The five teens cried for hours, huddled in the cold, unforgiving darkness that seemed to suck the life out of anything it touched.
The floor of the shelter was hard cement and seeping chilly air. The walls were definitely painted, but it was far too dark to see the color. No one knew what lied in the shadows. A hallway? Perhaps to another shelter? An underground community that would rescue them?
For the first time in about an hour and a half, someone finally broke the silence.

"Seriously, are there any lights in here? This is creepy." The shaky voice of Ryft sounded softly from somewhere in the darkness. "There has to be a generator or something."

The darkness sprang to life with sound as everyone got up at once and began feeling the walls with their hands, trying to find a switch or a cord.
It was about three minutes later when Atlas suddenly let out a startled yelp, followed immediately by a quiet thump.

"Found something." She muttered, her voice coming from down low.

Suddenly, a light switched on overhead, revealing Fang with his hand on a switch of a small dark gray generator. Atlas was face-down on the floor behind it, one foot still sliding slowly off the top of the small power source.
The shelter was surprisingly small, only about twenty-five feet by seventeen feet long. It was a sort of oval shape, but with longer edges. The ceiling was about seven feet up. The walls were cement painted white and the floor's cement was untouched by color, it's gray tone like ash. There was a card table in a far left corner, in front of it a stack of blankets. Light wooden cabinets lined the top of the back wall and right wall, and above the back cabinets was some kind of air filter.

"Yes!" Silver cheered, helping Atlas up. "Skipper, you found it!"

"Heh." Atlas replied, grinning, then lifting her left hand to touch her forehead tenderly. "That's gonna leave a mark."

Raven grinned and gave Atlas a double thumbs-up, while Ryft appeared to be searching for something.

"Everyone, look for a door or a secret passage!" She said excitedly, searching the back wall.

She didn't have to say it out loud, but everyone knew what she was thinking.
Secret hallway. More shelters. More people. More chances of survival.

Everyone began searching immediately. They searched and searched for about twenty minutes until they all stopped. They eventually wandered hopelessly to the middle of the room. Everyone's face was downcast. They had found nothing but solid wall and locked cabinets.
Silver for once looked upset, Atlas was patting Silver's shoulder, Fang and Raven both shifted their weight from leg to leg, and Ryft looked ready to start crying.

"No, no. We can't give up now! We must have missed something! We must have.." Ryft's voice lost its volume and strength. She slid down to the floor against the wall and sat with her knees pulled up to her chin. "We must have..."

The room quieted into an absolute silence except for the quiet hum of the generator. No one looked at each other in the face.

"We should start talking supplies." Fang suddenly said loudly, startling Silver to bumping into the card table. "We need food and water, and plans to ration them."

This is what everyone liked about Fang. He respected everyone's feelings for an hour, then voiced a plan, looking at the reality and logic of the situation.

"Humans can survive about five days without food, and three without water." He added, causing Ryft to look up slowly. "We should plan our rationing accordingly."

"We need to get into the cabinets!" Atlas piped up, looking around at everyone excitedly. "I bet there's food and water in there!"

"Have you seen a key? Or something to open them with?" Ryft spoke, standing slowly and regaining her composure.

"I didn't find any. But I wasn't looking for a key, so maybe we should all look again." Silver said, looking around thoughtfully.

"Does anyone know how to pick locks?" Fang asked out loud. "We probably won't find the key, judging by the size of the keyholes. Tiny."

Everyone shook their heads, and Raven walked behind the card table to study the cabinets.

"Well, what are we gonna do?" Ryft asked, anxiety edging her voice. The thought of having food in reach but being unable to access it was maddening to her. "We can't just leave it!"

"We could try to pick the lock." Atlas suggested. "It can't be that hard."

"Does anyone have a paper clip or a bobby pin with them?" Silver asked, earning nothing but silence and disappointed faces.

Suddenly, there was a shout of effort and an ear splitting bang.
Everyone startled at once and whipped around.
Raven was standing in front of a now-destroyed cabinet, a large stone at her feet.

"Seriously guys, we aren't in a video game." Raven dusted her hands off and began to pry open the thin destroyed door of the cabinet she had bashed without turning around. "Sometimes it isn't that complicated."

Everyone watched slack-jawed. Fang looked irritated that he hadn't been the one to think of that. Ryft looked horrified at the mess Raven had made. Atlas and Silver both hopped over to Raven excitedly, helping her open the cabinet.

"Where did you even find that convenient rock?" Ryft looked bewildered.

"It was in the corner." Raven said evenly. "It has a family painted on it."

Before anyone had the chance to be sad, Silver yelled excitedly and pulled out an instant ravioli can, holding it high above her head in victory.