Beneath the Surface | ONC 2023

xiv | ezra

BUNKER 17 — THE END OF PROJECT BUNKER

2:28:19 HOURS REMAINING

THE EARTHQUAKE COMES FIRST.

I waste no time gathering Ivy, Grant, and Gracie. The ground rumbles beneath us, making it hard to stand. Next comes the alarms, that familiar red glow flooding every inch of the bunker. I wince at the sound of screaming around us, praying that the experiment is over. That we can finally get out of here. That we can save all of these lives.

And then I see him. Alexander True is heading straight for us from the hallway leading to the Garden. The hallway we just left.

The silver weapon in his hand glints in response to the sun rays cutting through the skylight, yet another structure that threatens to crumble at any moment. I shield Ivy as he pulls the trigger, blurs of white mixing in with the rest of us as his guards follow suit. The bullet narrowly misses my shoulder, and I notice that the guards aren't using lethal force.

They're not here to harm anyone.

Alexander's only target is Ivy.

We run to the far side of the Garden and I shield them as a pipe comes loose from the ceiling directly outside the hall doorways. Alexander's occupied with the hourglass, typing something into a hidden keypad more advanced than the system Ivy used just moments ago. To my surprise, the numbers on the clock decrease rapidly, the countdown resuming at thirty seconds.

Several alarms blare as a result, telling me that multiple trap doors are opening and closing at the same time. I freeze at the mouth of the hallway leading me home, unsure of what to do. Unsure of where we can run. Until Ivy's face lights up, taking the lead this time.

We run through the winding hallway, passing by a screaming guard who's at the mercy of the first guy who got caught by the traps. The one who turned rabid. "Don't look," I yell behind me, my last ditch effort to protect my siblings' innocence. What little bit is left after all they've been through.

Gracie's scream stops us in our tracks, Alexander closing in on us. Ivy and I push the twins the opposite way in unison, gauging the weight of his first move. He swings at me and I duck out of the way, pushing him into the wall.

"Even if I end up dead, you'll never be able to stop my plan," he snarls, fist narrowly missing Ivy's face.

She pins his hand to the wall, anger burning inside. The glass wall in the doorway next to us opens and closes. I take a second to catch onto the rhythm, making eye contact with Ivy. "That's where you're wrong. With you gone, the Society doesn't exist. And I'd say that's a world worth living in." She nods and we push Alexander into the room, the glass pane locking into place.

Alexander screams in protest, banging his fist against the glass as red smoke creeps up behind him, turning black as soon as he's out of view. A snake destroyed by his own venom.

Ivy calls for me from where Grant and Gracie stood and I rush over, well aware of the destruction happening the opposite way. She leads us to a hatch—the very one the Surface administration used to bring us our rations. The one the "doctor" used to come and take my parents' bodies.

Ivy climbs out first, reaching down to pull Gracie into the sunlight. Into safety.

Grant is next, and I take one last glance behind me at the place I called home for twenty-four years. The place that holds so many memories, and will now be a reminder of the lies I was fed my entire life.

The lies I was fed by the man killed by his own ambition.

We emerge outside, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Nothing indicates a bunker is nearby beside the metal hatch in the ground. And as the hourglass empties and the clock counts its last second, a flicker of the mansion in the distance is distorted by people.

Our bunkmates. All stepping out of the experiment.

Stepping out of the experiment and into freedom.