The Summary of Human Existence (Chapter 7)

# Chapter Seven

Elisabethe

“And…start.” Instructor Brons clicks his pen, and with that the most important test I’ll ever take in my life begins. This is only the written part, though.Depending on what you're trying for, the second part of the test is normally a simulation of that job. So, I’ll be doing a simulation of a mission up on earth as a Runner. Ivy will do a simulation of telling a Runner details of their Mission as a Mapper.

Carefully, I wrote my name up top. Elisabethe Jacobs. Then the date: June 28th, 2062. Finally, my rank: Teen, advanced, 15 (age range, basic, average, or advanced, age)

The first few questions are easy. What will you be trying out for after this? What are your goals? What is your knowledge of the Cooper Compound?

I was moving on to a more complicated question: Why should you be picked for your job?, when the door to the classroom bangs open with a shout. I almost fell out of my seat. It was Instructor Robins, the instructor from next door. Her blue eyes were bright and wide. “Instructor Brons!”

“Yes?” Brons replies calmly, looking at her from under his reading glasses.

Robins glances around, heaving as twenty-two sets of eyes stare back at her. She shudders, and addresses us, “Not to worry, not to worry, class. My apologies for disturbing you…”

“Is something wrong, Miss Robins?” Brons steps over to her, and wraps an arm around her shaking shoulders. Robins was a good teacher, but could be terribly overdramatic. Whatever the problem was, I saw no reason to worry. She’d done this multiple times last year, when Instructor Brewer was my teacher. The reasons were always small. I decide to return my test.

Just as I touch my graphite pen to my test again, the intercom in the right corner of the room cackles to life. I look up again, slightly annoyed. What now?

Only no words came out of the intercom. Only the signature terrifying sounds Beep….Beep….Beep…Wahhhh….Beep….

We were quickly escorted to the bunker room ten feet below us. It was easy access; just a trapdoor in Brewer’s room. We’d taken drills for this as well, so it was calm and orderly. On the outside, anyways. I still had my pencil in my hand when I sat down on the cot that I'd been assigned.

It was a vast space, with simple stone walls and floor. Cots, paired with their own supply box, lined two walls of the room. The third was the entrance to a medic room, and the fourth wall was the entrance, with an emergency call button. We were fully equipped.

But this wasn’t a drill.

Ivy’s cot was assigned across the room because her last name-Jacobs,  was nowhere near mine-Brontë. Instead, I was next to a guy I barely knew-Frederick Bonsai, and a girl I couldn’t stand Adrienne “Adra” Addler. Talk about the A names.

The Attack Alarm was still wailing, though it’d been half an hour. Beep…beep….beep…Wahhhh…beep…beep….Wahhh….

Instructors Brons, Robins, Brewer, and Farya were talking quietly amongst themselves, so everyone else did. Only the students who’d been in their classes were here. I tapped the pencil nervously against my knee-cap. What was going on? Cooper Compound had been safely protected since it had been created 50 years ago-just after the War. It had worked like a well-oiled machine, no new applications of oil needed; no gas leaks; no squealing or groaning. We worked without comment, and laughed without worry. We’d drilled with jokes.

We had never been attacked.

“Nervous?” I turn. It was the boy, Frederick.  He smiles shyly at me.

I shrug. “I guess….you?”

He yanks a strand of his oak-brown hair. “Confused, really.”

I took my hair off its ponytail so I could tighten it back up. I hated it when it was loose. Frederick’s eyes followmy every move as I did so, then flip my hair off my shoulder. I frown. “What?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing…what do you think is going on?”

“I dunno….” I clear my throat. “I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll find out, though.”

“Of course. They always tell us.”

I decide not to mention that there had never been a situation where they had to. Everything was on a need-to-know basis here. Nothing to panic us.

Instructor Brons walks up and stands in the middle of the room, demanding our attention. All whispered conversations stop.

“Ahem. We have had news about the so-called…attack. We will be staying here overnight due to unspecified reasons. All we can tell you is what we know: our Runners and Soldiers are fighting their hardest. You will be safe. We will be safe.”

I raise my hand. He nods at me. “Brontë. Speak.”

“Instructor Brons, do you know who is attacking us? Why? How did they even know that we were here?”

“I do not know, Brontë.” He steps backward and gestures to all of us. “In an hour promptly, you will be allowed to eat a prepared meal from your assigned supply box. For now, you may talk softly, or read the book from your supply box. If you have any questions, you may come to one of us four. That is all.”

I caught Ivy’s green eyes from across the bunker. Looks like we were here for the long-haul.