Chapter 3: The Day the World Ended

“And what are the names of your passengers?” the woman asked.

“Heather Chapsman and Christopher Woodsen,” Francis answered.

“We received a message from your father. I’m assuming you have the package?”

“Yes, I brought it with us.”

“Please pull ahead and park anywhere,” the woman ordered.

Francis pulled into a parking space. Two cars had arrived before them. One was a black SUV with two people in their late seventies inside while the other was a red sports car with a young couple in their early thirties inside. The older family walked up to the teens and greeted them.

“Well, hello. I’m glad to see such youngsters this interested in history,” said the old man, shaking Chris’ hand.

“I didn’t think anyone could be more interested in this kinda stuff than my good pal Francis,” said Chris, slapping Francis hard on the back, almost knocking him over. 

“Good to see. We just wanted to come and meet some of the people we will be staying with,” said the old man. “You seem like good kids. My name is Maxwell by the way, but you can call me Max, and this here is my wonderful wife Carmella.”

“It really is a pleasure to meet you,” Carmella said.

A blue sedan pulled up next to Francis. Two kids, who looked to be slightly younger than Heather, emerged from the car. The girl had blonde hair with a purple streak on one side. She was wearing headphones and seemed to be oblivious to her surroundings. She was followed by an enthusiastic boy a year younger than his sister. He had thick black hair and a thin body.

“When mom said we needed to spend time together, I thought she meant going out to lunch, not go to some dirty old bunker in the middle of the woods,” the girls said.

“Nicole Ashley, if you do not lose that attitude, I will make sure that damn phone stays here,” scolded a middle-aged man, climbing out of the driver’s seat.

“Middle name, huh? You’ve really done it now,” laughed her brother.

“Shut it, Evan,” shouted Nicole.

Max and Carmella left Chris, Francis, and Heather and went over to the other family.

“Man, you’re even prettier up close,” Evan said from behind Heather.

“What the hell!” exclaimed Heather as spun around and jumped into Chris, knocking him over.

“Sorry for scaring you. My name is Evan, Evan Feltzler,” Evan said, extending his arm to help Chris up.

“It’s fine,” said Heather, whose face was still red from embarrassment.

Francis looked down at his watch. It was 10:28. The tour was supposed to begin at 10:30. The woman at the guard station walked to the front of the small crowd and addressed them. “Hello everyone. My name is Joleena, and I’ll be your guide for today. I just want to give a few reminders before we go in. Please don’t touch anything. There will be absolutely no flash photography. Everything in there is exactly the way they left it. Lunch will be at noon and after that I will allow you to explore freely.”

Joleena turned around and walked to the door. There was a keypad under the handle. Francis watched the numbers get punched in and memorized them. “0,4,1,6,2,8” He noticed something unusual about them. They represented a date. Today’s date. April 16th, 2028. He leaned over to Chris and whispered, “Hey. I just watched her put a code in the door.”

Chris whispered back, “So.”

“The code is zero, four, sixteen, twenty-eight that’s today’s date. Doesn’t that seem a little fishy?”

“Stop being suspicious about everything and have fun,” Chris said.

“You’re right,” replied Francis.

The door opened slowly, accompanied by the sound of metal grinding. Joleena led the group into the bunker. Francis grabbed the box and carried it inside and placed it Joleena told him to. The door led to a long corridor with an elevator at the end with a few supply rooms on either side of the hallway. Unlike what Chris expected, the structure was clean and well maintained. The walls were a dark grey. Along the bottom of the walls, small rectangular lights lit up the walkway. Circular lights were mounted in the center of the ceiling, three feet apart.

“This is the main corridor on the top level of this bunker. To prepare for any doomsday events, the people behind this place designed suited that could withstand the harsh outdoor environment,” Joleena said.

She opened the first door on the left. Inside there were rows of black suit that almost looked like thin space suits. For being a historic bunker, Chris thought these suits seemed a too high tech.

Joleena led the group into the large freight elevator. Everyone fit in the elevator with enough arm and leg room to be comfortable.

After about five minutes, the elevator opened, revealing another long corridor. Along this corridor were doors that led to different rooms. The doors were made of a light colored wood with a small window in the center towards the top. Next to each door was a bronze label with the name of each room on it. At the end of the corridor was a T-junction with hallways on either side. The walls in this section were a lighter shade of grey than the top had. The light fixtures remained the same between the top and the bottom.

Joleena opened the first door, which led to what appeared to be a conference room. In the center of the room, there was a large wooden table with about fifteen chairs around it. In the middle of the table sat what looked to be a hologram projector. Around the table were many files, most of them looked the same. Chris saw Francis, who was at the tail end of the group, take one file while no one was looking. He watched Francis slide to the back as far away from Joleena as possible. Out of curiosity, Chris fell back with him. Chris noticed the shocked expressions coming from Francis.

“What are you reading there that’s so interesting?” Chris asked.

“Here, see for yourself. Look at the project overview, then look at the last page,” said Francis, handing Chris the file behind his back.

Chris looked at the cover of the file. [Project Humanity’s Last Resort]. As instructed, he flipped to the last page of records.

The last date in the records was April 14th, 2028. The fourteenth was last Friday. Chris read the first few lines. “Today we finished preparations for Project HLR. Despite our warnings, Daniel Shirker insisted on setting the launch date for Sunday, April sixteenth, 2028. All 150 Noah’s Ark will be filled. To all reading this, welcome to the new world.”

Chris recalled what he read on the outside of the bunker just above the door. “No-a-’s A-k #151”. Chris could fill in the blanks to figure out that the sign said, “Noah’s Ark #151”. He turned to the project overview page as the group made their way to the armory in the next room.

“Project Humanity’s Last Resort, HLR, funded by Daniel Shirker, was a secret government operation that served as a reset button for the world. It would trigger a chain of natural disasters that would wipe out all of humanity. In order to restore life after the event. Project HLR established around 151 bunkers across the United States to hold both people and animals during the events of this project and release them once the state of the planet returned to a suitable environment to live in. These bunkers were known as Noah’s Arks. Between the 151 bunkers, Project HLR planned to save up to one million citizens ranging from the age of 16-30 to restart the population. These people were to be healthy and fit, with no hereditary illnesses or conditions. There were also older people selected within various occupations such as healthcare and government to care for and lead the survivors in the new world.”

Chris closed the file and held it against his side. “If all of this is true. That means the world will end today,” Chris thought.

The group had now passed through the medical room and visited the workshop. Joleena stopped in the middle of the room and addressed the group again.

“This was used to make repairs and to build additional tools and supplies. In the back storage room. You would find the supplies that they used.”

One thing seemed off about this bunker to Chris. Everything seemed new and up to date. It wasn’t very fitting of an old abandoned bunker.

The group left the main corridor and turned left down the secondary corridor perpendicular to the main. They walked to the end of the hallway and entered a door on the left. The concrete paths were now bright brown dirt roads. Four acres of fertile farmland filled the room. Along the walls of the farm were two wooden doors that lead to two storage rooms.

“Well, we seem to be a little short on time. Let’s go take our lunch break now and we’ll meet up afterwards,” Joleena said.

They walked back to the cafeteria. Ten picnic bench like tables filled the room. There was a counter at the far end with a kitchen behind it.

Chris was feeling uneasy about the whole situation. He looked over at Francis. Francis seemed to be beside himself as well.

“Chris, are you feeling ok? You look lost in space,” Heather asked.

“Something feels off about this place. After lunch, go to the conference room and read one of the files,” Chris replied.

“Why?” Heather asked.

“Those files say something bad will happen today.”

“What do you mean, something bad?”

Before Chris could answer the question, the ground began to vibrate. At first, it sent a numbing sensation through Chris’ body. Chris wasn’t the only one who noticed the vibrations. Chris grabbed Heather's sleeve. “We need to get out of here,” he said calmly. “I believe I read in that file that the armory was double reinforced. We should go there.”

The vibrations turned into gentle shaking. Chris could sense the panic in the air. Chris pulled Heather out of the cafeteria, down the hall, and into the armory.

Chris looked out the barely open door. Joleena and the young woman boarded the elevator. Her husband tried to board with them, but they pushed him back. The doors closed, and the elevator ascended. Chris closed the door and pushed himself up against a shelf. The shaking gradually got more intense over the timeframe of one minute until it was so violent Chris could stand. Heather crawled over next to Chris and whispered something inaudible.

“Why don’t you wait to tell me when I can hear better,” Chris shouted. “And don’t worry, we will survive this.”

Heather wrapped her arms around Chris. He could tell she was scared, or maybe he was picking up on his own fear. 

Every action he had committed on this planet: the good, the bad, the ones done in secret, and the ones done in broad daylight; no longer had meaning. All of the people he knew, no longer had meaning. He could only imagine the pain the people were going through on the surface. People were losing their families right in front of them. People were dying by the billions.

A piece of metal fell off the shelf and hit Chris in the back of the head and knocked Chris unconscious. Chris collapsed on the ground. Moments later, the cables supporting the elevator snapped. The elevator fell to the ground with both women still inside.