“Holy shit!” Hinata yelled as the power went out. It was early in the morning and they were still tired. It was hard to sleep in a bunker while knowing that the world was basically ending outside. Kou got out of bed and climbed up to see if the blonde was okay. She couldn’t see, so she pulled her phone out of her bag and used the flashlight. Her friend was shaking.

“You okay? You seem stressed.” Kou asked from the ladder.

The other girl nodded. “I don’t like the dark. I’m an adult, but I’m scared of it.” She mumbled the last part out of embarrassment.

“Ah. Come down then.” They tiptoed off the ladder and onto the cold metal floor. Kou let out a small sigh of relief as she saw that she was fine.

“Sorry I’m being such a coward.” Hinata leaned against the wall. “I’m just so freaked out and I don’t know what to think… I hope we can leave soon.”

Still using her flashlight, Kou joined Hinata on the wall. “I suppose. We just have to be strong. I would be dead if it weren’t for you. Thank you for letting me stay here, by the way.” A gentle smile was woven on her face.

“No worries.” Hinata laughed. “I wonder if pets are being targeted. We only saw the thing latch onto a human. Even still, parasites don’t normally have the motive to kill. This is quite odd.” The lights flickered back on, and Hinata looked relived.

There was banging on the metal door. Both girls stood up, and they were tense as ever. “Let me in!” A girl screamed.

“We should help her.” Kou said.

“What if she is a burglar?” Hinata thought. “We mustn’t let someone rob our food.”

“Please! If you have a single grain of rice to spare!” The person at the door continued to scream loudly.

“She isn’t going to go away. Hold on.” Kou carefully approached the door. She opened it slightly, and the girl was crying. She had pinkish-white hair. One could say she looked evil with her red eyes, but also innocent due to her round glasses. She had a simple green sundress on. “Come in.”

The door shut behind them. “Hello.” The girl said. “I’m Yuka, 17 year old in retail.” She bowed. “Thank you for letting me in. I will repay you!”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“No problem, kid!” Hinata appeared. “No harm in saving a life. We are trying to ration, but these damn monsters are absolutely brutal. Hope you aren’t a glutton.” She was confident but tense.

“I’m not. I will savor every bite!” Yuka replied. Kou and Hinata were both relieved. The white haired looked over. “My sister and I were out shopping. A monster caught us when we left to go to my car.” She looked down at her feet and sighed. “I couldn’t save her. All I could do was run. I ditched the car, but I still have a few groceries in my backpack.” She pulled out a bag of fresh fruit. After digging around, she also found spinach. “We can share some of these.”

“Wonderful.” Kou clapped. The more variety the better.

Hinata saw Yuka shiver slightly. “You okay? Are you cold?” She nodded. “Alright.” The blonde walked her to one of the bunk beds. “I’m glad I got multiple of these! Never thought I’d have any visitors, but they all came with the place. I’m also glad I bought it.”

“We’d all be dead if you didn’t.” Yuka said as she took her backpack off before getting in the bed. The bedsheets were thin, but better than nothing. They had to be able $20 at the general store. The best redeeming quality of the bed is that it was within the safe walls of a bunker. The bunker where they’d be spending years at this point. “Even still, all our dreams are being confined to a bunker… unfortunate. I can’t believe people actually watched shows of this sort of thing occurring. It’s too tragic.”

“I bet those shows won’t be bought anymore.” Hinata suggested. “Documentaries would probably be traumatizing.”

“Say, how many people do you think have PTSD due to this?” Yuka asked.

A lot, Kou thought. This was nothing like the horror games she liked. Those were about killer clowns or a girl making everyone suicidal. Those were on the computer and a work of fiction. This wasn’t fiction.

“Plenty.” Hinata told her. “Anyway, would you like something to eat? Everyone gets a bit of rice and two slices of apple.” She was very excited to eat fresh fruit. Maybe bringing Yuka in wasn’t a completely horrible idea. But was horrible was Hinata’s motives, in her own opinion. Yuka watched her sister die, and all she cares about is an apple?

She opened a blank page in the notebook she carried. She decided to write a bit with a black pen laying around in her bag.

‘GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU BITCH.’

“Oi, Hinata!” Kou startled her. “Don’t let your apple slices go bad.” If only she knew that Hinata was spiraling at a rapid place. That’s what happens when you are stuck in a metal bunker under a cave during an apocalypse.

She picked up her food and ate it quietly on the floor.

“I’m going to bed.” She said as she climbed the bunker. Kou and Yuka exchanged worried glances, but decided it was a future problem.

A future problem, that’s all it was.