AWAKENED

CHAPTER 32 - The Work to Come

With Jude leading the way, Eve and I exit the control room through a side door with the twins in our arms. Metal panels make up the corridor walls, the seams fitted together so that a fingernail couldn't squeeze through. Recessed lights shine down, but the gray walls and black floor absorb the illumination. The dim hallway makes me feel like we're traveling deeper under the mountainside. And if my bearings are correct, we are.

As we follow Jude, Eve cuts her eyes over to me, and they linger as she heaves Ash up and repositions him in her arm. Seeing her struggle with him, I offer to carry both of them, but she declines. She's curious about what we'll see and a little tensed up, clear by her tight lips and furrowed brows. She's moving forward but ready to tuck Ash in her arm and run. My neck and shoulders are tight, but I don't sense danger. After all, Jude told everyone in the control room that she needed us, that we could contribute to the bunker's effort at survival. So, wherever Jude is taking us, and whatever she is about to show us, has to be something with that in mind... the work she has planned for Eve. She said as much.

Everything we've learned so far—this entire journey, from our cabin to this bunker—has led us to this point. A teenage girl named Jude has run this place since the time of the flood. I still don't know if I believe her claim of how old she is, especially based on her youthful looks. Then I consider that Martinez and the guards follow her commands without question. The rest of the bunker seems to think of her as a princess who holds authority in her father's absence.

I think about the colony living and reproducing in this bunker for all this time, and it makes sense for them to follow her, especially if she's all they've ever known. As they grow old and die, Jude keeps living and staying young, giving orders, caring for the people, helping them survive as if they owe their existence to this Damian Lucent. To me, he's a CEO of a powerful corporation, but to them, he's the reason they're alive. They must also see Jude as not only his immortal daughter but also his spokesperson who has a plan to awaken him from hibernation. I don't know what else is at play.

The more I think about this, my hold on Autumn grows tighter. I cup my free hand around the back of her head, feeling her wispy hair and soft scalp. Maybe, I consider, Eve has put this together too as we pass through a checkpoint where a guard with a rifle clears us to enter. She just reached the same conclusion a few minutes before I did. We make a good team. I can't imagine my life without her.

Of course, the fact we witnessed the Yellowstone Super Volcano obliterate the North American continent adds to our uneasiness. We missed the eruption by a mere twenty-four hours.

Beyond the checkpoint, the door closes behind us and we continue deeper into the bunker's maze of corridors. We come to another checkpoint and another guard with a gun looks us up and down in eerie silence, and then permits us to proceed. On the other side, we enter a room about half the size of the control room. There's a guard on this side of the passage too, and also one at the other end of the room, standing by another door.

Ahead of us, a woman in a white lab jacket types away at a computer terminal. She stands at an elevated workstation. To her right, a recessed area holds a worktable with a microscope. Beside it, a tall cabinet fills the rest of the space.

The woman twists her neck, glaring at us out of the corner of her eye. With her head turned, I see she's wearing glasses. A tight ponytail holds her blonde hair in place.

From where we stand, waiting for Jude to address the woman, I can only see that the rest of the room comprises what appears to be holding cells. The enclosures are like the Animal Barn in the habitat, but instead of bars, they're fronted with what looks like polycarbonate.

Eve casts a wary glance at me, lets Ash slide to her hip where he clings to her side. I hold Autumn, her head snug to my chest. She sleeps as my eyes stay trained on the transparent walls of the enclosures, drifting to each side wondering what hides within these walls.