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The wiser move would’ve been to find something to pry them off, but she didn’t have the energy. And within minutes, the sun would be fully down, making it that much more difficult.
“Cover your ears,” Saff mumbled, working to keep her jaw steady as another chill wracked her body.
Maddie's lips parted, as if she was about to question her, then thought better of it and closed them again. She pulled her hand off of Saff’s arm and put both hands up to her ears.
Saff stepped closer to the locks, aiming her rifle at the top one first.
Pop.
The gun went off, hitting the first lock with a clang.
Pop.
The next one followed.
She paused for a second, and the fleeting thought went through her mind of what she would do if the bunker wasn’t there anymore, or if it wasn’t finished, or if there was nothing down there but cold empty cement.
But she forced those thoughts away, reaching a shaky hand out and pulled the door open. Metal groaned in protest with every centimeter of movement, as if it had gone untouched for years.
She blinked, eyes adjusting to the darkness.
An array of tools hung on the walls, covered in dust and spiderwebs. And in the center of the shed sat a dark metal hatch.
At least her memories hadn’t been playing tricks on her.
After years of her father not speaking about that place, and never mentioning it in the months after the outbreak, she’d almost wondered if she’d made it all up in her mind.
She pulled the small flashlight from her pocket and shined it into the shed. Then she crept forward, grabbing the handle and yanking upward.
The heavy metal didn’t budge an inch.
She shifted the rifle strap, swinging it around to her back as she crouched down, grasping the handle with both hands.
She pulled up as hard as she could, flinching as pain charged through her abdomen and back. But then the hatch shifted, creaks echoing around them as it slowly opened.
She stumbled back a step, barely catching herself as the hatch door fell to the side. The stream of light cascaded through the vertical tunnel, revealing a set of metal rungs that led into the darkness below.
“Wait here,” she muttered to Maddie, her breathing ragged as she shifted her backpack off her shoulders, letting it drop beside the opening in the ground.
One leg after the next, she lowered down onto the first rung, keeping one hand free to shine the light into the darkness.
She continued, one slow step at a time, until the cement floor below grew closer, the small tunnel expanding into a wider room. She stepped down onto the floor, then stopped, shining the light out across the open space.
Relief filled her chest as she took it all in.
Plastic labeled containers stood stacked against the walls. A small table sat in the center with a pair of fold up chairs resting against it. And beyond it, an army cot lay perched in the far corner.
Saff walked further in, and the small walkway slowly expanded to the left. Shelves, cupboards, and a small counter top lined thewall, reminding her of the kitchen in one of the trailers they’d lived in when she was a child.
It was all eerily familiar, as if it had been modeled directly after it. She couldn’t remember the exact time they’d lived in that trailer, but because of the striking similarity, she guessed that it had been during the time her father had designed the bunker.
Beyond the small open room was a hallway, leading further into the blackness.
She crossed the small space, her boots scraping against the floor as she let out a cough.
The hallway was only a few feet long, leading into another smaller area. And as she stepped out to the other side, she stopped.
Rows of guns and weapons hung from the far wall.