See how the book is called 'Sorry in advance'? This is one of *those* one shots. My only warning is that I've nicknamed this sHELLter. Enjoy.
Each step I took echoed off the polished floors of the near empty airport. It was quite late, so travelers were scarce. The only people roaming the airport besides Scott and I was the occasional janitor or flight attendant.
“I am so ready to head through baggage claim and then go home, I am tired.” I complained, readjusting the bag hanging off my shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be home soon.” He assured, rubbing at his stuffed nose. “I can’t wait to stuff myself with meds and take a nice long snooze.”
I was about to say something along the lines of ‘same, girl’ when the fluorescent overhead lights flickered and an alarm began to blare.
“ALL TRAVELERS PLEASE REPORT TO AN EMERGENCY BUNKER, I REPEAT, ALL TRAVELERS PLEASE REPORT TO AN EMERGENCY BUNKER.” A harsh automatic voice screamed over the intercom. The voice repeated that message like a parrot, and it was beginning to hurt my ears. As soon as I had understood what the message implied, I clung onto Scott’s arm, holding onto him like a lifeline. I didn’t know what was going on, or where to go, but I knew I was scared.
“You two! Over here, follow me!” A blonde flight attendant called to us, waving us over. “Follow me, I’ll take you two down to one of the bunkers.” She took off running, her heels clacking on the floor as she moved. Scott and I struggled to even keep up with her, she moved so fast. Remind me to appreciate flight attendants more.
She led us down some steps into what appeared to be a large corridor in the airports basement. A heavy metal door identified as bunker #7 was open, and the attendant ushered us in.
“Wait in there. I’m going to see if there’s anyone else above ground, I’ll try to be back before the doors close.”
I glanced quickly at the name tag she was still wearing before she took off like a bullet train. “Thank you Sarah! Be safe!” I called after her, but she had already remounted the stairs to the main part of the airport.
I turned back towards the bunker, examining the space we were soon to be trapped in. It was small, and when I mean small, I mean it was a ten by ten foot metal container with a twin sized bed, a sink with what appeared to be a medicine cabinet, and a toilet. I set my bag down on the floor and sat down on the bed, burying my face in my hands. I felt Scott sit next to me and wrap his long arm around my shoulder.
“Scott, I’m scared” my voice trembled as I spoke, and I had to hold back the sobs threatening to erupt from my throat. He reached around to pull me into a tight hug, and I melted into his embrace.
“Mitch…we don’t know what’s going on. For all we know, we’re in no danger whatsoever. Stay optimistic.”
The robotic voice reappeared, wailing a new message. “Bunker doors closing in 60 seconds.”
For some reason, those words shocked me the worst. I sat there, completely helpless, and just cried as the countdown became background noise. Sure enough, the voice reached zero, and the bunker door swung closed.
Sarah hadn’t returned.
“Mitch?” Scott’s tender voice, although still muffled by his blocked nose, broke out through the silence. “We need to figure out what we have in this room, and what we should be doing.”
“Yeah…yeah that sounds like a smart idea.” I sniffled, wiping the tears from my eyes. I opened my bag and pulled out anything I might find useful. Scott did the same.
