by Alex Gunwick
When they reached the entrance to the tunnel, he went first. She grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled. He stopped walking.
“Me first,” she whispered. “We don’t know if anyone saw you.”
“Okay.”
She went into the dark hole. When they were twenty feet from the entrance, she flicked on a penlight. She shined it up the walls.
“Crazy,” she said. “Who would have thought all this was hiding in the mountains.”
“I know. It’s so awesome.”
“We’ll talk about this when we get back,” she snapped.
As they continued through the tunnel, he listened intently for any out-of-place sounds. Other than the occasional drip of water, it was totally silent. He was sure no one had seen him leave the tunnel, but at some point, they’d have to camouflage the exit so no one else would find it.
When they got to the vehicle maintenance room, Liz stopped so fast he slammed into the back of her.
“Holy crap,” she said.
“Yeah! Isn’t all this stuff cool! I tried to turn on the truck, but it didn’t start. But maybe dad can fix it later.”
“Maybe.”
“How long before he gets back?”
“I don’t know. Let’s check on the Wrights. And then we’re going to talk about how you’re grounded for the rest of your life.” She turned and dropped her gun and penlight. She pulled him into her arms. “You scared the hell out of me. I almost lost you too.”
“Nah. Those guys couldn’t kill me.”
“Don’t you ever do anything like that again. You hear me?”
“Yes, Mom.” He hugged her back. Normally he’d be grossed out by so much affection, but after the day they’d had, he didn’t mind if she treated him like a kid because he sure as heck felt like one.
28
Liz squinted in the sudden brightness of the overhead light. She threw an arm over her face and rolled over onto her side, grunting in annoyance.
“Luke, turn off the damn light.”
“Wake up, babe. We have a lot to do today.”
“After yesterday, can’t we sleep in just a little bit?”
“I’d love nothing more than to stay in bed with you all day, but we’ve got things to do.”
“Can’t we just take one day off?” She rolled over and pulled their thin blanket over her head.
“Nope. One day off could get us killed. There’s a lot to do, and the sooner we get it done, the better.”
Liz groaned. After what they’d gone through yesterday with the cult, she was ready to sleep for a week. But Luke was right. They did have a lot to do.
A knock sounded on the door to their quarters.
“Come in,” Luke yelled.
“Are you two decent?” Sandy called before opening the door. “Because after the crap you went through yesterday, I wouldn’t be offended if you were rekindling your relationship if you know what I mean.”
“And that’s my cue to go,” Luke said with a chuckle.
“Where are you going?” Liz asked.
“We’re going to check out the vehicles with Kyle and Derek. We’re going to see if we can get any of the ATVs running.”
“Kyle’s grounded forever.”
“You can’t ground the kid in the middle of the apocalypse.” Luke grinned. “Trust me, I wanted to give him a whooping like my dad used to do, but it wouldn’t do any good. No point in dwelling on the past when we still have a lot to accomplish if we’re going to stay alive.”
“Be safe,” she said.
“Always.” He grinned before heading into the hall.
Sandy stepped farther into the room. “If you’re too tired, I could come back later.”
“No. It’s okay.” Liz rolled to her feet and got out of bed. She stretched, feeling every ache and pain created in the last twenty-four hours. “I feel like I got run over by a dump truck.”
“Get dressed, and I’ll get you some tea.”
By the time Liz had changed out of her pajamas, Sandy was back. She carried a steaming mug of tea in each hand. She passed one to Liz.
“Yesterday was a rough day. How are you doing?” Sandy asked.
“Fine.” Liz knew she should be grateful that Sandy was checking up on her, but at the same time, it was annoying. She wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about what happened at the preacher’s compound.
“Derek told us that everyone from the preacher’s group is dead now,” Sandy said.
“Yeah. It … it just had to happen that way … We had to make sure we were safe.” Liz fought against feelings of guilt. Taking a life was never easy, even if it was becoming a more frequent experience.
“Those men you killed left you no choice. You know that, right?” Sandy asked.
“I know.” Liz sipped the tea. The warmth felt good in her hands. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t keep seeing their faces every time I close my eyes. I can’t help but think about the fact that I took away someone’s son, brother, or even father. They took away my daughter, but does that make what I did right?”
“They left you no choice,” Sandy spoke firmly before sipping her tea. “Don’t waste your sympathy on them. They weren’t innocent by any means.”
“You’re right.” Liz sighed. “I don’t suppose you have anything else to talk about. I’m still processing all of this, and I really don’t want to get into it right now.”
“Of course.” Sandy smiled. “While you were out, I’ve been listening to the radio. Edwin says I might be getting obsessed with it.”
“What else are you going to do, watch something online?”
Both women chuckled.
“On the news, they said we launched intercontinental ballistic missiles at numerous targets in Russia.”
“Wow.” Liz shook her head. Instead of feeling a thirst for vengeance, she wondered how many families in Russia were suffering, just like her own. “So, is it over? The war, I mean.”
Sandy sighed and sipped on her tea in silence. Liz allowed her time to collect her thoughts.
“The so-called ‘experts’ are saying it’s over.” She shook her head. “Apparently, we hit them a lot harder than they hit us. But I honestly don’t know what to believe. It could all be propaganda.”
“It could be,” Liz agreed.
“I’m not convinced the conflict is over. And even if the war is over, the world will never be the same. I don’t see how we can go back to how things were. Too many people are gone. Look outside. It’s been snowing non-stop today. I almost couldn’t get the door open.”
“You’re not supposed to go out.”
“I needed air. Sometimes I feel like I’m suffocating in here, and I just want to see the sky. But it’s pure white now. It’s like being in a weird alternate reality or something. I don’t know.” Sandy shook her head.
“Hey,” Liz reached over and patted the older woman’s hand, “we’re going to make it. As long as we’re smart about things, we’ll survive. We can’t give in to fear.”
“You’re right.” Sandy sighed.
“For now, we need to stay right where we are.” Liz glanced around at the bare concrete walls of the shelter. “Staying here in the mountains is much better than risking a return to what’s left of civilization.”
“You’re right. Life goes on.” Sandy smiled and squeezed Liz’s hands in her own. “You have a loving husband and a very bright boy who needs you. Not to mention, I’ve sort of grown fond of our little tea parties.”
“And you have a husband who needs you, too.” Liz smiled.
“Bah! That old fuddy-duddy would be fine without me.”
“I doubt it. Our men need us more than they let on.”
“And I need our tea-assisted bitch sessions.” Sandy chuckled. “I’m just glad we’re all safe now.”
“Me too.”
“I think I’d go crazy without another woman to talk to. There’s so much testosterone floating around this place.”
“Well, you’re the one wh
o married a Navy SEAL.”
Their laughter echoed off the stark, spartan walls of their new home.
Kyle shifted his weight from foot to foot while watching his father and Derek poke around the vehicles.
“Well? Do any of them work?” he asked.
“Still trying to figure it out,” his dad said. He leaned over an engine and groaned. He rubbed his back. “I need to take more pain meds.”
“You’re telling me.” Derek snorted. “My ass is killing me.”
“Your ass?”
“Got shoved and fell right on my tailbone. Shit hurts like hell.”
Kyle rolled his eyes. His dad and Derek were acting like old men, barely able to move amid their various aches and pains.
“Well? Do you think you can get them to work?” Kyle asked.
“Fuel’s shot. There’s no telling how long this stuff has been stored in here,” Luke said.
“Predates the ‘80s, for sure,” Derek said.
“Okay. Fine. Whatever. What about the water filtration pump?” He couldn’t keep the excitement from his tone.
Both men gave him wary looks.
Kyle knew that the elephant in the room was the fact that he’d killed a man—again. The guy had it coming. No one would debate that. But Kyle knew it bothered them that a child—no, not a child, a young adult—had taken life not once but twice. They couldn’t understand why it didn’t bother him. But it was simple. He’d just done what needed to be done.
Kyle suspected that his father was secretly proud of him, even if he wouldn’t admit it. But his mother was another story. She kept staring at Kyle with tears swimming in her eyes. He suspected she was remembering the fun times they’d had together when he was a much younger boy. He’d been so innocent back then. He hadn’t been through the chaos of a nuclear attack. But things had changed dramatically, and so had he. Eventually, they’d understand him again. But for now, they looked at him with a mixture of fear and sadness.
“Ready to check out the water purification room?” Kyle asked.
“Lead the way.” His dad mussed Kyle’s hair as they headed into the hallway.
When they reached the door, Kyle struggled to pull it open. His dad stepped in and pulled on the heavy door so they could get into the room.
“I showed Edwin earlier today. See those two big tanks? He said one is for the contaminated water and the other is for the stuff that’s been filtered. We can drink out of the second one.” Kyle ran over to an old console. “All these buttons do something, but they don’t have labels on them. Edwin said we could label them after lunch.”
“This all looks like it’s in pretty good shape. Once we get it up and running, I think our water problems might be a thing of the past.” Luke slapped the side of one of the containers.
Derek nodded in agreement. “Great find, Kyle.”
“Thanks!”
Kyle impatiently waited while the adults talked about boring things. Adults were weird. They never got excited about the really cool stuff because they were always worried about something else. It was totally lame.
“Let’s do some more recon and see what else this place is hiding,” Luke said. “We still haven’t gone through all the rooms.”
“Roll out,” Derek said.
Kyle followed them out of the room and down the hall. As the men talked about plans for the future, Kyle listened intently. If he paid attention, he could be just like them someday. Maybe he would never be able to formally join the Navy SEALs like his dad, but he could still learn from the best men that the military had ever produced.
Yes, someday, he would be a good soldier just like his dad.
29
After taking a few days to recover from the battle, Derek sat on an old ATV in the vehicle shop. It was hard to get any time alone in the bunker, but right now, everyone else was working on other tasks. He finally had a chance to sit and think things through.
He kept trying to piece together a plan for securing the bunker, but nothing seemed foolproof. He had a long list of stuff that needed to get done, but he was exhausted. He’d downplayed his injuries a bit. He was pretty sure he’d cracked a rib, but he didn’t want the others to see his weakness. It would heal eventually.
The biggest problem they faced was how to cover up the entrance to the tunnel leading to the bunker near the preacher’s old compound.
“How in the hell are we going to block the garage entrance and still make it look natural?”
Kyle’s idea of covering it with camo netting wasn’t bad, but they didn’t have any that matched the mountainside where the opening was located. They’d found forest camo, but they needed snow camo. They hadn’t found any, which wasn’t surprising, considering this mountain rarely got any snow before the bombs dropped.
Luke walked into the room.
“What’s up?” Derek asked.
“You come up with anything yet?” Luke put his booted foot up on an ATV’s tire.
“I keep thinking we should blow the tunnel, but that would attract too much attention.”
“We could seal the room off from the rest of the bunker.”
“Yeah, but if anyone from outside found it, they’d realize there was more to this place.”
“True.” Luke scratched his chin.
“If we blow it, we risk two things: someone will hear it for sure and we could cause an avalanche that seals up our other entrances. We’d be trapped.”
“I’ve considered that,” Luke said. “It’s not the best plan, but I don’t know what else we can do. The hole’s too big to board up. We could try piling up a bunch of rocks in front of it, but that would take a lot of time and energy.”
“We could booby trap it.”
“We’d have to check the traps every day. And what if someone didn’t get caught and they went back to their group and reported the traps?” Luke asked.
“There’s no good solution, is there?”
“None that I can see.”
“Blow it up!” Kyle ran into the room. “That’s the only way we’ll keep the bad guys out.”
“We killed the bad guys,” Luke said.
“We kill the cult members. There are other bad guys out there,” Derek said wryly.
“There won’t be in a few months. Once winter really sets in, it’s going to be over for anyone who doesn’t have shelter and a lot of supplies.”
“We should do one more run to the preacher’s old compound to get the rest of the stuff Liz saw. And we can check to make sure no one else is there,” Derek said.
“Can I come?” Kyle asked.
“No. You need to stay here.”
“Daaad!”
“Kyle!”
Derek stifled a laugh. He was damn glad he didn’t have any kids to have to deal with.
“You up to doing a supply run and some recon?” Luke asked Derek.
“Yeah. Let me grab my guns. I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes.”
Derek jogged through the shelter toward his quarters. He grabbed his pistols and rifle along with plenty of ammo, his knife, and his pack. He loaded up and met Luke back at the vehicle room. Kyle wasn’t there.
“Where’d the kid go?” Derek asked.
“Made him go wait with the women and Edwin.”
“Good. I’m fairly confident we got rid of everyone in the cult, but you never know. I’m glad we’re going to check it out.”
“How are the ribs holding up?”
“You knew?” Derek cocked a brow.
“You think anything gets past me?”
“Nah.”
Luke chuckled. He pulled on his pack and checked the mag for his rifle. “Let’s move out.”
Derek followed him through the tunnel. When they reached the entrance, they paused to check for hostiles. A thick layer of snow blanketed the ground. There weren’t any footprints, but they were going to leave one hell of a trail if they weren’t careful.
“We need to cover our tracks.” He grabbed a branch and used it to
brush the snow until they were far enough from the compound. He tossed the branch aside.
“The building’s just up ahead,” Luke whispered.
“I see it.”
“Think we got everyone?”
“Not sure, but we’re about to find out.”
“Let’s go.”
Together they quickly closed the distance between the edge of the forest and the building. No shots were fired. Nothing moved. The snow was undisturbed around the building. Bodies still lay where they’d been shot dead.
The scent of death lingered in the air.
Luke pointed toward the broken window. Derek nodded and climbed through it, scanning for hostiles as he went.
They checked the building. As far as he could tell, no one had come back. The supply room Liz had spotted was still full. Derek opened his pack and began filling it with cans of meat. Luke opened his and did the same.
When they finished, Derek counted the remaining cans. They’d have to come back for them later, but they seemed safe for now since no one had come back.
“Let’s move out,” Luke said.
“I’ll take your six.”
Derek followed Luke out. They covered their tracks on the way back, but he doubted it mattered much. Snow constantly fell from the sky. The divots they’d left would be filled in within an hour or two.
Hours later, Luke stood in the hallway outside the vehicle room. After a heated debate with the others, they’d settled on blowing up the tunnel to seal that entrance. They had two other options for getting in and out of the bunker, and after checking the snowpack around those entrances, they’d deemed it safe enough to risk an avalanche.
Luke lit the end of the fuse. As soon as the sparking line passed through the doorway, he closed and locked it. He lifted his walkie and hit the button.
“Fire in the hole!”
He ran like hell to get away from the blast. Although they’d carefully measured out the TNT, none of them were explosive experts, so they’d been guessing on how much they needed to get the job done.