The Bunker
The Bunker Chapter #1
Sergey woke up with a salty taste of blood in his mouth. He felt dizzy as he tried to raise his head up to look around. The surroundings were unfamiliar, it was dark, and the room smelled like old wood and dust. “Damn!” Sergey cursed silently. His head hurt just like it was hit with something heavy, the man touched the back of his head and felt something warm spreading over his fingers. It was blood. “Now what the actual hell!” He thought for himself. “Where am I? Why am I here?” Yet as hard as he tried to remember, he still could not figure out where he was and how he ended up there. Little by little Sergey crawled towards the nearest wall and stood up. The lodgment was oddly silent. So silent one could almost hear blood running through their veins. As soon as Sergei’s eyes got adjusted to darkness he noticed a dirty piece of paper that was attached to the wall with one bold and rusty nail. Sergei leaned on the wall and slowly made his way towards the paper. As he got closer he noticed that the paper was actually a note with something scribbled on it. Sergey ripped the paper off the wall and began reading. The man’s hands were sweaty and shaky as he held the piece of paper containing a message. In the left upper corner, there was a date. July 14th, 1979, Magnitogorsk, USSR, Sergei read slowly. “1979? No way this paper would have hung here for more than 30 years and yet remain readable” the man thought. However, he continued reading. As he read his breathing got shorter and shorter, meanwhile the heartbeat got faster and faster. “Hello my dear friend! You must be wondering where you are, which is totally normal, I did too. Yet, the only thing I have managed to learn is that this place is some kind of an underground bunker, which was used by the Soviet scientists to carry out their experiments. Now, dear friend, let me explain: my name is general Zimin and these may be the last moments of my life. Yet, even if so, I am glad that my life won’t end just for nothing. Furthermore, I can possibly try to save yours. Now hear, to survive in this place you really must want to survive. This place sees, hears, feels, and knows everything. You may think that I am insane and maybe you are right, I believe I began losing it not so long ago… Or? The time here flies oddly and feels different from normal. Now, listen, unlike it may seem at first, you are not alone here. These creatures, ooohh, these creatures. You shall see them! Funnily enough, you will be able to see them, but they won’t see you, because they’re mostly blind, don’t ask me how I learned that, I’ve had couple encounters with them, haha. However, don’t get too excited, despite the bad eyesight, they can hear you very well, so be careful. Well, the very first step for you is to get out, I guess, as I locked the door behind to slow them down. I left the key under the floorboard, the one that you are currently standing on. Try to take it out. Once you’ll be able to open the door and get out, go and see for other notes I left for you. They will help you through on your way out of this cursed place. As I had time to understand, the only way to escape is by restarting the power generator in the main bloc, it will unlock the automatic door. Also, try to find a flashlight or matches or any other source of light as some rooms are out of it. Unfortunately, that is all I can tell you. Now, I have to say goodbye, my dear friend, I can hear them coming for me. They found me.” Sergei stood there trying to process what he had just read. The note was covered in red droplets that Sergey identified as blood marks. He crumpled the paper and put it in the back pocket of his jeans. “What on earth am I actually doing?! Is this shit real?” Sergei grimed in desperation. By now this all began to feel like someone’s stupid joke, or a dream. A lucid dream that Sergey would soon be awakened from. He hoped that this would turn out to be yet another nightmare. “I’ve been seeing way too much of those goddamn nightmares lately” Sergei pondered. “Gotta stop drinking so much coffee before bedtime.” Being still occupied with his thoughts, Sergei looked down and kneeled. The floorboard he was standing on was old yet pretty tightly stuck between the other ones around it. Sergei tried his best to tuck his fingers between the boards, but they wouldn’t move. After several unsuccessful attempts he was ready to give up but at the very last moment he managed to pick the board up with nis nails and wincing from pain began slowly lifting it up. The floorboard gave in and allowed to lift itself unveiling a small rusty key that was lying at the bottom of a hole that ran through the bare concrete. Sergey tried to reach it with his fingertips and just as he was about to lift it up some bizarre noise made him drop the key and flinch. He heard steps coming from outside of the room. Sergey’s heart started beating twice as fast. He was just about to start screaming for help, something from the inside stopped him and he remained quiet. He stood up and tore the nail that was used to hang the note from the wall. Luckily enough, the wooden wall was much softer than the floor and so the nail slid out smoothly. Sergei used the nail to catch the key from the hole and as he lifted it out, he kept it tight in his right palm. The man put the nail in the same pocket with the note, just in case, and began approaching the door. After few steps Sergei was standing in front of the locked door that was soon about to be opened. Something strange was preventing Sergei from just pushing the key in the lock, turning it around and opening the door that was now the only thing that separated the man from whatever was awaiting him on the other side. Sergei felt uneasy. He could still hear the noise that scared him to death just some moments ago in his head. It reminded the sound of a steel bucket being kicked out of the way by somebody or something. Sergei tried to breath slowly and as quietly as possible, just like it would help him to stay unnoticed. For there was no other choice for Sergei to either continue standing there and listening to the surroundings or opening the door and heading out, he chose the latter. He stuck the key in the lock, swallowed the saliva that still tasted like blood, made a deep breath, and turned the key pushing the door open.
