Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 106: It's All Over

Madison's father knocked on the door to the Governor's private quarters within the underground bunker complex. It was a slight knock, and though there was no immediate response from inside the dark room. The door slid open, almost as if it was neither locked nor fully latched.

Curious about why this was the case, the man quickly pressed forward, while loudly calling out the absent governor's name.

"Frank? Frank are you in here?"

But there was no response, and it was not until the billionaire donor approached the Nevada governor's desk did he find the man passed out with a bottle of liquor in his hand. One that was nearly completely empty.

At first Madison's father sighed in relief, thinking that the man was just having trouble like everyone else coping with the current world. But there was something written on the piece of paper in front of him. Words written in bold large letters. Scratched onto the paper rather erratically as appeared to be the case.

"IT'S ALL OVER"

This haunting message which appeared to be repeatedly written on the paper concerned to the man, and thus he was quick to shake Frank awake, demanding answers. Because as far as he could tell, such a message spelled a far more disastrous scenario for humanity than anyone living in this bunker had ever considered to be a realistic possibility.

"Frank! Frank, wake up god dammit! What's over? What is over!?!"

Frank, surprisingly, awoke, though in a drunken stupor, slurring his words, and taking several moments to gauge his surroundings. But when he saw the man standing next to him with panicked face, he was quick to ask whether or not he was seeing things.

"John? John, is that you?"

John quickly nodded, assuring Frank that it was really him standing there, all while continuing to shake the man and demand an answer.

"Yes Frank, it's me! Now tell me, what do these writings mean? Why did you write that it is all over?"

Frank was too wasted to see clearly enough to read his own message, but the words it's all over were enough to get the truth out of him which he slurred while reaching for the bottle, as if he had not yet had enough to drink.

"It's all over… John… Everything's gone… By now the power grid is out… and… and the survivors? What chance do they have?…. We are all that is left now…."

Panic began to overtake John's mind as his heart raced upon hearing this information. From what Frank had said, even a fool could surmise that the viral outbreak had been apocalyptic in its results, and thus John demanded to know more.

"What do you mean, Frank? What about the CDC? When is the cure going to be released?"

After struggling to unscrew the lid on the bottle, all while listening to John's intense line of questioning, Frank became aggravated and threw his bottle at the wall, where it shattered on impact.

He then grabbed hold of John's collar and shook the man. Judging by the look in Frank's eyes, there was not much thought going on at the moment. But what thought there was had been filled with panic and anxiety.

"Don't you understand! There is no cure! I haven't heard from the CDC in days, and the last messaged I received from them…. Was that the United States had fallen… The world has fallen…. Don't you understand, John?

There is no civilization anymore… Most of humanity is dead! We're all that's left now…. And if there are any survivors… They will be more beast than man by now…. Because what is a man without civilization and the laws that enforce normality? An animal!

I'm just thankful there is enough supplies in this bunker to last us a quarter of a century.... Maybe by the time we are forced to emerge the world will have recovered and some semblance of civilization will be built upon the ashes of the old one, if not…."

Frank passed out from his intoxication before he could even finish his thought, leaving John with a horrified look on his face… The worst possible scenario had occurred. The virus was far more dangerous than anyone could have predicted. Civilization was gone, and the survivors were likely as feral as those who had been infected in the first place.

But despite the many questions John had in his mind at this moment, the most harrowing was a simple one. Would he and his family really going to spend the rest of their lives in this miserable bunker?

---

Madison had not yet learned of the horrors of the outside world. In fact, as of this moment, the only two people in this bunker complex, which was designed to protect several dozen people for a minimum of twenty-five years, were her father and the governor.

Instead, Madison sulked in her quarters, lying on her stomach as she looked at her phone and the photos she had on it. Particularly the ones of her and her friends. There was no internet access in this bunker, and even if she had been able to connect to it over the past few months, it wouldn't have mattered as by now the electric grid across the United States was largely collapsed.

But Madison didn't know this, instead she thought her parents were overreacting to this global pandemic. After all, there was one a few years back which the world over reacted to. So how was this not the same?

If she knew how lucky she was to have been safely sheltered away from the world during the chaotic fall of civilization, and the anarchy that followed it, then she would never have complained. But Madison was a spoiled brat, and because of this, she could do nothing but complain.

In fact… She was getting so sick of this "nonsense" that after begging her father for the ability to leave the bunker, and being rejected for the 27th time in the last 72 hours, Madison began to devise a plan to escape.

She had been watching the guards who protected the entrance of the bunker for several days now. She knew their schedules by heart, and when they would switch posts. Leaving a small gap in time where the entrance to the bunker was unguarded.

With this in mind, Madison watched her videos on her phone and looked at her pictures until the allotted time arrived. And then she quietly snuck out of her room. After all, it was not like she planned to go far, she just wanted to get internet access so she could send a quick message to her friends letting them know she was okay.

Madison stalked through the halls of the bunker, quietly avoiding the patrols as she did so. At one point, she came close to being detected, but luckily for her, the guard was called off by his fellow security officer, who drew his attention away from Madison's hiding place.

Finally, after much effort, Madison finally arrived at the stairwell that led to the hatch which would grant her access to the governor's estate above, where the bunker complex was hidden beneath. It took all of her feeble strength to unlock the hatch at the top of the staircase, but when she did, Madison finally managed to escape the bunker.

Naturally, Madison did not seal the hatch behind her, or she would have no way to re-enter the bunker once she had finished her goal. Thus she lept out from the bunker, and was surprised by what she saw.

All around her, the Governor's mansion looked as if it had been ransacked. Furniture was hewn across the place, or outright destroyed. And the walls were vandalized. Even the lights were off, and would not power on, no matter how much she tried to flip the switch.

Just who would ransack the governor's mansion? Wasn't that a serious crime? But in the next moment, Madison heard who she believed were culprits in the next room over, or perhaps two rooms. Causing her to freeze on the spot.

"Angelica, what exactly are we looking for? We have searched all over, and yet we still have not found the entrance…"

Angelica's voice followed Zane's. She sounded bashful as she admitted she did not know exactly where the entrance to the bunker was. Or how to get inside of it.

"I'm sorry, Zane… I don't know the exact details. But it should be here!"

After this, there was no response. Regardless, Madison felt the need to immediately run back to the bunker and warn everyone inside that people had broken in to the governor's mansion. She had completely forgotten her objective with leaving the bunker in the first place.

Instead, she took one step back towards the underground stairwell that led to the bunker when the room she was in was suddenly flooded with a bright white light. Madison did not realize it, but Elena had suddenly looked into the room while her back was turned, illuminating it with her weapon light as she did so.

The moment she saw the bunker hatch was open, and that someone was trying to head back inside of it, she froze time on the spot. Leaving only herself and her party available. She quickly ran up to Madison and bound the girl with some zipties, all while calling out to her comrades to come help her out.

By the time Madison finally came back to normal time, she stared in disbelief, having no idea how she ended up on the ground while bound and surrounded by a man and three women. She was about to say something when Zane leaned down with a knife in his hand, pressing its cold steel blade against the pink-haired girl's face.

There was a stoic look on Zane's face as he issued an order to the girl. One that she instinctively complied with.

"Shhhhhh…. Don't you dare make a fucking sound, or I will slit your pretty little throat! Do you understand me, girl?"

And just like that, Madison had ended up in Zane's clutches, and left the bunker complex vulnerable to an attack from the outside.