Air

In the near future, biochemical weapons cause a  disaster that makes the air unbreathable. During   interviews, the president of the USA assures  everyone that the priority is his citizens yet   the reporters keep mentioning some rumors about  secret bunkers where they'll hide scientists.   Eventually most of humanity is wiped out by this  tragedy, and the most important and intelligent   scientists of the country are put in cryogenic  sleep in underground bunkers to wait until the   air is no longer toxic. There are dozens of these  bunkers, and they're maintained by two engineers   that wake up for two hours every six months.  In this particular facility, the engineers are   Bauer and Cartwright, and it's always Bauer  who wakes up first. He feels a bit nauseous,   but he recovers quickly, unlike Cartwright who  always wakes up with nightmares because of his   claustrophobia. Bauer teases him for a while  before finally letting him come out of his tank,   which is a different model from the others.  Afterward both men begin their maintenance tasks,   which include logging in at the computer to let  the other facilities they're alive. Cartwright is   glad to see the other bunkers are doing well  too, even if communication among facilities   isn’t possible. They also check the air on the  surface, but unfortunately it's still toxic.   Their room has a board with pictures of  their old life and Bauer likes to put tape   with the word "dead" on their friends' faces  to remind themselves of the reality out there,   but Cartwright hates it and removes the tape  every time. The engineers continue to check the   information on the computers and Cartwright begins  to worry when he sees there has been seismic   activity because of the potential damage it may've  caused. Bauer is creeped out by the sleepers,   so they agree Cartwright will check on them.  While Bauer goes into a corridor to do repairs,   Cartwright takes the chance to look at  a picture he's hidden behind the board,   only to suddenly turn around when he hears Abby.  This is a hallucination Cartwright has about the   woman he loves, and he doesn't mind chatting with  her when he's alone. After putting the picture   in his pocket, Cartwright goes to check on the  sleepers, and it's revealed Abby is one of the   scientists there. Her hallucination appears  next to her tank while Cartwright runs the   diagnosis and she insists Cartwright should tell  Bauer about her, but Cartwright says he'll wait   for the right time. At that moment, Bauer joins  him and begins complaining about the sleepers,   thinking it's a waste of resources and their  lives to babysit a guy that knows some stuff about   reptiles. However Cartwright truly thinks the  scientists are the future of humanity, and he's   calculated that they'll be sleeping for twenty  more shifts. Once they're done with their duties,   the duo uses their remaining minutes to watch  old tv recordings, play chess, and Bauer even   uses the bathroom for a date with Manuela. Abby  visits Cartwright again, saying she looks forward   to being together again when he falls asleep.  However Cartwright is nervous because entering the   tank is always hell for him - no matter how many  times he's already done it, his claustrophobia   always triggers. As Abby tries to comfort him,  Cartwright suddenly sees flames on her body,   and he realizes his tank is on fire. He rushes to  call for Bauer, who comes out of the bathroom with   the extinguisher. The fire is successfully put  out, but sadly the sleeping pod is now destroyed,   and Bauer has injured his hand in the process. To  make matters worse, at that moment the two hours   end, meaning the lights go out and the air supply  is cut off. Using torchlights and the little air   left in the room, the engineers read the manual  and learn there's an emergency override, so they   take the stairs to find the right chamber. The  emergency air supply valve is quickly turned on,   then the duo returns to the office to wait for the  backup air to reach them. While they wait, they   share some details about their lives, and Bauer  admits he used to have a wife and three daughters,   and he had to lie for the job because of the  special requirements. Bauer had to watch how   the government sealed him in the bunker and his  family was left out to die under false promises,   and Cartwright says he understands even if he  doesn't have a family. At that moment the power   finally comes back and the air supply is restored,  causing the clock to give them two more hours.   The engineers go looking for a spare pod at the  storeroom but don't find any even if the manual   says spares exist. Cartwright realizes this may  not be the only storeroom and checks the bunker   blueprint, which has a bunch of codes he doesn't  understand. There's also a room named "long-term   storage" that they usually don't cover because  it's sealed off, but Cartwright bets the spares   are there. The duo removes the seal and goes down  a corridor they've never seen before, finding a   door at the end. Behind it, there's a locker room  where Cartwright finds a broken security camera,   which doesn't make sense because their system  isn't connected to this room. Bauer explains   it's probably a leftover from the time this place  was a military facility. Searching deeper inside,   Cartwright sees Abby again, and she guides him to  the box where he finally finds the spare pod. The   engineers quickly fix Cartwright's tank, but he's  still afraid of getting inside. Bauer volunteers   to test it first and as soon as he lies down,  he notices there must be a leak and the air is   getting thinner in there. Cartwright goes to check  the pump and suddenly, the chamber sucks Bauer   down, suffocating him until he doesn't struggle  in panic anymore. When Bauer is about to die,   Cartwright finally shows up and cuts the pod to  free him. Thinking Cartwright tried to kill him,   Bauer furiously pushes him away, but Cartwright  explains he was delayed because he couldn't find   a knife to break the pod open. Cartwright  also reminds him that it should've been him,   which convinces Bauer it had been an accident.  Since Cartwright's pod is destroyed now, Bauer   decides they must kill one of the sleepers to use  their tank instead. Cartwright reminds him their   duty is to take care of the sleepers, but Bauer  changes his mind by pointing out nobody can do the   caring if they're dead. While Cartwright prepares  a morphine injection for the euthanization,   Abby shows up and asks him not to do it, she  also says it's as simple as ABC. Getting an idea,   Cartwright announces he can't commit murder,  and Bauer immediately begins arguing about this,   saying this is about survival. Then Bauer begins  hitting him, but Cartwright pushes him away and   threatens him with an injection as he asks  his friend to give his idea a chance. Feeling   defeated, Bauer accepts. The duo returns to the  office and thanks to Abby's clue, Cartwright   realizes that the weird codes on the blueprint are  the same ones on the computer, meaning each code   represents another bunker facility that may have  more spare parts. Bauer thinks it's too dangerous   since they can't know if there are air leaks  between facilities but Cartwright is willing to   take the risk. Then Cartwright puts on a hazmat  suit that will provide clean air and a radio   that will keep him in contact with Bauer, who  will guide him by following him on the security   cameras. When he enters the first corridor, he's  shocked to discover a skeleton on the ground,   whose clothes and gun said it used to be a  soldier. With only half an hour left, Bauer begins   fixing some old monitors in the office while  Cartwright goes further inside the dark tunnels,   where he finds lots of floating blue dust from the  airborne contaminant. After walking for a while,   Cartwright finally appears on the old security  cameras, so Bauer begins labeling the fixed   monitors properly. Eventually Cartwright finds  a door with a sign that confirms this is the ABC   facility. After struggling with the jammed lock,  Cartwright comes inside and is shocked to discover   nothing here is working. Since he can't open the  next door, Cartwright begins to feel hopeless, and   Abby appears to ask him not to give up. At that  moment Bauer comes up with a solution: Cartwright   can enter the ABC facility by crawling through the  air duct. The claustrophobia immediately kicks in,   but Cartwright swallows it down for the sake  of his survival. As he moves through the duct,   he's disgusted to see there are numerous  bodies here too and he has to crawl over   them. When Cartwright goes deeper into  the duct, Bauer loses contact with him,   so he decides to use some tools to boost the  signal. However when he grabs his toolbox,   he discovers his knife has been there all along  and Cartwright possibly lied. Just to be sure,   he checks the security footage and is devastated  to discover that Cartwright just stood next to the   tank doing nothing while he suffocated. Meanwhile  Cartwright finally makes it to the ABC facility   and his radio begins working again. As he looks  around, he discovers the facility is in complete   ruins and there are no survivors. There's also  a hole in the ceiling that Cartwright uses to   look outside, only to discover the planet has  been demolished by nuclear weapons a long time   ago. Next he checks on the sleeper's chambers,  but they've also been destroyed. Cartwright gets   upset when he finally realizes that the computer  showing that all the facilities were well had been   a lie to keep the engineers' sanity and make  them believe they aren't alone. Bauer comments   they can't trust anyone anymore and puts the  "dead" tape on the board again. While Cartwright   continues to explore, he comes to the conclusion  his facility is the only one functioning, meaning   they are alone. Abby shows up to tell him he isn't  alone, but at that moment Cartwright realizes he's   running low on air and begins running back to his  own facility. Once he reaches the last corridor,   Cartwright goes through the decontamination  process while Bauer shows up on the other side   of the door holding up his knife, pointing out his  friend's lie. Cartwright swears he can explain,   but suddenly Bauer reveals he took the gun from  the dead soldier and says Cartwright is a danger   to him and the sleepers, meaning he has to die.  Desperate and afraid, Cartwright runs back into   the ABC facility, but the air is running out and  he has trouble running. Abby shows up and tells   him to get back into the air duct because there's  an alternate path he can take. As Cartwright   crawls his way through, Bauer berates him through  the radio, telling him how much the betrayal hurt   and that he'll die soon if he doesn't come back.  Cartwright just ignores him and keeps on moving   until he finds a path that takes him back to his  own facility, where he quickly removes his suit   to breathe properly again. Then he tries to return  to the office, only to suddenly be found by Bauer,   who opens fire. Luckily the shot doesn't land  in the darkness, and Cartwright runs back to   hide behind the door. Bauer continues to follow  him, ignoring Cartwright's pleas and reminders   that they're the last survivors because he's  afraid that Cartwright will kill him in his   sleep. Using his radio, Bauer makes noise to find  Cartwright through his own communicator, but when   he follows the echo he discovers Cartwright left  his flashlight and his radio behind to trick him.   Meanwhile Cartwright locks the door behind him  and goes to the infirmary to get some morphine.   He isn't sure if he should kill a dear friend,  but Abby convinces him to do it or Bauer will   kill him first and they'll lose their future  together. After getting the injection ready,   Cartwright comes out and discovers Bauer has  managed to open the door and get inside. He   tries to sneak around carefully, but a shot to  his shoulder takes him by surprise. Bauer comes   closer as he suffers for having to kill a man  he considered family, and Cartwright tries to   explain he did it to protect his lover as he hands  Bauer his secret picture. Then he starts talking   to Abby, which angers Bauer because it sounds like  madness. Cartwright uses this distraction to jump   on Bauer and make him drop the gun, then he fails  to hit him and runs away into the sleeper chamber.   Bauer recovers his gun and finds the picture on  the floor, and something on it looks familiar.   He rushes to see the sleepers and confirms that  Cartwright has been lying more than he thought.   It turns out Abby is Cartwright's wife, and that's  the only reason why he cares so much about taking   care of the sleepers. Furious, Bauer threatens  with killing Abby to make his friend come out,   but Cartwright surprises him from behind by  injecting morphine on his shoulder. Bauer tries to   respond by shooting Cartwright, but the morphine  kicks in and he falls to the floor in pain.   Cartwright intends to help him, but Bauer reminds  him there isn't much time left so Cartwright   should go to sleep to keep taking care of his  girl. Cartwright goes back to the office and uses   Bauer's chamber to go to sleep right before the  clock reaches zero. Before losing consciousness,   Cartwright sees an illusion of Bauer playing with  the chess set. Many years later, the sleepers   finally wake up from their cryo-sleep and begin  looking around to see the current state of the   world. Abby searches for Cartwright and discovers  he's now an old man, but she hugs him anyway.