Vault 22 is an abandoned vault that can be found in Fallout: New Vegas. Unlike Vault-Tec’s other post-war projects, this one seems to have a benevolent goal. Unfortunately, things still ended in disaster.
Vault 22 of Fallout: New Vegas is located west of The Thorn and east of Jacobstown. It’s also related to multiple quests, such as “Still in the Dark,” “There Stands the Grass,” and “Bleed Me Dry.”
Vault 22’s Plant Experiments
Vault 22 — arguably one of the most breathtaking locations in Fallout: New Vegas — was built to house scientists who specialized in botany and crop production. The facility was outfitted with laboratories and scientific tools that its inhabitants could use to study methods of food production and develop ways of improving them. For instance, the scientists conducted research on advanced fertilizers and pest control. All this was done to combat the hunger problem in the Mojave Wasteland.
After the bombs fell in the world of Fallout, the scientists of Vault 22 got to work. One of the research projects involved experimenting on a fungus known as "Beauveria mordicana," as it was often used for pest control. This, however, caused the specimen’s fungal spores to become airborne, and they spread throughout the vault. This then caused respiratory problems to develop among the vault residents, most notably coughing fits. Utility personnel ran diagnostics on the facility’s air circulation systems but found no harmful gasses. However, they found strange residue in the filters and forwarded the samples to the scientists for testing.
The Deadly Fungal Infection
While the fungal spores remained airborne, the vault residents’ health grew worse. One scientist named Harrison Peters was one of the first to feel the video game disease’s most harmful effects. He was unable to go to work for three days straight, as he’d been suffering from a severe case of pneumonia. According to his medical record, there was some sort of microorganism spreading in his lungs — likely the fungal spores. Unfortunately, Dr. Peters’ condition only grew even worse as time passed, until he eventually succumbed to the sickness.
By this point, many of the other vault residents were exhibiting the same symptoms as Dr. Peters, so the scientists of Vault 22 had to find a way to treat it. This halted the experiments within the vault in Fallout. Wanting to pinpoint Dr. Peters’ exact cause of death, the vault doctor performed an autopsy and found that the deceased patients’ lungs were now filled with the strange fungal infection, and it was still growing. However, before the vault doctor could consult another scientist about it, Dr. Peters’ corpse sat up and attacked him. The doctor managed to escape and call security, but he had started worrying about the fate of the other infected vault residents.
Because the vault scientists were unable to find a cure in Fallout for the fungal infection, more and more of the residents perished and became reanimated corpses. Much later, the remaining scientists devised a plan to get rid of the fungal spores once and for all. They programmed the vault’s air circulation systems to pump a flammable gas into the quarantined areas of the vault and intended to blow everything up. However, this agitated the reanimated corpses and they, presumably, attacked the living vault residents.
After the attack, around 100 of the remaining inhabitants left Vault 22. They then traveled to Zion Canyon, a location in Fallout: New Vegas’ Honest Hearts DLC, and set up camp there. One of the locals referred to them as the “Coughers” because of their incessant coughing fits. Eventually, the former vault residents raided the nearby settlements, capturing the people of Zion Canyon. Before the survivors could stage a counterattack and save the hostages, the former Vault 22 residents cannibalized them.
Despite this, the former vault residents didn’t stay in Zion Canyon for long. Many of them died from the sickness, while others were killed by the angry locals. Before long, more than 80 of them had perished, so the survivors fled. What ultimately happened to them is unknown, but it wouldn’t be farfetched to assume that they died from their sickness or from the dangers of the wasteland.
Vault 22 in Fallout: New Vegas
In the year 2281, The Courier can find the long-abandoned Vault 22. It’s one of the unique vaults in the Fallout series, as instead of being a derelict old facility, it’s filled with plant life. While traversing the vault, the player can find patches of plants growing everywhere, and these hide the mutated corpses of former vault residents who’ve since grown the green fungus all over their bodies. The Courier can also find giant Venus flytraps and mantises, which were experimented on as means of pest control, but have since mutated.
Finally, Fallout: New Vegas’ Courier can also find a ghoul scientist named Keely exploring the vault. She works with the New California Republic’s Office of Science and Industry and was sent to Vault 22 to research the plant life that was growing there. However, as she conducted her studies, the mantises knocked her unconscious, trapping her within the facility. The Courier plays a central role in her escape as well as in the potential preservation of all the data found in the vault.
In the Fallout: New Vegas quest, “There Stands the Grass,” The Courier will have to finish what the scientists failed at: blow up the vault. This will effectively destroy the fungal spores that still taint the air supply within the facility and kill what’s left of the reanimated corpses. Once this is done, Keely will reveal her intentions to destroy the data as she believes it will prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
In response to this, The Courier of Fallout: New Vegas can either convince her to let them take the data, kill her for it, or simply let it be erased. The player’s choice in this matter will affect their reward once the quest is completed. Regardless, the Mojave Wasteland will be a little bit safer without the fungal zombies threatening to escape from the old vault.
Fallout: New Vegas is available now for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
