John Irvin: Pochatok

“What you’re telling me,” she was saying, breaths coming ragged. She didn’t seem to want to say what both she and Gideon were thinking.

Her eyes raised to look into his.

Gideon saw the absolute horror brimming there. Reaching out, he cupped her right cheek with his hand as he stepped close. With his free hand, he grabbed her waist and pulled her body to his.

“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to make it. Don’t think about what’s going on up there right now. Focus on what we need to be doing. Okay, Lynda?”

She pressed her face into the crook of his neck, her hands clinging to him as if he were a life preserver.

“Lynda?” He whispered into her ear. “We need to go deeper.”

She finally nodded, slowly turning around and letting him guide her down the next flight.

After walking for about an hour, the couple stopped at the bottom of what felt like the millionth flight of stairs.

There, plastered over a large steel door, read a sign in bold red letters.

“Bunker 8.”

“We made it.” Gideon gave an exhausted smile. Stepping up to the door, he grabbed the lock wheel and turned it with ease.

The door swung opened on its hinges, inviting them in.

Gideon motioned for Lynda to go in ahead of him, making sure to give a soft smile to her—even though his heart was still aching from his recent loss.

Lynda barely returned the smile and brushed her long copper hair over her shoulders and walked forward, her arms hugging her sides.

Closing the door behind them, Gideon adjusted the lock then turned around and froze a step behind his female survival companion. Eyes gaping, he opened his mouth to say something but found himself at a loss for words thanks to the sight that met his eyes.

“How could something so far down be so big?” Lynda sputtered. She started walking forward, her eyes staring down the massive hall that seemed to go on for a mile.

Stacks of crates at least thirty feet high lined the walls on both sides.

“It’s gotta be over three hundred feet wide.” She surmised.

Finally finding his voice, Gideon nodded.

“And at least four thousand feet in length,” he added. “For only two people, I would say, we have at least twenty years worth of stock.”

“Someone obviously knew Doomsday was about to happen,” Lynda’s gaze fell.

Gideon slipped his left hand around her waist and pulled her close. With his right hand, he reached up and lifted her chin with his index finger so she’d have to meet his eyes.

“Our parents live on in our hearts. They made sure we would be able to survive. We owe it to them to make sure the human race lives on.”

Lynda stared up at him, her eyes glistening.

Gideon felt like he would drown in those baby blues—and he wouldn’t mind that at all. He’d forgotten how beautiful she was.

No wonder you had a crush on her in high school, he thought. It seems so long ago, yet it feels like yesterday.

She suddenly turned her face away, acting a bit nervous.

Clearing his throat, Gideon released his hold on her and focused his attention on the bunker room.

“Well, anyways,” he stammered. “First things first, with Nuclear Judgment Day above, we will most likely be here for quite awhile. I read somewhere that nuclear fallout just might take several months or up to over a year. We shall see, I guess. Hopefully, whoever built this left us some means of detecting radiation above ground.”

“So we should first look for that?” Lynda questioned.

“Actually,” Gideon glanced at her then up at the stacks of crates. “Probably, first thing we should take care of is food and daily living accessories—water most importantly. We can live over a month without food, but not much longer than a week without water.”

“Right,” Lynda nodded, strolling over to a shelf, she checked the tags hanging from each crate.

Gideon watched her a moment, his thoughts racing over so many questions, before finally beginning his side of the hunt.

“I wonder what’s down there,” Lynda pointed toward the other end of the cavernous storage room.

“I don’t know, let’s check it out,” her companion responded.

Lynda grabbed his arm before he could get ahead of her.

“You don’t think there’s any… umm…” She searched for the right words, her forehead wrinkled while she bit her bottom lip.

Gideon chuckled as what she was trying to ask dawned on him.

“Don’t worry, if there are any underworld beasts or zombies, I’ll protect you,” he winked while he rested his left hand on her back.

She playfully socked his chest with a half-hearted fist but kept close when he started forward.

They made their way down to the opposite side and noticed the stacks of crates dropped off in the back right corner of the room. The space behind the shelves was barely noticeable—there was something hidden back there.

The two explorers rounded the corner in caution and froze at the sight of a red oak door.

“I wonder what’s in there,” Gideon thought out loud. His hand had made it around his friend’s waist again—he wouldn’t admit it, but having her at his side gave him the confidence he needed.

He found the door to be unlocked when grabbing the knob. Turning it, he swung it open and peered inside.

Motion sensor lights flickered on as the two of them stepped through the doorway.

In front of them lay a room complete with fully-stocked bookshelves, sofas and chairs.

“Looks like one big den, I guess whoever built this was hoping to add a little comfort and luxury.” Gideon remarked.

Lynda merely nodded, she was so overcome. The sight of all those books sent tears to her eyes.

“I bet you that’s the bathroom,” Gideon nearly skipped across the giant den to a corner door on the opposite side. Opening it up, he broke into a big grin.

“Looks like they were definitely expecting to have more than two people.”

Lynda raised an eyebrow at him. Joining his side, she peeked into the bathroom.

The floor and walls were covered in a deep blue tile pattern.

Along one side stood seven showers that someone had forgotten to hang curtains on while on the opposite side there was a row of seven toilet stalls. Beyond those a line of sinks ran along the other end.

“Remind me to look for shower curtains,” was all Lynda could think to say. She turned back around and surveyed the den. Her eyes taking notice of an open doorway leading into a spacious kitchen, she suddenly felt hungry.

“I wonder if that’s the bedrooms,” Gideon thought out loud as he interrupted her famished thoughts and headed over to another door near the kitchen. Slipping in, he called over his shoulder.

“Check this out, Lynda.”

The thought of quality time with a good bed suddenly overtook her mind as Lynda hurried to her companion.

There were at least six sets of bunk beds lining both sides of the room.

“We get first pick,” Gideon remarked, his tone was suddenly dry.

Lynda glanced at him and saw the grin was completely gone from his face, vanished with no trace of its existence. Reaching out, she placed her hand on his arm. Meeting his gaze, she gave a soft smile. Then, as if out of nowhere, exhaustion flooded her systems. Her full attention was now on the closest bed. Taking a few staggering steps to it, she collapsed onto the covered cot and tumbled onto her back.

“Oh my,” she breathed. Her arms resting at her sides, she traced the soft cotton sheets with her fingers.

Gideon smiled down at her.

“I think it is time to call it a night,” he nodded as he turned to look for a bed to his liking.

But then he felt a hand clasp his.

Turning back to his friend, he looked down into her eyes.