That was the end of exploring for the day, so I took some food to my room and played music until I felt like going to bed. The next day I woke up early enough to catch Sally cooking for the day, so I joined her in the kitchen.
“Morning, Sally.”
She pretended I wasn’t there and continued cooking. Her body language became aggressive as she scraped noodles into a bin.
“Are you mad at me for something?”
She made a mocking face and rolled her eyes, but was responsive. “I don’t know why don’t you go snuggle up to Joe and ask him?”
“What? Are you kidding me?”
“I saw you guys the other night. I saw you playing coy, but I know you’re together, that’s why he’s letting you get off without cleaning up the dining room. I hope you two lovebirds have fun!” She screeched at me, then returned to preparing food.
“What the hell are you talking about? I told him to leave me alone. He’s barking up the wrong tree.”
“Oh, shut up! I thought you were my friend. Just leave me alone, asshole!”
There was no point in responding, so I went back to bed. I did not feel like being awake. When I awoke again, I did not feel like cleaning again. There wasn’t much mess to clean up and I refused to clean up the dining room. So, I found Willow, but she had other plans for the day. Despite what she had said the day before, I talked to George about exploring level three. He was nervous, but was equally as disappointed by how brief our exploration was the day before, so he joined me.
The second time, we passed by the armory, now restricted to security personnel, and headed for the opposite side of the level. In the middle, we passed a room with a camera icon on it. Curious, we opened the door and entered. The room was home to large control panels beneath dozens of monitors lining the walls. The screens on one wall were lit up, so we approached. We could see everything happening on all three levels. The monitors would switch between different cameras placed throughout the bunker.
In the security room was a box with a screen, like one I had seen in the medical room. After some examination it appeared to be a device for creating replacement ID cards. I could select the eight of us, enter new job titles and give clearances. While George was distracted watching the cameras, I made myself a new ID card with security-level clearance and a new title: Rock Star. The machine spit it out quietly a moment later. I slipped it in my pocket and moved us along out of the room.
We continued to the other side of level three and picked a door to open, then flipped on the lights. We stood in absolute wonder at how differently the previous day could have gone. Before us was a massive room full of arcade machines with all sorts of games, most of which felt familiar, but still new.
The panel of each machine had a power button, so we clicked a few on and hopped from one game to another until we came upon a fighting game. There were a variety of characters and we got competitive. The next thing we knew, Willow was standing behind us with her fists on her hips. It was evening and nobody had seen us all day, so they went looking. We had completely lost track of time, even as a concept.
On our way back, we showed her the security room, which did please her. The rest of the crew was excited that we found an arcade, and a lot more of our downtime was spent there afterward. Willow made going to the security office part of her routine. Since we got a stern talking to, George didn’t want to disobey Willow again.
I got to know when Willow was spending her time in the security office and began exploring when she would head back to level one. I scoured level three, but there were no bodies or cloning facilities. In fact, it felt like if I went deeper and explored level four, I would just find something new and different, but not the answers I was looking for. Still, level three did not have the answers I sought, so into the depths of level four I crept.
Alone again, the stale air rushed past me as I opened level four. Surely, Willow would find out the next day when there was a new row of screens lit up on her console, but how much deeper would I have to go to find the people? We had to be coming from somewhere.
When the lights came on, I was gobsmacked. Level four looked a lot like level one. There was a medical facility, dining room, and more living quarters. In fact, many more. Why were there so many in a facility where we were only supposed to live a short time? If this place was not supposed to sustain a large population, why were there more living quarters?
After exploring level four in stunned silence, crowbar in hand the whole time without a box to open, I returned to level one and had some coffee. I sat in the darkness thinking all night about what I found. I sipped on my coffee in reflection, even as I heard Sally cooking in the kitchen next door. When she entered the room that connects the two, where she puts the food for us to serve ourselves, I approached quietly with my coffee in hand.
“Good morning, Sally.”
Sally yelped and almost dropped the bin of food she was holding. Hand on her heart, she breathed heavily, staring at me wide-eyed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’ve been up all night thinking about stuff. I was wondering, where do we get our coffee from?”
“What?”
“Coffee comes from beans, right? Beans can’t survive a couple hundred years and be ready to roast, can they? That means this was cultivated recently, but where? We’ve been all over this bunker, where are the beans coming from?”
“I don’t know, we’re not as smart as the people that built this place. They figured out a way, Like Anthony says, just trust the science.”
“What science, Sally? We don’t know what science went into these beans making me a coffee, we just know we have beans. If we’re supposed to restart the species, why wouldn’t the people who designed this place be the first ones awake? Where does that chicken come from, Sally? Do you know? Because I haven’t found any chickens either.”
“They’re frozen when I get them, duh.”
“Frozen in ice for two or three hundred years and no frostbite? I gotta say, that’s impressive.”
“Look, I’m trying to work, do you mind leaving me alone?”
I departed. I was out of coffee anyway, so my cup stayed behind. When I awoke late the next day, Willow and Joe wanted to have a word with me. Willow was upset at me openly defying her orders not to go exploring alone, and Joe was berating me for my performance. When I brought up the strange, inconsistent details I noticed, they shrugged them off like Sally had. They ultimately restricted me from exploring alone. The security room was attached to a lockup, so now we actually had a prison they could throw me in, and threatened to do so.
It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to explore anymore. I tried bringing up my concerns to the others but they blew me off. Anthony offered me tequila to relax. There was something wrong with the bunker that the others refused to see, but I had too many unanswered questions. I thought perhaps some literature could give me perspective, so I found the library.
That was when I realized why Anthony didn’t care for the books. The first book I picked up was about a civilization of mice staying in the safety of their holes and how leaving meant death. A science fiction book I examined was about a crew surviving on their crashed ship in a dangerous world that wants to kill them. I left the library and elected to sit in the dining room and stare blankly out the narrow slit of a window.
I watched a storm raging outside for a while before George passed through to grab a snack. He was on his way to replace some air filters on level one. Apparently, maintenance lights came on to alert him of such things. With nothing to do, I offered to help.
George scanned his ID and we entered a maintenance section I hadn’t seen before then climbed a short ladder. The ducts weren’t narrow, but I would fit easier than George, so I offered to go in instead of him. I took a clean filter with me and switched it out with the ones full of dirt clumps and dust. On the other side of the filters were cement walls with stickers alerting us to danger beyond that point. On the fourth and last time, I paused to listen to my environment. I could hear the hum of fans, but there was no raging storm in the distance. As severe as that was, I should be able to hear it. There was a mismatch between what I was seeing and hearing outside.
I examined the thin metal bars in front of me. I could reach the screws on the back side, but needed a screwdriver to get through. A plan already in mind, I said nothing to George. He was a wuss and would definitely rat me out.
The next few days I spent getting back to my routine while I mentally worked out the details. I finally gave in and cleaned up the dining room, which the others took as a sign that I was submitting. Once they stopped watching me as closely, I made my move.
Everyone there was bigger and stronger than me, and everyone except George was meaner too. I didn’t want a fight. Instead in the dead of night, I got dressed, put on a jacket, and used my infrared tactical light like a handheld spyglass to stealthily navigate the bunker’s dark corridors. In a backpack I stuffed as many water bottles as I could manage and a sealed food tray from the day before packed with food. I grabbed some toilet paper then found a screwdriver and headed back to where I had helped George with the filters. Using my fake ID, I opened the door and slipped inside.
After removing the filter I unscrewed the metal bars and stepped into the spacious, cold cement passageway. I fixed the bars and put the filter back into place from the other side. The room was twice as tall as me and twice as long as that and equally as deep. There were two openings feeding into the room from the side. Thankfully, they were just low enough for me to jump to, but pulling myself up was a lot harder.
I picked one and jumped for my life until I made it into a long cement shaft. I crawled for what felt like an hour until I could hear rushing water in the distance. It was still a while before I reached it. Once there, I looked through the infrared light to see a rushing river about two stories down. I packed the light in my backpack and strapped it on tight, then kicked at the side of the thin metal mesh between me and freedom.
With several screws gone and enough room to stick my body through, I checked to see what was around the opening. There was not much room to stand on beneath me, but it wasn’t too far to the top. I kicked at the side of the mesh until I could fit my whole body and climb on top of the cement tube.
As I climbed the tube, my foot slipped. With a yelp, I fell. My butt clipped a flat rock a few feet below me, then I careened into the waters below.
Rushing water bubbled and crashed around me and without any choice in the matter, I let it carry me downstream. I shielded myself from rocks and stayed afloat until I cleared the ravine and was able to swim to shore. Exhausted and beaten, I crawled through the dirt and leaned against a tree. The sky was turning lighter and I could see better. I took off my backpack to make sure everything was okay. Thankfully, everything was in one piece. I strapped the backpack on and rested against the tree.
When I awoke, the sun was up and birds were chirping. I ate then got to my feet and started my journey. I didn’t know which way to go, so I followed the river until I came upon a waterfall. Not wanting to relive the night before, I opted to go around it. This took me into the forest, where I spent several days. Using the sun to orient me, I marched. The world seemed perfectly habitable, but there were no people. Days turned into a week and I ran out of food. I hadn’t come across another river to fill up my water bottles, so I ran out of those a couple days later.
I kept the backpack with me, in case I came across more food and water I could stuff in it, but soon I was resting more than I was walking. Dirty and exhausted, I began to see and hear things that weren’t there. The world would spin around me and all perception of how long I had been walking disappeared.
One day, I thought I saw people walking toward me in the distance. I hurried down the mountainside, forgetting about my fatigue. I fell twice and rolled a distance before I got to my feet and continued running, hands in front of me like a zombie. Once I got close, I could hear them talking.
“Do you hear that?” said one of the strangers. I burst from the wilderness and toppled onto the dirt floor in front of them.
“Oh my god!” The women burst in panicked surprise. The man jumped as well.
Face in the dirt, I turned to look at them, eyes half open. I was so happy, but it felt like I was dying.
“Hey, buddy, are you alright?”
“Honey, he’s a homeless person, let’s go.”
“No, babe, call an ambulance. This guy needs help.”
“Hey…” I said. My voice was weak and hoarse. The man hurried over and knelt down next to me, giving me a drink from his water bottle.
“Are you alright, my man?”
“I… thought the world ended.”
“Nah,” the man laughed. “But, you’re going to be okay. Can you tell me your name?”
“Pete.”
“Okay, good. Nice to meet you, Pete. My name’s Joe.”
“You gotta be kidding me…” I grumbled.
“What are you doing out here? Can you tell me where you’re from?”
“I… don’t remember.”