The next day, Piper and Jack had already been awake when morning came around. However, Piper darted out of the room when she heard a scream. Jack followed his sister and the two of them arrived at Emily's room. Ms. Mead was already there and she was holding two dead black snakes.
"This is good eating" she comments.
Emily looks at her repulsed by the idea of eating snakes. Ms. Mead turned around and walked out of the room, not saying anything to the twins. Piper slipped into the room to check on Emily.
"Are you alright?" She asks.
"Yes, they just startled me" Emily answered.
"How'd they even get in here? I thought everything outside died due to the radiation because of the missiles" Jack said.
"I thought so too, until you two showed up. And then those snakes" Emily said.
"Jack, we should probably go. Remember, it's our duty to serve while we're here and we don't want to get into trouble" Piper tells her brother.
"She's right. You guys can go now. I'm alright, I promise" Emily said.
Jack looked her over before following his sister out of the room. The twins headed down to the living area where they stood beside Mallory, conversing with her when they weren't called on.
That afternoon when the survivors in Outpost 3 relaxed while the grays did chores, an alarm went off. The twins looked at each other before rushing over to Mallory.
"What's going on?" Jack asked.
"I think that's the proximity alarm. We've had a breach" Mallory tells him.
The twins looked at each other in concern. Ms. Mead and Ms. Venable looked at each other before leaving to see what got into Outpost 3. The purples began to whisper amongst themselves, wondering what breached the underground bunker.
When dinner came around, the nutritional cubes were not served this time. This time, it was snake soup. Ms. Mead poured the soup in to bowls and it was up to the greys to serve them to the purples. Once all the purples had been given bowls of soup, the greys got their own bowls of soup. However, no one got the chance to eat because black snakes slithered out of the bowls and the pot. The purples jumped back in fear and the greys dropped their bowls. Ms. Mead lead everyone to the sitting room.
"Who's in your office Ms. Venable?" Emily asked.
Ms. Venable didn't get a chance to answer because there were footsteps coming towards the sitting room. The twins looked up from where they stood against the wall to see a man dressed in black and had long dirty blonde hair. He moved to stand by Ms. Venable only to tilt his head at her, making her move out of his way then stood in her place.
"Jack, I don't like him. I can feel some kind of evil vibe coming off of him" Piper whispered to her twin quietly so no one else could hear.
"I can feel it too Pipes, just stay calm" Jack told his sister.
"My name is Langdon and I represent the Cooperative. I won't sugarcoat the situation, humanity is on the brink of failure. My arrival here was crucial to the survival of civilized life on Earth. The three other compounds In Syracuse, New York, Beckley, West Virginia, and San Angelo, Texas have been overrun and destroyed. We've had no contact from the six international outposts, but we are assuming that they, too, have been eliminated." the man spoke.
"What happened to the people inside?" Andre asked.
"Massacred. The same fate that will befall almost all of you" Langdon answered.
"Almost all?" Evie asked.
"In the knowledge that this very moment might occur, we built a failsafe The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is unique. It has certain security measures that will prevent overrun." Langdon stated.
"Excuse me sir, what measures? And why weren't we given them?" Ms. Mead asked him.
"That's classified" Langdon answered her.
"All that matters is that The Sanctuary will survive, so the people populating it will survive, so humanity will survive." he continued.
"Who are the people populating it?" Mr. Gallant asked.
"That's also classified" Langdon told him.
"However, I have been sent to determine if any of you are worthy and fit to join us." he said.
The survivors whispered and murmured amongst themselves at the new information of a possible chance of surviving the radiation outside.
"The Cooperative has developed a particular and rigorous questioning technique we like to call "Cooperating." I will then use the information gained to determine if you belong." Langdon continued, interrupting everyone's discussions.
"What is this, the Hunger Games? This is bullshit" Coco commented. "I paid my way in here, and that is the only cooperating I plan on doing" she continued.
"You don't have to sit for questioning" Langdon said.
"What happens if we choose not to?" Timothy asked.
"Then you stay here and die" Langdon tells him.
"I volunteer to go first" Mr. Gallant said, raising his hand.
"And so you shall. For those of you who don't make the cut, all is not lost. If the worst should happen and feral cannibals come knocking, down one of these. One minute later, you fall asleep and never wake up. I look forward to meeting each and every one of you." Langdon said as he held up a small vile of pills.
"Well smooth move, asking to go first" Coco tells her friend Mr. Gallant.
Langdon and Mr. Gallant walked out of the sitting area. Everyone else talked amongst themselves, Evie and Coco began to argue.
"There's an old actor's adage. Either go first or go last" Evie said.
"You're not going anywhere" Coco told her.
"Are you suggesting that he is going to pass me up?" Evie asked her.
"You're ancient. He's looking for people to repopulate the Earth, not fill a bingo hall." Coco tells her.
"You know, for someone with the mental capacity of a three-year-old, I suppose 52 might seem ancient." Evie replied to Coco.
The twins watched the two women fight, before following Mallory's lead to returning to the kitchen and cleaning up the spilt soup. Mr. Gallant's interview lasted all day and everyone returned to their rooms come lights out.