Capítulo 15: The Vault
"We are messengers from The Vault."
"We are in dire need of help due to internal problems or our settlement."
"We are over at Bleak Fall's Barrow."
"Please. Send Help."
"This message will repeat after the beep."
These were the lines that were kept on repeating in the walkie-talkie radio in Tim's hand. From their position, Bleak Fall's barrow was very near. It was merely a ten minute walk away and if they rushed, they could make it in even less time.
However, they didn't rush. The party had two children in it and everyone was exhausted from the long trip. However, Adam was still very energetic.
'Does this kid ever get tired?' Brian said to himself. He shook his head as he diffused that thought.
While they were walking straight to The Vault, Tim tried talking on the radio. The Vault was their last hope after all and losing it now would be very bad for their situation.
"Hello Vault. Come in. This is Tim Blue Bird. Over." He said in the radio. He was waiting for a reply.
It did not come, however.
"Hello Vault. COME IN. This is TIM BLUE BIRD. OVER!." Click. Tim was no longer hoping for the best. After holding it in for a few seconds, he soon lost it.
His calm bravado throughout their journey finally broke. He kneeled down on the road and wept. Jenny came to hug him but did not say anything. She could not say anything. What was on her and Tim's mind was that if The Vault was no longer safe, that means Tim's father was also in peril.
"Let us go check on things." Jenny said with tears flowing on her face.
"Let's not think of things that are very sad. Okay?" She wiped Tim's eyes as she held his head and hugged him.
"Yea. We already came this far, Tim. Let us see it through the end." Ivan said as he covered his eyes.
Ivan did not inform his wife of what they were talking about. So she was just utterly confused as to why everyone suddenly cried. She tried asking Ivan about what was happening but he just gave her a signal that everything was okay.
'Everything is not okay.' She thought. But she couldn't really do anything about it.
"You are right. Let us find out what happened in The Vault. And why they needed such help." Tim said as he stood up and hugged Jenny back.
Adam on the other hand, hugged his leg. Adam didn't really understand what was happening but he saw his father suddenly break down in tears. He felt like he should comfort his father and he didn't hesitate to hug Tim's leg.
"Thank you, Adam. You sweet boy." Tim said as he picked Adam up and carried Adam in his arms.
"Well. Let's go?" Tim finally got his strength back.
After walking for a few minutes, they walked towards the edge of the city and soon went to a non-cemented path. The place was full of trees and grass and looked very serene. It seems that no matter how disasters destroys its surroundings, nature will still live and will recover. Though this place was just lucky that it didn't get hit at all.
Of course, the damage done towards areas with nothing but trees would be less than a city. There is nothing to destroy aside from trees that are very resilient. Everyone revealed at the beautiful greenery that they missed during the past few days.
"That should be it." Tim pointed towards a metallic door as he said. The door was situated like the entrance towards the subway.
Everyone followed Tim as he walked towards the stairs that lead to the metallic door. Once they arrived. They saw a set of buttons near the door. It was embedded near the door and there was a green light shining.
Tim pressed a button and spoke.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Tim spoke in a casual manner unlike earlier. He expected no reply after all.
"Yes? Hello. Welcome to The Vault!" An enthusiastic voice replied to his question.
Tim was surprised at the enthusiastic voice. He expected there to be no one to listen but there was, and in his mind, if ever there was a person that could in fact talk to him from the other side, they would be in a dire state as the radio broadcast stated.
"Ehm. Uhum. I am Tim Soileward. Johnny Soileward's son. I would like to request permission to enter the facility." Tim cleared his voice and spoke in a formal manner."
"Tim Soileward? Ah yes. The director has been waiting for your arrival." The voice replied in kind.
Soon enough, the door unlocked.
"Please get in quickly. We have to lock the door again for safety reasons." The voice from the intercom hurried them.
Everyone made it inside in a hurry as they were told to. Once they were inside, they found only another set of doors that lead to a room that had some things.
"Please stand in the center. The purification sequence will soon start." The voice from the intercom informed.
Everyone followed as they were told and stood in the middle of the things. These were presumably sprinklers.
Pssshhh~
Everyone was splashed with a mixture of liquid. This liquid was a standard non-alcoholic gentle cleansing solution so it was safe to use externally. Still, it would be dangerous to drink this in large amounts.
Once the cleansing terminated. Everyone's figures were soon revealed and they were dripping wet. However, everyone felt refreshed instead of feeling annoyed.
'That was the longest time I have ever gone without taking a bath.' This was what Jenny thought of.
'Hah. Dad sure got me good.' Tim relaxed. He realized that he got played with.
'This is some tasty water.'
'What? What is this? Why did they drench me in water?' Brian complained.
'Ah nuts. I should have closed my mouth.' Ivan lamented his misfortune.
'Refreshing.' Ivan's wife had a very short thought. She was a woman of a few words.
After a few moments. A door opened and they saw two women wearing outfits that resemble scrub suits but they were completely white. They were carrying clothing and towels.
Tim went and fetched a pair of towels and threw them towards Jenny. He used the other one for himself. After wiping himself, he then wiped Adam and removed his clothing. Adam was used to this treatment and raised both of his hands.
Adam was stark naked. No one really cared though. Everyone else aside from Adam was an adult. Well, Brian was also an adult in his mind so he doesn't count.
Everyone were led towards a changing room and were given articles of clothing that fit them. Adam stayed with the two women though. One of them bent down and selected an article of clothing that would fit Adam. They were treating Adam very well.
"Put your hands up now." The lady in white said.
"Okay." Adam replied and did as he was told.
The woman then put Adam in clothes. After looking like a garbage pile for days due to his very dirty woolen pants, looking at him in clean clothing was very refreshing. After Adam was fully dressed, he ran around the room like a child should.
"Thank you, Auntie!" Adam said. He did not know but the lady's heart cracked upon hearing that.
After a few minutes. Everyone came out of the dressing rooms and dropped their clothes in a conveniently placed hamper. That also includes the goat and sheep-dragon shirt.
Adam pulled on Tim's leg as he saw his goat shirt getting dumped, he had a sad look on his face. Tim understood what Adam was worried about and then talked to one of the ladies in white.
"Can you separate those shirts with the silly designs? Adam is attached to them, you see." Tim informed her.
"That will be done sir. Now please, head towards the elevator." She said in a practiced manner as she pointed towards another set of doors.
Everyone followed through her directives. They waited for the elevator to open and stood in place awkwardly.
"Hmmm. What are we waiting for?" Brian asked.
"The Elevator!" Adam answered with his usual child voice.
"The Elevator?" Brian asked again. He didn't understand what that word meant.
"You know. It's a door you come in to, once you are inside, you wait for the magic to happen. You can feel the magic too! The room rumbles and once you hear the bell, Tada! You come out in a different place!". Adam explained in one breath.
"Interesting. There was magic in this world?" Brian's curiosity peaked.
Ting!
The bell rang and soon the elevator doors opened. Once the doors opened, they all went inside. Brian was keenly observing his surroundings in this very small room. He didn't feel any magic at all.
"Going. Down." A mechanical voice said from the speaker.
Then the elevator rumbled. This rumbling alarmed Brian but he now realized what Adam was talking about. This was the magic he described.
'I don't see why this will work at all!' Brian screamed to himself.
But soon enough -
Ting!
The doors opened once more and what filled Brian's vision was a vastly different room. It was much bigger and much brighter than the room they were in earlier.
"What in oblivion?" He was shocked. He didn't understand how the magic worked at all.
"See?! I told you!" Adam excitedly shook Brian.
They got off the elevator and the door closed behind them. This also fascinated Brian.
'Automatically moving carriages, space connecting doors, and the doors themselves are also autonomous?' He was baffled but intrigued at the technology.
"This place is very magical." These words escaped his mouth.
"Yea." Everyone had the same thought.
They were surviving for days in a wasteland of a city. And much more, they didn't see bright light inside the tunnel. All their light came from their campfire and a flashlight that Tim carried around for aiming.
An old man walked towards them. He was wearing a white suit and looked very gentle.
"Well, you finally made it. Tim." The old man said.
"Dad. Hmm. I guess I'm home now?" Tim said as he spread both of his arms.
The old man also spread his arms and then walked towards Tim. They both hugged each other and pat each other's back. They released each other after a while.
"How was surviving in the remains of the country, Son?" The old man, who presumably was Tim's father, said.
"It was hell. No one is in charge up there. People are very scary when they're desperate." Tim replied with a huge grin.
Everyone else were confused, except for Adam and Ivan's wife. They thought that The Vault was undergoing an internal problem and needed help as soon as possible. However, the reality of the situation didn't seem like it at all.
"Excuse me, Papa Johnny? I thought The Vault was encountering some problems?" Jenny said to the old man who was named Johnny.
"Oh. You mean that radio broadcast?" Johnny recalled something as he said.
"Oh yea. We set that up so that there wouldn't be too many coming in here. We can't have more than two thousand people in this facility after all."
His logic made sense. Only the people who had good intentions would go out of their way to help out a settlement in dire straights. It was a ruse to weed out the people only looking to leech off of a community and attracted people with a heart for helping.
"Anyways. Welcome to The Vault." Johnny said with a wide smile and a welcoming body language.
The party made it to safety. And now it is time for Adam grow up in safety as the world burns in the background.
Status de energia semanal
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Poder