RIDERS ON THE STORM | ғᴀʟʟᴏᴜᴛ.

ONE

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚 :
SIR...PLEASE PUT SOME PANTS ON

﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎﹏︎

     THERE WAS ONCE a time in Brynn's lifetime when she felt heat from the sun.

Of course, if asked, she wouldn't be able to say it was so. She would tell the interviewer that she was simply under the artificial light in the Vault. That she had never been outside. Because that was what she was told. Though she had brushed it off her entire life, she remembered it faintly. Playing in the sand with her siblings, her mother's loving voice coating the scene in a nostalgic mist of the past.

Her mother had died after that memory, surely.

Brynn wished she was back in that calming time instead of in the current situation. The cleanup after the massacre was brutal. Almost more than the original fight. The bomb had exploded the path to 32, and no one was getting in unless they wanted to climb through the rubble.

Bloody posters were switched with new ones. Bodies dragged to compost, to be used in the furthering of 33. Bloody walls painted over with the same bland gray color. Wounds were stabled after stimpak's were delivered to those in need. Which was most. And finally, the clothes switched to nonbloody ones.

Besides the mess of 32's path and the cornfield scene that had yet to be cleaned, life was almost back to normal. But it was certainly the most downbeat day in Brynn's entire life.

Now there was a meeting at the tables. With the absence of the previous Overseer—Reg, Betty, and Woody (three higher-ups who often spoke to Hank about decisions) were trying to grasp any small sliver of power they could. It seemed none realized this but Norman and Brynn who shared a glance as soon as Reg said, "Everyone settle."

"I have a proposal for the assembly." Lucy stood up as soon as there was a second of quiet. Everyone in the room looked at her, "We need to send a search party to the surface to find my dad."

A voice called out, "To the surface?"

Lucy nodded at the chatter, beginning to explain, "We can spare four people from farm duty for up to two weeks, even with our dwindled numbers."

"Sorry, Lucy," One man spoke up, "but you're talking about opening the outer vault door?"

"Just for under a minute." Lucy assured, "Okay? It's just enough time to—"

"Okay, I-I know we're just... we're brainstorming here, and there's no bad ideas in a brainstorm..." Reg spoke up, "Maybe for you...but that's not something that we ever do or have ever done, never, ever, ever."

"I-I know, I know that." Lucy tried.

"Maybe..." Brynn stood up next to her sister, swallowing the nervousness she felt from the piercing stared, "Maybe it's time for change—"

"I know we're all hurting right now, but our first priority has to be to maintain the security of this vault." Betty spoke up, "That means not opening any of our doors."

Brynn stared at the woman, not hiding her harsh gaze so much as she should've. Betty met her eyes challengingly. Brynn had a theory as to why. As a child of the previous Overseer, her word held more power than any of the MacLean siblings understood.

Reg smiled at the woman next to him, unaware of the stare-off between the girls, "Well said, Betty."

Woody nodded, "Yes, thank you, Betty. Okay, let's move on."