Survival

Chapter 21 Mystery Devices

He looked at the back of one of the consoles, and at the very bottom there were small black letters camouflaged with the dark plastic. This would take awhile. The bin contained nearly two hundred devices.

“Ten minutes, huh?” Edward teased.

“Maybe an underestimate, but I can look if you need to go.”

“No, I’ll help you out. We can stay here another thirty minutes before I really need to go.”

Nate wouldn’t appreciate it if he brushed off his daughter’s request or left a non-employee in the area unsupervised. He would just stress himself out if he went home with too much down time before Olivia’s arrival.

“So how do you like the underground? Is it everything you imagined and more?” Edward asked.

Nate’s daughter looked at him with a raised eyebrow, shook her head, and rolled her eyes. “It is what it is. What about for you?”

“Running water, free boo-“ Edward stopped himself, realizing he was still talking to a teen, “burgers, food. You don’t have to go around looking for it.”

“Oh,” she said and her eyes stayed on him. He must have said something wrong. “How was it out there after the disaster?”

“It wasn’t a cakewalk, if that’s what you’re asking. I lived out of my home for a few weeks until my rations ran out.”

“Why did you have rations?”

“I wasn’t much of a cook really, had a Costco membership. With my supply, it was easy enough to live for two weeks. I mean it was boring as hell, but it was living.”

“So you hung out in your basement or something?”

“Basements got flash flooded when the rains came. I’d never seen anything like it. The water came down in sheets, just hammered away at the ground and walls. The winds blew at ridiculous speeds. It took over a week for things to dry up and calm down.”

Her bottom lip parted from the top one, and she remained quiet for a moment longer. “Was it hard to survive?”

He shrugged. “Game of chance really. If your shelter could take the beating, so could you. Curiosity and stupidity killed a lot of people out there. Infection got the rest from what I saw. Do you still have family on the outside?”

She shook her head and turned away from him. “No. I’m sorry I brought it up. Let’s keep looking.”    

They sorted through the devices and had nearly gone through six dozen when he realized the time. She didn’t speak another word as they sorted. He knew the crushing feeling of losing loved ones. The bond between him and his sister had remained strong, so much so they had lived on the same street in the past five years. His side of the street was untouched by one of the outlying tornados in the initial cluster. Her side wasn’t. When he dared to venture out, he couldn’t stomach the sight of their disjointed bodies, rag dolls cast away by a monster.

The urge to leave itched away at him and he glanced up at the clock. “I really need to get going. Here’s what we’ll do. Put the ones we’ve checked in this bag, and do the rest tomorrow. If your dad helps us out, it’ll go twice as fast.”

Her face dropped. “Oh, I can just come back another day. It’s kind of a surprise for my dad, so I was hoping I could keep this between you and me.”

Edward laughed to himself. Between Olivia and this girl, he was beginning to think that the women of this facility only wanted to exist through secrecy. He glanced at the clock again as Olivia’s name danced in his mind. He grabbed a plastic bag and began loading the devices inside. The girl was quick to help.

“One more for good luck,” she said and looked at the serial number. “Wait! This is it!” she said in high pitch. A big smile lit up her face as she pressed the power button. The screen remained blank and the smile faded. She pushed the button again with the same result.

“Shit,” she muttered and looked down at it in disappointment.

“Come by tomorrow, and I’ll help you figure it out, alright?” Edward said and dumped out the bag of devices. He placed hers inside, the only one.

“Can’t I borrow it?”

Edward shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the best idea. But, come back tomorrow in the last hour, your father has another meeting then.”

 Nate’s daughter sulked off, and Edward smiled since he could finally leave the lab. Thoughts of Olivia washed over any suspicions he had towards Nate’s daughter. He made it all the way to his apartment, to find Olivia standing outside his door in a pair of dark tight pants and a top that did ample justice to her breasts. She couldn’t help but bring a smile to his lips. His body broke into a light jog that he hadn’t even noticed until now when his breaths grew ragged.