Andrew Moore

That sounded like a bigger stretch than angels for some reason, but then again, could he truly argue with that? He saw the records telling him about the fatal failure of the capsules, and the hundreds of pods around him were proof no one was alive but him. And yet, he couldn’t believe it. A look at Lee’s face told him it was no joke, but that didn’t stop the snort from escaping his lips.

Figured. Of all the people in that vault, our of women that were mothers and their children, out of veterans that actually did good for the world and people that only wanted to live long enough to see the beauty of another dawn, he had to be the immortal one. Yes, he had begged for a chance to right his wrong doings, but this felt a little overkill.

“I already scouted the area!“ He called after her, following instead of trying to deter her. “There’s not much left, I’m afraid. There’s some fresh clothes if you wanna get out of those. A couple of Nuka Colas on a fridge if you feel adventurous enough to try two hundred years old soda, tho I have a feeling they might be a little flat.“

He let her wander a few steps ahead of him, telling her whatever she could find in the different rooms, and listing the supplies he had gathered from each. Then, he stood in front of the only open pod, the one that had contained him and a wave of something crashed over him. Guilt or anger, it didn’t matter as he slammed it shut.

He ripped off the dog tags from around his neck, the only thing left from his time as a lap dog on the military, the title mocking him, but not for long. Billions had paid for his service, and if he could believe Lee in any way or form, he would use his time to do something, even if he wasn’t sure what that meant yet.

He tossed the dog tags as far as he was able to, and they clattered away down a hall. When they made it to the room with an array of clothes, Andrew lingered and took off the jumpsuit. He had already grabbed some clothes before, but his need to be out of there pushed him to stay on the jumpsuit until he made it out. At least that was the plan.

There was no sign of shame on him as his body came into view. He had showered and changed in front of others countless times before, and in reality, the end of the world left no room for modesty.

“So, what are we exactly? I got the immortal part, mind you. Or as much as you can get it. But I mean, how does it work? We got superpowers or something? Cuz let me tell you, being able to fly would be great right now.“

“Couldn’t he be anywhere else that is not the desert?”

Kicking at a rock, she looked up directly at the burning orb of evil merrily glaring down at her from the sky. Then, she looked around to find the same scenery she had to look at for the last few days; nothing. Some shrubs here and there, some cacti spread about and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt as far as the eye could see.

“Literally anywhere else.”

With a heavy sigh, she pulled the sunglasses down to the bridge of her nose and started walking again. Out of habit, she shook the bag hanging off her shoulder. The hydration pack was still mostly full, it should hold up until she finally reached her destination.

She would’ve been there already, had she not stumbled across another vault the day before. It was devoid of any life, and the smell of decay was strong enough that she didn’t even stay long enough to grab more than water. It wasn’t hopeless, though, as the body count didn’t match with the open pods. Some people had made it out, and she hoped they had made it somewhere safe. Although being in the dessert didn’t leave much room for realistic expectations.

It took her half a day to finally spot the tell-tale signs of a vault nearby, and just as she was planning her approach to infiltrating the bunker, the doors opened with a loud roar. Out came strolling a single man, and she immediately knew who he was.

Unexpected, just as the gun pointed at her face was. Lee pushed her sunglasses down and gave the man an unimpressed look and a two finger salute.

“Distorted faces and ghostly voices? Yup, welcome back to the world of the living; sort of. I’m Lee. Now, would you mind putting that thing away? I was hoping to get some rest while you woke up, but since we’re past that point, well… I still want to rest, preferably inside because I’m sure you’re about to bombard me with questions.”

Yes, Andrew had so many questions, but his mind was running far too fast to focus on only one. Even words escaped him after the initial assessment of his new companion. Still, he learned to trust no one as part of his military career. And perhaps that was the most painful lesson he learned before entering the vault.

But Lee wasn’t an apparent threat, not year and least. And she was the only person in the middle of the desert. The only person that could offer him any kind of information beyond what he learned by exploring the vault. So, he lowered the gun; aiming to the ground instead of holstering the weapon. Who knew if they’d be in danger at any moment?

With a nod and his mental process only taking a second or two, he followed her back inside.

The silence was overwhelming without the warning blaring all around, it made him uneasy, but he guided Lee through hallways and rooms filled with capsules. They were closed again, and he could only hope the people within were in a better resting place than their bodies. He prayed they found a better life on the other side.

Once they found a room with a couple of beds and an a couch that had seen better days, Andrew had a moment to collect himself once again. The two hundred years spent on that capsule seemed to catch up to him in a second. Two hundred years, that’s what a terminal told him, but he found it difficult to wrap his mind around that number.

Lee’s words swirled on his mind again, and he struggled to connect the dots before he finally zeroed on a question. Hesitant eyes finally looked up at the woman.

It had been silent for so long. Darkness became one with the silence and the cold. It turned into a void, endless and unbreakable. And then, somehow, it swirled deeper until there was absolutely nothing left.

But there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Instead there was a burst of color; the memory of a morphed reality, a glimpse of a life that could not longer be. There were glimpses; images flashing with vibrant intensity that bit by bit turned the emptiness into something almost real.

Three different places, five different faces and one city marked by orange gold; San Francisco.

Blue eyes snapped open, and he came back to life with an unbearable need to breathe.

He gasped instead while trying to wrap his mind around the edges of reality for whatever that meant.

The light was bright, so bright that he couldn't see. There was noise too; loud and blaring like a drill directly into his skull. His instinct drove him to push against the metal door in search for freedom. And on his second attempt the capsule finally gave and he fell ungracefully to the floor.

Overwhelmed senses didn't override the instincts tunned through a Military life and he assessed his surroundings before taking a moment to compose himself.

"Warning, life support system in critical state. Emergency measure program requires authorization. Warning, life support syst-"

Sprung to action by the blaring alarm, Sargent Moore moved through the vault with diligence. Capsule after capsule opened. Room after room was scouted to find survivors of a man made tragedy. They were victims of human greed, and whatever hope he tried to offer had been ripped away with another cruel twist of destiny.

No survivors but him and a duffel bag filled with as many supplies as he could find scattered through the vault; a couple of guns already loaded and holstered. And with a last glance behind to those he couldn't save, he made his way back to the surface.

Even in the middle of the desert, the devastation was clear. The sun almost burned trough his skin as he tried to remember how that very same world looked like as he went into the vault.

The first sign of movement from behind, and he turned with gun raised and pointing to the head. But his eyes found a ghost, or rather the shadow of a memory.

"You... you're one of them."

Living in poverty was a struggle, but Drew had a sharp mind and leader qualities that made him carve his way into Military. He decided to take on that path to help her father and his little sister; Barbara. Sending most of his paychecks back home, he would secure Barbara had a better life and a brighter future.

His leadership skills drove him to the Special Forces were he rose among his peers exceptionally fast. Earning him honors and medals until he became a deserter. As an Special Forces Intelligence Sargent, his last mission was to steal enemy atomic weapons that would soon be planted across the homeland as a drastic measure to start another war.

Unwilling to cause harm to the people he had sworn to protect, he left. However, the knowledge about the mission was enough for an attempt at his life, and the plane he hijacked was shot down. Injured but still alive, he started his way home while warning and helping as many people as possible on his way.

The start of the war hit before he could return to his father or sister.