Chapter 1: The End of the World

The shrill beep of a digital alarm pierces the silence of the early morning. A well manicured hand reaches from the black. Fumbling to find the source of the noise, after a few failed attempts, bingo! With the snooze button hit, silence returns to the room, soon replaced by the shuffling of sheets. Its 6:15 AM, an early time for most to wake up on a Saturday. However Ash isn’t the most conventional girl out there. Even in the year 2077, her way of life isn’t considered to be normal. At the ripe age of 23, she has already managed to do what most American women would fail to ever even dream of. Ash is a well educated business-woman in the defense industry. Despite the male domination of defense, her unconventional outlook on materials science has allowed her and her team to engineer advanced armor and weaponry for use on new T-60 power armor sets. However, power armor isn’t on her mind this morning. Instead, today is going to be different, even for her. Today, Ash is going on a date, her first one ever in fact. Despite her excellently toned body and rather cute face, Ash has never been interested in dating until recently. A colleague from marketing really caught her eye during a company outing, and after a few drinks, a date had been planned for this morning at 8.

“Ah fuck” Ash groaned as she began to slide her body out of bed. Groggy from a good night’s rest, Ash stumbled to her feet and opened the door to the hall. As the door slid open, her trusty Mr. Handy rumbled to life and began his work. Ash needed a cup of coffee, breakfast, the newspaper, and her jogging clothes all laid out for her before she could finish showering. “Morning Gerald” Ash mumbled as she slid by her Mr. Handy in the hall, opening the bathroom door as she spoke.

“Good morning Ash” exclaimed Gerald, just in time for the door to be slid shut after he finished.

Getting to work, Ash started the shower, giving it time to warm up while she brushed her teeth. The strong mint flavor would hopefully leave her mouth before she had to drink her coffee. Finishing up with her teeth, she stepped straight into the shower, one of the benefits of sleeping nude was efficiency in the morning after all. The water was her ideal temperature, thanks in no small part to the small metal plates she installed on both the knob and the wall to stop the knob from rotating too far. Ash quickly began lathering her body, starting from her legs, efficiently moving up her body to her thighs, then her pelvis and perfectly wide hips, across her stomach and well kept abs, finally to her beautifully perky D-cup breasts. Skipping shampoo for the day since she had used it just yesterday, she quickly rinsed and conditioned her hair. Then she was done, turning off the water and grabbing her fluffy blue towel, she wrapped it around herself and walked out to the living room. The curtains were closed so she had no need to dress herself just yet. She sat down right as the yum brand scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast were being pulled from the oven. The coffee had already cooled to a drinkable temperature, so Ash quickly began to eat, while skimming today’s news off to the side. The headline “Can We Win This War?” Sticking out to her.

“God damn commies in the newsrooms these days” Ash scowled angrily. She thought to herself, “Surely the work we’re doing will shut these bastards up once it makes it overseas”. Ash soon tempered her own anger and focused on finishing her meal, she had a quick morning jog around the park ahead of her, so she could get the blood flowing, then she had to drive down into Lexington to meet her date. Ash dropped her towel and shuddered at the thought, even though the curtains were closed, she still felt a bit naughty every time she did it, wondering if anyone was peeking through the crack between any of the curtains. With the excitement not entirely passed, she slipped into her tight fitting jogging shorts and sport top. As she made her way towards the door, she opened the front curtains just in time to see the first glimpses of the sun on the horizon. Stepping out into the crisp October air, a wave of happiness swept over her, “Today is going to be great” she thought to herself.

Ash kept her pace light, she didn’t need to push herself, she just had to get the blood flowing to feel awake. The cold air flowed over her skin, teasing its way through all the micro hairs that she did a good job of keeping shaved. It tickled a little bit at first, but she got used to it quickly. Ash looked around as she jogged, her little neighborhood, comprising a mere dozen or so homes, was gorgeous, and all decorated for halloween. She could see most weren’t up quite yet, but they would be soon. The bliss of her current situation was suddenly replaced with fantasies of today’s upcoming date. As Ash jogged, she let her mind run wild with dreams of her future, she quickly drifted to less wholesome thoughts, wondering how good the sex might feel. Since Ash had never had interest in men in the past, she was also a virgin. She had indulged in her fair share of pornographic content though. The thought of being deflowered made her shudder and begin to even get a little wet ... Suddenly, an idea struck Ash. The vault up the road, Vault 111, was never bustling with activity. Ash had signed up for the vault program almost two months ago, and remembered how secluded the area was. “Maybe I can go up there and relieve some of this stress”, she thought to herself. Acting decisively, she turned off the sidewalk and onto a roughly cleared dirt trail leading to the vault. Jogging past a tiny stream, she found herself faced with a chain link fence gate. Whoever was last here wasn’t terribly good at their job, as the gate had been left unlocked, with the chain and padlock just dangling on the latch.

Pressing the gate open, Ash soon made her way up to the landing where the large cog shaped elevator that led deep underground was. Just beyond the elevator was a clearing that provided a view of her neighborhood. The statue of a soldier from the American Revolution and a sign reading “SANCTUARY” next to the bridge leading towards Concord was clearly visible on the horizon, and Ash thought she could make out the Red Rocket Truck Stop in the morning haze. Admiring the view for a quick second, Ash soon began to scan the area for a comfortable spot. She soon found her answer, a small area with thin grass right next to one of the mobile control booths for the Vault.