Chapter Text
Life was boring in so many aspects now that Kili couldn’t even begin to count. Controls, panels, satellites. Screens, more screens and readings. He growled with frustration. He had no fucking idea how he ended up where he was. All alone.
Last time he saw uncle Thorin it was over two months ago. Before the shit began. He was working in Erebor Central doing his regular thing, it was dead late at night, but he was half done and he desperately wanted to finish. That saved his life.
Sometime around two am he saw an urgent encrypted message flashing on his screen.
“Urgent at two am?” He growled. But his instincts told him to open it. It was a video message.
“Kili I’m stuck in China and things are not looking good!” Thorin’s voice sounded desperate which was very unusual for the strong man. “The world is going to hell... everything that is happening here is just so fucked up! Listen carefully boy, and listen good! Go down to the Erebor Bunker under the main building and lock yourself in! There is some kind of epidemic going on in China, but it will soon spread all over the world! Go down there as soon as you get this and secure it! It’s a code red. I repeat it’s a code red! Send the news to all our units and facilities!” There was some kind of rumbling in the background and Thorin looked spooked. Kili saw the gun in his hand and soon his uncle turned around and shot. “Run Kili! Save yourself!”
“Fuck fuck fuck!” Kili grimaced and began packing his things. He had tones of personal stuff in the office so he swiftly pushed it in a box and packed in the private elevator going down to the secure bunker.
He stopped for a moment at the security terminal and typed in security codes. Soon he saw footage from all the cameras and everything seemed fine for now. The news were saying something about some suspicious riots, but Kili knew it was only a first phase.
He clicked the red protocol icon on the terminal and began setting shut down codes for the offices. He would have time to do the rest from the bunker.
“What’s going on?” A security guard Kili knew well stopped him. Kili gazed at Bofur seriously.
“It’s a red lock down. I don’t know the details, but you should go and get your family away from town.” Kili told him.
“I can’t just drop my job...” Bofur complained with panic.
“Here!” Kili pushed a big envelop with cash into his hands. “Save your family! Officially I’m releasing you from your post tonight, I’m locking down the building.”
“I can’t accept this...” The guard mumbled, but Kili was pushing the boxes into the security elevator hidden in the wall.
“If this is just a false alarm, I will cover your ass.” Kili assured him.
Bofur just stood there and glared at the red light signally the elevator going down. He gazed around the building and the words ‘ lock down’ kick in. He rushed out to the front door, desperately holding the envelop in his hand.
Since that day he was all alone. He often wondered if Bofur was alive, and with regret thought of what he did. He could have asked him to stay. But Bofur had a family, two brothers, eight nieces and nephews. He hoped he got away from hell in time. Because New York became hell just several days later. He hoped Bofur had listened. That he used the money and got out of town.
He saw the news, until it was still broadcast. He kept track of the satellite feeds, computer systems. Desperately waiting for some sign. But his uncle never contacted him. His friends never called. And he was all alone.
He couldn’t complain, the bunker was secure. The whole building was in lock down, which meant only two entrances functional but locked, all windows and gates under thick steel curtains. New York was pretty calm not counting the zombies, hoards and swarms of them.
He saw some wild groups roam the suburbs using CCTV but they never even attempted coming near his location. Not that they could get in anyway.
Feeling bored he kept hacking. Hacking CCTV in any building or town he could. Monitoring satellite feed. Gathering intel.
As time flew by he had no idea why he was doing what he was doing. Stuck in a bunker, writing programs and protocols for equipment that didn’t exist anymore.
Praying to see his uncle again who was probably dead. What a fucking great end of the world.
-----
It was another lazy pointless day, out of sheer boredom he sat at the control panel. First he checked the satellites for any attempt of contact, but the screens were blank. He was receiving but there was nothing to receive. TV was down, all hidden military channels were down, simply silence.
He had no idea why he began viewing the city, using CCTV. The zombies were strange creatures. Active and fast when food was around, and slow and lethargic when there was no food. He began wondering how many people made it out, only to realise he could use the satellites.
“I just need to write the right program...” He said out loud just for the purpose of hearing his own voice.
As soon as the idea was born Kili had a new purpose. All his attention and focus on the new mission he set himself. It he could find people, he could try to contact them using the old systems. Maybe he could find his uncle... Writing the program wasn’t easy, but Kili had a knack for difficult things. A few days and he had a mainframe. Two weeks later he had a working module.
“Now a few final touches...” Kili kept mumbling to himself and tapping. After a few more hours he turned it on.
“Now let’s connect you to anything worth connecting.” Kili gazed at the list of satellites. He knew Erebor had enough, but using cross triangulation was a safer option. Soon he hacked all the satellites he could. The military ones heavily guarded, and normally he would never dare, but the world was over. There was no court to judge him, or police to arrest him.
Soon he had a view of the world unlike anyone else before. A heat signature map with all the people still alive. A movement signature map to point out all the zombies.
“117 678 people still left.” He said out loud and smiled. He quickly noted the date and number and began searching for larger groups. There was a chance, a tiny ray of hope that indestructible resourceful Thorin was in one of them.
“Now let’s make a difference...” Kili gazed at the locations.
He decided to gather information first, and it proved the best strategy. After watching a group roam Boston he decided not to help them in any way, disgusted with what they were doing.
“Are murderers and rapists the only people left?” He growled after watching three other groups roam the streets. It was so easy to watch them in CCTV that it was actually scary. And for a moment he wondered if the government actually used it for spying in the old days.
He finally located a ship. Pretty big National Guard unit. It was a hassle to hack them, but soon he found a way into the ship’s security system.
“Let’s see who you are and what you’re doing...” He whispered and watched a group of troops and civilians on the ship. It was cramp, they were struggling, but they were normal people. They kept hierarchy and the captain of the ship was in charge.
“Now... options... a ship full of 640 people they needs supplies, they need safety. They need fuel to travel.” He counted out. Soon he was working on maps. The whole coast line was infected and swarmed. “Well well, he have a port!” He glanced at the tiny island. It was far away, but checking their fuel level they had just enough to get there.
He easily tapped into their communication system.
-------
Captain Aragorn rarely believed in luck. He believed in facts. And facts were they were alone, the world was gone, all people zombiefied or dead.
They were drifting now, in a safe zone, any attempt to dock was too risky. Dangerous. Their two tries were met with huge zombie swarms on the beaches and bays. Slowly they were drifting to their doom, food supplies dwindling and water filters barely managing with the huge number of people they saved.
He saved nearly four hundred people just to watch them die of hunger...
“Captain incoming transmission!” His communication officer called out from the bridge.
Aragorn ran as fast as he could. Just to see his second in command Nerkow stunned, and the communication officer Lacy pale with some kind of spark in her eyes. Aragorn reached for the phone.
“Minas do you copy.”
“Minas, captain Aragorn Strider speaking.” Aragorn replied.
“I’m glad your communication system is still working.” The voice assured him.
“Who are you? Where are you calling from?” Aragorn shot questions.
“Classified.” The voice replied. “You can call me your Guardian Angel, I can see you on the satellite feed.”
“Are there other survivors? Is there an evacuation plan?” Aragorn asked.
“Captain the world went to hell. I’m sitting in a top secret facility using illegal methods to contact you. There is no evacuation. Survivors? Most groups I located so far... are uncivilized.” The voice added grimly. “And I would advise avoiding them at all cost.”
“So what can we do?” Aragorn was depressed.
“Set course for Rum Cay.” The voice told him.
“But that’s foreign land?” Aragorn was puzzled.
“Free of infection foreign land with only fifty nine inhabitants. Good soil, palm trees and coral reefs all around.” The voice seemed happy. “You have just enough fuel to get there.”
“How can you know that?” Aragorn asked puzzled.
“I can see everything...” The voice replied. “I could actually control your ship from here, but well I’ll leave the boring work to you specialists.”
“Are you sure it’s safe there?” Aragorn asked.
“I’m sure.” The voice replied.
“Is there a way we can contact you?” Aragorn asked slowly.
“I’ll send you coordinated for satellite communication.” The voice replied.
“Coordinates!” Aragorn told Lacy his communication officer.
“But that’s a Russian satellite...” She protested.
“I hacked it.” The voice replied calmly. “It’s mine now, the Russians are down, just like the Chinese.”
“Connect!” Aragorn told her.
“Establishing connection.” Lacy said obediently.
“Rum Cay is surrounded by coral reef...” They saw pictures and details on their screens. “It will prevent the zombies from reaching shore.”
“Thank you.” Aragorn said seriously.
“Don’t thank me yet, get there safe and save as many as you can.” The voice told them. “Otherwise the world really is screwed...”
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After helping Minas, Kili managed to contact two bunkers with large groups of survivors, one of Erebor labs ‘The Shire’ was still functional, and a military unit stationed in Alaska. They were all so happy to hear any form of contact that Kili felt he had a purpose. He tried to help all those he managed to locate. Some never responded despite getting his messages, two Chinese submarines simply ignored him, one Russian ship as well. But he didn’t care, the more he helped the more people were saved.
He was so focused on his task that he forgot about his closest surrounding, and when the security system began ringing that there an entry, Kili was so stunned he had no idea what to do.