Warzone |The Rain|

CHAPTER 04

HE IS THE KEY

The next day, Sadie was in the main room, trying to connect with the other bunkers again when the radio turned on, "Hello? Hello? Sadie? Hello?"

She quickly placed the tablet on the table and rushed over to pick up the comm, "Hello? Come in? Phil, can you hear me?"

"Sadie? Yeah, I can hear you." He responded,

"Did you get a hold of my dad?" She asked,

"No, there's no connection." Phil answered, "I'm not going outside. People get sick and die. You say that you're in Tallahassee, right? I hear there's a pickup station close by, at the hospital. They're evacuating people and registering survivors. They must know where your dad is."

Sadie rushed over to the table and grabbed the tablet, looking at the map of bunkers, "Yeah. A hospital you said? Here?" She checked the map, "I can get there."

"No, it's too dangerous to go outside." Phil replied, "Look, I'll try to contact them, but don't go-"

Suddenly, the lights went out and the radio went silent and Sadie was left in total darkness, "General power outage." The A.I in the bunker stated, "Total shutdown. Emergency generator initializing."

Sadie grabbed the radio again, "Phil? Are you there? Hello?" She began freaking out and pressing random buttons on the radio, "Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Hello?!" She threw the comm down, "Damn it!"

That night, the blonde made sure Riley was sleeping before walking into the room with the hazmat suits. She needed to get to the hospital, to see if her father was there and if it was safe enough for her brother.

She put on the suit and with her heart beating loudly in her chest, Sadie went up the stairs. The sound of rain filled Sadie's head and her breaths became heavy, fogging up the suit. She was about to open the door when she felt light-headed and collapsed onto the steps, sobbing.

Her mother died out there. And if she died, Riley would be left alone. She would fail her brother and her father.

Sadie took off the helmet and welcomed the cool air on her face before looking at the door, "I won't go up. But you need to keep your promise. You need to come back." Sadie stated before walking back downstairs to hang the suit up, "I'll look after him, dad."

Sadie found seeds in some boxes in the storage room along with some gardening essentials and smiled. When Riley woke up, the two put a pot in an incubated area and began planting the seeds, "Why are we planting stuff?"

"Don't you think things are supposed to grow here?" She asked her little brother,

Riley shrugged and looked at his sister, "Sadie? How long do we have to stay here?"

"Well, we have to wait for dad to get back first." She answered,

"When is he coming back?"

"Hopefully soon." Sadie answered honestly, but in reality, she didn't think it would be for a while,

"And when he gets back, then will everything be okay?" He asked,

She smiled at him, "Yes, then everything will be okay."

"It's not very nice down here." Riley commented, playing with the tubes that dripped water onto the seeds,

"No. That's why we have to make it nice." She nudged him softly with her elbow, and smiled.

Riley furrowed his brows, "How?"

"Well, we'll... make this place our own." Sadie answered, placing more seeds in the soil.

"And what next?" Riley questioned

"We'll find out."

The redhead looked up at his older sister, "Promise me that dad will come back."

She stared down at him, "Yes, Riley. I promise."

After cleaning up, Sadie made lunch for Riley and they both sat at the table. She messed around with the tablet, trying to figure out the different uses. Glancing up, Sadie noticed that Riley wasn't eating his food, "Why aren't you eating?"

He put his spoon down, "I don't like it."

"You have to eat it anyway." Sadie replied,

"You're not my mom." Those words hurt. She knew she wasn't his mom, but it was her responsibility to take care of him. So if that meant forcing him to eat, to shower, to sleep, she'll do it.

With a sigh, Sadie pressed a button on the tablet and 'All About That Bass' by Meghan Trainor played through the speakers. Sadie swayed side to side with a smile, trying to get Riley to smile, too. Instead, he glared up at her before looking down at his food, "Come on."

"I'm not dancing." He mumbled,

She pressed another button and Twenty One Pilots came on. When it sparked no reaction, Sadie changed it to Taylor Swift and stood up, dancing. Riley smiled at her and danced with her.

She needed to keep him happy. She needed to keep him... Riley. Sadie wasn't going to let their situation, their new world, keep him from being himself.