Empowered book 1: "Run"

Chapter 4

     Cara continued staring at the hole in the ground. Sure, it was possible, an underground bunker. This just wasn't what she'd expected. She'd expected a large building, perhaps disguised as something other than a bunker. This, this was just a hole in the ground! Just how big was this bunker?
     Evan seemed very amused by her reaction. He straightened up and gestured to the hole. "After you."
     Cara looked at Charlie. He nodded. It's ok, sis.
     She looked back at the hole. This was truly crazy. Was she really considering jumping down a strange pit? Why wasn't she running away? Of course, she knew why. Despite everything, deep down she still trusted Charlie. Nothing would be able to change that, whether she'd originally wanted to go with him or not. Cara took a deep breath and stepped onto the first rung of the ladder. Nothing happened. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for, but a part of her seemed to assume that something should happen. She ignored the thought and lowered herself down to the next rung.
     "Who's there?" A man's voice shouted.
     Cara screamed and let go of the ladder. She tried to grab it again, but it was too late. Thankfully, she only fell about three feet.
"Cara!" Charlie's voice echoed through the metal interior of the trap door. Cara quickly scrambled away from the ladder as he slid down into the Bunker.
"Charlie, I'm f-"
"NOW WHO THE HELL-"
"Mr. Martin that is enough!" Cara looked up to see a tall middle aged man standing in the middle of the room. He had close cropped brown hair and piercing grey eyes. Stubble covered his face, and his tight-fitting shirt revealed that he had large muscles. He looked like a military general.
Charlie cleared his throat, clearly intimidated. "Uh. Sorry, sir."
The man walked closer until he was about six inches away from Charlie. "You told me six pm at the latest. It's almost nine! Where the hell have you been?"
Charlie took a step back. This man was bigger than him in every aspect, but the thought of Charlie being intimidated by anyone was strange to Cara. Yet here he was, backing away until he hit the ladder. "Well, uh..."
"ETD," Ashley cut in. "They knew where we were."
"What? How in God's name could they have known anything about the extraction?"
"I don't know, sir, but they knew enough to make themselves fireproof suits. They knew our names, our powers, way more than they should have. We took a longer route."
The man frowned. "Strange. Darcy would have known if we were hacked." His frown deepened. "Listen, I wasn't going to tell you this now, but another bunker was wiped out today."
Ashley gasped. "What? Where?"
"Somewhere in upstate Rhode Island. They seem like they're branching out from Washington, but how they're finding bunkers so easily, I still don't know. All bunkers along the east coast are gone."
No one said anything. Ashley looked like she was trying not to cry. Evan's eyes were closed. He suddenly looked much older than he really was. Charlie looked like he was in shock. Finally he spoke. "Sir, these bunkers have been around for ages. The ETD has been looking for them for years and coming up with nothing, and now they're suddenly able to find and destroy bunkers like it's nothing? It doesn't make any sen-"
"I'm sorry," the man said. "I shouldn't have said anything. Especially in front of our guest." He offered Cara his hand and pulled her up. "Max Schroeder. I'm in charge of this Bunker."
"Cara Martin." Now that she was standing, Cara could easily see the room she'd landed in. The walls and floor were all a dark steel grey. They were standing in some sort of computer room. A large monitor was attached to the wall behind Schroeder. Filing cabinets were sitting to the left of that.
"Well, Cara, I'm sure you'll get used to this place soon," Schroeder clapped her shoulder and smiled. "You must be hungry after sleeping that long."
Out of the corner of her eye, Cara saw Charlie lowering his hand from his temple. He must have told Schroeder everything. "Wait...how long?"
Ashley shifted awkwardly. "We drove from Rhode Island to Nevada, Cara. You've been asleep for five days."
     "Five...what?"
     Welcome to Livingstone, Nevada. Those were the words Evan had said to her. How could it not have occurred to her how far they'd travelled? How was it even possible that she'd been asleep for five days?
     "Evan told you a lot," Schroeder said. "But he apparently didn't tell you everything."
     Evan cleared his throat. "Sorry."
     "We'll explain everything," Charlie told her. "But first, you should eat something."
     "How do you expect me to eat something when-"
     "You haven't eaten in five days. That's not healthy."
     "Well, no shit!" She could feel tears again. Oh God. Please not now. Down. Down. Down.
     "Come on," Ashley said. "We'll get food in the cafeteria. It'll be empty now, so we'll have it all to ourselves. We can answer all your questions." She lead them through a doorway into another room. The lights were off, so Ashley produced a small fireball, casting an orange light over the room. This room was larger, and filled with couches and chairs. "This is the lounge," Ashley said. "It's where everyone spends most of their free time. There's a game room on the other side of the control room." She pointed at the room they'd come from. "This floor is basically where everyone hangs out." Ashley then walked over to another door. She opened it and looked back at Cara. "The cafeteria is the next floor down."
      Cara walked through the doorway and took in her surroundings. They were standing in a stairwell. A bright fluorescent light hung from the ceiling. Cara looked down over the railing. The stairs seemed to stretch downwards forever. How far down does this go?" She asked.
     "After the cafeteria, the next floor down is the training room," Evan said. "That's where the newbies learn how to control their powers. You'll be spending a lot of your time there at first."
     "And at the bottom of the Bunker are the dorm rooms," Charlie said.
     Evan hopped onto the railing and slid down to the first landing . "Just think of this place as a glorified college."
     "Right," Ashley said, rolling her eyes. "That's exactly what it is."
     They followed Evan down to the landing. Evan was already opening the door to the cafeteria. More fluorescents came on. Cara followed Evan through the door. A wave of dizziness suddenly washed over her. She ignored it and took in the room.
The cafeteria looked like it belonged a prison. Plain grey walls, all made of a painted brick, made up the interior. The room itself was huge. Its perimeter must have been the same as that of the entire Bunker. Thousands of cafeteria tables with benches attached to them took up most of the floor space. On the adjacent wall from where Cara stood was another door. Next to that was a rectangular window. Cara could see what appeared to be a kitchen through the window.
Evan pulled open the kitchen door "Ok. How do you guys feel about breakfast for dinner?"
At that moment Cara realized how hungry she was. She sat down at the nearest table and nodded. "That works."
Charlie and Ashley sat down across from her. "So, what would you like to know first?" Charlie asked.
Cara laughed. "I have so many questions. I don't even know what I should ask first."
"Well, let's start with the obvious one," Ashley said. "How'd you manage to sleep for five days straight?"
"Right. Remind me how that's humanly possible?"
"SHIT!" Evan's voice echoed from the kitchen.
"What could you possibly have done?" Ashley yelled back.
"Ash! I need you!"
Ashley groaned and sprinted to the kitchen.
Cara looked at Charlie. "Does this always happen?"
"What, Evan cooking? Usually our friend Peter does that, but I'm not sure why he bailed out. Ashley yelling at Evan? All the time." He grinned. "Keeps things interesting though."
     Cara grinned back. "So...you still haven't told me how I managed to sleep for as long as I did."
     "Right. I may have had something to do with that. See, when I force people to sleep, it's not a normal kind of sleep. I'm not really sure how to explain it."
     "Just try," Cara said. "I doubt I'll be surprised at this point."
     "Ok. Short version: I can make people sleep for as long as I want. I tell their bodies to sleep, and they do. The person's body systems slow down, and they can survive like that for days. I can set a specific time for the person to wake up, and they wake up at that exact time. You weren't supposed to wake up in the car, but we were running late." Charlie lowered his gaze. "I hate doing it. What happens afterwards terrifies me, but as soon as I discovered that I could do it, Mr. Schroeder put me on the extraction team."
     "Extraction team?"
     "Me, Ashley, Evan, and Peter. We bring in the new Empowered when their powers start acting up. Evan goes in to scope out the area beforehand and makes sure it's safe, Peter uses his powers to calm the person down, I come along just in case Peter's method doesn't work, and Ashley is our first line of defense if things should...go wrong.
     Cara raised an eyebrow.
     "Hey, all she really does is scare civilians away! What happened today, that shouldn't have happened. Ash went overboard, but we've never actually encountered the ETD before. They shouldn't have known anything about us."
     "What do you mean? Isn't that their job?"
     "Up until recently, the ETD hasn't accomplished shit. They looked for us, but they could never find us. The fact that they suddenly can is bothering everyone. Either way, how could they have  known Ashley and Evan's names?"
Cara didn't have an answer for that. It was strange, for sure. But then again, everything was strange lately.
"They shouldn't even know we have bunkers."
Cara and Charlie looked up to see Ashley and Evan coming out of the kitchen. Ashley was carrying a plate. Evan followed her with four water bottles. They set their items down on the table.
"The dinner of champions!" Evan announced. He gestured to the food on the table. The plate was filled with pieces of toast. Cara counted eight. Two for each of them.
Charlie gave Evan an exasperated look. "Seriously?"
Evan shrugged. "The fridge was locked up for the night."
"Dude."
"Take it or leave it, Charles!"
Cara burst out laughing. There were few things Charlie hated more than being called by his full name.
Evan smiled. "About time you laughed for real. It's an adjustment, but I really think you're going to like it here." He sat down next to Cara and eagerly grabbed a piece of toast.
"Evan," Charlie said.
"Hm?"
Charlie put two fingers to his temple. "Give yourself a wet willie."
Ashley slapped Charlie on the back of his head, breaking his concentration. "Knock it off, Charlie."
Evan's hand stopped about two inches from his mouth. "You bastard."
     Cara quietly ate her toast. "So, you've been here the whole time, huh?"
     Charlie glanced up. "Wasn't your first guess?"
     She shook her head. "Can't say that it was. Why so far away from home?"
     All three of them suddenly looked uncomfortable. "We...we weren't always far away from home," Evan said quietly. "There aren't many bunkers in the U.S., but there was a time when we weren't all that far away from you."
     "What happened?"
     "Almost done?" Ashley cut in. "Mr. Schroeder's going to want us in bed."
Once they finished, they went down the stairs to the next landing. There was another door there, which Ashley said lead to the training room. At the bottom of the stairwell, they went through another door into a dimly lit hallway with several doors on either side. "Boys dorms are on the left, girls on the right," Ashley explained.
     "Good luck finding your way around in this maze," Evan muttered.
They led Cara down the hallway to the right. It branched out into smaller hallways. These had more doors on either side. How many people live here? She was suddenly exhausted, despite the amount of sleep she'd gotten. All of a sudden she felt like she could pass out at any moment. Without paying attention, she tripped over her own feet.
Charlie grabbed her arm before she fell. "I told you I didn't like doing it."
He'd said he didn't like what happened after someone woke up from the sleep he caused. Had it done something to her?
     Before she could ask, Ashley said: "We're here."
     "What room?" asked Charlie. He looked at the number printed on the door, which was 38. "Oh Jesus..."
     At that moment, the door burst open. A girl with short black hair and huge glasses stood in the doorway. As soon as she saw Cara, she smiled and threw her arms around her as if they'd known each other for years. "We waited up for you! Why are you so late?"
     "Darcy, back off. She's had a rough few days," Charlie said. "We were just delayed."
     "By what?"
     "It doesn't matter," Ashley said. "We're back now. Everything's fine."
     Darcy let go of Cara and smiled at Charlie. "What do you mean 'mysterious device'?"
     "I'll show you in the morning," he said, yawning. "Just thought I'd give you a heads up." He then grabbed Cara's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "My room number is 52. Don't be afraid to wake me up if you need anything."
     Cara nodded. "Ok."
     Charlie hugged her tight, and for the first time in a year, Cara hugged him back. Ashley waved as she left for her room, and Evan smiled at Cara before following Charlie down the hall.
     "Come on!" Darcy pulled Cara into the room. "You have to meet Audrey!"
     "What?" Cara stumbled into the dorm. Like everything else in the Bunker, it's interior was made up of grey brick. There were two bunk beds on opposite sides of the room, with a desk in between them.
     "Hello!" A cheery voice said. A girl was sitting on the lower bunk of the bed on the left. "I'm Audrey." She had long brown pigtails and striking blue eyes. She smiled at Cara.
     Cara smiled back. She was feeling slightly dizzy, but she ignored it. "Hey. I'm Cara."
     "Nice to meet you, Cara. I'm Darcy. Hey, you ok?"
     Cara was now leaning against the bed opposite Audrey. "I...I don't know." Her vision clouded.
     "Oh man. Charlie made you sleep, didn't he?"
     "How'd you..." Cara felt her knees buckle. She tried to keep standing, but she dropped to her knees. She felt herself being gently lifted off the ground.
     "Dang it, Charlie," she heard Darcy mutter. "Why does Schroeder keep making you do this?"
     "You'll be alright in the morning," Audrey said gently. She set Cara on the bottom bunk opposite hers.
     "What's going on? What's happening?" Cara felt panic rising in her chest. She struggled to keep her eyes open, but it was no use. Sleep overtook her.