Angel of Fire - Requiem of Lost Souls - Book Two

Blast From The Past

Chapter 16

My ears buzzed from the sound of overhead fluorescent lights that tinged the long, pipe lined corridors an eerie color of green. Certain that I'd been walking in circles for hours, I cursed under my breath for not asking for directions. Drool wasn't kidding when he claimed the bunker was a maze.

I decided to change my tactics. In order to locate an escape route, I started paying more attention to the decaying yellowed signs that still clung to the grim gray walls. One large poster in particular caught my eye because it appeared to be a blue-print of sorts, detailing the infra-structure of the bunker. There were over 150 rooms, including 18 dormitories, a hospital complete with an infirmary, a power plant, a cafeteria, and separate living quarters on five subterranean levels. According to the diagram, and assuming of course that Drool had kept me locked up in the infirmary, if I swung a left at the end of the next hall, I would find the elevator.

Easing down the final corridor, I held my breath and peeked around the corner. As promised, an old-fashioned elevator loomed in the distance. Frozen in the past, the enormous gray steel doors looked more like the opening to a bank vault, but much, much bigger. I reached out and hit the up arrow. The elevator doors swished slowly open, revealing a surprisingly industrial looking metal box. Like stepping inside of a time machine, I pressed a flat black button with a white roman numeral one, and waited to be transported back to the present.

The doors yawned open with a ping, but instead of landing on the ground floor, I stepped out of the elevator only to find another hallway and a sign that read “SHOWERS.” Afraid I'd picked the wrong level, I spun around and made a mad dash for the doors, reaching them too late. I slammed my fist against a bronze face plate with no up or down arrows to push, only a numeric key pad. Since I didn't know the stupid code, I was officially screwed.

With no other option than to keep searching for a way out of this death trap, I gave a huff and headed toward the showers – a place where lucky survivors of a nuclear blast would have come to escape the post-apocalyptic world outside. Beyond the decontamination showers was another huge room that looked like some sort of supply closet, filled to the brim with every style of military type clothing and footwear imaginable.

Happily shedding Carmen's ghastly pink ensemble, I held up the shirt and noticed two holes in the back where my wings must have sprouted from. How on earth I managed not to burn up the entire sparkly thing in the process, was a complete mystery to me. I settled for a pair of green and black camouflage fatigues, then pulled on matching combat boots that had laces instead of buckles.

Once dressed, I took a gamble and continued past the supply room, looking for an exit. Turning a sharp corner to the right, I spotted an oversized blast door – certain now that the only thing standing between me and freedom was 25 tons of reinforced steel. Gripping a round metal wheel, I turned it counter clockwise and manually pulled on the door, surprised at how easily it swung freely open. Closing the door behind me, I noticed a vacuum seal seemed to suck all the air from the next room.

Heart beating out of my chest, I sprinted down one final corridor and shoved open a metal utility door curiously marked with a sign that read, WARNING! High Voltage, obviously posted to keep out curious passer-byes.

Standing in near total darkness with my back pressed up against the door, I inhaled deeply as a welcomed frigid gust of wind slapped my face, chilling me instantly. All I needed now was to find Sebastian.

But he was nowhere in sight.