The Plan of a Master, Part Two

By Andrew Vittoria, AKA True Raven

Henson Reliche stalked down the hallways of Vault 8, his footsteps making echoes, towards the one place he could clearly think before he tangled with the Vault Council. Around him lights blinked and once in a while a Vault Citizen would try and say something to him or a member of the Vault Police would salute their leader. Reliche hardly noticed.

“Smart little bitch,” the Overseer thought as he stormed into the Vault Training Center. “I’ll show him some pain before this is through.” He went to a punching bag and cracked his knuckles before slamming his fist into the sandbag. It creaked and swayed for a second before he started some combinations that had the bag reeling and the chain it was on moaning as if it was about to snap.

“But how can I hurt him most?” he thought, letting his body work as his mind became free. “What can I possibly do to cause him more pain than he has ever felt in his life? His little shit assistant too.” Boyarsky will be hurt as well, must be hurt as well. Better to show these Vault Citizens he wouldn’t be as soft as his predecessor Overseer Daniel Geomson.

Now there was a soft man. Geomson had taught people that peace and love were the way to go. Like some post apocalyptic hippie, Geomson wanted peace and his citizens to feel good about themselves. The only thing Reliche liked about Geomson was that he was dead. The previous Overseer lasted for 6 years after taking over for his father, who had been Overseer from the time the Vault doors closed when the war started. His reign was short, apparently because Anti-Rad can make you very high if taken in large enough doses. And sterile as well, it seemed. All for the better in Reliche’s opinion, both Geomson’s were complete fools and opportunity came knocking for him shortly after the second Geomson’s death.

The scanners outside the Vault picked up the signal of a large insect that looked very much like a scorpion, if it wasn’t 30 times as large anyway. While various members of the Council were vying for the position of Overseer, Reliche came across that image and broadcast it on the Vault Network along with his self-nomination for Overseer. A few days later a couple Vault Council members backed him and his ideas for an impenetrable defense that would keep all Vault Citizens safe from outsiders. With the different factions arguing amongst themselves, he won a small victory by slight majority, and the title of Vault 8 Overseer. A small victory was still a victory and now he was in power. All the glorious power and nobody man enough to oppose him, except Richard Mereua.

In his 10 years as Head of Scientific Studies of Vault 8, Richard Mereua had done some things that other men in his field goggled at. Mereua had always been the one to discover something new and exciting. Ironically enough, he was the one who first discovered the scanners on the outside of the thick Vault walls. Also the first to calculate how long it would take before the radiation level would be safe enough to exit the Vault. He said 20 more years and it would all be safe enough to exit and live without a constant supply of Anti-Rad. He said it was even possible that people could be living on the surface now, but their condition would be less than healthy. Mereua was a smart man, a pity he had to be too radical. If he would only bend before Reliche…

The Overseer stopped at a sudden sting of pain. Looking down, his hands were swollen and one or two knuckles were bleeding. “Son of a Bitch,” he muttered. Thoughts of Mereua always made him angry enough to break something, but this was the first time he had taken the anger out on himself without realizing it. “And the last,” he swore aloud.

Boyarsky was another he had to concern himself with. Why did all the brilliant men have to think too much? If they would just submit themselves and their brainpower to Reliche, imagine all the things he could do to make Vault 8 the most powerful in whatever was left of the earth. There were more Vaults, he was certain of that. And he would make Vault 8 the superpower the United States once was. More. Vault 8 would be THE superpower of the world. And he would lead it. No, he would own it. All the power in the world at his command, in his control. The thought would have made him giggle had he been that type of man.

There would not be any giggling yet, however. Maybe in the future once he had disposed of Mereua and now Boyarsky. What if Boyarsky was the key? Or rather, not just Boyarsky, but any whom Mereua cared for. Because of his intelligence, Mereua had many that listened to him in the Vault but few close friends. What if hurting a friend was the only way to hurt Mereua? Now there was a good idea, and if nothing else, another who opposed him would be eliminated. No friend of Mereua’s could possibly be anything but trouble as far as Reliche was concerned.

Suddenly behind him, he heard a sound. A young couple had entered the Training Center and was staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. The love the two of them shared for one another was well known and either would do anything for the other. Something clicked for the Overseer and a small smirk of a smile came across his face. Maybe he would be giggling today after all… 

********** 

The Vault 8 Detentional Facilities were as clean as anywhere else in the Vault. So clean they shined actually. With it’s state of the art security systems, this area of the Vault was the safest place for a good, upstanding Vault Citizen. And the worst place for a criminal. Of course, there were very few criminals in Vault 8.

Any Vault was supposedly about as close as you could get to a utopia, although Boyarsky had only seen one Vault. Bad people were few and very far between. Maybe people realized that they had to work together to survive. Maybe they thought that they would never get away with crime. Maybe people were just not dumb enough to commit any real atrocities while in a place where you could never escape the law. If Overseer Reliche had done anything right during his reign, he had put the fear of breaking the law into people. Only problem with Reliche was that it was fear of breaking his laws, not the Vault Council’s laws. Boyarsky could see Mereua out of the corner of his eye, bleeding from a gash just below his ear that ran down his cheek about two inches. That bastard would pay, Mereua would see to that if nothing else ever in his life. Overseer Reliche would pay dearly.

“Mereua?” Boyarsky whispered, no telling what the guards could or could not hear. “Are you ok?”

The Head Scientist looked up from the ball he had curled himself into in the corner of the room. He had a black eye and was slightly bloody and swollen. Every now and again he would give a little twitch on his right side. The twitching was not from pain or from crying, as Boyarsky could clearly see. Mereua was pissed. More than that. Infuriated with a hint determination was a better way to describe it. Looking at his boss made him realize that nothing was ever going to be the same again, for the two of them, for Overseer Reliche or for any inside the Vault. Life was going to be very different, Boyarsky was sure of it.

Mereua took a small breath and said, “You know they will be coming back. Reliche worded it so they could do anything they wanted to us so long as we live.”

“I hadn’t thought of that Doctor.”

“I didn’t think you had. You’ve stayed very calm throughout this Sam. I’m proud of you but there will be much more to go. We face execution if the Vault Council denounces us as traitors. If Reliche allows us to live that long, that is.”

“Yes Rich, I understand but I can’t be frightened. I know that Lucy will be allowed to come here and see me. That is a law Reliche can’t break or someone will question his ideals. Once she finds out where we are she will come to visit us. I can’t let her see me scared.”

“I know little about love, friend, because I’ve never married but I do know this.” Mereua’s face took on an almost fatherly look. “If anyone can see you scared and still allow you to keep your dignity it will be your wife. You two love each other and will forever. So long as you are together you can fight on unafraid.”

“And I will.”

“That’s my friend.” Mereua was beaming, despite his mangled, bloody face. “Now let’s wait for our friends the guards to return, maybe this time they will beat me hard enough to actually hurt me.” Boyarsky couldn’t help roaring with laughter even if he was in a cell facing death. No fear yet or ever. Reliche will pay.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway and four of the Vault Police unlocked the door and entered.

“Boyarsky, you and Mereua can go,” one of them said behind a small metallic facemask, with a visor.

Looking cool and calm was difficult but Boyarsky looked at his friend and shrugged. “Would you like to leave now?”

The reaction from the guards was less than amused. They went in and grabbed Mereua and Boyarsky roughly, forcing them to their feet.

“You will leave now by the order of the Overseer!” The man’s mouth was showing under the dark yellow visor that hid his eyes. It was twisted into no less than a horrid sneer.

“Disobeying the Overseer is a crime punishable by up to four months in Vault Detentional Facilities,” called another in a loud and angrily monish tone.

“Damnit you self righteous bastards we’re moving!” a slightly perturbed Mereua said. “If you force us to fall or get injured we won’t be leaving any faster will we?”

At that they released them both. Head Chess with Mereua would never get you anywhere, even if all he had to do was point out some common-sense.

They walked with their guards to the door of the Detentional Facilities and were promptly shoved out. Mereua brushed himself off as if to rid himself of the feel of the guards. Boyarsky just looked at the door shut behind them in shocked awe. Some men would do anything to keep their pride, even if they hadn’t lost any.

“Well, I guess the Vault Council gave Reliche some Hell, huh?” a satisfied looking Mereua smirked. “Maybe that will give us some time to find out something else about him that we can use. He must have destroyed all our evidence from earlier but with a guy like him here will always be more.”

“Actually I’m going to go home for a while, Rich.” Boyarsky shook his head slightly. A ball of ice had just been lifted from his chest and he wanted to be home with his family. His wife and his parents. God, he loved them so much. “But I’ll be at work tomorrow. Let’s say a little early at around 6? We didn’t do too much today. Well, while we were incarcerated anyway.”

“Yes, yes I suppose that would be for the better wouldn’t it?” Mereua looked a little off balance. Sam Boyarsky never asked for any time off, but Sam Boyarsky had never been thrown in jail for supposed “treason” to an evil asshole Overseer either. “Tell you what, come in at the normal time and just take a shorter lunch. You’ll need some sleep after today’s…events. Will that be acceptable?” the small grin his boss usually wore was back again, and in full force. How could he say no when his friend grinned like that?

“Perfectly acceptable, my good doctor. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have someone at home who’s waiting for me.” The sudden ecstasy of seeing his family had just hit him. He was free and nobody could suppress that full enjoyment of life that had suddenly hit him and almost made him explode. Feeling as though he was walking on air, Boyarsky turned and went into the elevator that was just down the hallway.

He got off at Level 2, where his home was, and walked to his door, opened it and entered. The lights were off except for only a candle that was burning on the table next to the room he shared with Lucy. His wife liked little pre-technological fancies like that. She always caught all the wax in a dish and made a new candle by hand, so she could enjoy the little pleasantries of life over and over again. She only had a few candles, but she had two more burning in their room, giving off a scent that smelled almost as good as she did. They were the two candles she had burned on their wedding night the first time they made love. Wonderful memories from the women he loved beyond all reason.

As he entered the room they shared he saw her lying on their bed. The room was comfortable and homely. With the metallic chairs that were so prreviewent throughout the Vault and the dresser with a mirror that he and his wife dressed in front of together every day since they first married. There were few woodcarvings in the Vault but Boyarsky had traded anything he could to get as many as he could find. Another thing his wife loved. Strange that such a simple woman would agree to marry a man whose life was driven by the constant pushing of the technological limit. But she did and he thanked every celestial being he could think of before he went to sleep every night.

There was a picture of them on their wedding day next to the doorway. He stopped and looked at it for a second. The beauty of his wife always astounded him. She wasn’t small but not large either. She stood only to about his nose and was just a little heavier than slim, but not anywhere close to overweight. She had the most beautiful brown eyes any man had ever stared into and her light brown hair fell to just touching her delicate shoulders. The rest of her features he simply could not describe. No words would ever come close to matching the beauty of Lucy and even if he found some they probably wouldn’t ever be good enough. Not for Lucy, the woman he would love for all eternity.

She laid there silently in sleep apparently dreaming but not moving a muscle. Boyarsky always found it difficult to watch her sleep without holding her. That ecstasy of life was seemingly filling every nook and cranny of his body. He knew what it was he had to do.

A pang of regret hit him as he went to wake her and tell her of his day. He closed his eyes and kissed her soft cheek. Then jumped back so quickly he almost knocked over the table that was next to him.

She was cold, ice cold. Carefully he turned her over and gasped with tears filling his eyes and rage filling his body. A knife blade stuck out of the heart that had shown him more about life and love than any other he had ever known. He drew the blade out and blood, Lucy’s blood, covered his hands as well as the blade.

As he bent over to weep as any good husband would for their wife he heard a noise behind him. Jumping up he whirled just in time to feel a brass knuckled fist graze his cheek and strike the wall where his head had been a second earlier. Realizing that this was the person who had killed Lucy, he swung his fist as hard as his adrenaline and rage fueled body would allow. It hit the man squarely on the side of the head and he staggered backwards.

“For Lucy!” he screamed as he lunged towards the assassin with the blade she had been killed by. Three quick movements, one across the hamstring, one across the jugular and then through the heart ended the life of a man he wanted to kill over and over again. Boyarsky slumped to the ground, stunned by the events that had just unfolded, for what seemed like hours. Then he heard another person approach.

Pulling the knife from the chest of the wretched man whom had destroyed his young life he held it in front of him, a snarl on his face, ready to kill any whom dared to try what another had just failed to do. The sound came closer and he became more alert, on the balls of his feet shifting the blade from hand to hand. Someone turned on the light and…Richard Mereua entered the room.

“Good God Almighty! Sam? What the bloody hell happened?” concern was etched across his face and his voice was unsteady. “Lucy is she…? Sam I’m sorry.”

Forgetting about the knife, or the attempted murder, or foolish manly pride Sam Boyarsky collapsed into the chest of his closest friend sobbing as hard as he could. Sobbing not for himself, but for Lucy. The one love he had ever truly had, the one he loved more than he could ever love himself was now gone. How could he ever face tomorrow?

His friend comforted him as much as he could but the sobbing would not stop. He could scarcely breathe without choking on his own tears. He could feel a tightness in the other man’s chest as he cried into it. Could he be feeling pain also? Of course he was, he was the one who had encouraged Boyarsky to ask Lucy on that first date to the Vault Rec. Room and was ultimately the one who encouraged Boyarsky to ask Lucy to marry him. Mereua loved Lucy almost as much as Boyarsky did, only differently. Mereua and Lucy were close friends too. He was amazed that Mereua wasn’t bawling as well.

Without any warning Boyarsky felt a growl come from the other man’s chest. Looking up to see what was the matter, he found that the Overseer had graced their presence. Unconsciously pulling the knife from where he placed it behind his belt, Boyarsky snarled a quick and vicious, “What the fuck do you want?”

“Only to come and arrest two murderers,” was the quick and simple response.

That answer was much too quick and simple. The Overseer looked too proud of himself. What was going on here?

“Sorry Overseer Asswipe but the murderer is already dead. Maybe your Vault Police should start doing a better job.” Mereua was talking calmly but the red was already starting to form in his face.

“Maybe you didn’t look too closely at who it was you killed.” The Overseer pointed at the dead man who was slumped in the corner of the room, his blood pooling on the floor and staining the rug. The man was wearing the uniform of the Vault Police. “The two of you have just killed a law enforcement agent of Vault 8. Murder is absolutely forbidden here but you’ve done more than that haven’t you?”

“Listen Reliche, I don’t know what you’re talking about but if you don’t get your self-centered ass out of here I’ll be going to the Vault Council with a full report of all your recent activities.” After his threat Mereua suddenly grimaced, as if the most painful thought on earth had hit him. Boyarsky couldn’t think at all.

“I think I see what’s going on here so let me tell my version of this situation for all those who have yet to figure it out,” the Overseer looked more than smug. What was he up to? “With her husband at work more than 13 hours of the day Lucy Boyarsky would sometimes get, shall we say, lonely. One day she met Greg Pailson, a member of the Vault Police department. Mr. Pailson was a good and upright citizen of Vault 8 but even he couldn’t resist the…advances…of Mrs. Boyarsky. They had their affair while Mr. Boyarsky was at work and Mr. Pailson was off duty. Today Sam Boyarsky came home early only to find his wife with another man, namely Mr. Pailson. He murdered both of them with the help of his friend and co-worker Richard Mereua.” That left a self-satisfied grin on the face of the Overseer. And the most hated look Boyarsky had ever seen on the face of Mereua. Sam was sure his face was no better. “Now I proclaim your sentence. You will-“

“You will fuck your dead lackey up his stone cold ass!” A familiar voice shouted. Boyarsky felt himself lunge forward, bloody knife in hand, ready to slash the Overseer as many times as his exhausted body would allow. It seemed that the voice was his. Nobody would talk about Lucy that way… and live.

He came within three steps of the putrid man before the small army of Vault Police Officers he hadn’t even noticed were there grabbed him and Mereua, who was right by his side, ready to avenge the name of Lucy. They held him as ungently as he could ever remember being held as the Overseer spoke again.

“I know it was difficult to see your wife and another man together but you could have dealt with it in a much different fashion.” Boyarsky tried to push forward, the man was mere inches away, but the men that had him held him steady. “Now for your sentence. You, Sam Boyarsky and you, Richard Mereua, are convicted of murder. And I sentence you to complete exile from Vault 8. Since I feel generous, you will be given enough Anti-Rad to get you through the next three weeks. After that,” a sadistic smile crept across his lips, “well, I’m sure you’ll get through somehow. Guards, take them to the Vault Doors.”

They were pushed and prodded towards the doors of the Vault. Forced against their will by the vilest human beings Boyarsky had ever known. For the first time in his life, he was ashamed to call himself a Vault 8 Citizen.

All too soon they found themselves at the door that lead to the outside. The scanners showed a barren wasteland. What would they really see? The Overseer pushed a few buttons on the side of the door and a low rumbling could be heard, followed by a shaking as the doors that hadn’t moved in 27 years started to roll open.

A cave was outside and they were picked up and thrown out. After them came a small bulging backpack and the Overseer. He stood even taller than usual as they were on the surprisingly cold ground of the cave. His smile could have broken stone and he gave his final oration to them, as they lay there dumbfounded at their current state of affairs.

“I hope you feel better now. You both have what it is you wanted don’t you? You both wanted to be free and away from me and now you have it.” He turned to go but stopped. Looking at Mereua he said, “Watch out for those Giant Scorpions former Head Scientist. I couldn’t have done it without you.” He then threw back his head and laughed sadistically as he walked back into the safety of Vault 8, the doors rolling shut and slamming behind him with a monstrous clang.

They sat there for a while. Neither talking to the other. Both so lost in thought about their now shattered lives and what to do next. Boyarsky knew he had no clue. His life, his family, Lucy… all gone. Yet he kneeled there on the ground of the cave and swore a vow to himself, “For all that he has done to my life, my friends, and the one I love, Henson Reliche will feel my vengeance.” Simple and to the point, but full of more emotion than the vow showed at face value.

Finally after what seemed like hours Richard Mereua looked at Sam Boyarsky. He had a knowing look on his face but wore no sign of happiness. His life was just as destroyed as Boyarsky’s, but he also looked like a man who had an idea. With the most serene and steady voice he had ever heard out of his friend, Mereua told his idea.

“Sam we are no longer who we once were. Reliche has disposed of us, as he has wanted to for a long time. Instead of sitting here and plotting revenge or trying to beg our way back in I suggest we start completely anew.”

“Rich, what are you talking about?”

“Sam, we will take new names and become new people. I don’t want to be known as the reject from Vault 8 forever. I will make my name in this wasteland somehow, and I will do it was a new person.”

“Are you sure Rich? Isn’t that a bit, unrealistic?” He was trying to argue but he couldn’t find anything better than that. The idea sounded good to him too. Better than good. No longer would he have to be the Widower Sam Boyarsky, Reject of Vault 8. He had been that for 10 minutes and already it was sickening.

“Let’s take some Anti-Rad and see what our new home looks like, Sam.”

They opened the backpack and found the Rad-X. After they swallowed it they went through the bag to find anything else that could be useful. A notebook and pen, some rope, and two pairs of sunglasses were all that was left besides the Anti-Rads and the knife still stuck behind Boyarsky’s belt. Meager supplies to live off of. Especially for two people with the outdoorsman skills of a small, one legged turkey.

Slowly they made their way to the mouth of the cave. Sunglasses on to protect their eyes from the blistering ball of fire in the sky that would surely welcome them once they were standing no longer in the cave. Everything was desert and brown as far as the eye could see. Small mountainous peaks jutted up from the scorched, bare earth. And cracks in the ground sometimes let a small whist of steam come drifting out. The sky was a dreary gray, with the area around the sun a slight shade of pink. This was home? Yes, this was home.

“Sam do you wish to choose your new name now?” Mereua seemed a little shaky but still miles from the fear that was engulfing Boyarsky. Sam thought for a moment before answering.

“Harold, after my father. The bravest man I will ever know. I need bravery to face this hell on earth.”

Mereua looked at him and nodded slightly then looked at the sky again.

“What about you Rich?” Richard Mereua looked at the sky for a while before answering.

“To face this bleakness I will name myself after the bleakness, in hope that it will only touch my name and I will never despair.” His faced cringed at what he was about to do. Mereua was proud of his heritage and of his name. His father’s father had been a General in World War III. Doing this was tearing him apart, inside and out. Looking out at the sky he screamed.

“Hear me world and know my name! I am Richard Grey!” 

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