"Sims 3" - Sunset Valley - Annihilation
Chapter Two - "Survival"
"You cannot wisely Choose unless you first have Lived." - reasoning for The Choice being at the Young Adult/Adult stage rather than Teen/Young Adult stage
5:00AM; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
A lot had changed in two years. River pondered as she looked towards those who were engaged in tasks that were beneficial to the smooth-running operation of the bunker. My baby has grown into a little toddler and I've changed too as has everyone. This Apocalypse has changed us all and our outlook on life. We're not concerned about the mundane things we used to be obsessed with. If one compared what we used to think was important to survival, the latter is what is most important. She sighed Before the bombs fell, we'd have been worried about boys, whether they liked us, who was going out with whom, what the latest flick was at the movie theatre, all superficial things now when you look at what's gone on. We've all had to grow up far too quickly. I was a mother at nineteen. My boy is one year old now that I'm twenty. Which means that I'll be just thirty-nine when he turns my age now.
Andrew is, outside of Haruo my husband, is the light of my life. I'm his protector, his mama, his world and I would sacrifice my life to protect him. I want him to be strong, capable and a leader, just like his father.
Bebe burned the midnight oil and got her medical knowledge in record time, she's always been a great book learner and those medical texts they left us with were fascinating reading to her, which was essential since we needed medical staff. Let's hope others get that urge because we sorely need others who are medically trained. And Bebe is constantly expanding her knowledge in medicine to better help us. She has changed so much from the person I knew who was a prankster and lived for laughs. Now she's serious and dedicated in her field plus she and Phil have complemented each other as a married pair.
Phil was ever the prankster too and that would have normally brought Bebe and him together but now Phil is much more serious and dedicated to crafting the best meals that he can under the circumstances. He has become a whiz in the kitchen and for that we're thankful. I've had my handful of tasks to deal with so I haven't had time to get my cooking skill up to where I want it and it's great to have a chef who takes pride in his work and strives to give everyone the best possible dining experience even if we're stuck in the bunker and he's the only game in town.
Noel; he's always tending our gardens and working on the computer doing something. Or if neither of those two things, he's tinkering at the plumbot station or the science station doing something I can't wrap my mind around. Holly is now our nursery mother and she is good at it. She's got the family-oriented personality and she loves what she does. . Well, right now, she only has Andrew to deal with when I'm having to support my husband and what he's doing since Sam and Sandi have aged up to child and are independent of the needs of the nursery.
Sam and Sandi; who knew I'd be taking care of two children who lost their parents. Sandi and Sam are at the age now where they are testing their limits and what I'm willing to accept in behavior out of them. The thankful part of it is that they're readily willing to accept me and Haruo as their parents after losing their real parents. Sandi knew me as just River before this whole thing went down and she still remembers Molly, but she calls me Mom now because to her, that's who I am.
Yet whenever that happens I feel this twinge because Molly should be here to be that for her and frankly that's the worst part.
Sam does the same and my mind turns to Leighton and how he and Sam's Grandma Yumi should have been here as well. And it brings me to tears when I see Sam reach up and give Haruo a hug because it should have been Leighton who should have been the one receiving that hug from his son.
Haruo and I are just filling the roles and for Leighton's and Molly's memory we hope to raise Sam and Sandi to be strong and dedicated young adults since they can't be here to do so.
Yes, that is the cruel part of this whole experience we've undergone. So many parents can't be here to see the maturity and steadfastness of their children when placed in an extreme situation and that is the unfair crux of this whole Apocalypse because we've lost so many good people in Sunset Valley. So many families have been torn apart. I can only hope that we are able to set things right and get the earth back to what it was before. We can't let their deaths be in vain.
We live on in memory of them and what they sacrificed so that we could live.
Andrew had reached one year old and was spending a lot of time in the nursery learning how to walk, learning how to potty, learning how to talk and all the things that toddlers need to learn to do.
River, ever the loving, concerned wife; could see the weight of burden in her husband's stance as he conducted his every day duties of managing the bunker and ensuring that the facility continued to be safe. There were times that she could see him deep in thought, a serious expression on his face contemplating problems that had not yet occurred yet trying to find a solution before they happened. They say that leading a group ages one faster than those who choose to not take on the responsibility of the mantle of being a leader.
He's only just turned twenty and he already appears to have a decade's life experience on everyone else in the bunker. The strain of this job is written in the lines on his face. A twenty year old is barely in college/university just testing his steps in the real world but my husband has the weight of the world on his shoulders at his age and he hasn't crumbled. In fact he has just grown stronger and more resolute.
Haruo had to always keep thinking of what could potentially go wrong so that the bunker wasn't blind-sided by a life-threatening problem. Life support systems like water and air filtration systems, electrical grid were kept at the top of the maintenance list in preventative maintenance as they could mean the difference between life and death.
Right now while the atmosphere was as toxic as it was, there was no threat of other humans attacking their bunker, however vigilance was always maintained on the cameras as one could never know about potentially mutated wildlife and how threatening they could be. It was the large animals that posed the biggest threat and if mutation had turned them into frightful caricatures of themselves.
When the radiation levels slackened, they would have a whole new problem of marauding bands of thugs looking for opportunities to rob, rape and pillage. The only solution to that problem was to maintain a schedule of marksmanship training in order to have a security force capable enough to fight off any intruders that would pose a potential threat.
They did have anti-radiation suits for going out to effect repairs however those were in limited supply and only those repairs that affected security or posed a threat to breach the livable environment containment area were considered a high enough risk to use those suits. And frankly, nothing like that had ever occurred yet.
The containment area above the fishing pond was deemed the most at-risklocation in the bunker as the roof led directly to the outdoors and the roof though reinforced by carbon fibre, lead-shielded and steel beam encased by concrete; a failure of that structure would cause a cataclysmic breach in the living environment and contaminate the entire bunker with lethal levels of radiation.
So far there had been no threats of structural fatigue in the roof even from the blasts that occurred at the time of the Apocalypse but a direct hit with a nuclear weapon would render this facility unusable if there were any left to throw around. But it was always a consideration that one had to keep in mind.
It was no wonder why Haruo always had a look of fatigue and worry on his face and his wife worried over him, knowing that stress was never good for one's health.
Kitchen; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Phil had reached Level five in chef skill so his meals were becoming much more palatable. And people were actually starting to take enjoyment coming to meals. And praise from the bunker populace was what made Phil strive harder for his bunker-mates. Phil and Bebe had finally tied the knot and she and Phil were quite the pair with her being technophobic and Phil liking to play computer games and being rather childish; it was a rather interesting relationship.
Bebe and Phil agreed that they would hold off on having children, at least until they could get more medically trained people at doctor level which meant their Choosing was already chosen for them; they would both take the potions, the Young Again potion to send them back to Young Adult then the Age Freeze. Then they would see about having children. They both did want children but the fact was that the medical field needed Bebe more at this time.
Medical Bay; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Dr. Bebe Hart fought down her dislike of technology and became a doctor of medicine, and she'd accomplished it in record time, as they say adversity is the mother of all impressive achievements, but she preferred if possible to treat with naturopathic medicines but her antipathy towards machines and technology didn't prevent her from use them for the greater good of ensuring the survival of her fellow bunker-mates. She held tightly to her Hippocratic Oath - above all, do no harmand did whatever she could do to help treat the sick and injured.
Sometimes naturopathic medicines worked, other times she had to resort to the tried and true medications that were used by doctors before the apocalypse. Noel helped in the research end of the spectrum and between the two of them they did what they could to create a spectrum of medications both naturopathic and standardized that were proven to treat the gamut of what diseases and infections could be caught within the confines of the bunker.
Nursery; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Holly was the matriarch of the nursery. She loved working with children and she doted on Andrew. In fact River hoped that Andrew would recognize his real mommy but that fear of her biological son's non-recognition of his lineage never came to pass as Andrew always came to her, when River stepped into the nursery, arms spread out wide going "Mama". Holly was always referred to by Andrew as "anchie" his way of saying auntieat least until he matured into a more clear way of speech rather than toddler babble. Andrew's favorite word was noand invariably at the wrong moment.
"Andrew, were you a good boy today for Auntie Holly?"
"NO!"
"Andrew did you have an accident in your diaper? Pee Yoo."
"NO!"
"Andrew it's time for your dinner, come and eat your mashed potatoes."
"NO!"
Yup, life was fun with Andrew.
Considering that others were reluctant to step down the road of parenthood for a while considering seeing River and Haruo's joyful times with Sandi, Sam and Andrew, it was certain that the entire repopulation of Sunset Valley would fall on Haruo and River's shoulders which was a win for genetic diversity...NOT!
Computer Room; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
It could be said that Noel loved computers. So when he was not in the garden he was busy trying to hack the surviving financial grid to get monetary funds for the bunker if and when the financial system came back into play. Encrypted and secured financial accounts that couldn't be accessed by anyone other than him were where he would store the bunker's money with only him and the boss having knowledge of where those accounts existed.
Right now he was transferring Warren Buffet's billions into his own encrypted accounts for the bunker since where Buffet lived was now a radioactive crater and Buffet himself was ashes, he would have no need of funds any longer. Next he would move onto Bill Gates. And then go down the list. It was certain that the Russian High Command had targeted a missile each on both Buffett and Gates just out of spite.
Frankly with so many families wiped off the face of the earth it meant that there were trillions up for grabs. And he wanted to make certain that their bunker was able to have enough resources to be able to have anything they needed whether it was equipment, weapons, medicines or food
Even if they could supply all of that themselves(it was good to be self-sufficient) one couldn't get around having to negotiate if not civilly, with bartered goods, cash would still speak volumes and if neither of those two options would entice cooperation; the barrel of an assault rifle, backed up by fifty others holding the same might prove to be the convincing factor in closing a purchase or a sale.
Hacking was technically illegal during the old days, but this was a new lawless frontier where those who had the power made the rules and those who consolidated their strength and financial position first became those with the power.
And Checkpoint Bravo was going to be the next solid power broker in this new world. He'd make it so.
His first hack-attack was closer to home with the Sunset Valley Landgraabs no longer amongst the living, he figured that it was time to make sure Landgraab's money didn't go to waste. He'd also check and see if the French, Belgian and German branches of the Landgraab family were still alive or not. If not, then he would acquire their assets as well.
Then there were also the Rockefellers but they would be a great deal harder since they already had hack-proof contingencies in place but even the most hack-proof accounts had backdoors.
He wasn't sure if other surviving groups had figured this out yet but it seemed as if he was the only one garnishing wealth from wealthy secondary sources at the moment and he figured that he'd get it all while the getting was good.
The government had the big money but they were going to be tough to crack and they had their own anti-hacking force who specifically dealt with hackers. He'd go after their trillions after he knew that there was no way that any government stability remained.
He was going to stay away from the Russians as he didn't want them detecting a surviving hostile force and dropping a nuke on them. The other option was to hack NORAD and find out if any missiles survived and gain command and control of the remaining missiles. Then they would have a field day getting all the money from all the world's nation's governments. "Don't want an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuke landing on your pretty government building then send us all your money now. Oh and before I forget, hand over all your national defence assets as well. And just because we're Canadian, we'll also add in pleaseand thank you" There was a lot to be said for hacking...and polite threats.
There was one way of fixing location on whether or not Cheyenne Mountain was still working. Ping their back door via proxy and see if the bots turn around and notice the intrusion. If they do then slip back out the door through proxy. If Cheyenne isn't active any more than it just takes a simple command and control to get control of the missile launch controls; by-pass the codes and retarget the remaining missiles and then start extorting.
It could be said: that kind of thinking is evil but who was more evil; the one who tries to gain financial advantage for themselves in a state of disaster or the one who causes the disaster in the first place?
After all Noel was doing this for altruistic reasons: to help ensure his bunker-mates' survival after all thus ensuring his own survival. Isn't what this whole exercise was about: survival after the Apocalypse?
Reading Library; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Candy wasn't sure of what to make of this whole new deal, she'd been a cheerleader in school, one of the in-girls,now she was stuck in a bunker with her role being a cook for those in the bunker when she was spelling off Lisa, Merrilee or Phil. When she wasn't she was working on her cooking skill or increasing her knowledge of potions and increasing her logic skill. She was sure she could match the debate club champion now in a logic discourse. And she was finding that book knowledge was fascinating. Like, oh my god, I'm turning into a nerd, and I'm actually liking it, omg. Now where is that book on particle physics?
"Hey girlie!" Lisa cheerily hailed her friend as she and Merrilee came into the room where Candy was reading her book.
"What's that?"
"Just some reading."
"Particle Physics?" Merrilee, her fellow cheerleader friend looked at Candy as if she had two heads. "What you reading that for?"
"It's interesting." Candy replied. "If I can get this, I might even ask Noel if he can tutor me on the Science Station then I can help him clone genetic material and or gemstones."
"Wait, Gemstones." Lisa looked dumbfounded
"Yeah, you know that big cauldron in that room downstairs. I heard some weird incantations coming from there and *poof* somebody conjured up a rainbow gem. And if we can clone them it would help us a lot for making elixirs ." Candy was excited and the words tumbled over themselves trying to get out. "And then there's the plumbot making machine. If we can make a plumbot, we can make it go outside and take readings of places that we can't get to."
"Woah, That's wayyy too deep for me, girlie." Lisa said shaking her head in confusion, "I'm going to the gym to work on my physical fitness, Anybody wanna come with?"
"Sure." Merrilee said, "I'm sure Miss Particle Physics is busy reading more important stuff than talking with us." She got up, looked at Candy with an odd expression and walked out behind Lisa.
Candy didn't let that bother her, she was already planning on how she could be of use to the bunker provided she could get a handle on this science stuff.
Upstairs 2nd Level; Farming Unit; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Michael Bachelor was becoming one with the plants. This was like toiling in his dad's garden back home which now was radioactive cinders. Each planter box contained exactly five plants this way they weren't overwhelmed by the work load.
But there were twenty five planter boxes containing various vegetables that would become the mainstay for food in the bunker so they wouldn't have to raid the warehouse section of the bunker for non-perishables. Each of these plants would produce seeds that he would harvest and put aside for when he needed them; stored away hermetically if Noel was able to soon clone plants via the science station they'd be assured of an endless food source within the bunker.
When he was not puttering away in the garden, he was puttering away in the farm area talking to the chickens and the cows being helped out by his friend Mortimer Goth who didn't mind helping out a friend.
Mortimer having reached his teens was now trying at least to sport a rather anemic moustache in order to make himself look suave and debonaire so that he could woo who he considered as his lady love, Bella Bachelor who, annoyingly, had an unrequited crush on their fearless leaderwho never even noticed her because the fearless leader, when he was not busy leading; was busy taking care of his wife and three kids (two adopted, one biological).
"She won't even look my way!" Mortimer said frustratedly up at the ceiling. "All she does is pine after our leader of the bunker and complain that he doesn't pay any attention to her. Doesn't she realize he's married and has kids? And there's no way that he'd ever notice her if Mrs. Chikamori is around."
"Mrs. Chikamori? You're talking River, right?"Michael Bachelor said as Mortimer nodded, "Haruo is way too grown up for Bella but she's always had her head in the clouds. She's always trying to go after the unattainable. I think eventually she'll get the picture that she can't interfere in Haruo's and River's marriage. You just have to be patient and when Bella gets her heart broken just be there for her; give her an alternative. An ear to hear all her sobbing, whining and complaining about how unfair life is.". Michael grinned at him, "...and you know, you may have to listen to her continuously extol Haruo's virtues ad infinitum ad nauseam. Just don't eat beforehand or you may end up up-chucking your breakfast."
Mortimer appeared somewhat semi-mollified at the solution, at least his best friend was his lady-love's big brother and he would never steer him wrong.
"But there's no guarantee that will work though keep in mind, Mortie, Bella's stubborn too and once she gets it in her mind that she wants something she'll move heaven and earth to get it." Michael commented wryly, "...let's just hope she heeds reason. Because she really doesn't want to piss River off. River didn't consider her a threat because she was just a little kid, but now that Bella is a teenager, a good looking one at that, River is going to be no holds barred if Bella goes after her husband."
Mortie nodded. And in this new world there were no rules. And that was dangerous. People had died for less in the Old Wild West. And this was just a Wild West with modern guns and more powerful bombs and the same lawlessness.
And the unwritten rule in this New Wild West was that you don't mess with the Leader's Wife's husband or you could end up dead.
He'd seen Mrs. River Chikamori shoot at the range upstairs with her new Beretta 92FS. He'd never seen that many holes in the black before. And that didn't bode well for Bella if she tried anything. And when it came to rifles there were 26 holes in a one and a half inch grouping on Mrs. Chikamori's rifle range target at 20 meters. River Chikamori was not someone to mess with on a bad day let alone a good one.
And if Bella were to mess with River's husband, River would notbe having a good day at all - Bella'd be catching River at her very worst and if that was the case Bella could potentially be catching some 9mm or 5.56 NATO steel-jacketed which would not make it a very good day for Bella; which would probably turn River's day much better.
Mortimer doubted it would ever get that far; he knew River was sweet and kind. And she would never get to the point where she would kill somebody for pining after her man but he also realized that love, jealousy and hormones could do crazy things to people. Maybe it was best to tell Bella that she was taking her life in her hands pining after a married man. After all, Mortie knew how he'd react if he was married to Bella and someone lusted after her. It wouldn't be pretty and he considered himself a pretty laid-back kinda guy.
"Hey Mortie, can you get the chickens their feed? i gotta go check on those pumpkins."
Mortimer shook himself out of his mental day-dreaming about being married to Bellaand headed over to go get some feed for the chickens.
Machine Room; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Parker looked over at Ethan, "looks like there's no leakage and the generator seems to be purring along nicely. But I'd still say change the pipe out with a fresh one next shift then we can check it out and see if there's any defects on the inside with the industrial x-ray. I just don't like the fact that it's running hot and I'm just hoping swapping out pipes will solve the problem. If not we may have to break it down and rebuild it while the Auxiliary and the Secondaries take the load for the time being-that's gonna mean a 36 hour day. Prepare to drink a fuck-ton of coffee and go pee a lot. We don't need to have the electric generator go bang because a lubricant pipe was defective and we didn't change it out fast enough, Haruo will have our asses if we don't stay on top of the problems and I, for one, don't want to get on his bad side."
"OK." Next shift was in an hour and Parker flipped on his radio, "Bravo Mike, Maintenance Two, switching over to auxiliary power, over."
"Roger that, Maintenance Two. You are go." Haruo's voice was tired sounding but alert.
"Switching to Auxiliary power in three two...one" and Parker cranked the lever up on Auxiliary at the same time as he shut down Main Generator. The lights flickered for a moment and came back on bright again. "Auxiliary power is up, Main shut down for repairs. Auxiliary temps normal..."
"Good work, Maintenance Two, Notify when repairs complete."
"Roger, Bravo Mike. Out" keying his mike off, he turned to Ethan, "...let's go have lunch then get busy on the repairs."
Management Office; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
As Haruo put the mic of the two-way radio down, River stood behind his chair looking concerned as she saw her husband massage his forehead with his fingers.
"Honey, I really worry about you stressing out like that." River said massaging Haruo's shoulders; his muscles were tight under his shirt. And he had his brows furrowed. He was concerned about something to do with the facility.
"Two years and the radiation levels still haven't gone down more than a few rads. At this rate it's going to take over three, maybe four generations to get the radiation down to background levels. That's almost seventy years."
"I know." River slowly spoke, her words weighted down with a heavy load on them. They were both twenty. Born two days apart (him being the older of the two) and yet he seemed so much older in the way he carried himself. She looked at him, "I think, like Bebe said to me; regarding the Choice..."she paused for a long moment drawing a deep breath,"our choice has already been made for us." She continued explaining her reasoning, "the subsequent generations; this will be their new normal. We are the only generation who remembers the earth as it was. That once the earth didn't look like this horrific place filled with radiation clouds and burnt ground so irradiated that we can't grow anything on it. We're the generation that last remembers that green lush earth teeming with life and we're the generation that needs to set it right before we pass on our responsibilities."
"So..,do we live forever?" Haruo asked, his voice tired. At twenty he was already feeling oh so tired and his job hadn't even started yet: the Reconstruction.
And at this point with a regular lifespan it wouldn't get started within his lifetime. That was why until the Age Freeze potion was discovered he'd pushed himself to discover potions at the chemistry table. Weathering several failed attempts which left him singed and shaken, luckily no cuts that could potentially get infected, he'd managed to finally search out each one. At least the chemistry table wouldn't set you on fire.
With the inventing table which was supposed to increase their inventing skill, Parker had to run for the shower on several occasions which would have been an endless bout of hilarity for Ethan, but it would have put them down a valuable man in terms of maintenance jobs. So finally Haruo ordered the two of them to just read the inventing books and locked up the inventing table to prevent further potential of immolation.
"At least until our job is done." River replied, "or...I just might find the energy to keep going for as long as there are planets to explore as long as there is a universe. If that's my choice, I hope you'd be by my side for all of it."
"I did promise forever, didn't I, when we put the rings on each other's fingers. I'd be going back on my vows if I didn't stay by your side for as long as you would have me." Haruo got up and gathered River into his arms. "I intend to keep my vow."
"I love you..." River leaned in and tenderly kissed him.
"I love you too, River; forever and always."
Medical Bay; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
Phil stepped into the medical bay, "hey sweetie?"
"Hey darling" Bebe looked up tiredly and smiled.
"I come bearing gifts..."
"What?"
"I didn't see you in the dining hall for dinner so I gathered up some dinner and brought it to you since I figured you were busy."
"You guessed right, honey." Bebe smiled at her husband, "I'm checking out an angioplasty procedural."
"Sounds complicated."
"It is..." Bebe informed him. "...but it's an incredibly good lifesaving procedure when you have blocked arteries."
"Do we have that equipment?"Phil asked flabbergasted by the complicated stuff his wife was learning.
She nodded then told him, "I've got a full operating room; trauma equipment and surgical tools and other necessary life-saving equipment, what I don't have is the staff trained to help me in surgically dealing with traumatic injuries. If a piece of machinery fails and tosses a lug-nut like a bullet through someone, I don't have the staff to save him. I need a secondary trauma-trained doctor and I need ER-trained nurses. Either that or I grow about six more hands and three more heads. Otherwise my triage is going to look like a waiting room for the morgue." She sounded tired, defeated and frustrated; and
Phil just wanted to take her in his arms and hold her.
She got up and came over taking the food from him and putting it on her desk then outstretched her arms to him, "Thank you for the food, my dear sweet husband, and it will be eaten, but what I really need right now...is for you to hold me."
So Phil did.
Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Two Years and Six Months Post - Apocalypse; June 1990
As a whole, Checkpoint Bravo Bunker was in good hands, the teens who had come into the bunker pre-Apocalypse were all now young adults; four of the children were now teens and the toddlers were children and there had been a birth and that baby was now a toddler.
Six of the twelve young adults had paired off and were in monogamous relationships while the other six still were unsure of their relationships and wanted more time to figure it out.
The dynamics of the relationship currents were as follows:
River was married to Haruo and they adopted Sam Sekemoto and Sandi French after Leighton and Molly were vaporized in the nuclear attack after giving their child up so that the children could survive. And River has a biological child with Haruo. Andrew is now 1 years old and loves his Mama. Haruo is busy administrating the direction of the bunker in his job as the bunker manager and when he is not busy with that; is spending time with his wife and children. While River does what she can to support her husband and spends valuable time with her and Haruo's children. Sandi, Sam and Andrew.
Noel and Holly are not formally married but mutually exclusive. They decided to hold off having children until such time as they have some balance in their lives. Right now, Noel toils in the garden, does science research, and hacks bank accounts to get more money for the bunker; as of now he has hacked S47,986,576,493.18 into the bunker's coffers. He is aiming for more. Holly spends time heading the nursery. Until Noel and she get on the same page about having children Holly gets out her maternal desires in the nursery taking care of toddlers of which there is only one right now but there may be more soon enough.
Phil and Bebe have formalized their marriage with a promise to be faithful to each other. And both have kept that promise. Phil toils in the kitchen making sure that his bunker-mates are well-fed. His focus is on learning new recipes that they can all eat. Bebe has become the bunker's first doctor but she wishes there were other medical staff to help her with the triage and emergency surgeries. But right now she is all they have until others take up the medical field or they can program a medical physician chip for the plumbot so they can have a MedBot which would probably weird poor Dr. Hart out.
Parker Langerak and Ethan Bunch are good friends who are looking for good relationships with the remaining women in the bunker after River, Holly and Bebe were snapped up. Both are mechanics specializing in building systems and are an integral part of keeping the bunker's life-support systems running. Parker appears to be interested in Candy Asleydale, and Ethan appears to be interested in Merrilee Long.
Michael Bachelor is a solitary young man who enjoys toiling in the garden and dealing with the chickens and cows. He helps Noel with the garden and he does have his eye on Lisa Bunch but will Lisa give him the time of day?
Candy Ashleydale hopes to make herself useful to the bunker staff; a former cheerleader, she aspires to be someone more substantial and has discovered books have become more appealing especially sciences. She is currently helping in the kitchen however hopes that she can reinvent herself as a scientist and help out with gene manipulation and cloning.
Lisa Bunch and Merrilee Long are the two who still haven't figured out that this whole bunker experience isn't a video game. Their days consist of helping in the kitchen and when done spend loads of time watching TV or working out. Hopefully they will find their strengths.
The four teens, Miraj Alvi, Bella Bachelor, Darlene Bunch and Mortimer Goth help out with clean-up chores around the bunker. All spend time at the potion tables trying to discover potions and level up their logic skills
Mortimer also helps his best friend, Michael Bachelor work with the cows and chickens. He has an unrequited crush on Bella Bachelor and wishes that she would pay attention to him instead of pining after the bunker manager who is already married and has kids.
Bella helps out where she can. And tries her best to do what needs doing. She hopes that will eventually catch the eye of the bunker administrator and that he will actually return the feelings she has with her currently unrequited crush on him.
Darlene Bunch is serious and a bookish teen who is aiming to help in either sciences or medicine when she gets older. She does like Miraj but figures until she gets older and figures out what she can best do to help the bunker that she has no time for guys.
Miraj Alvi is not sure what he can do to help other than get himself physically fit and join the bunker security staff.
The rest of the children are busy being children. And like River said the others don't want to make them grow up early and lose their childhood, unlike the now young-adults who lost the remainder of their teen years to adult responsibilities
And Andrew is busy being a toddler.
Noel and Holly's bedroom; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Three Years and Three Months Post - Apocalypse; March 1991
It was at the three month point of the third year that a panicked scream was heard from the washroom. "NOEL!'"
"What is it, honey?" Noel was unperturbed by the scream from his wife.
"Come take a look at this..." Holly had been throwing up and she'd thought she'd had a stomach bug or something that she ate had disagreed with her stomach. And Noel had agreed but by the fifth consecutive day that she had been throwing up, it had become apparent that this was more likely something else.
So Noel just casually managed to find a pregnancy detection test kit that had been a part of a bunch of medical supplies and there were many of them. He was able to take one with Dr. Hart's permission home. Owing as to how they were supposed to bring the town back to life it wasn't surprising they were included. He also managed to just leave the test kit right where Holly could see it and perhaps, you know...
Well curiosity prompted Holly to see if her deepening suspicions about her strange illness that only presented itself in the first half of the day; usually after eating. Taking the test kit and using it she waited the length of time needed for the results to show.
What showed up was what caused the panicked scream.
Noel poked his head into the room. Holly was looking at the test results and shaking. "What is it?"
She silently pointed at the test result, her lower lip quivering. Just about nearly in tears, "I'm not ready..." she said plaintively. "How can I be? It's too early." She subsided, her shoulders shaking as she crumpled into Noel's open arms.
"I'll be there with you, Holly."
"You'd better! You got me this way!" She glared at him. "I'm not ready to be a parent!" She declared.
"Nobody is."
"Then tell me how come River and Haruo manage to pull it off like it's so easy?"
"Trust me, it's not easy for them. Sandi and Sam; both are school-age and are testing what they can or can't get away with and River says she's going batshit crazy with the trouble they manage to get into. And...to top it all off they have an year and sixth month old toddler who is almost into the terrible twos. River says she's probably lost her mind and it's wandering around somewhere out in the radioactive wastelands screaming bloody murder."
"You know, Noel, that doesn't exactly inspire confidence." Holly sniffled, but there was some laughter behind it. Noel grinned at her and just held her tight, letting his comforting presence soothe Holly.
Kitchen; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Three Years Five Months Post - Apocalypse, May 4, 1991
"Grab me the roaster off the rack," Phil directed Merrilee to get him the requested kitchen item with a wave of his hand."I have to get the beef rump roast soft enough to melt in one's mouth. When I stick it in the stew, I want it to complement the stew vegetables."
When Merrilee got him the requested, he took the roast off the cutting board and put it into the roasting pan then taking beef consomme he mixed it with water and added five cups worth into the roasting pan. This would provide the liquid that would keep the roast nice and soft.
Chopping up carrots, potatoes and celery, he tossed them in as a side to soak in the beef flavored water they would steam beside the roast.
While that was cooking he got the industrial sized stew pot and tossed tomato sauce, tomato paste and canned tomatoes;the large cans of restaurant sized stewed tomatoes and a lot of diced celery, carrots and other vegetables like green peppers. A large restaurant tin of peas, a large restaurant tin of corn.
The roast was pretty large but it would need to be joined by another three hence the reason he was doing this stew on low heat till all the roasts were done. Then he would chop the four roasts in to bite sized chunks and toss the cut chunks with the flavoring and the roast flavored baked vegetables and roast juices into the stew pot to join the stewed vegetables.
"Merrilee, this is gonna be a hell of a stew!" Phil said brandishing a carving knife and twin pronged fork to test out its weight and balance while waiting on the roast to get done.
"That's great, Phil" Merrilee said eyeing the knife warily. "I'm going to make the salad for the vegetarians." And promptly moved out of range of the twirling carving knife that Phil was coming dangerously close to lopping off a few of his own extremities.
Dining Hall; Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Three Years Five Months Post - Apocalypse May, 4,1991
"Announcements!" Proclaimed River as she stepped up to the mic on the stand. A statuesque redhead, she had striking green eyes and had a figure that many envied having lost the pounds gained with Andrew. At twenty and eleven months, she was still in, what some would consider, the stage of barely a young adult.
Bella looked at her, a mixture of sheer envy in her. This was the woman who held her crush's heart and she gritted her teeth as well as clenched her hands. I can't stand her! But at 14 there was no way that she could even justifiably say that she'd hold interest for anyone other than another teenager. To anyone twenty and older. Bella was considered a hyphenated word: Jail-bait.
Mortimer sat beside her observing Bella's reaction to Haruo's wife, yet still trying to attentively listen to the announcements. Bella, you'll never understand, will you.
"We have Kaelynn Langerak joining us as a teenager, as well as Arlo Bunch. Congratulations on your agings up. We look forward to your contribution to this society as a whole. We also have a pregnancy announcement, our nursery den mother is actually going to become a mother and yes, I will tell my husband that the names that he suggested will not be in contention." A roar of laughter. A hoot of relief from Noel. "A big thanks to Parker and Ethan for finding what was wrong with the main electrical generator which was causing brownouts. They drank a lot of coffee and stayed up thirty six hours rebuilding the entire main generator and fortunately ran across the problem in doing so."
"It was faulty wiring; the wire was exposed occasionally touching the solenoid that governs the on-off switch. Once we changed that out the problem took care of itself. No more brownouts, no more overheating and we're glad to say that the main generator is fully operational." Parker announced.
"...and now you will experience the devastating power of this fully operational bunker." Quipped someone in the creaky voice of a famed actor in the last film of a science fiction trilogy which caused a lot of cacchinating amongst the crowd.
"I still don't recommend going outside to potentially view any such demonstration" Haruo said dryly, "That could potentially be hazardous to your health." That caused another burst of laughter. "And on that note..." Haruo continued..."May the Fourth Be With You!" They all checked the calendar before roaring with laughter. "And Phil, please try not to make vegetarian chili on the fifth or we may end up having the Revenge of the Sixth and I don't think our plumbing is equipped to deal with an attack of that magnitude!" The last caused a cascade of hysterical laughter.
"OK..." River smiled indulgently at her husband, "...if my husband can pause his comedy routine...dinner is a beef roast stew that Phil has cooked up in the kitchen. Smells terrific, Phil."
"Stew beef is nice and tender, I made absolutely certain of it." Phil proclaimed to loud cheers.
"A welcome change from jawbreakers...oh excuse me...scramble fried hamburger." Haruo quipped while Phil shot him a dirty look.
"I'll have you know that I'm trying to make sure that no -one gets botulism." Phil stated in a haughty tone.
"...while keeping orthodontists in plenty of work for the next forty years." Haruo retorted. "May I suggest a lucrative field of medicine to go into if anyone is interested in this veritable gold mine from Phil's Hamburger Scramble Fry? Pick Orthodontics!"
"If you'd like you can have Autumn Salad!" Phil threatened. The crowd roared with laughter.
Checkpoint Bravo Bunker, 10 Summerhill Court; Three Years Five Months Post - Apocalypse May, 4,1991
Three years and Five months after the Apocalypse to be able to laugh like this was amazing. Because outside was still nothing to laugh about.
The atmosphere still held high levels of toxic radioactive particles which if one got in their lungs was a death sentence by radiation poisoning burned from the inside out by the hot dust.
This would lead to fluid buildup and eventual lung and heart failure. It looked as though Haruo's dire predictions were more accurate than the predictions that the vaunted scientists were giving out regarding how long the earth would take to heal from a nuclear war.
There were going to be large hot-zones that would stay hot for generations. And there was no concrete timeframe on when such radioactive hot-zones would ever be cool enough to be livable again. With radioactive half-lives measuring in the tens of thousands of years, probably not within the lifetimes of many generations of descendants of those currently in the bunker.
If they were to help fix the earth they would have to beat evolution and start using magic to effect change on the planet. But magic was an unknown quantity and hadn't been substantiated by normal valuation methods. By all accounts, magic violated all known logic, physics-based and scientific means of proof. How does one prove the veracity of something conjured out of the ether when the physics law of conservation of massstates that you cannot create matter out of nothing?
Yet here one was standing over a cauldron making arcane signs in the air, chanting incantations and seeing Lord Vladimir's Magic Cauldron go "*poof* alakazam" and you are holding a diamond gemstone that is tactile: you can touch it and it's physically there. It is visually present when you reach out to touch it. It is a tangible object only one factor is confusing: it wasn't there three seconds before At their root, physics and science are logic based and in short magic was illogical.
But illogical or not magic was the key to extending their lifespans beyond normal human lifespan so that they could be there to set the earth right from the stupidity of those who'd been in charge before.
And eventually the earth would forgive those who had hurt her so and maybe she will have been cleaned enough by then to support a second resurgence of humanity determined to not make the mistakes of the previous.