CLOSED Vault Life

[Lyrikai]

It was a blessing being among the lucky that got into the vaults when the world ended. Not everyone had the chance to escape the bombs and many perished. The vaults were a haven for those select lucky few. Generations came and went in this perfect little utopia. It was wonderful. Peaceful. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Surely nothing would. Whatever was going on in the outside world (if there even was an outside world anymore), it was nobody's business in here. In here, they were safe. Happy. It was paradise.

Colton lived his whole life in here, knowing nothing else outside the lock of the vault door. He had heard stories growing up, tales of lush valleys filled with trees and sparkling lakes. Passed down through books and verbal stories, the meaning of what a lake was had become a little lost on many of the people who lived here, but Colton liked to believe it was something beautiful. He had once swiped a book from the classroom when he was just a young boy and wore down the pages through the years continuously flipping through to look at the pictures. His favorite was one showing this supposed "lake" surrounded on all sides by trees and giant rocky formations in the distant backgrounds. Mountains, they called them.

He would have loved to see mountains.

One day, perhaps, the radiation would be gone and the world would be safe. One day, perhaps, that vault door would open and they'd be safe to venture out and see a lake firsthand. Mountains. Forests. It would be beautiful, he just knew it. He dreamed it nearly every night.

For now, however, he had work to do.

Just heading back from the reactor after having assisted in its weekly maintenance, he sat down at a table in the cafeteria to help himself to a meal. It was a rather mundance life. Nothing overly exciting ever happened. There was no crime here, few accidents, little mischief, and there was always plenty to do. Honestly, Colton wouldn't have had it any other way. This was perfect.

Paradise.

 

[rissa]

Children still needed to be taught in the aftermath of total atomic annihilation... right?

Madison Lockheart hoped so, else she chose her occupational studies wrong all those years ago. With a weary sigh after a long, hard day of teaching a classroom full of angsty and rowdy children, she made her way back into the cafeteria, though blessedly without her brood of quacking children. She was in need of something warm, something sweet, and maybe, if she was lucky enough, something that'd send her straight to sleep after a few deep swigs. Like a bourbon on ice or a room temperature rum and nuka.

She was rarely ever that lucky though.

Madi waited in line to receive her meager dinner, realizing once the food was stacked upon her tray that she really wasn't that hungry. But if she didn't eat anything now her stomach would revolt while lying in bed. That always made the tossing and turning worse. She grabbed an extra glass of water along with her chit-rationed nuka cola and faced the crowd milling about in the canteen. It was easy, after a moments gaze, on where to sit: at a table that had no children whatsoever.

The funky little cowlick on the back of Colton's head stuck out like a sore thumb. She plopped down right beside him with a small boo!

"Heya Colton! Easy day in paradise?"

 

[Lyrikai]

Picking into his meal of organically vault-grown vegetables, Colton couldn't help himself but wonder sometimes if food tasted differently when grown beneath the bright and beautiful sun he'd heard all the stories about, as opposed to grow lights and hydroponics in an enclosed vault grow room. Certainly there must have been a world of difference and sometimes, just sometimes, he dreamed about being a gardener as opposed to a member of a maintenance crew tinkering and fixing the reactor or the lights or the plumbing.

While he picked through his food, munching on the veggies he liked and pushing aside all the ones that he didn't, he was granted some company and smiled in return. "Hey there, Madi. It's indeed an easy day! Well. For now, at least. The reactor was acting up, they thought something serious, but turns out it was just being finicky. Seems to be running as well as ever."

Separating mushy carrots from his greens, they were all pushed aside and into their own little corner to be confined for their atrocity of existing. "Honestly there are some days where this liiiittle part of me wishes something would break down so I can busy myself fixing it." Routine maintinence was barely doing it anymore. He loved it, loved not having to work too hard and loved having free time, but sometimes he wished for something unexpected to happen... something that would throw him off his guard.

"I wonder what it would take to swap over to gardening," he wondered aloud, amused at the thought. Not exactly serious about it, of course, but what if he was...? "Maybe I could get them to grow better carrots. Or none at all! What do you think?" Carrots were such an abomination. "You know, I was just wondering. I wonder how much better they'd taste if they were grow in real honest dirt outside the vault walls. I wonder how much of a difference it makes."