"Another one huh?" He had a grin on his face and was slowly shaking his head side to side. I suddenly felt like part of an inside joke. He looked me up and down. With a shrug he said, "He looks fatter than the last one. Should feed us for a while. Welcome to Neverland." He winked and earned a slap on the back of his head from Coach.
"Knock it off you little shit. Get everyone in the mess hall. Now." Coach chuckled as Sir walked off rubbing his head.
"How long have you been here?" I asked as we headed down the hall. The building was newer than the others that surrounded it.
"We got here two years ago. Found the ghost town and built this facility. The thirteen lost boys and myself. Oh, sorry that’s twelve. We lost one." Coach cleared his throat and pointed to a door at the end of the long hall. "This leads underground. We use the hall here as a murder trough when necessary." He used an index finger to wave at the ceiling.
I looked up to see shuttered skylights that could be opened to flood the long hall with light. The shutters themselves had UV bulbs throughout them.
"Has it been necessary?" I quirked a brow at him.
"Not yet. And don't say anything to the kids, but I think it soon will be." With that he entered a code into a panel by the door and I followed him down the stairs.
"Generators?" I asked.
"Nah. We're completely solar. Grow our own veggies, occasional fruit. Even some peanuts. Got some jackrabbits in the old barber shop. Creepy bastards, but Zoe and Nef adore them. They're pampered until, well, you know. Everyone has a job here." He flipped through some papers on his clipboard and handed me a sheet.
"What's this?" I skimmed over the sheet, a chart of names and duties.
Cer, Bud, Rec, and Tom were assigned to training. Abe, Boe, and Neffery were in the kitchen. Mer and Len worked the garden and Zoe, Dom, and Neptune were responsible for water. I could see where adjustments had been made due to Nep's injury and the loss of a member of their party.
"Daily tasks. Kitchen, water runs, training, and working the garden. We had to shuffle things a bit after our last water run. Neptune, he'll be the one with god awful blue hair, well he's usually in charge of those on his own. He's a genius with making mud drinkable." Coach chuckled and paused at a set of double doors at the bottom of the stairs.
"Some interesting names here." I handed the paper back to him.
"Yeah well, we didn't pick 'em. I found the kids back in Utah. I'd gone into an old med lab and found them locked in a panic room. These are the only names they've ever known." He wiggled the clipboard and opened the door.
"A med lab? You mean a LifeSpark lab?" I waited just behind him inside of the doors.
We were now in a large room with picnic tables and a makeshift food bar. The kids were seated on the table tops waiting for us. I saw the faces from outside and a few others. The one they called Neptune was seated in a rolling chair and shoved off the table towards me. Sure enough his hair was a staggering turquoise.
"Ay mate. I'm Neptune." His thick Australian accent surprised me.
"Josiah." I took his extended hand and returned his firm handshake.
"About time we get another brother in this hole." A scrawny boy with a pen tucked behind his ear and tight black curls in a bun on his head came up for a greeting next. "I'm Len. Lenny to my friends. I'm the bunker poet. I keep shit inspirational." Coach flicked him on the ear. "Sorry Coach. That's my little brother."
He pointed over to the little boy that had told Coach I was on the tower. If not for the five inch size difference they could pass as twins. They both had striking olive green eyes and sun streaked hair.
"He's Nef. I call him Nefarious because he's a pain in the a-butt. He's eleven next month by the way. He just looks like a toddler. He's the youngest."
"I see." I nodded to the small boy.
"I'm four-foot-one, I've grown. I'm also the fastest. They won't admit it, but most of these guys would be dead without me." Nef crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his brother.
"I'll admit it gladly, Neffery." Cer spoke up and patted the boy on the back. "I'm Cer. I'm pretty much the ring leader." That earned a few chuckles from the others. "This is Bud, he's the muscle. Cracks skulls when he needs to. He's also my best friend." He pointed to the boy with designs shaved in his head, just under six foot, he was still a behemoth.
"Hey." Bud gave a two finger salute.
"This is Mer. He's a hot head. We keep him around to spice things up." He pointed to the boy who got in the spat with Rec, earning a middle finger. "Tom and Zoe over there. They're twins. Zoe's our archer and booby trapper. Tom puts the plans together. Connects dots." The twins both smiled, their bright green eyes shining with intelligence.
"Then there's Dom, he's our medic. He has the steadiest hands." He said in an aside.
"Privet." A boy about six-three with the sides of his head cut in a fade and short dark brown waves on top, stepped down from the table and took my hand.
"Russian?" I said with raised brows.
"Yes. Last I checked." Dom said with a grin, his ice blue eyes dancing. "This is Abe. He keeps track of everything we do. You know just in case. Least that's what he said." Dom gestured to the boy that was seated next to him.
"Hello." Abe stood for a handshake as well. He had a long black ponytail down his back and a dream catcher tattoo on his forearm. "That there is Boe. He makes the food edible. And he's good at it." Abe pointed to a boy standing behind the table.
"I do my best." Boe also had a thick accent my guess Middle Eastern. He shifted nervously and gave a shrug, running a hand through his shaggy ink black hair.
"They may seem like heathens, but they're a good lot." Coach spoke up again. "I'm Duncan Lucas. Kids call me Coach." I took his hand for a final shake.
"Have you always been here? In America?" I asked the few with accents.
"They don't remember. Their memory goes to a couple days before I found them." Duncan spoke first. "Thirteen, he uh-he woke them up. To answer your question, yes. It was LifeSpark lab. When I got there it looked abandoned. No bodies. Place was locked up tight. The kids were in a secure wing with some supplies. My guess is someone planned to go back for them. We waited for about a month before supplies ran out and the cannibals were getting too close."
"This was in Utah?" I asked.
"Yeah. Mean something?" Duncan narrowed his eyes.
"Maybe. A few days ago I had a close call with the cannibals. I overheard them talking about a 'mobile orphanage'. I'm guessing-" I trailed off and gestured to the kids. "Utah was also mentioned."
"Hmph. Yeah, they were probably talking about us. Neptune may have pissed off that mean bastard running things over there. Antrim, he's called. Always dresses fancy." Duncan raised a brow at Neptune.
"Yeah I did." Neptune said with a wide grin.
"I've seen him. Arrogant. Only man to wear tailored suits during an apocalypse." I chuckled. "What'd you do?" I asked Neptune.
"Cut their damn power and left half of them to get munched on. Took his lady's damn eye out. They got a piece of me back though." He gestured to his leg.
"They uh-" I didn't finish.
"Probably ate it, yeah." Nep finished without dropping his grin. "Oh well. Hope they choked on it." He laughed with a few of the others.
"We'll get them back for it." Rec said from his place on the table.
"Yeah yeah, Rec. It's okay mate." Nep's smile dropped momentarily. "That beefy bastard is Rec. Guess the others are still giving him the cold shoulder." Nep tilted his head at Rec, who kept his troubled hazel eyes on the ground.
"Last water run went a bit awry. See, we had another member named Thirteen. Ol' boy Thirteen snuck into the back of my truck and ran into enemy territory. Rec left me to go after him, which I would have also done, and the cannibals nabbed me. Hacked my damn leg at the knee before Rec even knew they had me." Nep went tight lipped for a second and his eyes shifted. "He made a choice and he came back for me." He cleared his throat and folded his hands in
his lap, staring at them.
"Everybody is still a bit sore about the whole thing." Duncan said. "Thirteen is grown. Probably your age. Forty or so, his papers didn't say. He's, touched I guess. What little he does say is thick with profane mumblings. What'd you call it, Rec?"
"Tourette’s. That's what his chart said." Rec finally looked up. "He's not all there, but he's one of us."
"Course he is." Coach said with a sympathetic smile.
"They didn't even give him a name. We just call him that because it fits. The twelve of us and him." Rec finished.
"Did his chart say what LifeSpark was working on?" I asked Coach.
LifeSpark was a medical research company dedicated to finding a cure to the SunDown virus. There were teams located all over the world. Every now and again there were mummers about breakthroughs.
"No. Nothing. Other than short names and birthdays, a few details, there was nothing in their files." Duncan put his clipboard down and sat on a bench, leaving me standing in front of them all.
"They-they're all patients?" I asked, glancing at Cer and back again.
"Yes." Duncan stated simply.
I reflected for a moment and a dark thought crossed my mind causing me to close my eyes briefly. I opened my eyes to several expectant stares and a nervous glance from Cer.
"You've got a Russian, an Aussie, and an Indian." I said and they all shared a confused glance. "And you're all here. In America." I continued.
"Oh my God." Tom choked out. "I can't believe I didn't see it."
"See what?" His sister asked.
Tom wiped his palms on his legs and stood to look at the others. "A last resort. When you're running out of options what do you do? You pool together resources. We know that there are facilities across the globe working on a cure. Maybe there aren't-maybe there aren't as many anymore." He shared a look with me. "We may be a last resort."
"Oh yeah." Mer spoke. "Remember that lady's file? Said something about a facility in Moscow closing up and shipping off the patients. We've always assumed she and Dom came here together. Maybe they did. Resources getting so limited everywhere maybe they condensed the facilities."
"Where's the woman?" I asked.
"Don't know." Mer shook his head.
"There were thirty-seven files." Abe volunteered.
"The other twenty-three patients?" I probed.
"We never saw them." Cer answered.
"Can I look at their files?" I turned to Duncan and he gave a grim shake of his head.
"We lost them a while back." He pointed to Abe. "He remembers some of the information though."
"I can tell you what I remember." Abe said with a nod.
"After we all eat." Boe inserted.
Everyone got off the table and went to the food to fill their plates. I watched them as my thoughts wandered. All this time without a purpose and I was pretty sure I had finally found one. These kids were important. They needed protected. At any cost.
Chapter 3
They Came From the Mountains
NEVADA MAY 24TH 2029
After everyone had eaten and the kids told me a few stories, I was shown to my bunk. They had given me my own room that even had its own sink. They explained that after two years collecting it, water was one thing they weren't worried about. Not that I would be a glutton for it.
A look in the mirror told me I needed a haircut, my black locks becoming unruly. I gave myself my regular crew cut with borrowed shavers and looked into my deep brown eyes. A new beginning.
I left my new belongings in my room and Cer took me on a tour, showing me how I'd be helping and all of their evacuation routes. Duncan ran me through how to activate the UV lights and shutters in the hall at the top of the bunker and showed me where the kids were at in their training.
After asking Duncan how he and the kids had managed to build such an impressive facility he had only said, "Oh, come on Joe. Every story needs a few plot holes." He was a curious man, but he was quickly growing on me.
After getting the rundown from everyone, I found Abe in the mess hall. He was waiting patiently for me with a file folder on the table in front of him. He smiled and stood when I approached, reaching over to shake my hand.
"Thanks for meeting with me, Abe." I said taking his hand.
"Not a problem. I don't know if any of this will help though. Like coach said we lost everything on the other patients. I just remember some of the names and where the people were from. This has everything we know about us." He handed me the folder and we both sat.
The folder contained a medical sheet on each of the Lost Boys. Aside from their code names all the sheets held were birthdays, where the kids were from and height and weight. In addition to that the sheets had some notes jotted down for, what was assumed, the results from tests for the cure.
According to the documents Nef was in fact the youngest at eleven born June thirteenth, the only DOB listed. Len was fourteen, Cer fifteen. Zoe, Tom, and Bud were sixteen. Mer, Dom, and Boe seventeen. Nep and Abe were eighteen and Rec was the oldest at nineteen. With how young the kids were it was likely some of them had been born and raised in LifeSpark labs.
"So you don't recall any mention about the progress of the cure in the other files?" I asked, handing the folder back to him.
"No. Anything like that was blacked out like in these. Best guess is our names came from strains or something. There’s enough to hint to it. They missed a spot where Dom is referred to as ‘Dominion’." He wiggled the folder. "Based on where we all came from and the countries listed in the other files, I would say LifeSpark had been using families. We know for sure the twins had been part of a family that volunteered."
"You're kidding?" I raised my brows.
"No. I mean, think about it. Without a cure we'll all be dead soon anyway right? So why not try to help. Even if it kills you. I would gladly forfeit my life to save others. Man was lost way before all of this." He shook his head and leaned forward on his elbows.
"Sad, but true." I agreed.
"I have flashes of memory you know?" He looked at me and then looked down to fidget with his hands. "Like this tattoo." He said, shifting his arm so I could see. "My grandfather gave it to me. I was fifteen and he said there was so little of our heritage left that it was inevitable. I would forget it all. He said we used to be this really proud tribe. Lived in lodges and all of that." He smiled sadly.
"Do any of the others remember their pasts?" I asked trying to lighten things up.
"Cer, but he won't talk about it. Neptune remembers surfing when his mom ran to the beach to tell him their home had been attacked. They got on a LifeSpark boat and then he was with the rest of us. Other than that no one has said anything."
"Maybe the amnesia is temporary. Duncan said Thirteen woke you all?" I asked recalling his words.
"Yeah. We were in this big room all hooked up to IVs and monitors. There was a clock with a countdown on it and we could go into the hall to get to a room with food rations and there was a shower room too." He sat back in thought. "We're pretty sure the clock was for when they would come back for us. There were instructions in a manual for how to wake us up." He looked up at me from his lap and waited.
"Thirteen followed them? From what I understand he doesn't function much more than a small child."
"Exactly. There were pictures that went along with the instructions so he probably used those. That's how he knows-knew to help in the garden. Zoe drew him instructions so he could do it on his own. Routine helps. But, here’s the thing." He leaned in again on his elbows. "I don't think they were left for him. I think there was someone else there with us. I think they knew the others weren't coming back."
"You think someone left you to die?"
"More or less. I've always been curious as to why Thirteen was the one awake. And how long. He doesn't like being alone. He didn't." He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.
"What do the others think?"
"They agree. We all think we were
abandoned there. We just don't know why. We were important enough to keep secured with food and water, but not important enough to come back for?"
"Maybe they couldn't. Survival isn't easy. Can you be so sure they weren't just late?" I suggested.
"The supplies were supposed to last two weeks after we woke up." He scoffed.
"Really late then. It is possible. They may have even been back for you already finding you gone. Did you leave any indication where you were going?" I asked.
"No. Coach was worried the cannibals would find it. I kind of always thought we would go back, but then we built this place and everything just kind of worked out." He shrugged.
"I have to say, you did well. You kids are getting along better than a lot of adults trying to run things."
"Ha. Yeah well, we had to grow up fast. It's not just us, we have to take care of each other and we all feel responsible for the rest of the world too. Whether or not we know why, we were in that lab for a reason. We all know we're going to have to explore that someday."
"Perhaps. I would be glad to help anywhere I can." I stood and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm going to try to get some shut eye. Boe plans to put me to work for breakfast."
Abe nodded and headed to his own bunk. I checked to make sure Duncan didn't need help with anything before heading to bed. All things considered my night could have ended much worse.
I woke up the following morning without really remembering falling asleep. I was well rested with a full stomach and for once didn't have the ants of anxiety crawling over my bones. I was able to breathe easy. Life was good.
A couple of weeks passed and I found solace in our routines. The kids had all earned a special place in my heart and I couldn't be happier that I had found them. They were a great group of people and it was my hope that our lives would be forever entwined.
There was an afternoon when the latch on the rabbit cage had broken. The kids had woken up to Nef yelling ‘They’re out, they’re loose!’ They promptly followed him upstairs to wrangle them all.
Apocalypse Chronicles (Book 1): SunDown, Part 1 Page 4
