Erosion

Morning, Michelle!
Ugh.
She feels dizzy and her body is filled with a burning sensation. She stumbles forward, out of her preservation chamber, and sits down on the floor in front of it, putting her arms over her knees to rest her head.
I'm gonna ... need a moment.
Water?
She raises her head and Jack hands her a glass. After taking a couple sips, she sets it down, unsure whether it helps or makes it worse, and rests her head again.
Just let me sit here for a while.
He sits down next to her, about half a meter away.

A few minutes later, she lifts up her head again:
What year is it? ... and what's the mission?
Twenty-one-oh-six. There is no explicit mission, uplink's dead.
You're kidding.
Nope.
How'd you get woken up then?
Technical failure. The preservation chamber died.
You survived that?
He chuckles. That was the least of my challenges. He briefly tells her how he found himself trapped inside and that he turned to the dome city for help.

Michelle's dizziness starts to go away and the burning sensation in her body begins to fade. She slowly gets up, takes a few cautious steps forward to the table, and leans on it.
So? What now? Any plans?
Jack gets up as well and picks up the glass.
I guess, for now, taking a look at the uplink. I wanna see if we can get it going again.
He sets the glass on the table.
Thanks.
She thinks for a moment.
Assuming we can fix it... Then what?
Honestly, I don't know. Maybe they have something to do for us, maybe they don't. I'm just curious about the state of things up there.
Sounds good – but I don't feel quite ready for a hike like that.
Take your time, you just woke up.
She pulls back one of the chairs, sits down, and takes another sip.
If we can't fix it... The people who helped you, do you think they'd help us with the uplink too?
Don't know if they would, but they can't. They're stuck inside the dome city and want our help.
How? Even if the tunnels have collapsed, I can think of a few other ways to break out.
From what I know, they aren't physically trapped inside, the people in charge just don't want anyone to leave.
Jack sits down across from her and retells everything that had happened in detail, starting with his preservaton chamber breaking down. It takes him about half an hour, including answering Michelles questions.

How have you been dealing with food? I imagine the stockpile was already pretty low?
Actually not, the others seem to have mostly hunted and foraged for themselves.
I wonder what they found to still be edible...
Speaking of food, I got leftover baked potatoes. Want some?
Now that you ask, I'm slowly getting hungry. Did you make your usual spicy dip?
Yup — well...
He gets up and walks over to the kitchen area, grabs a small bowl filled with a dark red-ish paste, and sets it on the table.
I had to improvise a little because of a distinct lack of fresh ingredients but I think it still turned out pretty good.
Oh wow, that looks almost kinda scary.
The flakes they left us just aren't the same as fresh peppers. I had to add a lot to get even close to the usual spiciness.
He grabs the Backblech? with potatoes and puts it back in the oven to re-heat them.

After the meal, they go to the bunker entrance and Jack opens the door by touching a thick cable to one of the lugs on the motor. Sparks fly and the door moves up into the ceiling. Michelle gets her first look outside. The sky is a clear blue and the sun hits the other side of the valley.
Oddly familiar, and yet so different.
She hesitates for a moment before stepping onto the cracked pavement in front of the bunker.
the scene where Jack opens the door should have a short description of the lay of the lands
The two decide to walk up to a crest? ridge? not far from them on the other side of the valley. Beyond it is Ivydale, once a large city housing just over a million people – only one of who? whom? which? remains to behold its overgrown ruins.
Jack is from Sentinel Shores.
Michelle says: I mean I knew it already but seeing it like this just hits differently.
They sit down on a large rock in the shade of a small, lone tree and take in the view. Michelle takes some time to fully process her new reality.

After a long while, she says: Okay, let's go take a look at that uplink.
The two get up and walk back towards the bunker, looking for a path somewhere to the left of it.
Jack points to a structure a decent bit up the mountain and says: I think that's it.
Oh wow, there isn't much left.
Jack points at a few other things below it.
I think these are also part of it.

They make their way over and, following what remains of the path, the two start making their way up. The path is narrow and winded, and overgrown where it hasn't disappeared entirely. Jack walks ahead, only half following it, half making it up as he goes. Michelle struggles to follow, slowly falling behind. After a while, he stops abruptly, looking down at something, then up, then down again. Then, he turns to Michelle who is just catching up and says:
Well, that could be a reason why the uplink is down – it literally ...is down...
Michelle reaches the edge and and sees what Jack had stopped for: A large ravine? wash? extends downwards from the top of the mountain where a landslide had left nothing but a cliff and a huge pile of rubble. At the top of the mountain, teetering on the edge, are two buildings – all that's left of the ground station. The rest of the buildings and the dish lay strewn around in pieces down below.