In the Aftermath

Chapter Four

Chapter Four: In the Aftermath

Ethan watched in horror as the blood drained from his mother's face.

"What happened?" he asked. He felt stupid getting inside the car before his mother, leaving her alone with that man. What did that bastard do to her?

The cold air-conditioned atmosphere of the limo seemed to have gotten colder and more sinister. The lights outside streaming through the tinted windows created shadows that danced and taunted for Ethan to steel himself. The eerie whoosh coming from the air conditioner sounded like ghostly whispers that tickled the inside of Ethan's ears.

They had followed a stranger bearing the name of his father but had no proof whatsoever. For all he knew, the men they had followed could be their kidnappers and, because of blind recklessness, they had put themselves up for their own slaughter. 

Ethan chewed on his fingernails, a mannerism that made itself known everytime he was nervous. It had been a long time since he had to chew on his nails and right now, he couldn't help but surrender to it.

"We need to get out of here," Ethan said with a higher tone and a cracking voice. "How could we trust these guys? We didn't see any proof that they worked with dad."

His mother was quiet for a couple of seconds, like she had been thinking about something far from their current situation. The realization made Ethan calm down a bit, seeing how shaken his mother had truly gotten.

"Mom," her son said as if waking up a slumbering person. "What's the matter?"

Her head jerked up, coming out of the trance, and her eyes looked straight towards her son's face. They were frightened and confused, Ethan thought. Her eyes lacked the natural vibrance and life they usually had which made Ethan more worried.

"Whatever you do," his mother said, "make sure you do everything they tell you to do."

Why? Because they would kill him the moment he rebelled? This did not matter to Ethan; dying while fighting for his life is better than dying defeated. Then, he thought about his mother being in the line of fire. And the whole scenario changed.

"If they try to harm you," Ethan said in a low voice, "I will tear their bodies apart."

"You wouldn't have to," his mother answered matter of factly, her words acting like a sponge to her son's hostility. "These men are our friends, they are here to help. They might not care about our comfort nor our own ideas, but they are here to help us."

A confusion spread across her son's face. "Help us?" he nearly shouted. "I was sure we were fine before they came barging into the hospital. Help us? Help us to what exactly?"

With her son's sudden and loud outburst, Ethan's mother seemed to shrink back into her leather-bound seat. She seemed to have found something interesting outside the window of the car and she wouldn't meet her son's penetrating looks.

Almost whispering, she said:

"To survive."

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 Ethan's eyes flew open.

He didn't realize how exhausted he had been and, coupled with the comfortable interior of the limo, he couldn't help but surrender to the embrace of sleep. His eyes seemed to weigh a ton but he awoke with a start, feeling the sudden, familiar force of being propeled forward. The car had stopped.

Gathering his wits as quickly as he could, he let his eyes adjust to the dark, and stretched his arms.

His mother sat in the same place she had been sitting for almost an hour. Though it was milder than earlier, her look of worry and fear was still present on her face. Strands of her black hair fell messily from her head and provided a thin curtain for her eyes, forcing Ethan to look closer just to see them.

"I think we're here," his mother said.

Her statement was confirmed when the door opened and revealed the same man in black, standing just outside of the car door, waiting for them to come out. 

Ethan, still a little groggy, went out first and felt an involuntary gasp escape from his lips. Where the hell did those men took them?

They were standing in the middle of a gigantic, circular room. Though "room" might be the wrong word to use, but rather a gigantic area. There was no view of the sky; above Ethan's head was a stone ceiling, about fifty feet high. Giant lanterns that provided the only light for the whole room--aside from the limousine's lights--riddled the ceiling. 

Looking around, Ethan took a more careful examination of the area. The circular room seemed to have a diameter of two football fields. Doorways scattered around the walls, with sizes enough to accomodate tanks, led to darkness. In all, the room was overwhelming.

"Where are we?" Ethan managed to say. He saw his mother adopt a surprised look, much like his, as she stepped out of the car.

"If you have to know," the man answered, "we are inside the Ark: a top-secret government project started right after the Cold War. Believe it or not, we are 150 stories deep beneath the ground, inside a pressurized chamber. This is the perfect place for refuge from the imminent fallout."

Confused and surprised once again, Ethan asked, "Fallout? As in nuclear fallout? And what do you mean by imminent? What the hell is going on?"

"In a few moments, all your questions shall be answe--" the man wasn't able to finish when Ethan broke in.

"No, I'm sick and tired of being kept in the dark!" Ethan roared in outrage. "You tell me what the fuck is going on right now, or I'm--"

Ethan was cut off as well.

But, it wasn't caused by someone else speaking over him. All of a sudden, the giant cave seemed to roar, as if alive. The ground rumbled underneath everyone's feet and, for a horrifying moment, Ethan thought an earthquake threatened to bury them alive. 

It took them a couple more seconds to figure out the real cause of the tremors. From the dark doorways, a stream of bright lights made itself shown. A closer inspection showed that the lights were coming from car headlights; hundreds of cars started pouring into the room.

"Guess we got here a little early," the man said. "Welcome to the Ark, Maria and Ethan Blunt."