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Finally, the armored strangers emerged from Vault 113.

Casper grinned behind his mask, glad that they showed up just when he was about to fall asleep. He watched as they walked out of the giant gear-shaped door of the vault, set up positions near the entrance, and sent a ball-shaped robot to fly up into the night sky.

Then, they just stood there, waiting for something.

Everyone else had gone down to the lower floor to sleep, leaving Casper alone in that rooftop. He thought about what Morrow said, about waiting to see if the soldiers would mean them any harm as they did with the rednecks, and he considered his options.

Operating on the assumption that the previous occupants of 113 were dead, Casper thought the soldiers did them a favor by clearing out the vault. But there was no telling if they'd stick around to keep it that way. After all, Vault 113 wasn't the only place infested by redneck mutants- the Carlon City ruins was too. Hundreds of them, still strong and as bloodthirsty as the day they forced their way out of the vault. It was fairly easy to guess what the rednecks did just to survive this long in the Wasteland, what with all their cannibalistic tendencies.

Casper took a minute to survey the streets that connected to the main path leading into Vault 113, and sure enough, two wandering redneck groups merged into one howling pack of blood-crazed, heavily irradiated freaks. As if they smelled blood in the wind, and irresistibly drawn to the carnage within 113, they rounded the corner and picked up the pace the closer they got to the vault.

Casper picked up his hunting rifle and chambered five rounds of .308's, then looked through the scope. Like he had done so many times in the past year, he waited until the mutants were well within his range that was marked by a flapping, tattered red flag tied to a broken traffic light hanging over the street.

But then, he hesitated.

There were simply too many of them. If his shots drew their attention, nothing would stop them from breaking through the flimsy barricades of the lower floors, which would then allow them entry into the building, leading to a bloody end for him and the survivors of Vault 113.

And yet, he wasn't just about to let those mutants swarm over the soldiers. If they were overwhelmed, their chance of retaking the vault would be gone.

Casper glanced down at the flashlight hanging by his utility belt that clung to his blue jumpsuit.

"Hmm..." The vault-dweller fished for the black metal rod. If he was honest with himself, he was tired of living outdoors.

West pried the ammunition belts away from the corpse's weapon and hefted the machine-gun onto his shoulder, "How much longer on that thing, Fade?"

"Compensating for interference, commander." The sniper replied, watching the blackness that totally overwhelmed the sky. "Alright, sending our findings to HQ. It shouldn't take long."

As darkness placed its black shroud over Carlon, it was as if night and day had an entirely different meaning to the ruins. Animalistic howls, yips and screams, the rattle of gunfire. The whole of Carlon stirred itself awake, and brought with it a new kind of hell. The faint glow of torches lit the streets, and seemed to grow brighter as something started to come close to the entrance of the vault.

"Shit." West said under his breath, having finished doing an ammo count for the team. He knew, as far as armored stormtroopers went, they weren't equipped to take on an entire city of those murderous freaks. They got lucky with the purge of Vault 113, and had the element of surprise on their side.

"Boss, I think we should head back inside." Riker suggested, "It'll be easier to fortify a position indoors, and we'd attract less attention that way."

"Good idea." West agreed, "Fade, get that thing back to earth ASAP."

"Almost done uploading, wait a minute." Her eyes drifted down from the sky to the top of a nearby office building, from which a blinking light was coming from. It wasn't just a random broken light flashing from an auto-cycle circuit, someone was trying to communicate with them. "Hey, look up there. Someone's trying to signal us."

Hey.

West and Riker exchanged glances, then the commander turned to Fade. "Well? Signal him back. Go, before the mob gets here."

Simple morse code. Fade, being familiar with that form of communication, signaled back with the flashlight on her helmet. Hello.

Hey.

Fade frowned, repeating the acknowledgement. Hello.

Hey.

"Hmm, lemme try something." She said, signaling something else. What is it?

Same answer came blinking back. Hey.

"I think that's the only thing he knows what to say." Fade reported to West.

"Well, regardless, we can't deal with that right now." West said, "Alpha, withdraw into the vault. Fade, I'll cover you until you get that eyebot back in your pack in one piece."

"Roger that, standby."

The mutants emerged into the path leading into the vault entrance, and as soon as they saw the two armored figures standing close to the door, they surged forward with reckless abandon. Scrambling over car wrecks and debris piles, they attacked Fade and West. The commander fended them off long enough for Fade to retrieve the eyebot, then the two started a slow retreat into the small crack of the door.

Shots came from the same spot where that unseen stranger had been signaling them, which cut down five of the howling mob. It wasn't enough to stop them completely, but it slowed their advance to a crawl.

"Riker, prepare to shut this thing up!" West yelled as he fired another burst from his machine-gun, letting Fade enter first before following her inside. Two of the hybrids resorted to manually force the heavy door shut, as the lack of power kept the machinery from shutting it for them. Slowly, the groaning slab of metal rolled inwards, crushing the rabid freaks attempting to slip through the shrinking gap in a gruesome soup of blood and gore.

"Great, now we're trapped." Kid growled.

"It sure beats getting torn to shreds by those freaks." Fade huffed, feeling a bit winded as she struggled with her busted leg.

"Now don't you all get your panties up in a bunch." West said, removing his helmet. "We're all alive and we've sent our report back to HQ. They'll be sending some back-up for us soon, assuming Fade over here mentioned that in her transmission."

"Of course I did." Fade said irately, "Sir."

"Well, what do we do in the meantime?" Hayes asked.

"We sit tight, that's what." West replied, sitting down next to the control panel connected to the door. "And get comfy, save your energy. I reckon it won't be long before we'll have to fight off those things again." The whole team agreed on the commander's orders, and set up positions close to the vault entrance, keeping their weapons close in case anything happened while they rested.

"Hey boss, what about those guys signaling us earlier?" Riker said, "Any chance of us getting in touch with them from here?"

"Doubtful. There's no way of knowing if they've got anything else to communicate with."

"What the hell are you doing?"

Casper put his weapon aside and looked through his binoculars again. Morrow and the others had heard the commotion and went up to investigate. They found Casper at his usual spot, but surrounded by spent shell casings.

"Casper!"

"Shut up! I'm trying to see if our friends downstairs are still alive." The man snapped, feeling frustrated as he saw no sign of the armored figures but saw plenty more of the rednecks as they pounded at the door of the vault. The path up to the entrance was filled with the bodies of the dead, and the living began cannibalizing the remains. "Damn it."

"Are you trying to get us all killed?" Morrow said as he took the rifle away from the watchman.

"Hey!" Casper dropped the binoculars to the floor and grabbed for his weapon. He got into a brief tugging match with the old man, which he later won. He slung the rifle to his back and protested hotly, "I'm not trying to get us killed, you old fool! I'm trying to find a way to get our vault back!"

"How? By waking up the whole damn city, trying set the rednecks down on us?"

"No, I was trying to flash a signal on those soldiers. It just so happens that the rednecks came around the corner and attacked them." Casper explained, "I used my rifle only to help them get inside the vault without a scratch- and did a pretty damn good job doing that too!"

Morrow's dark expression didn't change, "You should've consulted me about this first."

"I didn't exactly have that much time to do that, Morrow. By the time you got yourself up here, they would've gone without knowing we're up here."

"And what did we gain out of this, huh?" Morrow said, "They're trapped, just like us. How exactly does that help our case? Tell me that!"

Casper's lips pulled together into a straight line as he reined his temper in. He took a minute to recall what he saw earlier that night, then remembered the thing one of the soldiers sent into the sky. "They launched some kind of robot into the sky a while ago, I think they did it to contact whatever base they had out there- probably another vault."

"So?"

"So..." Casper put two and two together, "Maybe they called for help? Maybe they saw the same situation we're in, and they're bringing in an army to back them up?"

Morrow remained unconvinced, but the other vault-dwellers were whispering among themselves. They were hopeful and eager to return to the safety of vault living. The old man shared that same feeling, but he was cautious, and he didn't care even if he was a little too much.

"Maybe so..." He begrudgingly said, "But I can't trust you as watchman, you're too reckless."

"Oh for fuck's sake, Morrow-"

"No." The old man declared firmly, "Give me your rifle. I'm taking over."

"B-But..."

"Now, Casper!" Morrow's hand was on the handle of his gun that hung at his hip.

Exasperated, and feeling the pressure of a dozen eyes watching his every move, Casper relented. "Fine, if that's what it takes." He unslung the rifle and released it into Morrow's hands, "Try not to drop it over the ledge, will you?"

"Head on downstairs and make yourself useful." Morrow instructed as the crowd of dwellers parted to let the relieved watchman through. "The rest of you, go back to your business. I'm staying up here, try to figure out what to do next."

"Come on, in you go."

Hope's tiny mouth closed down tight as her face bunched up in disgust. The baby pushed herself as far as the backrest of her seat would allow, "No!"

Erik chuckled, impressed at his daughter's intelligence. Barely a year had passed, besides acquiring basic motor-skills like walking and grasping, she was already talking. Now, she showed an early aptitude for grasping the meaning behind words. "Yes, Hope. Vegetables are good for you."

The horrid orange paste of mashed carrots served up on a ceramic spoon hovered in her face, and Hope searched desperately around the white room for any means of avoiding the torture of swallowing her father's poison. Her eyes caught sight of her mother, who was busy pumping out milk from her breast to a bottle to feed her later.

Hope's chubby hand reached out to point at her, "Milk! No! Milk!"

"Aw, honey." Felicia said sweetly, never one to resort to baby-talk like her husband, and kept her words simple as she would her peers. "You can have milk later. First, you need to eat your veggies. Come on, make mommy and daddy proud."

"Mmm..." Hope pouted, eventually loosening her lower jaw until her mouth opened.

"That's it, there's a good girl." Erik let the paste slide from the spoon and into her waiting mouth. He fished a napkin from the table and wiped the excess from his daughter's chin. "See? Not so bad, right?"

"Bad!" Hope replied, demanding her reward. "Milk!"

"Not yet, baby." Erik said, showing the small bowl holding the rest of the mashed carrots. "You still have a little bit more."

Hope, exasperated, expressed her frustration the only way she knew how. Her cries filled the room as she bemoaned the end of such a good day. Unfortunately for her, Erik and Felicia knew better than to give in, and waited patiently for her drama to fade. Pretty soon, Hope forgot what she was so mad about, then immediately asked for the sweet white ambrosia swirling in the bottle held in her mother's hand. "Milk!"

"Veggies first, Hope." Erik persisted, starting the cycle all over again.

"No!"

With babies, a little perseverance from parents was required when teaching them things, like eating vegetables because they were essential for growth. Hope, though stubborn at first, was amenable. Soon, she learned that doing what she was told got her what she wanted, a lesson that would prove useful when nurturing her in her life within the Vault.

"Well, who knew she was such a drama-queen?" Erik remarked.

Felicia smirked as she breastfed Hope. She gave her just enough to satisfy her craving for milk, then patted her back. Hope uttered a faint belch then yawned, prompting her mother to set her down in the crib. "Just wait until she gets to her teens, you haven't seen anything yet."

"I don't think I'll have much of a problem there." Erik replied, "I have you to back me up."

Felicia felt his arms snake around her waist as she was bent over the crib trying to tuck their baby in for the night. Erik whispered in her ear, "Hey, let's have some fun."

She turned around with an incredulous look on her face, "Oh! You're such a horndog, Erik!"

"Come on, we've never had time for ourselves for over a year now." He groaned as he kissed her neck and cheek, "Now's our chance."

"Stop it. You'll wake the baby." Felicia protested, lowering her voice. She struggled to keep her husband's frisky hands at bay, "Erik, for heaven's sake..."

"Oh honey, please let me have this..." The frustrated engineer pleaded, gently groping her soft flesh as he worked his way up and down her waist. "I'll make it worth your while, work off some of that tension building up. Come on, what do you say?"

Felicia sighed, twisting her body about until she was facing him. She took his face in her hands as she offered a solution, "Fine, honey. But listen, we can't do it here."

"What do you have in mind?"

The redhead smiled, "I've got access to the stockroom just down the hall. We've got at least an hour before Hope wakes up."

"An hour's all I need." He led her out of the room by the hand and raced down the empty corridor.

By now, Erik and Felicia were well aware of the eyes that kept tabs on every activity done in Vault 115, and both had grown accustomed to it. Right then, they didn't care about some pencil-pusher snooping in on their personal lives. They weren't doing anything illegal, as far as vault laws were concerned. As far as they knew, they were actually doing their civil duty of contributing to Vault 115's population.

Felicia slid her identification card across the scanner, gaining them entry into the stockroom. The door had barely closed behind them when her husband decided that the wait was too much, and he promptly pinned his wife against the wall as he undressed her from behind. The cool, mint atmosphere of the room kissed her naked skin as Erik pulled the top part of her jumpsuit down, causing her gorgeous mounds to burst free from their constraints for him to fully appreciate.

The front zipper ran along her crotch up to her backside, a feature Vault-Tec's clothes' designers were quite fond of as it offered many unique opportunities for the female vault-dweller, which Erik gently tugged to expose her lovely tushy. His hands were all too eager to explore those firm cheeks, and he slid them under the black fabric of her underwear to caress and squeeze Felicia's ass.

The redhead grinned, showing her approval. By now, Erik had grown bolder in his foreplay and seeing Felicia so open for exploration, he dove right in.

"Hey, get over here." The MP whispered to his friend as he zoomed in on the couple getting it on in the dormitory stockroom. "Would you look at this shit?"

The other guy squinted, trying to make sense of the grainy feed. He watched a female vault-dweller pinned against the wall as she was taken from behind. From what he could see, the act seemed pretty consensual, and he shook his head. "So? Don't tell me this is the first time you've seen a gal getting fucked before."

"Of course not!" The MP defended, "But this isn't just any gal, it's Felicia Weiss! That cute broad with the red hair who got hitched with an engineer from the development program? Lucky sumbitch."

"Oh! Well that sure changes things." His friend pushed his chair closer so he could enjoy the show. Felicia had become somewhat of a celebrity with some of the soldiers, due to someone leaking holotapes of her breeding sessions with her husband prior to First Batch Day. The holotapes became a sensational piece, and many were willing to pay good credit to get a hold of the latest records, especially now that Felicia's figure improved following her pregnancy. "You're rolling the tape now, right?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, of course."

Erik grunted as he moved his hips back and forth, constantly adjusting his position so he could rub every spot. Keeping the pace steady to help his wife reach her climax was hard. He couldn't remember the last time he jerked off, the extra hours he put into his work to provide for his family left little room for him and Felicia to enjoy their sex life. He tried to hold out for the whole hour, but with all that suffocating tightness, the heat and wetness of it, they were just too much. He sheathed himself inside her one last time, uttering a loud curse as he dumped his load into her.

Felicia leaned heavily against the wall, feeling as though her legs had turned to jelly. She sighed with resignation.

She was so close.

In spite of the cool air, her body was sweating. She whimpered as Erik finally pulled out of her, who drifted off with a satisfied smile. "Oh yeah...thanks honey." He kissed her cheek as he gave her rump a firm squeeze, "I'll go ahead and see if Hope needs anything."

"Okay." Felicia replied, "I'm just gonna stay here for a bit, catch my breath."

Erik left the room, letting the door shut behind him. Felicia slumped down on the floor, still sticky and frustrated from not getting herself off. "Heh, catch my breath. Haha, right." The redhead closed her eyes and imagined her husband taking her again, then slid her hand across her belly to give herself a good rub down below. Masturbation wasn't something she did on a regular basis, it was just something she did when the tension proved too much to handle.

Her husband was right about her having some of those frustrations. She didn't hate him for finishing early, she understood how hard it was to juggle both his and her needs at once. Perhaps, given time, he'd have the stamina to see to both of their needs. But right now, she'd have to do it herself.

Felicia opened her eyes to the faint whir of a camera turning to face her. She saw the lens adjusting to view her, and realized that someone in the other side of that camera had taken an interest in the scene below. Just under the camera was a poster, depicting a single disembodied eye surrounded by a gear shaped symbol that resembled a vault's main door, the symbol of Vault 115's security division.

It read; Your privacy, for your safety. Your safety, for your privacy. Vault 115 Security, always watching, always for your benefit.

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