The Boy from the Bunker

P r o l o g u e

—prologue-

A voice from the Outside, and Wynnlow knew that there were more than 17 people alive in the world. The ground trembled and he stepped back from the wall of cement, afraid that it would collapse over and crush him to his death; for the first time in 14 years, light poured into the Bunker.

A siren pierced above all other noise, louder than anything he had ever heard before. With his hands pressed instinctively against his ears, he fell to his knees, shuffling with desperation as far away from the opening as he could.

A figure began to appear in front of him, the crack of light surely expanding as every certainty he had was vacuumed out into the unknown. They started to approach him, entering through the divide into Wynnlow's world; at the same time, footsteps vibrating across the ground, as if a heard of wild beasts were running through a desert behind him.

Four people had emerged from the Bunker, horror on their faces as they watched on to see what had set off the alarm. A hand pulled him up, sharply moving him behind the shelter of their own body. It was his brother, Ares.

With his eyes starting to adjust to the new brightness, he was able to distinguish who else had found him. Azha, Valarie and his father were all surrounding him, turning to face the armed intruder whose weapon were hoisted upright, ready to fire at its findings. Their voice echoed before they could react, presumably to another outside.

"Jackpot, boys. Help me load them."

With no time to comprehend the voice - one belonging to who he now understood was a girl - Wynnlow was twisted around swiftly and pushed down an unfamiliar tunnel of stairs, all the while his brother keeping a tight grip on his sleeve.

He blindly ran where Ares led him, taking a sequence of turns until he ended up in a room filled with large, mechanical air filters and rusting pipes. Though he had spent almost his entire life in the Bunker, Wynnlow had no knowledge of this room ever existing prior to being shoved inside.

"W-where are we?" Wynnlow managed to speak, breathing heavily as his brother came to a stop.

"Head through that door and don't let anyone out. Tell them all to hide."

"Ares, no, I-"

"Wynn, there's no time." The older boy yelled, pushing roughly at his brother's chest. He flew backwards a couple steps, colliding with the door that had been mentioned. "This is our home. We can't let them take us from it."

Ares drifted away before Wynn could retaliate. A million questions flooded through his mind, replacing the air in his lungs with an impossible tightness, but he had to listen to what he said. Wynn fled from the room, passing through the door which led him into the Bunker's office. There was a narrow gap for him to squeeze through - a grand bookshelf having enclosed the exit's whereabouts. Once he made sense of where he was, he hurried into the gathering hall where the entire residence remained.