Chapter 6

Well, I may be slow, but downright stupid, I think not. So I didn’t say anything. I just turned on my heal and walked out the door. Power was the name of the game, and right now, I didn’t have any power. No I didn’t think that Greg would have shot me, but there was no sense taking a chance. Greg had surprised me before, and done something I didn’t think he would. I once had a pretty high opinion of him, but that opinion had been lowered during the last few days.

Vowing to myself, that one way or another I was going to get one of those guns. Whatever Carl’s problem was with me, it was getting old. I knew that I surely rubbed him the wrong way, but Jim and Martin had to be a greater threat to him than me. That was the thought going through my mind as I stomped back to my quarters. I had just shut and secured my door when I realized just what Carl’s problem was. Of course I wasn’t a great a threat to him as Jim and Martin. He couldn’t deal with them, but for me, he figured I could be pushed around. Yeah, Jim and Martin, would kill him. He knew that. But me, he could bully and make himself feel better. The two outlaws were a problem that was upsetting his self image, and taking his frustrations out on me, was his way of feeling strong. God, it was school yard crap all over again. I was the whipping boy.

Even as I sat down to my computer, a plan was forming in my head. I would get one of those weapons, whether a rifle or hand gun, I didn’t care which, and I would see to it, that Carl Masson never dumped on me again. It had to be done, because the weather outside was catastrophic and now was not the time to be leaving the Bunker. I needed to stay at least until things warmed up outside. Then maybe I would stand a chance of surviving. Until then, I had to find some way to live down here. With the two outlaws, armed like they were, they posed a huge threat to the rest of us. Maybe they were happy now with the girls that were visiting them, but I didn’t like leaving things hanging like that. I didn’t trust those two, and felt they could turn on us without warning at any time.

The computer had a good lay out of the complex on it. It showed all the passageways and store rooms. The first thing I looked at was the location of the outlaws den or as the girls called it, Paradise Cove. The supply list for the room had plenty of radiated food packs, it seemed like they were stored in just about every store room. It didn’t look like they could be starved out. One thing that did bother me though was that the store room was next to another store room that was approached vie a different passageway. There was no visible plan for a door between the two, but from the floor plan, the wall separating the rooms was not that thick. I could visualize them tearing a hole in the wall and having another way out, or a way to conduct a surprise attack.

I didn’t have a very high opinion of the outlaws intelligence as they had broke into the arms locker and didn’t take all of the guns. Had they done so, they would have been in command of the whole bunker. No one could have resisted. They would have had all the power, and women they wanted. Even though they had made some dumb mistakes, that didn’t mean they would stay stupid. By now they had to know it was an error, not taking all the arms. If they knew how lame Carl was, they could still take over and grab the rest of the weapons.

If they were not as stupid as I thought, there had to be a reason why they only took three rifles. I wondered if there was not another locker. One that Carl was keeping from us. The locker in the Council Room was not listed in every schematic, and layout. It occurred to me that Carl’s quarters might have something there. I had never bothered looking up the place where Carl slept, but now I did. It was down a side corridor just beyond the council room. The lay out I was looking at, didn’t have a listing of contents or what the room looked like. The diagram was blank.

So in that light, it may have been that Jim knew there were more weapons and only took what they could handle. I didn’t know when or how Jim and Martin were part of the overall planning of this bunker, but they knew more about it than I did. Just maybe there was another arms locker. It was something to think about, but it didn’t change anything as far as Carl and I were concern. The fact that he hadn’t armed any one until we insisted on it, had kept us in a bad position. If Jim had decided to attack us, then or since, we would have been wiped out. Now with Dave and Bill having a rifle too, things were better. Not real good but better.

Having studied the floor plans as much as I needed, I grew tired and decided to turn in. My idea was to get some rest, whether I slept or not, and carry out my plan in the middle of the sleeping hours. I again made sure the door was securely locked and even took some metal slats from one of the bunks to wedge through the locking dogs, in case there was some way of opening the door that I didn’t know about. At least with the metal rods, if it didn’t stop them, it would make enough noise, to wake me.

Sometime around two O’clock, I awoke. A check of the clock, showed that it was in fact the middle of the night. I got out of bed and dressed before removing the metal rods from the door. Before opening it, I turned out all the lights including the red night lanterns. I didn’t want any light no matter how faint showing when I opened the door.

Only a slight squeak emitted from the hinge as I slipped through the half opening. The passage way was lit with night lighting, and all the white lights were doused. It was the same way I found it every night when I went to the gym. When I did my work outs, I turned the lighting back on, and off again when I was through. Tonight though I went to the main corridor and headed to the Council Room. In my hand I was carrying the tools of my new trade. A flatten piece of metal from a pen and several needles. Big Needles, along with a metal slider from under the leg of a bunk bed. If all went as I hoped, I would be back in my room in a few minutes with a rifle all to myself.

The council room didn’t have a night light on. I wondered about that. I paused just inside the door, and waited silently. There wasn’t a sound in the room. Nor the feeling that anyone was there. I sniffed the air, trying to detect whether someone was in the room. The way Carl and the others had let their hygiene slip, forgetting to take showers or even wash up, they should be easy to detect. I had been able to smell the men when standing near them yesterday. Now I slowly sniffed the air, trying to detect anything. The night light was near the door, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being set up, before I switched it on.

Not having any reason to doubt that I was alone in the room, I switched on the night light. It’s red glow lit up the room enough that only the corners had shadows, but not deep enough for someone to hide. The damaged door was just like before. I tried to open it as if it wasn’t locked, but it didn’t work. So I took my lock picking kit and went to work. The small metal piece from the pin, was inserted and a slight pressure was applied to the side. Next the needles went in and I began working them up and down, while maintaining pressure to the side with the flatten metal. I tried that for a while, and thought I could detect a subtle change in the lock. Holding the needles in place and the flat metal in my right hand, I was careful to maintain the side pressure. Now with my left hand, I took the Metal slider and soundly wacked the door just above the lock. Nothing happened. Squeezing the needles in place and making sure I still had pressure to the side, I wacked it again, closer to the lock as I could get. This time I felt the lock turn, and added more pressure. The latch clicked and the door swung open.

The locker was empty. That’s what I saw, just an empty locker, with a few boxes of ammo stacked at the back. Without a gun, the ammo was worthless. Disappointment dropped on me like a cold wet blanket. Just disgusted and mad, a rage was starting to fill me. Then as an afterthought, thinking I might find something to do with the ammo, I began pulling the boxes out and wrapping them in my shirt to carry back to my quarters. It was then that my dismal spirit began to soar. Behind the boxes, was another set of boxes. These two boxes had a figure of a hand gun on the side. I wasted no time in grabbing everything and wrapping them up in my shirt. The load was heavy and seemed likely to rip through the fabric of the worn shirt.

Like a scurrying mouse, I was at the door, looking in both directions. Seeing no one, I hurried along back to my room and the security behind a locked door. Once I was sure that no one was inside my room, and I was safe from prying eyes, I unwrapped my loot. The boxes contained two colt revolvers. I was hoping for a Glock or some other automatic weapon, but the revolvers would have to do. Each had a black fabric holster, and some strapping that could be adjusted to fit and carry in several positions. A quick checked showed that the boxes of ammo did indeed go with the weapons. I was the proud owner of two 357 magnums. That made up for them not being autos. I was familiar with that caliber gun, and had fired several over the years. I owned one, and it was probably still in my room back at the apartment. These were bigger, had a longer barrel, six inches at least. They would be accurate at a longer distance then my old one.

Holding them both, I felt safe and secure for the first time since I’d been in the bunker. Before climbing back in bed, I loaded both weapons and filled the ammo pouches attached to the holster and straps. Then took the rest of the ammo and stuck in under the mattress of the other bunk. It left a slight lump, but since there wasn’t suppose to be anyone in here except me, I figured it would be somewhat safe. Then after cleaning up and hiding the empty boxes, I slid under the covers. With one revolver under my pillow, and the other by my side, I decided to catch up on my sleep.

A constant beeping brought me out of deep slumber. Why was the noise continuing and how did it start. I rose out of my bed and in the dim red hued night light, I saw that the hour was five thirty in the morning. I sure hadn’t got to sleep very long. The noise was coming from my door, so I went to it and felt it’s surface. The door was metal, and if there was a fire, I would have felt the heat. I still didn’t know what the beeping was from. For all I knew it could be a smoke alarm of some type. The door was cool, so I unlocked the door and backed the secured dog off enough that I could open it up a little. Just enough to see who was on the other side, if anyone.

What I saw was Violet Collins standing there, a raised eyebrow and a confident expression on her face. “We need to talk.”

“Again?” I said, remembering our earlier chat several days before. Still I was curious as to what she needed to talk to me about. I opened the door wider for her to enter, and remembered that my guns were still in my bed. If anyone had been standing to the side of Miss Collins, those guns wouldn’t have done me much good back on the bed. “nother mental note, AMake Sure I have my weapons when I open the door.”

Violet came in and waited for me to close the door and lock it. Rather than sit in one of the computer chairs, I sat back on my bed. I wanted to stay close to my revolvers. She took a seat on the opposite bunk after first making sure the public address system above the door was turned off.

“I know your having problems with Carl Masson.” she started. “You’ve cut off the girls, you’re not refereeing, and I was wondering when you’re thinking of leaving us.”

“I’m not leaving, at least not until the weather warms up.”

“What about the radiation? Aren’t you concerned about your safety, being exposed to all that fallout?”

“The radiation levels are not much higher than before.” I informed her. “ Fall out, has been washed away with the rains, and any left will probably be gone when the snow melts. Places Like Portland, Salem, where the missiles hit, well that’s another story. I don’t plan on visiting ground zero. So I’m not concerned about radiation.” I tried to sound confident, but there were a few details that I wasn’t sure of, but wasn’t about to go into them.

“It’s been my understanding, the radiation will last for years.” Violet was speaking softly. Her questions were an opportunity for me to relieve her fears of a world poisoned with nuclear fallout and all kinds of radioactive pollution. “How will you survive in such an environment?”

“The same way we have always survived.” I explained. “By planting crops, fishing, hunting, and keeping warm.” Motioning around with my hand, “ There aren’t enough supplies or anything else here to last forever, and I’m certainly not going to be putting up with Carl or anyone else telling me what I can and can’t do.”

“Yes, he does have a certain lacking of common sense.” Violet smiled knowingly. “That is partly why I wanted to talk to you.” She paused for a moment and then asked. “When you leave, are you going by yourself, or are you taking anyone with you?”

“Like I said, it will be a while before I leave, but no, I haven’t thought about taking anyone with me.”

“If conditions are really as bad as we think. You know you can’t survive by yourself.” She finished with the shake of her head, emphasizing the negative.

“Why do you think that?” I was put on alert, because all the scenarios that I had studied on the computer, had stressed that point. A man alone stood very little chance of making it. It would take people working together, helping and sharing tasks. Surviving would be constant work and only with several people would it be possible to live with any comfort. Alone, a man would primarily be doing all he could just to feed himself.

“I have control over all the computers. The main frame is located, next to the theater. I can snoop on the activity of any computer in the complex. I know what you’ve been studying, and what you haven’t been doing.” her news floored me, and I had no response. “I have to say, I am very impressed with you. I think we need you more than you need us, but your alone and we do have the girls.”

Was I hearing right, was she offering the girls to me? My thoughts must have been reflected in my faces, for Violet laughed a little to herself. “Now, now, don’t be shocked. I know some of the girls have been sneaking out and sleeping with the men. Sleeping with everyone except you. Oh, right.” she corrected herself. “Greg is sleeping with Anna. So he doesn’t count.”

“How do you know all this.” I was impressed to say the least. She was going down the list, and telling me everything I had learned, the Part of Greg sleeping with Anna I didn’t know. I suspected he was keeping company with an older woman instead of the girls, but I didn’t know who.

“For one thing Robert, I am not blind. I could see things were going on. Besides, I heard you telling Carl and the others what you saw, and figured out.” Seeing another puzzled look on my face, cause I knew no woman had been in the area when I talked to Carl and the others, Violet explained that she had bugged the communication room and several other rooms a long time ago. She knew that the men were planning to use the girls as breeding material, and just plain sexual pleasure.

“It was just a defensive action on my part. After all, who wants an old woman like me around. Oh I kept a lot to myself, but now I have to take some action. I know that you are Armed, and believe it or not, I’m all for it. You’re going to need those guns very soon.”

My mind was racing ahead, was Violet talking about the outlaws or Carl and his do nothing friends. Where was this threat coming from? I wondered. It was all I could do to refrain from telling her to hurry up and name the threat.

“Carl is planning on having you shot. He thinks you’re going to take over the Bunker.” She said as I shook my head, indicating that I had no ambitions. “Doesn’t matter what you really intend, it’s what he thinks. He just turned in after ranting to Dave and Bill the need to wait until you are in the shower and then both of them will kill you.”

“What about Greg, what is his part?”

“Greg didn’t want any part of it. Matter of fact, he said they needed you and should think about what you said. But Carl insisted you are a threat to all of them and need to be eliminated.”

“When is this suppose to happen?”

“The next time you take a shower. It will be easier to clean up. You know, wash the blood and gore away.” this last Violet chuckled. “Now you know ... Fore warned is fore armed.”

Thinking all this over, I knew I had to come up with a plan of my own. I didn’t really want to do any killing, but it was beginning to look like it was my only option. I was glad to learn that Greg wanted no part of it, but yet he wasn’t here warning me. After his part of conducting me to the council room where I was accused of breaking into the Arms locker, I didn’t expect much of Greg. It was good news, but it wasn’t enough to trust him?

Dave and Bill, I just couldn’t see them, doing this on their own. I mean, if Carl hadn’t told them to do it, would they have ever come up with this on their own. Sure they were only going to carry out Carl’s orders, but should I hold them accountable for that. I was trying to figure out, if I removed Carl, would I still need to do anything with Dave or Bill. Maybe not? But if they are willing to go along with it, then how can I trust them?

The troubling thought was that if I hit them first and took all three out, what was to become of everyone in the bunker. There would only be Greg and the two outlaws left. I was beginning to think none of it mattered. From what I’d learned, half the girls were sleeping around anyway. Was I just plain stupid to worry about those things when really all I should do is get rid of those wanting to kill me. Take them out first and let the future take care of it’s self. Still, the nagging problem was, I didn’t want to kill anyone, for any reason.