The New Wasteland

Part 2: more questions than answers

As you trek through the grassy fields, you take a second to look back at the factory you had just escaped from. Turns out, it's quite a bit bigger than you thought. At least several times larger than the one room you had to escape from. I'm not even gonna bother with this place for now. There might be way more of those thugs hanging out there, you think to yourself. As you get back to walking around. Although, given how foggy your head still is, especially since the pain from your fight is still very prominent, you have to remind your self what your current objective is.

"There's a nearby vault that I was found 'frozen' in," you mumble to yourself. "Look for the tent shaped rocks..." You proceed to wander aimlessly while scanning for wherever  the pile of rocks could possibly be. You do stop for a moment though to make a note of your objective on your pip-boy, just incase you forgot again.

You had been wandering for about 10 minutes now, and the heat was really getting to you. You were sweating enough to fill a water park. Finally though, after already going through half of your first water bottle, you found the tent shaped rocks. Although, all it was was four rocks leaned against each other, it was barely tall enough to peek over the tall grass surrounding it. Out of frustration, you kick it over before searching the surrounding area for the vault. Something felt off though. This area was completely flat, and vault entrances are typically built into the side of hills. Even though there are some vaults that have vertical entrances, those ones have stone platforms, and are also made on hills. It's not like they're easy to miss either. In all honesty, if there were an actual vault, you probably would've noticed it way before seeing the rocks. Wait, why do I know so much about vaults, but I can't remember anything about the vault I was supposedly from? You wonder.

You finally find the "Vault", but it isn't even a real vault at all. It's just a very large metal trapdoor half covered in dirt. A bunker, at best. From the little bits of what appear to be chuncks of concrete scattered around it, the building it was built near was completely destroyed, and whatever was left of the rubble was also taken. Although, you can't even begin to think of why someone would scavenge literal rocks, but that's not important for now.

As you're about to open the trapdoor, you notice there seems to be some kind of logo on it. Wiping off the dirt, you see it's an E surrounded by stars. "Hm, I feel like I should know what this is... then again, that might just be because of my apparent brain damage..." you say to your self. You flip open the heavy door and peer inside. A poorly lit staircase is all you see. You mumble a quick "oh boy..." to yourself before drawing your pistol and turning on your pip-boy to use as a light source. You take a deep breath, muster all the courage you can, and begin your descent.

You walk slowly and cautiously, keeping your pistol at the ready. Though there isn't any signs of life in here, the dead silence only worsened your anxiety. After what felt like an eternity, you make it to the bottom of the stairs, and go through a big metal door, the kind you find in vaults. Although, this still can't be a vault. There wasn't any big vault door, and there isn't any vault-tec branding anywhere.

Once inside the room, you find yourself in a pitch black space. Luckily though, the lightswitch was very easy to find, and once you flipped it and the fluorescent lights hummed to life,  you got a good look at the space around you. It's a bit... strange. Certainly not what you were expecting. The room was moderately sized, with a simple desk on one side and a line of lockers on the other. The door to the next room was straight across from the first. It appeared to be some kind of government facility, but it all looks too well cared for to be pre-war stuff. Either this place was built relatively recently, or people have been working here for quite a long time. Although, it seems they haven't been here in awhile, as dust has settled over everything. That's the only sign of age though. You holster your pistol and take a moment to enjoy the fact that this place is air conditioned, sighing in relief before walking over to the desk.

Unfortunately, it does appear that those thugs who found you here had their way with it. The terminal that was on the secretary's desk had a hole punched through the monitor, and anything good you could've found was already taken, shown by the desk drawers being hung open and empty. You took a moment to look through the lockers, but all you found was a lab coat in each with the logo you found earlier on them. You went ahead and took one, wearing it over your jumpsuit. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Continuing into the next room, you find it's a small corridor with three more rooms adjacent to it. It seems that lightswitch was universal, as the rest of the lights were already on. The first one that gains your interest is the door labeled "armory", but as you go to press the button to open it, you find it requires a key card of sorts. You curse under your breath and go over to the door across from it, which is labeled "communications".

You had your hopes up when entering this room. Maybe I can talk to someone who can help me, you thought. However, your hopes were completely stomped out by the sight of all the terminals, computer servers, and communications devices completely ruined. Everything was either smashed or, as the bullet holes showed, shot at.

You groan loudly in frustration. "Come on! Can't I just get a break?" You examine everything closely to see if you could maybe find something still usable or something that could be repaired, but came up with nothing. The only thing you found was a large switchblade still lodged in one of the servers. You grabbed it, deciding once more that it was better than nothing, and walked out, grumbling to yourself the whole time. "Stupid thugs," you mumbled to yourself, "Why would they even do that in the first place?"

Walking back out, you close the knife and tuck it in your satchel. You walk over to the final door, labeled "containment". "This must be it," you mutter. Taking a second before hand to gather yourself and focus, you open the door and take a step inside. The room is pretty small, like two closets stuck together. There's a terminal attached to the wall, but like all the others you've seen, it's destroyed. Along the walls, wires and cords stretch towards one end of the room. The cords make their way into some sort of... pod. It's bulky, and it's door has been completely ripped off it's hinges and lies on the floor. You inspect the pod closer, finding frost on its seat and walls. The pod itself is cold to the touch. Colder than anything you've ever felt. "I was... put under some sort of cryo-sleep?" You mutter to yourself. "How long was I in here...?" You decide you've seen enough, and leave the room.

In the corridor, you look around one more time. "Well, I suppose it's time to go," you mutter to yourself as you start to walk to the stairs. You stop yourself in the first room though. "Wait... where am I going to go?" You continue to say to yourself quickly becoming more aggressive as you pace back an forth. "I don't know anything! my knowledge is as full of holes as a block of Swiss cheese!" You stop, take a deep breath, and calm down. "Okay, let's figure out what I do and don't know. I can easily recognize the model of my gun, but I don't remember shooting one... I know what a ghoul is, but I don't remember ever meeting one... and I know a lot about vaults, despite not knowing about the vault I seemingly lived in..." Thinking for a moment, you snap your fingers as it clicks in your mind. "I've retained the knowledge I gained via my memories and experiences, but I've forgotten the memories and experiences!"

You continue up the stairs, exiting the bunker, and bask in both the setting sun and the pride from your deduction. You then look around for a second before asking "what now?" Under your breath. "I suppose I should just start walking..." you look over to the setting sun, "east? Yeah, east sounds good."

You begin treking towards the sunset, enjoying the chill winds as you journey off to God knows where.