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fifty five . . . the aftereffects ( may 16, 2150 — second dawn bunker )
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46 DAYS LATER ...
PRAIMFAYA HAPPENED JUST over a month ago. Forty-six long, devastating days underneath the ground in the Second Dawn Bunker. Cullen wished she could say things were looking up since the death wave came and entrapped them underground, but she felt like she was dying all over again. They weren't able to make contact with their friends on the Go-Sci Ring, no matter how many times they had tried. And, even if they wanted to, they tried and failed to open the bunker door — it was like Cullen had thought: the tower of Polis had to have collapsed onto the temple, leaving miles and miles of rumble on top of the bunker. Which, inevitably meant, they weren't getting out, and if someone was coming to rescue them, it was going to take a lot longer than five years for that to happen.
If she thought about it thoroughly, things could be a lot worse. They were surviving in the Second Dawn Bunker, living as one clan with the Grounders who were slowly adapting to Octavia's way of living. They truly were Wonkru, but Cullen couldn't help but think about what the next five years could bring them. Protests. Uprisings. Rebellions. They were thoughts only Cullen seemed to consider, as everyone else was simply thankful that Octavia had saved them from dying. She supposed that was enough for now, but the Grounders didn't have the disadvantage of constantly having to worry about the future, not just what will happen tomorrow. Someone had to think logically, and Cullen hated the fact that person was her.
The worrying seemed to take Cullen's pain away. Guilt, for stealing somebody else's spot in the bunker. Shame, for not sticking to Abby's wish to be on the other side of the bunker door when Praimfaya came. Heartbreak, for not knowing whether her friends made it to the Go-Sci Ring. She carried a lot of burdens for little to no reason, but found them creditable to fill the void that was left in her chest — Cullen seemed to think that if she worried about everyone but herself, the ache would eventually go away. She would begin to enjoy life again, instead of dragging herself from one day to the next.
From what Cullen had heard from Abby when they sat at dinner, half of their rations on their trays, things were going to get a lot worse before they got even remotely better. According to the people that ran the hydrofarm, and those who discovered there was no other way out of the bunker except the one exit that was blocked off by the rubble, the hydrofarm wasn't going to keep them alive longer than five years. That was why Octavia cut them down to half rations, and why their jobs were about to get a lot more difficult.
