» Sun Aug 09, 2009 6:35 am
"Officious little jerk," Alan muttered. He had read the expression in some terminal archive long ago, although he could not remember specifically where. But as he checked his eyes in the mirror of his securely locked bedroom, the phrase kept repeating in his mind. That is what he had become. That was certainly how the other citizens thought of Alan.
"Citizens," he chuckled to himself. The Overseer had instructed Alan some time ago that the vault denizens were not to be called dwellers, but citizens, to remind them of their great, Republican heritage. Alan had made a game for himself creating a dictionary with all of the euphemistic non-sense meant to be foisted upon the masses. The Overseers' personal minions had become citizens, gangsters had become undesirable elements, those who disagreed with The Overseer were wayward, and now all hell breaking loose had become 'procedure'.
"That is some brilliant Seerspeak," Alan cracked to nobody in particular as he brushed a stray black hair from in front of his cherubic face. He sighed wistfully at the thought of his younger days. In those days his jaw line stood firm and defiant, opposed to the flabby, undefined oval that glared back at him now. It was as though he were melting away with his dignity.
Howls echoed in the hallways outside. The first few screeches had startled the portly bureaucrat, but by now they had become so expected that Alan barely took notice. He slid his hand down to his side arm and thumbed the grip. The Overseer had insisted he carry a firearm, as it was sometimes necessary in order to deal with the 'undesirable elements', but in honestly, Alan barely knew how to use the blasted thing. The security forces would often joke that nobody kept their gun cleaner than ol' Reyes, as in the three years he had carried it he had only fired it once. At a radroach. And missed.
What Alan had kept to himself was the switch blade he had been tucking into his boot heel for nearly nine months. Although The Overseer preferred more direct means, Alan found that he was much more successful keeping order with a strategic visit in the middle of the night, staring the 'wayward citizen' right in the face. He was only slightly more useful with a knife, but the element of surprise was nearly always on his side and something deep in his wide, agitated eyes convinced most that he was capable of anything.
Another howl, this time followed by splatter. Whether it was human or zombie was anybody's guess. Alan saw little difference at this point. He shuffled to his desk and picked up the fedora that had been in his family since before the bombs dropped. His ancestors were penniless immigrants, so the tale went, and although Vault-Tec had denied their request for a secure spot in the Vault, the first Overseer---Praise Be to His Name---was benevolent enough to sneak them in the numerous supply crates, their only belongings being the clothes on their back. Including this hat. The rest had long since turned to dust in some forgotten storage area after they donned their Vault uniforms, but somehow, this one hat had held up over the years
That was the tale he told everybody, anyway. If only they knew how his family had really gotten into the Vault. If only they knew how the ghouls had really gotten into the Vault.
The ghouls. Alan took a seat by his bedside and poured himself a shot of Scotch, shuddering at the thought of the rotted flesh and organ matter the ghouls were going to leave behind. He was disgusted by how unhygienic the entire business was, but it was, at least partially, his fault. He stared at the door, muttering thanks to The Overseer that he was safe from the filth in his sterile, sealed cocoon. He smirked at the thought of all those miserable souls lost outside to fend for themselves. He raised a glass to his hermetically sealed chamber and took another gulp.
That was when the light switched from red to green, and his door slid open.