Life and It's Unexpected Turns

Chapter 1: "There's No Place Like Home"

   After what felt like another minute of being frozen in place, Abby suddenly felt the cryo pod thaw out again.  She opened her eyes again and let out a gasp as the hatch to the pod opened and she fell out.  The faint sound of a computer voice rang through her ears. 

   "Critical Failure in Cryogenic Stasis.  All Vault residents must vacate immediately." 

   Abby stood up feeling woozy from being frozen in place for so long. 

   She put her hand to her head.  "Ugh, Jesus...how long was I out? Now I know how Han Solo felt."  She sighed, but she then saw the pod in front of her and her heart stopped for a second.  Abby ran over to Nate's pod and began to pull on the handle to the pod trying desperately to get it open only to fail. 

   "Come on...there has to be...a release!" She yelled, after another few tries, she ran over to the control panel and attempted to pull the lever there. 

   "Come on, come on, come on, oh God..."  She said frantically, suddenly the pod hissed as the door flew up revealing Nate's dead and frozen body.  Abby gasped as she walked up to the pod and stepped inside it.  The sight of her dead husband broke her heart.  She then broke down into tears and held his dead body close to her as tears leaked from her eyes.  His body felt cold but she didn't care, she just continued to hold him.  The young woman hoped that it could be like the fairy tales that she grew up with, where love saved the day and the one that almost died came back to life. 

   She wanted that to happen with Nate, that her love for him would be strong enough to bring him back.  But she had to face reality, the reality that this wasn't some fairy tail, the reality that her husband was dead, the reality that Shaun was taken. 

   She sniffled and wiped her nose and eyes on her sleeve as she stood up again.  She looked down and noticed Nate's wedding ring on his finger.  Abby began to feel anger and vengeance boil up inside her.  She slipped the ring off his finger, and clenched it tightly in her fist. 

   "I'll find who did this...and I'll get Shaun back...I promise..."  She vowed, Abby then began to look around.  "First I gotta get out of here...but how?" It was then that she noticed the open door and she ran through.  She began to dash through the very empty Vault. 

   'Huh? Where is everyone?' Abby thought to herself, 'Shouldn't there be people here?'

   She continued to run, not stopping for anything, until she saw a giant cockroach scurrying on the ground.  She felt like screaming but contained her control.  She hated insects and cockroaches were no exception.  She instantly brought her foot down and squashed it with a crunch. 

   She looked at the dead roach confused.  "...Giant roaches? What the hell?"

   Eventually Abby reached an office which she assumed was the office that belonged to the Vault Overseer.  She looked around and managed to find some Stimpaks along with a 10mm pistol.  She turned the gun over in her fingers.  She was never really one for guns, in fact, they downright terrified her, but Nate had taught her how to use a gun before, plus she had the strangest feeling that she was going to need it back up on the surface. 

   She then noticed the terminal on the desk.  Her curiosity got the best of her and she began to scroll through the Overseer's entries.  The young woman was shocked at what she found.  They were studying how people were in cryogenic suspension.  They were waiting for the "All Clear" signal and were going to monitor the pods remotely afterwards. 

   "Just how long were they planning on keeping us frozen?" Abby asked herself, she continued to scroll through only to find entries about how their food supply was running low and the rest of the crew were turning on the Overseer.  Finally Abby had seen enough and left the office to continue her mission on getting out.