The Long Dark: A Survivor's Tale

Prepper's Cache

I stumbled slightly, my aching legs nearly taking the opportunity to give out and land me face first in the snow. Once I'd regained my balance, I looked back at the object I had tripped over. Barely sticking up out of the ground, was a metal wheel, or some kind of valve. Curious, I brushed off some of the snow. The valve was attached to a metal plate. I cleared off more of the snow and fully revealed a hatch of some kind, rising out of the earth below. It looked almost like the entrance to once of those old fallout shelters from the 50's. With that idea in mind, I excitedly began to twist the wheel, the rusted and weathered metal screeching in protest to being used for the first time in God knows how long.

The aged wheel gave some resistance to turning, but after a few forced rotations, it spun around like butter. Excitement rising in my chest, I pulled the hatch open with a grunt. Below me was a pitch black pit with a metal ladder descending into the bunker. I pulled a flare from my bag and lit it, dropping it down into the hole. Thankfully, it wasn't an empty cavern that led into the depths of hell but a concrete shelter. I climbed down and took in the room. It was small but functional. It had a bed, quite a few shelves and lockers and the distinctive symbol of a fallout shelter, letting me know that this place SHOULD be able to protect from something as horrific as nuclear war. But the more important question was: Can it protect me from this (ironically) frozen hell?

The place was stocked. I took inventory of the supplies:
• 5 gallons of Kerosene
• 10 liters of purified water
• 4 boxes of .308 rifle rounds
• 5 cans of Pork and Beans
• A knife
• An axe
• plenty of first aid equipment
• 5 cans of condensed milk
• 5 cans tomato soup

The first aid kit grabbed my attention the most. I needed to amputate my frostbitten fingers. If only this bunker had some alcohol to take the edge off. Shaking, I sat down on the bed with the hatchet, painkillers, a sewing kit, a roll of bandages and some Hydrogen Peroxide. My heart was racing and my mind was screaming that I shouldn't do it. But I had to. I could either remove them, or battle Gangrene. What scared me the most, was the fact I didn't have any sort of anesthetic. I closed my eyes and sat quietly, trying to calm myself down, but how do you relax when you're about to cut off your own fingers? I sat for a moment before taking a deep breath and shakily picking up the small hatchet, bringing the blade down onto my frozen fingers.