11 Unsettling Revelations

It was as we were walking through the ruins of Cambridge that I had an idea. The police station was coming into view when I stopped, Piper and Valentine pausing and glancing my way.

"So I told you about the Brotherhood of Steel, right?"

"Sure, Blue. What's on your mind?"

"Well, the Brotherhood are interested in old tech from pre-war. While people would likely assume I could get everything up and working, I'm a soldier, not a scientist. But there was a young scribe who might be interested in joining us in checking out a vault or two. Reckon she'd like a look around the one I was in. Not sure any of the technology is still working, but even the Brotherhood would be interested in things like cryogenics."

"And was she pretty, Nate?" Nick asked.

"Oh, she was rather cute, Nick."

Piper scoffed, though she threw an easy smile in my direction, and we walked on towards the police station. Heading inside, there was a lone person in power armour, and a weapon was immediately pointed in our direction. I noticed Nick and Piper immediately raised their hands. "This is a military installation. Civilians are not permitted. Identify yourselves immediately."

"Calm down, James. They're friendlies," Haylen said, appearing from around a corner. She recognised my power armour immediately. "This is Nate Shepard, United State Army. Who are your friends?"

"Piper and Nick."

"Synth!" James yelled, and I worried he was going to start blasting.

Nick sighed, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. "You're not the first to react like that, probably not the last. Yes, I'm a synth. No, I'm not here to kill everyone."

"Why is there a synth with you, Nate?" Haylen asked nicely.

"He lives in Diamond City. He's… not like all the others you've either met or heard about," Piper explained, "It's a long story, but if it's awkward, we'll wait outside. Come on, Nick. I'm already tired of having a weapon aimed in our direction. We'll see you outside, Nate."

As they disappeared, Haylen gestured for me to follow into another room. They'd been busy since my last visit, much of the rubble cleared away. I noticed a couple more Brotherhood people around, so it seemed the radio transmitter had worked and they'd been reinforced. "What brings you here?" she asked.

"You, to be honest."

I think she almost started to blush. The smile, she couldn't stop forming. "Me? Why?"

"Well, you're interested in old technology, correct?" She nodded. "Well, as I explained a while back, I'm looking into Vault-Tec. The office in Boston was a busted flush, and Vault 81 seemed perfectly normal, at least on first appearances. But considering what my vault was home to, I'm figuring you might be interested in some of the technology there, and maybe you'd like to join us as we investigate another vault we now know about."

"Let me clear it with Paladin Danse. I can't just up and leave without permission."

She walked out of the room, returning within a couple of minutes with Danse following. He was pleased to see me, and after I explained my idea to him, the smirk suggested I might have had an ulterior motive. Whether I did or not didn't matter, I was doing them a favour and, after my brief conversations with Haylen before, I was left thinking she was rather bored stuck at the police station.

I think we were both relived when Danse agreed, asking no more than a question or two, and making sure I understood that she would be under my protection, and that if anything was to happen to her, I would be held personally responsible. Then he added he knew I'd be responsible and that I was asking her along for the right reasons.

After she'd packed her few things, we headed outside to meet Piper and Nick, the four of us resuming our journey north. She was obviously very intrigued by Nick and must have asked him a million and one questions by the time we were halfway back to Sanctuary. He took everything in his stride, though I heard nothing new from him that he hadn't already told me. There was no doubting he kept certain things close to his chest.

It was dark by the time we walked through Concord. Haylen wasn't concerned at all, Piper was a little worried, admitting she was always safely behind the walls of Diamond City by the time it was dark. Nick walked along without a care in the world, busy sucking down another cigarette. I did wonder what happened to the smoke inside him, but I wasn't going to ask. Seemed to be a habit of his, though.

Crossing the bridge into Sanctuary, the two guards thankfully recognised me immediately, but freaked out upon seeing Nick. Now worried that we were all synths, I stepped out of the power armour and asked them to get Preston. He came jogging down within a few seconds, took one look at Nick, and assured the guards everything was fine.

"You're Nick Valentine. Heard about you," Preston said, offering his hand.

"You have? Good things, I hope?"

"You help people. Far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters." Offering his hand to me, he added, "Good to see you, Nate. How were things in Diamond City? Any luck?"

"That's what I'm back here to discuss." Gesturing, I introduced Piper and Haylen, adding that the former was a reporter, and the latter was a scribe with the Brotherhood. Getting back into my power armour to walk it back to its usual spot, the settlement was still lively even at night, and there seemed to be even more arrivals than before. Preston gathered everyone around and I was introduced to three new families. Nearly all the houses were now being used, and most were now in good condition thanks to the rebuilding efforts.

After eating dinner, Preston had something to show off. Gathering around our meeting table, he had a roll of paper that was a map of Boston and its suburbs north, west and south. It was just what we needed. Grabbing a few things I would need, I started to explain what I'd discovered, and also some ideas I'd been thinking.

"Okay, this is the situation at the moment. We have settlements here at Sanctuary, Abernathy, Tenpines and Sunshine. The three other settlements each have three guards on rotation. Sanctuary, as the base of operations, is heavily defended, as best as we can. Have we managed to source any further turrets?"

"Not yet," Preston replied.

"I'm in the process of gathering supplies to start putting them together. They're mechanically simple, it's just the parts are difficult to source," Sturges added.

"That's fine, but if we can have that added protection, that'll work for now. So we've got four settlements north here. Lexington is now clear of raiders. Any sign they're trying to push back in?"

"No," Preston reported, "Think what you did scared them off, Nate."

"Good. So, first, the vault situation. Vault 81 appeared to be a working vault and, unlike mine, nothing untoward seemed to have taken place. But after a couple of hundred years, they were having the sort of problems I think would have been anticipated. Thankfully, when they opened their vault, they were greeted by friendly faces.

The Vault-Tec office itself only contained information on the vaults in the Boston area. There were seven vaults, according to what we found. In addition to 111 and 81, plus the unfinished 114 where I found Nick, there was 10, 75, 88 and 95. My plan is to visit vault 75 within the next week. It's located here in Malden Middle School. Vault 95 is far to the south-west here. Though my plan is to visit every vault, heading that far south right now isn't realistic. Vault 88 is…" I met Preston's eyes. "It's located near Quincy."

"Shit, really? Where about?"

"Paperwork mentioned it was dug in below the quarry."

"Damn, would never have known a vault was nearby."

"Anyway, that's the idea regarding the vault situation. That is my first priority. Once that is solved, once I perhaps have answers as to just what Vault-Tec were up to, whether I was just one of the unfortunate few caught up in some sort of sadistic experiment, or whether more of these vaults were used in such a manner, I guess I'll find out soon enough. But then there is the Minutemen and expansion."

"I take it you have plans, Blue."

"I do, Piper." I gestured at the highlighted roads. "At the moment, we consider these highways the limit of our settlement area."

"There is one place we might be able to settle," Preston said, "We can discuss it later."

"No problem. My plan is to expand further south to here, the river. And further east to here, all the way to the next highway."

Preston wasn't the only one to whistle. "Hell of an expansion, Nate."

"It is, so we take it slowly. We don't expand without ensuring that the settlement will be supplied and secure, and we ensure supply lines remain uninterrupted by eliminating any force that could cause our settlements a problem. So what we need to do is sent out scouts, firstly to find radio towers and get them working, but also to find settlement areas, or establish contact with small settlements currently outside our sphere of influence and see if they're willing to work with us."

"What then?" Piper asked, glancing to see her smile, "Sounds like you have another idea cooking."

"I do. Two more things." I placed more things on the map. "Here we have Fort Hagen. Here is Fort Strong. Here is what you call the Castle, what I know as Fort Independence. Here is the National Guard Training Yard. Federal Ration Stockpile. Boston Mayoral Shelter. All these sites must be secured as they will provide the Minutemen with weapons, ammunition and supplies that we will need for the second part of my plan."

Preston almost had a knowing grin as he asked, "And that is?"

"We go to war with the raiders. Anywhere they base themselves, we hit them and hit them hard. Overwhelming force. If they have five, we sent fifteen. If they have ten, we sent forty. Slowly but surely, we push them out of Boston. If necessary, we do it building by building until they're either all dead, or they break ranks and finally retreat. But the aim is that everything between here and Diamond City will be safe for travellers and settlers. And after that, we then set about clearing out Boston itself."

I was greeted by stunned silence. "Hell of a plan, Nate," Nick finally said, "Think you can do it?"

"I do. But we need to ensure supplies first. And then we need to make sure our people are trained. Guarding our settlements is one thing. Fighting off a few bandits isn't too terrifying. But fighting what I would consider a unit of raiders? I understand most of the people here are not soldiers, so we have to turn them into soldiers. What are the chances of Minutemen having gone to ground, Preston?"

He scratched his chin. "Shit, there's a good chance many just put away their uniform and weapons after everything that happened. Losing the Castle left us without a secure base. But then what happened in Quincy…"

"I promise you one thing in front of all these people, Preston. We'll take Quincy back too."

"Might hold you to that one, Nate."

"Anyway, that's my plan. Regarding recruits, we almost go on a propaganda drive. Boston Bugle would be in the middle of the ruins of Boston. I'm thinking we find a printing press, get it working, and we start handing out leaflets to traders. Have the word spread far and wide the Minutemen are back, we will go on the offensive, and it's now time for the raiders to live in fear."

"Hearts and minds, Blue?"

"Worked with us when we fought the Chinese. Anyway, none of this is concrete yet, but while I've been walking around, it's given me time for plenty of thoughts. And what I've learned is that the Commonwealth needs to be cleansed, but it needs to be done properly, and it definitely needs to be thorough. Not sure we could ever rebuild to what the world once was, but if we can at least have people feeling secure in their homes, and if we can add things like a full stomach, clean water, and perhaps restarting things like education, then that would be a good start, a basis to really get things moving again." I looked around the table. "Any questions?"

"I think we have a million, Blue. But you can answer them later. What you've just described is… something else entirely. Perhaps the first time I've heard someone talk about a plan and I've actually believed they could deliver it."

"I can't do it alone. Going to need a lot of help getting it going. In addition to all of that is establishing contact with settlements. Don't care how big or small. Don't care about their reputation. If they're willing to work with us, and as long as they're not raiders, then we'll work with them."

It certainly gave everyone plenty to contemplate for the future as I grabbed a bottle and sat down on a couch inside, joined by my new companions. Haylen had listened intently to everything I said, sitting down to one side, Piper to the other. She suggested she was rather impressed to hear, having been left with rather negative opinions about the local population, though she would admit much of it was simply based on what others in the Brotherhood thought. I let her know we'd head down into the vault the next morning.

Finding her a place to sleep for the night, when she removed her cap and released her long red hair, I couldn't help stop and stare for a moment, something she recognised immediately as that cute smile formed again. "Like my hair?"

"Always liked redheads."

She took a tentative step towards me. "Did you invite me along for any other reason?"

"Maybe. But I'm sure you've figured out…"

"Piper? Yeah, her interest in you is obvious to everyone. And I'm figuring that young woman that was hanging on your every word while we were having a drink…"

"Oh, Jennifer? Yeah, we… er…"

She stepped forward again and we shared a hug, realising I was quite a bit taller, her head resting on my chest. "Well, I certainly like this," she whispered, "But let me think about it. Life is different nowadays, but…"

"I'm not suggesting anything right now. The primary reason was the vaults, but I figured you might like to get away and enjoy my company too."

She glanced up, that cute smile still on her face. "I'm sure we're going to enjoy the company of each other, Nate."

I shared a bed with Piper, but she was tired after the walk, while even I felt it despite the fact I'd been in power armour nearly all day. Nick didn't actually need to sleep, but would lie down just to fit in, the only people remaining up those who were on patrol. Despite the fact we were quite a distance from what I would consider the border, I didn't put it past raiders and bandits to try and make it to our settlement to cause trouble.

After breakfast the next morning, showing Haylen our ever expanding farm, and also the homes that we'd been slowly rebuilding, the first part of my old life I had to show her was the grave in the backyard of my old home. Haylen took my hand as we stood in front of it and I told her a little about my wife. She noticed the date I'd put on the cross regarding her death, and she understood immediately.

Then it was returning to the vault itself. Piper joined us, admitting she was simply curious about where I'd spent two centuries frozen. Figuring out how to get back inside was easy, but heading back down into darkness certainly got the old heart pumping a bit faster. Last time I'd heard down, I'd watched a nuclear bomb explode in the distance.

Both recognised the two centuries of decay and the skeletons. Piper whispered that it just seemed so lifeless, and she was right about that. I took them through the overseer's office, Haylen sitting down so she could read about the purpose of the vault. I'd read the same words, and the mixture of emotions I'd felt at the time, I still couldn't really describe.

But we were there for one real reason. The cryogenic chambers. Haylen tried not to appear too excited, and once she realised there were bodies in most of them, any excitement disappeared. That's when I thought we should probably take them all up to ground level and finally bury them. Leaving Haylen and Piper to get on with whatever they wanted to do, I returned to the surface and returned with a dozen people, with six stretchers. The bodies were still preserved, and we spent all day taking the bodies back to the surface, others preparing graves and crosses. Information as to who was in cryogenic pod was still available so they could all be identified, at least.

It was certainly late when I asked Haylen how long she would want to spend in the vault, regarding days or weeks. "I'm honestly not sure," she admitted, "Simply because there is no real military application to any of this technology. That's what the Brotherhood is generally concerned with, weapons falling into the wrong hands." She sighed. "But knowing that so many died here because of this…"

"Yeah…"

"Any idea how you survived?"

"None whatsoever. I think I was just lucky."

"I'll come down here another couple of days, but I honestly don't think I'll need much more than that. And I know you want to go to that other vault soon."

"No rush, but if you don't need too much time here, then that's fine. Maybe the next vault will contain some more answers for both of us."

Haylen eventually spent another two days in the vault, conducting research I couldn't possibly understand. Piper didn't re-join her after that first day, left entirely creeped out by the experience, even after all the bodies had been taken up to the surface. She spent time talking to the settlers, getting to know their thoughts of everything we were doing. Preston and I spent a long time talking about all the plans. He was sending scouts to Concord to almost scour the place clean of anything we could use, and scouts were being spread into areas I'd suggested to note down anything that could prove useful or troublesome.

Piper and I were walking by the river the afternoon before planning to leave when she stopped, turning to face me. "So you want to sleep with her, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"Haylen. She's cute. Definitely likes you. You want to sleep with her." I'm fairly sure my mouth opened and closed a couple of times. Piper simply grinned. "If you want to, I'm not going to complain. What I have noticed, though, is that we've shared a bed since returning here but you haven't fucked me. I know you want to but something is clearly holding you back. So it's either Haylen or that other young woman who definitely carries a torch for you."

I scratched the back of my head, unsure what to say. Piper and I had talked about the fact we were simply friends enjoying extra benefits. I just hadn't expected her to almost push me in the direction of sleeping with someone else. She started to giggle, stepping forward and onto his tiptoes to lay a soft kiss on my lips. "You're rather cute when you're being awkward," she said softly, "Don't see that very often."

"I'm just surprised, that's all."

"Well, if you happen to find yourself in a different bed tonight, might make you lighter on your feet tomorrow when we head off."

"Okay. I'll see what happens."

Haylen needed my help to get out of the vault each time, so it was while we were heading back to the surface that I suggested we have a quiet drink to ourselves that evening. She knew immediately why, agreeing to the idea eagerly. After sharing dinner with everyone else, I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and a pair of glasses, Haylen following me down to the river bank. Perching ourselves on the concrete wall, legs dangling over the edge, I was still amazed at how bright the stars were compared to life before the bombs.

"Certainly quiet this far north," she whispered.

I glanced her way, wrapping an arm around her to bring her closer. Even in the darkness, I could see the smile that formed. "It was sometimes like this even before the bombs."

"I'm used to hearing gunfire nowadays. Raiders. Gunners. Mutants. They're always fighting each other. Or the poor civilians caught in the middle." She snuggled closer to me. "At least you're trying to do something to help. Don't think the Brotherhood would ever help in such a manner. You've obviously spoken to Danse. There is the mission and that's it. We're not to involve ourselves in other matters unless directly threatened."

"You happy in the Brotherhood?"

"I don't know, which is why I'm here now. Well, one of a couple of reasons anyway." She looked up as I glanced at her, and the kiss was immediate. She couldn't help smiling as I easily picked her up to straddle my lap, her hands immediately running up and down my arms and back. "Wow," she whispered.

"What?"

"You look after yourself."

"I have to. I'll be honest, my life was never easy. Had to be physically fit in the army, and made sure I retained my fitness after I left. Two hundred years in the fridge didn't impact me as badly as I thought. Now I'm working every day doing something or other."

We resumed kissing, slowly getting passionate, before she almost eagerly accepted my tongue. Pressing her body into mine, when she started to almost grind against my crotch, no doubt feeling my erection, we had to break apart as we needed to catch our breath.

Taking her by the hand, we headed to the room I'd usually slept. Piper was nowhere to be found, to my somewhat relief. Shutting the new door, Haylen was rather eager to get her clothes off, while trying to get mine off at the same time, while also desperate to ensure the kissing continued at the same time. We eventually tumbled into bed practically naked, glad there were candles lit on the table next to the bed to provide some illumination.

She had a tight little body on her. Breasts no more than a handful. Tuft of bright red hair above her pussy, which made me smile. Rather pale and some freckling all over, just like her face. "You like?" she asked softly, hearing a hint of nerves in her tone.

I gestured to my own body. "I think that tells its own story."

Her eyes widened. "Wow… I felt it but…"

The first thing I wanted to do was what I always enjoyed doing with a lover. Making my way down her body, her nipples were rock hard and I learned very sensitive, making her gasp just by running my tongue gently over them. But she knew what I wanted, even going so far as to press my head further down her body, which just meant I teased her for longer, kissing all around her pussy, down her legs, but not actually touching it until she almost pleaded with me.

She tasted divine, and was so turned on by the time my tongue got to work, she actually had an orgasm rather quickly. That surprised even me, admitting she'd been thinking about me in such a manner since the first day we met. When I admitted I certainly had the same thoughts, the smile that lit up her face was priceless.

"More," she whispered, "More of that first."

I obliged my young lover, savouring her taste, happy to let her know that I enjoyed it, which made her blush, admitting she'd never heard such compliments from the couple of previous lovers she'd had. After she enjoyed another climax, I kissed up her body before our eyes met, watching hers intently as I gently slid my cock inside her. Slowly but surely, once I was buried, another of those beautiful smiles formed, as we made love. That's the only way to describe what happened.

But it was watching her ride me a little later that certainly had both of us grinning. Resting my hands at her hips, that was what showed me how much smaller she was compared to me, while watching my cock disappear inside her, I almost worried she was going to hurt herself as she was rather enthusiastic while riding me.

Spooned against me later, my arms wrapped around her, she shuffled a few times until she was comfortable, hearing her sigh contentedly. "Well, can't remember that ever happening in the Brotherhood," she murmured, "Fraternisation is definitely not allowed."

"I know the feeling."

"It means I have to take care of myself, if you know what I mean." I chuckled. Definitely knew what she meant. "And that's awkward when sharing a room, mostly with other men. Like in Cambridge, when it was just three of us. A woman has needs and, well…"

"Awkward?"

"I'd usually got into one of the disused toilets, hike down my trousers and panties, rub myself silly until I enjoyed an orgasm, needing to cover my mouth to quieten down my moans, then have to stagger out, no doubt looking flushed…" She paused and giggled. "Nate, does that thought make you hard?"

"I'll be honest, I loved watching my wife do it. She had a filthy imagination at times. And then she'd suggest things I'd do to her afterwards. So now I'm thinking of you in a similar way. Very exciting."

Managed to fall asleep later, waking in the morning with Halyen having turned around during the night. We got up, dressed and headed out for breakfast. Piper was already there, simply wishing us good morning, giving me a look and a surprising wink. Guess she was serious about not being bothered.

Taking one last look at the map, I anticipated the journey east would take most of the day. I would be in power armour, and that was an additional idea. Finding more power armour. My idea was for a suit to be at nearly every settlement for added protection. Preston agreed eagerly with that idea. The idea of an entire unit of Minutemen in power armour was certainly exciting.

Piper, Nick and Haylen joined me. Max followed us to the bridge, and realising I'd barely seen him for what felt like weeks, I gestured for him to follow. Piper and Haylen were soon giving him plenty of attention, enough for Nick to joke that I must be getting jealous. I retorted, stating Max was a good boy. That earned a bark of agreement.

Once past the motorway, we were in what Piper joked as 'bandit country'. My memories of Boston and its surroundings were still vivid. Off to the north was a cemetery, while I noticed something interested to the south as we walked through a crossroads. High walls and security. Looked like a settlement. I stopped and pointed. "Anyone know what that is?"

"No idea, Blue." Nick and Haylen shook their heads. "Want to check it out?"

"On the way back. But those look like some seriously thick walls, even from this distance."

We continued east, reaching the outskirts of Malden. I hadn't visited the place very often. The wife and I had visited the hospital for the occasional check-up, and it was a good place to go shopping, offering more than Concord, but was quieter than Boston centre. What became immediately obvious was the fact the place wasn't empty. Once walking between buildings to either side, we walked with weapons in hand, slowing our pace, our ears straining for any signal that we were not alone.

As we were not looking for a fight, we managed to make it to the school without being discovered. Walking down the empty halls was a little unnerving, the two centuries worth of decay no surprise. Knowing a vault would be underground, we looked for a way into the basement and eventually found an elevator. With me in power armour, it was a tight fit, and Max didn't look particularly happy getting into the confined space. It shook and rattled all the way down, more than one of mentioning that we didn't look forward to the trip back up.

The vault door was wide open, and it was clearly not empty. I thought, after all this time, it might have been abandoned, left wondering who would have filled it. Only school students and teachers? At the time the bombs fell, maybe families would have made it inside?

"Gunners," Nick muttered, "Worse than raiders, Nate."

"How so?"

"They have a modicum of sense, for one. You'll see what I mean when we meet them."

What I learned is that the weapons they used were of better quality but they were what I would call wannabe soldiers. I heard them using rankings we'd used in the army as they organised themselves. They also used turrets to reasonable effect. Fighting in a vault meant close quarters, most of the time, so I was armed with a shotgun, Nick with his revolver, Haylen a laser pistol, Piper with her pistol.

I took the lead, clearing the way forward once we were away from the atrium. Took a few shots into armour, but most of the bullets pinged off the thick metal. Turrets were disabled by Nick whenever we managed to find the terminal linked to them. Though I was interested in information, I told the others that we'd clear the vault of enemies first, then we'd carry out our research.

Walking down dimly lit corridors might have put the fear into others. I relied on signals, Haylen understanding most of them immediately, as we cleared room after room. The Gunners were there in force. For what reason, I only figured out later, but even then, I was still left scratching my head. Certainly no military reason to holding the vault, and considering there was no possibility of retreat, I just thought they left themselves back into a corner, no chance of fight and flight.

What I did learn about them is that they had a modicum of training, didn't flinch too much under gunfire, and certainly operated under a chain of command. So that meant I wanted to find the commander. As the bodies piled up, I figured out other things. The lower rankings were given the worst weapons and little to no armour. The middle rankings were given better weapons and protection. I figured there would be an overall commanding officer, and we'd likely find him or her deep in the vault, no doubt some sort of command centre.

We found the CO in what seemed to be some sort of combat simulation room, which explained the presence of the Gunners in the vault. How they'd discovered it certainly raised questions, which would hopefully be answered once we started our research. The CO was backed by what seemed to be the remnants of his forces. We'd certainly left a trail of bloodied bodies behind us. I wasn't particularly interested in taking anyone alive this time, and I wasn't going to take any prisoners either.

Nick eventually put a bullet through his arm, Haylen following that with a shot into his opposing shoulder. I stepped forward, drawing fire from two others, and though exposed a few seconds, drawing fire left them open for return fire. Once the shooting died down, I stepped towards the commander, lifting him up by the front of his shirt and throwing him back against the wall.

"I've got questions," I stated.

"Fuck off, man. Just fuck off."

I took the pistol from its position on my armour and put a bullet through his leg. "Why are you here?"

"Fuck you."

I put a bullet through his other leg. "Why are you here?"

"The sim room, man. Fuck, the sim room. We train all our recruits here."

"Good. See, answer my questions, you don't get shot."

I heard Nick chuckle behind me. "Damn, Nate. Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"Where else are you based? What other buildings do you utilise?"

He laughed. "Shit, we're everywhere, man. And they're going to know all about you soon enough. Trust me on that one."

"I want place names."

He flipped me the bird. "Fuck you, man. I ain't telling you another fuckin' thing. Do whatever you need to do."

I did, by putting a bullet through his head. Turning around, Nick simply put his lips around another cigarette, going so far as to chuckle. Piper looked at me, wide eyed, before she shrugged. Haylen placed her pistol in its holster and asked, "Where to, Nate?"

"We've passed by a million and one terminals, or so it seems. The information I want, and you might find interesting, will be on all of those. Actually, you too, Piper. I'm thinking people might be interested in what Vault-Tec was really up to here."

What we discovered sent a chill down my spine and the rest in shock at just what it seemed Vault-Tec was capable of. Vault 75 was not a beacon of safety in the event of nuclear holocaust. It was part of a top secret military programme, designed to experiment with the human genome, almost a way to create perfect humans. What became obvious was that the only humans were scientists. It wasn't explicit, but it seemed all other humans were killed upon reaching maturity.

By the time Haylen finished reading everything, hours later, she couldn't hold them back any longer, needing to wipe her cheeks, and I just had to hug her. Piper had long ago stopped reading anything, sitting with Nick, smoking cigarette after cigarette, hands shaking each time she rose it to her lips.

"The only saving grace is that, after god knows how many years, there was an uprising and they fought their way out," Haylen whispered, "But how many died before then?" She leaned back to meet my eyes. "Just who was Vault-Tec, Nate? These vaults were meant to offer sanctuary. Instead, they're home to experiments that… even the Institute…"

I couldn't help sigh. "I feared we'd find something like this. Maybe only Vault 81 in Boston was a safe vault. If you were lucky to enter there, you would live the rest of your life in safety. Any other vault, and you were at the whim of…" I sighed again. "Damn it…"

"I want to leave, Blue," Piper said, "I can't sleep down here. Not knowing what happened down here."

"We'll find somewhere safe outside."

"Sorry you had to find this, Nate," Nick said, "Are you going to continue your investigations?"

"I wouldn't mind getting to Vault 88 and 95 eventually, but to be honest, I almost dread what we'll find there." I let go of Haylen and stood up. "We should grab a duffel bag each and take anything you think we might need. Weapons. Ammo. Food and water. Supplies. And intel. Then we'll go, Piper."

We left a couple of hours later with duffel bags full of all the things I'd suggested. The ride back to the surface took place in complete silence. Even Max seemed to sense the mood, noticing he sat between my legs and was first out of the elevator. Piper didn't want to stay in the school, so we headed out and turned onto the road leading west. We eventually found a long abandoned home with enough furnishing for us to lie down on. Nick agreed to keep watch during the evening as he didn't need sleep, all of us sitting around, smoking a couple of cigarettes, sipping at a shared bottle of whiskey we'd taken from the vault.

"Can't believe it," Piper muttered, "I just can't believe it." She met my eyes. "Are you sure Vault 81 was as safe as you think it was?"

I could only shrug to start. "I mean, on the surface, everything appeared absolutely fine. The only reason they opened the vault door was the fact things were starting to fail, but that would surely be expected after two hundred years. Plus, the food situation was a problem. They had hydroponics, but that wouldn't feed a vault full of people forever."

"We'll have to visit those others vaults, Blue. We have to know if Vault-Tec was… is evil the right word?"

"Fits for me at this moment," Haylen murmured.

"Let's get some shut eye and return to Sanctuary tomorrow," I suggested, "Then we can decide on our next move."