Gideon took that as being their bunker.
A second one sat smack dab in the middle of the continent, at least five hundred miles east of their home.
The third was located somewhere in Asia—from the position, Gideon surmised it may be in the Himalayas.
There’s no reason to locate things by their countries anymore, he thought to himself. If everything is how it seems.
Typing some more commands into the computer, he wanted the satellite to shift into screening the atmosphere above ground.
The computer whined then clicked before beeping a couple times.
“Why is it making all that racket?” Lynda asked.
“I told the satellite to check the atmosphere.” He leaned his head back against her. “Probably takes all its resources to do such a task.”
A final elongated beep answered his statement.
Several boxes with information blipped onto the screen.
Gideon leaned forward. He could feel his heart racing as he read the data. A smile spread across his jaws.
“Darling,” he could barely speak. “It’s livable.”
Lynda couldn’t say a word. She laughed as she felt tears of joy stinging her eyes. Her arms encircled Gideon’s shoulders and squeezed.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally breathed out a question.
“Are those dots bunkers?”
“I think so—” Gideon was interrupted by a flashing bar across the top of the computer screen.
The words seemed to scream at him in bold font.
“Incoming call,” Gideon read the words out loud. He felt the blood drain from his face. The breath caught in his throat.
“There’s our answer,” Lynda whispered the words, all strength in her force gone from the elation.
Gideon felt like he was watching his own body from behind. He knew he was moving his hand to the “Answer” button, but he didn’t feel it.
“Hello, this is Captain Terry Dayson,” the face appeared on the screen. “I must say, it’s good to know we’re not alone. Who are y’all?”
“I’m Gideon Cole and this is my wife, Lynda. My father was General Liman Cole, San Francisco division. He knew about this bunker and got us here before being killed in action during the bomb drop.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, I think I heard about him back during the third tour of Saudi Arabia. Good man. Is it just you two?”
Lynda rested her hands on her husband’s shoulders as she stared at the screen.
“Yes, Sir,” Gideon nodded. “And we haven’t been to the top yet since the bombs. Is this the only satellite out there?”
“Yes,” the Captain looked grim. “I’m afraid so. The world governments went berserk thanks to that plague. My team managed to get almost three hundred refugees. This bunker though is nearly depleted.”
“You could come here,” Gideon offered after glancing up at Lynda. “We have, I’d say, almost twenty years worth of stock—at least, for just two people. For three hundred, it may be a quarter of that, but that’s enough, I think.”
“Should be, glory to God,” the Captain grinned. “The atmosphere is reading habitable. I’m certain the conditions are probably a little extreme, but after a year or two nature should be going back to a stable cycle.”
The man paused before snapping his fingers and pointing at the screen.
“Hey, what do y’all say about beginning the first settlement just outside y’all’s place? From the satellite readings, I like the terrain around your area and it looks like there’s a good-sized fresh water lake just half a mile from your mountain.”
“Yes,” Gideon nodded, he couldn’t help but return the smile. “That sounds like a huge idea to me and I’m all in. Lynda, how about you?”
“I’m totally and one hundred percent all in,” Lynda finally found her voice. Leaning in, she asked the face on the screen, “How many women are in your group, Captain?”
The man chuckled as he glanced over his shoulder then back again.
“We have one hundred and fifty seven women according to the tally. About thirty are pregnant.”
Lynda’s face could not smile any wider unless it broke in half.
Gideon noticed a twinkle in her eyes and raised an eyebrow, but before he could speak up, the Captain started shooting off the plans.
“Okay, so you two, since it’s your site, can come up with the official name of the first human settlement. We’ve all decided here, we literally want to start over. Now we don’t know anything about that one group over in Asia, but they’re just going to have to struggle by themselves until we can figure out a new means of communication or find some sea transportation.”
Gideon nodded in agreement.
“We’ll check out the area above ground after we get off of this call,” he informed the man.
“Excellent,” Terry bobbed his head. “Y’all can pick the site, name it, and maybe have some stuff ready for a temporary settlement for when we get there? Then we can begin the construction of the permanent town—should take us maybe a week to get there.”
“Sounds like a plan to me, Captain.”
“Terry, my friends call me Terry,” the man smiled.
“Terry, you can call us Gideon and Lynda. We cannot express how happy we are that we’re not alone.”
“Us too,” Terry affirmed. “Humanity has hope after all. A new beginning. Let’s see if we can do better than the last ages.”
“Hopefully,” Gideon shrugged.
After that, they ended the transmission and the two hurriedly packed a couple large backpacks for their return to the surface. Their minds raced and their hearts tried to keep up as they readied themselves for whatever awaited them.
Climbing the stairs turned out to be no small measure.
Lynda seemed to be the worse for the struggle, Gideon noticed.
“Sorry,” she muttered as she reached up to grab his extended hand and pull herself up onto the fourth level flat—they had seven more flights to go.
“Why are you apologizing, my love,” he questioned as he looked her up and down, worry creasing his forehead.
“It’s just hard, ya know,” she responded. Patting her belly, she added, “When you’re having to carry around a second person’s weight.”
Realisation froze Gideon in his tracks, his heart fluttered.
“Gideon,” Lynda grinned, reaching up to cup his face with her free hand. “Baby, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he finally sputtered. “I just, I just… I can’t…”
Lynda giggled at her husband’s loss of verbal communication. She reached up with her other hand and caressed his other cheek. Cradling his face in her hands, she stood on her tip-toes and pecked him on the lips.
“I love you,” she whispered. “Congratulations, Daddy.”
Gideon was in a daze. But he managed to kiss her back and slip his arms under hers.
They held each other in that position for who knows how long, just basking in the warmth of each other’s love and the hopeful expectations for the near future.
“Well,” she finally broke the silence. “Do you think we should finish the trip? Just so our new friends won’t get here and wonder where we could be?”
“I think that is a marvelous idea, Sweetheart,” he grinned down at her before turning away. Taking her hand, he guided her up the rest of the flights.
Once they reached the door, they had to strain to spin the large iron wheel.
It squawked but gave in to their grips.
The door reverberated as it unbolted itself from the wall. Slowly swinging open, it presented a bleak yet magnificent view to the onlookers.
Outside, the distant skyscrapers of the old city looked like the skeletons of ancient giants. The bridge where the four escapees had plunged into the river was a mere ghost of a frame. The terrain all around looked empty and arid.