Page 93 of Malachi
“I don’t understand,” I muttered in awe. He moved ahead of me, leading me into the bunker and grabbing for something in the dark to my right. It was an oil lantern. The wick was lit quickly, bathing the room in a soft orange glow of light.
“It’s like the mountain is the bunker. But the walls in here are metal,” I whispered, more to myself than to him.
“It’s amazing what you can do with some camouflage,” he chuckled lightly. “This is the bunker. It’s well stocked. I stocked it before you and I got married. Just in case. To be honest, I had half a mind to skip the wedding and just escape here until I could get away undetected,” he admitted with a short laugh.
“It’s pretty small. How will we all fit in here?” I asked, looking around.
“Oh, this way,” he explained. There was an excitement in his voice, one that resonated with me. He led me to the back of the narrow room. There was a tapestry covering the back wall. He lifted it, showing a door behind it. He opened the door carefully, reaching in to the left and flipping a switch. The room inside filled with a bright light, almost greenish in hue.
“Oh my God,” I exclaimed quietly under my breath. I moved past him, walking into the large room. The wall to the right held a multitude of shelves, each of them stocked with mason jars and canned food.
“There’s a bathroom off the back there, and the sink and kitchenette you can see there,” he pointed out. “On the shelves just back there is a stack of cots. Old army ones I found at the surplus store years ago.”
“This is incredible,” I whispered in awe.
“It was a labor of love, to be sure,” he explained with a sigh. His face was filled with pride at his work.
“But why did you build it?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
“That’s a long story, but in the end, I wanted to get away from Zion. There was a small part of me that hoped I could live here, off the land and gathering small things I needed until Zion eventually imploded. The land here is just really special to me. Part of me can’t imagine living anywhere else. But with all that’s happened, I just don’t think I could stay here permanently. That wasn’t the thought in my head when I built this, though,” he explained.
“I can understand that,” I whispered in awe. I was beyond impressed.
“Can you?” he questioned in hesitant surprise.
“Yeah. This place, no matter how fucked up it is, has been home to us, both of us, for as long as we can remember,” I answered honestly.
“You’re pretty incredible, you know that?” He murmured. I could feel his eyes on me, giving me a look I could not quite decipher.
“How so?”
“You have taken all of this in stride. Like it came naturally to you,” he answered with an honesty I wasn’t expecting.
“Are you afraid I am just agreeing because it’s my wifely duty to agree with you?” I asked, pressing my luck with this line of questioning.
“I will admit, it was a worry of mine in the first days. But it’s not any longer,” he shrugged.
“Why not?”
“Because you are too opinionated for that shit,” he chuckled.
“Well, that’s true,” I giggled.
“You’re an enigma, Eden. I never thought I’d find anyone like you.”
“You were so resistant to me at first,” I admitted, half of me instantly regretting the words as they fell from my lips.
“You’re right, I was,” he said.
“Why?”
“Could you blame me?” he chuckled humorlessly. “I’m in my thirties, Eden. You’re barely eighteen. The whole thing, the forced marriage, the age difference, not to mention all the shit I already knew about this place… it was the last thing I wanted.”
“Does my age really bother you that much?”
“It doesn’t anymore. Not as much as I thought it would. Would I prefer it if you were closer to my age? Sure. But you’re an adult and for whatever reason, we seem better matched than I ever thought we could have been.” His honesty meant more to me than I could express.
“You think we’re a good match, then?” I asked timidly, unsure of whether or not I wanted his truth.
