Valentina’s Origin Part 3

Long Post So Her Story: Below the Cut!
 Part 1  &  Part 2

ask me anything is open about Valentina and/or Angel

continued…

Something other than the obvious was wrong. The other pods stood like steal giants looking down as she could only manage the strength to lift her to her hand and knees. A synthetic voice repeating between the intermittent crackles of static and dripping water competed with thoughts she struggled to grasp.  She knew she wasn’t supposed to be here. That something that was wrong. She felt as if someone poured fog down her throat and froze her literally to the core and covered her in ice that refused to break. Her mind was as foggy as the vision that faded in and out of her hands, one in front of the other pulling herself to a flight of stairs.
She did check the other pods; it wasn’t even a thought. Her only goal was retreat from this frozen hell. Once free she could, would find answers. She’d take this to the highest ranking she could reach. She wasn’t sure if the tears came from what she found out later was cryo-sickness or her fears that helped to clear her eyes, but it became evident as she found herself locked in a staring contest with a pair of expressionless empty sockets.  The stripped bones now drowning in the layers of a moldy labcoat taunted her with the fact that there may not be anyone to ask, no one from whom to demand answers. It seemed hell had frozen over. In that moment of horror, she found the strength to move, peddling upright and back from the remains of the scientist.  By the time she realized she’d let out a startled cry, it was too late. She cupped her hands over her mouth to stifle another.  But this time it wasn’t her.
The acoustic pop of electricity cutting the air, the sound of a kite stuck in a tree,  battered in the wind crept from around a bend in the open hallway. Fear made her body come alive though she still didn’t trust it, not yet. Parts of Valentina continued to feel sluggish, thawing as she kept low, crawling towards the increasing clicks and crackles. Holding her breath as she dared a glance around the steel frame of the vault corridor she found a dog-sized roaches. Her gut clenched wanting to force whatever it held up and out. Of course, nothing came. For once she was glad she was starting to realize she was starving. She retreated from the corner and let out a wry chuckle.  It seemed the only way she could go was past the giant insects. How? The answer came easier than expected. She caught the odd black glint of metal looking right at her from the pocket of the dead tech.
Valentina was unsure just how long it’d been, how long she’d been messing with the ammo and weapons cage next to the security desk when it finally sprung open and granted her access to reload the 10mm pistol. She’d avoided as many of the roaches as possible, and those that she had killed seemed only to be replaced. The Pipboy, still attached to a detached arm, dropped to the grated floor and flickered briefly before returning to a black screen.  She stepped around what she assumed the arm was once attached to and into the lights and sirens of the Vault door activation.
It must have been the sudden light, the fading rush of adrenaline, or even the lingering effects of the cryo-chamber, but she could barely remember hitting the workstation button to close the vault as she stumbled into the open air. She could only recall seeing the barricades and the rusted shells of cars and trucks and their skeletal drivers as she passed them in a newly forming haze. The world went silent around her and suddenly grew very far away.

“… Rex… come on sleepy head…  shine…”

I promised! Here she is and how they met.  Thanks @helloaschefire for the edit, @thefrostyshepard for the chat and word help, and THE @a-bladesentinel   who asked about Angel and Valentina post. Cause He knows I love those two so much!