The Bunker — Episode 1 - by Scarletpaine

The first thing I learned about the world was that it was long dead. The teachers told us that every year on Founders' Day. The entire bunker would gather in the hall beneath the artificial blue lights and we would be shown the same recordings, listen to the same speeches, and repeat the same words until we can no longer question them.The world above had been destroyed. The air was poisoned. The oceans had risen and swallowed cities. The forests had become breeding grounds for diseased predators. Whatever humans had survived The Doom outside of the bunker had either died or changed into something no longer human.The bunker was all that remained. At least, that was what they told us.I have lived underground for seventeen years. I have never seen the sky.My idea of sunlight came from the enormous screens installed throughout the residential levels, where a digital sun slowly crossed a digital blue sky every morning. I knew what rain looked like because I'd watched old recordings of it. I knew what snow was because there were photographs in the history archives.But I have never felt rain on my skin. I have never stood beneath an actual cloud.Sometimes I wondered if the sky had ever really been as blue as the pictures claimed. I want to see it for myself, to know what it looks like. I want to know how the sun feels on my skin. I want to see and feel everything on the outside..."You are staring again."I blinked and looked away from the screen above the dining hall.Maya was sitting opposite me, pushing a spoon through a bowl of nutrient paste she had barely touched. The sight of the food disgusts me.Everything we eat here is processed. And I've lived with that for seventeen years. But recently, I came across an old food magazine buried away on purpose— I chose to believe. It had varieties of food I can only assume is a failed copy of what we are being fed here."I'm not staring," I tell her and sighed afterwards."You've been staring at that sky for five minutes."I shake my head. We are not allowed to talk about the outside. We can get imprisoned or put on isolation for it. It's that bad.Around us, hundreds of people ate beneath the steady hum of ventilation systems. The bunker was always making noise. Pipes rattled inside the walls. Machines hummed behind sealed doors. Fans circulated recycled air through miles of tunnels.There was never silence."Do you ever wonder what's actually up there?" I finally dared to ask.Maya's spoon stopped moving.She looked around before lowering her voice. "You know we're not supposed to talk about that.""Depends on who hears you," I say and she shot me a warning look.I lowered my voice. "Don't you ever want to see it?"Maya laughed softly. "See what? The outside?"I looked at her seriously and she stared at me as if I'd asked whether she wanted to walk into a fire.She leaned closer and parted her lips. I swear, I was so curious to hear the words from her but suddenly, the white lights turned red and a sharp alarm sounded throughout the Bunker.Everyone immediately stopped talking.The screens changed, replaced by the symbol of the Bunker Authority: a white circle surrounded by seven black lines.Then came the voice."Citizens of Sector Number Three, remember that the surface remains contaminated. Unauthorized access to exterior zones is punishable by permanent confinement."The message repeated itself and Maya and I looked at each other.Someone from Sector Number Three must have trespassed. We are from Sector Number Three, and one of us must have decided to satisfy our curiosity.Maya bolted from the seat and I followed. We left the hall area and ran past others that were either walking by or whispering to the other in hushed voices.We were stopped by authorities before we could go any further. I only wanted to know who among us had trespassed. And then I saw him.He was being dragged along by two male authorities into confinement.In that brief moment, our eyes met and I see the pain in his eyes. And maybe it wouldn't have hurt more if he's not the boy I'd liked for a very long time.

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