Fallout 3: Radiation

Interrogation of Innocence

Andromeda felt numb.

Tom had been shot, and Mary after him.

They hadn't done anything wrong. The guards couldn't have known that they were thinking of leaving, so why had they been shot like that? Mowed down without even being allowed to defend themselves?

Why was this happening?

Why was all this happening?!

She leaned against the cool metal of the wall, hands running over her sweaty face as she thought. If they had shot Tom and Mary so ruthlessly, what would they do when they found her? What did the Overseer have planned for her?

More than before the need to escape the vault found her. The need to escape and never come back. When this mess had started she had only wanted to find her father and bring him back, but now, after the violencec she was witnessing, she knew it would never be safe again for her or her father. Not with the Overseer around. 

There was only one option.

Across the Atrium, one of the security doors was stuck. Her, Stanley and Andy had been meaning to get to it, but... Well, other more important thing's came up, such as the Water Purifier, which always seemed to be on the fritz these days. She could almost laugh at the memory of them arguing over what to do about it. It felt like weeks ago (it had only been yesterday).

Tucking her hair into Butch's jacket and flipping up the collar, Andromeda did her best to hide her face. Hoping that at least if they didn't know who she was they would hesitate to shoot.

They hadn't hesitated for Tom or Mary.

She sprinted across the Atrium, narrowly avoiding the bullets that whizzed by.

"Butch, was that you?" she header one of the Officers call. "Butch, get back to your room! This is no time to be causing problems."

But she was already heading up the stairs, ignoring the calls.

She didn't stop even when she came to the next floor, she just kept sprinting. It wasn't util there was a loud bang from beside her that she jumped and stopped. Turning, she found an outraged Allen Mack glaring at her from out of the window of his families common room.

"You!" he growled, his voice muffled by the thick glass. "This is your fault! You and your stupid father! He had to go and leave, didn't he? He had to mess things up for everyone!"

She turned away.

"This is all your fault!" 

His shouts followed her as she ran on, but she couldn't bare to listen to them. Was this all her fault? She hadn't known her dad was going to leave, but.... And now Tom and Marry were dead and who knows who else with them.

Then she entered darkness. 

Low red emergency lights kept the floor illuminated but the rest of the room had obviously suffered a malfunction. In the dark of the systems room, everything seemed more terrifying. The Radroaches, the distant shouting of Allen, the body she was almost certain she had seen on the floor. She didn't stop to check.

Just as she was about to be out of that terrifying place, someone came around the corner.

Dodging out of sight, her lungs straining for air as she held it, the footsteps came closer.

In the darkness of the room, Officer Hannon passed right by her, rushing to help the rest of the Vault. It only took a few seconds for him to round the corner and disappear.

She breathed a sigh of relief before moving on. Officer Hannon had always been a nice person to her and her father. She didn't want to face him now when she wasn't sure what he would do.