Erin

“An underground bunker?” The nurse inserting my IV line looks at me incredulously. “Like those preppers on TV have?”

I nod.

“How’d you get stuck in there?”

“Long story.” I turn my cheek to the side and smile as it touches the smooth pillowcase on my bed in the emergency department.

“The pillows here aren’t so great,” the nurse says apologetically.

“It’s perfect.”

Someone opens the door to the room and peeks inside. When I see my cousin Matt’s face, I burst into tears.

He’s smiling and crying at the same time as he comes into the room. The nurse finishes the IV line and gives him a nod of approval. Matt hugs me gingerly and kisses my cheek.

Uncle Cal and Aunt Carrie are right behind him, followed by my other cousin, Logan. A hug isn’t enough for Aunt Carrie—she sits down next to me on the bed and keeps her arms around my shoulders.

“Are you okay?” Uncle Cal asks tearfully. “I didn’t understand what the detective was saying. We thought you were…”

“I know. I’m so sorry. I’ve been trapped in an underground survival bunker. No cell service and no way out.”

“Oh, Erin.” Aunt Carrie’s expression crumples with sympathy. “Underground?”

I nod. “That’s where the grocery delivery was.”

Uncle Cal covers his mouth with his hand. “I didn’t know. I never would have expected you to go down there. I’m so sorry.”

I reach over and take his hand. “It’s not your fault.”

“But how did you get locked inside?” Matt asks me.

“For the first two months, we didn’t know. But then we found out it was a robbery gone bad.”

“Gone bad?” My aunt gives me a worried look.

“The guy who was supposed to tip off the police so we could get out just left us—and his partner—down there instead.”

My family members cringe as I recount what we’ve been through for the past three months, including Matias’s illness.

“He’s here being treated. Can someone find out how he is?” I say. “I wanted to stay with him, but they made me come down here to get checked out.”

“Of course they did!” My aunt clucks with concern. “Look at you, Erin, you’re so thin.”

“I’m okay.”

“Well, they’d better be bringing you a tray of food soon, or I’ll go get you something myself.”

“Thank God you had water down there,” Uncle Cal says.

The nurse is gone now, and it’s just the five of us.

“You guys.” I sit up straighter, clearing my throat. “I need to say something.”

They wait in silence, and I take a second to soak them in. I missed them so much more than I let myself truly acknowledge when I was trapped.

Uncle Cal is wearing a brown canvas work coat, as always. I can faintly smell the scents of warm animals and grain, which to me are the smells of home. Aunt Carrie smells like the drugstore perfume she’s been wearing since I was a kid—sweet and floral.

And my cousins, who are more like brothers to me, are wearing their feelings for me on their faces. They love me. I knew they did, but they don’t say it much. That’s something I’ve been guilty of too.

“I had so much time down there to think.” I shake my head as I recall the endless cycle of time in the bunker, with no sunrise or sunset. “We had nothing but time, really. And I thought about so many things. I never expected to get the chance to tell you guys about it.” My throat tightens with emotion. “But now that I can…” My voice wavers with emotion, and my aunt tightens her hold on me. “I want to say how much I love you all. And to thank you for taking me in and making me part of your family.”

Uncle Cal shakes his head, his eyes misting with tears. “Erin, we’ve always loved you like our own daughter. You never need to thank us for that. It’s us who should be thanking you, really.”

Aunt Carrie nods. “You don’t have to be biologically mine to be my daughter. We’ve just been lost without you. We couldn’t bring ourselves to have a funeral for you, because no remains were ever found.”

“I never thought I’d get to tell you I love you, squirt,” Logan says. I smile at the nickname I haven’t heard in years. “And I’m pretty proud of my badass sister.”

I laugh and cry at the same time. “Thanks.”

“Me too,” Matt says, patting my arm.

“Was Derek Heaton down there too?” Logan asks. “Were all six of you down there the whole time?”

“Six? No, there were five of us. Me, Derek, Matias, Kenna, and Bryce.”

“Bryce?” Matt furrows his brow, confused. “He’s not one of the people they were searching for.”

“Do you know who they were searching for?”

He considers for a second. “The four you just mentioned, except Bryce, and a security guy named John McCoy and…Trent Malone, I think? A wiring guy?”

“No, they weren’t down there. I did see John right before I went into the bunker, though.”

The nurse opens the door and steps halfway into the room. “The doctor says you can eat. What sounds good, Erin?”

My mouth waters as I think about all the food I wanted and couldn’t have in the bunker.

“Pizza and a milk shake.”

She lowers her brows and “hmms” skeptically. “Better start slower, or your stomach won’t be very happy.”

“How about just some ice cream?”

“Let me see what the doc thinks.”

Matt stands up from the chair he was sitting in. “Whatever she can have, I’ll go get. No offense, but hospital food tastes like ass. It’s not every day my sister comes back from the dead—we have to celebrate.”

“You know what I’d really love?” I say. “A huge salad with loads of fresh vegetables and some grilled chicken. Hot grilled chicken.”

The nurse nods. “I’ll go ask if that’s okay. And I’ll bring you some more Sprite too.”

“Can you also find out how Matias is? The guy I came here on the helicopter with?”

“Sure thing, honey.”

When she’s gone, I look around at my family’s faces and see that they’re all staring at me in shock.

“A helicopter?” Uncle Cal says. “You went on a helicopter?”

“Yep. And I only needed a slight dose of a sedative.” I laugh because it was more like enough to knock out a horse, but who’s keeping track?

“Like I said—badass.” Logan grins at me.

“If they decide to keep you tonight, I’m staying,” Aunt Carrie says. “Is there anything you need us to get you? Toothbrush, clean clothes?”

I can’t help a groan of happiness. “A change of clothes would be amazing.”

“Is there anything else you want?”

I don’t have to think for long before answering. “I’d really like to watch the sun set tonight.”