Midnight Clock

“Sir?” a muffled voice said. “Sir? Are you listening to me?” The voice grabbed my arm and yelled, “General Raymond!”

I glanced around quickly and saw the source of the voice. A young man in a lab coat and black pants was staring back at me, his brown eyes filled with dread. He let go of my arm and backed off a little.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, sir.” He handed me a folder and said, “The situation ain’t no good. Our systems are saying we won’t make it through the night.”

“How’s that so?” I asked. “What happened with the undercover squads I sent? Didn’t they do anything to stop this?”

“Sir, the squads are dead. The president was also found dead this morning.” He must have seen my face of disbelief, because he added, “We believe there must be a spy among us, but right now we don’t have time to worry about that. Many of our workers are starting to leave the bunker to go with their families, so personnel is limited, sir.”

Cowards, I thought. Leaving your country when it needs you most.

“So what you’re telling me is that these idiots are leaving the mission during a national emergency? Pathetic!” I yelled.

“What do you want us to do then, sir?” he asked shakily.

I rubbed my temples with my fingers and took a deep breath.

“Let ‘em go. If they want to let their country down, that’s them… it doesn't have a case anymore, right?” I looked at my watch and asked, “Any information about my wife and my children?”

“They’re supposed to be on their way, sir.”

“What do you mean by “they’re supposed to,” huh?”

“The squad we sent hasn’t answered anything since about thirty minutes ago, sir. The tracking chips haven’t sent any signals either. We believe someone must have done something to them, so we sent another squad, but those too disappeared without leaving any trace behind.”

“And?”

“...and so we can’t afford to send any more teams out there. We don’t know what’s going on out there, sir.”

“Ok, look, my family is out there in the danger zone, so I don’t care how many squads I need to send to get them here to safety!” I began getting a bit hysterical. “I don’t care if I need to call National Security, do you hear me?” I wanted to yell more, but I had to contain myself because tears of despair would certainly spring out of my eyes, and I needed to keep my composure.

He opened his mouth to answer my question, but just then the doors of the room opened. An armed soldier stood guard at the door while a woman with children behind her came in. It was my family.

“Hey there, sweetheart,” my wife said. “We missed you a lot.”

I shoved the folder back into the young man’s hands and ran towards them. I embraced them in a bear hug. I kissed each of my children on the forehead and gave my wife a long kiss on the lips.

“Daddy missed you a lot, too!” I gritted my teeth to contain the tears. I took a deep breath and said, “You need to go to the safe room. I’ll meet you there in a minute.”

They obeyed promptly and a guard escorted them to the safe room. I watched calmly as they went to safety, but the young man’s need for attention ruined the sweet moment.

“Um, sir?” he asked nervously.

“What?” I snapped back. “And please stop saying “sir” the whole time. You’re driving me insane!”

He looked at me with an expression of dread and uncertainty.

I sighed. “Just call me General, ok…” I squinted my eyes to better see his name tag. “... Mr. Aguilar?”

He glanced at his name tag and then fixed his eyes on me again. “Yes, General.” He looked at the folder in his hands and handed it back to me. “I was told to give you this, my General. The Colonel said it was classified information from the mission.”

“Thank you very much, Mr. Aguilar.”

He nodded and turned around to leave, but before he could, I added, “How much time is there left?”

“Seventy-five seconds to midnight, General.”

I cleared my throat. “Tell the command to enter into full lockdown once the clock strikes forty-five seconds to midnight. Nobody in or out. Tell them also that if anyone wants to leave, they’re free to do so. Tell them to enjoy their last moments, because nothing we do will stop what’s inevitable.”

“So that means…”

“That means once you’re done saying that, you can leave if you wish.”

“Thank you, my General.” He rushed out the door and walked quickly down the hallway.

I dismissed the armed guard that was guarding the door and left to go with my family. They were excited to see me, especially my children. We played, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company for days. One day, my wife was playing with them while I sat on the couch, pondering about our lives before this; before we had to be confined to a bunker for survival’s sake. I yearned for the days when I could bask in the warm, radiant sunshine of the outdoors. But now, that once lively and vibrant world had been transformed into a treacherous and perilous trap, teeming with deadly dangers at every turn. It's as if the very essence of life had been sucked out of the once peaceful surroundings, leaving behind a barren wasteland filled with looming threats and insurmountable obstacles.

Almost everyone was gone by then. The only ones who remained were the few who didn’t have anywhere or anyone to go to. They had settled in the other safe rooms, sharing dorms to make space. The last update we’d gotten about the time left had been three days ago.

“Forty seconds to midnight,” the voice had said.

During the time of uncertainty, my wife and I were worried about our children. We knew they were too young to understand the gravity of the situation, so we made a promise to each other to shield them from our fears. We wanted to make sure they did not have to suffer through the same fear and anxiety that we were enduring.

One night, we were sleeping calmly when the loud emergency alarm went off. The automated voice said, “Alert. Fifteen seconds to midnight. Please proceed to the nearest safe room. Safe rooms will be completely locked in five minutes.”

The children and everyone else woke up feeling alarmed. While my wife sang them to sleep, I investigated the source of the alarm. I eventually found it and cut off the cables to make it stop. Although we could still hear a faint sound, it wasn't as overwhelming as before, and we all eventually fell asleep. However, the following morning the alarm started again, this time announcing ten seconds to midnight.

“What do you think is happening out there?” my wife asked.

“Probably most of them are already dead… and soon we’ll be too.”

She kissed me on the lips. “Well, I don’t regret ever falling for you and having our children. You are the greatest blessing I could ever have.”

“I love you too,” I replied.

Our eldest child, Tiara, woke up and gave me a bear hug. She must have heard what we were discussing, because she said, “I love you, Daddy. And you too, mommy. It doesn’t matter if the world’s ending because I’m here with my family.” We hugged her and soon our other two children joined in. I could feel the dread they were so hard trying to hide from us.

“Three seconds to midnight.”

My heart was pounding as the place began to shake violently, and the walls cracked with a deafening sound. The flickering light added to the chaos as the room was enveloped in darkness every few seconds. The overworld had been consumed by mayhem and fire, and it was now chasing after us. I felt a chill run down my spine as I thought about it. The fear in my heart grew stronger with every passing moment, and I knew that we were running out of time.

“Two seconds to midnight.”

Tears streamed down my face as I struggled to speak. "I love you all so much, and I just want you to know how proud I am of you," my voice cracked. "I don't know what I would do without you as my family, and the thought of ever losing you breaks my heart into a million pieces." My words were barely audible through the sobs that racked my body.

“One second to midnight.”

“Daddy,” Tiara asked, “what’s gonna happen when it reaches zero?”

I sniffed and replied, “then we will all be free, my dear. In a place with no pain, fear, or death, where we’ll be happy for the rest of eternity.”

She rested her weary head on my chest, and with a heavy heart, I embraced her. I started singing a melancholic lullaby to soothe her as tears rolled down her cheeks. We would soon be free.

“Zero seconds to midnight. Good night.”