Part of a fic I'm writing for my creative writing class. It's sorta almost kind of close to almost being done, but let me know what I can change!
War. War never changes.
It was 2052 when this all started. The European Union reacted to the rising oil and fossil fuel prices by attacking the area. Then a terrorist cell set off a miniaturized nuclear device in the bustling Israeli city of Tel Aviv, and it all went to hell in a handbasket. Later that year the Resource Wars broke out over the remaining fossil fuels, culminating in the United Nations disbanding due to many countries withdrawing from it. In 2066, the Chinese invaded Alaska in order to get their last remaining oil reserves. America responded by annexing Canada to ensure Canadian support in their efforts. In 2077, America counterattacked the Chinese mainland, Liberating Anchorage, and ultimately causing the so-called “Peoples liberation army” to retreat from Alaska entirely, ending the Resource wars, but causing the Great War.
No one is sure who set off the first device. The nuclear exchange lasted a mere two hours, but completely reshaped the world as we knew it then. Entire mountain ranges were created and destroyed as the ground buckled from sheer atomic power. Many rivers and lakes were contaminated by nuclear fallout from the relatively low-yield nuclear weapons, and after the dust settled the entire planet lapsed into one unified season. A harsh, nuclear desert summer.
Many American people thought the Air raid sirens were just another drill and did not heed the warning. Those who survived did so in Vaults, huge underground complexes designed by a company called Vault-Tec. Some civilians took shelter in underground subway tunnels, sewers, or in the case of one family, the National Guard Depot. Some people exposed to enough radiation became Ghouls, recipients of intensive, elongated radiation sickness which decayed their skin, as well as their ligaments. In turn, small communities of ghouls formed across America, and eventually larger groups began to form.
A week after the initial blasts, rain began to fall, but this rain was not life-water, for it was black and tainted with soot and nuclear fallout. It marked the final fallout that was the permanent destruction of the great war, killing almost all species that survived the initial blasts, and exterminating 90% of all plant life on earth. Anything that lived beyond the deadly rain was greeted by a scorched and ruined earth.
After 200 years, the vaults containing people all opened, and they were greeted by a barren, deadly wasteland, with nothing to offer in the forms of shelter and food. However, there was one vault that stayed closed, Vault 101. It was here we were born, and here we will die. Because in vault 101, no one ever enters, and no one ever leaves.
A bright flash of light, and the crying of a baby boy welcomes his ears into the world. he hears some garbled sounds coming from the direction of a big man in a white lab coat, and the big man removes a silver sign-looking thing, with an image of a humanoid face on it, from his pocket and shows it to your mother. The big man makes more garbled noises, and he picked up a small humanoid shape from near your mother, and you hear the crying of another baby, this time of a girl. The big man says more gibberish sounds, then rolls him on to his side. The bright lights blind him temporarily.
“Kalie, give it back!” Josh shouted, chasing his sister around the mess hall “It’s my birthday, stop it!” He ran over to his dad and complained about his sister taking his copy of Grognak the Barbarian.
“Kalie, stop bothering your brother. It’s your birthday as well and you’ll get your gift soon enough,” Their dad said.
Kalie reluctantly walked over to Josh, Grognak in hand, and handed it back to her brother, a little more forcefully than was probably necessary. “Here,” She pouted at him.
“That’s better,” Said their dad. “Now who wants some cake?”
“We do!” They shouted in unison.
“Wake up,” the voice penetrated Josh’s groggy mind. “It’s time for the G.O.A.T. test.”
Josh opened his eyes, blinking away the early morning grog that is ever so present when one first wakes up. He slowly sits up in the bed and looks in to the staring eyes of his father.
“Do I have to, dad?” Josh asks.
“You know that all 16 year olds have to take the G.O.A.T. test. It’s not that bad, I took it, my father took it, and so has everyone else in the vault. Just get it over with,” He responds.
Josh flipped his legs off the side and stood up.
“Attaboy. Now go wake up your sister and you guys can go together.”
After waking up his sister, they went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast, then they left the house and made their way to the mess hall where the test was being held. Edwin Botch, an average height African-American man awaited them in the classroom.
“Let’s go everyone, the sooner you’re all sitting the sooner we can begin, and therefore the sooner we can be done. Come on everyone,” He said authoritatively.
Soon everyone had arrived, and the test began. Josh started to read the short test, only 10 questions, and quickly got to work. His future depended on it.
Her internal dilemma was really starting to get the better of her by the time the first person stood up to turn in their test. She saw the student speaking in hushed tones to Mr. Botch about something concerning his result. Kalie was only on question 3. She knew that there were technically no wrong answers, but who wants to end up as a Waste Management Specialist when you could be something like a Vault Loyalty Inspector? She circled a letter. 6 more to go.
“What if I get stuck as a fry cook?” She thought to herself. She circled another letter. 5 more. Another student turned in their test. She circled again. 4 left. She could see herself as a tattoo artist. Circle. 3 to go. She really hoped that she wouldn’t be chose to be a Clinical Lab Rat, possibly even more than she hoped she didn’t get Waste Manager Specialist. Another test to Mr. Botch. Circle. 2 and then she’s done. Circle. Last question. A final circle and it’s done. She was the last person to have finished it, but it doesn’t matter. She’s done. Her life in the Vault will be decided in the next 30 seconds as Mr. Botch reads over her test.
“Apparently you're management material. You're going to be trained as a Shift Supervisor. Could I be talking to the next Overseer? Stranger things have happened,” He says, handing her a card that said “Shift Supervisor” on it.
“At least it’s better than Waste Manager,” She replied, and started walking back to her living quarters with her brother.
Poll
