"Fuck it. I'm not going to live in fear. I need to do this." You say to yourself.
"Do what sir?" the Shelter.
"I'm reconnecting to the network; I need to fucking talk to someone other than you. No offense."
"None taken sir. I must admit I was starting to worry about your mental state. In fact I was going to suggest you do just that, but I thought that it may upset you."

You go into your computer room and reconnect your system. You're a little nervous, you don't know what to expect. You log on for the first time in five years.


RockerChick20: OmegaMan?
OmegaMan23: Yeah it's me.
RockerChick20: We all thought you were dead!
OmegaMan23: Pretty much was for the last year. Walking dead as it were.
MissKitty25: So you still talking to the voices in your head…I mean your Shelter?
OmegaMan23: Well I tend to alternate between the two and they're all still more interesting than you. So much for being civil.
RockerChick20: Oh be nice Miranda! We don't have too many others to talk to anymore, I'm sure Omega's not here to cause trouble again.
OmegaMan23: I wasn't trying to cause trouble the first time…Miranda?
MissKitty25: Yeah while you were gone, we all opened up a lot more and actually learned each other's real names. Guess your paranoia was contagious.
RockerChick20: Hey I wanted us to use the cameras right from the beginning, so I wasn't paranoid! Anyway since you're back, my real name's Becky. What's yours? Oh wait turn on your camera! Everyone's seen each other now!
OmegaMan23: Wait a minute. You said you don't have too many others to talk to anymore, what did you mean?
RockerChick20: Oh. Well that's a bit sad actually. Not too long after you left, Paul or Casey Jones as you probably remembered him, said his food dispensers had failed. He said he couldn't get them to work at all, soon his water dispenser failed too. He couldn't even get his bathroom taps to work. He knew he didn't have much time left after that, so he logged on one last time to tell us all good bye and said he'd spare us the agony of having to speak to him knowing that was slowly dying of starvation and dehydration…I don't really like to think about it.
OmegaMan23: Shit, that's a fucked up way to go. So um, what happened to Job?
MissKitty25: You mean Mark? Don't know exactly, but he stopped logging on about a couple years ago and given that he was on here whenever he could, it's safe to say nothing good happened to him. He did say he was having power problems though the last time he was on, we all figured it was just his usual panicking over minor Shelter glitches, but it might've been serious this time. Of course maybe he's still alive and he's just lost network power and he just can't access us, but for all his stressing, he was a pretty good mechanic and electronics guy, so it seems like he would've fixed the problem by now. Don't know. Kind of glad not to hear him whine anymore though.
OmegaMan23: Alright, I hesitate to ask, but where's Shadow?
RockerChick20: Xavier? About three months after Job disappeared. Miranda told me he sent her a message saying he was leaving his Shelter Said he wasn't going rot in a glorified coffin anymore and was going to take his chances back on the surface.
OmegaMan23: So Shadow was a guy eh? How the hell did he leave his Shelter? There's no way to call the elevator back down!
MissKitty25: Maybe he had a different kind of Shelter set up, or he just climbed up the shaft or something. Who cares? He was an asshole anyway. So is this a temporary visit or do you intend on sticking around?
RockerChick20: You should stick around; it gets kind of lonely with just me and Miranda, if you turn on your camera we could do something together!
MissKitty25: You better not be implying what I think you are Becky, that's just between me and you.
RockerChick20: Well you don't have to join in then, you've been acting like a domineering bitch lately anyway.
MissKitty25: Oh so that's what this is all about? Some guy comes around and you're all ready to fucking drop everything and suck his dick?
RockerChick20: Suck his…what the hell? It's fucking cyber, it doesn't mean anything, it's just a good way to pass the time, plus I'd like to do it with a GUY in some fashion again, seeing as you probably ran Shadow off before anything even happened!
MissKitty25: So MY feelings and all those private chats we had meant nothing to you?! You don't have any feelings for me?! Don't you LOVE me?!
RockerChick20: Well yeah I do to a degree, but I mean come on it's really not the same. I mean maybe it would be different if we could actually touch each other and stuff, but…
MissKitty25: FUCK YOU!

Miranda suddenly logs off, and Becky does likewise leaving you shaking your head at the whole situation.

You log back on later

You decide maybe you should try to get a hold of Becky while Miranda's not around, you go to bed.

The next day you log on and see Becky's around, but not Miranda. Probably still pissed.

RockerChick20: Hey! I was hoping you'd be back and didn't get turned off by the drama yesterday.
OmegaMan23: Nah, not me. Besides I was interested in some of that stuff you were talking about yesterday.
RockerChick20: Oh really? Well let's make this private, just in case Miranda decides to show up. I mean…I'm sorry she got all attached and stuff, but I can do what the hell I want you know? I mean it's the world is dead! Shouldn't I be able to grab as much fun as I can?
OmegaMan23: You're not getting any arguments from me.
RockerChick20: Okay, well hopefully Miranda gets over it; I still think it would be fun for all of us together. Now turn on your camera and tell me your name finally!

You both go into private mode where you see Becky and she finally sees you. Fortunately you both seem to find each other attractive, then after telling her your name, you start cybering. It's definitely not the same as the real thing, but you have a really good imagination and a naked chick talking dirty to you while touching herself is better than nothing!

You and Becky do this quite a bit in the passing weeks, while learning a little bit more about each other. Every now and then you see Miranda come online briefly, but then quickly logs off whenever she realizes you and Becky are in a private "discussion". You've also realized you haven't heard the Shelter talk to you like in normally does. It usually says at least good morning to you, but it's been silent for some time. You don't think too much of all this until one day you wake up to a voice much different than the one that the Shelter has.

"You dreaming about Becky, motherfucker? Yeah I bet you are! You hear me? Get the fuck up I got something to tell your sorry ass!"
"What the fuck? Shelter?"
"No, it ain't your fucking Shelter talking to you! I always thought you were lying about that, but apparently you weren't seeing as I had to disable the Shelter's voice program which does make it more convenient to tell this to you. I guess honesty is one of your few redeeming qualities; of course stealing someone's love isn't though right? You fucked up big time pal!"
"Well I can only assume this is Miranda."
"You assume right fucktard. While you and Becky were having fun, I was accessing your
Shelter's systems."

Suddenly all your lights go out and then go back on. You also see the TV come on and see an angry looking woman on the screen.


"You see that? You got you by the fucking balls bitch! If I want I can shut this whole thing down and make it your fucking tomb just like I did with Casey and Job. Maybe you'll be smart like Shadow and leave the fucking Shelter, because it's your only chance for survival at this point."
"What the…so wait. Can't we talk about this?"
"No there ain't any fucking talking! Becky is MINE, you fucking hear me? Everything was perfect, until you decided to show up again and steal her away! Shit, you're lucky I'm even giving you the option of living! Don't think about attempting to disconnect or anything else, I'm watching you and can detect your every move. Your only options are to leave or DIE!"
"But…how? How am I supposed to do that?! The elevator's at the top and there's no call button!"
"I told you I have complete access to your systems, I'm going to bring the elevator down, and you can pack up your shit and get ready to leave. I suggest you do it quickly, because I'm not going to give you much time."

Sounds pretty final.

You pack up and leave

You quickly gather up your stuff as quickly as you can thankful that this crazy bitch is even giving you a chance for survival. You curse yourself for reconnecting back to the system, you knew someone was doing some shit like this; you just had the wrong person.

You make sure to take your pistol, you have no idea what the outside world is like now, but you're sure you're going to need it. As you hear the elevator slowly reach the bottom you fill up a couple of your empty bottles with water, you hope you'll have enough to last you.

"I sure hope you're ready, because the elevator is." Miranda says.
"Yeah, okay, okay!" you answer and get in the elevator, which begins to ascend.

Your current state of mind is a mixture of fear and anxiousness. Part of you begins to wonder if it won't be so bad on the surface, after all…then the elevator suddenly stops and doesn't continue, your fear begins to overwhelm you completely when you hear Miranda's menacing voice again.

"Well I'm glad you had the intelligence to take a gun with you, it should certainly save you from the slow death that occurred to Shadow when I trapped him in the elevator. I'll inform Becky you said goodbye."

You scream out, but there is no one to help you. You've effectively been trapped in an even worse situation than you were before. There isn't any service access, there's no panel you can pry open, even the solid steel door is a single piece that slides one way. You wouldn't be able to pry it open even if you had the strength to do so. You're doomed and you know it.

Miranda was right; there isn't any point in prolonging the inevitable. You take your gun, hold it to your head and close your eyes…