Jonah and Marcus both took a step outside the bunker, their boots slightly sinking into the soft grain, stirring up golden dust.Then they took a second step, a third step and on the fourth step, just as they were about to properly leave the bunker,

  “I forgot. Need to leave a note for them . I’ll be right back” and Marcus walked back into the vault at a quick pace.

  Jonah didn’t follow, deciding to wait at the entrance of the vault. The vault itself was inside a hill, branching down. Jonah, thinking there was enough time, decided to ascend the hill. It wasnt that steep, but even if it was, climbing it- No. The grains took even that away from them. Ascending the hill wouldnt be that different. Jonah walked up the hill. The soft grain helping him. The hill couldnt be considered barren because there was grain but ignoring that it was barren, there was nothing else, only grain. Ascending it was very easy thanks to the grip the grains gave to his boots. After a while Jonah reached the top of the hill.He took a deep breath, set his pocketwatch down as usual and started surveying the surroundings. There was nothing except the golden grain but that was common. Then he started surveying the city itself. The city was in ruins, grain growing out from every roof, every crevice. It was the normal for Jonah at this point but he still tried to imagine. Imagine what it would have looked like in the past.Then gradually an image -his idea of what the city could have been- overpped with the city. The yellow grains on the streets, ruined buildings, abandoned cars. In his mind Jonah threw all that away and repced them. Ruined building stood tall reaching for the skies, radiating with light again. The streets were no longer buried under grain, it was solid now. He imagined the residents, taking inspiration from the pictures and little bits his father used to tell.The streets became vibrant, brimming with life once more. People were rushing to work, ughing with friends, some of their hands full with freshly baked bread. Jonah gnced at the buildings and focused on the interesting ones, bakery and a specific car workshop. bakery’s windows fogged due to the heat of the freshly made loaves.The car workshop hummed with engine sounds, steady. Jonah looked at the residents faces, inspecting them too and after a while, far away he spotted a group, Aria’s group. At that moment his image of the city colpsed, returning to what it was like now. Desote. The buildings colpsed, the streets changed and the pedestrians vanished, only leaving behind the grain and nothing else. Aria’s group was way in the distance. Was her group the one that was searching for the battering ram? As he was having thoughts like this Marcus called out, seemingly searching for him.

  “Jonah where are you? Left the note let’s go.” And then Marcus looked at the top of the hill, seeing Jonah. “Actually can you take a look and tell me where they are?”

  “I already looked, i was only able to see the group Aria was in. They are quite far from us in the city. Cant see the other group though.”

  Marcus started shifting his weight from one foot to the other again. “Alright lets go then the others are hopefully alright. Wonder where they are though. They should have been nearby.”

  Jonah got up, dusting his pants , put his pocketwatch in his pocket . Then he descended the hill and approached Marcus, standing just by his side. Then they started walking at a steady but quick pace towards the city.

  “The generator should be on the upper floors of a building. I cant recall exactly which one but i believe i know the general area. It wasnt working though. Will you be able to fix it?”

  Jonah, still walking wondered about that. Could he actually fix it? He tried it a few times with his father and failed on most those attempts. He succeeded eventually but it was partly thanks to his father. Could he do it without him? Maybe he could. No. He had to. He already suggested this so he would see it to the end.”I will fix it.” And then Jonah inhaled sharply, getting ready to question Marcus once again. “Also why didnt you inspect the inside for air vents properly? You and your expression made it seem like a good idea so why?”

  “Honestly this seemed more logical to me. If there were any air vents inside one of my friends would have certainly mentioned it. And this is a good idea too, using the moment between the power and emergency power and making use of the safety protocol to get the doors forcefully open even if grain got in. I would have absolutely missed that without you. Maybe not missed since someone from inside the bunker could have shouted it but still. Thank you.”

  Johan, after hearing his answer rexed his shoulders a little. It seemed like Marcus did believe the fact that grain got in. “I see and no problem. By the way if the doors were locked how did Aria know grains got inside?”

  “Someone from the inside shouted ‘grains’ then stopped. It wasnt that hard to piece together what happened unfortunately. Probably the door connecting the main part to the stairwell closed and locked up too.”

  “The grains actually got it?” Jonah’s eyes quivered for a slight moment before turning back to normal. Even though he was expecting it, hearing it was still very sudden to him.

  “We havent seen it ourselves but yes i believe it did.”

  “How? What about the farms? Did the grain get in there too?”

  “We…” Marcus slowed his speech for a moment “dont know. Thats the thing. Their voices cut off after saying grain. We hope it didnt get in but thats merely a hope. Actually lets hurry we dont have that much time if the grain actually got in.” And Marcus started sprinting the rest of the way towards the city, Jonah followed. “Was Aria’s group carrying a battering ram equivent? If this doesnt work we might have to break the doors itself after decontaminating the entrance…” Marcus trailed off and started to run towards the city, crossing the rest of the way with astounding speed, not waiting for Jonah to respond.

  Jonah’s chest tightened, beads of sweat sliding down his forehead but he followed Marcus while trying to keep pace. He was however falling behind, partly because of the exhaustion and partly because of the fact that Marcus was simply faster than him. Soon after, they reached the city. They didnt stop running though.

  “Follow me, we will have to try a few buildings” Marcus shouted, due to the distance between them and right before entering a home, in a loud voice “Check the top floors of that building.” Marcus pointed at a building with his finger. “Shout if you find anything im trying this one” and then he vanished into an apartment.

  Following Marcus’ finger with his eyes, Jonah saw an apartment. It was seven floors tall and it seemed stable enough to not colpse in on itself. He ran into the building. On the entrance floor there were three apartment doors and a stair. Jonah didn’t have time to waste so he ascended the stairs three steps at a time, or at least he tried to because he tripped and fell. The stairs here werent solid and grainless like the bunker. Muttering some curse words under his breath he got up and settled on two steps at a time.He continued ascending the floors, ignoring the doors and eventually reached the top floor. There were four doors this time, one leading to the roof of the building. Jonah ignored that one and went into one of the three doors. The inside had bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and rooms like that, furnitured accordingly. It would have been a very normal home had the grain not existed. Jonah searched the entire floor but there was no generator. He searched the sixth and fifth floors but still. There were none. Jonah left the building in a hurry, going to a nearby building. He did the same things as the first one but this time there it was. A generator. It had grain growing on the top of it. It was probably the one Marcus was talking about. Jonah, hoping that it was still functioning shouted “Marcus! I found the generator. Come to my voice!” and he waited. While waiting he tinkered with the generator, trying to fix it and clean it off any grain. He did the second and before he could do the first Marcus arrived.

  “Thats the one i saw.” Marcus took a moment to catch himself, breathing in and out deeply. “Did you try it? Is it working somehow?”

  “I was about to try but it seems broken. Did you happen to find any gas?” And he tried to lift the generator but it was too heavy for him.

  “I saw none.Let me give you a hand.” Marcus grabbed one side of the generator, Jonah did the same. It was still heavy but now it could actually be carried. They went down the stairs one step at a time and eventually they reached the entrance of the building. They were tired but just the generator wasnt enough. They needed to fix the generator and find some gasoline.

  “We need gasoline now. I also need to fix the generator.”

  “Right,” Marcus went into the same building again and came out, this time carrying a rusted bucket.

  “Thats rusted wouldnt that cause some problems?”

  “It would in the long term. The rust would damage the filters but we need the generator now so it should be fine”

  “I understand. Also did you see a pipe or hose or anything to siphon with? I was focused on the generator so i didnt pay much attention to anything else.”

  “I haven’t, but it shouldnt be that hard to find. I should be able to find it. Also you should check the generator to see if it actually works.”

  “I will” and Jonah started tinkering, with Marcus disappearing into one of the buildings nearby. Jonah continued tinkering for a while and eventually he ran his hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. It was broken without a doubt. He needed to fix it. His father would know what to do at a gnce but he wasnt here so Jonah had to do it by himself, using what he remembered. He knelt by the generator, inspecting it. Jonah had to think, had to remember what to do what to inspect qhat the problem was. Then suddenly he found the answer. He knew what the problem was. He needed some tools to fix it though so he began his search for them.Simple tools like screwdrivers and wrench and such would do and they werent that rare but they werent that common either.The problem was finding an alternator, air filter and something to clean the generator with. Those three were the most likely for the generator not working. Jonah remembered an old car workshop nearby. He, now thinking that was a good pce to search started walking with a quick pace again, this time towards the old car workshop.