Dave stared in shock
at the speaker. He couldn't
actually see the person behind the speaker, however, that didn't stop him from
glaring at it anyway. How could he
not be permitted to enter the bunker? Did the guard actually care so little for
another human, that he wouldn't let someone inside? When nothing else happened, Dave repeated his question,
"Is there any space in the bunker? If you don't let me in then I'm going
to die!" The speaker made no
sounds for a couple of seconds and then a hiss of static and the speaker made a
crackle-pop sound before someone said, "I'm sorry Dave, I cannot let you
in. I said so before, we simply can't let anyone else inside. If someone who
was infected got inside, then the entire bunker would be for nothing." Disbelief washed over Dave, how
could the guard believe that he was infected? He had checked himself over before he left, and he had
looked perfectly healthy then. He
felt immensely frustrated, tired, hopeless, and if this guard didn't let him
in, then he was going to die. Dave
had heard about the storm that was gathering in the southeast, it wasn't like
one of the storms that often occurred before 2050. No, the storm that was coming up would be full of
harmful radiation. Anyone
who got stuck in a storm like that, unless they had proper gear, would most
likely not survive - and Dave certainly didn't have the proper gear.
Glancing at the
speaker patch, Dave asked, "Ok, if you won't let me in, can I at least
know your name?".
"My name is Hal, and Dave, I really am sorry that I can't let you
in. If it were up to me I would,
but there is too good of a chance that you have been infected by one of the
diseases that seems to be running rampant. And, if I were to let you in, then I would be risking the
life of everyone in this bunker."
Dave started to worry that he might have caught one of the diseases that
was currently running rampant. "Wait, how can you tell if you've come down
with something?" Hal did not
say anything for a short while before responding with: "Well, there are no
clear indications when you are in the stages of the disease that is least
contagious. One thing to keep
aware of is anyone coughing or sneezing excessively, or anyone who coughs up
blood. It seems that the disease
attacks the nerves system and internal organs first. Therefore, people begin to cough up small amount of blood,
which coincides with the most contagious period of the disease. So, if you see
anyone with those symptoms, or if you have any of these symptoms, isolate yourself
from the people around you or the infected person because the disease can
spread simply by breathing on, say your hand and then making skin contact with
someone else. Heck, I've even
heard of a case or two, where breathing closely to someone else who is infected
can spread the disease."
With a quick nod, Dave began to walk away from the door. He was
thankful for the information that the guard had given him though he didn't feel like he owed Hal anything, and if Hal wouldn't
let him in, he would find his own way into the bunker. He still had enough of an urge to live
that he wouldn't give up.
As he
walked back to the refugee camp, from where he came, Dave continued to think of
ways that he could get into the bunker. The first thing he though of was to try and obtain a
pass that was supposed to guarantee access to the owner, but he doubted that
there was anyone with a pass like that, not in a bunker. Even if someone with a pass was not in
the bunker, it probably would not have matter very much to the guard. After all, they had their orders and no
doubt also a personal reason for not letting just anyone in. Every additional person was another
mouth to feed, another bed taken up, more electricity and water consumed. The bunker was fairly self sufficient,
but that didn't mean it would be good to over tax the abilities of the
system. For that reason,
Dave could not blame the people in the bunker, or the guard for that matter.
However, that did not stop him from blaming the committee that decided on how
many people each bunker would support or the price of admission into the
bunker. However, that
was beside the point now, because there was nothing he could do about the past.
He could however do something about the future, so as Dave continued to walk
back to the refugee camp, he continued to plan for the future.
Upon arriving at the
refuge camp, Dave was greeted by the sight of chaos. Many of the tents that the humanitarians had set up, were on
fire or had been knocked over. The
canvas material was soot stained, evidence that whatever was happening here,
had been going on for a while.
While he was staring, transfixed by the devastation. Joanna, one of the few friends that he
had been able to make, ran over. "Dave,
quick! Get to your tent. The people here are crazy! Once they heard that the storm was coming, they began to
riot. " Dave could only
stare in horror at her.
"Why? Didn't they know
beforehand about the storm? I
thought that was general knowledge!
Wait... Is that the reason why so few people went to try and petition
the bunker?"
"Apparently the people, who started the riot, didn't know
that. And once everything got
started, it didn't matter whether or not they knew. People began to fight because there wasn't much else that
they could do. Now, come on!"
With that, Joanna began to run towards the section where Dave had left
his gear. When
he arrived at his tent, he was relieved to see that it was still intact. Dave noticed that the other tents
around his were also intact, which most have meant that the riot had not
reached this section yet.
Grabbing the few items that he truly needed, Dave began to make his way
over to the edge of the refuge camp. He had said farewell to Joanna, and his other friends
before he left. They had not
believed that he would be able to gain entrance, so instead of going with him,
they had moved on, hoping to make it to another refugee camp before the storm
struck. Once he got to the
place where the refugee camp seemed to end, Dave glanced back one last time,
and then continued on his way.
As nighttime began to
fall, Dave crept up to one of the bunker's side entrances. This would be his only chance to get
in, because later, presumably sometime in the early hours of the morning, the
bunker would seal off completely from the outside world. Before now, they had allowed the
occasional person in or out who had the proper identification, or resources
that they would need for growing food or building. Now the only thing that would be permitted entrance to
the bunker, was the air that was being recycled before the storm hit. Dave planned to get into the
bunker by using the intake vents for the air circulation system as an
entrance.
Once Dave was near
the entrance, it was a simple matter to climb up the side of the rock face and
swing over to the side until he was standing directly in front of the
vent. He then had to time the
metal fans spinning so that he could toss his bag through, and then jump
through afterwards. Dave counted
three cycles of one of the three blades, and then as it began to come down,
tossed his bag through the gap.
The blade that was descending caught one of the lower straps and easily
cut through the material with a swish.
Dave, tensing, counted to three, and then lurched forwards, stopping at
the last possible second. He had
miscounted the timing; there was a good chance that if he had jumped then, the
fan blade would have hit him. Instead of trying to have another go at it right
away, Dave turned away and walked in a circle, trying to console himself. He had to jump now that his bag was on
the other side; it had everything important for his survival in it. Eventually, he sat down on the edge of
the overhang, watching the lights that could be seen in the distance. It was what remained of the refuge
camp; the flickering lights were probably fires that people had started. When Dave finally got up, he was
surprised to find that he was actually quite stiff, because he thought that he
had been sitting for only a short time. Dave faced the fans again, he started counting to ten,
however once he got to seven he jumped, before he lost his nerve. Dave landed in a heap on the other
side, one of the fan's blades barely missing him. Getting up, he checked to make sure that nothing had fallen
out of his bag when it was hit, and that nothing had fallen off him when he had
jumped. Satisfied, he continued onwards through several dimly lit maintenance
passageways. The only light was
provided by faint red emergence lights, which resulted in Dave almost becoming
lost. However, he eventually found
what appeared to be a service hatch, it appeared to have just a simple opening
mechanism. He coughed into his hand while he turned the handle and stepped
out. He was in a back
alleyway of sorts, with people passing through an intersection a dozen or so
meters in front of him. He turned,
closed the door behind himself, coughed into his hand and started walking
towards the crowd. Before he could
mingle, someone knocked into him, sending both of them stumbling away from each
other. "Watch it! Can't you
see where you're going?" Startled Dave just peered at him. The man had walked into Dave, not the
other way around. "Hey,
you walked into me. I'm sorry all
the same. I didn't mean to do
that." Grunting, the other man extended his hand for Dave to shake. Shaking hands, the stranger said,
"I'm Joel, nice to meet you...?" "Dave, nice to meet you to. I've got to go now, but maybe we can
talk later?" Joel shrugged
and said before walking away, "Maybe. I'll see you around Dave."
Dave started looking
for a place to stay; his short conversation with Joel had encouraged him about
his future. Perhaps he thought,
the people here aren't going to be as bad as they were at the refuge camp. Dave coughed again, this time much more
violently. He covered his mouth
with his hand to be polite, but when he glanced down he noticed a little bit of
red speckled on his hand. Blood.
