Venus Part 2

Chapter Two

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

-Socrates

We headed outside to meet Vincent inside the bunker. To the onlooker, it looked like a large garden shed. Still no clue how our parents could have even afforded something that I once deemed useless. It was around lunchtime so the sun was high in the sky. I lit a cigarette on our walk towards the bunker. I hoped Estella didn’t mind but my nerves were fried. How many more COVID Zombies were out there? Was it just the few? Are more people walking up dead? I finished up my cigarette very quickly. Thank God I had a nicotine vape tucked away in my backpack.

As we approached the bunker, Vincent’s head appeared from the doorway. “I think Dad restocked it here not too long ago.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged just as confused as I was. I gestured to the doorway and looked at Estella. “After you.” She looked like she was going to pass out. I was worried about her. She was too young to understand what was really going on.

Vincent smiled. “Come on kid, I’ll show you around the place.” They quickly ducked inside. I sighed and followed them both inside, shutting the door quickly behind me. The neighbours might become suspicious if I left the door open. Dad knew the combination so he was able to get inside when he come’s back home. I wasn’t sure if Mom was going to be able to come home from the hospital at all.

This seems like a waste of time honestly. I would much rather be curled up reading my Ebook on the leather couch in the basement than potentially scarring our cousin for life with my Dad’s lunatic behavior.

Just then my phone rang. It was my Mom. I quickly answered. “Hello?”

“Venus.” She breathed. “It’s good to hear your voice.”

I could have damn near cried. “What exactly is going on up at the hospital Mom? Dad told us to get into the bunker. Is he just being insane or is it actually something we should be worried about?”

She sighed heavily. “Venus I only have a few minutes and then I have to get back to work. But yes. A doctor was attacked by a dead body. He was pronounced dead for over fifteen minutes and then as they were working on detaching him from life support, the doctor was bitten. He had no heartbeat. The hospital is under lockdown now. Nobody comes in or out other than the military. The patient had died of COVID but I still don’t quite know how to describe what's going on. The doctor attacked is now in critical condition and in an isolated containment room.”

“What do you mean?” I interrupted.

“He was on life support. There’s no way he could have still been alive.” She told me solemnly. I watched a bird perch gently on the top of the bunker. As if that was some form of sign that I should be inside for my own safety.

“Mom, what does this mean?” I asked again.

She sighed. “I don’t know Venus. I don’t have any answers for you at all. The only thing I know is, I might not make it home.”

I just realized how crazy all this sounded. But I was so sure that my dad was right about the end of the world coming. “I love you Mom.” is all I could manage to say.

“And I love you Venus. I gotta go back to work now. Tell your brother that I love him too, okay?”

“Okay Mom, I will.” And that was it. I hung up the phone and just sighed. COVID really fucked the world up. I took a good look around at the world around me, and decided just to appreciate my dad’s lunacy and head inside the bunker.

Once inside, I locked the steel door behind me. Cell service was spotty down here but calls could come through. Dad had a CB radio hooked up too so we could communicate that way. I was freezing already even though I was wearing my oversized sweater. Mom and Dad had a code so they could get in if need be. If this gets bad, I wanted to be prepared. I headed inside the main entrance and down the stairs to the underground bunker area. Dad had thought of everything. Most of our yard was a secret bunker but nobody really knew anything about it. There were three sets of bunk beds all lined up along the one wall. There was a steel picnic table in the center of the room and shelves packed full of supplies on the wall opposite of the beds. The bathroom had a shower that was semi functional as long as the water tank didn’t run dry. The kitchen area was kind of small compared to what my parents had inside their house. The box of canned goods were sitting out on the counter and Vincent and Estella were pulling out a board game of some sorts from the cupboard. I kind of felt stupid for being down here instead of in our house but I wanted to listen to what Dad had to say. I threw my bag down on one of the beds and just sighed. I wanted to tell them how I was feeling but I didn’t want to make the wrong choice here. This was a delicate situation, even I knew that.

“Hey Vin, Mom called. She said she loves you.”

He paused for a moment. “When did she call you?”

“Before I shut the door.”

His shoulders sank. “Why didn’t she just call me?”

“I don’t know kid , probably because she’s busy. The government is on their way there now but from how she described things, it didn’t sound very good.”

Estella’s face was pale. I didn't mean to worry her but I had no idea when we were getting out of here. I smiled. “What are you guys playing?”

Estella smiled back. “The Game of Life! Want to play too?” I paused for a minute before deciding to take a survey of our supplies, just in case. “Maybe in a minute, I want to put the canned stuff away.”

Vincent scoffed. “Good luck there’s absolutely no room in dad’s cupboards. Like I said, he restocked recently.”

“Huh,” I replied and went to investigate myself. I opened all the cupboards and they were stocked with canned goods and military grade meals. Yet again, he was right. I grabbed a bottle of water and cracked it open. “Now there’s some room.”

He scoffed at me and resumed setting up the board game with Estella. I took a long sip of water and thought to myself, what in the hell are we going to do until Dad gets here? I decided to just rest for now until Dad got here. I didn't know what to do in this situation. Every bunker drill we ever did led me up to this moment and I just felt like my world was crashing in. He's too over protective for his own good. In my defense, I didn't really care for his survivalist ways in the first place so I was unprepared for the unknown.

A few hours went by and we just hung out inside the bunker. I realized it was almost supper so I began cooking two cans of vegetable soup for the three of us to eat. I was starving as I realized I didn't invest anything besides nicotine that day. As I was heating up the soup, Vincent came up behind me. "When do you think Dad will get here?"

"I don't know honestly. Let's just take things one step at a time for right now, okay?" I began serving the soup in plastic bowls. I found some spoons I'm the cupboard and I handed him one. "Here, eat your soup before it gets cold."

He sighed heavily and took his bowl to the table where Estella was currently sitting. "I wish Dad was here."

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Chloe Rose Violet 🌹