At The Precipice Of Something New

Something Unconscionable

The Commonwealth
November the 15th, 2288
19:08

"It's good you arrived when you did. I trust our underground homes have been treating you well? I'm sorry you cannot bathe in Atom's glow as can we."

Wrapping one of her two thermal blankets tighter around herself, still unused to the cold, dank, darkness of the caves and the half of the city carved and built out within them, Nora Jacqueline Norwich uncomfortably nodded. The twinkling lights of the mix of lightbulbs, string lights, and more traditional lamps were an eerie reminder of how deep underground they were and, though in most ways it was nothing like the Vault, it felt painfully familiar. Yet, uncomfortable as their surroundings were, they were also the only place safe from the radiation clinging to just about everything else above ground. Above ground. Above them, well above them and well away from safety and shelter, lay what had become the worst reminder of how far gone life before the War's fiery culmination was. Trying not to dwell on the violent storm out there which, to her relief, was almost able to be forgotten about so deep underground where its cacophonies were unable to be seen or heard, Nora wrapped her hands tighter around the edges of the blanket draped over her shoulders. It was there. Tactile. Real. She pushed herself up a little to sit up against the back of the surprisingly soft and comfortable bed. The former lawyer let out a light sigh of relief when she saw Nick was still sat at one of the chairs in the room, having closed the gargantuan book he had been reading ever since they had arrived into the safety of the city which, to her brief disbelief, had been nearly a week prior.

A week.

A week and a day ago, she realised as her heart dropped, she had turned twenty six.

And, fuck, did it hurt her through her skin and bones and to her soul to realise she was not only the sole survivour, just about, of Vault 111 but the sole survivour of the War of her siblings and parents.

Having no desire to even risk needing to explain her tears to the generous if mad woman who had entered their lodgings, Nora remained silent, twining her fingers in and out of each other. It was becoming a habit. She closed her eyes a moment when she felt tears nipping at their corners, and only opened them again when she was certain she would not begin to cry. Unnerved by the silence but not trusting her voice to not betray the storm underneath her masks, Nora tried to satisfy herself with observing the woman and Nick. Polite and amicable as ever, when she sat down beside him, Nick handed her the book he had been reading, allowing her to page through the passages he had marked either with a sticky note or a corner of the pages tucked down. Intrigued, the woman almost reverently turned through each and every one of the pages the aged detective had marked. Seeing the cover again, albeit for only a few seconds, the woman's interest in Nick's reading became clear as day. Embossed on the cover in bronze, calligraphic script were the words The Holy Words And Prophecy Of Atom. She almost smiled, the 'Atomite faith' as it was called both intriguing and maddening, but, instead, felt her face fall again when the thought she had been fighting most with came back to the forefront of her mind in a vengeful fashion.

If anything has happened to Shaun worse than what has already been done, then the fault is my own for not being able to protect him or rescue him fast enough.

"Some of our Brothers and Sisters have previously thought of you, Nicholas, as being by your very nature an affront to Atom. I am pleased they have since overcome their prejudice and accepted your unique body and mind as an unlikely gift from Atom," She closed the book and handed it back to him. "I am honoured to shelter you and your most resilient companion. Few people have witnessed Atom's holy act of division and survived to tell of it."

"It...was intense," Nora nervously said when the woman looked at her. "Even from so far away it...it was unmistakable. I'll never be able to forget it."