Out
She stumbled over the threshold of the tunnel. Ellen had never walked on anything but the floors of the Vault before, and uneven ground beneath her feet was a new thing to her. She glanced down, alarmed, and saw the remains of a sign reading LET US IN lying among a pile of blackened sticks. There was another nearby; it said WE'RE DYING OUT HERE, ASSHOLES. And there, next to it- well, you didn't grow up a doctor's daughter and not learn what human skulls looked like. Ellen stared, horrified. There had been people outside, after all.
She wasn't even aware that she'd started backing away, or that the tunnel had come to its end. At least, not until the light leaked into her consciousness- blazing, searing light, drenching everything, soaking down through her upraised fingers and frantically squinting eyelids. Nothing could be that bright! Light wasn't supposed to burn! She tried to flinch away, but the blinding light was everywhere... wait. No. No, it wasn't, it was fading, at least a little. The whole ceiling was ablaze, but the rest of the room was...
The rest. Of the room.
The room with no walls in sight. The room that went on forever. It just stretched out in every direction, on and on and on and oh God it was so huge! And it was- it was lumpy! The floor rose upward in places, or slanted down in others, and- and there were things sticking out of it. Weird dark vertical poles that didn't connect to anything. Lumps and piles of stone that served no purpose. Brushy yellow-brown stuff, low along the ground like the hair of a small child... Ellen staggered over to one of the flatter-looking stones and dropped onto it, her knees suddenly unwilling to hold her up. Trembling, she buried her face in her hands. After a while, she gulped and counted silently to ten; after some thought, she started counting again, this time to a hundred. Then she lifted her head and looked around again.
So big. So very big. And Dad was here, somewhere, out in all of this- this emptiness. How was she supposed to find one person in a place so enormous?
Off in the distance she could make out something that rose from the floor like the support columns in the lower levels of the Vault. It looked like some kind of reasonably civilized structure. If she kept her eyes firmly on it, the thought of the room's enormity was a little less oppressive. All right. She could do that. She could do that.
There were walls here, but they didn't connect to anything. They were scorched, burnt things, torn and gapped and unrepaired for God only knew how long. They'd closed in places once, but now...
Houses, she realized. They'd been houses once. Before the War people had lived out here, like this. That meant... that meant that the flat grey stuff under her feet had been a street once? She'd read about those. Streets were like corridors. They always went somewhere. Encouraged, she picked up her pace, looking left and right in wonder as she passed. Who knew, maybe Dad had taken shelter here. Lord knew she certainly wanted to.
She came to a place where the cracked and broken grey of the street grew wider, meeting with the remains of another, perpendicular street. On the far side of the crossing the road did not go on, but gave way to the first actual building she'd seen. Made of- brick? Was that the name of the red stuff? She was pretty sure it was brick- the building was at least as tall as Vault 101's atrium. The walls looked solid, too, nice and reassuring. After all the ruins she'd seen so far, and the sheer size of the big blue room, the prospect of real walls around her was a welcome one. With a sigh of relief Ellen jiggled the door handle until it came open.
It was dark inside, especially once the door had squeaked shut behind her. The building might be intact, but there weren't any lights on... no, wait, down away to the left there was a pale gleam in the ceiling. The blaze outside had left her unable to see in the shadows. She blinked a few times, waiting for her eyes to adjust. And then, oh, God, how she wished she hadn't...
Dangling from the ceiling, suspended by a pair of rusty, reeking chains, there hung a corpse. It had no head, no hands, no feet- but it wore clothes and it stank of blood. Worst of all, it wasn't alone. There was another one hanging from the ceiling further down- and there were severed arms on the floor, and something pinned to the corridor wall-
Gagging, frantic, Ellen wheeled and ran for the door. The rusty hinges refused to open, for all her trying. She was trapped in here with the bodies- no. Not with the bodies. The dead were dead, they couldn't do any harm. She was trapped in here with whoever had done that to those people. God Almighty, please, get me out of this place alive, she prayed as her hand went to the gun Amata had forced on her. Please.
Not a moment too soon, either. From somewhere down the corridor came a woman's high-pitched laugh, and a man's voice snidely noting, "Oh, this is gonna be fun."
It was over, wasn't it? It- it had to be? There couldn't be any more of those horrible people. There just couldn't. They'd come at her with lead pipes, and knives, and guns, and she'd tried to stay out of sight, but-
They'd just kept coming. She'd used the gun. She'd run like hell but there were more of those people wherever she went in this place, up stairs, down stairs. Her shoulder throbbed and ached where one of them had shot her, even with the stimpak injection that'd closed up the wound. She'd tried to get away, she'd leapt from the second floor to the top of some kind of cage in a big, open room, she'd hoped that'd get her out of range- but no. They kept coming.
But they weren't coming now. No more voices. No more gunfire.
Ellen couldn't holster the Overseer's pistol. More of the- more of them might show up at any moment. They could be anywhere. She wiped her gloved left hand against her thigh, fumbling, and tried to pray. All that came to mind was please, somebody, help me; and there was no answer.
Shivering uncontrollably, she started down the corridor again. There was a closed door up ahead and a sign reading STAIRS. It- it was worth a try. Maybe. Maybe the way down was the way out? Maybe she could get out of these place and run? Even the big blue room had to be better than this. She eased the door open; beyond was a rough-walled tunnel, lit by little, generator-powered lamps. It didn't look like there was enough room for any more of those- people- to be hiding in there, so she kept moving.
She didn't hear the skittering sound until she'd found the notebook chronicling the attempts to dig into Vault 101. And she didn't notice the skittering sound until she'd found the entry that indicated two people had already been eaten..
With a strangled scream, she brought the pistol to bear on the first of the giant ants.
She wasn't even aware that she'd started backing away, or that the tunnel had come to its end. At least, not until the light leaked into her consciousness- blazing, searing light, drenching everything, soaking down through her upraised fingers and frantically squinting eyelids. Nothing could be that bright! Light wasn't supposed to burn! She tried to flinch away, but the blinding light was everywhere... wait. No. No, it wasn't, it was fading, at least a little. The whole ceiling was ablaze, but the rest of the room was...
The rest. Of the room.
The room with no walls in sight. The room that went on forever. It just stretched out in every direction, on and on and on and oh God it was so huge! And it was- it was lumpy! The floor rose upward in places, or slanted down in others, and- and there were things sticking out of it. Weird dark vertical poles that didn't connect to anything. Lumps and piles of stone that served no purpose. Brushy yellow-brown stuff, low along the ground like the hair of a small child... Ellen staggered over to one of the flatter-looking stones and dropped onto it, her knees suddenly unwilling to hold her up. Trembling, she buried her face in her hands. After a while, she gulped and counted silently to ten; after some thought, she started counting again, this time to a hundred. Then she lifted her head and looked around again.
So big. So very big. And Dad was here, somewhere, out in all of this- this emptiness. How was she supposed to find one person in a place so enormous?
Off in the distance she could make out something that rose from the floor like the support columns in the lower levels of the Vault. It looked like some kind of reasonably civilized structure. If she kept her eyes firmly on it, the thought of the room's enormity was a little less oppressive. All right. She could do that. She could do that.
There were walls here, but they didn't connect to anything. They were scorched, burnt things, torn and gapped and unrepaired for God only knew how long. They'd closed in places once, but now...
Houses, she realized. They'd been houses once. Before the War people had lived out here, like this. That meant... that meant that the flat grey stuff under her feet had been a street once? She'd read about those. Streets were like corridors. They always went somewhere. Encouraged, she picked up her pace, looking left and right in wonder as she passed. Who knew, maybe Dad had taken shelter here. Lord knew she certainly wanted to.
She came to a place where the cracked and broken grey of the street grew wider, meeting with the remains of another, perpendicular street. On the far side of the crossing the road did not go on, but gave way to the first actual building she'd seen. Made of- brick? Was that the name of the red stuff? She was pretty sure it was brick- the building was at least as tall as Vault 101's atrium. The walls looked solid, too, nice and reassuring. After all the ruins she'd seen so far, and the sheer size of the big blue room, the prospect of real walls around her was a welcome one. With a sigh of relief Ellen jiggled the door handle until it came open.
It was dark inside, especially once the door had squeaked shut behind her. The building might be intact, but there weren't any lights on... no, wait, down away to the left there was a pale gleam in the ceiling. The blaze outside had left her unable to see in the shadows. She blinked a few times, waiting for her eyes to adjust. And then, oh, God, how she wished she hadn't...
Dangling from the ceiling, suspended by a pair of rusty, reeking chains, there hung a corpse. It had no head, no hands, no feet- but it wore clothes and it stank of blood. Worst of all, it wasn't alone. There was another one hanging from the ceiling further down- and there were severed arms on the floor, and something pinned to the corridor wall-
Gagging, frantic, Ellen wheeled and ran for the door. The rusty hinges refused to open, for all her trying. She was trapped in here with the bodies- no. Not with the bodies. The dead were dead, they couldn't do any harm. She was trapped in here with whoever had done that to those people. God Almighty, please, get me out of this place alive, she prayed as her hand went to the gun Amata had forced on her. Please.
Not a moment too soon, either. From somewhere down the corridor came a woman's high-pitched laugh, and a man's voice snidely noting, "Oh, this is gonna be fun."
It was over, wasn't it? It- it had to be? There couldn't be any more of those horrible people. There just couldn't. They'd come at her with lead pipes, and knives, and guns, and she'd tried to stay out of sight, but-
They'd just kept coming. She'd used the gun. She'd run like hell but there were more of those people wherever she went in this place, up stairs, down stairs. Her shoulder throbbed and ached where one of them had shot her, even with the stimpak injection that'd closed up the wound. She'd tried to get away, she'd leapt from the second floor to the top of some kind of cage in a big, open room, she'd hoped that'd get her out of range- but no. They kept coming.
But they weren't coming now. No more voices. No more gunfire.
Ellen couldn't holster the Overseer's pistol. More of the- more of them might show up at any moment. They could be anywhere. She wiped her gloved left hand against her thigh, fumbling, and tried to pray. All that came to mind was please, somebody, help me; and there was no answer.
Shivering uncontrollably, she started down the corridor again. There was a closed door up ahead and a sign reading STAIRS. It- it was worth a try. Maybe. Maybe the way down was the way out? Maybe she could get out of these place and run? Even the big blue room had to be better than this. She eased the door open; beyond was a rough-walled tunnel, lit by little, generator-powered lamps. It didn't look like there was enough room for any more of those- people- to be hiding in there, so she kept moving.
She didn't hear the skittering sound until she'd found the notebook chronicling the attempts to dig into Vault 101. And she didn't notice the skittering sound until she'd found the entry that indicated two people had already been eaten..
With a strangled scream, she brought the pistol to bear on the first of the giant ants.