Chapter 6 #3
Instead of trying to come up with a reasonable answer that Kyle would actually understand, I merely shrugged. I wasn’t about to stand here and try to explain things like empathy to a self-centered half-wit.
“Let’s go,” I said before I instructed the robot to follow me. “The last one in needs to close the door behind us.”
“I’ll do it,” Tyler volunteered.
I nodded and then turned and led everyone down the stairs.
I wasn’t sure how the little robot would do on the steps, but it seemed to stay steady well enough, though I was sure it would need some help getting back up them. Its wheel was also large enough that the grate didn’t give him any trouble, either.
I moved into the bunker and watched as everyone else did the same. All of their faces were in awe as they entered the room. Even Kyle’s.
Once everyone was inside, I moved back to the door and pulled it shut.
It had the exact same opening and closing mechanism on the inside as it did the outside, so after I pulled it shut, I turned the wheel counterclockwise, and I listened as the locks clicked into place and the door sealed itself again.
The only thing I wasn’t sure about the room was the air inside. I could clearly see vents in the ceiling and along the walls, but I wasn’t sure where they led.
Down in the sealed bunker, we could barely hear the storm above us, and I wondered how long we’d be down here.
The announcer had said that today’s round was a beach day.
Was the storm a part of that, or had its arrival just been happenstance?
And how long would this day be exactly? Would we be beamed back after a certain amount of time?
Or had that just been a figure of speech? What if we ended up down here for days?
Beyond the metal door, I could hear muffled cracking sounds, and the sound of the wind and rain picking up.
It seemed much closer than before.
Despite the raging sounds of the storm outside, the heavy metal door seemed to hold strong, and I felt a wave of relief. I just hoped the storm was the only thing we had to deal with.
I glanced around at the other contestants, and they all watched the door with nervous expressions on their faces, but eventually, they all came to the same conclusion that I did.
We were safe.
At least for now.
We were able to find some spare clothes for the wet ones in our group, and we used the blankets to create a makeshift privacy curtain for everyone to change.
Once everyone was warm and dry, the group began to relax slowly, and we all wandered around the room to find ways to pass the time.
Annabelle and Sadie wandered over to the bookshelf, and a few minutes later, I found them in their own corners snuggled up with a book.
Kyle, Martin, Zade, and Clarisse wandered over to the couch to watch TV, which surprisingly worked, and it even played regular, human shows.
That left Tyler, Claire, Parker, and I.
“Do you guys want to see what games there are?” Parker asked, and the rest of us readily agreed.
There were a lot of different options, and many were new, but we all settled for a game we’d actually played before.
Clue.
I was still confused about this strange bunker. Part of it felt more advanced and alien, like the general design of the room, the way the door could fully seal while still providing ventilation for fresh air, and the massive storm drain outside.
Yet the room itself seemed to be filled with basic, human things: TVs that played human shows, as well as regular food, books, games, and comforts.
This had to be the aliens’ doing, right?
We played a few rounds of Clue before we switched to Monopoly, then Sorry. Sadie eventually grew tired of her book and joined us as well, then Clarisse and Annabelle, too.
The women were exceptionally good at all the games, and Tyler and I lost to at least one of them almost every single round. I wasn’t even mad about it, either.
I was just impressed.
At some point, I lost track of how many games we played or how much time had passed, but I heard the sound of the rain and wind die down until there was nothing but silence.
I was hesitant to go outside, though, because I was worried it could be a trick. What if the storm actually wasn’t finished, so when I unsealed the door, a flood of water rushed in and drowned us all in here?
I decided it’d be safer to wait.
We played a few more rounds of games before I figured roughly a couple hours must’ve gone by at that point, and when I listened at the door, I still couldn’t hear anything.
We all gathered by the entrance so when I opened it, if there was water on the other side, the door would hopefully block most of the initial rush of water, and we’d have a fighting chance.
I carefully turned the wheel, and the door unsealed, but I didn’t feel an immediate rush of pressure, and when I pulled the door open, I was stunned by what I saw.
The stairwell was completely damp, as if it’d been heavily rained on, but the storm drain had done its job, and there were only a few places where excess water was puddled.
I could see to the top of the stairs, and I saw nothing but clear, blue sky. I knew the storm was officially over, but the building the bathrooms had been in was completely gone.
I carefully climbed up the stairs while the others filed behind me, and it was only when I reached the top step that I was able to see the true aftermath of the storm.
The building had been ripped apart, and pieces of it lay scattered across the beach for as far as I could see. If we hadn’t found the bunker when we did, we would’ve never made it.
That thought was sobering.
I heard the others gasp as they came up behind me and also saw the destruction and realized how close we’d come to danger and even death.
That storm couldn’t have been a coincidence. Everything had been too exact. The storm had developed so quickly, and the presence of the bunker was far too coincidental.
At this point, I was thoroughly convinced the aliens had set up everything, but the real question was why?
What was the purpose in almost getting us killed?
If the games really were to provide prolonged entertainment for a bunch of bored aliens, then wouldn’t potentially taking all of us out with one freak storm be sort of counterintuitive?
Suddenly, the robotic announcer began to speak.
“Congratulations, you’ve successfully completed the second round.”