Our walk back to the others was sullen and silent, our understanding of this crisis had expanded but all we got were more questions, and worries.
Humanity wasn't capable of something like this, were there even more dangers and undercurrents to our situation that we couldn't see? What had changed between this morning and now, that had stilled the sun in its place in the sky.
I was no idiot of course, I prided myself on my knowledge of astronomy and stars, the sun hadn't stopped, we had. But how? I'd never heard of anything capable of stopping a planet in its tracks, at least none that humanity wouldn't have long foreseen and prepared for.
I thought back to Liam and his belief in higher power, 'Something big, and strange is happening all right, far bigger than me and our world's previous understandings, I need to figure out what.'
My worries rattled through me as we got back to the underground station. They all took the news as well as we had, a resounding "Ah Shit" from Tim summed up our thoughts.
"In the end our plan doesn't change, we wait here until we have some confidence that we aren't going to be torn to pieces, this just further shows our need to be cautious." Andrew's voice broke the gloom
His words were met with quiet nods, no outbursts this time. "We need to start setting up and preparing to be here a while, get food and find a safe place to spend the night, or whatever we call it now that it won't be dark any longer" I said, standing up and brushing away some dirt.
"We could go back to the railcar, that has doors and is metal," Allison suggested, "No way, I don't want to be so far away from the surface, besides it could collapse again," Tim disagreed, shaking his head.
"We'll need to make at least one trip back, to see if there are any emergency supplies, we can check it out and see if it's a safe spot to be, or if the ground looks stable." she responded.
"Oh Tim we shouldn't stay near the surface, that's where the danger is coming from! We lived through the first thing in that car, I don't want to put our boy near the surface!" Rebbecca added.
"I agree at least the walk back might show us some solid safe spots, with a more stable roof if the car isn't safe." I agreed
"Some tunnels like these have extra emergency exits and supply boxes, we didn't look too carefully on our way here, and there isn't much good in staying put." Andrew concluded.
With that we set off though as I looked around I noticed someone staying back. "What are you waiting for Liam? we're going." His eyes came down and levelled with mine, "You may go ahead, I shall stay here, I do not fear the approach of God." with a mirthless chuckle he turned away from me and stood at the entrance to the surface.
I shook my head and turned away, right now staying with the group was for the best, safety in numbers. Besides this wasn't like before we were all expecting strange things and all knew it was the apocalypse, their caution is as strong as mine, I determined.
The others saw our conversation and saw Liam's want to stay on his own. So with that we set off back down the tunnel.
Andrew stuck close to the wall on the left, and me the wall on the right, looking for any passageways. We were met with little success, on this side of the tunnel at least, there were no side areas.
"Maybe we'll have more luck with the other direction," Andrew said to me as we came up to our destination. Right where we left it, our little railcar, the final bastion of our pre-apocalypse world.
As we neared it we checked the condition of the rubble and ceiling above the car, and Tims concerns were quickly solved. "Looks like there's a reason this part stayed up," The ceiling dirt was packed and dense, made to take a hit.
It seemed like this was where some tunnelling work had started and the company intended to make a good first impression. It seemed their effort hadn't continued for the rest.
"Poor souls," Rebbecca said, staring sorrowfully at the rubble ahead. After a pause to embrace our mourning and grief, we got back into the railcar. The main lights had long gone out in the car, but some green emergency lights had found a way to stay on. Not for long I reckoned The green glow was eerie but it felt safer than anywhere else.
We looked through our belongings and gathered up our essentials into a little pile. Rebbecca had a small blanket for Rain, but all other bedding came from coats and umbrellas, with backpacks for pillows. We had a collection of 8 bottles of water with differing levels of fullness. Our food was a few snacks and lunches. Nothing much, nothing hot.
"If we stretch it I reckon we can stay 3 days down here," Andrew concluded with worry on his face, "Three days are better than none, if somethings gonna happen it will probably come about in those three days." My addition made him nod, but worry was still etched on his face
"We should rest and conserve our energy, that's the best way to ensure it lasts," Allison piped up. "It has been a long and wild day so far, could do with a somewhat early night" Tim agreed. With us all sharing the sentiment, we gathered our makeshift bedding and prepared for our first night, with a morning sun lying in the sky.