A bright light shone into Chris’ eyes. He could feel the wind rushing through his hair. A blue sky welcomed him once he opened his eyes. Chris looked below him; the world below him was non-existent. He was falling into an endless abyss.
For a moment, he felt at peace. All of his troubles flew away in the wind. As he fell, the abyss below him formed into an empty field. The field was green and full of life. As he got closer to the ground, the green fields burned away and became a field of ash.
His body hit the ground, causing his surroundings to become enveloped in a cloud of ash. As the dust settled, two figures emerged from the cloud. Their bodies were charred and could no longer able to be identified. The first figure stepped forward and spoke. “Why Chris? Why did you leave us to die?”
“I&r
Chris opened his eyes. His body was shaking and he was sweating profusely. He sat up in the bed. It was 6:29am. Heather rolled over and looked at him. “Are you okay?,” she asked, half asleep.“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a really weird dream.”“What was it about?”“I can’t remember, but it felt like it went on forever.” Chris got out of bed and walked over to the mirror on the wall. He placed a finger on the bandages on his neck. Pain shot through his neck as he touched the bandage. His hand was throbbing, and he had a hard time moving his fingers without causing him any pain.“That’s a shame. Hopefully, it was a pleasant dream.”“I doubt it was,&rdq
Multiple shelves containing various balls and other equipment, such as hockey sticks, tennis rackets, frisbees, and more, sat in the far back of the storage room. Chris walked back to the shelves and scanned over the equipment.“Do you see anything that you want to do?” Heather asked.“Since you wanted me to talk to you about my emotions and I wanted to do something else, I thought just throwing a frisbee back and forth would be a good compromise. This will allow us to talk to each other while being active, and I’ve always found throwing a frisbee to be very relaxing.”“That sounds good, but let me warn you, I’m terrible at throwing.”“Don’t worry, I already know that.”
The artificial sunlight shone brightly through the single window in Chris’s room. Chris opened his eyes. The bed next to his was empty, and Heather left the lights on. He removed the bandage from his neck. A scab had formed over the cut and it no longer hurt to the touch. He still had a sharp pain in his knuckles whenever he moved his fingers.Chris walked down to the cafeteria for breakfast. He found Heather in the cafeteria and sat down next to her.“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Heather asked.“Not as well as I would have liked to,” Chris replied. “I had a lot going through my mind.”“What kind of stuff were you thinking about,” Heather asked, pulling her hair behind her ear.
Chris excused himself and left the cafeteria. He found himself wandering back to the gym storage room. Before the world ended, Chris enjoyed building household items like furniture or shelves. He located a large box with a picture of a basketball hoop on the side. He dragged the box onto the gym floor and cut open the box. Metal pipes and bars rolled onto the floor. He tipped the box over and slid out the backboard, rim, and the base. Chris started by attaching the rim to the backboard along with the height adjusters. He fast two narrow support beams at the bottom of the large pole and another long narrow pole that attached to the middle of the big pole and the back of the height adjuster. Chris had difficulty tightening some bolts because they required him to move his hand in such a way that hurt his injured hand. He tightened the bolts that connected the ba
An announcement came over the PA system, calling everyone to the conference room. Jackson and Chris were standing in the front of the room, waiting for the rest to show up.“I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect you to build a model so similar to the sketch,” Chris said.“Yeah, I did a pretty good job on it, although I reduced it to one sheath per person. Your design was so complex I was expecting you to put grappling hooks on it. I’ll let you do the briefing on the equipment, and I’ll handle the mission. Sound good?” Jackson asked.“But that’s your device that you built. Shouldn’t you present it?”“Yeah, but it was your idea, so go for it.”By now,
Chris arrived at the arranged meeting place. Jackson was already waiting, with a box in hand, containing the suit and sheaths used in the demonstration.“Well, today’s the day. Are you nervous at all, Chris?” Jackson asked.“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Chris answered.“That’s expected. It’s our first time meeting anyone from the rest of the world. For a month we’ve been confined to these walls. And for the first time, we’re breaking free.”“That was a great motivational speech, if I would have been there to hear all of it,” Evan said, walking up to Jackson.“Well, now that we’re all here, I think it’s time for us to
Chris could hear something in the distance but couldn’t tell whether it was something outside or if it was part of the suit that he didn’t hear before. He scanned the empty field repeatedly. The noise continued to get louder.“Do you guys hear that buzzing noise at all?” Chris finally asked.“I hear something. I figured it was just the suits,” Evan replied.“Check your tank levels. They can sometimes make a buzzing noise when they get low,” Jackson said.Chris looked down at the gauges on his forearm. He still had half a tank of air on his first tank and a full second tank.“My tanks are still good,” Chris said.“My
A small keypad protruded from the ground above the door. Jackson walked up to the keypad. “How much you want to bet the passcode is the same for every bunker?” Jackson joked.“I can’t say I’d put much on that, but it’s better to try than to just wait around,” Chris replied.Jackson punched a code into the grey box. Within seconds, the door slowly opened. A set of stairs appeared under the door that led to a long hallway.The hallway share an appearance with bunker #151. It had one storage room off to the side where the suits were stored, and an elevator at the end of the hall. The only actual difference was this bunker had a working elevator.Chris looked at the sign above the elevator. There was a blinking green arro