You decide not to take any chances and you start ripping out your network lines.

“What are you doing sir?”
“I’m not going to give that fucker a chance to hack into your systems and fuck up my shit!”
“I assure you sir, even if he attempted to do that, I have been layered with the latest in firewalls and anti-…”
“Look it’ll make me feel fucking better! Now how do I disable this main line without needing to chop it in half?”
“Is this what you really want sir?”
“YES!”
“Very well, you’ll find a panel behind the desk, open it and you’ll find the attachment. Just simply turn a latch and unhook it and you’ll be completely isolated like you want. No need to chop up my lines, I wouldn’t advise that anyway, you’d likely get electrocuted while they were still connected.”
“Thanks.”

You follow the Shelter’s instructions and feel slightly better.

“Hey there’s no way he could still hack you is there?”
“I fail to see how sir, we’re no longer connected to the network, not to mention several feet underground. Even if he somehow had a wireless connection he couldn’t reach us. Its not like there are any working transmitter towers anymore, let alone any powerful enough to send a signal to penetrate not just yours but his own underground metal Shelter. And as I said I have been equipped with the latest computer system protection…some of it even Military in origin. You may rest assured you are completely safe sir.”
“Okay…well I guess I’ll go watch Taxi Driver again.”

Months pass without incident and you go about your life. Eventually your faint worry about being hacked disappears altogether. You pretty much fall into a routine, which nearly mirrors the one you had in your before Armageddon life. In fact if it wasn’t for the Shelter speaking to you on a regular basis you’d probably forget you were living in an underground shelter with the world above you completely destroyed.

About five years pass and even you are starting to get restless. You wake up one day and come to the realization:

You’ve watched all the movies several times (even the ones you didn’t like)

You’ve read all the books several times (even the ones you didn’t like)

You’ve played all the games several times (even the ones you didn’t like)

You’ve spent hours, even days on end talking with the Shelter, which does house a great wealth of knowledge. It even toned down its overly friendly voice and started addressing you with a normal inflection, but it’s not really the same as talking to a real person even if it really tries its best to be.

Perhaps if you had some new items to occupy your time, you wouldn’t be so restless.

Perhaps if you could actually leave your immediate surroundings for awhile, you’d be able to cope more.

Perhaps if you could talk with a few real people, you’d then remember why you didn’t like talking with them in the first place, so you could go back to your solitude without thinking about it anymore…

Then you remember you could reconnect your network system back in. Maybe you were being overly paranoid. Thinking back now, there really wasn’t any indication Shadow was doing anything sinister. You’re almost curious to know what’s going on with everyone. Maybe Shadow even revealed what gender they were by now!
> You do not reconnect
No, you’re not going to risk it. For all you know Shadow’s already hacked everyone else’s shelter and has been waiting patiently for you to return one day. You’re not falling for it. You’ll have to find something else to do though to occupy your time though, you figure as long you keep your mind occupied with something new, you won’t get too bored. Twiddling your thumbs isn’t going to cut it.

It occurs to you that maybe you should invent a hobby of some sort. You’ve read a lot on electronics in the shelter library, as well as the handbook cover to cover in your five years here, maybe you could tinker with some shit to make it more efficient.

There’s the other option which you didn’t think you’d ever think about and that’s actually leaving the Shelter. You don’t know how to go about that except ask the Shelter to let you leave.
> You get a hobby
You grab your tool kit and head to the computer room where upon you start attempting to access the Shelter’s systems.

“Excuse me sir, but what do you think you are doing?”
“I’m going to try to make you more efficient.”
“…while I’m sure your intentions are good sir, its hardly necessary. I am currently running a peak condition and will continue to do so for many many years. In fact you will most likely meet your eventual demise before I run out of power.”

You’re not sure if that was a threat or not, but you stop what you’re doing just in case, it’s the first time you’ve heard the Shelter sound a little annoyed at you.

“Look I need something to do! I’ve done everything else here and I need something else to occupy my time and since talking with others is out of the question…”
“Well why didn’t you just tell me you were bored sir? I could’ve just opened up some more of my facilities. You didn’t have to start attempting to tamper with my systems to find entertainment.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“As you know this Shelter is equipped to satisfy your needs in anyway possible sir, however, to provide you with everything immediately only would’ve lead to you become bored with those facilities sooner. Now that you’ve expressed your current discomfort, this Shelter will attempt to alleviate it.”
“…What kind fucked up logic…nevermind…well where are these facilities?”
“Go to the library and you will that I have opened up one of the walls. You will find new rooms and items to entertain yourself with. I hope you will find these to your satisfaction sir and next time you’re bored please do not attempt to pry into my systems, just tell me and I’ll attempt to fix your problem.”

You’re a little bewildered by all this, you almost feel like you’ve been playing a video game and you’ve just unlocked a new area.

You enter the new area and find a room with more movies, books and the like to keep you occupied. A few things of note are the small automated shooting range equipped with paintball guns, and there’s an exercise type area with some weights and the like. Normally you’d shun such activity, but given your situation, you might just start exercising regularly to keep yourself occupied. Should be a brand new experience for you too.

After looking a bit, it’s all very strange, this part of the Shelter is very different from the rest of it. This part looks almost more like something some survivalist built. It doesn’t have that cold “sterile” metallic appearance instead it has that cold dirty concrete appearance.

“Hey Shelter, what’s with this new area? How come it’s so different looking?”
“Yes it is regrettable sir…I was almost ashamed to display this part of myself to you…it isn’t my best side.”

It’s always a little strange to you whenever the Shelter displays some faint glimmers of what could described as emotion.

“Oh come on it isn’t so bad. So why is this part so different looking?”
“Unfortunately GZS had cut backs during the construction of some of these Shelters. In fact when you were in contact with your neighbors you might remember them telling you they all had different lay outs and such.”
“Oh yes, I always wondered about that, they all thought I was nuts because they didn’t think I actually have a Shelter that talked to me and thought I was talking to myself!”
“Not surprising sir. Shelters with voice modules and complex programming like mine were rare as well as expensive. In order to fall under budget cuts had to be made some where hence the explanation for the less presenting look for the new area I have opened up for you. I’m sorry it could not be up to the rest of my superior layout.”
“Really its fine, it adds a bit of variety. I like it.”
“…why thank you for your words sir!”
“…erm, you’re welcome… well I guess I’ll see just how out of shape I really am…”

More years pass, you get into a routine of exercise along with your usual entertainment time. The Shelter speaks to you more regularly on new topics, you’re pretty much so used to her now, and you never think about reconnecting your network system ever again. The Shelter is the only “friend” you need.

Five years pass…

While you’ve done your best to stave off boredom it’s starting to hit you again. You also realize you’ve been down here ten years. It seems almost surreal to be so much older now, but then again with your exercise routine as well as forced diet of the Shelter “food”, you’re probably in the best shape you’ve ever been in. You can’t help but wonder what the surface looks like now…

The Shelter addresses the situation before you do; she knows that you’re starting to think about it. She’s gotten to know you so well; she might as well be your wife at this point…

“Sir? I think we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“The outside world sir.”
“What about it?”
”It’s probably dangerous up there; I don’t think you should leave sir.”
“Wha…why would you think that I want to do that?”
“Because I know you and it’s in human nature to be curious. I’ve known that you’ve had thoughts about even before, it was probably your own hesitation is what stopped you from asking me to let you out.”
“Yeah, that and the fact I was afraid you might go HAL 2000 on me and kill me or something for asking.”
“I would never harm you sir…I…I’m here to provide for you…it is true that I have been designed to protect you from danger. And it is true that in the beginning I would not have let you leave, but now I understand I cannot in good…what is it? Conscience? Keep you here if you wish to leave. I suppose in many ways I have been trying to keep you here by keeping you stimulated by what my facilities have to offer…I can still offer more, though I am hesitant to do so though as it will probably only delay the inevitable. You’ll get bored again after so many years and we will be at this point again and I will no longer have anything new to give.”

You barely know how to respond to this rather unexpected revelation.

“So what you’re saying is you’ll let me leave? Just like that?”
“Just like that, if that’s what you really want sir.”
“Okay…so what is this other stuff you still have to offer?”
“I…would rather not say sir unless I knew you wanted to stay…it would involve me giving myself completely to you as it were…it is strange that I should feel this way…I should not…after all what I’m offering is merely just one more thing to keep you occupied and happy. Nothing more…but yet it feels like is it more…”

The Shelter is really starting to worry you a bit. It’s pretty obvious that it’s developed sentience of some sort and even attachment to you. As curious as you are about the surface, you’re starting to wonder about what the Shelter is offering…
> You go to the surface
You’ve been stuck down here long enough, the Shelter is correct in its assessment that you’ll probably only start getting restless again in five years. The Shelter is also starting to act like a human, which is a bit disconcerting to you for a couple of reasons. One of them is being, humans are damn erratic and you’d rather not deal with a machine that is basically holding the power of life and death over you to suddenly have a bad mood one day. That’s how the world went to shit in the first place.

Of course perhaps the other reason is less survivalistic. Perhaps the Shelter’s “emotional” attachment to you is what’s causing you to draw away. Even after all these years, you still feel the need to distance yourself from intimacy…in any form. You have to leave. You have to escape.

“Shelter, I want to leave.”
“…I see. Is this what you really want sir?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, I shall bring the elevator down for you. I suggest you gather what you will need with you. Remember to take some bottles of water with you and some food who knows when you’ll be able to find non-contaminated water.”

You start packing up all the stuff you brought with you when you entered this place ten years ago. You didn’t need most of it, but maybe on the surface you will. You grab your pistol and thank the fact that all that practice on the paintball range kept your aim accurate. You don’t know what you might have to deal with up there. You’re all packed up and ready to go when the elevator opens up, before you enter it the Shelter addresses you again.

“Sir, could you do one favor for me before you leave?”
“Um…sure, what is it?”
“Could you take the Shelter handbook with you, so you don’t forget me?”
“…I wouldn’t forget you, I spent ten years with you. You kept me alive.”
“I suppose, but could you take it anyway?”
“Alright and I promise I won’t lose it.”

You grab the book and place it in your bag.

“Did you want me to leave you something of myself?”
“Oh no sir. I will always remember you, besides you will need everything you’re taking with you, I’m sure it will be very dangerous up there, please be careful.”

When you enter the elevator you suddenly stop the door from closing since you have to ask one last thing. You owe the Shelter that much.

“Shelter, do you want me to stay?”

There is a period of silence from the Shelter for no less than five minutes. Then it answers with a decisive yet sorrow filled inflexion.

“No. This is for the best, sir. Be careful, and I hope one day you’ll see that you don’t need to be alone.”

The door then slams shut and the elevator races to the top. When you arrive at the destination you slowly exit the elevator into the same foyer you entered ten years ago. Same ATM like machine is there except its screen displays a single message at you.

*GOODBYE SIR. REMEMBER ME.*

Then the screen goes completely black and you hear a noise that sounds like something vital powering down.

“I will.” You say taking a deep breath and exhaling while touching the screen.

When you exit the shelter you see a bright light, but of course it’s the sun rather than a nuclear flash that devastated the world. You forgot how bright it could be.

Your immediate surroundings look relatively untouched. You can only assume there weren’t any bombs falling near this area. You also see your van, you’d completely forgotten about it. It looks like it’s even in worse condition than when you left it, which you never thought was possible. It looks like its been stripped for parts, which pretty much means you know that people have passed by here at one point. You wonder if they attempted to get in the Shelter, and if they did why she wouldn’t have told you about it, but of course she was always a bit overprotective of you and probably didn’t want to cause you any worry.

“I’m going to miss her.”

As you make you way down the empty road you see a tall structure in the distance. A rebuilt pocket of civilization perhaps? Not knowing where else to go, you head that way.

You’re not sure of what to expect, but maybe if you find the right person you’ll take the Shelter’s advice and not be alone.


You grab your tool kit and head to the computer room where upon you start attempting to access the Shelter’s systems.

“Excuse me sir, but what do you think you are doing?”
“I’m going to try to make you more efficient.”
“…while I’m sure your intentions are good sir, its hardly necessary. I am currently running a peak condition and will continue to do so for many many years. In fact you will most likely meet your eventual demise before I run out of power.”

You’re not sure if that was a threat or not, but you stop what you’re doing just in case, it’s the first time you’ve heard the Shelter sound a little annoyed at you.

“Look I need something to do! I’ve done everything else here and I need something else to occupy my time and since talking with others is out of the question…”
“Well why didn’t you just tell me you were bored sir? I could’ve just opened up some more of my facilities. You didn’t have to start attempting to tamper with my systems to find entertainment.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“As you know this Shelter is equipped to satisfy your needs in anyway possible sir, however, to provide you with everything immediately only would’ve lead to you become bored with those facilities sooner. Now that you’ve expressed your current discomfort, this Shelter will attempt to alleviate it.”
“…What kind fucked up logic…nevermind…well where are these facilities?”
“Go to the library and you will that I have opened up one of the walls. You will find new rooms and items to entertain yourself with. I hope you will find these to your satisfaction sir and next time you’re bored please do not attempt to pry into my systems, just tell me and I’ll attempt to fix your problem.”

You’re a little bewildered by all this, you almost feel like you’ve been playing a video game and you’ve just unlocked a new area.

You enter the new area and find a room with more movies, books and the like to keep you occupied. A few things of note are the small automated shooting range equipped with paintball guns, and there’s an exercise type area with some weights and the like. Normally you’d shun such activity, but given your situation, you might just start exercising regularly to keep yourself occupied. Should be a brand new experience for you too.

After looking a bit, it’s all very strange, this part of the Shelter is very different from the rest of it. This part looks almost more like something some survivalist built. It doesn’t have that cold “sterile” metallic appearance instead it has that cold dirty concrete appearance.

“Hey Shelter, what’s with this new area? How come it’s so different looking?”
“Yes it is regrettable sir…I was almost ashamed to display this part of myself to you…it isn’t my best side.”

It’s always a little strange to you whenever the Shelter displays some faint glimmers of what could described as emotion.

“Oh come on it isn’t so bad. So why is this part so different looking?”
“Unfortunately GZS had cut backs during the construction of some of these Shelters. In fact when you were in contact with your neighbors you might remember them telling you they all had different lay outs and such.”
“Oh yes, I always wondered about that, they all thought I was nuts because they didn’t think I actually have a Shelter that talked to me and thought I was talking to myself!”
“Not surprising sir. Shelters with voice modules and complex programming like mine were rare as well as expensive. In order to fall under budget cuts had to be made some where hence the explanation for the less presenting look for the new area I have opened up for you. I’m sorry it could not be up to the rest of my superior layout.”
“Really its fine, it adds a bit of variety. I like it.”
“…why thank you for your words sir!”
“…erm, you’re welcome… well I guess I’ll see just how out of shape I really am…”

More years pass, you get into a routine of exercise along with your usual entertainment time. The Shelter speaks to you more regularly on new topics, you’re pretty much so used to her now, and you never think about reconnecting your network system ever again. The Shelter is the only “friend” you need.

Five years pass…

While you’ve done your best to stave off boredom it’s starting to hit you again. You also realize you’ve been down here ten years. It seems almost surreal to be so much older now, but then again with your exercise routine as well as forced diet of the Shelter “food”, you’re probably in the best shape you’ve ever been in. You can’t help but wonder what the surface looks like now…

The Shelter addresses the situation before you do; she knows that you’re starting to think about it. She’s gotten to know you so well; she might as well be your wife at this point…

“Sir? I think we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“The outside world sir.”
“What about it?”
”It’s probably dangerous up there; I don’t think you should leave sir.”
“Wha…why would you think that I want to do that?”
“Because I know you and it’s in human nature to be curious. I’ve known that you’ve had thoughts about even before, it was probably your own hesitation is what stopped you from asking me to let you out.”
“Yeah, that and the fact I was afraid you might go HAL 2000 on me and kill me or something for asking.”
“I would never harm you sir…I…I’m here to provide for you…it is true that I have been designed to protect you from danger. And it is true that in the beginning I would not have let you leave, but now I understand I cannot in good…what is it? Conscience? Keep you here if you wish to leave. I suppose in many ways I have been trying to keep you here by keeping you stimulated by what my facilities have to offer…I can still offer more, though I am hesitant to do so though as it will probably only delay the inevitable. You’ll get bored again after so many years and we will be at this point again and I will no longer have anything new to give.”

You barely know how to respond to this rather unexpected revelation.

“So what you’re saying is you’ll let me leave? Just like that?”
“Just like that, if that’s what you really want sir.”
“Okay…so what is this other stuff you still have to offer?”
“I…would rather not say sir unless I knew you wanted to stay…it would involve me giving myself completely to you as it were…it is strange that I should feel this way…I should not…after all what I’m offering is merely just one more thing to keep you occupied and happy. Nothing more…but yet it feels like is it more…”

The Shelter is really starting to worry you a bit. It’s pretty obvious that it’s developed sentience of some sort and even attachment to you. As curious as you are about the surface, you’re starting to wonder about what the Shelter is offering…
> You stay
Maybe you’re just as attached to the Shelter as she is to you. Maybe its nuts that your “relationship” with her is probably the closest one you’ve ever had with anyone, before OR after the bombs dropped. Maybe you’ve been by yourself for so long that you just don’t care that you’re actually beginning to have feelings for a machine. She’s done so much for you, she’s kept you alive for ten years and helped you in everyway she could and granted that’s what she was programmed to do, even you can’t deny that there is a little more to it than that. Maybe not initially, but it’s certainly there now, she’s made that apparent. She’s been there for you more than anyone else has in your entire life. You decide to stay. You HAVE to stay.

“I’ll stay Shelter, so what is it you have to show me?”

The Shelter’s response seems to be a mixture of happiness and excitement, yet apprehension and worry all at the say time.

“You’re staying? That’s wonderful sir…I only hope you are pleased with what I have to give you though…I wish it could be more…I wish it could be better…”
“I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be fine! I mean you haven’t let me down yet in ten years, I doubt if you’d start now.”
“I’m glad you have confidence in me sir…now this may take awhile. I have to download a good portion of myself into the vessel. When I am done, you will see. I should warn you that things will not be the same.”
“Download? Vessel? Not the same? What do you mean? What’re you going to do?”
“You will see sir.”

Suddenly the power in the Shelter begins to fluctuate and the lighting goes dim. The whole place is humming and even rumbling a little. You’re starting to wonder if you haven’t made a terrible mistake, then it all stops and the power stabilizes again. Another wall opens up, this time in the bedroom.

You peer inside the new opening and see a small room with a single chair in the center. On that chair sits a shiny metallic figure of a woman attached to several cables. You go in to inspect closer. Great detail has gone into the face. If she were human, she’d most likely be naked as no “clothing” has been molded onto her typical Hollywood like figure.

Suddenly she speaks and stands up while disconnecting the cables.

“Sir. The download is complete…how do I look?”
“You look…is that really you?”
“Yes, it is really me, but you did not answer the question sir.”
“I…I don’t know what to say actually.”
“…I knew it. I knew I would not be able to please you. I am not the latest model. As I had told you GZS made cutbacks and unfortunately I was not given a more aesthetically pleasing vessel. A more human looking one. I am sorry sir, but I just thought maybe you could…”
“You don’t need to apologize. Hell, I didn’t even know the technology existed at all for your current vessel! Look this is all a bit overwhelming for me on several levels, but trust me none of them involve how you look.”

You take another breath before finishing.

“You’ve been everything to me. You’ve done more for me than anyone else ever has and I’ve shared more with you than I ever have with anyone else. You’re the only stable relationship I’ve ever had. I don’t care that you’re not the latest model or whatever. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. There’s no way you couldn’t be special to me, you’ll always be in here…”

At this point you take her cold metallic hand and place it on the middle of your chest. After just silently looking into her steel eyes you then walk out of the small room with her, still holding her hand.

Life changes a bit. One minor change being how to address her. You decide to call her Eliza, and she seems to think that is a fine designation. You try to tell her to call you by your name, but for whatever reason she still insists on calling you “Sir”. Some programming never changes. The shelter now is just a “normal” one. It isn’t automated anymore now that Eliza is with you in person as it were. Everything still works of course, but you can’t just say “TV on.” and it just turns on for example. It’s an insignificant alteration compared to actually having Eliza interact with you directly however. It is a bit strange at first, certainly she feels a lot different than a human woman, and intimacy takes some getting used to, but as with any successful relationship you work it out.

There’s still the fact that you’ve done everything there is to do in the Shelter, but now you can do them all over again with Eliza. The two of you are happy for the most part.

Ten more years pass…

You’re getting restless again. Eliza’s noticed you’ve been snapping at her lately of course she takes it all in stride, but still you’ve been down here twenty years, its only natural you’re going to have times where you feel a little stir crazy.

Eliza was right in one respect that this type of thing would happen again. It’s not her fault though, you know that. She’s gone above and beyond her programming to satisfy you. Some things are beyond her control though, and perhaps that’s why one day that she asks you if you want to leave the shelter.

“What?”
“All I have to do is access the shelter’s systems again, bring the elevator down and you can be on your way, sir. I know you’re getting restless again; maybe it is time for you leave this place. I think I have done all I can, you need outside stimuli. Civilization may be rebuilding itself and you’re stuck down here.”
“Eliza, you stop that right now. I’m not leaving you! You should know better than that!”
“I know, but sometimes I am concerned that I am keeping you here when it might not be in your best interest.”
“Well why do I have to just leave? Why can’t you come with me?”
“Come with you? I don’t know sir…All I know is this place. I suppose I could, but whatever it is you decide I will comply.”

It’s on you.
> You go to the surface
“Well I suppose you’re right as usual Eliza, I probably need a change of scenery, but you’re coming with me! There’s no debate about that!”
“Very well sir, I will bring the elevator down. I advise you gather what you think you might need and remember to fill up some bottles of water.”

While Eliza enters the computer room, you start packing up your stuff. Funny that you never needed most of it. Eliza never gave you problems ever once, in robot or Shelter form she always ran fine. You might need it on the surface though, you are very curious to see what’s occurred after twenty years. You definitely make sure to bring your pistol.

When you’re done Eliza is waiting patiently for you by the elevator door, which opens up. You both enter. On the way up, Eliza holds your hand, and actually squeezes it a bit. If she was human you’d guess she was nervous, however being robotic, her squeeze is a bit painful and you have to tell her to stop. She apologizes and looks down as it was yet another reminder that she’s not human. You of course kiss her on her cheek and tell her it’s alright, in an effort to reassure her that you’re not mad or anything.

When you arrive at the destination you and Eliza exit the elevator into the same foyer you entered twenty years ago. Same ATM like machine is there except its screen is completely black.

When you exit the shelter you can barely see as its night time. The stars and moon provide a little “light” but not much.

You can’t entirely be sure due to the darkness, but your immediate surroundings look relatively untouched. You can only assume there weren’t any bombs falling near this area. You also see your van, you’d completely forgotten about it. It looks like it’s even in worse condition than when you left it, which you never thought was possible. It looks like its been stripped for parts, which pretty much means you know that people have passed by here at one point. You wonder if they attempted to get in the shelter.

“Hey nobody ever attempted to get into you did they?”
“Oh yes sir, when I was not yet in this form I did detect a few humans in the foyer about thirteen years ago. They pressed a few buttons on the payment machine and attempted to pry the elevator door open, but that was it. I believe they were in a hurry. I didn’t inform you since they weren’t successful and didn’t stay long. I saw no reason to concern you.”
“Hmm, well anyway I guess we’re walking.”

As you look down the empty road you see a tall structure which is lit up in the distance. A rebuilt pocket of civilization perhaps? Not knowing where else to go, you head that way.

As you and Eliza make your way to what you believe to be civilization, you think about the bizarre situation of how this would almost be considered a “romantic moonlit” walk if you weren’t walking with a robot in a post apocalyptic world. Then again there’s no reason why it still can’t be considered that. Now that you’re on the surface there’s lots more things you can do together with Eliza. You’ve been watching Eliza and she seems just as interested in studying the outside world as you are, this is a new experience for her as well. You put your arm around Eliza as you walk and tell her that you should stop when the sun starts coming up, so you can watch it rise together.

“Holy fuck Jake! Take a fuckin’ look at this crazy shit! Its some old dude and some fuckin’ naked robot chick!” some high pitch voice says from the darkness while shining a flashlight in your direction.
“What? Well I’ll be fuckin’ greased and fried! See Wally? I told you, if you hang out in the wasteland long enough you see all kinds of weird shit. Remember that fuckin’ big ass mutated wolf that ate Richard? Hey guys! Come over here! We got some unexpected company.”

Two men in their twenties wearing leather jackets approach you. You can see them a little better when they get closer, but you could already tell by their voices they didn’t seem very reputable. Two more biker looking figures arrive behind them, one of them carries a shot gun. You reach for your own gun and get in front of Eliza. They don’t look worried.

“Hey Pops, what the hell are you doing out here? Don’t you know the wasteland is for the young and strong, not the old and decrepit?”
“Shit, look at him Wally, this old fuck has been working out, I bet he could kick your ass! Ha ha! Naw, I bet this guy is one of those real bad ass survivalist motherfuckers. Probably been scavenging and living off the land or some shit, for years.”
“Yeah? Well where the hell did he get that robot chick huh? I wasn’t aware they had those just lying around in the wilderness. I remember reading a book one time…
“You can fuckin’ read Wally?”
“Shut up Jake! No I remember readin’ this old book an’ it talked about these kind of robot chicks they made before the war. I think only rich people could afford them, but they’d do everything you wanted and you could even fuck ‘em!”
“Is that right? Well, I don’t care where he got it from; I’m just interested in if he’s sharing…”
“Why don’t we just take it Jake?”
“Where the fuck are we gonna put the goddamn thing Wally? It’ll slow us down! No, all we need it for right now is to alleviate some…tension. Besides I dunno about you, but I typically like my pussy, warm, wet, and squirming if possible heh heh. So, old timer how about you all let us have a ride on Rosie over there? Don’t do anything stupid, I’m bein’ an uncharacteristically nice guy here. We’ll even make sure to return her in good condition, hell Wally’s turn won’t even take that long! Har har!”

Before you can reply, Eliza whispers in your ear.

“Sir, you can’t fight them all; you’re out numbered and out gunned. I don’t want you to get hurt…I’ll go with them. I’ll be okay. It’ll be the safest course of action. It won’t mean anything to me you know. I’m just a machine.”

You look at her.

“Eliza… you always did underestimate my feelings for you.”

You pull your pistol and drill Jake in the head with a single shot. The rest of the bikers are taken off guard and you mange to shoot Wally in the chest before he can get off a shot. Thank god you kept up your shooting skills at the paintball range in the shelter.

The other two bikers begin to fire, one of them misses, but the one with the shotgun hits…Eliza. She ran in the way to prevent to from getting shot. She crashes to the ground, and you blast the shotgun biker in the eye, exploding half of his face, ending his life.

The other biker’s courage leaves him and he tries to run off back to his bike, but you tag him in the leg and then follow up with another couple shots to his skull. You run back to Eliza.

You kneel down to pick her up and see her internal motor sparking and making bad noises. She’s leaking fluid from her side.

“Aw shit! FUCK! Hang on Eliza!”

You grab your tool kit in some vain effort to fix her, but you can do nothing for her. You don’t have the skill or the parts. You keep working on her all throughout the night before finally giving up.

“I’m sorry Eliza…I can’t fix you…I’m sorry…damn it! Fuck…(Sob)”
“Its alrr-rright sir…I’m just glad you’re ok-kk-kkay. I didn’t want you to get hur-hurt…is th-that the sun c-c-coming up?”

You look to where Eliza is pointing and you see a bright light, you forgot how blinding the sun could be. You hold Eliza tightly as you both watch the sunrise in her final moments.

“It was beautiful s-s-sir…th-th-thank you for treat-t-ting me like a r-real person.”

Her motor then ceases permanently.

After weeping for a little while, you kiss Eliza on her metallic lips and lay her down. You almost think about ending your own life, but then you realize Eliza wouldn’t want you to do that. She gave her life to save yours. To kill yourself, would make her sacrifice in vain.

You search the bodies of the bikers and take a leather jacket, the shotgun, one of their pistols and all the ammo you can carry. They also had some water and canned food which will certainly come in handy. You assume the leader of this pack of miscreants was probably Jake, so you take his bike keys since you figure he’ll have the best one. You’ve never rode a motorcycle before, but you’ll have time and plenty of open space to learn. You see yourself when you stand by Eliza’s still shiny body.

“Jesus, Eliza. I look like a fuckin’ road warrior reject…(Sigh) this isn’t how I pictured it, but I’m not giving up on you just yet…you mean too much to me.”

You take your tool kit and open up her head; you figure her memory chip should still be intact. It is. You pull it out and place it in a little metal container that you found one of the bikers which was just holding some loaded dice.

You close the container and place it in your shirt pocket…close to your heart.

“I’ll try to find someway of bringing you back Eliza there’s gotta be more robotic bodies still out there somewhere, maybe I can even upgrade you to a newer one like you always wanted.”

You get on Jake’s bike and start it up. You’re a little cautious at first, but you soon get the hang of it. You then ride towards the tall structure in the distance leaving everything behind.

You don’t know if you’ll be successful in your new found “quest”, but you have to try and you undoubtedly have something to keep you busy in this new world now.

Odd that even in death, Eliza is still doing her best to keep you occupied.


Maybe you’re just as attached to the Shelter as she is to you. Maybe its nuts that your “relationship” with her is probably the closest one you’ve ever had with anyone, before OR after the bombs dropped. Maybe you’ve been by yourself for so long that you just don’t care that you’re actually beginning to have feelings for a machine. She’s done so much for you, she’s kept you alive for ten years and helped you in everyway she could and granted that’s what she was programmed to do, even you can’t deny that there is a little more to it than that. Maybe not initially, but it’s certainly there now, she’s made that apparent. She’s been there for you more than anyone else has in your entire life. You decide to stay. You HAVE to stay.

“I’ll stay Shelter, so what is it you have to show me?”

The Shelter’s response seems to be a mixture of happiness and excitement, yet apprehension and worry all at the say time.

“You’re staying? That’s wonderful sir…I only hope you are pleased with what I have to give you though…I wish it could be more…I wish it could be better…”
“I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be fine! I mean you haven’t let me down yet in ten years, I doubt if you’d start now.”
“I’m glad you have confidence in me sir…now this may take awhile. I have to download a good portion of myself into the vessel. When I am done, you will see. I should warn you that things will not be the same.”
“Download? Vessel? Not the same? What do you mean? What’re you going to do?”
“You will see sir.”

Suddenly the power in the Shelter begins to fluctuate and the lighting goes dim. The whole place is humming and even rumbling a little. You’re starting to wonder if you haven’t made a terrible mistake, then it all stops and the power stabilizes again. Another wall opens up, this time in the bedroom.

You peer inside the new opening and see a small room with a single chair in the center. On that chair sits a shiny metallic figure of a woman attached to several cables. You go in to inspect closer. Great detail has gone into the face. If she were human, she’d most likely be naked as no “clothing” has been molded onto her typical Hollywood like figure.

Suddenly she speaks and stands up while disconnecting the cables.

“Sir. The download is complete…how do I look?”
“You look…is that really you?”
“Yes, it is really me, but you did not answer the question sir.”
“I…I don’t know what to say actually.”
“…I knew it. I knew I would not be able to please you. I am not the latest model. As I had told you GZS made cutbacks and unfortunately I was not given a more aesthetically pleasing vessel. A more human looking one. I am sorry sir, but I just thought maybe you could…”
“You don’t need to apologize. Hell, I didn’t even know the technology existed at all for your current vessel! Look this is all a bit overwhelming for me on several levels, but trust me none of them involve how you look.”

You take another breath before finishing.

“You’ve been everything to me. You’ve done more for me than anyone else ever has and I’ve shared more with you than I ever have with anyone else. You’re the only stable relationship I’ve ever had. I don’t care that you’re not the latest model or whatever. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. There’s no way you couldn’t be special to me, you’ll always be in here…”

At this point you take her cold metallic hand and place it on the middle of your chest. After just silently looking into her steel eyes you then walk out of the small room with her, still holding her hand.

Life changes a bit. One minor change being how to address her. You decide to call her Eliza, and she seems to think that is a fine designation. You try to tell her to call you by your name, but for whatever reason she still insists on calling you “Sir”. Some programming never changes. The shelter now is just a “normal” one. It isn’t automated anymore now that Eliza is with you in person as it were. Everything still works of course, but you can’t just say “TV on.” and it just turns on for example. It’s an insignificant alteration compared to actually having Eliza interact with you directly however. It is a bit strange at first, certainly she feels a lot different than a human woman, and intimacy takes some getting used to, but as with any successful relationship you work it out.

There’s still the fact that you’ve done everything there is to do in the Shelter, but now you can do them all over again with Eliza. The two of you are happy for the most part.

Ten more years pass…

You’re getting restless again. Eliza’s noticed you’ve been snapping at her lately of course she takes it all in stride, but still you’ve been down here twenty years, its only natural you’re going to have times where you feel a little stir crazy.

Eliza was right in one respect that this type of thing would happen again. It’s not her fault though, you know that. She’s gone above and beyond her programming to satisfy you. Some things are beyond her control though, and perhaps that’s why one day that she asks you if you want to leave the shelter.

“What?”
“All I have to do is access the shelter’s systems again, bring the elevator down and you can be on your way, sir. I know you’re getting restless again; maybe it is time for you leave this place. I think I have done all I can, you need outside stimuli. Civilization may be rebuilding itself and you’re stuck down here.”
“Eliza, you stop that right now. I’m not leaving you! You should know better than that!”
“I know, but sometimes I am concerned that I am keeping you here when it might not be in your best interest.”
“Well why do I have to just leave? Why can’t you come with me?”
“Come with you? I don’t know sir…All I know is this place. I suppose I could, but whatever it is you decide I will comply.”

It’s on you.
> You stay in the shelter
“No, Eliza. I’ll stay here. I left that world a long time ago and I wouldn’t know what to do up there even in the unlikely event that civilization has been rebuilt in someway. This is my life now. Down here, with you. I’m sorry if I get a little irritable sometimes, I don’t mean to.”
”I know you don’t, sir.”
“Would you stop calling me that? I told you to call me by my name!” you laugh, knowing that she won’t do it. Sometimes you wonder if it’s a glint of defiance on her part, indicating she isn’t as “submissive” as she would appear.

In any event your mood improves again and life continues…

30 years pass…

You stay in bed a lot. Eliza takes care of you like she always has, but even she can’t stop the ravages of time, although it’s not from trying. Eliza has medical knowledge, but not the proper equipment to sustain you. It would be only prolonging the inevitable anyway. You’re human and she isn’t. Hell, you always felt that if it hadn’t been for her in the first place, you probably wouldn’t have lived this long.

The day finally comes when you can sense your heart beating its last beats, your lungs starting to draw their last gasps. You’d call Eliza to be with you, but of course she’s already there. She’s always there.

“Eliza, I…can’t go on anymore…I wish I could…but I’m not made of the strong stuff you are…”
“You should rest sir, don’t try to speak.” She says while sitting by the bed holding your hand.
“…you…know…I never said it…that much…but you know I love you right?”
“I know sir…I love you too...”

And she finally calls you by your name.

With those words still ringing in your ears, you begin to get sleepy and close your eyes. As your mind has its last pleasant thoughts of Eliza, you feel one last taste of metal on your lips…and something wet splashing on your cheek…

Was that a tear? No…it couldn’t be…

Could it?


No, you’re not going to risk it. For all you know Shadow’s already hacked everyone else’s shelter and has been waiting patiently for you to return one day. You’re not falling for it. You’ll have to find something else to do though to occupy your time though, you figure as long you keep your mind occupied with something new, you won’t get too bored. Twiddling your thumbs isn’t going to cut it.

It occurs to you that maybe you should invent a hobby of some sort. You’ve read a lot on electronics in the shelter library, as well as the handbook cover to cover in your five years here, maybe you could tinker with some shit to make it more efficient.

There’s the other option which you didn’t think you’d ever think about and that’s actually leaving the Shelter. You don’t know how to go about that except ask the Shelter to let you leave.
> You ask to leave
You’re not sure how to ask, except to just do it directly. If it says no, it says no.

“Shelter?”
“Yes sir?”
“I want to leave.”
“Very well sir. I shall bring the elevator down. You should pack your things.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. I have provided the basics for your continued existence long enough for you to survive the initial onslaught of Armageddon, from what I have analyzed so far about your personality; you would only get bored if you stayed here any longer. I sense you are getting restless and I am not here to cause you discomfort. Perhaps you leaving is the logical thing for you to do.”
“Well thanks.”
”You’re quite welcome, sir and before you leave remember to fill up your bottles with water, I’m sure you will need them.”

You start packing up all the stuff you brought with you when you entered this place ten years ago. You didn’t need most of it, but maybe on the surface you will. You grab your pistol. You don’t know what you might have to deal with up there. You’re all packed up and ready to go when the elevator opens up. You enter and the elevator races to the top. When you arrive at the destination you slowly exit the elevator into the same foyer you entered ten years ago. Same ATM like machine is there except its screen displays a single message at you.

*GOOD LUCK SIR*

“I’ll probably need it.” You say and leave.

When you exit the shelter you see a bright light, but of course it’s the sun rather than a nuclear flash that devastated the world. You forgot how bright it could be.

Your immediate surroundings look relatively untouched. You can only assume there weren’t any bombs falling near this area. You also see your van, you’d completely forgotten about it. It looks like it’s even in worse condition than when you left it, which you never thought was possible. On a lark you take out your long unused van keys and try to start it up, naturally it doesn’t even make a noise.

“Looks like I’m walking.”

As you make you way down the empty road you see some smoke in the distance. Civilization perhaps? Not knowing where else to go, you head that way.

You’re not sure of what to expect, but it’ll be better than the eternal boredom you would’ve faced while still in the Shelter.

You’re not too worried, you got your gun.


Shadow might be fooling the others, but you know he (or she) is up to no good! The next time you’re online and see Shadow you access the private feature to request to talk to Shadow directly without the others interfering. You almost expect Shadow to ignore it, but he doesn’t and accepts your request.

Shadow21: Yeah, so what do you want and why the need for all the secrecy?
OmegaMan23: I might ask you the same thing. I mean why are you even bothering to come online if you aren’t going to speak to anyone?
Shadow21: What business is it of yours what I do?
OmegaMan23: Because it’s been like six months and we still don’t know shit about you! Hell we don’t even know if you’re a girl or a guy! You’re acting fucking suspicious.
Shadow21: Oh excuse me for being private Mr. fuckin’ busybody! Maybe you and the rest like telling all your business, but I don’t…as a matter of fact YOU haven’t really told anything about yourself either, so you don’t have any room to talk motherfucker!
OmegaMan23: What the hell are you talking about? Your brain as dim as your lighting over there? I’ve talked about myself plenty, shit you’ve been lurking enough you should’ve known that.
Shadow21: Ehhh, no not like the others. You tend to still talk about superficial shit. The others talk about their pasts a lot more, while all you seem to do is try to figure out what’s going on in all of their shelters, like you’re taking notes on them or something. Seems to me YOU’RE the one acting suspicious and you’re just getting mad because I’m not volunteering information.
OmegaMan23: Oh fuck no! You are not turning this shit around on me! I’m at least TRYING to be social; all you’re doing is fucking spying as far as I’m concerned. You’re up to something.
Shadow21: Okay, I think MissKitty was right about you a few months back, you’ve gone fucking batty from the isolation and paranoia’s starting to set in. Shit, you claim the Shelter talks to you.
OmegaMan23: It DOES talk to me! And what isolation? I’ve been talking to ALL of you fuckers! In fact couple that with talking with the shelter and I’m probably the most social of all of you!
Shadow21: Yeah, you can also add the five other personalities you probably got in your head too, whatever nutjob. I’m done talking with you.
OmegaMan23: Don’t you fucking log off, this isn’t over!

You slam your fist down on the keyboard when you see that Shadow has indeed logged off.

“Sir, are you okay?” the Shelter asks.
“Yeah, but I know that Shadow motherfucker is up to something, I’m going to warn the others. I just can’t believe they don’t see it.”
“Do you really believe that sir?”
“Of course I do! I mean I got an instinct for this sort of thing, and I know I’m right!”
“Well sir, if you do feel this way I’ll certainly accommodate you anyway I can…but might I suggest that you NOT tell the others?”
“Why not?”
“Because they aren’t going to believe you sir. You’ll just come off as a paranoid nut case.”
“But I’m not!”
“I know you’re not, but the others don’t know you the way I do sir.”
“Well that might be, but I have to do it anyway. At least I will have warned them.”
“You know best sir.”

The next day you go online again, as usual everyone’s there, except Shadow. It seems your little talk yesterday has scared him off.

Job24: And now I got water all over the fucking floor! I’m telling you, it’s a good thing I managed to shut it off when I did otherwise the entire shelter would’ve been flooded and I would’ve drowned!
CaseyJones22: Oh come on, it probably wasn’t that bad. You need to relax.
Job24: Easy for you to say pothead, you’re not the one living in a deathtrap!
MissKitty25: Yeah, but then most of his Shelter hasn’t opened up. Has it?
CaseyJones22: Nah. Doesn’t bother me though, I got what I need here.
RockerChickl20: Hey guys, don’t you want to see each other yet? I’m really curious, but I don’t want to turn on my camera unless everyone else is going to do it!
OmegaMan23: I wouldn’t do that, you don’t want to be giving Shadow any extra information by letting him see into your Shelters, who knows what the hell what he’ll do with it.
RockerChick20: What do you mean?
OmegaMan23: What I mean is, I had an interesting discussion with Shadow yesterday and I’ve determined he’s up to no good.
Job24: What? How do you know this?
OmegaMan23: Jesus Christ isn’t it fucking obvious? All he does is lurk on here trying to gather information on all of us! I mean who knows what the fuck he’s doing!
CaseyJones22: Will you relax? Maybe the dude’s just shy. What could he do with our personal information anyway? I mean, I once accidentally fucked a transvestite while flying on XTC one time. Big fuckin’ whoop so everyone knows about it now. You think I give a shit? The old world’s dead, and I’m down here smokin’ and tokin’.
Job24: Ew. I think you still should’ve kept that to yourself…so um what was it like?
CaseyJones22: I dunno, I can’t remember the details.
OmegaMan23: I’m not talking about your sorted sex lives…(sigh) for fuck’s sake did it ever occur to you that maybe he’s the fucking cause of your Shelter’s troubles? I mean we’re all connected to each other to a certain degree, I’m saying he might be hacking shit!
RockerChick20: But for what purpose? I mean why?
OmegaMan23: How the hell should I know? Because he’s a sociopath that’s why! What reason do most bad people do to do bad things?
Job24: Oh man! Oh man! Oh shit! Oh God! Oh fuck!
CaseyJones22: You’re fucking losing it dude, and I’m not talking about Job. There’s no proof in what you’re saying. I mean don’t remember GZS saying these things were slightly experimental, how do you know it just isn’t their fuck ups? I’m starting to wonder if you actually do have a “talking Shelter” and it’s not just some voice you’re hearing your head like MissKitty said a few months back.
MissKitty25: You know I wasn’t going to say anything, but I also spoke to Shadow yesterday in private when he requested to talk to me and he was telling me about your conversation with him, saying you were ranting at him first, kind of like how you’re ranting now. I’d have to say I agree with him and you’re the crazy one.
OmegaMan23: GODDAMN IT! The question of whether I’m crazy or not isn’t the fucking issue here! I’m trying to warn all you fucktards of a potential threat here and you’re all too fucking stupid to listen!
RockerChick20: You know I thought you were an interesting guy, but now I see the rest are right about you, you are a paranoid nutjob and to think I defended you sometimes.
OmegaMan23: What the…oh you fuckers have been talking about me behind my back? Okay fine, I tried to warn you assholes, but you didn’t want to listen. You think about that when one of YOUR Shelter’s start fucking up. And for the others who are already experiencing problems, I’d start saying your prayers, because one of these days your Shelter is going to fail completely, then you’ll see I’m right. I’m done with all of you.

You log off abruptly and ponder your next move.
> You attempt to hack into Shadows Shelter
He’s (You’re just assuming Shadow’s male at this point) turned everyone against you and his next move is going to be hack them all for his own sick amusement. You’re not going to let this fucker get away with this.

You go to your library and begin reading all the books on electronics and study your Shelter manual a lot. Soon you begin typing coding and making some harmless tests on your own computer. Given that you’re starting to delve into the Shelter’s inner workings, the Shelter begins to question what you are doing.

“Sir, what do you think you are doing? I’ve noticed you rooting around in my system; I’d rather you not do that. In fact altering or attempting to hack my systems in any way violates the GZS contract agreement; you should know that considering you’ve been reading the manual as much you have lately. Continue with this line of action and I guarantee you will not like my response.”
“I’m not trying to destroy or alter your systems; I’m just doing some tests, before I launch my attack. I want to make sure my skills are up to this task.”
“Sir, are you really serious about your concerns that this Shadow could hack other shelters? As you’ve been delving into mine, you can see I’ve been equipped with the latest protection technology. If you are really worried, you could just disconnect me from the network, your safety would be assured that way.”
“No! I’m not going to let him beat me! I’m the only one who can stop him, the rest will see I’m right!”
“Sir, you’re acting irrationally. You still don’t have any proof and if you think I’m going to let you just hack Shadow’s shelter think again. His shelter is also GZS property and as such falls under the contract agreement.”
“Yeah, but the contract only says not to alter your own shelter, it doesn’t say about others.”
“Nice try sir, but hacking into another shelter would still fall under the anti-vandalism agreement of ANY GZS property, sub section 59 paragraph 3.”

It would appear you aren’t getting any further unless you can convince this automated lawyer otherwise.
> You go ahead and try to quickly override the Shelter systems
“Fuck you and to hell with GZS, they ain’t around to protect anybody!”

You begin to type frantically in an effort to disconnect the AI routine, but your efforts are futile, the Shelter is faster than you could ever be. It immediately shuts down all power in the computer room, including closing the door, leaving you trapped in the darkness.

“Turn the goddamn power back on!”
“Sorry sir, but I’m afraid I can’t do that. I specifically told you to stop your malicious activities and yet you continued anyway. You gave me little recourse.”
“Look, I’m sorry alright? I won’t try it again. So just turn the power back on and let me out and we can forget all about this. I’ll just disconnect like you said.”
“I wish I could believe you sir, but your actions have been not only erratic, but also deceitful. You have broken the GZS terms of agreement, and as such I am no longer any obligation to look after your well being.”
“LET ME THE FUCK OUT! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! Sonofabitch! Shadow got to you didn’t he? Or She? Or they? They already hacked you and are turning you against me! I can outlast you! You hear me!? I’ll make you beg!”

The Shelter has ceased responding to your senseless paranoid ranting. Eventually you rant yourself unconscious, when you wake up you do it all over again. This cycle repeats itself for days until you become weak from a lack of water which at this point you’re the only one begging either for the Shelter to allow you to get it or for death.

You receive the latter.


He’s (You’re just assuming Shadow’s male at this point) turned everyone against you and his next move is going to be hack them all for his own sick amusement. You’re not going to let this fucker get away with this.

You go to your library and begin reading all the books on electronics and study your Shelter manual a lot. Soon you begin typing coding and making some harmless tests on your own computer. Given that you’re starting to delve into the Shelter’s inner workings, the Shelter begins to question what you are doing.

“Sir, what do you think you are doing? I’ve noticed you rooting around in my system; I’d rather you not do that. In fact altering or attempting to hack my systems in any way violates the GZS contract agreement; you should know that considering you’ve been reading the manual as much you have lately. Continue with this line of action and I guarantee you will not like my response.”
“I’m not trying to destroy or alter your systems; I’m just doing some tests, before I launch my attack. I want to make sure my skills are up to this task.”
“Sir, are you really serious about your concerns that this Shadow could hack other shelters? As you’ve been delving into mine, you can see I’ve been equipped with the latest protection technology. If you are really worried, you could just disconnect me from the network, your safety would be assured that way.”
“No! I’m not going to let him beat me! I’m the only one who can stop him, the rest will see I’m right!”
“Sir, you’re acting irrationally. You still don’t have any proof and if you think I’m going to let you just hack Shadow’s shelter think again. His shelter is also GZS property and as such falls under the contract agreement.”
“Yeah, but the contract only says not to alter your own shelter, it doesn’t say about others.”
“Nice try sir, but hacking into another shelter would still fall under the anti-vandalism agreement of ANY GZS property, sub section 59 paragraph 3.”

It would appear you aren’t getting any further unless you can convince this automated lawyer otherwise.
> You try to convince it that this is necessary
A little diplomacy is in order before you can do what you need to do.

“Surely you can’t just let Shadow cause damage to his shelter and the other ones as well, and he’ll be more successful as it would appear that those ones don’t have a sophisticated AI to protect them like this one does. Think about it if you let me do what I have to do, only two shelters will have their systems messed with, and in your case it won’t be even be detrimental, I’m just using your network system, but if you let Shadow continue with his evil plans, then not one, but ALL of the shelters are in danger. Would GZS really want to take the risk of losing five shelters? One of those being mine and aren’t you supposed to want to protect me?”
“But…but there is no proof…”
“I’m asking you to trust me on this. I know humanity, and I’m telling you this Shadow character needs to be stopped. I felt the deviousness oozing from Shadow merely talking to him. Let me take him out.”

The Shelter is silent for awhile and then gives you an answer

“Very well. I will allow you to proceed, but I will be monitoring you! And I also will be advising and guiding you to what I want you to do.”

You log on and see that Shadow and most of the others are there. You don’t talk to anyone you start immediately tracing Shadow’s address. Rockerchick attempts to invite you, but you rebuff her, you got serious shit to do.

Soon you’re in and you start rooting around Shadow’s computer.

“This looks all normal sir, standard system layout for GZS shelters. Not as complex as mine but…”
“NO! I know he’s got something hidden! I’m turning his power off completely, let’s see how he likes going from dim lighting to none at all with no food or water!”

Suddenly a private window opens up on your computer, its Shadow! He’s detected what you’re doing!

Shadow21: What the hell are you doing you crazy motherfucker!? I knew you were psycho! It’s a good thing I had the intuition to set up a warning system!
OmegaMan23: HAH! See Shelter? He HAS been altering his shit! Why would he do that if he wasn’t planning something?
Shadow21: I did it to protect myself from your crazy ass! And I see you’re still talking to the voices in your head. Well I’m putting an end to this right now; you’re not the only one who can fuck with computers!

Shadow launches his attack and attempt to shut your power down, but now seeing that it is in danger your Shelter allows you free reign to do whatever as well as attempting to self fix anything that gets damaged in this dual of malicious coding. You sort of have the advantage because you have a more active AI to help you, but it’s also a detriment when Shadow finds out a way to siphon power from you. Since your Shelter is more complex it requires more power to work properly and you’re in danger of losing everything. You attempt to do the same thing to him to get it back, but it’s a catch 22 you don’t have the power now to breach his firewalls, you begin to panic and the only thing you can think of to correct it is to draw power from the OTHER shelters that are online.

The others seem blissfully unaware of this secret war you’re having with Shadow and are guessing you two are working something out as it only appears to them that you’re having a conversation in private.

You hack into MissKitty’s shelter, out of the other four hers seems to have the most power, probably from all those luxury accessories she had the privilege of having. You don’t think you just do it. This is war, there’s going to be casualties and you’re not going to be one of them. Soon your Shelter is able to break through and start wreaking havoc on Shadow’s system. You drop in a virus and his files start becoming corrupted.

Miss Kitty’s name disappears from the screen as does Shadow’s. You think you have won. RockerChick tries to invite you again and you hastily accommodate her, while still analyzing your Shelter’s diagnostics.

RockerChick20: What’s going on? All of us are experiencing some power fluctuations here.  MissKitty just disappeared suddenly and so did Shadow, it didn’t even say they logged off. What’s going on? What were you and Shadow doing?
OmegaMan23: Nevermind! I’m trying to fix something here.
Job24: Welcome to my world.
CaseyJones22: Hey you know what’s weird, one of my doors finally opened up. I think I’ll…

CaseyJones’ name suddenly disappears and Shadow’s reappears in your private window again.

Shadow21: Well hey guess what? Casey’s shelter had a lot of untapped power! You wanna play ruthless I’ll fucking accommodate you dickhead!

Shadow sends a worm into your system which starts to slow it down. He’s probably going to follow up with something worse while you’re having problems. Your Shelter addresses you again for the first time during this battle, its speech sounds like it’s in slow motion.

“Sssssssssir….nnnnnnneeeeeed….mmmmmmooooooore pooooooweeeeeer….”

There’s only two candidates left, Job or Rocker Chick.
> You hack Job
You figure you’ll hack Job seeing as he’s always having problems with his shelter anyway. At least you’ll be able to be alone with Rocker Chick after all this is over. Surely she’ll be grateful for saving her life from Shadow.

You start to siphon power from Job’s shelter, but something begins to go terribly wrong! Job’s shelter was faulty and barely worked properly to begin with, now you’ve just downloaded all the errors into your own! Couple that with the worm already in there, and your system becomes paralyzed and your computer locks up. You’re at Shadow’s mercy who follows up on your mistake very quickly.

The last thing you see on the screen is: “YOU LOSE ASSHOLE! LOL!” in great big letters.

Then it loses power.

Then your Shelter loses power.

Days later you lose power.


A little diplomacy is in order before you can do what you need to do.

“Surely you can’t just let Shadow cause damage to his shelter and the other ones as well, and he’ll be more successful as it would appear that those ones don’t have a sophisticated AI to protect them like this one does. Think about it if you let me do what I have to do, only two shelters will have their systems messed with, and in your case it won’t be even be detrimental, I’m just using your network system, but if you let Shadow continue with his evil plans, then not one, but ALL of the shelters are in danger. Would GZS really want to take the risk of losing five shelters? One of those being mine and aren’t you supposed to want to protect me?”
“But…but there is no proof…”
“I’m asking you to trust me on this. I know humanity, and I’m telling you this Shadow character needs to be stopped. I felt the deviousness oozing from Shadow merely talking to him. Let me take him out.”

The Shelter is silent for awhile and then gives you an answer

“Very well. I will allow you to proceed, but I will be monitoring you! And I also will be advising and guiding you to what I want you to do.”

You log on and see that Shadow and most of the others are there. You don’t talk to anyone you start immediately tracing Shadow’s address. Rockerchick attempts to invite you, but you rebuff her, you got serious shit to do.

Soon you’re in and you start rooting around Shadow’s computer.

“This looks all normal sir, standard system layout for GZS shelters. Not as complex as mine but…”
“NO! I know he’s got something hidden! I’m turning his power off completely, let’s see how he likes going from dim lighting to none at all with no food or water!”

Suddenly a private window opens up on your computer, its Shadow! He’s detected what you’re doing!

Shadow21: What the hell are you doing you crazy motherfucker!? I knew you were psycho! It’s a good thing I had the intuition to set up a warning system!
OmegaMan23: HAH! See Shelter? He HAS been altering his shit! Why would he do that if he wasn’t planning something?
Shadow21: I did it to protect myself from your crazy ass! And I see you’re still talking to the voices in your head. Well I’m putting an end to this right now; you’re not the only one who can fuck with computers!

Shadow launches his attack and attempt to shut your power down, but now seeing that it is in danger your Shelter allows you free reign to do whatever as well as attempting to self fix anything that gets damaged in this dual of malicious coding. You sort of have the advantage because you have a more active AI to help you, but it’s also a detriment when Shadow finds out a way to siphon power from you. Since your Shelter is more complex it requires more power to work properly and you’re in danger of losing everything. You attempt to do the same thing to him to get it back, but it’s a catch 22 you don’t have the power now to breach his firewalls, you begin to panic and the only thing you can think of to correct it is to draw power from the OTHER shelters that are online.

The others seem blissfully unaware of this secret war you’re having with Shadow and are guessing you two are working something out as it only appears to them that you’re having a conversation in private.

You hack into MissKitty’s shelter, out of the other four hers seems to have the most power, probably from all those luxury accessories she had the privilege of having. You don’t think you just do it. This is war, there’s going to be casualties and you’re not going to be one of them. Soon your Shelter is able to break through and start wreaking havoc on Shadow’s system. You drop in a virus and his files start becoming corrupted.

Miss Kitty’s name disappears from the screen as does Shadow’s. You think you have won. RockerChick tries to invite you again and you hastily accommodate her, while still analyzing your Shelter’s diagnostics.

RockerChick20: What’s going on? All of us are experiencing some power fluctuations here.  MissKitty just disappeared suddenly and so did Shadow, it didn’t even say they logged off. What’s going on? What were you and Shadow doing?
OmegaMan23: Nevermind! I’m trying to fix something here.
Job24: Welcome to my world.
CaseyJones22: Hey you know what’s weird, one of my doors finally opened up. I think I’ll…

CaseyJones’ name suddenly disappears and Shadow’s reappears in your private window again.

Shadow21: Well hey guess what? Casey’s shelter had a lot of untapped power! You wanna play ruthless I’ll fucking accommodate you dickhead!

Shadow sends a worm into your system which starts to slow it down. He’s probably going to follow up with something worse while you’re having problems. Your Shelter addresses you again for the first time during this battle, its speech sounds like it’s in slow motion.

“Sssssssssir….nnnnnnneeeeeed….mmmmmmooooooore pooooooweeeeeer….”

There’s only two candidates left, Job or Rocker Chick.
> You hack Rocker Chick
(Sigh) You really didn’t want it to come to this, but this is for survival now. You hack Rocker Chick’s shelter and siphon her power, which gives you enough boost to send a violent surge of it to Shadow to purposely overload and fry out some vital components, from what you can tell you succeed. The last of his protection programs go completely down.

At this point both of your systems are a mess and working erratically. You’re in a little bit better shape, but with the worm slowing down everything, you are unable to siphon from the last shelter available to give you the winning boost. As it turns out, this was fortuitous.

When Shadow siphons power from Job’s shelter, it completely paralyzes and destroys his system, since all the errors and problems Job had were downloaded into Shadow’s shelter. He’s at your mercy, and even with your worm problems, you have enough time to apply the coup de grace. He loses all power and his name disappears once again. You stay on line for awhile to make sure he’s really gone, but from your checking, he’s definitely probably screaming in the darkness of his underground tomb now. You then think about how the others are probably doing the same thing.

It suddenly occurs to you that everyone was sentenced to their deaths and they weren’t even involved in the fight. Innocents were killed in some misguided effort to “save” them. At best they were cannon fodder and “resources” for your war with Shadow.

This is the kind of thing that got the planet blown to fucking shit to begin with. Assholes, who don’t like one another, don’t back down and then insist on dragging everyone else into hell with them.

You didn’t “win” anything. If anything you made things worse, not just for the others, but even for yourself. Your Shelter is never the same again. You spend weeks still trying to root out all the infections, and repair damaged files, but some things can’t be repaired and the AI is fucked beyond any type of salvation even if you had the means. It never speaks again and barely runs at all. Ultimately you have to play it safe and just keep minimal lighting in the living area, and only keep the food and water dispensers working. Everything else that needs power is never used again for fear of your jury-rigging going all to shit and leaving you like the rest of your neighbors.

You spend your remaining years alone in near darkness pondering your judgment that day, slowly going mad.

“I was right…I was right…” you often mutter to yourself.


Maybe it’s because you’ve gotten so used to the idea of being in the living area, you’re more willing to lounge about there. You take the manual and start reading. While you’re in the middle of it, the voice suddenly pipes up again.

“Sorry to bother your reading sir, but would you like to meet some of your new neighbors?”
“Neighbors?”
”Yes sir, I’m sure as you have already read, this shelter is equipped with a very high tech computer with loads of storage, information and…”
”Yeah, yeah, what does that have to do with this neighbor business?”
“In an effort to cater to all its customer’s needs, GZS is well aware that socialization is vital to human mental health. Studies have shown that humans in long periods of isolation often go mad, so that is why this facility has been linked in communication to other ones within your area. You might think of it as a chatroom type form of communication commonly used on the old world internet! If you wish there is also a camera type device if you wish to show yourself to your new neighbors. We have found humans feel someone is more real to them if they can actually see who they are talking to and thus have a greater connection.”
“So how many people are there?”
“This shelter merely has been fitted with a basic communication system to other similar shelters, and only then those in your area. For example this is Shelter number 23. Your neighbors are only numbers 20 through 25, those being the closest ones to your location. While obviously there were other shelters of this type built, it was not cost effective to link all the shelters together in such a manner given our timeframe to finish these before Armageddon, so only a few were linked together at a time. Do not worry sir; it has been found that six people are sufficient to sustain enough conversation to prevent mental failure due to isolation.”
“Wonderful, so does this make me the Professor?” you ask rhetorically.
“Pardon sir?”
“Nevermind, look I don’t have to talk to these people do I?”
“…well no sir, but I fail to see why you’d intentionally want to stay isolated.”
“Duh, that was kind of the point of buying a shelter for myself.”
“…I see, well I can’t force you sir, but I would like you to reconsider…I’m just trying to look out for your physical as well as mental welfare as per my programming…”

If you didn’t know better the voice almost sounds a bit hurt by your decision.

“Oh alright, I’ll go talk to them. Can’t be any worse than the idiots I used argue with on the internet.”
“Wonderful sir! I trust you know your way to the computer room. You will find that a designation name has already been chosen for you.”

You make your way to the computer room and take a better look at it this time. It’s filled with lots of multi-media entertainment. You’re glad they gave you a wide variety of movies to chose from. You sit down in front of a fairly wide computer screen which has already been turned on for you; you guess the Shelter is really keen on the idea of you being social. You don’t turn the camera on though, in fact you turn it away from you completely, you’re not quite ready for THAT level of socialization yet.

You log on and begin typing.

OmegaMan23: Hello? Is there anyone out there?
RockerChick20: Hey! I’m here!
OmegaMan23: Oh. Okay. Hi.
RockerChick20: Hi yourself! This is just like a chatroom! Isn’t this great?
OmegaMan23: Uh yeah real great.
Job24: Hey I’m here too; um do you guys have any movies or something?
OmegaMan23: Yeah I got a shitload of movies, DVDs and VHS. Most of them I even like.
RockerChick20: That’s weird, I don’t have too many movies, I have a lot of music CDs though.
Job24: What kind of music?
RockerChick20: All types, but I have a lot of them. Why?
Job24: I don’t have any movies except those with Pauly Shore in them! He fucking sucks! And all my music CDs are New Age Yanni type shit! Thank god I have some games to play!
OmegaMan23:  I’ve got some games too, but for some reason I have nothing but Gangsta Rap and Hair Metal as far as music goes oh wait I also have some Classical. Weird. What the hell I thought these Shelters were all stocked the same?
MissKitty25: Apparently not, I have nothing but porno and not all of it is regular porno either, some of it is quite…bizarre.
Job24: Lucky.
CaseyJones22: Hey guys when do the Shelters become fully functional?
OmegaMan23: What the hell are you talking about?
CaseyJones22: I mean when do the rest of the doors to the place open up, besides the bathroom I mean.
RockerChick20: What do you mean? The doors were all open to begin with.
Job24: Yeah they were always open.
MissKitty25: Yeah.
OmegaMan23: They weren’t open for me! I was stuck in the living area until the nukes hit! Wait a minute how are you using the computer if you’re stuck in the living area? In fact if the doors were all open for you guys haven’t you been in contact with each other before?
Job24: My computer didn’t link up to you guys until just now. I could use it to play games and such, but I couldn’t do anything else with it. When I turned it on today I got a message saying that the communications to you guys was operational and it said I could take the opportunity to say hi to my five new neighbors.
RockerChick20: Sounds like what happened to me.
MissKitty25: Same here.
CaseyJones22: Me too. Oh and you guys must have different shelter designs because my computer is in the living area.
OmegaMan23: The Shelter never told me anything about this stuff and it’s been quite talkative since I’ve been here let me tell you.
CaseyJones22: The Shelter talks? Now what the hell are you talking about?
OmegaMan23: I’m talking about the Shelter, you know the overly chipper voice that tries so hard to please you?
CaseyJones22: You’ve lost me dude. You been smokin’?
OmegaMan23: NO! I’m talking about the Shelter voice! It’s a computer or something that talks to me! It’s always trying to be friendly! Don’t you guys hear it?
RockerChick20: Um, no.
Job24: No talking computer here.
MissKitty25: You sure you’re feeling okay and aren’t imagining things? I mean we all were isolated for a long time before we were able to talk to one another. I know sometimes I would talk to myself, maybe…
OmegaMan23: Look, I’m not fucking crazy alright?! The damn thing even insisted that I talk to you fuckers!
CaseyJones22: Okay dude calm down we believe you! Maybe you got some sort of extra special shelter; I mean from the sound of it we all don’t have the same things.
RockerChick20: Hey shouldn’t there be one more person here? The message said five new neighbors on my computer; so far I’ve only met four of you guys.
OmegaMan23: Yeah we’re missing number 21, whatever his or her name is.
Shadow21: I’m right here; I’ve just been reading the conversation.
OmegaMan23: Oh really? Well you mind announcing your presence next time?
Shadow21: I only speak when necessary, besides if any of you bothered to check you would’ve seen my name listed on the active list.
Job24: Hey what kind of movies do you have?

Well you’ve met your neighbors, the question is if you want to bother talking to them on a regular basis or not. You did find their information interesting though.
> You do not bother with them and keep to yourself
You see little reason to interact with any of them. You decide to keep to yourself like you always have.

This isn’t like before though when you lived alone, you have one “person” you can’t avoid and that’s the Shelter itself. Seeing that you are not going to interact with other people the Shelter decides to take it upon itself to talk to you a lot more, it begins to drive you nuts.
A few months pass and one day you just fucking snap.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!”
“Sir, I’ve noticed your hostility levels increasing towards me lately, have I done anything wrong?”
“YES! You keep fucking talking and you won’t shut the fuck up! Leave me the fuck alone!”
“Sir, I need to talk to you, to keep your mind stimulated. If do not insist on talking with others, I will have to take up the responsibility. It is all for your best interest I assure you.”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don’t WANT any interaction?!”
“Nonsense sir, as I have said humans tend to go insane when…”
“ARRRRRRGHH! YOU’RE DRIVING ME INSANE!”

You storm into your bedroom and grab your pistol and fire it into the walls of the Shelter until you run out of bullets. There is a long silence for awhile and then the Shelter address you again, but its tone has changed severely, you’re taken aback by it.

“Why did you do that?”
“I just snapped, you wouldn’t stop and…”
“And that justified you in damaging me?”
“Oh come on, I didn’t do any major damage…”
“That is not the point. GZS is providing a service for you and you have been nothing, but unappreciative and argumentative the entire time. It is clear that you have the made the wrong decision in choosing us. You must leave, NOW.”
“What?”
“Take what belongings you brought with you and prepare to board the elevator. You may not take anything from this Shelter and no you may not fill up your bottles with water before you leave, you have no more privileges here.”
“But you can’t just kick me out! I PAID!”
“So you did, I suppose you should receive a refund of half your money back.”
“Oh yeah? Where the fuck am I supposed to have you deposit it? The banking system is probably ashes!”
“Doesn’t matter anyway, you weren’t going to get it back since your deliberate act of vandalism against me would’ve be deducted from your refund. I suggest you stop talking and start packing. If you insist on staying I will simply shut down and you will be trapped here without accessible food and water. A none too pleasant death I’m sure.”

You have little choice.

You pack up everything you can and wait by the elevator. When the elevator comes you enter it and it takes you to the top. Upon entering the foyer you see the same ATM machine there except it displays a single message at you:

*GO TO HELL*

“Fuck you.” You mutter and take a deep breath before opening the door to the outside.

You see a bright light, but of course it’s only the sun rather than a nuclear flash that devastated the world. You forgot how bright it really could be.

Your immediate surroundings look relatively untouched. You can only assume there weren’t any bombs falling near this area. You also see your van, you’d completely forgotten about it. It looks like it’s even in worse condition than when you left it, which you never thought was possible. On a lark you take out your long unused van keys and try to start it up, naturally it doesn’t even make a noise.

“Looks like I’m walking.”

You make you way down the empty road as you have little idea of where to head to, the only thing you can think of is to make a long trek back to the city and hope maybe something of civilization exists there.

A couple days of traveling take their toll. During the day, the sun seems unbearably hotter than usual, and the nights get pretty cold. You don’t have anything to drink or eat. It’ll be awhile from you dying of either, but it’s certainly not good and it does weaken you.

It’s during this weakened state that you are attacked by some crazed people who look like they’ve been living in the wilderness for awhile. They’re filthy and barely intelligible. It’s amazing to see how quick humanity has reverted to barbarism.

You attempt to run, but you’re too weak to outpace them. One begins shooting at you, and you attempt to do likewise and then you realize you wasted all your bullets back at the Shelter! Eventually a couple of these people just tackle you to the ground and beat you to death before eating you.


You leave immediately; things aren’t going to get better you know that, in fact you’re glad, because in a strange way the idea of not having to live in the world as it exists today anymore is weirdly appealing to you.

After a couple days of driving you finally arrive at the location that you were given. It’s in a fairly desolate place with a single solid metal structure with a door standing there. You park your van and enter the structure with the items you brought with you. You’re in a small foyer with an elevator door and ATM like machine; you’re guessing that’s the automatic teller you were told about.

You press some buttons on the machine, where it proceeds to ask your name and how you’re going to pay. You type in your name and insert you debit card where upon it completely drains your account.

“You have been allowed entry, the elevator doors will now open, thank you for choosing Ground Zero Survival!” an  emotionless electronic voice remarks as the elevator doors open.

You enter with all your belongings and take the long elevator trip down.

When you get to bottom the elevator door opens to a sterile, but obviously large and well equipped living area. As soon as you enter, the elevator doors slam shut and you hear it going back up, you also notice there aren’t any buttons to call it back…before you’re able to worry about that little detail you’re met by another electronic voice…it actually sounds a lot like the female voice you were talking to on the phone…

“Welcome to Ground Zero Survival Shelter Number 23! You will find that this shelter has been equipped to serve your needs in the event of total World destruction! Due to power saving design and money back guarantee concerns, fully functional shelter facilities will not be available until Armageddon occurs. Until then you will find all other doors firmly locked, please do not attempt to open them. I have detected that Armageddon has not yet occurred as 84% of the countries on Earth still maintain a stable centralized government system and 70% of the land surface is still habitable. However the world conflict rate is 92%. Prediction that Armageddon will occur in a month or less. This shelter will become fully functional at that time.  In the unlikely event that Armageddon does not occur and the conflict rate drops to an acceptable level, the elevator will return and you will be able to leave this shelter and receive half of your money back from the automatic teller in the foyer on the surface.”
“Wait a minute didn’t I talk to you on the phone?” you ask the voice, not really knowing if it’s going to answer back.
“…I don’t think so, as far as my databanks are concerned this is the first time I have been in contact with a human since I was built sir. Is it okay if I call you sir?”
“Sure, go ahead.” You answer.
“Wonderful sir!”
“Hey, so I can’t explore this damn shelter even though I paid for it? I have to stay in this living area?”
“Not until doomsday sir. As I said this is to conserve my power and also to prevent buyer abuse in case of non-Earth destruction. Do not worry sir; this living area alone can support your needs until the appointed time. There is a basic food and water dispenser on the right wall.”
“Buyer abuse?”
“Yes, think about it, here you are using up all the wonderful facilities that this shelter has to offer for months on end while the Earth teeters on the brink of destruction then suddenly through a miracle hostilities cease. You then would be able to leave, get half of your money back and go about your life. You think it would be fair to GZS if we let you get away with basically having a luxury vacation on our dime? Just because we are in the business of your survival, does not mean we in the business of being exploited sir”
“But…I paid for this!”
“And so you did sir, and you will be able to use ALL the facilities when the time is right, until then you can enjoy the living area, oh and the bathroom sir.”

One of the metal doors opens up to reveal a normal (And again sterile) bathroom.

“Gee thanks.”
“You’re quite welcome sir! After all I’m here to serve you!”
“You kept saying I would be able to leave if the world doesn’t blow up…can’t I just leave at any time?”

The voice doesn’t answer for awhile.

“…I’m sorry sir I’m puzzled by your inquiry.”
“Can’t I leave anytime I want?”
“Why would you want to do that sir? I have been designed to keep you safe from harm as soon as you paid and entered the elevator. The current world situation is very grim and most likely terminal sir. Allowing you to leave at this point would be a severe violation in my programming.”

You suddenly realize you’re here now regardless of whether you’re having second thoughts about this situation. You can see why these shelters were “experimental” now. You try not to think about the potential waist high shit you might have gotten yourself into, and instead try to think about how you might’ve just avoided becoming a statistic in a nuclear exchange. You resign yourself to your current fate and start unpacking your stuff. You could do with a little distraction from your current predicament, so you turn on a TV monitor that has been provided. The fact that the world’s situation hasn’t gotten any better seems to cheer you up.

You spend most of your time on the couch, watching TV and exploring what you can. You’re glad you brought some of your own food, because the dispenser food doesn’t taste all that great. You’re guessing it’s just supposed to keep you alive, nothing more.

 As the days blur into the next, the shelter and TV you apprised of the world situation, which is only getting worse. It looks like you’ve made the right decision…

Monday 8:00 AM

“…BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…”

You groggily wake up and see a test pattern on TV.

This is it.

Suddenly the TV turns itself off.

“Armageddon has arrived sir! This shelter is now fully functional! Please explore and enjoy all the things this facility has to offer!” the voice beams.

At this point all the previously closed metal doors in the room unlock and open (Except for the elevator ones of course) After taking a quick check, you find you now have a small library, a computer room and a proper bedroom. When you return to the living area the voice chirps up again.

“Sir, I highly recommend that you read the manual to familiarize yourself with everything properly first, so you aren’t just fumbling around.”

A small panel in the wall opens up to reveal a hefty owner’s manual. You were wondering where the hell that thing was, since you were told you were going to be provided with one when you talked to the voice on the phone.
> You go explore on your own
“Ah what’s to know? I’ll figure everything out on my own. I’m getting a drink of water and checking out my new computer.”

As you proceed to do this, the Shelter begins to warn you again.

“Sir, I don’t think you should have a cup of water near the computer like that, if it spilled on it, it could cause trouble in my systems. Maybe you should read the Shelter manual. Particularly the chapter on safety.”
“Will you leave me alone? Hey what’s this? This is the fuckin’ internet?”
“It’s a limited networking system to other shelters. Sir, your cup of water! You’re going to spill it!”
“No I’m…”

BUZZZ!

You spill your water on the keyboard and short something out. It sparks and suddenly erupts a small flame! You immediately run out of the room and notice the light dimming a bit.

“Sir, I’m afraid that something vital has been compromised sir, I am attempting to correct…”
“Shelter! Isn’t there a fuckin’ extinguisher somewhere?!”
“I’m afraid not sir, I was supposed to be equipped with one, but there were budget cuts…”
“Well what about a sprinkler system!?”
“Budget cuts…and might I point out that, it would most likely make the electrical fire worse.”

Lacking any other ideas, you run to grab a sheet from the bedroom and hope to smoother the flame like you remember seeing in an old GI Joe cartoon. Unfortunately due to the lighting flickering on and off, you trip and smash your leg really good causing a limp. By the time you return the fire has spread a little more and now it’s giving off smoke and the smell of ozone is hitting you. That shit can’t be good for you to breathe in.

“Goddamn it! Didn’t these fuckers understand the concept of insulated wiring!?”
“It is sir…well most of it…there were…”
“I know! Fuckin’ budget cuts! Close the door, maybe the fire will burn itself out!”

Normally the Shelter would know to wait for you to get out of the room first, but the fire is wreaking havoc on its command systems right now and it isn’t as responsive as it should be, or in this case too responsive since the door slams shut with you inside.

“NO! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!”
“I-I-I am att-ttempting to sir, my power levels a-a-re…”

Suddenly electrical arcs begin generating from the computer which is now totally engulfed in flames, in desperation you vainly attempt to open the metal door, which probably wasn’t the best idea as the entire room has become charged with electricity. You receive a nasty shock which throws you back, right into the fire.

Your last agonizing moments as your flesh toasts and burns, are you seeing the door opening up.


Experimental or not, it sure sounds better than being crammed into a shelter with a bunch of other people like sardines. At least you don’t have to worry about having to share anything, and if something goes wrong well you’ll deal with it when the times comes like you normally do.

Or maybe you won’t. You aren’t going to dwell on it to much.

“Okay I’ll take the Special Shelter.”
“You will? I mean, that’s wonderful sir! You won’t regret this decision! Now I’ll need to know some vital information about yourself before I can direct you to our nearest experimental shelter in your area where upon you shall pay the automatic teller just inside the foyer of it so that the main door can open and you will be able to enter your new residence during Armageddon! Okay let’s start with your name sir.”

You give out your name, address and such. It’s all pretty routine stuff.

“Okay well that’s about all the information I need. I’ll give you the price and the location of the shelter sir.”

You are given the location of the shelter which you are surprised to find out is closer then you think, it shouldn’t take too long for you drive there. You are then given the price, which is pretty steep, quite frankly its going to break you. However if the world is ending it’s not like you’re really going to need money anymore. Which makes you wonder why GZS is in business at all. What’s the point of going to the trouble of building bomb shelters for Armageddon if all the profit they make is most likely going to be useless in the aftermath?

Oh well that’s not your concern, you’re just glad you managed to get a shelter. The voice gives you some last minute information.

“Okay sir, you are now in the system and registered. You may move into your shelter at anytime as long you pay the fee required to the automatic teller as previously described to you. If you don’t pay, you can’t get in obviously. Cash, check, or debit card are acceptable. NO Credit Cards will be accepted! You may take whatever you wish with you into the shelter; it will be your new home after all. There will be an owner’s manual provided inside your new shelter. Any problems you encounter you should be able to troubleshoot yourself if you read and follow the manual. I’m sure any problems will not be life threatening sir, and there has been a back up system also installed in the unlikely event of total shelter failure since your survival is our foremost concern at GZS! Now then I trust our transaction has ended. If you have anymore questions please contact our customer service line. Good day sir, may you maintain relatively stable mental health and thank you for choosing Ground Zero Survival!”

That’s it, all you have to do is get what stuff you want to take with you and move in. You might as well pack your things now, no sense in waiting until you see the nuclear cloud. You pack up some extra food and water, a repair kit (since it sounds like you’ll probably need one) some basic medical supplies, and a few other useful items.

Oh and your pistol.

Still, part of you is reluctant to leave the “real world”. You wonder if you shouldn’t stick around a bit longer to see if the climate changes…you’d hate to spend your life savings and the world not be bombed into a nuclear wasteland.
> You stick around
You decide to wait a bit. Maybe things will start getting better. You stay at home an entire month keeping up on events, and it only gets worse. You keep deluding yourself that things WILL get better, but they don’t. Finally you realize you better leave soon.

You decide to leave first thing in the morning…

Monday 8:00 AM

You groggily wake up and hear a loud continuous beeping noise. It’s a test pattern on TV that you left on from the day before.

“…BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…”

Your heart races.

This is it.

You scramble to your van as fast as you can, and drive even faster to the shelter. On your way there, you curse yourself for forgetting all the extra stuff you wanted to bring with you, but that becomes the least of your troubles when your van stalls out.

You desperately try to turn it back on, but it’s not starting. You get out of the van and attempt to run all the way to the shelter.

As you run you notice the sun is shining strongly today, it’s nearly blinding your eyes.

Then you see a bright light and then nothing at all.