Blood from vault 18
The dark and endless night
Kieron let out a sigh as he finished putting the last box down on the floor "Thanks Kieron I will get to sorting all this" Jenn said as she grabbed what looked edible and put it in a pile, while the things that were either broken or gave off a pungent smell where placed a in a plastic bag. Kieron nodded and looked at the amount of drinks and water they had available.
"This… wont last that long" the teen muttered to himself, looking outside he spotted Kurt signaling to come to a slope near the house. Kieron quickly excused himself and dropped down towards were the tribal kid was "The traps are all set, when the demon arrives this mines shall take its life, the fire will burn him to the bone"
Kieron nodded "Good that's one less thing to worry about, did you find any source of water"
Kurtz made a face towards a well "Its completely dry, but there is some sort of metallic pump at the bottom of it. If you are feeling brave you can journey down to see what it is, but for now no… there is no river or lake we can draw water from" Kieron clicked with his tongue and turned to look at the well near the house "Then I guess we need some rope." Kurtz tossed him some along with one of the spears he had crafted "Here you go, I am increasingly surprised by your ability to keep going. I am barely standing after everything that happened at the vault… and you are standing like nothing happened."
There was a pause as Kieron looked down at his hands "I… I don't know why, maybe the adrenaline in my system. But I don't feel tired at all Kurtz and I didn't say anything because we had more important things to worry about… you don't think I'm dying right?" Kurtz shook his head.
"No but you will just probably feel like shit when you wake up tomorrow, my recommendation is that you look for water and then stop. Make the crash less painful" Kieron nodded as he began to move towards the well, using the spear like and anchor he jumped into the depths bellow and activated his PipBoy light. He looked down and just like Kurtz had said he spotted some sort of machine at the bottom, grinning he descended faster and arrived at the big pump like machine, wiping some dust off the screen of the terminal Kieron he was pleasantly surprised to see that the screen said water levels at 200%.
His boots felt damp, and he could faintly hear something beneath him. There was an underwater river or maybe even a lake, no wonder this mountain was so green, Kieron pushed some buttons and soon the old pump began to fill the well as Kieron began to ascend, with the water problem now solved he could relax. The boy felt his shoulders sag a bit as he finally had nothing to keep him going, and he began to feel the anxiety and pain sink their claws on him as everything crashed down on him. He reached into his pocket and looked at the only thing he had of his family.
"M-Mandy…" Kieron held the guitar pendant close to him, his little sister… was gone, memories assaulted his brain as millions of plans and what if scenarios forced him to accept one thing "I failed her" he muttered to himself as tears began to cloud his vision, all alone in the woods Kieron allowed himself to cry, he sobbed as he brought his chest to his knees and closed his eyes.
The clod air of the afternoon caressed his back as he broke down fully, the crushing realization of just how alone he really was out here made him stand up as he tried to get his shit together "No… no, I need to… I need to do something" Kieron looked for a bucket as he began to tie the bucket with a rope and used it to grab water from the now rapidly filling well.
Pulling the water up he washed his face and let out a long sigh "Alone… no no I have the others, I can't let them down" he knew that Mandy would not want him to be sitting around here, feeling sorry for himself, and hating his own life.
"Or maybe that's what I want to believe" he muttered to the winds as he began to walk back to the house, gently opening the door he spotted Jamie and Eric already asleep by the couch and Jenn seemed to have taken one of the smaller beds at his right and Kurtz seemed to be content with sleeping close to the door. As for Kira she seemed to be watching over Johnny "You know, I think you did the impossible Kieron"
The boy raised an eyebrow as she pointed with a small smirk at the passed out boy "You somehow made him uglier"
Kieron actually chuckled at that "Not that much of an accomplishment if you ask me, how you feeling Kira?" the purple haired girl studied him and frowned "Better than you it seems, could you please just slow the fuck down so that you don't die?"
"Sorry, I just wanted to let you know that we have water now. You can get it from the well over there"
Kira seemed to be surprised "So Kurtz wasn't just talking nonsense then. Good to know, that something less to worry about but don't get comfortable Kieron remember the promise you made"
"I do, we just need to gather resource and make this a powerful enough base of operations and then you and I are taking the long road to the raiders" Kira nodded happy that he remembered.
Leaning against his shoulder she allowed herself to let out a sigh "Good, we have to free our family Kieron" Kieron felt a lump form on his throat "… I don't know if there is anyone left of my family, but I am sure that we will find yours"
"Mandy and Shawn couldn't have been the only ones Kieron, you're not alone I know it" Kieron nodded as he grasped her shoulder "Of course I am not alone I got you guys" Kira felt a smile form on her lips, even if he meant it as a group a part of her was happy that he counted her as someone close.
If she was being realistic he was the only one she had, the others really didn't like her and because of the situation with Jenn they were not that inclined to accompany her to the raider headquarters, so it was nice to know that at least someone had her back.
Kieron for his part was more preoccupied with how the night seemed to be setting in "Have a good night Kira, I will take the first watch" the boy said as he walked towards the front door of the house, using his newly acquired weapon he prepared himself for the long night as everything around him began to be swallowed by the shroud of night. The light of the fireplace behind him failed to reach him and Kieron was alone in the dark.