"Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must vacate immediately."

The woman's voice droned over and over in a robotic fashion. That, an alarm, and the slow warming of her body, woke Briar Rose. She coughed as her lungs transitioned from the icy, dry air. Even though still extremely cold, at least now she was regaining feeling and movement in her numb limbs.

Her mind was disorganized. The alarm and warning repeated and snapped her to attention. Her memories came back: the bomb falling, them entering Vault 111, being put under cryogenic sleep, Nate shot by a man with a scar, and Shaun was taken.

Fear seized her heart. Now fully awake and in control of her muscles, she banged on the iced window and strained to push open the door. Her pod opened with the expelling of gas and her lungs expanded with new air—even though the air seemed stale, like it hadn't been turned in a long time.

Her eyes zeroed-in on Nate's pod; she couldn't see through the iced-over window. Briar Rose stepped out of her pod, but she collapsed since her legs weren't used to weight. She stumbled over to Nate's pod and felt of the metal—cold. Next to his pod was a keypad, and she pressed the large red button, hoping it would open the door.

"Please be a dream. Please be a dream," she begged.

The door unlatched; gas hissed and fog flew out as the pod opened up. Briar Rose's heart stopped when the door lifted entirely up: Nate was slumped, eyes half-open, a dark hole above his right eyebrow and blood splattered behind his head. And his arms were empty—Shaun was gone.

She honestly didn't know what to do—he had always been the strong one, the one she relied on for strength and guidance. But now he was gone, along with their child. She was alone; just her to face an unknown world.

She caught sight of the gold wedding ring on his finger. Determination filled her like never before; she had to rely on herself now, and she would search the entire world for Shaun. Nothing—no matter how horrendously mutated and evil—would stop her.

Briar Rose slid the wedding band off his finger. "I'll find Shaun and I'll get them for this; I promise."

She turned away from her dead husband and headed toward the doorway up some steps. Every pod she passed was occupied, and she looked in each to find the same conclusion: frozen. It looked like her pod had been the only one to malfunction; Briar Rose was the sole survivor.

She made her way through Vault 111, following the path she remembered. She came to a door she didn't recall being there and couldn't open it, so she had to change her course. As she tried to find the exit, the Vault was eerily quiet and still.

Her bad feeling was proven right when she came onto a skeleton. She examined it to find scraps of blue fabric like the Vault suit she wore. Some bones were even scratched and chipped, resembling an animal chewing on bone. This had to be the remains of a Vault-Tec worker. But what ate on them?

Caution made her advance more slowly—she didn't know what kind of creature was down there with her. A 10 mm pistol lay near another skeleton; it still had some ammo but she would keep an eye out for more. Luckily, she found some in a locker and a security baton; she shortened it and stored it in a pocket.

In a long stretch of hallway with windows on one side, a large blot drew her eye. She crept closer to see a giant roach taking up a third of the window; something made it fly off.

"Giant roaches?" she whispered in disbelief. "What the hell?"

The cockroaches she knew were very skittish and fast, but nowhere as close to the size of that—about the size of her torso. She had to remember that what survived the fallout more than likely mutated. And of course cockroaches would survive; they were impossible to kill.

So Briar Rose cautiously advanced into that room, eyes searching for the enlarged pests. She spotted one just as it spotted her; it charged toward her. As she expected, its size made it slower in speed but more bold and aggressive. Fortunately easy to kill—one shot and it was dead.

She came across more and killed those too—she even stepped on a smaller one to squash it like a normal bug. It looked like the roaches killed the Vault-Tec workers—she found one inside of a skeleton's ribcage and chewing on the bone. She really hoped whatever bugs survived and mutated didn't include spiders—Briar Rose hated spiders.

Finally she entered the entrance but found the end of the room blocked off by an enormous gear. If they were sealed off, how did the roaches get in? Probably when the man and woman came in to take Shaun.

Close to a panel with a large keypad lay a skeleton with something dark and bulky on its arm. She headed over to find it a Pip-Boy—a personal computer worn on the forearm. She pulled it off the boney arm and put it on her left forearm; she turned it on and had to wipe dust off its screen as it powered up. She would input her information later.

On the panel was a slot, like a cigarette starter in a car. She fiddled with her Pip-Boy some to find a plug-in that would fit; she put it in, a cover popped open to reveal a button, and she pressed it.

Yellow caution lights began to rotate, and an alarm sounded as a large machine glided past her to unlock the door. With a loud expelling of gas, the gear jerked out of its slot and rolled to the side. Fresher air immediately struck her. Once the way was open, the metal catwalk extended to cross over to the steps leading to the elevator.

Briar Rose headed across, feeling Déjà vu like she had just done this even though she didn't know how much time had passed. She opened up the elevator gate, stepped in, and lowered it. After pressing the button to go up, it took a while for the elevator to wake; machinery groaned and rusted metal screeched as she slowly ascended.

The air grew fresher and crisper than she ever remembered it as she went higher. When complete darkness surrounded her, a faint glow shined above her and grew brighter and brighter. She braced herself for her new reality; it was going to be hard not to picture how everything looked before she went down. Comparing her memories to what was now would hurt.

Sunlight blinded her as she surfaced and she raised a hand to shield her eyes until they adjusted. A breeze blew through her hair, but the air wasn't crisp with things... alive. Even though she still blinked rapidly, she lowered her arm to see her new world through watering eyes. What she saw took her breath away.

Everything was dead: the trees had no leaves; the bark brown and streaked with gray; brown, dry grass. Nothing was green or had any color. The sky was clearer than blue, like a white blue. The pristine Sanctuary Hills below her was in ruin: homes were missing side paneling; the metal roofs were rusted or folded back or just gone; some homes were skeletons, the roofs almost fully collapsed, while others were just gone, nothing but a pile of metal. Rusted frames of cars littered the road.

It was a heartbreaking scene to see. How could anyone survive in this kind of hopeless devastation? Briar Rose wondered if everywhere looked like this.

She couldn't let that kind of thinking get to her; one thing about humankind was that they can adapt. People learn how to live in such situations; wherever they were, they were probably born into this life, so it was all they knew. She would just have to forget the past and learn to live all over again.

Briar Rose began making her way down from the overlook, passing by the rusted machinery she remembered being new. She also passed by many skeletons, most bunched up on one side of the rusted and broken chain fence. She stared at the bodies—Vault-Tec let her neighbors die right where they stood. She stepped over them, trying hard not to think of who she once knew that had been in that group, and headed down to Sanctuary Hills and her old home.

The destruction got worse at eye-level: cracked concrete; dead weeds grew in the road; rusted mailboxes lay broken; hollow trees lay in the street; splintered and unshapely picket fences; homes lacked doors and in some spaces, she could see through the entire house.

"As I live and breathe! Mrs. Rose!"

She recognized that proper robotic voice; she turned to see Codsworth flying toward her. He had all his limbs and eyestalks but had some rust. Honestly, she didn't think he would've survived.

"Codsworth? You're alive? So, other people could still be alive too..."

He stopped in front of her, literally shaking in excitement. "Well, of course I'm still here! Surely you don't think a little radiation could deter the pride of General Atomics International? But you're quite filthy, madam; don't let the sir catch you like that. Where is Mr. Nate?"

She took a deep breath—it was hard believing Nate was dead. "He... he's in a better place now."

"Mum, you seem to be in a dire mood; I believe you need a distraction... Yes! It's been ages since we had a proper family activity. Checkers? Charades! Shaun sure loves that game." He laughed and his eyes looked around her. "Is the lad with you?"

Anger flooded her system. "They took him: Vault-Tec."

If he could show facial expressions, he would've been frowning and shaking his head. "It's worse than I thought; you're suffering from hunger-induced paranoia. Not eating properly for 200 years can do that, I'm afraid."

Briar Rose stared at the robot in disbelief. She's been asleep for 200 years? That couldn't be. "200 years? That much time has passed?"

"A bit over 210 actually, mum, give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to the old chronometer. That means you're two centuries late for dinner!" He laughed. "Perhaps I could whip you up a snack; you must be famished."

She struggled to understand him—he was everywhere and couldn't keep on track. "Codsworth, are you alright?"

"I... I'm..." He hesitated. "Oh, Mrs. Rose, it's been horrible! It's been so lonely here without anyone to talk to. The bombs fell, and you all left in such a hurry; I thought you were all dead. I spent the first ten years trying to polish the floors; nothing cleans nuclear fallout from vinyl. And the car... The car! How do you polish rust?" He was hysterical.

"Easy, Codsworth; stay focused."

"I'm sorry, mum; I've just been alone for so long and nothing works like it used to. It's frustrating." Codsworth rambled on about something else, but she still tried to process the progression of time. He couldn't be mistaken—the condition of everything around her correlated with what he said. But how long ago was Shaun taken? Was he still a baby, twenty years old, an old man, or was he even still alive?

Getting Shaun back was her priority right now, but she couldn't go roaming this unknown wasteland by herself; she needed someone who knew the land.

"Codsworth, do you know of where I could get some help?"

"Well, you could go to the city; Concord is nearby. The last time I went there, people threw rocks at me, so I came back home; I'd suggest going there. But first, will you accompany me on ridding this place of vermin? I wish to keep this place clean for you, the best I can."

She was the only non-hostile person he has run across since the bombs fell, so he wanted to spend a little more time with human interaction. "Of course."

Briar Rose traveled from one house to the other with Codsworth in search of creatures. The ones they found, Codsworth called Bloatbugs—bloated flying bugs that spit their own maggots; when she described the giant cockroaches, he called them Radroaches. In their traipsing through the homes, she also saw the full extent of the destruction: nearly everything lay broken; the few paintings still hanging on the walls were completely faded and colorless; appliances were rusted and not working since there was no electricity, and dead leaves covered the floors. At least some couches still had stuffing and you could sit in the non-broken furniture.

When they finished killing the bugs, Codsworth offered to go with her—he could help defend her and warn her of dangers. She gladly accepted, and after a deep breath, Briar Rose set out over the splintered and broken bridge leading out of the safety of Sanctuary Hills.