Considering how dangerous these woods were rumored to be, they were quiet and beautiful too. As the self-appointed explorers made their way through the overgrowth, their initial caution had waned quite a bit after many uneventful trips. Xaiden felt the lull of his companions' awareness more than it felt his own. From Jax carelessly whacking down weeds, to Ewen making notes in a little book and staring at the small GPS screen. Where once they had taken each step cautiously, they now moved fearlessly into the unknown sections, and maybe that was okay. They had heard about traps and mines from old wars, but had not run into any in the 2 years they'd spent out here. Xaiden pushed aside his unease as they continued to forge a new path.
"Hey, I got something!" Jax exclaimed excitedly. "Look down there, right next to the stream!"
Ewen hurried over, "Is it an animal?" he asked curiously as he followed Jax's pointed finger to the distance. They'd found quite a few unique creatures out here, animals that seemed to thrive in the abandoned terrain more than he'd ever seen from their local zoos. Some of them had been a bit aggressive, but for the most part, the animals' curiosity was far less than the humans.
"No, it looks like part of a building!" Jax continued enthusiastically. Finding shacks and rundown buildings was also quite common for them. This section of the planet had once been a thriving city before it became war torn, desolate, and eventually abandoned completely.
Xaiden made his way towards the others and peered into through the trees down the hill. Sure enough, there was the crumbling concrete foundation and decrepit walls of another pre-war home. "Dibs on the books," Xaiden joked as he thumped the others backs and started off towards the home. "Nice find, Jax!"
Jax was always interested in historic technology, Ewen enjoyed finding old games, so there was no competition for moldy books from yesteryear as long as Eliana wasn't here. Xaiden was glad she'd stayed behind, dead weight or not, arguing over who got to study the books they found first had caused many bitter feuds and tense trips back to base.
This building was pretty similar to the other ones they had explored, half reclaimed by the forest, half holding on to its former glory with stubborn ceilings and walls. More than the dangers they had been warned of, they had found these buildings to be particularly challenging to explore. Jax had fallen through a floor one time into a previously undiscovered basement. He broke his shinbone and they had a difficult time carrying him back home and even more difficult time coming up with a cover story for the hospital. Skateboarding accident, which everyone seemed to buy despite the fact that Jax hadn't ever skateboarded before. It was a common activity resulting in that type of injury for a teenager, or so Eliana said.
With that wake up call, they had established some rules for exploring the homes, only one person in at a time, and they tied the rope to their waists then to each other. 3 tugs meant danger, 2 met with 2 in return for checking in. Xaiden was always nervous that the building might collapse on them, so he always went first. If something bad is going to happen, let it happen to me, he'd think to himself. He never forgot how horrible and helpless he felt the minutes after Jax disappeared through the floorboards or that thud and ear piercing scream. Well, at least he had screamed, silence would have been more terrifying.
With the ropes quickly secured, Xaiden took a careful step onto the floor. It felt solid, so he continued a bit more confidently. Still, he paused with each forward step, listening, feeling, and ready to shift his weight back to his other foot at a moment's notice. They'd found it safer to stay close to the walls, so he felt along the edges of the room as he peered around the inside with his flashlight. This part of the house was mostly intact. There was a small window on one of the walls, but it let very little light in at this time of day, especially with all the trees growing so closely.
Near the window was a small desk with a chair knocked over beside it, the rest of the room consisted of a decaying mattress haphazardly placed in a corner, a lantern knocked over next to an old backpack that was barely recognizable with most of it's contents spilling out from every seam, everything covered in a thick film of pollen and dust.
Xaiden decided to explore the desk first, packs like that often contained spoiled cans of food and other essential items. He was looking for something more sentimental, stories from times past tucked away in drawers and bookcases, carefully placed by their previous owners who were sure they'd be around to treasure them for many more years than they were given.
The desk was covered in the same thick and sticky film they'd come to expect from these places. There was an old radio that Jax would probably be excited to look at and a bunch of papers on the desk with notes. Xaiden ignored it all and opened the top drawer of the desk, hoping to find a journal. No luck, it was empty except for some pens, pencils and erasers. He checked for secret compartments, but this desk looked pretty straightforward, simple drawers that revealed their secrets without locks or complexity. The next drawer was much more promising, a stack of books inside covered a wide range of topics. They each had a yellowing and peeling sticker that made it clear they had been once borrowed from a library older than this home itself.
"Ha!" Xaiden exclaimed. "I bet the Archive[1] was not pleased to be missing these. The fine on this account must be astronomical!" He scanned the covers again, wondering if he'd ever seen them in the historical section of the Archive during his many school trips over the years. "A Brief History of Time, Outer Space Exploration, Portals and the Price of Connectivity, and Science on the Air," Xaiden read aloud, "Wow. Eliana can have these."
He left them on the desk and checked the bottom drawer. It was filled with scientific magazines and papers, more material that suited Eliana than Xaiden. Am I really striking out today? he wondered to himself. He preferred journals that explored day-to-day life, or works of fiction and literature. These inspired him to create more interesting and complicated works of his own, and he saved the dry academic papers for when he needed to research something in particular. For that, he could just use his imprint and have it read to him while he did something more interesting.
He decided to check the bag after all, who knows, maybe they had a book that they carried for sentimental reasons. While rare, but it wasn't the first time he'd found an interesting book that way. He sat on the disgusting mattress, he was already covered in dust anyway, and rifled through the contents of the disintegrated bag. Expired food made up most of it, as expected, along with the equipment they'd come to expect from bags like these. He organized it on the ground anyway to make it easier for Jax and Ewen to look through when they took their turns.
While moving around on the mattress, he noticed it was a bit lumpy in the middle. It couldn't be, right? he wondered to himself with a bit of anticipation. He flipped the mattress up against the wall, gripping it with both hands to keep it from slipping back onto the floor while holding the flashlight in his mouth. He could make out the telltale outline of a hatch in the corner of his eye as he craned his neck to look behind him. Giving up on holding the mattress out of the way, he let it flop onto the ground again and started pushing it towards the other side of the room. Tug, tug. Xaiden felt the rope around his waist tighten and smiled. They must have heard the mattress falling, still, it's not like they can't hear me in here. Xaiden thought. "I'm good, guys!" he shouted, "Just moving something."
"Okay! Be careful!" Jax yelled back.
Xaiden flicked his light up to the ceiling. This one looked like it was wood rather than the crumbly type they'd been running into a lot. Whole chunks would fall if you shook the home even slightly. They should really be wearing safety hats like they give out at school for motor sports, but those going missing would be really difficult to explain since they were linked to their imprints. "Guys, I think this place is pretty secure. The floor is solid, walls are stable, and the ceiling is holding up well. Do you wanna just come in?"
"Wow, Xai, never thought you'd be the one to suggest that." Jax said as he stepped inside, purposely shining his flashlight in Xaiden's face.
"Well, I think I found a secret hatch! If this place was built on top of a bunker, things just got a lot more interesting and we're gonna need more let on this rope anyway." Xaiden explained.
"B-bunker?" Ewen asked excitedly. "W-where?"
"It was under the mattress, that's why I was moving it. Here, help me move it."
Jax grabbed a corner, "I'm surprised this thing is holding together so well. I may keep it."
"Have at it and enjoy sneezing every time you take a nap." Xaiden joked lightly.
Ewen stepped forward cautiously, unsure of what to do since Jax stepped in. "S-should I grab a c-corner too?"
"Shine your light over there and see if we've cleared the hatch," Xaiden ordered.
Click. Ewen's flashlight flickered to life and shook as it scanned the floors of the small room. "I-I see it!" Ewen exclaimed. "J-just d-drag it a b-bit m-more."
Xaiden had noticed recently that Ewen's stutter seemed to worsen the more nervous he felt. It was only after times when the stutter was almost unnoticeable that he was able to connect it to Ewen's comfort levels. It made him proud that Ewen felt comfortable around him most of the time and it made him feel bad for putting him into a difficult spot. "Do you want to keep watch outside, Ewen?"
"N-no, I-I'm f-fine," Ewen said resolutely, pushing his hair off his forehead nervously. "I-I'm j-just excited."
"Yeah, let's do this, ET!" Jax encouragingly. "Your first secret bunker discovery, right?"
"Y-yeah!" Ewen nodded.
"Would you like to do the honors then?" Xaiden asked, walking over to the hatch and casting the light from his flashlight over the area.
"S-sure, t-thank y-you." Ewen responded, his gulp audible. He reached shaky hands towards the latch and flung it open. Jax's light illuminated the stairs leading down while Xaiden's was cut by the corner of the open hatch door.
"This is great! I'm glad it's a stairwell and not a ladder. It's hard to tell how sturdy the rungs on old ladders are. Still, make sure to step carefully, Ewen." Xaiden explained.
"I-I w-will." Ewen said as he took a step forward.
Jax placed his arm in front, "Safety first, let's get the rope on you." He untied the rope from his waist and handed it to Ewen, casting a glance over at Xaiden.
Xaiden nodded and checked the end tied around to his own waist. He walked over to the door and wrapped the slack around his arm then tossed the loops over to Jax who held each end taunt and fed the rope length to Ewen as he made his way down the stairs. "You doing okay, Ewen?" Xaiden called after the resonating sounds of footfalls on the metal stairs quieted.
"Y-yeah!" Ewen replied, then more loudly, "I mean, y-yeah!" Jax gave two small tugs to the end attached to Xaiden's waist while keeping a steady gaze down the stairs.
"Check for danger first, okay, ET?" Jax reminded him.
"I-it looks o-okay." Ewen responded. "A-at least f-from w-what I c-can t-tell."
Jax looked over at Xaiden, who simply nodded. Maintaining the tautness of the rope on both ends, Jax disappeared down the bunker steps.
"Wow, look at this bunker!" Jax exclaimed. "It's completely decked out!"
"Structure good?" Xaiden asked, ready to get down there himself sooner than later.
"Yeah, it's solid. Come on down." Jax replied.
"We're breaking all the rules today." Xaiden said, mostly to himself. The cautious side of him worried about them all being underground when no one knew exactly where they were. He grabbed a reflective jacket out of his bag and draped it around his pack then left it somewhere he hoped Eliana would be able to find. Just in case, Xaiden thought.
With that, he made his way into the dark room, towards the open bunker hatch, and down into another secret bunker.
[1] A large library system run by AI & Drone Bots that copies and catalogs every book on the planet. Located in the Capital of Zenith, you can visit and receive a printed copy of any written work available. Even Xaiden’s webnovel can be found in the Archive within a few minutes of him publishing it on the web. The book must be returned within the window of time, or a heavy fine will be levied as paper is a hot commodity in this high tech age.