Far beyond their shelter, the missiles fell, creating mushroom clouds that choked the life from whatever didn't initially die from the blast itself. Hurricane-level winds abraded the earth for miles around ground zero. The ground continued to shake, the deep impacts setting off a chain reaction from the less-stable sections of crust they'd penetrated. Half a kilometre below the surface, the cast of Total Drama Reunion huddled together in their fallout shelter.
"What are we supposed to do down here?" Duncan demanded, angrily pacing the length of the room. It was spacious, seemingly bare except for the pull-down bunks lining the walls. A large door set into the far wall had yet to be investigated, but judging by the way Owen's nose was going insane, Duncan suspected it held food.
"First things first," Courtney said, "We should check the room for supplies. That door over there is bound to contain something we need. Izzy, you said there were cubbies?"
"Yeah," Izzy nodded enthusiastically, "Inside each of the bunks, there's a little sliding door set into the wall. I haven't looked yet, but I'll bet they contain something really cool, like laser guns or tin foil hats to keep the aliens from probing our minds." She pushed her eyelids open with her fingers as she said this.
"Uh huh. How about we open one and check. Cody, would you do the honors?"
Cody had been groping Sierra until Courtney called on him. At the mention of his name, he slowly released her and gave his attention to Courtney. "What was that?"
"Ugh, why don't you guys ever pay attention to me? Am I the only one trying to keep us alive?"
"Cool it, princess," Duncan said, pausing in his pacing long enough to scold her. "We don't know how long we'll be down here, so don't go getting on everybody's bad side right from the start."
"You're lecturing me? Listen, ingrate: you don't get to lecture me. You couldn't keep yourself out of trouble if you were locked in a padded room without your arms or legs. And that's something you probably know from experience."
Duncan set his jaw. "That's something I'll help you experience if you don't shut up."
"Guys, seriously," Trent said, holding out his arms as he stood in between them, "Let's not fight. I mean, this is a reunion. We're supposed to laugh and enjoy each other's company."
"Trent's right." Gwen stepped up beside him. "We're all crammed in here together for who knows how long. Let's be civil at least until we get out of here. Then you can tear out each other's throats when we have the option of ignoring you."
Courtney and Duncan glared at each other for a moment more, but the fight had gone out of them. Crossing their arms, they turned their backs on each other and went to separate sides of the bunker. Trent and Gwen sat down together on one of the beds that had already been pulled out.
"I'll look in the cubby, Courtney," Trent volunteered, twisting around and sliding open the small door. He pulled out a thick green blanket that clearly favored heat over comfort. Behind it was a small kind of pillow he'd only seen before on long airplane trips. Behind that, a small flashlight. He reported his findings to Courtney and whoever else was listening.
Meanwhile, Courtney pried open the large door to the supply closet. "Jackpot," she grinned, "There are boxes upon boxes of MREs in here. Not to mention extra pillows and blankets and other things."
"May I have one of those pillows?" Alejandro asked, "Heather needs her rest. We have to be conscientious of the baby."
"Of course. Here, take some trail mix. She shouldn't go to bed on an empty stomach."
He accepted them gratefully. "Would you like something to eat, my dear?"
"I guess that'll have to do," Heather said. She yawned, took the package and strutted to a different bunk. She massaged her shoulders. "It's freezing in here." She pulled out the blanket and pillow and laid down on the bed of her choice, began munching on her provisions.
Alejandro pushed in beside her and curled himself around her. "Better?"
She offered him a quick smile before returning to her meal.
"So what are we supposed to do here?" Lindsey asked. "I mean, I don't see any games or music. What's there to do?"
"I guess we just sit and wait," Gwen said. "There's not much we can do."
"What are you guys talking about?" Owen laughed. "There's plenty to do here. We could build forts with the bunks and blankets, and then we could get under them and turn off the lights and tell stories."
"Yeah, like creepy ghost tales, or – ooh ooh! – we could tell stories about all the people we've assassinated. Yeah, this'll be fun!" Izzy giggled.
"I don't think anyone's an assassin except for you, Izzy," Owen replied.
"Okay, then I'll tell all the stories."
"Hey, Gwen's a famous author," Duncan grinned mischievously, "Let's have her tell some stories."
"No, no, I couldn't," Gwen said, seeming terrified of the idea.
"Come on, Gwen. It'll be fun."
"Knock it off, Duncan," Trent growled.
"I've never read your stories," Beth said, "What are they about?"
"Oh, they're nothing unusual, really. Just novels about people doing things." The tips of Gwen's ears began to burn.
"Don't be so vague, Gwen," Duncan urged, his expression growing more devilish. "I'm sure everyone wants to know about your tales of romance."
Gwen balled her hands into fists. "Shut up, Duncan."
"Romances? No way," Beth said, "I never knew you were the romantic type."
"I'm not," Gwen snapped, seething now. She took a deep breath, trying to reign in her irritation. "I don't like writing romances, but they're the only thing my publishers will buy from me. I've written so much better stuff, like adventures and sci-fi and tragedy, but they won't take it. They just want that god-awful romantic crap, and I guess I'm good at writing it, because they keep getting published."
"That's not so embarrassing," Sadie said, "Most people like romance. It's not a bad thing to be romantic."
Gwen turned her face away in attempt to hide her rosy cheeks. "Yeah, well, I don't like it. I'd much rather be known for my awesome adventure stories than my sappy romances."
"Maybe you should start your next story like a regular romance, then in the last 15 pages throw everything into chaos," Trent suggested. "Like, your character's love-interest could suddenly become a mutant lizard-thing and take over the world, or something."
Gwen chuckled at the thought, her cheeks regaining their normal pallor. "Yeah, that would be great. If only."
"NOOOO!" Lindsay shrieked suddenly, all eyes jumping directly to her. She was gaping in horror at her cherry red cell phone. "I don't have any bars! How am I supposed to text Tyler?"
"I'm right here, hon," her fiancé said exasperatedly, resting his hand on her shoulder until she calmed down.
Everyone immediately took out their own mobiles. "I don't have bars, either," several people said.
"The 3G's out, too," Courtney said, glaring at her phone as though that would fix it. She dug through her purse, pulling out every electronic device she had. "This is bad. This is really bad. Absolutely none of my stuff can get reception. That means we're cut off from the world. What if the doors don't open? No one will know we're here. We're dead! Dead!" She broke down into hysterics, continuing to mumble things to herself, her pitch and volume constantly shifting.
Gwen glared hard at Duncan, who glared back, knowing full well what she expected of him. But she kept her mouth shut because they both knew he would do nothing if it were asked of him. Finally, when he could no longer stand Courtney's crying, he stalked across the room and sat down next to her, draping an arm over her shoulders and pulling her into his lap.
"Don't freak out, Princess. It's obviously Chris messing with us. He's got some kind of signal-scrambler around the place."
Courtney continued to rock. Her mumbling, however, desisted. In time, she fell still, leaning against Duncan's chest. Duncan looked up to see Gwen grinning smugly at him. He scowled back, which only made her grin wider.
"Well, this is great," Justin griped from his seat against the wall. "I have a meeting tomorrow morning in Quebec, and I can't even call my associates to reschedule if I need to."
Noah stood stoically next to Owen with his arms crossed, surveying the others. Then he spotted a curious sight, and tugged on his husband's arm. "Owen. What do you think they're doing?"
Owen followed his gaze to the supply closet, where Katie and Sadie were sitting with their backs to the group. "Hey, girls," Owen called out to them, "What are you two doing?"
Sadie turned and looked at him, "Just talking to the confession camera."
"There's a confession camera?" Noah asked, coming closer to inspect. But when he did, he realized they had mistaken a can of peanuts laying on its side for the round lens. He opened his mouth to correct them, then thought better of it and let them alone. "Have fun, girls."
The occupants shuffled around the room for the next hour, making small-talk or sitting quietly in thought. Finally, Gwen spoke up. "Okay, seriously? We've been here for an hour. Shouldn't Chris have contacted us by now? I mean, if this is his plan to rope us into another season of Total Drama, then he would have set up the game with a video or something. But we've been sitting here for an hour now, and nothing."
"What are you getting at?" Duncan asked, holding the now-sleeping Courtney in his tattooed arms.
Gwen bit her lip. "I don't think this is a game. I think this is real."
A/N: I plan to work on the next chapter tomorrow. I know it has been a long time since I updated. I had most of this written, but I didn't know what to do with it. Anyway, here's hoping this summer yields more writing.