Chapter Twenty-five: this is the road to ruin
Nik isn't a praying man, but if he were then this would be what he prayed for. For a while he can't even say a thing. He's completely rendered speechless at what lays before his very eyes. Of course, he's known that shelters like this existed, but he had no idea that they would quite literally just walk into one. Especially one such as this that doesn't even look like it's been used.
"I'm coming down!" Elena shouts down the hatch, but it barely registers with Nik because they've finally caught a fucking break. He can hardly contain himself as he goes deeper into the shelter, passing a room that must be designated as the living room judging from the seating arrangements and the television.
Does it work? There must be a generator, right?
On the right white shelves of the entertainment system sits a mini fridge and a microwave, and, much to his surprise, there is an actual clock on the microwave. A clock as in an actual working clock, which means electricity is running through it, which means there is a generator somewhere and holy fucking shit.
But he doesn't linger over it. Past the living room is what much resembles a crossroads. Straight ahead is a room with eight beds, four built into each side of the pipe. Whoever had this thing built was really preparing for the apocalypse and it's a shame that they never made it here.
Oh well.
On the right is a dining area with six chairs around a rectangle table. He laughs at the fact that whoever owned this place tried to design it a little bit with the crappy flower prints crudely placed on the "walls" and the powder blue rug across the laminate wood floors. In the left pipe is store, where shelves upon shelves of imperishable goods and bottles of cough syrup and pills amongst other medical supplies are.
Nik blinks rapidly, unable to even comprehend the amount of sheer gold they've struck. This can't possibly be real, he concludes. He is just waiting for the moment where his eyes shoot open and there's a zombie gnawing on his arm.
But he doesn't wake up. No, instead he just gets Elena's shrill squeaks of excitement and disbelief behind him and he's never wanted so badly to hit a woman aside from this moment. Just one of those nice backhand slaps where you draw back and will send her flying. Yeah that'd be nice, but Elijah seems to be fond of her for whatever reason (he really does not see the appeal) and he'd probably be kicked out of their group.
"How is this even possible?" Elena asks aloud, but she's not even talking to him as she brushes past him and ventures further into the storage area.
"There's a bathroom back here!" he hears her say. "And an actual shower!" Wait for it. "With actual running water!" And. "It goes hot!"
Elena shuts off the water quickly, not wanting to waste anymore than she has already and goes further back, which makes her wonder when does this place end. She doesn't have to go far to find that answer out, however; because to her right is an escape hatch. It's a large metal door at the end of the long pipe that seems to run at least forty yards. It doesn't seem like it'd be a quick escape by any means, but there must be a reason it's so far away from the rest of the shelter.
When she returns to the main part, Nik is on the opposite side, past the living area and the ladder where another door opens up to reveal what must be a master bedroom. She peeps in and sees him standing, facing the wall with his head drooped low. She almost begins to question what the matter is, but her words fall short once she sees a crib.
Elena steps fully inside the room, checking it out in all its wonder. Yes, it's the master bedroom, but also a nursery. A nursery. There is a changing table directly next to the wall and a high chair and walker in the back corners. There are little toys and stuffed animals placed on the shelves underneath the changing table and it's so sad because it's never been used when it was made so specifically and genuinely for a baby that never made it. It's so damn depressing that they've stumbled onto this gold mine and can't even truly be happy because there are dead people who would've been living here. There would've been a family here; a happy and healthy baby to walk around in its walker and cry because it was teething.
And it's sick to think that they're taking it. They just came in here and they are going to rob it because they were the lucky ones, weren't they? Even when it didn't appear so, they made it this far and it's too late to go back now.
"I'll go back up," Elena says, relief settling over here as she leaves the room and her hands grasp the ladder. It's too much. It's too heavy.
Caroline paces the trailer back and forth, chewing at her bottom lip and the inside of her cheek. Someone should have come back by now. They've been gone for awhile now. She's tempted to open the door and peek out to see if Elijah is still filling up since she hasn't heard any movement going on lately. What if something happened? She did hear a gunshot, but that was probably nothing to worry about. Oh god, can't someone just come and get her? Stress isn't good for a pregnant woman!
Should she venture out? Just to check? She'll be as careful as can be, but if someone catches her then there will be probably be a reckoning from Elena and Rebekah. But…
"Caroline!"
Rebekah.
"What's going on?" Caroline asks, confused. "Where is everyone else?"
Rebekah smiles wildly. "You'll have to see for yourself."
Caroline tilts her head. "I don't follow you."
"That's why you literally have to follow me," Rebekah says, rolling her eyes and gesturing with her hands. "Just come on. We haven't got all day!"
Reluctantly, Caroline follows the girl out of the RV, looking both ways up and down the road. Coast is clear. No zombies. Rebekah holds the door open to the gas station and Caroline walks through, carefully trying to evade stepping on the zombie blood flooded on the floor. She spots Jeremy, Elijah and Elena in the back room, crowded around some big hole in the ground to which Caroline instantly thinks is an ill placed manhole.
"I don't get it," she observes. "Is there like a sewer or…?"
"Not at all," Elijah replies, the corners of his mouth tugging up a little bit. "Caroline, it seems we've walked right onto a underground survival shelter."
Caroline's eyebrows knit together in confusion and amusement. Does he mean like one of those things she's seen on that show on the military channel Jeremy used to watch? Seriously?
"Unoccupied?" she asks, dumbfounded because this can't be possible. Good things don't happen to them!
Elijah nods his head and even in the dimness she can see the smile on his face and Elena is soon embracing her so tightly she's afraid she'll snap her in half.
"Care, this is happening," she mumbles. "This is really happening! We have food and…and a shower!"
So many thoughts are rushing through Caroline's head that she can't even separate them. She just may quite literally drown in her thoughts. This is just too good to be true. Really, she won't believe it until she sees it. And she expresses as much and Elena lets her go and Elijah goes down the hatch before Caroline ("If you slip, I will catch you," he says to which Caroline scoff and says, "My stomach isn't even protruding.")
Once she gets to the bottom of the ladder, her jaw drops in wonder at the place. It doesn't even seem like a shelter. It seems like a home. It feels like home. It is literally everything she could've asked for right now in these circumstances. Forget a boat! They have an underground home with plenty of food and a freaking television for crying out loud.
Caroline is like a five year old, practically running through the shelter and touching everything in wonder and awe as if it were the first time she had ever seen a mattress. It's amazing, really. Some excruciatingly rich person could afford something like this…so extravagant and have it stocked so abundantly. If she believed in fate, then maybe this was destined to happen to them. Maybe after all the terrible crap they've dealt with for the past few months, losing Damon, Stefan, Bonnie, and Kol—this is their mercy. This is the little piece of heaven they've gotten to keep. But for how long?
Rebekah decides that she is making dinner tonight. And it will be a feast fit for kings, but poor kings that rule over nations with populations of fifty. Which is why Elijah decides for her that one box of Suddenly Salad is enough for the night. Yes, they have a lot of food but rationing is still a thing. If they actually eat like kings, then they'll be out of food before they make it to spring.
Rebekah crowns herself the Shelter Mother because she sees herself as the most fit and stable to deal with everyone's turmoil. Everyone, except, well, Nik, but that's different. She also believes she should be in charge of water, food, and energy consumption because Elijah "doesn't know what he's talking about." No one really objects because they really have no idea what Rebekah is even going off about; they just know she's really excited and it's understandable. She has a bed and there's a mirror and she can wash her hair and clothes and isn't that every girl's dream who is put into this situation? Elijah definitely won't let her be in charge of what gets eaten and used, though.
The clock on the microwave reads 9:34 p.m. once they've all finished eating Rebekah's "delicious" dinner. She's proud of it and mostly everyone is smiling and it feels so natural and weird because when was the last time this happened? When there were genuine smiles and laughter?
"First thing in the morning we should drive around," Elijah states, breaking the fun times. "We should find what could be of eventual use to us. We might be well stocked now, but two months from now we could see our supplies dwindling."
"Elena stay here with Caroline while the rest of us go," Rebekah adds, turning to face her. "No offense, but I'm a far better shot than you. You nearly just grazed that straggler at close range earlier."
"Right," Elijah interjects, "well we'll need to map out a route. Department stores will most likely be looted as well as full of stragglers so we should steer clear of them, but target small off the road shops as we see fit. Gas stations, drug stores, convenience stores, et cetera."
"While you're out, then Elena and I could take inventory," Caroline suggests. "Check and see how much food we have and calculate how much we'll need to ration each day."
"And the water jugs," Elena says. "Underneath the floorboards. They're everywhere and I'm sure we've not discovered all of them."
Elijah grins softly. "Brilliant idea, Elena."
Rebekah gags. It definitely wasn't that brilliant. Calm your boner, Eli.
After going over the details a bit more, most of the gang decides to go to retire for the night. Jeremy, and Rebekah go in the back, with majority of the beds, but Elijah insists that Caroline take the master bedroom along with Elena. She says she doesn't need it, but Elena won't pass up the chance to sleep in a roomier bed and to stay up and gossip because even though there are literally only three other people in the world she could talk shit about, she's not going to pass it up.
Reluctantly, Caroline trudges into the bedroom with Elena in tow and the door shuts shortly thereafter. Elijah spares no time in laying it on his brother.
"Tomorrow, you will stay here with Caroline," he says, sharp. "Not Elena."
Nik scoffs. "Not a chance."
Elijah throws up his hands in exasperation. "Niklaus, it's like you don't even want to fix things with the girl. It's as if you don't even care."
"Did it ever cross your mind that I don't?" Nik asks, narrowing his eyes.
Elijah sighs and looks down at the table. "You're a terrible liar," he tells him, resigned. "Even when we were younger, you were the worst at lying. You were even worse than Kol. Remember Tatia?"
"Don't."
"You told me you had no interest in her and I knew you were lying because of how you looked at her as if she placed the stars in the sky, but…I guess I didn't care. Did that make me selfish?"
Nik swallows. "No. It makes you human."
"You speak of being human when you've become such a monster to the woman you love and is having your child? That's very peculiar…"
"Either way," Nik concludes, "I'm not staying here. We have nothing to say to each other."
"And what if someone finds this place and they aren't exactly friendly? You can't possibly expect Caroline and Elena to defend themselves, can you?"
"Fewer mouths to feed."
Elijah regards him for a few seconds, watching the dead and empty look in his younger brother's eyes. Something is broken. It's broken and he doesn't think he can fix it. How could say something so cold and heartless and with such conviction? It's as if he weren't even human; he's a different kind of monster. It's sad, really, that it has come to this. He didn't use to be so empty and such a shell. Elijah can still remember his smile, bright as day, on Christmas morning in 1989. He'd been on his best behavior for three months since he first saw a scooter flash across the television screen and he wrote misspelled letter after misspelled letter to Santa because he had to have it. And on Christmas morning it was there, resting beside the tree along with the other children's gifts.
But now that smiles is gone and just replaced with darkness. A sad half smile tugs at Elijah's lips as he says, "It is such a hollow little life that you lead, Niklaus." And he heads to bed.
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A/N: Are you there, shippers? It's me, Angel.
No more excuses. The jig is up and I can no longer deny it. I take so long updating because 1) I'm so tired of writing this 2) I don't care about Klaroline or TVD or "The Originals" anymore and 3) I really hate the original characters in general aside from Kol (no, I don't regret killing him off). Either way, my personal bias for the characters will have nothing to do with the ending, whether it be happy or sad. I've had the ending planned out since I wrote the prologue, and, honestly, the ending was the reason I was so excited to start this.
I'm not going to say "Oh I'll update next week!" because I probably won't. I'm not enthused about this anymore and I was this close to abandoning this fic the other week, but I owe it to you guys to finish. I owe it to you because even though I'm a sucky person, a lot of you guys have been there for me for over a year now and I really love you and your support and I know everyone says this, but I have the best readers because I throw these plot twists at you and you don't leave and THAT is dedication. I had no idea how much you guys would support the baby twist (oh this is so ironic now, isn't it?), but most of you did and I'm so happy and I hope I can wrap it up nicely for you.
But let me reiterate, how I feel about KC does not effect what happens at the end of this story. I feel like if you don't understand that, then if I write a happy ending then it'll be just to appease you guys and if it's a sad ending it'll be because I hate Klaus and decided to off him out of spite. I wouldn't do that to you guys and I wouldn't do that to myself. So please, if you get nothing else out of this ridiculously long author's note, just know that.
Now, I will really try to update soon(er), but no promises. I've not written this story since I last updated in April and that was actually the last thing I wrote aside from EML. I've not written in nearly two months, so if this is shit then I sincerely apologize. I really, truly hope that you can forgive me for treating you guys so poorly when all you've been is nice to me.
Anyway, if you want to know what I based the shelter off of, then use a search engine and type in "atlas survival shelters" and there will be a website with pictures and stuff and...thangs. I'm not entirely sure how the electricity works, but I imagined there must be some type of generator? Don't quote me on that, though.
There will be a lot of domesticity (yay domesticity!) coming up and yes, Nik and Care will make up soon. And question, does anyone fancy Jeremy x Rebekah? I don't particularly ship it, but if enough of you want I could squeeze a little bit in before shit hits the fan :O
And thank you for the name suggestions! I'm loving them so keep 'em coming! Y'know, I kinda got excited a bit more about this as got to the end of this note...hmmm...
Thank you for your continuous support!
-Angel