Days, weeks, months, years...
who knows how much time has passed as we lay here in this damned concrete
coffin, perhaps doomed to forever rot in the same place we have been resting in
for the past 16 years. But let me explain the matter of how we put ourselves in
this underground cage of despair.
The year is 1951, the war has
dragged on for nearly 12 years now with no sign of any side letting go. Dead
bodies litter the frontlines as we stomp our way threw the heart of Europe
towards Berlin, slowly uncovering horrors we have not even red about in fairy
tale books, massive graves of innocent people throughout the continent who were
only unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, horrendous
mutations due to chemical warfare and poor waste treatment from the Chomutov
nuclear catastrophe. On top of these horrors the American and British allied
front in France are starting to loose momentum as the fascists bring evermore young
troops to the front, our frontline stretched from the Baltic see to northern Italy
is solid but constant, it has not moved one step forward nor backward, while
our young men are constantly dying .
It is October 24th, a
day I remember quite well, the wind whistles softly as I sit and wait in the
wet trench stinking of dirt, starving and constantly at the ready for the order
to charge the enemy frontline. Suddenly we hear the sirens echo throughout the
enemy trenches, a minute or so later our sirens start to echo to signaling an artillery
attack, but why do both camps sirens activate, who is the attacker. Suddenly
all goes quiet, our regiment commander, Boris Kazinski
,, Comrades
,, he yells threw the rusty voice
amplifier,, a long range ballistic
missile attack is imminent, please proceed in an orderly manner to Bunker KL-1
to seek shelter, do not panic there is room for everyone ,, which of course
turned out to be a lie which we will see only when it was to late.
As panic consumed the regiment everyones
rifles hit the ground as they invested all there remaining strength in there
feet. Atomic weapons were only developed
a year ago and not more then 20 were used during battle, however neither
battlefield had anything left to say after the bombs fell, they all went
silent, an eternal graveyard for thousands of troops. And now it was our turn
to face judgment day.
The bunker only had enough room
to fit 30 people in it of course, and had enough supplies to last in case of a
disaster for 10 years. I was merely one of the lucky lads who happened to be
stationed near the bunker in order to be between the first to enter it. I only
pray for the comrades who fell that day, we heard no screaming after we shut
the steel doors, only a loud blast and the shaking of the concrete construction
around us for the next couple of hours. The land above us became radiated and
impossible to support any life, and it would stay that way for the next 10 years
at least, for that is how much we would be able to count before our supplies
and days among the living end. I only thank god that I was still young when I
was drafted, I have no lover to long for, no children, a few cousins who might
not even be alive today as we have not had any contact with the outside world
for 10 years, all radio signals were down, the doors shut tight, only the
ventilation system which is shut by an air purifier. Of the 30 inhabitants of
the bunker, 15 died within a week as a result of field injuries and sickness,
throughout the years many more killed themselves in despair, others were put
down as they became mentally unstable and dangerous, only Tanya, a field nurse,
my commander Boris the man who I came to admire the most in my life, who has
thought me how to survive this dangerous
underground world of ours, and myself remain in these dark quarters. Tanya was the first down here to die from malnutrition,
as our supplies end drew closer with each day. We have been without food and
water for 2 days now. My commander decides to take action for what may be the
last time.
,, What do
you say old friend, shall we finally open the hatch and see what became of the
comrades we left 10 years ago. It is more than obvious that no one is coming
for us, they have either left us to rot, or have forgotten about us, either way
if we don’t do something we are dead for sure,,- said Commander Boris as he
looked ad Tanya’s dead body covered with only a white foil.
He reached for
the hatch and climbed the latter towards the top part of the bunker, I only
heard a loud, slow metal screech as he opened the steel doors to the entrance.
And called for me to climb up. The scene was almost unreal, the entire land around
us was leveled, the trees all dead, the temperature was like an African desert
only in the middle of Europe , soft winds and
dust blew below our feet, a wasteland, nothing was left of what we remember of
the front, only the trenches filled with the remains of our fallen comrades.
But all this did nothing to disrupt the joy I was feeling, the joy of being
alive after so many years, the joy that there is still something left after the
devastating attack even though not much.
The year is now 1961, the day is
May the 16th, my name is Luka, and this is the journal of man damned
to walk a ruined world.
