Robert Moore listened quietly from his customary position at the back of the crowd. His expression was quite grim and there were flickers of annoyance and disgust on his face. The bunker commander had pulled out the hero speech. To Robert, it sounded like pretty words meant to manipulate. He hated manipulation, he hated lies, and this felt like a lot of manipulation and at least a little lying.
The position to save the human race, my ass! We aren't saviors, and we sure aren't heroes.There was just something about those words that rubbed him the wrong way, and perhaps he was reading too much in the words. Whatever the case was, he didn't like this speech one bit from it's opening line. As for the food running out, he felt a chill go down his spine. He'd felt it, felt like the food would have to run out eventually. From what he'd seen of the bunkers, it wasn't built to be sustainable for the long-term. A pity, because he certainly didn't like the idea of going outside.
He hadn't been aware that there were nuclear reactors in Oklahoma, but then again he'd never been interested in this sort of stuff. Even if there weren't, the winds could carry radiation, maybe there was some facility in another nearby state, the asteroids themselves probably also carried radiation. But depending on the radiation... it could take decades for the area to become safe. He wished he'd paid more attention in his science classes. Knowing more about half-lives could have been useful, but then again, he'd never thought this would happen.
Robert tuned in again once the hubbub had died down enough for him to hear the commander. One of the downsides of being in the back was that he'd have to strain his ears to hear over others. He listened quietly to the rest of the speech and tried to digest it. He'd known about the earthquakes, those had shaken the bunker. The tremors, things falling, it was pretty terrifying. Fortunately the bunker had held and while some gigantic cracks were formed and there was some rubble... there hadn't been too many casualties.
A stray thought about a gigantic super volcano crossed his mind. It was somewhere in the northern US, and from what he'd heard that one would, if it ever became active again, bury a great deal of the US in ash. From what he'd heard, gigantic quakes could in fact trigger it. Another concern then. If he was going out, he might need something to cover his nose and mouth.
Robert raised a brow towards the end of the commander's little speech. Oh, here was some measure of honesty. An admittance that life was very, very fragile, and that there was no other option. The speech ended, the commander stepped back, and people began to push for the doors.
Robert suppressed the urge to snort or sigh as he watched them for a moment and turned his back. He was going to grab his stuff. He'd been picked up as he was coming back from a hiking trip, so at the very least he had some of his gear. What he'd been carrying was a multi-day pack that could carry 65 liters for his trip.
He began to tally up what he'd need for this excursion he had no choice but to go on. There weren't any real good options here. He'd need to pull his own weight, because when food was running low, things would get nasty, especially for slackers. If there was radiation or diseases or some other thing, it was going to be brought back into the bunker anyways, and with people packed so close... well, good luck on getting by unscathed.
He had his pack, a couple water filters, a platypus water bladder, two types of water purifying tablets, a first aid kit, a compass, a multi-tool...
He'd missed the hiss of escaping air as the bunker was unsealed, but he certainly didn't miss the sudden sounds of distress and gasping. He turned back to see what was going on, and his eyes widened with horror.
Some people, especially the elderly ones, had begun to gasp and choke, their faces turning shades of red and purple. He felt the blood drain out of his face. A sharp intake of breath and he could smell it, a rank odor of pollution, smoke, a whiff of sulfur, a hint of decay, and a great deal of other things he couldn't recall the names of at the moment. That whiff was enough, he held his breath, and froze for a moment, trying to decide whether to rush over and drag those people back, or run for his pack and try to put his camp towel around his face in a trivial attempt to protect himself.
He chose his pack.
The life savers' dilemma, or something like it. It was the reason why you were supposed to put your oxygen mask over your face first before you helped another on the plane. A dead man could help no one.
He found his towel and with shaking hands, rummaged for his water bottle. There wasn't much in it, but he didn't hesitate to pour some water over the towel just in case it could help some. He pulled it over his face and fumbled over the knot.
Easy... easy... Stay calm. Breathe in. Breathe out. He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. The faster his heart beat, the more he strained himself, the more air he'd need and the faster whatever was in the air would enter his body.
Then he used his kerchief to tighten the lower part of the towel around his neck.
Damn, what if the air outside is acidic?That faint sulfur smell might mean it was. It might not be a bad idea to protect his skin. He rummaged through his things and managed to find a long-sleeved base-layer and pulled it on quickly. If only he'd had something to protect his eyes, but he didn't. He just hoped it'd help.
He briefly tried to go over emergency procedures, but his mind continued to run in panicked circles. He steadied himself, and remembered to grab the first aid kit. He smiled wryly to himself. He had to be very panicked to forget the first aid kit. He didn't know if it'd help, but just knowing he had it, even if some of the stuff in it had expired, helped a little. He gathered some wet cloths in a plastic bag and returned to the entrance. He'd have to see how many he could save.
He lengthened his stride as he saw the entrance-way. People were down on the ground twitching and flailing. They were going to hurt themselves.
Robert cursed mentally. He was terrified. He was only fifteen.
People were possibly dying right in front of him. What was he supposed to do? He felt nauseous and he could feel his insides shrink with anxiety. As he reached the first person he came to, he felt a tingle on his skin. Whether it was from the air, a placebo effect, or the chills he was getting, he hadn't a clue. His eyes smarted, but was it from the air or the urge to cry? The answer was the same as the one before. He didn't know.
He reached out to the nearest person on the floor to drag him back. He could only hope the fellow was unconscious. As he did, he saw a trail of liquid and noted a wet stain on the man's pants.
It took all his self-control to not just drop the man on the floor when it occurred to him the man might be dead. Trembling, he checked for the pulse in the man's neck. There was nothing.
His mind ran in terrified circles as he considered CPR and looked up to see another person go still.
There was no time.
He dropped the arms of the man he was dragging and took a step forward. His legs were shaking, but he quickly moved towards those who were still clearly alive and struggled to drag them away from the entrance. Most of them didn't make it all the way back, and so he gently laid them down where they were, and went back. Before, he'd started out with the weakest, because they needed help more desperately. However, after a few times, he realized that if he was going to save anyone, he'd better try to save the strong ones first. Those ones had the best chances of survival.
He picked someone who looked like they were doing better then the rest, wrapped a towel around their face despite their initial struggles, and warned them to try to breathe in as little as possible until he got them further away. Whether they listened to him or not wasn't his concern now. He just needed to get them as far away from the entrance as possible, and hoped that this time, the person would live.
@Wick @King Tai @MissCapnCrunch @RumikoOhara @Kyrisse @Spinosaurus
