Part Two
 
"No war? What kind of sick joke is this?" Eli yelled, ignoring the gun that once again thumped his chest.
"Corporal, that's all we're allowed to tell them. You know the protocols," the soldier watching Eli said.
"Please don't remind me of what you know that I already know, Private Casey," he answered sternly.
"Now," Tennenbaum said to John, "we've got to move, and fast. If that vault is really open, there's going to be a lot of interested parties. You, the girl there, and the loud mouth are coming with me. The rest of your group is going with Private Casey."
"John, we can't seriously—" Sarah began.
"Sarah, please. They're serious. I don't know what's happening, but we've obviously been gravely misinformed about current events," John said as calmly as he could.
"Alright, Privates Menaul and Lisbon, you're with me as well, everyone else, back to base," Tennenbaum ordered and led the trio outside.
Once outside, Corporal Tennenbaum and his soldiers were a bit more relaxed than in the shop. Their riles were no longer leveled on their captives' heads, but instead rested steadily at their sides. Eli was still tense, but Sarah and John were walking a little more comfortably now. The Corporal was having John lead them back to the vault. He said a 987 required they secure "the box" within one hour of contact.
The three explorers were seeing the wreckage with quite a fresh perspective on the return trip. There had been no war. There had been no bombs. Who else knew? Had the entire vault been lied to by the government from the start? Or did the leaders know? Most importantly, why had they been locked away in those dull, grey halls for 226 years if there had been no danger? Corporal Tennenbaum was no help. He just kept saying, "It's classified," and urging them to walk faster.
By the time they were about a mile from the vault entrance, the soldiers were significantly more relaxed. Maybe they thought babysitting a bunch of intellectuals was beneath them. Whatever the reason, it allowed the three of them to talk discreetly.
"We're not really just going to march three soldiers into our home, are we?" Sarah whispered.
"Home? We've been lied to our whole lives. How can we be sure what that place is now? What if it's some secret military thing? What if our 'home' is the bomb?" Eli panicked as quietly as he knew how.
John raised his eyebrows at Eli to communicate 'shut up.' He whispered, "We don't know anything, yet. Ok? So let's just play it cool for now."
"That's smart, but can we at least have a plan for if things go south?" Sarah asked.
"We're scientists and historians. Not soldiers. No, we just see how this goes."
Corporal Tennenbaum's voice right behind them made them just about jump out of their skin, "Just so you know, we're not going to shoot you guys or anything."
Eli laughed nervously, "What? We're not— We were just—"
Tennenbaum smiled, "It's alright. I don't care what you were talking about."
The three of them were so nervous now that they just walked in silence the rest of the way. They reached the huge piles of rubble and stopped to tell the soldiers they were almost there.
"Alright," Corporal Tennenbaum said hurriedly, "We have very little time. I'm supposed to seal you guys back in the vault, and set flares for an airstrike. ETA is thirty minutes before the bombers are in range. We need to evacuate the vault."