Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

definitely not going to be murdering an innocent baby over it .
    Winky and I moved side-by-side to the edge of the stairs. An actual lightbulb lit up the stairwell, its yellow gleam casting a freaky glow over the concrete walls. A portrait hung across from the light, the glare on the glass not enough to obscure the image of the perfect American family. One father, one mother, one teenage girl, and one slightly younger, teenage boy.
    ***
    Winky leaned towards me and whispered. “She had a brother!”
    I nodded. “She probably ate him,” I said over my shoulder as I descended the stairs. I didn’t care if this girl could hear me anymore; maybe I could make her mad enough to snap out of her fantasy world. At least then I might be able to count on her acting like a somewhat normal person whose moves I could predict and defend against.
    “And she’s got electricity down here. How is that possible?”
    “I have no idea. Maybe her brother’s alive and she makes him ride a stationary bike to generate the it.”
    Winky pulled my shoulder back so she could see my face, giving me a what-the-hell look. I motioned with my hand, acting as if I were patting something down in the air, trying to signal that she needed to just chill out and go with my flow.
    She nodded and let my shoulder go. We went down a few more steps.
    “Hey, Lost Girl!” I said. My voice sounded like it was in a tin can. “What’s your name, anyway?”
    “Brittney,” came the answer from below. The acoustics told me she was in a small room that had some form of sound proofing in it. That baby could probably be crying its eyes out down here and no one would hear a peep above if the cabinet were closed.
    We emerged at the bottom of the stairs into a decent-sized space, about the size of half my bedroom back home. I’d heard of panic rooms and safe houses before, but this one was something else. There was a cot in the center of the room and three walls were lined with shelves full of food. The back wall was a door. Brittney sat on the cot, nursing her baby.
    “Daaaamn,” said Winky, letting out a low whistle. “Do you see all that food?”
    Brittney had every conceivable canned good, lined up in rows on the shelves. She had only cleaned out a couple of them, but had plenty more.
    “What’s behind that door?” I asked, pointing at the far end of her hideout.
    Brittney shrugged nonchalantly, looking out into space. Her baby’s pale-white, delicate, tiny hand was resting on her breast. My heart spasmed painfully to see it. It’s so perfect and itty bitty and … not demon-like. How could she possibly even consider killing it?
    “Go ahead and look if you want,” she said emotionlessly.
    I wanted to do that, but the vision of this baby right here in front of me almost close enough to touch had me frozen in place. Winky moved around me and walked over to the door, her soft moccasins padding along the concrete floor.
    “Wait!” I said as her hand reached for the doorknob. “Is there anything that could hurt Winky behind that door?”
    Brittney frowned. “What’s a Winky?”
    “I’m a Winky, stupid.”
    “Oh. That’s a dumb name.”
    “And Brittney’s oh so interesting and original,” mocked Winky. “Can I go in the room without getting killed or what?”
    “Sure.”
    My eyes widened as Winky slowly opened the door. I think we were both waiting for an explosion or something, because she flinched a little, and I grabbed the railing near the last stair where I was still standing.
    Nothing happened. Winky stuck her head in a second later and said, “It’s too dark in here. I can’t see anything.”
    “Turn on the light, stupid,” said Brittney.
    Winky whipped around, mimicking her. “ Turn on the light, stupid . Hey … crazy bitch! … Just in case you haven’t noticed, there are no lights anymore.”
    “Light switch. Left side,” said Brittney. “And don’t call me crazy.”
    Winky turned back around and ran her hand on the inside wall of the room. I heard a click and an interior light went on, illuminating the space.
    “Holy shit-on-a-stick, Bryn. You’ve got to come see this.”
    I stopped worrying about Brittney sneak-attacking us since she was so busy feeding her baby, and strode across the room to stand at Winky’s side. My eyes were seeing things inside the room but my brain just didn’t want to let me believe it.
    “Is that …?”
    Winky nodded. “Yeah. It is. Food, water, a sink, a toilet, electricity …