by Paul Teague
Had his consciousness been entirely under his own control, he would have known to alert his control room colleagues as to what he was about to do. He would have registered his whereabouts on the staff rota terminal as he left the Control Room. And he certainly would not have disabled the surveillance cameras and the alarm systems connected to the main bunker doors.
In The Darkness
If you could see through this blackness, you would view the lives of millions of human beings paused as if somebody had just stopped time. The darkness is impenetrable though. It’s neither liquid nor gas, yet it crept across the surface of the Earth like a dense cloud and it sits in the atmosphere as if it were a heavy, oil-like liquid. If you ran your hand through it you would feel nothing, but neither would it would be displaced as if you’d moved though smoke through smoke. It is dry to the touch, even though the atmosphere around it is not devoid of moisture. Most striking of all is how black it is. You cannot see anything through it. It is all consuming, there are no gaps, no chinks of light, no areas untouched. And it just sits there, awaiting the moment when its purpose will become clear.
Army Life
She’d barely had a career in the Army before she was made redundant. It came fairly quickly after the incident. So whilst the HR people called it ‘redundancy’ she knew that there was really another reason why. Probably because she disobeyed those instructions. What else was she supposed to do?
She was a pretty new recruit, she’d had very limited training and to be honest with you, she’d received very little in the way of guidance from her superiors. She reacted on instinct. An ordinary, average person doing extraordinary things in a situation that they’d never encountered before. Most people would have been given a medal for what she did. But whatever it was that she’d done wrong, it must have caused a lot of trouble higher up. And look at the personal price she’d paid on that terrible day 15 years ago. Not that it mattered of course, just look at her wonderful family now. Still, in spite of what happened and all of the fallout afterwards, at least there was one great result from that day. One thing that she’d never regretted, in spite of it all. She’d saved a man’s life that day. James was still alive because of her.
Chapter Twelve
On The Move
I wasn’t sure what the red light meant, but once I’d spotted it in the darkness, I found it really hard to keep my eyes off it. With the lights on, knowing it was there, I could see just beneath the skin on Kate’s neck. Interestingly, the two guards also had the same thing. I needed to get to a mirror quickly. Did I have one of these things fitted? Was it part of whatever was going on in the bunker? Unusually for me, I decided to keep my mouth shut about it. Kate seemed unaware of its presence, and like so many other things in this unusual environment, it may just have been something that all the staff had. I resolved to keep my eyes open to see if everybody here had one fitted.
I was ready to excuse myself and head for the bathroom facilities along the main corridor so that I could check out my own neck. But Kate had other things in mind. She’d explained what was going on here, but I’d still been discovered in a Red Zone. Okay, I had clearance, but she’d explicitly asked me not to enter these areas. ‘Dan, I need to make a very special request of you, is that okay?’ she asked.
Interesting way of phrasing the question. Was ‘No’ really an option here? ‘Yes, of course,’ I replied. What a sucker. ‘Although you have Red Zone authorisation at the moment, I need to ask you to stay out of those areas for your own safety,’ I didn’t like the sound of those words ‘At the moment’. She clearly saw this as an anomaly, a temporary thing. ‘We’re only a few hours away from receiving a full briefing, and what’s going on beyond the bunker lies entirely in our hands,’
‘I’m sure an intelligent lad like you understands how important this is and that it’s really crucial that we don’t interfere with any mission critical issues before then,’
The ‘Intelligent lad’ worked just as well as the ‘Good question’ technique. I really must try to be less easily flattered.
‘So what I’d appreciate is if you could restrict your access to Green Zone areas only until we receive the briefing? Is that a reasonable thing to ask Dan?’ she finished.
Of course it was a reasonable thing to ask. But remember Kate, I’m a twelve year old boy. I know what ‘reasonable’ is. I understand what ‘reasonable’ is. But I don’t always like being ‘reasonable’. However, I’m not going to pick any fights right now. I agree to restrict my movements to the Green Zones and keep out of the Red Zones until we get the full briefing. I reassure Kate that I wouldn’t want to put the lives of my family at risk. I tell her how important it is to me that we find my mum safe and make sure that she’s properly looked after. And I hope she doesn’t spot me using her own techniques on her. I’m a quick learner. ‘I think that’s a really great plan Kate,’ I smile.
Trapped
How could she have been so stupid as to go back for the tech? If she’d followed her instincts, they would have just had the time to get inside those doors before they closed. As it was, the darkness was swiftly closing in. Beyond the cottage it was beginning to look like it was dark outside, even though it was mid-afternoon. Inside the cottage even the lights were struggling, this was like no other darkness she’d ever seen before. She felt fine and her young companion seemed fine. She knew that she needed to seek shelter and the bunker seemed the best place to do it.
But there didn’t appear to be an immediate risk to them. What would she have told the kids to do? Wait by the entrance. It’s the safest thing to do. If anybody comes out of there, that’s where they’ll exit. If anybody goes in there, that’s where they’ll enter. In a situation where the options were very limited, the best thing to do seemed to wait by the blast doors. Unknown to her, Dan had made exactly the same decision on the other side of the doors. So they waited, sitting down outside the huge red blast doors as they became surrounded by the darkness. It neither harmed them nor stopped them breathing, but its impenetrable blackness was completely debilitating, any movement was completely out of the question.
She imagined that this must be like blindness, only her mind allowed her to picture the doors in front of them, the corridor behind them and her young son only metres away, but all alone.
Waiting
He’d seen his chance when he was able to reconnect with the mother at the training centre. Driving her to the hospital and checking her in, she seemed like she’d recovered okay after the accident. He didn’t really converse with her, just did his job, but on the surface she looked to be fine. It had been what the police a ‘cold case’ since that horrible day when the car had hit the child. When he’d hit the child. He hadn’t meant to, but he’d been the one in the car at the time. That sickening sound would live with him forever. Out of the blue she’d ended up in his car again.
What were the chances of that? Very high as it turned out. He knew that in this line of work, things had a funny way of connecting. Often, completely unrelated people and events would come together.
It wasn’t the actual car. But the same make. More gadgets, more tech, more devices than three years ago. But still the same car, same design, same black colour. The original had been destroyed of course. DNA - a great thing or a dangerous thing. All depends who you work for of course. He’d had time to plant a tracking device on her before he left her in the hospital. One that couldn’t be traced by anybody else. You didn’t work in this line of business for so long without learning a few tricks. He’d actually bought it from a High Street electrical store. Hilarious! They had all this kit, but never thought anybody capable of buying a few bits of electrical circuit from a local store. International espionage foiled by Maplin. Sure, he’d had to adapt it a bit. But you could fool the organisation using bits of kit that anybody can buy for less than a tenner. He knew that if she had surfaced again, then the story was just about to become clear.
Yes, you had to be very patient in this business.
Random threads could appear from every direction and seem to have nothing at all in common. But he knew that the threads in this particular story were just being drawn together. He was sure that he’d discover the reason for the accident and how it all tied in together.
The tracker would help him to figure out why she had appeared back on the radar after three years away from it completely. But when he realised where the tracker was taking him - following in his car a mile behind - he knew that this wasn’t just going to be the conclusion of any old story. This was where all the threads from his work were going to lead. This was the end game.
Chapter Thirteen
Unseen
When the lady and the youngster re-enter the cottage, he immediately spots the mother. He can guess what’s happening outside, he’s prepared for it of course, but he didn’t think that it was going to play out like this. In this place. And with these people involved. How do they link up with this? He doesn’t know yet, but he’ll keep close because it’s unlikely to end well. And after losing her child like that, doesn’t she deserve to have someone like him looking out for her? Where did the kid come from? That might cause a problem later, but first things first. The sirens are sounding, the first release must have begun. She’s making her way to the bunker, like everybody else is. That’s where he needs to be too. He follows at a distance, an expert at not being seen, but is quick to realise that they’re not going to make it to the bunker doors in time.
He knows that when the first release is completed, they will not be able to see a thing. So, she’s doing the best thing, the most sensible strategy right now is to wait by those doors. She makes good decisions under stress. Sooner or later they’ll be spotted and he’ll be able to get in. He’ll just pretend to be bunker staff, nobody will know. He can patch in clearance levels when he gets inside, should be simple enough.
So as the woman and the child sit closely together on the left hand side of the bunker doors, they are completely unaware that only a few feet away from them, standing in complete silence and completely unknown to them, is the man who will be forced to shoot one of them in the next 36 hours.
A Lucky Hunch
I’m pretty amazed that Kate and the two security guys just let me go after that. I suppose that they’ll know exactly where I’m going and what I’m up to from the surveillance cameras that are positioned wherever I go in this place. I assume that pretty well every room I go into must be monitored too.
This place seems to run on biometrics and although I’m not entirely sure what that means, I suspect that everything I do here is directly tracked back to me. Which means that I can’t really get away with anything. The best bet, as far as I can tell at present, is to carry on exploring and get a feel for this place. Really, we’re all waiting for that mission announcement which must still be a few hours away. Plenty of time to have a good snoop around.
First though, I decide to head directly for the bathroom and shower areas because I want to get a look at my neck. I’m not really sure what happened to me in the MedLab earlier, I assume I was just checked over to make sure everything was fine.
That reminds me of another unusual thing that happened earlier. How come the darkness didn’t have any impact on me? I was in the entrance area at the same time as Dad, David and Harriet and the bunker staff from the cottage area were also coming below ground at that time. So why are they in the glass pods and I’m not? I feeling totally fine now. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that after the temporary discomfort of being all alone in that corridor for so many hours, and having stuffed myself with food, I’m back to 100 per cent Dan. If they have put one of those weird, glowing things into my neck, I certainly can’t detect it. Neither does it seem to be making any impact on me, I can’t feel it pulsating or vibrating in any way, so I assume I don’t have one. I enter the bathroom area and head straight for a mirror.
The light is unusual below ground, you can’t quite catch the full light that you would if the area had a window to natural light. I inspect my neck closely, on both sides, but I can see and feel nothing. I’m pretty sure I’m clear. I see a mirror that is lit better, so I go over to it and check again. Everything is fine. Whatever Kate and the security guys have going on, I seem to be well clear of it. I reckon it’s probably just something bunker related. A communication device or something like that. But I resolve to check out everybody that I encounter from now on to see if they also have one of these devices fitted.
Satisfied that all is as it should be, I leave the bathroom area and start to walk along the corridor once again. It’s pretty quiet here, the main hub at present must be in the Control Room which I’m guessing has changed quite a lot since I last saw it. I’d expect that to be a Red Zone area and although, in theory I’m allowed in there, I decide that the best strategy is to explore as many Green Zone areas as I can and just to take a mental note of anything unusual that is Red Zone.
There are two levels to the bunker, we explored them both thoroughly when I was here with the family. That was only two days ago, but it seems like so much has happened since then. I haven’t really had time to think about what’s going on outside. It’s easy to forget down here, with no windows or view of the world beyond these concrete walls. It’s a strange feeling, it really does feel that outside doesn’t exist anymore.
I’d really like to know what’s being done about Mum, I was so distracted by trying to take care of my own interests in my last exchange with Kate that I didn’t push that point.
It’s good to know that she’s okay, but I picture her locked outside the blast doors and hope that she’s okay. She’ll probably end up in one of those pods before I get to see her, but at least if she winds up like Dad, David and Harriet, I’ll know that she’s safe. And who was that who was with her? I only caught a glimpse. Whoever it was, they were my sort of age and my sort of height. I’m doubting my judgement now, it can’t have been Nat, that would be ridiculous. They certainly had the same look and hair colouring though.
So many questions, so few answers. There’s nothing I can do to progress things right now, so I decide to head for Level 2. When we’d toured the bunker earlier, we had bypassed the lift. It had looked pretty basic at that time but now, like everything else in this transformed bunker, it’s definitely something that I want to try.
As I approach the lift a member of the bunker staff gets in ahead of me. ‘Just hold the doors please!’ I shout, catching the lift before the doors close. I had expected to see only two floor options in the lift, but there are four. Well, I say four, but there are two unusually labelled buttons above the marker for Level 1. ‘It must go up to the cottage,’ I think to myself, ‘But why two buttons?’ ‘Where do the other floors lead to?’ I ask my companion in the lift. ‘They’re redundant,’ she replies, ‘There are only the two levels in this place, the rest are there in case they extend the bunker in future.’ She can see that I’m curious, so she presses buttons 3 and 4. Nothing happens. No lights, no noises, nothing at all. ‘How about those two?’ I ask, pointing at the unusual symbols above the button marked ‘1’. ‘Nothing again,’ she replies.
She presses both of them. Individually and then together. She must have kids in her life beyond the bunker, she’s very patient. They must be young kids because she’s very ‘show and tell’.
‘See’, she says. Again nothing. She presses the button for Level 2 and we begin our descent. I had been thinking that maybe it was just a simple case of a broken lift. But no, those buttons are clearly not for use. The lift arrives on Level 2, the doors open and the lady steps out, giving me a smile as she does so. I notice a faint, red pulsating light in her neck. It is very faint this time, I’d never have noticed it if I hadn’t known to look carefully. ‘Must just be something to do with all the people here’ I think to myself, resolving to ask Kate next time I see her.
I’m about to step out of the lift to begin my exploration of Level 2 when an attack of inquisitiveness makes me step back inside. I’ve never been
one of those people who just accepts things at face value. Ask Mum, she’ll tell you. So for instance, when she told me at age five not to touch the kettle because she’d just boiled it, what do you think I did? I opened the lid and touched the water with my finger of course! And when Mum asked me not to touch the kitchen blender when I was age seven because the lid wasn’t on, what do you think I did? Well I pressed the button of course! And created a massive mess of blended strawberries and bananas. So, when the kind lady told me that the extra lift buttons didn’t work and even went so far as to demonstrate - what do you think I did? I needed to prove it to myself of course. Why would anybody add extra buttons if they weren’t needed?
This place looks like everything has been designed very carefully to me, I can’t imagine anybody leaving a few spares around in case they’d forgotten anything. So, I decide to put it to the test. I press the weird symbols first. The first button, then the second button, then both of them together. My heart gives a small jump. There is a glimmer of something when I touch the buttons together, a momentary jolt, but it stalls. One of the buttons is illuminated. I try again. Same again, a small jolt, but no movement. You have to press both buttons at once to get that though. One of the buttons remains illuminated.
‘Okay, move on Dan,’ I think to myself. I press button 3.
When the woman had done it earlier, there was nothing. No sound, light or movement. But when I press button 3 there is an instant response and the lift starts to move down to the next level.