The End of All Things

10. Safe

RYLEE

The bunker is well equipped and runs off its own generator that apparently has enough fuel to last weeks, though it's a bit of a stretch calling this a bunker - it's basically a normal basement. There's boxes of junk, old kids toys, and a layer of dust on every horizontal surface. Darren must have cleaned it up a bit before we arrived, there's a broom sitting against the wall and most of the unneeded stuff is pushed into one corner.

There's a closet-like space that contains a toilet and sink off the main room of the basement. Cobwebs decorate the ceiling of the small room and the porcelain fittings are streaked in orange rust, but they're usable so I guess I can excuse its griminess.

The main room has the table, a bench and shelves stocked with food, pellets of water bottles, another sink, and a gas cooker. Whoever owns the house above us must like to be prepared.

Sheets are pinned to the ceiling to create private sleeping areas in opposite corners, one for Darren and his siblings – they get a rusty set of bunks and a single bed – and another that's just been put up for us – we get rollout camping mats.

An hour after stitching him up, Kane is sleeping, but his breathing is shallow, his hands cold, and his lips slightly blue. Not to mention the shivering. I've lain down several thick blankets for him and covered him with a sleeping bag, but with his blood loss it's no wonder his body is struggling to regulate his temperature.

I'm crouched on my sleeping mat, watching him. It's weird to think that if it was anyone else back in that cell, I probably wouldn't have made it out of there alive.

The others are sitting in the main area after cleaning up from my nursing debut, and I figure I should probably join them so I wander out from behind the sheet divider. They fall silent when they see me - as though I couldn't hear them already.

"Coffee?" Emily asks, holding up her own cup.

"No, thanks." I take a seat next to Caleb and he smiles softly at me.

"I was just apologising for not letting you all in before." Darren cringes slightly and flicks his gaze to me, tilting his head to his younger siblings. "I promised our parents that I would look after them."

The blonde trio look like the picture perfect American family - minus the parents, Labrador, and lakefront holiday house.

"I understand that," I say, wincing at the accompanying twinge of pain in my neck. The adrenaline had been keeping my discomfort to a minimum but now my throat feels raw and my shoulder throbs continuously. Emily helped me put my arm in a makeshift sling earlier, and the reduced movement helps a little.

I look away to the curtain behind which Kane is sleeping. "We're sorry for being hostile."

Darren's lips form a thin line and he nods slowly. "Joe, can you go read to Madi? There's books by her bed."

Joe scoffs. "She's seven, she can read to herself."

"Now." Darren gives him a stern look and Joe stalks off with the little girl, roughly shoving the dividing sheet out of the way when he heads to their bunks.

"Your parents?" Jeremy asks Darren, beginning the questions we're probably all thinking about.

"Last I heard they were about to go into a fallout shelter in LA. They're safe."

For his sake, I hope he's right.

Jeremy tells the story of how we barely escaped being in New York when the bomb was detonated, and about what happened earlier today. It's nothing I want to hear again so I sit in silence, mentally humming a random tune to try and block out his words.