Kyle West - Origins

I noticed Drake was staring at me. If he was trying to get to me, it wasn’t working. I stared back, letting him know he wouldn’t intimidate me.

“Alex,” Samuel said. “You’re from 108. Any ideas on how to get into this one?”

I shook my head. “Unless they’re opened from the inside, there is no way to get in.”

“So we’re really stuck here,” Makara said. “Still hundreds of miles left to go.”

Makara realized her slip, but showed nothing on her face to reveal it. The Novans knew we weren’t here for Bunker 40, but something else.

“Where are you headed?” Harland asked casually.

“That’s classified,” Samuel said. “Besides, even if there were a way out through this Bunker, we’d still need to get to the Recon. There would be no way to cross the distance we need without one.”

“Recon, huh?” Harland said. “You guys’ve got lots of fancy toys. Maybe you really are government.”

I gave the man a hard stare. “As such, whatever’s in that Bunker belongs to us.”

Harland smiled. “We’re working together. Why not reap the spoils together?”

I turned from Harland to Samuel. “What do you propose? The Recon is in the garage, surrounded by hundreds of monsters. There’s no busting out unless they leave.”

“If they don’t get in first,” Kris said.

“All the ways out are shut off,” Harland said. “You guys were lucky to try the garage first. That was the only way we left open.”

“We could at least try to get into the Bunker,” Anna said. “See what our options there are.”

“Regardless,” Makara said, “we’re not getting out of here unless all those things outside die. There’s eight of us, and thousands of them. This might sound crazy, but I think we can do it.”

“How?” both Harland and Kris asked at the same time.

“We fight,” Makara said, simply. “But we’re going to need more than what we have here.”

“Bunkers are loaded with weapons and supplies,” I said. “If we could get in…”

Harland and Kris looked at each other. Drake grunted, squinting an eye. I guess that was his way of agreeing.

“Let’s try to figure this out,” Harland said. “Maybe you will have more luck than us. Follow me.”

Harland led us downstairs. The only sound in the building’s cold halls was footsteps echoing off metal. I could hear the muffled wails and screams of the monsters outside. I tried not to think what would happen if those thousands of creatures somehow found their way in.

We reached the ground floor we had come in. Still, Harland kept going down to the building’s basement. The air grew wet and dank. Once we reached the bottom, we followed Harland down a dark hallway, my footsteps splashing through puddles. This would be the perfect time for them to ambush us, but our hands were not far from our weapons of choice.

“Keep moving,” Drake said, in a deep, gravelly voice.

The hallway opened into a large room. We shined our flashlights around it. The room was empty and square-shaped, the walls of gray brick. The only feature of any importance was a large, circular vault door, made of thick metal, set into the brick wall. The number 40 was impressed in its center. The door was smooth. There was no mark or scratch on it, nor any handle. The crack between door and wall was the width of a human hair, so exactly measured that the door could open and close, but only from the other side. That door was never meant to be opened from our side.

“This is it,” Harland said. “Bunker 40.”

Samuel stepped forward and placed his hand on the smooth metal. He did not speak.

“Any ideas on how to open this thing?” Makara asked.

I walked up to the door, joining Samuel. There was no secret way to open the door — at least, not that I knew of. Like Samuel, I ran my hand across the cold metal, as if that might give me some clue in opening it. Everyone looked at me as if I were performing voodoo magic on it.

“These things were designed to never be opened,” I said. “Except from the inside.”

My statement was met with silence. I looked around the door, and noticed a camera sitting above the bunker door. Its lens gazed down at me.

I pointed to it. “That thing still work?”

Harland shrugged. “I’d be surprised if it did. We’ve tried talking into it, but nothing happened.”

I looked into the camera. Bunker 108 had a similar camera, though it was not as conspicuous as this one. Ours had been built into the rock, and could not be found by the casual observer. The camera was how the doorman knew whom to let in, and out.

If there were a doorman for Bunker 40, I had to try speaking to him.

“Bunker 40,” I said to the camera, “this is Alex Keener, son of Dr. Steven Keener, deceased, of Bunker 108 in the Mojave Sector. If anyone is in there, we are on a mission from the United States government, sanctioned by Chief Security Officer Chan, now deceased.” I paused, and waited for a response, if any. When nothing happened, I continued. “We are on a mission to find Bunker One,” I went on. “We are surrounded by monsters on all sides, and we could use your help. If anyone is in there, please open the door. We are not hostile. We only need your help.”

I didn’t know what else to say. I knew Samuel didn’t want me to give away the mission, but if this was our only shot of getting inside the Bunker, I had to say the money words that would get the door to open.

“This isn’t working,” Makara said. “No one’s in there.”

“We are looking for the Black Files,” I said. “We want to stop the xenovirus.”

“Alex,” Samuel said sternly. “Enough.”

I had given away our mission, and the Bunker door still wasn’t opening. I felt like a complete fool.

“Well,” Harland said, “looks as if you won’t be getting those Black Files. Whatever they are.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re trapped in here. Like I said, unless someone opens that door, we’re stuck here.”

At that moment, a loud thump sounded from the door, causing me to jump back. A thunderous echo reverberated throughout the room. Anna crouched beside me, drawing her katana. The echo faded, and the door was still.

“It’s unlocking,” Kris whispered.

From the other side of the Bunker door, I could hear a low screech as the wheel on the other side turned. The door was opening, and as it did so, cold sweat bathed my skin. Now that it was opening, I somehow didn’t want it to.

“Be ready for anything,” Samuel said.

The wheel stopped turning, and the room went quiet. All I could hear were the breaths of the eight people standing before the Bunker door, weapons ready. The circular vault door cracked open with a groan, revealing a sliver of darkness within. A wave of fetid, stinking air issued from the gap, like the opening of a fresh crypt.

That’s when the Howlers came out.

Stumbling from the darkness came two human forms. One was male, and one was female, their forms rotted and coated with slime. Their clothes were in tatters, revealing their pale nakedness. They screeched as they shot forward, reaching for me with gnarled, clawed hands.

I raised my Beretta at the male, right in his face as his open mouth went for my neck. I fired. A hole opened through his forehead, and his body fell backward as brain matter spewed from the opposite side of his skull, plastering the Bunker door. He crumpled to the ground in a heap.

The woman went after Anna, who sidestepped her deftly. Anna slashed the Howler woman in the back with her curved blade. The Howler woman wailed in pain, falling to the ground. With her boot, Anna stomped on the Howler woman’s back, pinning her to the ground. I could hear the woman’s skull crack as her face planted on the floor. Anna stabbed downward, right through the back of the woman’s head below the skull.