Chapter 25: Check: The newly acquired child and the annoying fake boyfriend. All present.
There had been two low-level drills since I had arrived in 13. I didn't remember much about the first. I had been in intensive care in the hospital and I think the patients had been exempted, as the complications of removing us for a practice drill outweighed the benefits. I was vaguely aware of a mechanical voice instructing people to congregate in yellow zones. During the second, a Level Two drill meant for minor crises - such as a temporary quarantine while citizens were tested for contagion during a flu outbreak - we were supposed to return to our living quarters. I had stayed behind a pipe in the laundry room, ignored the pulsating beeps coming over the audio system, and watched a spider construct a web. Neither experience had prepared me for the wordless, eardrum-piercing, fear-inducing sirens that permeated 13. There would be no disregarding this sound, which seemed designed to throw the whole population into a frenzy. But this was 13 and that didn't happen.
Boggs guided Adric, Finnick, Johanna and myself out the infirmary, Terra was asleep in my arms, man this kid could sleep through anything. We were guided along the hall to a doorway, and onto a wide stairway. Streams of people were converging to form a river that flowed only downward. No one shrieked or tried to push ahead. Even the children didn't resist. We descended, flight after flight, speechless, because no word could be heard above the sound.
My ears popped and my eyes felt heavy. We were getting deeper and deeper underground, working our way to the centre of the earth. The only plus was the farther we retreated into the earth, the less shrill the sirens became. It was as if they were meant to physically drive us away from the surface, which I suppose they were. Groups of people began to peel off into marked doorways and still Boggs directed us downward, until finally the stairs ended at the edge of an enormous cavern. I started to walk straight in and Boggs stopped me, showed me that I must wave my schedule in front of a scanner so that I'm accounted for. No doubt that information's went to some computer somewhere to make sure no one's went astray.
The place seemed unable to decide if was natural or man-made. Certain areas of the walls were stone, while steel beams and concrete heavily reinforce others. Sleeping bunks were hewn right into the rock walls. There was a kitchen, bathrooms, a first-aid station. This place was designed for an extended stay.
White signs with letters or numbers are placed at intervals around the cavern. As Boggs told Finnick, Adric and me (Which now included Terra) to report to the area that matched our assigned quarters - in my case E for Compartment E - Plutarch strolled up. "Ah, here you are," he said. Recent events had little effect on Plutarch's mood. He still had a happy glow from Beetee's success on the Airtime Assault. Eyes on the forest, not on the trees. Not on 13's imminent blasting. "Aria, obviously this is a bad moment for you, what with the Terra setback, but you need to be aware that others will be watching you."
"What?" I said. I can't believe he actually just downgraded Terra to a setback.
"The other people in the bunker, they'll be taking their cue on how to react from you. If you're calm and brave, others will try to be as well. If you panic, it could spread like wildfire," explained Plutarch. I just stared at him.
"Why don't I just pretend I'm on camera, Plutarch?" I said.
"Yes! Perfect. One is always much braver with an audience," he said "Look at the courage Adric just displayed, telling us about the bombs!"
It was all I could do not to slapped him, but Terra was still in my arms.
"I've got to get back to Coin before lockdown. You keep up the good work!" he said, and then headed off.
I crossed to the big letter E posted on the wall. Our space consisted of a twelve-by-twelve-foot square of stone floor delineated by painted lines. Carved into the wall were two bunks - one of us would be sleeping on the floor and I was going to nominate Adric for that - and a ground-level cube space for storage. A piece of white paper, coated in clear plastic, read BUNKERPROTOCOL . I stared fixedly at the little black specks on the sheet. For a while, they were obscured by the residual blood droplets that I couldn't seem to wipe from my vision. Slowly, the words came into focus. The first section was entitled "On Arrival."
1. Make sure all members of your Compartment are accounted for.
Check: Newly acquired child and annoying fake boyfriend all present.
2. Go to the Supply Station and secure one pack for each member of your Compartment. Ready your Living Area. Return pack(s).
I scanned the cavern until I located the Supply Station, a deep room set off by a counter. I handed Terra to Adric and headed off in that direction. People waited behind it, but there was not a lot of activity there yet. I walked over, gave our compartment letter, and requested three packs. A man checked a sheet, pulled the specified packs from shelving, and swung them up onto the counter. After sliding one on my back and getting a grip on the other two with my hands, I turned to find a group rapidly forming behind me. "Excuse me," I said as I carried my supplies through the others. Was it a matter of timing? Or was Plutarch right? Were these people modelling their behaviour on mine?
Back at our space, I opened one of the packs to find a thin mattress, bedding, two sets of gray clothing, a toothbrush, a comb, and a flashlight. After I madee up the beds, store the clothes, and returned the backpacks, I had nothing to do but observe the last rule.
3. Await further instructions.
I sat cross-legged on the floor to await said further instructions. Terra sat on my lap, drifting in and out of consciousness as Adric lay on one of the bunks staring at the ceiling. I could tell he was happier being with us than with his mother, but it didn't mean we were his first choice.
Practically everyone had withdrawn to their spaces when the doors shut, so I got to sit in our new home with at least five hundred people watching me. I tried to appear extra calm to keep with what I had been told, but occasionally I was fidget nervously. I was glad to have Terra to appear I was fussing over her.
The faint sound of the sirens was cut off sharply. Coin's voice cames over the district audio system, thanking us all for an exemplary evacuation of the upper levels. She stresses that this is not a drill, as inside information (aka the string bean) had given intel on an attack on District 13.
That was when the first bomb hit. There was an initial sense of impact followed by an explosion that resonated in my innermost parts, the lining of my intestines, the marrow of my bones, the roots of my teeth. We are all going to die, I thought. My eyes turned upward, expecting to see giant cracks racing across the ceiling, massive chunks of stone raining down on us, but the bunker itself gave only a slight shudder. The lights go out and I experienced the disorientation of total darkness. Speechless human sounds - spontaneous shrieks, ragged breaths, baby whimpers, one musical bit of insane laughter - danced around in the charged air. Then there was a hum of a generator, and a dim wavering glow replaced the stark lighting that is the norm in 13. Terra hugged be close, hiding her face in my shoulder. I rubbed soothing circles on her back to calm her. Adric had moved to sitting next to me, staring straight ahead.
He wrapped an arms around me. I allowed myself to feel safe for a moment and rested my head on his shoulder. "That was nothing like the bombs in Eight," I said.
"Probably a bunker missile," He said, keeping his voice soothing for the Terra's sake. "We learned about them during school once. They're designed to penetrate deep in the ground before they go off. Because there's no point in bombing Thirteen on the surface anymore."
"Nuclear?" I asked, feeling a chill run through me.
"Not necessarily," he continued. "Some just have a lot of explosives in them. But...it could be either kind, I guess."
The gloom made it hard to see the heavy metal doors at the end of the bunker. Would they have been any protection against a nuclear attack? And even if they were one hundred percent effective at sealing out the radiation, which is really unlikely, would we have ever been able to leave that place? The thought of spending whatever remained of my life in that stone vault horrified me. I wanted to run madly for the door and demand to be released into whatever lies above. It would have been pointless. They would have never let me out, and I might have started some kind of stampede.
"We're so far down, I'm sure we're safe," He tried to add.
Coin's voice, perhaps a shade grimmer, filled the bunker, the volume level flickering with the lights. "Apparently, our information was sound and we owe that a great debt of gratitude. Sensors indicate the first missile was not nuclear, but very powerful. We expect more will follow. For the duration of the attack, citizens are to stay in their assigned areas unless otherwise notified."
"What if the bunker falls on us?" Terra asked, her brown eyes wide with terror. It was scary how similar her eyes were to Adric's.
If the bunker collapsed on us, we would be buried alive. I decided that was not a very motherly thing to tell a four-year-old so I went with the safe 'we will be fine, sweetie' instead.
We were given clearance in small groups to use the bathroom and brush our teeth, although showering has been cancelled for the day. I curl up with Terra on the mattress, double layering the blankets because the cavern emitted a dank chill. Adric had taken the other bunker, refusing to sleep on the floor.
"Adric….are you awake?" I whispered, Terra was sound asleep next to me.
"I am now, Angel," he sighed, "What is it?" He then asked.
"Do you think we will be okay? Like the bunker will actually stay intact?" I bit my lip.
"Course we will, it'll take a lot more that this to stop 13," he reasoned.
"But if we survive this, it'll all just continue." I added, sitting up slightly so not to wake Terra. "For example, we need to find out where Terra came from. How to win this war. How to survive." I pause, "What do you think Snow is going to do next?" I finally asked.
"Whatever it takes to break you, Angel." Adric said after a long pause. And on that cheerful note, we both went quiet and tried to sleep under the sea of bombs.