The Third Night

Friction

The little boy was smiling as he looked up from the soldier's helmet and back to the German captain. "For real?" he asked with surprise and badly concealed joy in his voice.

"For real," Markus said.

Zara looked from Dominik to the soldier and gave the man an appreciative nod.

"I won't need it anytime soon – at least I hope not," he added lightly.

"Thank you," she mouthed with a smile behind her son's back.

He nodded and the knelt beside the kid. "Just keep it in your room for the time being," he said.

Dominik nodded as he traced the google-like contraption a top the helmet. "Is this night-vision technology?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, and like I said, keep it in your room."

OOOOOO

Rik was walking around inside the bunker, pretending to stroll down the corridor and appear like he didn't have a care in the world. The soldiers paid him little to no attention as they'd decided there was nothing that he could possibly do to threaten them.

This served Rik well as he was studying the layout of the place, memorizing all the exits, taking notice of the various storage compartments and what kind of military equipment they'd got stowed away in the bunker.

Careful not to be discovered he slipped into a small compartment and scanned the shelves for something that might be useful for the group.

OOOOOO

Dominik wasn't slow on the uptake and he usually did what he was told but this time he had a little too much fun with his new toy to be able to stop. He was currently tracking a large rat in the dark with the night-vision googles on the helmet from a distance, trying to keep as still as possible.

The little boy jumped slightly as the light was turned on in the small compartment and Ines stepped through the door.

She looked pissed as she began to categorize the canisters and food supply. She mumbled something that could only be curses in a language Dominik didn't understand.

He glanced at the watch and noted dejectedly that he would have to go back to his room before his mother would come looking for him. He didn't really want to explain to her how much he loved going after the rats. She saw them as unsanitary, filthy animals he should be kept away from. However, Dominik saw them as pets and he'd always wanted to have a pet to take care of.

Ines suddenly yelped as the large rat made its appearance and Dominik suddenly perked up to see what was going on.

Unfortunately, Ines misread the situation and thought Dominik had planted the animal in the storage to scare her. She shouted at him as she began to walk towards him.

The little boy jumped out of his hiding place and rushed for the door. He made it out in the corridor, almost colliding with the colonel – in fact he would have, if the military man hadn't sidestepped at the last minute.

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly.

Lom narrowed his eyes, studying the kid for a moment. He was far to pale and he still carried that device to help him breathe easier. "Come here for a moment," he said and beckoned for Dominik to come closer as he knelt down.

Dominik hesitated but did as he was told.

"Where did you get that helmet from?" he asked.

Dominik glanced down at the dirty floor. "I borrowed it from Markus," he replied.

"It's Captain Muller to you. And, what on earth for?" Lom demanded, not used to deal with kids.

"I needed it for my invention," he managed as he summoned courage to look the military man in the eyes.

"Give it back to him – at once – and stop running around the place before you cause some sort of accident," he ordered sharply.

Dominik hung his head but duly nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And just where is the harm in letting Dominik play with a helmet?" Zara questioned as she stepped out of the shadows behind the colonel, having heard the last piece of the conversation.

Lom groaned inwardly. He was really starting to dislike the woman before him. Who did she think she was anyway? Nothing but an overprotective mother and a mediocre waitress.

"That is military property," Colonel Lom pointed out, trying to keep his voice calm and steady.

"And he's not going to break it," she replied matter-of-factly. "What's it to you anyway? If one of your soldiers is okay with Dominik borrowing it, why can't it be okay with you?"

Lom harrumphed as he glared at the woman before him.

"It's not like you need a helmet inside a bunker," she reasoned stubbornly.

The polish commanding officer pointed at her. "You better make sure that you keep a close eye on your kid. This is not some kindergarten."

OOOOOO

Laura tip-toed into the room and walked over to Osman, who was resting peacefully in his bunk. She carefully glanced over her shoulder to make sure she hadn't awoken Mathieu or Ayaz then shook her head. She couldn't believe the others saw her as their resident doctor. They were crazy to think she knew that much about the medical profession. In her opinion it had been dumb luck that she'd managed to get Mathieu back on his feet and she thanked God he had been strong enough to help Sylvie take off with the aircraft and then have it in him to fly to the bunker. The rest of the group believed she was a miracle worker – a reputation she didn't think she deserved. Now, Mathieu, given the rest he needed, would be alright eventually and probably Ayaz and Osman as well but it wasn't due to her knowledge or competence in medicine.

If Ayaz's mind had begun to swell after Terenzio's insane beating, then there would have been nothing she could have done for him. Luckily, the intercranial pressure didn't try to force his brain out of his skull and she didn't have to crack it open to relieve the pressure. Just thinking about that procedure turned her legs into jelly. She had been scared enough by performing the surgery on Mathieu's hand. To actually drill a hole in someone's head was just crazy, unless you were a certified neurologist.

Laura took a deep breath and focused on Osman before her. He was recuperating well. The burn marks on his hands had been taken care of and seemed to heal nicely but she was still cautious and looked for signs of infection. The environment wasn't exactly ideal for nursing people back to health. She gently placed two fingers under his chin and broke into a relieved smile as she found his pulse strong and steady. He stirred at her touch and she nodded at him to keep still. He nodded back somewhat wearily and waited for her to update him on his condition.

"You're doing fine," she whispered softly. "How do you feel?"

"Feels like my heart is still doing extra rounds at times and it felt like I was going into some sort of anxiety attack yesterday but now it's fine," he answered.

"After what you've been through, I am not surprised," she said and gently squeezed his shoulder. "Are you feeling up for a tour in the corridor?"

He gave her a faint nod.

"Good. I'll go and find some help-" she trailed off as Jakub suddenly appeared in the doorway. "No, need," she added as she waved the mechanic over.

He frowned.

"Can you help out for a moment? I want to take Osman for a little walk," she said.

He hesitated. "I wanted to have a word with Mathieu."

Laura followed Jakub's gaze to the sleeping form of the pilot in the next bed.

"You can have a word with him later," she reasoned softly.

Jakub nodded and turned to the serviceman. "So, Osman. Are you up for a little walk, huh?"

OOOOOO

Thea Bisset took a deep breath as she slumped down in the chair, staring at the world map on the wall behind Gerardo.

"I am not sure how long we can keep going like this," she said darkly. "The situation was already tense, even before the survivors from the civilian flight arrived here."

"I thought you'd be pleased to have them with us?" Gerardo stated. "The soldiers are a little rough around the edges. They are used to rigid command structures and already hardened by training. However, the civilians are softer, more human. I am sure that would benefit the larger group in the long run."

"The world as we know it-," she began hollowly as she stared at her colleague with big eyes. "-it doesn't exist anymore, Gerardo."

He sighed and glanced down at his intertwined hands, not able to confront the sad and slightly apathic look on his colleague's face.

"I am not sure that I'm even able to grasp what that means," she continued. "I mean, I know what has happened, it's just that the magnitude of what has happened is so enormous. And we are sitting here-,"

He summoned his courage to look at her, trying not to think about all the things he'd left behind while getting himself to safety. Trying not to think about how selfish he'd been when he'd said goodbye to his wife and son that morning, like any other day, even though he had known that for them – there would be no tomorrow.

Thea's voice broke through his reverie. "And here we are; one of the few human groups alive, sitting in a bunker, trying to establish some normalcy in utter chaos?"

"Let us not lose hope," Gerardo tried kindly. "We have gained a lot of knowledge in various areas with the addition of the civilians. We have an aircraft, a pilot and a helicopter pilot, a scientist and a home care nurse-," Gerardo made a face and shrugged as he tried to lighten the mood. "There's even an influencer and a waitress."

Thea looked skeptical.

"We'll get through this," Gerardo assured her with a faint smile. "Who knows, they might be able to find a solution to the sun problem."

"We knew about that. Not even our scientists in a perfect lab environment with all the information available to them managed to find a solution before we were forced to evacuate," she reasoned.

"It was unfortunate that we lost our astrophysicist team onboard that ill-fated flight but Horst seems to know enough about it. He used to work with climate research and the two fields are intersecting each other. I had a brief talk to him earlier – a very fascinating talk I might add – where he claimed that the sun's reversal of its poles every eleventh year is affecting our planet in a much more profound way than we first thought."

Thea frowned. "How so?" she asked curiously.

"Apparently the last time it happened; the sun's polarity flipped differently. It took over two years longer for the northern hemisphere of the sun to reverse. He said something about a near-zero energy output over that period of time."

"While that is fascinating it doesn't help us with our current predicament," Thea pointed out. "The radiation from the sun is still too dangerous for a human being and I am afraid that modern homo sapiens can't live long in the shadows of the night before they go insane."

"The reason for this to happen was that Earth's protective barrier has been eroded from within due pollution. Which in turn has created ozone holes large enough to allow the gamma radiation to slip through and end up in our atmosphere."

"So, you are saying that we did this to ourselves?" Thea exploded; her nerves frayed.

"No, our scientists did," Gerardo replied calmly.

"Okay, we might know the why and the how but that doesn't help us to find a way to - sort of -inoculate us from the radiation poisoning," she pushed.

"I think we should have this conversation in a larger group," the Spanish ambassador reasoned.

OOOOOO

To be continued

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