Surviving Outside

Our Underground:

The Bunker was buzzing with its four hundred and fifty odd population as they went about their day to day business. The walls were grey and bare concrete, that some people had tried to brighten up with pieces of coloured fabric. All of the people, and children, were wearing clothes as grey as the walls, since being in the Underground Systems or US, had made them lose the materials they needed to colour the clothing. The only bright spots of colour anywhere other than the occasional hung rug was the plants in the Green Houses and the books of the Libraries.

The Green Houses were the only place other than the air vents that had a direct view of the outside. Well, more or less at least. There were skylights metres high above the plants, but they were made so only sunlight could get through. Nothing else could be seen. It was one of the many protective mechanisms that was apart of the Bunker to help shield it from above world eyes. It was tended to by only a very few people, as the art of tending to plants was slowly being lost to the people due to their 80 year isolation.

The Library was the only place where books could be found in a great amounts. Some books could be found here and their, but they were ones that the people of the Bunker themselves had made, or ones that they had multiple copies of. The Library was also where the children had their daily lessons. Each day the Teachers would learn them in the knowledge of the above world, and why they had to come below ground, mathematics, language, philosophy, science, and a great many other things that acted as building blocks for their small society.

There were different jobs that could be done as well that were necessary for the survival of all in the Bunker. The main ones came under different categories; Leadership, Bio-Care, Cooking, Construction and Knowledge.

Bio-Care contained Gardening and Medic Duties, whilst Knowledge contained Science and Teaching. All the other categories where pretty self explanatory, and then there was the Business side of things that weren't absolutely necessary but still important, like clothing and home items.

Prentiss, whilst just still young enough to attend classes at the Library by a couple of months, spent most of her time working in the Gardens, when her parents in the Science rooms didn't need her to look after Shawn. And it wasn't like he wasn't old enough to look after himself now anyway. He was fifteen, and had his own agendas already and everything. It was mostly just anecdotal thing.

There was something that had been bugging her lately about what they had taught in the classes in the Library. She felt like there was some piece of information that she had read, that didn't click quite right with her. Usually she could pinpoint the information and then go ask the right people about it, but this time she couldn't. And it was incredibly annoying.

"Oi Prentiss! I hope your not daydreaming there, your going to over water the plants if you're not careful!" Her friend Tamara shouted form over at the next row of plants. It snapped her out of her thought and she immediately raised her can to stop watering the plant.

"Thank you Tamara sorry about that!" Prentiss called back with a small wave. She got a smile, before she returned to watering the plants once more. This time, she promised herself tat she would pay more attention to her job than something that might not even be wrong. She figured she would just go to the Library, there was bound to be a book there that she could find to give her the answer she was looking for.

People walked in and around the Library, and Prentiss could hear the sounds of a younger group of children in class, so she knew that room was out of bounds until they were done. Instead, she walked through to the older section of the Library, were all the books from the Above Ground were kept. As she looked, she spotted one of the books she had read a couple moths back. It had a nice bright blue cover, and was about how the war started to drive everyone under the ground. She flicked through the pages until she came to the one about the war, and the parts before it that meant humanity may be able to return to the surface one day. The lesson that was bugging her was one about how everyone underground had to stay there, as the world above was no longer liveable due to the weaponry that was used. But the book had said otherwise. And just as Prentiss had found the page she was looking for, there was a small cough behind her. She looked up in surprise, and turned.

"Hello my dear Prentiss, may I ask what you are looking for?" It was Librarian Asael. Prentiss smiled at him as she held the book open with both hands.

"I believe I may have actually just found it Asa." She said, moving over to a nearby table and setting the book down, sitting with it. Asael sat beside her, and she pushed the book sideways so he could see it better, and she pointed to the paragraph.

"In classes we were always taught that the world above wouldn't be habitable for us anymore because of the war. But right here, it says that all of the world powers agreed to stop all creation of nuclear weaponry and to get rid of their stockpiles, because they knew that if ever they did fire them upon each other the world would in fact, become uninhabitable. So, if they didn't use these weapons, why are we still down here?" Prentiss looked up at Asael, but before the kindly librarian could reply, there was a loud booming and everything shook slightly. This happened at the same time everyday, and everyone was mostly used to it now. They used it like a sort of clock. It took a few moments to stop again, allowing the Librarian to speak.

"Because the guns are still firing. We can't go back up there until they stop, for fear of us being caught in the blast."

"Ok, then, why haven't they stopped in the last 80 years? Surely that's too long for a war, someone would have gone, 'no, this is costing too much and is pointless, lets stop now', right?"

"You would think that. However, there has been a small story, almost like a rumour, that has been told through the Librarians, that there might actually be another race inhabiting Earth now." Asael spoke quietly, and Prentiss eyes widened.

"How did we never find out about this? That sounds like the most incredible scientific discovery that we could have ever made!" Though she was visibly and audibly excited, she kept her voice somewhat down. They were in the Library after all.

"I know, but no one could ever really prove it. And it's not like we can't go up and check. But if you want to learn more about it, go talk to Grandfather Denzel, he may know something."

Grandfather Denzel was the oldest surviving person in the Bunker that remembered back when the war started. He used to help out a lot apparently, but now he mostly just sat in his chair and told the same stories to anyone who would listen, since he was too frail to do anything else.

"Thank you for your help Asael. Have you ever wondered what it was like up there? What it might e like there now?" Prentiss stared off into the distance as she thought, hey eyes partially focused on the wall.

"I think everyone has at some point. But, I must leave you now as a Librarian's duties are never done. It seems that the kids have found it once again amusing to try and steal books from the Library." A frown crossed his kind face.

"Oh really? Do you perchance know who it is?" Asael bit his lip before answering her question.

"Your brother and his friends, as well as a couple of the girls they hang out with on occasion." He said with a heavy sigh. Prentiss stood up.

"Do you mind if I borrow this book?" She held up the blue-bound book she had shown him.

"Of course not. I know at least you will look after it and bring it back." Asael gave her a small smile.

"Thank you Asael. And I will give my brother a talking to about it when I next see him." Asael nodded at Prentiss.

"That would be greatly appreciated. Good day Prentiss." They gave each other a small wave, and parted ways. Prentiss picked her way back through the near maze of a Library, once again avoiding the room that had the class running. Damn Shawn why would you do that? You know it's against the rules. Prentiss wasn't very happy that her brother was breaking the rules again. And I need to go talk to old Denzel... Gosh he can be such a droner, but I suppose that's not his fault. Now, let's see if I can get through these people.