The Bunker | When the Bombs Fall: A High-Tension Survival Audio Drama

0:05 Speaker 1: It lies in wait amidst your dreams, where nothing is ever how it seems. It is a portal to a terrifying world beyond the doorway to nightmare. Nightmare. Welcome. I'm your host, Artemis Black. There are two kinds of people in the world, leaders and those that follow. But how are the leaders created? In some cases, they are simply born. Others work very hard to achieve leadership. And then there are the few who simply take it.

1:13 Speaker 2: I'm sure that you will find everything to your liking, Excellency.

1:17 Speaker 3: I will be the judge of that. I'm sure that I will find it most amusing.

1:25 Speaker 2: Yes, Your Excellency.

1:27 Speaker 3: Why is it so far out in the country? I detest the country.

1:33 Speaker 2: We had to build it far enough away from the known targets.

1:37 Speaker 3: And you guarantee its safety?

1:39 Speaker 2: It will be the only safe place in the country, Your Excellency.

1:47 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, The Bunker, was written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our stars include Winslow Swan, Crimson McKenzie, and William Stafford. I'll be back shortly with Act One. Our story tonight takes place in, well, let's just call it a country. Not any particular country, but a sovereign nation, nevertheless. It is, should I say, ruled. by a rather not-so-pleasant dictator.

2:46 Speaker 3: How much farther?

2:48 Speaker 2: We should be arriving in about ten minutes, Your Excellency.

2:54 Speaker 3: You stupid driver! Didn't you see that hole? I should have had you shot! It would be most amusing.

3:07 Speaker 2: Oh, it's not much further, Your Excellency.

3:10 Speaker 3: Why? Must it be so far away from the palace? Couldn't you have built it in the city?

3:17 Speaker 2: We wanted to maximize your protection, Your Excellency.

3:22 Speaker 4: This location is not only the safest, but the most secure that we could find.

3:27 Speaker 3: I abhor the country. The people that live here are so... so... Inferior.

3:39 Speaker 5: But I suppose they do provide a necessary working class.

3:43 Speaker 3: Pity that I could not outlaw poverty. It would be most amusing.

3:50 Speaker 2: Oh, yes, Your Excellency.

3:52 Speaker 6: And you, Faisal, you were a part of that working class, were you not?

3:59 Speaker 2: My parents lived in the country, and that was where I grew up.

4:03 Speaker 3: And yet you rose above all of that.

4:06 Speaker 5: And became quite an architect.

4:09 Speaker 3: I have high hopes for this place that you have designed.

4:13 Speaker 2: I'm sure that it will live up to your expectations, Your Excellency. Driver!

4:18 Speaker 3: Are we almost there?

4:21 Speaker 2: Oh, it is just up ahead, Your Excellency. Look, right there. You can see the guardhouse just ahead.

4:29 Speaker 3: Shabby little building. Don't you think?

4:32 Speaker 2: Well, it is only temporary, Your Excellency.

4:50 Speaker 3: Such a desolate location. No trees, an empty meadow, and only one road.

4:57 Speaker 2: Well, it was to maximize your.

4:59 Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I know. Now, where is this place? I see no entrance.

5:06 Speaker 2: It is just past the guard station, Your Excellency. The entrance is hidden under the sod. Guard, open the entrance.

5:20 Speaker 3: Impressive, Faisal. I may have underestimated you.

5:25 Speaker 2: Where to? Oh, just inside. There is an elevator that will go down.

5:30 Speaker 7: To the bunkers.

5:31 Speaker 3: Well then, let's get going. How far down are we going?

5:52 Speaker 2: The equivalent of a 20-story building. A little over 200 feet down, Your Excellency.

6:00 Speaker 3: And that will be enough protection.

6:03 Speaker 2: Oh, more than enough, Your Excellency.

6:06 Speaker 7: Ah, here we are.

6:21 Speaker 3: It seems to be smaller than I imagined.

6:24 Speaker 4: This will serve as your living quarters as well as a command post.

6:30 Speaker 2: Over here is the radio equipment. Up on the walls.

6:35 Speaker 4: Are video receivers that will allow you to see what is going on.

6:40 Speaker 3: And where are the portraits?

6:43 Speaker 2: The portraits, Your Excellency?

6:46 Speaker 3: Yes, my portrait. Where are they?

6:50 Speaker 2: They have not arrived yet, Your Excellency.

6:53 Speaker 3: I had them commissioned over six months ago. Stupid artists. I shall have them shot. It will be most amusing.

7:07 Speaker 2: Yes, Your Excellency.

7:10 Speaker 5: Not as large as I was hoping, but I suppose it will have to do.

7:15 Speaker 3: Where are the royal chambers?

7:19 Speaker 2: There is a bedroom this way.

7:21 Speaker 4: Through that door is the bathroom.

7:24 Speaker 2: Your Excellency. This room?

7:28 Speaker 3: Is the bathroom?

7:29 Speaker 2: Is something wrong, Your Excellency?

7:32 Speaker 3: I should say so. The tub is too small. The taps are not made of gold. There is no ornate mirror.

7:41 Speaker 2: Well, certain concessions had to be made, Your Excellency. We had to account for the others that would be with you.

7:49 Speaker 4: Others?

7:50 Speaker 3: What others?

7:52 Speaker 2: Well, your cabinet, for one. Your advisors and their families.

7:59 Speaker 6: Let them get their own bunker. This is the presidential bunker.

8:03 Speaker 2: I beg your forgiveness, Your Excellency. I only assumed that you would want to be in contact with your advisors in the.

8:11 Speaker 7: Event of a war.

8:12 Speaker 3: Isn't that what the radio is for?

8:15 Speaker 2: A thousand pardons, Your Excellency.

8:18 Speaker 3: Besides, they should have the foresight to prepare their own places. What, with things that are happening right now in the world?

8:28 Speaker 2: Oh, I understand, Your Excellency.

8:33 Speaker 3: What was that?

8:35 Speaker 2: I'm not sure, Your Excellency.

8:38 Speaker 3: Well, let's go topside and find out. Where is that stupid elevator?

8:46 Speaker 2: I don't know, Your Excellency.

8:50 Speaker 3: Well, find out before I have you shocked.

8:53 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Your Excellency.

8:58 Speaker 3: Don't tell me that the radio doesn't work. What sort of bunker is this?

9:04 Speaker 2: Wait, I'll turn on the video screen. Oh, my God.

9:11 Speaker 3: What is that?

9:13 Speaker 6: Well, tell me, you stupid little man.

9:17 Speaker 2: It's happened.

9:19 Speaker 7: It's really happened.

9:21 Speaker 3: What has? What are you going on about?

9:25 Speaker 2: I regret to inform you, Your Excellency, that the war has started. Nuclear war!

9:46 Speaker 1: On a memorial wall at Hiroshima, Japan, someone inscribed, Rest in Peace. The mistake will not be repeated. However, the threat of nuclear annihilation continues. has been looming over the human race ever since. I'll return shortly with Act 2.

10:22 Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter once said in a speech, Since Hiroshima, humanity has by no means been free from armed conflict. Yet at least we have avoided a world war. We continue to carry the ever-present danger of a catastrophic nuclear conflict. We must prevent such a war.

10:48 Speaker 3: How did such a thing happen?

10:50 Speaker 7: Look at the monitors!

10:53 Speaker 2: Everything is burning.

10:54 Speaker 5: How?

10:56 Speaker 3: Who started it?

10:58 Speaker 7: Does it matter?

11:00 Speaker 2: It's happening now.

11:01 Speaker 3: I never gave the order to launch. That authority was mine and mine alone. I shall have whoever did this shot.

11:10 Speaker 7: And it will be most amusing.

11:14 Speaker 3: How dare you?

11:16 Speaker 2: Oh, I dare. Don't you remember? You made our entire defense system automatic. If someone launched a missile at our country, the computer would take over. You took the control away from yourself.

11:36 Speaker 3: No.

11:37 Speaker 7: No.

11:38 Speaker 3: This is not happening.

11:41 Speaker 2: Oh, you poor fool. For all of your posturing and parades and speeches, you were down here.

11:50 Speaker 7: Watching your country.

11:52 Speaker 2: Being wiped off the face of the earth.

11:55 Speaker 3: Now you listen to me, you pathetic little man. I am the leader.

12:02 Speaker 6: I decide what happens to this country. Get me someone on that infernal radio.

12:08 Speaker 3: I want answers.

12:10 Speaker 8: Now!

12:11 Speaker 2: I will try.

12:12 Speaker 7: 2X2L calling CQ.

12:14 Speaker 2: 2X2L calling CQ. Is there anyone on the air?

12:25 Speaker 3: There has to be someone on the air. Get out of the way, fool. Let me have the mic.

12:31 Speaker 7: If you look at the monitors, you will see... Hello?

12:35 Speaker 2: Hello?

12:36 Speaker 6: This is your Supreme Commander speaking.

12:40 Speaker 3: Answer me. Do you understand? This is your Supreme Commander. I.

12:46 Speaker 2: I had to tell you.

12:47 Speaker 3: Where are my generals? Where is my army?

12:50 Speaker 7: Hello? Hello? It is no use, Your Excellency.

12:56 Speaker 3: You mean... there really isn't anyone left?

13:02 Speaker 1: No one.

13:04 Speaker 2: alive.

13:05 Speaker 3: How long has it been? I mean, since we have been down here....

13:16 Speaker 8: Almost two hours?

13:18 Speaker 3: Don't you mean almost two hours, Your Excellency?

13:25 Speaker 2: Forgive me, Your Most Supreme, Honored Excellency. What exactly are you the Excellency of?

13:34 Speaker 3: I am the sovereign ruler of.

13:37 Speaker 2: A wasteland! Look at the monitors!

13:41 Speaker 7: There is nothing left to rule.

13:44 Speaker 1: Oh.

13:45 Speaker 7: You were so terrifying to your own people.

13:48 Speaker 2: You controlled the country. You never governed it.

13:53 Speaker 3: Keep this talk up and I shall have you.

13:56 Speaker 7: Shot?

13:58 Speaker 2: Why don't you do it now? I'm sure that it will be most amusing. And then what will you do? Watch as my corpse rots away while you are down here alone.

14:13 Speaker 3: Stop it, fool. Just shut up.

14:15 Speaker 2: You could have avoided all of this.

14:18 Speaker 7: I could have sat down and talked to the other leaders.

14:23 Speaker 2: Oh, but no. I was one of the lucky ones.

14:27 Speaker 7: The ones who.

14:28 Speaker 2: Were able to crawl away from the poverty that you created.

14:35 Speaker 3: Are you finished?

14:37 Speaker 2: Fool. What are you laughing about?

14:41 Speaker 3: Yes, and I call you fool again. Why do you think that I am in power?

14:48 Speaker 2: Because you probably killed your way to the top.

14:53 Speaker 7: To the presidency.

14:55 Speaker 3: Again, I say fool. I'm in power because the people wanted me there.

15:02 Speaker 2: Well, that was no election.

15:03 Speaker 1: No.

15:05 Speaker 5: You still don't understand. The people who have the money. The people that spend millions to put me in control so that they can keep their billions.

15:18 Speaker 3: The industry.

15:19 Speaker 6: The businesses that keep people like you in your own poverty.

15:25 Speaker 3: Look at me, fool!

15:27 Speaker 7: What do you mean?

15:28 Speaker 3: I'm no more intelligent than the next person. I have no special skills. I'm no braver than anyone else. No, fool.

15:39 Speaker 5: I was put into power so that the ones with the money can keep their money.

15:44 Speaker 7: But we tried to change that. We tried.

15:49 Speaker 3: Not hard enough. Oh, of course I saw the protests. Something that we allowed for the world media. Most of those that spoke out against me were executed. You see, it's all a front. I am merely a puppet, controlled by the industry.

16:15 Speaker 2: Please, we need help.

16:18 Speaker 1: Fire out of.

16:20 Speaker 3: Let me at that radio.

16:21 Speaker 2: Hello?

16:22 Speaker 3: Who is this? Answer me. I am your supreme commander.

16:27 Speaker 2: Bombs continuing to kill everyone.

16:32 Speaker 1: No warnings.

16:33 Speaker 2: War.

16:34 Speaker 1: No warning.

16:34 Speaker 3: What about our own strike? Did we strike back?

16:40 Speaker 1: Missiles.

16:42 Speaker 2: Lifted off. Early warning. No good.

16:46 Speaker 1: Can't breathe. Oxygen almost.

16:54 Speaker 3: Hello?

16:55 Speaker 7: Hello?

16:58 Speaker 8: I think that he is gone. Your Excellency.

17:11 Speaker 1: In 1962, Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba, said during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I propose the immediate launching of a nuclear strike on the United States. The Cuban people are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the destruction of imperialism and the victory of world revolution. You prepare for Act III shortly.

17:42 Speaker 8: Act III.

17:56 Speaker 1: J. William Fulbright once said, What a curious picture it is to find man, homo sapiens, of divine origin, we are told, seriously considering going underground to escape the consequences of his own folly.

18:17 Speaker 3: How long have we been here?

18:21 Speaker 8: Six hours now.

18:23 Speaker 3: I'm getting hungry. Bring me some food.

18:28 Speaker 7: There is no food.

18:30 Speaker 3: What sort of bunker is this?

18:34 Speaker 7: An incomplete one.

18:36 Speaker 3: But how are we supposed to survive? We don't.

18:44 Speaker 2: I told you that the bunker was completed. I didn't tell you that it was completely ready. I think that we have Just enough oxygen to last another hour or so.

18:58 Speaker 7: Nothing was brought here. No food.

19:01 Speaker 2: No filtration system installed.

19:06 Speaker 7: This will become our tomb. I wonder if we won.

19:11 Speaker 1: Won?

19:11 Speaker 3: You wonder if we won?

19:13 Speaker 1: Won what?

19:22 Speaker 2: Oh, yes, your most infernal excellency. Congratulations. You have won. They launched their missiles. You launched your missiles. Billions of people dead. Cities laid waste.

19:38 Speaker 4: Oh, but let us all praise his excellency because he won.

19:44 Speaker 3: You will not speak to me in such a manner.

19:48 Speaker 2: What did you.

19:50 Speaker 7: win?

19:52 Speaker 3: What do you mean?

19:54 Speaker 2: I am asking on behalf of your people.

19:58 Speaker 7: What did you win?

20:00 Speaker 3: The war, of course.

20:03 Speaker 7: But what have you gained? Another country?

20:08 Speaker 2: More land? Industry?

20:10 Speaker 8: No.

20:13 Speaker 2: You have gained a nuclear wasteland that will be useless for the next 5,000 years.

20:23 Speaker 7: So I ask again, what did you win?

20:27 Speaker 3: All right, fool. If you were in my position, what would you have done?

20:33 Speaker 2: I would have talked. I would have sat down and tried to work out our differences. Calmly and with reason.

20:45 Speaker 7: Look at those monitors. The devastation.

20:48 Speaker 2: That is the work of madmen. And for what? So that you can get a mark in the win column?

20:59 Speaker 7: Who cares?

21:01 Speaker 3: My name will live in history.

21:05 Speaker 2: You mean.

21:06 Speaker 7: Infamy?

21:08 Speaker 2: What history? There is no more history. Everyone is dead or dying. Just as we are dying. What are you doing?

21:25 Speaker 3: Find me something.

21:26 Speaker 2: Anything.

21:28 Speaker 3: I'll slit my throat and bleed out. I won't die trying to get oxygen. Make it quick, fool. Bash me in the head.

21:36 Speaker 7: Anything.

21:37 Speaker 3: Then facing the horrors.

21:39 Speaker 6: The darkness when the air runs out and we gasp for another breath.

21:45 Speaker 3: Just another. The elevator?

21:51 Speaker 2: It's back.

21:54 Speaker 1: It's time, Faisal.

21:56 Speaker 2: Thank you. We will be up shortly. You can turn off the videos now.

22:03 Speaker 3: What's going on?

22:04 Speaker 2: An exercise in futility, Your Excellency. A fantasy created for your benefit.

22:14 Speaker 3: I don't understand!

22:15 Speaker 2: You never answered my question.

22:18 Speaker 3: What question?

22:19 Speaker 2: If this had been a real war, what would you have won?

22:26 Speaker 1: Huh.

22:32 Speaker 3: A rather stupid question, fool. Yes, it will be most amusing when I have you executed.

23:00 Speaker 1: In 1973, Air Force Major Harold Herring, while training to be a Minuteman missile crewman, asked what the Air Force did not want to answer. His question? Quote, How can I know that an order I received to launch the missiles came from a sane president? End quote. Their answer was that it was strictly need to know. I'll be back with the final word. If you are old enough to remember living through the Cold War, you can probably relate to our tale. If you are younger, perhaps you can learn something from it.

24:09 Speaker 1: One can only hope. One day, we can all survive together. Our cast included Crimson McKenzie, Winslow Swan, and William Stafford. The story was edited by Crimson McKenzie, and the entire production was under the direction of Winslow Swan. And now, a preview of our next tale.

24:44 Speaker 3: What the hell?

24:45 Speaker 2: No, Miss Smith, please don't move. I don't want to shoot you. That would defeat my purpose.

24:53 Speaker 3: And just what is your reason for breaking into my home?

24:56 Speaker 2: Oh, believe me, I didn't want to do this. I tried every legal means I could to acquire this house. Tell me, why is it so important that you remain here? If you must know, I happen to like it here. Oh, come now, Miss Smith. That can't be the.

25:19 Speaker 8: Only reason?

25:22 Speaker 1: This is your host, Artemis Black, inviting you to return with us through the doorway to nightmare for another adventure into the terrifying world of your imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully. Epilogue. The butler did it.