"Cryopod systems failing in auxiliary sectors B through D. Explosions detected in auxiliary sectors A and C. Vault residents, please relocate to sector E and prepare for evacuation."
Carter felt like vomiting as the cold, dry, sterilized air filled his lungs. Frost covered the cryopod's viewing glass so he couldn't see outside. He wondered what the hell had happened, the last thing he remembered was being led to the cryobay just a few minutes before with the other security staff. They were support, in case something happened to the Vault's main security, the robots ACME provided to help resettle if the bombs dropped. A feeling of dread came over Carter. Had the bombs dropped? Was that why the cryopods were failing and the auxiliary sector's AI detected explosions? It didn't matter now he thought, his first worry had to be the residents' safety. Feeling below his waist, Carter found the emergency release switch and pulled, satisfied at the hiss of the cryopod attempting to regulate pressure before opening. As the hatch pulled up Carter fell to the ground, coughing. Looking around to get a bearing on his surroundings, he realized just how deep his trouble was. Sections of the roof were collapsed, crushing the cryopods on the opposite side. On his own side, fires had engulfed the other pods. He was the last surviving member of the security team.
Carter stood and steadied himself, readying to exit the room and get down to sector D to help the general populace. As he grabbed his 10mm sidearm and some ammo boxes on the shelf left of his pod he heard voices coming from down the hall in sector B, where the emergency government's cryopods were.
"Get on the ground!" a metallic voice said. What the hell was going on, Carter thought again. Heavy footsteps were coming down the hall, and Carter made a run for sector D.
"Stop right there!" the voice said. As Carter dove through the doorway of sector D he just narrowly avoided a shot of plasma, hitting the wall with the all too familiar sound of sizzling metal. Carter locked the door on his side, hoping to buy himself and the residents some time.
As he walked to the cryopod control panel Carter's heart skipped a beat. The pods were empty, all of them. Where were they he thought, looking around hoping to find them hiding from whoever had attacked the Vault. All of a sudden he heard the door open and a man suited in power armor walked through. He'd seen the suits before of course, everyone had, in Alaska and then in a military parade a few days before he was escorted to the Vault, but this armor was different. It was modified, with horns protruding from the top, a slender look, and a cape draped over the soldier's right shoulder. He looked more beast than man. In his hands was a plasma rifle, pointed straight at Carter.
"I said stop right there!" the soldier said.
"Who the fuck are you?" Carter yelled.
The soldier looked down at Carter's hands, "He's got a gun!" the soldier yelled, firing his rifle.
Carter had to dive to avoid this shot too, but this time some of the plasma splattered on his shoulder. Thank God for that combat armor he thought, running down the hall to sector E and, hopefully, to safety. As Carter entered E he scanned the room's signs for directions as quickly as he could, hearing the heavy footsteps chasing after him.
"There!" he yelled, finding the exit. Carter ran as fast as he could to the tunnel, not even turning to see the progress of the soldier. As soon as he was within reach he hit the evacuation button.
"Evacuation will proceed shortly, please wait here in an orderly fashion while staff confirms this order." the auxiliary sector AI said.
"No!" Carter screamed, as the soldier turned the corner and levelled his rifle. Carter fired a few shots from his pistol, striking the soldier in the helmet and dazing him for a moment. Not willing to waste the chance, he ran at the soldier and knocked him to the ground, an impossible feat if the heavily-armored soldier hadn't already been ready to fall. Carter looked down and saw a knife strapped to the man's belt, but so did he. Knocking Carter off, the soldier grabbed his knife and started waving it at Carter. He thought he was a dead man for sure, but felt something hit his foot as he dodged the soldier's motions. The plasma rifle! The soldier must've dropped it when he was down. As the soldier went to strike down with his knife again Carter sidestepped and picked up the rifle, bringing it up to the soldier's side and pulling the trigger.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!" the soldier screamed, falling and grabbing his side. Carter wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed before, but the soldier had a Vault-Tec ID card also attached to his belt. Carter grabbed it and ran for the evac console, swiping it and praying to any god that may exist.
"Thank you sir or madam. Please have a wonderful day and thank you for choosing Vault-Tec." the AI said.
Carter started for the door and started climbing the ladder, hoping the soldier hadn't recovered from his wound and ready to restart the chase. Before the outer gear-shaped door had even fully opened, Carter began pulling himself through and fell to the ground, both laughing and crying. After what seemed like a lifetime, Carter finally took a look around and saw Cheyenne's snowcapped mountains, but there was something else, something that bothered Carter. He could see the ruins of towns far in the distance, and dead land as far as he could tell. The bombs did drop, but not recently. His first thought was how long he was asleep, then where he could get help, but eventually he decided on one thing: he had to leave, and get as far as he could from the Vault. So he began, picking up his 10mm and plasma rifle and walking East, away from his Vault, Vault 0, and towards hopefully what would be a new life.
Oh boy, that's long. I guess you guys can't complain about this being too short, lol. This is the first fanfic I've shared with anyone, so I'd really appreciate any suggestions or criticisms for future installments. Also, is this WAY too long? I wanted to post all the Vault 0 stuff to get that out of the way, but I could pace things out better later. Thank you for reading.