The Decay

Chapter 57 - The Outside

57

...80years ago...

Thomas rose from his bed early in the morning. He opened the wardrobe and chose his usual gray colored jacket. The picture of his mother stuck to the wardrobe caught his eye and he felt a squeeze in his chest.His mother, Molly, had passed away almost one year ago now. A deadly infection had affected her and two others in the underground settlement, yet no one could figure out where the bacteria had come from. After the three had died, no one else had been infected.Thomas' father, Francis, had been devastated and shortly after chose to end his own life. Before this, however, he had written a long letter to Thomas, explaining his decision. Thomas had survived the rough period thanks to his girlfriend Isha. She was his age, with beautiful long brown hair and piercing blue eyes. They had grown up together, and a few years ago Thomas had suddenly realized how amazing she was and had fallen for her hard.

He closed the wardrobe, concentrating on the good memories of Isha before changing and heading outside his room. Walking to the end of the white corridor, he turned right and headed down a flight of steps to the basement. He worked here as a mechanic. His job was to fix everything from the water purification to the security guards'weapons. In truth, there were only four security guards since the settlement wasn't very large. There were rarely conflicts between the forty-something inhabitants and there was no fixed leader. The order was mainly kept by the four security guards appointed by the other inhabitants, with the choices being rather straight forward,considering that three of the four had been police officers and the last one, a bulky man in his thirties with short-trimmed hair, had been a military officer, dishonorably discharged for something no one seemed to know.

Thomas had started working in the repairs department five years ago at age twenty, inspired by his father. He had taught him everything he knew and, as far as he was concerned, he was great at what he did. This morning, an old pistol lay on his workbench together with a piece from a solar panel. He started working on the pistol since he knew it would be a quick job, whereas the microchip could easily take several hours to get fixed.

Half an hour into his work, he had just finished with the pistol when he felt the tremors of an explosion followed by shouting. An alarm began to ring. He started out the door but turned back after a few steps to bring the gun he had just repaired with him. He checked the magazine and counted six bullets.

Rushing up the stairs, he made his way to his room. Isha was there, standing in a corner trembling. 'What happened sweetheart?' asked Thomas. She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. 'I... I don't know. I was walking up to the top floor when I heard an explosion and this man shot someone. I ran down here as fast as I could,' she sobbed. What she said wasn't making any sense, but Thomas had the feeling she was right. Why would anyone attack us? And why so long, 22 years after the disaster? Thomas wrapped his fist around the gun tightly.'Let's get out of here,' he said, before going back into the main corridor. The lights were off so it was quite dark now. They moved along the corridor, past the remainder of the living quarters and up to the main top floor which had a form for lounge and the only entrance or exit to the underground bunker. As they reached the top of the stairs, he pushed Isha towards the wall and put a finger over her lips, telling her to be quiet.

Peeking around the corner, he could see three shadows in the lobby, walking over the corpses of a few people. 'So much for security,' muttered one of them, his voice a rough, sharp sound. One of the shadows chuckled in response before aiming his weapon. A loud bang indicated the death of another inhabitant of the bunker.

Thomas felt his heart racing, adrenaline flowing through his body. All of a sudden, one of the people on the ground moved and a gun went off, one of the shadows grunting hard, falling over. Thomas understood that he would never get a chance like this again. He rushed around the corner, took aim as best he could and fired two shots at the shadow nearest to him. The first bullet missed but the second one caught him in the arm and the shadow squealed loudly. Before the second shadow could react, a bullet had passed through its chest and the man hit the ground, dying. Thomas forgot the gun and sprinted, running into the one whose arm he had shot with full strength, knocking him over.The man punched Thomas in the face and moved towards his own gun that had been knocked out of his hand. Before he could reach it, a gun went off and the man dropped on top of Thomas, not breathing. Isha screamed, thinking Thomas had been shot. A man dragged himself up and offered Thomas his hand. Isha was relived, recognizing the features of Paul, the ex-soldier. 'Round up... all of the survivors,' he said,struggling with every word. 'We... need to get out. Before more of...of these idiots show up.'

Paul never made it. He had been shot and the bullet hit a major artery. He soon died from bleeding out. And thus the remaining survivors stumbled into the aftermath of the world war, some twenty-two years after it had happened. Everyone was surprised; the people who had been alive before entering the bunker because of how different it looked, the people who had been born in the bunker because they had never been outside. As they moved farther from the bunker, they reached some old ruins. 'This has potential,'announced Thomas. No one disagreed with him. Together with the others, Thomas worked hard to make this place their new home.