"Wake up! Come on, wake up! Come on, you've got to wake up!" Amata yelled, shaking Reiri like the purple-hair'd girl was dead. Reiri gazed at her friend with sleepy eyes, and yawned.
"Huh? What's wrong, Amata?" she asked while stretching. She saw the horrified look on her friend's face, then looked at her seriously. "Amata?"
"You've got to get out of here! Your dad is gone and my father's men are looking for you!" Amata said, urgently. It was almost funny how she knew what was happening at every moment with her father, but then again, who wouldn't if they were the Overseer's kid.
"What do you mean, my Dad is 'gone'?" Rei asked unbelievably. Her father had always told her that the Overseer would protect them, and that they should stay in the vault no matter what. What exactly would drive her father to leave the vault?
"He's left the Vault! I don't know how, but he's gone, and my father... he's kind of gone crazy." Amata replied.
"So, Mr. Paranoid has finally gone over the edge?" Rei said, trying to make her friend smile once again. It didn't work.
"Goddamn it! Stop making jokes and listen to me! Jonas is dead! Do you understand what I'm saying to you? My father ordered the guards to do it!" The brown-hair'd girl seemed to grow hot with anger, but then sighed. "And now they're coming here to do the same thing to you! This is not a joke! You need to get out of here!"442Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsPzAE2iJZ
"Okay, okay. I'm going to escape the Vault, and you're going to help me," Rei said, smiling up at Amata. She then got up off of her bed, which she had been sitting on up until that point.
"That's exactly what I had in mind." Amata said, smirking. "Listen, there's a secret tunnel that leads directly from my father's office to the exit. You'll have to hack the computer in his office to open it." As she continued, she handed Reiri some hairpins. "Use these to get into his office. That's how I always get in."442Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFJ0YadkUF
Reiri put her hand to her chin as she listened carefully to the plan. One thing stood out to her though. "What makes you think this tunnel won't be guarded? It could be a trap..." she pointed out.
"We don't have time for this! Trust me, security doesn't know about the tunnel. Just my father -- and me." Amata assured her.
Reiri shook her head and sighed with a smile. "Alright, let's go."
"Maybe this pistol I stole from my father will make you feel better. Go ahead, take it, and then let's get out of here." she continued.
Reiri took the pistol, and nodded. "Thanks, Amata. I'll only use it as a last resort, I promise."
Amata smiled as she handed the pistol over to Reiri as well as 36 rounds for it. "Okay, I'll try to meet you at the exit. Watch out for security," she said as she ran off. She turned back when she reached the door, and smiled. "Good luck!" she said, then ran off.
Reiri sighed and glanced at the table across the room. She put the pistol Amata gave her in her back pocket, and grabbed her BB Gun and BB's, as well as her baseball bat and stempaks. She slung her BB Gun across her shoulder, and held the bat with both hands, running out of her room and toward administration.
Just outside of her room, Butch yelled to catch her attention. "Reiri! Reiri!" he yelled. When she stopped, he explained what was going on. "You gotta help me! My mom's trapped in there with the Radroaches!"
Rei couldn't help her smart-ass mouth. "Butch... asking me for help. If only you knew what 'irony' meant..." she laughed.
He looked at her like she was stupid. "Yeah, I'm asking you. So what." he said, crossing his arms. He then shook his neatly combed head, and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for the way I've always treated you. You know I never meant any of it, right? But it's my mom. You can't leave her in there with the Radroaches."
"Actually, I can. Watch me," Rei said as she started to run off. Butch held onto her arm.
"No please! You have to save her!" he said, almost crying.
Reiri pulled her arm away and looked at Butch. "You be the hero, you can do it, mister tough guy." she said with a smirk.
"You know what... you're right! They aren't anything I can't handle. Tunnel Snakes rule!" he said, running off to save his mother.
Reiri shook her head, and ran off. She ran past Officer Gomez, who seemed to want to talk to her, but she had wasted too much time with Butch and Amata to talk to him too. When she entered the Atrium, she found Tom and Mary. Tom said something about not letting anyone stop them, and Mary screamed for Tom, but it was too late. Tom had gotten shot by the Overseer's goons. She ran after him before Rei could stop her, and got herself shot down as well. With tears welling up in her eyes, Rei ran down the same hall, holding up the bat as protection, and luckily, didn't get hit until she smacked one of the guard over the head to knock him out. The other guard shot her in the left side, and as she spun and hit him in the head, he shot her a second time in the left arm. She cried out in pain, but shook her head, pulled out a couple stempaks, and used them. She then ran up the stairs and towards the admin offices.
On her way to the Overseer's office, Reiri heard Amata explaining to her father that she didn't know anything about this, or where Rei was. She pressed her ear to the door and listened.
"Be reasonable, Amata. Officer Mack may enjoy this, but I don't. Just tell us where to find your friend, so we can talk to her." Amata's father pressed. Reiri knew they must have been beating her friend. Just then, Security Chief Hannon appeared. Rei started to try to beat him with her bat, but he was too much for her. She reached behind, grabbed Amata's father's pistol, and took two quick shots as Chief Hannon tackled her. One landed in his chest, the other in his head, killing him. She pushed him off of her, then ran into the room where the Overseer and Officer Mack were "interrogating" Amata. Putting the pistol back in her butt pocket, Reiri swung her bat and knocked out Mack and the Overseer. She smiled at Amata, then dissapeared before her friend could say anything.
When she reached Jonas' body, she stopped and searched him, finding a stempak, and a note from her father. She took both, then went on to the Overseer's office, where she easily picked the lock. She went straight to the computer, hacking it decently easily, and opening the secret tunnel. She turned around as the Overseer's desk started moving; up and off the ground, as the floor pannel in front of it moved away from the now strung up desk, revealing a stairway leading under the floor. Amata was right... she thought, then hastily ran into the tunnel, and through the two doors. She quickly found herself at the vault doorway, and sighing. She flipped the switch, and the door started loudly sliding open as alarms went off. Amata ran through the same doorway, seeming to have followed Rei. Good, at least she was safe.
"Oh my God... you actually opened it..." she gasped. She then shook her head. "Thank you for saving me back there." she said.
"Come with me, Amata. We can protect each other out there." Rei said with a smile.
Amata shook her head. "My place is here, no go before they catch you!"
Reiri nodded, hugged her friend, then ran out the vault, and through the wooden door, into the blinding sunlight, to see a wasteland of destruction before her. In the distance, she could make out Washington D.C. Surely that was where her father went. Right?
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