AWOL: A Character Lost

by Anthony Renfro

  The passenger side door opened, and someone slid in and sat down beside him. Through blurry eyes Danny turned to his right and stared at the red haired guy, government stooge, harbinger of doom.

  “You’ve called in sick for the day, I assume?’

  “How did you know?” Danny asked.

  “You have just the one class today, nothing tomorrow, and Friday you’re off. If you call in today, then that means you are done until Monday. Makes perfect sense, just take some time to get the old head straight, get the mind clear.” He tapped a finger on the side of his head as he said the last part of that statement.

  “My wife and I have an anniversary dinner planned for Friday evening.”

  “I want you to enjoy yourself that night. Take in the world, the sights, and the sounds; because when we all go underground, it will be sometime before you have the chance to have a date night like that again.”

  “Is there no way to stop it, no way at all?” Danny asked, tears subsiding, anger and the hope of punching this man in the face starting to return.

  “As we speak, two more nuclear plants are exploding. There’s no hope for Japan or the world at large. It’s only a matter of time.”

  The cold nature of that statement, the government sounding answer, it was the final straw. Danny could take no more, so he lurched towards the red haired guy; but the seat belt, still snug in place, stopped him. He sat back against the seat hard and punched the dashboard instead, punched it over and over again, punched it until his right hand started to hurt.

  The red haired guy made a small gesture to the shadows who had started to move in when Danny had his fit of rage. They slipped back into their dark hiding spots, and waited.

  The two men sat there a moment.

  Danny cooled off.

  “I thought it would be three warning shots? Japan has gone nuclear. That means you lied. It was two warning shots, and not three,” Danny replied, rubbing his throbbing hand.

  “It was meant to be three Danny, but they got lucky with Japan.”

  “What would you do if I told the world? If I went on every news broadcast, my blog, you name it, and just spouted out what I know. What would you do then?”

  “The time to do that has passed?” The man paused smugly, one that said I know it all and you have to follow my lead. “I suspect you told your wife, and she didn’t believe you.”

  “Yes,” Danny replied, argument won by the red haired guy by hitting the eight ball right into the corner pocket.

  “If she didn’t believe you, then what makes you think the world at large will? You will only attract the supermarket crazies who read the tabloids and believe those lies.”

  “You know, you’ve told me all of this stuff, but not once have you told me how to protect my family or myself from this nuclear attack.”

  “We’ve been building tunnels underneath all medium to large cities throughout the country for decades now, long before I took charge.”

  “Are you saying there are tunnels underneath us now?”

  “Yes. What we did was go under the capital building in Raleigh, deep enough that people would not notice the digging, using machines that didn’t extract the dirt, but pushed it back into the Earth. We then built a chamber big enough to hold all of the people from this city we would call upon in case of a nuclear strike. We built tunnels and extended them from this central room under the capital building, to every home that has a basement attached to it. Of course we’ve had to re-structure the room for size as the years moved forward and no attack occurred. We grew as the population grew.”

  Danny thought about this for a moment as the man let him take it all in. “So what you are telling me is that I live after this war because I have a basement in my home? It’s as simple as that?”

  “It sounds simple, but it really isn’t. When we started this project in the Fifties, we wanted to have every single home tunnel ready; but the logistics of doing that was just gargantuan, to say the least.” The man paused, coughed, and continued. “Population growth, money, wars, you name it, hindered us from achieving this task. So we sat back, took a deep breath, and thought about the most economical way to do it. Homes that had basements had easy access to underground tunnels, so we figured all we had to do was just build the tunnel right up to the basement wall. It cut out so many obstacles, such as how would we get a tunnel up to a trailer or to a home without a basement or apartments for that matter. It also cut down on our tunnel building, and it allowed us to center our focus. We then started keeping a list. This list had the names of those who lived in basement homes and those who buy a home with a basement. We also kept up with new homes, and if those homes had a basement or not. We would compile this list every year; and every year we would assign roles. Of course, we accounted for people who died, people who moved, and things like that.”

  “So those without basements?”

  “Danny, so many people are not going to make it once Saturday happens. What we are trying to do is to find the population we will need to sustain and keep human life. It is a sick sounding thing I know, but believe me this is the only way.”

  “Not all of us basement people are going to make it though, right?”

  “No. We can’t take everyone who has a basement, but we’ve chosen our people and those people are now being prepped, just like you. It is just the way it has to be. Consider yourself one of the lucky ones.” The red haired guy produced a memory stick and handed it to Danny. “On this stick you will find all you need to know.”

  Danny took it. It was such a simple small device, but within its electronic guts, it held such a large and important role. This little stick would save not only his life, but his family’s life as well.

  “What’s on it?”

  “How you’ll survive,” the red haired guy paused. Danny waited. “I also need you to take these.” He produced three vials which had syringes attached to them. He handed them to Danny.

  “What are these?”

  “Sleeping shots for your wife and kids.”

  Danny took them and held them like they were diseased. “I’m supposed to give these to them?”

  “Yes, but before we go any further I want you to know that we haven’t just let these attacks happen, in case you were thinking that. We haven’t just thrown up our hands and sat idly by. I don’t want you to think we are monsters waiting for the world to end. We are the good guys Danny; and, if we are going to go forward from here, you and I have to be on the same page. Are we?”

  Danny nodded his head that he was, the red haired guy continued.

  “Did you know that in L.A. we were able to locate half of the group set to blow up that city? What you saw in L.A. was only a portion of what they had planned. In Paris we had thought we had found and captured over seventy five percent of them, but somehow that last twenty five percent was able to do that much damage. They got lucky by hitting gas lines, and the gas lines triggered the massive fires. It was kind of dumb luck, like Japan. They never planned for Paris to be such an inferno or Japan to go nuclear.”

  “What do we do from here forward?”

  “Our conversations before have been brief and short because all we needed was for you to be onboard. Now, that you are, we need to get serious about what I know and what you need to do next, in order to be prepared.”

  “Okay,” Danny replied, trying to take it all in, but it was starting to overwhelm him.

  “The next thing I tell you involves those vials in your hand and what I know that I haven’t told you as of yet.”

  “Such as?” Danny asked.

  “Remember what I said about date night, enjoying it, remember that?”

  “Yes.”

  “The nuclear attacks will start on Saturday. We don’t know the minute or the hour of the day or even where these attacks will start, but we do know they will start sometime that day, somewhere in the world. That’s why we need you underground Friday night, the sooner the better. Even if they start in New York, Friday
night should give you enough time to get safely underground.”

  Danny sat back and took all of this in for a minute. He took some deep breaths and tried not to think too hard about it. If he did, he would probably pass out again. When he was sure he wouldn’t pass out, he turned and looked at the guy beside him, wearing khaki pants, collared shirt, and sandals once again. “I know I sound like a broken record, but why can’t you stop these guys? You have the resources. Is there nothing you can do?”

  “Danny, we would love to, but we simply don’t have the man power to stop every attack that is planned.”

  “What about my family?”

  “They will be protected. You, along with your wife and sons, will be safe. I thought I made that clear.”

  “I mean my wife’s family, our friends, family members outside of my immediate family?”

  “Danny there is going to be a lot of causalities with this war . . .”

  “So we just let them die?”

  “We chose you because you were an orphan, and you have no siblings. You have few ties other than your wife and kids. When we made our list, we tried to get people who had very few connections beyond just their immediate circle. It just makes it easier.”

  “This really sounds absurd. Do you know that?”

  “Just sitting here talking to you about this is absurd. The whole idea is absurd, but bad people exist in this world Danny; and bad people are going to destroy what we good people have built. We are trying to lessen their impact, and we hope the way we have chosen to lessen it will work.”

  “What about my wife? Can she tell her family goodbye? I can’t just let her wake up Saturday knowing the world has ended and that her family is out there in it. She would never forgive me, and I’m not sure I could forgive myself.”

  “You make that choice. I can’t do it for you, but think about this. What if she finally believes you, calls them, weeps and cries to them, and then she runs off to be with them instead? Then what do you do? Do you go after her or go down into the tunnel alone with your kids? What if she takes the kids? What do you do then? Nothing good can come from telling her; but it’s your choice, your bed, you have to lie in it.”

  “She’ll hate me.”

  “But, you’ll be alive and so will she, and so will the kids.”

  “I just wish I had more time. I wish I had more time to bring them down here, at least her parents. They’re close by. Her brother and sister wouldn’t be able to come, but her parents, if I could just bring them.”

  The red haired guy paused a minute. “I have two shots in my pocket if you want them, but here’s the kicker. If you take them, two other people won’t go. We only have room for a certain number, and they’ve all been accounted for.” The red haired guy pulled the shots out of his pocket and showed them to Danny. “There they are if you want them, but remember, two people will not go if you take them.”

  Danny looked down at the shots.

  Time passed for a moment or two.

  Birds sang in the trees, warm air filtered in through the open car window while he sat there deciding life or death.

  “Put them away before I change my mind.” Danny looked away in disgust.

  The red haired guy put the shots back in his pocket. “You made the right choice.”

  Danny changed the subject before he threw up. “So, how do I get to this tunnel?”

  The red haired guy produced a blue print of Danny’s basement. In one corner of this blue print was a large white X. “Tomorrow, when the house is yours, I need you to go downstairs to this spot,” the red haired guy replied, pointing to the X.

  “Then what?”

  “Take some tools, and bust through the wall right there. You will then see an open door and a dark silver tunnel. You’ll want to go inside; but remember this, that if you enter this tunnel and the door closes, you will be trapped.”

  The red haired guy produced a piece of plastic and gave it to Danny. “What’s this?”

  “The way you will live once you are back in your home.”

  “So I will be able to go home eventually?” Danny asked, as he stared at the sheet, which looked and felt like ordinary plastic wrap.

  “Yes. You won’t be underground the whole time. When the radioactive air passes through that piece of plastic, the air will be cleaned and changed into suitable oxygen for human consumption. This will go over every opening, all doors, and all windows; wherever air gets in, this will cover it.” The man paused. “Once fall-out happens, we will cover your house like it is being fumigated for bugs. We will clean out all the radiation, and then protect it with that piece of plastic in your hands. You and your family will be underground until it is safe for you to return home. There’s a video on the memory stick where you will see a more detailed description of all I just said, a step by step process.”

  Danny looked from the plastic in his hands to the guy beside him. “How will we live underground?”

  “We have places set up already with food, water, basic necessities for people who are trapped, so to speak? It’s all on the memory stick, lots and lots of videos, all designed to get you informed.”

  “So, Friday night, I need to give my family a shot and take them down to this tunnel. Then shut the door and wait, is that right?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly right.”

  “All nice and neat.”

  “We hope so.”

  Danny looked at the clock. “You better split. My kids will be home soon. I don’t need you sitting here when they arrive.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m the last to leave. The shadows are gone.”

  “What, no knockout juice this time?”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. Good luck, Danny,” the red haired guy replied, exiting.

  Danny sat there and just stared ahead. He thought about all that had to take place. All the work he would have to do and all of it would have to be done in secret. He worried about Barbara and how she would take the news. How she would be once she knew that her entire family was probably gone. He wondered how the kids would be not seeing their cousins anymore or their friends for that matter. He wondered just how it all would be once they went underground.

  Disgusted, he got out of the car, went into the house, and threw up. He fell asleep on the bed listening to Jimmy Buffet’s CD – Off To See The Lizard.

  The kids arrived a little later, and Barbara came home shortly after, on time this time. Dinner happened then everyone went off to do their own thing

  The night passed.

  Morning arrived.

  The kids went to school, Barbara went to work, and Danny made his way down to the basement with two tools in hand.

  The Earth had two days to live as it currently lives.

  7:30 A.M.

  Danny stood in front of the spot, which was marked with an X on the blueprint. In his hands he held an axe. Its weight felt heavy on his muscles as he stood there and stared at the wall, this blank white wall, this gate keeper to a door that would save his life and his families.

  Was he about to do this?

  Should he do this?

  Danny debated, as birds chirped outside, cars passed by the house, and adults and children enjoyed this sunny warm day. It seemed so strange to him to think that here he stood about to look upon the next faze of human evolution when life itself seemed to be so alive. He couldn’t believe they were about to be living underground, mole people, shut out from the light for God knows how long.

  Danny pushed the thoughts away, those angry demons that confuse and muddle the mind, as he pulled back the axe and swung it into the wall. Dust and plaster flew back at him as if in a rage, pissed off that it had been disturbed from its slumber holding the wall together. Danny adjusted the mask on his face; and he swung again, put a little more anger into it this time. A hole opened up, and after a few more swings the hole grew bigger. He was in full stride now, body no longer feeling the force of impact. He started to pound faster, dust and plaster flying with a maniac’s ra
ge.

  Then, he stopped, suddenly, sweaty, arms aching and pulsing from the pounding.

  He dropped the ax and started to pull the rest of the wall down by hand. The plaster came apart easy enough; and before long, he was standing in front of a hole, a hole big enough for him to walk through carrying the lifeless drugged bodies of his family, one by one.

  Behind this plaster wall was a wall of concrete, so Danny picked up the sledgehammer and began working on this second wall like he did with the first one, chipping away at it piece by piece. The sledgehammer was heavy, but Danny was okay using it. The tool was getting the rest of his frustration out, and he was glad for that.

  After multiple swings and throbbing arms, Danny finally hit the concrete wall hard enough that the sledgehammer went through it, not by much, just enough to open a small hole. The little bit of concrete that fell through, onto the other side, clanged and banged when it hit the metal floor of the tunnel. The sound echoed off into the distance and disappeared. While he stood there, waiting for his next swing, he could feel air pushing through that small hole, blowing back his hair. This air was cool and crisp, sterile, metallic, and clean.

  He dropped the sledgehammer, and sat down on the floor. If he hadn’t believed the red haired guy by now, well, this hole in the wall just confirmed the truth. He sat there and let that air wash over him for a moment. He sat there and just stared at the small hole. Beyond it there was nothing but darkness like a night without a sliver of moonlight. It looked like that darkness would just swallow you up, wrap its dark arms around you, and consume you whole.

  He found his strength and his nerve. He stood up and pulled the sledgehammer back like a baseball bat. He was going to swing for the fences, put all of his strength and anger into this one big blow. He was done chipping away at this wall. It was time to bring it down.

  He breathed in deep, exhaled, and swung as hard as he could.