Into The Fall

Chapter 2

      Sutton's whole body shook as the large, cement elevator raised her up to the top.  Everyone in the vault was dead, their bodies already decomposed which meant she was asleep a while longer than she previously had thought.  She threw on the gas mask she had found and grabbed onto the support railing.  Hoping that the world was rebuilding itself and she could rebuild herself along with it.

Her eyes squinted against the powerful rays as she finally hit the top.  She shielded her gaze with her arm as she waited for her eyes to adjust.  After a few moments she was able to process her surroundings.  A wave of shock passed through her as she gazed across the landscape.  The trees were barren, stripped to almost nothing, looking like giant stakes in the ground.  The foliage was shades of brown, looking as dead as the corpses in the vault.  The air smelled stale and it almost immediately dried her throat out. 

The tears welled up in her eyes.  She couldn't hold the emotions in anymore.  All of the shock and grief flooded her and she crumbled onto the ground as her whole world crashed. 

Was she the only one left?  Why did everyone die in the vault?  Why was she the only one to survive?  Questions filled her head as she crouched on the ground clutching her knees to her chest. 

Hours passed as the sky started to darken.  The tears had dried long ago, leaving crusty streaks on her face.  She wasn't able to convince her body to move but with nightfall threatening to overtake day she knew it wasn't safe to stay where she was.  She thought about going back down into the vault until the sun rose again but the thought of sitting in the same room as decaying bodies made her shiver.

She settled to go investigate her old neighborhood, hoping to find some slight shelter for the night.  She slowly worked her way to her feet and made her way down the familiar hill.  Except it wasn't as familiar as she was hoping it would be.  The plants were all dead except for new flowers and bushes she had never seen before.

The world looked grayer and the air felt significantly dryer than it ever did.  She stumbled down the rocky hill, it was getting harder and harder to see the obstacles on the ground with each minute.  But she finally made her way into a small shack.  It was mostly closed off, with only a few holes in the roof and a broken window.  She decided to bunker down for the night and figure out what to do next in the morning.  She found a rolled up, dusty tarp on one of the shelves and used it as pillow.

Sunlight pierced through the holes in the roof, making Sutton wake from a not so deep sleep.  She had tossed and turned all night, swearing she heard things outside but eventually exhaustion over took her.  She slowly got up, her limbs ached from sleeping on the hard, concrete floor.

She shoved all the stuff into the corner and walked out of the shack making sure the area around her was clear before heading towards her home.

Sutton stood in the street, staring at what was left of her home.  It was nothing but rubble, everything had tumbled in and started to decay.  She headed to where her room would've been and sorted through it, hoping to find anything that could remind her of her old life.  She found scraps of clothing, broken jewelry and lots of dust.  She had almost given up until a sparkle caught her eye.  She lifted a large piece of wood and found a ring she had gotten while on a trip to Florida with her family.  The ring didn't mean much to her before but since it was all she had left, it meant everything.

~~~

Days had passed since Sutton left the vault.  She had only found a few cans of food and some pop in the neighborhood, and no sign of where anybody had gone.  She hadn't quite worked up the courage to venture farther, but she knew if she wanted to survive she would have to leave. 

As Sutton, made her rounds through the neighborhood, checking for any supplies she may have missed, she heard footsteps along the pavement.  She froze, her head whipped around as she saw a group of people making their way up towards her.  She ducked down behind one of the houses, she needed to make sure they were safe before she let them see her.

"I bet there's nothing here.  Just another stupid mission Cringo sent us on so he would have less competition with the ladies."  One of the men in the group stated.  He had shoulder length wavy, dark brown hair and a short beard.  He had strange goggles on his head and a gray jacket with jeans and big black boots.  He had multiple weapons on his person, along with a big backpack filled with unknown items.  The guy to his left, laughed and shoved the first man's shoulder.

"Hey Chrissy, who was that lady you left behind?" The man with goggles asked, kicking rocks as he walked.

"Charlene... I think." The man that answered had blonde hair, tied up in a bun.  He was handsome even from a distance. 

"Keep your eyes open boys.  We gotta bring something useful back." Another man said, he was stiffer than the other two.  He had slicked back black hair and a fluffy leather jacket. 

"This neighborhood looks like it received most of the blast.  I don't know what he expects us to find." Goggles said, still kicking rocks and clearly bored with what they were doing. 

Sutton shifted her weight to follow them and accidentally scraped her shoes on loose gravel.  Immediately all the men's heads turned to face towards her direction, wary of the sudden sound. 

"Shit." She muttered under her breath, trying to think of a way to stay hidden.  She started to crawl away heading, towards the other house, hoping to find a place to hide.

"Stop!  Don't move." Someone yelled, and she froze.  She heard the safety of their guns click off and she shivered.  She instinctively put her hands up and slowly stood, she couldn't look away from the ground.  Fear making her frozen in place.

"Girl where the hell did you come from?"

[ A little bit of a time skip in this chapter. I just get eager to get to the good stuff! Let me know what you guys think! All critiques welcome! ]