My superior answered the call.

“Yes sir”

He signaled for me to grab my keys. We went to the red metal box on the wall with two padlocks. I never thought I’d see that box open. I followed his command and we both unlatched the two padlocks. Inside was a card with numbers and two other keys. He handed me on key.

“Ok sir, I’m ready” He stated to whoever was on the other end of the phone. Possibly the President. He started repeating the numbers being read to him and matching them with the numbers on the card. He confirmed the code and asked if it was a drill.

He became speechless as he looked at me.

“Confirmed, this is not a drill, proceeding with the sequence”.

We both walked to the keyholes each located at opposite ends from one another. I walked to the right end of the room towards my position. It felt like an eternity. I could feel my heart pounding. Feelings of not knowing if this was reality, of what I was about to do. What I was trained to do. Flashes of my parents, my girlfriend, the rest of my family, and friends. I stood there staring at the keyhole. Slowly I inserted the key as my hand trembled. I could hear the pins locking in. I looked at my superior.

“3,2,1, turn”.

We quickly turned our keys clockwise and back. During this process, everything slowed down. The realization set in that nothing mattered anymore. Future plans, weddings, birthdays, vacations, cookouts with loved ones, graduations, what a child wanted to be when they grow up, any scientific breakthroughs, any future technological achievements, and problems we were striving to solve such as diseases and hunger. All those future prospects were now deemed void.

Time went back to normal. Alarms blared and the entire room shook as the rocket went off to condemn millions to their fates by our own hands. While someone out there on the other side, in a similar room with a similar job is going through the same realization.

My superior sits there as if contemplating what is there to even wait for. Further orders, but from who?

“We need to get into the chamber”. We climbed down the hatch into a small room with a bunk bed, a fridge, a pantry, a radio, a toilet, and a safe.

Inside the safe, was a pistol with only two bullets.