I count the seconds that turn into minutes as I wait for either the communicator to come to life in my hand or some kind of commotion from outside. Joslin had said that the guards in the cleared area would all be disarmed but I have no idea how she’s going to accomplish that until my favorite voice rings out and the sound I had heard the day before when the gun ports slid back happens.
“Attention all armed military personnel, stack your weapons in the center of the clearing or you will be neutralized. All armed military personnel, disarm yourselves immediately and stack your weapons in the center of the clearing or you will be neutralized.”
Marsh shoves to his feet and races to the front of the tent where he pulls back one of the flaps by a few inches and looks out. I hold my breath waiting for him to report back what he sees and try not to bark out the laugh that fills my chest when he turns to us with a huge grin. He rushes back to us and motions us to our feet.
“She’s got red laser sight painting every single one of them! I think now would be a good time for us to move to the back of the tent.”
We had all agreed that as much as we wanted to trust Joslin with getting us out of here, we would take precautions. We decided that going out the main flaps to the tent would paint too much of a tempting target on us so instead, we’re using one of the sharp knives from my pack to cut a slit in the back corner of the tent closest to the doors of my former quarters. We’re hoping with all the confusion outside will be able to slip out without being noticed and make it to our door when Joslin gives us the word to go.
At first, there’s only fearful confusion coming from the other people in the tent but soon many of them are on their feet and rushing towards the front flaps to see what’s happening outside. That helps clear the way for us to move to the back corner with only a few people giving us strange looks. I stand with the others in the back corner with the communicator clenched in my hand, willing it to come alive. Instead, AIRIA’s voice rings out again from speakers that had been set up on the walls.
“Attention civilian population! You are now free to leave and you are encouraged to leave the area as quickly as possible. Do not approach the weapons or soldiers. I repeat do not approach the weapons or soldiers. Evacuate now! Evacuate now!”
She repeats the message one more time and then falls silent. It’s all these scared people need to jump them into action. It only takes minutes for the tent to empty out and both Lance and Ethan are using the knives to cut a wide slit in the back of the canvas tent when the communicator in my hand finally comes alive with just two words.
“Go now.”
I stuff the communicator in my pocket and grab tightly on to Ben’s hand while Rex grabs Matty as we step through the opening and head straight for the door in the rock wall. All her exterior sensors must work now because the door slides open at our approach and I find a few of those rocks in my stomach start to unclench. The secondary door into the interior slides open as well and everyone starts filing through but I hang back for a moment and rush to one of the panels in the airlock and throw it open. I thrust my arm between the lines of hanging winter gear and scoop them off the hooks in one go, passing some of them to Benny so I can grab more. With my hands full, we hurry into our quarters and I dump them in the middle of the living room before dashing into the kitchen and grabbing a box of garbage bags. All the guys and Belle have gone through to the cavern but Sasha has hung back so I wave her forward and thrust some garbage bags into her arms.
“I need you and Benny to stuff as many of these jackets and snow pants as possible into the bags while I go back and grab boots.”
I don’t even wait for her to answer, just fly back into the airlock and start grabbing everything that I can and rushing it back into the living room to dump it onto the pile. I make four trips before I call it good and rush to stuff all the gear into bags as quickly as I can. It doesn’t take the three of us long to get it done and thankfully Benny’s strong enough to drag two of the bags on his own into the back cavern. I dumped my own bags in the center of it with his, grab Sasha and race the other way. Into the walk-in storage pantry with two carts we go. I’m happy to see Belle has beat us in there and she’s pulling supplies off the shelves and loading her own cart as quick as her hands can move. Ben comes in after me and watches us for a few minutes with Matty at his side before calling to me,
“Sky, tell us what we can do to help. We can do stuff too!”
I don’t even look at him as I’m too busy pulling the goods off and making sure they don’t fall off the cart that I’ve piled high as I give him instructions.
“Go start stuffing chickens in cages, Benny. You know how to do it so show Maddie and get as many into cages as you can, even if they’re a little bit squashed they’ll be fine for a couple hours until we get where we’re going.” His little voice is filled with enthusiasm as he shouts out,
“We can do it! We won’t let you down Sky!”
When our carts can’t take one more item without the whole stack toppling, we push them out of the pantry and across the cavern over the bridge towards the garage, where we leave them. I rush over to the far left back corner of the cavern with the two girls right on my heels and grab stacks of empty bins and start passing them out to them. We need to get as many of the supplies that we have on our carts into these bins so we can load them onto the truck, otherwise we’ll have food everywhere that will end up getting stepped on and destroyed. In a world where every calorie counts we can’t screw this up with carelessness.
As soon as we’ve transferred all the supplies into the bins we leave them there for the boys to load and carry the rest of the empty bins on the carts back to the pantry for another run. I desperately want to look at my watch to see how much time has gone by but I’m terrified knowing that every second counts. As soon as we’ve cleared out the majority of the goods from the pantry, I head to the walk-in freezers. Belle and Sasha have been following me move for move so when I pull the door open, Belle reaches out and grabs my arm.
“Skylar, there’s no point in taking any of that. We have no way to keep it frozen and it’ll just spoil.”
I pull my arm away from her and shake my head in disagreement. “No, we need to take as much of the meat as possible. We can cook all of it and turn it into jerky or can some of it. It could mean the difference between survival and death from starvation this winter. We have to take the time to grab as much as we can.”
I rush in and start sweeping the frozen metal racks of everything on them into the bins and by the time we’re out of room in the plastic bins, my arms and hands are frozen numb but I don’t let it slow me down. We push the three carts back across the cavern and I take a look around to see how the boys are making out. The door to my Armory is wide open and I can see that every drawer and the glass doors that protected the weapons have been thrown open and are empty. The bins from the pantry that we had left for them are gone and Benny’s small voice has me swinging around.
“Out of the way! Farmer Ben coming through!”
The tension and stress of the last few minutes is so overwhelming that my legs are shaking but the sight coming towards me has me bursting out in laughter. Ben has somehow got a rope around Nod’s neck and he’s leading her like she’s a dog going for a walk. Following behind him is Rex and Marsh carrying cages of extremely agitated and irritated chickens. Me and the girls quickly move the carts out of their way as the barnyard progression goes past us and then we push our carts behind them to the garage. I only stick around for a minute to watch Ben calmly walking his pet up the ramp into the back of the livestock trailer with an amused shake of my head. The sight of him helping out with such confidence eases some of my fears and makes me feel like we might actually make it out of here in one piece.
I waive the girls to follow me and we head to the garden. We’re only going to be able to take about sixty percent of the live plants that are in trays and pots. The rest are in built-in beds and there’s no way we’re going to have ti
me to dismantle them and take them with us. I start viciously pulling out half grown carrots, onions, potatoes and anything else that looks close to being ripe. Once again, we fill our carts to overflowing and push them back to the garage for the boys to load before repeating the process two more times.
With the garden cleared out, there’s only one last thing I feel we need. The girls follow me to a shipping container that my Dad had stocked full of toilet paper and feminine hygiene products. I stifle a giggle at Belle’s and Sasha’s expressions of pure joy when I swing the metal doors open and they see what’s inside. Once the carts are loaded, I do let out the laugh that fills my throat when I see both of them stuffing their shirts with tampons but then do the same. I mean, come on! A girl can never have too many, right?
We’re heading back for a fourth pass of anything we might have missed or anything else we can think to grab when Marsh goes racing past us giggling maniacally. In his hands, he’s clutching Ben’s Xbox with a stack of games on top of it that goes all the way up to under his chin. I just shake my head but I feel my own grin splitting my face. The feeling slides away when the double doors to the tunnel swing open and Joslin comes through, practically carrying Jackson, who’s in very bad shape. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone’s face so pale before and the way she’s holding him up I think he must be injured in some way. I turn my head and scream for Ethan to come help her as I rush towards her to give her a hand. Her face is grim but there’s a fierce triumph shining from her eyes and she nods her head towards me.
“Time to go. We don’t have much time!” The words have barely left her mouth when the lighting changes from the steady white fluorescence to a flashing red and AIRIA’s voice plays out of every speaker in the cavern.
“Attention! Attention! All personnel must evacuate the facilities immediately. Self-destruct sequence initiated. This facility will self-destruct in five minutes.”
The message repeats over and over as I stare at Joslin in complete shock. Images flash through my mind of every moment that I’ve spent inside this bunker. From the last moments that I had with my mother to finding my father dead outside and all the milestones that Ben crossed as he grew up. This is my home, this is my life, this is all I have left of my parents and she’s killed it? She’s killed it all. I finally find my voice and when it comes out it’s in a roar.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?”
My furious expression and the roared question don’t intimidate her in the least as her face stays firm and determined but her tone is defiant when she states,
“I did what I had to!”
Chapter Sixteen … Joslin
The stage is set as I watch the last of the players move into position. The final soldier returning from the fields comes in through the overhead door to the barracks and it closes behind him. A quick look at my tablet shows the only soldiers outside now are the ones guarding the tents and the gate to the fence. I open the command file that I’ve prepared for this moment and start tapping out commands. The first one I send is for all doors to be locked down except for the door leading into Skylar’s quarters. The next one is for AIRIA to disarm the soldiers outside. I minimize the screen and walk out onto the barracks floor where the tables are filling up with soldiers who are enjoying their fine meal of steak, baked potatoes, and fresh vegetables. The steak might have been in the freezers here for a few years, but judging how the people are devouring it, it must still taste pretty good.
The General is mingling with his men, moving from table to table chatting them up, something I’ve hardly ever seen him do. Judging by the smiles he’s receiving, it’s going over well. I leave him to it and turn away to check on the next part of the evening while keeping an eye on the line of guards handing in their weapons and truck keys to the armory so they can go and get their own meals.
I head towards the front of the barracks to make sure that all the chairs have been set up in front of the huge screen that has been lowered from the ceiling. There were plenty of eager volunteers to move all the bunks tightly together at the far end once they learned they were going to get a movie night. It almost makes me sad how such a small reward has made them so happy. I shake the thought away and stride up to just under the screen where there’s a microphone stand on a small portable platform. I check the wiring to make sure that it’s plugged in and ready to go for when the General gives his motivational speech to his troops.
When AIRIA’s voice comes through my earpiece telling me that the soldiers outside have been disarmed and civilians ordered to leave, I quickly look around to make sure I’m alone then tap a button on my tablet and say the words, “Go now”. The tension inside of me has me feeling pulled tight but my expression is kept carefully neutral. The game is moving forward, now all I need is the will to not only finish, but to win it.
When I turn around, I see the line to the Armory only has two soldiers left so I head that way. By the time I reach it, both of the soldiers in line have handed in their rifles and are practically jogging to get to their dinner. I stop in the doorway and lean my head through, spotting Major Boucher, who’s the head of supply. He eyes me with caution as I have no reason to be anywhere near the armory so I send him an innocent smile.
“Major Boucher, are you aware that they are serving steak and baked potatoes with all the fixings for dinner tonight? Why don’t you join the rest of the men and enjoy a real meal for once?”
The caution leaves his face and turns to one of wistfulness instead. “Thank you, Miss Frost. I would love nothing more than to sink my teeth into a real piece of beef but I will have to wait for Captain Roy to come back from his dinner to relieve me.”
I feign surprise. “Of course, you wouldn’t want to leave the armory unmanned, which would be against regulations. But you could lock it down. I’m pretty sure no one’s going to need any weapons in the next hour or so. That is unless the kitchen staff doesn’t cook the steaks well enough. Someone might need a rifle to put their steak out of its misery if it’s too rare!”
The Major perks up at that and laughs at my silly joke but shakes his head. “It’s sweet of you to think of me Miss Frost but I wouldn’t want to interrupt the General when he’s having such a good time interacting with the troops right now, just to get him to authorize AIRIA to lockdown the armory.”
I shoot my eyebrows up like I’m surprised and give a little laugh. “Oh! That is so considerate of you. He does seem like he’s having a good time. It’s nice to see the General relaxing and enjoying himself after so many years of hardship. But if it’s just a matter of authorizing AIRIA to lock the Armory down, I can do that for you. Were you aware that I have a green clearance level?”
He looks at me with a touch of surprise. “Really? I did not know that you had a green level.”
I step back from the doorway with a grin and wave him out. “Really, I do! Close the door and I’ll authorize it while you’re standing here so you can be sure that it’s locked up tight and then you can go and enjoy yourself with the rest.”
He sends me an uncertain look but pulls the door closed and looks at me expectantly like I’m trying to trick him.
“AIRIA, please lock down the barracks’ armory.”
“Joslin Frost, armory secure.” She confirms.
I pat the Major on his arm and wave towards the food line. “Come and find me when you want me to open it again for you but in the meantime enjoy your meal and don’t forget we’re having a special movie screening tonight as well. You wouldn’t want to miss it!”
He fires off a sloppy salute in gratitude before hustling across the barracks to get in line. I open my command file again and tap out the next command. Now the armory won’t open for anyone but me. I walk around the perimeter of the barracks, taking it all in, and spot Jackson rising from one of the tables with a tray. I head in his direction as he passes his dirty dishes through one of the kitchen windows to the dishwashers. Before I get to him, the General crosses between us and comes to a stop in front of me.
<
br /> “Miss Frost, there you are! I’d like to commend you for all you’ve done organizing this evening. It was sound advice that you gave me and clearly, by the response from the troops, it was something that needed to be done. You continually impress me for someone who is so young. You’re incredibly mature and composed for someone of your age. Once we complete the first phase, I’d like to discuss increasing your duties in the future. You’ve become a real asset to me and our people.”
I keep a pleasant smile on my face and the simple thank you I should say to him doesn’t come out as planned. Instead, I speak from my heart.
“Sir, did you know I was adopted two years before the bombs fell? I had been in foster care or an orphanage for all of my life until they adopted me. It was the first chance I ever had to have a family of my own. To really, truly know what it meant to be loved.”
He seems slightly confused by why I’m telling him this but he’s in a good mood so he indulges me.
“I’m sorry, Miss Frost, I was unaware of that. But learning that makes me even more proud of all you’ve had to overcome to become such an asset to us all.”
My smile grows larger. “Thank you, Sir. I like to think that everything I do now, I do to make them proud, to honor their memory. Take my computer skills for example. My adopted parents were programmers and taught me many things and gave me my love for all things computers. Yes, sir, I do what I do to honor them.” He’s starting to look slightly uncomfortable so I forge on. “Sir, forgive me, the reason I’m telling you this is I thought you might want to include something in your speech to the personnel tonight. Something along the lines of, even though we’ve lost our loved ones, they would be proud of what we’re doing to try and rebuild. I think it would mean a lot to the people if you reminded them of everything we’re working for.”
Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4 Page 51