INTO THE WASTELAND... AGAIN!

ESCAPE FROM PARADISE (Part 2)

"Nora! Come here a minute." I called out.

She comes running in and asks me what's up. I show her the terminal and ask to check each one as I list them off. She agrees.

"Pod one, Mr. Smith... Oh no." I said and slammed my fist against the wall.

"Hun, what is it?" Nora called back.

"Pod one... Mr. Smith... Vitals status... Deceased." I responded. "He's not the only one hun, pods 2, 4, 5, 7 are all showing deceased status. 3 and 6 are showing that they're empty."

I shut down the terminal and head back to the chamber we were in and check the terminal there, once again bypassing the system lock. The status of these pods weren't any better. None of the other ten pods read living or show any vital signs. I walked back and told Nora the bad news, she didn't take it too well, but when I told her Shaun's name didn't show up, she perked up real quick.

"So he's alive somewhere, please tell me he's alive." Nora shouted.

I nodded my head, but I wasn't for sure where. Maybe he had gotten out before us a few year ago, and he's out in the world. The thought though, of him growing up alone sent chills down my spine. Nora began to speak, when all of a sudden I heard something. I threw my hand up to quiet her, it sounded almost like giant insect wings.

I double checked the shotgun and crept over to the wall near the entrance and peered around the corner. Coming down the hallway, were giant... Roaches. I grabbed my knife from my boot and waited til one got close. I slammed the blade through what I believed to be the damn things head. Apparently I was right, because the thing went limb, no movement or anything. I heard approximately four more coming down the hallway. I sheathed the knife and readied the shotgun.

I spring around the corn and fire both barrels, dropping the roaches. As well as sending buck shot down the corridor. We search around picking up anything that might be useful, which for soldiers, is everything. Somehow I'm able to carry it all in my bag like it's magic.

Checking the hall way I make my way back to the vault door. The sight however, is gut wretching, skeletons line the floors as we make our way up. On our way through this maze, we come to a locked door. And on the door it reads, "OVERSEER". It however, has a normal lock unlike the ones that were on our house doors.

"Nora, do you still carry that Bobby pin case I gave you?" I asked, turning to her.

She nods, and digs it out of her purse. She hands it over and I pull one of them out, shaping it into a lockpick. I insert the bobby pin into the lock and pull out my knife. After a few seconds of fiddling with the lock, and a couple bobby pins later the door clicks open.

Inside, there stands, messy but in tack, an ornate office desk. Picking the locks on the drawers, I found not one but two devices, ones in which I've only read about. Pip-boys. I slip one on and activate it. Within seconds, it's showing my vitals, as well as the information of how much weight I'm carrying and the layout of the vault. One room shows up black on the map and it's just behind us.

It also shows how much ammunition I'm currently carrying as well as the status of my body. I hand the other one to Nora, which does the same thing as mine did. We turn around to face the door, and of course, locked. After 3 bobby pins and five minutes later, the door clicks open.

Inside, we gathered up all the resources we could find, killed a couple roaches, as our pip-boys now inform us, radroaches, and found a safe. I quickly forget the bobby pin situation, and blast the lock open with a shotgun shell. Inside, was another lunch box and quite a large stack of bills, which the pip-boy informed us it's useless junk.

After running around and collecting everything we could, we make our way back, once again, to the vault door and finally, the elevator out of here.