Chapter 1

The sirens blared throughout the city. The chaos I’d only ever heard about on the news was now right in front of us. I looked at the sky that was once a clear blue, now filled with smoke and debris from collapsing buildings. We were in the city on a holiday trip. When it all started, my dad immediately drove us out of the city that was about to turn into ruins. It took us hours to get back to our house on the outskirts, and what awaited us was the thick steel door of an underground bunker hidden in our backyard. My dad had built this bunker to prepare for unexpected events like a nuclear war. My mom hugged my little sister tightly. She was trembling, repeating, “So this is what the end of the world feels like.” I was the last one to step into the darkness of the bunker. The door shut tightly with a loud “click.” That was the last sound we heard from the outside world.

I can’t remember how long we’ve been living in this underground bunker. Initially, we could still access news from the outside world through the TV and the internet in the bunker. Every news channel reported on strange events happening globally. There were reports of attacks from unidentified creatures. They looked like monsters from movies. The last image I saw was a warning from the government, asking everyone to find shelter and avoid confronting them, to wait until the soldiers had successfully dealt with them. But that day never came. The news started to fade ... and finally, the internet signal disappeared. Every system collapsed along with the outside world. My name is Victor, and I’m just one part of a family trapped in this small concrete box. My family consists of four people: Dad, Mom, my little sister, Lila, and me.

Life in the bunker was incredibly boring. The food was mostly frozen, canned, and dried goods stored in a large pantry. Although my dad tried to make the meals as varied as possible, it was still the same food every day. Our bunker wasn’t very big. It was designed simply but functionally, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen with a microwave and a portable electric stove, and a large storage room. Dad also built a small entertainment room with a movie projector, a game console, books, a guitar, board games, a table, and chairs. He said it was a place for us to relieve stress.

The bunker’s energy came from a large solar panel system installed on the roof of our house. Dad said it was the most stable power source as long as nothing disturbed the panels. But the amount of electricity it produced was limited, so we had to be very careful with our usage. Our daily routine was quite simple. We would wake up, eat, and find something to do to pass the time. Dad spent most of his time checking the bunker’s systems and playing with his radio. Mom would organize things, cook, and clean. Every night, we would gather to play cards or board games, or sometimes Dad would play old movies for us. Lila liked to sit quietly in the entertainment room to read, while I would exercise in my small bedroom to keep my body from getting weak.

I often sneaked to the peephole of the bunker, hoping to see something new. But every time, there was only emptiness. The road I used to see was full of abandoned cars and the rubble of collapsed buildings. There was no life, not even the sound of birds, wind, or any living creature. Dad always told me not to go outside under any circumstances. Even though there was nothing to be afraid of, I felt that the boredom in the bunker was more terrifying than anything else. No internet, no friends, no private life, and no girls to meet. I felt like I was going crazy in a place like this.

Then the normal and boring life ended this morning. I woke up with a strange ache and pains that felt foreign in my back. I slowly got up from the bed and looked to my side for Lila, but I found Mom sleeping next to me in the same bed.