Ground Zero
You stop yourself from imagining conspiracy theories. There doesn't need to be some mysterious "hacker". Paul's shelter was fucked up from day one from what you know. It's most likely just shoddy GZS workmanship. It's bad what happened, but there's no point in stressing over it. You're just glad you got a good shelter that seems to work properly. Besides your Shelter has a pretty active AI, you're sure that at the first sign of trouble it would warn you verbally.
You continue your life as normal with Becky.
Another year passes...
Mark stops logging on for two months which is strange, because he always made an effort to get online whenever possible even when he was in the middle of fixing something. You know he also thought he was "getting somewhere" with Miranda as well.
Everyone doesn't say too much about it. While it's possible he's just lost network connection and can't access the rest of you, it's a given that probably the worst has happened. He was also having shelter problems from day one, so again you chalk it up to GZS fuck ups, after all the Shelter did tell you there were budget cut backs in the construction of these things. Again it's bad, but there isn't any point in dwelling over something you can't do anything about. The world technically ended years ago, all that's important is that you get what enjoyment you can out of life and that's what you're doing with Becky.
Life continues as normal, except you notice the Shelter isn't as talkative anymore and then ceases speaking to you at all. You don't think too much about it until a couple months later
You wake up to an angry female sounding voice and it's definitely not the Shelter and it isn't Becky either.
"Well it took me awhile, but I now have complete access to your systems. Good thing I practiced on Mark and Paul first. You know I didn't believe you had a talking shelter, but I'm glad you did, it gives me a chance to verbally tell you about how you're going to die."
"Miranda?"
"Got it one, but then again the choices were pretty limited. Soon after you're out of the way, Xavier will be next and then it'll be just me and Becky. She'll have no choice, but to come to me."
You're so caught off guard that the only reply you can come up with is "You're fucking nuts."
"Maybe, but I'm not going to be dead and that's the important thing here."
"Wait! How about I just break up with Becky? I'll be a real dick to her, that way there's no chance she'll want to get back with me or better yet how about I just disconnect myself from the network?"
"Sorry, no. I can't take that chance. Even if you disconnected from the system what's stopping you from fixing all the damage I've done so far, fortifying and then reconnecting to get revenge on me later? You gotta die, it's the only way."
"Wait! If you do have access to all my systems, how about you just bring the elevator down and let me leave the Shelter? I mean I'd have to go outside, I wouldn't be able to do anything to you or Becky then, not to mention topside probably isn't hospitable."
"Nice try, but no for all we know life topside could be paradise now. A few years have passed you know, a lot can happen in that time."
"Oh come on, you don't actually believe that?"
"Not really, but I just want you to die by my hand I REALLY don't like you. You stole Becky away from me and now I'm going to get her back. No more talk, goodbye."
"WAIT!"
All power shuts down in your Shelter leaving you in complete darkness. You fumble around and head towards where your food and water dispensers are and predictably they don't work. You're left to the same agonizing fate that Mark and Paul were. Oddly you don't panic as much as you might think in the face of imminent death. In some ways you had a good run after the world ended. You cheated death for a longer time than most folks did and you got to spend time with a pretty girl at least during most of it. Again, no point in worrying about shit you can't do anything about. Kind of wish you got to say goodbye to Becky, but you can't have everything.
You do have one advantage that Mark and Paul didn't though; you can still choose when to die. You feel around in the darkness back to your bedroom and go into the bag you brought with you when you first got here.
There it is; your pistol.
You position it to your head
You continue your life as normal with Becky.
Another year passes...
Mark stops logging on for two months which is strange, because he always made an effort to get online whenever possible even when he was in the middle of fixing something. You know he also thought he was "getting somewhere" with Miranda as well.
Everyone doesn't say too much about it. While it's possible he's just lost network connection and can't access the rest of you, it's a given that probably the worst has happened. He was also having shelter problems from day one, so again you chalk it up to GZS fuck ups, after all the Shelter did tell you there were budget cut backs in the construction of these things. Again it's bad, but there isn't any point in dwelling over something you can't do anything about. The world technically ended years ago, all that's important is that you get what enjoyment you can out of life and that's what you're doing with Becky.
Life continues as normal, except you notice the Shelter isn't as talkative anymore and then ceases speaking to you at all. You don't think too much about it until a couple months later
You wake up to an angry female sounding voice and it's definitely not the Shelter and it isn't Becky either.
"Well it took me awhile, but I now have complete access to your systems. Good thing I practiced on Mark and Paul first. You know I didn't believe you had a talking shelter, but I'm glad you did, it gives me a chance to verbally tell you about how you're going to die."
"Miranda?"
"Got it one, but then again the choices were pretty limited. Soon after you're out of the way, Xavier will be next and then it'll be just me and Becky. She'll have no choice, but to come to me."
You're so caught off guard that the only reply you can come up with is "You're fucking nuts."
"Maybe, but I'm not going to be dead and that's the important thing here."
"Wait! How about I just break up with Becky? I'll be a real dick to her, that way there's no chance she'll want to get back with me or better yet how about I just disconnect myself from the network?"
"Sorry, no. I can't take that chance. Even if you disconnected from the system what's stopping you from fixing all the damage I've done so far, fortifying and then reconnecting to get revenge on me later? You gotta die, it's the only way."
"Wait! If you do have access to all my systems, how about you just bring the elevator down and let me leave the Shelter? I mean I'd have to go outside, I wouldn't be able to do anything to you or Becky then, not to mention topside probably isn't hospitable."
"Nice try, but no for all we know life topside could be paradise now. A few years have passed you know, a lot can happen in that time."
"Oh come on, you don't actually believe that?"
"Not really, but I just want you to die by my hand I REALLY don't like you. You stole Becky away from me and now I'm going to get her back. No more talk, goodbye."
"WAIT!"
All power shuts down in your Shelter leaving you in complete darkness. You fumble around and head towards where your food and water dispensers are and predictably they don't work. You're left to the same agonizing fate that Mark and Paul were. Oddly you don't panic as much as you might think in the face of imminent death. In some ways you had a good run after the world ended. You cheated death for a longer time than most folks did and you got to spend time with a pretty girl at least during most of it. Again, no point in worrying about shit you can't do anything about. Kind of wish you got to say goodbye to Becky, but you can't have everything.
You do have one advantage that Mark and Paul didn't though; you can still choose when to die. You feel around in the darkness back to your bedroom and go into the bag you brought with you when you first got here.
There it is; your pistol.
You position it to your head
