"But it happened!" The boss stood up and shouted. He slammed his fist on his desk, frustrated by the owner's stubbornness and indifference.
He knew that they needed his help, as he was the only one who had access to some of the bunker's secrets and hidden features. But he also knew that he couldn't force him to cooperate, as he had no authority over him.
He sighed helplessly, "How many days can the water and the farm sustain using minimal power?" He asked his subordinate, hoping for some good news.
His assistant gave him a bleak outlook of their situation. "We don't have much left, boss. A month at most, maybe even less."
He had inspected the water tanks and the hydroponic farm, and they were dangerously low on both water and nutrients. Those were essential for growing their crops and keeping them alive.
With only the backup generator, they had no way of accessing more water from the underground reservoir or reusing the wastewater. They had to depend on the water they had stored in the tanks, which was barely enough for their needs.
They also couldn't control the temperature and humidity for the plants, which would harm their growth and harvest. The plants would lose their strength and resistance, and they would yield less food for them.
He told him that they had cut down their water usage and irrigation to the lowest possible level, but it was still not sufficient to last long. They also had restricted their food production and intake, but they were still facing a food crisis soon.
They had to share their food and water, but they knew it was only a matter of time before they ran out.
"Is the radio still dead?" The boss asked another question, looking for some glimmer of hope. He wanted to know if they had any chance of reaching out to other survivors or getting help.
His assistant gave him more bad news. "They're still working on it…" He had reported that they had attempted to fix their radio equipment, which was their only link to the outside world.
They wanted to get in touch with Sarion Settlement, their nearby community of survivors who had proposed them help and integration before.
But their radio equipment was also ruined by the earthquake, and they couldn't receive any signal or reply from anyone. They were alone and disconnected from the rest of the world.
"Tsk. What about the ground unit? How are they doing? Some of the short range radios in the armory were still working, so tell me." The boss demanded his assistant in a stern tone, hoping for some positive news from their last hope.
The ground unit was a group of courageous and skilled bunker dwellers who had volunteered to go to the surface and try to activate the converter, a device that could bring back power to the bunker by transforming the lightning into electricity. It was suggested by the Sarion Settlement but the Bunker Dwellers didn't take it seriously, so it was an unfinished project.
"Most of them are probably dead…" his assistant whispered, sounding mournful and frightened. He continued after a short pause, "The plan to use the converter was a disaster. We lost contact with them after they ran into a swarm of zombies."
His assistant told him the dreadful result of their mission, which had been a disaster from the beginning. The ground unit had encountered an unexpected explosion that made the PLS malfunction, leaving them exposed to the lightning. They also had to face a massive assault from a horde of zombies who were drawn by the lightning.
"I need some time alone, I'll call you later." The boss slumped on his chair and buried his face in his hands, "Damn it!!!" He waved his assistant away, feeling furious and hopeless.
He blamed their fate, which had been so harsh and unjust to them. He wondered how they would survive this crisis, which seemed to have no answer or way out. He felt like quitting on everything.
On the surface, Blaze kept observing as he still saw zombies rushing towards the lightning, even though it had been hours since the lightning started and showed no sign of stopping.
This also confirmed Blaze's suspicion that he was completely ignored by any zombie. The zombies couldn't even detect him as if he was invisible to them. They would collide with him like an obstacle, and he had to dodge them or else he would be hit and trampled by them.
He thought for a while and decided to capture one zombie, he took out a rope from his backpack.
He wanted to experiment with one of the zombies, to see if he could discover something useful from them. He hoped to find out why they were acting so oddly to him and why he suddenly was immune to them.
He had no other option but to toss the rope to a sprinting zombie as each one of them was drawn to the lightning like moths to a flame.
He caught one easily, as it did not sense him or his rope at all. But the zombie continued to dash towards the lightning with all its strength, dragging him along with it.
Blaze muttered how foolish and blind the zombies were. He had to evade and dodge other zombies who were running in the same direction as him.
He thought it was simple to capture one as zombies didn't see him or care about him. But he realized that there was no simple way at all in this apocalyptic world.
He managed to tie the rope to a tree nearby, hoping to secure the zombie and stop it from escaping or pulling him further into peril. He saw that the lightning in the distance was still striking relentlessly, creating a dangerous and chaotic scene that could kill anyone in a flash.
He wondered if he should proceed with his experiment on the zombie, or wait for lightning to stop. After all, it would be much safer to tinker with it if it was not aggressive or restless.