Author's notes: Hello everyone. This is the second time I publish something Fallout related here. I have already publish a few chapters of this novel, but in French (my native language), and wanted to try it out in English.

I consider myself as being fluent in English, but there might still be mistakes or "rough" translations, so I apologize in advance. With that being said, please enjoy, and do not hesitate to review (positive or negative).

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights on the Fallout universe, characters, etc... I did however put a few narrative things and character to ease the story development and make it (I hope) more enjoyable/credible.

The alarm was howling in the room, a large rotunda where a control room was installed, built around a bronze statue of a man, an emblematic figure of a long-forgotten past. The statue was bathed in water that was almost entirely opaque. The floor of the control room was littered with electrical wires and cables, and against the walls, consoles and computers, whose screens displayed lines of calculations and whose diodes lit up at an alarming rate.

The young man was standing in a closed airlock. He was calm, serene, despite the annoying alarm ringing in his ears. He put his blue eyes on a spot on the floor in front of him, on the other side of the door. A sad smile appeared on his face as he looked up at the statue. He ran his left hand through his messy brown hair, and let it fall back onto his face and grazed his cheeks, which were covered by a small beard.

"Well, here we are...," he said. "Everything is going to end where it started. The circle is finally complete."

He turned his head and saw a control panel, used to lock and unlock the doors. He put his right hand, covered in blood, on the switch. He pressed the button and the door slid open with a whistle. The young man heard a crackling sound from a small grey computer bracelet, strapped on his left wrist. The crackling intensified as he entered the control room and the young man felt tingling all over his body. He walked towards the main console and as he moved, he remembered all the events that had led him to this situation.

Gone. Gone? The word resonated like a haunting echo, repeating itself over and over in Damian's brain. The young man opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He blinked several times and shook his head quickly.

"Wait... What?"

"Your father, he left the Vault! He's gone"

The words spoken by Amata Almodovar, his lifelong friend, were like a punch in the stomach.

"My father can't have left the Vault! He can't be..."

"I don't know how he did it, but he left... And... My dad... He..."

The young man got up from his bed and stared at her. The young woman was on the verge of tears. As far as he could remember, Damian had never seen her so upset and frightened. He came closer and reached for Amata's shoulders and tried to reassure her.

"What's going on Amata?"

The young Hispanic woman burst into tears.

"It's Jonas! They..."

"Wha... What?"

"Oh, my God, they killed him! They hit him over and over and they wouldn't stop!"

She pulled away and looked around.

"You've got to get out of here, quick! My father's men are looking for you!"

As Damian tried to assimilate what he had just heard, he realized that the Vault's alarm was sounding.

"Wait, I don't understand..."

"My father think you knew about your dad's departure! He thought Jonas knew something too! And now he's looking for you! He thinks you helped him get out of the Vault!"

"I... No! I had no idea my dad wanted to leave!"

They heard voices in the corridor. Amata leaned back and glanced at the front door of her friend's apartment.

"Listen, you have to leave," she said, lowering her voice. "You have to leave the Vault too."

The image of Jonas, her father's young assistant, bathed in a pool of blood passed before Damian's eyes. The look in his friend's eyes made him stop protesting.

"There is a tunnel between my father's office and the exit. You'll have to go through there and open the door."

"Ok... Ok... The office, the tunnel, the door. Got it."

Amata walked away to look through the door again. When she turned around, she saw Damian, his sports bag stamped with the Vault-Tec logo at his feet, frantically throwing the few things he had in his dresser, a ball and a baseball glove, a red cap, a small Vault-Boy figurine brandishing a large syringe and a picture of him and his father, inside a small frame.

"Oh, one more thing."

Damian turned to his friend. Amata put her hands behind her back and pulled out a 10mm pistol.

"I stole my father's gun, I hope you won't have to use it but..."

She couldn't finish her sentence. Damian took the gun in his hands. He observed it for a moment, in silence, and hung it on his belt behind his back.

"You have to go now."

"But what about you?" Damian asked, grabbing an old BB gun and putting it in his bag.

Amata gave him a smile.

"Don't worry about me. I'll try to meet you at the door if I can. Now go. And, please, be careful."

She quickly hugged the young man before leaving the room. Damian looked around him for a few seconds, staring at his bed, the few pieces of furniture in the room, the dull grey walls, typical of Vault-Tec's fallout shelters.

Damian opened the door of his apartment. The lights in the Vault flickered before going out, then came back on again when the emergency generator took over a few seconds later. The alarm continued to sound. Regularly the Overseer's voice echoed through the hallway's speakers, warning not to interfere with the security guards.

Radroaches had broken into the Vault. Damian was hoping to take advantage of the confusion to sneak to Amata's father's office.

As soon as he came out of his room, he saw a silhouette at the end of the corridor.

"There! There he is!"

Damian froze, looking at Officer Kendall, crammed into his vault suit a little too tight, his black Kevlar vest and wearing a security helmet with a plexiglass visor on, walking towards him and unfolding his police baton. The young man glanced around in panic and noticed the door leading to the restromms. As he started to move towards the door, Kendall's voice stopped him.

"Fucking cockroaches! Where the hell are they coming from?"

Several Radroaches were crawling around the security guard. One of them jumped on his belly and started biting him, quickly imitated by the others. Kendall began to jump around, as he tried to get rid of the roaches crawling over his body.

Damian took this opportunity to escape. As he looked over his shoulder to make sure Kendall was still struggling with the Radroaches, he ran into someone and fell on the ground. As he looked up, he realized he'd bumped into Butch, his classmate and one of the Vault bullies. Instead of the tough guy look he usually had, his face was twisted by panic.

"You've got to help me! My mommy's stuck with the Radroaches!"

Damian was about to ignore him when he heard footsteps behind him. He pushed Butch through the door leading to his and his mother's quarters and rushed in.

"I can't help you, Butch," Damian whispered, trying to discern whether the footsteps were real or coming out of his imagination.

The cries of Butch's mother in the next room echoed.

"Please! Please! You've got to help her!"

Damian glanced out of their small bedroom window, but saw no one. Butch's mother called for help a second time. The young man's imploring gaze crossed Damian's eye. He put down his bag, opened it and took out his BB gun. Damian could hardly believe that he was going to help the man who had bullied him all his life. He opened the door and entered the room.

The floor was littered with empty vodka bottles and food stamps. Mrs. DeLoria was standing on a table and was screaming for help, dancing from one foot to the other, her eyes fixed on the three Radroaches who were slowly crawling on the floor. At first glance, Damian could hardly believe that Butch DeLoria, a "Tunnel Snake," one of the bullies of the Vault, always ready to pick a fight, was afraid of a few roaches.

Damian took aim with his rifle. The familiar feeling, he had felt every time he had practiced shooting with his father or with Amata, near the Vault's reactor, overwhelmed him as he remembered his father's advice.

"Aim, breathe and shoot."

The lead was ejected from the barrel and pierced the back of the giant cockroach, killing it instantly. The other two Radroaches quickly followed. Putting the gun away, Damian felt Butch pat him on the back.

"Oh thank you! My mom is safe!"

His joy stopped abruptly when someone banged on the door. Damian recognized Officer Kendall's voice. He must have gotten rid of the Radroaches that were attacking him.

The young man's eyes met Butch's. Butch readjusted his leather jacket, signaled Damian to be quiet and walked to the door. Damian stood still, convinced that he was trapped. He saw Butch's mother's frightened gaze and heard the door sliding and Kendall's voice.

"Hey, we're looking for the Doc's son, have you seen him?"

"Oh, sure I have, Officer Kendall!"

Damian's heart stopped beating for a microsecond, until he heard Butch continue.

"He went that way. If you hurry, you might be able to catch him."

"Great!" said the security guard. "If you see him again, call me or the others!"

Damian heard Kendall's footsteps in the corridor. Butch returned to the room and looked at him.

"What, did you really think I was going to snitch you?"

Damian mumbled a few words, surprised by the so atypical attitude of the young delinquent. He walked past Butch and walked towards the door when he heard his voice.

"Look, I'm sorry about the... You know, the fights and everything..."

Damian didn't answer and just shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to stay here any longer waiting for Kendall or another security guard to come back.

"Watch your back out there."

Damian faced the Tunnel Snake and nodded. He left the DeLoria's room and walked up a set of stairs. When he reached the top, his face found himself face to face with a fist that crashed into his jaws. Damian fell backward on the floor. As he opened his eyes, he saw Officer Kendall, his face and his uniform slashed and covered with scratches and blood stains, facing him.

"You little bastard, you think you can escape the Law?"

Damian stood up and massaged his jaw. He could feel a warm, unpleasant tasting liquid in his mouth. Kendall twirled his police baton in his hand and struck. Damian dodged the blow as best he could before he got the security guard's knee in his stomach.

"My orders are to take you back to the Overseer, but apparently it won't be without breaking a few bones of yours in the process!"

Damian's gun slipped on the floor. He and Kendall looked at the gun and took a quick look at each other. Kendall dropped his baton and leaned on the floor to retrieve the gun. Damian was quicker than him and grabbed the gun. Kendall rushed at him and tried to disarm him. The two men started to struggle, and Kendall pinned Damian against the wall. A gunshot roared and Damian felt a hot and sticky liquid of his face. Officer Kendall let go and fell to his knees, holding his throat, blood gushing from his mouth and neck. An unpleasant gurgling sound came out of his mouth and bubbles of blood burst every time he moved his lips to speak. He fell backwards and his body tumbled down the stairs.

Damian dropped the gun and exhaled loudly. His head was spinning. He leaned forward, putting his hands on his thighs, trying to catch his breath. He became nauseous. A hoarse sound came out of his mouth as he tried not to vomit.

He had just killed someone. The expression on Officer Kendall's face, as he tried to mend the pieces of his torn throat, blood coming out of his nose and mouth and slowly flowing down his uniform, was etched on his retina. Damian coughed and spat. He could fell his heart was beating faster. The alarm that was still ringing gave him a headache.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He staggered and his eyes landed on the gun that was on the floor. His father had taught him to handle weapons. Shooting Radroaches was excellent training and helped to protect the Vault, but he never thought he would have to shoot someone and kill a human being.

Footsteps and shouts from the floor where Kendall's body took him out of his lethargic state. If the Vault security found him, they weren't just going to take him back to the Overeer after beating him. They were going to kill him. He picked up the gun and ran.

The young man walked past one of the Vault's cafeterias, the same one where nine years earlier he had turned 10. As the memories came flooding back, he saw the body of a woman, lying on her back in the middle of the cafeteria, with several Radroaches crawling around her. Damian pressed forward. The Overseer's voice continued to regularly call out to the Vault residents, telling them that the Radroaches infestation was under control and that anyone who had information on Damian were to report to security.

The young man climbed up some stairs, until a voice called out to him. He looked up and saw a figure in a security uniform. Damian froze, unable to react. To his surprise, the security guard raised his hands in surrender. He approached and Damian recognized Officer Gomez's face.

"You're lucky you ran into me and not..."

Herman Gomez frowned and saw the blood on the young man's face and suit.

"It's Officer Kendall, he... I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to do it!"

"Look," said Gomez. "I don't want to know what you're up to or what you've done! Let's just pretend we haven't seen each other. You have to go and find your father before the others get their hands on you."

Damian could see that Gomez was shocked, like he saw something he would have rather not.

"Poor Jonas, Officer Mack has completely lost it. You should leave. Go find your father. Good luck."

Gomez walked away, leaving Damian alone. The young man watched him disappear down the stairwell before continuing to run. He walked past his dad's clinic. The young man slowed down and approached the entrance. Several Radroaches fled, pursued by Andy, Vault 101 Mister Handy robot. Damian stepped aside just in time to see the robot fire his flamethrower. The crackling of the charred cockroaches' shells reached the young man's ears, followed by the hissing of cooking insects.

"Oh Mr. Franklin, are you looking for your father? I'm afraid you just missed him. He went upstairs for fresh air. »

Stanley, one of the Vault's maintenance staff broke into the hallway, brandishing a wrench and looking around, excited and scared.

"The cockroaches are dead, Stanley. There's no need to panic anymore," Andy mockingly said.

The technician seemed to relax. He noticed Damian's presence and seemed surprised.

"It's you everyone's looking for. Your father always took care of us, as far as I'm concerned, so don't worry. You should get out of here before security shows up."

The old man turned to the robot and opened a control panel, exposing wires and cables. Damian entered the clinic. The place had been torn apart. The work of Andy and the roaches or the Overseer's men? It was impossible for Damian to answer that question. His father's desk was overturned, his papers and files scattered all over the room and his terminal had suffered a fall from the desk. Damian searched quickly, convinced that he could find a note, anything from his father, explaining why he had left without telling him.

Time was running out and reluctantly the young man left the clinic. On the way out, he heard Stanley arguing with someone.

"Let me through, you idiot!"

"Hey! There he is!"

Two security guards shoved Stanley and rushed at Damian. He started running. Behind him he heard a bang, then a rattle beside him. Small pieces of concrete landed at his feet. A second gunshot roared, and he heard a whistle near his right ear.

Damian opened the door leading to the Vault's Atrium. He closed it, removed the control box and ripped out the electrical wires. The door opened on a few centimeters before it jammed.

"That bastard, he blocked the door!"

Damian took a few steps back before turning around. The Atrium was empty. Hearing shouts, Damian, hid behind one of the pillars. He saw two residents, a man and a woman, heading towards a corridor leading to the entrance of the Vault.

"We've got to get out of here, just like the doc!"

"No Tom, that's too dangerous!"

Damian recognized Tom and Mary Holden's voices. He saw one of them rushed into the hallway, raising his hands in the air and screaming.

"Hey! It's me Tom, Tom Holden."

His sentence was barely finished when several shots rang out. Mary ran into the hallway, screaming her husband's name. Her voice stopped abruptly when more shots rang out.

Damian closed his eyes and ran out. He crossed the Atrium. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bodies of the two spouses lying on the ground, two security guards leaning over them, arguing over who had fired first.

Damian climbed more steps and arrived upstairs. All the doors were locked except one, which led to a maintenance room. He went inside. If his memory was good, he could reach Amata and his father's quarters and the Overseer's office through there. However, he would first have to pass by the Vault's cells and the Security station.

"It's your fault, you little shit! Your fault and your father's!"

Damian ignored the man shouting at him from the window of his apartment and entered the maintenance room. Other Radroaches were crawling into the room, feasting on the body of a resident that Damian couldn't identify. He left the maintenance room and bumped into the Vault Security Chief, Paul Hannon Sr.

"Thought you could get away from us, huh?"

He smacked Damian with his baton. The young man backed away just in time to avoid getting his skull bashed in. Damian was about to draw his weapon when the memory of Kendall's dead body flashed before his eyes, making him froze. Hannon took the opportunity to strike him in the ribs. The Chief of security then raised his baton and smacked Damian, who grabbed the baton. The shock went all the way up his arm to his shoulder. Damian kicked his opponent's in the crotch, who fell on his knees before being knocked out with a punch to the face.

Damian looked at his hand. If Hannon had hit harder, his hand would have been broken. Luckily, the leather glove of his Pip-Boy had also cushioned the blow. The young man picked up the baton and put it in the pocket of his suit.

The Security station was straight ahead. Damian crouched down and approached discreetly. He hadn't seen a guard since his fight with Paul Hannon Sr. He looked out the window and was left speechless.

Amata was sitting in a chair facing his father, Alphonse Almodovar, the Overseer of Vault 101 and one of his security guards, whom Damian recognized as Officer Mack. When he saw him, Damian thoughts drifted to Jonas, beaten to death. His jaw tightened. The irresistible urge to put a bullet in Mack's head overwhelmed him. The disgust he felt towards him when he killed Officer Kendall was gone.

"Tell me where he is, Amata!"

"I told you, Daddy! I don't know where he is!"

Damian raised his head. Amata was on the verge of tears, begging her father to leave her alone. Alphonse Almodovar sighed and waved to Officer Mack.

"You better start talking girl!" said the security guard menacingly.

He raised his baton in a threatening manner. Amata screamed, raising her hands for protection. Damian's body moved by itself. In a split second, he had drawn his gun, entered the room and pointed it at the two men.

"Leave her alone!" he shouted.

Mack and the Overseer turned around, and Amata stood up from her chair, her face lit up at the sight of her friend. She walked towards Damian and hid behind him.

"Well, I hope you've come to surrender, young man," said the Overseer with a slight arrogant smile.

"I'm going to get out of here and you're going to leave me alone and you're not going to raise your hand to Amata again!" Damian cried out in a trembling voice.

"You think you can get away with this?" shouted the Overseer. "James, your father, ran away from the Vault, putting us all in danger, wreaking havoc by letting a horde of Radroaches into the Vault! Don't make things worse, and hand over your weapons!"

The Overseer waved to Mack, who smiled and walked towards Damian. The young man pointed his gun directly at him. His hands were shaking so much that he tightened his grip on the gun handle even more. He saw the image of Kendall's face with his throat torn by the gunshot pass before his eyes.

'You think I'm afraid of you? You make me laugh. You're just like your father, an arrogant little fuck who thinks he's above it all. Look at you, you're shaking like a leaf. You ain't gonna do nothing to me cause you ain't got the balls to pull the trigger."

He stepped forward again.

"The Overseer was ready for me to beat the shit out of his beloved daughter, so imagine what I can do to you."

Damian lowered his gun and pulled the trigger. He wanted to fire a warning shot but instead, the bullet went right through Mack's ankle. The security guard screamed and collapsed on the ground. Amata put her hands on her face, looking terrified. Damian stayed a few seconds to watch Officer Mack, the images of Kendall's dead body flashing before his eyes. He pivoted to the Overseer and pointed his gun at him.

"No! Don't shoot! Please don't shoot!"

Amata stood in front of Damian, begging him not to shoot. He caught sight of Alphonse Almodovar. The Overseer was trying his best to hide his fear by looking authoritative. Damian lowered his eyes to Officer Mack, who was squirming with pain on the ground, crying. He felt Amata pushing him towards the exit. He lowered his weapon and walked away with her.

The Overseer's quarters weren't too far away. On the way, they crossed a room turned upside down. In the center, the body of Jonas, almost unrecognizable. Huddled up in a pool of blood. His body was covered with open fractures, bruises and gashes, and his right temple seemed to have been crushed by a violent blow.

Damian approached and knelt. He was about to raise Jonas' arms to see his face, but he stopped. He put his hand on his friend's body. As he did, he felt something stiff inside one of the pockets of Jonas' blouse. Damian searched and pulled out a grey holotape, slightly damaged, probably during the beating. A label had been stuck on it.

"For Damian"

The young man recognized his father's handwriting. He put the tape in his pocket and got up, leaving Jonas' body behind.

The Overseer's office was impeccably clean. Amata wiped the tears from her cheeks and activated her father's terminal. A hissing sound was heard. The desk and the concrete slab to which it was attached lifted a few inches and slid down, revealing a secret staircase.

Amata ran down the steps, followed closely by Damian, who closed the passage behind them. The tunnel was unguarded, and they quickly reached the entrance of the Vault. Damian hung his pistol on his belt and walked toward the control console of the door.

As he activated the main switch, an alarm sounded, and an orange light flashed in the room. A heavy metal screw came down from the ceiling and inserted itself into a gigantic steel door in the shape of a gear. The door creaked as the giant screw pulled it towards a rail. A fresh draft of air rushed into the Vault, bringing with it a strange feeling of freedom. The door rolled slowly on the side, revealing a cave.

Damian walked towards the door. To his surprise, the Geiger counter built into his Pip-Boy didn't sizzle. He raised his head and looked at the end of the cave. He could see a faint beam of white light. A simple beam of light that seemed so different from the bland neon light of the Vault.

The young man felt the threshold of his door against his feet. One more step and he would be out of the Vault. One more step, and he would have given up everything he had ever known to enter a world he knew nothing about.

"My God... You did it!"

The young man turned towards Amata. She had stayed by the control console, obviously not daring to come any closer.

"Thank you for your help Amata."

"No," the young woman smiled. "You could have done it by yourself. I should be thanking you instead. If it wasn't for you... I don't know what my father would have been able to do."

He walked up to his friend and stood in front of her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all this," Damian whispered. "I'll find my father and I'll come back. I promise you."

The young woman hugged him. Amata released her embrace and kissed Damian on the cheek.

"You must leave. Go find your father. I... I'll miss you."

Her voice was distorted by sadness and her eyes were clouded with tears. One of the doors leading to the main maintenance area of the Vault opened on the fly. Several security guards, accompanied by the Overseer, burst in. One of the guards raised his gun. The Overseer put the gun down, shouting to his men not to fire, as that they could hit his daughter.

Damian looked at Amata one last time and ran to the door. Behind him, he heard the entrance alarm and the heavy gear door squeaking. He hid behind a rock and waited, gun in hand. A long metallic squeaking followed by a heavy slamming sounded in the cave. He left his hiding place. The heavy steel door had closed behind him. He stood for a few seconds looking at the huge door and the number "101" painted on it, the same number that was on the back of his Vault suit.

He took a deep breath and turned around, heading for the ray of light at the end of the cave. He heard crackling noises under his boots and as he looked down, he realized he was surrounded by dead bodies. Human bones of all sizes, some still wearing shreds of clothing, others still holding signs, on which imploring messages were written.

Damian stared at the human remains for a few second and walked slowly toward the outside. The new world he had just entered had just thrown in his face a tiny part of the horror it had in reserve.

Hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. Until next time.