The Secret Bunker Trilogy: Part One: Darkness Falls by Paul Teague Page B

alone.
Deceit
    I’m stunned for a few moments as I look at the still forms of three
members of my family in their glass pods. They are clearly unharmed, I can see that no physical damage has
been done to them. I can also figure out enough from the screens and dials surrounding
them to see that they are alive.
    I’m not totally sure what I’m looking at, but I’ve seen enough hospital
dramas to know that these are monitoring life-signs, and Dad, David
and Harriet all have constantly pulsing heart rates and lively brain
activity. In fact David’s brain activity looks really lively on the screen.
He must be thinking about Minecraft again.
My instinct is not to panic, but I am suddenly pretty angry.
    It’s okay Kate saying that they have to ‘stay contained’ because they
don’t have clearance. I can accept that.
After all, the alternative is to be trapped beyond the bunker doors. I’m happy that they’re okay.
But I assumed that being ‘contained’ would mean being held in a
comfortable room somewhere together. I didn’t think it would mean being frozen or put to sleep … or
whatever it is that has been done to them.
    The other thing that’s bothering me is that Kate has quite clearly
deceived me. She hasn’t actually told me any lies, but she hasn’t told me the whole
truth either.

For instance, my family are being held in a Red Zone area. I’m only supposed to have Green Zone access, so I’m not supposed to
be seeing this. It makes me wonder what else is going on in the other Red Zone
rooms.
    And even more intriguing is why I can get access to these areas. It has to be some terrible computer error or glitch.
Maybe they use Windows 8 too.
    At the moment I need to stay focused.
I’m the best hope for Dad, David and Harriet. If I end up in one of these pods too, we’ll be at the mercy of whoever is
running this place.
I don’t get the feeling that anything sinister is going on, but I’d still
rather be conscious and moving than stuck in one of these glass
coffins.
    ‘Don’t call them coffins,’ I think.
But that’s what they remind me of.

Bearing in mind what’s happened in the past day or two, I’m pretty
impressed with how maturely I figure out what needs to come next. Dad would be proud of me.
If he was awake. I need to be cool about this situation, because if I cause trouble, I’ll
probably end up like all the other ‘civilians’ in this room.
    If I end up here, I won’t be able to figure out what’s going on. Dad needs me to make sure that somebody is looking out for them.
And there’s Mum too. I couldn’t bear ending up in here and not knowing what’s happened to
her. So everybody needs me to play the game with Kate and just keep
things ticking over.

For some reason I’ve got clearance to roam freely. Who knows why?
That might change when they have more time to acclimatise to their
new surroundings, or when they get their mission instructions.
The best bet is to stay cool, keep off the radar and maintain a low
profile.
Great strategy Dan. Because at that very moment, Kate bursts into the room with two
armed guards at her side.
The World Sleeps
    The darkness creeps across the surface of the earth, obliterating all
light, filling all spaces that it encounters. It began with the skies, but it moved across the earth, permeating the
seas, obliterating all light, extinguishing all flames.

Many things could be planned for in advance.
Nuclear power stations closed down, one by one, under government
instructions. Just a routine drill, a test for a ‘national emergency’.
It didn’t matter what the excuse was, they were used to instructions
like this ‘from above’, they just did what they were told, when they
were told.
    Most flights were grounded, but you can’t account for everything, in
matters like these you can’t save everybody. What else can you do if you need to whole world put to sleep for a
while, some lives are bound to be