The one Vault.
- Thread starter Tycell
- Start date
C - 3
D - 2
C wins!
Alright, I am going to write up the next section right now, stay tuned.
Try to remember when voting: Your choices DO matter, think of the stats you could gain / lose and they will usually give a hint as to what that choice might envolve. Try to keep in mind how the character will progress and what they have to gain. Having a purley diplomatic character isnt going to be much use (I am keeping track of the character stats and so on, and I will write the story based on those).
Anyway, good voting, here comes the next part.
D - 2
C wins!
Alright, I am going to write up the next section right now, stay tuned.
Try to remember when voting: Your choices DO matter, think of the stats you could gain / lose and they will usually give a hint as to what that choice might envolve. Try to keep in mind how the character will progress and what they have to gain. Having a purley diplomatic character isnt going to be much use (I am keeping track of the character stats and so on, and I will write the story based on those).
Anyway, good voting, here comes the next part.
Yeah, I too was going to vote but the time was up. (I wanted "C" so it doesn't really matter) Perhaps you should wait a bit more for more results to come in.uziel said:
Great work as usual with the story though.
Yeah I think I am deffinatly going to wait longer to give everyone a chace to vote, especially when I say I will write up the next part and only end up doing half of the chapter becuase I am called away to watch a film on TV. Heh.
Anyway, just finishing the next chapter now (its already 75% done) so it should be up in a few.
Sorry bout that folks, I will wait longer next time
Anyway, just finishing the next chapter now (its already 75% done) so it should be up in a few.
Sorry bout that folks, I will wait longer next time
Chapter 1: Leaving the Nest, part 7 – ‘Where’s my eviction notice?’
Making a snap decision Tim quickly slid the fresh 9mm round into the gun and snapped it shut, pulling the gun up to his shoulder and looking down the sights he slowly side stepped closer to Lydia, his eyes fixed down the sight of the barrel at the squeaks and rustles that were getting slowly closer. He waited for one of the little terrors to come into view; he didn’t have to wait long. One of the little hungry rabbits jumped through the tall grass, exposing itself about twenty meters ahead of where Tim was stood, Tim took the shot and hit it in its chest killing it instantly. The fresh carcass skidded and rag dolled to a stop, these creatures were pretty fast when they got going.
Tim broke the rifle and the spent shot sprung out of the end, two more of the mini carnivores hopped out from the long grass not far from their fallen comrade, the smoke had barley cleared when Tim slid the next shot into the barrel and pulled the rifle up. Aiming quickly he targeted the nearest critter, it was sprinting towards him drool covered sharp pointy teeth bearing out of its mouth. Tim took the shot, blowing away a portion of the mutant mammals head; it collapsed to the ground and rolled a few times before stopping.
Tim lowered the rifle ready to reload it but it was too late, the third hungry mini beast was nearly upon him, he cowered slightly covering his torso as the rabbit lunged through the air. Scraping down his arm it dug into his leg just above the knee biting and scratching. Tim flicked his foot but the little monster held on tight biting and clawing at his leg, Tim flicked his foot a little harder sending the little monster flying back away from him, the brief pause gave him a chance to break his rifle and send the used shell flying but it was short lived, the monster simple bounced back from where he had kicked it and resumed its position chewing on his leg.
“AHHRG!” Tim cried, the pain of the bites managing to get past the flood of adrenalin in him.
Tim clasped the rifle shut, not having time to reload it, and began to bludgeon the monster with the butt of it as hard as he could. The small creature was stunned from the heavy blows to the head and rolled backwards loosing his grip on Tim’s leg. Tim continued his barrage hitting it three times, four times, five times. Tim stood up straight, the creatures had suffered massive trauma to the head and was lying on its back motionless either unconscious or dead.
Tim broke the rifle proper and slid another bullet out of one of the pistol clips on his belt, loading the fresh round in the rifle Tim flipped the barrel back into place and looked up. He was spoilt for choice, target wise, there were at least seven more of the little monsters flying at him a vicious look in their green tinted eyes. Tim picked the closest target and fired, but he missed! The shot sending out a small puff of dirt as it hit the ground next to the intended target. The rabbit he had just missed hopped up onto the raised dirt of the building and ran straight at Tim, clearly it was about to jump at his face.
Tim grabbed the barrel of his rifle near the end with his left hand, releasing the grip on the trigger area with his right he brought that down to where his left hand was and grasped the rifle somewhat like a bat; he swung it backward preparing to beat the rabbit on the outward swing. The rabbit jumped, heading right for Tim’s face, Tim swung with the rifle smacking the rabbit hard in the torso. Tim watched as the rabbit flew through the air landing winded and wounded in a small opening of grass about ten meters away.
Tim froze, the rabbits were coming at him from all angles, he probably wouldn’t be able to hold them all off. He prepared to swing again at the closest approaching rabbit. The rabbit was within five meters of him when the shot rang out, the small critter beating to a stop in the dirt. Tim looked at Lydia, she was still clasping her leg and her side arm was no where to be seen, another shot rang out. Tim glanced behind him, his fellow Vault members were right behind him, all of them had their pistols drawn. The closest man took another shot; turning around time grabbed his rifle properly and reloaded it, closing the barrel with the chamber loaded. Tim pulled the rifle to his shoulder and looked for another target, he watched as the severely injured rabbit he had beaten like the base ball of his worse enemy was turned on by its fellow rabbits. Two other rabbits were biting and clawing at it, it didn’t take them long to finish it off, clearly these things were cannibals.
Tim aimed another shot and fired, hitting one of the cannibalistic rabbits side on as it went for one of his fellow men who had came to help. Two of the men that had approached to help scooped up Lydia, she screamed in pain as they lifted her between them and started to run back towards the cave entrance and the rocky area they had started unloading the cargo containers. With the aid of his fellow men the rest was easy, shots rang out everywhere and rabbits died as fast as they were coming up. Tim broke into a retreat, his allies following his lead. Tim would run a few meters, reloading as he ran and then stop and take another shot at the horde of vicious fluffy rabbits, covering his fellow men in retreat, men who then ran past him and returned the favour. Soon they were at the edge of the long grass and the frequency of shots dropped dramatically, Tim stopped just past the long grass and watched. The mutated rabbits seemed to turn back and run the other way as soon as the grass got to low, some of them stopping to drag the bodies of there fallen brethren back to there lair, no doubt to consume later.
Tim turned away and continued running with his fellow Vault dwellers, the run soon dulled into a jog and then to a walk.
“You alright mate?” One of the men that had come to his aid asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Just a few scratches, I’ll be ok.” Tim said, examining his bleeding leg.
“Sweet, hey, Lieutenant Balk is organizing things from inside. He’s in the Main Storage area, you should go see him, might give you a fuckin’ medal for that shit man!” The man said.
“Yeah… Heh, yeah.” Tim said stopping and resting his right hand on his right leg.
Suddenly Tim felt very drowsy and sick.
“You alright man?” The man asked.
Tim went to answer but then he suddenly felt a rush of blood, he went light headed and fell on his good knee. Tim tried to shake it off but it seemed to get worse, he threw up, his stomach contents dribbling into the loose rock below him.
“Whoa shit! Dude, what’s wrong?” The man said, approaching Tim.
Tim couldn’t answer, he felt very wrong. Everything went black for a moment, Tim tried to stay awake but the feeling of fatigue overtook him. He passed out and slumped to the floor.
Tim slowly opened his eyes, giving himself a moment for the blurriness to wear off, he looked around. He was lying in a camp bed inside a large green tent, there was a drip running into his arm and several other empty beds lying around him. To his right at the other end of the tent were a collection of cargo crates, they were stacked in an orderly fashion and formed a basic sort of table, and on the table were various bottles of chemicals and medical looking devices. To his left lay several more beds and at the far end of the tent there was a doorway that was pinned back, this lead into another section of the tent that was clearly some sort of surgical area.
Hanging above the surgical area were about five of the rabbit monsters, they had each had various pieces cut from them and it looked like someone had run various tests on them. Lying on the surgical table was another of the rabbits, it was cut open with its skin pinned back on either side, lying beside it were two enormous dead bugs. They looked like beetles but clearly that had mutated to be much larger than their ancestors. Tim slowly started to sit up in the bed, he reached over and removed the various plasters that held the drip into his arm, and then he pulled it out and shut off the flow through the pipe to stop it leaking all over the floor.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good, good, hang on a moment I’ll get the doctor.” A woman’s voice spoke.
Tim glanced to his left in the direction of where the sound had come from just in time to see a young woman dressed in a vault suit and wearing a white arm strap with a red cross on it disappear between the tents door flaps. Tim slowly pulled himself into a sitting up position and checked himself. All his gear was gone, apart from the SEID which he spotted lying on a small table next to him; he was half naked with only his boxers to cover his decency. He examined his knee, looking in shock at the nearly completely healed wounds; whoever had fixed him up was clearly a fair touch with the first aid kit.
Tim sat up on the camp bed spinning to one side and resting his feet on the ground, the floor was made up of various camping mats all strung together to create a carpet of sorts. Tim rubbed his eyes and face and shook off some of the sleepiness from his head. The tent flaps parted and a middle aged man stepped through from the daylight outside. He was about five foot six with dark brown hair and a nimble build; he had a white arm strap with a red cross on it and an equipment belt with stimpacks and pieces of first aid gear tucked into it.
“Ah Tim, your awake. Excellent.” The man spoke.
“Wh-“ Tim started.
“What happened to you? Quite simple really. That nasty little critter that bit your leg has… developed a poison sack. Don’t worry its quite harmless really. Unfortunately because you have a much higher metabolism than usual the poison hit you pretty hard, but don’t worry, I’ve inoculated you from the effects and with the sample specimens that were left over, from your little incursion into their nesting grounds, I’ve managed to create an antidote.” The man spoke quickly and precisely, clearly he was well educated.
The man walked over to the surgical area filled with the dead bodies of the poisonous little rabbits and the two large beetles, he began fiddling with their carcasses.
“Fascinating creatures really, seems they ‘evolved’ from your common rabbit, probably because of the high ambient background radiation. Seems like only the male specimens possess the poison gland, and from the look of it the males are outnumbered by the females quite heavily, probably why there are so many of them.” He chuckled slightly prodding the open rabbit with a scalpel.
“Now these other creatures are just as amazing, these bugs here, so far we have only seen lesser variations of them, very weak and timid, but they do appear to have some sort of secretive gland that isn’t fully developed yet. I would love to get my hands on a fully grown one.” He looked over and smiled.
“Wh-“ Tim started again.
“Where did we get the bugs? Ahh they seem to live in the rocky heights above us on the mountain, some of our men stumbled across them while they were collecting fire wood. Seems the nest up in the rocky inlets and caves high into the mountain. Again, they are quite harmless, well mostly, you wouldn’t want to get any part of your person in the pincers of a fully grown one I dare wager.”
“Wh-“ Tim tried to speak.
“Where is Lydia? Thanks to you she’s going to be fine, she’s outside I believe helping with organizing the armaments in the weapons stack.”
“Wh-“ Tim tried to speak again, once again the doctor cutting him off.
“Oh of course! You’ve been unconscious. Yes… bad news I’m afraid. We managed to get a good portion of the supplies out of the Main Storage Area, but unfortunately something else went wrong. There was another explosion or something in the lower reactor area. The people left in Operations didn’t have time to get out; they had to shut the Vault door earlier than expected. I am afraid the Vault is gone, flooded with radiation from what we can tell from the readings. Yes…” The man’s face dropped as if he was remembering something upsetting.
“Yes… Lieutenant Balk managed to get out though; he was helping shift goods from Main storage when Operations had to shut the door, from what I understand we were bloody lucky the door held the explosion as well as it did. All of the radiation is locked inside though, don’t worry, those poor bastards inside. Lieutenant Balk spent half the night sitting outside the Vault Door on his own, none of the lights are on or anything. In fact I think he’s up there now, outside the Vault door, I think he’s mourning the poor… well, yes. In fact you should go see him once you’re dressed; he’s now the man in charge seeing as anyone with a rank higher than Lieutenant was still inside the Vault when the Door closed. Don’t worry though, most of us made it out, everyone who was moving stuff from the Main Storage area managed to get out in time.” The man scratched the side of his head.
“Where are my cloths?” Tim finally managed to ask.
“OH yes, yes of course. Here you go, one of the girls managed to patch them up very nicely, here.” The man pulled a Vault Suit from beside one of the beds and placed them on the cover beside Tim.
Tim examined the knee which had been bitten, the rips in it had been sewn together with thick red thread, it looked well repaired and was just as strong as the rest of the suit. Tim started to get dressed, his equipment belt and gun holster were still with him though they were now empty. Tim continued to dress himself as the doctor rambled on.
“Anyway, we have set up camp pretty well in this clearing and those creatures don’t venture out of the long grass, even so a patrol has been set up along the side of it.” The doctor spoke, glancing at the red repair job on Tim’s knee as he slipped into his trousers and pulled up his jump suit so that it rested on his shoulders.
“Oh, yes your gear has been taken and distributed with the rest of the supplies, just so a proper inventory can be made of what we have to survive with out here.” He said, watching as Tim secured his belt into place.
“You’re a security officer aren’t you? Yes, if you want to get your gun and so on back you’ll have to go see Lydia, she’s in charge of weapon distribution now.” The doctor said, watching Tim clip his gun belt onto the side of his leg.
“Oh, and Lieutenant Balk wants to speak to you, apparently he has some plan for the rabbit nest you found. Call me Doc if you like, most of the ‘Downers’ do, heh.” He said as Tim zipped up his Vault Jump Suit and buttoned it down firmly.
Tim reached over to the SEID that was lying on the small table beside him and pulled up his sleeve, clamping the unit on he checked it quickly to make sure it was all in one piece.
“Yes, yes fascinating piece of technology. Seems it recorded how many of these, what did it name them… ah yes ‘Lesser Mutated Rabbit’s’, that you killed. Anyway, you’re fit as a fiddle and ready to go.” Doc said, Tim clipping into place the metal clamps on his boots.
“Thanks Doc.” Tim said as he got up and walked towards the exit of the tent, not being able to get out of there fast enough, the Doc never stopped talking.
“No problem, come back any time if you need anything.” Doc shouted as Tim disappeared through the tent flaps.
Tim looked around, seems the Vault Dwellers had done well, they had set up a small camp in the clearing, boxes were stacked everywhere and people were busily moving them around and checking what was inside them before sending them off to be stacked in the appropriate area. Tim spotted Lydia a fair distance away, she was sat down behind a stack of boxes which had been placed in such a way that they created a sort of desk around her, behind her was a small tent, judging by the way she was fiddling with 9mm hand guns it was probably the weapons storage area.
Not far from her was another much larger tent, boxes were being carried in and out of it and a short porky man was stood outside, he was looking into the crates that were being taken inside and jotting down notes on an A4 note pad, this place looked like survival gear storage, such as flares, rope and so on. All this was standard procedure for when you left the Vault.
Tim had a choice to make.
A) Go find Lieutenant Balk; he’s the man in charge now, apparently. The Doctor had said he though he was just outside the Main Vault Door inside the cave. (+1 Strength)
B) Go and see Lydia, make sure she’s ok; this would also give Tim a chance to pick up fresh weapons. He was a security guard after all. (+ 1 Charisma)
C) Head over to the Survival Gear tent to find out what the situation is, supplies wise. Try to find out if there is anything we are running out of (like a water chip). (+1 Intelligence)
Well how does that fill your taste? The choice as always is yours. I think I should post the current character stats as well, so you lot can have a look at how the character is doing, stats wise
Feedback is welcome.
Name: Tim Age: 20 Gender: Male
::: Statistics:
Strength: 06
Perception: 06
Endurance: 07
Charisma: 04
Intelligence: 06
Agility: 06
Luck: 05 (Not going to be used.)
(10 points left! Yes I know this is more than usual but that’s because luck has been removed.)
Perks: Gifted, High metabolism.
Hit Points: 036/036
Melee Damage: 01
Carry Weight: 175 lbs
Making a snap decision Tim quickly slid the fresh 9mm round into the gun and snapped it shut, pulling the gun up to his shoulder and looking down the sights he slowly side stepped closer to Lydia, his eyes fixed down the sight of the barrel at the squeaks and rustles that were getting slowly closer. He waited for one of the little terrors to come into view; he didn’t have to wait long. One of the little hungry rabbits jumped through the tall grass, exposing itself about twenty meters ahead of where Tim was stood, Tim took the shot and hit it in its chest killing it instantly. The fresh carcass skidded and rag dolled to a stop, these creatures were pretty fast when they got going.
Tim broke the rifle and the spent shot sprung out of the end, two more of the mini carnivores hopped out from the long grass not far from their fallen comrade, the smoke had barley cleared when Tim slid the next shot into the barrel and pulled the rifle up. Aiming quickly he targeted the nearest critter, it was sprinting towards him drool covered sharp pointy teeth bearing out of its mouth. Tim took the shot, blowing away a portion of the mutant mammals head; it collapsed to the ground and rolled a few times before stopping.
Tim lowered the rifle ready to reload it but it was too late, the third hungry mini beast was nearly upon him, he cowered slightly covering his torso as the rabbit lunged through the air. Scraping down his arm it dug into his leg just above the knee biting and scratching. Tim flicked his foot but the little monster held on tight biting and clawing at his leg, Tim flicked his foot a little harder sending the little monster flying back away from him, the brief pause gave him a chance to break his rifle and send the used shell flying but it was short lived, the monster simple bounced back from where he had kicked it and resumed its position chewing on his leg.
“AHHRG!” Tim cried, the pain of the bites managing to get past the flood of adrenalin in him.
Tim clasped the rifle shut, not having time to reload it, and began to bludgeon the monster with the butt of it as hard as he could. The small creature was stunned from the heavy blows to the head and rolled backwards loosing his grip on Tim’s leg. Tim continued his barrage hitting it three times, four times, five times. Tim stood up straight, the creatures had suffered massive trauma to the head and was lying on its back motionless either unconscious or dead.
Tim broke the rifle proper and slid another bullet out of one of the pistol clips on his belt, loading the fresh round in the rifle Tim flipped the barrel back into place and looked up. He was spoilt for choice, target wise, there were at least seven more of the little monsters flying at him a vicious look in their green tinted eyes. Tim picked the closest target and fired, but he missed! The shot sending out a small puff of dirt as it hit the ground next to the intended target. The rabbit he had just missed hopped up onto the raised dirt of the building and ran straight at Tim, clearly it was about to jump at his face.
Tim grabbed the barrel of his rifle near the end with his left hand, releasing the grip on the trigger area with his right he brought that down to where his left hand was and grasped the rifle somewhat like a bat; he swung it backward preparing to beat the rabbit on the outward swing. The rabbit jumped, heading right for Tim’s face, Tim swung with the rifle smacking the rabbit hard in the torso. Tim watched as the rabbit flew through the air landing winded and wounded in a small opening of grass about ten meters away.
Tim froze, the rabbits were coming at him from all angles, he probably wouldn’t be able to hold them all off. He prepared to swing again at the closest approaching rabbit. The rabbit was within five meters of him when the shot rang out, the small critter beating to a stop in the dirt. Tim looked at Lydia, she was still clasping her leg and her side arm was no where to be seen, another shot rang out. Tim glanced behind him, his fellow Vault members were right behind him, all of them had their pistols drawn. The closest man took another shot; turning around time grabbed his rifle properly and reloaded it, closing the barrel with the chamber loaded. Tim pulled the rifle to his shoulder and looked for another target, he watched as the severely injured rabbit he had beaten like the base ball of his worse enemy was turned on by its fellow rabbits. Two other rabbits were biting and clawing at it, it didn’t take them long to finish it off, clearly these things were cannibals.
Tim aimed another shot and fired, hitting one of the cannibalistic rabbits side on as it went for one of his fellow men who had came to help. Two of the men that had approached to help scooped up Lydia, she screamed in pain as they lifted her between them and started to run back towards the cave entrance and the rocky area they had started unloading the cargo containers. With the aid of his fellow men the rest was easy, shots rang out everywhere and rabbits died as fast as they were coming up. Tim broke into a retreat, his allies following his lead. Tim would run a few meters, reloading as he ran and then stop and take another shot at the horde of vicious fluffy rabbits, covering his fellow men in retreat, men who then ran past him and returned the favour. Soon they were at the edge of the long grass and the frequency of shots dropped dramatically, Tim stopped just past the long grass and watched. The mutated rabbits seemed to turn back and run the other way as soon as the grass got to low, some of them stopping to drag the bodies of there fallen brethren back to there lair, no doubt to consume later.
Tim turned away and continued running with his fellow Vault dwellers, the run soon dulled into a jog and then to a walk.
“You alright mate?” One of the men that had come to his aid asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Just a few scratches, I’ll be ok.” Tim said, examining his bleeding leg.
“Sweet, hey, Lieutenant Balk is organizing things from inside. He’s in the Main Storage area, you should go see him, might give you a fuckin’ medal for that shit man!” The man said.
“Yeah… Heh, yeah.” Tim said stopping and resting his right hand on his right leg.
Suddenly Tim felt very drowsy and sick.
“You alright man?” The man asked.
Tim went to answer but then he suddenly felt a rush of blood, he went light headed and fell on his good knee. Tim tried to shake it off but it seemed to get worse, he threw up, his stomach contents dribbling into the loose rock below him.
“Whoa shit! Dude, what’s wrong?” The man said, approaching Tim.
Tim couldn’t answer, he felt very wrong. Everything went black for a moment, Tim tried to stay awake but the feeling of fatigue overtook him. He passed out and slumped to the floor.
Tim slowly opened his eyes, giving himself a moment for the blurriness to wear off, he looked around. He was lying in a camp bed inside a large green tent, there was a drip running into his arm and several other empty beds lying around him. To his right at the other end of the tent were a collection of cargo crates, they were stacked in an orderly fashion and formed a basic sort of table, and on the table were various bottles of chemicals and medical looking devices. To his left lay several more beds and at the far end of the tent there was a doorway that was pinned back, this lead into another section of the tent that was clearly some sort of surgical area.
Hanging above the surgical area were about five of the rabbit monsters, they had each had various pieces cut from them and it looked like someone had run various tests on them. Lying on the surgical table was another of the rabbits, it was cut open with its skin pinned back on either side, lying beside it were two enormous dead bugs. They looked like beetles but clearly that had mutated to be much larger than their ancestors. Tim slowly started to sit up in the bed, he reached over and removed the various plasters that held the drip into his arm, and then he pulled it out and shut off the flow through the pipe to stop it leaking all over the floor.
“Ah, you’re awake. Good, good, hang on a moment I’ll get the doctor.” A woman’s voice spoke.
Tim glanced to his left in the direction of where the sound had come from just in time to see a young woman dressed in a vault suit and wearing a white arm strap with a red cross on it disappear between the tents door flaps. Tim slowly pulled himself into a sitting up position and checked himself. All his gear was gone, apart from the SEID which he spotted lying on a small table next to him; he was half naked with only his boxers to cover his decency. He examined his knee, looking in shock at the nearly completely healed wounds; whoever had fixed him up was clearly a fair touch with the first aid kit.
Tim sat up on the camp bed spinning to one side and resting his feet on the ground, the floor was made up of various camping mats all strung together to create a carpet of sorts. Tim rubbed his eyes and face and shook off some of the sleepiness from his head. The tent flaps parted and a middle aged man stepped through from the daylight outside. He was about five foot six with dark brown hair and a nimble build; he had a white arm strap with a red cross on it and an equipment belt with stimpacks and pieces of first aid gear tucked into it.
“Ah Tim, your awake. Excellent.” The man spoke.
“Wh-“ Tim started.
“What happened to you? Quite simple really. That nasty little critter that bit your leg has… developed a poison sack. Don’t worry its quite harmless really. Unfortunately because you have a much higher metabolism than usual the poison hit you pretty hard, but don’t worry, I’ve inoculated you from the effects and with the sample specimens that were left over, from your little incursion into their nesting grounds, I’ve managed to create an antidote.” The man spoke quickly and precisely, clearly he was well educated.
The man walked over to the surgical area filled with the dead bodies of the poisonous little rabbits and the two large beetles, he began fiddling with their carcasses.
“Fascinating creatures really, seems they ‘evolved’ from your common rabbit, probably because of the high ambient background radiation. Seems like only the male specimens possess the poison gland, and from the look of it the males are outnumbered by the females quite heavily, probably why there are so many of them.” He chuckled slightly prodding the open rabbit with a scalpel.
“Now these other creatures are just as amazing, these bugs here, so far we have only seen lesser variations of them, very weak and timid, but they do appear to have some sort of secretive gland that isn’t fully developed yet. I would love to get my hands on a fully grown one.” He looked over and smiled.
“Wh-“ Tim started again.
“Where did we get the bugs? Ahh they seem to live in the rocky heights above us on the mountain, some of our men stumbled across them while they were collecting fire wood. Seems the nest up in the rocky inlets and caves high into the mountain. Again, they are quite harmless, well mostly, you wouldn’t want to get any part of your person in the pincers of a fully grown one I dare wager.”
“Wh-“ Tim tried to speak.
“Where is Lydia? Thanks to you she’s going to be fine, she’s outside I believe helping with organizing the armaments in the weapons stack.”
“Wh-“ Tim tried to speak again, once again the doctor cutting him off.
“Oh of course! You’ve been unconscious. Yes… bad news I’m afraid. We managed to get a good portion of the supplies out of the Main Storage Area, but unfortunately something else went wrong. There was another explosion or something in the lower reactor area. The people left in Operations didn’t have time to get out; they had to shut the Vault door earlier than expected. I am afraid the Vault is gone, flooded with radiation from what we can tell from the readings. Yes…” The man’s face dropped as if he was remembering something upsetting.
“Yes… Lieutenant Balk managed to get out though; he was helping shift goods from Main storage when Operations had to shut the door, from what I understand we were bloody lucky the door held the explosion as well as it did. All of the radiation is locked inside though, don’t worry, those poor bastards inside. Lieutenant Balk spent half the night sitting outside the Vault Door on his own, none of the lights are on or anything. In fact I think he’s up there now, outside the Vault door, I think he’s mourning the poor… well, yes. In fact you should go see him once you’re dressed; he’s now the man in charge seeing as anyone with a rank higher than Lieutenant was still inside the Vault when the Door closed. Don’t worry though, most of us made it out, everyone who was moving stuff from the Main Storage area managed to get out in time.” The man scratched the side of his head.
“Where are my cloths?” Tim finally managed to ask.
“OH yes, yes of course. Here you go, one of the girls managed to patch them up very nicely, here.” The man pulled a Vault Suit from beside one of the beds and placed them on the cover beside Tim.
Tim examined the knee which had been bitten, the rips in it had been sewn together with thick red thread, it looked well repaired and was just as strong as the rest of the suit. Tim started to get dressed, his equipment belt and gun holster were still with him though they were now empty. Tim continued to dress himself as the doctor rambled on.
“Anyway, we have set up camp pretty well in this clearing and those creatures don’t venture out of the long grass, even so a patrol has been set up along the side of it.” The doctor spoke, glancing at the red repair job on Tim’s knee as he slipped into his trousers and pulled up his jump suit so that it rested on his shoulders.
“Oh, yes your gear has been taken and distributed with the rest of the supplies, just so a proper inventory can be made of what we have to survive with out here.” He said, watching as Tim secured his belt into place.
“You’re a security officer aren’t you? Yes, if you want to get your gun and so on back you’ll have to go see Lydia, she’s in charge of weapon distribution now.” The doctor said, watching Tim clip his gun belt onto the side of his leg.
“Oh, and Lieutenant Balk wants to speak to you, apparently he has some plan for the rabbit nest you found. Call me Doc if you like, most of the ‘Downers’ do, heh.” He said as Tim zipped up his Vault Jump Suit and buttoned it down firmly.
Tim reached over to the SEID that was lying on the small table beside him and pulled up his sleeve, clamping the unit on he checked it quickly to make sure it was all in one piece.
“Yes, yes fascinating piece of technology. Seems it recorded how many of these, what did it name them… ah yes ‘Lesser Mutated Rabbit’s’, that you killed. Anyway, you’re fit as a fiddle and ready to go.” Doc said, Tim clipping into place the metal clamps on his boots.
“Thanks Doc.” Tim said as he got up and walked towards the exit of the tent, not being able to get out of there fast enough, the Doc never stopped talking.
“No problem, come back any time if you need anything.” Doc shouted as Tim disappeared through the tent flaps.
Tim looked around, seems the Vault Dwellers had done well, they had set up a small camp in the clearing, boxes were stacked everywhere and people were busily moving them around and checking what was inside them before sending them off to be stacked in the appropriate area. Tim spotted Lydia a fair distance away, she was sat down behind a stack of boxes which had been placed in such a way that they created a sort of desk around her, behind her was a small tent, judging by the way she was fiddling with 9mm hand guns it was probably the weapons storage area.
Not far from her was another much larger tent, boxes were being carried in and out of it and a short porky man was stood outside, he was looking into the crates that were being taken inside and jotting down notes on an A4 note pad, this place looked like survival gear storage, such as flares, rope and so on. All this was standard procedure for when you left the Vault.
Tim had a choice to make.
A) Go find Lieutenant Balk; he’s the man in charge now, apparently. The Doctor had said he though he was just outside the Main Vault Door inside the cave. (+1 Strength)
B) Go and see Lydia, make sure she’s ok; this would also give Tim a chance to pick up fresh weapons. He was a security guard after all. (+ 1 Charisma)
C) Head over to the Survival Gear tent to find out what the situation is, supplies wise. Try to find out if there is anything we are running out of (like a water chip). (+1 Intelligence)
Well how does that fill your taste? The choice as always is yours. I think I should post the current character stats as well, so you lot can have a look at how the character is doing, stats wise
Feedback is welcome.
Name: Tim Age: 20 Gender: Male
::: Statistics:
Strength: 06
Perception: 06
Endurance: 07
Charisma: 04
Intelligence: 06
Agility: 06
Luck: 05 (Not going to be used.)
(10 points left! Yes I know this is more than usual but that’s because luck has been removed.)
Perks: Gifted, High metabolism.
Hit Points: 036/036
Melee Damage: 01
Carry Weight: 175 lbs
The Vault Dweller
always looking for water.
Choice B.
He would be about as curious of Lydia as Balk and the amount of supplies however being a security guard he NEEDS his sidearm.
Great story once again. You made the fight go well with shooting at a distance then using the rifle as a club and bat when they closed in.
Great description of the disected animals.
Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
He would be about as curious of Lydia as Balk and the amount of supplies however being a security guard he NEEDS his sidearm.
Great story once again. You made the fight go well with shooting at a distance then using the rifle as a club and bat when they closed in.
Great description of the disected animals.
Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
B- He needs to be armed as quick as possible. (tis a dangerous world out there)
Great work as usual.
Great work as usual.
Chapter 1: Leaving the Nest, part 8 – ‘Lose a friend, gain an enemy.’
Tim twisted his head slightly until his neck cracked, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching he let out a sigh of relief. Looking around he could see everyone was busying themselves setting up a make shift camp. It was late morning, probably around 1100 hours and the sun was high in the sky giving the whole area a pleasant summers glow. Walking over to the Weapons tent he couldn’t help but don a smile as he approached, looking at Lydia. Lydia didn’t spot him coming, she was busy messing with something on the make shift desk built out of crates in front of her. Tim stepped up right in front of the desk of crates and grinned as she looked up to see who it was.
“Oh, hey Tim! Man am I glad to see you, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me. That was really heroic of you, and it makes me feel really bad that I kicked you out of the vault on your own. Thanks for what you did, you saved my bacon. You feeling better now? Doc said you took a pretty nasty dose of poison from those little mutated rabbits.” Tim couldn’t help but let a quick though about ‘Lydia’s bacon’ pop into his head as his mind contemplated a response.
“Yeah, all good now. Doc inoculated me from the poison so I should be alright if the little critters decide to taste test me again. How’s the leg?” Tim smiled at Lydia; she was looking back at him returning the gesture.
“Yeah, thanks to you I am going to be ok.” Lydia said, pushing herself back on the crate she was sat on and lifting her leg up, revealing the small plaster cast that was now attached to her foot.
“Doc fixed me up pretty good, all I have to do is keep hitting it with a stimpacks every night and he says I should be back on my feet in two or three days, about a week before it’s completely healed, but it will heal, which is the important thing. I feel such an idiot for shooting myself in the foot.” She chuckled slightly and looked back at Tim smiling.
Tim smiled at her back, looking her straight back in the eyes as she was to him, he let the tranquil silence hold for a moment before replying.
“So yeah, I hear you’re the person to talk to about getting my guns back.” He said, still smiling at her.
“Yep, that’s right. With my foot done in all I can do pretty much is organize this make shift armoury. Still, so long as I can do something, everyone’s really busy setting up the camp at the moment, I don’t think anyone has really come to terms with the loss of the Vault yet, maybe they are all just keeping themselves busy and trying not to think of it. Lieutenant Balk took it pretty hard though, when they shut the door he spent pretty much the whole night up at the Vault entrance, just sitting there. Poor sod.” Lydia’s expression seemed to drop for a moment, but it soon bounced back to being a pretty smile.
“So yeah, guns, riiiight, heh. Ok, well, I don’t know where you 9mm side arm went but you can have mine if you like, I haven’t got much use for it at the moment, not being able to walk and all. Plus I can always have a new one go missing from the armoury later on.” She winked and smiled at Tim.
Lydia pushed a stack of papers to one side and retrieved her 9mm pistol which had been lying under the paper, she popped out the clip and checked it, it was fully loaded. Pushing the clip back into place, she gripped the top of the pistol with her thumb and fore finger and half pulled back the slide but not so much as to cock the pistol, looking into the chamber to make sure it didn’t have a round already in it she released the slide which sprung back into place and then made sure the safety catch was on. She flipped the pistol in one hand and passed it to Tim, who reached out and took it from her.
“Brilliant! That’s awesome, what about that pipe rifle too? That should come in pretty handy for picking things off from a distance.” Tim said, examining the pistol quickly and then sliding it into his leg holster, making sure to button the flap down this time.
“Oh right yea, my white knights sword, ha ha.” Lydia giggled slightly and then reached down to one side, the pipe rifle Tim had used to defend her with was pulled up in her fair hand, it had been leaning against a crate right next to her probably since Tim passed out, it was carefully packed inside its back mounted holster. Pulling it up and reaching over Lydia handed it to Tim.
“There you go, be careful with it now we only have four of them left now, oh and here’s your standard issue.” Lydia said as she lifted the lid of one of the crates in front of her and fumbled inside it.
She came back up holding three spare clips for the pistol, all loaded. She also reached down into the box and pulled out the ammo belt Tim had taken from the armoury on level 3, it was filled with 9mm rounds, twenty in all.
“And a little bit extra.” She said with a smile as she handed the ammo belt to Tim.
“Thanks Lydia.” Tim said, smiling back at her, clutching his pipe rifle and bundle of ammo.
“Oh hey, Lieutenant Balk said he wanted to see you, he should be up in the cave just outside the Vault entrance, you should go see him right away.” She said sitting forward in her chair slightly and leaning on the desk in such a way that her back curved in a delightful fashion.
“Sure, thing. Catch you later, yeah?” Tim said starting to walk away but taking one last look at the fine figure of a woman that sat before him.
“Yeah, catch you later.” She smiled as he walked away and then returned to her paper work.
Tim began half jogging towards the cave entrance, slipping on his new gear as he went. He put the ammo clips in the slots built for them next to his gun holster and slipped into the ammo belt that came to rest over one shoulder and under the other. Finally he pulled over the straps for the pipe rifle’s back mount and did them all up, he made sure the straps for the pipe rifle ran across the other way to those of the ammo belt to make getting to the ammo belt easier. Making sure all straps and clips were tightly tied and fastened so that nothing could fall off if he ran, he approached the cave entrance.
There was a Vault Security Officer stood at the entrance to the cave, he was sat on a large rock just to one side of it and he was eating out of a foil wrapped ration pack. He folded the pack close and put it down to one side of him, picking up a torch from next to him he stood up and swallowed the food in his mouth.
“Hey man, you here to see Lieutenant Balk right? Here, he’s just outside the Vault door.” The man said as he handed Tim the torch.
“Yeah, thanks.” Tim said, taking the torch from him and turning it on as he stepped inside.
Walking down the musky dry cave he kept the torch beam on the floor to see where he was stepping. The dirt floor of the cave had boot prints and drag marks all over it, spent flares littered the sides of the cave and dislodged rocks were scattered about the floor. As Tim approached the Vault door the light of a fire illuminated the area, Tim switched off the torch and approached. Lieutenant Balk was sat on the cave floor just outside the Vault’s huge metal door, a burning fire sat in front of him and various pieces of fire wood stacked in a pile next to him.
The Vault door was cold and silent, none of the lights were on and the access panel to the left of the entrance was dark and motionless, the power from the Vault’s reactor that had once supplied it gone it was now an expensive sign post to what had once been. The door looked very strange not being lit up, as if it had been there forever, never opened nor touched since the dawn of time. A slight shade of rust and time eternal tainted the door.
Tim walked over to Lieutenant Balk and stood right next to him, saluting him he stood silently and awaited a response, there was a long pause and the lieutenant didn’t take his eyes off the fire.
“Damn fine work you did fending off those rabbit, I hear.” He said in a distant tone.
“You should be proud son. I know I am, you did you duty, as we all did. But you did yours without fear or distraction, something I can’t say for all of us, that’s why I am picking you as the leader for a little expedition.” The lieutenant stared at the fire for a moment, and then looked up at Tim, a meaningful look in his eye.
“It’s dangerous having those rabbits nesting so close to our new camp, as best we can tell they are littered all over the hills to the North but they don’t like leaving the long grass. What’s more they have set up camp in the staging area used to build the Vault, could be some worth while stuff in that base. Remember that building you found that was nearly completely buried? Well it isn’t alone, I sent a scouting party out to that area earlier this morning, looks like a lot of the pre war structures survived, and if we could get to them we might be able to find some very valuable stuff in there. Like power generators, operating computer systems, food replication units, water purifiers and so on. First things first however, we need to clear out those rabbits that have set up camp in them.” Lieutenant had pulled himself together and was now speaking in a much more authority laden tone.
“I want you to lead a team of our security officers into the long grass and over to the buried base. Once there you are to find a way in and then clear out the area of all those damned rabbits. Once they are out of the way it should be safe to send in the bulk of our people to search the base for anything of value, if we’re lucky we can repair the base’s underground facilities and use them for storage and protection in this new world. Do you understand?” The lieutenant returned to staring at the fire.
“Yes lieutenant.” Tim replied.
“There are other issues as well, but we can deal with them later once I have the full details on what we managed to get out… before…” The lieutenant fell silent; his gaze was distant as he stared into the dancing flames.
Tim suddenly felt very awkward; he decided he would end the conversation as quickly as possible and do as the lieutenant had asked. Pushing out his chest a little and holding his hands behind his back Tim spoke in an obedient tone.
“I will gather a team and proceed into the long grass, sir. We will search out for any way that the base might be recoverable and kill off the pack of mutant squatters. Shall I precede sir?” Tim asked, a long pause following his question.
Lieutenant Balk seemed to jump slightly, as he pulled himself back into reality and concentrated.
“Yes, take the men on shift guarding the perimeter of the long grass. Kill off all the creatures and examine the base to see if it can be repaired.” Tim nodded in acceptance and turned to walk away.
“One more thing, I am promoting you to sergeant, good work 145.” The lieutenant went back to staring at the fire, Tim didn’t hang around, he walked away turning on the torch to guide him self out of the cave.
Stepping back into the sunlight Tim handed the torch to the guard outside.
“How was he?” The man inquired.
“Distant, something is really troubling him.” Tim replied.
“Yeah, we think he blames himself for not going and getting the others out of operations.” The man replied.
Tim didn’t answer, although what the man had said might well be true something else seemed to bother him, the lieutenant seemed far too cut up for it to be just over the people in operations who didn’t get out. Tim knew the lieutenant didn’t have a partner inside the Vault and he couldn’t think of anything else that would be troubling the lieutenant so much.
“He promoted me to sergeant.” Said Tim.
“Oh… sweet… yeah he has been promoting a few other people and fiddling around with the command structure, I think it’s because we lost so many officers when the reactor blew. Damn funny thing that, went out without a sound, ground didn’t shake or anything.” The man said.
“Yeah… strange. Hey, did Mark make it out?” Tim inquired remembering his shift buddy he had seen when he walked out of his quarters that morning.
“No, sorry man, we did a roll call earlier on. He didn’t make it out.” The man replied in a sorry tone.
Tim didn’t say anything, suddenly the fact that the Vault was gone and that many of his friends were dead began to settle in. He had to keep a level head though; brushing the thoughts of his lost ones from his mind he located the perimeter patrol group that were guarding the edge of the long grass from his vantage point at the top of the rocky slope.
“Yeah, well, better get on with it.” He said half to himself.
Tim made his way over to the group of men and women which were meant to be guarding the long grass. There were seven of them in all, scattered along the edge of the grass forest which lay before them. Three of them were bunched up in the middle of the line, one sitting on a cargo crate, one lying against another crate and a third one stood in front of them his gaze pointed towards the long grass. Tim walked up to the man which was standing.
The one woman lying against the crate had her eyes shut, it had been a long night for everyone and she was clearly tired, the sun light gleaming from her side arm which was holstered. The man sat on the other crate just beside her was sipping water from a Vault Issue Flask, the heat from the sun basking down on the cool metal container. The man standing had a large stick resting on his shoulders, his arms hanging over each end of it and the body of the stick running behind his head.
“Well, haven’t you guys struck lucky?” Tim said, stepping up to the three of them.
They two men stared at him, the woman opening one eye and looking up at him.
“Orders from lieutenant Balk, we’re now the official exterminators, and it’s dangerous to have such poisonous little critters so close to our camp. Also we need access to the base they have made a home in so come on! On your feet.” Tim said, starting to enjoy his new role as sergeant.
“About god damn time!” The woman spoke, getting to her feet.
“Yeah, we’ve been getting restless here watching those little bastards rustle about in the grass and not being able to do anything about it. Lieutenant Balk said we couldn’t take any shots at them unless they got up close.” The man on the crate said.
“Yeah, sounds like they might be getting pretty close to us now, seeing as we’re going to go gate crash their little party over there.” The man with the stick spoke, swinging the stick down and tossing it to one side.
The man who had just thrown the stick pulled open the crate nearest him which the woman had been lying against, reaching in he pulled out a pack of torches. Tim smiled, it was payback time, and this time they were ready. Gathering up the seven officers Tim started wading into the grass, his small militia following closely. With the area lit by the light of day Tim could clearly make out a network of buildings buried under the dirt, most of them only having the roof showing and with no way in. Some of them however were more exposed and it looked quite possible to climb down inside the buildings through the windows.
Tim had two choices available to him.
A) He could set up his gang around the exposed buildings and try and draw as many out as possible to kill off as many as possible before heading in. (+ 1 perception + 30% Small guns.)
B) He could split his gang up into several groups and send each one to an exposed building, killing off as many as possible by shooting into the buildings through the windows. (+ 1 strength + 30% unarmed skill)
Feedback welcome, the choice is yours
Tim twisted his head slightly until his neck cracked, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching he let out a sigh of relief. Looking around he could see everyone was busying themselves setting up a make shift camp. It was late morning, probably around 1100 hours and the sun was high in the sky giving the whole area a pleasant summers glow. Walking over to the Weapons tent he couldn’t help but don a smile as he approached, looking at Lydia. Lydia didn’t spot him coming, she was busy messing with something on the make shift desk built out of crates in front of her. Tim stepped up right in front of the desk of crates and grinned as she looked up to see who it was.
“Oh, hey Tim! Man am I glad to see you, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me. That was really heroic of you, and it makes me feel really bad that I kicked you out of the vault on your own. Thanks for what you did, you saved my bacon. You feeling better now? Doc said you took a pretty nasty dose of poison from those little mutated rabbits.” Tim couldn’t help but let a quick though about ‘Lydia’s bacon’ pop into his head as his mind contemplated a response.
“Yeah, all good now. Doc inoculated me from the poison so I should be alright if the little critters decide to taste test me again. How’s the leg?” Tim smiled at Lydia; she was looking back at him returning the gesture.
“Yeah, thanks to you I am going to be ok.” Lydia said, pushing herself back on the crate she was sat on and lifting her leg up, revealing the small plaster cast that was now attached to her foot.
“Doc fixed me up pretty good, all I have to do is keep hitting it with a stimpacks every night and he says I should be back on my feet in two or three days, about a week before it’s completely healed, but it will heal, which is the important thing. I feel such an idiot for shooting myself in the foot.” She chuckled slightly and looked back at Tim smiling.
Tim smiled at her back, looking her straight back in the eyes as she was to him, he let the tranquil silence hold for a moment before replying.
“So yeah, I hear you’re the person to talk to about getting my guns back.” He said, still smiling at her.
“Yep, that’s right. With my foot done in all I can do pretty much is organize this make shift armoury. Still, so long as I can do something, everyone’s really busy setting up the camp at the moment, I don’t think anyone has really come to terms with the loss of the Vault yet, maybe they are all just keeping themselves busy and trying not to think of it. Lieutenant Balk took it pretty hard though, when they shut the door he spent pretty much the whole night up at the Vault entrance, just sitting there. Poor sod.” Lydia’s expression seemed to drop for a moment, but it soon bounced back to being a pretty smile.
“So yeah, guns, riiiight, heh. Ok, well, I don’t know where you 9mm side arm went but you can have mine if you like, I haven’t got much use for it at the moment, not being able to walk and all. Plus I can always have a new one go missing from the armoury later on.” She winked and smiled at Tim.
Lydia pushed a stack of papers to one side and retrieved her 9mm pistol which had been lying under the paper, she popped out the clip and checked it, it was fully loaded. Pushing the clip back into place, she gripped the top of the pistol with her thumb and fore finger and half pulled back the slide but not so much as to cock the pistol, looking into the chamber to make sure it didn’t have a round already in it she released the slide which sprung back into place and then made sure the safety catch was on. She flipped the pistol in one hand and passed it to Tim, who reached out and took it from her.
“Brilliant! That’s awesome, what about that pipe rifle too? That should come in pretty handy for picking things off from a distance.” Tim said, examining the pistol quickly and then sliding it into his leg holster, making sure to button the flap down this time.
“Oh right yea, my white knights sword, ha ha.” Lydia giggled slightly and then reached down to one side, the pipe rifle Tim had used to defend her with was pulled up in her fair hand, it had been leaning against a crate right next to her probably since Tim passed out, it was carefully packed inside its back mounted holster. Pulling it up and reaching over Lydia handed it to Tim.
“There you go, be careful with it now we only have four of them left now, oh and here’s your standard issue.” Lydia said as she lifted the lid of one of the crates in front of her and fumbled inside it.
She came back up holding three spare clips for the pistol, all loaded. She also reached down into the box and pulled out the ammo belt Tim had taken from the armoury on level 3, it was filled with 9mm rounds, twenty in all.
“And a little bit extra.” She said with a smile as she handed the ammo belt to Tim.
“Thanks Lydia.” Tim said, smiling back at her, clutching his pipe rifle and bundle of ammo.
“Oh hey, Lieutenant Balk said he wanted to see you, he should be up in the cave just outside the Vault entrance, you should go see him right away.” She said sitting forward in her chair slightly and leaning on the desk in such a way that her back curved in a delightful fashion.
“Sure, thing. Catch you later, yeah?” Tim said starting to walk away but taking one last look at the fine figure of a woman that sat before him.
“Yeah, catch you later.” She smiled as he walked away and then returned to her paper work.
Tim began half jogging towards the cave entrance, slipping on his new gear as he went. He put the ammo clips in the slots built for them next to his gun holster and slipped into the ammo belt that came to rest over one shoulder and under the other. Finally he pulled over the straps for the pipe rifle’s back mount and did them all up, he made sure the straps for the pipe rifle ran across the other way to those of the ammo belt to make getting to the ammo belt easier. Making sure all straps and clips were tightly tied and fastened so that nothing could fall off if he ran, he approached the cave entrance.
There was a Vault Security Officer stood at the entrance to the cave, he was sat on a large rock just to one side of it and he was eating out of a foil wrapped ration pack. He folded the pack close and put it down to one side of him, picking up a torch from next to him he stood up and swallowed the food in his mouth.
“Hey man, you here to see Lieutenant Balk right? Here, he’s just outside the Vault door.” The man said as he handed Tim the torch.
“Yeah, thanks.” Tim said, taking the torch from him and turning it on as he stepped inside.
Walking down the musky dry cave he kept the torch beam on the floor to see where he was stepping. The dirt floor of the cave had boot prints and drag marks all over it, spent flares littered the sides of the cave and dislodged rocks were scattered about the floor. As Tim approached the Vault door the light of a fire illuminated the area, Tim switched off the torch and approached. Lieutenant Balk was sat on the cave floor just outside the Vault’s huge metal door, a burning fire sat in front of him and various pieces of fire wood stacked in a pile next to him.
The Vault door was cold and silent, none of the lights were on and the access panel to the left of the entrance was dark and motionless, the power from the Vault’s reactor that had once supplied it gone it was now an expensive sign post to what had once been. The door looked very strange not being lit up, as if it had been there forever, never opened nor touched since the dawn of time. A slight shade of rust and time eternal tainted the door.
Tim walked over to Lieutenant Balk and stood right next to him, saluting him he stood silently and awaited a response, there was a long pause and the lieutenant didn’t take his eyes off the fire.
“Damn fine work you did fending off those rabbit, I hear.” He said in a distant tone.
“You should be proud son. I know I am, you did you duty, as we all did. But you did yours without fear or distraction, something I can’t say for all of us, that’s why I am picking you as the leader for a little expedition.” The lieutenant stared at the fire for a moment, and then looked up at Tim, a meaningful look in his eye.
“It’s dangerous having those rabbits nesting so close to our new camp, as best we can tell they are littered all over the hills to the North but they don’t like leaving the long grass. What’s more they have set up camp in the staging area used to build the Vault, could be some worth while stuff in that base. Remember that building you found that was nearly completely buried? Well it isn’t alone, I sent a scouting party out to that area earlier this morning, looks like a lot of the pre war structures survived, and if we could get to them we might be able to find some very valuable stuff in there. Like power generators, operating computer systems, food replication units, water purifiers and so on. First things first however, we need to clear out those rabbits that have set up camp in them.” Lieutenant had pulled himself together and was now speaking in a much more authority laden tone.
“I want you to lead a team of our security officers into the long grass and over to the buried base. Once there you are to find a way in and then clear out the area of all those damned rabbits. Once they are out of the way it should be safe to send in the bulk of our people to search the base for anything of value, if we’re lucky we can repair the base’s underground facilities and use them for storage and protection in this new world. Do you understand?” The lieutenant returned to staring at the fire.
“Yes lieutenant.” Tim replied.
“There are other issues as well, but we can deal with them later once I have the full details on what we managed to get out… before…” The lieutenant fell silent; his gaze was distant as he stared into the dancing flames.
Tim suddenly felt very awkward; he decided he would end the conversation as quickly as possible and do as the lieutenant had asked. Pushing out his chest a little and holding his hands behind his back Tim spoke in an obedient tone.
“I will gather a team and proceed into the long grass, sir. We will search out for any way that the base might be recoverable and kill off the pack of mutant squatters. Shall I precede sir?” Tim asked, a long pause following his question.
Lieutenant Balk seemed to jump slightly, as he pulled himself back into reality and concentrated.
“Yes, take the men on shift guarding the perimeter of the long grass. Kill off all the creatures and examine the base to see if it can be repaired.” Tim nodded in acceptance and turned to walk away.
“One more thing, I am promoting you to sergeant, good work 145.” The lieutenant went back to staring at the fire, Tim didn’t hang around, he walked away turning on the torch to guide him self out of the cave.
Stepping back into the sunlight Tim handed the torch to the guard outside.
“How was he?” The man inquired.
“Distant, something is really troubling him.” Tim replied.
“Yeah, we think he blames himself for not going and getting the others out of operations.” The man replied.
Tim didn’t answer, although what the man had said might well be true something else seemed to bother him, the lieutenant seemed far too cut up for it to be just over the people in operations who didn’t get out. Tim knew the lieutenant didn’t have a partner inside the Vault and he couldn’t think of anything else that would be troubling the lieutenant so much.
“He promoted me to sergeant.” Said Tim.
“Oh… sweet… yeah he has been promoting a few other people and fiddling around with the command structure, I think it’s because we lost so many officers when the reactor blew. Damn funny thing that, went out without a sound, ground didn’t shake or anything.” The man said.
“Yeah… strange. Hey, did Mark make it out?” Tim inquired remembering his shift buddy he had seen when he walked out of his quarters that morning.
“No, sorry man, we did a roll call earlier on. He didn’t make it out.” The man replied in a sorry tone.
Tim didn’t say anything, suddenly the fact that the Vault was gone and that many of his friends were dead began to settle in. He had to keep a level head though; brushing the thoughts of his lost ones from his mind he located the perimeter patrol group that were guarding the edge of the long grass from his vantage point at the top of the rocky slope.
“Yeah, well, better get on with it.” He said half to himself.
Tim made his way over to the group of men and women which were meant to be guarding the long grass. There were seven of them in all, scattered along the edge of the grass forest which lay before them. Three of them were bunched up in the middle of the line, one sitting on a cargo crate, one lying against another crate and a third one stood in front of them his gaze pointed towards the long grass. Tim walked up to the man which was standing.
The one woman lying against the crate had her eyes shut, it had been a long night for everyone and she was clearly tired, the sun light gleaming from her side arm which was holstered. The man sat on the other crate just beside her was sipping water from a Vault Issue Flask, the heat from the sun basking down on the cool metal container. The man standing had a large stick resting on his shoulders, his arms hanging over each end of it and the body of the stick running behind his head.
“Well, haven’t you guys struck lucky?” Tim said, stepping up to the three of them.
They two men stared at him, the woman opening one eye and looking up at him.
“Orders from lieutenant Balk, we’re now the official exterminators, and it’s dangerous to have such poisonous little critters so close to our camp. Also we need access to the base they have made a home in so come on! On your feet.” Tim said, starting to enjoy his new role as sergeant.
“About god damn time!” The woman spoke, getting to her feet.
“Yeah, we’ve been getting restless here watching those little bastards rustle about in the grass and not being able to do anything about it. Lieutenant Balk said we couldn’t take any shots at them unless they got up close.” The man on the crate said.
“Yeah, sounds like they might be getting pretty close to us now, seeing as we’re going to go gate crash their little party over there.” The man with the stick spoke, swinging the stick down and tossing it to one side.
The man who had just thrown the stick pulled open the crate nearest him which the woman had been lying against, reaching in he pulled out a pack of torches. Tim smiled, it was payback time, and this time they were ready. Gathering up the seven officers Tim started wading into the grass, his small militia following closely. With the area lit by the light of day Tim could clearly make out a network of buildings buried under the dirt, most of them only having the roof showing and with no way in. Some of them however were more exposed and it looked quite possible to climb down inside the buildings through the windows.
Tim had two choices available to him.
A) He could set up his gang around the exposed buildings and try and draw as many out as possible to kill off as many as possible before heading in. (+ 1 perception + 30% Small guns.)
B) He could split his gang up into several groups and send each one to an exposed building, killing off as many as possible by shooting into the buildings through the windows. (+ 1 strength + 30% unarmed skill)
Feedback welcome, the choice is yours
Choice A:
I never like the idea to split up and backup of more than one other person is always good. Splitting up just seems too risky since the rabbits move quickly.
I never like the idea to split up and backup of more than one other person is always good. Splitting up just seems too risky since the rabbits move quickly.