Chapter 56 - Callahan

Gary is your friend.

W e were at a standstill, five against one, although the man in front of us looked harmless. It was just his eyes that made him different. He scanned our line and zeroed in on me.

"You're from a bunker. Which one?"

I stiffened.

How had he known that?

"237."

"Ah! The Young Lady and her DADDY bunker. That was an interesting one to read about. While it's not the worst one they created, it's still disturbing. At least you have all your human parts," he chuckled.

"You know about the bunkers?" Boone asked. "Who are you?"

"Gary. I came from Bunker 330. How did you get out when it is still an active bunker?" He turned his head curiously to the side, still focused on me.

"I— What do you know?" I didn't trust Gary. He nodded, as if reading my mind.

"It's fine. You're looking for the TEST headquarters. I can take you there. You will find everything you're looking for there."

"Test?" Cherry asked.

"Teach, Elevate, Study, Transform. TEST. Come on, we can talk while we walk. You're not far now." Gary turned and walked into the darkness, not waiting for us to follow. We exchanged looks and begrudgingly, started after him.

"It started in the 1950s," Gary started the moment we grew close. "I'm no historian, but I have lots of time to read, and I've read a lot."

"Is that what you did in your bunker?" I asked. He laughed.

"No sir. Your bunker was a social experiment, mine was more physical. We weren't encouraged to learn."

"Is yours still active?" I was the only one speaking to Gary. Everyone else listened, looking very confused at our conversation. Gary laughed again.

"No sir. We rose up, rebelled, and killed all the scientists. Only a few of us survived, and once we escaped to the surface we parted ways. We thought it'd be safer that way. Less likely to be caught and found and dragged to a different bunker to be tested on."

We walked for a mile, all the while Gary asked how the surface was. He chatted as if this wasn't an entirely peculiar interaction.

"Tell us about TEST," Boone said after a while.

"Ah yes. The tall building that is the place of nightmares. TEST is where it all began. In the early 1900s, the world leaders came together, nominating people from their countries to come and be a decider on the fate of the world. They decided the world needed a restart, and the only way to get the right outcome was to be the ones in charge of the restart."

"The bombs. That was the restart," Soda said.

Gary shook his head. "No, actually. We haven't even really started the restart. We're still in the Study phase." He looked back, glaring at Soda for interrupting him.

"So, they formulated a plan. While the bunkers were being built, they brought 5,000 people to the TEST center, where they spent five years preparing them to take over the bunkers. They split them into groups of five, and then let them pick what they wanted to do with their bunker. That was Teach," Gary added with a glance back and an eye roll.

"Then they moved to Elevate, which was when people were moved to the bunkers. It went in phases, starting in the 1950s up until the bombs actually dropped in 2010. Each bunker was given an experiment to run. Some more darker than others." Gary looked at me. The memory of the bunker of underwater mutants came to mind. Gary nodded solemnly, giving me chills.

Once the experiments were put into place, they moved to Study, which is where we currently sit. Once their study is done, they're supposed to pick the bunker which was the most successful in their eyes, and then nuke the world again, saving only that bunker. That will move them into the Transform phase."

"Atlas Adam," Cherry muttered. "So we're all doomed."

"Nah, they overshot everything. They planned for a lot of things, but they never once planned for the people in the bunkers to rebel." Gary turned a corner and we were smack dab in front of a large, circular door.

"Welcome to the TEST center!" He boomed, waving his arms dramatically.

"How do we get in?" Bonnie asked.

"Ah, yes. This is where my bunker-crafted skills come in." Gary stepped aside and closed his eyes. An instant later, the chambers of the lock began to click loudly, echoing in the tunnel. With a loud creak, the door popped open.

"Did you do that with your mind?" I asked, bewildered.

Gary grinned. "I did. And that's nothing. Come on, I'll show you what I can do." He pushed the door open and stepped inside. He clapped and lights flickered on inside the door. We peered in, seeing a metal hall, similar to the bunkers. Everyone looked at me, waiting for me to go first. Gary chuckled.

"I know, when I first saw it, I had flashbacks. I didn't want to go in either, but a rogue crawlie coming toward me urged me to change my mind. Come in if you want. There's an elevator at the end of the hall, it'll take us up and out of this place."

I stepped into the new, clean tunnel, and saw the elevator just like he'd said. With relief, I waved everyone in and Gary closed the door, locking it with his mind.

"There are 100 floors, not including the ground floor. Each floor has ten units. Each unit was where they planned the bunkers. You can find all the information available for the bunker of your choice in them," Gary explained as we clamored into the elevator and he pushed the button for the ground floor.

"I've never seen a place with this much electricity," Boone said. "How many generators run this?"

"None. I do," Gary boasted. He tapped his temple. "Bunker 330's experiment was injections. They spent the last 200 some years injecting whatever they could come up with into us. Some of it was deadly, some of it did nothing, and some altered our DNA."

"How did any of you survive?" I asked. I imagined the horrors of a bunker made up of people injecting things.

"Our bunker was filled with five times the amount of other bunkers. And our scientists were very good at what they did. Surprisingly, there weren't a whole lot of deaths. We actually had overcrowding for a time," he chuckled. "But, that's what made them start to get more adventurous with their testing."

"So you can…" Cherry spoke up.

"I can do lots of things, but the things I use the most are seeing in the dark, reading minds, and I can play with electric currents, turning them on and off at will. So long as I'm in the building, it will operate as it did before they dropped the bombs."

The ground floor looked like the lobby of a hotel, like I'd seen in movies. There were fake plants, a help desk, and faded carpets.

"Feel free to explore on your own. Bunker 237's unit will be on floor 23. I only spent one day in that unit, it gave me the creeps." He shuddered.

"Are we alone, Gary?" Cherry asked.

He shrugged, and I believed him when he said. "I don't get visitors often. I think my last one came almost a year ago. I mostly exist alone here."

"How do you eat?"

"Oh, I don't need to do any of that," he chuckled, patting his belly. "I can't really die anymore. Not by wasting away, anyway. I haven't really tested anything dangerous. I live a quiet life here. You're welcome to peruse and stay as long as you'd like, just don't ruin anything. I like to go back from time to time. I miss things the first go around."

We thanked him and turned back to the elevator, going to the 23 rd floor.

The doors opened and we started forward but then froze. In the shadows, a figure moved. We stared for a long moment before I spoke.

"Eleanor?"