OK people I went nuts (all because I wanted to do another before the new episode airs).... i have written a lot so its going to come in two posts!




Chapter 1 part 3

What happened to Kyle? How could someone have snuck up on him and overpowered him? The steel door was slowly but certainly opening. Light emanated from its open portion, suggesting that whomever it was knew that I was there. It was time to take a risk. I got up silently, and started slowly moving tword the door. If I had stayed where I was, I was going to be exposed. They would have a lineup on me and the protection of the door.

I managed to sneak up and behind the opening door. My plan was to ambush whoever it was when they walked through. A shotgun barrel slowly began to protrude out fro the door way. SHIT! That reminded me of something fatally stupid on my part: the shogun was half cocked. Screwing up my face in concentration I slowly, ever so slowly moved the mechanism down. In the silence that subtle click may have been shouting “Hello!”

“Keith?” The barrel had stopped moving, and a gruff obviously male voice spoke. “Keith, it's me, Wyatt. Don't shoot, I'm coming in.” A man roughly six feet high stepped through the now opened portal. His flashlight was pointed tword the back of the bunker. No risk. Even though this person was dressed in military uniform, he had either killed or knocked Kyle out. “You'll never believe who I found top side...” He spotted me. Too late for him though. His look was one of shock and mild grim humor as my shotgun butt slammed into his temple. He crumpled easily, and his shotgun clattered to the floor.

I dragged him farther into the bunker. Disarmed him and tied him up with some cord I found a bit farther back. He had short cut hair, and an unshaven face. He was actually about 6' 4”. His left shoulder was torn open by a clipping shotgun blast, but it wasn't life threatening yet. If I had to guess I would put him at about 28 years old, though it looked like he had gone through hell and back again. While I was finishing securing him, I saw that he had a very strange tattoo on the inside of his right forearm. It was a bar code, a six inch long bar code.

Believing him secured I scurried up the tunnel to find Kyle. I found him in a similar state that I had left the military person. He was out cold, and his hands were tied behind his back. I unbound him, and have him a slight shove to see if that would wake him. His eyes snapped open, and he gave me a hard shove and began scrambling to his feet. “Kyle! Calm down Kyle! It's me Derek!”

He paused, blinked, and then seemed to recognize me. “There was a man,” Kyle said out of breath. “Snuck up on me, shoot him, but he kept coming. Knocked me out.”

“I know, I caught him by surprise in the bunker. He's out cold right now.”

“How long was I out?”

“Not more than five minutes. Lets get the truck unloaded, and hide it somewhere.”

We emptied the truck, and moved it to a large clump of bushes. I went down the ladder again with what I could carry. Once I got to the bottom Kyle started to drop things that could be dropped down the entrance. A few moments later he made his way slowly down the ladder making sure not to drop the CB radio. We moved our gear to the main part of the complex, roughly piling it near the poster. Wyatt was still out cold. “Cute poster.” Kyle said as he saw the 'Hang in there baby' poster for the first time. “Someones got a dark sense of humor, think its his?”

I looked at the still unconscious form lying on the floor. “Maybe. This guy said he recognized you before I knocked him out.”

Kyle gave me a funny look, “You talked with him?”
“Nope.” I responded, “The sap thought I was someone else, a Keith something or other. He didn't realize it was me till the split second before I knocked him out. He's going to wake up with a killer headache. I sat down on one of the padded bunks across from the unconscious form. Kyle closed the door part way and lit an oil lamp he found in the back. Wyatt groaned, and rolled over slightly.

“Ah,” I said. “Speaking of.” I leveled the shotgun and the man's face, and not so gently poked him with it. His eyes snapped open, and bulged slightly at the sight of a shotgun barrel mere inches from him. His eyes flashed around as if taking stock of the situation, and he began to test his bonds. “Ah, ah, ah.” I said shoving the shotgun into unwounded shoulder. “We don't want to have to shoot you again.”

His movement stopped abruptly, and he spoke. “Wyatt Willson, 1st lieutenant, field op for Tech Com. I'm not here to kill anyone so there is no point in keeping me tied up. Besides when the rest of my group gets here, your going to need me to explain the situation.”

“The situation is Wyatt, if I can use your first name, you attacked me and then proceeded to try to attack my brother. So shut up and let us ask the questions.” Kyle said with rather harsh tones.

“You mentioned a Keith before I knocked you out, is he part of this group of yours?”

“Yes.”

“This Keith have a last name, Wyatt?”

“Yes.”

“Don't push your luck.” I said after that attempt to be spiteful. “What's his last name?”

“Hill.” Wyatt said grimly. Than name struck something in me and I decide to confirm it before moving on.

“How many were in you group besides you?” I asked grimly.

“Eight.” Shit.

“Untie him.” I said to Kyle. Wyatt gave me a curious expression ask Kyle cut the bonds. “Your group is dead.” I said to him. He gave me an unbelieving look as he rubbed his wrists and sat up. “Don't believe me? Then here.” I took the eight sets of tags out of my pockets and tossed them to him. He caught them with his right hand, and stared dumbfounded.

“H-How?” He managed to stutter out weakly.

“We found their caravan destroyed on the side of a road not ten minuets from here.” Kyle answered. “They were attacked. The front end of one Humvee was smashed in. Two of them were riddled with bullet holes and the last one flipped on its back. Four of your comrades were shot multiple times, the others were...” Kyle began to falter

“Ripped apart.” I finished for him. “It was all I could do to get their tags from them. We managed to salvage some gear from the vehicles before we fled, but not much.” Wyatt's face took to obvious grief, but he tried to suppress it. “I'm sorry. Maybe if we had been there we could have...”

“No, you couldn't have.” Wyatt said grimly as he put the tags around his neck. “If they were taken out, then you wouldn't have stood a chance. He stood and moved to sit down on the bunk across from me. “Was there anything strange about how the vehicles were attacked or damaged?”

I thought on it for a moment then responded with, “The first Humvee looked like it hit something extremely heavy at high speeds. The last one had some fist size holes in it also. Why?”

“Nothing.” He responded quickly. A brief flash of fear came over his face, then vanished instantly. “I just wanted to know. You guys have no idea how extremely lucky you were to get to this bunker alive. Almost every major metropolitan area has been destroyed across the world.

“You know who did this?” Kyle asked.

Wyatt nodded. “Yes. Skynet is responsible for the destruction of humanity.” Both Kyle and I gave him doubting looks. Wyatt just simply nodded as he continued, “Skynet came on line three weeks ago, and spread throughout the world looking for potential threats. A short while later it became self-aware and became afraid that humans would destroy it and it would have no purpose. It started systematically infiltrating everything, preparing to attack. The world government saw this and tried to shut it down. It became angry and launched the attack that you both were first hand witnesses to.”

“How do you know this?” I asked unbelieving.

“Because I...” Wyatt stopped and listened. A loud roaring appeared. He ran to the door and threw his weight against it, and then tried to lock it in place. But with his injured shoulder he couldn't move it easily. “Help me!” He cried out. Kyle and I sprang to our feet and rushed over. Both of us put all our strength against the locking mechanism. A small click was buried in the sound of a deafening roar. The wall not two inches away seemed to reach out and slam directly into my forehead. Falling backwards, my vision faded from Kyle still braced against the door to endless blackness.

Chapter 2 part 1

I tried to speak but I couldn't. I was standing on top of a hillside overlooking Las Vegas. In front of me was a chain link fences blocking off a large picnicking area. “RUN!” I tried to scream, but nothing came out. No mater how hard I tried nothing would come out. My parents, Carol, and Kyle were all sitting down and talking and laughing. Never knowing of the imminent danger that was approaching. “RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! RUN DAMN IT! RUN!” I threw all my weight against the chain link fence and it didn't budge. “RUN! DAMN IT! KYLE! RUN!” I started to climb over the fence, when I made it to the top, I was finally acknowledged. “RUN!” I screamed. Kyle and the others simply pointed and laughed thinking it some joke. I didn't have time to yell again, a brilliant flash emanated from Vegas. I was thrown, off of the fence, thirty feet into a hillside. I propped myself up to see the entire family ignite and die. The light of the explosion only intensified and soon all I could see was a brilliant white light.

“Derek?” I blinked. I still couldn't see anything but that white light. I squinted and tried to bring my right arm to shield my eyes from the intense light. Pain wracked my entire right side as I tried. “Don't try to move. You broke your wrist and a few ribs from that fall of yours.” The light was removed from my eyes and I tried to focus on the blurry face that was behind it.

“Kyle?” I asked. I still hadn't manage to focus the face all the way.

“No. Wyatt. Your brother took a hard fall too. Relax, relax.” He said as I tried to rise. “Noting but a few bad bumps and bruises. Not nearly as bad as what happed to you. He's resting right now.” I started taking stock of myself and my surroundings. Breathing was painful, my left arm and leg seemed fine. I tried to move my right leg and got a jolt of pain in response. Wyatt spotted the movement and said, “I told you not to move, you twisted your right ankle as well. I'm going to give you a pain killer, try not to move OK?” I nodded, then felt a pinprick in my arm.

“So how did you fare, and what the hell happened?” I asked as he pulled the needle out of my arm. My vision had returned and other than his wounded shoulder I didn't see anything obviously wrong with him. “How long have I been out?” I asked when I took a visual inspection of were I was. I had been moved to a bunk from the floor, and my chest and been fully taped.

“If I had to guess I would say you have been out for eighteen hours. I honestly cant give you a strait time because I was knocked out as well. I wasn't injured by the explosion, just knocked out. As to what happened, a nuclear weapon when off within a mile from here. Judging by the ground movement it had to be a ten megaton. We are going to have to wait at least 96 hours before we go topside, thats the minimum for non lethal doses of radiation. I'm going to give you a sedative to help you sleep, I'll need both you and your brothers help when you wakeup again.” I nodded once again, there was nothing I can do about anything right now. I felt another needle go in and out. “Sleep now. Your going to need your strength.” I welcomed the sleep that slowly crept over me, all thoughts of my nightmare abolished from my mind.

I had a dreamless sleep, and woke to almost complete darkness. I rolled over on then bunk, my ribs still panged in pain, but not nearly as much as before. My ankle was much better and my wrist was securely locked in a splint. I sat up and started looking through the dim light for Kyle. I found him sitting on one of the bunks working on the CB radio, screwdriver in hand. “Were's Wyatt?” I asked him through the darkness.

“Oh, your up,good.” Wyatt said from above me. He was leaning out from the bunk above mine. “Hows the wrist feeling? You have been out for about another twelve hours.” He hopped down and brought out a small flashlight and started checking me over.

“Much better thank you.” I told him. “Never figured you much for the doctor type though.”

“Experience on the field dictates that everyone knows enough medical information to be of some use. I'm just a little better at it than most.” He put his flashlight away. “Well you seem perfectly good. Alright then I need both of your guys help for something.” Kyle put the CB down and We both followed him over to the 'Hang in there baby poster'. “Unit motto” He said as he pull the poster from the wall, to reveal an electronic number pad with a key slot. He pulled a key from his pockets and inserted it, then typed in a fifteen digit code and turned the key. A loud thump was heard and some dust fell from the back wall.

“We have been preparing this place for quite some time, in preparation for Skynet's attack.” He said as he grabbed the oil lamp and turned it up. The light fell on the back wall to reveal a door shaped outline in the wall. “If the both of you will push? My strength betrays me.” We nodded and threw our weight against the outline. Very slowly the door began to creep backwards. “We were preparing this place to act as a staging point for survivors and attacks,against Skynet.” We finished pushing the door as far as it could and Wyatt stepped past us to reveal a new section of the bunker that we had never seen before. “We built extensively with the time we had, this complex can house up to fifty people. The first area we were in was the guard room, designed to give early warning to the rest of the bunker.”

He started leading us down a long corridor. “We have a large weapons, and food store here. Enough to last us quite some time. But first I need you two to help me repair the wound Kyle gave me with his shotgun.” He opened up a door to reveal a full medical surgery area.

“How did you manage to build this place when the attacks happened with no warning?” Kyle asked as we stepped into the room.

“We were told to build it even before Skynet went on line. Our commander had a hunch that something like this would happen, he told us to start building and stocking, so we did.” I gave him an unsatisfied expression. “Questions later. I need your help.”

Wyatt took off his shirt and I was in shock. He was relatively fit but... he had burns and scars all over his body. My jaw dropped a little, and Wyatt saw it. “I got caught in an explosion, no biggy.” This guy for real? “I have managed to take care of most of the wound myself but I can't, by myself, get to one of the pellets. Now Derek I just want you to hold up that mirror and light since one of your wrists is out of commission. Kyle I'm going to walk you through the entire surgery.”

Twenty or so minutes later Kyle was at the point of almost pulling the pellet out. “OK Kyle you're doing great. Now I want you to clamp down tightly ONLY once your sure you have the pellet. Then once you have it slowly pull it out, making sure to keep it secure.”

“OK I think I have it, you ready?” Kyle asked. Wyatt gave a quick repetitive nod. “OK then.” Kyle slowly began to clamp down on the pellet. Thinking it secure, I could only wince as the pellet slipped from grasp of the tongs. Missed. Wyatt's face contorted in pain.

“T-Try again.” He managed to say through the pain. “Your doing great, take all the time you need, we're in no rush.” Kyle went in again, this time managing to successfully retrieve the pellet. Wyatt gave a sigh of relief once it was out. “OK, good job. I trust that you two can patch me up without my supervision?” We nodded. “Good because I'm going to pass out in a moment. Good job both of you...” and Wyatt promptly passed out.

After we finished patching up his shoulder, I turned to Kyle and asked, “Is this guy for real? I don't know anyone who could have stayed awake long enough to see their own operation through. And those injuries... only about half of them could be accounted for by an explosion.”

“I don't know, and I don't care. We owe this guy, and remember without him you would be in a world of pain right now from the bomb.”

“I know, I know. I just have a feeling that he's not telling us everything...”

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fun fun fun! hope you enjoy!

Wow chaos its sooo in depth. i couldnt stop reading... man i must have read from the prologue to here in a matter of just a few minutes. im totally gonna be back lots...keep it up.

oh and great job at the chess tournament.... second place huh. oh and that brandon kid...your predecessor hahaha he did a great job too:]

keep it up

great! as usual. Keep up the good work!