Fallout: Birthdays and Last Days
(Special thanks to my editor for helping me with this)
Fallout: Birthdays and last days
(October 23 2077)
*Beep beep beep*
An alarm went off but was quickly deactivated by a small hand. The person who turned it off was a (as of today) six year old kid named Nick. He was five foot two, with bright green eyes and messy curly dirty blonde hair. He was wearing sky blue Pyjamas that had rocket ships, moons, and stars on them.
He quickly sat up and raised his arms high in the air as he stretched. The sun shone through the window and its warmth gently hit the side of his face. The smell of freshly baked pancakes filled the house. He quickly ran towards the bedroom door then slowly down the hallway. Once he was in the kitchen he saw his father leaning against the counter while having a conversation with his mother.
"Mommy, daddy," Nick quickly ran towards his father who happily picked up the boy and held him in his arms.
"Happy birthday little one, how old are you today?" His father asked even though he already knew the answer.
"Daddy you should already know the answer."
His father chuckled. "I do son, I'm just wondering if you remember."
"I'm six." Nick raised both of his hands; the left one had all fingers up while the right one had only the pointer finger raised.
"You sure are." Tom placed his son down and grabbed a medium sized box that was sitting near the edge of the honey oak table. "Here, before your mother has to head to work I want you to open this." He gave his son a medium sized box with red Nuka Cola wrapping paper and a dark blue bow.
"Is it a puppy?" Nick inspected the box before starting to open it. His fingers clawed at the fragile wrapping, pieces of paper were torn and shred off the box, the pieces slowly floated to ground, landing on the black and white checkered floor that had recently been mopped the night before.
Tom chuckled and crossed his arms ."If I told you what it is then there would be no reason to wrap it"
It took Nick about seven seconds to unwrap, but once he saw the present he smiled and shouted happily. "A Nuka Cola train set, I've always wanted one of these, thank you so much mommy and daddy!" He happily hugged his parents.
"You're very welcome little one. I saw you staring at that when we went to the mall last Sunday"
"How much did it cost?" Nick asked curiously.
Tom crossed his arms. "Price doesn't matter when it comes to family"
"Think I'm gonna head to work early today, got lots to do."
"Do you have to work today mommy?" Nick asked with a sad tone in his voice. he hated when she would leave but he knew that her work was very important in keeping a roof over their heads.
"I do sweetheart, sadly all of the cafe's employees are unable to work their shifts so it looks like I have the cafe all to myself, not complaining though, means I can steal some tuna sandwiches and apple pie," she jokingly said.
"Honey isn't stealing wrong?" Tom asked sarcastically while giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Doesn't count as stealing if you're the one making them right?" she looked at her son and winked.
Tom sighed and made his way towards her, he wrapped his arms around her and she placed hers on his shoulders.
"Fine, take whatever foods you want, but bring me back a Nuka Cola and Cinnamon French Toast,"
"Deal" Maria kissed her husband on the lips, which as usual made her son jokingly pretend to gag.
"And please don't break any dishes this time," he stuck out his tongue mockingly.
She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes, "It was one time honey"
"I counted three."
Maria grabbed her purse from the coat hanger and she placed her right arm through the handle and let the loop rest on her shoulder. "I have to go, and you can forget about that French Toast mister!" she said in a joking manner.
"So just the Cola?" Tom responded with the biggest smirk on his face.
She sighed and crossed her arms, after three seconds of thinking she finally came up with an answer "I'll think about it."
"Love you honey," Tom said.
"Love you mommy," Nick shouted.
"Love you too sweetheart." Maria waved to her husband and son then made her way out the door and down the flat stone path that lead to the sidewalk.
Tom rubbed his hands together and chuckled. "Well then...now that she's gone who wants some ice cream?"
"I do!" Nick cheered.
(Brenwood Diner)
Maria hummed the toon that was playing on the Jukebox, it was one of her favourite songs, "Uptown Girl by Billy Joel". she was enjoying the music but when she heard the bell on the door ring she quickly snapped to attention.
"Good morning Maria, are you the only one working today?" A man in a fancy expensive looking tuxedo entered the café. he was about six foot two and had a close to strong build. this man was Mister Cane. he was Brenwood's thirty-seventh mayor and as a lot of the people could agree one of its best.
"Sure am, Susan sprained her ankle and Jeremy's wife just had a baby."
"That's wonderful, I mean about Jeremy, not about Susan, hope she gets better." Mister Cane nervously cleared his throat and tried his best to look casual.
"So what brings you here this early? Wife snoring too loudly again?" Maria asked while cleaning the counters with an old wet worn out rag. it used to be a pale white but after years of use it turned a lifeless grey.
Mister Cane pulled out one of the stools near the counter and sat on it, he slouched a bit so he could be eye level to Maria "Believe it or not it's the dog this time, a house full of snoring can really drive a person nuts."
Maria placed the rag down on the counter and chuckled a bit. "It sure can." she never actually lived with anyone who snored, but a lot of times when she took the New Transit bus into town people would often fall asleep in it and snore very loudly. "Now what can I get you"
"I'll take... some eggs, preferably scrambled, bacon, but not too crispy, toast without crust and freshly squeezed orange juice."
"We're currently out of oranges, would cranberry juice be ok?"
"Only if you don't want a tip," mister Cane joked.
"I'll get you some apple juice."
"That would be lovey darling, I've got an appointment in forty minutes so don't mind me if I eat like a dog."
(27 minutes later)
After his meal was finished Mister Cane grabbed a fresh napkin and gently cleaned his mouth with it. "That meal was lovely, thank you."
"Your very welcome."
"If you would like I'd be happy to assist you."
"That's very sweet of you mister Cane but you have an appointment that you are currently running late for."
He quickly looked at the watch that was wrapped around his right forearm and noticed that she was right. "Oh shoot, um gotta go, here keep the change." Mister Cane reached into his pocket and placed a twenty dollar bill on the counter, even though his meal was only twelve.
"Thank you mister Cane."
"Anytime darling."
(87 minutes later, Brenwood Diner, 10:13 am)
Maria was washing dishes; her wet rag rubbed against the burgundy plate in a clockwise motion, the cafe was quiet so she decided to hum, there were only four people in the cafe, one was sitting in the right corner reading a newspaper, and the left corner had three people eating and laughing, it was such a beautiful day and relaxing day, that was until...
An alarm in the distance started blaring loudly, it wasn't a tornado siren or even an air raid one, it was one everyone prayed they would never ever hear.
Everyone who was in the restaurant quickly got up and ran towards the exit, they each ran as fast as they could towards their homes, but Maria just stood there frozen and unable to move , there was no reason to move, because there was no possible way to outrun what was coming.
In the distance she could barely see it; a tiny spec was falling from the sky. It seemed to fall in slow motion, but once it finally did make contact with the group it created a large explosion that was so bright it was almost blinding above it was a giant mushroom cloud the size of the Empire State Building the blinding light began to get closer and closer.
She slowly closed her eyes and prepared herself for what was to come the light shattered all the cafe's windows, the glass shot towards her faster than a bullet; the shards hit the chalkboards and menus behind her, somehow penetrating the hard objects.
Everything was in slow motion; she couldn't do anything but stand still and watch as the white light made its way closer to her when the blast finally hit her she didn't even feel it, she could no longer feel anything.
(Johnson family home, 10:13 am)
Nick and his father sat at the family table, Tom read the Brenwood newspaper while Nick happily played with his new train, the train had a button on the top that once pressed would make a train whistle sound, Tom took his eyes off the newspaper for a moment and smiled at his son.
After a few minutes of playing an alarm in the distance could be heard, Tom dropped his coffee mug on the floor; it shattered and coffee splashed all over the kitchen counter, Nick didn't understand what the noise meant, but his father did.
"Daddy, what's that noise?" Nick asked curiously.
His father didn't answer the question; his only response was "Run."
The sound of the alarm made it difficult for Nick to hear "What?"
"Run!" Tom gently grabbed his son's wrist and quickly made his way towards the back door, once outside they could hear screaming from their neighbours houses.
"Daddy what's going on; where are we going?"
"Just keep running."
They quickly approached a door which Nick recognized as the storm bunker his father made two years ago, but what Nick did not understand was why his father had stocked the bunker with food and water. Most storms only lasted two to three days and most of them weren't that severe.
Tom quickly turned the speed wheel and opened the heavy titanium bunker door, once they we're both inside he slammed it shut and brought his son to the middle of the room.
"Daddy what's going on; please tell me."
Tom didn't respond; he just kneeled down and hugged his son, there was a sound of wind in the background; then it got louder and louder until it was deafening.
It hurt Nick's ears so much he screamed as loud as he could, but his screams we're drowned out by the sound of the strong wind, but what didn't know was that it wasn't wind.
(10:23 am)
"Daddy where's mommy?" Nick asked while looking around the fully stocked bunker.
Tom sighed and tried his best not to cry, he wished his wife was with them, if her fellow employees would have worked today she would be here "She...she's still at the cafe"
"Will she be ok? Will she be here soon?" a tear ran down Nick's cheek but it was gently wiped away by his father.
"Your mother...your mother won't be coming."
"But why? Did something happen to her?" Nick asked nervously.
He didn't answer the question, instead he got down on one knee and placed his right hand on his son's shoulder "...son...remember the battle between America and China?..."
Nick thought for a moment; his Social teacher Miss Smith had taught them about it a couple months ago, Nick didn't really like war so he usually drew instead of paying attention to the topic. "Yeah, I think so, we leaned about it in school"
"Well..." Tom took a deep breath before continuing to speak. "it got worse...and worse...and worse..."
Nick was confused; how could a war get worse? "What do you mean"
"Well...it got to the point where they both threatened to drop bombs on each other." Tom sniffled and wiped away a tear that was forming in his eye.
"That doesn't sound bad; bombs aren't strong enough to destroy a state...right?" From what Nick had learned in school bombs were strong and did lots of damage, but not enough to destroy an entire city.
"I wish that we're true son...but the bombs they...they didn't use the bombs that you see in the war movies that they play on TV..."
"What did they use?" Nick asked curiously.
"Atom Bombs."
"What are Atom Bombs?"
Tom didn't want to talk about the subject anymore; he wanted to talk about anything except what was going on outside the bunker. "Son I need you to listen to me; we only have enough food and water to last us a year and a half so we need to use it scarcely."
"If anything happens to me I want you to stay in here and do not leave until we run out of food, do you understand me?"
"I do daddy."
"Everything will be ok, I promise."
"I love you son" Tom wrapped his arms around his son and held him close.
"I love you too daddy."
(The next day)
The bunker didn't only have food, in the back of the room sat a TV with a VCR hooked up to it. beside it were some movies, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tangerine Bear, Toys That Saved Christmas and Old Yeller. Out of all those movies Nick knew which one her would definitely never watch.
There we're also board games, Boggle, Camelot, Rook, Children's Hour, and Sorry. A record player sat about three feet from the TV;beside it laid some records, there was the Andrew Sisters, Boznie Sisters, Bing Crosby, Bob Crosby, Elvis and The Chordettes.
(Five years after the bombs fell)
"Good morning dad, are you ready to lose another game of checkers?"
Nick slowly pulled the sleeping bag off of himself before slowly getting up, he looked at the sleeping bag beside him but it was empty, he looked around for his father and found him laying face down a couple feet away.
"...dad..."
Nick quickly approached his father and gently nudged him, there was no response, he quickly turned his father over so he was laying on his back, but Nick froze, there was no air coming from his father's mouth, he placed his hand on his father's neck but couldn't find a pulse anywhere, which could only mean one thing.
"Dad no, please no, dad wake up, please wake up! I can't lose you!"
No response, he knew what had happened, his father spent nine days without food or water, he gave his food rations to his son, his father seemed fine, less energetic then usual but still normal, but nothing could deny the truth that laid before him, The truth was that his father...had starved to death.
Nick just wanted to scream, to yell as loud and long as possible until his lungs hurt, but all he could do was cry, he had never cried this hard in his life, his nose began to run but he didn't care, he just sat there as tears soaked his face.
(178 days later)
It was quiet in the bunker but Nick had gotten used to it, he looked towards the sleeping bag in the corner which contained his long lost father, He didn't see it as a sleeping bag anymore, now it only appeared to him as a body bag, he hated looking at it as that but once he was out of this bunker he would give his dad a proper burial, sadly he would never be able to do that for his mother.
He sighed and made his way to one of the food shelves, the shelf didn't contain any food so he went to the next, then the next, and the next, there was no food or water anywhere, Nick remembered what his father had said if this incident ever were to happen.
"If anything happens to me I want you to stay in here and do not leave until we run out of food, do you understand me?"
Nick had only hoped that the outside world was safe and the air was breathable, it was a long shot but it was either that or starve, he chose the first option; he looked at his shoes, they we're red semi worn out sneakers, he hadn't worn them since he was six, so the chance of them still fitting were extremely low, right beside his shoes we're his fathers, black dress shoes with a nice shine to them, he approached them and put them on, they we're a little big but would still work.
After he was dressed and ready he made his way towards the vault door, he grabbed the speed wheel and sighed, this was it, this was either the last day he spent in the bunker or his last day on earth, he prayed that everything would be fine, he turned the wheel and once the vault door opened a bright light struck his eyes, it took some time for them to adjust but once they did his heart dropped, his house, the neighbours houses and the entire neighbourhood was either badly damaged or turned to rubble.
Nick began making his way towards the town hall, the mayor had told everyone that during times of extreme emergencies or even dangerous storms the safest and best place to go was the Brenwood Community Centre, everyone just called it town hall.
On his way there he had saw something in the distance, It looked like a giant sign, he ran towards it and once he approached it he got a better look at what it was, It was a billboard that for some miracle was still intact, there we're giant red letters painted on it, the paint looked like it had been there for a long time, even though the letters looked very runny Nick could still read the words, he let out a loud sigh then read the words out loud to himself.
"Welcome to the Fallout"