Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins by R.A. Neely Page A

noted a white light move across. There was an audible click and
Shirley was able to open door.
    Stepping inside they found themselves in a long hallway.
They were met by a man dressed in black fatigues. He had a rifle slung across
his chest, Shirley wasn't sure what kind as she had little experience with
guns. The guard had a clipboard in hand and asked for her name.
    "Shirley O'Hara," she replied.
    The guard nodded as he perused the list. "Alright, I've
got you here. And this is?" he asked looking towards Jackson.
    "He's my guest," Shirley responded, "you wont
see him on the list."
    The guard nodded. "That's fine. Name?"
    "Jackson Barnes," Jackson replied.
    The guard made a note of some kind and gestured towards the
end of the hallway. There was an elevator flanked by two more guards dressed in
the same way as the one they were speaking to.
    "Proceed to the elevator. You'll be directed to a bunk.
Rations are at six tonight."
    Shirley nodded and led Jackson towards the elevator. One of
the elevator guards nodded at them and swiped a card which caused the elevator
to open. There was another guard waiting within.
    He nodded towards them and hit a button on the panel.
"You folks are lucky. They'll be closing down the facility soon."
    "What if you haven't made it yet?" Shirley asked.
    The guard shrugged. "Don't know the answer to that.
Just heard we'll be locking down soon."
    Any further conversation was interrupted as the elevator
came to a stop. They entered a large room. Shirley looked around and thought it
looked big enough to hold several hundred people. One side of the room
consisted of rows of bunks. There were families milling around having already
staked out space. The middle of the room appeared to be a common area of sorts.
There were several tables with various games ready to be played. The right side
of the room had a number of partitions around maybe seven feet high. Bathing
area maybe? The sound of someone clearing their throat caught Shirley's
attention and she found herself looking at a middle aged woman wearing brown
slacks and a matching shirt.
    "Hi there," she said, "I'm Roberta King. I'm
in charge of greeting arrivals."
    "Hi," Shirley responded, "I'm Shirley and
this is Jackson."
    "A pleasure to meet you. If you'll come with me, I'll
give you a quick tour."
    She led them towards the bunks. "There isn't much here
but it's enough to meet our needs for the few days we'll be down here. She led
them towards an unoccupied bunk.
    "This will be your bunk. You can decide amongst
yourselves who gets what." She glanced at them for a moment. "If
you're sharing a bunk, let me know. Someone else could use the space."
    Shirley blushed bright red. "Oh, it's not li-"
    "Not my business," the woman said interrupting.
"If you're sharing, or decide to share let me know as we can use the
space. Some people have brought in more than the alloted amount of dependents.
They've paid enough money to be here that we can't just turn them away so any extra
bunks will be needed." Shirley nodded. The woman motioned for them to
follow and led them to the middle of the room.
    "This is the common area. We've got various games to
keep everyone occupied." 
    Shirley and Jackson looked around at the tables and nodded.
The woman then pointed to the right side of the room. "That's the hygiene
area. You can shower and use the facilities there." The woman glanced at
her watch. 
    "Rations won't be for another few hours. I hope you had
something to eat before this all started."
    "We'll be alright," Jackson responded.
"Thanks for the tour."
    The woman nodded. "Everything will be fine. We'll just
be down here a few days, a week at most. By then, the government will have this
infection under control."
    Shirley nodded. The woman smiled and headed off, presumably
to wait for more arrivals. Jackson motioned for her to follow and led the way
back towards their bunk. Once there he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.
    "So, which bunk do you want? Or should