Rotting World

by Pero, Sara

  The group walked down the narrow stairway into the metal bunker, Greg found a switch at the bottom of the stairs and hit it, the hallway began to light up. More lights turned on revealing rooms and more hallways. Greg and Kyle went through the entire bunker searching for any rotter’s or other humans, they found boxes of dried foods, MRE’s and medical supplies. Gallon drums full of water and boxes of purifiers were stacked along the walls in the kitchen area. Once Greg and Kyle were sure the bunker was clear they had everyone come down with the supplies, it took a few hours of unloading to get everything from the vehicles to the bunker. Brad helped Britney get down into the bunker and found her a room so she could lay down, his hand was in pain but he was more worried about the welfare of Britney then himself. The girls are going to cook up some grub for everyone, when they are finished I will bring you some. Britney thanked Brad as he walked out to help the others with the rest of the supplies. Once they had gotten the last of the supplies into the bunker Greg and Kyle pulled the door to the bunker closed and locked it from the inside, Bruce had found a radio in the maintenance room and had already gotten it working. He heard someone talking about the facilities and hushed everyone, this is Louisiana, the core temperature of the facilities are now in the red, if anyone is hearing this I pray that you seek shelter, once the core temperatures get a few degrees higher it’s going to be a reign of terror out there. Once those facilities go off its going to take at least ten years before any living creature can be outside to see the sun again, good luck everyone, I hope we can meet someday when the world starts over again. Greg and Bruce prepared everyone for the oncoming blast, they made sure that all of the air filters were clean and in working order. The girls were putting supplies away and making sure everyone had enough blankets and the lights were all in working order. They were prepared for anything, there was enough food and water for all of them for the next thirty years. Britney knew she was going to like it there, this bunker was their saving grace. A few hours had passed and nothing seemed to be happening, Brad looked at Greg and Bruce, do you think that guys calculations were off? Bruce shrugged, I’m not going outside to find out. Suddenly the earth shook violently causing the lights to flicker on and off, stuff started falling off of shelves. An alarm was going off in the maintenance room as well as the main hall. The lights above on the ceiling were flashing off and on in a red color, a sign flashed by the stairs, radiation eminent danger. It took what seemed forever before the lights came back on and the filters started flowing fresh air again. Bruce looked at Brad, I guess the facilities blew finally.

  Chapter 19:

  Brad tried the radios but all he got was static on the other end, Bruce just looked up at brad and shook his head, the nuclear fallout must have taken out all the radio towers. Brad told him to keep trying, the others in the bunkers around the states must know we are still alive. Outside the rotter horde was walking around searching for any flesh left over they could munch into, numerous bright flashes scattered across the sky, the blinding lights causing everything to seem to disappear. After the flashes several black clouds could be seen going higher into the sky. The clouds started going back into each other and an extremely high wind like no one had ever seen or felt spread through the land catching everything in the paths to catch fire. Rotter bodies were melting where they stood, nothing survived the carnage from these massive explosions. After the explosions and massive clouds cleared away the world looked completely bare, only thing to be seen was dirt and fires. A few years later down inside the bunker, Greg, Bruce and all of the survivors that had banded together before the nuclear meltdowns were making a new life for themselves, they had found seeds and had started their own garden of every plant that sprouted, Veronica had started a school for the children, Henry and Jennifer started a clinic which Marie and Kathy helped as nurses. Bruce had his maintenance shop and Trent became his business partner. Kyle started his restaurant and ended up marrying Kathy, they are now expecting their first child. Mr. Frisker runs happily down the hall knocking Sunshine to the ground every chance he gets and he is now the official mouse catcher of the bunker. Brad stood on the second story of the bunker looking over the railing at his friends, he couldn’t believe how much their little group had flourished. Britney came up behind him and grabbed his shoulder, she was getting used to the new leg Bruce and Trent had designed for her. Only a few more years and we can see what the world looks like, do you think our children will like it up there? Brad shrugged, if we ever go back up to the outside world again it’s going to be a lot different, little Kevin and George are going to have a lot of work ahead of them to make the world back to its former glory. Of course once Megan is born they are going to be busy teaching her everything they know, but I’m sure she’s going to be just like her mother, strong, independent and smarter then all the guys. Megan was a hard birth, Brad was worried that he would lose his wife or his daughter during the labor. Sixteen years later Megan was maid of honor at George’s wedding, Brad and Britney watched with pride in their hearts as their son said his I do's. After the wedding there was a huge reception, it was a great time for everyone. A few months later Brad walked into the maintenance room to talk to Bruce, has there been any chatter on the radio yet? Bruce shook his head, so far there’s nothing but I keep trying. As they stood there talking suddenly they heard a crackled voice come through the speakers, is there anyone else alive out there? Bruce and Brad looked at each other to see if they were hearing things, when the voice came on again Bruce grabbed for the microphone, Yes we are here. The crackled voice went away for a minute, then a cheerful voice came back on the other end. Thank god there are others still alive, we thought we were the last people left alive anywhere. My name is James, there are ten of us here about twenty five miles from where you are located. They talked daily with the people from the other bunker, after a few years Bruce and James got to be good friends. They talked about everything they loved to see before the rotter infestation happened. One day while Bruce was talking to the other bunker James mentioned that while he was searching one of the rooms he found a torn apart drone in one of the lockers, Bruce walked him through the repairs as they talked, normally a repair like that would take Bruce about three days but the process took over two months to accomplish since Bruce couldn’t actually see or touch the drone himself. After James had gotten the drone repaired he decided to take it for a test, soon as I come back I will let you know what I found outside. Bruce waited for James to come back, brad and George the second were out in the cafeteria playing hide and seek with little Amelia. Bruce came running from the maintenance room, Brad, James put a broadcast over the radio, the other people are venturing out into the world soon. I got ahold of another bunker a few miles from here, they said their Geiger counters are showing lower levels of radiation on the surface. James sent out a drone to check on the world, all of the rotter’s are gone and there’s new foliage everywhere. Do you want to join them in going to the surface? Brad thought about it, I think everyone should decide if they want to go up or not. Britney was happy in the bunker but it would be nice to see how the world had changed since the complete annihilation of everything. Brad called everyone together, tomorrow if we are all in agreement we will go back to the surface, if things are to bad we will return here. Those that want to remain on the surface may do so but remember this place will always be open to you. The next morning the iron door was unlocked and it opened to a new world for the first time in years, Brad and Britney walked outside into the bright sun and breathed the fresh air for the first time in what seemed forever, the world was covered in trees and plants, everything looked perfect like the earth had just begun, and for our survivors it had. Birds chirped as the6 flew in the sky as other animals ran around happily in the tall grass. Everyone helped build a town around the old barn that was no longer standing, other people from the other bunkers began coming over to trade food and other useful items. Brad and Britney decided to live out their days inside the bunker, although being up on the s
urface with their family was nice they felt like the bunker was a great place to live. Years later the world was built back up, people decided to try not and play god anymore when it came to diseases, they stuck to using the plants around the earth to heal themselves. The bunker was turned into a museum in honor of all the brave survivors of the rotter attack, in the front of the entrance was placed a memorial with all their names etched into the large face of the granite stone. The stone read: for those who gave everything they had to make sure we had a future.

  Thank you for purchasing Rotting Times, I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look for some of my other novels and short stories out on kindle and on paperback.