The Bunker

Chapter Fifteen: Day Two

The next morning came, everything felt so mundane, so normal. Besides being inside of a giant metal bunker. Lucas was laying in bed staring at the door, trying to imagine what the future could hold here. Claire was sleeping, he didn't have the heart to move and wake her, it took hours for her to finally fall asleep. The redhead was nuzzled against him comfortably, her face calm after a night of crying. Lucas had his hand resting against her back, he could feel her breathing, he again admired how she fit beside him. It had to be early, the alarm hadn't gone off yet. Lucas took a deep breath and imagined the world above. Was it gone? Were there any people up there? They couldn't live down here forever, he remembered reading online that even a luxury couldn't hold people for more than 8 years. 

Lucas was in his own mind when the morning alarm finally rang. It jarred Claire from her sleep, she looked around confused until she reached the amount of being awake where she could process what was happening. Lucas watched her eyes open just in time for the speaker to go off.

"Good Morning, this is Director Hansen. Day two in the bunker and the amount of progress we've achieved already is really something else. I'm proud, to say the least. I want to apologize for not announcing the physicals yesterday, slipped my mind," there was a chuckle before he continued, "If you did not have your physical yesterday, today you will report to The Med Bay before work today. Thank you."

The speaker clicked off and Lucas sighed, he was getting tired of hearing Hansen talk of work. Their world had just been flipped upside down, no one has had a moment to process it. If anyone was proof of what could happen, it was Claire. Seeing her break down like that made him feel useless, like he couldn't help her. 

"I don't want to," Claire low voice hit his ears and Lucas immediately looked down at her, "Do you think we get days off?"

Lucas chuckled lightly, "Probably not." His hand rubbed her back, without thinking. Lucas stopped and pulled his hand away, aware of what he was doing, "I'm sorry."

Claire shifted a bit, making it so she could look at him better, "For?"

Lucas looked into her eyes, he felt a smile raise on his face lightly, "I uh...I'm not sure I know our boundaries. Hansen he...he hasn't let us take a moment to process everything..." Lucas rolled lightly, they both had to adjust their bodies to face one another, Lucas was smooth though, he reached over to touch her cheek softly, "To process this..." Claire relaxed into his touch, it was soothing, "I just, I don't want to mess up whatever this could be."

Claire smiled lightly, "You're not." The small curl of her lips and the sparkle in her eyes made him feel calmer, "I'm processing it, aren't you." Her eyes seemed to be reading his, "This..." Lucas watched as her hand grasped his wrist, her thumb grazed the back of his hand, "This is the only thing keeping me sane right now. I don't care that I've only know you a couple days, no normal people getting to know one another go through what we've gone through. Lucas...you saved my life."

"Yeah, but I couldn't save your friend," Lucas regretted it as soon as it left his lips, he sucked in air.

"No, neither could I." Claire sighed softly, "If I keep thinking of Nevah I'll always be sad. If I think about my father, my brother, every person out there," Claire looked at Lucas with heavy eyes, "I'll never live." Lucas's face relaxed, he took a deep breath and watched her, "Whatever this is, I wanna find out too."

The entire maintenance team were waiting in the living room when Lucas appeared near the stairwell, he turned to Claire before she walked up the stairs and grabbed her hand, "I'll see you soon."

Claire nodded, looking behind him at Keptner who stood in the door to the living room, staring at them with a stern look on his face. Once she left Lucas made his way into the living room, walking past Kept without even a glance in his direction. After a moment to collect himself, Kept turned to his team.

Locking eyes with Lucas he spoke, "Before we report to the 4th Floor Living Quarters we will all report to Med Bay for physicals. It's important for the med team to have records on all of our health, in case anything happens. They'll also use this information for portions at the The Mess Hall." Kept crossed his arms and continued on about their duties for the day.

It wasn't too long after Claire arrived at The Med Bay that Doctor Hines told her she would be running the physicals today because he actually had a meeting with Director Hansen, "Really?" Claire followed him toward his office, "How many people?"

"I believe fifteen, not too bad. It'll keep you busy and I'll be back for the last few." Simon nodded, he crossed his arms and looked over at Claire, "I have faith in you Claire."

"I can handle physicals, that's...childs play." Claire smiled, feeling cocky, "I'm just...feeling a bit off today."

Simon walked over and placed a hand on Claire's shoulder, she had yet to really identify how she felt about Doctor Hines, they got along well and he seemed like he could be a good mentor, but he was close to Director Hansen, and that made her skeptical. "Claire, we all are a bit...off. This isn't normal, none of of could prepare for this. Even those who tried to, clearly it wasn't what we thought it would be." Claire felt the sincerity in his voice, "We just have to all work together to try and have the closest thing to normalcy we can."

Claire nodded, "I guess you're right."

"I will be back, just make sure everything is uploaded into the tablet." Simon nodded before pulling his white coat on and walking toward the large sliding doors that lead toward the stairwell. As the door opened Claire noticed the maintenance team was sitting in the waiting room, she locked eyes with Keptner just as the door closed.