The Last Clean Sample

The scout returned with air from a sheltered room beneath an exterior stadium. It contained no ash, salt, mould, industrial trace or measurable pathogen. By every Vault standard, it was the cleanest air ever recovered.

The Plague Eater review found one irregularity: the air carried a faint chemical signature from human breath, though no body had been present in the room for decades.

MOTHER sealed the sample to prevent a rush toward the site. The scout argued that cleanliness was not proof of safety. The sample was destroyed after the analysis, leaving the room's location as the only remaining evidence that such air had existed.