SHOTS FIRED James Connolly never wanted to be a police officer. However, after receiving the final results of his G.O.A.T. evaluation the powers that be had made the decision for him, much to his dismay. The police sergeant had always found it funny that the government would at least wait a couple of days until after what was supposed to be a celebration of life be...

  WEST ONE  They told him the badge would give away his affiliation, so he no longer wore it. Instead, Dennis Hsu had returned home in order to acquire a disguise; his civilian Vault 186 jumpsuit. V.S.P.F. jumpsuits bore a special insignia. On each arm, a golden police shield was stitched into the shoulder and in the center of that shield stitched in white were the numbers 186. It was a meeting that the police force wante...

THE INVESTIGATION Lieutenant Jacob Brittle of the Vault Security Police Force grimaced at the sight of the destroyed upper eastern bloc reactor station of Vault 186. Two weeks had passed since the overload catastrophe that claimed the lives of over half of the technicians assigned to the power hub.Jacob was a tall, well-built man; about six and a half feet with short, bright red hair and a large forehead decorated with se...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Katherine Ford; a slim sixteen year old brunette with thin cheeks covering high cheekbones, a small mouth with thin lips, and large eyes that harbored ebony pupils, exited a large classroom that served as the local high school for the upper east bloc of Vault 186. A quick glance at the somewhat large metal device referred to as a personal information processor –or Pip-Boy for short– that was strapped around...

 PROLOGUE Hope…hope always remains. We've been killing each other since the dawn of our species. Tribes vying for power as civilizations rose and fell. Entire nations wiped from the face of the earth for worshiping a different god than their neighbors. As time progressed we developed more efficient ways to annihilate one another until finally…we accomplished our subconscious mission in a blaze of nuclear fire. But not all...

Everyone needs some kind of sign to help them believe everything is going to be all right. Everyone looks to the sky; to some deity. The funny thing is there is something out there and no matter how much we cry out it whispers back that it didn’t create us in order to fix everything wrong with us. He gave us the ability to cry…to feel pain because he also gave us the ability to heal those in pain. There is no better feeli...

CHAPTER ONEWHEN DARKNESS FALLS From the pores of skin made pink by a constant flow of blood rushing through thousands of veins like a newborn river, several droplets of salt water sprinkled onto the concrete. Sparkling beneath the bright burning sun on one of south Florida’s hottest winter days during February, the small spatters of moisture evaporated into the air as steam mere seconds after making contact with the groun...

4THE PIT BOSS When all was said and done, what mattered most was the end result. Nothing was more important than ensuring the bottom line was in her favor. Rising through the ranks of a criminal organization meant producing more profit than the next criminal. To her, this was life in its purest form. This was why she embraced an existence of villainy. Stripping away, what was to many a fabricated sense of nobility or wors...

3THE PIT During his first visit through the so called underbelly of society, Kaszbein found it difficult to hold back the gagging his body demanded. Mixtures of blood and sweat combined with an assortment of animal and human feces; a retched concoction born from basic human vices. Yet now Kaszbein’s senses were fully acclimated to the atmosphere of lust and brutality. A different world pulsed with activity near the southe...

2 THE INQUIRY Rorbel emerged from the wooden carriage and immediately stood tall, revealing no signs of fatigue, frustration, or fear. Even though what lay in front of him had unconsciously widened the eyes and lowered the jaws of many a soldier; this was Rorbel’s fourth visit to the royal palace grounds. Still, no matter how many times his eyes had taken in the awe-inspiring sight of Vandaria’s capitol, hiding his amazem...

To those who would know, yet would not want to know. To see what one does not want to see. Hear what they don’t want to hear. During the future or in the past? What is true desire? When does difference become the same? When does it repeat? When did it first draw breath? Creation is always forgotten. Wondrous during its infancy. Adored and then finally forgotten. Time dilutes. Now and then become the same. And yet human be...