Good Morning, World

Chapter Two

 Dylan and Day stood in the crowded front room of the bunker as the teachers tried to explain what they thought happened. Many students were on their phones, trying to see if their families were okay from the bomb, others were just staring into space.

"Everyone, calm do- Hey! HELLO!" a teacher yelled over the anarchy.

Everyone quieted down a minute later, listening to them.

"I know you're all really worried, but it's going to be okay-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" one student yelled. "A NUCLEAR BOMB JUST WENT OFF AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE OKAY?"

"You know what? No. Nobody is going to be okay for a very long time. But you know what? Somebody will find us. Is that better, Susan?" the teacher responded.

Susan had no response.

"Alright, to your back are a few doors, leading to the rest of the bunker. Go through them and find a bed to sleep in," the teacher instructed.

As the students opened the doors of the inner bunker, a rumbling was heard outside. One of the old towers of the college crumbled at its base and fell, landing on the roof of the building, collapsing two floors and the cafeteria roof. A few of the students panicked.

Dylan and Day walked into one of the doors, Day keeping close. They stepped into the main hallway as the lights came on, revealing a clean white corridor. The LED lights were bright, newer than the rest of the school lights. The hallway had many doors, which nobody had seen in any other part of the city. The bunker almost looked futuristic.

The two walked into one of the rooms towards the back end of the hallway near the stairwell, and into a bunk room. They claimed a bunk bed and sat down on it. It was surprisingly comfortable compared to the bunkers that they've seen in movies and video games.

"Well, this place is nicer than my room, especially now," Dylan joked.

"Too soon, Dylan," Day replied.

"I'm trying to lighten the mood," he responded.

"You're nuking it," Day replied back.

"Hypocrite much?" Dylan asked.

The conversation was interrupted by the intercom. "Afternoon, students. The IT department is getting in touch with the nearby city of Cielo. Nineteen of the twenty bunkers have contacted into the mainframe, soon we will be sending somebody to the bunker to check in physically. This decision will be made by our bunker, we will be voting in ten minutes for two people to go out."

"They're sending students out into an irradiated ruin of a college right after a nuclear bomb has dropped. Idiots," Day rolled her eyes.

...

The principal spoke. "Hello everyone, we will be voting for who goes out to check on the bunker. These two people will-"

"Two people? You're not only endangering one student, but two?" Day interrupted.

"Yes, Ms. Day, we are. The buddy system. If one person doesn't make it, the other can report back. It's the best we can do," the principal replied. "Now, everyone take a piece of paper and write down who you choose to go. You may only write one name on this paper."

Each student was given a piece of paper, most just staring at it. Dylan looked at his paper, his pencil gripped tightly in his hand. He looked at the other students that weren't writing down a name, then back at his paper. He wrote down his own name.

Day wrote down a name after a few minutes, getting up and walking to the ballot box at the front of the room. She walked back to her seat, avoiding eye contact with anyone. The rest of the students walked up to the ballot box, a couple at a time. Dylan was the last one.

"The votes have been counted, and the first person elected to go out is... Dylan, with seventeen votes," the principal announced. Everyone looked at Dylan, a couple patting him on the back.

"The second, with another sixteen votes, is Day," the principal announced. Days' eyes widened as she looked up at the principal.

"Would Dylan and Day please follow Mrs. Dallas and I to the other room, the rest of you are dismissed," the principal said once more, the other students getting up to leave.

Dylan and Day walked up to the principal slowly, standing in front of him while the other students filed out of the room. The principal looked at them with sympathy.

"Come with me, we need to speak to you before you actually leave," he said.

The two nodded and followed the principal out of the room and down the hall, going to a locked door. The principal took out a keychain and fumbled with it for a couple minutes while he looked for the room key. Dylan and Day exchanged glances as he did so, still extremely nervous.

"It'll be okay," Mrs. Dallas reassured the two, not looking too together herself.

The principal opened the door and the four stepped inside. The principal flipped a switch and the lights turned on one by one.

The room was a medium size, the same white as the corridor outside. It was lined on the left and right with jet black lockers, the same color benches in front of them. There were a couple changing rooms in the back of the room, one labeled MENS, one WOMENS.

"Take the first two lockers," the principal said.

Dylan and Day walked over to the two lockers labeled 1 and 2, and opened them to find two suits of metal. They were both made of tungsten nanometal, made to have the school colors of green and yellow, styled like the old medieval knight armor. They were each equipped with two headlights, attached to the shoulders of the suit. The helmet was green with the number 1 on the side of the first, and the number 2 on the second, both yellow. The visors were black.

"This is actually really cool," Dylan said.

"Well thank you, but please, get them on quickly. We don't have much time," Mrs. Dallas replied.

Dylan grabbed his suit and put it on, Day doing the same. The visor was pitch black from the inside until it activated. It turned on like an old TV, the room fading in as small items appeared in the corner of their vision. In the top left corner, the heartbeat of Day showed for Dylan, Dylan's showing on Day's. The bottom left held a compass, the bottom right a radiation meter.

"Can you two hear me alright?" the principal asked.

Day nodded and Dylan gave a thumbs up.

"Good. Now, you'll need a little bit of training before you can go out. Most of these are just different modes the suit has. These are all activated by your voice. There is the scanner mode, which of course scans things. There's the protection mode, which activates the weapons turrets. That is locked, don't try it. There are a few others, but they aren't needed. Try to walk around," the principal said.

The two walked around the room to get used to how the suits worked. They were a bit heavy to move, but they were alright. The principal and Mrs. Dallas watched them and guided them through the training until they were ready to head out.