Chapter 32
The Underground Bunker
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” bellowed Michel and Paul while falling. They fell into the water.
They were splashing and coughing. Soon, the laughter and howl echoed.
“We’re alive!” shouted them.
They looked around with a flashlight. Seeing the ladder in the middle, they swam there and climbed up the ladder.
When they went up, they saw several mine carts there. They all rode it and it lurched into motion. Moving into the tunnel, the carts galloped. It moved very fast, going up and down and turning around. It continued until everyone’s stomachs were upside down. Then suddenly, it swooped down to the underground. They screamed, gripping the handle of the carts. And then it gradually slowed down.
When the cart stopped, they were in front of the huge metal door. Paul and Sarah were puking on Michel’s shirt. Stein was lying down. After a half an hour later, the soldiers begin to get out of the carts and came up to the huge metal door, examining it. Few lights were on, but they had no idea how to enter this huge massive gate.
“There are some cameras,” said Sarah, glimpsing at the corner of the cave, the red light was beeping. Nina was vomiting, kneeling on the ground.
Suddenly there was a rumbling sound and the thick gates started opening. Several men came out with the guns.
“Drop all your weapons! Put your hands on your head!” said the man in charge. And Nina and others did so and they entered the bunker.
Inside the bunker, the villagers were here. Ricky was inside the commanding room and was in the middle of the heated discussion about what to do with the island.
“Of course we are going to release the creatures! What are you, insane? Are you trying to starve us to death?” shouted one man.
“But if we release it how are we going to deal with the mess? Do you think we would be left unnoticed, after all these events? They will think that it is us who are responsible for the genocide in Cassandra!” bellowed the other who were sitting next to Ricky.
“All right! Alright that’s enough!” yelled one short man, ringing the bell on the table. “It is a lunch time! Gentleman, we will continue this later!”
The men at the meeting murmured and grumbled with each other. The wave of people went out from the commanding room. Ricky, exhausted in the room, rubbed his throbbing head and drank a glass of water. One of the officers walked into the commanding room and stood in front of Ricky.
“Sir, we have the intruders,” said the officer.
“Intruders?” said Ricky.
“Yes sir, they were standing in front of the bunker,” answered the officer.
“Pirates?” said Ricky, gulping down the water.
“It’s Nina Polchinski sir,” said the officer. Ricky jerked and fumed the water out.
“Polchinski?” said Ricky, coughing.
“Yes sir,” said the officer.
Ricky blinked at the officer. He cleared his throat and stood up from the chair, grunting.
“… Bring her to my room,” said Ricky, wiping his mouth.
The bunker was humongous. It had a round ceiling with few ventilators. Underneath, there were various rooms where people spread the laundries on their balconies. There were kids running around and the guards were patrolling. Some of the men were handling the logistics. There were many tunnels leading to the outside. Few people were moving in and out of various tunnels, using the mine carts. There were three elevators in the bunker.
The guards put Nina’s soldiers in the bathtub and released the water hose to them. It was almost a month since the last time they took a shower; the stained sweat and thickened blood fell off from them. After cleaning, they gave out the white shirts and jeans for them to wear. They felt extremely drowsy. When the guards took them to the lodging area and left them there, they fell asleep without much of a thought.
Few hours later they came in and took Nina while others were at sleep. Nina entered the elevator. The guard pushed the button and it rumbled. They went down deeply to the underground. When they arrived, they started walking through the corridor, passing couple of doors.
Nina saw the open door from a distance. They walked toward it and went inside. The room was round and oval. It had a warm, cozy atmosphere. Yellow light was looming from the lamp and there were a lot of books on the shelves. There were three girls and one old man in the room. The old man whispered something to the girls and they went out with the guards.
Nina was standing on the doorway. The old man seemed like he was about to leap around. His eyes were beaming with excitement upon seeing her.
“Have a seat,” he said kindly. Nina plopped down at the seat. Her arm just hung from her shoulder like a noodles due to fatigue.
“Nina Polchinski…” said he. Nina was now tired of people making that stupid expression.
‘Yeah yeah,’ she thought.
Ricky gave her some cake on the table. Nina glimpsed at it and took a huge bite, munching it. She felt good as she tasted the sugar again.
“Must be hard to adopt three children,” said Nina. Her stomach growled so she took another bite at the cake. There was a picture of girls on the table, two of them were laughing and one was crying.
“Well, Laura is trying to become a vegetarian.” said Ricky, pointing at the picture. “She, Elizabeth, loves animals, especially squirrel. This one doesn’t clean the room.”
“I should thank you for your help,” said Nina.
“You’re welcome,” said Ricky, leaning back on his chair.
“May I ask where am I?” said Nina.
“You are in the one of the safest place you can find on this earth,” smiled Ricky. “My name is Ricky Guido; I built this place many years ago.”
Nina gulped at the name and surged with the relief.
“Ms. Polchinski, many things are to be discussed while you are here.” said Ricky. “Pardon me for bring you here in such a hurry, but I needed to see with my own eyes. You see, we have many enemies…”
“…”
“My men will escort you back to the lodging area,” said Ricky and pushed the button on the table.
Nina felt weird when the guard walked her back to the lodging area. After the days and days of turmoil and life-threatening situation, she finally became free from the oppression and from the pursuers who wanted to kill her.
She was on the main floor again, She now saw her soldiers. Sarah, Michel and Paul were waving at her. She ran and hugged them.
“Don’t call me admiral anymore,” said Nina.