The Last Flower on Earth

The Bunker, the Safest Place on Earth

"Here we have the kitchen, you've already well established yourself here. I.e., when you ransacked my fridge and made a great first impression." She looked off to the side and rubbed the back of her head. I can't stay mad at her, she's precious, like a flower.

"Over here is the living quarters."

"Yeah, I noticed your vast collection of books and movies. How many do you have?"

"One hundred and twenty-eight individual books, two hundred and twelve movies, and one hundred and thirty-four discs of shows." She was not expecting such a swift reply. "I have watched every movie at least thrice, every show at least twice and every book at least twice. I can rehearse the entirety of A Silent Voice from heart."

Her face was one of shock, but not concerned shock. More impressed. "I love A Silent Voice! It has to be one of my favourite movies of all time!"

"Hoo, that saves me a lot of humiliation. Let's move on."

"Humiliation?" She seems confused.

"Look at the collection, I'm a total nerd, I've even written down how many times I've watched 'em" I waltz away and into the dining room.

Emma crouches down to analyze the collection deeper. "Two, three, two, four... sixteen! That's not even for A Silent Voice! That's a show!" She pulls it out and scans over the cover.

"Told you, I have a lot of spare time."

"But... it's a girl show?"

"Oh Emma, young naïve Emma, that is one of the darkest shows I know, a true psychological thriller. We can watch it later if you're interested."

She puts it back. "I don't do good with horror, I'll pass."

She joins me in the dining room, or behind the couch. "This is where I'm supposed to eat, but in actuality, I eat in front of the TV."

"Makes sense, I'd do the same thing."

I transition to my magnum opus, the Garden. I was originally going to call it Eden like in that book every hotel seems to have but I just settled with 'the Garden'. "If I'm not binge-watching or outside I'm probably in here."

When Emma walks in she is blown away by the sheer size of it all, the rows and rows of prospering life. "All year-round. They never die."

Emma walks between the rows of flora, admiring every detail she can. "How? How is it year long?"

I motion that I don't know.

"Well, aren't you at least a bit curious?" She continues looking at the crops and flowers.

"You can eat bread without knowing how to bake it." I walk over to her. "Since it works I don't question it, as pondering such a thing isn't worth my efforts."

As we leave the garden, she carefully picks a raspberry and tosses it into her mouth.

"If you don't want to tell me your life story it's fine." I stop in the middle of the hall. "I know we just met, but it can't just be a coincidence that a wire broke and forced me to the surface at the exact time you collapsed. And you just happened to choose this direction to walk, I hope you can understand my speculation."

"Do you believe in fate Connor?"

I turn around to face her. "Fate? Well, I guess. I've seen things I can't reasonably explain, hard to believe, but one thing I do believe is that something exists beyond death and I'm not allowed to see it yet."

Emma smiles. "Well, I thought I was supposed to be the mystery one, but I guess we both have secrets to keep." I smile back.

"As long as you don't kill people, you're fine to stay." I continue walking down the stairs, past the framed photos of people I barely recognize.

"Who are these people? Were they your family?"

"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. It's been far too long." I continue walking past them, not paying much mind, I'd much rather not think about them. Emma looks over the photos and follows me downstairs.

"This entire floor is just bedrooms and the rec room, and I have also taken to collecting games of all sorts." The pool table stands in the center of the room. As a pair of TVs lines one of the walls.

Emma walks further into the room as I don't step past the seam binder. "On some of my expeditions out I found hard drives from old computers and laptops, as you can see on the pool table. I also have games for the consoles connected to the TVs." Emma's mind appears blown by the sheer quantity of stuff.

I let Emma walk around the room for as long as she wants. Watching her fills me with an emotion, she is so pure of heart, so undamaged from the catastrophes of life. I don't deserve her.

"If you've had enough time in this room, we can go to the garage." I stare at the row of doors lining the wall, each with scratched-out plaques.

"This place is really cool, I'm surprised that a lot of these are still running."

I smile. "I maintain them to the best of my ability."

Emma leaves the room and follows me to the basement. To my surprise, she didn't think twice about following an almost complete stranger into the bottom floor of a bunker.

The room was full of thick steel pipes and numerous water coolers and heaters. "The water is pulled from what once was a nearby river. Unlike what it sounds like there is still water being pumped in and out, but the large water storages and filters are literal lifesavers." Since there isn't much to really see since it's all blacks, greys, and desaturated blues we stand in the same places.

"What's that door?" Emma points to a rusted door.

"It's locked really tight, I haven't been able to open it," Emma wiggles the doorknob to no avail, "I also wonder what's on the other side, a teleporter to a space station, a time machine, a massive turret gun."

Emma steps back while squinting for any faults in it. "I've been here for over half a decade, I've wailed on that door and it hasn't budged." She steps back beside me.

"Let's head back upstairs, I forgot to show you the garage." I hate it down here, so lifeless and cold. It's dead down here.