After the initial shock of where we were James located the blue print on the wall you know the just in case of an emergency exit sign. Instead this one showed emergency exits to a place called the safe room ! . Every room on the map from the second to the first floor had a hall that lead directly to it . Inside there were three books on the tablet and a small shower room in the back . With big bold letters in case of an emergency could be read on the cover of the books. Dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and nose bleeds was the first chapter . All the side effects of being exposed to radiation . How much exactly ? We don't really know but what we do know is that this place is a nuclear power plant! One leaking radiation at that. The directions were simple or all we could manage at the time. Take a shower , change clothes ,put on the suits we saw all over the place and take the drugs that could be found in the first aid kit and the suits . Potassium iodide tablets could be found in the pockets of the suits everything else that was found in the first aid kit I couldn't even pronounce. Now we wait to see if it worked. With Taco out of commission we couldn't really leave at this time anyway . Carrying him would slow us down too much and we didn't have the energy to spare. Leaving him was not something to even be considered .We all had our strengths and that's what we relied on. Also with the loss of all energy this safe room is what's needed . Recovery is a must, if not then it all ends here.
"I've never heard of a room that can stop the effects of radiation ."
Blurted out Janet
"Me either but then again I've never had my room taken from my home and put in some one else's either " responded Jeff
" He's right some things we would deem impossible are possible now . All we can do now is what we've been doing and that's move with caution. Something will turn up in our favor we just have to find it like always. " I added
" Taco's coming to " said Janet
He looked worn out. His eyes opened slowly then he spoke
"What.... what happened to me ? " he asked.
" Well we might have to start off by answering where are we to explain what happened to you first "
Replied James .
Jeff helped Taco into a sitting position as James explained everything to him . He looked in total disbelief as the story unfolded. Everyone else listened close like they were hearing it for the first time as well. I guess to see if James noticed anything they didn't . It all sounded like a horror story and when he finished everyone just stood in deep thought . It was a painful reminder of where we were. Me personally I was fresh out of ideas . Nothing would work anyway due to the fact we can't leave this room . The pressure is on ! From all sides literally . It's not by chance that the safe room pulled us deeper into this dead zone . Not only that I believe it was a set up. The rain slammed into our bodies and distracted us from the real reason we became fatigued . All the while we kept moving and didn't realize where we were until it was too late ! Then we had to take this last option! With that in mind and the look on everyone elses faces , it didn't take rocket science to figure out what everyone was thinking . How the hell do we get out of this one ?!
" We need to tear this room apart ! " I said
" What " said Janet
" We need to rip this room apart ! We need to search this room from top to bottom and try to find something that could help us get out of this situation . Standing around won't help us any and we also have a limited amount of food. We have to get out of this place and we need to do it quick. The longer we stay here the faster our resources will run out then we'll starve!" I replied
Everyone got up and started looking . For what exactly we don't know , but from what I can see it changed the moral of the group. Looking for something rather than sitting around with lots of time to think about how we are going to die was what we needed. If there's one thing this place has taught us its how to survive and to keep pushing ! James turned over a table after all the boxes were empty . He searched the edges to see if anything was hidden. Liz followed suit and knocked all the books off the shelves ,while Janet got a chair and looked on top . Taco tore pages from a book out of desperation . It seemed as though we had nothing until Sterling spoke up.
" Hey I think I found something "
We turned to see Sterling pulling the door to the showers open and there was a box behind it . He opened it up , and turned around with something in his hand. The box was full of these things that looked like calculators except thicker and the glass had a meter behind it .
" There's a book attached to it " said James
Sterling opened the book . His eyes ran across the pages back and fourth and then he began to speak.
" We have a guide " he said
" Like a map " replied Jeff
" No this device can detect the levels of radiation in the atmosphere " he replied
And this was the break we needed ! Knowing where this invisible threat is would be the determining factor we need in order to survive .
" We have to make sure it works. Also we need to know how effective these suits are . "
I said
" What do you mean ? There's no way we could know how good the suits actually work "
Replied Taco
" The box is full of these devices . If I put one around my neck in side the suit and one in my hand out side the suit it would show the difference in the levels it detects. If not then we know the suits don't work." I said
" Sounds like a plan but maybe we should both do it . Just in case something happens one can drag the other back " added James
" Lets give it a shot " I replied
We both geared up and headed out . Everyone padded us on the back as we walked out the door . We quickly closed it behind us and James took out the map we grabbed off the wall . As he unfolded it the meters immediately started going off . When we checked the ones inside our suit they didn't change ! James pointed to a room that was dead center of the entire building . It sat there perfectly in the middle so it seemed as good a place as any to start looking . I looked up at James and he had this look about him like he was prepared . He was brave ! Willing to walk around in this atmosphere filled with death because he knew it was needed . Knowing we had a guy like this on board gave me a boost of confidence I needed .
We proceeded down the hall and you could feel the seriousness of this place . There were signs every were that encouraged a level of secrecy that meant death if betrayed .
" What you see here stays here "
" No pens no paper no phone no cameras "
" Do your best or the others will "
" Loose talk brings about death "
The signs were endless with threats down this hall that seemed to be uninterrupted by another . All but one door . Radio room was written on it in yellow letters. We both looked at each other and opened the door . Sure enough there was a radio, T V monitors, and a printer. As we got closer the we saw that the monitors had been labeled . One bridge , two front , three back, four helipad.
" There's a helicopter here ? " James asked out loud
" Look for a switch to turn the monitors on " I said
There was a switch that looked like a light switch and when flicked the monitors blinked on and off a few times. Then they came into focus and sure enough ......... fog !
"Should have known we wouldn't be able to see a thing ." James said
" Even if we could see and it was there who would fly it " I said adding some rational thinking.
I turned my head and looked around the room some more . As I looked I noticed the printer paper was super long . It spilled all over the floor . Most had been covered in dust , the small portion towards the top didn't . I walked over and to take a look at these documents or what ever it was that had been printed and it was all too familiar.
" What's that say" asked James
James voice seemed to echo as I looked at the pages with no hope . How could this be ? I mean where is the break in all this ? I starched my head and turned to James and read the paper.
" Is there any one out there this is the U.S.S. Cyclops do you read ."
" That's our transmission some days ago when we first found the ship " I said
" Good new is we know the signal got out and maybe this place wasn't the only other receiver of our message " said James
" There's more " I added
"Mayday mayday this is flight number one hundred eighty two requesting an emergency landing at L.E.X air port we have a mad man eating other people on board I repeat eating other people on board . Requesting police assistance when we land ."
"L.E.X is in California " James added
" Wait there's more from the same flight"
" Flight one hundred eight two to the control tower at L.E.X it appears as though we can't get below the clouds . Our control system seems to be intact but if that's true we should be ..........."
When the transmission ended with out a complete sentence we both knew the plan struck the ground . They believed they were still in the clouds when things got crazy and prepared to land all the while they were in the fog and crashed right into the earth . This place seems to show no mercy. Its like someone allowing you to play a game with out giving you the rule book.
" I seriously doubt we are anywhere in California and it seemed as though there were cannibals on this plan . There's more but all other transmissions are in another language . Looks like everyone who could called for help called when they found out they were in the fog. " James said
With a few turns here and there we finally arrived at the center point . There was a small hall that lead to a room . It was pretty good size room with a raised celling . Solid white brick lay the foundation and all the way up the walls . All around this room was man made but in the center was a pile of old stones. Perfectly cut and stacked but old. The brick had moss on it that turned it a greenish color and it was built like a fireplace but with no hole for wood. As we walked closer it got warmer and the meters began to go off inside the suits. Not much but it was noticeable in the atmosphere. As we got closer the man made floor turned into dirt and grass . The meters went off even more but what we noticed about this formation of stones had our attention even more . The figure was about eight feet hight and five feet in width . In the middle of this figure was a stone bigger than the rest and it stuck out . A symbol was carved in it and it didn't look like any language I had ever seen before.
" What do you make of this ? " asked James
" I'm to not sure . Maybe some kind of power source "
As we walked back to the safe room I took one last glace at the figure. Nothing about it seemed right. The fact that this entire facility was built around this thing , tells me the power source of this thing is so great nothing could move it ! Also they seemed to have left the foundation intact careful not to disturb it. The radiation this thing gives off can be felt miles away . That alone makes this place a no go zone . My guess is who ever was trying to harness this energy got to curious and pushed that button ! Leaving this place completely empty. The question is though what happenes when its pressed ?
" Hey did you leave this door open ? " I asked James as we retraced our step back to the safe room .
"I remember closeing it " I replied
The radio room door was wide open . As we looked in the door the printer just finished another transmission. We walked over grabbed the paper and it read.
" If theres any one out there please help us . There's only three of us left !!! "