AWOL: A Character Lost (24 page)

A small door rose up, and a ladder unrolled itself to the floor as they stood there staring at it This vehicle had four individual seats inside; two on each end of the compartment, so whoever was riding in there together would be facing one another. The seats were covered in soft plush tan leather with over-the-shoulder seat belts attached to them. It also had 4 windows, one on each side, and one on each end of the vehicle.

Behind this vehicle, or in front it, depending on which way it was traveling, was a small trailer for any personal items. This trailer was big enough to hold all their gear with some room to spare.

“Okay, Johnny, Michael, you guys get a seat where you can look forward. Barbara, you’re beside me.”

The kids climbed in, and Barbara followed suit after zipping up the bag full of photos. She wasn’t sure she wanted to sit beside Danny, but she took the seat anyway.

Danny put their stuff in the small trailer and then climbed inside. Once everyone was secure, seat belts locked tight, the ladder rolled up and slid into place. The door closed, and the machine moved on to the common area.

Danny took one last look at the door they had come through as it faded into the distance and faded into memory. He held back the tears as the egg-shaped machine rushed forward to their new life underground.

Barbara sat beside him, staying strong, thankful they all were safe. She was wrestling with so many issues at the moment, mostly geared toward her husband. However, as she watched the door fade off into the distance, she felt like she needed some comfort. She reached out for Danny’s hand, and he took it. The time for arguing wasn’t over, and the conversations would surely linger; but for now she just needed him.

As for the boys, Michael sulked and said not a word as he drifted back to sleep, eyes staring at the plain white walls on the inside of the egg-shaped machine. Johnny played his game seeming not to mind the movement of the vehicle or the fact that the world had just gone nuclear.

They traveled on, and away from their home, a home they wouldn’t see again for one whole year.

*

The vehicle cruised along without any noise, gliding easily down the rail towards it’s one and only destination, descending as it went, going deeper and deeper into the Earth. The vehicle passed other tunnels on the left and right side as it moved on. These tunnels had egg-shaped cars coming out of them, and these cars were heading off in the same direction as Danny and his family, towards the common area.

Danny ran thoughts through his head, silent tormenting thoughts, as he leaned his head back against the seat. He looked across the car, Michael now awake and staring straight ahead, Johnny still involved in his game. He wondered what they were thinking; how they were dealing with all of this now that they both knew the truth. Sure, Johnny seemed okay after their talk, but was he? Danny just didn’t know. As for Michael, who really knew what he was thinking at any given time, let alone about this?

He looked at Barbara, and she looked at him. She smiled as he continued to hold her hand, but it wasn’t a believable smile. This smile had sharks behind it, sharks with big white angry teeth, sharks that would be a part of this marriage for many years to come. Danny was sure he was chum for not doing more before the bombs exploded; but as it stood, he was still unsure of what he could have done differently. He had told Barbara about it, and she had dismissed it. It wasn’t her fault. Who would believe something like that, but Danny felt like he had at least tried something?

The vehicle started to slow, pulling Danny, as well as the rest of them, out of their silent thoughts. The boy’s eyes grew big as they saw the stopping point. Danny and Barbara followed their eyes and turned to see what they were seeing.

The car was heading towards a place where sixteen different sets of tracks ended, each one of them with their own docking bay, which could hold about six cars at a time. It was a bee hive of activity as egg-shaped cars moved into and out of this area. People of all shapes, races, and sizes, like a caravan of dazed zombies went about their task of collecting their things, and checking in.

Air brakes whooshed.

The vehicle Danny and his family were in, eased to a stop like a roller coaster finishing its ride. The door opened, and the ladder rolled out to the platform. Danny’s family descended one by one onto the hard silver surface as other cars with more families started to line up behind them. Danny grabbed their bags and placed them at their feet.

He surveyed the area.

About a hundred yards from them, the length of a football field, were booths lined up from one wall to the other. There had to be at least fifty of them, and at each of these booths, like customs at the airport, were lines and lines of people waiting for their turn to be checked in.

These booths had four short white walls, squarely placed around the person inside, who was sitting in a chair behind a counter, which held a computer, a printer, and various other office devices. The attendants inside these booths were wearing zip up jumper suits that looked like something a convict would wear, not the traditional orange color, but a pleasing blue.

In front of these booths, was a large platform where people could gather and wait to be checked in. On this large platform there were several places for food, supplies, and clothes. It was a grand area, with concrete walls, silver floors, and vaulted ceilings.

“Okay guys, grab something, and let’s get our place in line,” Danny replied.

Danny’s family did as they were requested and made their way over to the booth closest to them. They took their place in line and waited, and waited, and waited, shuffling forward ever so slowly. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they reached their booth.

“Your name please,” The guy asked, as he smiled up at Danny and his family. He was a skinny male about twenty-five years of age, with his hair tied back in a pony tail, goatee trimmed tight.

Barbara looked up as they stood there and ogled the archway which stood high above them, just beyond these booths. This archway was made of a heavy thick plain concrete and at the top, in the center of the arch, was a big neon red sign which read: COMMON AREA

“Danny Tall, this is my family, Barbara, Michael, and Johnny.”

The man eye-balled them and then checked his computer. They were all listed there. He looked up from the computer with a smile. “Welcome. Do you have the card with the number on it?”

“Yes,” Danny replied, as he fished out the card and handed it to the attendant.

The guy surveyed it and then placed the card in a box filled with other cards just like it. He punched a few keys on the keyboard, and then the computer spit out four ID’s, laminated, with their pictures on them. This card held their room number, their height, their weight, any allergies they might have, medical conditions, and other important things like that.

The attendant checked to make sure the Talls were indeed the Talls, and then handed the cards to Danny. “You all will need to carry these as long as you are down here. If we find you out and about without them, you will be escorted to a holding cell until one of your family members comes to claim you. Do you understand?”

Danny nodded and looked over at his family who were not paying attention; their eyes were trained on the big room in front of them. “I’ll clue them in.”

The attendant punched a few more keys and then printed out a piece of paper. He handed it to Danny. “This is your room assignment. You will need this to check in,” he paused. “So, that’s it. Do you have any questions for me?”

Danny shook his head.

“Okay then, again, welcome. We will have a meeting shortly, once everyone arrives. You guys can now move forward.”

“Thanks.” Danny looked over at his family. “Grab the gear, let’s go.”

They followed his command and poured through the turn stile one by one. On the other side, just beyond the archway Barbara was staring at moments ago, Danny stopped them and handed them their IDs. He told them the importance of having them at all times. They filed them away accordingly as he folded up their room reservation and put it in his pocket. Once all of that was done, Danny, as well as his family, took a moment to survey the room they were now standing in.

This room really wasn’t all that impressive beyond just its sheer size. It was round like the bottom of a silo, a gigantic silo, which could hold a small concert of people. Why did that silo image seem like a distant dream to Danny, like he had been in some place like this before, only smaller? He wasn’t sure why that hazy thought had popped into his head. He pushed it away and went back to his mental survey.

The floors were concrete and the walls a shiny-looking brown and white fake marble. Vents high up on these walls blew in fresh cool air, the same air Danny had felt when he woke up in the tunnel earlier that morning, which now seemed like ages ago. The ceiling above was made of stained glass, which depicted a sunny, cloudless sky. Danny noticed there were lights behind this glass which shown through in strategic spots making it look like an actual sky. This opened up the room and allowed it to seem more alive and bright, like you were actually standing outside. Fluorescent lights lined the walls in tasteful looking lamps. These lamps had shades on them, and each shade was a different color of the rainbow.

In the center of this room was a large thick post rising up out of the floor, made of concrete, ten feet in height. On top of this post sat four large 80 inch TV’s that were put together in a way that made them look like a box with images on each side, so no matter what side you were on you could see what was playing. The images on the TV were silent; currently showing what was taking place in the world outside. Needless to say, the images were horrific.

“Oh my God,” Danny replied, as he stood there and looked at the world in ruin on the TV screens, whole cities, countries, wiped out, the human population scattered and destroyed. It really did look like hell’s inferno, as the fires raged, and the smoke blotted out the sun. Danny could almost see the devil sitting on his throne, surveying his kingdom, and loving all that he had accomplished. This was now the devil’s world; the human race had to find some way to live in it.

Danny moved his eyes from the TV screen he was watching, to the tunnels that opened up around him, their entrance ways like giant toothless mouths. Each tunnel was currently closed with a steel gate across it, and cold neon signs above their entranceway.

Danny left his family for a moment and walked over to one of them. He looked up at the sign, and it read: The Food Tunnel. Danny put his hands on the gate and peered down into the darkness. He could hear mooing and chickens clucking, and he could see the front of an unlit grocery store, which stood at least three stories tall and went on for however long back into the Earth. Danny assumed that the animals he heard were for fresh food, steaks, hamburger, chicken, eggs, milk, and things like that. He wondered how long they would have the products those animals produced? He also wondered why it didn’t smell down there, but he assumed that they had a way of getting rid of it.

He walked over to the next tunnel entrance and looked up to see that the dark neon letters read: The Hospital Tunnel. He put his hands on the gate and peered down into the dark. He could see an unlit hospital entrance at least seven maybe eight stories tall, standing and waiting to service those in need. He could also see gurneys, 5 deep, lined up from the gate to the double door entrance.

He turned from this tunnel to the one beside it, The Exercise Tunnel, and then looked from there to the others, The Entertainment Tunnel, The Communication tunnel, and one just called The Sixth Tunnel. Along the wall they went side by side, silent dark and empty, waiting on the new future to begin.

He turned around, and looked at the hotel. The square façade of this hotel rose up out of the ground and ended when it connected to the blue sky ceiling. It was six stories tall and very wide. Who knew how far back into the Earth it went? How vast the number of rooms?

It was very basic in design and structure, solid white, a window for each and every room that faced the common area. He could see people moving about in front of it and entering through the double glass doors. Lights were on in some of the windows as people settled in to their new life underground.

Curiosity cured, and survey complete. Danny walked back to his family and joined them. He was about to go check in when a familiar voice stopped him.

“Welcome, Danny.” He turned and so did the rest of his family. It was the red haired guy standing there offering up a hand to shake. “I’m glad you made it.”

Danny reached for his hand and just before he took it, Barbara smacked the red haired guy. She then grabbed him by the throat and started to squeeze. Danny had never seen such rage in her. The kids were stunned as well.

“Where are they?” She screamed, as the red haired guy tried to push her away, fighting for each breath. Danny grabbed her around the waist and tried to pull her back. Several cops (dressed in black jump suits with yellow security badges sown onto their chests, just above their name tags) rushed over to help out as Danny got Barbara under control, managing somehow to loosen her grip, and pull her away.

The red haired guy motioned the cops back as he rubbed his throat and adjusted his clothes. It seemed to Danny that this wasn’t the first time the red haired guy had been assaulted that day.

“Strong grip,” he replied, gaining his composure, rubbing his now red neck. He turned to face Barbara. “You’re wondering about your family, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she replied, gaining her composure, and pushing Danny away.

“I’m sorry. They didn’t make it.” The words cut her open like jagged shards of glass. “You see, we have only a certain amount of room down here, so we had to be selective.”

“Who made you God?” Barbara was pissed, and now that anger was turning from the red haired guy to Danny. He hadn’t allowed her to have any closure. The more she thought of all he could have done before hand, it just made her madder.