'It's been four days since we came down here, and people were getting accustomed. Sure, we missed the outside world, but all we could do was make the most of the situation. The only issue was that the situation was...'
"My arm! Where is my arm!?"
'Well, this.'
A scream came from a man in row B—but instead of someone being dead, someone's arm was amputated. A crowd around the man formed. It looked like his arm was cut clean off with a knife, but was wrapped with bandages, and a belt tied a bit higher above the cut, making sure he didn't bleed out. It was messy work at best.
"Darrel, are you okay?!" His girlfriend called out.
Since we have been here, they have been all over each other, holding hands, hugging, cuddling, and kissing each other. They had no shame, even with loads of people around them.
"Does it look like I am okay!?" he yelled back as he groaned from the pain.
She tried to help Darrel out, but there wasn't much she could do.
"Clear the way." The officer's voice rang as he made his way to Darrel's bed.
Making his way through the crowd of people and pushing the girlfriend off, he examined the cut. After a few seconds of examining it, he got up and said, "Not sure if this is some type of joke to you people, but" He paused, clearly tired of the bullshit he was dealing with down here. "Looks like we are going to be conducting another search today." He sighed.
Some people, still engrossed by the situation, stared at Darrel and his missing arm, while others grew wary about the situation.
The officer gritted his teeth, "Get back to your beds."
Startled, everyone made their way back to their beds.
He placed his two fingers on his temples. "Fuck, I do not get paid enough for this."
As the officer went through each bin again, he found nothing.
"Clear."
Meticulously checking, going through the bed sheets and pillowcases to find anything, there was nothing.
"Clear."
Then he made it back to Darrel's area.
He checked Darrel's storage bin and bed since it was the procedure.
"Clear."
Then, it was his girlfriend's turn. They were bunkmates. She had the top bunk while he slept on the bottom, but most of the time, they shared a bed. Except for last night, when it was getting hot down in the bunkers, and the extra body heat was not helping.
As he opened the lid of the bin, he took things out one by one. First, the clothes, then the food that was under it, and below those boxes of food that were mostly empty by now, lay an arm. It was Darrel's arm.
"You took my arm! You crazy bitch!" Darrel let out, before anyone else could process what had happened. He stood by his bed, and if it wasn't for the officer holding him back, he would have been on top of his girlfriend—probably choking her to death or something.
The officer held him back with one arm to his chest and let out. "Get back! That is my job to deal with."
Calming down as much as he could, Darrel turned towards his girlfriend. He gritted his teeth before speaking. "My family always told me you were crazy, but I didn't think you were this crazy, Edith." He paused, "I just didn't want to believe them."
Edith stood on the other side of the bed, frozen. She didn't even turn towards Darrel.
"Edith, how could you? I loved you." Still running with anger, he looked down and curled his fist, seeing as the officer stood in front of him.
She doesn't reply.
From what I gathered, their families weren't on the greatest of terms, but both managed to date each other. Darrel's father wanted him to date someone of higher standing, while Edith's father simply hated Darrel's family. I didn't know the reason why, but most people in here knew that their families were at odds.
Edith, finally, fully processing the situation, said, "Darrel, it wasn't me." She let out in a quiet voice. Finally, she turned towards him. "I would never do that to the person I love."
"But yet you did." He held where his arm had been cut, looked up, finding trouble to have his eyes meet hers—because if he did, he knew, he would somehow believe her.
"Darrel, please." She whimpered. Tears roll down her cheek.
As she whimpered, the clicking of a gun could be heard. The officer was getting ready to shoot her. She turned towards him.
"Wait, no, it wasn't me." She shook her head, relentlessly turning her head back to Darrel. He turned away. "Darrel, my love, please believe m-"
The gun goes off. This time, it was not through the head but at the heart.
As her body fell to the ground, Darrel couldn't help but look. Just then, his anger almost fades. Before it does, he bit his lip and turned away, looking out toward the bunker, "No one will take her storage bin. It's mine. It's the least I should have, seeing as she took my arm."
No one dares to argue.
"Okay then, now that the arm has been found, you can all go back to as you please." The officer waved his hand, walking back to his table.
Still staring at Darrel, he turned towards Edith's body one more time. I can see him mutter something under his breath. I couldn't make out what he said since I was across the room, but I could tell one thing. He genuinely loved her.
***
As the whole situation dialed down, everyone went back to their normal routine.
Even though Darrel's arm was found, there was no putting it back now. It had been far too long. That, and we didn't have the resources to put it back. We only had the stitches from the first aid kit.
I grab an energy bar and sit down in my bed. I could see some people trade, and others passed the time talking to the surrounding people. Some were sweaty from the hot nights, causing them to take a shower to get rid of the sweat. Everyone now had their own lives down here, but people were running out of materials.
Knowing this, people formed small groups within the larger alliances. This was because soon, people will be at each other's throats, more now than before. On top of that, no one here truly believes that Edith took Darrell's arm. She had no reason to; someone just wanted to stir up some trouble. Darrel couldn't see that fact, blinded by rage, while the officer was just doing his job as he so implied—that, and I am sure being crazy also helped. But the truth of the matter was that the person who truly did this was still among us. Then there was also the mystery of how they did it. How the heck did they take Darrel's arm without him noticing?
"Good morning." Ael made his way towards me from standing in front of his bed moments ago, like everyone else. He bent down so that his head came under the top bunk. "Crazy, right?" He pointed towards Darrel's bed.
We hadn't had much time to talk this morning, as when we woke up, this whole commotion was going on.
"Yeah," I replied.
Ael, looking unsatisfied with my answer, teased me, "Just 'yeah,' such a talker you are? You've been giving some real stale replies these past few days."
Not giving him much attention, I stared at Darrell. "Just tired, didn't get much sleep." As I finished my energy bar, I got up from my bed and went to grab water from my bin. Ael's head follows me.
"You know if you just didn't want to talk, you could have just said that," He let out as he made his way towards me, "But just so you know, I will be pestering you later." My face reveals displeasure, and as I do so, he smiles. He was enjoying this. "Anyways, I am going to go take a shower." He walks past me, waving his hand. "I'll be back."
'Why does that man insist on talking to me?' Clearly annoyed by the situation, I sigh, looking around to see if anyone was paying any mind to us. No one is.
Ael just keeps on trying to tease me, annoy me. I don't understand why, but all I could do was ignore him as much as I could.
He seemed to be calmer these past few days. Well, better than when we first came into this bunker. From the looks of it, it seemed like he was waiting for the whole situation to play out. I, on the other hand, couldn't even sleep.
But that made sense for Ael. He had the ability to back it up. I am sure that being that strong, anyone could live life without any worry. "Oh, how nice it must be." I let out.
I sat down in my bed and let time pass by—all I could do was wait. I had no actual power in this room compared to anyone else. Ael was a strong fighter. The others had strong family connections coming from a lineage that had led the war. They had even formed an alliance with it.
I, on the other hand, had absolutely nothing. I have been terrified my whole life, thinking I was going to get dragged into the war. Then, I finally had a chance to not become a foot soldier. To not lead a squads into war like my father.
The only reason I was here was because of the high score I got on the entrance exam. The Empire saw an opportunity and took it—allowing me to study here instead of taking the place of my father. From what I heard, my scores were in the top fifty, even compared to many of the high nobles here.
You can imagine how much I was detested when I arrived here. High-end nobles were trained early on that people from the wastelands were just foot soldiers and that low-end nobles led them on the frontline. All the while, the higher-end nobles governed the cities behind the walls as well as commanded the lower-end nobles. To them, we were just livestock for the Empire.