Grey Apocalypse

Journal Entry 14.

16 days since the great nuclear disaster of 2034. We've been told that there's probably nothing outside. Nothing good. During dinner there always has to be a big unnecessary debate on whether there would be survivors outside or whether all life is gone. I think that there's others. Maybe not in what we would say is 'perfect condition', but there would be survivors. If we survived with minimal luck, then I bet there's others out there. There's 12 of us here. While I do appreciate the arrangement he and I made, Gabriel is getting restless and it doesn't help that most of the others think he is such a pain in the —

"What are you doing?"

Irina slipped her small notebook carefully back into the inside pocket of her black coat. She got to her feet and stared back at Gabriel. The tall blond boy glared at her, his hands crossed over the front of his chest. Irina shrugged and feigned a laugh. "Dusting?" She replied.

He rolled his eyes, "Finally someone being useful. I'm tempted to start kicking people out to the wasteland." And just like that, he turned around and walked out the door.

Irina followed after him, "Gabriel you can't just kick people out. The whole point of your shelter is to save people."

They walked together along the landing, glancing down at several of the others who were seated in main room. The underground nuclear shelter was located on the Gaisland estate, belonging to Gabriel Gaisland and his family. It was built in the mid 1900s by his great grandfather as a bomb shelter and maintained throughout the years by the family. Only after his parents' deaths a few years back did Gabriel Gaisland completely upgrade and remodel the bomb shelter into a deep underground base. For a very large project, it was a surprise that no one except the Gaisland twins knew about the base until the day of disaster: six levels, three decontamination areas, twenty four rooms, a controlled farming area, two huge storage full of supplies, a traditional library and hospital.

Gabriel Gaisland stopped over the railings and peered down at the few individuals in their view, his stormy eyes showing an edge of contempt. "None of them are pulling their weight, especially chubbs over there, the only thing he's been pulling is the fucking peanuts from the vending machines in Level 3. Remind me to store them away. It's an apocalypse, he could stand to lose some weight before we all die of starvation."

Irina peeked over the edge.

Rich sat curled up in one end of the couch, his eyes shakily darting around the room at the others while he worked his pudgy fingers into his blue flannel pocket and quickly shifted a handful of peanuts into his mouth. Irina noticed the nervous energy that surrounded him, turning his face ridiculously sweaty and red at all times, even in such a cold environment. Regardless of his unfortunate relationship with food, Rich had the luck of a leprechaun; a slow leprechaun but still a leprechaun nevertheless. He wandered, lost, onto the estate just an hour before the missiles launched.

"He's just nervous," Irina said and gestured to the others, "Apart from you, Cassandra and me, they probably have it the worst. Their parents or siblings are probably up there dead, even if they survived, imagine the state they're in. I can't even think of what the fallout is doing to those that were far from the blasts."

"They'll be dead soon enough. Even for survivors, no one in their right mind should be walking around with radiation injuries and mutations," Gabriel scoffed, "I would kill myself."

Irina looked at him in silence. What was the old saying? Blondes have more fun? One would think so, especially for someone who was wealthy and resembled the Greek patron of youthful beauty, Adonis. However even with his unnaturally pale skin, golden curls, storming blue-grey eyes, and chiseled facial features, Gabriel was a sarcastic, cold person. In fact, in this manner he bore more resemblance to Narcissus than Adonis.

The Gaislands often kept to themselves and it was no wonder why: Gabriel was something of a quiet tyrant while his twin Cassandra was a pretty thing with an unusual love for the strange and the odd. The closest to a friend they ever had was neigbour Irina Belacour, who was also the only one at university that was willing to tutor Gabriel Gaisland since the others wouldn't go near him with a 10 ft pole. In tutoring sessions, Irina noted an hour never goes by where Gabriel does not refrain from commenting something about death, whether it is his own death or some quiet threat at someone else.

She always wondered if that was his normal mindset or if it was brought on by the grief of losing his parents, just as she lost hers many years ago. Whatever it was, she pitied him and tried her best to be accommodating. Even now.

"Because of your pain," she nodded quietly. "Yeah, the injuries inflicted by the fallout must be painful."

"Pain? No, who said anything about pain?"

"But you—"

"I was talking about my face, Belacour. You must think I want an extra eye on my fucking face."

As they started talking on the landing, their conversation alerted the others on the next floor. Soon enough, several heavy footsteps rattled up the metal stairs to the landing where Irina and Gabriel stood. Irina swept her long chestnut-colored hair to the side and peeked over Gabriel's broad shoulder. She caught the sight of Brand and his four friends approaching, and mouthed his name silently to Gabriel. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Gaisland!" Brand called out angrily. Irina didn't know people could be angry 24/7 until she had met Brand; it was a strange personality trait.

"Hello Brassler" Gabriel muttered smugly and turned around with a grin. "If you're bored, might I suggest a healthy stroll past the Stabilizers without a Deconing suit? Get some fresh air and bring your jerk buddies with you up there."

The big guy roared, smacking his friends around as they all laughed. He glared back at Gabriel, "You think we wanted to be stuck here with you?"

Irina stepped up beside Gabriel, "You should have thought of that before trying to pull a prank on him. You guys are lucky being complete assholes worked out this round for you." Irina was referencing the fact that Rich Matteson wasn't the only one who wandered onto Gaisland Estate that night. Brand and his squad of four were planning on vandalizing the gardens with spray paint drawings of crop circles before the nuclear warning went off. They had panicked and ran into the house, only to be met by Gabriel and Cassandra's visiting aunt, a 52-year old French woman named Marjorie, who unknowingly mistook them for Gabriel's friends and brought them to him.

Gabriel who had quickly arrived with Irina and Irina's best friend Clary, was then forced to also accommodate Brand and his friends; finally disclosing his underground base to the others. While they made their way to the shelter, Gabriel and Cassandra who were running back and forth, transferring last minute important items from the house to the base were met by a terrified Rich Matteson in the woods and almost run over by a frantic Judy Carton.

Since then, the array of twelve different personalities confined together with dread of the outside world, was proving to be a strenuous arrangement.

Brand cringed at Irina.

"Did you guys even do patrols?" Irina asked in annoyance.

"What patrols?" One of Brand's friends quipped stupidly behind him. "We didn't do no patrols."

Gabriel stepped up closer to Brand Brassler, his eyes narrowed. "I gave you each a position to hold in this place. Brand, you and your guys are supposed to be patrolling the levels, in case something breaches the base!"

"Yeah like that squirrel two days ago," another one of Brand's friends said sadly. "Oh, he was so ugly, Brand."

"Exactly my point! That mutated squirrel was the result of the fallout. Had it been loose longer in here, we would have all been unknowingly exposed to radiation. What's the matter with you people?"

Brand shoved his talkative buddies quiet and raised his eyes to Irina. "The other three were asleep, Ed and I took the patrols alone, actually."

"See? That wasn't so hard," Gabriel muttered and slowly turned away. Just as he was about to leave, Brand grabbed his left shoulders, launching him backwards a few steps. Gabriel angrily spun around. "Brassler what the—"

Brand leaned forward, medium strands of his dark hair swinging towards Gabriel, "Her friend's been acting weird. I did three routine inspections on Level 1, and all three times, I caught her wandering there alone. She seemed a bit...off?"

"You mean Clary? What are you saying?"

"She was around Decontamination Area 1, a lot. It looked like she was trying to get in."

Gabriel nodded, "You made sure she didn't get in right?"

"Yeah, I even made sure all three of the Decontamination areas were secured."

"Where is she now?"

Silence encased the landing like a heavy blanket. The silence was so deafening that everyone could hear the rattling of Rich's peanut packet followed by quiet crunching sounds. Obviously no one had an answer for Gabriel. He then called out for Clary but there was still no answer, only the slow hum of the mechanical systems that lay at the foundation of the base. He looked around at the others and with the aid of Brand, broke everyone into pairs and a group of three to search for Clary.

What was just aimless walking throughout the base soon turned into a rush of footsteps as everyone struggled to locate Clary ― with no luck.

While passing the Stabilizers, Irina noticed something small glinting in the blue neon light nearby. With Gabriel following close behind her, she ran over and hunched her slender figure over the object. Her fingers picked up the heart-shaped locket with recognition; Irina had gifted the locket to Clary on her 13th birthday and she had kept it close to her always. As the cold metallic chain dangled down between her fingertips, a feeling of dread overcame Irina as she lifted her frightful emerald eyes to the Stabilizers.

"Oh no," she whispered.

"Gaisland!" Brand and his friends ran over, "She tried to get into Decontamination Area 1, there's signs of someone trying to get in, but Cassandra checked the Deconing suits and they're all there."

Gabriel sighed, a look of fury in his eyes, "She went outside. Your friend is going to kill us all, Irina!"

"Someone has to go out there after her, Gabriel. She's just distraught!"

Gabriel ignored Irina and got to his feet, looking at the boys, "Make sure the base is completely sealed. She's not coming back!"

"She will die Gabriel!"

"Your singular lives are not worth everyone's. Let this be a lesson!" He shouted down at Irina.

Before anyone had the chance to react, Irina jumped up, knocking Gabriel to the side and slamming down on the acceleration nearby before she threw herself into the Stabilizers. Gabriel shouted something to Cassandra before turning to watch as the mechanisms started rotating around Irina. He said something before tossing two Deconing suits into the Stabilizers.

Irina could not hear anything above the whirring of the devices and the platform lifting her to the surface, but she understood. She was on her own for now. Irina slipped one of the scary black skeletal-looking hazard suits on and grabbed the spare one under her arm. Clary could not have gone far, but what else was lurking out there in the dense cold fog and smoke, what was lurking in the cloudy grey of the apocalypse?