Beyond The Walls (NOW ON AMAZON!!!)

A Refuge

Suddenly, the door opened behind them, and they fell in backwards.

Hadley felt a twinge of guilt as they dragged mud and rain into the pristine white tiled foyer. As soon as they had walked in far enough, the door slammed shut behind them. They ran back to the it and tried to pry it open, but it was as tightly sealed as it had been when they were outside. They looked around the dimly lit entrance hall. It was lit by a single overhead spotlight that had come on when they'd walked in. Suddenly, another light came on, this time on the ground. Then another. And another. One by one, the tiny lights formed a line, leading to one of the walls. That last light began to blink, as if beckoning to them.

Kade walked to the wall and Hadley followed. He gently pressed the wall and the door of a cupboard built flush with the wall whooshed open. This didn't surprise them, not even Hadley. The cupboard design was familiar. Hadley had seen it back at The Caves. From the cupboard, Kade pulled out two vacuum sealed packs, handing one to Hadley. Each pack contained an outfit – a pair of underwear, a T-shirt, socks, soft soled shoes without laces, a jumpsuit, and a hooded jumper. The jumpsuit was a little tight against Hadley's belly, so she ended up tying the jumpsuit hands around her waist and pulling on the hooded jumper over her T-shirt.

Once they were dressed, their soiled clothes discarded on the floor next to them, another path lit up on the floor. They followed the lights and eventually walked into an impossibly spacious kitchen. The ceiling lit up, illuminating the massive space. Dozens of burners lined two of the walls and sinks lined most of the third. Further inside, on one of the walls that held the burners, was a small hallway with several doors on both sides. Hadley ventured into the hallways and opened every door to find freezers, cold rooms, and dry goods pantries.

"Please tell me I'm not having a delirious dream." Hadley whispered when one of the doors in the hallways revealed shelves filled to the brim with an amazing array of canned foods.

"If you are, then so am I," Kade replied, laughing, and turning around to hug her.

Thanks to the horrid weather, they hadn't eaten in what was getting close to four days! Hadley had never been so hungry in her life, but what worried her the most was her baby's health. She had to find something to eat soon for the sake of the little one. At seeing the pantry filled with cans, she let Kade's jubilance sweep her into joining in his dance. They pulled down cans with labels that sounded interesting, found openers and cutlery in main kitchen's drawers then sat down for a feast. Hadley downed three cans labelled 'Salmon', barely chewing the flaky, buttery, deliciously salty contents. Kade ate from a can labelled 'Chilli con Carne' and then started fidgeting around the kitchen until he finally figured out how to work one of the burners.

"Yes! Hot food, coming right up!" he called out triumphantly. He went to one of the walk-in freezers in the small hallway and came back with frozen burger patties, which Hadley immediately drooled at. "While that's thawing, we can make some tea, or soup."

With Hadley's hunger mostly sated, the biting chill had taken on a diabolical edge despite her new dry clothes. She pulled on her hood and blew into her frigid fingers.

"That sounds absolutely perfect!" Hadley said, moving closer to the burner.

They spent the night gorging themselves on all the food they could prepare while still exhausted. It was a marvellous feast that started with a bowl each of delicious cream of mushroom soup from a powder mix, as the contents from a box of bread flour mix transformed into golden brown deliciously fresh buns. They used to buns for the burgers, with canned salsa and pickled onions as toppings. While they ate their burgers, they baked themselves frozen fruit pies, which didn't taste that good, but were a welcome treat. All the while, they downed everything with pots of herbal tea full of lavender, chamomile, and mint, and before long, their eyes were droopy with sleep.