Purple Sunrise

Eighteen

As Rose entered the freezer she gave a curt nod before shutting herself in, John took note of the time.

"HEY LILY! COME IN HERE" John shouted in the direction of where they had left her.

He wanted to get her included in the process of figuring out if they could use the suit. Lily came hopping into the kitchen, after seeing the two argue, she was happy for the first time that they had been keeping her out of what was going on. She would not have liked to be part of all of the arguments they must have been having after the one she witnessed.

"Yes?" She replied politely; John was happy to hear Lily acting the same as she normally does.

"I thought it would be nice if we timed it together." Hearing this Lily felt the joy welling up inside.

She nodded her head enthusiastically jumping up onto the side.

"Well I suppose we should start thinking about if this works, how long will it take for you to alter the air filter into a breathing device?" John was pondering how much time they would have to waste before they managed to get outside.

His whole body was itching in anticipation; John knew he needed to stop thinking about when it would all end, it could be the most excitement they might have for years to come.

They had heard no sound coming from the freezer, there was a couple of minutes left until it was time to find out the results. John decided he would take it as a good sign that the suit was worthy. He just wished that Rose hadn't been such a pain about being the one to do it.

Rose was sat there, feeling the cold, it felt more like she was outside on a breezy day. She had begun to read some of the packages that were lying around in the freezer, she thought to herself that they should use it to count the stock after they had finished finding out what they crashed into.

The temperature was not bothering her, just a bit uncomfortable. Rose decided it might be best to wear clothes under it when she did venture out from the hut, although with all the luck in the universe, she wouldn't need to go beyond the hut to find out what it was that she had been seeing outside.

Rose started to feel bad for the way she had been treating John for the past half an hour. It was meant to be an adventure that was done together.

She had just made the whole experience of herself. She started to realize how selfish she had been acting.

Rose knew that she needed to make it up to John but didn't know when would be best; she wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to see her for a while after all this.

She was thankful when she finally saw that the door to the freezer was opening back up. Just beyond the door stood Lilly. Rose stood up prancing out of the room.

"Well. How was it?" John was being a slight bit short with Rose, he still hadn't quite gotten over their fight, after all, it had only been ten minutes since they had it.

"Eh." Rose shrugged her shoulders.

"It wasn't actually that bad, you could feel a bit of a nip, but other than that it was fine, I did think that after we could just use this suit to do freezer stock."

"Hmm well, at least it'll have a purpose after I suppose." John's bottom lip lifted up slightly, indifferent about it having other uses.

"Right, well I think I may just go start on that breathing machine then." Lily interrupted the budding awkward aura in the room.

She did not want to be present if they started arguing again. It hadn't felt good the first time, Lily didn't think she could handle any more arguing today, after all, it was the first time she had ever heard them argue with each other.

The angry expressions leaping off their faces. She had a lot to come to terms with already, without having to listen to their emotions spilling out from being so high. Anymore arguing would send her overboard.

Lily was sitting crossed legged with random parts sitting in front of her from the air conditions in one of the spare bedrooms at the opposite end of their bedrooms when Rose and John had finally discovered where she had gotten to.

"How's it going in here?" Rose asked with happiness in her voice, it hadn't sounded as if it was forced either.

Lily looked up with one eyebrow raised, it had only been a couple of days since they had been not talking to the other one from disagreeing on who would be taking the risk. It seemed like they had managed to sort it out between themselves now though.

Lily pondered how they had managed to work it out quickly, it almost seemed the argument would be going on for weeks, not days, it was clearly not just an argument about who was going up, but of hidden meanings too.

"It's not been going too badly, there's been a couple of hiccups with putting it together, I've never had to use as many pieces like this to make one big enough, but I want to make sure that you will definitely have enough oxygen, after all, we don't know how much pressure there will be outside, if there are loads, then you will run out quicker of the oxygen." Lily felt the whole world was hanging on her shoulder, at any minute they could fall.

One mistake and Rose might be dead.

John knew how much responsibility had made its way onto Lily, attaching itself to her soul. She had too much to deal with for a person that age, it made the guilt start to eat him up inside, bit by bit.

After they finished with all of this excitement, they needed a break. If they hadn't been here, John would say that they needed a holiday. This wouldn't be possible for them though, for the rest of their lives, they would have to work all day and night just to survive.

"There. Done." Lilly nodded her head from approval as she looked over her work.

The piece of fabric they were seeing as a suit now had attached to it a pipe as a mouthpiece. On the back, a backpack which held a metal box taken out of the air purifier from one of the spare rooms. It all being modified to expel air through the tube for Rose to be able to breathe while outside.

"Now." Lily started.

"I know it isn't the most pretty looking suit you've ever seen, but it will give you enough air to last out there for at least a couple of minutes, maximum five mins tops." Lily stared at Rose's face; she didn't like the idea of her going outside the bunker now she knew what was going on.

But she wouldn't be happy with John venturing out either, she knew that one of them would have to go. Lily just wished neither of them did, that they were still back on earth.

Lily attempted to memorize exactly how Rose looked; she was just wishing with all her might, if there was a higher power out there, then it would keep Rose safe. Bring her back to them.

Rose gave Lily and John a skeptical smile, she hadn't felt nervous about the journey she was to take until now. Reality setting in of how much could go wrong. Rose knew, however, that she was the best choice to go out. Lilly and John would be fine to survive together.

"They're the strongest out of all three of us." Rose whispered to herself.

John heard Rose mutter, giving her a confused held expression. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, Rose took the suit going towards her room to change into it. She didn't feel like explaining herself to him now.

Five minutes later Rose re-entered back into the room giving them both an 'I'm ready stance.' Taking a deep breath, together, they headed towards the door leading to what they would soon be finding out to be a trickier situation.

Taking in a sharp breath, Rose gave a longing gaze back at the two standing at the bottom of the ladder, their expression held all that she felt inside. Terrified at what she could find beyond the hut.

Rose made a gesture for them to go back to the living room and to shut the door. They needed to go there just in case the air was unbreathable.

Rose slowly, deliberately opened up the bunker door shoving the mouthpiece of the pipe into her mouth, clasping her lips around it, making it a vacuum where nothing could escape.