Prelude

[Sreeya]

Mankind’s worst fears were realized as nuclear warfare wiped out most life on Earth and leveled entire cities. Although the wealthy had reserved rooms within underground vaults, in the end it became a massive scramble to hide away from the war. The strongest and the most cunning people muscled their way in, with less than half of the vaults filled with those that originally paid for it. As the war raged on above, these lucky individuals retreated to cryogenic pods that froze them in time for hundreds of years as the last great World War raged on above.

As humans awakened from their long slumber, society had to rebuild within the layered vaults. Power generators, nuclear reactors and water treatment plants needed to be operated. Everyone had to get to work, and no class distinctions existed. Externally, the entire planet was a wasteland with the threat of radiation for those that ventured outside. Over time, anyone that didn’t escape to a vault developed into something else entirely – humanoid creatures that were ravenous and animalistic in nature. The nuclear aftermath also gave birth to a variety of enormous creatures that adapted to this new climate. The region was arid, wide deserts stretching out for miles. There was little to no water in sight, and the only sanctuary was in the vaults.

Some humans withstood the harsh conditions and pockets of tribes peppered the countries here and there.

---

Vault 314​

Korista awoke with a start in the bunk bed she had been in since she was a child. She glanced across to find her bunkmate still fast asleep, an arm sprawled over the edge of her bed. The dwelling was more akin to a cell than a room, the walls low and cylindrical. There was a square panel to the side that displayed the night sky as a holographic image. She often clicked the button to make it switch between sceneries, and this was the only glimpse she had into the ‘outside world’. Korista was born in Vault 314 and never knew what the world once was. She had never seen trees, animals, earth. She never felt the wind on her face or the waves of the ocean. But she also missed none of it because she simply never experienced it before.

Korista was a 19-year-old woman that had been assigned to the synthetic farming stations. She and others worked to produce vegetables and fruits underground to feed the rest of the population. Unlike others in the levels above her, she was never trained to fight or defend herself.

“Hey,” Korista whispered across the room to her bunkmate, “Hey!” The woman simply groaned and rolled over. Sighing, Korista hopped out of the bunkbed, walking over to grab herself a can of water. Before she could reach for it, there was a thunderous noise in the levels above. Within seconds, alarms began to blare throughout all the levels of the vault. Her bunkmate fell off the bed, panic making Korista’s heart pound in her chest.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know!”

In all her memory, the only other time there had been an alarm was due to a fire on a level below. There was static from the intercom in her room, “All vault citizens are to remain in their bunks. I repeat, all vault citizens are to remain in their bunks,” The voice of the Overseer boomed in their room and Korista did just that. She hugged her knees and sat down in the corner of her room, her bunkmate scrambling to get next to her.

After a moment, she could hear screaming outside, Korista’s eyes going wide, “We’re under attack?!” She had only heard stories of raiders infiltrating the vault, and the last incident happened before she was born.

“We’re fifteen levels down! How could they possibly get here?!”

Korista listened closely to the commotion outside, “Round up the farmers!” was followed by a volley of shots. Gunfire erupted directly outside their door and all Korista could do was pathetically cry in the corner. Her father was two levels up, and if raiders were here, that meant he was dead. Had they dug a tunnel? The explosion suggested a breach of some sort, though they had all been led to believe that the vault walls were impregnable.

 

[Phoenix]

The morning came way too quickly as far as Jack was concerned. In the middle of the night, someone had come up and told the twenty-three year old that the water filtration unit was having problems. Of course it broke down at 4am and he was on call. What were the odds? It seemed every time there could be a problem, there was one and it happened on his shift.

He'd thrown his clothes on, dragged himself out of bed, and made his way two floors down to the filtration unit. After about three hours of messing with it, twisting with the wrench, smacking with the hammer, and generally doing everything he could think of, the stupid machine was finally working again.

He plopped down on the floor, unscrewing the cap on his water bottle and taking a swig. Nothing like a hard day's work, he said, looking at the cat that had somehow made its way down here with him. He didn't know cats were allowed in here, but maybe someone had been allowed to be frozen with little old snooky - or whatever its name was - because they were rich. Even though it's only been... a couple of hours, he said, rolling his eyes.

Jack stopped theorizing about the cat and got up, making his way back toward floor thirteen. That was when a sound he'd only heard about reached his ears: gunfire. They'd stocked old movies in here with the survivors and Jack had spent hours on hours perusing the library. At first he thought it was a mistake; no one on this floor should be using firearms, right? That was only the upper floors. But the sound only grew closer and after a moment a voice rang out over the PA system advising everyone to stay in their bunks.

In my bunk?! My bunk is two floors up, he sputtered angrily and confused, though there was no one to hear him. Actually... there was someone and it was someone with a gun who wanted to kill him. Already grasping the hammer in hand, Jack smashed it down on the other man, covering himself in blood as the gunfired. His ears were ringing and everything seemed to be a blur when he finally realized what was going on. The other man was on the ground dead and red droplets now joined the sweat and grime that already covered his body and clothes. He was breathing heavily and clutching furiously to the hammer.

Think, breathe, Jack, he reminded himself, barely getting himself to move as he snatched the gun and few spare bullets he could find. He spat curses as more sounds reached his ears from beyond the corner and he knew he needed to get out of the open as quickly as possible. Did you hear that gunfire? I thought we had that area secure, came a voice from around the corner.

Jack's hand fumbled for his passkey and he shoved it against the access panel for the nearest bunk room. The door slid open and he ducked inside, not even turning to look that there were two girls stuck inside who looked terrified. Holy... stay quiet, he said, when he finally turned to see them, nearly leaping out of his skin at the sight of other people. Who knew what he was actually expecting, but he wasn't really thinking clearly.

 

[Sreeya]

“I’m sure it’s just people pani-“

“Are you serious, Lina? That’s gunfire we hear! Haven’t you seen any of those action movies? That’s exactly what it sounds like! People are screaming because they’re dying!”

“Come off it, Kori, you’re scaring m-AAAAH!”

Lina screamed as a man abruptly barged into their bunker. Korista quickly grabbed the nearby can of water and chucked it directly at his head. It was only after the painful collision that she realized he was on the run as well, “Er.. s-sorry…” She muttered under her breath, eyes wide at the sight of him, “How did your passkey work to get in here?!” Korista quickly rose to her feet, panic clear on her face, “Do all passkeys get into bunkers now? That means there was a hack, right?!”

She didn’t have time to rationalize further before there was a loud crash against the door. Korista screamed, backing up as much as possible. The only nearby place to go into was the bathroom, but that only held one person at a time. Before she could even move, Lina darted directly across her, jumping into the bathroom and shutting the door. Korista looked helplessly back at the man that barged in, then back to the bathroom, “We’re gonna die!”

The door was suddenly sprayed with bullets, Korista screaming as she jumped out of the way. Within moments, the door came right off the hinge, a large burly man carrying a portable railgun pointed directly at them. He glared at Korista, “Farmer girl, come out ‘ere quietly and ya ain’t gonna get hurt,” He looked at the man next to Korista as if daring him to do something.

Whimpering quietly, Korista slowly made her way out of her bunker, her hands raised in the air. As she stepped outside, she could see a slew of farmers all kneeling and bound with guns pointed at them. Some of the resisters had been killed, the sight causing her to stifle a scream. She recognized some of these faces, and now they stared vacantly, their bodies lying in a pool of blood. It was a scene she had only seen in some old movies.

 

[Phoenix]

This had not been an ideal place to take up hiding. In fact, it seemed to be precisely where these guys were heading... brilliant. The fact that something hit him in the back of the head as soon as he came in wasn't much of an improvement either and he stumbled a moment as he recovered from the blow.

They're coming, he said, ignoring her apology but it was almost too late. He had no time to explain about his keycard or anything else, the enemy - whoever they were - had arrived. The door was sprayed down by gunfire and Jack leapt to the side as the bullets smashed through and into the far wall. It was a small miracle none of them were killed, and after a moment, the door was blown wide open.

Jack was on the ground, on his butt when the door opened, having just dove out of the way of the hail of bullets. The pistol had slid partially under the bed and was just out of reach as the man looked around, inviting the girl out. Jack wasn't quite daft enough to go for the gun with the man already armed and others beyond who were equally as ready to kill.

He raised his hands up when the railgun pointed at him to indicate he wasn't going to be doing anything to attack or worthy of being killed, yet. Hey man, what's going on? he asked, his voice shaky.

Shut up! Unless you want me to pop ya! Come on, let's go! he said, giving Korista a shove toward the other farmers. Say, are you a farmer too? Get yer butt out here. Now! he said. In truth, Jack didn't know the first thing about farming, but he managed to unclip his tool belt when the man wasn't looking, standing and moving away from it as he tried to wipe some of the blood off his face.

Within moments, he was kneeling along with the others, lined up with his hands on the back of his head, ready to be moved out. 'Ight, let's get movin'! Everybody up! he shouted as they all stood and were marched down a long hallway to a hole in the wall. How long it had taken to dig and cut through, Jack couldn't fathom, but they'd done it, and now he and a bunch of farmers were being marched out to a world he had no memory of and which was now changed to be scarred by war and monsters.

 

[Sreeya]

Korista tried not to cry as she was made to kneel along with everyone else. To her surprise she saw the man from earlier also being corralled with the rest. From the looks of his attire, he was clearly a mechanic of some sorts from a different level. Why was he getting tangled up in this? Korista was harshly yanked up to her feet again and made to march with the rest. There was no one here to help them. Anyone screaming or calling out was either killed immediately or backhanded across the face.

As she saw the tunnel, her heart sank. This meant that it was possible to break into their vault. This was a possibility she had never fathomed in her wildest dreams. In her entire life, she had always felt protected within these walls. She wondered about the world outside, and now she wanted nothing more than to avoid it. As they kept walking through the dark tunnel, she saw their captors putting gas masks on. She began to panic again, looking around, “Are you going to make us go out there without a mask?!”

Thwack!

The sting spread from her cheek throughout her entire body, and her vision blurred. Her eyes were watery, and she thought for a moment she had a fractured cheekbone. She was nudged forward, not given a chance to recover from the harsh slap. She remained silent from then on, following the others as the tunnel began to incline upwards.

Before her, the others were openly weeping and sobbing at the prospect of coming out into the wastelands. Korista kept walking along, knowing for sure they would die the moment they stepped out. What use were they to raiders if they couldn’t survive beyond the first few steps outside the vault?

After a while, she began to see a blinding light that made everyone hiss and shield their eyes. The raiders began to chuckle at this reaction, forcing everyone forward. Korista had never experienced anything like this, the light stinging and burning her eyes. She kept walking, breathing in the air outside for the first time. She drew in strange things in the air that was dust, but it was a concept she wasn’t familiar with. Korista coughed and sneezed along with everyone else as they came out to the outside world.

She gingerly stepped on the strange terrain that wasn’t metallic. Her feet sunk slightly into the ground and she gasped, glancing all around. She jumped every time the wind brushed against her face, the sensation unlike anything she had ever felt.

“Keep moving, you little shits,” The burly man barked, “We have a long way to go!”

The strange terrain stretched out for miles and she looked up to see a blindingly bright circle in the sky. This was…..the sun? She had only seen it through the holograms, but it never burned her eyes like this. Korista glanced ahead, spotting….rocks and boulders? The entire land was orange and yellow, and it was unlike anything she could have ever prepared for.

The raiders were more than comfortable traversing these lands, and they kept nudging the line of farmers forward, “You see this? This is what the world looks like. Not so nice outside of your cozy little bubble, is it?”

 

[Phoenix]

What had he gotten himself into? This beat being killed and he was thankful that they hadn't really thought about the fact that he not only didn't look like a farmer but was in a female dorm. Although these people didn't seem like geniuses to him. Thank goodness they weren't or he would have likely been shot already.

The girl next to him asked a question and got a nasty smack across the face which made Jack's eyes go wide, and he couldn't help but make a note to keep his own mouth shut. They were led up from underground, coming out into what he had only seen in movies and on their "windows." It was much different than he expected and much more harsh. It seemed hot and dry. The sun seemed to beat down much harsher than he expected and sucked the moisture out of him.

A long way to go? Where are we going? he wondered, but kept his mouth closed. He said nothing as the raiders mocked and taunted their lack of knowledge regarding the outside world.

Their path twisted along the base of a mountain and around to... was that water? He had to ask because it didn't look like water. It was liquid but it was dark in color and filled with... junk or sludge or... something? Either way, there seemed to be some sort of very crude boat floating on it. It looked as though it had been crafted from the remnants of an old airplane? Was that what they were called?

The group of farmers (and the imposter) were shoved below deck where it was dark. He was thankful for the relief from the sun but now couldn't see where they were going or where they were being taken to. The guards took up stations above deck and Jack quietly looked over to the girl next to him. Did you hear where they're taking us? he whispered, realizing they needed to get out of here as soon as possible or they would never be able to find their way home again.

 

[Sreeya]

Korista almost gagged as they came across the sludgy…water or whatever it was. There was a stench permeating from it that was rancid. She couldn’t imagine anything lived in those waters, and she had been taught that water was a source of life. Korista avoided the edges of the boat as much as she could. The swimming pool in the vault was many levels below and she had never bothered to venture down, and had never learned to swim as a result.

She made her way along with everyone else below deck, crammed in with the others. Somehow she once again ended up next to the boy from earlier. She knew most of the others around them, and she had never seen them so frightened. All around her were tear-stained faces and terrified looks. She shook her head as the boy asked her a question, “It has to be another vault, right? I don’t think anything exists outside of them. They must have run out of farmers or don’t have enough for theirs so they kidnapped us,” She looked him over, “Aren’t you a mechanic?” She made sure not to say that out too loud. If they thought he wouldn’t be useful, he could be killed, “You need to tear that off before someone figures it out,” She nodded towards the blue patch on his arm that designated him to be a mechanic. Korista and the others had a green patch.

After what seemed like hours, she awoke with a start with the boat nudging against something. She realized she had fallen asleep against the boy’s shoulder, and she recoiled from him in embarrassment. Korista didn’t have time to assess the situation before there was shouting and a huge ruckus up above. She quickly got up to her feet to avoid getting trampled by the others.

As she made her way up, she realized they had been rammed by another boat. The other boat was also full of what looked like raiders. Korista couldn’t believe their horrid luck. Were two raider clans fighting over them?! She looked all around for a way out, spotting land not too far away. She saw raiders jumping aboard onto their ship as an all out fight erupted between them.

Korista rushed to the edge of the deck, looking down at the questionable ‘water’. It was most likely full of radiation. She looked back, noticing people getting shot and getting caught in the crossfire. She could go cower like the other farmers and leave her fate up to the raiders or she could…. Die in the water? Korista chewed on her lip till it bled. Didn’t everyone float even if they didn’t know how to swim?

 

[Phoenix]

He put a finger to his lips and there was a hint of desperation and panic in his voice as she mentioned it. Please don't tell anyone, please, he implored her. He knew he would likely end up dead if they found out he wasn't useful. Thankfully, she had no reason to try to get him killed and pointed out that he should remove the patch from his shirt. He glanced down, only now remembering it amidst the chaos.

He worked feverishly to try to get it off, pulling a pen from his pocket and shoving the tip under the fabric and prying at it. He did this to both patches and eventually worked them loose enough to tear them off, ripping the sleeves a bit for good measure to try not to let it be too obvious that he had just torn the patches off, ultimately ripping off most of one of the sleeves.

That kept him busy for all of a few minutes before the plain sitting started. The girl next to him drifted off into sleep and he couldn't help but be baffled by that. His adrenaline was still pumping too hard and his mind was running through potential ways out. It only now hit him that he had killed someone earlier and the dried blood still clung to his clothes. He had done that without... without so much as a hesitation. It was surreal and felt unreal. He looked down at his hands, realizing they were now the hands of a killer.

His mind was pulled from this as she came to rest against his shoulder and he stayed as still as he could, trying not to wake her up and let her have a brief escape from this terrible situation. After what felt like an eternity of sitting there, he heard the sound of rending metal, as if something was scarping against something else. It was a sound he'd become very familiar with when working on machines and it screamed "something's wrong."

The sound of gunfire filled the air shortly thereafter and he scrambled to the top deck. People were bleeding and dying, sprays of red filled the air and splattered across his face as people fell to the gunfire. An explosion rocked the "boat" further down and he was pretty sure this thing was going to sink soon if this kept up. These new raiders didn't seem to care much about the farmers for they seemed to shoot anyone on deck and he couldn't help but wonder why they were attacking if not for the farmers. Did they think there was something else on board?

There was no time to ponder now as he tried to scramble away from the gunfire. His foot caught on something and he tripped, landing on his face as blood trickled out of his nose. His adrenaline was pumping almost too hard to notice and he was back on his feet in an instant. But where could he go? He had half a mind that jumping into that water would kill him instantly but he couldn't stay here. A bullet would do the same.

That was when he noticed one of their attackers - the big lug from earlier - trying to lower a small inflatable raft into the water. He looked around the deck amidst the bodies that now littered its surface to try to find a weapon before spotting a shotgun a few feet away. Grabbing it, he aimed and pulled the trigger. Click. It didn't fire. He pumped it and an empty shell flew out before he pulled the trigger again. He was almost surprised when it bucked against his shoulder and sent the man flying as the pellets tore into his back.

He ran toward the raft, spotting the girl from earlier looking at the water. As he passed by, he grabbed her by the arm. Come on! he shouted, half-dragging her. The raft could probably only hold two people and she was not only the first he saw (who he knew wasn't going to kill him) but had also been nice to him. He all but shoved her into the raft before jumping in and hitting the crank to drop them the last three feet into the sludge. Row! he said, pointing to the oars and grabbing one of his own. Their only hope was to get to the shore before their boat was popped.

 

[Sreeya]

Korista swung a leg over the edge of the boat and was about to jump in. She could see her silhouette in the water and grimaced, ready to plunge into the depths. Before she could move, she was abruptly yanked to the side. A quick glance to the side revealed familiar hair and the missing patch. It was that boy again! She prepared to argue with him, but he seemed to have a plan.

As they ran across the deck, they had to dodge people rushing all around them. Korista ducked as someone leveled a shotgun and fired off a blast. She scrambled to find her footing, almost faceplanting as she was dragged by the boy towards the edge of the boat. She could see raft and practically fell into it. As he demanded for her to row, she looked around at the strange sticks, “Row? What’s that?!”

She watched him grab one of the sticks and begin to push it into the water, the action nudging the boat forward. Korista quickly got the hint, working the other one to paddle as fast as she could. At first they began to go into a half circle, but she quickly found sync with him to propel them away from the boat. Korista flinched as a bullet shot into the water next to them, “They’re aiming for us!”

She was beyond terrified, realizing that they were attracting attention. She watched as the raider shooting at them was abruptly clobbered on the head by another raider that couldn’t see what he had been shooting at. Korista used this to her full advantage, hastily rowing till they made it across to the bank on the other side.

As the rowboat touched against the earth, Korista hopped off and collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. In the distance she could still hear the firefight, pain clear on her face, “All my friends….people I grew up with….” She watched as one of the boats began to slowly sink into the murky water. Korista felt sick, looking away.

She knew they couldn’t stay there and forced herself up to her feet, “Come on, we need to put distance between us and them,” She began to run further inland and away from the water. As far as she could see, the wastelands stretched out to no ends. It was unnerving and they were out in the open. They had no means of shelter or food, and the reality of the situation began to set in, “I….I don’t know anything about surviving out here,” She admitted pathetically, “I read that in ancient times our ancestors used the sun and stars for directions or something but….It’s just this great big stupid ball in the sky. What do we do now?”

 

[Phoenix]

Jack let out a sigh of relief as they made it to the waters edge. The fact that people had been shooting at them was terrifying and only made him paddle harder to try to make it to "safety." Although making it to land didn't actually offer that much by way of actual survival. He grabbed the shotgun, checking and finding only three shots left before they made their way into the desert.

When she admitted that she didn't know anything about surviving out here, despair began to set in. Me neither, he admitted, realizing that they were probably going to die without water. But we should probably keep moving, yeah. So they don't catch up with us... if they even know we're out here, he said. He reached up and scratched at his head as he spun around in circles.

Okay, so the river is that way, right? And we came from that direction, he said, pointing toward where they'd come from. So we should head that way, yeah? he threw out. It seemed logical to him at least. He started walking immediately. I'm Jack, by the way, he said forcing a smile. The sounds of gunfire had subsided which he could only assume meant that all of one side was dead. From the looks of things, their captors had probably been on the losing side.

But the two couldn't catch a break. They made their way up the "river" only to find that it split into three forks. He stopped and stared out at the water. Uh... I don't know which of these we want, he muttered, trying to think of anything that would let them decide apart from flipping a coin or the like.

 

[Sreeya]

Korista looked at him with skepticism clear on her face. She had no idea how to navigate, but what he said was the best thing to go on. She couldn’t see anything in the distance beyond the ‘river’ and the downside to living in an underground vault was that, well, it was underground. It was hidden from sight so even if they did stumble upon it, they wouldn’t know how to spot it immediately. She groaned in frustration, nodding in the end, “Okay, it’s the best plan we’ve got,” She glanced up at him as he mentioned his name, returning a half smile through the anxiety she felt, “I’m Korista, but my friends call…..called me Kori,” She choked over her words, realizing that everyone on the boat was most likely dead.

They walked for a long while, the heat bearing down on her skin. She glanced over at him every so often, “Hey…. You’re turning red…” She didn’t know what that meant. Sometimes she noticed her lighter skinned bunkmate’s skin turned that color when she came out of a very hot shower. Korista wiped sweat off her brow, the sun bearing down on them, “I wish we could drink from that river…I’m so thirsty.”

She followed after him with no real end in sight. They had no food or shelter, and for all she knew, they were breathing in poisonous gasses. As they came across the three forks, Korista looked just as confused and shrugged, “There’s no way to tell,” She took a few steps forward, “But I see some….big rocks back there,” She pointed, “It might give us some shade from the sun.”

With that, she made her way towards it, taking the leftmost fork in the road. Unfortunately, she had misjudged the distance to the boulders. Their journey took almost an hour longer in the hot sun till they came upon the strange formation of boulders. There was a little nook beneath it and she climbed under, immediately feeling cooler. She sighed, sliding down to sit, “I need a break…I can’t keep walking in that awful sun…” She was completely drenched in sweat and neither of them smelled too great right now.

Korista looked up at him curiously, finally properly looking at him for the first time, “So…why did you take me with you? You could have escaped on the raft on your own.”

 

[Phoenix]

Jack looked down at his skin, already red and growing damp with sweat. It was horribly hot out here and he was pretty sure he was just going to die at any moment. Yeah, it's just... hot as balls out here, he groaned. The fact that they had no definitive path up the river put him in a foul mood, but they had no options except to keep moving. When she suggested the boulders, he shrugged and walked toward it. I'm pretty sure drinking that would kill us... he said, just based on looking at it.

The distance and the heat only made things worse and by the time he made it to the shade, he was drenched in sweat and felt lightheaded. He all but collapsed into the sand under the shade, leaning back against the boulder and taking several breaths. He was surprised when she asked why he'd taken her with him. I don't know, I didn't want you to die. There was room in the raft, he said. I'm sorry about your friends, he managed weakly. He couldn't imagine having watched all of his friends massacred in front of him. All the people he spent his days with time and again.

He took the moment to enjoy the shade but his mouth seemed as if it were growing more and more dry by the minute. He had no idea where they would find water and became more concerned that they might just die of dehydration. They had three bullets, maybe it would be better to just... no, he wasn't going to let his mind go there. If it came to that, they would deal with it.

Do you know anything about... out here? I, uh, never really paid attention to the videos... he admitted, suddenly greatly regretting sleeping through the instructional videos. What else could have been out here? Clearly there were some people, though they all seemed bloodthirsty and crazy. Wait, do you think there are other people out here that... aren't crazy?

 

[Sreeya]

She was privately glad he also wanted to stop. If he wanted to keep going, she would have continued to be miserable or would have been alone. She faintly smiled as he mentioned that he didn’t want her to die, “Th-Thank you….. you saved my life. I am forever in your debt,” She hoped it wasn’t a favor she would have to return anytime soon. He was far more capable than her, and he could owe it to having a much more technical career.

Korista grimaced as he asked if she knew much about out here, “Well, the videos didn’t cover too much about surviving out here since it was such an impossibility,” She looked around her, “I know soils and can tell if there might be water underground or if animals or creatures can burrow in it,” She dug her fingers into the soft, cool sand, “For example, there are probably insects crawling around here that we could…eat..” She looked uncomfortable at the prospect, “And if we find cactus plants, those can feed and water us.”

She looked back up at him as he asked about people out here, “I don’t see how… there has been so much radiation that it would have had to mess with their minds somehow,” Korista rubbed her chin in thought, “Although those raiders seemed….okay. They were awful people, but they were coherent. That means there must be others that survived the war and their descendants are still out there!”

There had been plenty of novels she read in the vault about people out in the wastelands. Many of them were fantasy or romance books about forbidden love between those poisoned by radiation and vault dwellers, “Yeah no… I have no idea about anything out here,” She sighed, looked out as clouds began to drift across the sun and offer a temporary reprieve, “It’ll be night time in only a few hours and we won’t have a way to find food or water then,” She looked around in the sand beginning to crawl deeper into the nook. After a while, she pulled out what looked like a squishy bug, “Uh… “ She held it out to him, blinking, “Y-You first…”

 

[Phoenix]

Jack wasn't shocked that she didn't have a lot of knowledge about this place either. No one came out and, in all honesty, Jack didn't think that anyone was able to live out here. He'd been proven wrong and couldn't help but wonder what else he thought about this place wasn't true.

He let out a sigh as she talked about finding plants or something else. Maybe they could find one of these cacti? His face twisted into a grimace as she mentioned eating bugs. I think we need to find water, he muttered, wondering how to do that. He watched her curiously, eyebrow twisting up as she dug around in the sand. When she pulled out a bug he shook his head vigorously. No thanks, I don't think I'm hungry enough for that yet, he said.

Their time to argue about this wasn't going to last though. The sound of something above them on the rocks, made Jack look up. Something or someone sounded as if it was climbing along, making pebbles fall down. Perhaps they weren't the only ones seeking shelter here. But no one else had come out from boat either, so... other people? Could they be so lucky? Or one of the rad monsters he'd heard rumors about? He gripped the shotgun tighter, poking her with his finger and motioning up with the barrel if she hadn't heard the sound.

There was a sound like a low growl, that sounded neither human or animal and he pressed his back against the rock, hoping to hide further under the ledge so that he was hidden from whatever beast was above.

 

[Sreeya]

Korista shrugged as he turned down the bug. She stashed it away in her pocket for now, knowing they would need it later. She sighed and leaned her back against the rock again, “What do people do out here? Just sit around all day waiting for the sun to go away?” Her eyes suddenly went wide, “It does go away right? Night time isn’t a myth?” She realized that never being out here meant they didn’t know anything for certain. The world could have changed quite a bit in the time since the last war.

She saw him suddenly become stiff, and she glanced up at the noise. Whatever it was, it didn’t sound human. Korista shrunk back further into the nook, “We’re safe in here,” She whispered quietly to Jack, hoping he wouldn’t have any bright ideas to burst out and be a hero. The noises grew louder, and she thought she heard loud clicking. The creature sounded huge as it scurried above them, the boulders above them rumbling.

The entire ceiling began to shake and Korista’s eyes went wide, “Shit! We’ll be caved in!” As much as she hated it, they had no choice but to push out. This time, she grabbed Jack’s hand instead and all but dragged him out of the nook as the boulders dropped behind them. Dust and debris kicked up as they were out in the blinding sun again. The bright light was temporarily eclipsed and she opened her eyes to see a massive scorpion standing before them. Its huge tail was curved above it, the point angled down and ready to strike them down. The exoskeleton was tough as nails from the look of it, and she had a sinking feeling that even a gun wouldn't pierce it so easily.

“What…the…” Korista screamed and jumped back as the scorpion began to rush towards them. She kept close to Jack as he had the weapon, while she was empty handed. The scorpion whirled in with its left pincer, aiming to knock Jack off his feet and slam down with the stinger. Korista quickly picked up a rock and hurled it at its eyes in an attempt to distract it to give Jack a shot. With their cover destroyed, there was nowhere to run and the scorpion was much quicker than them out here.

 

[Phoenix]

She all but dragged him out of the crevice and not a moment too soon. A boulder came crashing down, smashing into the sand where he had just been moments earlier. He grunted as he hit the ground roughly, sand kicked up everywhere and momentarily obscuring his vision. He nearly peed himself when he saw what was making all the ruckus.

A massive scorpion, black as the night, stood on the boulders above them. He had no idea how this was possible, but he'd heard stories about beasts growing in size - or more like theories about it being possible. He'd always dismissed them, never taking it seriously. He was wrong. He was so wrong.

Without hesitating any longer, he raised the gun and fired, the impact chipping away at the exoskeleton but not causing any notable, significant damage. It took every ounce of discipline not to keep firing, and he held up short, keeping the last two round. He was going to run, even though there was nowhere to go to, but it seemed Korista had a different plan.

The pincer came swinging at him and he jumped back, still caught by its size and smashed backwards. The wind was all but knocked out of him as the tail came down. Luckily his jump back had just managed to keep it from impaling him and injecting him with a dose of venom he'd rather not think about. Pain shot through his side and he halfway doubled over as she threw a rock at it.

This seemed to pull its attention away and it scurried to face her, its tail lashing down at where she stood. The pincer now blocked his aim at its face and eyes - likely the only place he could have any hope of piercing the hide. He pushed himself back up once again, backing up and shouldering the rifle. Run toward me! he shouted, hoping that as it turned to track her, he might be able to get a clear shot.

 

[Sreeya]

Korista watched in horror as he fired a shot and it didn’t do much damage. It chipped some of the skeleton away, but it only served to anger it more than anything. She screamed as she saw the pincer collide against Jack and send him sailing. She couldn’t see him for a moment and jumped to the worst conclusions. Korista grabbed more rocks and began to throw them in quick succession at the scorpion, fully believing that she was alone.

When she heard Jack’s voice pipe up again, she sighed in relief, darting towards him. The scorpion moved quicker that she did, the right pincer coming in to slam against her back as the beast turned to face towards them. Korista flew through the air and collided harshly against Jack, toppling him over. This no doubt took away his vantage point, and she was on her back looking up at the curved tail, “ROLL!” She quickly rolled to her left, hoping Jack would roll to the right or somersault backwards to get out of range.

Korista began to quickly shuffle backwards, intending to keep irritating it just enough to make it face Jack head on. She was quickly running out of rocks and made a beeline towards the debris where the boulders fell. Korista ran between the scorpion’s legs while its tail was temporarily stuck to the ground.

As she picked up more rocks, she began to laterally move around the scorpion’s left. She purposely tossed rocks at its side to make it face her, hoping Jack recovered and would rush towards her. Inevitably, the scorpion slammed its stinger down once more. This time, Korista remained where she was till the last possible moment, leaping back to where the stinger slammed into the ground where she was moments prior, “NOW JACK!” He had the blink of an eye to shoot while the scorpion was briefly immobilized. If he didn’t act quick, she would be directly in line of fire for a full assault.

 

[Phoenix]

Things didn't seem to be looking good for them. Korista came smashing into him, knocking him over but they were luckily both still alive. He dropped the shotgun and rolled when she yelled at him, not even knowing what he was rolling away from. It became evident a moment later as a vicious attack landed where he had just been.

It was a mad scramble to get back to the fallen gun and he snatched it up, shakily getting it pointed back at the beast. But by now, it had trailed off after her, it's attention fully drawn away by her rock-throwing. A deep, terrible part of him nearly thought of just turning and running, saving his own skin, but he shoved that aside, disgusted at himself for even letting the thought occur. Instead, he maneuvered around until he could get a better angle, her shout prompting him as he lined up the front and back rifle sights. Click. He panicked as he racked the gun and fire. Boom. And he fired again.

The spray of pellets shot out, peppering the eyes and blasting off a few chunks of the scorpions face. It began to convulse and flop along the ground, letting out a horrible screech as it died. He dropped the gun and grabbed her hand, pulling her back toward the boulders as it gave up its last few twitches. He was gasping for air, feeling completely spent, and utterly terrified. But as he looked at the dead creature, he couldn't help himself: he began to laugh uncontrollably. Of course, it wasn't funny, but that didn't stop him as the bodies natural reactions took over. He flopped back into the sand as a pillow, a broad smile on his face at not being dead.

Of course, there were a whole bunch of other problems still facing them, and now they had no more bullets for their shotgun, but he was alive. Crap, I hope there aren't more of those, he finally managed as he looked back at the dead arachnid. That's the last of our shotgun shells... he said grimly. Do you think we can salvage something off of it? Like, scorpion meat or something?

 

[Sreeya]

Korista winced as the gun went off, the scorpion’s ‘face’ exploding into many small shards. She was crouched on the ground, hands above her head as if it would block such a massive creature. In the end, Jack came through and his attack did wonders. After the large behemoth fell, Korista heaved a sigh of relief. She rose to stand, looking over confused at hearing laughter. For a moment, she was worried that he had been seriously injured in the head, “Are…are you okay?”

She slowly walked over to him, relieved to see he was okay. Sometimes she laughed like that when she was nervous. Korista had a smile on her face, walking over to help him up to his feet, “If there’s one, there are probably others,” She looked over at the dead carcass, “Well… this meat looks better than the bug in my pocket,” She grimaced as she remembered it. The thing was still wriggling around in there, and still just as unappetizing.

Korista walked over and began to peel off some of the strange plating of the exoskeleton, revealing some fleshy bits inside. A jab made the entire thing twitch and she screamed, jumping back in terror before realizing that it was still dead. As she continued to peel, she paused, “This is a very tough exterior…I think we can use some of this as makeshift armor. Think about it, almost anyone still out here has a weapon of some sort. I don’t want to be so easy to kill off,” Korista stared at the scorpion uncomfortably, “I just…don’t know anything about armor.”

 

[Phoenix]

His smile came to an end as she mentioned the bug in her pocket and his face twisted into a disgusted look. The scorpion didn't look appetizing per se, but at least it would be better than bug. Yeah, I'll pass on having bugs... he said, realizing he had no intention of eating that bug unless he was quite literally on the brink of death.

Alright, let's get to it, then, he said as he rose to look over the scorpion. As she started in on it, the whole thing twitched and she squealed. Even he jumped a bit and stepped back, stifling a laugh at her reaction, biting into his lip to try to keep from smiling.

Yeah, seems like a good idea, he agreed as she mentioned the armor. He didn't really know how to make armor either, but he knew he didn't want to drop dead if he could avoid it. He pulled his slip knife from his pocket that he kept for on the job. It was sharp enough with almost a four inch blade, but even that would be a seriously last resort in a fight. It was sharp enough to cut through the flesh under the hide when she finally peeled off a piece of the exoskeleton. He cut into the flesh, blood seeping out and getting all over his hands.

After another thirty minutes or so, they had meat and carapace carved off and Jack stood there looking down at the body and pieces. Um, do you have anything we can strap this on with? he asked, musing out loud. Maybe we could attach it with a belt? Or shoelaces? I don't suppose you have any rope or para-cord on you? he looked at her hopefully, though he had little hope of that.