A Rose Among Thorns

1 | Out of Time

"Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately."

The woman's voice droned over and over in a robotic fashion. That, an alarm, and the slow warming of her body, woke Briar Rose. She coughed as her lungs transitioned from the icy, dry air. Even though still extremely cold, at least now she was regaining feeling and movement in her numb limbs.

Her mind was disorganized. The alarm and warning repeated and snapped her to attention. Her memories came back: the bomb falling, them entering Vault 111, being put under cryogenic sleep, Nate shot by a man with a scar, and Shaun was taken.

Fear seized her heart. Now fully awake and in control of her muscles, she banged on the iced window and strained to push open the door. Her pod opened with the expelling of gas and her lungs expanded with new air—even though the air seemed stale, like it hadn't been turned in a long time.

Her eyes zeroed-in on Nate's pod; she couldn't see through the iced-over window. Briar Rose stepped out of her pod, but she collapsed since her legs weren't used to weight. She stumbled over to Nate's pod and felt of the metal—cold. Next to his pod was a keypad, and she pressed the large red button, hoping it would open the door.

"Please be a dream. Please be a dream," she begged.

The door unlatched; gas hissed and fog flew out as the pod opened up. Briar Rose's heart stopped when the door lifted entirely up: Nate was slumped, eyes half-open, a dark hole above his right eyebrow and blood splattered behind his head. And his arms were empty—Shaun was gone.

She honestly didn't know what to do—he had always been the strong one, the one she relied on for strength and guidance. But now he was gone, along with their child. She was alone; just her to face an unknown world.

She caught sight of the gold wedding ring on his finger. Determination filled her like never before; she had to rely on herself now, and she would search the entire world for Shaun. Nothing—no matter how horrendously mutated and evil—would stop her.

Briar Rose slid the wedding band off his finger. "I'll find Shaun and I'll get them for this; I promise."

She turned away from her dead husband and headed toward the doorway up some steps. Every pod she passed was occupied, and she looked in each to find the same conclusion: frozen. It looked like her pod had been the only one to malfunction; Briar Rose was the sole survivor.

She made her way through Vault 111, following the path she remembered. She came to a door she didn't recall being there and couldn't open it, so she had to change her course. As she tried to find the exit, the Vault was eerily quiet and still.

Her bad feeling was proven right when she came onto a skeleton. She examined it to find scraps of blue fabric like the Vault suit she wore. Some bones were even scratched and chipped, resembling an animal chewing on bone. This had to be the remains of a Vault-Tec worker. But what ate on them?

Caution made her advance more slowly—she didn't know what kind of creature was down there with her. A 10 mm pistol lay near another skeleton; it still had some ammo but she would keep an eye out for more. Luckily, she found some in a locker and a security baton; she shortened it and stored it in a pocket.

In a long stretch of hallway with windows on one side, a large blot drew her eye. She crept closer to see a giant roach taking up a third of the window; something made it fly off.

"Giant roaches?" she whispered in disbelief. "What the hell?"

The cockroaches she knew were very skittish and fast, but nowhere as close to the size of that—about the size of her torso. She had to remember that what survived the fallout more than likely mutated. And of course cockroaches would survive; they were impossible to kill.