When The sky Burned

One

The room was stuffy and beads of sweat rolled off of Kalen's face. His mocha skin was flushed from the heat of the engine room. The boy had a mop of curly brown hair which he tied back when he worked. Unlike his coworkers, Kalen tried to remain upbeat even when working these awful conditions and would hum to himself. With a sigh he pulled away from the seemingly broken machine, pulling his black gloves off in defeat and shoving them into the waistband of his trousers.

"You good, Kale?" The voice of his friend, Layla, piped up. He looked over to the pale girl. Her long red hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she had grease stains all over her shirt. Kalen sighed heavily, putting a hand against the machine.

"It's just, if the filters in the engine were bad don't you think we would all  be sick?" Kalen looked up towards the vents that allowed small bits of radiation to slip into the air so in the case of humans going Above, they wouldn't die. Layla stopped working and put a hand on her hip.

"I suppose so, but we gotta be sure, I guess." Layla shrugged. She used a gloved hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. The dim room didn't allow for amazing vision, but Kalen could understand that she wanted him to shut up. Kalen chewed his lip as he pulled his gloves back on and began going through the mess of wires.

"Your shift's over Kalen." A voice came from the doorway. Kalen turned to see Alec, a short guy with dark skin and platinum hair that he bleached that color. The boy nodded and took a moment to stretch his now stiff back before heading to the door, high-fiving Alec as he passed. 

Kalen prided himself on his work, he was a wonderful engineer with a brilliant mind. His bedside manner was another matter. He was good socially but he couldn't comfort for his life. So when he headed to medical to check on his father and brother he had no clue what to say. The tall boy walked down the long hallway, hands stuffed into the pockets of his work pants, clenching his jaw. The blinding white lights of the majority of the bunker made him uncomfortable, he preferred the dim yellow lights of the engine room or the soft blue of the water filter room. His father, head physician greeted him as he walked through the door. The dark-skinned man was sick himself but had a continuous sense of duty. Kalen guessed that was where he got it from but could never be sure.

"Doctor Jackson, you're needed." Of he course he was needed. People were dying and Kalen was not helping them. So he went to the bed his little brother was laid in. The boy was in the midst of a violent coughing fit when Kalen approached. The fourteen year-old finally stopped coughing and looked up to Kalen with a pained look on his face. The poor boy had weak muscles and could hardly move or breathe. 

"How are you, Kane?" Kalen tried to begin conversation. 

"Awful." The boy's voice was weak and airy. "At least we get good food here." He tried to joke, but ended up just sputtering himself into another coughing fit. Kalen gave a sympathetic look.

"Well, at least you don't have to go down to the engine everyday." Kalen tried to reason.

"SHut up and tell me a story about the Above." Kane demanded. Kalen chuckled..

"Okay.."