Into The Fall

Chapter 1

      Sutton squinted her eyes against the harsh light. The rays from the high-powered bulb's causing her migraine to surface. She coughed as musky, mildew smelling air filled her lungs. She groaned as she attempted to move her arms, every muscle in her body protested as she attempted to remove herself from the chamber.

      "Mom?" Was the first word she managed to get out of her mouth. She looked around the room as memories from yesterday flooded her mind. The bomb. They had run to the nearest shelter like they had always been instructed to do and found themselves being rushed into chambers. She coughed to get rid of the stuffiness in her lungs and attempted to stand but her muscles just wouldn't cooperate.

      She groaned again and laid on her back trying to fight the exhaustion but losing as sleep overcame her.

      She sat up in what felt like days later. Her muscles not quite as achy and her mind less foggy. She looked at the other chambers, they were still closed. No one else must be awake. She crawled to the nearest chamber door and pulled herself up to stare in. She saw her neighbor Paul Doughtery, still asleep in the chamber. She knocked on the glass hoping to wake him up but he didn't budge. She sighed and went to the nearest control panel, pressing a button that she thought would trigger the door but instead brought words onto the tiny screen.

Passenger...Unit: Deceased

      She stood frozen. Unable to comprehend the words. She took some deep breaths and stumbled her way to the next panel. She pressed the same button and the same words scrolled across the screen. She let out a small whimper and slowly found the courage to make it to her father's panel. Her dad had the same face as Paul, peaceful and unmoving.

      She kept her hand hovered above the button until she could work up the courage to press it. She held her breath and pushed the button and let out a long shaky sigh as the screen passed the same words as the other two panels. She glanced at her father's face one last time. Hoping to remember the peacefulness of it. She glanced at where her mother and brother were but couldn't bring herself to their panels. She knew if she just left and never knew their fates she would regret it. But she couldn't help but feel like they were going to be the same as her fathers.

      After she read the word deceased on both her mothers and brother's panels she was drained. She was in shock and her world had just been turned upside down. A few days ago they were eating their normal family dinner discussing what they had done that day and now she was trapped in a fallout bunker with everyone she knew and loved. She slowly brought herself to stand, her knees wobbling, unable to maintain her balance.

      How is her body weak after only a few days? She followed along the wall of the room to the outer chamber.

      "Hello?!" She yelled, finally realizing that there should be staff members working the vault. She found herself in what looked like a bedroom for the staff, complete with bunk beds, closets and a joining bathroom. She made it to a mirror in the bathroom and had a long look at her reflection. Her hair looked the exact same as when they went into the vault. She looked at the grotesque jumpsuit that Vault-Tec made them throw on before going into the chambers. It was blue with yellow lining, both very unflattering colors and a very ugly material. She rolled her eyes and huffed. How is she managing to be upset about her clothes when she just found out her whole family was dead?

      Good one Sutton, she thought to herself. She heard her stomach grumble and she made her way over to the nearest trunk. Hoping that one of the employees would've managed to stash some food in it. She plowed through the clothes on top and found a NutriBar. She scarfed it down within seconds but the taste in her mouth was rotted. It made her gag until she puked up the whole bar onto the floor. She groaned as she saw the mold all over the bar. She looked at the expiration date on the wrapper and her brow furrowed in confusion. It said 2/21/2018. Which wasn't even close to happening. She shrugged it off, assuming that the company just printed the wrong date. She supposed that she would probably see if she could find someone that worked here to find out what the hell happened.

      She made her way through the corridors of the vault, calling for anyone who would answer, but nothing ever came. Her legs were still shaky and her stomach was starting to hurt, she needed to find someone before panic set in.

      Sutton searched for what felt like hours but never found a single person, let alone anything that was alive. She decided to head back towards the entrance, thinking that surely someone was monitoring the outside world.

      As she rounded the corner she stumbled over an object and managed to catch herself before her face slammed into the metal floor. She whipped around and screamed. Laying by her feet was a skeleton, draped in a white lab coat, a few strands of hair still attached to the skull, she scrambled backwards and sat against the wall, breathing heavily.

      "What the fuck?!" She breathed out, closing her eyes and leaning her head back. What the hell happened in this vault? Why is she only living thing in it?

      She managed to work herself up and continued towards the entrance, her goal changed from trying to find someone, to getting the hell out of the vault.

[ I love the game Fallout so here is my own take on it! More to come! I hope you all enjoy! All critiques are welcome ❤️ ]