Aer II

19

   The bunker hatch comes into sight, a boy and a girl guard the top. The hatch isn't obvious from a distance, Aaron just draws attention to it by having guards outside. He wants to look tough and armed but Daisy knows none of his kids know how to handle themselves.

'Hey Daisy,' Seán smiles 'long time no see'.
'I tried my best to avoid ye,' she says 'how are you keeping?'.

  He looks at the girl, Daisy doesn't recognise her, he drags Daisy to the side 'not good'.
'How come?'.
'Fucking fevers spreading like wildfire, we've no supplies, no ammo, this pistol is useless, then Aaron drops ye,' he shakes his head 'I don't know what's going to happen'.

'I don't know what's happening our group either, haven't seen them since Achill, we need shelter and food for the boy,' she says.
'We probably have some to spare, fever's wiped half of us out,' he says 'I heard about the horde'.

'We avoided the town, but it's a lot bigger than the horde we took down, I don't think it took any of us out, we've lost outposts though'.
'All for what?' He sighs 'what was even achieved? Just more dead kids'.

'I know, but hopefully things will start to shape up for ye,' she says, knowing killing Aaron will be the best thing for the bunker, a part of her knows they won't care about Aaron's death.

'I'll leave ye in anyway,' he smiles 'nice seeing you again'.
'You too Seán,' she smiles.

   They make their way down the wet tunnel to the contamination room. Before they enter Nix turns to Arawn 'you're part of my group okay? You're my little brother'.
'Okay Nix,' he says and sticks his thumb up.
Nix does the same and chuckles to himself 'good kid'.

    It feels like a century ago since Daisy went through the decontamination process. She doesn't even know the point of it at this stage. They know they can't carry the virus, at the start it was fair that they were cautious but now they know, it's a waste of time.

   'This is very high tech,' Nix looks around, frowning at the loud alarm 'what the fuck is a bunker doing out in the middle of a field?'.

'Aaron came across it at the start, it's not far from his house, he's from a rich part of town, probably some rich person didn't know how to spend their money and built a doomsday bunker,' Daisy says 'not that it was much use for adults'.

'Looks like a government thing though,' he says 'maybe they knew about the virus long before we did'.
'Guess we'll never know the answer,' Daisy opens the door to the bunker.

  She remembers returning to get Aaron on their side to fight the horde, she remembers the business of the place, she passes her shop and the shutters are down. Kids ignore them as they pass, all wearing face-masks, as if that'll stop them from getting the fever.

'Hey...' Conor approaches her 'Seán radioed me to say you were here'.
'How have you been Conor?' She hugs him.

   'Busy trying not to die from a fever,' he says, he's a lot gloomier compared to how he used to be, his eyes are empty like they were when Alex died 'who are your friends?'.
'We're from James' group,' Nix says.
'Oh the big military group, scary guys I heard'.
'Not really,' Nix smiles slightly 'I'm Nix, this is my brother Arawn, we've heard a lot about you'.
Conor tries to smile 'it's nice to meet ye'.

   'Conor we're going to find another settlement, why don't you come with us?' Daisy asks.
'Ah, the bunkers my home you know?' He shrugs 'it's safe down here, even if we're all dying, at least it's not the Freaks ripping us apart'.

  Daisy didn't think he'd agree to joining them, he's never wanted to leave the bunker, he never will, he'll die down here like the rest of them.

'Anyway I've to get going,' he says 'gotta get a list of the dead for the bookkeepers'.
'It was nice seeing you,' she smiles.
'You too, sweet cheeks,' he walks away.

  Daisy eyes the kitchen 'why don't we get some food?'.
'Yes please!' Arawn smiles widely.

  The food doesn't even fill the plate, it's only some potatoes and turnip but Arawn scoffs it down and has Daisy's leftovers.
'What's the plan so?' Nix asks 'now that we're here'.
'Go see Aaron,' she says 'get rooms, get some rest, then I'll pay him a visit tonight'.

'Do we leave then?' Arawn asks 'I think it's cool down here'.
'I'm afraid so,' Daisy says 'it's not that cool if you stay down here for good, we'll find somewhere better'.

  Daisy knocks on Aaron's door, none of his guards stand outside the door, pretending to be important.
'Come in,' anger fills her body when she hears Aaron's voice.

'I heard you were back,' he sits in his chair 'I was surprised'.
'Yeah well we needed somewhere to rest, our outposts were overrun by the horde,' she says.

'That's unfortunate,' he straightens his back and eyes Nix and Arawn 'I've never seen ye before'.
'We're from James' group,' Arawn says, Daisy feels a pang of proudness for him answering so well 'I'm Arawn'.
'Nix,' Aaron's eyes stay on Nix, as if he doesn't trust him or like he's heard his name before.

'Zoe radioed me this morning,' he says 'things didn't go as plan for them, they'd to retreat'.
'Zoe's alive?' Daisy feels the relief travel through her body.
'Only her and twenty of her guys made it back,' he says 'James didn't'.

Aaron watches as Nix's face falls, as if he said it to get some reaction out of them, almost as if he's sneering at them.

   'That's a shame,' Nix keeps himself composed 'it was a hard battle'.
'Yes,' Aaron says 'what is it you need anyway?'.

   'Just a place to rest our heads for the night,' Daisy says 'I was hoping there would be a room spare'.
'I'm sure we can fit ye in somewhere,' he lies, Daisy knows half of his kids are dead, of course he has spare rooms, he pretends to flick through his pages 'room eight is free'.
'Thank you,' Daisy says 'we'll be out of your hair in the morning'.