Chapter 5 - Hide

They waited for hours on end, listening for the sound of the siren.

It never came.

The platoon leader in the bunker with them sent out five older soldiers to secure the area.

They never returned.

Night fell. The platoon leader told everyone to sleep, that tomorrow could be a big day. He had two recruits stay on watch and listen for the siren. If that happened, they were to wake everyone else up. They switched with two others every half hour. Daniel and the others fell asleep.

He was awoken when a recruit shook him awake. It was his turn to watch. He went over and stood by the doorway. Another recruit walked up next to him. Each of the boys said "Hey" to the another but no other words were exchanged. After their thirty minutes were up, they went and awoke another recruit. Daniel chosen one with sandy blond hair. After awakening him and making sure he took his post, Daniel fell back asleep.

It seemed like a second later he was awoken again. It was the platoon leader shouting at them to get up. He said to form two rows of twenty-seven, which the recruits complied with. The platoon leader was about to speak when all hell broke loose.

An ear-piercing shriek was heard, immediately followed by a deafening BANG!

The ground shook and everyone fell. The sound of shrieking metal filled the air as the outside building collapsed to nothing more than a pile of rubble, trapping everyone inside their bunkers. Everyone began to rise again as another shockwave hit the soldiers, sending them back to the ground. A horrible sound filled the room as the door was ripped off its hinges, sending it flying back into the room. Two soldiers were smashed between the door and the wall, sending blood in all directions.

Shrieking metal filled the air again as another building nearby collapsed. An explosion rang throughout the base as the underground fuel tanks exploded. The sound was deafening, causing everyone to cover their ears.

More explosions sounded as the tanks erupted in balls of fire. Shots were heard as the ammunition went off due to the heat.

Finally, after sixteen hours of non-stop explosions, silence filled the base. The soldiers slowly uncovered their ears, hesitant to the fact that another explosion might happen. Finally, after a very tense moment of silence, the platoon sergeant yelled.

"Soldiers! Formation!" All the soldiers assembled into two rows of twenty-six again. Once assembled, the sergeant spoke.

"Alright! We are going to dig ourselves out of this mess, both figuratively and literally." Several more explosions rocked the area, growing closer with each. The world went into slow motion for what happened next.

The entire bunker shattered into a thousand pieces. The explosion slammed everyone into the wall, breaking nine soldiers necks. Rubble was shot into the air and began to fall back down. One giant piece hit two soldiers in the head, killing them instantly. Another piece of rubble smacked one in the shoulder, sending him slamming into the ground, knocking him unconscious. A piece of rebar came falling down, impaling four.

Daniel got down on his knees and curled into a ball. A small piece of concrete slammed into his back. Daniel screamed out it pain and blacked out.