“Huh? What the hell?”- Hernandez said
“You where using the bathroom, felled and heated you’re head with the toilet, you went unconscious.”- The Doctor informed
“Ohhhh, Well I must leave Doc”- Hernandez said to the Doctor

The doctor followed Hernandez out. "Unfortunately, I can't let you leave with the expedition. You'll need to remain overnight for observation, you took a pretty nasty hit there, you've got a concussion. Plus there are a few problems I've noticed. You've got abnormally high blood pressure and heart rate. I can't in good conscience let you go, much less leave the Vault. Plus there was some weird twitching while you were out, I'm very concerned about this, Mr. Hernandez."

While he was saying this, he lifted a phone off the wall.

"Overseer. We've got a Code 115. Jose Hernandez. He's not going to be able to leave the Vault, I'm going to recommend isolation with a twenty-four hour watch."

“What?!?!...... Damn, Doctor the must be a mistake c’mon, I am fine plus, you let me go and I can give you money what do you say doc? , C’mon you can’t say No…”- Hernandez tried to persuade the doctor. “What do you say?”- Hernandez asked.

The Doctor glanced at Hernandez. "No. At best, you passed out and hit your head in the bathroom, indication of probable epilepsy. You're a risk to the expedition, and yourself. I can't let you leave. And I'll pretend you didn't attempt to bribe me."

Roll had been halfway to her room when her EMT beeper went off. Unclipping it from her belt, she held it closer to her head as she slowed her pace. "All responders, advise of a C-56 in the men's lavatory on level 10." She shook her head as she heard no less than three male EMTs respond on the same channel, so she reclipped the beeper back to her belt. The male EMTs were more than qualified to deal with whatever had happened.

Sliding into a narrow corridor, she approached the door of her apartment. Keying the sequence into the pad at the side, she heard the familiar thrum as the door unlatched itself to admit her entrance. She stepped through and shut it behind her, pressing her back against the door and leaning there for a few, long moments.

Rev was walking back to the common area, when he then saw three medic's run off towards the restrooms.

"What is going on...?"

Another medic ran by, and Rev stopped him.

"What's going on medic?" asked Rev.

"Some kid OD'ed. Didn't want to go on the mission or something." replied the medic.

"I see, thanks."

The medic hurried off to the restroom, and Rev shook his head. Shame the kid couldn't hold his own. Rev pulled out a ciggerette, lit it, and walked on.

"Well, it was Hernandez. No big loss, really. It's likely he'd have insulted somebody or tripped a mine and gotten us all blown to Hell. This is really for the best."

He swung his feet up onto the table and leaned back. "I hope we get going soon. Where'd Summerfield go, anyway?"

"Honestly, Jase, what have you been using this thing for?" she demanded. "No, never mind that... where'd you get it? Cus I can tell you for sure it didn't come through me..."

Jason smiled at the now at ease hacker, all it took for her to become calm was familiarity and something to keep her occupied.

“The issued one was criminally inefficient so I built that one and used the programme from the old one.” Jason let out a small laugh “I think it way have become corrupted when I did it, should’ve went to you first.”

"That'd be easy... have him hold a wire... oops, not that one... zap, dead." She grinned sheepishly at her tablet and muttered, "Sorry... not funny..." and returned to her work.

“Got a bit of a sadistic side to ya Charlie. I think I like it.” The mechanic sinisterly grinned. “I’m going to pick my dart gun up from the armoury… You want anything?”

"Anything I need is in the bag," Charlie answered, nudging her bag with her right foot. "Thanks though... but don't take too long. I'll have your toy running properly in just a minute or two."

"I'll try but if I'm late don't leave without me." Jason said. "But if you do there's no need to come back for me." Jason laughed as he walked off towards the armoury.

On arrival, he walked past a couple of gun racks towards a small safe in the corner of the room. He noticed the Travis and Kat who were also assigned to the surface mission, but they seemed to busy picking there guns. He twisted the safes dial back and forth to input the combination and opened the door, he pulled out his dart gun, a holster belt and darts for it. He put the equipment on the table next to the safe and began placing the darts in small pockets on the belt and holstered the gun after loading one dart into it.

Ral returned to his lab, having already obtained an ancient Beretta 92 from the armory, replete with holster and several clips of ammunition. He shook his head as he shrugged the leather holster on over his shoulders. Something definitely had the Powers-that-Be spooked about the outside world enough to require that the expeditionary force carry firearms. Perhaps it was just cautious posturing, but after living under the Overseer for a number of years, Ral knew it was probably more than that.

He slid his pistol into the holster and snapped the flap shut, then grabbed an old worn leather coat off the back of his chair and shrugged it on. He was already fully packed, having surmised the purpose of the mission far before the morning's meeting had even been convened. Hefting his backpack over his shoulder, he stooped over to pick up another bag, this one carrying his chemical analysis materials. He suspected more than a few things would be glowing up top and he wanted to be sure that he had the proper instruments with which to study them.

Roll strode into the small amphitheater again, her long brown hair damp from showering. She flicked a wet strand out of her eyes as she walked to the front of the room, then placed her hefty knapsack on the ground next to the projector. Extracting a wide utility belt, she fastened it around her waist and began placing various accoutrements on it, including a flashlight, a canteen and spare clips for the Sig 226 she wore in her shoulder holster.

When she had finished, she turned around, leaned on the table and folded her arms across her chest, her expression blank as she was readying herself for when everyone else arrived.

Onjo, sitting at his desk fiddling with his pistol, making adjustments to the cocker and trigger. He sat back in his chair and gazed at his pistol and smiled. He picked it up and flipped it over a couple times looking to see if he forgot anything. All of a sudden the alarm went off and he threw up his pistol out of being frightened by the alarm.

Onjo looked at his watch

"Ahh, i've been so busy with this pistol that i forgot to go to the meeting, grrr"

He picked up his pistol and holstered it and put all of his tools back in his belt. He rushed out of his room and down the hallway. Some EMT's passed him but he just shrugged it off. He reached the room that the meeting was in, it was empty. He saw some guy walking down to the common area with a lit cigarette.

Onjo ran down to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, were you at the meeting that the overseer called? I lost track of time in my office and missed the meeting, can ya fill me in please?"

Peter stared at him with a dumbstruck expression, and ran his fingers across his face and into his hair.

"Who the hell are you? You the replacement for Hernandez? Oh, great. Roll, let's get out of here before they load on every moron in the Vault. We've got enough bad genes on the team as is, we don't need more idiots."

“The way I see it, Most of the bad genes are being taken out by those things.” Jason said walking to the amphitheatre group. He pulled the cigarette out of Onjo's mouth and threw it to the floor and stamped it out. “You know how much damage the smoke does to the ventilation systems in here. I’d rather not come back to a Vault were everyone died because the air recyclers started venting carbon monoxide into the habitation levels, I won’t be here to fix it.”

He turned to look at roll and nodded his greeting. “I’m ready to get into the fresh, radioactive air.” His sarcasm and disapproval were obvious.

Roll arched a thin eyebrow at Peter and the newcomer. "Patience, Peter," she said, moving up next to him. "Not everyone is here just yet, so leaving this moment would not be the most prudent action."

Just then, Jason strode into the amphitheater, snatched the cigarette out of Peter's mouth and had words with him about the adverse effects of smoking. Turning to Roll, the electronics whiz said, "I’m ready to get into the fresh, radioactive air."

"Aren't we all," Roll replied demurely. "Let's refrain from getting on each other's nerves, however. Some things have already gone all pear-shaped, and I really don't need everyone jumping down everyone else's throat." She glanced at the newcomer. "Hello, I don't believe I know you," she said, holding a hand out to him.

With an excited grin on her face, Kat preceeded her brother into the room, practically bouncing as she moved towards the group. Considering that she was smiling about the massive amounts of components and explosives in her backpack, some - like her brother - would not be too far off the mark to question her sanity.

"Hello again, all," she said with a smile, "What'd I miss?"

"What did we miss." Travis corrected, coming to stand at her shoulder.

"Not too much, we're still waiting for everyone to come back," Roll replied to the two Gershwins. She frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "I hope none of them decided to ditch the mission," she said, biting her lip. "And what was that you said about Hernandez, Peter?"

"Hernandez is off the mission, praise be. He fell down in the bathroom, lost consciousness, so Doc is holding him for a few days. By that point, we'll probably be halfway to Vault 29."

Peter grinned. "It's not like he's a big loss, in fact, we might have come out ahead on that one, he was more trouble than he's worth. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff I've heard about him. Smokes, drinks, drugs...he's a ticking time bomb. We'd be halfway into the Arizona desert when he went into withdrawal, and that wouldn't have been good.

"You look pleased with yourself, Katherine. Wait, wait. Let me guess. The supply closet was left unlocked?" It was either a very good sign...or an extremely bad sign that anyone was this enthusiastic about being sent into a radioactive, blasted wasteland.

Kat grinned widely at Peter. "I've never been allowed to see military-grade explosives." she said, "It's generally out-of-bounds to the entire Vault. So the fact that I now have quite a few in my backpack makes me a bit excited."

"Oh, don't worry." Travis said, smirking quite sarcastically, "My sister is entirely sane, I assure you."

Katherine responded by giving his arm a whack.

Peter raised an eyebrow at that.

"Bombs? Well, that's a good sign. It's always good when you can blow something up. How much you got in there?"

Travis placed a hand over his sister's mouth before she could speak. "Oh, I don't think that that's something that we all need to know." he said cheerily, quickly changing the subject. "So. Our argumentative friend took a slip and fall? Is there something up? People like him don't usually trip and hit their heads on toilet seats."

He drummed his fingers on the table, grimacing. "Well, there's always been rumors flitting around. According to a guy who knows a guy I know, Jose's great-grandfather apparently smuggled in a coca plant and taught his kids how to refine it. I don't know the truth of it, but I can tell you after talking to him, that kid's brain is cooked."

"Ah, that's always wonderful." he muttered, putting a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Any idea where this plant may be? I've never seen one in person before..."

Peter's eyebrow went up again. "Probably one of the hydroponics farms, but I wouldn't really know. It'd have to be in a well-hidden place, unless Hernandez is bribing Vault Security with some of his product, which, given the stand-up nature of some of the local Security Shrubs, wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. You wouldn't be thinking of opening your own farm, would you?"

"No, no, of course not!" Travis said with a grin, "But what can I say? I'm a curious person. Finding something that I haven't come across is exciting to me - part of the reason why I'm along on this trip."

"Yeah, I'm curious, too. Although my curiosity usually lands me in the lockup for a few days." It wasn't like his record wasn't public, and the Vault Security people with them would, no doubt, spill it at some point.

Rev walked back to the meeting room, to regroup with the others. As he entered, he saw a group was in deep discussion. Not wanting to be rude, he didn't interrupt them. Rev pulled out a chair and sat down, waiting to get a move on out of here.

He looked at Peter as his dumbstruck expression was amusing.

"Who the hell are you? You the replacement for Hernandez? Oh, great. Roll, let's get out of here before they load on every moron in the Vault. We've got enough bad genes on the team as is, we don't need more idiots."

"I am Onjo Pizak and I have no idea who this Hernandez is...I'm guessing hes not someone that you like.."

He pulled the cigarette out of Onjo's mouth and threw it to the floor and stamped it out. “You know how much damage the smoke does to the ventilation systems in here. I’d rather not come back to a Vault were everyone died because the air recyclers started venting carbon monoxide into the habitation levels, I won’t be here to fix it.”

Onjo stared at Jason with a disrupted look.

"Well im so glad that we are getting along o so nicely!" Onjo said with a sarcastic smirk

He turned to Roll who seemed like the only one with a good attitude. Onjo shook her hand.

"No, i don't think you do, my name is Onjo Pizak, and yours?"

Ral strode back into the amphitheatre, a backpack thrown over his shoulder and a satchel in his hand. It had taken a bit longer than he'd expected, but he'd finally gotten everything together, as he was a bit of a scatterbrain when it came to getting things done on a deadline.

Finding a seat, he placed his luggage down and began fiddling with the locks on his satchel, idly listening to the conversation that was taking place in the center of the room.

The group assembled in front of the massive, gear shaped Vault Door. A technician was seated nearby at a control panel. "You leaving? Got everything packed? Toothbrush? Extra socks?"

Peter gave him a humorless smile. "Just open the door."

The technician shrugged and hit a large button on his console. "Watch your step out there, don't go anywhere you'd glow in the dark."

Alarms began ringing as the door began to hum. Steam shot out around it, mingling with the sounds of hydraulics. The door slid forward, then rolled to the side. A still, incredibly hot air greeted them as they stared out into the vastness of the desert. Endless dunes of charred sands and pillars of cracked rock below a gray sky greeted them to the Wasteland.

Roll looked outside into the foreign world a little apprehensively. This was the first time she'd ever seen what it was like outside and despite how much she had mentally prepared herself for the sight, it still shook her. Taking a few tentative steps forward, she hiked her jacket up around her neck and led her team into the sparseness of the Wasteland.

Casting a glance back, she looked over each person's face to gauge their reactions. She had divvied up responsibilities back in the meeting room, making sure each person had a job. They had all listened and responded well enough, and she just hoped that they would continue to once things got hairy. She was quite sure that things would get interesting, whether she wanted it to or not.

Taking a compass from her belt, she squinted at it and watched the arrow flip a few times before righting itself. "C'mon, ladies and lads," she said, adjusting her steps a few degrees. "We're going this way."

Peter's mouth had gone dry when he had seen the outside. It was magnificent, in a strange way, yet chilling that the world had been this damaged by just a single war.

"Holy..."

He swallowed, then turned to follow Roll.

Onjo waited for the vault door to complete its sequences and open. Steam shot out and the hydraulics started moving, the door started to swing open. He quickly closed his eyes , He walked out of the vault blindly feeling the hot air touch his face, he smiled.

Onjo waited until everything was serene and no one was talking. He opened his eyes and looked across the landscape that he had for so long begged to see. Another hot wind blew across his body. He was in shock from the war and how the world could still look as beautiful as it did but with an eerie feeling like it was empty ball.

He took a step forward,

"Well we've got a long way to go eh?"

Kat gulped as the vault door creaked and groaned, the ancient and rusted-over gears going to work for the first time in five generations. A strange mixture of excitement and nerves wracked her body as she watched the first natural light touched the soil just beneath the edge of the door. She couldn't help herself - she grabbed her brothers hand, squeezing it hard.

Travis would have looked at his sister like she was crazy if he hadn't been concentrating on the door. He coughed a bit with the first blast of the overwhelmingly warm 'fresh' air. For God's sake, the artificial air was better in the Vault...

But then it was open, and the grey, subdued light was pouring in. His eyes widened as he looked outside for the first time as the completely barren wasteland that spread before them. In all of his readings and studies...he had seen pictures of what the world ad looked like before the nuclear war...and the fact that it was all gone - every last scrap of living things...gone...

Whitman listened to the noises the 1000-year-old door made as it slid, twisted and released vents of steam from the opening gaps at the side.

“Anyone else think this is a little elaborate for a door opening.” He joked smiling to himself

Jason looked out as the door finally opened revealing the outside world and was hit by the still warm air flowing into the Vault, he coughed as a bit of dust went down his throat. Looking at the door it seemed to be almost completely covered in rust, he turned to look at the technician and smiled. “You should oil that door. It’s a bit rusty.”

As soon as the door swung open, Ral pulled out his Geiger counter. The familiar crackle-hum filled the air as the meter read the levels of radiation in the area. Ral squinted at the display, writing down the measurements in a small notebook. "Well, thank goodness it isn't a microwave," he muttered softly as he continued to study the readout.

"We're going this way."

Ral looked up from his instrument to see Roll beckoning the group over to follow her, so he followed suit. The ground was scorched and scored with marks, probably flashfried in the chaos. Shaking his head, he focused back on his readouts.

Charlie stood frozen just inside the doorway, staring wide-eyed out at the desert in awe. The Vault had its fair share of wide open spaces, but this... Charlie blinked. Until today, her world had been comfortable, but this... this was so massive it blew her mind. She vaguely heard Roll say something relating to the direction they would be heading, but she was so startled by the contrast between the Vault and the world outside that she didn't move.

"I-I-I," she stammered as the technician who'd opened the door approached her. The rest of the group was already moving. "It's... I..."

"Go on," the tech urged. "They'll need you." He gave her a light shove and she staggered out of the Vault after the group. A brief moment of fear nearly made her turn back, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and keep moving. The tech was right; if any technology still worked out here, Charlie was the one who could make it work.

That thought made Charlie grin a little. In the Vault, though she was in charge of keeping software updated, there were others who could do the job. Out here, there would be no others. For the first time in her life, Charlie felt needed. And that was good. Her stride grew a little bolder and she hurried to catch up with Jason.

The desert seemed to stretch on endlessly, but after three days of traveling across the Wastes, a ripple was seen on the horizon. A wall, wrapped around a tall rock with a flat top.

Peter squinted, then dropped his pack and pulled out his binoculars. "Some kind of town down there, boss. Looks a little primitive, but..."

Before he got out more, a massive pounding noise broke the silence. A massive creature, human-height even hunched, with long, razor-edged claws and long horns, with lizard-like features and scaly flesh, came over a dune. It let out a wailing roar, then charged at the party. Peter dropped his binoculars and unholstered his Jericho, firing three times at the creature. The first two bullets missed, making bursts of sand. The third pierced it's side, spraying a stream of blood onto the dunes. The creature didn't slow at all.

"Oh hell." Before he could get back, the creature raised it's claw, slashing across his face and flinging him across the sand, stunned. It turned to the rest of the party, now reaching for their sidearms, let out a bellow, and lunged.

Onjo was standing at the back of the pack fiddling with his gear, his watch suddenly stopped working.

"What the hell, its been running for years and now it decides to say goodbye and die on me?!?! Nothing ever works when you want it too, ahh o well"

He took out a screwdriver to start taking the watch apart as they walked across the hot desert landscape when a mirage like image appeared in the distance, he put his hand of his forehead to block the sun but it did no good.

The ground trembled before him along with a heavy noise that when you heard it, you knew it was trouble. A huge beast like creature launched itself over a sand dune to Onjo's right hand side.

The creature roared and pounded with its massive claws, the crew stood there jaw dropped by the ferocious beast. Peter stood out in front with his binoculars to his eyes when the beast came charging at him, Peter had taking his gun out and shot three times but only one hit.

Onjo was amazed by the creature and just wanted to stare at the enormous thing, he was fiddling to get his pistol out. The strap wouldn't open up but he kept trying, he ripped the gun at as soon as the strap broke loose.

Onjo ran to the side of the crew expedtion and kneeled down and tried to aim carefully for the beasts legs, he shot four times as the beast lunged forward towards his friends. His first shot missed, his second shot missed, his third shot ricocheted off the hard sand floor and hit the beast in the shin area. Onjo's fourth shot was dead on and hit the creature in the kneecap striking the beast down on one knee.

The monster roared, but the bullet barely penetrated it's hard skin and bone, leaving a gash on it's leg and a lot of anger to work out. The beast leapt forward, shoving past his gun and landing on Onjo hard, the lust for his blood burning in it's eyes as it's maw opened, revealing two rows of razor-edged teeth...

The holster at Travis' hip was flipped open and empty within seconds. Safety sliding off, he laid out a four-shot diamond towards the monster's chest, two bullets clipping its shoulders and the other two finding home in the top and lower half of its chest.

"These things aren't going to hurt it." he shouted to Kat, "You gotta get something with a bit more firepower!"

The monster fell, onto it's back. It slid to it's feet fast, enraged, blood streaming over it's scaly flesh. It stared at Travis with rage in it's eyes. The shots had obviously wounded it, but it wasn't about to slow down. It reached down and picked up a large rock, turned, and hurled it at Travis.

Roll froze momentarily, staring agape at the enormous monstrosity as it lumbered towards her team. She hadn't expected to run into anything quite like it right off the bat. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she watched it approach, unfazed by the gunfire shot at it. Only when it had sprung forward onto Onjo did Roll finally snap out of her trance.

Quickly unholstering her sidearm with a fluidity that surprised even her, she leveled the SiG 226 at the monster just as it was hit by Travis's shots. Her eyes widened as it picked up a rock and threw it at the young man, then narrowed as she aimed her weapon. "Travis, watch out!" Roll yelled as she squeezed the trigger, sending round after round at the monster. Her first shot miraculously hit it in the elbow, while the subsequent shots whizzed past its head harmlessly.

"S***!!"

Travis jumped off to the side, colliding with his sister in such a way that it knocked her and him far enough away to avoid the giant boulder as it came crashing down.

"H-Hooooly crap!!" Kat squealed, "This is not what I signed up for!!"

"Just get a grenade out already!!" her brother hissed.

Obediantly, the twin scrambled to open the flap of her pack, knocking the explosives around until she found - ah! That's it!

Grabbing the baseball-sized explosive, she stood to her feet. "HEY! Lizard-head!!"

As the monster's gaping maw turned towards her, she armed the grenade, took aim...and threw it with all her strength.

The creature swatted the grenade out of midair. Not that it really helped.

The blast vaporized it's left arm, nearly up to the shoulder, and blasted a chunk out of it's side, throwing it to the ground with blood streaming out, having lost all of it's fight. It lay on the ground, breath coming in ragged gasps as it's life slowly spilled onto the sands.

Onjo looking up with a minor scrape across his chest, he had enough time to catch a glimpse of Travis throwing a grenade that took off the monsters left arm. It lay there senselessly as Onjo got off the sand floor to only stand and look at the monster as the blood just rolled out onto the sand.

He looked to his side and realized that his gun and a bunch of his tools fell out when the monster pounced on him. He went over and picked his tool out and put them pack in his pack and re holstered his gun.

The last three days across the desert were not the best few days of Jason’s life, He had already gotten sunburn and sand in every crevice of his body. So far all anyone seemed to do was walk in a single direction and this annoyed him greatly, if he were in the vault he would be doing something useful, there was always something that needed to be fixed.

Whitman had generally kept himself to himself only occasionally talking to either Roll or Charlie, he did however find time to optimise all his equipment in case they would ever be needed.

When the beast attack Jason stayed well out of the way but did take out his Dart gun just in case the fighters couldn’t handle it, He only approached the creature after it fell to the floor. “Soooo, I’m no expert but I don’t think things like this existed a thousand years ago.”

Travis nodded slowly, adjusting his glasses further onto the bridge of his nose as he watched the creature's body carefully, not quite sure if it was safe to approach. Sig Sauer held ready in hand, he slowly moved closer to the thing, the weapon pointed towards its head - just in case. When he was beside the giant lizard, he took a hesitant foot and nudged it, jumping back several feet in case it moved. It didn't react, however, and judging by the large pool of blood that was dripping into the sands, it was either quite incapacitated or killed. With gun still out, he approached it again.

"I don't know..." he said softly, "This doesn't look like any type of dinosaur. If anything, it seems to be just a basic lizard, that has been mutated horribly. But I can only imagine what had to happen that it grew to be of this size..."

Jason continued to stare at the apparently dead creature and listened to Travis’ analysis of it. “So you have no idea if there are more of these things.” He paused for a second and began to look around the surrounding terrain. “Or if there is anything bigger… and uglier around here just itching to get their teeth into us.”