The Key of Life

The groaning of metal filled the room as the lights flickered off for a second and then sputtered on again. Murmurs swept across the room full of about fifty people—all that were left of the Survivors—and a baby began whimpering, despite its mother’s attempt at comfort.

I felt my chest tighten as anxiety seemed to thicken the already stifling air. I had to try and reason Mom out of this craziness.

“Mom, we can’t just stay here. We need to…”

“I can’t leave them!” she said, with as much urgency a whisper would allow.

“They won’t go because they’re afraid!” I said, louder than I intended. One of the older men glanced my way with a frown.

Lowering my head toward her, I whispered, “We need to get out of here before things get worse…not after.”

She took my hand and led me a short distance from the group. After standing for a moment with her head bowed—apparently thinking—she reached behind her neck and unclasped the chain that had always hung there since Dad had died. The tiny, silver heart-shaped locket dangled back and forth as she held it out in front of her.

She gazed at it with a curious expression and then gently placed it in my hand, asking, “Remember that phrase your father always said?” I nodded.

“He gave this to me just before he…” she looked away, “passed.” She took a deep breath and continued.

“He was so insistent about it. He kept on repeating that phrase, over and over, ‘Love is the key of life.’ He recited it almost like a madman. I told him that I loved him…we all did. And then he was quiet.” She paused.

“Those words were the last he ever said.”

I woke up with a start.

I looked confusedly at my surroundings, wondering where all the familiar faces with which I had grown up were. The rusted surface of the walls, dim yellow lights, and the constant drip-dripping of water—all were recognizable. But something was off.

“Andrea,” said a voice behind me. “Are you ready to move on?”

Fingering the tiny heart around my neck, I suddenly remembered why I was not in the main bunker with which I was so accustomed.

I slowly pushed my aching body up, brushed some beads of water off my face, and shouldered the small backpack that I had brought along.

“You ready?” I asked Marcus—the voice—and nodded at Song, our other companion. Marcus shrugged his shoulders and began jogging down the narrow corridor. I looked over at Song who rolled her eyes and followed after Marcus.

I started jogging too, trying to pretend like every step didn’t send shooting pain up my shins.

Pace yourself. Don’t think of the passing time. I reminded myself of why we were doing this. The world needed us to survive. And survive, we would.

The “Subaquatic Vault” was supposed to have been a marvel of its time: top-of-the-class technology, huge, built for extreme water pressure, well-supplied, and accessible. Scientists had known the Torrent would come and did everything they could to make sure that some remnant of humanity would survive. There was just one tiny problem. It was started too late.

The Torrent hit way before it was supposed to. Like most natural phenomena, it was unpredictable. Only part of the S.V. had been completed; only part of the hoping remnant were saved. The lucky few who were close enough to get into the S.V. just before the raging flood of water hit it and all of civilization soon discovered that this safe haven would quickly become a prison.

That was twenty-three years ago. I was born and grew up in this supposed “Savior of Humanity” and watched as supplies ran low, the lights slowly dimmed from white to a dull yellow, and heard the central generator briefly pause its life-giving hum. If the generator failed, then electricity would stop flowing. No electricity: no light, circulated air, or water.

I knew that if somebody didn’t try to find a way out now, we never would. But the others were afraid of leaving the “haven.”

“Who knows what could be out there now!” Cramer—the leader of our group—had argued when I suggested that we find a way out. “There might be nothing! And then we could be lost in the maze of metal passages. What then?”

Eventually, I gave up trying to convince them otherwise and left with the only two others who were willing to try. And since no one had remembered the exact route out (nobody had though to chart it in the frenzied craze of last-minute evacuation), we were forced to run through the passages desultorily, with no particular plan other than escape.

I gasped for breath and wiped the sweat beading on my forehead. You couldn’t blame my exhaustion; we hadn’t exactly been concerned about exercise while trapped in a stifling cage of doom.

My parent’s locket bounced about on my chest as I ran, clinking loudly in the echo-y metal walls. I quickly stuffed it into my shirt, hoping the cloth would muffle the sound. It did…somewhat.

Why couldn’t you have come, Mom? We could have found a way out together. I know we could. But I knew that she never would have felt right about leaving “our family,” as she called them. She loved them and was willing to risk everything to stay.

“You have a chance, Andrea,” she had said. “Go with your friends and find a way out. If you do, then don’t look back.” I still remembered the tears in her eyes as she said that.

“No! I’m telling you…it’s this way!” Marcus’ voice echoed from up ahead. I peered ahead to see if I could figure out what was going on, but there was a slight bend in the corridor, and all I could see was metal.

Song and Marcus’ voices continued with obvious frustration. As I rounded the bend, I ran straight into Song, who was facing Marcus with her hands on her hips.

“Ugh!” she said. “Andrea, watch where you’re going!”

I righted myself and turned toward her, “Hey! I didn’t mean to. OK?” What is up with them?

She ignored my comment and faced Marcus again. “It doesn’t make sense that the exit would be marked, ‘MAIN,’ would it?!” She pointed at the heavily faded lettering above one of the two doorways before us.

Oh, no. Not another split-off! I had no idea which way the exit would be and was equally clueless about the word, “MAIN.”

“Maybe it means the main way out.” Marcus began walking toward the doorway.

“Marcus!” Song barked. “We have to stay together. If we’re going to make a decision, we must agree.”

“Fine,” said Marcus, spinning on his heels. He marched straight towards me and asked, “It makes sense to go this way, right? It is the only thing that has been marked in some way, and that means it is important.”

“It could be.” I still didn’t feel too sure about it though.

“It’s settled then.” He jogged into the corridor.

“Marcus, wait!” I called. But he ignored me. I began running into the corridor, but then stopped and wheeled around. “What should we do? Do you think he’s right?”

“I have a really bad feeling about it.” She walked toward the other doorway and peered at the top.

“But we shouldn’t split up! Maybe we could….”

“Andrea! I see something!” She pointed excitedly above the doorway, beaming at her find. I stood on tip-toes, trying to see what she was talking about and noticed a small variation in shade of the metal. I backed up, a step at a time, and noticed that there was lettering above the other doorway as well!

“What does it say? I can’t make it out.”

“It’s really hard to make out, but it looks like one word.” I tried to take one letter at a time. E…G…R…E...S…S…. What on earth does “egress” mean?

I turned to Song, “Do you know what ‘egress’ means?”

“What? No, that’s not a word. Are those the only letters you can make out?”

“I think so.”

“Well, what should we do?”

How am I supposed to know?! “It’s either the ‘MAIN’ or ‘EGRESS’ route. You choose.” Man, those scientists must have been off their rocker. Maybe that’s why this place is falling apart so soon.

Song stood for a while thinking. I took the locket out of shirt and gazed at the intricate design on the little heart. Dad had said, “Love is the key of life.” What could that mean?

“Alright,” Song said, startling me out of my reverie. “Even though I hate to leave Marcus, I think we should go the other way. If anything, we can just turn around and go back here.”

“Sounds like a….”

Suddenly, the low humming sound that had always filled our ears stopped. No brief pause this time. Just…nothing.

The world felt eerily quiet and I felt a chill go up my spine.

“What happened to the generator?” I whispered. Then I wished I hadn’t. The sound reverberated around the room, echoing my fear-filled question for what seemed like forever.

Song just stared, stricken. “We need to move…now.” She took off running down the corridor and I followed as fast as I could, hoping against hope that we could make it in time.

It seemed like I ran forever, passing meter after meter of rust-stained metal walls and yellowed light panels. My field of vision seemed darker and in my exhausted state of mind I tried to figure out why. Then I realized that the light panels weren’t letting off near as much light as they had before.

“Song!” I panted. “The electricity is failing!” She kept up her break-neck pace without acknowledging my observation.

I squinted in the growing darkness hoping to spot…well…anything. I didn’t know what I expected to see. Maybe a big flashing sign that said, “Exit Here!” Who knew what those crazy scientists had had in mind.

Finally, I saw that Song had stopped a few meters up ahead and I sincerely hoped that she had found some sort of door or ladder we could try. I ran, stood by her side, and then stood stock still. There was a solid metal wall in front of us. No handles…just…metal.

My mind felt numb and my trembling legs gave way. Kneeling on the floor, I stared at the dead-end with Song, not knowing what to say or do.

The yellowed light got dimmer and dimmer as I sat there, and Song sat down beside me, with her head in her hands. “We failed,” she whispered.

No…it can’t end like this. There has to be something I can do. No…no! I leaped up and began feeling the rough walls frantically.

There has to be a button. Or a switch. Or a…. Suddenly, Dad’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Love is the key of life.”

Images of the heart locket flashed into memory : dangling on Dad’s neck as he tickled his little girl, flashing in the white light as he showed it to Mom with a weak smile, and clinking as Mom carefully placed it into my palm.

Love is the key of life.

“That’s it!” I shouted, causing Song to lift her head, surprised at my outburst.

I felt the walls again, this time with much more care and precision. Song gasped as the lights suddenly flickered once, and then went black.

Hesitating only a second, I continued my search in the dark.

There it is. I had found the tiniest of cracks in the wall, barely a nick. I took the locket out of my shirt and opened it up.

Love is the key of life.

I inserted the locket lengthwise into the miniscule crack and held my breath.

Turning it slowly to the right, I heard a soft click.