"The Day The World Ended"

October 23, 2077

•••••••••

It didn't feel like the end of the world. In fact, it felt like any other day.

I was sitting at the breakfast table eating Sugar Bombs, when the phone rang.

"Violet, honey, could you get that?" I heard my mom shout from the bathroom, as she and dad bickered.

"Roger that!" I chirped, moving around Codsworth to get the phone. "Brooks residence, Violet speaking!"

"Hey, Vi, it's Grace! Are we carpooling to school today or are you driving?" The bubbly redhead asked, the sound of her younger brothers fighting echoing through the phone.

"I can pick you up, I'll be there in about thirty minutes." I responded, before the doorbell rang. "I'll call you back, Gracie, someone is at the door."

"Alright, bye Vi!"

After hanging up the phone, I peered through the window to see who was at the door. A large blue Vault-Tech truck was parked outside.

Opening the door, I saw a cheerful looking man in a beige fedora grinning back at me.

"Good morning, young lady! Are your parents home by any chance?" He asked, peering around me in an attempt to catch sight of my parents.

"Good morning, sir." I greeted politely, before answering. "One moment, please."

He nodded patiently and I took that opportunity to shut the door. I made my way to the nursery, where my parents were soothing Shaun.

"Um, someone from Vault-Tech is at the door and is asking for one of you." I informed, as my mother wound up my little brother's mobile.

"Again? I thought they would have given up by now." Dad muttered with a furrowed brow.

"I thought so too, but it doesn't seem like he's going to leave any time soon and I have to get to school soon so..." I explained, giving a slight shrug.

"Well, let's go see what he wants." Mom said, patting Shaun's head lightly, before heading out of the room. Dad quickly followed her lead, leaving me alone in the nursery.

I could vaguely hear their conversation, but decided that I didn't have time to eavesdrop and went to finish getting ready for school.

"Sir! Ma'am! You should come and see this!" I heard Codsworth shout from the living room. He sounded worried so I joined them in front of the television.

"Followed by.... Yes, followed by... flashes, blinding flashes." The news reporter stammered, as we watched on in worry. "Sounds of explosions. We're trying to get confirmation."

"What?" My mom asked in bewilderment.

"We seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations. We do have coming in.. confirmed reports, I repeat confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania..... my god." The television cut off after that.

Head reeling and my heart racing, I looked to my parents. "What do we do?"

"We... we need to get to the vault! Now!" Dad shakily stated,  rushing me and mom out the door.

"I've got Shaun! Let's go!" Mom said, as she ran out of the house and onto the street.

From above us a helicopter flew, a voice echoing from its speakers. "RESIDENTS OF SANCTUARY HILLS IF YOU ARE REGISTERED EVACUATE TO VAULT 111 IMMEDIATELY!!"

As we sprinted down the street, I followed where the military personnel directed us and followed the frantic crowd to the vault entrance.

A man with a clipboard stopped us, and Mom was quick to speak. "We need to get in we're on the list!"

"Infant, teenage female, adult male, adult female. Okay, go ahead." He waved us through quickly.

"Thank you!" I called back as we rushed forward.

Mom and dad talked to the Vault-Tech guard that was leading us to the vault, but I wasn't paying attention to anything else but the current worst case scenario that was enfolding.

"STEP ON THE PLATFORM! IN THE CENTER!" Another Vault-Tech guard instructed us, we quickly did as we were told.

"Almost there, we're gonna be okay." Dad assured us as the platform began to lower. "I love you. All of you."

"We love you too." Mom nodded, trying to stay calm.

"Stay close, kiddo." Dad said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I simply nodded, too nervous to respond verbally.

Suddenly, a loud bang erupted in the distance and a large mushroom cloud shook the ground. As the platform quickly dropped, a wave of dust rapidly spread towards us. Dad attempted to cover mom, Shaun, and I from the blast, as it rolled over where we once stood.

As the platform stopped at what seemed to be a loading dock, mom muttered in relief. "We did it, we made it. We're okay."

"Everyone please step off the elevator and proceed up the stairs in an orderly fashion. No need to worry, folks! We'll get everyone situated in your new home. Vault 111: A New Future, Underground." The guard at the base of the stairs welcomed.

"Everything okay?" Dad asked mom as she hesitated to leave the elevator.

"It's going to be okay, right?" She asked, slowly walking with us towards the stairs.

Dad didn't answer.

As we all made our way up the stairs, a Vault-Tech employee gestured to the table on the right, where a woman was handing out jumpsuits. "Just step over to the table."

The four of us got in line by the table, when it was my turn, the woman gave me a kind smile and said. "You'll need your vault suit before we can take you further. Take a vault suit then head down the hall."

"Thank you." I muttered, before joining Mom and Shaun off to the side as we waited for Dad.

"Uh, thank you. Um, what now?"

"Just follow the doctor here, he'll show you where to go!" She stated cheerfully, nodding towards the man in the lab coat.

"Alright, you four, follow me." He addressed us, before heading down the hallway. "You're going to love it here! This is one of our most advanced facilities! Not that the others aren't great, mind you!"

"How long do you think we'll be down here?" I asked him nervously.

"Oh, we'll be going over all that during orientation, just a few medical items we have to get through first." He answered, leading us towards some large pods. "Just step in here and put your vault suit on."

After pulling on the yellow and blue jumpsuit, I cautiously stepped up and sat in the pod. As the door of the container shut, I could see my mom and brother in the pod across from me, dad's was next to them.

"The pod will decontaminate and depressurize you, before we head deeper into vault. Just relax." The doctor told me, noticing my very nervous expression.

"Roger that." I muttered, taking a deep breath to try and calm down.

"OCCUPANT VITALS NORMAL. PROCEDURE COMPLETE IN 5...4...3...2..." as the automated voice spoke the pod started to get really cold and ice crystals started forming on the viewing window of the pod. I passed out before I got the opportunity to panic for a third time.