Day 2 Month 16 Year 7,426


    I wake up in the bunker. A heavy force is pulling on the back of my head, I lay inside a pod that is shaped almost like a bathtub—my arms hang on the outside as do my legs. It almost feels like the pod were shaped for someone much smaller than me. There’s a sudden realization that I’m out of the simulation. I feel a sort of loneliness—Gavin wasn’t going to be here from this point onward, I feel like I didn’t even get a chance to say good-bye to him. I guess that was what his eyes had been trying to tell me before we looked at the vision.


    I just wish I had some sort of closure. But that isn’t the most important thing right now, the most important thing is getting out of this thing—finding someone I can trust—like Andrew, and telling him what I know. I turn to see my core sitting on the armrest at my left side. Ah, right. I don’t want to forget this. I take it in my hand and reach around to the back of my head, finding the place it goes just above the cable. When it is inside I pull on the cable, short bursts of pain shock through, but I get it out and it drops to the floor with a heavy sound. I close my head up and look out towards the bunker, the door is open—just as I had left it in the simulation. It’s not as roomy here, the faint orange tint to the lighting is replaced by a mossy sort of green. An obviously used feeling rushes past me. I walk into the hallway and find the olden-computer room that I had talked with Gavin so much in absent from the real deal..there was no room just right of ICARUS. I turn left at the fork and continue back toward the main belly of the bunker. It is similarly empty like I had seen so often before. I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish there was at least Cardus here to keep me company.


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    Looks like I have to find my own company. I make my way through the living quarters towards the boarded up elevator, the silver plate is as present as it had been in the simulation. I had always assumed that these plates were up before their transformation into full bunkers, and not after.


    Habit guides me as I use my gravity, speed, and strength to beat down the plate. It only requires one try as I have gotten much stronger since my last attempt. I know what I’m doing now.


    The plate falls and slams to the ground, next to me. I’m not afraid, I’m not backing down. I step onto the elevator platform and press the switch heading up.


    My name is Devon Campton, and I used to be afraid. I used to be scared, and I used to make all of the wrong choices. I take full responsibility for my actions, each and every single one, and I’m here to make a difference. I won’t let you down. You or Alex. Things are going to be different now. The elevator has almost risen to the top. I can feel a sort of anxiety as it nears. My breath is kept calm, my training wasn’t for nothing. I can do this. I reach the top, and there is one final barricade in my way, a door has been placed at the entrance of the bunker. It looks like a door from my time, oddly enough. Maybe it’s Gavin’s last joke as a true good-bye, a gift from a fellow sort-of human. I smile as I grab the knob, twisting it in my hands, I throw the door open. Thank you for believing in me.