“Mom, are you ok?”
I snuck a look at Dad when she didn’t answer me but his face was unreadable.
“Dad, I have to pee and I’m sure Mom’s got to go too. Can we stop somewhere?”
He didn’t answer for a few seconds and I was about to ask again when he let out a tired sigh.
“Can you hold it for a few more minutes? We’re almost there.”
I sat back against my seat and nodded at him in the rearview mirror, as scared and confused as I was about what I had seen in the last few hours I was also really curious about where we were going. I was just a baby when my Dad was a soldier. Mom said the last time he deployed I was two years old and I screamed for him all through the airport when he left. That was his last tour and when he came back he started up a business as a construction contractor. Even though I envisioned a cold damp cave full of bats, I knew Dad would never bring us to such a place to live long term. He had made the trip to his cave at least once a month and sometimes more often for as long as I could remember so I knew that he would have fixed it up into something habitable.
A huge rut in the path made the truck lurch and Mom let out a low moan. I was really worried about her and let a heavy breath of relief out when Dad slowed the truck to a stop. My peanut sized bladder was screaming for relief but I knew Mom would be even more desperate, so I grabbed a box of tissue from the seat and scrambled out the door before opening hers and helping her down. We moved away from the truck behind some bushes and I tried to brace Mom so she could go pee, but she waved me off and braced herself against a tree. I spun away and found my own tree to balance against and did my business. I might be a mall girl at heart but I had camped with Dad a few times so I knew to bring the used tissue back to be burned later.
Mom was back at the truck before me and she passed me a travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer after taking my tissues and putting them in the plastic bag Dad used as a garbage in the front seat. As I rubbed my hands together, I looked around and saw nothing but wilderness. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath of the late summer forest smell and tried to let the stress of the last few hours go. Opening my eyes, I looked at my Mom’s strained face and sighed. As crazy as this living in a cave business sounded to me, at least we would all be together.
Mom leaned wearily against the side of the truck and cradled her big belly with one arm. Her face was pinched and tired looking as she watched my Dad pull our bags out from the truck bed. A small mountain of bags grew and I hoped we didn’t have far to carry them all. Once he had removed everything he pulled my backpack and a few of the shopping bags from the pile and tossed them in my direction.
“Can you handle these, Sky? I don’t want your Mom carrying anything.”
With a nod, I gathered the bags and stood watching as he shouldered both his bug out bags and struggled to right Mom’s suitcase. The tiny wheels on the case would not be much help on the rough, overgrown forest floor. As he tried to right the case, Mom pushed off the side of the truck and reached for the shopping bags draped over my arms. I gave her a concerned look but she just shook her head and took the bags.
“Go help your father with the case Sky, I can manage these.”
I could see the stress that lined Dad’s face and the way his jaw was clenched tightly. He only nodded at me and shot a quick glance at Mom when I helped him get the case upright and we finally started moving. It was a ten-minute struggle to get to where we were going and we were all panting and sweating in the late summer heat when he finally came to a stop and dropped the bags.
I looked around and saw only more forest and a rock wall. Seeing no cave opening I assumed we were taking a break, so I dropped my own pack and leaned against the rock wall to rest. I watched my dad take the shopping bags from Mom and gently rub her belly while speaking to her in a low voice. He kissed her gently on the forehead and then turned and stepped towards me.
“Can you move Sky? I need to get the door open.”
I looked at him in confusion but stood up and turned to study the rock wall behind me. There was no door. Rock, moss, dirt and a few weeds poking out from cracks, but no door. I gave him a weird look and waved towards the wall and stepped back.
He gave me a teasing smirk before reaching out and pressing twice on a rounded rock protrusion. My eyes flared wide as a small square of rock moved to the side exposing a keypad. He chuckled at my expression and ruffled my hair.
“It’s a false front. Now we just need to pray it was protected enough to survive the EMP.”
He pushed a series of numbers that I realized was my birthdate and then hovered over the enter button. He looked at me and glanced back at Mom before taking a breath and pressing it. I think we were all holding our breath for the few seconds it took for something to happen. I flinched and stepped back at a clunking sound and watched wide-eyed as a piece of the rock wall seemed to break and slid to the side. I wasn’t sure what I expected but the empty room that was exposed wasn’t it. The tree-filtered sunlight shone into the room so that I could see that it was about ten by ten and mostly bare except for a drain in the concrete floor and a few panels that might be closets.
Dad put his hand on my back and nudged me forwards.
“Go on in, it’s just an airlock. The real door won’t open until this one gets closed again.”
I glanced back at Mom but she just gave me a tight smile and waved me forward, so I grabbed my bags and stepped into the room. Mom and Dad followed me in with their own bags. Looking around the small, dim room I gnawed at my lower lip with my teeth in nervousness. I didn’t know what was going to happen next when Dad reached out and put his hand against a panel I hadn’t seen before and pushed a button. A scream was clawing its way up my throat when the door we had come through slid closed, taking the dim light with it.
Mom’s hand on my shoulder changed the scream to a squeak of fear as we were plunged into blackness. As soon as the door made the clunk sound I had heard before, red light filled the room. My Dad said something that I couldn’t hear over the pounding in my ears but the computerized voice that answered him rang loud and clear.
“Welcome back Daniel Ross. Voice imprint authenticated. Scanning for radiation and other environmental impurities. Scan complete. Sterilization commencing.”
My mouth was dropped open in shock and I was scanning the ceiling for where the voice was coming from when the soft red light changed to an intensely bright UV beam that blinded me. Starbursts flashed before my eyes as I rubbed away the tears that had immediately sprung up. I felt Mom rubbing my back in sympathy as she blasted Dad.
“A little warning next time Daniel!”
Just as my eyes started to clear, the light changed again to normal fluorescent lighting and the clunk sound came again, this time from behind me. Dad stepped towards me and lifted my chin.
“Sorry about that sunshine. I should have warned you about the lights. Let’s go in and I’ll show you our new home.”
I had a million questions on the tip of my tongue but before I could ask the first one, I felt a whoosh behind me and spun around. Just like the outside door, a section of the wall had slid to the side revealing the next room. I took a tentative step towards it and found myself snorting out a spontaneous laugh. My preconceived notions of a damp dark cave were swept aside as I took in the exact replica of our living room from the home we had left just hours ago. The furniture was the same as well as the family photos on the walls. The only difference was the paintings that were hung were copies of pieces my Mom had created instead of the originals.
I walked deeper into the room and saw open doorways to my left. Glimpses of beds and dressers showed me where we would be sleeping. To my right, past the living area, was a modern looking kitchen with an island counter and shiny new appliances. I spun around with a smile of delight that soon faded as I watched my Dad help Mom lower herself to the couch. Her face was strained and I immediately went and sat beside her.
She clutched my hand in hers and gave me
a tired smile. “I’m ok, just tired. I just need to rest for a bit and I’ll be fine.” She tried to look reassuring.
Dad studied her face intently before finally nodding. He blew out a breath and rocked back onto his heels before speaking to us both.
“OK…there are a lot of things I need to explain to you both but most of it will have to wait for now. Time is of the essence in order for me to get everything we need to survive comfortably before we have to seal up and stay put. This will be our main living area. There is more to the cavern system further back into the mountain but I will show you that later. The voice you heard in the airlock is an artificial intelligence response interface application. Shortened down, its name is AIRIA and it will answer questions and guide you in any way it can. So first it needs to voice print you both.” He held up his hand and addressed the computer. “AIRIA, voiceprint my daughter, Skylar Ross. Access level yellow.”
“Welcome, Skylar Ross. Please state your name and birthdate for voice print recognition. Access level yellow.”
My voice trembled slightly as I said my name and birthdate. Mom did the same except she was granted access level green, whatever that meant. We sat in silence for a minute waiting for Dad to explain more of what was happening but he just looked at us uncertainly and rubbed at his face. I had never seen Dad look uncertain before and I was starting to get nervous again at what he might say next. He finally knelt in front of us and his face softened.
“Everything you need for now is in this room. You are both completely safe but there are things we will need in the future to make our lives more comfortable. I have to go, now, to get those things before the fallout makes its way to us and it will be unsafe to travel anywhere.”
“Dad, NO….” I got out before Mom cut me off.
“Daniel, you can’t leave us here! What if something happened to you?”
He gripped our hands tightly and gave them a little shake to silence us before explaining.
“Listen, I have planned this moment for a long time and I know what I’m doing! There’s a farm nearby and I’ve had a deal with them for a few years. I pay to keep some livestock on their spread. We need those animals! I’ll only be a few hours to get them loaded on the trailer I have there and get back here. This living area is only a small part of the cave system I’ve set up. There’s another entrance closer to the back where I’ll unload them and store the truck…I promise I won’t be long!”
Mom was shaking her head as he spoke and burst out as soon as he finished. “How do you know it’s safe? There might be radiation out there right now!!!”
Dad’s mouth firmed up into a tight line before addressing the ceiling. “AIRIA, estimate time of fallout reaching this area.”
“Yes Daniel Ross, calculating now. Based on the last satellite images available of the closest ground strike and prevailing winds, radiation contamination will reach your current location in seven hours and forty-two minutes.”
Mom shook her head in confusion. “Daniel, how on earth could that computer know that? How do you have access to satellites?”
“Bill…well, let’s just say this place is a backup to an official bunker the military built in the east. He wanted something out west just in case. We worked together on this place and he supplied the technical aspects of it as well as, well, almost everything.”
Mom’s mouth was dropped in shock. “Are you telling me this is a government bunker? Are soldiers going to show up here?”
Dad shot a quick guilty glance at me before focusing back on her. “Umm, no. This place is what you would call…off the books. Only Bill and a few trusted colleagues of his and us know about it. He used foreign contractors to build most of it and haul in the containers. When Bill called to warn me he was in the capital so I doubt anyone is coming.”
He leaned forward and kissed her softly before turning to me and kissing my forehead. “Take care of your Mom. Help her get settled in and unpack some of the stuff we brought. I’ll be back before you notice. If either of you need help just ask AIRIA and she’ll help in any way she can. I love you both so much. I promise we will be safe here and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He rose to his feet and looked down on our scared and confused faces. “I just need to grab a few things and then I have to go.”
I sat holding Mom’s hand and watched him stride over to another panel on the wall and punch in a code. Once again a section in the wall indented and slid to the side. He stepped through and disappeared. When the panel stayed open I couldn’t help my curiosity so I squeezed Mom’s hand and bounced up and crossed the room to the opening. I stood in dazed shock as I watched Dad’s back as he walked further into a massive cavern. Lights sprang on ahead of him as he moved, exposing the huge room. To my left was a row of metal storage containers of the type that I had seen before on trains. I could only imagine what they were filled with. To my right was wire and mesh racks with garden containers on them. Below them were raised garden beds filled with soil but empty of plants. I wasn’t ready to venture any further into the room but it looked like animal pens were set up further away. I marveled at everything that I could see and wondered when Dad had the time to set all of this up and how Mom and I didn’t know about it. A soft moan came from Mom making me quickly move back to her side.
“What is it? Is the baby ok?” I asked in fear.
She shook her head and took deep breaths before answering me.
“I’m ok honey. It’s just the stress of all this. Can you help me stretch out? My back is killing me. Then maybe you could get me some water.”
“Of course Mom, just rest!”
I helped her get her feet up onto the couch and pulled a soft afghan from the back of it to cover her with. Patting her on the shoulder, I headed to the new kitchen and started to open cupboards. I had to shake my head in wonder as I saw replicas of our dinnerware from home. Dad had gone to so much trouble to make everything just like home that I felt a swell of love fill me. After checking out the pantry and finding boxes of shrink-wrapped food I grabbed a glass and opened the fridge. Inside it had a shelf full of bottled water and another one had stacks of different sodas. I grabbed a cold bottle of water for Mom and a can of Ginger Ale for myself before going back and settling on the floor beside her.
Her soft breathing told me she had dozed off so I left her water on the coffee table and sipped at my soda while thinking about what all had happened so far today. I started to get overwhelmed at the thought of never going back home or school or anywhere that I was used to, and I felt tears start to well in my eyes. I just couldn’t believe that my world was ending. Looking around at the copy of my home just made me more sad, so I closed my eyes, leaned back against the couch and waited for whatever came next.
A soft hand on my shoulder startled me from my deep thoughts. Dad was looking down at me with eyes that were filled with worry and love.
“Sky, I have to go. I need you to help Mom get settled in. I promise I’ll be back in a few hours.” He paused and brushed a stray curl from my forehead. “Everything is going to be ok, I promise.”
I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out so I just nodded and pushed to my feet and leaned into him. His strong Dad arms wrapped around me and made me feel safe but all too soon he gently pushed me away and leaned over Mom. I stepped away to give them privacy as they whispered words to each other and then he was gone.
I stood staring at the door he had left from for at least five minutes before turning back to Mom. She had closed her eyes once again so I grabbed a few bags and carried them into what would be our bedrooms. One of the rooms had a huge king sized bed so I guessed it was my parents. I nudged the other door open and peeked in. A double bed was against one wall with a desk beside it. Sitting on it was a small radio with an iPod resting in the docking station. A few long strides had me across the room reaching out to thumb on the player. A smile cracked my face as it lit up and displayed all the playlists I had on the dead model I had left in the truck. Shaking my head in wonde
r at my Dad’s attention to detail, I spun around the room and took in the Taylor Swift and One Direction posters on the wall.
The smile slowly faded from my face as I realized that those music artists may no longer exist. I dropped the bags on the bed and made my way back to the living room. I couldn’t help but start to think about how many people might now be dead. The computer voice had said bombs but how many and where?
Looking over at Mom and then scanning the ceiling I tentatively asked, “Umm, Computer? Are you there?”
“Skylar Ross you may refer to me as Computer or AIRIA. How may I assist you?”
“Umm, ok, AIRIA you can call me Skylar. I, uh, I just wondered if you knew how many bombs have gone off and um, if very many were close to here.”
“Skylar Ross, last satellite data was from thirty-six minutes ago. At that time there had been two thousand sixty-three ground strikes with three hundred and thirty-nine occurring in North America. The closest strike was Edmonton, Alberta. The second closest strike was Vancouver, British Columbia. Up to date satellite imagery may be obtained in the future if undamaged satellites come into communication range.”
A gasp from Mom had me meeting her horror filled eyes. She had stood up from the couch and her hand reached out to take mine. Her eyes had a sheen of tears in them and her voice was a harsh whisper.
“My God, how many people must have died?”
“Vanessa Ross, estimates of initial casualties from ground strikes would be three billion. Calculating secondary casualties from radiation fallout and infrastructure breakdown now…”
“NO! I, we don’t want to know that!” Mom was shaking her head frantically. “Oh, oh Sky, half the world just died!”
The tears were pouring down both our faces as we tried to grasp the huge number of people who had just died when without warning Mom’s grip on my hand turned bone crushing and she doubled over with an agonizing moan.
Endless Winter Box Set: Books 1 - 4 Page 2
