Apocalypse (Ark)

Name: Denis (19 years old)

Role in the bunker: Junior scout and hunter

Characteristic:

Denis is the youngest of those who regularly rise to the surface. He was born in the bunker, but has always longed for the exit. He's curious and quick, always scraping his knees and losing his flashlights. His father, a scout, died during one of his escapes four years ago, and Denis followed in his footsteps—not out of revenge or duty, but simply because he can't sit indoors.

Above ground, he's as at home as a fish in water. He runs fast, navigates well using old maps and landmarks, and has a knack for finding valuables among ruins—canned goods, tools, books, batteries. He always returns with an empty backpack and wild eyes, full of stories about what he's seen. True, he makes up half the stories, but even the elders love to listen to him.

Denis is brash, a little cheeky, but kind. He loves arguing with Fyodor about whether the old truck can be repaired above ground, and he's constantly losing lighters. In his free time, he plays the harmonica—he learned it from an old record. Because of this, he's sometimes asked to play in the evenings, and the bunker becomes almost like a celebration.

He dreams of finding a living city on the surface, but so far he's found only ruins. However, he hasn't lost hope and every week begs his superiors to let him go further away from the bunker. Maybe one day he'll find what he's looking for.

Name: Nina (28 years old)

Role in the Bunker: Librarian and Keeper of Knowledge

Characteristic:

Nina was born in the bunker. She'd never seen the sky, but she'd read hundreds of books about it. Her room is a former warehouse full of cardboard boxes, which she'd transformed into the coziest part of the bunker. The walls are covered with pictures of flowers and mountains cut out of magazines, paper garlands, and a small sofa with pillows.

She knows all the books by heart. When someone is sad or bored, Nina picks out a story just for them—one about adventure, love, or how the cities above were built. She reads aloud in the evenings in the living room, and the entire bunker gathers to listen. Her voice is quiet, calm, making you want to close your eyes and imagine something you've never seen.

Nina loves teaching children. She's taught all the kids here to read and write, even though they write the letters on scraps of newspaper with soot-based ink. She believes that one day they'll emerge and be able to rebuild what was destroyed. So she makes everyone learn poems and solve problems from old textbooks.

Her favorite food is mushroom soup and compote, and she always makes herbal tea for those with a cold (and colds are rare here). Nina is the main optimist and the life of the party. Without her, it would be dreary, but with her, even concrete walls feel cozy.

Name: Fedor (40 years old)

Role in the bunker: Senior mechanic and electrician

Characteristic:

Fyodor has been living in the bunker for 20 years, coming here as a young man when the surface became unusable. He knows every wire, every pipe, and every joint between concrete slabs. If a generator starts humming, a faucet leaks, or the light goes out in the hallway, they call Fyodor. He'll show up with a battered backpack filled with screwdrivers, duct tape, and spare fuses, and he'll silently fix it.

Fyodor is taciturn but kind. He likes to sit in his utility room among his tools and listen to the radio, which picks up only the sound of the wind. Every month, he goes to the surface with a group of scouts to check the condition of the solar panels and antenna. Nothing has worked there for a long time, but he goes there out of habit—it's the only thing that connects him to the old world.

He's the only one who remembers what the trees, the sun, and the rain looked like. But he doesn't talk about it, so as not to upset the young people. Instead, he teaches boys how to solder circuit boards and repair electrical outlets. He has a small workshop where he makes funny things out of old parts—like an elephant-shaped lamp or a pinwheel that spins when heated.

Fyodor is the most important person in the bunker. Without him, the lights would go out and the fan would stop. But he never mentions it, simply doing his job silently.