“Finally you’re there, I thought you would never come” Said Frank, Marie’s husband, as he observed everyone quickly exiting the car. He was a tall man holding three large bags filled with various food in his hand.

“Sorry, traffic ! We have to hurry, we only have five minutes left.” Responded george while closing the car door.

“Ok, I took everything edible I could find in my house. Mostly fresh product sadly.”

“That’s fine, good thinking” Responded george “Honey, get everyone to the bunker, I will quickly get everything edible in the house.”

“We don’t have time for that” screamed Alice as she fought to remove Mark’s seatbelt.

“It’s either that or we starve, this bunker was stocked up for two, not six. Marie, get all the bottle of water you can find in the garage. Fill them up if necessary.”

Marie nodded, immediately bolting for the door. Only to find it closed … The house’s owners still being occupied near the car ...

“Daddy ! My teddy !” Cried Mark from the side as her mother dragged him toward the front door, key in hand.

“Not now Mark, we have more important things to worry about.” Screamed George “Move everyone, time is against us.”

***

“So, do you have plan ? Not like I’m urging you to get on with it or anything but if you continue waiting like that, there may not be be anymore human alive for you to save ...” ~Author

Not quite, only part of a plan. I’m working on it. I thought back at my delusion while zooming in the device.

“Oh, nice. What percentage ?” ~Author

I don’t know, something like twelve percent ?

“Twelve percent is not a plan … that’s barely a concept ...” ~Author

Well, It’s still better than eleven percent …

“... Can’t argue with that logic … And so, what does this big plan entails ?” ~Author

Mostly getting more information. I want to know what year we are on Earth, what scientific discoveries were made, where to find both human and physical resources, if there are any surviving form of government, and many other things. In short, I want to know where I could get help on Earth.

“... And in the hope of doing what, exactly ?” ~Author

… Building a big ass vacuum cleaner, or something like that ...

“Wow … so your best plan involves building a planet sized vacuum cleaner … I gotta say, this is by far the best plan I ever heard of, and I mean it !” ~Author

Piss off, I’m trying my best here !

“... If that’s your best then humanity is doomed ...” ~Author

Well if you could give me some help, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

“Hey look, even if I wanted to help, I wouldn’t be able to, I’m tied by the laws of plot consistency.” ~Author

Oh, how convenient … suddenly consistency is something important …

“Hey, it always has been ! My story must make sense !” ~Author

I’m a fucking eco-friendly bedside lamp playing god in the afterlife by using a sphere shaped, spirit power enabled, mac. What part of that seems to make sense with anything !

“Ok, ouch, point for you. But where do you plan on getting that information, exactly ?” ~Author

Well, I have a little idea. An idea involving an annoying acquaintance …

***

“Do we have everything ?” Asked Marie while descending the stairs of the bunker. Carrying 12 liter of water in two separate packs, one in each hand.

“No. George went out again !”

“What, that’s reckless ! Why did he do that ?”

“No idea, he told me to close behind him if he didn’t make it in time.”

Marie nodded, looking at her watch for the time. Less than a minute left before the earliest estimated time of impact … Well, according to George’s source anyway ... Still, way too close for comfort ...

“The children ?” She asked, dropping the large pack of water on the floor.

“They are fine, both crying though. Alice is taking care of them downstair.”

“We should hurry too, we have to put as much walls between us and the blast as possible.”

“I know but I’m ~” Interrupted by the echo of a running noise, Frank turned his eyes to look outside the hatch. “George, hurry the fuck up !”

“What the fuck do you think I’m doing right now” He screamed, a bit out of breath, as he jumped the couch at the entry of the living room.

The hatch to the bunker was situated at the other side of the room. Below the carpet at the foot of the chimney. A table had been moved along the carpet to reveal the hatch.

George ran and jumped inside. Missing by an hair a violent head collision with the side of the hatch. He then landed not quite gracefully in the entrance of the bunker and Frank instantly closed the hatch behind him. The first emotion that transpired when they saw him was relief, soon followed by anger ...

“You risked your life for a plush bear !” Roared Marie in anger

“Please Marie, this isn’t just any plush bear, it’s Teddy” Said a smiling George while showing the plush triumphantly. “Also we needed a radio” he added rapidly while showing another item that looked like an alarm clock. “We need to know when it becomes safe to go out again. We might be there for a few days.”

Frank nodded, praised George with a “Good thinking, let’s move” and proceeded by picking up the two water pack his wife had been carrying seconds ago. The group of three then ran down the nearby stairs, closing a second hatch behind them as a small tremor was felt in the ground.

“What was that ?” Asked Marie, slightly panicked.

“The first impact. The vibration travels at roughly the speed of light through the ground. The first missile seemed to be headed toward London so It must be a very big one if we could feel it all the way over here. We need to get downstairs before the following deflagration hits us.” Said George while leading the way down.

“How much impacts can we expect ?” Asked Frank

“No ideas, I heard of three back at the base but it could be much more.”

George heard his friend audibly wince as the whole building squeaked and a tiny noise of howling wind could be heard.

“That was the blast, at least what’s left of it.” remarked George as he stopped in his track.

“No way, we are ten meters below the ground. I could hear the fucking wind howling.” Exclaimed Frank.

“That’s normal, it’s echoing through the air vents”

“We have air vents ? What ... why ... How will we survive the radiation if we breathe air from outside !”

“Don’t worry, they are closed right now.”

“I don’t care if they are closed, a nuclear shelter should be airtight !”

Getting annoyed with her husband tantrum, Marie interjected.

“Air vents are fucking necessary Frank ! Not only so that we can avoid dying from asphyxia, which would in itself be already more than a sufficient reason, but also so that we can regulate the temperature inside the bunker, this thing could get worse than a fucking oven.

Also it would be great if you could get into your mind that protecting ourselves from radiation is probably the least of our problem here in Heydon. We will have more trouble securing drinkable water and staying alive until someone comes to help us !”

In response, Frank grumbled in his beard. Visibly dissatisfied that his wife wasn’t supporting his opinion. George however didn’t mind the character of his tall friend and simply shrugged while resuming climbing down the stairs.

A moment later, the group of three finally reached the bottom of the stairs. As he saw the children at the end of the small room, both crying in the arms of Alice, George caught himself smiling a little. In here they would be safe. In here they all had a chance to survive.

Interrupting the thoughts of her husband. Alice asked a question over the noise of the two crying children. “Please tell me someone thought about getting some toilet paper ! I need to go very badly.”

The three looked each other, quickly realising nobody had. Frank then facepalmed himself while Marie uttered a well remarked “Shit ...”

What followed was a restless day … and, unexpectedly, a sleepless night. For an hour, small tremors followed by roaring deflagration were heard and felt through the wall at intermittent time. Four impacts were felt in total, the actual count probably superior.

Yet, for them who were far enough in the countryside, kilometers away from any major cities, that was all it was. Just occasional small tremor and remains of deflagration howling through the vents.

Frank even surprised everyone by voicing a “What, that’s it ?” that earned him quite a few scowl.

If was too easy to forget that, out there, countless amount of people had died in an horrible manner. Yet all they felt at the moment was the satisfaction of feeling safe.

Unfortunately that was only the beginning. Very soon after the end of the sequence of impact, as they finally started to relax a little, they felt the Earth trembling like never before. It was simply terrifying. Earthquake after Earthquake, tremor after tremor, it was like the center of the Earth itself was torn apart.

They heard everything fall from the shelves of the bunker. Wind howling in the air vents as if tornadoes raged in the neighborhood. They saw crack expand again and again on the floor of the bunker, what was supposed to be reinforced concrete.

The last hours were the very worst. They spent those shaking as they huddled together for comfort. Praying whatever gods they could think of for it to stop.

All human on earth had the same thought at some point in those final hours of chaos. A very simple thought, yet a terrifying one. They thought that the apocalypse was upon them, that the world would end in a blast of fury.

However, the world didn’t end that day.

But soon, many came to wish it had ...