Chapter Two (2202 year – 141 years later)
Awakening
First thing I felt upon waking up was my cat scratching and biting my legs and hands. I got up and pushed him out of the way. He didn't attack me again, but just looked at me, as if he wanted to tell me something important. Then, I felt it, too. This must have been what woke Fluffy. The air was heavy, and getting heavier by every breath I took. I pressed the button that was behind me, on the wall of the cabin. The bed started moving, but stopped when only half of my legs were out. The edge of the opening stopped at my knees, and the opening itself didn't go up. I pressed the button again, panicked. I felt the air coming in, but that wouldn't help me when I got thirsty or hungry. Nothing happened, except for my cat running out of the cabin. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I kept on muttering, as I pressed the button over and over again. The opening of the machine moved up a little bit, and the bed went forward further, but I wasn't quite sure I could make it outside. I closed my eyes and took a few more deep breaths. Then, I opened them and looked around me. Everybody else was still asleep, at least everyone close to me. The machine, the capsules that kept us inside for all this time, were transparent, made of unbreakable glass. The bottom and roof were white, though. All the capsules were connected to each other, and then to the main generators. We had a space for 800 people, as I looked around I saw that all of the cabins nearby me were filled. I saw my dad next to me, but I couldn't see if my mom was next to him, as she was supposed to.
I took another deep breath and decided I was ready to try again. I hit the button, but nothing happened, I hit again and again. The capsule moved a little more, now it was almost at my stomach, and the opening went a centimeter further. I could easily slide down at this point, so I did it. Fluffy was standing on the top of my dad's capsule. I went to the side of my dad's machine, and pressed the button that was there. Thankfully, it worked better than mine, and opened within seconds. My dad woke up, choking, just as his bed was getting to the end.
"Dad!" I explained and flung my arms around him "It's so good to see you!"
"Emily, something is wrong. I was choking, were you choking?"
"What?"
"Emilia," he called out. He was only using this form of my name when he was angry or upset, either at me, or in general. "Something is wrong. I need to get to the main generator!"
He let me go and run towards the main computer, to which all of the capsules were connected. I went to the bed next to him, to wake the person sleeping there, but it wasn't my mom. I pressed the button, and the capsule started opening. I went to the next bed, and did the same. I opened another five capsules, with people inside that I didn't know, and then all of them started opening at the same time. All people coming out of the capsules were coughing, and wheezing. I looked around me in disbelief. I waited for my heart to calm down, and for the well-known "doctor-mode," as Steve called it, but it didn't want to come. The thought of Steve made it worse. I was surrounded by choking, disoriented people, and I had no idea what to do.
"Please help me," someone next to me said, grabbing my hand. I turned to face the voice. It was a girl, standing by the middle-aged woman, who had turned pale, and didn't open her eyes. I took the woman's wrist and felt for a pulse. I was glad I had something to do. In a split second the calmness came back to me. I knew what I had to do. I had to look for unconscious people who were still alive, and try to revive them. Grief and answers will come later. I started doing artificial respiration to the woman , whose pulse I felt. It didn't work, so I started on her heart. Ten times, and then a breath to her mouth, and again, and again. At the third time, the woman wheezed and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes.
"You okay?" I asked her?
"What's going on?" she asked, trying to stand up.
"Mom!" the girl, who has asked me for help, exclaimed and hugged her.
"Don't," I said to the girl. "Let her breath and rest," I added. The girl let go of her mom and thanked me.
"I'm Molly," she said. "What's your name?"
"Emily," I said, but I was already on my way. I saw another woman who was lying unconscious, and a few people on the beds next to her. Other people were starting to wander around.
"Anyone who knows how to do artificial respiration, please try to do it now!" I heard a strong voice, that I thought I recognized. It was coming from the direction where I saw the unconscious people. On my left, closer to the exit to the first level and then outside of the bunker. I didn't stop to look for the voice's owner. "Everybody else, please stay in your beds!" the voice continued, while I was trying to help another woman. Unfortunately, I was too late for her, so I moved on to the next one. This time it was a man, a young one, I knew him from my dad's work. He didn't even need the heart massage, he woke up almost immediately. I didn't even stop to ask how he was feeling.
"Emily!" the woman, whose voice I had heard before, yelled to me. I turned towards her.
"Erica!?" I said.
"Go to the end and start there. I think the damage was the worst there. I'll work on those people here," she said to me. I nodded my head in agreement, and went to the end of the floor. My capsule was around the middle of the first room. There were 4 rooms with capsules in total, each of them holding 200 beds, 100 on each side. When I reached the end of the rows, I saw that Erica was right. The damage was worst at this part, maybe because it was further form the main generator. Almost everyone here lay motionless, and on first glance I couldn't distinguish between those who were dead, and those who were still alive. So, I checked everybody's pulse one by one, and started helping those that I instinctively felt hope for. My instincts allowed me to save another nine people before I realized that everybody I was checking on, was dead. That didn't stop me, though. I kept going on and on to check people's pulses, even those I checked before. Then I started to mouth-breath those that didn't have any pulse. My cat was following me, but I didn't pay attention to him. I was crying silently, and saying a prayer in my mind. Please, God, I kept saying, Please let me save just one more person. Please, God, please, God, please, God, maybe this one? Please!"
I don't know how long I was doing that until finally Erica pulled me away. I was crying and shaking, and couldn't stop. Just the way I was right before going to bed a long time ago.
"Shhhh," Erica kept saying. "It's okay, it's okay. You're okay."
I wasn't. None of us was, and we wouldn't be for a very long time.
I was sitting in what the official called the dining room, in front of bread and protein paste, made of soy. I wasn't eating, and nether was Erica, who was sitting next to me. I was staring absent-mindedly in front of me, where some guy I didn't know was sitting with the same empty stare that – as I assumed – must have been on my face. Erica was holding my hand under the table, wanting to comfort me as well as herself. I had a feeling she was holding the other hand with her finance, Scott, who was sitting on her other side. In the past three hours I found out that my mother never made it to the bunker, and neither did Steve. They were both gone, and what was worse it was Steve' fault that my mom was gone. He told everybody he knew about the bunker, he came here with a large group of his friends and friends of his friends, and they were blocking the entrance. The officials already in the bunker didn't open the door for anybody else, not even those that were supposed to have come here. Instead of 800 people, only 635 made it to the capsules and were put to sleep. Instead of 635, only 434 were awaken three hours earlier. The rest died of suffocation before we managed to open all the capsules or bring them to life.
And the worst part? We didn't sleep for 20 years. We slept for 141 years, and it was 2202 year. Even if anybody survived the bombs; even if there is some life outside, we wouldn't know anybody. All our friends, all of our family, they would have been long gone. It was a lot to take in, in such a short time for everybody, so nobody at the table was truly in the mood for eating.
"Em, it's starting," Erica said to me and squeezed my hand. Our president – whom we have elected before we went to freeze-sleep – got up, ready to start his speech. All of the eyes turned on him.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he started, and I would have laughed, if I wasn't so numb. "We are sorry to inform you that there was a malfunction in the generator. As you may have heard, it has been 141 years since we all went to sleep in this bunker." Rumors all around the table assured me that no, not everybody had heard. My dad told me this, after he had found out himself, right before he was called to do his duty, which in this case meant organize a meal and a formal gathering for the survivors. And deciding what to do with the bodies. My father was privy to all the information because he had been a president of Minnesota, one of the states in coalition before the bombs. They had formed a coalition, hoping to restore previous United States as a country, and maybe then restore it to its formal power, but this plan had to be put on hold because of the coming apocalypse. Now maybe the United States of America will never exist again.
"We are sorry to inform you that we have lost 201 of our people due the malfunction," the president continued. I could hear the muffled sobs and cries around me. "Please let's take a moment of silence to honor their memory," the president continued. I looked around all the tables. They were placed in rows, with 50 seats on each side of the table, making the place for 100 hundred people at one table. Four tables were placed next to each other, and the fifth – where all the officials sat – was placed on the head of the rest of the tables, perpendicularly to us. My dad was at the fifth table.
"Thank you," the president said, when he decided the moment of silence was over. "I am sure that you are all wondering what is going to happen next. I assure you we are all working on a plan to get us on the ground and start our lives there again. In the meantime, the bunker was built to last for a very long time, longer than the 141 year we have been here. We have supplies that could last us for around a year, maybe a year and a half, since we lost so many people. For now, please enjoy the meal, and after that you will be guarded to your rooms. The bedrooms are all on this very floor. Tomorrow we will send out a group of people to test the conditions of the ground and report back to us. We are looking for volunteers, so if you think you can handle this, please place your name in this box," he pointed to a big, blue metal box standing on the right side of the fifth table. "Please note that you have to be healthy and in good physical condition for this expedition, for it may – but doesn't have to – be dangerous. You also have to be of age."
He went silent, but I had a feeling he wanted to say something more.
"One more thing," he continued. "The bodies of our friends that did not make it, are on the forth level. This level is strictly prohibited, and only a few guards have access to it. Please note that we will arrange the funerals as soon as we gather information on the current state of the ground. Thank you," he finished.
"Although," he added right away, "There is one more thing. Could Emilia Davis stand up, please?"
It took me a few seconds to realize he was talking about me. I stood up and looked at the table with all the presidents. I stopped my eyes at my father, who smiled at me and nodded his head encouragingly.
"I would like to thank you for all your help today," the president said.
"Me?" I asked. I thought I only asked this in my mind, but I must have said it out loud, for I heard some people laugh.
"Yes, Emilia. You were the first person to wake up, you alerted your father, so he was able to turn the generator off and open the capsules. If it wasn't for you, we would probably all be dead, or at least more of us."
I felt people staring at me, and I was sure I was turning red. I hated being the center of attention.
"That wasn't me, that was my cat," I said, which was greeted with some more laughter. Fluffy was sitting next to me, by my leg. He didn't want to leave my side from the moment he woke me up. He was never a people's guy, so probably he was scared of all these faces.
"Well, then, we thank your cat," the president replied. I smiled. "Please give Emilia a round of applause," the president added, and everybody started clapping. I wanted the Earth to open and swallow me. The president couldn't have known it, so I didn't blame him, but standing there and being clapped on, felt terrible. I must admit, that, it kept my mind off the loss of my mom, Steve and so many more people, even if for just a little while.
The rooms we had were small, and each of them had two bunk-beds. That meant there was hardly any space left that wasn't taken by the bed. My dad arranged it so could Erica and Scott would be our roommates. Erica was my friend form the hospital, where I had my internship before all this. I was only twenty, but they took me in – probably the influence of my dad. Sometimes I hated that I got to have so many things others didn't just because my dad was a president. Want to do an internship at hospital, though you are on the second year of college? Sure, go ahead. What to survive the nuclear apocalypse in the bunker? Sure, no problem. But another part of me felt happy to be privileged. I figured, as long as I wasn't doing anything wrong. And I was a good doctor – well, intern – even Erica admitted that after half a year of my training. She was almost 28 years old, and her boyfriend Scott was 25, but I didn't care about the age difference between them and me. In fact, I liked it. I have always liked being around people that were older than me, maybe because I didn't have much contact with people my age since, well, I was born, basically.
We all had one set of pajamas and two of daily wear – one dress, and one shirt, jeans and sweater for girls. The clothes were laying on each of the bed. There was girl's clothes on my bed, and though they were a little too big, I didn't complain. Erica had to go and exchange hers, because she had man's clothes on her bed, but my dad and Scott got lucky. I sat on the upper bed and stroked Fluffy absent-mindedly. I had already told Erica I was going to be one of those that came outside the next day. She tried to convince me otherwise, but she respected my decision. Milton and Kazuo were going, too. I felt a little ashamed to admit that I didn't expect them to come. They had always been rather observers, and I simply thought they'd be scared. But Milton said that he was up for adventure, and wherever Milton came, so did Kazuo. And the other way round. They were best friends since they were five years old, since Milton protected Kazuo form the bullies. They were officially brothers since they were eight years old, though Milton lived in Kazuo's home since they were both six years old. They were one of the few people my age I actually were friends with. They were funny and smart, and we always had fun. The rest of people my age I had known were gone now. I only had Kazuo, Milton, Erica and my father. I knew a lot of faces in the bunker, and a lot of them I could call by their names, but they weren't friends, they were just people that had worked with my dad, or on the construction of the bunker, and I had met them one way or another before the bombs.
"Hey, you," Scott said, approaching me. "So, you're going out, aren't you?"
I sighed. I had to save all my strength for my dad, I didn't want to waste any on Scott.
"Yes, I am," I answered.
"Good luck, then. I hope you have fun," he said, to my surprise. I wasn't sure he meant it, but I looked up at him and saw he was smiling. "Really? No warning? No trying to persuade me otherwise?" I asked.
"Nope," he answered. "I will leave that to your dad. Myself? I'm a coward. I want others to do the dirty job. But if you've really made up your mind, I'm not going to stop you."
He was still smiling, and I realized he wanted to encourage me. I felt grateful.
"Thanks. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm sure the Earth is beautiful and we will see all wonders around us."
"Hey Scott," we heard a voice coming from the entrance to the room. We both looked in its direction. "Leave us alone," my dad added. Scott gave me another smile, and went out of the room.
"I'll go find Erica," he said, before disappearing behind a corner.
"Sweetheart," my dad said, approaching me. I have known him my whole life, and still could feel astonished by his ability to transform in one second from an official "only-mean-business" president to into a "daddy-mode."
"Dad… Please don't try to change my mind. I want to go," I said.
"I just don't want to lose you," he answered, stroking my hair. It was let down now, and it almost reached my waist. My dad was old-fashioned, he was always proud of my long, dark brown hair, same as my mother's. At the thought of my mom, I felt an urge to burst out in tears again, so I focused on stroking the black, fluffy fur of my cat. He was a beautiful creature, all black except for a white "cravat" under his chin, and little "socks" on each of his paw. Now, he was purring in my lap. It was the most wonderful sound in the world for me, and could always make me calm.
"You're not going to lose me. I know it's dangerous, but we all have to go out sooner or later, dad. I'll be careful. You know I will be."
"You're all I've got after Clarise…" he stopped.
"That's not fair, dad," I said. "You bringing mom into this. I'm sorry, okay. I know it's my fault that all these people didn't make it on time. I thought I could trust Steve. I loved him"
"That's not important now, Emily. I know you will have to live with your guild till the end of your life, so I'm not going to give you a hard time," my dad said. "But I told you so," he added.
Somehow, I burst out laughing. I stopped after a minute as abruptly as I had started.
"Sorry," I said.
"Is there anything I could say to stop you?"
"Nope. I've made up my mind, daddy. I'm going out. I'm healthy, over 18 and I volunteered. That's what the President was asking for, right? So, I'm the one to go."
He signed. "Okay," he said. "Just know that I'm against."
I nodded my head. "I know, dad. And I'll remember."
He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but instead he held me tight. I held him back. It crossed my mind that it went easier than I had expected, and I felt grateful.
