Colorado Twilight

Dane was intently watching Wayne as he disappeared inside the door. Wayne almost had a heart attack as a bird flew out the broken window on the door. Quickly getting his breath back, Dane moved up to the door and peeked inside. The dust on the hardwood floor showed only small prints. Wayne was just inside the door with a white face. “Damn bird scared the crap out of me,” he whispered. “It looks like it’s been deserted for a long time, but lets check out the back door and see if anyone has been coming and going from there,” said Dane. They back-tracked and went around the back. The door was intact and closed. There was no sign of prints or of anyone being there for a long time. They entered slowly and again saw just small prints on the floor. “When the Marshall’s were building this house I showed them the shelter. They were so impressed that they modified their plans and put in a secret shelter too. I guess it pissed off their contractor, but they didn’t care since they had the extra money to spend. It’s a lot smaller than ours, and I know how to get into it.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” Dane asked. “If you’d been caught I didn’t want that info to fall into the hands of anyone else. I’d planned as their shelter being our back up in case our place gets compromised. I didn’t even tell Perra. She knew that they were adding another room, but not a reinforced shelter. John Marshall was a hunter in his day. He said he was going to load up with weapons, ammo and food. He told me that if shit hit the fan and he never made it back, that we could take what we want. If anyone else got the same message, today is the day to find out.” “Cool,” was all Dane managed to say before Wayne headed down the hallway. Turning left into the kitchen they passed a few open cupboards. Dane tried the propane stove and jumped when it lit. Evidently the solar panels still worked. “Whoever stayed here, at least, had the decency to save some propane.” Wayne walked over and opened the pantry door. Surprisingly, the light automatically came on as he did so. Going to the back of the pantry, which was empty, he lifted off four shelves and laid them aside. He pulled the upper left shelf bracket and part of the wood paneled back wall swung open. A few small LED lights came on inside, as well. “Damn, that’s cool,” Dane said. They headed down the narrow staircase, which had a wall about four feet away from the landing. The wall was of concrete blocks and had a small hole in it, about nine inches by nine inches. There were several small lights in the ceiling-enough to light up the room. They just stood in shocked awe, as they took in the bounty in front of them. “Son of a…..” “Yeah,” said Wayne.