[IC] Atomic Rain (Fallout)

[Nekoholic]

Wiping dust from the screen of the aged, water-damaged terminal, Basil squinted his eyes in order to read the pixilated, neon green letters that came to life upon activating it. A freezing drop of irradiated water plopped onto his hair and soon after, another splashed onto his nose and slipped down the bridge and onto his lip. The Vault that he and Jace had discovered hours prior was in worse shape than the others that they had explored in recent weeks; many sections had collapsed upon each other, mutated creatures of the Wasteland had made nests in what were once the dormitories, and the Overseer’s office was suspected of being the un-resting place of the last leader of the elusive sanctuary from the fallout above, if the guttural growls and pained groans were any indication whatsoever of the danger that lurked behind the locked door. Jace had suggested searching the other side of the Vault before they simply walked in there; despite Basil’s adamant claims that the Vault’s most important information would be found within the laboratories and the Overseer’s office, he’d eventually given into Jace’s careful ways. If nothing was found here, however, they would most assuredly trace their steps back.
Entry 12: 2189
So far, trial tests have resulted in nothing; the cells simply refuse to replicate as they have evidently done prior. We thought that Ashton had made some sort of breakthrough when he decrypted those old research notes, but I’ve come to the conclusion that those scientists became delusional, living on the false hope that their studies had been a success due to understandable stress from radiation poisoning and the inevitable doom that approached them. After all, this Vault was practically designed for the simple purpose of falling apart. I’ll look into it some more, but if nothing comes of this within the next week or two, we’re moving on. We don’t have time to waste on fantasies. But who knows? Ashton’s prone to mistakes when he’s excited; perhaps he decoded everything incorrectly. –Alicia Martin
“This is the only entry that didn’t become encrypted somehow,” Basil said, leaning back in the soggy chair that he had claimed from the desk. He doubted that Jace was interested, but nevertheless, speaking helped him to gather and reflect on his thoughts and newfound information. “However, this is not from the time period in which people resided within this Vault; they were explorers of some sort, much like us, except they came here for some sort of science experiment. It didn’t elaborate too much on what it was, though. It mentioned cells, but that could be any number of things. According to the author of this entry, though, the Vault was built to fall apart; Vault-Tec certainly did have a peculiar way of welcoming guests, hmm? Either they were sick or this is a strong bout of culture shock on our part.”
He stood from the chair, and said to Jace as he walked past, “If you happen to find anything that mentions an Alicia or Ashton, please inform me.”

[NinjaButterfly]

 “Well, be careful in here. If they were pulling some kind of experiments in here, there is no telling what is in store for us once we open those doors,” Jace said, motioning towards the Overseer’s office with his hand. He honestly hadn’t paid attention to much of what Basil had said but it wasn’t out of disrespect; he simply didn’t care to know the technicalities of places that they scavenged. The past didn’t matter much to Jace, as the future was his only priority; protecting his family and surviving to do so was his only priority, the only thing that drove him to live in this bleak world.  
As Basil had looked on the computer for leads, Jace piddled around in the laboratory and looked for anything useful. The only thing he found was a few empty cans and two cans of food that were so mangled, it was questionable that they were even good at all. He stared at the labels on the cans to see what was the contents, but couldn’t figure it out. He cursed under his breath and set the cans on the table with a loud thump.
"This is the only thing that I could find aside from useless clipboards and broken pencils.”

[Nekoholic]

Basil winced slightly as Jace practically slammed the cans onto a nearby table; well, perhaps it wasn’t actually loud, but merely seemed so in the otherwise silent laboratory. He narrowed his eyes at Jace and hissed, “Aren’t you always the one telling me to be careful? Keep doing that and you’ll surely draw those pests to this side of the Vault.” He shook his head, and without awaiting a retort, began his expedition through a mildew-infested filing cabinet in earnest. Most of the documents had been damaged beyond recognition, but there had to be more about the Vault and the ulterior motives behind its erection than just one entry written after all of the former residents had either left or perished. Truly, he had only come here for one thing—a Garden of Eden Creation Kit or, at the very least, information on one’s whereabouts. Of course, the history to be learned in each Vault was fascinating and he deemed it worth exploring, but he had to keep his priorities straight; he had to remain focused. One would never reach their destination if they kept taking detours.

[NinjaButterfly]

  Jace forced a smile and walked over to him. “So, find anything interesting, Professor?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

[Nekoholic]

Basil glanced up at Jace, and said, “Well, there was that one entry I told you about, but that’s all I’ve been able to find thus far.” He sighed, gently closing the cabinet closed once more. “Everything in here is illegible; it’s sad. It would have likely told us more about their research here.” He straightened up, rubbing his gloved hands together in one of his idle mannerisms; it was what he often did when he was contemplating on their next move. “Well, this is the last laboratory. I’m going to grab a few supplies from here, and then we can either leave or head into the Overseer’s office. I’ll let you decide on that one. Safety first and all that.” He began to search through the shelves again, grabbing whatever he deemed to be potentially useful; inevitably, it’d be crammed into Jace’s pack. If he carried more than thirty pounds on his back, he’d grow tired within the hour and begin to complain. It was a universally acknowledged fact that Basil could go on for hours and cause someone’s ears to bleed if not contented; Jace had learned that the hard way.

[NinjaButterfly]

  “I know it’s dangerous, but there might be some useful information in the Overseer’s office, wouldn’t you think so?” Jace didn’t even wait for Basil to ask for his pack and unslung it, knowing that he’d ask for it, anyways. He moved a few things around in his pack before packing the other items. “If I was the Overseer, I would store a G.E.C.K. or information on it on my personal computer so other vault dwellers couldn’t access the information, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer before pulling out his trail carbine. “Let’s get this show on the road so we can get back on the road.”

[Nekoholic]

Basil smiled excitedly, moderately surprised that Jace had actually agreed to explore the Overseer’s office; normally, he would just decide for them to leave, rather than taking any sort of risk. Perhaps he had finally grown impatient after weeks without a satisfying lead, as well.
It was imperative that they pinpointed the exact location of a functional G.E.C.K. as soon as possible. They had heard the stories of how they could bring about miracles, of how the Capital Wasteland, possibly the worst section of the entire world, had attained fresh water because of the work of a few scientists, a desperate, grief-stricken Vault Dweller, and one of those Kits. If such a device could save even the Capital, then it had to also possess the capability to save their home.
They had to believe in that.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace walked over to the door slowly and pressed his ear to the cool metal to listen. He had done this when they first arrived at the vault to see what he could hear on the other side; the first time he'd heard only one voice groaning, but now there were two sets of groans. If he'd overlooked the second one earlier, then there could be a whole hoard in there without them ever knowing. After listening for a full minute or so, he turned to look at Basil, a serious expression etched on his features.
"There are at least two ghouls in there and there could possibly be more. You take the one farthest to the left and I will get the one on the right. If there happens to be more in there...run. Whatever is in there isn't worth our lives to find out, understand?" He lifted the gun to his shoulder and aimed it at the door. He nodded his head towards the door as a signal for Basil to open the door. Every muscle in his body tensed in anticipation, ready to spring like the bullet in the chamber of his gun. Though this was dangerous work, he took silent pleasure in a good fight...

It was one of the hottest days Jace had ever experienced in the long thirteen years of his life and it was almost intolerable. The hot, humid days were merely typical life for those who lived in the Deeper South. Ever since the bombs had dropped nearly three-hundred years prior, the southern part of the United States seemed to fall closer to the equator; Jace didn't know if that was the truth but he'd heard those rumors since he'd been old enough to remember and believed it just as the other southerners had. Whatever happened after the nuclear winter lifted, the south became so hot it was almost unbearable and the humidity could drain the life out of a person in mere hours if not properly hydrated. To most out west it seemed unfathomable for anyone to want to live out here, but they thought the same about the people out west; at least there was more green life around these parts.
Night was quickly descending one day and Jace was running home in the hurry of his life. His curfew had passed over an hour ago and he knew his father would use his hide as the new welcome mat for the front door. As he was on his way, though, loud laughter and jeering brought him to a slow standstill. Till this day he didn't know what possessed him to stop, but he followed the noise almost in a trance. Once the voices had grown louder, he stopped and stayed hidden behind the last corner, listening to see what had caught the group's attention.
"-your momma probably didn't even want you to begin with! She was right to leave this world. Probably didn't want to put up with her weird-ass son!" More laughter ensued.
"Hey! That's enough!" he yelled as he walked around the corner, hands balled into fists. Once he gauged the situation, he noticed there were four guys, a little older than himself, taunting a kid who may have been a few years younger than all of them.

[Nekoholic]

It was not an unusual occurrence. These same people had taunted him ever since they discovered that his mother had died; even the occurrence of his mother's death had not been a surprise to the townspeople or for anyone else in the wasteland, for that matter. It was a harsh setting. Danger lurked behind every corner, manifesting itself as famine, disease, predators on the hunt--sometimes, even one's own shadow could take possession of their life. Basil had always been taught from both of his parents that death could strike at any moment, without sympathy or discrimination. So when his mother passed on three years prior, he accepted it. Perhaps it was his acceptance that scared the other children, which caused them to ostracize him. He also accepted that, for it was simply another form of loss. He was told not to mind the losses, only focusing on the endless possibilities of life; though there were millions of methods of death, there were trillions of methods in which one could live their life and enjoy it to the fullest. Balance was achieved through this because it was common for humans, in moments of extreme loss, to ignore and push away possibilities. His mother had not desired for him to let her death consume him, leading him to waste his own life. He had honored her wishes. It was because of this that he grieved quietly, unobtrusively, mourning as he moved further and further into the future that did not involve her. He did not regret his decision.
However, he did wish that these idiots would leave him alone for once.
"Do you even have emotions? What are you, a robot or something?"
"Your mama would be real sad to hear that you're so happy to be rid of her."
"What about your dad? Is he wanting to leave like she did?"
He knew for a fact that his mother had never wanted to just leave; it'd been a freak accident, not suicide as the rumors suggested. His father claimed that as long as they knew the truth, what others thought didn't matter. His mother, however, had loved her life and her family more so--she would never deliberately take that all away from herself. It was the one way in which she'd always been selfish.
He was just about to say something when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

[NinjaButterfly]

The boys stared at Jace in silent contemplation, not knowing what to think of his sudden appearance. His expression was one that was filled with the intent of violence and they hesitated to say anything. After a minute, the supposed leader of the group stepped forward, crossing his fat arms over his chest in a failed attempt at looking tough.
"The hell did you say to me, boy?" He asked, eyes narrowed.
"I said leave him alone, you dick." Jace didn't hesitate to take a step forward; the other three stepped up to the others side in an attempt to make Jace run away.
"Why don't you just run along now before you get hurt. He ain't worth it."
"You ain't worth running away from," he snapped, balling his hands into fists. "How can you stand there and poke fun at a boy's dead mother? If you don't get like the dogs you are, then I will make sure you regret it."

[Nekoholic]

Basil had never thought of himself as one who needed to be protected; of course, there had been his parents, but they had always taught him to how to be independent, self-sustaining. His mother educated him on history, as she insisted that it was necessary to know everything of the past in order to not repeat the same mistakes, and when those lessons had been finished for the day, they moved onto medicine. Then he "studied" with his father, working with the machines because his fingers were smaller and could fit easier into the crevices; of course, his father never had him to do anything particularly risky, and risky his job was, but when he was called to repair a radio, juke box, or any other mundane object, Basil was there and eager to be of use.
He knew how to survive on his own. His mother had made sure of that, as if she'd predicted that she'd die when her son was a mere child. No one else in the town--excluding his father and Doc Thurston--knew more about science, machinery, and medicine than him. If he were to be left alone, to his own devices and in the hands of the world, then he'd know how to make something of himself.
But the one thing that his parents had never taught him was how to defend himself. How could he ever save the world, as he'd stupidly promised his mother years ago, when he couldn't even defend himself from it?
"Why did you help me?" he asked the familiar stranger. He didn't know the older boy's name, only that he sometimes ran errands for the people at the market. He also recognized him from the weekly distribution of water rations. Other than that, though, he knew nothing of the person who had suddenly decided to save him; there was no detail for his analysis. Perhaps he expected something in return? Did he need money? Food? No, water; it was always for the water.

[NinjaButterfly]

"Nobody should never be talked down like that," Jace said, still staring in the direction they had ran off in. He was still breathing heavily as he started to come down from his adrenaline high from the fight, so his words were a little forced. Though he'd been heavily outnumbered and out-aged, he was taller than any of them and had more fighting experience. They all got in a few good punches on one another but Jace never had any back down when it came to a good fight. Besides, after only a few punches on the first two he had attacked, the others took off running and they soon followed suit. All bark and no bite, those idiots were.
Even though he was only thirteen, he had always been taller than any of the other kids, but a gentle giant, he was not. Ever since he'd been old enough to hold up a fist, he was getting into some sort of fight about anything he could conjure up the story for in his head. They wouldn't even allow him to attend school, anymore, ever since he got in a fight with the mayor's son and broke his nose; not that he didn't have it coming...
"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Jace finally turned to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, moving him around to look at the boy to see if they had roughed him up but didn't find any visible marks. He was actually surprised he wasn't crying for the hurtful things they had said about his dead mother. If Jace could remember his mother, he would have been in tears despite his tough guy persona.
Once he was satisfied that he hadn't been hurt, he grinned brightly at him. Blood was smeared on his front teeth where his lip had been busted and had a bruise setting in on his left cheek, but it didn't faze him at all. "Good thing I came along to help out. Always wanted to put that bunch in their place." He then extended his hand. "I'm Jace, by the way..."

[Nekoholic]

Basil smiled softly, a little amused at the thick drawl of Jace's Southern accent, and accepted his hand. He then worriedly pointed out, "You're hurt, though. You should come to my house; I have medical supplies there, and I won't charge you an arm and a leg like Thurston." He gently freed himself from the older boy's grasp and began to walk away, gesturing for him to follow. "It's the least I can do for you."
Clicking off the safety of his .45 Auto Pistol, Basil nodded in affirmation of Jace's orders. Readying himself, he clicked the button and the door slid open; immediately, one Roamer leapt from the left, and swiftly, without hesitation, a bullet pierced through its head. Bits of its soft, decayed skull splattered onto the walls and it slumped onto the filthy floor, limbs splayed in a pitiful stance of defeat. He heard the vicious snarl of the other ghoul, and eyes widening upon noticing the glowing light that illuminated the room, familiar like the text of those terminals, he swiftly aimed for the Glowing One, backing away in the event that Jace would rather them flee--Glowing Ones were a hassle, a threat to not be casually dismissed, but they had defeated them before without problems. However, they were in a tight space; if it were to unleash its radiation, it could be lethal.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace quickly shot at the Ghoul before he even realized it was a Glowing One. When he noticed it he cursed and cocked the charging handle of his gun. "Fall back now!" he said as he took another shot, but missed in his haste.

[Nekoholic]

As they hurried back down the hall, the Glowing One frantically pursued them. Howling, grappling, and occasionally stumbling, it thankfully wasn't too difficult for them to arrive back in the laboratory. Once Jace was in, Basil hastily activated the door switch and watched as the metal snapped closed. A few moments later, the ghoul began to bang its hands against it, snarling like a rabid attack dog--that had been doused in radiation for an undeterminable period of time, causing severe mutations.
Basil sighed in relief, but was admittedly disappointed that their plan had fallen through. "Let's just hope that he doesn't figure out how to activate the switch." Another thought then occurred to him. "Although he could accidentally press it. We should probably just go. It's not a good idea to fight him in an enclosed area such as this."

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace nodded, glad that Basil didn't want to stay and fight it like he had thought he would want to. "That would be our safest bet," Jace said as he grabbed his pack off the table. Now that he thought about it, it was stupid to leave his pack like that in case they were completely chased out of the vault; he wouldn't be making that mistake again in the future, though.
"By the way, make sure I don't do that again," he said as he threw his heavy pack over his head and onto his back. Sometimes he wished Basil was as strong as he was so he wasn't stuck carrying his own ninety pounds of gear plus Basil's extra forty pounds, but he kept his opinions to himself.

[Nekoholic]

It had begun to rain an hour prior; the murky rain gathered in thick puddles of brown and green, churning up mud with each step that Basil and Jace took. Occasionally, reprieve would be found on a cracked patch of pavement. That did nothing to defend them from the cold, however, as the rain rapidly soaked through their clothes and burrowed deep into their bones. And of course, there were the added doses of radiation. Even after two hundred years, the rainwater had remained impure.
A bolt of lightning flashed through the sky. Green clouds could be seen creeping in from the near distance.
Basil, teeth chattering, mentioned quietly, "It'll be getting worse soon. Are there any known settlements near here?" He looked toward Jace hopefully.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace kept his teeth clenched together to prevent them from chattering. The cold had long ago seeped to his bones and his feet had long ago lost their feeling due to the slush of rain and mud. Every step grew more difficult than the last and knew if they didn't find shelter soon, then they had the real possibility of getting hypothermia.
A distant rumble of thunder shocked him out of his stupor and made him wince. He shrugged his head further into his as if attempting to hide from the thunder but it looked like he was trying to cover more to retain body heat. Although he was a big guy who could fight an elephant and come out victorious, but one thing he couldn't stand was storms. It was quite a childish fear but he never had been able to curb the benign emotion.
"There used to be an abandoned settlement nearby a few years ago. Most of it collapsed to the ground, but there were a few houses that were standing, for the most part. Its worth a shot to get out of this rain. It is only a couple of miles from here." He looked over at Basil, slightly wide-eyed.

[Nekoholic]

Noticing Jace's wide-eyed expression, he said, "You don't have to try and be so tough, you know. It's normal to be scared of things you can't control." He glanced back at the approaching clouds, shaking his head. "I'm scared, too." As he spoke, the wind began to pick up speed and the rain only became heavier. That familiar metallic tang had begun to surface in his mouth, like it did when their water turned out to be too irradiated or if their food purifier broke down and they had to eat their meals as they were. It reminded him of when he got knocked in the mouth, and his gums began to bleed.
He hoped that they had purchased enough Rad-Away last time they were at a settlement; then again, they could have already wound up using all of it, considering that was almost two weeks ago. Their scavenging often made it difficult to remain stocked up on those sorts of supplies, and even though they did find items of value, money remained scarce to buy more with. Still, he felt that this was a night that they'd both require it, and at the moment, he could only hope that luck didn't completely hate them.

[NinjaButterfly]

Jace was a little awed when Basil picked up on his fear and scoffed. "I am not scared...just overly...vigilant." He actually couldn't believe he remembered that word. he wasn't one that was big on vocabulary, but remembered Basil reading that off of one of the useless computer notes he was so keen on finding.
He jumped slightly when another crack of thunder echoed over their heads and shared a sidelong glance at Basil. He had to admit only part of his fear was due to the storm...the other half was spent worried over Basil. The memory of Basil sick, lying in the bed near death was such a fresh wound in his mind that it felt as if it had happened yesterday. His own life meant hardly anything to himself, but he would take a shower of bullets for Basil and do so with a smile on his face.
A strong gale of wind knocked the wind out of Jace and he had to lean slightly into the wind to prevent from falling backwards. He grabbed onto Basil's shirt sleeve and started pulling him along to get there faster. There were only two homes standing, though lopsided from where they had begun to cave in and he picked the better of the two once they arrived.
Once they were in the safety from the rain and wind, he sighed heavily in relief and shoved off his pack, losing no time to rummage through it. He pulled out a dry pair of clothing and tossed it to Basil before rummaging deeper for some radaway. Through his relief, there was only one left and he didn't hesitate to hand it over to Basil.
"Take this and get on some warmer clothes," he instructed him in a low voice, staring at him intently. If it was for Basil, no amount of sacrifice was really a sacrifice. In the end, Basil was really the only person he had in his life. If something were to happen to him...he be as lost as the ghouls who tried to kill them.