Keep Going (Book 1): The Beginning Page 2

  “Anybody find any keys?” He asked over his shoulder.

  A collective ‘no’ was given. Charlie really wanted to know what was in there. He grabbed the small lock and braced one hand on the cabinet to keep it from falling over. The he shook the lock in hopes of weakening it and breaking it. It was not a very big lock and it didn’t look too expensive. With enough force he should be able to break it.

  The sound startled them all as it echoed around. Alex sprung up, hiking up the baggy pants and locking the belt into place. She looked towards the small stack of tools by the desk. Spotting a crowbar she snatched it up and moved over to Charlie. Figuring he wouldn’t stop until he knew what was inside she pushed him aside gently. Without much resistance he allowed Alex to take his place.

  All the frustration, all the annoyance and fear that Alex was feeling she let it bleed into the crowbar. As she raised it high it took all the repressed emotions with it. Releasing it only when the sharp edge hit the lock. It weakened with every blow. With every anger filled hit the lock grew weaker and weaker until finally hit opened. She tossed the crowbar to the side hoping the others didn’t realize what had happened.

  Charlie didn’t say anything as he slid behind her to get a better look at what was inside. Turning the handle it popped open to reveal a small armory. A couple of double barrel shot guns sat snuggly in the center, five semi-automatics lined one of the doors and the other held six revolvers. Two shelves above one stocked with bullets to the top the other with what looked like cleaning supplies and various items.

  Alex ran through every memory that she had of helping Mr. Donoghue build this bunker. She remembered bringing down cans of food, the desk and telling the older man to get a professional to install the air filter system after it caught on fire. But this, she did not recall helping with this. However her sister was a bigger fan of guns. He had probably enlisted her to help instead. The simple thought of her sister brought a small pang to her stomach but she didn’t have a chance to focus on it as a hand came into her line of view. Alex slapped it away not knowing whose it was. She turned to see Charlie rubbing his hand and glaring her.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” She asked.

  “I was going to grab one.” He spoke if she was a child.

  Alex sneered lightly, standing tall as she could at 5’5 and crossed her arms. In a silent stance that meant she would not be moved from her place.

  “Have you ever fired a gun? Let alone held one before?” Her voice was firm. He couldn’t help but take a step back at the tone. He felt as though he had been taught sneaking a cookie from the jar and now was being scolded for it.

  “No, I haven’t.” He admitted embarrassed.

  Alex shook her head; she shut the cabinet doors and leaned against them. Crossing her arms again she looked at him with a stern look. She readied herself for a fight if he was going to try and move her.

  “Then like hell you’ll be touching anything in there.” He opened his mouth in protest but it did when Alex raised her hand in silence. “We don’t need them right now. So nobody touches them for the safety of everyone, okay?”

  Charlie sneered at her but he gave a nod in understanding. He wouldn’t admit it but he completely agreed with her. He turned away to continue to look around even though there wasn’t much to see anymore. Alex caught Petey’s gaze. She hadn’t notice him getting up. His stance was ready to defend if Charlie had turned on her. His look was panicked and worried but she calmed it with her version of a smile; one side of her lips edged upward. He took what was given and sat back down returning his attention to the radio. Alex took a moment to breathe, to let her mind clear but it wasn’t. The panic in her rose and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. God, she needed her sister.

  The night’s events had finally taken their tool on the group and the decided to sleep or at least try to. The blonde woman slept soundly on the top bunk curled up in her self. She had fallen asleep in a matter of seconds after resting her head on the pillow. Charlie laid on the bottom bunk his back to the room as Alex and Petey stretched out on the floor. A few blankets were thrown down to protect them from the cold of the ground and pillows for cushioning. They had chosen to sleep on the floor to provide just a little bit of distance between the pairs. Petey’s head was on her stomach as she rested her head against the pillows staring at the ceiling. Alex mindlessly ran her fingers through his hair. Taking a couple glances down to marvel at how bright his read hair was even in the low lighting.

  Focused intensely on her she didn’t hear the shift of the bed as Charlie rolled over to look at them. He stared at the two trying to figure out the nature of their relationship. In truth they didn’t look like they would be friends in his mind, let alone dating. Petey was not tall but aver height; his skin was pale and freckly. Charlie figured he ad to be Irish or Scottish, there was no way he wasn’t. Then there was Alex; she was short, dark hair and dark skin. She was aggressive, at least towards him; granted he would admit he might have made her. He remembered arguing with her in classes. She was so stubborn and opinionated never sparing anyone if the try to belittled her words. Yet here she was being so gentle and in lack of a better term ‘nice’ towards this one person.

  “Are you two together?” He blurted out.

  The silence driving him a little crazy. The sudden question startled Alex but she didn’t let it show. She stopped her action and turned her head only to look at Charlie on the bed.

  “No, we’re just really good friends. What about you two?” She inquired.

  “Couple of times but it never worked out. Couldn’t leave her though, just couldn’t do it. She’s smart but she’s not really that good on her own, you know?” He mumbled.

  Alex could see that. Blonde barely uttered a word since, whatever happened, happened. All she did was shake in fear and stare of into space. Alex turned back to Petey’s hair and continued with her mindless actions.

  “Name’s Maggie by the way. Don’t believe you knew that.” He said smugly.

  She laughed softy as not wake anybody. The laugh brought a sense of warmth to Charlie. Maybe it was his actions previously that brought her aggression; maybe he could bring out the nice person too.

  “I didn’t know that but thank you. I, at least, know your name, Charlie.” She said.

  “Actually it’s Charles but Charlie is fine. Don’t call me Chuck though, hate that. Never understood why anybody would want to be called Chuck or Chaz for that mater.”

  Alex hummed gently at Charlie’s ramblings. It brought a sense of normality, as if what to call himself was the most important thing at the moment. Even when he was done it allowed them to sit comfortably in silence.

  “How long do you think we’ll be down here?” He whispered.

  Alex stopped her hand again and focused on Charlie, really focused this time. He looked so tiny with his legs curled up near his chest, his arm folded neatly under his head almost in the fetal position as he picked at the mattress below him. She wasn’t sure what to say.

  “No more then a day.” She lied.

  Charlie held her gaze. She could tell he didn’t believe her but she accepted the lie anyway. He hummed in agreement before turning his back to the room. Alex wait for the sound of his breathing to even out before she finally allowed her eyes to drift shut.

  4

  “It’s been two days.” Charlie growled.

  He paced back and forth looking like a dog trapped in a cage. Petey ignored the growling man as he continued to work on the radio with the casing opened and his fingers tangled in wires; his entire attention was on fixing that radio. Half believing it was their only hope, half out of distraction for the situation they were in.

  Maggie stayed locked away in her mind as she fiddled with a deck of cards. She mindlessly played solitaire or shuffled the deck. Everyone thought it was best to just leave her to her own accord and none of them really felt like dealing with her either. Alex sat be side her peacefully reading a random book t
hey had discovered. She’s not even sure what she was reading, she thinks it had something to do with a history but her mind was filled with other concerns, like the ever-growing frustration of Charlie.

  “We should go up.” He said.

  Now that got their attention. Fire suddenly lit behind her eyes, Maggie jumped up quickly causing Charlie to stop all movements and take a step back. Her small hands were clenched in a fist trying to appear strong but they’re intense trembling told the truth. Her blues eyes narrowed at him.

  “We can’t go up there. You heard all that noise, it’s not safe.” Her voice trembled. “We’re safe here and should stay here until someone comes. Like the army or something.”

  “Smart but only one problem with that. We are almost a mile underground. Exactly how are they going to know we’re done here?” He sneered again.

  Petey and Alex shared a look both wondering if he continued doing that would his face get stuck like that. Maggie scrambled for words but all she could do was hap like a fish. Taking pity on the girl Alex put down her book forgetting to mark the page. Not that it mattered really. She moved in between the two and forced them to take a large step back from each other. She looked over to Maggie first locking her dark eyes with petrified blue ones.

  “Charlie is right. We need to go up.” Alex said.

  Maggie began to protest but stopped as Alex held her hand up.

  “We need to see if there is anybody that can help us or if someone around needs our help. We’ll go up get some supplies to make a sign and get attention.”

  Maggie nodded at Alex’s reasoning. She liked the idea of others out there. After all there was safety in numbers, right? Her posture began to relax and her fist unclenched. The sight of his ex calming down at the words of Alex pissed Charlie off. She didn’t know her. Why did she trust her more than him? He had made the suggestion to go up yet he was the bad guy. He was ready to give Alex a piece of his mind, tell her that she was not in charge.

  He stepped forward to voice his thoughts but stopped when Alex turned her gaze on him. Her logical stare silenced him.

  “You and I will go up. It’ll be easier to move around if it’s just two of us.” She reasoned again.

  That did make sense and in truth he didn’t trust the other two to handle things as easy as she seemed to be. He didn’t want to agree but he nodded. Petey however did not agree to this, not one bit. His chair scraped against the floor loudly as he stood up abruptly. He couldn’t let her do this. He couldn’t let her go with some idiot into a mostly likely then not dangerous situation. He wouldn’t allow it.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He protested. “I think it’s best if Charlie and I go instead.”

  “Why is that?” She crossed her arms.

  “Because…” He was not sure what to say. If he said that it was because she was a woman, he knew he would get a smack. If he said that it was because she’s his friend and that he just wants to protect her, the same argument could be made against him. Alex uncrossed her arms and rolled her eyes as if she could hear all the thoughts in his head. She put her hands on her hips and gave him that look that clearly stated’ you’re an idiot’.

  “You’re staying. I need you working on the radio, you might be the only one that can fix it.” She stated. “Plus this is my neighborhood I know my way around. If for some reason we need to hide or run I know where to go. Do you?”

  He lowered his head and shook it in answer to her question. Knowing he would not win against her he turned back around and sat back down, officially ending the conversation. Alex knew she had upset him by not taking him up there or letting him go in her place. But there was no time to be sensitive or sugar coat things. He was not good in situations that needed action and that was okay. His brains would save them.

  Alex motioned for Charlie to follow her to the cabinet that she forced them to ignore. She flung it open and looked at the guns for a second before reaching in. She grabbed a simple pistol and case of bullets.

  “Want you to pay close attention to me and everything I’m about to say.” She held out the gun to show it to him, he stared intensely.

  “This is a simple six shooter, means you only get six bullets. This is the chamber, this is the barrel and this is the rigger.” She pointed to every part of the silver gun before popping the chamber open. “Always keep the gun pointed downward unless you’re about to shoot.” She slipped the bullets in and in a swift motion closed it.

  “Here is the safety, you push it to take it off or put it on. Right now it’s on, don’t take it off; last thing we need is your hurting yourself. One more thing and again I need you to pay attention.” He took his eyes off the weapon and focused solely on her. She took a deep breath as she stretched out her hand, the handle directed towards him.

  “Don’t put your finger on the trigger. Place it to the side over the trigger guard. Keep the gun pointed down. This is meant as a warning and only a warning. If you do raise it only raise it to shoot. You only shoot…” She looked away. “When some is attacking you then don’t hesitate. Your life is important remember that.”

  Charlie nodded as he took the gun firmly keeping it pointed down. He slid it carefully into the front of his pants. Alex didn’t think that was the best place to keep it but she was kind of happy that he wasn’t holding onto it.

  “Really think we’ll need it?” Charlie asked suddenly not feeling as confident as he was a moment ago.

  Alex loaded her own gun and shoved into her pocket not trusting it to stay in the waistband of her pants. She grabbed extra bullets and clip into her other pocket, looking ready for war.

  “I don’t know what happened up there. I don’t know what we’re going to find and if it’s good or not. Rather sit on the side of caution.” She said.

  Not meeting Petey’s eyes, who had watched the exchange with an odd fascination, she moved towards the ladder without another word. Grabbing the first railing she felt a hand on her shoulder stopping her. She thought it was Petey ready to protest again. Instead she found Charlie holding out a solid blue bandana towards her. She took it from him then he began to wrap a purple one over his mouth and nose.

  “What’s this for?” She asked.

  She wondered where he had gotten the two bandanas from but didn’t brother to ask. She just copied his actions and covered her own face.

  “Protection.” She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. “Better to err on the side of caution.” He repeated her words back.

  They climbed out of the bunker. Being below they had lost track of time and were harshly reminded that it was midday by the blinding sun. Even with the intense sun giving a large quantity of heat a cold shiver ran threw them at the alarming silence that surrounded them. The wind didn’t dare to rustle the trees and no birds flew by. It would have been a lovely day to be outside had it not been today.

  Tapping him on the shoulder Alex motioned for him for them to be quiet and then moved toward her house once more. They attempted to move as quietly as their surroundings. The only sound was their breathing and their shoes on the ground. Alex had never realized how gravelly the roads seemed to be until that’s all she could hear.

  The whole street appeared empty, not even a squirrel or any other critter passed by. Her stomach sank at thought of all the missing animals.

  “Alex, take a look at this.” Charlie whispered.

  He led them to a patch of ruined grass. He knelt down and rubbed the dirt as if he was actually looking at the tires that had ruined the grass. She knelt beside him staring more so at him then at the patch of dirt. Without any knowledge they just looked like tire tracks to her but luckily for them he did have some knowledge.

  “They’re Humvee tires. More likely military considering that they’re up and down the street.” He said.

  “How in the hell do you know that?” Alex raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

  Charlie scoffed; attempting at looking offended but it just came off smug. He stood up dusting off invi
sible dirt from his pants, Alex followed suit.

  “I grew up in a garage.” He said.

  Nudging Charlie they continued on their walk at a slower pace. Making sure to watch out for anything that might spring out at them. The empty street left too much of an uneasy feeling in their guts. Nothing good was to come and they knew it too.

  “Dad a mechanic or something?” She asked.

  “My mom actually, you sexist.” Alex groaned at his playful smile. She shook her head in amusement as he kept talking. “My uncle too. As well as my grandparents, my great-grandparents and so on, ever since my family first immigrated to this country. In fact I’ll be the first in four generations not to be fixing cars but instead working in some stupid office.” He lost the pride and ended with shame at the end of his sentence.

  “Got a lot of knowledge about cars. Never thought it would come in handy but here we are.” His tone was low. “What about you?”

  Alex didn’t know what to say to his sudden change in mood nor the question. She didn’t know shit about cars or mechanic really. People had tried to teach her but she didn’t really car. She knew how to change a tire and that always felt like enough to her. Seeing the confusion Charlie clarified his question.

  “The guns. You don’t exactly look like someone that knows about guns yet you seem to have a good understanding. Also I saw that you didn’t grab a simple six-shooter either. Figured you wouldn’t grave something you didn’t know how to use.” He smirked.

  As much as Alex hated to admit it, Charlie was impressive. She had not taken the man to be so observant or smart for that matter. She failed to give him enough credit and would not make that mistake again.

  “You’re right, I didn’t grave a six-shooter.” She admitted drily.

  He rolled his eyes at her lack of response and she chuckled at his impatience.

  “My step-dad and sister liked guns. Also liked hearing themselves talk and boy did they talk. Thankfully some things did stick despite my best attempts to ignore everything they said.” Alex laughed darkly. She could hear them telling her to pay attention that some day she might have to use a gun.