5 days.
It's been 5 days since the world went to hell. Although Jon, Bea, Gannon and I were fortunate to get to safety in the library's basement and bunker, we were trapped. Even if we could leave we had nowhere to go. During the first day's initial chaos, a truck had crashed into the fence surrounding the Archives and allowed some of those creatures to trickle in and surround us. We had spent quite a lot of time contemplating what exact they were, but only one word came to our minds, and none of us wanted to say it. It all seemed unreal, yet here we were, cowering and hiding from them. The first two days we spent scouring the internet, or rather what was left of it. Most of the world stopped uploading to the internet on the second day, we had no clue if it was due to loss of service or if this was happening worldwide. Although we found a few things online, they were scattered across the U.S and we couldn't find any from our surrounding cities or our own. We slowly moved up to the bunker on the second day, only going up to the main building to retrieve water, food or to use the bathroom.
After the third day, we cautiously came out of the basement around dusk to see a purple sunset and almost a dozen of those creatures surrounding us. We quickly took shelter in the basement after seeing we were surrounded and slowly started to cover the windows, blocking their view and giving us partial relief. Gannon, Jon, and I passed the time by working out for the past couple days but I started to notice that more seemed to show up. It made me wonder if they were attracted by the smell of us. Although we still took shelter in the basement as a precaution, we were still trapped with dwindling food and seemingly no hope. On the fourth day, we were losing what little hope we had left and began to search for anything that could prolong our survival and even give us a chance to escape.
As we split off to search through boxes, I began my search with the old bookshelves along with Jon, while Bea and Gannon headed to search for anything useful in the bunker. After shuffling and searching through various boxes we made our way back to our makeshift sleeping area and dropped off what we deemed useful. I had found a large foldable map of the area, some glowsticks, matches and some old binoculars, all of which useful in their own way. After sitting down with Jon, we shuffled through our haul and began to ponder their use.
Jon picked up what looked to be a portable radio and began to inspect it. Before he could say anything we were interrupted by Gannon and Bea coming up the ladder, squabbling back and forth. After making their way over and sitting down they continued bickering before Jon spoke up, holding the radio.
"Hey guys, did you happen to find any batteries?", he said while shaking the radio. This seemed to ignite hope in their hearts as Gannon and Bea quickly dropped what they were holding. Gannon had a bundle of rope, a suitcase, various batteries and flashlights. Bea was holding a white liquor bottle of vodka, frozen bread and some canned food, warranting confused glances from me and Jon.
Bea quickly spoke up, "Be careful with the case!" causing confusion among Jon and I. Gannon picked up a pack of batteries and passed them to Jon. He got them out of the package and popped them into the small radio. We all looked at it in desperation, hoping for a voice to spring out from it. Seconds later static erupted from it, filling the room. He began to run his finger over the channel dial and went over around 12 channels, all with no luck. We exchanged glances with each other and our expressions saddened a bit.
I tried to lighten the mood and asked, "Let's try some other channels and wait a bit, there has to be someone still broadcasting. Did anyone else find anything useful? I found a map and some binoculars. Also where did you guys find alcohol?"
"My grandpa had a small freezer down there in the electrical room of the bunker. I thought there was only bread and ice but I found it buried under the ice. And I know we shouldn't be getting drunk but it's still a liquid and we're running low on those." She replied.
Jon let out a forced chuckle, "Honestly getting drunk seems fitting, it feels like the world is ending and I don't think anyone of us have room to complain about resources." We all slightly chuckled at his comment, the world did feel like it was ending and it was taking a toll on us. Although I've never drank before, it did indeed seem fitting, and if worse came to worst then we could use it for semi-hydration but only in a safe shelter.
Gannon spoke up, "We found something... interesting." He held up the briefcase with one hand. Bea silently nodded in agreement.
"Meaning what exactly?" Jon inquired.
Gannon began to open the case and respond, "Meaning this." He opened the case revealing an old handgun with 2 magazines, sitting in polyethylene foam.
"Is that a gun?!" I questioningly asked, my eyes widening.
Jon was looking at the case with his mouth ajar. Bea replied while scratching her head, "Yeah, I honestly didn't expect my grandpa to have something stashed like that around, we found it tucked under some boxes of clothes in the bunker."
"What should we do with it?" Jon asked. Gannon had closed the case and sat it down.
"Does anyone here.. know how to use a gun?" I asked. There was a moment of silence as they all shook their head and replied no.
"Then I think maybe we shouldn't use it for now and come back to it. We are trying to escape but I think it's safe to use this as a last resort. Plus there's no guarantee it'd work, that police officer was still moving around after being trapped in that crash." I said while pushing it aside.
Jon butted in, "I agree, but I think our focus should be information. We still haven't heard much from anywhere and we don't know if there are other people in a situation like ours. We still don't know what happened to those people outside as well. There could also be military procedures in place, I don't and won't believe the government could just disappear like that."
"Jon's right, there has to be people alive. When I was getting that takeout there were lots of people who were fleeing and trying to hide, just like us." I noted.
Bea stood up and began to walk over to our pile of rationed food and grabbed four water bottles, after handing them to us she said, "I hope that's the case because we are running out of food and water. We only have 3 more bottles of water after this, we really need to get out of here or find more supplies.
I replied, "You're right, we can't stay here, we have to find a way out. Does anyone have a plan?"
We all went silent and began to brainstorm, thinking of anyway to escape our dire situation. I once again looked over our supplies and thought back to the initial chaos remembering the police officer who crashed, my face went grim as I recalled those events but it had sparked an idea.
"I think I have an idea, Jon is your drone still working?" I asked then turned to Gannon "How many batteries did you find and Bea how many more days of rations do you think we have?"
Jon replied first checking his phone, "I do but both my phone and the drone don't have much battery left, maybe 30-ish minutes for the drone. What are you thinking Mars?"
"That's perfect, what about you Gannon?" I asked
"We have about 10 batteries plus the ones already in the radio."
"What about the food Bea?" I asked while scratching my hair.
"We have three days at most now, and maybe another two days of water." she replied.
"Okay, I think we should go up and try to see how many zo-" I stopped myself, I didn't want to be the one to say and accept what they were, there had to be a reason those people were acting that way. Although I felt like I had already subconsciously divided people and those horrific things outside into different categories. I continued, "of those things are surrounding us and get a headcount. There is also something I'd like to test with your drone Jon, and Bea could you ration our food and surf channels on the radio? There has to be a channel broadcasting, even if you don't find one right away there is a chance we missed one."
Jon nodded in agreement while we all three stood up.
Bea replied while grabbing the radio and followed us, "You got it, I'll try outside first, maybe it was a signal issue."
After meeting at the entrance to the outdoor reading area, I quickly took off my flannel. Jon jokingly asked, "So your plan is to strip tease those people?" Gannon and Bea laughed at his remark while I shook my head and looked around for some scissors. Finding some, I cut off a strip of my flannel. Taking the strip, I began to rub it around my neck, back and under my armpits. They all looked at me bewildered and confused, I began to explain my plans and thought process.
"Every time we've seen those things, their sight and hearing seem terrible. But I've noticed more of them have started to trickle in and surround us but they've just wandered in the field around the building, so that makes me think its their sense of smell. They could've been attracted by the smell of us sweating when we worked out or something. I mean even Bea was complaining about how we stink." I said while turning to Bea and she slowly nodded.
"I'm not sure but we might be able to temporarily distract them with the sound alone if it doesn't work. That police officer was looking for the sound of the car horn so maybe they've lost a little intelligence." I said while removing the strip of cloth and tying it around Jon's drone.
"That's not a bad idea, that one Jon showed us before did seem a bit blind." Gannon added.
"I think it's plausible but I only wanna use it for a minute or two, if it works we may have a way out of here." I remarked.
After further discussion and their approval, we carefully went outside to the fenced it area and place the drone down. After confirming their numbers, about fifth teen, Jon controlled his drone and rose it in the air. It initially caught the attention of the ones closest to the overgrown fence as he continued rising and swerved to the left. As he stopped they started to walk at a staggered pace and gather under it. First four then ten, then all sixteen. They were reaching and scratching at each other, some being able to knock others over and get a slightly higher reach. They looked grotesque, they still had a human appearance with a slight pale complexion, all sporting a milky vacant gaze. Some of them had blood around their mouths and down their necks.
I still haven't gotten used to how they look, they looked so normal but their movements were so awkward and uncoordinated. The others watching Jon's phone seemed to be thinking the same, as Bea mumbled "Their stares freak me out."
Jon then tried to lead them out of the fields and back onto the street, gaining a few more as he led them further down the street. The plan seemed to be working but I was still unsure if it was the scent or the noise, but it indeed proved they had lost some intelligence. He quickly maneuvered the drone through the trees next to the road, and exited in the field not far from the Archives. We waited outside in the fenced area with Jon while Bea surfed through channels. He quickly flew the drone back to the fence and sat it down. After Jon quickly grabbed it from outside, the three of us went around in the building looking through the makeshift peepholes and waited to see if they returned while Bea continued looking for a broadcast. After 20 minutes we were clear until two of them shuffled back into view. Another hour later two more came in and joined the others circling the building while Bea had found a channel broadcasting a song.
Looking back at our results, we were thrilled the plan had worked. With a newfound sense of hope in the broadcast and our plan, we decided to leave tomorrow using the same method to lead them away. In our good mood Gannon had convinced us to have a drink as a celebration, saying it was something worth celebrating. Even though it was legal I was still a bit hesitant as I've never drank before but he was quite convincing when he was in a good mood. So we all drank from paper coffee cups and laughed for the first time in a while, all throwing out ideas of where we could go and what we'd do. All the while the songs playing softly in the background through the old radio, adding to the atmosphere. I was the first to head to sleep, eager to get out of this building and have some fresh air. The others continued their banter and laughter until I drifted to sleep.