this is the end

I had done it, the lock snapped with a delightful "pop," and my days of work had finally paid off. The shelter was marked "107b alpha base charlie NW," and I had always known about it from my uncles who would tease me and say it was the actual area 51; Because I loved that stuff as a kid and because they were stationed there for 20 years, thinking better to tell me stories than just "top secret." But I didn't come here for nostalgia and definitely not aliens because I wasn't a kid anymore, far from it. I came here for food, for the endless buffet of supplies "could feed a 100 men for a 100 years," uncle Johnny would always tell me in one of his drunken rants.

After id climbed down off the forklift I had used to pry the lock and swing the giant 30-foot doors, I stepped into the long hall, the air was stale and dry as expected, but the drawn-out hiss and the lingering rotting smell from that apparently abandoned place was not and fit me as well as a punch to the face. If I hadn't been so hungry, I would have run the other way, forget the food, forget the adventure; unfortunately, I really was that desperate. The hall was dark, the whole place silent; I grabbed my faraday light and began shaking it vigorously as I made my way to the staircase that was situated at the end of the room; the stairs went down for minutes that stretched on like hours with every step I shook the light harder scared of it running low for even a moment and by the time I reached the bottom I was certain of two things id never been so frightened, and the light had never been so charged. At the bottom of the stairs was an elevator, just as I had imagined, and a box on the wall marked auxiliary power, which after a flick flashed on the lights and caused a friendly beep to belch out of the speaker above the elevator doors as they opened.

With the power on, I could finally put up my flashlight, the bones of my fingers snapping and cracking slightly as I eased my kungfu grip. Once inside the elevator, I pushed the only button there was. The speakers rang out again, this time as the instrumental version of ob la di ob la da adding suitably I felt to the dystopian clown world I found myself in. as the elevator ticked down further and further for so long that I was certain id reach the core of the earth, I couldn't help but wonder, why wasn't there anyone here, why was the power off, this bunker was made for what happened, for the virus that killed so many of us and made so many others mad. I had always hoped that some pieces of humanity had survived, that the horrors we faced on the surface were being monitored, and when the time came remediated by the once-powerful infrastructure of government, but now in this elevator, I knew it wasn't so.

The blaring of an alarm at first faint grew louder as the elevator reached its destination, "code alpha, code alpha, lab breach detected in section 4." I heard clearly as the door opened, and the horror of this place was fully realized. I thought I was dead, had been attacked by one of the lone survivors who had gone crazy like so many others on the surface, who behaved like wolves stricken with rabies, but the body that fell on me was long dead, not much more than bones held together by tattered clothes, and a heart-shaped locket. After moving the body and confirming I didn't shit myself, I searched him, as id learned to do over the years; the pockets of the dead man were empty; his very nice boots were unfortunately too small, but the locket which seemed so plain, held one surprise, a USB which might be helpful.

My first mission was to turn off the damned alarm, somehow. Making my way through the halls, I came upon a few more bodies, all of which seemed to have died the same, alone. One had a pair of boots that fit, one had a lighter and a pocket knife, but still no food. After walking for a little over an hour, I found the kitchen; what a splendid thing it was. I imagined it full of food, the warm heating light now on. I imagined warming piles of potatoes and mac n cheese and racks of ribs. I ran to the back of the kitchen through the swinging door, and there it was my life-saving bread. The pantry was a football-sized room stocked with food. I grabbed a box of twinkies (i guess they really don't go bad) and continued my search for the off switch to this alarm, but this time with a smile on my face.

Long after the box of twinkies was gone, I made it to the end of the hall labeled "control room" inside, I found a room full of computers with the back wall being one giant screen, and right next to the middle console was the switch labeled "alarm" which I turned, and to my delight, the blaring alarm ended. The computer turned on just as quickly as the alarm turned off, and I knew that whatever else I was to find here was still in that heart-shaped locket, so with that thought, I opened the locket and inserted the USB. a video file was all that was on it, I hesitated then before pressing play.

The handsome man on the screen took a sip of whiskey before he began to talk " congratulations, you're not a coward, after all, a failure maybe but not a coward. We both know what this means, and if I was killed and one of my men did what needed to be done, well then I guess I am a coward" he took another sip of whiskey. "there's not much else to say; hopefully, this will contain it, and no one will ever know what we did, we really just wanted to help." the alarm started again, but this time it was different " containment breach detected self destruct in t-minus 60 seconds" the instrumental version of ob la di ob la da began again, and the alarm started counting down. I took my seat among the dead, no use running now, and really wished I had some whiskey too.