protest, he surprised him. “You’re right. It is too big, and it is now unlikely to be kept hidden anyway. But, I think, as the Director, I should be the one to explain it. Give me a day to prepare. Can you two keep it to yourselves for that long and let me do it the right way?”
Keith, surprised by the turn of the conversation said, “Sure.”
“Okay, tomorrow then.”
Keith gave a recounting of the conversation he had with his father later that night to his wife. They both slept soundly, and looked forward to the next day with mixed emotions. She was glad the burden would no longer be theirs to bear alone. He was glad his father reacted the way he did, and felt others had the right to know what had made their survival here possible.
Keith sat at his desk wondering what life would have been like in a cancer free world. He also wondered what life was like outside now. Not just in the few places he had gone, but everywhere. He did not mention the emaciated human like creatures he ran into on his last trip during his last debriefing. There was enough talk about what was outside without adding stories of ghouls to the picture. He would find them again to see what more he could learn about them before making that information available. He thought about that as he reconsidered his father’s response. He too withheld information, which he thought would do more harm than good. It was not exactly the same thing, but it made him think about it.
“Hey Chief,” Cam said breaking his train of thought, “Got a call from Gibbs. He’s in the west tunnel and said you need to come out and see what he found.”
“The west tunnel? There’s nothing there….is there?”
“Not the last I heard.”
“He didn’t say what it was?”
“Nope, just said I was to tell you he thought you should go out there.”
“Alright; not much going on around here anyway. I’ll have my radio if you need me.”
Keith walked through the passages greeting people as he went. The corridors he walked through were products of necessity. They were impersonal walls of conduits, stone, and metal occasionally interrupted with glass windows. There was nothing comforting or ’soft’ about them. The west tunnel was mostly unused. He had to descend two levels to get to it. When the elevator opened, he walked into the corridor to which Gibbs had called him. He was still uncertain about the man because he could never engage him in any informal conversation. Gibbs had a talent for avoiding answers to any personal question he was given.
Keith was wearing his utilities, carrying only a radio and his two knives. He did not carry any munitions or control devices as the rest of his men had recently started to do. There wasn’t much he couldn’t handle with his hands alone. His knives were just a long time habit. There was no sound of any activity from the tunnel, and no signs of life. The area was well lit for it being so far out of the way. He tried to reach Cam on the radio to see if he could get an exact location for Gibbs. There was no answer so he figured he was too far away. He finally came to one of the many vault-like doors within the complex. He spun the handle, and the door opened. He called out Gibbs’ name, but there was no reply. He walked on and decided he was going to have a talk with his men when he got back to explain his desire of relaying more detailed information when they called him for assistance.
The few doors along the passage way were all closed so he assumed Gibbs was not behind any of them. He did not think anyone worked in this part of the mountain anyway. He came to another vault like door, similar to the first, but this one was opened. When he stepped through, he saw his wife lying unconscious on the ground about twenty paces away.
“Terri,” he said as he ran over to her.
She was lying on her side, and he rolled her to her back gently. She was breathing normally and she looked fine. He continued to talk to her to see if she would awaken. As he did this, he heard the door close behind them. “Hey. Is that you Gibbs? We need some help in here,” Keith said looking at the door. He got off the ground and walked back to it. It was locked. He pounded on it with the palm of his hand, “Hey. Open the door. We need help in here.”
A look of relief came over him as he saw the image of a person coming near him through a small glass panel in the door itself. It was Gibbs. “Hey, get some help. My wife is in here. She seems okay, but she isn’t responsive… Open the door, will you?” he said hurriedly.
Gibbs just stood there expressionless looking at him through the window.
“Gibbs, open the goddamn door. You’re starting to piss me off.”
Gibbs did nothing.
“If you don’t open this door now, you’re going to see a side of me I guarantee you won’t ever forget,” Keith said with as much menace as he had ever felt.
Gibbs turned to a control panel along the wall and typed in a code. The next thing Keith heard was the sound of compressed air being released, like a vacuum seal. He turned to see that the far wall also had a door in it, but smaller than the one he had come through. It was now open. He then realized this was the tunnel used to expel people from the facility. He had never been this far into it as Gibbs always volunteered to handle that job.
He turned once again and said, “Gibbs don’t do this. I’ll leave, but let my wife back in,” Keith pleaded with him.
Gibbs turned and walked away, as Keith continued to call out to him.
“Son of a bitch,” Keith said out of frustration, and to no one that could hear him as he walked to his wife.
Keith knew Gibbs had done what he was told to do. There was only one person who passed this sentence on them. Only one person who was ruthless enough not to care about losing every single family-member he had if it interfered with his plans.
Keith smelled the air coming through the open door. He knew the smell. It was the outside. He sat down next to his wife and cradled her in his arms. The door could be closed, but it did not matter. They would die if they just stayed where they were.
Keith stroked his wife’s hair as she lay across his legs. He looked at the wall in a blank stare as the realities passed through his mind. The tears he‘d shed had long since dried leaving only their salty trail down his face. The only thing that really mattered to him was with him now. The reality they faced was time. They were all educated on the effects of massive amounts of radioactive exposure. Body cells would die en masse. A person would then experience fatigue, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Feelings of sickness and discomfort would follow. If the amount of exposure is high enough, internal bleeding occurs. It was not a pleasant way to die.
Eventually she stirred from her sleep. He was not sure of the time, but they had obviously given her something strong to affect her for so long. He looked at her as she raised her face to his.
“Hi there,” she said with a faint smile and kissed him chastely on his lips.
“Hello,” he said in reply.
She struggled to regain full control of her body, but sat up on her own. “What is that smell?”
“The outside air,” he said as he pointed toward the opened door.
She looked at the door, then back at him in horror. She realized what was going on, even though the fog from her mind had not fully dissolved. She looked at his expression, then back at the door again. She placed her head in her hands and started to sob. He placed his arm around her shoulder. It was not overly long, nor extreme. It was an emotion of certitude, which he understood. She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to him, “I’m so sorry Keith.” She assumed their fate was the same.
“No, I should never have trusted my father. If I would have just dealt with it myself then this wouldn’t be happening.”
She smiled at him in appreciation. No matter what she said, he would not let her take the blame. It did not really matter anyway. She lifted herself from the ground, and he followed. Once she was sure she had her balance, they started on their way.
“It is really a nice change. I haven’t felt the outside in a long, long time,” she said as they walked along hand in hand.
He knew what she meant, but he could not say anything in reply. If he did, he would have lost control of his emotions. Instead, his anger steeled his resolve. He would give her as much support as he could until it was
