We See the Same Sunset

5

"This is not a drill," An automated voice booms, crackly and threatening to burst her eardrums. "Bunker 415 is going under lockdown."

"What did you do?" Nikola twists, but the stranger holds her still over his shoulder, as the sirens howl. "What's going on?"

"Buying us some time!" The man grabs Soren's hand and kicks down a door that wasn't visible at first with all the shelves in the way. It leads into a clinical metal hallway, illuminated with bright white lights, a stark contrast to the bunker earlier. The floor is overgrown with vines and plants, but everything looks functional.

Huge white numbers are painted on the wall, but are barely visible, due to the peeling paint. For every staircase they descend, those exact marks show up again and again, until she could piece together the symbols. 415618

Nikola hasn't seen those serial numbers in a long time, but they stir a memory from the maps in her bunker. They're in Niederlande.

His quick footsteps fall heavy down the metal staircase, as he casts several glances up to the door they left from. Nikola extends her non-injured hand to Soren, who takes it without a word. Squeezing it, she prays that an end is in sight.

Every unintended jostle sends a wave of pain pulsing through Nikola's leg and hand, making her vision hazy and slow. There's something wrong with her hand—she knows it, but she sees three fingers instead of all five, Nikola almost faints at the sight.

She doesn't have time to worry about this.

There's a trail of blood following them, but right now, it looks like the man is concerned with escaping the scavengers instead of hiding where they were.

"Why...are we going down?" Soren tries to speak, as his legs try to keep up to the man's long strides, a pained expression spreading over his face. "Don't we—don't we want to get out?"

"If the system is under lockdown, all the ground-level exits are going to close off. At Sector fünf, there's a train we can manually power up to leave in."

"It has the train system?" A wave of panic surges through Nikola at those words. "I thought they were never completed."

"We were one of the first to be finished."

"Does it work?"

"Only one way to find out."

The stranger's chest is heaving with exertion, damp with sweat, but they both know that Nikola can't do anything right now to lessen his effort. Even through his thick coat, she can feel his bones jutting out.

Even though there's more levels leading down, the man stops at one, with a sharp wheeze. With a shaking finger, he points to a door with a keypad. "You—" A brief glance at Soren, before he coughs into his arm. "Put your hand onto the pad!"

"Does it work for me?" Soren's voice is shrill, as he tries to get his breathing under control. The boy is winded, but a fire is still bright in his eyes. "Doesn't it need a soldier to open them?"

The man coughs, coming up behind Soren. "No time to waste! I disabled the system, so anyone could put their hand down and gain access! Type whatever I say—now!"

Soren frantically presses the code the man gives him and true to his word, the keypad lights up with a green glow. The man kicks the door open, just as the door from above bursts open.

"Get in!" Nikola grabs the back of Soren's shirt and throws him through the open doorway. Bullets zing against the metal staircase in scattered directions, as scavengers' voices break out.

The stranger goes in through the doorway, but then, a scavenger jumps from the upper floor, climbing down from the railing.

Beside her, the man looks up with a start, mouth forming a curse. "What the fu—"

This scavenger runs from floor to floor, until he sees Nikola and the man. There's something wrong with his eyes—too bloodshot and wide to be natural—and he moves in a frenzied dance, as he throws himself over the railing and dropping 3 metres onto the bottom floor. There's a sharp crack of a broken bone, but as Nikola watches in stunned horror, he still moves toward them with his leg dangling.

Nikola's blood runs cold. No way in hell. Never in her life had she seen someone snap a bone without a sound or reaction. His eyes catch Nikola and the man in a hungry gleam, as his lips stretch thin over his bared teeth. These scavengers are monsters that existed in war horror stories.

"Get in!" she snaps again, but to the man carrying her. He reacts with a sharp jolt and shoves them behind the metal door, as it closes in a measured, slow swing. Despite all his pulling, the door doesn't shut any faster, so she can see the scavenger raise his own weapon at them.

More shouting in an indiscernible language comes from above and the man grunts as he tries to keep the door shut. This won't work. Nikola rolls herself off his shoulder with a shout, "Move! Get to the trains—I'll take care of this!"

The man has a split second hesitation, before he gives a grim nod and runs off, grabbing Soren with him. Nikola grits her teeth and slams her shoulder against the door, but it's no use.

Footsteps pound down from above, but she nearly gets a heart attack when a semi-automatic shotgun is shoved between the door and doorframe. The scavenger grins at her, as their eyes meet, and he pulls the trigger, shooting rounds in the cavern.

She couldn't let any of the bullets hit Soren or the man in the bounce back! Staggering against the door, Nikola grabs the shotgun barrel with one hand, directing it up and tries to punch the scavenger with the other. It misses.

The scavenger gives the door a solid kick, throwing her back—but not before Nikola grabs a fistful of his jacket and pulls him in with her. His body crashes on top of hers, but with a guttural scream, she drives her elbow into his face, racking her nails over it. The weapon slides across the floor and before he could grab for it, she grabs his hair and slams his head against the concrete.

That should've been the end of it.