Chapter 11

Downward:

Dust kept his eyes on the man in front of him. He didn’t like that Alex and Howard had stayed back in the upper area, but he liked it even less that Randolph was walking behind them. There was something about the guy that rubbed Dust the wrong way. It was more than the way he looked at Sammy. There was just a feeling about the guy that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

“Are you okay?” Sammy whispered, leaning down over his shoulder on the steps.

Dust squeezed Sammy’s hand and nodded. He didn’t want to talk in the narrow stairwell. They went down several flights before they reached an open doorway. He paused for a moment, taking in the large, circular room. It looked like a command center of some type.

“This way,” Beau said, glancing over his shoulder. “We still have a long way to go. This room is just used for getting ready to go topside.”

Dust nodded. He heard Todd whisper to Sammy in excitement. He also felt the tremble in Sammy’s hand as they moved deeper underground. She was squeezing his fingers to the point they were beginning to grow numb.

“I was stationed here back in the early sixties. After the Cold War ended the government sold these off. I figured it was a good deal, especially since they were selling them for real cheap. I’ve been working on remodeling it for the past twenty years. After fragmenting of the comet hit the Earth, I realized it was the best investment I had ever made,” Beau said, walking down a wide corridor to a thick, red metal door.

“Why didn’t the government warn everybody about the comet ahead of time?” Sammy asked in a husky voice.

Beau turned as he reached the end of the corridor and gazed down at Sammy. A bitter smile curved his lips. Dust watched as Beau pulled on a cord that ran through the wall and paused before he pulled it again.

“What good would it have done?” Beau asked in a soft voice. “All the governments of the world thought the world was about to end. They were too busy trying to save their own asses to give a damn about ours. Besides, it wouldn’t have done anything but cause mass chaos. What is more humane? Telling people that they are going to die or letting them continue on with their daily lives, oblivious to what tomorrow will bring?”

“But, we didn’t all die?” Todd murmured, staring up at Beau. “We’re alive.”

“Yeah, we are,” Beau replied with a smile. “But there are a lot fewer of us than there used to be.”

“Some are different, too,” Randolph muttered behind them.

“That’s enough, Rand,” Beau snapped, turning when the door pushed open. “Two rings, pause, two rings and someone will open the door.”

Dust nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Rand before he started after Beau. A frown creased his brow as he tried to decipher what Rand was talking about. Did he know about other people like him? If he did, neither he nor Beau looked too happy about it.

The next hour was spent moving from section to section of the old silo. Dust made a mental note in case they needed to find a way out. Unfortunately, it looked like there were only two ways; through the seventy ton doors covering the launch bay or through the door they came through.

“You’ll each be given chores to do,” Beau said as he finally stopped along one section near the bottom. “This floor and the one below it are for sleeping. We’ve put up walls between to give people a bit of privacy. The men sleep here and the women and kids on the section below.”

“Women? Kids? There are more here?” Sammy asked in surprise.

Beau nodded. “Yes, there’s two women and three kids; two boys and a girl,” he explained.

Dust frowned and looked around. “I thought you said there were ten people here,” he said. “That makes nine, counting you, Howard, Alex, and Randolph.”

Beau’s mouth tightened into a flat, hard line. “The other one isn’t any concern of yours. Just stay out of the last area. It is off limits. I’ve got to make sure that Howard and Alex get everything out of the trucks. The cover we’ve built does a good job of protecting them, but the storms can be unpredictable. I want to get as many supplies as we can down below,” he replied. “You can spend today getting familiar with the silo. I’ll have jobs assigned to you starting tomorrow. I’ll send one of the women around to show you to your room, Sammy. Todd, you can stay with Dust.”

Dust moved so that he was standing in front of Sammy. “Sammy should stay with me as well,” he said, staring back at Beau with a frown.

Beau returned his gaze, not saying anything for a moment before he shook his head. “I’m sorry, son, Sammy will have to stay with the other women. It’s the law,” he said with a slight edge to his tone that told Dust he wouldn’t change his mind.

“Whose law?” Dust asked, clenching his right hand by his side.

Beau’s eyes narrowed on Dust’s face. “Mine,” he finally said. “You don’t follow the laws, you are out of here.”

Dust didn’t respond. He could tell the man standing in front of him was serious. Yet, there was a quiet warning in his tone as well.

“Rand will show you where you can get some clothes and bedding and give you a run down on how we do things,” Beau stated, turning away.

Dust watched as Beau disappeared back the way they came. He glanced around the large circular room. It was partitioned into sections with the center set up as a common seating area while the outer parts were sectioned off into rooms.

“You and the boy can use that one,” Rand said stiffly. “It is a little bigger and we can fit another cot into it. Once he gets used to things, he can move into his own room. Alex is on your right and Howard is on the left. I’m next, followed by Beau’s room here on the end.”

Dust nodded, glancing at the second door across the room. It was about as far from the entrance as they could put him. He turned when Rand started to walk by him.

“I’ll show you where the supplies are again,” Rand said. “Then, I’ve got work to do. Dinner is in two hours.”

“Dust has to…,” Todd started to say before he clamped his mouth closed when Dust sharply shook his head in warning.

Rand’s eyes narrowed suspiciously on Dust before he turned that same sharp, intense look on Todd. Dust bit his lip. Something warned him that he shouldn’t say anything about needing to frequently eat.

“Dust has to… what?” Rand asked Todd, turning until he stood facing the boy.

Todd swallowed and looked nervously at Dust. Clenching his hand at his side again, Dust thought about what he could do if the situation became dangerous. If he needed to, he could knock Rand out, grab Todd and Sammy and head back up through the silo. He started when he felt Sammy’s hand on his lower back. For a minute, he had forgotten she was there. She had become very quiet after Beau explained she wouldn’t be allowed to stay with him and her brother.

“Dust has to make sure he stays away from peanuts,” Sammy interjected. “He has an allergy to them.”

“Yeah, he’s allergic to peanuts,” Todd agreed with a nervous grin. “Isn’t that right, Dust?”

Dust relaxed and nodded. “I break out,” he said.

Rand stared back and forth between the three of them before he shrugged his shoulders and turned away again. Dust relaxed his fingers when Sammy slid her hand into his. He’d have to remember to not eat anything with peanuts in it even though he loved peanut butter. With a sigh, he started forward.

“As soon as we can, I want to get out of here,” Sammy whispered in his ear. “This place doesn’t feel right.”

A relieved smile curved Dust lips and he gave a brief nod. Sammy released his hand when a woman stepped into the room and gave her a nervous smile. It took everything inside Dust to not protest when Maria led Sammy away.

His gaze followed her until Rand started to explain what he was allowed to get out of the supply room. Nodding, Dust decided that tonight, he was going to have to do a little exploring after the others were asleep. He’d start with the very bottom floor.