Yellowjacket's Journal

2277/08/18 - Bodies, Isle 12

2010-01-11T02:43:00.000-08:00

The trip to Super-Duper Mart was pretty uneventful. I got into a short fight with a dog, but after a few whacks from my baseball bat, it decided to try and find a meal elsewhere. It was around three in the afternoon when I came across the place. Hard to miss, given how barren the rest of the area is. It wasn't until I walked around to the front of the building that I realized how far up shit creek I was.

The parking lot was empty except for a few old cars. Somebody had climbed up the old lamps and.. hung bodies from them. I can't begin to figure out who would, or why, but they did. They didn't look terribly fresh.. like the ones hanging from the front of Super-Duper Mart itself. Even after all the shit I'd gone through, it seems like the world has another little surprise waiting to show me. At least the doors were unlocked.

I found out why soon enough. The place was dark as hell; most of the big windows in front were boarded up or painted over. If I hadn't heard some of them talking, I might have not noticed until I was being prepared for hanging myself. The place was crawling with raiders, as Moira told me they were called much later. Okay, crawling is a bit of an exaggeration. There were a few wandering around.. one of which seemed to be on guard duty, pacing back and forth on planks set up across the top of the old shelves.

I slipped into the shadows as well as I could and pulled out my pistol. I wasn't about to start trouble of my own, but I didn't want to be caught unarmed if one of them saw me. Let me tell you.. making my way along the edge of the store was something I'd rather not repeat any time soon. Every time I heard those heavy footsteps on the planks above me, I thought I was a goner.

There was a little open office at the far end. The place was a mess, but it looked like they were at least trying to put it back together. Maybe when they got bored with all the nasty things Moira's told me raiders like to do. I hadn't had the balls to try and grab some food on my way across the place; most of it looked like old, dented cans that probably expired before I was born. There was a little squirrelled away in the office, though, and there weren't any raiders around to miss it until I was long gone. One thing I did find that looked like fun was a couple grenades.

Entering a back hallway, I crept through the collected garbage and debris until I found a second sort of area.. might have been some kind of pharmacy or something back before the war. Just around the corner I could see a couple raiders laying out on mattresses and one leaning on a wall smoking. It was kind of comical, in a dark way, to see a guy smoking through a hockey mask so calmly with bodies hanging from the ceiling and all.

Back in that first office, I decided to make a little diversion. Don't ask me why.. I can't even remember now while I'm writing this. My dad used to get so pissed when I'd do something like this.. just up and cut class or give Butch five across the jaw for calling Amata fat.. Anyway, I threw a grenade as far across the store as I could. It was dark enough that I don't think any of them saw it before it landed, and naturally exploded. When I made it back to the pharmacy, all three of them had left to see what the hell was going on.

I grabbed what I could; some ammo, both 10mm and decidedly not 10mm, a magazine, some detergant - I was grabbing anything I could find, figuring I'd sort it out later, once I was safe. It wouldn't have mattered what I grabbed if I got killed, right? I heard some of them coming back, so I slipped into a storage room that was empty. Well, mostly empty.. if you didn't count the big metal tube in the corner with the glowing light and the robot inside.

I had no idea how long it was until they decided to search in here, so I ran to the tube to try and pry it open. All the important-looking bits just led to a little computer console on a desk near it. Now, I've never been good at hacking computers, regardless of how simple those Vault-Tec people made it. The longer it took, the more desperate I got, just punching in strings of characters, some of which might not have been actual words. I must have gotten something right, because just before a worrysome sizzle ripped through the console, the big tube slid open.

Out trundled what announced itself as the Super-Duper Mart's maintenance 'bot. While trying to navigate what was left of the storage room, it knocked over a set of shelves, making enough noise to alert the raiders as to where I was. While I tried to hide myself between the curve of the robot's tube and the wall, the door was kicked open. No word of a lie, the maintenance robot asked the raider to see his employee ID.

The raider was probably as confused as I was; he even let the maintenance 'bot ask a second time. That's when the robot muttered something about the area being "restricted" and just about cut the guy in half with an arm-laser.

What happened next.. I'm not terribly sure of now that the adrenaline is starting to wear off. I remember waiting for the mech to leave the room and then made a break for it. At one point, the raider on guard duty saw me and was about to open fire before a line of red light cut both of his arms off near the elbow. I threw myself through the doors to the place and didn't stop running until I was back inside the gates of Megaton.

2277/08/18 - A City by the Bomb

2009-12-04T00:32:00.000-08:00

It was pretty early in the morning when I woke up. Rather, I was woken up. I heard "hey, you," said a few times before a tall, dark-skinned guy with a cowboy hat prodded me awake with the barrel of his rifle. Apparently his son had seen me curled up under the supports of some building and went to tell dad.

He said his name was Lucas Simms, and that he was the town's combined mayor and sheriff. Then he told me that if he understood me staying away from Moriarty's (?) but that I couldn't just sleep in the dirt, and pointed out the Megaton common house up on the edge of the pit the town seems to have been built around. He told me to stay out of trouble and was about to leave when I stopped him to ask about my dad.

Simms said he hadn't seen him, as he "had enough fires to put out around here." He told me to ask around if I wanted, but to try and steer clear of Moriarty's saloon. Apparently the place is bad news, and the owner is a liar and untrustworthy. I got some more directions from him before he went on his way, walking the town again. The place is a mess, but I was lucky there were signs to help. I decided to start asking around to see if anyone had seen dad come through.

Nobody seemed to have seen him, and soon I found myself in front of the Craterside Supply, run by a woman named Moira. I went inside to see what she had to offer; I figured I wouldn't be finding much more food out in the wasteland, though I honestly didn't like the idea of parting with anything I had thought to bring with me. A guy in dark armor off to one side kept giving me the evil eye as I looked the place over. That's when I saw it: a vault suit with armored plates grafted on. Not only that, it was made from a Vault 101 suit!

Moira saw me staring and came over to chat. She said it belonged to some woman that came from the vault years ago, but that she'd gone missing before Moira could finish the alterations she'd been paid to make. She didn't have any information about where dad went, but she suggested we make a little deal. She's working on some kind of Wasteland Survival Guide so that people have an easier time living in the Capital Wasteland. It didn't sound like that bad of an idea, to be honest.

Anyway, the deal was this: if I helped her work on it, she'd find ways to pay me for my time. She said it might be dangerous, but that she'd make it worth my while. The first thing she wanted was to know if old department stores still had anything worth salvaging. She gave me the coordinates for a place called Super-Duper Mart outside of town. She wanted me to try and find some food and medicine there and come back to show her. If I did this for her, she said I could have the vault suit I'd been looking at.

Moira was nice enough to give me an old backpack to help bring stuff back from Super-Duper Mart. I sold her my old BB gun for some more ammo for the 10mm Amata had given me, but asked her to try and keep it around so I could maybe buy it back, as it was special to me.

So, now you know how my morning went. Things seem to be going alright for now, though I don't know what to expect on this little "quest."

2277/08/17 - Hindsight is 20-20

2009-11-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's entry, I finally saw what was on the other side of that old wooden door. It was late afternoon by then, though what I'd just seen inside the vault felt like it had happened days ago. Mr. Brotch never really went into much detail about what happened during the Great War. I don't think the Overseer liked him talking about things that happened outside of 101. I wasn't really expecting the place to look like it did. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, to be honest.

I stood there, on some "scenic lookout" outside the tunnel, long enough that my legs started to feel stiff. That's when I realized that in my flight I should have tried to grab something to eat or drink. Here I was, locked out of the only safety I knew of, having not eaten in half a day. Seeing what was left of a town (what the old map system on my Pip-Boy called "Springvale," I later found out), I made my way toward it. The road was littered with burned-out cars. I found a refrigerator with some old cans of cram and tore into them like they were the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten.

That's when I started hearing this weird radio playing in the background. Sounded like a recording of somebody playing a flute. There was this round robot floating up and down the streets in town, playing music. I hid from it for a while before I realized it was totally ignoring me. By then it had switched to talking about somebody named John Henry Eden, who said he was the current President. The last I'd heard of America having a President was before the bombs fell.

It was getting dark by then, and I was starting to worry that my first night outside the Vault was going to be spent curled up in the corner of a blown-out house, hoping nothing attacked me in the night and trying to ignore the robot. That's when I saw the metal sign by what might have been a fuel station, a big rusty thing with "Megaton" spraypainted across it and an arrow leading up, away from town. I had no idea what this Megaton was, but it sounded like there might be actual people living out in the wasteland.

I followed this and a few more signs, which led me to a big, dark junkpile of a place with a funny glow from inside. I almost shot the Protectron outside when it welcomed me to the town, as I hadn't even noticed it on my approach. I have to be more careful about things like that. Not paying attention could probably get me killed quickly.

I'm writing this from inside its walls. The place was really quiet when I came in. People walking around, doing their business. Other than glancing at me every so often, nobody seemed to care that I was there. The place was kind of odd, all funny angles and buildings sticking out, on supports that didn't look like they enjoyed holding the weight. I found a nice quiet place to myself under a house near the gates. With any luck, I'll be asleep before someone finds me.

2277/08/17 - Continued

2009-11-22T04:05:00.000-08:00

Officer Gomez showed up next. When he saw me go for the gun Amata had given me, he held up his hands. He told me that he hadn't had a hand in Jonas' death, that by the time he'd arrived, it was too late. Andy roared out of the medical bay and painted a line of flame across some radroaches that had come up the hall. Before going to help, Mr. Gomez yelled that I should find a way to get out of the vault, and that he would pretend he hadn't seen me. I always liked him.. I hope he and his family will be allright.

Downstairs, Mary and Tom Holden were in the Atrium, talking about finding a way out of the vault themselves. Before they saw me, Tom ran toward the exit.. where he was gunned down by two security guards. Mary chased after him, and they got her, too.. I swear, I heard one of them chuckle about how easy it the two of them were to kill before I started firing. Their security helmets were probably designed to stop a swung weapon instead of bullets. The joker fell after I unloaded a few shots into his face. The other one took a bullet to the throat and went down slower, clawing at his collar; it was Paul Hannon's dad, the chief of security. All these people, dying because of my father leaving the vault. It sounds so silly when you think of it that way.

I started running, then. I'd killed two people, maybe three. I wanted to get out before anybody else died because of me or my dad. I saw Mr. Lewis, the maintenance guy, with a few dead radroaches around him. At least he'd gone down fighting. When Mr. Mack saw me, I swear I heard him banging on the window and calling for the guards that I was near. I kept running; I was almost out, but between me and the Overseer's office was the vault's security room. I got as low as I could and stated to creep by when I heard Amata's voice. Slow as I could, I peeked over the edge of the window.

There she was, cowering in a chair while the Wally's older brother, Steve was standing over her. Every so often, between the feverish promises that she didn't know where I was, he would hit her with his baton. Her father was there, too.. and he wasn't doing anything to stop it. He was the one asking the questions.. he was interrogating his own daughter. The sound of my opening the door was lost in Amata's scream of pain as Steve hit her again. He wasn't wearing his helmet, so it only took a single shot to the back of his head to stop him from hurting her any more. Amata screamed and ran for the door.

The Overseer tried to play it all calm and collected, like he hadn't done anything wrong. He looked plenty nervous as I pressed the barrel of the 10mm against his throat. He even claimed that everything he'd done was for the good of the vault, and told me that if I gave him the gun, everything would be fine. I shoved him into the big single cell at the back of Security and told him that if he ever touched Amata again, that I'd be back for him. I found her in her father's office, hiding down by the arm of the couch, hugging herself. She calmed down when she saw me, but not by much. Her eyes never left the pistol at my side that I'd just shot Steve Mack with.

Getting around his computer's security system was easy enough. I can't tell if using the name "Amata" as the choice for his password was out of some long-lost feeling for his own daughter or if he did it just to keep up appearances. The whole desk lifted on these tall metal pistons, revealing an old staircase through the kind of blast doors I only saw down in the Reactor level. Amata came downstairs just as I found the controls for the vault's main door. Spinning lights and a little horn did little to warn us about just how loud of a shriek came from pulling a massive steel cog back into the track it used to roll out of the way.

Amata was very quiet, then. I asked her to come with me, but she said that her place was here in the vault, and that she wanted to stay to fix everything her father had done. We hugged tightly, and then I left.

I remember seeing the skeletons just outside the great door with their signs. Begging to be let in, pleading for mercy to the old cameras that had totally ignored them. As I made my way toward the old wooden door, the stone tunnel filled with the same scream of metal-on-metal as the door to Vault 101 pushed tightly shut behind me, probably for the last time.

I don't know what I'm going to do next, but I didn't want to step foot outside without recording what had just happened. People died, both good and bad people, and all because of my father.. and me.

2277/08/17 - Life Forever Changed

2009-11-22T03:25:00.000-08:00

It looks like I've found my old journal again. I think, given the circumstances, I'll be making these entries a lot more often. As much as I like the idea of Amata sneaking into my room in the early morning, I was hoping it would never involve the news that my father had somehow left the Vault and that Jonas had been killed for possibly helping him escape. Let me tell you, that's the kind of information that wakes a person up very quickly.

Thankfully, she had come up with a plan, and one much better than the usual kind she has that ended up with security escorting me down to dad in the medical bay. She gave me her father's pistol and told me there was some kind of secret way from his office down to the vault's entrance, and that she'd meet me there as soon as she could. I grabbed what I could - including my Red Ryder and my old baseball bat - and headed out of the bedroom I had known for the last nineteen years for the last time.

Apparently, the Overseer had told vault security to find and detain me, because officer Kendall was already heading toward my place. Before he could get to me, a pack of radroaches came at him. From what the PA system was saying, the vault had somehow become infested with them since the night before. While his attention was on the roaches, I was able to take a swing at his helmet like I was hoping for a line-drive. All the strength seemed to just.. come out of him. He just fell over and didn't move. I killed the roaches so they wouldn't go after him, but.. I'm not sure if he's even alive or not any more.

The next person I met was Butch. I was ready for him to try something, but he looked more scared than I'd ever seen him. I took a certain satisfaction in that - he'd always been afraid of bugs, especially ones as big as a radroach - until I found out that some of them had gotten into his mom's apartment and that she was having trouble fending them off. No matter how much trouble he'd caused me over the years, I wouldn't wish a life without his mother on even him. We found her slumped in the corner of her room, roaches biting at the exposed parts of her arms.

Now, bugs don't really bother me, but seeing her like that got to me. Once the group of them were dead and bleeding on her carpet, Butch helped her to her feet. From here, it's almost as if nothing had happened to her. The first thing on her mind wasn't to thank either of us, it was to find another glass of vodka. Just business as usual returning to the DeLoria home. Butch was falling over himself thanking me.

He pulled this yellow leather jacket out of his closet. It had a big, angry cartoon wasp sewn into the back, kind of like the snake design on the back of his gang's stupid jacket. He claimed he'd been wanting to ask me to join, but that Wally and Paul would have thought he'd gone soft. I would have told him to keep it, but it did look pretty sweet, and yellow is my favorite color. He told me to keep going, and wished me luck on getting out and finding my dad.

I won't go into much detail, as the thought still makes me a little sick to my stomach. Suffice to say, when I passed the dining hall, I found a bunch of radroaches.. feeding on Mrs. Taylor, dead on the floor. They hadn't even known I was there when I started killing them. I didn't even know I had an anger like that inside me. I started kicking them, stomping on them, bringing my bat down in these big overhead swings. By the end, my arms were tired and there was green blood all over the floor.

2274/08/03 - I Hate School Sometimes...

2009-11-22T02:09:00.000-08:00

I couldn't get to sleep last night, because of the stupid G.O.A.T. test tomorrow. I've been dreading it since my birthday - which was a very subdued event this year. I think everyone was dreading when I turned sixteen because they knew the test was coming soon after. Even Amata was quiet during the party.

Anyway, because I couldn't sleep, I started trying to organize my Pip-Boy. I came across the old diary I started when I was ten.. it feels like I was recording it just days ago. I kind of miss it; being able to record my thoughts. Amata is an amazing friend, but it's hard to spend time with her without her father shooting me untrusting looks. I don't know what I did to piss him off, but it must have been a doozy.

Butch and his "Tunnel Snakes" were being jerks to Amata, again. Right outside the classroom, too. I was ready to pop Wally in the jaw when he offered to take her into the storage room and "show her a real tunnel snake." The only reason I didn't was because I knew dad would be royally pissed at me for getting into a fight again. It's still kind of funny seeing Butch worry about getting kicked in the goodies again every time he sees me, though.

I tried talking to dad about mom, again. Sometimes he sounds like he loves talking about her, but I know the memories hurt to bring up again. Maybe it's better if he doesn't have to remember her. He keeps telling me I look just like her, though. I've been trying to keep out of his hair, especially around my birthday. He's been spending more time than ever down in the lab with Jonas, though, so at least his mind is occupied.

After the test - which I tried to play sick to get out of, by the way: it's hard to play sick when your dad's the Vault doctor - I kept my ass in my seat so I could listen to Mr. Brotch telling the others what their G.O.A.T. said they were best qualified for. Christine was all sorts of upset when she heard she was best suited for a job in maintenance. Amata is supposed to go into a supervisor position (which I don't doubt her father had pushed for). I think Wally cheated, somehow; he turned in his test and didn't wait for the results, saying that he knew which job he was going to get. All the color drained from Butch's face when Mr. Brotch told him he was going to be a hairdresser, it was hilarious.

When I turned mine in, Mr. Brotch told me it looked like I was best suited for security. I have a feeling that anyone who shows as much interest in guns as I do ends up in security. I'm not sure I like the idea, though. Something about the security force makes me nervous.

I hope Freddy is going to be alright. He was still all hunched over his desk with a worried expression on his face when I left the classroom.

2268/07/13 - It's my Birthday!

2009-11-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

Today was my tenth birthday. I got some neat stuff from the people that came; well, from most of them. Butch and his stupid gang didn't bring anything, not that I expected them to. Paul was kind of nice, though, but Butch and Wally made fun of him for it. Dad told me that Amata got everything together for the party, too. I doubt her dad did much to help. I don't think he likes me, or my dad. I think I heard him telling Officer Kendall that he thinks I'm a brat.

Amata gave me a copy of Grognak the Barbarian of hers that I'd been practically drooling over every time I went to visit. It was funny to see her get all grossed out when I asked if she got me a date with Freddy. Stanley got me an awesome baseball cap. He's also the one who fixed this Pip-Boy up for me. It's alright, I guess.. kind of heavy, and I keep bumping it on stuff.

Andy tried using his saw-arm to cut the cake. As funny as it was, I was kind of looking forward to at least blowing out the candles. I know, it's such a little-kid thing to miss, but it's tradition or something. I was lucky that Old Lady Palmer had made me a sweet roll for my birthday. I saw Butch staring at it, so I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth at once, haha!

The intercom in the dining hall went off, and dad told me that he and Jonas had a surprise for me down in the reactor room. When I got there, Jonas tried pretending I wasn't supposed to be down there. My dad came in and showed me the best present I've ever gotten in my life - my own BB gun! Even better, he told me he got some of the parts from one of Butch's stupid switchblades. I got to shoot some targets they'd set up, and even killed a radroach that had gotten in somehow.

Best birthday EVER!