Inception

Chapter 30: The Bunker

"An earthquake?" he squawked.

If it was, her and Kafka were probably in the safest part of the building. Even so, she rushed to get the door open so Kafka could get out of there.

Just as the door hissed open and Kafka strode through, the intercom began to blare.

"Code red. Kaiju are attacking the base. All on duty personnel report for duty. Vice Captain Hoshina presiding. Code red, kaiju attack on the base."

The blood drained so quickly from Lena's face, she wavered in place.

Leno. Leno was here. Kaiju were attacking and Leno was here, asleep, not in the lab built for a nuclear bomb, she had to find Leno—

"Whoa, hey, breathe, Lena, just follow shelter in place drills."

"Kafka, Leno—"

"I'll watch out for him, I'm heading up right now. You get somewhere safe."

"But, operations—"

"You don't do operations anymore, remember?"

And for the first time, Lena regretted it. Nothing sound more horrific at the moment then hiding away in a room not knowing what was happening to her brother and friends above ground.

The perfect day she had spent now seemed like a far off dream.

"Nothing's going to happen to Leno," said Kafka, and for once his friendly, silly demeanor was gone. He radiated strength and some kind of charisma that drew Lena into believing that everything really would be okay. "I'll keep him safe. I promise."

For a minute, Lena forgot that Kafka was the weakest soldier on the force.

But there wasn't time to argue with him.

"You be safe too," she said.

He grinned, gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, then ushered her out of the exam room.

When she got to the bunker where non-combatant base officers were to be during kaiju attack, Cromwell and Yoji found her right away and pulled her in with quiet reassurances all in the way they squeezed her arms or gave her little smiles.

"Why the hell would kaiju attack the base?" asked someone.

"That's so coincidental, it's creepy."

"But didn't you hear? The rumors about another humanoid kaiju during the practical exam?"

"That's not verified—and not your job, dude."

"That's classified, you shouldn't be spreading rumors about sensitive data."

"Just saying, it's weird. I have a funny feeling about this."

The bunker shook, raising a murmur of alarm from the people within. A young woman in silk pajamas gave an aborted scream.

"Seriously, woman? Haven't you ever been in a bunker before?"

"N-n-no, I lived in the countryside."

"Oh to be so sheltered."

"We can't all live in the countryside."

"Lena," said Yoji, his eyes off somewhere over Lena's right ear. He was pulling at his knuckles, looking especially unkempt with his thinning hair sticking up and wearing blue-striped pajamas.

"I'm fine," said Lena.

Cromwell just patted her shoulder again, looking far too put together than any man in his seventies had a right to be. But, then, he'd probably lived through hundreds of kaiju attack.

A muffled, yet still jarring siren tone came from Lena's pocket, making everyone in the room jump. They all glared at her.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Lena squawked as she fumbled to get her phone out.

"What is that?" Asked someone from the cafeteria crew.

"A security alert..." Lena stomach clenched as she pulled up the location of the breach. "I-I'm sorry, Cromwell, can you override the door? I need to get out."