The Secret Bunker Trilogy: Part One: Darkness Falls (15 page)

But Zero-97/4 and Zero-98/4 have done something so clever that in
all the tests that have been carried out, nobody else has even thought
of it. Most of them have given themselves up for dead. Zero-97/4 and Zero-98/4 have seen another way out in what they
thought were the final ten seconds of their lives. There is no need to accept
certain
death.
They’d seen what the lasers could do, most people thought that was
their
only
option. But it wasn’t.

She’d seen it first, and he’d accepted it a moment later.
If they shot
each other
they could potentially buy more time.
It was the only way they could
possibly
buy more time. They would need to make it look good, and of course it would be
painful. We define who we are in moments of greatest stress.
And they weren’t getting out of this any other way.
He was more accustomed to weaponry, he knew that he would need to
shoot somewhere near the stomach, not directly at it, but to the side. Not to kill, not to maim, but to make it look convincing.
To buy time, in case they were rescued.
In case they could escape in some other way. She was not so accustomed to the weaponry.
Basic training had not entailed shooting
real
people. This was the first time she’d shot into flesh.
She had meant to shoot for the shoulder, close enough to make it look
like a heart wound with all that blood.

She misfired and shot him in the head.
As she fell to the ground in excruciating pain, she knew that she’d
probably killed him. As she glided into unconsciousness those were her final thoughts.
Neither of them knew that this was just another simulation.
The entire exercise had been repeated hundreds of times.

It was so well rehearsed and they were so certain of the outcomes that
nobody had ever thought that one of these specially selected
candidates would
ever
shoot each other. In statistical terms it was impossible … or, to be more accurate,
completely improbable. There would be massive fallout over this. They’d have to cover it up, make sure she was removed from the
Army, placed out of harm’s way. It was
she
who’d triggered the impossible outcome.
He was less dangerous to the program, her colluding partner, if he
lived through this, he’d be able to stay.

As events unfolded, both of them lived, precisely as they’d gambled
when they’d taken that impossible decision to avoid the deadly lasers
and to shoot each other. In the impossible scenario in which they’d been placed, they had
gambled correctly. They had outwitted certain death, even though that threat was not
actually real. In so doing they had caused damage to each other that would never
have occurred in any other circumstances. He had received trauma to the brain and would spend many months in
hospital, firstly on life support, then in rehabilitation.

He would fully recover and go on to serve in the Army and enjoy a
remarkable career, until being made redundant many years later.
She would recover too, more quickly than him, but she would carry
with her a lasting wound through life as a result of the bullet wound
that she received. At the age of 22, she discovered that she would never be able to have
her own children as a consequence of the wound that she’d received
on that day.

At least I now know where I stand with Kate. It’s hard to condemn somebody who’s being so pleasant and
reasonable all of the time, but I can see that she is happy to deceive me
- to lie to me. She may not be motivated by any ill-will on her part, but I
know
that I
can’t trust what she says from now on.
I decide that the best strategy is to keep up the pretence that she
started.
I really wish that I’d paid more attention in drama lessons when I was
at school, but I do my best to channel my most convincing acting skills.
‘Thanks for showing me this Kate,’ I begin, ‘And you’re absolutely sure
that she’s okay?’

‘Absolutely certain Dan,’ she replies, ‘Although we haven’t been fully
briefed yet on the nature of the events outside, we do know that it is
benign and that anybody outside this bunker is - very much like your
family - in a state of stasis.’ I decide to probe a little further, and put on my ‘wide eyed and
inquisitive’ look.
The face I use with Mum when I want something, but I need to look
cute to stand any chance of getting it. She needs to see me as a harmless kid and not a threat.
‘How far does this darkness reach, Kate?’

‘We believe it to be global Dan, certainly that’s what our initial
briefings in training suggested, but we get the full rundown at 20.00
hours.’ The next sentence seemed to be difficult for her to say.
‘Of course, you have full authorisation to attend that briefing Dan and
it will be held here, in the Control Room and on other screens
throughout the bunker.’

‘I suppose we’ll all find out more then,’ I reply, and then hesitate about
whether I should mention the faint, glowing lights that I’ve spotted
pulsating in the necks of the bunker staff. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I stop myself asking the question.
Kate just lied to me about my mum.

I know she doesn’t want me here, but at the moment, she’s powerless
to stop me.
For whatever crazy reason I have authorisation to be here.
When 20:00 hours comes - or 8 o’ clock as I prefer to call to it everything may change.
It’s irrelevant who that person is that I’ve just been shown on the
screen.
I suspect that the guy I saw at the bunker entrance may be the
quickest way to reunite with Mum.
I decide to bypass Kate and try and find out what he was up to at the
bunker entrance.

I was pretty sure he was about to let someone in from outside, and I’m
even
more
certain about that now I know that he and mum were
friends at one time. I’m as sure as I can be that I’ve never seen him before, or
that
photograph, but I wouldn’t claim to have tabs on everybody my
parents know. We’re not big on old photos in our house, I don’t think there are even
any baby pictures around, most of what we have a recent images on
laptop screensavers.

Most importantly, I really want to find out why nobody in the Control
Room seems to be aware of what he’s doing.
‘Kate, I really appreciate the update on Mum and thanks for reassuring
me,’ I say. I’m getting quite good at this deception technique, even if I do say so
myself. ‘I know that you can track me on the cameras, is it okay if I go off and
do a bit more exploring, there doesn’t seem much more that we can do
before the briefing?’ Kate is quite clearly relieved.
She thinks that she’s fooled me.
She’s almost grateful that I want to go off on my own and not pry any
further.

‘I’m pleased that’s put your mind at rest Dan,’ she says, ‘Feel free to
explore any
Green Zone
areas and don’t forget to pop into the canteen
if you need any food or drink.’ Emphasis on the ‘Green Zone.’
‘No problem,’ I reply, ‘See you later Kate!’
I’m spoiled for choice as to where I’m heading next.

I just
know
that I need to be taking a good look around Levels 3 and 4,
I suspect that I may get a much better idea of what’s going on if I can
get down there. But my first stop has to be the long corridor that leads to the bunker
entrance.
I have a feeling that’s where I may begin to find some answers without
having to wait for this 8 o’clock briefing.
I’m about to head out of the Control Room when the entire room
explodes into life and frantic activity.
Red lights flash everywhere and there’s a loud, penetrating alarm
going off.

It’s a full bunker alert.
The bunker doors have been breached.

James carries out the protocols at the bunker doorway as if he has
done it many times before, but in reality, this is the first time that he
has carried out this operation. A combination of detail-specific and immersive training simulations and the data that is currently streaming via the blue, pulsating object
in his neck - means that he can carry out a procedure which he has
never done before with all the proficiency of an expert. Had he not been under the cerebral control of the blue device, he
would have felt more emotion at this stage. Certainly, he would have been amazed at the beauty of the shield that
he’d just activated at the bunker doors - the only thing that stopped
the darkness beyond the doors breaching the entrance to the bunker. He might have even stopped for a moment to wonder who - or
what
-
might have created this incredible technology.

However, he was receiving his directions remotely, and although he
was completely aware of what he was doing, it felt to him much like it
does when you ride a bicycle, an automatic process and something
that happens without you having to think too much about it. All he could think of was to retrieve the two people that he’d spotted
on his monitor in the Control Room.
He knew that he must retrieve these people as they would be mission
critical.
Critical to the mission that
he
was involved in.
Had the device not been controlling his emotional responses, James
would have been shocked at what happened next.

It was necessary for the blue device in his neck to inhibit his body’s
reaction to his current activities, after all what he was doing at the
moment would have created a massive adrenalin rush under normal
circumstances.
Even though he’d spent much of his life in the Military, the nerves and
the heightened state of awareness never went away. The person controlling James’ actions needed him to quickly and
efficiently carry out this operation and powerful emotional responses
would not be required. It was a simple task that needed to be completed without detection
and, because of the people involved, preferably without full awareness
at this stage.

He was expecting
two
people to step into the corridor, because that’s
what he’d seen on his monitor screen earlier. He didn’t question that the second figure to enter the bunker from
beyond the doors was not what he’d
actually
seen on his screens, he
was just intent on recovering two people. As the woman and the child enter the bunker, the blackness beyond
the illuminated shield is so dense and complete that it looks like they
are materialising out of nowhere, as if stepping out of nothingness.

There is a reason that neither of them has succumbed to the powerful
black force beyond these blast doors, but neither of them will realise
this until much later. The woman and the child are quite clearly relieved to be in the light
again, and their eyes have difficulty adjusting, there is just too much to
take in in that instant.

James moves towards the control panel that he operated earlier, to
begin the process of closing the bunker doors.
He is not expecting a third person to step out of the darkness, so he is
not even aware of what is going on just beyond the illuminated shield.
A third figure steps out from the blackness beyond the bunker doors. The woman and her young companion are completely disorientated
and still do not have full vision, but this third person has an advantage,
his eyes are already accustomed to the light. He is wearing a device that has enabled him to have full vision during
his time beyond the bunker entrance.

This man is used to making quick and ruthless decisions.
As he steps into the light he has a weapon drawn. He has had time to think this through, he is very familiar with the
processes of strategy and planning. He glides quietly behind the man at the control panel and past the
woman and her companion, who can still see virtually nothing as their
eyes adjust to so many hours in complete blackness. Undetected, he makes his way at speed along the long corridor, as
James turns to assist the bunker’s two new inhabitants.

As he turns the corner at the end of the corridor, the man presses a
large, red alarm button - one of many that are placed at regular
intervals throughout the structure - and immediately the bunker
springs to alert, lights are flashing and deafening alarm sirens sound
everywhere. He needs this distraction, he will need some time to find a uniform and
integrate himself in this place without being noticed.
He knows that the three people who he just left at the entrance will be
safe for now, even though there will be some difficult questions to
answer and possibly even a heightened state of security to deal with in
the aftermath. But if he’s played this correctly, nobody will even know that he’s in the
bunker.
And that will leave him a free agent to get to the bottom of what’s
really
going on here.
Because if the child is still alive, this is
much
bigger than anybody in
this bunker could possibly imagine, himself included.

It’s difficult to determine from the historical articles
exactly
when
governments throughout the world began to publicly acknowledge the
universal threats to the environment.
Publicly, many countries rejected the claims of the scientists, others
didn’t even reveal them to their citizens and some were seen to be
taking action, although it was never deemed to be enough. The public did their bit turning off lights, reducing aerosol use, buying
the correct type of fridge and leaving their multi-coloured wheelie
bins at the end of their drives. But the damage had been done a long time before that.
It was never globally acknowledged, of course it wasn’t, there would
have been mass hysteria, riots and anarchy.
And the planet would have died anyway.

We’d taken the steps that were killing our planet a long time ago,
many of them we couldn’t have even detected with the technology that
we had available to us. We were so blissfully ignorant of the extreme damage that we had
done.

So on 27th November 1983 a global consortium representing
all
territories across the earth’s surface signed an agreement that put us
on a path to renewal and regeneration. The world continued to function as it does - wars were fought, pacts
signed, treaties forged and everything else that makes up the daily
news headlines. But completely unknown to the population on earth, steps were in
place to secure the survival of the planet, an operation that was taking
place only at the highest global level of security. It would take more than 30 years to put in place, but when
regeneration began, it would start with darkness.