Martin Vickers
Pachirisu Gijinka
The Broken Valley

Escaping from Vault 62 was one of the most gruesome experiences Martin ever had to go through.

Hallways of screams, sights of gijinkas in contorted, misshapen forms, and the thrashing of violence were sights and sounds that were probably going to fuel his nightmares for a while. Patrick, using his last traces of humanity, managed to help Martin get to the vault door, but just when Martin turned around to check to see if Patrick was still behind him, the now mutated-Fearow was nowhere to be seen. To Martin, perhaps it was for the better that he didn't see what ultimately became of his friend. He doubted Patrick would have wanted him to remember him that way.

After racing to the outside with the 10mm pistol in his hand, he was nearly blinded by the harsh sunlight and was forced to have to shamble on the way out while his eyes tried to adjust. From what he could see, there was vast wasteland for many miles. Before him, cities and towns lay in waste, many of them as hollowed-out ruins and collapsed husks of civilizations that once were. Martin couldn't help but feel a sense of sorrow, knowing these were all places once bustling with life and people. Now, they were broken, hollow, and quiet.

Knowing he couldn't go back inside Vault 62, Martin knew he was going to need to scavenge around for what he needed to survive. He had a sinking feeling that was going to involve killing and eating things that might not seem so appetizing along with drinking water that wasn't anywhere close to being crystal clear. He also became certain that his days of eating clean and well-preserved vault food rations were over. Eating whatever wildlife still remained here might not sound enjoyable, but if he wanted to survive, he was going to have to deal with it.

The matter of ExoTox also concerned him. In a month's time, he was going to find out what exactly ninety-nine injections were going to do to him, and he was afraid he was going to have to count down the days to when it would turn him into something much less gijinka than before. He tried not to think about it, but it was hard considering what he saw only just minutes ago. Maybe, just maybe, there was someone out there with a cure or some kind of countermeasure. It was definitely something he was going to try and pursue. Even if he had no money and barely any belongings, he had two hands and had no qualms about working or building whatever that person needed to pay off the debt.

As he looked around, he didn't see any of the other Vault 62 vault dwellers that had escaped, even though the heavy, gear-shaped door had been opened and he was sure other survives had to have come this way. Martin figured perhaps they had run into the wasteland hours before he made it out and were now miles away. He could only hope they would be safe out there.

As Martin walked further away from the Vault, his eyes became more adjusted to the sunlight, and it felt all so surreal to be in such open areas. Suddenly there was far more atmosphere and he felt sensations he hadn't experienced before. Wind. Heat. Dryness. And suddenly, things seemed so much more quiet than before.

Once he had become slightly more accustomed to his surroundings, he began to search the ruins for anything of value he could find. He was hoping something still survived the nuclear holocaust and had been long forgotten by the world, just waiting for someone like him to find and rediscover.