Chapter 1: It’s a party

Day to day, nothing changes. Bright white walls, plush beds, the smell of garlic and meat, and too much humidity from too many showers. My extended family, when they heard about my transfer, warned that I would hate the bunker. The opposite happened. I loved the natural full-spectrum light they used, soft, with a slight yellow hint, that enhanced my skin. I wish my skin looked this good all the time. While we didn’t have plants, the photo-realistic plant paintings on the wall gave the place a tranquil feel, especially with real nature sounds, recorded from thirty feet above us. And friends, I had three friends who joked, talked, and played fun games.

The wall of monitors, along the south wall, always showed the same scene. Trees swayed in the wind, lines with no enemies, and the status read yellow. The narrow passage of time marked only by slight changes in my squad mates, deeper wrinkles, less belly, more hair, but the same jokes, the same attitude, and the same people. They used soft, brown faux leather around the monitors, easy to clean, and pleasant to rest your hands. An open concept, the bunker only had a divider for the shower and toilet. Four single beds, with natural-fiber, beige sheets, lined the west wall. In the northwest corner, the full kitchen had a small, wood-grain, four-person table, where I sat.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow things would change. Decorations. Halloween decorations. Orange pumpkins, white ghosts, and black cats already covered the walls.

Jake made a cake. John made cookies. Jackie attempted caramel candy for apples, but she burnt it, which I didn’t mind because burnt sugar does not smell like garlic. I made the decorations.

“I have movement,” John said and pointed to the underground detection screen, where three green dots flickered in random spots and spotted his pale face. He hadn’t shaved yet, which I liked. He reminded me of my economics teacher, the one who convinced me to join, the best decision of my life, with my parents and sister dead from the war, I had a new family, people to care about, and die for.

“It’s a glitch,” Jake said as he typed into his computer. Glitch or not, he needed to investigate. I put down my half-cut green witch and joined them at the monitors. A quick scan had me agree with Jake, glitch, like the last three times.

“Do I wake Jackie?” I asked, though I dreaded the idea. She needed her rest, or she would not let me sleep tonight. ‘Fair’s fair,’ in her words. And I wanted Halloween. Needed Halloween. Because while I loved the bunker and my bunker family, I disliked the sameness.

“Likely a glitch, pause the protocol,” Jake said and scrolled through the cameras in the outside hallway and inside bunker connectors. Nothing. Just a grey, endless hallway outside our airlock door, and faint red light inside the two access tunnels.

“Nothing, it’s a glitch. Yippee-ki-yay, fuckers,” Jake said in a low voice, quiet enough that he wouldn’t wake Jackie and have her complain about his Die Hard quotes. He always picked that movie on his movie night. At first, we hated it, but Jake’s joy in it rubbed off on us, and now we act out the scenes and copy Willis’ dialogue. John even shaved his head, crawled into the west connector tunnel, and enacted the famous vent scene, complete with an improvised lighter.

“Not a glitch. Those things are not staying still,” John said in a gruff voice that he lowers to sound more official. It suited him.

Time to wake Jackie.

“Time?” Jackie asked as she walked over with a yawn but a sparkle in her eye. The latest person in our squad, who showed up four months ago, made enemies with Jake, who respected our former sergeant, but Jackie soon placated him. I liked her from the moment she arrived, and John liked everyone, though he claimed the reverse.

“Eight to twelve hours estimated,” John said as he typed on the computer. Jackie rested her right hand on his left shoulder and stared at his screen. She didn’t say anything about his beard, nor his non-regulation flower shirt that his brother sent in the last care package drop.