Alas, Pilipinas

CHAPTER 2: THE TERMINAL

"Hey Elijah, how are you handling your day?", said the Warden with a welcoming smile with its hand still on Elijah's shoulders.

"I-I'm good", Elijah said. It was very visible on his face how uncomfortable he was.

Elijah and the Warden were nothing but acquaintances. 

Elijah was always scared to approach and talk to the Warden. The reason he always thought of was because of how respected the Warden was inside the Vault-- he runs it, he manages it, and he is the heart of it. Elijah always thought, "If it wasn't for the Warden, the Vault would've been dead".

"Are you alright, Elijah? You seem to be lost in your thoughts." said the Warden accompanied by a brief and confident laugh. 

"No, sir. It's just I'm not used to talking to you, that's all. I don't mean to offend." 

As Elijah was talking, a vault guard approached the Warden and whispered to its ears. Elijah tried to figure the silent and light mutter from the guard, but it was brief and fast. It can be seen in the reaction of the Warden that he was pleased in what he heard.

The Warden cleared his throat before speaking and said, "Uhm, Elijah? I have to go. Happy birthday, child. Work hard." 

The Warden was almost out of view when he turned again to Elijah.

"Oh man, I'm getting older." the Warden said with a smile. "I almost forgot Elijah, I have lots of things to say to you, but for now. Go to the equipment facility, talk to Masong, asked him about my gift for you" he winked, "If you want, you can ask him to teach you shoot in the range, there's no reserve for talents like you." he smiled and departed.

Elijah knew exactly what the Warden left to Masong, a PAD. Something he wanted for the longest time. Masong also has been his teacher on markmanship, a skill Elijah chose to learn on the Vault-- some other choices are medical skills, charisma, enginerring, and other skills relevant to survival.

After the brief conversation, he turned to Mak . He's usually upbeat and smiles even on the smallest reasons, like seeing Elijah, having a conversation, or meeting an acquaintance, but at the moment, he was somehow different and acting strange.

"Hey Mak, is there something bothering you? You seem troubled." said Elijah.

"You're my friend, Elijah. I can't hide things like this from you. But we can't talk in here."

Elijah was flashed with confusion and said, "Huh? What are you talking about? And what do you mean we can't talk about it in here?"

"You just have to trust me. Let's go to your room, it's safer there." Mak implied.

Elijah and Mak left the room without any conversation, they walked as Elijah was wondering what was happening and Mak was determined to finish what's business. Their alternate footsteps as they walk was echoing around the halls of the vault. 

When they got in the room, Mak closed the door without batting an eye and calmed himself.

"Elijah..." he looked straight at Elijah before starting to talk.

"I heard the Warden talking about things that are... disturbing to say the least." He paused for a moment. "I don't even know where to start." 

Elijah knew Mak was serious on what he was saying, but refused to say anything. 

"Hey Elijah, are you willing to listen?" said Mak. Elijah nodded with hesitation but Mak was eager to talk.

"The Warden was lying to all of us... about pretty much everything. I was headed to the ranges, to ask Masong to go to the diner, but I ran across the Warden's office, he was talking with some people wearing guard uniforms but faces I've never seen before. I stayed for a while to take a peak but got scared when I heard some of what their conversation were about." 

Elijah wasn't responding. Mak continued.

"The Vault is a lie, the residents of the vault were supposed to be released years ago, that's why your father left, because he knew about it. The Warden is doing everything to find your father because of something he have called, If I recall, Project EDEN-- ". "I don't know what it is for, but it sure is important."

Elijah thought about his father for a while but still proceeded to say, "Oh my god... is there anything else he said? I'm interested."

"He also said stuff about, uhm... Oh! I remember now. He said something about ghouls. I heard that they were also monitoring the outside of the vault looking for your father and the Warden clearly implied how he was communicating with the outside through who knows how. Which was the absolute opposite of what he said to us for years, he lied." said Mak.

"Ghouls? Where? and How?" Elijah thought for a second and realized. "It's probably because of the wastes left by the nuclear war. It can be possible. But why did my father proceed to leave if there were ghouls outside?"

"That I don't know" replied Mak. "Look.. we need to clear things out. Let's go his office. This is for the both of us, and the other residents of the Vault. We should check his terminal and hope that he keeps at least some information there."

"Oh, it makes sense why it is well-guarded at all times, because there are stuff that are supposed to not be known in there. But isn't that too risky? What if somebody sees us, we're dead meat. It's against the rules to trespass on such places." said Elijah.

Mak replied, "We should definitely make a plan and go tomorrow. The things I've said to you, I think they lead to something, and we need to know."