Doomsday By Design -- [STORY THREAD]

Hearing the motorcycle start up ryujin knew sandra was ok .. then he remembered he had forgot to ask if she knew how to drive it .. hearing the bike take off thought she figured it out .. and may as well take advantage myself with the momentary confusion and make my exit .. silently he wished john and his team good luck .. theyre going to need it he thought ..

It was late that night when ryujin finally arrived home .. he took his jikatabi off unlocked the door and went in carrying his jikatabi with him set them inside the door rather than on the rack outside .. he spoke a command in japanese then heavy steel shutters rolled silently down sealing all the windows .. closing and locking the door he spoke another command lights dimm .. made his way to the bathroom washed and scrubbed before climbing into the tub of hot water for a long soak .. mentally going over everything that had happened over the past day .. eventually climbing out of the tub grabbing a clean yukatta made his way to his room spoke a command lights off .. falling into bed and an exhausted sleep ..

Sue-Lin walked in past Sandra to her sleeping area and divested herself of her Gilles suit and weapons. It took time and she felt a trifle self conscious with everyone watching. She was beyond tired and yet she knew that this day was not over just yet.

Wow, I hit a nerve with that. Marcus thought, the slamming shut of the door ending that thought. Sandra looked at Alan and him for a moment.

"Ask me what?" She said.

Just as he was going to ask, the sound of somebody knocking stopped the room for a instant. Watching Sandra hand go to a conspicuous bulge at her waist, Marcus reached for the pistol he had at his. Though he need not bother as it was Sue-Lin.

"Where was she..." Sandra began, her eyes lingering on Sue-Lin for a moment, but then she shook her head. "I don't care. I need some food. What's going on?"

Sandra noticed the look on Alan's face, then turned to Marcus.

"What's up?"

Sue-Lin walked past them standing at the door without a word. Sandra started to say something but instead stopped herself.

What's up?' she asked him.

"Well, thanks for giving us shelter here and all. But the rest of us." he gestured to Jackson and the others by the cots. "We don't know anything about this place. How much food we have, how long we will have power for and well that door in the back. Is it another way out? Like I said I know this is your place and all, but we are all dependent on what you choose to tell us. You go out and leave us and well sh!& if anything had happened we would be screwed."

Marcus stood looking at her. Letting out a deep breath.

Sue-Lin sat cross legged on her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. She switched back to her mouse persona but added strength from her imaginative construct. The construct was an imaginary Lion, separate from her mind but at the same time part of it. She needed the construct to control her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She did not need medication even though her PTSD was as bad as it gets. Living for the first ten years of you life with death always watching your every move would destroy or disable most people.

Sue-Lin had not escaped those consequences but by accessing different personas she could keep it under tight control and still function in society. Now was not the time to lose it.

She was just too tired to move. She looked at the group of people and asked, "Would someone be kind enough to get me some food, anything, hot cold, I don't really care."

She was not sure if anyone would respond but she was beat.

Sandra stole a tiny glimpse at the armory, then met his eyes again.

"I'm sorry." She told him. "I didn't want to leave. I'm not leaving again, either. Dorian said we have at least a month's worth of food and water in here... there's a rain collecting system and solar panels on my house, and he's got everything rigged to the bunker too. We'll be fine for a good little while. We just need to hunker down for a little bit, until whatever's going on outside simmers down. We have a shower, we have power... we even have a space toilet."

When Marcus and Alan both gave her bewildered faces, Sandra repressed a laugh.

"The toilet doesn't use water, it kinda... sucks everything up and spits it out outside." She explained, smiling. "Er... anyway... everything's gonna be fine. Just stop worrying about it. That room..."

Sandra paused, looking at the armory again.

"... is a storage room." She finished. "Just leave it alone."



"Yes." Alan said to Sue-Lin, having been the only one to hear her request.

He approached her, looking almost as calm as he had every day in school, and damn near emotionless.

"Anything in particular that you want?" Alan asked her.

a reply to: XxNightAngelusxX

Marcus listened to Sandra explain the set up. A "space toilet" that's something new. Although he suspected she was hiding something, she was entitled to her secrets for now.

"Well a months worth of food for how many people? I doubt your Uncle planned on entertaining." He smiled as he said that. "We could be stretching the supplies you know? Maybe after everyone rests up we should make sure we can rely on the supplies in here." He gestured at the bunker.

"Well..." Sandra began, examining the others, all of them either sleeping or attempting to sleep, apart from Alan, who was standing, muttering something to Sue-Lin. "Dorian said three months. Three months of food for me and him. But... since its all of us... I figured it'd only last a month. And... since you and I are awake, we can go ahead and take inventory, if you want."

Sandra began towards the kitchen, gesturing for Marcus to follow.

Sue-Lin was happy it was Alan who answered her. She replied, "Anything at all, hot might be nice. Sometime soon, would you have a look in that gun case and study the instruction book. You and I might be a good team to figure out how they work. They will turn anyone here who know the basics of shooting into a 1000 yard sniper. Snipers are handy to have around as my Dad has already demonstrated. Yesterday, just one sniper broke apart the attack on the school. We have four of those now, two here and two hidden in town. One is mine, the others can go to whomever can make good use of them. Have fun!"

Gozaimon returned to the house in the early morning hours after making sure everyone had safely got to their destinations .. removing his jikatabi and carrying them inside he set them next to ryujins on the floor .. moving silently as usual he looked in on ryujin saw that he was sleeping .. paused a moment thinking he did well today .. then went to his room .. made a brief call on secure sat phone to japan .. returned downstairs checked the house security status .. once satisfied he spoke a command putting the system to the next highest status .. pausing briefly to assess whether or not go to full alert status decided for now it was fine ..

He then sat in quiet meditation ...

Alan watched Sue-Lin ominously for a few seconds. He'd never shot a firearm in his life, but he was no stranger to reading books, or working with mechanical contraptions.

"Y-yes, of course." Alan nodded, then turned and headed into the kitchen, imagining what it must be like to pull the trigger of such a large, overpowered killing machine...

"Yea Sandra I think we should. Eight people might stretch us a little thin in keeping us healthy." He grinned at her as they started counting the cans on the first shelf. "There are eight of us here now and if Ryujin and has dad come back that's ten. Ryujin is coming back right?" Marcus asked suddenly.

John came into Jason's current APC and sat down next to Jason in the front shotgun seat. He looked drained which Jason mostly took for going without sleep for over 30 hours straight...yet he had also seen and heard everything that transpired during the meeting... The meeting itself was draining enough in Jason's opinion.

"What was the explosion"?

I sent a 4 man team to collect the bodies of the FNGs for use later; Rodrigues called in and said they were on station and the next thing I know....Boom"!

Rodrigues was one of the teams funny guys who always had a witty remark and liked to joke that with his 5 kids he was doing his share of out breading all the other races together. He was always looking (or said he was) for breading partners.. It was mostly a joke for he had been married to the same women for over 16 years..

"Rodrigues, Charley Charles, Mac man, and Shriver... I sent one of our LS teams to see what he could see".

As if on cue Tex called in.

"Auh Red 9 this is Lima See- air-auhhhh 1"

"Red 9 copy"

"The SUV has been blown..auh looking at the damage...whatever it was blew the rear of the vehicle completely off... the truck was rigged to blow would be my guess Boss... auh I count 2 body bags which look to be stuffed and 5 other bodies in various positions... No movement ... that would be 7 souls total and the eighth man is no where to be seen. Also Boss if Rodrigues and his guys took APC #4 to the SUV it is gone and not insight"... We never had an APC stolen before"!

What do you want me to do over"?

"Tex RTB prior position. I am sending an APC out to see if there are any survivors"

"Copy Boss"

John started to exit the APC and Jason asked, what he was going to do?

"I was going to grab an APC and check on the guys at the SUV".

"John we have not slept in over 30 hours, you look the way I feel..... like sh!t.. things may get very busy after 12 noon so I need you rested and sharp... I want you to go and get a couple of hours sleep I will wake you after I talk to Ray".

John looked at Jason and nodded as he slipped out of the APCs shotgun seat for some sleep.

Jason called the command APC.."Billy see where our #4 APC is"?

"Actually boss I tracked it to the SUV and after the explosion I lost it's transponder. I figured it was the APC that might have blown.. I am up to speed as I monitored your como with Tex".

"Billy I want a fully armed team in APC 5 to go and check for survivors" If they encounter hostile fire use a couple of missiles or 23 mm from the little bird in that quadrant...... Also send a request to the watchers and see if the little bird in that area got a view of what happened to APC #4".

"Wilco Boss".

Jason felt as if he had lead in his veins and the weight of the world on his shoulders. He slid back in the drivers seat shut his eyes and was passed out before he could even think he was tired.

"No." Sandra told him, thinking of Ryujin and feeling conflicted.

Sandra thought for a moment. She wanted to tell him everything, to explain to everyone that she'd met up with the rogues who, just a day ago, slaughtered countless people in the town, including their close friends and family members. Still... there was no way to explain the situation that wouldn't arise a negative reaction.

"Sandra, do you have anything hot to eat in here?" Alan asked, entering the kitchen area. "Something I can make in the microwave. Quickly."

"Yeah, sure. Canned soup, beans, those frozen pizzas..." Sandra answered. "Whaddoya' want?"

"Soup, I think." Alan said, opening one of the cabinets and grabbing a can. After filling a bowl with soup, and after allowing it to spin in the microwave for a couple minutes, Alan took the hot bowl out and plopped a spoon into it.

Sandra watched as Alan carried the hot soup into the main corridor, and he politely handed it to Sue-Lin, who was sitting as quietly and patient as ever on her bed.

"Weird." Sandra mumbled. "He's being nice. What the hell's wrong with him?"

Alan came out giving a hot bowl of soup to Sue-Lin. Mmm, beef and vegetables, just what she needed to start recovering her energy. It was a big can too. Silently she ate and watched the others trying to determine how they would react to Sandra's news and how they would react to what she had to tell them.

She was concerned. What she really wanted to do was to speak with Ryujin and read that damn folder. She was not certain that Sandra would simply give it to her so she planned on borrowing it when Sandra slept.

With a hearty hot meal inside of her, she set her mind to full rest and closed her eyes. She felt Alan come close and take her bowl to the kitchen and she thought how damn nice that was. She was not asleep, but neither was she awake.

When it seemed that everyone was asleep, Sandra sighed. As silence loomed in the air, she left the kitchen, rounded the corner, and entered the main room, facing her uncle's work bench.

His work bench was full of strange, random things, and despite the size of the humongous counter top, only a very small portion of its surface was cleared and vacant. It was the spot, as she remembered, where Dorian would stand and work on whatever his current project might have been.

The empty space on the counter was bordered by a small radio, a coffee cup which he'd filled only a day ago, and an old tape player.

Sandra stared into the half-full coffee mug, then wrapped her fingers around its handle, lifting the cup to her nose. It was the bitter, harsh scent of pure black coffee enfused with the smell of her uncle's aftershave...

She never understood why he liked black coffee. Coffee was Sandra's favorite beverage, mainly because of its stimulating effects, but she always loved her coffee creamed, sugared and cold. Dorian was always the opposite; he drank straight, hot, black coffee... Sandra couldn't wrap her mind around it... black coffee was disgusting...

Still, she pressed the cup to her lips, allowing the cool, dark liquid to flow into her mouth. The taste was horrible, but nevertheless, she drank the remaining contents of the cup, then set it back onto the counter softly so not to wake up the others.

The bleak, bitter aftertaste was still coating the inside of her mouth, but for some reason, she didn't much care.

Sandra leaned on the table, her arms crossed, her eyes scanning over the counter top. There was a dismantled rifle lying just to the left, the stock of the gun sitting propped against the wall. Apart from it was a toolbox, covered in posters and papers that were completely unorganized, and many small nuts and bolts lying scattered around it. On the wall, overlooking the counter of junk, were the countless posters Dorian had plastered all over the bunker. Some of them were simple posters of paintings, but most of them were very revolutionary and anti-government in nature. The most noticeable poster was the one just across from Sandra, the one Dorian would often stand in front of when working on a project.

The old, wrinkled poster of the man with the shovel, the poster Sandra was most used to seeing. When Dorian would drag her into the bunker, he'd stand here, working on something new, like a radiation detector, or a modified firearm... he would attempt to explain how the device worked, and how she could use it, but she'd drift away, her mind wandering, as she was usually completely uninterested. And, during these little meetings, they'd stand under this ancient old poster, and the whole time, the man would be pointing to both of them as an explosion was constantly erupting behind him, grasping his shovel, always asking the same question... Where will you be when the holocaust comes?

"Right here." Sandra whispered aloud, staring into the poster.

When she stood upright, her elbow came in contact with a small, plastic rectangular device, knocking it to the ground. It made a loud, echoing noise, which made Sandra swear under her breath, then glance at the others, who thankfully, hadn't woken up.

Sandra bent down and picked up the item, examining it. It was a tape... a small cassette tape, one she'd never seen before. Upon first glance, the tape looked blank... then, she flipped it over.

On the front side of the cassette was a small strip of white duct tape, which had been written upon with a black marker. It read; Listen To Me

Sandra stared at it for almost a full minute.

Then, she looked at the counter, spotting the tape player.

An anxious sensation began to brew inside her, and she placed the cassette tape into the tape player. She gulped, hoping the noise wouldn't wake anyone, and pressed the 'play' button.

The machine made a hissing staticy noise, and Sandra jumped.

Then, the sounds leveled out, and Sandra was able to hear something clanking around in the background of the recorded message.

"Sandra." A familiar voice spoke from the machine in a fuzzy, poorly recorded way. "You're probably right, kiddo. You probably always have been. Its ridiculously unlikely that any major life-threatening event would happen on a massive scale, especially in our life time. But you... kiddo... I want you to live a better life than everyone else your age.

Sandra... there was a time when everyone talked to each other, instead of chatting on the internet... and when video games actually required controllers and a television, instead of that virtual reality thingy... there was a time when everyone played outside, and grew their own food... when everyone was self-sufficient to some degree, when people didn't have to rely on governments and laws and importation just to survive.

I know living a life full of work doesn't sound all that glamorous... trust me, I know. But living off your own sweat gives you a kind of purpose... some kind of... of reason, you know? It... its the way people were meant to live. Its important to me to pass down everything I know to you... so you can pass it down too. How to fend for yourself, and protect yourself, and hell... if anything ever DOES happen, it'll never be something we can't handle. I know its a lot to take in, and I'm sorry... but... YOU are my first priority, Sandra. I never had kids... I never COULD have kids. As far as I'm concerned.. you're mine.

And I hope one day, you see that I never meant to force anything on you that you didn't want. I only wanted you to know how to take care of yourself, because... well, hell... I'll just say it. I'm not gonna be around forever.

It hurts me that you don't seem to care about yourself... and I know you're not used to anyone looking after you. After the stunt my brother pulled, I can't blame you. But I just want you to know, you ARE cared for, weather you like it or not.

And... Sandra... listen to me. This is very important. If... if anything ever DOES happen, and if anything ever happens to me in the process... do not--I repeat, do NOT--leave the bunker, under any circumstances. It'll be hard to stay locked up by yourself for such a long time, but stay in the bunker until someone comes for you. It might take a long time, but I have a network of likeminded individuals who have instructions to come rescue you in the event that anything happens, and if something has happened to me.

I love you, kiddo."

The voice vanished, and Sandra punched the 'stop' button.

Her eyes then began to focus on the huge, golden watch on her wrist.

Sure, she could wait around in the bunker until some strangers would come to help her out, for God knows how long... sure, she could survive this horrible catastrophe... but that wasn't enough. Not only had she constantly argued with, bashed, and rejected her uncle... but now, she couldn't even apologize. Her uncle had vanished, and he, like the rest of the residents in Las Nueva Era, was probably dead. Sandra would never get to apologize for being an utterly horrible person to him, would never get to hug him, would never get to let him know that he, too, was cared for...

It was hours before she was able to drift into a quiet, disturbed sleep.

*****

Jack's mother, Carol wept in the corner section of the bunker. The northwest corner.. No-one had noticed her except for a few students who had been there from the beginning. She tried to comfort them as the steel door had opened multiple times, and when the ground shook as explosions had went off in the distance on a couple occasions..

Now and again, Jackson would come and check up on her, but she felt so distant from the world, she didn't even know what world she was in anymore.

It was 2 days now since she had a drink, she popped back another Xanax, which she made sure she grabbed behind the bathroom mirror before leaving the house. The Doctor always told her it would help...but it didn't solve her loneliness.

Today, she cried harder than normal, and Jackson took notice.

"Mom? What's wrong? Are you ok? Is the Xanax helping?"

She just kept crying and as Jackson approached, she started wailing.

"They only help at night...but the effects don't last long enough.." She sobbed, then continued wailing loudly.

"I miss your father, Jackson! What are we doing here?? I'm so alone, son!" and she continued to weep harder, almost begging for Jack's shoulder.

Up until now, Jackson really resented his mother. For the past several years, he had been embarrassed by her, he didn't mention her to his friends, and on purpose. She was just another laughing stock, and Jack was not proud of her. The whole town knew of her from the incident where she was arrested for public intoxication outside the local grocery store.

What Jack didn't know, is that she lived a life of pain. Her husband was always gone, rarely did he show up to comfort her when she was scared, he wasn't there those lonely nights when she was all alone while Jackson was out doing...whatever..She lived in agony, never knowing her purpose in this life. Her own son rejected her, even though he tried to act like he didn't, so what was the point?

Knowing that kids and teenagers could never possibly understand this type of sorrow, Carol always kept her real feelings from Jack, she felt he was too young to know and she never held him responsible. But now, Carol was breaking down. She had lost the will to live.

Jack could tell, this wasn't normal, she didn't even act quite this bad when she was drunk..

He pondered her life, her sadness, her loneliness, and then something just snapped inside of Jack.. He saw all of her pain, it was now staring him in the face, and he saw how he had rejected her, was ashamed by her, and always made it a point to stay as far away from her as he could.

His lip curled...then Jack began to cry, he bawled actually. So hard, the whole bunker could hear him. He didn't care. Right now, he needed his mom and he hugged her like he hadn't done since he was 8.

"I'm sorry mom, I'm so sorry.. You don't deserve this! I love you. Once I am able, I will get dad back, I promise on my life!!"

Sue-Lin slipped fully awake and yet unmoving. Sandra was making enough noise to wake a mouse and woken one she had. Sandra played a recording, it was eloquent and somewhat moving. She imagined what recordings her Dad had prepared for her against the eventuality of his death. It was a sad thought and she realized that Sandra was feeling sad at that very moment.

Sandra came in and laid down, but took a long time to fall asleep. Once she had, Sue-Lin glided noiselessly to the other room finding the folder under a cassette machine. She started reading. Just before she flipped a page, she took a photo of the one just read. It took a while and when she was done she was very peed. If she would ever meet these people she would use all of her rather extensive knowledge of torture just to let them know she was annoyed. Then she would gladly end their lives, perhaps even dance on their graves. She quietened her mind, needing some real concentration to do so.

She went snooping through the remainder of the bunker. One door was locked. She left it as is. She found two other locations both seemed to be hidden doors. The tiny current of air showed that one of these went to a much larger volume of air. Getting very close to the air current, Sue-Lin sniffed and analyzed the scents. Stale air and old earthy smells. Well, at least she had found the back door.

It did not take long for Sue-Lin to find the catch to release the hidden door. She did not bother, she just needed to know it was there. Next time she was outside she would find the exit just so she knew what to expect if she had to exit in a hurry.

Lastly, Sue-Lin found the communication equipment behind a door. She found a range of labelled aerial jacks and selected the most appropriate one for her purpose. She connected her radio and sent a burst of data.

Comms check

Her Dad replied

Comms 5/5

She sent

Urgent! Extreme! See data dump attached.

She had attached all the images to that data dump. It was a big burst, it took a whole second and a half to send.

She waited until she received

Data received. Stay on air if possible.

Sue-Lin set her radio on top of one of the other pieces of equipment, plugged in a charger as well and set its beeper to maximum volume so she would know a message had arrived.

Satisfied, she returned to her sleeping place and went to a very deep sleep.

After Jack and his mother squealed like pigs about to be slaughtered....With Jack's lip curled, he began to try and compose himself. His mother had fallen asleep, which made Jack..content. At least when she was sleeping, she didn't feel the pain quite so much.

Jack began to move around and act in a weird way, he was losing his grip, but tried to maintain his composure.

Stumbling around the bunker, he ran into Sue-Lin..

Jack approached her and felt a wide range of emotions.

*Sniff* "HAH!, Well if it isn't the moving bush with binoculars!" *Sniff* "How the hell do you do it, Sue-Lin? Do you not have a soul??"

Jackson was so tired, so drained. The only thing he could do was cuddle up next to her..