by Harley Hanna
Chapter 8
I walked at the front of the group again. My fists were clenched at my sides as my gun hung over my shoulder. I stomped my feet into the ground, walking forward, trying to reach the destination as quick as possible. I was still infuriated; I didn’t know how they could just let that happen. They stayed a considerable distance behind me, trying to give me space.
I wanted to just get this over with, to be finished with the whole thing and get back to The Cross.
“Karia!” Dardian yelled. “Come on, let’s stop and take a break.”
I stopped, turning around and reluctantly setting my pack on the ground. I sat beside it on an old rotting log, it luckily didn’t break beneath my weight. Dardian and Tim approached me, setting their packs down as well.
“You can’t be like this forever.” Tim said. “You haven’t said a word to us all day.”
I remained silent, too angry to say anything. I just kept my fists clenched, trying to hold myself back.
“Come on Karia, we couldn’t just let you run out there and die. We have a bigger mission right now. What we’re doing could save hundreds of lives.” Dardian said.
“I know, okay?” I said, finally silencing them. “I just, I need to be angry. I can’t just walk away from that and not, feel something.”
They were silent for a few moments, looking at me and shuffling their feet. Dardian opened his pack and pulled out the map, laying it out on the flattest piece of ground he could find.
“Well, it looks like we have about less than mile until we reach the bunker.” He said, pointing towards our destination.
“We should be there in thirty minutes.” Tim said.
“Let’s go” I said, standing up and putting my bag on my back again and grabbing my gun.
We walked through the dense forest, no one said a word. I didn’t walk as far away from them now, and my fists were a little more relaxed. Then, the forest started to clear, up ahead I could see and opening. The trees faded away and opened into a large field of tall grass.
“This must be it, looks just like the clearing near The Cross.” Tim said.
“We have to approach slowly, we can’t breach it so someone’s just going to have to knock.” I said.
“Let’s hope they’re friendly.” Dardian replied.
We started towards the hatch that lay in the middle of the field, our guns raised. Tim watched the trees to my right and Dardian watched the ones to my left. I stared straight ahead, watching the tree line for any advancement.
We approached the hatch, it looked just like The Cross, minus the cross. Tim put his back to the hatch, raising his gun and continuing to watch the tree line. Dardian did the same, getting my back while I tried to enter the bunker. I tried once before I took the friendly approach but the metal wouldn’t budge. I rapped my fist on the grey metal.
Silence followed, nothing came back, no response. I knocked again, hoping for anything, any noise or hopefully a sign of a person. Nothing happened. I knocked one more time. We didn’t plan for this scenario, we never thought about the fact that no one could be here.
Nothing. No response, no sign of life, nothing. I stood up, Dardian and Tim were looking at the hatch now. They were as shocked as I was, we were almost sure someone would be here.
“Well what the fuck do we do now?” Tim said. I sat down in the clearing. My mind slowly came to the realization that all of this was for nothing, that we just made a two-day journey and risked our lives, and nothing came of it. I put my hands in my face and started to cry, tears streamed down my face and started filling my hands. I couldn’t stop it, I tired but it wouldn’t let up.
A noise came from inside the bunker, something moved inside it. I raised my face from my hands, I stared at the bunker as I sat on the ground. Nothing happened for a minute, Tim and Dardian just looked at each other.
“Who’s there?” A voice came from inside the bunker. We all looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
“We have supplies, weapons, and food. We’re friends.” Dardian said. Silence followed, not even a slight movement on the inside of the bunker, we almost thought he walked away.
“And how am I supposed to trust that what you’re saying is true?” The man in the bunker said. We took a moment to think about what to say again.
“You can’t, you just have to believe that we’re good people, and that we can help you. You have something we need and we have things you need.” I said.
“Jesus, how many of you are up there?” He said.
“Three” Tim said.
He didn’t say anything for a while; I could imagine him shuffling around trying to make a quick decision. The hatch opened, an arm forced the heavy metal upwards. I still sat on the ground, I was shocked, I didn’t even have my weapon out. If this was a trap then I was dead immediately.
The man from inside fully appeared, sticking his torso out of the bunker. He was an older man; he had long black hair that he folded behind his ears. He looked at us, staring at each one of us for a good few seconds.
“Well, if you wanted to kill me you probably would’ve done it by now right?” He said.
We didn’t say anything, we were just happy we made it here and that we weren’t dead. Dardian and Tim never raised their guns at him; we could tell he wasn’t hostile.
“Well, the name’s Rig, nice to meet you.” He said.
“I’m Karia.” I said. “And this is Dardian and Tim” I pointed at my companions, introducing them.
“Nice to meet you, now get inside, there’s raiders around here.” He said, waving us into the hatch.