Page 10 of Shattered World

“Your two rooms are at the back of the hall. After our conversation, you can all settle in,” he explained before entering into another room toward the front.

There was nothing different about the room. It was a cliché hotel room, with two queen beds and a bathroom.

Matthew sat on one of the beds, four of us squeezing onto the other while Murphy stood at our backs.

Matthew didn’t speak for several seconds, his hands fidgeting, and I wondered if he was debating how much information he was going to give us.

“You need to understand, given the circumstances, not everyone knows the entirety of what’s going on here.”

“And are you going to tell us everything?” Sasha asked, her brows raised sarcastically.

My gut told me he wasn’t. That even if he wanted to, he was under instruction not to. And, even more so, he didn’t know everything either. But that wasn’t enough for me.

“The message you heard, that was us. He sent it.” I gestured toward Murphy, the words blurting out of me.

Matthew’s eyes raised in surprise. “You saved our lives.”

I nodded, although the praise in his voice made me uncomfortable. We hadn’t saved anyone. Not until they were safely in those bunkers.

“You mentioned you’d find safety in Chicago. Why didn’t you mention the bunkers?” Aiden asked, his eyes staring the man down.

My own eyes widened, not even realizing the distinction in Matthew’s words. But now that Aiden pointed it out, I knew I was right to believe that he was hiding information from the others.

Matthew let out a long breath, his head low, guilt hanging off of him. “I didn’t know about the bunkers, not originally. None of us did. That is until we stumbled upon this hotel.”

“And you met Caroline,” I filled in for him.

He nodded, standing up from the bed and pacing. The calm, cool, and collected man was unraveling before us, the fear that held us all finally revealing itself.

“She gave us this space. A few others had already been here, a couple more coming in the past few days. I didn’t question much, I was solely thankful that my daughter, Anna, and I had somewhere safe.”

“But then, a week into staying here, Caroline pulled me aside. Asked what my plan was once the meteor struck. In that moment, I realized we weren’t truly safe and I had no plan to protect my daughter.”

“Caroline told you about the bunkers?” I asked and Matthew nodded. “But why not the others?”

Murphy didn’t give Matthew a chance to speak. “Because it’s the same problem as before.”

I turned my head, meeting Murphy’s angry gaze as he finished his statement. “There isn’t enough room for everyone.”

Chapter Six

Murphy’s words struck a chord in me and, for the first time since the trains, tears sprung to my eyes. I wasn’t an idiot. Even as we trekked across the country, even as we learned more answers, I still knew we couldn’t save everyone.

But that didn’t stop my heart from breaking for every innocent person that would die. For all the people that never stood a chance.

“Why not tell them all?” I choked out, trying to hold the tears back. “There’s what? Thirty people here? You’re telling me thirty people can’t fit inside those bunkers?”

My voice rose as anger swelled through me and Matthew sat back down, reaching a hand out to me. I evaded his touch, not wanting the comfort of a stranger.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his graying hair. “And these thirty people know thirty more people. And so on, and so on. When they all show up, what do you expect them to do?”

I wanted so desperately to have an answer to his question, for even one of us to have a solution, but the silence was the only answer we needed.

“Why are you telling us, then?” Mina whispered, the sadness in her eyes doing nothing to help the tears in mine.

Again, Matthew let out an exhausted sigh. “I shouldn’t be telling you. Caroline made it clear that I shouldn’t.”

“But?” Aiden asked.

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