Meredith Adams

Dear God, please don't let this be the end. All of your family, friends, teachers, and everybody else could be roasting alive up there while you were safe with your family. You hadn't had enough time to cry yet, but after finally reaching safety, you collapsed on the ground while tears streamed down your cheeks. You felt the hand of someone on your back, your brother you guessed. Your parents were too self-absorbed to give a...now isn't the time to criticize, you thought. Now is the time to come together and survive as a family.

You eventually got up off your knees and wiped the tears away. Thankfully, there weren't any mascara streaks because you rarely wore makeup. Your father never would have approved of it but you didn't want it anyway. You weren't like those harlots at school, especially not like the other cheerleaders. You didn't need makeup, or tight leggings, or short shorts, or low cut shirts to look good. You had something they didn't; natural beauty.

You looked around to find a large open room in front of you. Right near the 100 or so steps that led up to the concrete and metal door was the dining room with a table and about a dozen chairs. To the left was the living room with a couple couches and a TV. To the right was a massive kitchen. There were three fridges and two stoves. Finally, right in front of you were two hallways which had what you assumed were bedrooms and bathrooms.

Your brother's hand was still on your shoulder. You held his hand, looked at him and mouthed "thank you" to let him know you were alright. He gave a weak smile back.

"Well, who knows how long we'll be down here. May as well introduce ourselves. I'm Samuel and this is my daughter Vanessa. I was a cop up until thirty minutes ago." Samuel and his daughter were both gingers. He was going slightly bald but he had a kind face.

"Hi Samuel and Vanessa. I'm Maggy and these are my daughters Susan and Lilly. Susan is in college and Maggy's a secretary, or used to be I should say. I own a farm about thirty miles outside of town where I grew corn and wheat."

"I'm ol' Randy Williams. Used to be a jack of all trades kinda man. Never married and thank god for that."

"The best for last I suppose. I'm a doctor and my name is George. This is my wife Bellinda, a nurse, my son Jake, a college student-athlete, and my daughter Meredith, who was in her last year of high school. If you don't mind, I'm going to take a look around the place to see what we're dealing with."

Everybody seemed to think that was a good idea. You went to the rooms first, where you found each room had a double bed and not much else. The bathrooms were similarly minimalistic; a shower with a glass door, a toilet, and a sink. You heard some talking back out in the main area and headed back that way. You saw everybody heading into a brightly lit doorway near the steps up to the world. The door opened into a gigantic room of hydroponic farms. There had to be a couple of acres in here, you thought. Off of this room was another room with a big metal container and lots of wiring.

"The electricity comes from this here nuclear generator," said Randy as he rapped his knuckles against the metal. "Supposed to last a century. And there's the water pump. It draws from the groundwater and filters it before getting to this tank."

Wow, quite the setup, you thought.

Everybody made their way back to the main room. You noticed how people were still shuffling their feet, still letting it all sink in. Everybody took a seat around the dining room table.

"I guess we'd better figure out the living arrangements then," said Maggy, Susan and Lilly's mom. "With a double bed in each room, we'll have to bunk with one person each."

"We'll also have to shower with someone else to conserve water. We only get 500 gallons of filtered water a day," said Randy.

You shifted in your seat at that. You understood that it had to be done, but it was still awkward nonetheless.