Leaving The Vault

Chapter 1: Reclamation Day

"MIKE! If you don't hurry up you're going to miss the party!" Skyler yells at me.

"Hold on! I'm almost done packing for tomorrow."   'Ugh I wish I could pack more. I hate the "one backpack" rule.'

I place my Vault-Tec blue bag at the foot of my bed when I hear my door slide open, I look and see my mom. I almost look exactly like my mom, we are both 5'6, hazel eyes, and medium builds, the only differences is that she has red curly hair and tan skin, I am pale and wavy blond hair that touches my shoulders. My mom's hair is pinned up in a perfect bun with bangs that curls up when her hair touches her glasses.

"Are you ready?" She walks in and hugs me, she was the best surgeon in Appalachia, and my Father was the best engineer in Appalachia. Luckily for me, I'm a bit of both of them. I'm a good doctor and I can hack an Assaultron better than anyone else.

"I think so. Is this what you imagined Reclamation Day to be like?" I hug her back, letting a million thoughts go through my head. I'm secretly scared of the outside world. They have shown us videos of what the world used to look like but that doesn't mean the world will look like that.

"Everything will be ok Mikie." She hugs me tighter then lets go and holds me at arm's length, "Oh, look at my boy. You look just like your Father."

"I always thought he looked like you, sweetie." We look and see Dad standing at my door.

Mom swings open her arm and Dad walks in and gives us a hug. "You are going to do wonderful things Michael." He starts to tear up.

"Dad." I nudge him, "We said we wouldn't cry. We are going to stick together right?" I look at them with a hint of fear in my eyes.

"For as long as we are able." Dad hugs us tighter. "Ok, we should probably go before all the good booze is gone."

Dad is the first one out the door, Mom and I walk out together. I make sure to close and lock my door before I leave. A Mr. Handy hovers on by with a crate of alcohol, in the direction of the party. We walk to the Atrium, a big open room with a restaurant on one side, a bar on the other, and a sports area in the middle. We see people are already drunk or are getting drunk, some people are going the extra mile and doing... "Private" parties, if you get my drift. We get closer to the Atrium, I see Skyler flirting with Zac. Unfortunately not everyone was blessed with the brain of their parents. Zac is part of the security team and he barely passed that class. His father and mother are both scientists and were upset with Zac not being like them. I feel bad for him, but he seems to be doing ok, I think.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please." It's our Overseer, she has been running this vault sense day one, she is standing on an overview of the Atrium. "I know we are all excited for tomorrow, but I want to get some things out the way before a lot of us are to hammered to function. Haha. Some of you are asking me 'Who gets to leave first', 'Will we get weapons?' Well, the answers are this, we are leaving the vault in alphabetical order, and most of you will NOT be getting a weapon but you will be going with a member of the security team. Some of you will be getting a weapon, for example, Michael Ryder, he was the top shooter of his class and will be getting a rifle of his choice. A Mr. Handy will pull you aside and tell you if you get a weapon. If you have any other questions you can ask myself or a Mr. Handy. Now, LETS PARTY!" She grabs a bottle and chugs it.

My parents look at each other and kiss, ew. I make my way towards the bar, it's pretty modern. The stools are mostly blue with a yellow stripe in the middle, and the bar is the same way but it has the Vault-Tec symbol in the middle. "Well, well, well... Who do we have here?" I haven't even made it to the bar yet.

"Hello Brandon." I roll my eyes.

"Oh come on Mikie, don't be like that." I can smell the alcohol coming off his breath. Brandon is definitely no one special, no one knows who is father is and his mother had committed suicide right after he was born. It is a tragic story and once he found out about it, he didn't handle it very well, he turned to booze and drugs.