing through the garage door and skidding across the front lawn before his father threw it into drive. Then the car was zooming forward, smashing through the neighbor's picket fence before veering onto the road. All the while, bullets continued to pepper the rear window.
Once there were a few blocks between them and the soldiers, it finally felt like Jim could breathe again and he released his hand from where it clamped tightly to the back of the seat. The wind whipped through the various bullet holes in the front and rear windows, tousling his hair wildly.
"What the hell is going on, Darren?!" His mother cried, tears already staining her cheeks.
His father was quiet for a moment, focused on veering the car quickly around others in the road.
"...I made a mistake at work," He said after a moment.
"A mistake?!" His mother shrieked, "What kind of mistake makes armed gunmen come to your house and start shooting?!"
"A big one," His father chuckled wearily.
"Dad, those were soldiers," Jim pointed out after a moment of silence, "Army soldiers."
"Darren, what did you do?!" His mother wept, hugging the still-unconscious Violet tighter.
His father sighed, gripping the steering wheel a bit more.
"West-Tek was working on something… something awful," He revealed quietly, "They were trying to make… well, monsters."
"Monsters?" His mother whispered, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know a lot of the details, I wasn't assigned to the project," His father shook his head, "But I put a stop to it. I spoiled the batch and deleted all the records. Years of research, all gone."
"But dad, why is the Army involved?" Jim asked anxiously.
"The project was all too well-funded. I knew it had to be from an outside backer," His father frowned, "I thought it was RobCo, maybe Vault-Tec even. I never thought the Department of Defense would be the ones behind it."
"Huh?" Jim blinked, "You mean it… that… the government was trying to make monsters?"
His father nodded silently, going to say something further. But then there was a blinding light and a boom like thunder. The engine suddenly switched off without warning, the station wagon skidding into the back of the car in front of them, which had also suddenly stopped. As had every other car on the road. The crash was more of a fender bender but the impact was still loud, though nowhere near as loud as the second crash of thunder.
And then they saw it. On the far horizon, two great plumes. Mushroom clouds, one forming seconds behind the other. Jim knew the lay of the land well enough to know they were heading north, meaning the clouds were in the northeast and directly north. And he also knew just what was on the far horizon there.
Scrambling up to kneel on the console between his stunned parents, he pointed towards the northeastern plume.
"Philly," He uttered grimly before pointing to the other, "New York City."
"Oh God," His mother whispered, barely audible.
"...We have to get to the Vault," His father said after a moment, struggling with his seatbelt before throwing open the driver's side door, "Come on! Move!"
Jim wordlessly scrambled to do the same, unable to look away from the mushroom clouds which continued to bloom higher and higher on the horizon.
The rubber band had finally snapped.