A Rose Through Concrete

Cold Morning

My lungs filled with cold musty air as I fell forward to a cold, hard, metal floor, coughing and hacking as if I haven't taken a breath for years. As I lay there, my body shook violently making me realize how damn cold I was.

"The...hell? Where am I?" I pushed myself upward and looked into a strange pod that was in front of me. Inside was a man, with black hair. A blue jumpsuit over his body, frosted over. The oddest part was the bloody hole in his chest. Like everything else, it was frozen. After staring for some time, I moved on, finding multiple pods just like the one I was in.

Eventually I found a door that led into an office, deciding to walk inside, I found a skeleton that had ragged clothing and a 10 mm gun in one hand. For one reason or another, I grabbed it along with some ammo. After some wondering I started hearing something scuttling, screaming when two huge cockroaches entered my line of sight and began charging in my direction.

I was able to slow them down before taking my foot and smashing their heads.

Slowly and hesitantly, I began to move on. Coming to what looked like an exit, I ran to the panel and began messing with it.

"Pip-Boy interface required to activate Vault door cycling sequence. Have a nice day."

With a frustrated groan, my eyes scanned the room, landing on a skeleton in a tattered lab coat. It's arm was detached but I found that on that arm, was a Pip-Boy.

"Huh. Convenient." I picked it up gently as the arm fell out, hitting the ground with a soft thud.

Green coding lit up the screen as I strapped it to my arm. Soon it came to show my condition, weapons, a map, and a radio. Fiddling with it some more, I found a small cord to plug into the console.

"Vault Door Remote Access. Ready."

With a push of the button, an alarm went off and a voice rang in the vault.

"Vault door cycling sequence initiated. Please stand back."

The arm cycled intto place and slowly pulled the door open. Artificial light flooded in as I walked through and to a lift. The lift began to ascend as a voice ran out.

"Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault Tec."

Things were dark until suddenly the doors above me opened. Natural light and sounds flooded my senses as my vision blurred.

When my vision came back into focus, I was met with an unfamiliar sight. The world was nothing but dirt, dead trees, and broken down machinery.

"W...what?"

I slowly walked passed the machines and down the path. As I neared a house my Pip-Boy buzzed.

Discovered Sanctuary Hills

The houses were nothing but structures with broken walls. These homes, they seemed to hold so much. Seeming to be hundreds of years old.

There was a gasp as I continued. Looking to my left, a round robot with three arms protruding from the bottom and three smaller arms holding what looked to be round robotic eyes, hovered by one of the houses.

"As I live and breathe! It's really you!"

"Do I...know you?" I inquired as I moved closer.

The robot seemed to freeze for a moment. "Ah that was a good one sis. Always with the joking Miss Athena."

"No I'm being serious....who are you.....and how do you know my name?"

"Did the time in the vault disrupt your memories?" He inquired. "Suppose 200 years could do that. It's me Coddsworth, your loyal mister handy."

I tilted my head to the side in confusion. Something about the robot seemed to give off a concerned feeling. He floated closer and then circled me.

"Oh.....oh my..."