The Town Bunker

• Alexia Waldron, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2022

"RUN!" Someone yelled at Ryley,
Ryley looked around, not knowing whats going on. She saw who was yelling at her and behind him was a mushroom cloud, she started running away with the guy while others ran into cover. There was a lot of screaming and crying,
"Is everyone okay? There is a bunker under here!" Ryley leaded everyone to the town bunker, meanwhile the radiation sirens went off and then it suudenly stopped. Everyone was shocked and looked around, Ryley could see that the cloud was still there and saw the smoke coming closer. She hurried everyone into the bunker and finally made it in herself,
"Is everyone okay?" Ryley yelled, no one ansered because they were trying to stop the crying. Someone walked up to Ryley,
"Thank you for saving our lives, we didn't even know this existed." The man from the start told her.
"Its alright, i like to help others." Ryley blushed, She went around to give everyone blankets to keep them warm.
"Some of us are hungry already..." A lady said in the back,
"Yeah, my kids are thirsty too." Another lady yelled out.
"Ill get some food from the next room!" Ryley replied, She found out the guys name was Ryan. They joked about their names being so alike.
"Heres some beans and water, we have enough to last us about 2 weeks." Ryley informed everyone.
"I will need to count how many people are down here to please." Ryley asked everyone, Ryley and Ryan counted two-hundred people each including themselves. Ryley did the math quickly and found out nearly one hundred people died or ran into their own bunkers.
"Is there a radio in here? My husband might be out there in his own bunker." A woman asked Ryley.
"Yeah, ill have a look." Ryley replied, Ryan and Ryley were looking everywhere and when they found it, it wouldnt work. The signal was lost from the explosion, and no longer able to reach anyone. Ryley decided to wear a gas mask to be able to look out of the bunker but when she looked she knew she had to go see if anyone was okay. She went down and said to everyone,
"I need to go out and make sure everyone is alright!" as she grabbed the hazmat suit. She got a list of all the people who had been lost in the expolsion to see if she could spot any and took a map to be able to locate all the bunkers. As she walked around she saw the sight of the first bunker, as she walked closer she realised that she heard a cough coming from it. She knocked on the bunker but no one answered, as she expected, She knocked the secret knock and someone with a gas mask popped their head out.
"Who are you?"