The Last Song (A Fallout 3 Story)

“Chickady” was born inside the vault but wasn’t exposed to the white noise’s poison enough to be effected until around the age of fifteen. Her parents on the other hand…

The Overseer always watched Cassidy because of her different talents; she didn’t have an instrumental talent like the rest of the vault members had, her’s was vocal. Overseer Rubin did not approve of this and wanted to disband Cassidy from the Vault at the young age of seven. Sera, her mother, plead for the Overseer to reconsider, and seeing Sera’s compassion for her daughter, he told her Cassidy could stay as long as she ‘tried’ to learn an instrument and took basic music classes. Cassidy hated this because she couldn’t learn it from the bat unlike her voice. 

Cassidy grew up watching the Vault deteriorate and always questioned what was happening but her parents always changed the subject; they never wanted to have to explain because even then, they barely understood themselves. She was there when the security guards had to fire more than twenty bullets before taking down a vault member who had gone crazy. She was there when her teacher’s son lost his mind and tried to maul his own mother. Things were beginning to get worse…

Cassidy was continuing to struggle through her class when a siren began going off in the hallway and flashing lights lit up the darkness. The thundering noise of the guard’s boots could be heard as they ran down the hall. Her ears perked up – finally, something different! But at the same time, her stomach churned. 

The rest of the class began clamoring from the commotion as the teacher, now a soft broken record, tried to calm them. 

“Now everyone, it’s probably another drill.” 

She had begun losing her mind as well when guards broke into their living quarters and found her son ripping her pieces. It was a miracle she was still alive. Now her lights barely showed any emotions. She was just an empty shell. The room door suddenly swished open and the entire class went silent as Overseer Rubin stepped inside. The Overseer rarely left his office on his floor so it was odd to see him there. The Overseer motioned the teacher over and began speaking, soft but still loud enough Cassidy could hear him.

“It’s…the Meiyerlies.”

Cassidy’s parents. Her entire body went ice cold and she stood from her desk, pushing through the Overseer and her teacher before dashing down the hallway; the Overseer’s commanding words could not even stop her. As she reached the living quarter wing, she saw at least seven guards stationed outside her door, armed with submachine guns and aimed at the inside. 

She pushed through the guards, fighting the ones who stopped her until she stopped in her tracks on what she saw.

Her living quarters were decorated with flesh, tissue, blood. Human blood. Her mother was hunkered up against a wall, trembling, whimpering and grasping her head in her hands. Her vault suit had been torn from…whatever had happened and her father stood a few feet from her. The scene horrified and confused Cassidy and as she tried to get closer she heard her mother’s voice…or what was left of it. 

“J-Jacob…please…these torturing voices…I can’t…do it anymore The agony…these nightmares.”

“Sera…”

Sera screamed out in agony in a shrill voice and her father flinched a bit, stepping back from it. Her mother’s usually strong gray eyes begged up at her husband.

“Please…before I lose control again…”

“Sera..I…”

It was then Cassidy noticed the 9mm pistol her father was holding at his side and she gasped softly. Her mother slowly began to stand from the wall though still grasping her head in her hands. 

Her mother begged again.

“I can’t…do it anymore. Please Jac! Don’t let me hurt Chickady!” 

Her mother was screaming at this point, shaking. Cassidy caught something in her throat and couldn’t bear to see her mother, once so strong, sobbing. Her father slowly raised his pistol and gritted his teeth, fighting back the same tears, as her mother stumbled forward. 

In a soft voice, Jacob apologized to his wife and she screamed out loudly, dashing forward to attack him and he fired a few shots, mostly hitting her in the chest and a few in the shoulder.

Sera stumbled forward to her knees and, dropping the pistol, Jacob ran to her side, cradling her. Sera died instantly in his arms though with a smile on her face. Jacob cried out in anguish, cursing the Overseer under his breath. Cassidy covered her mouth with her hands and tried to break free of the guards again but a few grabbed her, still unsure of the situation. She flailed, trying to get free before she saw her father let his wife’s body go and slowly standing, walking back to where he dropped the pistol. He knelt down, picked it back up and stood, facing his daughter.

“I’m…so sorry Chickady. I’m sorry this is how it had to happen. We just wanted an easy life for you, a safe life, somewhere you could grow and learn.”

“D-Dad…”

Her stomach churned again…something wasn’t right. 

“But…I gave your mother the release she needed…she’ll be okay now.”

It was then Cassidy’s gray green eyes widened as she watched him raise the pistol to his temple. She began to fight harder, she had to stop him!

“Daddy no! Wait!”

“You’re a strong woman…much like you’re mother. You’ll be alright. Stay here…where it’s safe.”

He smiled through the tears and finally Cassidy broke free, running forward. Jacob closed his eyes slowly and pulled the trigger; an echoing sound Cassidy could never forget.

“Noo!” 

The following months were a blur…The guards removed her parent’s bodies from the quarters but Cassidy never returned there. She opted to sleeping in the Infirmary or friend’s quarters. She began having nightmares about her parent’s and it was then the White Noise began haunting her. They weren’t driving her crazy but they were affecting her dreams. 

She began to see how the White Noise began affecting others; people whose personalities were usually shy or calm began easily enraged and aggressive. Some of the elevators began malfunctioning, the flooding leak got worse and food was becoming scarce. Deaths were multiplying.

Cassidy wasn’t sure what to do. She waited…for a long time. When Cassidy turned twenty though, by then, the horrors had hardened her personality but it was around the same year, the Vault completely tore apart. One third of the Vault’s members lost their minds and began to savagely slaughter the rest of the residents. 

Cassidy awoke one morning to people screaming, sirens going off, dead in the hallway. She knew this was different, today was worse. Cassidy had to get away. She glanced over at her dresser and stepped to it, opening the bottom drawer. Inside, sat her father’s blood stained 9mm but she knew she’d need it. She strapped a bag across her chest and snuck to Inventory, taking what she could carry before sneaking off to the entrance. 

Luckily, during the commotion, the door had been pried open and she took the opportunity to escape. 

Where she started over in the Wasteland.