CHAPTER ONE
The bombs fell a few years ago.
The settlers within their shared sheltered bunker are physically unscathed, but mentally drained and exhausted ever since the evacuation from the war.
The bunker is massive, layered with multiple floors and quiet spaces. It holds up to a hundred, but only those from Monaco were allowed in.
It’s dinner time for most.
The dining area filled with anxious chatter, curiosity pressing at the edges of every conversation about what might remain in the outside world.
A teenage girl sits at one of the round tables with her mother and a few others, their food is well made, well presented, reminding them of their luxury.
A broad-shouldered man in the middle of eating pauses with his fork midair.
He slowly puts it down, glancing at the others at the table.
“I’m starting to get worried about how much food and water we have. There is only so much we can share among so many of us… it also has been a long time since the war settled down.”
His wife remarked, “Michel, the last thing I want to do is go out there, we have no home to go back to.”
Michel glances at the girl, his voice softer now.
“We can always rebuild and make a new one… right kiddo?”
The teenage girl was lost in thought while eating, she played with her dinner separating the salad from the meat. She meets eyes with him, a moment of pause, then the girl shrugs with a little smirk, “Well…I have seen some survival movies, so I might be able to help out.”
Her mother beside her breaks her own silence,
“Movies aren’t going to help you, Naomi”
Michel’s wife relaxes thinking, for a moment, that Naomi’s mother might be on her side,
“That’s right Sarah, you tell them, this isn’t some apocalypse film.”
Michel softly nudges his wife,
“We might as well be in one.”
She nudges Michel back in retaliation. However, with much force,
“Is that supposed to be a joke!?”
As if to calm down a lovers’ quarrel in her presence, Sarah adds her own assertion,
“Eventually, we will have to go out there.”
For a moment, the others at the table forgot how to speak. Michel and his wife exchange glances, while Naomi continues eating.
It was not an opinion, it was a statement of fact.
At that moment, Michel’s wife’s face drops, Sarah was not on her side after all.
Michel intimately leans towards his wife, their faces nearly touching as they start to forget about the world around them.
“And when that does happen, I won’t hesitate to protect you lot, especially you Evelyn.”
Evelyn softly holds onto his face with one of her hands while not breaking eye contact. She smiles and says a light joke,
“of course you will, I will rip your head off if you don’t”
Their faces get closer, both anticipating a kiss.
Naomi glances at them, her fork is in her mouth while eating.
Then she looks away, cringing at the moment.
As she does she notices a few others watching over their shoulders, then whispering to each other at their tables.
Sarah simply continues eating, the moment was beneath her notice.
After their dinner, Naomi’s childhood best friend comes over to their table,
“Naomi, do you want to hang out and explore for a bit?”
Finally having the chance to escape the adults and their conversations, Naomi’s eyes shine. “yeah, I don’t mind.”
Naomi and her friend turn to look towards Sarah in anticipation. Sarah acknowledges them, “I have no problem with that. However, be careful, don’t be reckless.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t.”
And so the two girls head out further into the bunker, while Sarah, Michel and Evelyn stay at the table for a bit longer.
The girls walk side by side, exiting an elevator and into the hallway of one of the lower floors of the bunker. The Hallway is wide and clean, with many entrances leading to different leisurely spaces, also leather seats accompanied with vending machines as mini resting spots between rooms.
Other survivors walk past them to fulfill their own activities, or to simply sit down alone or in a group just to kill time.
They stop at a vending machine, failing to resist their sweet cravings. While they select their snacks, Naomi lets out her thoughts.
“Élodie, don’t you think It’s been some time since we heard back from the others…”
Élodie doesn’t respond immediately, she doesn’t want to even think about it.
Their friends were separated into different bunkers with their families, as no one had the time to think about who was staying with whom when evacuating from the war.
A snack falls, she bends down to collect it and pauses.
Without getting back up she turns to Naomi. “Maybe they are heavily occupied with something, we normally do group facetimes together anyway so when it’s time for all of us to catch up we will.”
Élodie gets back up after collecting her snack, Naomi leans on the vending machine lost in thought.
“We can just call them when we get to your room anyway.”
Élodie nods her head in agreement, “yeah.”
Naomi’s shoulders ease, taking a breath she didn’t realise she was holding.
She reaches for her own snack, then they leave for the next location.
While the two girls continue to walk down the hallway, figuring out what space they want to participate in; maybe to chill at the pool or watch a movie, Naomi puts her hand onto the wall and traces the smooth surface while they walk.
It’s cool, a little too cool, the warmth never quite touches this part of the bunker.
She pulls her hand away before the thought lingers.
Then something catches Naomi’s attention, an arcade room. “When was the last time I beat you in one of those shooter games?”
Élodie looks at Naomi, her eyelids drop. “You’re saying that you’ve won against me more times than I’ve beaten you.”
“Am I wrong though?”
Élodie then barges the doors open into the arcade room. Naomi, seeing her giving into her temptation, smiles and chases after her.
“Damn it”
Élodie face palms herself, yet another loss.
Naomi looks at Élodie with a smirk on her face, “you actually need to get good at these games girl, it gets to a point you know.”
Élodie glances at Naomi, ready for a fight, Naomi puts both her hands up with open palms. Fortunately, before anything escalates, a supervisor cuts them off.
“The place is about to close, it’s time to get ready to leave.”
The girls have been distracted for so long that they’ve been playing all evening.
“You’re lucky Naomi.”
Naomi smiles, relieved that she didn’t end up raging again.
They put the toy guns back in their place before exiting the arcade.
They re-enter the hallway.
While they tease each other and talk about meaningless things, taking their time walking towards an elevator, Naomi begins to dwell on Élodie’s parents.
“When was the last time I saw your parents? It feels like it’s been a while.”
Élodie pauses, but then she smiles to herself while pressing the elevator button.
“You know how they are, they’re too busy with maintaining the logistics of this bunker we are in. Even after the war their careers as directors in medical and infrastructure fields haven’t really changed.”
The elevator arrives and the door opens. After they enter Naomi leans onto the elevator,
“Should we check in? There’s a high chance they will still be in one of those offices.”
Élodie takes a moment to think about it, she hesitates at first, however she ends up pressing the button that goes down to the lower floors. “Might as well check up on them I guess.”
They both go silent as the light hum of descent begins.
As they enter the lower floors, the elevator doors open with a soft metallic chime.
The lights are dimmer with a quiet mechanical hum.
The hallway here feels colder.
There are fewer people that move about within the logistics division. Those who do walk with quiet purpose with their heads down, scanning data pads or conversing in hush tones.
Naomi and Élodie’s footsteps echo lightly while they walk side-by-side.
As they turn a corner, a large glass window stretches across one wall revealing one of the central control rooms.
Inside Élodie’s parents are working, just as Naomi has predicted.
Élodie’s father stands before a towering panel of digital readouts of data such as power reserve levels, air filtration efficiency, and water purification ratios.
Naomi watches through the glass, pretending to understand the data.
He swiftly adjusts a control setting like an old pianist playing from memory.
Élodie’s mother sits behind a medical logistics terminal, scanning population biometrics, small coloured indicators blink green, yellow and red highlighting risks and stability observations.
A technician walks up to her in a routinely manner and asks softly, “Dr. Moreau, shall we move Sector D into rotational rationing if the caloric stress index increases by 3%?’’
After some thought, she gives her answer.
“Prepare the protocols. Notify only Tier-2 management.’’
Her voice is soft. Professional. Her well spoken words carry no cruelty, only function.
Naomi still lingers, watching.
The room feels detached from everything she’s known within the upper floors; the laughter, arcades and vending machines.
Behind her, the upper floors felt like a story people told themselves.
Here, everything was only function.
Élodie does not stop walking. She barely glances through the window.
However, Naomi still watches in curiosity. “Do they ever take breaks?”
Élodie sighs, “This is their break.”
Naomi briefly lets her fingers trail across the cold glass before following Élodie further down the hall.
For some time they say nothing, but Élodie lets her emotions out staring down at the hallway in frustration.
“They’ve been this way my whole life. Even before the war.”
She pauses. Naomi doesn’t interrupt her.
“Sometimes I wonder if they even noticed the world ended.’’
They both go silent for a while, their light echoing footsteps return accompanied by the mechanical sounds from enclosed rooms.
Then Naomi breaks the silence. “I guess it’s time to go to your room and call the others, remember?”
Élodie, now calmed down, turns to Naomi, “yeah of course, do you think they would be asleep by now though?”
“If we are wandering around the logistics zone at this time, I doubt that.”
Élodie expresses a tiny grin, “true especially Matteo, I bet he is still bothering Alba again as he usually does.”
After that remark, the girls looked at each other and started chuckling.
A technician walks in the opposite direction towards them in a hurry, but acknowledges the girls, “you’re the director’s daughter aren’t you?”
He turns towards Naomi, with a quizzical look on his face. “Ms Goldman’s daughter, why is a Goldman down here?”
Naomi resists the urge to roll her eyes when her surname is mentioned.
Élodie answers the guy first, she was prepared for this, “We came to check in with my parents, but they’re caught up with work, so we’re heading back.”
The technician doesn’t bother to argue, he doesn’t want any trouble.
He sighs, “Just make sure to get to your rooms safely.”
The girls nod as they were already planning on doing that, “alright.”
The technician gives a small smile and waves while passing them to hurry to where he was going.
The girls continue walking down the hallway back to one of the elevators.
The elevator arrives at the upper floors of the bunker, the girls exit into the hallway towards Élodie’s residence.
It is quiet with barely anyone walking by, which is expected considering it is past midnight on a weekday.
When they arrive at the entrance of Élodie’s residence, she starts to search herself for her key.
Naomi notices that she is searching for a moment too long, “there’s no way you lost your key, right?”
Fortunately, Élodie pulls out her key from a pocket she doesn’t usually use and holds the key close to Naomi’s face, “unlike you, I don’t lock myself out of my place and ask my mum for her keys.”
Naomi gently pushes Élodie’s hand down from her face narrowing her eyes, “shut up.”
Élodie smirks and unlocks the door.
Her residence is spacious; a 3 bedroom apartment similar to what it would be in the outside world, enough to keep Élodie’s family together in one place during down times. This is the norm within these bunkers, as Naomi’s residence, even though it’s larger than the others, occupies both her and Sarah.
The girls walk through past the open-plan living room kitchen and into Élodie’s bedroom.
Naomi looks around the room, “messy as always aren’t you?”
Élodie responds to her in a snappy tone, “says you! You’re the last person to be telling me that.”
Her words go into Naomi’s ear and out the other as she approaches her bed, “yeah, yeah.”
She lays on the bed and looks towards her best friend in anticipation.
Élodie joins her after getting out her ipad.
“Let’s call Matteo first since he will most likely be awake at this time.”
They try to reach out to him on facetime. The call rings for a while. But Matteo doesn’t pick up.
“That’s weird…maybe he decided to sleep earlier this time.”
Naomi starts to navigate on Élodie’s ipad, “let’s call Alba instead, she’s most likely up sketching something.”
The call rings, but Alba doesn’t answer either.
The air around them becomes heavier as they try to call their over friends who are in other bunkers, only for the call to abruptly disconnect.
Elodie’s face goes pale, “what the hell!?”
Naomi, who is also uncomfortable, couldn’t stand the silence as she sat up from the bed.
“I overheard something the other day, that there have been bunkers that failed overtime since we got here when the war started. I didn’t take it seriously because it sounded like a rumor.”
Élodie sits up from her bed and locks eyes with Naomi in concern.
Naomi senses the tension and tries to calm down this situation even though it’s also overwhelming her, “like I said, they’re mostly rumours.”
“Then how do we explain that all our friends haven’t picked up their calls, when at least one of them always does?”
Naomi still tries to reassure Élodie, “if that was the case, we would have had announcements about this don’t you think?”
Élodie gets up and starts walking around her room, she still isn’t convinced. “Or maybe they aren’t announcing it because they know it will cause a lot of panic while we’re trapped down here. That’s what I’d do if I were them.”
Naomi covers her face with her hand as she tries to make sense of this situation, “do you know how late it is? Even though it’s weird, maybe they are just sleeping. We’ll just call tomorrow morning instead of stressing out like this.”
Élodie raises one of her eyebrows, crossing her arms, “and if they don’t respond?”
Naomi lowers her hands from her face, “then we’ll confront your dad about this.”
Élodie doesn’t respond for a moment, she thinks about it, then finally walks up to her bed and sits next to Naomi. “You’re right…it’s just that all that has happened is catching up to me. How long are we gonna be down here until we get back out there… and what will be left?”
The girls don’t say anything for some time, the weight of Élodie’s questions weighs down on them.
Then Naomi puts her arm around her friend and lays her head on hers, “We should just rest, us staying up this late is giving us anxiety.”
Élodie chuckles to herself.
Naomi gets up and starts walking out of the bedroom, while Élodie follows her to exit her residence.
While Naomi opens the door, she turns to Élodie, “Do you want me to come back here in the morning or do you want to visit my place?”
Élodie leans on the wall, “Don’t worry, I’ll come to you.”
“Alright then, goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
The door closes with a soft hiss. Naomi is alone again, but her thoughts are loud as she approaches the elevator.
As the elevator ascends a floor higher, she couldn’t get what had happened out of her mind.
What if the rumours were true? Are my friends dead? And if that’s the case are we next?
Those questions spiral in her head as she disassociates, until the elevator doors open.
When she exits she tiredly rushes to her residence and as she unlocks the entrance and tries to get to her room, her mum, Sarah stands before her.
“Where have you been? It’s late.”
Naomi doesn’t say anything at first, but the silence forces her to speak, “Élodie and I were trying to call our friends from the other bunkers, but they didn’t pick up. We were just getting worried for them.”
Sarah, who had her hands crossed, loosens up, she reaches for Naomi’s hand and traces it with her thumb.
In a reassured manner, she speaks, “You don’t have to worry. Sleep now.”
Her voice was steady, but her hand lingered just a moment too long.
Naomi feels it, but doesn’t yet understand why.
She thinks about that moment as well, as she enters her bedroom to finally rest.
