I start to shovel some of the ash from the ground and make a pile on the grass that wasn't burnt up. That is until I hit solid ground which is the concrete that was the basement floor. I make the hole 8x8 so that I have room to open the door once it's released from its prison. It's starting to get a bit warm so I take my shirt off and smirk a little when I see Ember's eyes light up a bit. Her cheeks are bright red. God I love doing that to her. That'll have to wait as I'm about to pound the ground with the hammer in my hands. I use some bottled up rage from within me to my advantage. I let out a scream, bringing the hammer down, cracking the cement. After about twenty minutes, I see wood. Five minutes later I see the whole door and remove the concrete from the hole I created. What I'm about to unearth, I have no idea, but there is only one way to find out. Ember makes her way towards me. "What are you waiting for? Open it!" She practically begs. I chuckle.
"I haven't seen you this excited ever in the days that I've dated you."
"Aren't you just a tad bit excited to see what's down there? It could be a buried treasure for all we know Damian." Her hands are on her hips. I smile and use my strength to open the door. Holy shit this is heavier than I thought it was gonna be! I get the door open and see a ladder. "Ladies first." Ember remarks. She giggles at that statement and I can't help but laugh a little. I make my way down the ladder as Ember soon follows. I use my phone as a flashlight to see a light switch on my left. I flip it only to be blinded by several lights. "Woah." I soon see what Ember sees.
"Holy shit dad." Is all I can think to say. Down in this hole was a complete bunker. Shelves were stocked with canned food, water bottles, batteries and matches. There are also six beds that looked completely out of a war movie.
"Was your dad one of those preppers for the apocalypse or something? Why would you need food for more than a hundred years?" Ember asks as she stares at the shelves. Each box of food had a decades worth of food and water stored in them. I look more into the bunker and see a steel door with a note attached and a keypad on the right of the door.
Son, if you ever need to hide you and your siblings. Just remember the number of The Father, the number of the Beast, the number of the Son's crucifixion and the number value of a life
-Dad
Oh great dad, thanks a lot! You didn't mention any riddles and keypads! Ember grabs the paper from me and is puzzled by it. "Uh? What do we do now?" Suddenly it hits me like a brick wall. I know this riddle because of how many times my dad made me memorize it when I was young!
"Give me that paper back please." Ember hands me the note. "Okay hear me out. The number of the Father. The father is…" I gesture for Ember to go on.
"Damian, I don't follow you."
"Jesus, have you ever read the Bible as a kid?"
"I've read it before but I never understood it!"
"Okay what is the Father?"
"God?"
"Yes and how many days did it take him to build the Earth?"
"Seven."
"Now what's the opposite of God? The Beast?"
"Uh the Devil?"
"What is the Number of the Beast?"
"Six six six."
"And who was God's son?"
"Jesus."
"Okay now follow me on this. Jesus was placed between two thieves when the Romans nailed him to a cross making three total and as the story goes he supposedly died on Friday and Rose again on Sunday. Three days. But the time of death was at what time?"
"Uh…"
"Three pm."
"Okay that's three numbers down, one to go."
"And what is the cost to get into Heaven or Hell?" She shrugs. "You don't pay genius. You already paid with your life when you die. So the code is 7630." I enter the code in the keypad and it works! "Ha, I am a genius compared to you!"
She sticks her tongue out at me. "At riddles but admit it, I'm still the smart one."
"So you say." I devilishly smile as I open the door. There is one wall that is covered with a tarp and two chests on the right. I go for the first one in front of me and open it. "Woah." Inside of it was another paper, a flashlight, a lantern, an old mobile phone that has a keypad, a charger for the phone, three books, plants, and a big serrated knife. I look at the paper first since I guess this is my dad's way of communicating with me. It looked like a set of instructions so I decided to read it out loud so Ember can listen to this.
"What does it say?" Ember asks.
"It says 'You have found the supply box. The flashlight is meant to keep the shadows away, the lantern is to burn a brighter light to the next day, contact us so that you may stay, read the books to keep evil at bay, eat these herbs and spices to heal your gray day, and always have a knife at your display'. What the hell does that mean?"
"It sounds like you just read a poem."
"Obviously but… this had to have been my mom. She always wrote poems in her spare time. My dad was never a poet." I keep the poem in my pocket for now until I can decipher what my mom just wrote later. Right now, we have other things to see. I go and open the other chest and I see another paper along with clothes and boots. The paper says "The helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the feet of peace, and the breastplate of righteousness". Guess I'm taking these items with me. Last but not least was what was behind the tarp. Ember helps me with the tarp removal and holy mother of God I was amazed! Ember's expression matches mine as both of our jaws are to the floor!
"Either your parents were into some shady shit or they are just collectors of strange things. I don't know which is weirder." Ember says. I look upon the wall to see weapons that could easily kill a lot of people if needed. There is a box of grenades: all color coated too. Green was frags, blue was flash, red was thermite, and purple was poison. I go to touch the weapons until Ember stops me. "Do you really want to take all of these?"
"It said in his will that his possessions are now mine so I might as well." She nods as I look at the weapons on the wall. The 1911 semi automatic pistol, a Remington 870 pump action shotgun, a double barrel side by side mossberg shotgun, the M4A1 carbine rifle, the M134 Minigun, the classic RPG-7, and a fucking flamethrower! "Jesus dad, what were you expecting? For Godzilla to come knocking at the door?"
"Um how are we going to get all this shit out?" Ember asks.
"Good question. Look let's get out of here and maybe I'll have Axel come and help me with this. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Ember nods as we make our way to the exit. I knew my mom and dad were paranormal investigators at one point but why did they have all of this down here? What were they expecting to happen? Did the bombers that came here know about this? I had so many questions that my head was starting to hurt. Ugh I need a drink.