Chapter 6

There are a lot of things that make one very anxious. Being in very small spaces. Being far away from the ground. Maybe even being surrounded by darkness. But something relatable is being taken somewhere that you don't know.

The leaves crunch under our boots as we trot through the forest. "Can we take a minute?" I huff leaning against a tree. "Kaito, keep moving. we're almost there." David says as he pushes a bush out of the way. Arbus glances back at me before continuing forward. I grunt as I push away from the tree and continue walking behind them. How are they not out of breath? I'm struggling to keep up. "Are we close?" I ask trudging behind them. "Here we are!" David announces. I look around the area that was clear of trees. Is he hallucinating? "I don't see anything," I say looking around. He chuckles and walks to the middle of the clearing before stomping on the ground making a metal clinking noise. " Not over there, It's right here," he said grinning. We all walked to him as he cleared leaves from the door.

"So what is it?" I ask as he pushed a button and the door raised from the ground revealing a panel. "This is our haven," David said with a smile. He types a code into the small panel screen and it raises from the ground. The door rises in a wedge shape that reminded me of a slinky. The door opens and we walk closer to it.

One after another we step down the later and into what I can only think to name a bunker. "Is it supposed to be this cold?" Arbus asked being the last to come down from the latter. "No, I need to start the generator and clear the panels," David said walking down the hallway. Our boots clanked against the metal floor as we walked into the room. Everything in it was either metal or glass a very minimalistic approach to design. I looked around wandering in and out of the high-tech rooms. The doors of the rooms were made of mainly metal and glass and slid open with the permission of a keypad that had no numbers on it. just a grid. "What do these do?" I ask pointing to the keypad with no keys on it. "Oh, this?" David said making his way over to me. He pressed his hand onto the keypad and it lit up. I watched as it scanned his hand and the doors slid open. "Ta-dah! It's cool, right?" He said with a smile. I nod my head and continue to walk around a bit more.

David had gone outside to clear the solar panels so we could get the generator working and the air ventilators. I sit down on the bed which was about twin size. "Not exactly luxury, huh?" I hear Arbus's mother say as she enters the room. "Yeah... But it's better than sleeping in a car." I sigh in agreement laying back onto the bed with my legs hanging off the edge. " Agreed. You know we are fortunate to be so prepared for this happening," she said her hands sliding against the closed cabinets along the walls. Why were they so prepared in the first place? Rather than feeling lucky, I was feeling suspicious of our fortunate circumstances. "It would have sounded silly a week ago but David and I have always believed that there would be an apocalypse. We didn't know if we would be alive when it happened, but it didn't matter what did was that we were ready. I just think that you were lucky enough to have been friends with someone like Arbus." she said pushing a button on the wall where a drawer came out. she dug inside of the drawer and brung out some sheets. "Scar?" I hear David call her, she looked back toward his voice then back at me. "You should get some sleep, I'll make us something when you wake," she advised handing me the sheets before walking out of the room. I sit up and remove my jacket before taking off my boots and sliding them under the bed. I lay back down and when I couldn't find sleep I counted my thoughts away. "One, two, three, four..."

I [Arbus] follow my father's voice, he was calling for my mother asking her to help with the vents for the oxygen to be filtrated. "Scarlett, honey can you hand me the filter? It's in the lower shelf of the supply closet," he asked her she quickly went and retrieved the filters for him. We watched him while he installed them. "Where's Kaito?" I ask "Sleep." she responded taking the removed filter from Dad. "Already?" I question and she chuckled "He's not used to taking long hikes like we are his body has to adjust. You saw the way he was huffing and complaining about it up here. " she explained I grin nodding my head. He was never an athletic person.

Mom discards the used air filter and starts to go into the storage area, she makes food. We gather at the glass table which seems very impractical. "What are you doing?" she questions me "What?" I say raising an eyebrow. "Go wake Kaito," she orders. I groan as I get up from my seat. I walk down the hall and enter his room. He was still sleeping. I shake him. "Kai, wake up." he rubs his eyes and slowly sits up.  His hair a mess on top of his head. "Time for lunch," I say he gets up and walks around a bit before leaving the room and I follow. He sits across from me at the table and begins eating as well as everyone else. Though he is giving me the cold shoulder this isn't too bad. But I refuse to not do the same.

We have been here for about two weeks and ever so often we can hear noises from above. I thought my parents would have been more prepared but it seems that since Kaito is here we are low on victuals, there seemed to have been a miscalculation on how much food would be needed. None of us have stepped outside of the bunker since entering. Before we were able to monitor the chaos of the news from within the bunker for the first week but then there was just radio silence. Since the food situation has grown dire we have decided to pick random sticks in hopes that the random pair would go and get the necessities needed. "Even numbers are safe and stay here in the bunker the odd numbers have to go retrieve the items on the list." Mother said shaking the sticks around in the cup. "Do we really have to do this?" Kaito said not looking pleased with the possibility of having to go outside. "We all agreed to this method." Dad said patting Kaito's back. "It's fair, the pair who's not going this time will go next time," I said. Kaito shifted nervously. "I don't know, with my luck there won't be a next time," he said. "Chill out, It's not a death sentence," I reassure him. he takes a deep breath glaring at me. She shakes the cup again "Ok pick." We each pull a popsicle stick from the cup. I hear mom take a breath of relief. She had no intention of hiding her thoughts. I look at mine. Fuck...It's 1. I look over at Kaito. He looks at his and throws it onto the ground. "I don't like this method!" he said he looks over at dad who was trying to hide his smirk.

I [Kaito] knew I would get an odd number. I've never dreaded the number 3 until this moment. I look over at David who was trying to stop himself from smiling. Scarlett was already looking happier. I sigh "When do we go?" I ask "Tomorrow, early morning." David says handing Arbus a list with a map on the other side. "These are all the things we need. there should be a non-refrigerated storage area that is closed off to the public." I watch as David shows Arbus the other side of the list where the map was, he pointed out and marked a few spots before giving it back to him. "You two better get some sleep, you'll be waking up early to who knows what," Scarlett says walking towards her room. I hear David chuckle "Good luck and good night," he said following her. I look at Arbus who didn't seem to be bothered by this, if he was he surely didn't show it. He trudges toward his room which was adjacent to mine. I enter my room and lay down drifting to sleep.

I wake up to muffled a clicking and clunking sound through my wall. I groggily get up. "What the hell" I sigh as I stand up and exit my room. I walk over to Arbus's room to see him assembling a gun. "Really Arbus? In the middle of the night?" I complain sleepily. "We have like half an hour 'till 5 am. Just wake up." He said coldly as he continued to click pieces of the gun into place. I roll my eyes and walk back to my room to get dressed. "At least try to care." I yawn to myself, scratching my head. After getting geared up Arbus and I go to the door and were ready to exit. I mean I wasn't ready mentally but I guess don't have much of a choice. The metal plates of the door creaked as it rose I exit the bunker following behind Arbus. As soon as the door closes behind me my nose is hit with the strong pungent smell of smoke. I glance up at the grey sky that appeared as if there was still smoke dissipating from some type of fire. The smell burned at my lungs. "What in the world happened?" I cough waving my hand at the burned smell. Arbus continued forward, he was looking around as we walked back towards where the cars were.

All of a sudden he stopped "That doesn't look too inviting." He muttered I turn to look in the same direction. we stood above the town in the forest. We could see the smoke all around the buildings some burned black while others still actively burning. I could see small fires moving at the edge of town. "What is that?" I questioned pointing to it. Arbus reaches into his pocket bringing out binoculars. He looks through them before quickly giving them to me. "I think you mean who," corrects. I look through the lens to see a man walking around while on fire. Arbus continues to head towards the cars. "It was only two weeks," I say to myself getting inside the car. "Don't worry too much that person wasn't alive, and it seems like they are mainly on the outskirts of the town," he says sliding the gear into drive. "But what if we run into a bunch?" I exclaim worriedly. "We're not even going to be in that area, anyways it's the living that we need to watch out for." He replies as if this was the least of his worries. But the staggering blaze on two legs was just the start of my worries.