The Bunker Project Ch. 18

"Well that really isn't that far from the truth when it comes to how many women you have with you now. And I did joke about the whole sex cult thing myself." Kimber said with a laugh.

"Just because you think it's a joke doesn't mean it's true. But the best we can do is give Bekah some space. I know there isn't a huge amount of boys here close to her age but eventually there might be once we get everyone here and if we are lucky she might shift that energy towards him. I know even that scares you but she is an adult now and it's bound to happen eventually." Paul said to her reaching his hand over to place on top of hers like she had done to him earlier.

Kimber seemed to be thinking about what he said as she looked around the garden they sat in. She could see some of the women from his little family walking about inside the house and when they looked out they waved hello. Perhaps she had been wrong about it all she thought. She had been quick to judgment when it came to her brother and his unorthodox living arrangements.

From there the talk turned back to their mother's condition and Paul seemed to be genuinely concerned about how she was doing. It had been weeks since Kimber last spoke to her but when she had, her mother was just moved to a care facility. She had been doing better before Jamie's family and her own took the journey to the islands but when they were waiting to transition to their assigned bunkers she made one last call back there to check on her. The call wasn't long but with no one there to watch her anymore now that Jamie had left, when she collapsed she was involuntarily sent to live in a place that had around the clock help.

The conversation had helped put Kimber at ease somewhat but it had the opposite effect for Paul. He now felt guilty about leaving his mother behind. There was little he could do for her though since the likelihood of her getting admitted into the Bunker Project was absolutely zero. Besides her age being a major factor, the fact that she had terminal cancer would be an automatic disqualification any way. His sister's complaints about his love life also rattled some thoughts loose in his head that he didn't like either.

Eventually Javier came looking for his wife and found her in the garden still chatting away with his brother in-law. It was getting late in the day and he was ready to eat. He had made the family dinner but neither of the two women had come home yet. It was no surprise to find his daughter there since that was where she had been most of the time since arriving at Bunker 1 but he figured his wife was off doing something important like getting supplies or something. He knew of the chaotic relationship she had with her brother and her being there talking happily shocked him some.

It was getting late though so the two siblings said their goodbyes and each went back to have a nice meal with their respective families. Bekah tried to convince her parents to let her stay and eat at her uncle's house but they were both adamant that she come home and eat with them. She was about to through a tantrum but Chloe volunteered herself to come eat with them instead.

Things stayed quiet the rest of the week with Chloe now staying by Bekah instead of the other way around. Sarah and Emily were fine with that because it meant that they got to spend more time with Paul with Chloe gone. Paul's bed remained full each of the nights just like it usually did but his partners changed each night.

First Week of January 2025

Things seemed to be going great for everyone in the bunker as New Year's came. They had even found a way to light off some fireworks inside the atrium without causing any damage to anything. It was during the fireworks that a man and woman approached Paul and asked if they could talk to him. Their faces looked somewhat familiar but he couldn't remember their names. Leaving all of his family behind to enjoy the explosions of light, he guided the couple up to his office where they could talk in private.

"Okay so what is it that I can help you with?" He asked them as they sat opposite of him in his office.

The couple looked at each other, neither sure what to say before looking back at him. "It's about our daughter." The man finally said.

"Okay what about her?" Paul asked.

"I'm not sure if you remember her but you met her when you brought us to our home. God this is so hard to say without just getting so angry about it. We didn't want to burden you with this but what happened can't be left without punishment." The man continued.

"It's alright just take your time. I'm sure we can work through whatever the problem is." Paul assured the man.

"That's just it. I'm not sure this is something that will or can be resolved so easily." The man explained.

"I'm not sure i'm following you on this. Has your daughter done something to break the rules?" Paul asked.

"She hasn't but one of the other residents has. I don't know if there are laws here like there was back home but either way this needs to be resolved." The woman chimed in since her husband seemed stuck with his words.

"I see. What is it that has happened?" Paul asked the couple.

The couple each took a deep breath, sighed and then told him, "Our daughter was raped. We don't know the person's name but we believe our daughter when she told us what happened. Like I said I'm not sure about the laws here but surely this would be something that can't be taken so lightly."

This was a shock for Paul. If this was true it would be something they had never planned for. While there weren't really laws there about something like that, it was still something that was not welcome in the bunker or really anywhere. He thought about his own history in the bunker so far and the women he had been with but he had never forced any of them to do anything they didn't want to do. He also thought back to what he had seen happen to Melisa with the two men and how he should've predicted something like this happening at some point.

"If it's possible would I be able to speak to your daughter. While i'm not saying that I don't believe you, these are serious allegations and before anything can happen I need to know what all happened from her own mouth." He told the couple.

They looked at each other before the woman got up and left the room to most likely go fetch her daughter like was requested. As Paul and the man sat there he could sense the anger still surging through the man. Paul thought about what he would be like if he were in the man's shoes and it didn't take much for his own anger to start to rise.

Looking the man in the eye he told him, "This stays between us; if what you are saying is proven true I can guarantee you that this person will be taken care of. I will see to it myself. That type of action will never be welcomed here ever."

Paul saying that seemed to calm the man down some. They sat there waiting for roughly thirty minutes before the woman came back with a young woman in tow. The young woman was dressed in a baggy hooded sweatshirt and he couldn't see her face. When she sat and lifted her head to look at him he recognized her as the young woman he almost had sex with himself. They were the family who belonged to the suite he had been with Melisa in. The young woman seemed quite nervous and didn't speak as she sat there.

"Ok April honey, tell the man what you told us." The woman told her daughter.

April looked at both of her parents and not a word came out of her mouth only slight tears started streaking down her cheeks. Sensing that she was uncomfortable explaining things in front of her parents again, Paul asked them if it was alright if he spoke to her alone. They were reluctant about it but they wanted things resolved so they walked out and left their daughter alone with Paul.

"Hi April. It's just the two of us now. You don't need to be afraid. I'm here to help but I need to know what all happened for that to work." Paul said trying to calm the girl.

She finally lowered the hood from her head and looked at him with a decent amount of tears filling her eyes. Of all the people to explain what happened to her, he was the last she wanted to know about it. When her parents confronted her about it and made it clear they wanted to report it she had been hoping it was the lady that was second in charge that was the one they talked to. It was too late to change it now so she took a deep breath and started to tell him what happened.

"I didn't want any of this to happen. It was all a mistake. I shouldn't have even been there." She said through her tears.

"It's ok. Just walk me through what happened." He told her hoping not to make her feel worse.

She looked up at him and was not sure she could tell him. She still had strong feelings for him and explaining what happened would reveal that to him. Shaking her head she cursed at herself and then just came out with it.

"So after you left our house when we first got here, all I could think about was you and the way you were looking at me that day. I've never had a guy look at me like that before and I thought maybe I was just imagining it. I had finally worked up the courage to come see you and had even dressed up real nice. I don't know exactly what I was expecting would happen but I was hoping that you would at least look at me that way again." She explained.

Paul thought back to that day and remembered he had been turned on by her and he didn't think she had noticed his prolonged looks. He hadn't expected they would have that sort of effect on her though.

"I found out where you lived from one of the people in the market and I walked towards where they said it was. I didn't even know there were buildings over that way. When I walked closer to the building I saw a bunch of people carrying furniture and stuff in but I heard this rustling in the bushes. I got curious what it was so I walked into the bush to get a better look. I was shocked when there was a man standing there and he was playing with himself. I had never seen a penis in real life before and I couldn't take my eyes off it." She continued.

"He just kept pulling on it and I guess I started to get excited because my hands seemed to have a mind of their own and I started to play with myself too. It was then that he finally noticed me and he walked over and ripped my bra off me. It hurt really bad. Before I could say anything he had spun me around and forced himself inside me. It hurt so bad. I tried to stop him but I couldn't get words out. He just kept forcing himself into me. All I could think to do was to close my eyes and try to imagine it was someone else but he must have noticed and got more forceful because of it. He was right though because I was thinking about it being you. Then he shot his stuff into me and pushed me to the ground and pulled my underwear off. He got dressed without saying anything and left. I just laid there and wanted to curl into a ball. I got dressed the best I could and ran home. I tried to shower off all of his stuff that was on me but I just sat in the shower and cried." She continued her harrowing memory of what had happened to her.

"I didn't say anything to my parents at first because I was embarrassed at what I had done and I didn't want them to know the shame I felt. I finally had no choice when I missed my last period and found out I was pregnant. My dad went ballistic and my mom didn't know what to say. She just looked at me like I wasn't her daughter anymore. She wouldn't even talk to me until after I had the abortion done." April said before completely breaking down into a giant ball of tears in the chair opposite of him.

"That was terrible what happened to you and it wasn't your fault. Your parents are probably more angry at themselves than anything because they couldn't protect you. They love you, I know that much." He told her.

April only managed to say in response, "I'm such a horrible daughter."

"No you didn't ask for that to happen to you. I can't say that I know how you feel because I don't have the slightest clue but I do know that you are very brave for coming forward and telling me what happened because it couldn't have been an easy thing to do." He said calmly to her.

"Do you know anything about the guy who did that to you? Like his name or what he looked like at least?" Paul asked.

Through her sniffles she managed to say, "I don't know his name but he was a fairly tall black guy. Any of the times i've seen him after it happened I just ran away because I felt sick just seeing him."

"That's alright, do you know roughly around the day and time it happened?" He asked.

April thought back some trying to calculate roughly when it had happened.

"I'm not sure the exact time or day but it was before Halloween I know that much. Not the real Halloween but when it was celebrated here." She told him.

"Okay that's helpful, i'll look through the surveillance footage from around then and see if I can see a person in the area. Thank you for being so candid with me I know it wasn't easy. I won't take up any more of your time and I'll let you get back to the fireworks. Can you send your dad back in when you head out?" He told her. She simply nodded her head in agreement.

"You wanted to see me?" The father asked him.

"Yes I just wanted to tell you that i'm going to look into what happened to your daughter and when I find out anything I will be sure to let your whole family know what the outcome is." Paul told him.

"Thank you so much. I hope this will bring closure for my daughter. And I hope the scumbag pays for what he did." He replied.

The father left and Paul pulled up the feed from the cameras that were in the proximity of his home. Scrolling back through the footage until it was just before Halloween, he came across his family loading in the furniture to the house like April had said she seen. He quickly scanned back until he saw the young woman coming down the path towards the house just like she described. He took note of the time on that camera and brought up the feeds from the others to match that time.

He watched as she did exactly like she had told him and walked towards a group of bushes just on the perimeter of the building. He lost sight of her when she disappeared into the bushes. None of the cameras got a view into the bush and none of the audio could pick up any of the sound coming from inside of it either. He just kept watching until movement started coming through the bushes where April had entered from.

He stopped the recording just as the man had cleared free of the bush. Paul's face went red with rage. It was Michael, the same guy who had tormented him with the pictures of Sarah. Sure enough Paul could see a pair of white panties clutched in his right hand which corroborated April's story.

Paul bolted up from his desk and didn't even bother to shut his computer off. He ran as fast as he could towards the elevator and waited for it to slowly lower him down to the ground level of the atrium. He quickly made his way through the crowds of people with his eyes scanning for his target.

He spotted him standing next to a group of people near a park bench watching the fireworks go off. Paul rapidly approached and Michael turned at the last second to see Paul's fist connect with his face. The punch hit like a wrecking ball and Mike was out cold before his body even hit the ground. The punch wasn't enough because Paul swung his leg as hard as he could into the unconscious man's exposed groin. The whole situation had been enough to pull the lid off the anger he had tried to bottle up and now he was acting on pure rage.

A crowd had gathered, watching on in shock as Paul grabbed the man by the neck and began to drag the man towards the elevators in the main building after repeatedly pummeling the unconscious man a half dozen times in the face. The Williams family had come over to see the commotion and Sarah looked at both men before her eyes looked into Paul's as if to ask what happened. Emily held her back when she tried to run over and find out what happened.

No one held back April's father. He looked at Paul who simply nodded that it was indeed the person who had violated his daughter and got some blows into the man's unconscious body as well. April couldn't stand to watch and turned away crying at what she felt she caused.

Paul just kept dragging the body to the elevator. This was a side of him that none of the Williams women had ever seen of him. Only one other person in the bunker had seen him like that before and that was his sister Kimberly. She had seen it once before when Paul had confronted their father about things that had happened to them growing up.

During the elevator ride up Mike had started to wake back up only to have Paul strike him hard in the face again and put him back out. He continued to drag him all the way out of the bunker and down to where some small boats were located on a pier. The boat wasn't built for long distance ocean travel but would work fine for what he had in mind. Throwing Mike into the boat, he started up the engine and untied the boat from where it was docked. He held onto the line that had secured it while he jammed the engine so it would only go straight and then held the throttle all the way open hitting the engine's cruise button to hold it there before letting go of the rope. Paul watched as the small boat raced off across the waves and away from the island.

On his way back in he told the security officer if the boat somehow managed to return that they were to open fire on it. Under no circumstance was the boat's occupant to be allowed to return back inside the bunker. Making his way back to his office, he grabbed a glass and poured himself some whiskey that was hidden in his desk. He hadn't had a drink of alcohol in years but he definitely needed it now as the rage was slowly simmering. His hands were shaking as he tried to bring the glass up to his mouth to take a drink.

Down below the crowd had dispersed and went back to enjoying the glorious light show. There was chatter here and there about what had happened but most shut up about it afraid that the same thing might happen to them.

Second Week of January 2025

There was some commotion over what had happened the following few days after the fireworks but Paul ignored any questions the residents had about it. He did order Michael's suite to have all of its items destroyed. Erica tried to get it out of him what had happened but he told her nothing. She had to resort to looking through the computer logs to see what he had been doing before she could make sense of what had actually happened.

It was finally closing in on time for the group of women to be sent over to Bunker 3 to complete the trade. With the choices made, Paul called them in as a group up to his office to inform them of what was about to happen. As he figured there was not stop pleading for him to change his mind. The most vocal of which came from Amanda who still had hope that somehow things would work out to where they ended up back together. Sure the pregnancy to her best friend's husband was an unwelcome set back but she thought that maybe after she gave birth that sure could gradually make things better with Paul but now that simply couldn't happen.

With everything finalized there was simply no going back or changing things at that point even if he wanted to. It killed him some to be sending them away especially after he saw each of their faces in his office that day but he knew he had to stay strong. With the hard part over he still had to select who would be sent over from Bunker 3. He managed to narrow down the choices to a dozen but rather than picking from there he left the final decision up to Erica to make.

She was surprised to be given such power in the situation but that only seemed to make her more determined to pick just the right people from the options she had. She saw how difficult it was for Paul to talk to the women they were sending away and she imagined it would be just as hard for someone over there with whoever she picked. She wanted to avoid bringing over anyone who had concrete attachments to anyone there so that meant that married individuals were immediately crossed off the list. Thankfully it seemed 5 people on the list fit within that requirement.