At The Precipice Of Something New

Something Shocking

Sanctuary Hills
October the 25th, 2287
9:37

"You're serious? You were born before the War?"

Eyeing the four men and two women sat across from her, Nora Jacqueline Norwich nodded, rubbing at her eyes and hoping to stop the tiredness finally gnawing at her. Doing her best to focus, she tried to go through their names again in her mind as question after question seemed to be asked of her. Their leaders...Preston and Derek. The weaponsmith...Sturges. The broken family...Marcy and Jun. And then there was the...psychic. The psychic...Mama Murphy. She sighed. At least I haven't forgotten how to use a gun, not that I ever expected to need to like this, against other people. Even inside and away from the cold and rain, things felt defeated. We're lucky. Lucky to be alive. Lucky...Derek, isn't it? Lucky he had been coming to meet up with them with more supplies. The feeling of luck and relief, however, came and went. It was a fleeting, temporary feeling. Two days. It had only been two days. Two days and two hundred and ten years. She pushed the thought away. It was too much. Just the thought of everything was too much to bear, too much to bear all at once.

"She's a good soul," Mama Murphy said, reaching across the table to reassuringly pat the young woman's hands. "A good soul facing unbelievable tragedy. If it's not too much to ask, what was your life like before the War?"

"You really think that's an okay thing to ask someone right now?" Marcy snapped. "All we know is she's good with a gun and seems to care about saving other people's lives. We're lucky she's not some sort of raider!"

"I don't think someone just joins raiders out of the blue," Jun nervously said, twitching. "I mean, they would have been more likely to kill her rather than invite her to join them."

"They did try to kill me," Nora said, glancing to Marcy. "And it's alright. I suppose...it's understandable for you to be curious."

"As long as you don't feel as though you're being forced to do or say anything, you can tell us as much or as little as you like," Preston calmly said before Marcy could say anything more. "Mama Murphy is correct. You're facing unbelievable tragedy, and nothing about the world now can be easily comparable to the one you left."

"It isn't," Nora hesitated. "I'm twenty four, or, at least, was twenty four when I was frozen. My husband, Nate, and I had been married for just over a year and a half and have a three month old son, Shaun. I was a lawyer, practising law in downtown Boston, about two hours away from here, but was on maternity leave. I had been set to go back to work shortly before the end of the year but...as it would happen, that would become impossible."

"Law seems to be a long forgotten art but it is one we ought to revisit," Derek remarked. "I reckon my wife will have a great deal to ask you. Her great-great-great-great grandfather had been a lawyer, before the War. His law textbooks have been something of a religious text in her family ever since."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "If it's not too presumptuous, did he and his family survive in a Vault?"

Derek shook his head. "In an underground bunker, as it would happen. He was ex-military, and had become something of a – as I believe they would have described it back then – 'doomsday prepper' who had created a secure and self sustaining home under his own home."

"Sounds a lot better than what we got," Nora paused. "I'm so sorry if that sounds ungrateful or bitter, but, after over two centuries, I wake up with only the memories of my life before the War and my husband and son being kidnapped! When I...when I took a look around the rest of the Vault, it looked like everyone else had already been released before me. I don't...I don't even know what to think."