Short Story: A Vault named 37

Author's Note: This was one of my stories before Fallout 76, where I wanted a vault that had furries in it. Enjoy!

“Ah, hello. I’m Overseer McCain.” She smiled. “I know you must be confused, but take it easy. We’re all in this together.”

“Wh- what happened?” I asked before noticing my hands. It was a paw. “What the fuck happened to me!?” I stared at her. “What the fuck are you?”

She shrugged. “I guess I could be a leopard, but look, stay calm. Vault-Tec is just… doing something.”

“Really? Then why are we anthro animals?” I asked before looking down at my nose. Or the snout, I guess. “I’m a cat.”

“Well… breaking confidentiality, Vault-Tec was experimenting on turning us into anthropomorphic animals.” She sighed. “And it was all going well.”

My eyes, which only focused on the Overseer for the moment, shifted as I sat up and saw everyone. “Oh my.” 

Everyone was animals! Even my best friend, Sasha, was a vixen, and she was waving at me while one of the doctors on our vault was testing on her. I knew because she had a bracelet we made from paper.

“Uh… Overseer?” I asked. “What do you… mean?”

The Overseer leads me up and walked over to the observation window and to my shock, people were killing each other. The security was trying to stop angry people, friends, to reach us.

“What are they doing?” I wondered. “Are they… mad?”

“Not exactly. Half of the residents went feral after turning, and we’re trying to cull them out. It’s failing, and soon we might get attacked.”

I idly watched the fight before noticing someone in Power Armor sneak by. I blinked. “Overseer, someone’s sneaking in and the person is wearing Power Armor…”

The Overseer was about to respond when the door opened to reveal a man in a vault suit. A human man. At the back was the Power Armored person. We looked at his clothing and saw a Pip-Boy over his arm.

“I heard the distress call,” the man explained. “What’s with you dwellers? What did Vault-Tec do this time?”

I saw the overseer walk up to him. “Are you Vault-Tec?”

The man shook his head. “Vault-Tec’s been dead for 200 years.”

“That’s… good,” I commented. “They turned us into animals and some went feral. You can tell by the… battle you passed by.”

He blinked. “This vault has got to be the weirdest. My name’s Nate, I’m from Vault 111 over the Commonwealth.”

“Overseer Lexia McCain,” the overseer told him, “and the person who commented is Lea Vienne Heuvich.”

“Call me Vinny.” I smiled. “How are you going to save us?”
He promptly showed a minigun.

“I think you’re overprepared…” the overseer commented.

“The Commonwealth, huh? I heard there were greens over the place.” I asked as Sasha tended to the wounded while the ferals retreated to the surface.

Nate nodded. “I had help from another vault dweller from an Envirovault.” He looked around. “Good plan to carry a G.E.C.K. made from that place.”

“I noticed…” I looked at his clothing. “Say, what’s with the hat and armor?”

“Oh? It’s nothing.” He looked over to his Pip-Boy. “Huh, you guys are living dangerously near shore. Glad I managed to get in.”

“What do you mean?” McCain asked, who just passed by and heard our conversation.

Nate showed his map.

“I see…” she told him. “This is worrying. We would’ve sunk somewhere…”

“But wait, how did you manage to find us?” I noticed.

Nate frowned. “Classified information, need to know basis.”

Author's Note: You guys can request stories in the comment section. Don't be afraid!