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city?” Kevin asked, keeping his voice low. 
    Jack put his head down for a moment. “Yes.” 
    “We can’t let that happen. How would we as a nation survive such a thing? I mean, how are we going to survive what’s already happened ? Millions of people are dead, walking around, looking for a bite of human flesh.”
    “We will. It’s what this country is about , and we’re no longer in it alone. The world has shrunk, and for the most part, we’re all in this together.” Patting the kid on his arm, he said, “But hey, nothing’s happened yet , so why worry ? ”
    Kevin took a deep breath and shook his head. “You’ve got a real positive attitude, Jack.”
    “My wife used to say the same thing.” Jack smiled, trying to look calm, but on the inside , he felt like throwing up his breakfast. He’d been keeping it together, but when he really thought about what was happening , he almost couldn’t believe it. For the kid, he kept on with the happy charade.  
    If the city remained as is, how were he and the others supposed to escape? Would the military send in an extraction team after a year’s time? And if the city was nuked , Jack was getting a chill just thinking about it, what then? The bunker was secure, the good doctor assuring Jack that the place being five stories underground and lined with two feet of lead, would survive a nuclear attack. But how would they get out without risking exposure to high amounts of radiation?
    “Kevin, mind if I ask you a question?”
    “No, shoot.”
    Jack looked around. The closest people were a few tables away and busy eating and talking amongst themselves, but he leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone. “Is there another way out of here? I mean besides the topside and sewer exits?”
    “Yeah. You don’t know?”
    “Is it the security door Reynolds says is off limits? The one next to his office?”
    “No. That’s C-wing. That’s a ‘ high-clearance ’ only area. I’ve never been inside; above my pay grade, if you know what I mean.”
    Jack had been given the run of the place, having been issued a level 1 keycard that opened regular doors throughout the bunker and not the ones that led to the outside world, or to C-wing, as it was called. He wondered what was in there, but had a more pressing concern at the moment. 
    “There’s a tunnel,” Kevin continued. “It leads from Reynolds’ office to somewhere outside of Manhattan . I would imagine, Brooklyn or Queens, though I don’t know for sure. Its destination is classified; again above my pay grade. In the event the city is too hot for retrieval, we go that way and walk our way out of Manhattan. It’s why none of the people down here are freaking out. They know in the back of their minds that there’s a safe way out.”
    Jack felt a little better. Selfish, but a little better. There were probably survivors in the city. For them the way out looked grim. Maybe he could somehow help save a few. Make a difference. In the bunker, he was just taking up space.
    He would add it to the list of things he needed to talk to Reynolds about.
    “Well,” Kevin said, “I better get going or I’ll be late for my shift.”
    “It was good talking to you, Kevin,” Jack said, holding out his hand to shake.
    Kevin took it. “Yeah, it sure was. See you later?”
    “Sure thing.”
    After breakfast, Jack went to talk to Reynolds, but the man was busy. He would have to wait. So he went back to his room, lay on his bed and listened to some AC/DC on the portable stereo, having downloaded a bunch of albums from some of the guards’ MP3 players.
    He still couldn’t believe his wife was dead. Hell, probably everyone he knew in the city was dead. Thank goodness, his sister, Sara, had moved out of Manhattan. He hadn’t spoken to her in over a year, wishing now that he had called to see how she was doing. Her husband, Gary, was an abusive drunk.
    One day , while Jack was visiting Sara, Gary got shit-faced drunk, calling her a dirty,