All characters in sexual situations are 18 years of age and older.
Chapter 1
Hello everybody! Sorry for the long break. Please enjoy this new story!
Rhea inspected the gash on her neck in the rearview mirror.
Darn concealer didn't do a thing
. She supposed it was a tall order to try to cover such a recent injury, but she hoped it at least kept the worst of it from view.
She sighed and glanced out the window to the elementary school. Still no sign of either of her kids. She reached down to rummage through her purse and pulled out the concealer she kept inside. Maybe another layer would do the trick. It might look a little odd, but it was better than her children asking too many questions.
To this day, they still thought their father was simply a busy businessman, gone for long work conferences and company missions. He hadn't cared to correct them, and Rhea thought it best for them to think of him that way, at least for a while.
But she knew the truth. Two years after their marriage, she'd discovered his first mistress. When she confronted him about it, he shrugged it off with a half-hearted apology and moved on. Another year later she discovered that he hadn't even stopped seeing her and had taken another mistress. When she pressed him, she discovered that his history of cheating went all the way back to their engagement.
At first, she was devastated, as any woman would be. Eventually that despair faded into something akin to relief. He visited home less and less, and he wasn't around to hurt her or the children. She touched at the gash and winced.
He had last arrived home late last night, after the kids were in bed. He had discovered that the dishes hadn't been done, and he'd been furious. He'd drawn a knife, held her despite her struggles, and carefully sliced into her neck. It would have hurt less if he'd just been drunk and struck wildly. The cold calculated punishment hurt all the much more.
Suddenly the back doors of the car popped open, and in slid her children. "Hey, Mom!"
She removed her hand from her neck and tugged up her collar. "How was school, Ash? Learn anything exciting?"
Young Ashley grinned. "I think they talked about adjectives or something. I don't really remember."
Rhea rolled her eyes. She doubted that. "Okay, but what were
you
learning about?" Ashley loved to remind everyone around her of her intelligence. Rhea played her little game of superiority, but she knew it couldn't last forever if Ashley ever wanted friends.
Ashley shrugged. "I decided to review geological formations. Did you know that when horizontally parallel strata of sedimentary rock are dropped onto tilted and eroded layers, it forms an angular unconformity?"
Rhea smiled and shook her head. "No, dearest. I didn't know that." She glanced in the rearview mirror to her son. "How about you, Zach? Learn anything interesting in school?"
He didn't reply, simply looking out the window. After a moment of silence, Ashley jumped in. "Zach got in a fight today."
Rhea gasped and turned to look at him. "Zach! What... Why...?"
Ashley smirked. "I think it had something to do with
May
."
That got Zach to snap out of it. He glared at Ashley. "I just hate bullies. That's all."
Rhea sighed. "Zach, you can always just talk to an adult. I'm sure they can-"
"But they won't!" He folded his arms. "Adults just sit around and talk about it. They talk to them, and then they think everything is fine." He turned to stare out the window again. "But Greg won't be bothering her again, I think. Not anymore."
Rhea bit her lip. What was she going to do with him? His intentions were good -- they were always good -- but he was very rash. She knew of Greg. In fact, she knew Greg's mom. He was a beefy kid, a sixth grader. Zach hadn't even reached puberty yet. He likely couldn't even stand to the other kid's shoulder.
Shouldn't the school have called her? Keeping an eye on the road, she reached into her purse to retrieve her phone. 3 missed calls. She winced. It must've happened during work.
"Are you going to punish him, mommy?" Ash asked innocently.
Rhea sighed. "No. I think he's been through enough punishment. I'm more worried about what the school had to say then-"
Without warning, her phone started blaring. Had she set an alarm? "Ash, dear, do you mind checking my phone?"
Ash reached forward to grab the phone and read what it was reading. "It looks like it's from that Gravity app Grina downloaded. 'Impact eminent.'"
Rhea's head whipped around. "Are you sure? Does it say anything about being a false alarm?"
Ash shook her head and frowned. "Why? What's going on?"
Rhea's best and only friend, Grina, had turned out to be quite the survivalist. She was completely paranoid about the end of the world and had joined an organization, Gravity, to fund nuclear bunk sites. She was insistent that Rhea subscribe to them, so Rhea had purchased the minimal subscription.
"Call Grina, Ash." Rhea fought to keep her voice calm. "I need to talk to her."
Ash obeyed silently while Zach looked on, confused. Rhea took some deep breaths, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. That alert could only mean one thing...
Nuclear war. The Gravity team had organized (probably illegally) a group of satellites to detect incoming nuclear weapons. Usually when it fired off, the message would read "Impact Iminent: Drill Test" or "15% chance of Weaponry." She had turned off the notifications a long time ago.
Ash put it on speaker. "Hello? Rhea, you got the message?"
"Grina, what's going on? What is this all about?"
"This is the real deal, Rhea," Grina said grimly. "It's the end of the world."
"Shouldn't the news or alarms or something else be telling us this?" Rhea glanced nervously at the sky. "What makes you so sure?"
"Gravity satellites detected 215 separate units descending towards the atmosphere. This is no joke."
Ash's eyebrows furrowed. "Mom...?"
Rhea took a shaky breath. "What do we do?"
"Go to the bunker. I'll meet you there. We only have about half an hour, so pack up your things quickly." Then she hung up.
Rhea's mind raced. She felt like throwing up. In a moment, she made her decision. She's rather have this be a false alarm and be safe inside a bunker than brush it off and have it have been real. She swerved to get on the lane towards the highway.
Ash fell silent next to her brother. At least she had figured out that this wasn't the time for talking. Her eyes were wide and alert.
Zach still seemed confused about the whole thing, and, as usual, kept his mouth shut. Rhea was grateful to them both. She couldn't deal with the distraction of an explanation when she herself didn't really understand what was happening.
The first order of business was to get them to the shelter. Nothing at home was worth risking their lives. After that, if she had time, she'd run home and grab some of their stuff. For now, she just had to get to the shelter.
She'd only been once, but the route was pretty memorable. With only mild hesitation, she pressed her foot firmly onto the gas pedal and watched the speedometer tick upward.
The drive was a panicked and eerie journey. The rest of the world went on its merry way, oblivious to what was coming. Either that, or she was being ridiculous and paranoid. She wasn't sure which reality she'd prefer.
After what felt like an eternity, they arrived at the bunker. "Kids, come on." She quickly unbuckled and climbed out. "We need to move."
They obeyed without question, though she could tell they were burning with questions. She grabbed them both by one arm and all but dragged them down into the building.
The bright white walls and well-lit rooms helped to ease her nervousness. She knelt down and put a hand on their shoulders. "Now, stay here. I'll be back in a few-"
"Automatic defense system activated. Doors closing in 3... 2... 1...
"
Rhea could only stare in shock as the massive overhanging blast door drifted down and locked them inside. "What? But we still have twenty minutes!" She ran to the door just as the shockwave hit.
It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. The closest it came was to when she was younger, bouncing on the trampoline with her friends, playing "Crack the Egg." She's be curled up, and they'd all bounce around her, trying to launch her hard enough that she'd release and break open.
Except there was no soft cushioning trampoline. This was hard, ungiving titanium. The lights vanished almost immediately, and with her final conscious thought, she prayed that her children would be all right.
Then the darkness took her.
*************
Several Years Later....
***************
Rhea hummed quietly to herself as she stirred the rations of soup. The years had passed simply and easily.
No one else had made it to the bunker in time. Likely they had thought the thirty minutes was more than enough time to grab some stuff before arriving. She didn't know why the calculations were so far off, and there was no way to tell now.
In any case, the lack of people meant that there were more than enough resources for them. It had been prepped to last for 10 years for roughly fifty people, and with only three of them that looked like it could be a lot longer. Unfortunately, for some reason, the food expired in twenty.
She glanced up to the clock. There were no dates or years on it, just the amount of time the remained locked in here for. It was down to three years and some odd days. In a few days, they would get to celebrate an anniversary. It wasn't the anniversary of getting locked in here -- rather, they would celebrate in advance when they could get out.
The bubbling soup broke her out of her thoughts. "Kids! It's dinnertime!"
Ashley arrived first. She had grown into an astoundingly beautiful young woman, slender and graceful. Her eyes gleamed with incredible intelligence, more brilliant than ever before.
"So, what are we eating tonight?" Ashley's face soured as she sniffed. "Not soup again..."
"I know it's not your favorite, Ash, but it will be the first to run out. We need to eat it first."
"It's still got five years on it, Mom!" Ashely settled into her chair. "I think I'll pass for tonight."
Rhea frowned. "Young lady, you can't keep skipping meals. You're wasting away."
Ashley shrugged noncommittally. "I'm not starving, and I'm not exhibiting any symptoms of malnourishment. I'll be fine." She rose to return to her room.
