The Secret Bunker Trilogy: Part One: Darkness Falls (17 page)

Fortunately, because we’d had no internet in Scotland, all the
connectivity was switched off, so I still have a little bit of life left in the
phone.
There is a new text message waiting for me. Actually, it’s a multimedia text message, if it had just been a text, I
might not have looked.
It has been sent from
Dad’s
phone.
I open it up hurriedly, cursing the battery life on my phone.
Could he have sent me this when we were separated?
Would the text service even work down here?
I open up the video. It
is
Dad.
In the background is Dr Pierce.
It has been filmed outside our front door.
It was dark outside when this was recorded.

This must have been filmed that night we got the strange knock at the
door.
When I thought I’d heard Dr Pierce’s voice. It
had
been Dr Pierce.
I play the video, and Dad’s voice comes through the speaker. It’s not that long since I’d last seen him, but it feels reassuring to hear
his voice.
‘Dan, it’s Dad.’ he begins.
I actually laugh at that.
‘Err Dad, I can see you!’ I chuckle to myself.

My mood changes when I hear what he has to say.
‘Dan, you can see that Dr Pierce is with me now. He’s asked me to film
this because it’s all going to make sense to you in a couple of days’
time.’

‘First Dan, you mustn’t worry about any of us, we’re all going to be
fine.

‘Dr Pierce has told me some of what’s going to happen when we’re in
Scotland.’
‘I don’t like it, but we get to go to the bunker this way, it’s best for the
family. And Mum needs this.’
His face moves in and out of focus, I can tell that he had been shaking
as he recorded the message.
‘You need to do a couple of things Dan, and I just need you to trust me
with this, okay?’
I hope like Hell that my battery holds out.
‘Dan, you need to get to Level 3 in the bunker, you’ll be able to make
contact with Dr Pierce there. He’ll explain more okay?’
I am completely confused, but I keep listening.

I know when Dad is being serious, and he was being serious now.
‘Dan, there’s something special about you that makes you really
important in all this. It’s about
you
, it’s all about you and ...’
Damn phone!
The battery dies and the video dies with it.

Concealed
After all these years and after all that worry, concern, doubt and
regret.
The first thing that she’d done was to whack Roachie on the head with
her laptop. They had to buy more time, cause a distraction, find out what’s going
on .
It would need to look convincing, so unfortunately, blood would be
required. There’s something about the presence of blood that means that no
questions are asked.
People immediately respond to it, even if it’s only a little bit.
So when she’d hit Roachie on the head it had been a calculated move.
To give him an alibi, something to distract from what had
really
been
going on here.

She thought that she knew the bunker layout from her visit earlier in
the day, so she was a little taken aback by the appearance of the
corridor. It had completely transformed from something grey, dark and made of
solid concrete to a lighter, cleaner and very hi-tech appearance.
No time to ask why.
So much was unusual about this day already that nothing surprised
her now.
Roachie would have some time to figure out a good story.
He wasn’t unconscious, she knew that.
In fact, it shouldn’t have hurt him that much.
It probably damaged her laptop more than it did his skull.
After all
she
should know.
Roachie’s head is made up mostly of metal plates.
It was
because
of her that they’d had to be put there in the first place. A careless shot with a gun years before.

Well, she had no intention of using a gun ever again, but in this case, a
laptop would do very nicely.
Giving her and the child just enough time to make it to the end of the
corridor and conceal themselves before the guards arrived.

Preparation

He’s ready for this to play out now.
More than 20 years involved in this project. So many tests and so much planning.
He’d felt the strain of responsibility many times before.
And he’d nearly been removed from the project altogether, after that
incident with the simulation.

But the future of the entire world rests on the success of this
operation.
And it felt to him like the final scene of a play, with all the key
characters gathered on the stage
There was the boy Dan, and his mother.
Dan was a sharp kid, he’d have a lot of growing up to do as all of this
played out, but he was sure he was up to it.
He’d spent a lot of time with the child already, albeit under a pretence.

His mum was an amazing woman, and in spite of all the incredible
things that he’d had to do leading these events, he could still take the
time to admire a person like her. The wound that she’d sustained in the simulation, the way she’d
reacted all those years ago.
He admired her all the more for the way that she’d got on with her life
afterwards, almost as if it had never happened.
But she’d given him an excellent opportunity - a chance that he never
thought he’d need all those years ago.

This woman and her son, they didn’t know it yet, but they were the
key to this entire thing.
And as he looked at what was happening in the top level of the bunker
from the display on his terminal, he was
really
going to need a back-up
plan if the planet was going to get out of this in one piece. Yes,
they
were his back-up plan … the woman and the twins.

Chapter Four
Exploration

I’ve just noticed a weird thing about this bunker. There are no plug sockets.
I know that’s an unusual thing to be noticing right now, but really? Surely
somebody
has to vacuum this corridor.
So where are the plugs? I don’t have a charging lead with me anyway, but I would
really
like to
see the end of that video message from Dad.

Something strange is happening as well.
And I don’t just mean this entire darkness, bunker and ‘family put to
sleep’ thing.
I mean it’s happening to
me
.
Ever since I left that guy, James, at the door, I’ve been feeling different.
It’s like the opposite of what happened after Nat died.
As if the Bluetooth on my phone had just discovered another device.
I haven’t felt like this since, well, Nat died. I’ve got so used to living without that feeling of connection over the
years, that it feels really unusual to be getting this now.
But it feels great, it makes me feel, for want of a better word, complete.
Like this is how I’m
supposed
to feel all of the time.
It must be this place, maybe something to do with the treatment they
gave me in the MedLab.

Whatever it is, I’m feeling sharper, more awake and alert than I have
since I can remember.
I need to take some action - and
fast
.
It must be approaching 20:00 hours, I’d like to make as much progress
as I can before that full mission briefing.
I have a feeling that things will change around here when that
happens, I suspect at the very least there will be much more purpose
to what’s going on in this bunker.

Although the falling of the darkness has been frightening enough, I’ve
a nasty feeling that it’s just the beginning of something much bigger.
I’m also very concerned that I’m living on borrowed time at the
moment.
I still don’t understand why I have access to this bunker, it has to be a
mistake or an error.
Let’s face it, where tech is involved, it wouldn’t be the first time!

Yet what was it that Dad had said in the video?
‘Dan, there’s
something special about you
that makes you really
important in all this ...’
And why was Dr Pierce there with him?
So many questions, no chance of any answers yet.
The next best thing is to do what Dad had said - go to Level 3 - then to
catch up with Mum’s pal James to see what
he
can tell me.
He should be clear of the MedLab by that stage, and I need to speak
with him
alone
.
I need to know if he managed to make contact with Mum.
Whatever happened, she wasn’t in the entrance area when I returned,
so maybe it didn’t work out.

I head off down the corridor to make for the lift.
There are a few people going in and out of the lift when I finally reach
it, so I wait for it to clear, then make my own way in.
I don’t want anybody to see me pressing the buttons for Level 3.
That’s my little secret for now.
The lift descends and the doors open.
I’m greeted for the second time by the thick, red stripe running along
each side of the wall.
There is nobody to be seen in this area, no sign of activity.
The best course of action seems to be to follow that red line, to see
where it takes me.
The layout of this level is completely different to the areas above me.

The upper two levels, although they have completely transformed,
maintain the essential structure and layout of the original Cold War
bunker. So the rooms are the same size and same position, they just look like
they’ve had the most amazing makeover in the world.
This level looks like it has been built and designed separately.
Maybe it was added after the initial bunker was built.
Perhaps it has been here all the time.
It is much bigger than the two upper levels. What is immediately clear to me is that this area is deserted.
If there is anybody down here, I can’t hear them, that’s for sure.
The other big difference on this level is that there are no Green or Red
Zone areas.
We appear to have moved through the colour palette once again.
The areas here are Blue Zone and Purple Zone.

I come to the first of the doorways off this long corridor and place my
hand on the entry panel.
So far this has worked for me in Green and Red Zones - I’m nervous,
but I need to try my luck here too.
The door slides open.
Incredible. And there are no alarms.
Why
can I do this?
I’m stunned by what I see. This is like an underground barracks of some sort, it’s clearly meant to
house
a lot
of people, and it’s divided into self-contained areas of 12
beds. It’s sleeping quarters, bathrooms and showers for
a lot
of people maybe 500 at a rough guess.
12 beds, four bathrooms, two large shower areas per dozen people.
This is no Paradise Hotel, I’d guess this is Military if all these people
are housed together like this.
It’s battery farming for humans.
There’s a sense of waiting in this room - of expectation.

Whatever its intended use, it is clearly not needed right now.
I exit this huge area and re-enter the corridor.
I make my way to the door opposite. Once again, it opens for me, even though this is marked as a Purple
Zone.
The door opens.
I seem to have complete access to this place.
Except for those strangely marked buttons in the lift.
They give me a jolt of activity, but they don’t actually take me
anywhere, they won’t activate for me.

If I was surprised by that last room, I’m shocked by this one.
It is full of what is quite obviously weaponry.
The like of which I’ve never seen before.
This is really hi-tech kit, recognisable for what it is, but not like
anything I’ve ever seen on TV - except in sci-fi films perhaps.
And the Military uniforms are light and metallic, they look more like
they’d be used in space than on a battlefield.
Once again, there is no sign of activity or usage here.
Just a sense that this equipment is being stored. Ready at a moment’s notice to be deployed.
For something that might happen in the future.

That seems to be all there is on this level, just two very large areas,
Military in nature I’d say, but presently unused.
I’m about to make my way back to the lift, when I notice that there is a
final door, right at the end of the long corridor.
I half expect it to be a broom cupboard, it’s tucked so far out of the
way.
It’s another Purple Zone area.
I place my hand on the access pad.
The door slides open.

I walk into a massive operations centre, packed with screens,
terminals, displays and workstations. It is far more portentous that the one on the floor above me, whatever
goes on here, it’s the full works.
It is powered up, and on the massive screen that is the focus of this
room is a computer generated 3D image of the Earth. At a rough guess I’d say that this is monitoring the spread of the
darkness across the planet surface.
We appear to be at 96% coverage according to the stats on the screen,
it’s pretty easy to assess what’s going on here.

Each of the workstations has a nameplate on it: Jones, Swift, Lucas,
Taylor and so on.
But it’s the raised workstation at the front on this room that
particularly catches my attention.
This work
area
has its own Zone colour.
This time it’s Black Zone.
There is an access pad on the desk, so I place my hand on it.
It seems like the workstation is about to leap into life, then it stalls. A bright red laser-like light is released from the pad and it appears to
scan my eyes.
I blink in surprise at first, then it resets and tries again.
This time I keep still and the scan is complete.

The entire workstation is powered up in an instant.
Once again I seem to have gained access to a new zone area without
any trouble.
If this
is
a technical error, somebody in IT is in for a
big
dressing down.
It’s not the tech that draws my attention, even though it
is
quite
astounding stuff.
It’s the nameplate on this particular workstation that I notice.
This is clearly where the ‘boss’ sits.
It’s raised up and has a lot more technical apparatus than any of the
other workstations. But it is that name which warrants most attention here.
It reads ‘Doctor Harold Pierce’.

MedLab

James is escorted to the MedLab by the security team and he is
scanned for injuries.
The doctor notes the metal plates in his head with great medical
interest.
‘How did you get those?’ she asks, mostly in conversation, because she
can see
exactly
where they came from on the medical records which
are currently displaying on her screen.