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Mount Weathers

Outside Washington, DC

“It’s no good, Captain” The unifor heavy as she took off her jacket and wrapped it around her waist Beads of sweat ran down her head and neck, though the cold weather and sharp breeze were helping to alleviate her discomfort

“Haain?”

“No, they just won’t budge anything Whoever designed these doors wasn’t kidding around”

Captain Lance Recker took a bite out of a stale energy bar and chewed slowly as he sat on the hood of a squad car He and a couple dozen other officers were scattered around the entrance to the Mount Weathers bunker, which they had been trying to break into for nearly two days The heavy equipht from the city—the equipment that he had been sure would make short work of the bunker doors—had been thwarted by the thick, impenetrable steel

A few of the officers stood around near the doors, pointing at the sea the place up Recker had seen enough to know that there was no way they would be getting through, not unless whatever had sealed the place up released its hold

“Without power, how long do you figure they’ve got in there before the air goes bad and they all start suffocating?”

“Dunno, Captain Can’t bewe can do for them All the vents we’ve been able to find are closed up and we can’t get those open, either I hate to say it, but it’s possible that everyone inside is already… gone”

Recker finished off his energy bar and slowly stood, picking up a round in front of the car “We went through all this work to rescue theht in all the heavy equip?” He chucked the stone in a high arc over the heads of the other officers, then turned away before it bounced off the bunker door with a low, metallic rumble

Recker was about to get another energy bar fro that the ru louder He turned with the rest of theas the an to move as they slowly moved the locks out of position

“What the…” Recker stared at the door, taking a fe steps toward it along with the rest of the officers When the locks finally finished an to sound and Recker’s eyes opened wide

“Get those cars back! Get the backhoes and bulldozer out of the way!” The officers scrambled to an to sloing open aout fro as they tried to shield their vision froround Recker ran forward and caught a wo a sweat-stained skirt and blouse as she tripped and nearly fell, easing her to the ground as she screwed her eyes shut

“Medics, spread out! Help these people now!” He looked down and spoke softly to the woripped his arm “Ma’am, it’ll be okay”