The Day The World Ended | ONC 2024 LONGLISTER

11| shelter

"Why do they want to kill you?" Mellie asked as she stumbled after Novah, nearly tripping over a rock sticking out from the ground. "Why not just let you be?"

Novah frowned. "Who knows? Maybe they think we will start a riot. I mean... Well, people are already crying for answers, aren't they?"

She had thought about this while she was on the run with Jordan. They had theorised that maybe there was something even they didn't know. She had wondered even though those scientists had said the experiment was a failure, what if it was not a complete failure? What if they thought that the escaped subjects would be a far greater threat than some rebels? What if there were going to be some side effects or something that no one would like?

But she didn't say that to Mellie. She didn't tell that to anyone. They didn't need to freak out over that. It was her and Jordan's secret.

"Simon thinks there will be a war." Mellie kicked at a loose pebble, glancing at Simon and Kaylin who were walking ahead of them.

Jordan looked back at them over his shoulder. "Maybe. Probably."

"Do you think you can fight them?" Mellie asked. "They have weapons. They have technology. What do we have?"

"If a war starts," Novah said. "It's not going to be just us. People will fight. The government depends on people, you know. If it comes to a war..." She shrugged, frowning. "I guess it will end in a disaster either way."

"This sucks," Jordan muttered, stretching his arms over his head.

The both of them had slung the rifles around their shoulders. They had parked their truck a few blocks away, hidden among a cluster of buildings. Or, rather what remained of those buildings. It seemed that this area had taken more damage than where they were before. There weren't many people around either and even the ones there seemed to be just passing by.

The five of them were going down a narrow and rocky slope. While in the facility Jordan had found a list of old warehouses the military had abandoned after the sun flares. Most were obviously destroyed but there was one safe house that was underground. It had a better chance of surviving the excessive heat than the ones above ground. Simon had suggested they find it. Novah had no idea of what might await them. But there should be more weapons in that warehouse, and hopefully, electricity. The government would come after them. They wouldn't just let them go. And for that time when they catch up, they have to be prepared.

"So, it should be somewhere down here?" Simon turned back to glance at the three of them.

He had stopped near a crumbled building. Blocks of cement and wood piled along the ground, dust rising to coat their shoes as they walked. Simon and Kaylin were studying the map Jordan had stolen when they escaped. It was hard to find any street names when everything was just charred pieces of rubble and it had taken them a day and a half to get on the right route. 

"I guess so..." Novah trailed off eyeing the map and the pile of concrete in front of her. "We'd have to dig through this."

"It must have been under another building—this building. The entrance must have been inside it. Now it's blocked," Kaylin observed, tapping her chin. 

"No. Look." Mellie was pointing at something among the rubble, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look.

Novah stepped closer and looked where she was pointing at. "Oh."

There was a trap door that once must have been metal but now it looked like a melted chunk. A melted chunk that was broken along the corners. Someone had opened it. Someone was already there.

"It seems like someone got ahead of us," Jordan muttered. "The others?" He looked to Novah, a questioning look in his brown eyes.

She shook her head slowly. "Could be. I'm not sure."