The people of vault 657 can’t survive another month in here, and neither can their modest society. They’re hardly getting any food at all. Nobody has eaten a half-filling meal since they got here and still thought their rations would last for two lifetimes, or at least  until the good guys won this foolish war. “The big-shots probably forgot about us, we’re only a little suburb community in the hills of northern california.” said Harold, the leader of this group of nobodies. “ We have to send some search parties out of this god-damned vault, Harold! You have to make some real decisions if you want to stay a leader and stay alive!” Amelia said. “Do you  have any Idea of what to do and who to put in that ‘search party’?.It’s not easy being the leader of all these half-dead cave dwellers that can’t even remember what it’s like to see the sun or the moon. Only us older folks in this little ‘inner circle’ we have can remember any noticeable change in the transition from season to season.” The worked-up leader put his hand to his face, and then rubbed his eyes. To the twenty others, Harold looked ten decades older than his fifty years.

      Later,Harold saw Amelia in the halls and she stopped to hear him out, even though she was still fuming.Knowing her, the reaction she would have when she heard his news would be heard throughout the vault. “I’m sorry if I got out of hand at our meeting.” I’ve decided to follow your advice and send out a scavenging party of three hundred; one hundred and fifty men and one hundred and fifty women. No children.” He added. “What do you mean ‘children’?” Harold was expecting an explosion any moment now, as if he was in the war going on above their heads. But this was not the answer he was expecting. Had she somehow changed? “Er... a-anyone under eighteen?” Amelia sighed. “Oh. thank goodness. I’m barely able to go.” Harold exhaled deeply in relief, and his face softened. “Amelia...” He started in a kind and quiet voice. “You might be old enough, but that doesn’t mean that you have to go. You still have at least another sixty years left in you. You’ve only barely turned 18” Harold winced. As soon as the sentence came out of his mouth, he wished he could take it out of the air in front of him.He’d given her a valid point. “Exactly, uncle H. I’ve come of age, and I won’t even live another sixty days if I stay here. Take a look at me! i’m all skin and bones.” Harold was getting impatient with Amelia. Who did she think she was, trying to go and get herself killed? When her mother died at childbirth and her dad was always working on the vault with the other scientists, Harold had taken it upon himself to protect the girl and teach her about the world outside, before the war had started. Now she wanted to risk her life for the sake of others. Just like he’d told her. “Fine. go to your quarters and get some rest. You’ll need it. I’m making the announcement tonight.” Amelia stalked away into the shadows.
    
    Amelia would be leaving this morning for training, if she hadn’t left him. There had been a gaping hole in his schedule ever since Amelia left with most of the other able-bodied men and women. He wondered what she was doing at the moment. They could already be dead, or they could have found a suitable place to live. Knowing Amelia, with her strong personality and level-headedness she would have taken over the entire search party and be leading them into battle.

     All that Amelia could notice was how quiet it was in the outside, and how untrained these young men and women were It’s as if those farmers that Harold told her about set out to explore a new country while Armed with weapons that they barely knew how to use. To these young people, this was a new country, seeing as they had no perceptible grasp on what it would be like. These people called themselves “The New Three-Hundred”, and Amelia found it to be a fitting, yet obvious name. The group had to take frequent breaks due to their lack of conditioning, during which Amelia became very restless. As they hiked the trails through the dense woodland forest, they happened upon a shell of an old crashed C5 galaxy. It had probably been the last one in use, due to its’ old tech. Amelia only knew what this strange object was was thanks to Harold. He constantly drilled her on old world things that she didn’t much care to know. Now that it was in front of her, she was glad that she knew what it was. It had probably been hit with a launched EMP. “What do you want to do, boss? Go around or scavenge?” Timothy asked Amelia “There’s no use in scavenging unless all we want is burnt metal scraps and dead bodies, Tim” Amelia said coldly. “Can we at least bury the bodies?” Amelia sighed, and in a much softer tone, just like Harold would, said “Take a look around. This is a graveyard. And if things keep on turning out like this, I reckon most of the world is,too” Tim looked down and said “Then why are we out here?” then Tim started walking away, but Amelia stopped him “To reclaim it”. The next day, the New three hundred Fortified a clearing at the top of a hill that Amelia found while exploring at night, while the others were asleep. The hill was more of a plateau than a hill, but that’s what Everybody called it. It overlooked a huge crater that had “R.I.P.  Dallas” written in the dirt for miles around. On the last night until fortifications were finished with the assistance of life-bots, Amelia was doing her usual exploring, and she was at her favorite spot to relax, which she had found last night. When she had first found the place, there was already a cleared-out space that was surrounded by twigs and animal hair. She thought that it was from a family of squirrels, but thought nothing of it because she could easily scare them off. As Amelia looked out into the sky, she saw a circular disc of light that reminded her of the cheese that she used to have on special occasions. She fell asleep, mesmerised by the bare beauty of this sky-light. This was pretty enough to be that moon that Harold always told her about. She woke to a foaming mouth growling at her. This nightmare-image reminded her of the wolves she saw in her nature books. But this.... This was as tall as the furthest height her arms went when at full length. It had bones sprouting from its back just as a stegosaurus does. She sat up very slowly, twigs and branches in her brown hair. the creature growled, and lunged. It caught nothing but tree bark. Amelia scaled the tree, but the beast started to uproot the tree, and Amelia jumped to another tree just in time to escape the terrible fate that awaited her on the ground. Amelia had an idea... if she could lead the creature to the ledge overlooking the crater, she could lead it off the edge. Amelia vaulted off the tree, to the ground just as the giant uprooted the second tree. Three hundred yards...two-fifty...two hundred… Amelia made it to the ledge and slid as the baseball players used to slide home, but Amelia slid over the edge,twisted in midair and grabbed a root all in three seconds.The creature slid over the edge just as Amelia had, but this time grabbed on to nothing. It would tumble all the way down, never to come back out. Amelia pulled herself up and out of the place, then heading back to camp. This encouraged The new three hundred to explore farther, and eventually to make a civilized town that grew to a population of three thousand within two decades. Amelia Missed Harold, but not because he was still left behind, but because he had died from heart attack a few years ago. Her son was now the commander of their small militia. Amelia knew this would not take back the war, but this was a small step to rebuilding.