《Post Apocalypse Bar and Grill》


 Chapter 1

    Thomas was only 10 when the first Matter Reassembly Device was unveiled to the world. To say it caused ripples was an understatement, because with one device manufacturing workers around the world began worrying about their jobs. Corporations lashed out, decrying the device, saying that it would destroy economies around the world. The common chant of protestors was that the ¡°MRD¡¯s would Murder jobs¡±.


    Some cooler heads argued that with these miracle devices, people wouldn¡¯t need jobs, a few scoops of dirt, trash or anything really, and you could have anything you want, so long as the machine was large enough to make it. Unfortunately for them, the idea of money was too strongly embedded in the human consciousness and society at all levels. So the device was seized, and the long court battles began, and young Thomas watched them as he grew to adulthood.


    Years passed, society shifted and changed and the world grew, and so did Thomas. He was enamored by technology and how it can help the world, and so he pursued that goal with passion. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, after graduating with a double Masters in Applied Physics and Nano-Robotics, was swept up into the military industrial complex almost immediately. His first project, code named HopScotch was something he dreamed of since he was a child watching sci-fi movies, teleportation. While he dove into this project with all his passion, the world continued to move.


    A rogue scientist released the schematics for the Matter Reassembly Device on the internet and became an international celebrity and fugitive overnight. World tensions increased to levels not seen since the lead up to the second world war. Economies were collapsing as people built their own Matter Reassembly Devices, and much to the devices creators'' chagrins, began to immediately produce firearms, ammunition and explosives.


    News of the hotspots of various civil strife were being played on nearly all television channels, even on the TVs in the corner of the lab space where Thomas was working, albeit muted. So focused on his work fine tuning the device he had spent the better part of five years building and testing, it took the General physically grabbing his shoulder to drag him back to the present.


    Embarrassed, Thomas stood and greeted General Greddon, ¡°sorry about that sir, i was just in the zone on some fine tuning and final checks¡±.


    With a deep laugh, the General replied ¡°son, if this works the way you say it will, I''m prepared to forgive you any lapses in decorum¡±.


    Thomas looked around, taking in the sight of several high ranking military personnel and department heads of his own company arriving. With a final glance at the device, Thomas turned and strode up to the little podium setup before the gathered VIP¡¯s, and with a broad smile began addressing the group, ¡°Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen, please be seated and we will begin this briefing and demonstration of project HopScotch¡±.


    After they had taken their seats, he continued, ¡°What you see behind me is the mark 17 prototype of a Matter Transferral System, MTS for short, or for those more inclined to science fiction, a teleporter¡±


    Thomas looked behind him at the two hexagonal platforms, 2 meters in diameter with a thickness of 1 meter. Massive bundles of cables snaked out from underneath the sides and back, running to several server racks or disappearing into the walls.


    Turning back to the crowd, he nodded to one of the military advisors who asked with disbelief in his voice, ¡°so you¡¯re telling us that you have developed a means of instantly transporting something between two places, that is rather hard to believe¡±. Most of the other VIP¡¯s nodded along with that statement, and honestly Thomas expected questions like this.


    Thomas nodded as well, ¡°you are correct in that it can transport an object between two points, it is not however instantaneous¡± he replied to the advisor, ¡°but we are working on that as well¡±.


    Shuffling his notes, Thomas continued ¡°before the development of the Matter Reassembly Devices or MRD¡¯s, you would be correct that this is pure science fiction, but, and I cannot stress this enough, MRD¡¯s technology is the key that will open the doors to the future¡±.


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    Looking at each one of the guests as he spoke to drive the point home. ¡°The ability to break down and reassemble matter is a key element to project HopScotch, and I believe you will understand better after a quick demonstration¡± Thomas added.


    Stepping back from the podium, Thomas walked over to a lone computer terminal setup between the two platforms, inserted his ID card and began entering commands. Turning his head, he continued to speak to the guests, ¡°while todays meeting was originally planned to be a simple project reveal and status report, the scope of this goes way beyond what simple words can convey''''.


    Turning and waving to a couple of assistants standing off to the side behind a partition, they came trotting over carrying a large, obviously military looking storage crate between them. As they placed it on the platform, Thomas entered a few more commands and low hum could be heard building up within the platforms. Walking back to the podium again, he rolled it out of the way so that the guests could have a clear view of the platforms.


    ¡°What we are going to demonstrate for you today, right now actually, is a practical example of what the Matter Transferral System can do.¡± he said with enthusiasm, ¡°we will move that large crate from one platform to the other with the push of a button¡±. With a smile, he turned and moved back to the terminal and with a click of a key that seemed to echo across the room, the low hum began to increase.


    A mist seemed to rise up from the two platforms, enveloping the boxes on the first platform until they were obscured. Lights could be seen flashing within and the boxes appeared to be dissolving before their eyes. Quickly the boxes vanished from the first platform and then from the server racks along the wall, a sound that could be described as a jet engine throttling up could be heard and within the mist on the second platform, strobing lights began flashing as the boxes began to re-materialize before their eyes.


    There was a moment, after the boxes had fully reappeared on the second platform, as the machinery began to quiet down, where you could feel the pregnant pause in the air. The disbelieve being physically forced out of a group of people who just witnessed something that, until now was firmly in the realm of science fiction or fantasy.


    Then the dam broke and the VIP¡¯s immediately began talking over each other, and Thomas stood there proudly basking in light of victory. He had made an impossibility possible. Of course the expected questions were asked, such as what its range was, how much it could teleport now or in the future versions, and the big one, can it teleport living beings.


    With that last question, Thomas gestured for the guests to return to their seats and rolled the podium back to its spot. Looking at the group, he put a serious look on his face and said, ¡°at this time, we have not tested living beings. We do plan testing for that further down the line, but for now we have focused on the successful transfer of materials¡±, letting the serious look slip into a grin, he continued, ¡°but theoretically it is possible¡±.


    After that, Thomas answered a few more questions before ending the meeting. The General congratulated him and jokingly warned him of further meetings, paperwork and demonstrations. It was a dream come true, a vindication of his passion and dreams to create something that could make the world better, even if it started off as a military project, the civilian uses for this were world changing he thought to himself while going over the post test checklists and powering down the machine.


    Thomas climbed onto platform one to perform the physical inspection and thought he could hear some loud commotion coming from outside the building. Looking up in confusion, the building began to shake violently and a massive electrical surge passed through the lines connecting to the machine. The last thing he saw was a bright flash of light, followed by an extreme feeling of vertigo before nothing at all.


    Slowly senses began to return to Thomas. First was a weightless sensation, followed by nausea that made him want to vomit. Then came pain, as if someone had run an electric current over every inch of his body. Finally he heard a choked scream followed by a wet splattering. The scream was his own, abruptly cut off by his nausea finally winning out and him throwing up what felt like every meal he had ever eaten.


    Slowly the tingling sensation in his limbs relented and feeling returned and he found himself on all fours on the second platform, a cool and breezy wind tugging at his clothes. As his vision cleared he took in a sight that made him blink in disbelief, it resembled the test chamber if someone had taken a wrecking ball to the building it was located in.


    Great holes exposed the space to the outside revealing a sky filled with dark, boiling clouds, dust and debris was scattered across the floor and platforms. The wall where the servers once stood was intact but the servers had a melted appearance and were sparking wildly. The smell of vomit and ozone filled the air.


    Standing up, Thomas took this all in, and out loud said the first thing that came to mind, ¡®what the fuck¡­¡±

 Chapter 2

    With the echo of his first words spoken in the ruins of what clearly appeared to be his lab, Thomas moved off the platform before any further unpleasantness could occur. He moved over to the still sparking wall of servers, a few lights could be seen blinking beneath a thick layer of dust.


    The building began creaking ominously causing him to look towards the gaping holes in the wall. He could see the dark and somehow even angrier looking clouds growing closer. That will be a problem soon, he thought while turning back to the server racks. ¡°Ah-ha, there you are¡± Thomas said while tugging on a grime covered handle. After a couple tries, a tray slowly began to slide out with the squealing of seized up bearings being forced to move.


    With a grunt of effort he managed to pull the tray out to its full extension and quickly pushed up on one section revealing a screen and keyboard. The screen flickered and blinked a few times before the image resolved to a familiar login screen, and Thomas offered up a quick prayer before entering his password. The two most glorious words appeared, Password Accepted, and Thomas let out a breath he didn''t realize he had been holding as the screen switched over the desktop view.


    ¡°That can¡¯t be right,¡± he said, staring at the little date/time indicator in the bottom corner of the screen. ¡°No way that can be right¡± he repeated as he tapped the side of the screen, hoping that would change the numbers being displayed. Stepping back from the terminal, he began muttering over and over that there''s no way this can be right, no possible way 86 years had passed. A loud crack of lightning followed by a bone rattling rumble of thunder refocused his attention


    Returning to the computer terminal, Thomas pointedly ignored the date, still having difficulty coming to terms with it showing November 3rd, 2138 instead of June 20th, 2052. That was a problem he could break down over later, after finding some shelter. Furiously typing away at the keyboard, casting the occasional glance over his shoulder at the quickly approaching storm, Thomas finally found the info he was looking for as the first pattering of rain began to strike the hole in the wall. Closing the lid and pushing the release latch on the side, he detached the terminal and tucked it under his arm as he looked around the room, his eyes settling on a pile of rags in the middle of the room. That would have to do, he thought, casting a glance at the increasing number of rain drops making it through the hole. A burning sensation in his leg suddenly interrupted all thought, snapping his gaze down to his right leg, and the shaft of wood sticking out of it.


    With a scream of pain he stepped back, causing the shaft of wood to pull out. Thomas immediately regretted this as the sudden weight being placed on his now bleeding leg caused it to begin to buckle and collapse. Catching himself on the remains of a chair did not help as the chair broke apart under his weight, and Thomas collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain.


    A chittering noise drew his attention back to where he had been heading. Through eyes teary with pain he saw the pile of rags shift and a twisted looking creature stood up. A bit over a half meter in height, grayish skin with a leathery appearance, close set eyes, nearly black in their appearance in the rapidly fading light. What he had originally taken as a pile of rags was actually the creature''s cloak, hanging down its back with bits of the torn fabric blowing in the wind. Its lips pulled back as it opened its mouth, revealing pointed teeth that it ran its black tongue over. In its hands it held what may have once been a wooden broom or mop handle, one end sharpened to a dull point.


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    The creature began shuffling forward, toward Thomas lying prone on the floor while thrusting its spear at him. He quickly began to shuffle and slide backwards, trying to avoid being hit and only being mostly successful. Most thrusts at his body hit only the floor, and once the sole of his left boot, urging his retreat from this creature. One hit scored a shallow gash on his already wounded leg, and the creature seemed to let out a gurgling noise that may have passed as delight.


    As Thomas felt the back of his head strike the wall, he knew he was in trouble. He had no combat training, he wasn''t a soldier and had no interests in martial arts besides in movies. He had no weapons and nobody was coming to save him, Panic raged within his body, fight or flight took over and as the creature leapt forward, aiming to pierce his chest, Thomas rolled to the left.


    The creature''s spear splintered against the wall, sending the creature stumbling forward. Thomas kicked out at it with his good leg and connected with its torso and sent it flying. Clenching his teeth in pain and using the wall to help him stand up, he looked first to the creature, laying in a crumpled heap on the far side of the room, and then at the hole in the wall.


    Thomas fled, he had no allusions of being a great fighter, and he figured something that small probably didn¡¯t hunt alone. Tucking the case close to his chest, he limped as fast as his injured leg would allow for the exit and passed through the hole into the downpour outside.


    A flash of lighting saved Thomas¡¯s life, revealing a group of the creatures lurking between two buildings that had collapsed into each other that he had been making his way towards. He was using the old water tower, now missing half its top as a guide on his trek across the base. It was less than a kilometers distance between the building that had held his lab and the mess hall, but burnt out hulks of vehicles, collapsed buildings and even collapsed and flooded sections of road kept causing him to have to detour around.


    Ducking around the corner of a wall, praying that he hadn¡¯t been noticed, he continued to limp along. He knew he needed to do more to treat his leg than the quick wrap he had done with a torn piece of his shirt, but that would have to wait until he was safe.


    Crossing the street to avoid another flooded section, he stepped into a covered bus stop and dropped to the ground as a terrifying screech echoed from above. Over the sound of the rain he could hear agitated chittering from the creatures and as the lightning flashed once again, he saw the group he hoped he had avoided.


    The Creatures were scurrying away in all directions, the reason revealed itself as a monstrous bird plummeted from above, crashing into the party of creatures and appearing to crush two of them beneath its body. It looked like a mad scientist had taken a goose, made it ten times bigger, ripped out half its feathers and for good measure, gave it wicked looking talons.


    Some of the remaining creatures seemed to regroup and made to threaten the massive bird monster, but its hissing screech caused the rest to flee. Slowly, Thomas rose from the ground and moving as quietly as he could, continued on. It took him another thirty minutes of cautiously moving forward before he arrived at the mess hall.


    It appeared that the roof had been blown off at some point, like some giant had taken a can opener to the top of the metal structure. Thomas entered cautiously, drawing on every action and spy movie he had ever seen for inspiration as he limped forward. He crept through the darkness, lit occasionally by the increasingly frequent lightning strikes until he found what looked like an ordinary closet double door.


    Inside the closet he saw his goal, faded yellow and red paint in a stripped pattern around a metal door set in the wall. A dust covered sign proclaiming [ Emergency Shelter #05 ], a metal wheel set in a bracket on the wall next to it. Thomas attached the wheel to the door, and with a long and loud grunt of effort, felt the wheel begin to turn and the bolts retract within the door. With the last of his strength he heaved and pulled the door open just enough to step inside.


    Detaching the wheel and entering, Thomas closed and resealed the door before collapsing to the ground in relief and exhaustion. Safety at last, was his final thought before his consciousness faded.

 Chapter 3

    Thomas¡¯s exhausted slumber was interrupted as the pain in his leg made itself known once more. As he opened his eyes, he discovered it was pitch black. Slightly panicking, and wondering if he had only imagined lights being on within the bunker,


    Thomas began shifting around, feeling at the walls and door. Suddenly a click sounded from above him and the lights flickered on, a few seeming to struggle to come on. Groaning, he used the nearest wall and the bars on the bunker door, and began pulling himself back into a standing position only to stop and pick up the mobile terminal he had taken from the server from the floor.


    Once standing, he turned and began to limp down the ramp into the bunker. He followed the tunnel as it switched back and forth leading him down deeper into the earth, using the guide rail along the wall as a crutch. He was cursing the designers of this shelter for making it so deep when he came around the corner of the fifth switch back in the tunnel when he saw the tunnel begin to level out and widen into what appeared to be a waiting or assembly area.


    As Thomas limped into the chamber, he saw a sight that brought a tear to his eye as he limped faster. A door with a large green cross, a medical station, and it should be fully stocked since this shelter apparently was never used. Thomas threw open the door and staggered inside, eyes taking in the shelves with neatly lined, if dusty, boxes of medicine, bandages and other supplies that would be needed in an emergency.


    Moving through the office, Thomas began pulling boxes off shelves and shaking the dust off them. He quickly found the items he needed, a bottle of disinfectant alcohol, a pack of cleaning wipes, a small tin of numbing gel, scissors and clean medical wrap, then made his way over to a plastic covered examination table. Thomas placed the items on the table then turned around, looking at a desk set into the corner. Curious if the rumors he had heard about the medics keeping bottles of liquor at the desks for emergencies were true, he limped over and began opening drawers.


    It was the third drawer he checked that caused him to give a shout of joy, a small bottle of bourbon whiskey, unopened. Cradling his prize like a newborn, he returned to the table and added it to the pile of other items, and then turned around and eased himself onto the table. It was painful, peeling back the last bit of the makeshift wrap. The bloody wrap was sticky and acting like it was glued to the wound. Finally peeling it off, the wound began to slowly trickle blood.


    Thomas removed his ruined pants, eliciting more grunts of pain, before beginning to inspect the wound while trying to remember the mandatory first aid training that he had been required to attend. The skin around the stab wound was swollen, hot to the touch and covered with still tacky blood. He began to quickly clean the wound, swearing loudly all the while and nearly blacking out a couple times from the pain. Taking a couple pills from a bottle that was labeled as a general antibiotic after he finished wrapping the wound with clean bandages, he laid back on the table.


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    It had been a hell of a day in his opinion, if any was around to ask at least. From the highs of a successful demo to the madness of whatever this was. He still wasn''t sure of what to make of all this, he needed to find out more about what was going on.


    Shivering from the cool air in the shelter, he began to list out loud what he needed right now, ¡°water, food and rest¡± he said, his voice echoing in the room. Looking around the room he spotted some plastic wrapped blankets on a shelf, and with some effort, levered himself up and off the table.


    After acquiring a warm, if itchy wool blanket and some green scrub pants, he packed his medical supplies and emergency bourbon into a bag he found and exited the medical station. Thomas continued through the assembly area and passed through a double door into the shelter¡¯s living area.


    A large room setup like a cafeteria lay to his left with what appeared to be a couple office¡¯s sat on the right side of the hallway. He could see that the hallway ended at the entrance of what looked like a lounge area.


    Sticking to his plan, Thomas entered the cafeteria and passed through a set of swinging doors into the kitchen area. Cases of bottled water sat untouched, gathering dust along with crates labeled as MRE¡¯s. The water in the bottles looked murky, and after opening the crate of MRE¡¯s, noted that they appeared swollen.


    Cursing his luck, he moved over to a sink and turned the faucet on. The pipes immediately began to vibrate rapidly causing Thomas to stumble back at the unexpected noise. Quickly a gurgling sound could be heard and a gush of black liquid splashed out of the faucet. Another gush of liquid followed and a stream of dirty water began pouring out into the basin. As he watched, the water slowly began to clear.


    The water felt cold to the touch, and didn¡¯t smell off. Deciding to try it rather than risk dehydration, he cupped his hands and took a small sip. A bit of a metallic taste, but better than nothing. After getting his fill of water and washing some of the grime off his face, he turned off the faucet.


    Food, he thought, was his next goal.


    Deciding to not even bother risking it with the MRE¡¯s, he began searching cabinets, cupboards and really any place that may hold food. The freezers had long ago stopped working and anything within had rotted away, and most cabinets had swollen or exploited food cans. In one pantry however, Thomas found treasure. Several vacuum sealed bags of dehydrated fruits and dried nuts, along with several bags of beans and rice.


    After filling a pitcher with water and stuffing a few bags of dehydrated fruit into his bag, he continued down the hall to the lounge area. It was set up to be a recreation area, he could see couches lined up facing a large wall mounted television, as well as book shelves, boxes of what appeared to be board games and tables stacked against the far wall.


    Clearly labeled signs pointed him to the closest sleeping area, and exhaustion won out over his desire to explore the rest of the shelter. Rows of three level bunk beds filled his vision upon entering the sleeping area. Picking the closest one, Thomas pulled the dust covered mattress out and flipped it over on the floor so the less dusty bottom was facing up.


    With a final check of his bandage, he ate several handfuls of dried fruit and washed it down with water. He sent up a silent prayer as he lay down on the mattress, that this was all just some horrible dream and he was just unconscious on the floor of his lab after a terrible accident.

 Chapter 4

    Sweet, happy dreams of better times were rudely interrupted by a sudden, stabbing pain in his abdomen. It was a feeling he was familiar with, paired with memories of the morning after an all night pub crawl. Thomas was propelled from his mattress, like a puppet being pulled into a standing position by unseen forces and rushed to the nearest lavatory.


    Some time later, a haggard and pale looking Thomas limped back into the sleeping area. He looked longingly at the mattress and blankets, and considered trying to get some more sleep, but dismissed it just as quickly. He was awake, even if he had suffered some unpleasantness, and he had work to do.


    ¡°Time to bring this battle station to full operational status¡± Thomas gleefully said with a laugh before clutching at his gut. Laughing was probably not a good idea at this moment he thought.


    Picking up the mobile terminal he made his way across the living area to a rather ordinary looking door with a card reader attached above the handle. Pulling out a worn ID card, he blew a cloud of dust from the reader and then inserted the card. Thomas let out a relieved sigh at the sound of a buzzer and opened the door.


    Stepping inside the room, overhead lights began to flicker on, bathing the room in a white/yellow glow. A row of servers lined the wall opposite of the door, their lights glowing the steady amber of standby mode. The wall to his left contained lockers and file cabinets, while the wall to his right was covered with display screens of various sizes. HIs lips quirked into a smile as he took in the center of the room though, a massive U shaped desk covered with control panels, small displays, sockets for mobile terminals and a most impressive looking chair, decorated to look like a throne.


    A wave of sadness evaporated Thomas¡¯s good mood immediately. His friend Alex, whom he had helped design, build and decorate the monstrosity of a chair, was long dead; ended with the world he knew. Alex, who had been his mentor when Thomas first arrived at the base, who had taken him under his wing while Thomas was still getting his project off the ground, and who had found Thomas''s middle name of Wayne darkly hilarious.


    He stood there as melancholy thoughts invaded his mind, letting himself mourn for the friends now lost. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself,


    Thomas refocused himself on the here and now. Walking around to the central console he connected his mobile terminal and opened it to display its screen. After inserting his ID card into its designated slot and entering his password, data began streaming across the screen as system startup checks began running.


    Lights across the console began to turn on as the system readied itself. The server racks became active, the lights blinking as fans began spinning up, sounding like a chorus of jet engines. Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, a button lit up on the console, and with no ceremony whatsoever, Thomas pressed it and Emergency Shelter #5 began to wake up.


    Thomas imagined he could feel the facility come to life. Feel the reactor switchover from standby to active and begin providing more than a trickle of power. He could see the HVAC system come online as several decades of dust began to spew out of the vents like an angry dragon breathing fire.


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    He watched with a little bit of wonder as the expanding cloud of dust traveled across the room and was pulled into other vents to continue its journey through the system.


    As he looked back to the display on his terminal, he saw that the startups had completed, although he was slightly concerned with the number of warning messages that were appearing. He would have to dedicate some time to figuring them out later though and scribbled a reminder on a sticky note after dusting it off. It was time to get to work though, and first up was reactivating Alex¡¯s project.


    In theory, project Food Truck was simple. Take existing Matter Reassembly technology and optimize it for military use. The problems however were three fold. The first was just the sheer amount of equipment and materials that a military makes use of on a daily basis. Even simply programming in all of the items, or even simply feeding the items to the device to be mapped and added was a massive, time consuming project.


    Secondly, when MRD technology was first revealed, it was still a prototype. A working prototype, but still very unfinished, and with it being confiscated by a U.N. resolution, a lot of issues remained, particularly with the creation of food. It could scan and replicate an apple, but the taste or texture would be off, or it would be poisonous, or in very rare cases, cause the device to explode.


    This had been the issue that Alex had been focused on with his project, and he had been hinting that he had finally cracked it. Alex had invited Thomas out for drinks after his demo of HopScotch, celebratory or otherwise, saying that he wanted to show him something. This is why Thomas decided to make his way to his friends lab in Shelter #5, rather than the one that was beneath the building his lab was in.


    The final issue with the MRD technology was its productivity. It was slow, and there was no getting around that, and the more complex the item, the longer it took. In Thomas¡¯s opinion, it was still a magically wonderful piece of technology, regardless of flaws. Those he reasoned, could be worked out, but the fact of actually creating a device capable of taking any kind of matter and breaking it down to reassemble into anything you could imagine, was a crowning moment in human history.


    Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Thomas began digging through the files on the servers. Genius though his friend was, his organizational skills were non-existent. It took hours before he finally located the information he was seeking.


    Pointedly ignoring the grumblings of his stomach, he avoided thinking about food he had found, memories of this morning''s events still fresh in his mind; Thomas brought up all the information and notes on Alex¡¯s project


    Letting out a long whistle, Thomas reclined back on the throne-like chair. Alex had done it, and even taken it a step further. According to the notes, Alex had been supplying the mess hall above this shelter with foods created from his prototype MRD for some months before the end.


    Alex had been fine-tuning it based on feedback from the soldiers and staff eating at the mess hall, passing it off as an approved experiment on nutrition. There were thousands of pages of feedback, notes and adjustments. According to the notes and feedback reports, the food was barely edible at the start but began improving by leaps and bounds as adjustments were made, until this mess hall had one of the highest ratings on the base.


    Come to think of it, Alex had invited Thomas to lunch many times over the past few months at this mess hall. Thomas mentally added, used me as a guinea pig, to his list of grievances, before letting out a sad chuckle and standing up.


    Thomas found the device in the lab attached to the control room, along with some kitchen appliances such as a small electric stove, microwave and refrigerator. He quickly powered on the MRD and began scrolling through its options menu. It looked like Alex had added quite a bit; he found many types of fruits, vegetables, meats and even alcohol and sweets.


    Pouring some scoops of mineral dense pellets from a labeled container into the device, he queued up some strawberries, his favorite fruit. They were the sweetest strawberries he had ever eaten, he thought, as he thanked his friend for saving his life.

 Chapter 5

    Some time later, and with a full belly, Thomas returned to the control center. Looking over the displays on the console he saw that while some systems were reporting back green, many more were yellow or red. He would have to seriously dedicate some time to sit down and go over all that, but that was for the Thomas of later, he thought.


    A blinking notification on the terminal display however, caught his attention. It looked like a video player icon, and the text beneath the icon read ¡°Important Message, open immediately¡±.


    Deciding to indulge his curiosity toward whatever message the system had for him, or more likely for the original planned occupants of this shelter, Thomas hit play as he sat down. It was a bit shocking when he heard music begin blaring outside the control center, and getting up to investigate he discovered that it was the national anthem playing.


    Following the sound to the lounge area he found that the large TV on the wall was the source. On its screen was the department of defense logo and a please be seated message. Puzzled, but still curious, Thomas sat on one of the couches and waited.


    As soon as the last notes of music faded, the logo faded to black and a well dressed man in a suit appeared on the screen. The face was immediately recognizable as the secretary of defense, mainly because his portrait hung on the wall nearby.


    ¡°My fellow soldiers, I record this video in the hopes that it will never be seen, that a situation will never arise that cannot be resolved diplomatically, but I would be derelict in my duties not to do so¡± the man said, briefly pausing with a visible look of sadness, before continuing ¡°We live in an age of great marvel and possibility, but also of instability and grave threat.¡±


    ¡°You Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Civilian staff, gathered in this shelter face a daunting task. If you are watching this, then the worst has come to pass, and the world outside this shelter has been changed for the worse, possibly irrevocably.¡± Pausing to let that sink in, he stared into the camera, and after a few seconds continued, ¡°The country we all swore to defend may have fallen or been destroyed, but the ideals that birthed it live on through you all.¡±


    Pausing to take a drink of water, the defense secretary continued, ¡°As of this moment, you are all the last, best hope of restoring and rebuilding America. Your mission will be to seek out and gather any and all who survived, and should the nation have fallen to invaders, retake our country.¡± As he sat back in his chair, still maintaining direct eye contact on the camera, a perceptibly pained expression crossed his face before he continued. ¡°Your mission will not be an easy one, regardless of what type of disaster has occurred, and that is due to the Deadhand System.¡±


    The secretary leaned toward the camera, ¡°Several years ago, Congress and the office of the President authorized the creation of a system to be designed and implemented by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This system would be a method of denying enemy occupation of the United States, its allies and select regions of importance around the world.¡± he said, ¡°this system would employ biological, chemical and mutagenic weapons being released in key, critical locations.¡±


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    ¡°It was considered a weapon of last resort, only to be deployed in the event of irrevocable destruction of our country or the world.¡± he continuedThomas had sat there, face pale and eyes wide with horror at what he was hearing. Screaming denials of what the Secretary of Defense was saying, he continued to watch.


    ¡°This system was designed around one goal, one principle, an extension of Mutually Assured Destruction, if you will; that there is room in this grave for you.¡± the man said, and continued ¡°This was a terrible thing that was created, and one that will affect you all in the coming years. You will face great challenges, and I whole-heartedly believe that you, the men and women in service to our great nation will overcome them.¡±


    Taking another drink from the glass on his table, the defense secretary seemed to sag into his chair a bit, ¡°I wish it were otherwise; and frankly pray that such a terrible tragedy never comes to pass, but when have politicians ever made it easy for the military?¡± he asked the camera, sadness heavy in his voice.


    Straightening up, the man forced a smile onto his face. ¡°You are the last, best hope for America, and possibly the world. You face an uphill battle, and we have attempted to supply you with the best tools possible; funding experimental technologies across the board, some of which may have been developed in the shelters you currently occupy.¡± he stated, ¡°I have faith that we can avert the worst possible disasters, but should we fail, I am proud to know that we have the best of us, safe and secure, to one day return and begin rebuilding our home and saving our people¡±


    The Secretary stood from behind his desk and gave a crisp salute to the camera, ¡°On behalf of the people of America, I wish you nothing but success in your task. Godspeed, and good luck.¡±


    With that, the video switched back to the Department of Defense logo and began replaying the national anthem.


    Thomas sat stunned at what he had just heard. His thoughts kept circling around how the hell something this terrible had been created; not only created but authorized by his government.


    Elsewhere, a woman in uniform began speaking into a headset microphone, seeking confirmation on the readings she was getting. After getting confirmation that the data was correct, she stood and turned to face a man standing before a map of the country. ¡°Sir,¡± she said, ¡°I have just picked up and have secondary confirmation that a shelter has just come online in grid area 17-Sierra.¡± she stated.


    The man turned from the map and walked over to her station, looking at the data readout on the screen. Nodding in confirmation, he looked at the great map of the continental United States that took up several screens along the wall. ¡°Are we sure it''s not just a malfunctioning beacon?¡± he asked.


    The woman shook her head in the negative, ¡°Unlikely sir, the beacons are tied to manual activation¡±.


    The Man took one more look at the data on her console, and then back at the grid map. ¡°Excellent work, your reward is more work¡± he said with a chuckle. ¡°I need you to pull every bit of archive information we have on what was located in 17-Sierra, because if I remember correctly, that is a dead zone.¡±


    ¡°I believe you are correct sir, I will let you know as soon as I have the info for you¡± she said. The man gave her a nod of acknowledgement before returning to the map. He tried to resume his tasks, but his eyes kept drifting to sector 17-Sierra.


    Outside Emergency Shelter #5, a cloaked figure watched from the shadows of a nearby building. It had tracked the Human to this specific old world burrow. Its kind rarely survived encounters with Humans, and so it waited and watched, curious to see what the Human would do.

 Chapter 6

    It took a couple days for Thomas to work up the courage to look up the information on the Deadhand system, and after reading the first couple pages felt an overwhelming depression begin to set in. He needed a beer, then several more before he just started having the MRD print off bottles of liquor.


    Mutagenic weapons, designed to induce genetic mutations across multiple generations. That probably explained the creatures he encountered the night he arrived in this hell.


    Something called project stoplight, described as an area denial weapon. Just fancy wording for a weapon that released bursts of deadly radiation.


    More biological and chemical weapons, some to cause plant growth increase exponentially, others to poison everything for miles around its deployment. Some of these weapons apparently were designed to work together to create hellscapes that even the Devil would say crossed a line.


    Thomas raged within the shelter, with anger and sorrow in his heart, and liquor burning in his veins. Destroying furniture and equipment in equal measure until, bruised and bloody, he collapsed face first onto a ruined couch like a puppet with its strings cut.


    NIghtmares plagued his sleep, and when he finally began to claw his way to wakefulness, all Thomas found was pain and terrible smells. The side of the couch he lay on, and the floor next to it, was coated in gelled vomit, his bladder had let go while he slept and it tasted like he had been licking the floor.


    Slowly and painfully, squinting against the now seemingly overly bright lights in the shelter, Thomas forced himself into a seated position. He was reminded of his university days before the fragmented memories of the night before came crashing back. Feeling sick all over again, he struggled upright using some of the nearby furniture for assistance and staggered to the nearest lavatory.


    After another thorough purging of his overindulgence the night before, Thomas sat in the showers letting the steaming water pour over him as he gathered his thoughts.


    Fact one, the world had ended, and its ending likely resulted in his mishap with the teleporter.


    Fact two, the government had decided to help make an already terrible situation nightmarish by releasing an arsenal of terrible weapons.


    Thomas wondered, was anyone still alive? There had to have been some survivors, even the worst predictions of a global nuclear war would have some survivors. ¡°I need to see if anyone survived this madness.¡± he said aloud, his words echoing off the walls in the shower room.


    The shower had done him some good Thomas thought, as he walked out of the lavatory completely naked. HIs clothes were far too ruined for him to put on, and so he went and printed off some new clothes, and some greasy food to settle his stomach.


    Sitting at the control console, now dressed and slightly less hung over, Thomas once again began checking through the systems available to this shelter. He found controls for a short ranged radio, but it was showing an error with the antenna. Thomas also found the controls for the security camera system, also listing connection errors to some cameras.


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    Turning the camera system on, he saw the wall of monitors attached to the wall begin to flicker to life. He now regretted his actions the previous night as several of the monitors showed a spider webbing of cracks across the display. It looked like at least three of the external cameras still worked. One screen showed a view of the street outside, another had a large, dark eye staring into it, slowly blinking, while the third appeared to be partially covered with vegetation.


    Wait, what was that, Thomas thought as his eyes shot back to the second monitor in time to see a leathery face pull back from the camera and cock its head. It looked kind of like the creature he encountered when he arrived, but in the light of day he could make out more detail, especially as it was extremely close to the camera.


    Thomas noticed that the gray, leathery skin was clothing. Crudely made, but definitely some kind of leather. He initially took the creature to be rat-like, but the head was too wide and the snout too short.


    Using the camera control knobs, he began making adjustments trying to get the image to pull back for a wider angle. It looked like the creature noticed something because it suddenly jumped back and began brandishing what appeared to be a wooden spear at the camera. Thomas continued to make adjustments so that he could get a better view before the creature ran off, and with it now being further from the camera and standing in full view, a sudden thought hit him. Definitely not a rat, he thought as he stared at the screen, A raccoon.


    Well, a mutated and likely irradiated raccoon. What little fur he could see on the head was matted and dirty, and its tail was not the bushy kind of tail he remembered seen in pictures and videos of raccoons, but shorter and, well, stumpier looking.


    His parents were, in his honest opinion, unrepentant nerds. Hence his unfortunate middle name. He grew up surrounded by comics, action figures and media from all facets of nerd culture, and this creature reminded him of one of the characters from the comics his parents had in their vast collection.


    The creature, obviously weary of the camera, began to shift to the right, slowly moving toward the edge of the camera''s vision range. Thomas considered using the controls to follow it, but was afraid that he would either spook it enough to flee or try to damage the camera. While he didn''t mind if it fled, he did not want it to damage the camera and remove one of his views of the outside.


    This particular camera appeared to be on the roof of the old mess hall, he could see the torn open section of roof to the left, and if he looked carefully, he could see the door that led to the shelter''s entrance. Wait a minute, Thomas thought with a sudden tingle of fear down his spine. Was this the same one that had attacked him? Had it tracked him here, and why?


    Leaving the camera running, Thomas got up and went to the MRD lab, returning fifteen minutes later with a shotgun and a box of ammunition. Honestly, he thought he should have had one printed up as soon as he found the lab, but exhaustion and confusion at his situation had rattled his mind.


    Sitting back at the control station, he noticed the screen was darker, like something had been smeared over the cover of the camera. He could make out bits of the outside from spots that had been missed or thinly applied, but as his heart thundered in his chest, he wondered where it went, and more importantly, could it get inside.


    Thomas rushed back into the lab, he had been underestimating the threat of this new world he found himself in. He needed to prepare, and as he did so, he missed a furred and eerily human-like hand slap something over another external camera.

 Chapter 7

    The interior of the underground shelter was a riot of sounds. Power tools, the squeal of metal being cut, twisted and shaped into lethal purpose and music, loud and violent sounding being played over the internal speaker system. All of this punctuated by the occasional mad cackling laughter of a scientist letting loose.


    Thomas stood, arching his shoulders back and feeling the satisfying snap, crackle, pop of his back. Wiping the sweat from his face he took in his latest creation.


    This time he would win. That stupid raccoon with his stupid tricks would finally be defeated.


    Several days earlier¡­


    The creature lay flat, tucked under a section of metal that had been folded over by some event in the past. It kept a wary eye on the metal pole that had suddenly risen from the roof. It had blinded the metal eye, with its strange glowing dot with mud that had been stuck to the bottom of its cloak.


    It had done it again and again on the other metal eyes that had sprung up. They reminded it of the metal humans that would occasionally wander through. Shuddering at the thought, those were always bad times for the tribes. The metal ones were much worse than any of the others. They had a feeling that it was the human that they had tracked to this burrow that was responsible for the eyes.


    So it waited, and it watched. It knew it had been seen, so they suspected that the human would respond. They were proven correct within a few hands of time. Its pointed ears twitched as it heard the grinding of metal, and then it saw the outer doors to the burrow entrance open slightly and a tiny metal human walked out.


    The creature scratched at its head, it felt that the tiny metal human, about the same size as itself, was familiar looking. Ah ha, it thought, it knew why it looked so familiar. It looked like one of the drawings in the thin, fragile books it had found when exploring the ruins, just much smaller.


    It cocked its head to the side, was the Human trying to frighten it with a metal man, because this one would not do. It was too small, nor did it appear to have any of the weapons the full sized ones had, unless this one was more like the one in the books than it appeared to be.


    Slowly, carefully the creature reached into a pouch tied to its belt and withdrew a pebble and tossed it toward the big opening in the wall. Its eyes snapped back to the metal man as the pebble clattered on the rocks outside. The head of the metal man turned and appeared to be looking at where the pebble had hit, and it slowly began to walk towards the opening.


    The creature fished out another pebble and reached its furred arm over the lip of the roof and tossed the stone into the building, back towards the big metal boxes. As it predicted, the tiny metal human turned around and began creeping towards the metal boxes where the pebble had hit.


    After checking the outer doors to the burrow and confirming they were closed, it moved as quickly and quietly as it could, crawling out of the lip and using the vines growing out of a hole in the metal roof to enter the building. It slid down, its cloth wrapped feet hitting the floor silently. Its eyes had stayed locked on the metal man the entire time, watching as it searched around the metal boxes for the source of the noise it had heard.


    Slipping through the shadowy interior of the surface burrow, the creature flung another pebble, aiming it to fly into one of the metal boxes, and it took up a hidden position nearby where it could continue watching.


    The metal human turned at that noise, and suddenly its eyes lit up with bright light. The creature covered its eyes at the brightness, it knew that would have surely blinded it had it been caught directly in the beams of light. Blinking rapidly to clear its vision, it noted that the metal man had moved closer to the giant metal box and was peering inside. Moving quickly, caring more about speed than stealth, the creature threw itself at the metal man''s back, knocking it forward and off balance.


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    The Metal human stumbled forward into the metal box and the creature slammed the heavy door shut on it and wedged it shut. Panting from the exertion, it moved back towards the shadows, listening to the metal man strike the inside of the box a few times before it fell silent.


    Using the vines growing into the building, the creature climbed up into the metal rafters above the room and ducked into a hiding spot beside some ancient machinery.


    Inside the Shelter at the same time¡­


    Thomas was shocked, he didn''t really know fully what to expect when he sent the mini-giant up to look around, but the way the raccoon had let it into a trap was not it. He wondered if it could speak, it was obviously intelligent enough to craft clothing and trick a crude AI into walking into a walk-in freezer. He hoped it was, maybe it could tell him about any human survivors or anything really. But it would be on his terms, it had stabbed him and tried to kill him the day he arrived.


    He tipped an imaginary hat to the creature. The first round goes to you, but I will capture you and learn your secrets. Back to the lab Thomas went, mind whirling with ideas


    Without the radio transceiver, which according to the central console was offline with a physical connection error, remote control was out, unless he wanted the robot to drag a cable running to the entrance, which would have to be kept open a crack. Thankfully he could still receive signals, and thus be able to see through the cameras attached to the robots, and from what he saw of the creatures movement, he would not be opening the door more than necessary.


    The second contact was basically a Roomba with a lift kit and tank-like tracks. It had rolled out the door just hours after the first robot. Thomas, through the multiple cameras this time, could see that the sun was starting to set. The robot was programmed to drive itself into the center of the room and just sit and wait.


    Watching through the cameras, Thomas waited and watched the shadows begin to grow longer. A green box appeared on the screen as motion was detected and the bright LED strip lights located all over the robot turned on flooding the room in bright light. Thomas cursed himself as the blinding light also blinded his cameras, all he could see was the green box rapidly moving as the cameras¡¯ sensors tracked the creatures¡¯ movement.


    He saw the light suddenly cut out and the cameras go dark just before he lost signal.


    It was the next day before he released the third robot and learned the fate of the second. One of those large birds had apparently come crashing down on it, crushing the robot. With how the bird appeared to be carved up, it looked like the creature had taken advantage of the situation and helped itself to some easy food.


    The third robot met its end when it chased the creature across the mess halls¡¯ dining area floor and ended up stuck in place by some tar-like substance.


    And it continued, this game of cat and mouse, or raccoon and human/robots. Thomas would try to trap it, or render it unconscious so that he could safely bring it into the bunker, while the creature would evade and disable or destroy each one, using traps, the environment or even nature against them.


    Again and again they clashed, each participant becoming more fixated on their opponent. It was almost a competition to see who would give in first and throw their hands or paws up in surrender.


    Present day¡­


    It was on the eighth day, cackling with glee that Thomas swore this one would be the last, and it would succeed. Despite losing each encounter, he was very observant, at least to the outside world and he had noticed the creature rarely left the area of the mess hall. It was starting to look thinner, its reaction times were slower and it tired more quickly.


    Hunger, Thomas realized when his own stomach began protesting that he had been neglecting it to match his creations against a creature that was born into a blighted wasteland. That would be his key to victory, he thought as he led the robot up the ramp and opened the sealed door to let it out. He imagined he could see the creature, lurking in the shadows. The outer doors to the closet had been damaged and you could now see through sections of it.


    The robot rolled on its tracks to the center of the room. A simple design, basically a quad tracked wagon with a metal dome on top. As the robot reached the center of the room it stopped, and with a hissing sound, the top of the dome split across the middle and both sides retracted into the base.


    The creature fell off the rafter it had been hiding on, in shocked disbelief at the sight of the food piled high on the robot.

 Chapter 8

    The creature was stunned, so much so that it lost its grip and fell from its hiding place in the ceiling. Of all the tricks and traps it was prepared to deal with, the sight of various foods, heaped high upon the metal creature, was not one of them. Its stomach rumbled with longing, it had spent so much time and energy dealing with the metal creations the Human sent out of its burrow, that it had not had the time to eat a proper meal.


    It shook its head, both to clear it from the fall and in chagrin at the rookie hunter mistake it acknowledged it had made. It had let itself get too focused on the Human and its creations and placed itself in an undesirable situation.


    The creature looked around, the machine hadn¡¯t moved from where it stopped in the center of the room. No other machines could be seen or heard. The hairs on its body kept trying to rise, this is obviously a trap the creature thought, but how to spring it without being caught.


    This type of trap was not unfamiliar to the creature, the tribes used food bait to lure in the great birds and other creatures in the ruins.


    Slowly, it circled around, moving to that its back was towards the large opening in the surface burrow, spear at the ready and its muscles coiled and ready to react. As it got a better look at the bounty of food sitting there on the machine''s back, its stomach let out a rumble of protest. Many of the foods looked familiar to the fruits and vegetables that hunting parties sometimes brought back when raiding Human settlements. Some things however, it had never seen before.


    Using its spear to sweep for hidden wires or sensors, it found none. Carefully, it selected what looked similar to a fruit that grew on some trees and stabbed it with the spear, and quickly withdrew a few steps from the machine. The creature sniffed at the sweet smelling juice that ran down the spear, carefully inspecting it.


    Thomas suppressed a chuckle at the level of paranoia the creature was showing. It wasn''t surprising, anyone would be suspicious of a giant plate of food being delivered after spending several days fighting, trapping and disabling robots that kept trying to capture you. It was just so adorable to watch though, as it speared an apple from one of the trays and began inspecting it.


    It was time to end this, Thomas thought, and he stepped through the shelter''s door, shotgun in one hand, with the muzzle pointed at the ground. He coughed loudly to get the creature''s attention, raising his free hand to show it an open palm ¡°Hey there little, um raccoon?¡± Thomas awkwardly said.


    It saw the movement out of its peripheral vision before hearing the Human make a coughing sound. The Human was the same one it had tracked here, it had one paw raised high and open and the other was wrapped around a death stick. It dropped the fruit and slid into a ready stance, spear raised and feet braced.


    Then the Human spoke, and that startled it more than the food. Humans never spoke to their kind. Oh, they would shout and scream at them, but never talk like this. It felt vindicated, this Human was different from the others, at least a little. Otherwise it would have just attacked with its death stick.


    Slowly, it shuffled to the side, closer to the burrow entrance, keeping a close eye on the Human. It saw the Humans facial expression change as it moved, but it never raised the death stick. Interesting, it thought. The Human was clearly not trying to be hostile. ¡°What you want Human?¡± the creature said.


    It spoke, it could speak, and that revelation shocked Thomas to his core. He hoped it would be able to communicate, but he didn''t truly expect it to be able to speak. The creature tilted its head to the side a bit, ¡°of course I speak, how else talk¡± the creature said, causing Thomas to realize he had spoken out loud his thoughts.


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    ¡°Oh, of course, sorry¡± was all Thomas could get out, his mind still whirling. ¡°Um, the food isn''t a trap¡± he continued, ¡°more of a peace offering.¡± Thomas moved closer to the side of the machine opposite of the creature and picked up a grape and ate it to demonstrate.


    The creature felt the hairs along its back try to rise as the Human approached, bracing itself in case the Human attacked, it watched as the Human picked up a piece of fruit and ate it. Further proof that this Human was different it thought, but wariness kept it rooted in place. ¡°Why?¡± it asked, staring at the Human.


    ¡°Because you are fascinating,¡± Thomas stated, ¡°and while I wasn''t sure initially that you were sapient, but after watching you and seeing you in action, I came to believe you were¡±.


    Thomas reached out and picked up an apple from the pile on the machine. Taking a big bite, chewing and swallowing, ¡°see, not a trap¡±.


    The creature seemed mollified by Thomas¡¯ actions. It reached up and pulled the apple off the tip of its spear and took a bite. Thomas was thrilled beyond belief, this was going so much better than he feared it would. The creature was still eyeing him warily, its eyes particularly lingering on the shotgun.


    Thomas held up his empty hand, ¡°please don''t be frightened, i am going to make us some seating if that is ok with you¡± he said. When the creature nodded its head, Thomas reached down and pressed a button on the small controller he had on his belt.


    The Machine began to shake slightly and two sections on the sides began to slide outwards, creating two seats. Thomas sat and gestured to the creature to do the same. After it was seated across from him, Thomas asked one of the questions that had been burning in his mind. ¡°Do you have a name?¡±


    The creature looked at the Human. This whole interaction had been so far out of its normal experiences with Humans that its mind was still trying to make sense of it all. ¡°Delvik¡± it said without thinking, and then kicked itself for speaking before thinking.


    The Human sat back with a big, toothy, scary smile. It kept saying Delviks name over and over, as if committing it to memory. ¡°I have question, why you not kill me?¡± Delvik asked the Human.


    Thomas was taken aback by the question, and had to think for a moment. ¡°Honestly,¡± Thomas said while rubbing the back of his head with one hand, ¡°I thought I might have, with that kick, and besides, I was in no condition to fight anything, and why did you attack me?¡± he asked back.


    Delvik had been picking through the assorted foods while the Human took his time answering, He nodded his head at the answer, it made sense. Delvik had had the wind knocked out of him by the kick, and as he finished chewing and swallowing the orange root it found particularly tasty, said sagely ¡°Human in burrow is bad, Humans bring death to tribes, couldn''t let you lead others to burrow¡±. Delvik gestured around to the surface burrow they were in, and continued ¡°followed you across ruin, tracked you here. Curious you came here instead of back to Human tribes burrows.¡±


    Thomas¡¯s heart stopped and he nearly choked on the celery he was snacking on. ¡°Human tribes here?¡± he sputtered in confusion, a spark of hope rekindling itself in his chest as Delvik nodded and gestured vaguely to the south-east.


    Then Thomas¡¯ mind caught up to what else Delvik had said, not only did it know of Humans, but apparently their interactions were all negative. Frowning slightly, he asked ¡°Why are you talking with me then, if humans are such a threat to you and your people?¡±


    ¡°You seem different, normal Human would kill Delvik before fleeing to warn others. You did not, then you came here to hidden burrow.¡± it said with what may pass as a smile among its kind, ¡°Delvik watch and study strange Human, see what it does¡±.


    Thomas let out a loud laugh at hearing the explanation, nearly doubling over. So they were both studying each other, trying to figure out what the other was up to and if they were a danger. The laugh seemed to have startled Delvik, and Thomas leaned the shotgun against the side of the table with the muzzle on the floor, and raised placating hands, ¡°sorry, sorry, it''s just so funny. I was doing the same, well sort of.¡± he said to Delvik¡¯s obvious confusion.


    Straightening up in his seat, ¡°lets try this again, my name is Thomas, and it is a pleasure to meet you Delvik¡± he said, reaching one hand across the machine. At Delvik''s confused look, Thomas explained shaking hands, and after a moment of thought, Delvik''s paw grasped the proffered hand.

 Chapter 9

    The lights dimmed slightly as a smart display activated at the end of the table. A voice sounded from a series of speakers embedded in the center of a table that was nearly as long as the room was. ¡°This meeting of the forum and general staff is called to order,¡± the feminine voice said, ¡°General David Rensmor, you have the floor¡±.


    A man, well dressed in an impeccable military uniform stood, light reflecting off of the three stars on each of his shoulders. He dipped his head to the unseen voice, ¡°thank you Emma¡±, he said before turning and facing down the table.


    He gave a slight bow to the group at the far end of the table, ¡°I would also like to thank the forum members for taking some time from their busy schedules for this meeting, as well as my fellow generals¡± he stated.


    Straightening up, he stepped to the side of the smart display and a map of the eastern seaboard of the United States appeared. ¡°Emma, please highlight and expand grid area 17-Sierra.¡± he said, and the smart display immediately responded, placing a bright rectangle over a vast region of land, stretching from southern Ohio, nearly to the Georgia-Florida state line, and including large chunks of several states in between.


    ¡°As you can see, this is a vast area of land, and to our best knowledge, devoid of any kind of civilization.¡± David said. ¡°During the opening stages of phase one, we performed several high altitude flyovers of this region for initial reconnaissance,¡± he paused as still images taken from a high altitude began appearing to the side of the zoomed in map, ¡°and what we saw gave little hope towards anything of immediate use to us.¡±


    A woman in a similar uniform, albeit bearing a single star on her shoulders, raised a hand. David looked to her and said ¡°General Elthrens, you have a question?¡±.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, ¡°if there''s nothing of use there, then what did you and your little watchers find that''s got you all hot and bothered¡±.


    Several people around the table chucked at that. David sighed as he pitched at the bridge of his nose, ¡°What i am getting to, and was providing some background information regarding the region for,¡± he paused, his eyes sweeping over the gathered personnel, ¡°is that several days ago, one of my officers discover an anomaly in 17-Sierra.¡±


    Taking a deep breath, David continued ¡°Approximately seven days ago, an emergency shelter¡¯s locator beacon became active. After confirming that this type cannot be accidentally activated by a simple power surge, I directed the discovering officer to begin gathering all pertinent information regarding its location¡±


    The smart display changed once again, splitting into three images, side by side. To the left was a map, zoomed in on the northern area of Georgia, with a bright point of light along the old US Highway 20. The center image was an aerial shot of a ruined military base, overrun with plants. The right side image was a picture from further out, showing bits of the decayed highway and what appeared to be a couple of human settlements. The ruined base could barely be seen at the top of the image.


    ¡°This, ladies and gentlemen, is Army Depot 155¡±, David said. ¡°Built during the second world war for ammunition storage, repurposed during the cold war in the nineteen fifties to house three nuclear launch silos and then once again in the early two thousands when the silos were decommissioned to house personnel files in long term storage in the ammunition bunkers.¡±


    Continuing on, ¡°Quite a storied career for a base, but its story doesn''t end there.¡±


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    ¡°Wait, are we just gonna ignore what looks like human towns there¡± General Elthrens interjected. ¡°That''s a black level death zone, practically hell on earth from all the presents our ancestors left for us¡±


    ¡°I was getting to that Sara, please have patience¡± David said in a strained voice. Sara just nodded and leaned back in her seat, motioning him to continue.


    ¡°As I was saying,¡± he said with a pointed glare at General Elthrens, ¡°the base was repurposed once more in the twenty thirties. On paper it was still a storage facility, but in reality it was site Gamma, a research and development facility between the military and several defense corporations.¡±


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at one of the branch sites responsible for the world we live in today.¡± David said, and discussion immediately broke out around the table. This was an exceptional find, if the technologies being developed there, or even the notes on what they were working on could be found relatively intact, it could push their own progress forward by years, decades even.


    Clearing his throat loudly to get everyone''s attention, David continued ¡°Yes, this is a spectacular find, but, as Sara pointed out, this is a Black level death zone, and while we do have confirmation of human, or as close to human as we can discover, settlements, it is still an extremely hazardous region.¡±


    Looking around the table, he continued ¡°We do not know who or what may have activated one of the emergency shelters, but we do know that they require activation codes.¡± With a shrug to emphasize his point, ¡°we could be dealing with anything, from a cryostasis bunker waking up, to some salvager exploring some ruins and playing with things they don¡¯t understand, and with the close proximity of what appear to be settlements, human or otherwise, my analysis team and I agree it is more likely the latter than the former.¡±


    One of the members of the forum, who had mostly just watched and listened to the briefing, raised a hand. David dipped his head in acknowledgement, ¡°Mr. Pelkarmen, you have a question?¡±


    The forum member stood and spoke, ¡°In light of this discovery, what is your recommendation on a course of action General?¡±


    ¡°My recommendation sir, for the time being is further observation¡± David replied, and cast a glance at General Elthrens, ¡°and to begin drawing up preliminary plans for a reconnaissance mission to the base and perhaps the surrounding area.¡±


    Seemingly satisfied with the answer, the forum member sat and discussion once again broke out. Opinion seemed split, the dangers of that area warring against the desire for access to more advanced technology from before the war.


    The possibility of securing more human survivors was an additional draw, but also carried great risk. While they had gotten lucky with Sara¡¯s people when they first made their presence known on the surface, David was well aware that petty warlords, raiders and other vicious elements ruled vast areas of the world. They would have to tread carefully.


    As the discussion began to wind down, the forum members all stood as one, and their current leader, an older man in his fifties stepped forward and gave a polite bow to the gathered generals before speaking, ¡°General Rensmor, the forum thanks you for bringing this matter of importance to our attention, and approve of further surveillance of this anomaly, but nothing more for now.¡± he paused before continuing, ¡°we will however reconvene in one months time to discuss your further findings and discuss the possibility of more direct action¡±


    With that, the forum members departed, followed shortly by all but two of the Generals.


    Sara flashed a feral grin at David, ¡°I could have a patrol cut loose in on their way within an hour¡± she said.


    David just shook his head. ¡°No,¡± he said, ¡°the extra time to study the archives regarding site Gamma, as well as drone recon flights over that region will help us prepare a solid game plan for when we do move on it in force.¡±


    Letting out a sigh of disappointment, Sara shook her head and turned to leave. She stopped at the door as David spoke, ¡°When we do move on that base, and we will; I want you and your people leading point.¡±


    Sara let out a small laugh as she strode out of the room and into the vast underground labyrinth of the base. Finally she thought, something exciting. She had been cooped up far too long.


    Far to the south:


    A raccoon and a man discussed a world that was and a world that is, before a quite rude and uninvited guest ruined the brunch.

 Chapter 10

    A man and a raccoon share a meal atop a giant roomba-like robot. Seems like the beginning of a poorly thought out joke, but in Thomas¡¯ mind it was such a magical moment. He was learning much about Delvik and his people as they took turns asking and answering questions.


    For instance, Thomas learned that Delviks home was in the same building his research lab was in, that Delviks people were spread all across the base, turning the interiors of the still standing buildings into their burrows. Most importantly, Thomas learned that Delviks people had learned human speech from old books and audio recordings found in the base school.


    For Delvik, the moment was the most surreal and profound moment of its life. Never before had a Human taken the time to simply sit down and speak with one of his kind, well as far as he knew, Delvik thought. This Human, Thomas, had a surprising level of knowledge of this land and the ruins the Burrows occupied.


    He also found that a lot of his common knowledge surprised the Human, or made its face somehow go paler than it already was. There was something more to this Human, it got evasive when asked about where it came from, but it was speaking with him and Delvik would use this possibly once in a lifetime opportunity.


    All the while, the two continued to pick morsels of food from the makeshift table. Thomas was very grateful that the shelters¡¯ server contained a full database on wildlife, both locally and from around the world. This had allowed him to better pick foods that would be most likely acceptable; fruits, nuts, root vegetables and even some select meats.


    As Thomas reached forward to claim a piece of cooked chicken after asking a question, Delvik seemed to suddenly freeze. Thomas¡¯s confusion turned to shock as Delvik snatched up his spear and suddenly thrust it at Thomas, and only as it slammed into his chest did he realize that it was the butt end of the spear that he was struck with.


    Thomas toppled backward from his seat, his chest bruised from the impact and a mix of incoherent cursing and pained grunt escaping his lips, when a massive dark shape slammed into the robot they were using as a table. The creature''s long, serpentine head stretched up and it let loose a powerful screech from its tooth filled beak.


    Scrabbling backwards, Thomas searched for the shotgun he had nearly forgotten about after diving deep into conversion with Delvik. He spotted the shotgun, lying shattered under one of the massive taloned feet of the giant bird, just as its large and very dangerous looking head swiveled to face him.


    Thomas threw himself to the side with a stream of cursing as the monstrous birds¡¯ head snapped forward. He could practically feel the wind from the beak snapping shut as he rolled to the side. His roll came to a sudden stop when he slammed into a wrecked table, causing it to crack and splinter, but not quite break.


    From across the room Delvik watched the human crawl backwards, extremely similar to when he fought it. The Humans fighting style was strange, he thought, but it was keeping the Human from being caught by the Drunga.


    Delvik eyed the situation from his vantage. He had taken advantage of the momentum from pushing Thomas back to propel himself out of the large opening to the burrow before the Drunga crashed into the machine. It was a shame about the food, but better that being crushed than themselves.


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    Delvik used the few moments that he knew he had while the giant bird shook off the effects of crashing into the ground to scurry up the vines growing around the opening to the burrow and onto one of the metal beams that ran across the room. He watched as Thomas threw himself to the side to dodge the creature¡¯s attack, but got stopped on some wreckage.


    Making a quick decision, Delvik lept from above and drove his spear deep into the Drunga¡¯s back, causing it to let out a pained screech. Delvik held on for dear life as the creature tried shaking him off. He lost sight of Thomas and hoped the Human was staying true to his previous experience and fleeing, but those hopes were dashed as he watched Thomas swing what appeared to be a plank of aged wood at the Drunga¡¯s side.


    Thomas cursed loudly as the section of table he had broken off shattered against the side of the Monster. He could see Delvik clinging to its spear for dear life as the monster tried to shake him off. He needed something stronger, sharper and hopefully not fall apart on the first swing.


    Spotting a chunk of rusted rebar lying on the floor, Thomas dashed for it, throwing himself into a slide as if he were playing baseball. Successfully rearmed he lunged at the beast and swung with all his might as its big head was snapping at Delvik. It felt like hitting an overstuffed pillow, and he almost dropped the rebar.


    From above Thomas heard Delvik shout, ¡°only stab, body too padded for anything else¡±. Taking heed of the advise, and while the creature was still distracted by the spear wielding raccoon dueling its head, Thomas took a quick moment to aim, he would likely only get one shot at this, and thrust the rusted rebar like a spear into the creatures side, just under the wing.


    The stupid human was going to get him killed Delvik thought as he slapped the beak to the side with his spear and scored another shallow gash along the side of its head. While the creature was large, and Delvik was admittedly small, there was only so much room to maneuver while riding the Drunga. He would have to end this soon or either Delvik or the human would be killed.


    Suddenly the creature gave a pained shriek, and Delvik capitalized on the moment. Rushing forward, he aimed and thrust the spear straight into the Drunga¡¯s beak, aiming for and hitting the brain. Delvik let go of the spear as he leapt from the back of the collapsing creature, landing on the ground next to a blood soaked Thomas, who stood there with a stunned look and holding a long thin piece of blood covered metal.


    ¡°Good Stab, gave me an opportunity.¡± is all Delvik said as Thomas stared at the twitching abomination that lay before them. Delvik strode forward to yank its spear out of the mouth of the mutant bird, ending its twitching. As Delvik turned and began walking back to Thomas, he continued with what Thomas had learned was a smile, ¡°Didn''t think you could fight, only run, happily proved wrong¡±


    Thomas began to reply that he can fight when needed, but trailed off as he noticed Delvik had once again frozen in place. His eyes darted all around and he seemed to be breathing much faster. ¡°Run,¡± Delvik said in a hissing whisper, ¡°I can only stop them for a few moments, so run¡±


    Thomas heard two new noises, the first was of something sharp scraping against stone. The second was almost like a growling laugh, but somehow vaguely familiar. Thomas turned to look at where Delvik was staring, and a creature stepped onto the path leading up to the mess hall, and he suddenly recalled where heard that noise before, or at least something similar.


    The creature was massive, a bit over two meters tall, but hunched forward as if more used to walking on four legs rather than two. The giveaway was the head, a long and rounded snout bearing rows of sharp teeth and two eyes placed high on the skull.


    Thomas took one long good look at the mutant alligator, then looked at Delvik who was readying himself for combat. Thomas scooped Delvik up with both arms and sprinted for the door to the shelter. The Growling laughter stopped suddenly, and turned into a roar of anger from multiple sources.


    Spurred to greater speeds by fear, Thomas practically flew the remaining distance to the shelter entrance and slid inside. As he pulled the door shut, he could feel impacts against the door and hear the sound of metal on metal strikes.


    It was only after the door was fully closed and sealed that Thomas realized what he had done, and he glanced down at Delviks shocked expression.

 Chapter 11

    Delvik stood in shock at the turn of events, he had fully expected to die fighting to buy the human, who in his mind could be the greatest asset to his people, especially as it seemed to know how the old machines work, time to flee to safety. He did not expect the Human to pick him up and flee.


    Then the second realization hit him, he was inside a living, underground burrow. Something he didn''t think any of his people had ever experienced. Oh they had found dead ones, long since destroyed and reclaimed by natures or other creatures he thought.


    Delvik looked around, taking in the hallway, the glowing bars on the ceiling and Thomas, taking deep, gulping breaths as he leaned against the massive great metal door. ¡°Why save me?¡± he asked the Human.


    Thomas turned his head towards Delvik, ¡°beceause¡­..it felt like¡­..the right thing to¡­do¡± he said as he tried to get his breathing under control.


    Taking several deep breaths, Thomas could finally feel the hammering in his chest begin to subside, and he once again made the mental promise to start exercising. Stepping back from the door, he watched Delvik stare around in seeming wonder at the shelters entrance and made peace with his actions. Thomas had planned to eventually bring Delvik into the shelter, if not so soon, but what''s done is done, and he should make the best of this situation.


    ¡°Well, i guess welcome to my home Delvik¡± Thomas said, ¡°and since its likely neither of us will be leaving for a while, let me show you around.¡±


    The two walked in a sort of awkward silence down the long entrance hallway, descending into the earth towards the shelter proper. Both beings stuck in their own minds, but thinking along similar lines. What now? Being the main though, followed by a niggling worry of fear over the other attacking.


    It was Thomas who broke the silence first, ¡°so, um what were those creatures?¡± he asked. Delvik was startled out of his thoughts by the question and answered automatically, ¡°Drunga and Arvo,¡± he said ¡°big angry bird monster, like to drop down on prey from sky.¡± With a visible shiver, he continued, ¡°Arvo are mean, dangerous hunters. Thick skin and sharp teeth. Even Humans avoid them¡±.


    Delvik saw Thomas repeating the names back to himself, as if memorizing their names and descriptions. The Human suddenly got a glimmer of excitement, ¡°A database¡± Thomas said loudly and turned his head to face Delvik. ¡°We can make a list of all the dangers, oh and even of the condition of the base and maybe even the surrounding area¡± he continued, voice getting more and more excited as he continued.


    Thomas¡¯s smile faltered as he noticed the look of confusion on Delviks face, ¡°what is database¡± Delvik said, and Thomas realized one problem they were going to have. He had been taking for granted the fact that Delvik could speak English at all and had forgotten that it was self taught. Thomas explained his idea as they walked, until they arrived at the shelter proper.


    Delvik had agreed readily at the Humans suggestion, especially after hearing that it had maps of the base and surrounding areas. His people had some crudely drawn maps that they had made, mostly showing dangerous areas and where food could be easily found. The idea of a book with all of this information appealed to it, once again affirming its decision to investigate this Human.


    As the Human showed him around the burrow, Delviks mind raced with the possibilities. If he could ally this Human to his tribe, it would change everything. Just the access to the room of healing alone would ensure that sickness wouldn''t ravage the tribe. This whole place was more than Delvik could have dreamed. Thomas had gotten him settled into a large room that had many tables and chairs and after promising to return, disappeared deeper into the burrow. He wanted to follow, to see what other wonders awaited, but he cautioned himself to be patient. The Human wasn''t going to leave, not with the Arvo waiting outside, and it was unlikely that Thomas was going to kill him.


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    So Delvik waited, taking every detail he could and even imagining his people living here in peace, thriving and growing. It was only when he felt dampness in his fur around his eyes that he realized that he was crying. Scrubbing his face with his paws, he swore to himself that he would do everything in his power to bring his tribe here, to shelter with the Human and finally be able to live, rather than simply survive.


    After about twenty minutes, the scent of food preceded Thomas¡¯s return. He set two large trays on the table, along with a few glass bottles. Taking a seat opposite Delvik, ¡°I don''t know how well your people can handle alcohol, but I looked it up and it isn''t toxic to your base species¡± Thomas said with a smile and lifting one of the glass bottles, ¡°but after nearly being killed twice, I figured we deserved a drink or three¡±


    After taking an explorative sniff and sip, Delvik found that he liked the bitter-sour taste. The two discussed a great many things in between bites of food. Thomas excitedly helping Delvik fill out his vocabulary with new words and ideas, while Delvik explained the various dangers of the world and the many creatures that now inhabit it. Eventually however, the conversation began to wind down, and as the tension from earlier wore off, exhaustion began setting in.


    Thomas showed Delvik to a truly massive sleeping chamber, filled with beds much softer than the mats of moss and leaves he was used to. He was also shown a strange room, he had seen their like before but never in this pristine of a condition. His eyes went wide when Thomas described its purpose, a whole room devoted to leavings and cleaning, but as Thomas continued, he felt that he understood the concept.


    With a wishing of good sleep, Thomas departed to a different part of the burrow, leaving Delvik to build a sleeping nest of his own. Delvik was asleep on the comfortable mattress as soon as he lay down.


    Thomas returned to the central control room, and after making sure the door was shut and locked, collapsed into the throne-like chair. What a day he thought, not at all what he expected. The talks with Delvik were eye opening, the world had changed so much. Thomas looked to the monitors for the external cameras, still covered and showing only dark smears. That will be a problem, he thought.


    He looked to the internal cameras, focusing on the sleeping space and saw Delvik sprawled out on a mattress. The blankets still folded neatly next to it with pillows sitting on top. Thomas chuckled softly, feeling the urge to close his eyes and let sleep take him.


    He shook his head, pushing the desire back for the moment. Sitting up, he began typing on the terminal''s keyboard. Noting down the events of the day and what he learned. These Arov are going to be a problem. They could wait them out, but their presence put Delviks people at risk. Hell, everything put Delviks people at risk, and he was really starting to like the guy.


    The memory of them sitting in the cafeteria, sharing a meal and some drinks popped into his mind making him smile. Might be something to that, if they could make the area safer. Delvik had admitted that food in the area was getting scarcer, especially with the cooler season rapidly approaching.


    FInishing his work, Thomas stood and went to where he knew Alex had kept an old army cot stashed away for when he worked late. As he pulled it out and began unfolding it, an old comic book fell out. Picking it up, a sudden idea struck him. Thomas wasn''t a fighter, he knew that, but Delvik was, and while those Arvo were bigger, tougher and stronger, they had science and technology.


    Thomas lay down and quickly succumbed to sleep, but even then, his mind whirled with possibilities. On the table beside him lay the faded comic book, with an iconic red and gold colored figure on it.

 Chapter 12

    ¡°So how persistent are these Arvo¡± Thomas asked over breakfast the next morning as he watched the mutant raccoon poke the waffle on his plate suspiciously.


    ¡°They are patient, will wait for a long time¡± Delvik replied with a frown, ¡°if normal hunting pack, some will watch the door, others will seek other entrance and any remaining will seek other, easier prey¡±


    The two lapsed into silence, Thomas continuing to eat while Delvik seemed to be deep in through. As Thomas finished the food on his plate, he noticed that Delvik had barely eaten and asked him what was bothering him.


    ¡°My people are in danger while I sit in safety¡± he replied with frustration in his voice. ¡°I am far scout, eyes in the world for my people, my job to see danger and warn the Tribe¡±. Turning, Delvik slid off the chair, the extra cushions he had been using falling to the floor as he began pacing in the cafeteria. ¡°I need to warn them, maybe rally other tribes to fight¡± he said waving his arms about, ¡°Arvo being here is bad omen, their territory in swampland, not ruins here¡±.


    Thomas frowned at that, thinking back and trying to remember where the nearest swamps were. There was that national forest about 20 or 30 miles east down the highway that had a pretty big lake. With a shrug, he dismissed the thoughts and looked at his companion, seeing the worry written across his features and made a decision. ¡°I think I have a way that we can help your people, but it will put you at great risk,¡± Thomas said.


    Delvik paused mid stride and looked at Thomas with a mix of hope and confusion. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked, ¡°I don''t think your little robots will help against Arvo¡±


    Thomas stood and walked over to Delvik, and crouching down, poked a few metallic pieces that were clearly once parts taken from the robots Thomas had sent after him. ¡°I Agree, the robots wouldn''t work, without the transmitter on the building and with limited AI¡¯s to control them, they wouldn''t stand a chance¡± Thomas said, ¡°but I had a bit of inspiration last night, and with a bit of work and luck, I think it will work¡±


    As Thomas began to expand on his idea, he realized he was losing his audience from the way Delvik''s eyes seemed to be glazing over at the techno-speak Thomas habitually fell into. He realized he would need to work on simplifying his explanations, for while Delvik was intelligent, he had no grounding, no experience or exposure in most of the concepts that Thomas took for granted.


    Standing, Thomas motioned Delvik to follow him. He would show Delvik the lab, it was dangerous of course, but if he wanted Delvik''s full trust and support, then he would need to be open and up front as well. Thomas felt that Delvik could be trusted, he had already saved his life twice, and his reasoning for both attacking and then tracking Thomas made sense when you thought about it. Plus, Delvik had been up front about what he wanted from Thomas, and so he would do that same.


    As they walked through the halls towards the command center, Thomas began to speak. Delvik listened intently as the Human began explaining the purpose of this burrow, of this whole ruin even, which caused him to nearly trip over his own paws in shock. These ruins were a warriors camp from what he was understanding. Where Humans of old created and tested new ideas. Delvik learned of a world that was both broken by greed, fear and ignorance; and buoyed by hope, inspiration and dreams.


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    To say that he learned more about Humans in the five minute walk through concrete hallways than he had in his seven summers of life would be an understatement. He did not interrupt, merely listened as the Human spoke of his people and the world as it once was. It gave him a lot to think on, and he thought, a better understanding of the Humans he was used to seeing. He could think back on some of the things he had witnessed while observing the nearby human tribes and see glimmers of a once great people who destroyed themselves.


    Delvik almost ran into Thomas¡¯s legs as he stopped before a great metal door. This one was different from the others, it had a box with blinking lights on the front that turned green as Thomas inserted something into it. With a soft buzzing sound and a loud click, Thomas pushed the door open and waved for Delvik to enter.


    ¡°Welcome to the control center Delvik, this is the heart and brain of this shelter¡± Thomas said with a bit of a flourish. He watched as Delvik stopped a few steps into the room, eyes widening as he took in everything. His new friend, and that was how Thomas had decided to start thinking of Delvik, his Friend, slowly began to walk around the room.


    He watched as Delvik walked to the U shaped desk, with its multitude of blinking lights, small monitors and of course the mobile terminal. Thomas nearly laughed as Delvik was startled and leapt back suddenly, as he approached the server racks and one of them began emitting loud fan noises. He saw wonder, fear, excitement and confusion all cross his friends face. ¡°Why show me all this?¡± Delvik asked.


    ¡°Because you saved my life twice now, because you can help me, because you have been honest and straightforward with me¡± Thomas said with a shrug, ¡°I could say any of those reasons and they would be true, but really it''s because I consider you a friend, and friends help each other.¡±


    Delvik stood there in shock, it was more than he expected or, truthfully hoped for, but before he could muster a reply, Thomas continued with a chuckle, ¡°Enough of the mushy stuff, you have monsters to slay and a tribe to save¡±, and with a few button presses, one of the monitors lit up.


    Delvik turned to look at the thing that lit up brightly, he could make out pictures of a humanoid figure in gleaming metal, similar he thought, to the killer metal humans that occasionally strayed into the ruins. Then the picture began moving and he saw that the metal began opening up and a human stepped out of it. As the image changed again, this time it showed a drawing of similar armor, scaled down to a rough drawing of what Delvik realized was himself.


    Delvik turned his head to look at Thomas, and he saw a excited, maniacal grin. One he had seen many times as he observed the Human tribes and his fur tried to stand on end. ¡°You were right, robots won¡¯t cut it against these creatures, at least not ones I can build with what I have available now, but we can build you a special suit.¡± Thomas spoke softly, ¡°a suit that can equalize the difference between you and them, that can play to your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses¡±


    Delviks mind was whirling with possibilities, such a suit was an impossibility, a child''s fantasy, and he said as much. Thomas just laughed, ¡°I saw impossibility become reality as a child, I saw a door opened that cannot be shut, and it drove my choices to this place and this time¡± he said, ¡°and while we may not be able to fix this broken world, I think we can maybe fix this one place, and make it safer, better.¡±


    Thomas shrugged and then smiled, ¡°I''ve got a few ideas, but that later. For now we have dangerous monsters hunting us and your people¡± he said, tone turning serious as he reached out his hand to Delvik ¡°what do you say, are you ready to do the impossible?¡±

 Chapter 13

    ¡°I look stupid¡± Delvik said, voice muffled by the helmet as he checked out the full suit. Behind the helmet''s face plate he frowned and twitched his nose. The face plate was pushing his whiskers back and making his muzzle itch. He hated it and felt foolish.


    Thomas turned and looked at Delvik with an appraising look, ¡°I think you mean badass, now hold out your arms,¡± he said. Thomas stood and walked over to where Delvik was standing and began fitting the newest additions to the armor. Delvik thought his human friend was perhaps going a bit overboard with all of this.


    At the beginning it was fun, seeing the miracle machine working and creating each piece, helping Thomas assemble and fit it to his body. Delvik thought it was the greatest thing ever, but then Thomas kept thinking up new things to add, new situations that needed to have some gadget to account for regardless of how outlandish.


    ¡°Enough Thomas, this is enough, more than enough,¡± he shouted as Thomas got that far off look he had come to recognize as the human considering a new tool. He turned to face his friend, ¡°I know you do this to help, but we have been here all day now, and from the look you have, it will be days more before you think we are ready¡± Delvik said with an exasperated tone.


    He moved his glove clad paws up and down, ¡°if this suit works half as good as you say, then I am satisfied¡± he said.


    Thomas looked slightly abashed, realizing that he may have indeed been going a bit overboard. He made a mental note to write down his ideas though, you never knew when a mark 2 version may be needed.


    ¡°Fine, fine; you¡¯re right and I am sorry.¡± Thomas said, ¡°I just wanted to make sure we were prepared for anything¡±. He moved over to where Delvik and crouched down a bit, the new suit did add some extra inches of height to his friend but not enough to throw off his balance or ability to move smoothly. ¡°How does everything feel? Is your range of motion affected?¡± he asked.


    Delvik shook his head side to side, ¡°No, it feels fine¡± he said. With a nod, Thomas stood and stepped back, taking in the whole suit. He had wanted to go with the classic red/gold color scheme, but Delvik shot that down. Same with the idea he had of adding a cape. Instead, he saw an impressive figure in molded polymer armor, lined with a special impact absorbing gel. Even the tail had segmented armor plates for protection. All of this colored a bluish black with various shades of gray mixed in.


    It was impressive, Thomas thought. Delvik seemed to appreciate it as well, as he watched his friend bend, twist and flex with the armor on. Thomas reached over to the table and lifted up the final addition and held it out to Delvik. The armored raccoon took the haft of the newly created spear and after moving to the cleared side of the lab, began getting a feel for the new weapon. He spun it around like a martial artist would with a staff before launching into a series of stabs and slashes.


    Seemingly satisfied, Delvik looked towards the exit of the lab, it was time. Both seemed to pause, unsure what to say.


    It was Thomas who spoke first, ¡°you¡¯re gonna kick some ass up there, I only wish I could see it. If only someone hadn¡¯t covered up all my cameras¡± he said, smirking at the end.


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    Delvik snorted, ¡°I have already apologized and will not do so again. Next time be more careful with creepy metal eyes¡±.


    Thomas slung the shotgun he had re-created, the previous one having been damaged and abandoned after the last attack. This one he named ¡°Boomstick MK2¡±, and it was specially designed for dealing with the Arvo, firing sharpened slugs designed to penetrate their thick hide and filled with explosives for a nasty surprise. He wasn''t going to be taking any chances this time.


    The hunters watched from the shadows of the ruins. They knew Delvik had been in the area a few days ago, investigating something was all they got in answer to their questions. Now they watched in horror as a large pack of Arvo settled into one of the ruined buildings, notable for the large section of roof that was peeled back and flopped over the side of the building.


    They had already sent a runner back to the burrow to sound the alarm and were simply watching, counting the number of monsters that had moved in. It seemed to be a sizable pack, but rather than spread out to cover more hunting ground, they seemed focused on that one building. The group spoke softly amongst themselves, wondering if it was Delvik they had cornered, or perhaps some other creature.


    The explosions took them by surprise, three fireballs expanding and consuming a cluster of the Arvo that had been milling around a pile of metal. Before the fireballs had even finished expanding they saw a shadowy blur, streak across the building and impact one of the larger Arvo, and send it flying before streaking towards another cluster of Arvo.


    More explosions rippled out from the building, sending Arvo flying or simply disappearing, consumed by the explosions. The watching hunters stared in shock as they watched the shadowy figure bounce between groups of the monsters. Wherever it landed, Arvo died or lost limbs.


    Whatever this thing was, it was not to be trifled with, the watchers agreed. Suddenly, a powerful roar sounded, and the largest Arvo strode forward to face the shadowy figure. It bellowed a challenge before dropping to all fours to charge the figure.


    One of the hunters, known for their keen eyes stiffened in shock, then began to poke the others and chitter excitedly. It had gotten a decent look at the figure before it leapt to meet the charging Arvo head on, and what it saw confused and excited it. It described what it saw to the others, a metal Rakus, tail and all.


    Torn between fear and wonder, the hunters quietly cheered on the metal Rakus as it battled the Alpha Arvo. Winced as the Arvo sent the figure flying, and nearly laughed out loud as they watched the figure grab a metal pole while in flight, watched the metal pole bend and could even swear they heard the metal groaning as it flexed back, flinging the figure back at the Alpha.


    So caught up in watching the fight between the two figures, they missed seeing the other Arvo moving in to surround the pair. Despair settled in the pits of their stomachs as the figure began to get battered by the slowly enclosing ring of vicious monsters. The figure was putting up a good fight, any Arvo other than the Alpha that came at it was sent flying, usually trailing a spray of blood, but the numbers were taking their toll.


    As the Alpha roared in victory after managing to trap the figure under one huge scaled foot, the hunters began to look away before another oddity drew them back. A second figure strode out of the ruined building, white coat flapping behind it as walked through the burrows exit. The Keen eyed hunter was frozen in wide eyed fear as the others asked what it saw. They understood a moment later, hearing the echo of a familiar sound, a creature as feared nearly as much as the Arvo.


    They heard the familiar Click-Clack, they saw the Human raise a metal death stick, pointed at the Alpha. They heard the Alphas hissing laughter and then watched its head explode.

 Chapter 14

    ¡°Ok, on three¡± Thomas whispered to Delvik. ¡°One¡­. Two¡­. THREE¡± he shouted as he shoved the reinforced bunker door open, and Delvik shot forward, his spear piercing one of the waiting Arvo through its throat. Thomas¡¯s last sight of Delvik as he closed the door to a bare crack, was as the armored raccoon used the monster backwards momentum from falling to catapult himself into the air.


    Delvik flew, reveling in the sense of power he felt from the suit. How his movements felt more fluid, his reactions faster, then he hit a beam in the ceiling and bounced off it, reminding him to pay attention to the here and now. He managed to take control of his fall, landing feet first against the chest of an Arvo and using it as a springboard to flip backward.


    The creature stumbled backwards a few feet before slapping the ground with its stubby tail to stabilize it and push it forward. As the creature fell to all four and began to charge forward it ran straight into the spear that Delvik had retrieved from his first kill. As the spear drove deep into the space between its neck and shoulder, Delvik gave a mighty heave and threw the creature towards the entrance.


    Raising his wrist, pointing it at the cluster of monsters near the entrance, standing over the remains of his and Thomas¡¯s first peaceful meeting and squeezed his hand three times. Each squeeze sent a small, metallic sphere flying towards the group. He watched almost in slow motion as the spheres arced gently before landing amongst the creatures and turned into blinding balls of fire. The lenses over his eyes darkened to an almost opaque level to preserve his vision and Delvik uttered another prayer to the Makers for bringing Thomas to him. With a feral smile hidden beneath the metal mask, Delvik threw himself forward, cutting down all who stood in his way.


    Thomas began a slow count down from one hundred, ready to slam the door shut if things went terribly wrong or throw it open should his friend need help. He heard three quick explosions as he reached seventy and smiled. Wrist launched micro grenades, this year''s hot post apocalypse Christmas present he thought with dark amusement. .


    The sound of roars of anger and pain, the clash of metal and flesh made Thomas flinch repeatedly as he sheltered behind the door, each time he wanted to step out or slam it shut, to just do anything, but he had promised to stick to the plan. Thomas had started to crack the door open a bit further as the sound of fighting moved further out into the street.


    Bloody and scaled fingers clutched at the bottom of the door, yanking it open and sending Thomas stumbling into the ruined mess hall. He spun around after regaining his balance and saw the massive lizard beginning to pull itself up, using the door as a support. Its body was badly burned, covered with shredded and scorched scales and leaking blood everywhere. It let out a ragged hiss as it raised one hand towards Thomas, as he raised his shotgun, and then the creature collapsed forward, a gurgling hiss of breath escaping it before laying still.


    With his heart thundering in his chest, Thomas spun around, shotgun raised and at the ready, but he saw no movement. He was just getting his panic under control when he heard Delvik scream in pain.


    Delvik crashed into another group of Arvo, slashing and stabbing with his spear. Firing another boom sphere at a charging Arvo, he assessed the situation. Many of the creatures were down, dead or dying, but more seemed to be pouring into the area. Good he thought, if the fighting was pulling the pack here, it would mean safety for his people. A sudden roar broke his thoughts, and he saw the largest Arvo he had ever seen begin charging towards him.


    Delvik met the charge head on, leaping over it and scoring a shallow gash along its armored back. The creature''s tail swatted at him but he was able to narrowly dodge it and land back on the ground, turning to meet the creature again. Delvik took a deep set of gouges across the chest piece of his armor when he failed to dodge a blow that sent him tumbling away.


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    Again and again the two closed on each other, trading blows before backing off and trying again. Delvik landed more hits, but this creature, he assumed it was an Alpha from its size and strength, its hide was just too thick to pierce or slash with his spear. The monster''s blows on the other hand, usually sent Delvik tumbling away when they hit, and he was beginning to grow concerned as the armor took more damage.


    A particularly hard hit from the creature¡¯s tail sent Delvik flying into a metal pole, and only luck and the suit''s durability saved him. The pole groaned warningly as it bent and flung Delvik back into the fray, and as he rolled back to his feet from the landing, realized he may be in trouble. More Arvo had gathered, forming a massive ring around the Alpha and himself. As they continued to battle, he found himself being forced into the surrounding ring by the Alpha.


    It was a hit to the shoulder joint that ended the fight. A jagged claw ripped through armor that had been weakened by repeated hits sunk deep into his shoulder. The Alpha snarled viciously and began slamming Delvik like a ragdoll, each hit driving the clad deeper and shredding the skin and muscle beneath the armor. With a final, powerful slam into the broken ground, the creature withdrew the claw and stomped down with a massive foot, pinning Delvik and causing him to scream in pain.


    He knew this was the end, that he would die here. While he took some solace in having destroyed most of this Alphas pack, it would mean the end of his plans, and that hurt deeper than anything. As the massive creature applied more pressure, another scream of pain was forced out and the edges of his vision began to dim and go fuzzy, and then he saw flapping white cloth and heard a distinctive sound.


    Thomas peaked around the corner and watched the massive lizard try to squash the life out of his friend. He had crept to the gaping hole in the entrance after the first scream, and saw the scene unfolding in the wrecked street. His heart beat wildly, his mind raced with options, trying to decide what to do.


    Thomas didn''t remember hearing the second scream; didn''t remember striding around the corner and walking toward the Arvo; didn¡¯t remember unnecessarily racking the slide backwards and forwards as he raised the shotgun, pointing the muzzle at the ugly monster''s face.


    No, Thomas didn¡¯t remember any of that. He remembered being frozen by fear and indecision one moment, and then staring in shock at the ruined stump of a neck as gore rained down around him and the creature toppled backwards. If pressed, he would vaguely describe a feeling like red tinted thunder roaring in his head and chest between those two points, but nothing more.


    Delvik rolled onto his back, taking in deep, gulping breaths of air as his vision cleared. He looked up at the human, still standing there stunned. Then the human shook his head, his eyes snapping to Delvik, and Thomas reached down, extending his hand to Delvik. Armored paw met pink flesh and Thomas helped pull Delvik up to his feet. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Thomas asked, casting an extremely worried look around, ¡°because they are starting to snap out of their shock¡±.


    Delvik eyed the remaining Arvo, still partially encircling them. The creatures were starting to come back to their senses after seeing the Alpha fall. A chorus of snarls, hisses and low, rumbling roars started up. Delvik grabbed his spear and made ready, ¡°I will cover you, get to entrance¡± he said to Thomas, who nodded his head, ¡°and thank you friend¡±.


    Spinning his spear around in a dangerous flourish, he shouted to the Arvo ¡°I AM DELVIK, FAR SCOUT OF RERDELP BURROWS, FACE ME AND DIE¡±


    The creatures reared back in shock at the voice, still stunned with the loss of their Alpha. A few managed to gather their wits and slowly, they began to approach the duo. Thomas and Delvik readied themselves for the fight of their lives as the remaining Arvo cautiously approached, snarling and snapping. A few of the braver ones charged forward, charging at the two figures. One fell with the echoing report of the Shotgun. Delvik leapt forward, his spear lashing out and piercing the other Arvo through the neck and straight into its body.


    With a roar, the remaining monsters began to charge, only for it to falter under an unexpected barrage of arrows. Dozens of shouts and warcries erupted from the surrounding ruined buildings as spear and ax wielding raccoons began to pour into the street, scattering the Arvo as they finally broke, fleeing. Many of the new arrivals chased after the fleeing Arvo, but one group approached the two standing in the street.


    Delvik looked to Thomas, ¡°worried this might happen, let me do talking¡± he said, and with a chuckle added, ¡°could really use one of those beer drinks about now¡±

 Chapter 15

    Delvik and Thomas watched in relief as the last of the Arvo disappeared into the ruins with the Delviks'' people in hot pursuit. Both watched as a party of hunters approached, ¡°wait here,¡± Delvik said to Thomas as he began to stride forward, unlatching the battered helmet and removing it. Sweat matted his fur to his head and he resisted the urge to scrub his face.


    ¡°Shadows hunt, brothers¡± he said in the language of his people, greeting the oncoming hunters as he moved to meet them and trying to put a bit more distance between him and Thomas. The hunters halted and the leader stepped forward and raised his paw in greetings, ¡°Shadows embrace, brother¡± the hunt leader said, their head tilted in confusion, ¡°Just what are you wearing? We had received report of a Metal Rakus making war upon a pack of Arvo, only to arrive and hear it shout a challenge in the name of our wayward scout¡±


    Delvik rubbed the back of his head with one gauntleted paw, whiskers twitching in embarrassment, ¡°ah, you heard that. hunt leader Anzis¡± he said with an embarrassed laugh, ¡°well we all say foolish things when we believe we are about to die¡±. Some of the hunters in the group laughed at that, and Delvik was sure that everyone in the burrows would be hearing about his challenge by nightfall.


    Anzis stepped forward, poking Delviks battered chest armor, and hissed ¡°Now explain to me, scout Delvik, why we arrived to find you not only surrounded by the corpses of nearly an entire pack of Arvo, and appearing to be a metal creation, but also in the company of a Human?¡±


    Delvik let out a resigned breath, he knew he would have to reveal Thomas to the tribe eventually, but he had hoped to do so in a situation more on his terms. He turned his head and looked at the Human, thankful that he had slung the death stick over his back and trying to appear as non-threatening as possible, then turned back to Anzis.


    ¡°I had hoped to bring this before the matrons, but the Arvo as always complicated things. You remember the great storm several nights ago?¡± he said, and Anzis nodded and replied ¡°I remember, the same night that the intruder alarm was raised and a shadowy figure was chased through the ruin until it vanished¡­¡± and Anzis¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°the Human was the intruder¡± he stated coldly, anger flaring in his eyes.


    Delvik raised his paws in a calming gesture ¡°Peace brother, hear me out¡± he quickly said, ¡°yes, it was the Human you see before you, but there were circumstances that you are not aware of. Let me start at the beginning before you pass any judgment¡±


    Thomas had stepped back to make a bit more space between him and Delviks people, they seemed a bit twitchy and he couldn¡¯t help but notice the obvious hostile looks he was getting, especially from the one speaking with Delvik. He even decided to sling the shotgun over his back, hoping that Delvik could defuse things.


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    It wasn''t like he did not understand their hostility, all the humans they had met so far attacked and killed them according to what Delvik had told him. So he tried to help his friend by trying to appear as non-threatening as possible while they talked things out in their chittering language.


    Thomas¡¯s eyes roamed over the various ruins along the street, this was the first time really seeing the devastation in the daylight. It made his heart hurt, so much death and destruction and lost potential. Tearing his eyes away from the ruins, he watched Delviks people. Many of the hunters were moving around, giving Thomas a wide berth, but they were moving with purpose. Collecting the dead Arvo, dragging them off to a pit being dug, or collecting fallen weapons and pieces of armor.


    So caught up in watching the activities, he jumped when he felt a sudden pressure against his lower back. Thomas turned his head and upper body slowly while raising his hands and looked behind him to see a very confusing looking hunter, its spears¡¯ tip pressed against his lab coat. ¡°Oh, um hello there¡± Thomas said, startling the hunter which began chittering at him in its language and waving the spear at him. He wasn''t worried about being stabbed, the sharpened metal of the spear wasn''t sharp enough to even scratch the composite kevlar smart fabric that his lab coat was made of.


    Thomas watched as the hunter backed up warily, and finally realized something that had been bothering him but hadn¡¯t been able to put his finger on. The hunter was very lean, his clothing hanging off its frame as if made for someone bigger. Most of the hunters were like that he observed, not quite looking like they were starving, more like underfed with little body fat.


    Frowning, he tried asking if the hunter was hungry, pantomiming eating, but that only seemed to frighten it. Thomas considered his options, looking around at the others of Delviks people, then at Delvik himself still talking with the ones in charge of this group. It was seeing Delvik standing with others of his people that made his decision. Even with the armor, there was a visible difference between Delvik and the hunters he was speaking with, and that was with just a few solid meals.


    ¡°Delvik!¡± he shouted, ¡°Everyone looks hungry, I''m gonna go grab some food and drinks while you talk¡±. Thomas turned and walked past the hunter. He felt the touch of pressure from the spear point hitting his side, but again, the fabric of the lab coat stiffened at the point of impact and kept Thomas safely un-stabbed as he walked to the entrance of the shelter and slipped inside, closing the door behind him.


    When Thomas returned pushing a cart laden with food, he found a very different situation than when he left. Delvik was standing with his back to the door with the hunters all arrayed before him, their spears pointed at him in clear hostility. Thomas was sure that if he wanted to, Delvik could easily defeat every hunter here without breaking a sweat, and he felt relieved that his friend didn''t jump straight to solving this problem with violence.


    As many scared, angry eyes turned towards him, and before Delvik could say anything, Thomas simply smiled, lifted the lid of a tray and said, ¡°Who wants barbecue?¡±

 Chapter 16

    The silence was deafening, nobody moved and they all seemed to be staring in shock at Thomas. Even Delvik was frozen in disbelief momentarily, ¡°what do you mean, who wants barbecue? What even is barbecue?¡± he asked Thomas.


    In reply, Thomas simply pointed at the cart, waved his hand over the piles of meats, vegetables, and even fruits, ¡°Only the most superior way to cook and eat food ever created¡± he said with a grin, ¡°I even had some classic sauces and spices made, and of course some beer.¡±


    A ripple went through the gathered hunters at the sight of the food, as their minds began processing what was before them. Thomas watched them carefully, as one began to speak in their language, quickly followed by more until it appeared multiple conversions were happening. Thomas had no idea what they were saying, so he looked to Delvik. ¡°They are questioning your purpose for this, some think it is poisoned or some other trick¡± Delvik said.


    Thomas opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the one he thought was the leader. ¡°What is meaning of this Human?¡¯ he asked Thomas.


    Both Thomas and Delvik looked shocked at the revelation, they looked to each other and then to Anzis before both trying to speak at once. Thomas closed his mouth and nodded to Delvik, who asked ¡°When did you learn to speak human?¡±


    Anzis looked to Delvik ¡°After you leave last season on long scout, Matrons want hunt leaders to know¡± and he turned his wary gaze to Thomas ¡°to better fight Humans, protect tribe from Humans.¡±


    Thomas processed what this hunter was saying, he thought it made sense, learn an enemy''s language and you could spy on them more easily, get more information from prisoners. He had no brilliant idea to end generations of violence and hatred, didn''t think he could honestly, but he did have a set of grills, a cart laden with food and drinks, and the willingness to try to show that not all humans were alike.


    ¡°I know there¡¯s bad history between your people and mine, but I am not them. I just want to live in peace and make cool things that might help people.¡± Thomas said, ¡°Look at Delvik, he stabbed me and tried to kill me when we first met, but then we talked, and shared good food and now I consider him a friend.¡±


    Anzis had a look of disbelief on his face at the Humans words, his eyes moving from the Human to Delvik, seeing Delviks brief spike of embarrassment when the Human mentioned their first meeting, and then his smile at the end when he was called a friend. Two voices warred within his mind, one screaming to end this Human before it brings death and destruction to the tribe, the other reminding him that the Human fought alongside Delvik against the monstrous lizards and had done nothing hostile towards any of the hunting party.


    Delvik watched Anzis, he felt sympathy for the hunt leader. He knew what instincts and thoughts were going through his head, he had after all had them himself. Fighting generational experience against an anomaly, and he knew he had to do something, to put his paw on the balance and tilt it towards a desirable outcome. ¡°Anzis,¡± he said, speaking in their common language, ¡°I know the thoughts in your head, I have had them myself. Thomas, the Human, could have killed me, he had the opportunity after I failed to land a killing blow, but he didn¡¯t.¡±


    Taking a deep breath, Delvik steeled his resolve and decided to take a risk. ¡°This Human is different, he does not act or think like the others we have seen. This could be the opportunity of a lifetime for our people, so please, trust in me, in my friend!¡±


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    Thomas stayed silent as Delvik spoke, trusting that his friend was trying to settle this peacefully. He stayed silent when his friend finished speaking and a deep quiet settled in over the gathering.


    A simple bob of the head and a few chittered words had a path opening up before Thomas, and he let out a breath of relief. With a smile he began pushing the cart forward, ¡°Delvik, let''s get the grills setup in the back, we can see if we can get any of the tables fixed up after we get the grills started up for your people.¡± he said as the two of them passed through the crowd.


    Anzis watched as the strange Human assembled some strange contraptions and filled them with lumpy black rocks, and then his jaw dropped as the Human set fire to the rocks and placed a metal grid over the tops. He watched as the two began dragging the least destroyed tables and chairs into the open area. Anzis ordered a few of the more curious looking hunters to go help them, and sent others to keep lookout. No sense in leaving themselves vulnerable to scavengers he thought.


    His nose twitched as a new scent filled the air, familiar but different enough to cause some confusion. Then he saw that the Human had started putting some kind of meat on the strange devices. The scent of strange spices began filling the air and he, along with many others of the hunting party just watched. They saw the Human putting meat and vegetables on a tiny wooden spear and setting them on the metal grill.


    Delvik broke the spell the hunters were under by setting down a large, strange looking box with a loud thud. A dozen sets of eyes shifted from the grills to him, and with slow, exaggerated movements he reached into the box and pulled out a bottle. Smiling, he twisted the top and tossed the cap into a bucket he had set beside the box. Delvik took a long drink, nearly finishing half the bottle in one go before lowering it and letting out a satisfied sound.


    Slowly at first, they approached Delvik in ones and twos as he sat at the table closest to the box. They asked about the smells, the Human and what he was drinking. He spoke with them as he sat there, told them of his experiences with the Humans food and drink, His heart beating wildly in his chest hidden by a calm face. He shared his beer with Anzis, explaining that it is similar to salp, but more bitter and in his opinion, better tasting.


    Thomas watched as he cooked, saw Delvik breaking the ice with beer and conversation. Watched as some of Delviks people inched closer to the gills. This was what he wanted, peace and good food and hopefully new friends, or at least less hostile neighbors. Thomas called out to Delvik as he filled the first tray with shish kebabs and sausage, and the second tray with chicken. ¡°Hey, this foods ready, i''ve got different sauces and some powdered seasonings they can try in the box on the cart,¡± he said, and Delvik simply nodded and carried the trays to the central table.


    Anzis and every hunter watched as Delvik carried over two metal trays, balancing one in each hand and piled high with food. He would give the Human due credit, he was definitely delivering on the promise of feeding them all, Anzis thought to himself. All conversation seemed to taper off as the food was set down, and a dozen heads turned to Anzis as if seeking permission. Steeling his nerves, he reached out and picked up one of the skewers, nearly dropping it as the heat began to burn his fingers.


    The first bite nearly resumed hostility as the watching hunters saw Anzis¡¯s eyes roll back and he nearly fell out of his chair. Never before had he tasted food like this, the meat tender and juicy and full of flavor, the vegetables softened but still having a bit of crispness in the center. It was no wonder Delvik was on the Humans side if he had been getting food like this, he thought. Then he bit wood, breaking him out of his thoughts with a small flare of anger. Where did the food go, who had stolen his meal right out of his paws? Then he realized he had eaten the entire skewer, and quickly reached for another.


    A flood of paws followed his to the tray, and Anzis decided that Delviks Human could stay, especially if there was more where this came from.

 Chapter 17

    Throughout the ruins of the base, laughter and merriment could be heard for the first time in nearly a century. As the sun began to slip over the horizon, a nervousness set into the partygoers, to be outside of the burrows after dark was to risk death. To that, their Human host laughed and disappeared for a short while after promising he had a solution.


    The Human returned with another cart, this one stacked with rolls of strange rope. The hunters watched as the Human and Delvik spoke in that strange, grunty language. With a nod, Delvik began directing the Hunters to grab an end of the rope and carry it up into the metal beams overhead, until all the rope was stretched across the area above their heads. Delvik stood by the Human, wearing a grin as the Human connected the end of the ropes to a strange box.


    That night, another first in nearly a century occurred, artificial light shone brightly from a building with purpose. Thomas laughed and raised his beer up in a cheers as the party continued, and a drone silently passed far overhead, recording everything its mechanical eye saw.


    Thomas was having the time of his life, he had always enjoyed a good party, especially if it involved barbecue and beer. This was so much more though, he thought as he was showing a group of Delviks people how to use the grills and watching them experiment with different combinations. Already he had made over dozen trips into the shelter to get more items, like the LED rope lights now hanging from the ceiling.


    He was also learning so much about his new neighbors. He had sat and spoken with both Delvik and Anzis, and introduced them both to his favorite rum while asking and answering questions. Delvik had made it clear that getting Anzis to have a favorable opinion of Thomas would make interacting with their people, the Rakus, much easier.


    Thomas felt that they were making good progress on that front. Anzis seemed to be enjoying himself, judging from the number of empty plates and bottles in front of him at the table. Sweeping his eyes over the gathering he spotted a table running low and after tapping his new helpers on the shoulders to get their attention, filled a new tray and carried it over and replaced the empty with it to a chorus of chittering cheers.


    Item number one, he thought to himself, gotta figure out how to make a translator so I can communicate easier. It was the only downside to the day, other than the battle against deadly creatures that wanted to eat them of course. Thomas was having a blast though, it brought back good memories from college and from after he started working at the base. Going out to the beach or the state park and grilling up delicious food.


    As the moon climbed higher into the sky, the party inevitably began to wind down. Many of the Rakus were passed out at the tables, having fallen prey to the food coma that follows such heavy food, or from indulging a bit much on the beer. Thomas smiled as he moved about, clearing trash from the tables and suppressing a laugh at sight of the Rakus living up to their ancestor species moniker.


    Delvik and Anzis stood on a section of the roof, looking out over the ruins. ¡°So, your Human sure lived up to his promise¡± Anzis said with a glance back to his hunting party, most of which was passed out on the tables or floor. He shook his head and looked to the scout, ¡°What is it that you are looking to get from this?¡±, he continued, ¡°I will vouch for the Human not being a threat, but what is your goal here Delvik?¡±


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    The armored scout turned from watching Thomas move about, cleaning up the messes and looked Anzis in the eyes with a serious expression, ¡°Do you remember, about three winters ago when the wasting cough swept through our burrow?¡±. He continued after seeing Anzis nod, ¡°It took two of my siblings, and so many others it nearly destroyed the tribe. If Thomas had been here then, I am certain we could have cured or even prevented it.¡±


    The two lapsed into silence, remembering the past and considering the future.


    ¡°The Matrons will not be pleased, nor as easily convinced as I was,¡± Anzis said softly, breaking the silence.


    Delvik nodded in understanding, ¡°I know, but I owe it to the ones we have lost, the ones we lose every year, to at least try,¡± he said somberly, ¡°I have seen Human settlements suffer similar sickness and come out of it with less loss than we do, I believe Thomas will be the key to us being able to do the same, and so much more.¡±


    The two stood in silence once more, listening to the sounds of the night broken only by the snoring of the passed out hunters below. They tried to maintain the somber air that such a heavy conversation brings, fought to keep their faces straight, but ultimately failed. They both looked down to the slumbering hunters, normally proud and mighty, now sprawled out on all surfaces, snoring loudly enough and with enough variation to almost be considered music.


    Chuckling at the sight, the two descended to the main floor. Thomas immediately conscripted them to help cleanup, and quickly the trash and waste bits of food were bagged up and placed inside the entry to the shelter. They moved sleepily protesting figures, laying them out in the center of the room and covering them with old army blankets. Finally, once all the work was done, the three retired to a round table to relax. ¡°I will say,¡± Thomas said with a smile as he shuffled some cards, ¡°your people know how to enjoy a good party¡±.


    Both Delvik and Anzis laughed at that, ¡°They ate more food than most do all year¡± Anzis stated, ¡°and in morning, they learn a valuable lesson why they need¡­ um, self control.¡±


    Thomas¡¯s smile faltered at that statement, ¡°Are your people really that hard pressed for food,¡± he asked while looking around, ¡°we can make more for you to take back with you¡±.


    The two Rakus looked at each other, and then Delvik spoke ¡°Thomas, tomorrow I will be going back with Anzis and hunters. I need to speak with the Matrons, about you and all this¡± he said, waving a paw as if to encompass everything here.


    Delvik held up a paw when Thomas tried to speak, ¡°No, you cannot come with me. You stay here, safe in your burrow and do Human things. I will return when done, and with luck, we can help my people," and he continued as Thomas began to frown, "I will respect the things you do not want known my friend, but I must do this".


    Thomas continued to frown, but he saw the look in Delviks eyes, his mind had been made up and it would be a waste to argue. With a sigh, ¡°I wish you the best of luck my friend, anything I can do to help, just let me know¡± he said, and began dealing out the cards to the two across from him to their mild confusion.


    That night a third first occurred, and a Human tried teaching two mutant raccoons how to play poker, and regretted it as they turned out to be naturals. They played until sleep began to over take them as well.


    Anzis nodded to his hunters who drew the short straws and had to maintain a security watch, before bedding down himself.


    Delvik and Thomas retreated into the shelter, sealing the door behind them before retiring to their respective rooms.


    When Thomas awoke, Delvik was gone and his suit of armor sat on its mannequin.

 Chapter 18

    Early morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the walls as Delvik made his way through the ruined buildings. He smiled at the strung out line of hunters ahead of him as he watched them struggle with their hangovers, it had been an enjoyable night, if not such an enjoyable morning for them, he thought.


    He readjusted the backpack, as Thomas had called it, wishing again that he had found something smaller and better fitted to his body size. Delvik picked up his pace and quickly caught up to the rear of the group, nodding to the hunters that were stuck herding the worst of their hungover party along, and moved up to walk next to a scowling Anzis.


    ¡°You should be more cheerful Anzis, your hunters return fat, happy and a bit hungover after a victorious fight against the scaled ones.¡± he said.


    Anzis shook his head negatively, ¡°Victorious my tail, you and that Human of yours were nearly done. We just chased off the stragglers that had the good sense to flee¡± he grumbled and looked to Delvik, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be looking more somber, you are about to face down the Matrons on a subject that borders on heresy¡±.


    Delvik laughed loudly, causing some of the hunters to wince in pain, ¡°I am more nervous than I have ever been, even sneaking into a Human settlement was less stressful,¡± he said, ¡°but this is something I believe in, the key to our future is within our grasp and I will make the Matrons see my vision¡±


    Anzis just shook his head again before speaking, ¡°For your sake, I hope you are correct Delvik. You only returned home recently, you haven''t seen their fear of Humans like I have¡±.


    Delvik thought about Anzis¡¯s words, comparing them with his own memories of interacting with the Matrons. He had always thought of them as aloof, disinterested with the world outside of the Burrow unless it directly affected it. Even the few authorized forays into the Human controlled areas he had been sent on had felt more akin to checking on a neighboring Burrow to see what they were up to. If the Matrons had, as Anzis was suggesting, started becoming actively hostile towards Humans, then his plans for the future were in danger.


    So caught up in his own thoughts, he had missed their approach to the Burrow. Suddenly before him stood the tall, weathered ruin of glass, metal and stone. The great letters from which the tribes¡¯ name was taken, hung spaced out above the entry. Looking carefully, he could spot the watchers, their cloaks allowing them to blend in with the ruined structure.


    Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Delvik followed the hunters as they entered the building. Soft footsteps whispered through the passages, passing large spaces that had long ago been picked over for anything of value. He heard the shouts of delight as the first of the hunting party arrived at the true entrance. Two metal arches standing before an inky black pit, the ropes dangling down were nearly invisible in the low light.


    Some of the hunters were flinging themselves into the darkness to grab the ropes and slide down into the depths, laughing the whole way. Delvik smiled fondly, it was almost a right of passage for young Rakus to show their courage and bravery doing that. He winced as one hunter missed the ropes and bounced off the side until they could grab the netting that lined the sides. More sensibly, Delvik and Anzis used the netting to descend into their home. Their eyes adjusted quickly to the increasing darkness that helped protect their home.


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    At the base of the pit, Anzis pulled out a metal key and inserted it into a locked hatch that was set into the floor they stood on. With a heave, four of the hunters lifted the hatch and locked it into place so that everyone could enter, and with Anzis entering last, he tugged a rope that allowed the hatch to fall back into place to once more resume its duty of protecting the Burrow.


    Glowing moss provided the barest illumination in this area, it wouldn¡¯t do to provide any invader with good lighting to see by. Delvik dipped his head in respectful farewell to Anzis as he gathered his hunters for a few last words before releasing them from their duty. There would be interesting tales being today, he thought as he began his trek through the Burrow to his first destination, his personal room.


    As a far scout, he was thankful for the allotted space he was given. Far better than the communal rooms that most had, and less likely for the things he found and brought back to wander off in the hands of the curious. It had been six full cycles of the moon since he had last been here, inside the Burrow. He had actually returned the night of the storm, had in fact been watching it from the upper levels and preparing his report to the Matrons, when he had heard the noises that led him to finding Thomas. The fates were tricky creatures, he thought to himself with a chuckle.


    Delvik observed the changes to the Burrow as he continued his trek to his room, more of the moss had been cultivated on the walls and ceiling, providing more than enough light for his people to see by. He nodded to those he recognized, mostly other hunters and scouts. A gray furred Rakus stepped out of a side passage, nearly bowling Delvik over. ¡°Ah, pardon, I didn''t see you there¡­¡­ Delvik¡±, the older Rakus said, nearly shouting his name at the end. ¡°Ah, my boy, when do you get back?¡± he added, grabbing Delvik by the shoulders and pulling him into a hug.


    ¡°I just returned, actually¡± Delvik said, ¡°Its good to see you¡¯re still as lively as ever Master Indral, I am actually on my way back to my room for a moment and then I must speak with the Matrons¡±


    The Older Rakus simply laughed as he patted Delvik on the shoulders with both paws, ¡°Enough of the Master nonsense my boy, you are no longer my student¡± he said ¡°but welcome home, I hope you had no difficulties on your mission? I see you also brought home some treasures¡±.


    Delvik placed his paws on Master Indral¡¯s, and he would always be Master Indral to him, shoulders, ¡°Thank you, and it has been an interesting mission, speaking with you is first on my list, right after reporting to the Matrons sir¡± he said with a smile.


    Master Indral stepped back, ¡°Oh, interesting huh. I can''t wait to hear about it then,¡± Indral said, before making shooing motions, ¡°well get on about it then my boy, let the old ladies know then report right to me. You remember your way to the knotted tail right, meet me there when you''re done.¡±


    Delvik nodded and felt a shiver go down his spine, of course Master Indral still chose to go to the shadiest brewer of Salp in the whole Burrow. He waved goodbye to his teacher and continued on, he finally arrived at his tiny, but private room.


    Setting the pack on his simple bedding of moss and grass, he immediately missed his comfortable mattress and pillows from the shelter. Opening the pack he began pulling out the items he would use to convince the Matrons to go along with his idea to work with Thomas. Rolls of bandages and some medicine, jars and bags of simple food, samples of different types of cloth and even a few bottles of beer that he thought they might like. He hoped it would be enough to convince them to at least try, if he could just get them to give his plan a shot.


    He stashed away a few choice bits that he would share with Master Indral later, he repacked the items and settled the packs straps over his shoulders once again. He really needed to get it resized for his body, he thought as he opened the door to his room, and had to hop back before he collided with a group of the Burrow guards that stood before his door, one had their paw raised as if to knock.


    The guard was startled as much as he was, but recovered quickly, ¡°Far Scout Delvik, you stand accused of endangering the Burrow and Tribe,¡± he said sternly, ¡°You will come with us for questioning, do not resist¡±.

 Chapter 19

    Thomas watched sunlight wash over the exterior of the building as the sun rose higher into the sky on the displays in the command center. He had bribed a couple of the hunters with some mini bottles of whiskey to clean off the cameras that Delvik had covered with muck. It was much quieter today, without Delvik poking around and asking questions, and he already missed his friend''s presence, so to distract himself he decided to dive into the work he had been putting off.


    System status pages were spread out across several different monitors, ¡°damn, that''s a lot of red and yellow,¡± he said with a sigh. The shelter was in bad shape from disuse, no getting around that. Deciding to start with the easier fixes, Thomas began sorting out what he could do with the tools he had and what he might need something more specialized for, his eyes occasionally drifting to the camera displays.


    Soon the sound of loud, heavy music was echoing throughout the shelter. If one listened closely, they could make out a cackling laughter when the music got softer. Thomas had gotten about an hour into trying to figure out how to repair the water filtration and storage systems before he threw up his hands, said screw this and decided to do things his way. He wasn''t a plumber; sure, he could and did pull up the repair manuals, but he kept hitting walls. This facility wasn¡¯t meant to be run by one person, it needed whole teams, departments of technicians and specialists, or at least warm bodies that could be thrown at a task.


    No, he decided, it was too much for one person. So, with a smile that would have terrified his friend, he began to create. He had gathered enough trash from the night before, so he wouldn''t lack for matter to feed into the MRD¡¯s hopper. The first thing he did was build a dedicated AI Creche and set it to begin accelerated growth maintenance AI. He loaded in all the repair manuals he could find to give them a broad and deep education. While the AI were being grown, nurtured and educated, Thomas grinned wildly as he began what he considered the fun part.


    He began drafting designs for different bodies that the AI could inhabit. He needed them small and mobile enough to get into places that he couldn''t, or if he was being completely honest about it, didn¡¯t want to. Thomas looked up various animals and insects to draw inspiration from, and it was from the latter that he drew his final design. It was with a laugh that he loaded the design into the fabricator that was linked to the MRD and hit the GO button.


    The machinery whirred to life, the MDR printing out the raw materials and the fabricator picking them up to begin building the design. Thomas monitored the construction of the prototype, making updates or fixes as the fabricator ran into issue, but within half an hour he held the first of his repair bots. Roughly four inches long and one inch in width and height, its exterior of overlapping plates giving it the flexibility to squeeze through cracks less than half its height, he dubbed the ApocaRoach ready for trial.


    Thomas quickly loaded up the first of the AI that had been grown into the tiny robot and watched with fascination as it began performing system checks. With a musical chime, the little robot stood up to its full height, antenna waving and awaiting orders. Thomas set out several items to test its ability, from patching cracks to clearing blockages and even replacing wire. As it completed each task, Thomas imagined it saying, ¡°yeah, yeah, what else ya got buddy?¡± in a burly New York accent, and he didn''t know why that amused him to no end.


    With the trial run completed, he set the fabricator to start producing a batch of one hundred of the ApocaRoaches, and sent the first one to go climb around inside the water pipes to fix any cracks it found. For now he would set them to one task at a time, let the AI get some time to explore and learn while it worked, plus he didn''t want too many of them running around. Easier to fight one hundred robot cockroaches than one hundred thousand, he thought.


    Settling back into the throne in the control room, Thomas continued working through the status lists, making notes about other systems that need some special care, and then he came across something that caught his attention. Under a set of sub-tasks, he found an entry regarding the other terminal sockets. After reading further into the logs, he realized that his joking about this being a battle station wasn¡¯t far off the mark. Sometime before he was thrown forward in time, some place called Site Charlie, had created a modular command and control system to make it easier for different projects to work together by simply connecting the mobile terminals in. ¡°Might be something to do later¡± he said, looking once again at the cameras displaying the interior and exterior of the mess hall.


    ***************************************************


    Deeper and deeper into the Burrow the guards escorted Delvik, as his mind raced with thoughts about how this could go terribly wrong, how he might be able to salvage the situation. Bringing danger to the Burrow and Tribe was a serious accusation, one that could result in his death. His first thought was that Anzis had made his report to the Matrons, but they hadn¡¯t been back long enough for that, even with his detour to his room, they should have both arrived to present their reports at nearly the same time, he thought.


    Frowning as he sorted his thoughts, trying to figure out what had happened, a sudden realization struck him so hard he nearly stumbled. The Watchers, it had to be them. Much like scouts, they were the eyes and ears of the tribe, both reported directly to the Matrons, but unlike scouts, the Watchers remained in and around the Burrow. One of them must have seen his encounter with Thomas the night of the storm and followed him; the thought sent a cold shiver down his spine, and he recalled Anzis¡¯s words of warning about the Matrons.


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    Something deeper was going on and he had found himself caught in the teeth of what was feeling like a trap. So as they descended deeper, past the lowest floors of the old ruin and into the hand carved tunnels, steadily getting closer to the heart of the Burrow, Delvik began putting together the bare outline of a plan that would see him get through this alive. All too quickly though, his thoughts were interrupted as they arrived at a large set of doors, carved with the history of his people. Two of the Burrow Guard stood to either side of the doors, and they both saluted the one leading Delvik, before opening the great doors.


    Inside was a cavernous hall, large glass containers stuffed with glowing moss hung suspended from the ceiling, the back half hidden behind large sheets of cloth hid the living area for the Matrons. In the center of the room stood a wooden platform, five chairs sat upon it, one for each of the Matrons. The Eldest sat center, Matron Gitzel. Flanking her were the two middle aged Matrons, Mvris and Takka. On the outermost seats sat the youngest Matrons, Litra and Gamir.


    All five were staring at Delvik as he was led into the room, and he nearly stumbled as he saw Anzis and his hunters sitting with their paws bound off to the side. That was not a good sign, he thought, something is very wrong. The lead guard stepped forward and bowed to the Matrons before speaking, ¡°Honored Matrons, I have brought the accused before you as commanded¡±.


    Matron Gitzel was the one to speak, ¡°So you have, we thank you for the swift completion of your task. You may depart, the Watchers shall assume guard duties¡±.


    The guards saluted and departed swiftly, the doors closing with an echoing thud. The hairs on Delviks body all tried standing on end, and he really wished that he hadn¡¯t left the armored suit behind, even the whisker pinching mask. With a deep breath he bowed at the waist towards the seated Matrons, ¡°Greetings Matrons, this scout brings news from the surface for your judgment¡± he said, repeating the standard greeting to the matrons for a returning scout.


    ¡°Far Scout Devlik, you bear more than simply news from the surface. You who court death and disaster for the tribe, who conspire with the enemy of our people, explain to us why you have betrayed us?¡± Matron Gitzel rasped, anger flaring in her eyes. The other Matrons stares matched hers, even as they remained silent.


    ¡°Matrons, I do not know what you have been told, so with your permission, I would speak of my journey over the past several nights¡± Delvik stated, putting as much firmness into his voice as he could. Showing weakness here would be fatal, if they were truly assuming him to have betrayed the Burrow and Tribe, death would be the only punishment.


    The Matrons nodded for him to continue, so with a deep breath and a prayer to the shadows, Delvik told them his tale, From his arrival back at the Burrow the night of the storm and his encounter with Thomas, which did elicit gasps of shock and fear from the Matrons; and continued on with him stalking him back to another of the ruined surface Burrows and observing. He explained his reasoning when prompted, ¡°I wanted to see this Human who did not try to kill me when I could not fight back. That he did not was so far out of our experiences, that I had to know why.¡± was his simple reply.


    The Matrons watched on silently for the majority of the telling. They would occasionally ask for clarification or what his thoughts were at that time, and he would answer them as clearly as possibly. He had no idea of what they had been told and he did not, could not be caught in a lie. That would destroy any chance he had of convincing them that Thomas was an irreplaceable asset.


    Delvik glanced over at Anzis and his hunters as he got to the point of the story where they arrived. He told the Matrons of his attack against the Arvo, of the suit of armor that he and Thomas had crafted. As he spoke, his eyes moved from Matron to Matron, trying to gauge their thoughts and reactions. The three in the center showed visible fear at the presence of an Arvo hunting pack led by an Alpha, but the younger two seemed different. The fear was still on their faces, but there was something more he couldn¡¯t quite figure out.


    As he finished the tale with the night of the barbecue and the celebrations of a great victory over a dangerous foe, he ended with ¡°were it not for the help of the Human Thomas, with his knowledge of the old machines and his bravery of coming into the fight to save my life from the Alpha, the Tribe would be in great danger from the Arvo.¡±


    ¡°I also brought back some gifts from Thomas to the Tribe, in hopes of friendship¡±, he said, setting the backpack down in front of him.


    The Matrons watched as he pulled out the items he had brought with him, and listened as he explained each one. Delvik watched nervously as they spoke in hushed whispers amongst themselves, before settling back into their chairs. ¡°We have heard your story, Far Scout Delvik, a wondrous tale that borders on the insane. A peaceful Human, who only wants to be friends with the Tribe and give us gifts of magical medicine and plentiful food¡± Matron Gitzel said mockingly. ¡°A foolish child with dreams of nonsense. That creature is using you, luring you in, in your foolish optimism and misguided belief that they can be anything other than vicious killers, to find and destroy our people.¡±


    Delvik felt his heart stop, this was all wrong. He looked pleadingly to the other Matrons, hoping that any, even just one would refute her words. Litra and Gamir seemed as if they wanted to speak, but held their tongues, and Delvik sagged, dropping to his knees on the floor.


    ¡°I beg you, Matrons. This one is different, he knew nothing of our people before coming here. He is lost and alone, and if we extend a paw in friendship, then we will have an opportunity that our ancestors would never have dreamed of.¡± he cried out to them, desperation straining his voice. ¡°Please give this a chance,¡±


    A figure stepped from the shadows on the side of the room, ¡°Begging is pathetic Delvik, Humans cannot be trusted, that is a known fact. As is that they are merciless killers, that this one spared you must mean it is truly a cunning beast.¡± it said.


    ¡°Your interruption was unnecessary, Watcher Telnir, even if you speak the truth.¡± Matron Gitzel said, before turning her eyes to Delvik, ¡°You have brought shame, to yourself and our people. You put your personal feelings above the good of the Tribe in failing to slay the Human beast when you had the chance, and compounded that mistake by falling for its lies.¡±


    She nodded to unseen figures behind Delvik, and continued speaking is a sever tone, ¡°The Watchers will take custody of you for further questioning, at the end of which you will be given the chance to reclaim your honor, by luring that creature out of its lair for the Watcher to capture for study.¡±


    Delvik felt only shocked numbness as he was dragged out of the Matrons chamber.

 Chapter 20

    Matron Litra watched as the scout was carried out of the room, his feet dragging across the floor. ¡°Well, that is one unpleasantness done with,¡± Matron Gitzel stated, ¡°Now what to do with them?¡± as she pointed at the bound hunters seated off to the side.


    Matron Takka snorted derisively, ¡°it''s obvious they have been corrupted by that scout,¡± she said loudly and turned her head to face the hunters, ¡°Perhaps a public whipping and exile¡±.


    Litra watched as the hunters, particularly their leader stiffened at the statement. That they retained the good sense to remain silent as the Matrons spoke was a point in their favor. She opened her mouth to speak but Matron Mvris spoke first, ¡°Now now Takka, that''s a bit harsh. That they deserve punishment is undeniable, but they are not completely without honor, perhaps they should assist Delvik in capturing the Human?¡±.


    ¡°You are right Mvris,¡± Matron Gitzel stated, ¡°exiling them would only harm the tribe, perhaps some time patrolling the border of the Human lands will show them their folly.¡±


    The Elder Matron waved over the leader of the Watchers, Litra suppressed a shiver as he came before the platform, Telnir had always made her feel unsettled. It was the eyes she thought, the way he had that glassy, far off look when he spoke with you as if you were an insect.


    ¡°Telnir, place them in the cells so they can hear what happens to those who betray the tribe.¡± Matron Gtizel said coldly, ¡°but leave them unharmed, they will assist Delvik in retrieving the Human.¡±


    The head of the watchers bowed before the Matrons, ¡°It will be as you wish Matrons¡±, was all he said before signaling the remaining Watchers to escort the prisoners away. Turning back to face the Matrons, ¡°With your permission, I will personally see to the interrogation of Delvik. He will tell us all he knows of this Human and its lair¡±.


    ¡°You may go Telnir, get those answers and be mindful of his condition. The Human will likely not come out for any save Delvik. The hunters reported that it had a powerful deathstick and some means of protection.¡± the Eldest stated warningly to Telnir. He simply nodded respectfully to the Eldest and then to the other Matrons before turning and departing.


    Once the chamber was empty, the Elder Matron let out a long breath and sagged into her seat. ¡°What a damned mess this is, that foolish boy¡±, she said. ¡°I cannot believe he fell for a Humans lies¡±


    Gamir stood and walked over to stand in front of the Eldest before speaking, ¡°but what if it is not a ploy Eldest?, what if Delvik speaks the Truth?¡±


    The three older matrons laughed at her question, causing her whiskers to droop in embarrassment. Litra winced in anticipation, Gamir hated being laughed at. ¡°I ask this seriously Matrons, is it not our role to think and consider, not simply deny outright,¡± she shouted back angrily at the older Matrons, ¡°What if Delvik is correct, and this Human could help us, with food, medicine and anything else we could use to not simply survive, but thrive?¡±


    The three stopped laughing and stared at the young Matron. Matron Takka quickly stood and stepped forward towards Gamir and a loud slap echoed throughout the chamber, and Gamir went sprawling to the floor of the platform. ¡°Foolish girl, simple child. You would defend endangering the Burrow and the Tribe. Humans are nothing but beasts, no better than the Arvo.¡± Takka shouted at her.


    The other two rose as well and moved over to the fallen Gamir, Mvris pulling Takka back as the Eldest approached the girl. ¡°Youth and inexperience show in your words Gamir. Our people have been hunted and killed by Humans as far back as our history goes.¡± she said, helping the young Matron back to her feet. ¡°This is for you too, Litra. The blood of our people spilled by Humans could drown this Burrow like a flood. Could a Human be friendly to our kind, it is possible, but would you risk the lives of everyone in this Burrow to test it?¡± The Elder Matron sighed deeply before continuing, ¡°This is the wisdom you must learn, our role is to guide it forward in a way that protects and preserves our people.¡±


    ¡°Come, let us retire. It has been a trying day, and we must discuss the future. I fear we may need to move again if Humans and Arvo are moving into this area.¡± Matron Gitzel said, ¡° I had hoped after fifteen winters in relative peace we were safe.¡±


    As they left the platform, Gamir shot Litra a look that she knew well, and with a sigh resigned herself to an evening of Gamir ranting about the lack of respect from the older Matrons. It wasn''t that she didn''t understand Gamirs¡¯ point, she agreed wholeheartedly with her on that. It was just aht Gamir was quick to speak her mind and even quicker to losing control of her temper. They were both Matrons, but they were the youngest. The others would always look down on them as if they were children, and challenging the older Matrons would only feed into that perception.


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    No, they would need to be subtle to find the real reason for their reaction to Delviks discovery. With a last look at the items left scattered around the strange bag, Litra shook her head and began planning for later as she left the platform.


    ***************************************************


    In a shadow and smoke filled room, a figure sat at a table against the back wall. The Master Scouts tail twitched as irritation turned to concern as he waited for his student to arrive. It wasn''t like his pupil to be late, at least not without sending word first. Indral considered Delviks punctuality to be one of his best traits. He tried to ignore the growing worry by speaking with other patrons of the Knotted Tail, catching up with other friends and associates.


    Something was wrong, he was sure of it. Delvik would have sent word if he were to be this late. His tail had stopped twitching, and the other patrons took notice. They saw the jovial face turn neutral, the bright eyes go flat. Conversation in the Knotted Tail trailed off, the younger patrons taking cues from the elders. Not all knew the history of the Rakus named Indral, at least not by that name. Some patrons shared knowing looks with their drinking companions, some might go and dust off old boxes that night, just in case things got interesting.


    When old Grim got serious, things always got interesting.


    Master Scout Indral had questions, and he would get answers.


    ***************************************************


    ¡°My my young Delvik, what a mess you''ve gotten yourself into,¡± the leader of the Watchers said calmly as he watched his people secure Delvik. ¡°If you had simply come to me first with news of this Human; well, we wouldn''t be in this situation at all¡±,


    ¡°Do you like this setup, I learned it from my time watching those Humans to the south, such interesting creatures they are¡± Telnir said gently, ¡°the things they do to each other, truly barbarous¡±


    Delvik glared at the watchers leader, ¡°What have you done, what stories have you whispered to the Matrons to make them fear even the idea of working with a single Human?¡± he said with a growl.


    Telnir laughed at the question, ¡°The fear has always been there, especially in the older generations. They remember the times of Human raiders, the burning of Burrow and the hunting of our kind. I simply reminded them that the Human settlements continue to grow, that they expand closer every winter.¡± he said with a smirk, ¡°oh and i must thank you for those lovely books you kept bringing back. They were quite enlightening on the subject of Humans and their history.¡±


    Delvik spat at him, ¡°You bastard, I am trying to save our people. With Thomas¡¯ help we can end hunger in the Tribe, lessen or end the worst of the sickness that sweeps through the Burrow, maybe even bring pe¡­¡± his word cut off as Telnirs fist buried itself in Delviks stomach.


    ¡°Pretty ideas, and perhaps some may even come true, with your pet Human on a leash and under my control.¡± The watcher said in a mocking tone, ¡°I have plans for your pet Human, oh so many plans, especially after hearing from my eyes about that special armor you wore, and seeing the gifts you brought back, so so many plans now.¡±


    Telnir grabbed Delvik by his muzzle, squeezing painfully, ¡°but first, you are going to tell me everything you know about that bunker and what that Human can do.¡±


    ***************************************************


    In a glade, hidden deep in a swamp that once was a national park, a scaled figure lay prone, shaking in fear before a great stump that had been carved into a throne, and It spoke in a hiss filled language.


    ¡­


    ¡°So you say a raccoon person, armored as a robot, and a human in a white coat destroyed your entire hunting party¡± a feminine voice said.


    ¡­


    ¡°The raccoon person WAS defeated by Alpha Skigg, but then the Human blew his head up. Hmmm.. interesting, go on¡± the voice replied.


    ¡­


    ¡°And you played dead in order to escape and report back; I see, quite clever of you.¡±


    The glade descended into a nerve tightening silence for all those but the figure upon the stump. She sat there, tapping a finger against her jaw and seemingly deep in thought. The gathered mass of mutant, alligator-like creatures stood nervously in a semi-circle surrounding the stump. At last she placed both hands on the arm rest of the stump throne, which would be comical due to the throne being designed for someone three times larger, none here would dare laugh.


    ¡°Rise and prepare to receive my decision, unnamed one.¡± she said.


    The prone figure rose to stand on shaky legs.


    ¡°You three,¡± she said, her finger pointing out the three figures standing behind the one who had just stood up, ¡°you knew of Skigg¡¯s foolishness and did nothing to stop him, nor bring it to my attention.¡±


    The three she had indicated froze in terror, those closest to them moved away as if they bore sickness.


    The female pointed at the one who stood on shaky legs before her, ¡°you participated, but as an unnamed had no choice but to obey the Alpha. That you returned to report has earned you mercy, and perhaps a reward.¡±


    The crowd of Arvo shifted nervously, watching the queen, their Omega, pass judgment. They watched as her milky white, sightless yet seeing eyes settled on the three she had pointed out first.


    Guttural screams echoed across the glade as three chests ripped open from the inside, dark blood spraying across the soggy ground and their hearts floated out of the gaping holes in their chests.


    They watched in fear and awe as she raised her hand towards the one who had returned, and purple streaks of lightning flickered from her fingers connecting to its head.


    Another scream echoed through the glade, but rather than death following, a new life began. As a nimbus of purple energy surrounded the head of the unnamed one, it sank to its knees. Its clawed hands clutching at its head.


    As the nimbus faded, so did its screams.


    ¡°Arise my new Alpha, and name yourself.¡± she said.


    As it stood, a new light could be seen in its eyes, it thought were clearer than ever before, and for the first time in its life, it truly spoke, ¡°I am Saav,¡± and it bowed before the throne, ¡°I live to serve, great Queen.¡±

 Chapter 21

    There were undercurrents in the Burrow, layers composed of the various factions, each with their own goals and ideals of how their people should be led. What should have been a joyous celebration of the return of a hunting party that had driven off the deadly Arvo, instead set loose fear and confusion. The hunters, their leader and even the scout that had returned with them had vanished in the Burrow. Families and friends were left confused and looking for answers.


    Like ripples from a rock splashing into a pond, these feelings spread throughout the Burrow. As days without a proper answer passed, the ripples spread, bounced and magnified. An official statement from the Matrons was put out, they said that for the safety of the Burrow, those who returned had to be separated, that there was nothing to worry about.


    Some accepted this answer, but for many it just left more questions and confusion.


    For Indral, it proved that something was wrong, and combining that with the more visible presence of the Watchers, and that he hadn¡¯t been brought into whatever the Matrons were up to, meant something dangerous was happening. He had tried approaching the Eldest Matron, had shared a private meal with her, and watched her lie to his face. It broke his heart watching her make excuse after fake explanation after further excuse as to where his former apprentice and the hunters had gone.


    Now, he was done playing the games, he was the Master Scout of the tribe, he would seek answers the way he knew best.


    Indral sat once again in the Knotted Tail, seated at a table with several old friends, each nursing a cup of salp. In the corner lay a prone figure, snoring loudly with a puddle of drool forming around their head. If it weren¡¯t for the ropes binding their arms and legs, they could have just been a passed out patron from the night before. Clearing his throat, Indral addressed the males and females sharing the table with him, ¡°Thanks to our little friend, we have we know that Delvik and the Hunters are being held by the Watchers, which means deep in the lower levels¡±


    Cold, flat eyes moved from Rakus to Rakus, ¡°That they are being held by the Watchers and not the Burrow guards is not a good sign my friends. I intend to find out what is going on, and will do so alone if I must.¡±


    An older female snorted loudly, breaking the silence after Indrals words, and shifting all eyes to her. ¡°Somehow, you have managed to get worse at asking for help.¡± she said with another derisive snort, ¡°Do you think we dragged our tails out at this early hour to bully that poor kid the Watchers put here?¡±


    The serious faces at the table cracked smiles, a few laughs leaked out and the tension in the air faded a bit. Indral dipped his head in acknowledgment, ¡°point taken¡±, he said. ¡°Then we had best be about it my friends.¡±


    One by one the old monsters of the Burrow, former masters or just exceptionally skilled hunters, scouts and guards filtered out of the bar and vanished into the Burrow.


    ***************************************************


    Telnir massaged his temples as one of his Senior Watchers reported to him. ¡°..and it seems that they have vanished sir, their families haven¡¯t seen them since the night before last.¡±


    ¡°This is rather distressing news Senior Watcher, there is a reason we kept eyes and ears on that particular group, and now they are loose, and doing shadows know what.¡± Telnir stated calmly, before standing and walking to a small cabinet and withdrawing a bottle.


    Turning back to the Senior Watcher after pouring a drink, ¡°Lock down the lower levels, I want eyes and ears in every tunnel and room down here. They cannot be allowed to interrupt our work.¡±


    The Senior Watcher bowed and departed as Telnir sat back at his desk. This would complicate things, he thought to himself as he sipped at his drink. He turned his attention back to his desk and began issuing orders.


    ***************************************************


    Litra and Gamir met again, without the other Matrons present to discuss what Delvik had revealed to them days ago. They were at an impasse, they both desired to do something, anything other than the course of action that the Eldest had embarked them all on, but could not agree on what to do.


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    Litra favored making what Delvik had found and said public, and letting the Burrow decide as a whole. She thought that such a life changing, and if she was being fully honest, a dangerously risky decision to attempt working with a Human, should be something everyone who would be affected should have a say in. She knew that there would be many who would be against it, but, if it was explained properly, she believed a majority would be open to the possibility. That it was a single Human, and from all reports, a scholar and not a warrior, would make it slightly more acceptable.


    Gamir, on the other paw, was all for direct action. She wanted to directly challenge the other Matrons, to free Delvik and those Hunters. While she agreed that they should put the issue before the rest of the Tribe, but only after securing the Humans'' help. That way, she thought, they could do more than just tell the people of the Tribe what benefits they could have from working with the Human, but actually show them.


    They both agreed that getting the other three Matrons to stop their madness wouldn''t work. The Eldest had revealed a collection of books that the head of the Watchers had given her. Books on the histories of the Humans, their brutal past and continuous wars. Of the terrible things that they would do to each other, let alone other species. Such was the level of fear sinking into their minds, they had even discussed sending scouts to the nearby settlements to try and poison their water, and failing that, moving the whole tribe to a place a whole moon cycle away that the Eldest knew of.


    No, approaching the other Matrons was not a possibility. They both wished it was different, that the others could see past their fear of Humans to at least consider it, but it seemed like their minds were made up. So here they sat, once again, each trying to convince the other to their own preferred course of action.


    They were so distracted by their conversation that the food was left untouched, and the extra guests that arrived went unnoticed, until one loudly coughed to interrupt them.


    Litra and Gamir both turned in shock, their words ending mid-sentence, to look at the collection of older Rakus who had gathered in their very private room. One figure stepped forward, a graying Rakus wearing the clothing of a scout, ¡°Matron Litra, Matron Gamir, I believe that we have much to discuss,¡± he said, giving a polite nod to each in turn, ¡°You may begin with what happened to my apprentice¡±.


    ***************************************************


    Across the base, a group watched a flurry of activity taking place in one of the ruined buildings. Metal clad figures were scurrying around, seeming to be cleaning up the surface Burrow. Sparks flashed as metal walls were patched, as small metal frames were erected on the corners, reaching above the top of the Burrow and strange objects were placed atop them.


    An occasional flash of white cloth could be seen moving about, but it was the metal creatures that attracted the most attention. They were in all shapes and sizes, some even familiar from pictures the watchers had seen. The watchers all agreed, the Human was up to something.


    Thomas waved at the Rakus he had noticed standing on the roof of a nearby building, but they vanished back out of view. He had hoped it was Delvik returning, he was excited to show his friend the work he had been doing. He couldn¡¯t get the night of the party out of his mind, it had been the most fun he had had since before coming here. So Thomas had started planning to throw a bigger, better party when Delvik got back.


    The day after Delvik had left, while he let the repair bots run wild in the shelter, he had taken a trip back to the Mess hall to take a proper look at things. It was about as bad as he thought it would be, but there were a few silver linings. The base had apparently routed utilities from the shelter to the Mess Hall, so he would have power and water. Aside from the equipment damaged in the recent fighting, most of it was probably repairable. Thomas still wanted grills over the electric stoves that were there, but they could still be used. All in all, he decided, it wasn¡¯t too terrible, but it was a lot of work for one person.


    So Thomas returned to the drawing board, and new creations began to trickle out of the shelter. The first ones were simple, boxy robots on treads. Mobile trash compactors, they went forth and gathered up all the broken tables, chairs, and even began disassembling the damaged equipment to break down.


    Next came the MechaSpiders. Mobile welders to help cut up the broken equipment and patch the walls. Thomas remembered the incident with the giant mutant birds, he wasn¡¯t going to let them crash the party. Watch towers with home made auto turrets, or in a technical parlance, a Light Machinegun with a motion sensor attached, were assembled on the corners.


    As the days passed, more progress was made, and the mess hall was starting to look like a place you could actually get a drink and a meal at. The old tile had been removed, leaving only bare concrete for the floor. Newly assembled tables and chairs filled the space and rope lights had been hung like netting above, filling in the space where half the roof had been torn off. The Robots had done a great job repairing and cleaning up the kitchen equipment, he had even managed to salvage two of the walk-in freezers.


    His happiness was, however, tempered by his worry. Thomas hoped it wasn''t an ill omen, but after six days, his little buddies, the Rakus who had been watching and keeping him company, if at a distance, had not shown up today.

 Chapter 22

    True despair was a new feeling for Delvik, and he decided that he really didn¡¯t care for it as he hung, suspended by his arms in the dark room. He knew fear and sadness like old friends, they had walked beside him most of his life. He knew happiness and joy with just a bit less familiarity, but eh, that was the world he lived in. Despair, that bleak void that hung in his heart, swallowing any and every spark of hope, that feeling of dread that everything he had worked for; his dreams and plans would all just vanish like dust in the wind. Nope, he really didn''t care for it, especially the spiraling thought.


    The watchers hadn¡¯t even really questioned him that first day. Just strapped him to a chair and beat him senseless. Oh they had asked questions, ¡°Are there any other Humans?¡±. ¡°Are there any other entrances?¡±. ¡°What weapons does it possess?¡±, but, Delvik thought, those weren¡¯t the questions they really wanted to ask. They just wanted excuses to hit him, to soak him in cold water, to hurt him. Delvik smiled unseen in the room, for a group that feared and hated Humans, he thought, they sure liked acting like the worst of them.


    The second day was when the real questioning began, that was when the head Watcher stepped in personally to lead the interrogation. Delvik hacked and spit a wad of blood flecked phlegm on the floor. Telnir had asked the right questions, the questions that let Delvik get a glimpse of what he was after. The disgust he felt for that creature made him snarl just thinking about it. Something was wrong with that Rakus, Delvik thought with a shiver that ran from the base of his skull to the tip of his tail, Telnir had taken pleasure from inflicting pain. It was the eyes he thought, those flat, glassy eyes that would look straight through you as it repeated the question while pressing a glowing hot piece of metal against flesh.


    Not even the Arvo were that depraved, and that thought startled Delvik back into the present.


    HIs arms and shoulders had long since gone numb from being held above his head by the ropes. He could take some of the weight off them by standing, but he was just so tired. The watchers hadn¡¯t come by in what seemed like forever in the dark room. His stomach growled loudly in the silence, he could barely remember the last time they poured the watery gruel down his throat. Letting out a groaning croak, Delvik tried to call out to his jailors, but got no answer.


    Slumping further, his feet sliding out behind him and leaving him hanging at an angle. He could feel the pressure on his chest, squeezing the breath out of him as his heart rate began to increase. Delvik knew he was dying, and could feel his body failing him bit by bit. He wanted to laugh, that monster had spoken of using Delvik to lure out his friend. Well, he thought, good luck luring him out with a corpse. The feeling of something wrapping around his chest increased, his head started to feel light, and with a rasping groan, Delvik pulled his feet underneath him and stood.


    He wouldn''t give that motherless rat the satisfaction of killing him that way. No, if Delvik was going to die, it would be spitting in the eye of his captor. Delvik let the anger he felt at Telnir and his little plans bolster his strength. As the pressure on his chest lessened, his mind drifted back to his ideas, of Thomas and the shelter, and his mentor.


    Delvik tried to laugh, but it turned into a coughing fit as he thought about his mentor. He could almost hear the voice, chiding him that if he didn¡¯t want to get tortured and killed, he shouldn¡¯t get caught. He smiled at that, and he let his mind drift into the past, leaving the pains of the body behind when the door to the room crashed open, and a Rakus went tumbling tail over head across the room.


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    The brightness from the hall hurt his eyes, the sounds half drowned out by his racing heartbeat. Delvik tried squinting, but could barely make out blurred shapes moving into the room. Delvik felt calloused paws grip the sides of his head while others grabbed at his chest. He tried to bite at the wrist next to his muzzle but only got a mouthful of old leather. What new torture was this, he thought, and then he felt the ropes holding his arms up go slack and he collapsed into the hands holding him up.


    Delvik tried to struggle as he was laid down on the floor. Sharp tingling was spreading down his arms. He felt one of the figures lean over him, he could hear muffled talking but couldn''t make out words. He flinched as water was splashed on his face, but it was not freezing cold, simply cool. Realizing it was drinking water he opened his mouth and felt it being poured in carefully. His mind was racing, what was going on, was this some new trick?, he thought.


    Squinting his eyes, as the trickle of water stopped, Delviks heart froze. ¡°Tea..cher¡± he croaked, ¡°¡­.how¡­why?¡±


    ¡°Questions later my boy, you''re safe now¡± Master Indral said gently as he patted Delvik on the shoulder, ¡°let us get you out of here and then you can explain the mess you got yourself into.¡±


    Delvik simply nodded, confusion and fear and hope fighting for control of his mind.


    ¡°M¡¯ria, you and Sev carry him. Dulc and I will lead, Gerv and Talli follow and keep any of those tailless cowards away.¡± Indral ordered, the other elder Rakus moving to do as asked. ¡°We will take the escape tunnels back to the surface¡±


    Delvik saw rage flash in his teachers¡¯ eyes as he looked at Delviks prone form. The watchers had been thorough in their work. He tried to grit his teeth as he was lifted off the floor, but a pained groan escaped anyway. His eyes were quickly adapting to the light coming into the room, he could make out the prone form the the watcher that had been used to bash open the door against the side of the room. Then he was out, through the doorway and into the hallway. Through pain blurred vision he could make out the forms of more watchers, laying prone and scattered down the hall.


    The two carrying him moved swiftly down the hallway with him in between them, an arm around each one, his feet barely touching the ground. Delvik could hear an indistinct rumbling sound, echoing from further into the Burrow. ¡°Waz..zat¡± he tried to ask as each step sent jolts of pain through his body.


    ¡°Sounds like those girls held up their end of the bargain¡±, the female, M¡¯ria he thought her name was, said.


    The male, Sev nodded and said ¡°looks like whatever you said to the Matrons moved them, they were trying to figure out a way to help you when we dropped in to have a little chat¡±.


    A shout went up from behind, ¡°STOP THEM, THEY¡¯RE TRYING TO ESCAPE WITH THE TRAITOR¡±


    The sound of fighting broke out behind them as the group sped down the hallways. Delvik tried to turn his head to see, but the pain stopped him.


    Through the twisting and turning labyrinth of tunnels they moved, the rumbling of shouting voices growing dimmer. Twice more they were attacked by watchers, and twice he watched in awe as his teacher and, if he wasn''t mistaken, the old bartender of the Knotted Tail, Dulc, swiftly defeat the attackers. Delvik could feel his consciousness beginning to slip as the journey turned into a series of still frames. He fought to stay conscious, fearful of this being a dream and the next time he opened his eyes, he would be back in the room. That this whole escape was just his mind playing tricks on him.


    Delvik lost that fight, his eyes fluttered and his body went limp.


    ***************************************************


    Wakefulness came slowly, his head was groggy and it felt like he was slowly clawing his way out of sleep. His eyes cracked open slowly, the darkness of the room making his heart stop. No, he thought, his heart sinking and dread filling its place.


    ¡°Welcome back buddy¡±, a familiar voice said.

 Chapter 23

    Thomas took one last look at the heavily bandaged Delvik, before allowing the older female Rakus, M¡¯ria to shoo him out of the Medbay, saying that Delvik needed rest. She had already wrung him dry of what little medical knowhow he had. In the end, Thomas had set up a small workstation in the room and showed her how to access all the medical resources contained in the server.


    As soon as he was out of the Medbay, Thomas returned to the control center to resume his work. On the monitors he could see two of the older Rakus, Sev and Gerv sparring in the surface dining area. They were leaping over and under tables while trying to strike each other with short wooden clubs. An even older member stood behind the bar that Thomas had built inspecting it and sampling the various bottles. Of the last two, there was no sign. Thomas assumed they were out keeping an eye out for an attack.


    It had been two days since the group showed up at the entrance to the shelter carrying an unconscious Delvik. Thomas had been shocked at the condition his friend was in and carried him to the Medbay immediately, with the whole lot of them chittering away at him in their language. The fear he had felt carrying his friend''s limp body, well it was needless to say that he never wanted to feel that again, Ever. The only information Thomas had been able to get out of them was that his friend had been hurt by some bad people in the tribe, and that they had brought him here because they had nowhere else that was safe.


    He appreciated the trust in him that it took for them to come here. He also appreciated that they could all speak some, or at least understand spoken English. The one who seemed to be in charge was fairly fluent to Thomas¡¯s surprise. It was the one named Indral who had explained, at least partially, what had happened and helped translate what the others were saying.


    Thomas sat at the control center desk and leaned back, placing the back of his left hand over his eyes, and let out a deep sigh. What a fucking mess, he thought, and just sat there letting his mind drift.


    A beeping from the control center startled him awake. Shaking his head and wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, Thomas sat up and looked at the monitor, and smiled before entering a few commands and sending the information to the Medbay workstation. He had been afraid that it wouldn''t work, that their physiology was just too different, too alien, but the AI had been successful in bridging the gap between species. Standing up, Thomas went to the lab to get the vial of medical nanites that would help his friend heal fully, instead of being crippled for life.


    ***************************************************


    It took two days for the nanites to complete the critical work, repairing the damage in his shoulders, neck and legs. Thomas smothered the anger he felt at what had been done. It had been torture, plan and simple. He waved away the feeling and focused on the moment, his friend was well enough to leave the bed, so he wanted to have a party in celebration of Delvik¡¯s recovery and, of course, to new friends.


    ¡°Hey buddy, how are you feeling today¡±, Thomas asked after entering the room and seeing Delvik sitting up in the bed.


    ¡°Better, still weak¡± Delvik replied. He still looked terrible, covered with bandages on most of his body. ¡°But, i am ready to get out of here.¡±


    Thomas smiled at his friend and leaned over to help him out of the bed, and was smacked on the arm by a ruler for his trouble. ¡°Be Cautious Big Oaf¡±, M¡¯ria stated. ¡°Foolish Child Still Hurt, Not Move On Own¡±, before she turned to Delvik and, from the tone alone, Thomas knew she was giving him a lecture. It still surprised him how similar to Humans they could be. She was just like the old surly nurses he had known as a child, lecturing him about whatever actions had landed him in their tender care.


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    As M¡¯ria turned back to him, leaving a visibly chastised Delvik sitting on the bed. Thomas pointed to the wheel chair that he had found in the closet, ¡°This is a wheeled chair, he will sit in it and I will push him around,¡± Thomas said slowly to her. She gave him a flat, nearly indignant stare before smacking him again, ¡°I understand you words, I just not trust you two not to do something foolish¡±, she said before turning and walking out of the Medbay.


    The two turned to each other and just laughed once she was safely gone. ¡°It''s good to have you back man,¡± Thomas said as he helped Delvik into the chair. He had set a couple of pillows in it to make it more comfortable.


    ¡°It is good to be back Thomas,¡± Delvik said, before letting out a deep sigh and continuing, ¡°I just wish that I had been successful.¡±


    Delvik looked up at Thomas, ¡°Please do not judge my people by this, they have been led astray by fear and lies¡± he said with sadness in his voice.


    Thomas just patted him gently on the arm, ¡°I am angry, but I reserve that for the ones responsible for what was done to you.¡± he said to Delvik, ¡°besides, you¡¯re my friend, if you still want to help your people, well i''ve got your back.¡±


    ¡°Enough of the sad talk,¡± Thomas said with a smile, ¡°Let me show you what I have been up to while you were gone.¡±


    Thomas pushed the wheelchair quickly, tilting it back on two wheels and rushing out of the Medbay, the two laughing even as they dodged past an angry healer and sped towards the surface. The pace became more sedate as Thomas ran out of breath half way up, and had to switch to just walking. Delvik was peppering him with questions about what Thomas had been up to, but he simply smirked and said that he had some inspiration and ran with it.


    Finally they made it to the exit, ¡°Be ready to be amazed my friend,¡± Thomas said.


    Delvik just rolled his eyes, how much could you have done in the few nights since I left, and Thomas¡¯s smirk just grew bigger, before he spun the chair around, eliciting a sound of outraged laughter from Delvik and pushed the door open to pull his friend through before spinning him around once more.


    The awed silence from Delvik was exactly what he wanted, he had even timed to so they would come out after sunset for maximum effect.


    Above them, lines of rope lights provided a soft, white light that made the room clear as day to see and take in. Wooden tables, both long and rectangular and round lay scattered about, their tops faintly reflecting the light in the dark, polished wood. Metal basins containing stacks of wood burned, providing warmth to ward off the chilling air. At the far end of the room, Delvik could see a bar, and old Dulc stood behind it smiling like a child with a sweet treat, and already pouring drinks for the other Rakus already seated on tall stools.


    Everyone turned as they approached, and Delvik felt tears begin to form at the edges of his eyes. This, he thought, was something he pictured in his mind when he imagined what it would look like with his people working together with a Human.


    A momentary flicker in his mind had him back in the cell, buried deep in the burrow and hallucinating from the pain, his heart seized at the thought that this truly was a dream. Delvik squeezed his eyes shut and bit the inside of his cheek, and slowly reopened his eyes.


    Not a dream, he thought with relief.


    Delvik saw the looks of concern flash across his rescuers faces, but he smiled and waved to them, to show that he was all right as Thomas pushed his wheelchair up to the bar.


    Master Indral hopped off the stool and strode over to Delvik, assessing him and the contraption he was riding in, before he bent forward and hugged the young scout. ¡°My boy, I am so sorry that we didn''t get to you sooner¡± he whispered in a hoarse voice, ¡°those animals should never have been able to lay a paw on you, I can only blame myself for not seeing the rot that had taken root in our home¡±.


    Delvik sat in shock, ¡°Teacher,¡± he said, as he tried to think of a reply, ¡°I don''t blame you. I blame the Watchers, and myself. I should have listened more to the warning from Anzis¡­.¡±


    Delvik froze at the last, panic flashed through his mind. He had forgotten all about Anzis and his hunters. His eyes darted around the room, but settled back on his teacher after finding no sign of the Hunt Leader.


    Firm paws gripped his shoulders, ¡°Calm yourself Delvik¡±, Indral said gently, ¡°The hunters you returned with were freed as well. They choose to remain with the younger Matrons while we freed you.¡±


    Delvik sagged in relief at the news that they had not been forgotten. Taking a few deep breaths, he looked up at Thomas, ¡°Please help me onto one of the seats, It seems we all have some stories to tell, and I could definitely go for a good drink¡±.

 Chapter 24

    Laughter drifted up from the once ruined mess hall, loud voices filling the silence of the night as the moon rose higher. The place practically glowed from the lights, making it easier for the silent, passive observer high up in the night sky to focus on it. The drone flew in a large, lazy circle, similar to the large avian predator far below it. Its eye of glass, metal and plastic, watching impassively the events of this anomaly of the wastelands. Yet they were not the only sets of eyes watching this night.


    From the darkness of nearby buildings, if one looked closely and were not inebriated, the faint flicker of light reflected from eyes of all types. Eyes with round pupils, slitted and even compound, watched the glittering light from the building. They could smell the scents lacing the air, the unknown spices mingling with cooked meat. Some held only hostile thoughts, some curiosity and some of greed.


    High above, the silent watcher saw the dark shape of the avian flare its wings, and begin to dive.


    From below, beings with sensitive auditory organs looked up sharply in alarm.


    Within the ruined building, an old mutant raccoon told a dirty joke that had others of its kind laughing loudly and a human doubled over and in tears.


    The Drunga had spotted the lights, had picked up the scent of food, and had flown into this ripe paradise of a hunting ground. Its limited mind slightly wondered why more of its kind had not found this place. It had spotted signs of the small furred and scaled ones, so food was plentiful, and it could spot a large body of water within easy flying distance, yet when it had arrived in the area, its calls of challenge had gone unanswered. It had been ready to roost for the night and begin hunting in the pre-dawn hours when it had spotted the lights.


    Its curiosity had led it to a bountiful meal, so it had flown several wide passes over the light before picking its target, flaring its wings and dropping into a steep, nearly silent dive.


    From above and below, the observers that had spotted the Drunga watched as its wings folded close to its body, its serpentine head tucked back close to the body and its viscous looking talons closed tightly as it fell upon the building.


    The Drunga did not see it, its eyes were focused on the rapidly approaching specs moving about.


    The silent observer high above noted strange movement before a sensor began to scream in alarm.


    Only the observers with the keenest of eye sight could possibly see it, and even then it would be incredibly easy to miss.


    Wait for it¡­. Wait for it¡­ Soon the Drunga¡¯s simple bird brain thought, a little close and then flare the wings, slow the fall and swing the talons down to grab and crush.


    Four little dots appeared on its large body, faint little spots of a reddish light that were nearly invisible amidst the ruffling feathers. Then its body began to break up, chunks of flesh exploding outwards in a spray of blood, feathers and flesh. The force of the impacts threw its body off course, and sent it spiraling down to crash into an overgrown street.


    The unseen observer high above banked away sharply, climbing for even more altitude and distance as its mechanical brain erred on the side of caution.


    On the ground, the hidden observers ducked back, shocked by the unexpected sound of gunfire. Some decided that perhaps easier prey could be found and slunk off into the dark. Others watched with greater interest in this strange place.


    Inside the mess hall, two of the older Rakus were helping a younger, bandaged one up off the floor where he had fallen, startled by the unexpected gunfire from above. A mentor-like figure laughed and ribbed the younger for setting a new high jump record from a sitting position.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry man, I should have given you a heads up about that, but in all the excitement today it totally slipped my mind¡± Thomas said while pouring a new drink to replace the one that Delvik had spilled when the auto turrets went off. He looked at the gathered group and smiled, ¡°I guess the scavengers will be eating well tonight,¡±


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    Delvik accepted the drink and apology, ¡°Yes, a warning would have been good. Is that one of those things you mentioned having been up to while I was away?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Thomas replied, ¡°Had some of the spider bots build some towers and then strapped a home-made auto turret to each one. I remembered our first sitdown meal while I was cleaning this place up and figured we would need to keep those geese from hell away.¡±


    The older Rakus nodded appreciatively, ¡°I approve, nasty birds deserve bad surprise¡± Gerv said as he fingere the talons that decorated his necklace.


    ¡°So Thomas, what other surprises do you have in store for me¡± Delvik said questioningly


    Thomas smiled and turned to a large pan filled with a bubbling liquid, ¡°well, first I have some curry. Something delicious to warm us up,¡± he said, and with a laugh continued, ¡°and I do believe that mister Indral was about to tell us a wonderful story. Something about a young apprentice who...¡± A loud humming sound interrupted him.


    Burr-zap


    ¡°Actually, that reminds me¡± Thomas said as the humming sound increased in pitch


    Burrrrr-zaaap


    ¡°Delvik, buddy, did you happen to..¡± Burrrrrr-Zaaaap, ¡°..forget to tell me¡­¡± BUUURRRR-ZZZAAAPPP, ¡°..about something.¡±


    The humming reached an intense pitch, a charge could be felt in the air and hair and fur could be seen rising on various beings.


    BUUUUURRRRRRRRRRR-ZZZAAAPPP-ZZZAAAPPP-ZZZAAAPPP-ZZZAAAPPP


    Thomas seemed to flinch at each loud zapping, his body visibly shivering as the hum began to die down. He placed both hands on the counter and leaned in towards Delvik, ¡°perhaps, oh I dont know, something about the GIANT FUCKING BUGS!¡± Thomas said, ending in a shout.


    Delvik placed both paws on the counter and leaned towards Thomas, ¡°You asked about dangerous things, I told you about dangerous things. Bugs are annoying. They are NOT DANGEROUS!¡± he shouted back


    The two locked eyes, looking angry, nearly snarling at each other. The others backed away in alarm, Indral began to move forward to separate the two, but stopped and began chuckling softly to himself. Indral did not see any anger in their eyes, in fact he saw them both fighting to not laugh. So, he thought, this was the friend his apprentice had made amongst the Humans. He had had his doubts about the Human, still did if he was being honest, but he could recognize friendship when he saw it, and so, with a loud thwak, his paw slapped the counter.


    ¡°Fight or kiss, either way get off bar so adults can drink¡± he said sternly to the two.


    Laughter once again filled the building, and Thomas told them of his adventures in cleaning up and modifying the building as they ate. The Rakus were suitably impressed with both the food and the story, less so with some of the robot design choices, but the overall results were undeniably impressive. Thomas showed them the strange metal tree shaped structures around the outside, metal poles with metal rings that ran from the top to nearly the bottom. ¡°I found the design in some old files. They¡¯re surprisingly effective for such a simple design.¡± he explained.


    Thomas showed off the metal shutters that could close off and seal up the building, ¡°or as I like to think, keep the unwanted critters outside where they belong¡±.


    ¡°Now, to cap off the tour, take these and follow me outside,¡± Thomas said before leading them all outside through the main entryway. Thomas turned to face them and smiled brightly.


    ¡°First, I want to thank you all for rescuing Delvik, and trusting in me enough to bring him here. We may not have known each other for a very long time, but he is the first person I met here, even if he did try to kill me,¡± Thomas said, ¡°but even with that, we were still able to sit and share a meal and get to know each other, and that spark kindled a friendship that I hope burns for as long as we live. So thank you all, my home is your home if you wish.¡±


    Indral and the others gave respectful nods of their heads, and Indral spoke, ¡°When I learned my foolish apprentice had befriended a Human, I did not know what to think. I was concerned it was a trick, a trap for our people, but having seen you, having spoken with you, I no longer have those concerns. We would be happy to stay here, and i am sure Dulc would murder me if I tried to take him away from that bar¡± he finished with a chuckle.


    Thomas laughed, ¡°He is more than welcome to the bar, in fact I was hoping you would be staying. I know next to nothing about this world, only that it is broken and I don''t know if it can be fixed, but an old friend from before I came here once told me, ¡°If you can¡¯t fix something entirely, start with one small part and try to make it slightly better¡±, and i think we can do that here. I hope we can at least.¡±


    Thomas reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote, ¡°and so, taking my old friend''s advice, I want to make this into a place where people, all people can come and relax in safety. Where they can get a warm meal and a cold drink and just be at peace for even a short time.¡± he said, ¡°So, will you help me with this? I know it''s selfish to ask, and you don''t need to answer right away, I just wanted you to know my plans.¡±


    With the press of a button, a series of tubes attached to the outer wall flickered to life.


    ¡°I would like to welcome you all officially to the ¡°Post Apocalypse Bar and Grill¡±, a place that I hope will bring a little happiness to this broken world.¡±


    As the others stared at the neon sign, Thomas looked up into the sky. Thank you for the idea Alex, he thought with a whispered prayer to his old friend.

 Chapter 25

    General David Rensmor watched as the other Generals and a single representative of the Forum filed into the room, some stopping to grab a beverage or snack from the table by the entrance. He stood by his small table, at the end of the room with two large display screens above him. The others quickly found their seats at the large, half circle table, the Forum representative in the middle most seat, with the rest spreading out to either side based on rank and seniority.


    David let them talk amongst themselves as he went over his notes, shuffling some pages around as he considered and reconsidered the order of his presentation. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and pressed a button on the desk to dim the lighting in the room.


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for making time to attend this briefing. It has been a rather busy month,¡± he said with a smile, ¡°and all of you have been doing an exceptional job in meeting or exceeding our objectives¡±.


    The General nodded to a staff aide standing to the side of the room, who quickly picked up a tray and began placing frost coated glasses before each person seated at the table. General Rensmor nodded in thanks as he accepted his glass and the aid returned to their spot.


    ¡°First, I would like to propose a toast.¡± David said, raising his glass before him, ¡°Like the great Phoenix of myth, we shall be reborn from the ashes. To continued success!¡±


    ¡°To continued success,¡± echoed around the room as the glasses were raised, and nearly as one, were drunk from.


    Taking his seat at the desk, David looked around at the leaders gathered before him. Department heads, field operations, security and of course the representative for the civilian leadership. He smiled. ¡°We have had a very successful month since we last met. Several new settlements have been added, three hundred former raider and bandit scum now wear iron collars and work to repay their debt to society by building its foundation, and, a special thanks to General Elthrens for bringing into the fold two more tribal groups.¡± he said, raising his cup towards General Elthrens before continuing.


    ¡°On the domestic side, I would like to acknowledge General Phillips and his team for their work on civilian outreach with the security forces.¡± again he raised his glass in acknowledgement to the General in question. ¡°Overall the integration of the local settlements and the tribals have been progressing well, and we will face greater challenges as we bring the new regions into the fold. I expect we will hit some rough spots, but I expect you to rise to the challenge.¡±


    Pressing another button on the desk, the displays above him flickered to life. The left screen showing a map of the Northeastern United States that was broken up by various colored lines and symbols, the right listing out a legend for the map.


    ¡°Thanks to Generals Lepin and Remirez, we have pushed deep into the central region of New York state, securing the former capital region of Albany and the I-87 corridor. General Lepin continued pushing west and setting up a defensive line along the north-south running I-81. She has dug in against the blight lands that were once known as the finger lakes, already it is being classified as High Red to Medium black¡± he said as green dotted lines showed the generals progress on the map, and alternating red/black stripes appeared to cover the region further west of that line.


    ¡°Furthermore, General Remirez split his army, sending a third North and personally leading the remainder south towards the ruins of New York City.¡± General Rensmor stated, ¡°the further south he pushes, the greater the resistance. He attempted to use drones to scout ahead, but a combination of flying beasts and heavy weapon fire from warlords and intelligent mutants are preventing him from scouting too far out.¡±


    The map changed to reflect the progress as he spoke, notations of combat encounters began scrolling on the right display.


    ¡°I approved a high speed reconnaissance, and the results were, to put it frankly, terrifying.¡± David stated plainly. ¡°I am declaring New York City, and the surrounding urban regions a level 5 Hell Zone.¡±


    Pictures of a wrecked and ruined city replaced the map. Thick columns of smoke trailed up across the island, and mega-flora could be seen covering multiple city blocks.


    General Rensmor bought up a new set of images that had obviously been taken by powerful cameras at high altitude.


    ¡°Our aircraft made several startling discoveries, the first being that humans still inhabit the city. Another is that the whole city seems to be just one massive war ground.¡± he said as images changed to zoomed in pictures, ¡°As you can see, we have Mutants and beasts fighting each other and humans, as well as humans fighting other humans.¡±


    The last images showed what appeared to be vast fortresses constructed from the ruined skyscrapers that once made up the city.


    David and several of the people gathered drained their glasses, as the aid went around offering refills. He took a moment to try and get a read on the thoughts of each person, most seemed shaken or deep in thought at the problem that the city would be. General Elthrens seemed to be practically vibrating in her seat, likely in excitement to challenge that pit of death he thought.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    With a nod of thanks for the refill, he resumed the briefing. ¡°For now, I have ordered General Remirez to dig in and begin scouting for a way around that mess, perhaps we can encircle it and bring up some heavy artillery to grind our way closer, but that will be a briefing for another day.¡± he said with a chuckle before continuing, ¡°and that covers the good and bad news, now for the strange¡±


    Again the images on screens changed. Now they showed a state much further to the south, much less urban infrastructure, more swamp and marshland. It focused on a set of ruins highlighted on the map, labeled Site Gamma.


    ¡°If you will recall, at the briefing approximately a month ago, we discussed the discovery of an emergency beacon activating inside the ruins of a pre-apocalypse base, one specifically used for advanced research and development.¡± the General said, and several heads nodded, and surprisingly General Elthrens pulled out a notebook and began taking notes.


    ¡°Well, we received approval to retask one of the high altitude automated drone tenders to break off from mapping the Ohio river valley region and move south. So far, we have confirmed five human or human-like settlements, various new creatures¡± an image of a giant mutant bird appeared on the screen, ¡°such as this one that the analysts have taken to calling a hell goose, and most importantly, we have located the shelter where the beacon was activated.¡±


    Everyone watched as a new image appeared on the screen, and Daivd tried to suppress the urge to laugh at their expressions. He had chosen this image specifically in the hopes of their reaction, and he was so glad he did. It was a crystal clear image of a garish looking neon sign, glowing brightly on the wall of a patched up mess hall, with four spindly looking towers supporting what appeared to be home made auto turrets.


    But it was what was in the foreground that really got everyone''s attention, a human in a white lab coat kneeling down, face visible to the camera, and appearing to high five a bipedal raccoon covered in bandages.


    And on the right screen, an old archive file image of the same smiling man stared back at them, the picture attached to a personnel file with the name ¡°Thomas Wayne Ingroff¡± displayed next to the picture. The date on the file was March 1, 2048.


    The room erupted into chaos as everyone began talking at once.


    ***************************************************


    She leaned back upon her stump throne in the glade, drumming her fingers on the arm rests, wishing for the ten thousandth time for a nice set of pillows or cushions. She watched as the giant lizards fought tooth and claw, for both her supposed entertainment and to jockey for position in the various sub clans that made up the tribe. She also once again found herself comparing her servants to her old tribe, the brutal existence of the strong ruling the weak through force rather than cunning.


    Oh how they would bristle and reject being compared to the humans they so obviously resembled, at least in attitude and manner, if not appearance.


    At last the fighting ceased. Her new Alpha knelt before her, having healed from his elevation and the wounds taken from that ill fated journey into the old base to the west. It had grown in the weeks since, its body becoming bulkier and more muscled. Its skin thickening and growing hard plates on the exterior. She wondered if it retained any of the cunning that saw it survive what claimed the others of its previous clan. Only time would tell, she thought.


    ¡°Rise Saav, rise in victory over your challenger.¡± she said looking into the ring of Arvo and seeing the beaten and bleeding form of a rival Alpha. She carefully hid her surprise, and turned her eyes to her newest Alpha, ¡°It does not escape my notice that your challenger still draws breath Saav, explain yourself?¡±.


    The young Alpha hissed out a pained breath, before bowing its head to its queen. ¡°Great one,¡± it hissed, ¡°This one¡­I mean, I have defeated my challenger in combat, proven my strength. They were mighty, but I mightier still.¡± It turned its upper body to look at the downed Arvo in the center of the ring, and continued, ¡°It would be a waste to destroy a strong warrior, I would like it to continue to serve tribe, as part of my clan.¡±


    She hummed, and considered the strange request. Perhaps, she thought, this one had retained some bit of cunning, of creative thought beyond the hunger most Alphas were limited to. A smile crossed her lips, full of mischief.


    ¡°An interesting thought my young Alpha, bring the defeated one before me.¡± she said loudly, so that the others in the cleaning could hear.


    Two of the warrior cast quickly ran forward to grab the downed fighter and dragged it before the throne.


    She stood and stepped towards the defeated Alpha, she recognized it. An older male, one of the first dozen or so she had elevated when she arrived in this place. She was honestly surprised it had survived this long she thought as she stood over it.


    The creature was beaten, blood foamed at the edges of its mouth and deep gouges in its already deeply scarred hide leaked a steady trickle of blood. It would die without aid, that much was obvious to her. She turned to face the still kneeling Alpha, ¡°You would have one who knows defeat, and in such a terrible state serve you?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes Mistress¡± it wheezed.


    She considered this new development and let tendrils of purplish lightning course down her arms and arc between her fingers. With a flick of her hand, the lightning reached out to the defeated Alpha, its color changing from purplish to a faint green. The body began to twitch and spasm, the creature letting out a scream of pain as its bones began to shift and knit back together. The bloody gouges began to scab over, the blood leaking out slowed until it stopped.


    Hiding the exertion from healing it, she returned to her seat. ¡°Your request intrigues me, I shall allow it.¡±


    Saav let out a breath that it had been holding since the Omega stood. It felt awe at the display of power. He bowed low to the Queen of the Arvo, such a small and frail looking human, compared to the rest of his kind, but powerful beyond question. He ordered the warriors to take the new clan member back to their nest, and sought the Queen''s permission to depart.


    She watched as the young Alpha strode away, and motioned for the scout that had been patiently standing off to the side to approach. She reached out and touched the back of its scaly head as it bowed, a nimbus of energy covering her hand, ¡°Now, show me what you have seen.¡±


    And she smiled as she saw through the scouts memories, a glowing sign.

 Chapter 26

    Thomas startled, nearly jumping as Indral shouted his name. ¡°Jeeze, you just scared the hell out of me Indral¡± he said as he tried to slow his racing heart.


    ¡°Apologies, Human Thomas. I have been trying to get your attention for a bit and you weren¡¯t responding. You have also been walking this one circle of hallways while staring at that paper,¡± Indral stated, ¡°I assumed it was something important, but I also have something important to discuss with you.¡±


    Thomas shook his head and took a couple deep breaths, ¡°Sorry man.¡± he apologized, ¡°um.. Lets go to my office and we can talk¡±


    Indral nodded and padded after Thomas as he started walking back the way he had been going. As the two walked in silence, the hum more machinery could be heard adding a low, deep hum in the background. ¡°I have also been meaning to ask,¡± Indral said, breaking the silence as they walked, ¡°It has been getting noisier in here over the last couple weeks, can you say why?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± Thomas said while scratching the back of his head, ¡°um, so it turned out that the lower sub levels had flooded. We¡¯ve been running off the emergency reactor since I turned everything on and it''s starting to show the strain of overuse, so I tasked a bunch of the bots I built to go down and fix everything.¡± he continued, gesturing wildly. ¡°They go the water drained and have been repairing and bringing online the machinery down there, that''s what the extra noise is¡±


    Indral nodded his head, making noises of agreement at what he felt were appropriate times, and understanding less and less as the Human began unleashing a flood of technobabble while growing more animated. In all his seasons of watching Humans, he felt he would be prepared to interact with them, Indral thought, but the more he spoke with Thomas, the less he felt he knew. Humans, and this one in particular, were complex creatures, he had learned. He had seen Thomas display a wide spectrum of emotions and actions, had seen him acting nervous and cautious when interacting with others, to being extremely competitive and aggressive, especially in these ¡°video games¡± Thomas had shown them.


    Regardless of all that though, Indral was most impressed by the Humans'' interactions with Delvik, himself and the others. Thomas may have been wary when they first arrived, although perhaps not wary enough in Indrals opinion, but he had quickly moved past that and treated them not as inferior or superior, but as equals. He felt that Thomas spoke with him and the others as he would if he were speaking with another Human. Indral knew that if the situation were reversed, if Thomas had been brought to the tribe, he would have been treated as an inferior being at best, and a dangerous beast at worst.


    He shook his head to clear the darkening thoughts from his mind and looked at the extremely animated Human, and immediately had the thought that Thomas looked like a youth that had just returned from their first journey to the surface and was excitedly describing everything.


    Indral was slightly startled as Thoms brought his hands together in a loud clap, ¡°And once they finish, we should see definite improvements to water and air quality, plus we will be able to shunt extra power to the bar upstairs, so Ill want to have a sit down with you guys tonight to discuss plans¡± Thoms said excitedly, and turned to look at Indral.


    ¡°Um, sounds good,¡± was Indra¡¯s reply.


    ¡°I did it again¡± Thomas said guiltily, and Indral simply replied, ¡°Yes.¡±


    Thomas slumped his shoulders, in seemingly exaggerated defeat, ¡°dude, you gotta tell me when i''m running off the rails like that,¡±


    Indral just patted the Human on the leg as he stopped next to Thomas, ¡°It is ok, you seemed very excited and happy, so I did not wish to stop you. Besides, we have arrived.¡±


    With a loud sigh, Thomas fished out his key card and swiped it through the reader and pulled open the door, allowing the two to enter the control center.


    The sight of this room, filled with flashing lights and many screens, still amazed Indral. From here he could see the screens showing the views from all the cameras showing the outside. He could see Dulc at the bar with a large book open and experimenting with various mixtures of liquid. On another screen he watched as Delvik was showing off his armored suit to Sev and Gerv, and wondered how long it would be before the two of them approached Thomas to make them similar suits. Talli was off observing the burrow to keep an eye on it today, and M¡¯ria would fight anyone who tried to drag her away from her precious medbay.


    Thomas sat in the huge, very ornate seat and spun around to face Indral, before reaching under the large U shaped desk to roll out a small stool and pushed it towards Indral.


    ¡°So, what did you want to talk with me about?¡± Thomas asked.


    Indra paused for a moment to consider how to phrase his question. He was unsure of how the Human would react, and a nugget of fear existed at what the answer would be.


    With a deep breath, Indral asked ¡°Our tribe, our people have treated Delvik horribly due to his connection to you. While it may have been a smaller group within the tribe that was directly responsible, the majority still fear and hate Humans,¡± and he paused to look Thomas directly in the eyes, ¡°What are your intentions towards the tribe? Do you intend to take vengeance against the tribe?¡±.


    Thomas sat back stunned at the question, it was not what he had been expecting. Thomas thought about his reply as he watched the old Rakus, who looked tense with nerves.


    Thomas answered slowly, carefully choosing his words, ¡°What those people, the watchers?¡±Indral nodded his head, confirming he got the name right, ¡°What the Watchers did to Delvik is wrong on so many levels. It was torture, plain and simple. Without the Medbay he would have died, and without the medical nanites, Delvik would have been crippled for life.¡± he said, sadness and anger in his voice.


    ¡°But,¡± he said with a sigh, ¡°I don''t plan to Nuke your people, Indral, or unleash a swarm of killer robots or a world ending plague.¡±


    Thomas looked around and gestured to the cameras showing the outside ruins, ¡°That''s already been done.¡± he said with a sad laugh. ¡°Besides, I don''t hold the actions of a few against an entire people. Oh I would love to see them punished for what they did, don''t get me wrong, but to answer your question, No. I do not have, and am not currently planning to attack your people.¡±


    Indral visibly deflated as the tension drained out of him.


    ¡°You are far too kind, Thomas. The watchers, and many of my people would not be so forgiving.¡± Indral said.


    Thomas smiled sadly, ¡°I understand that, trust me. In my time, before all this.¡± he gestured again to the monitors, ¡°that was largely the way of the world. A person or a group hurts someone from another group and quickly everyone was up in arms, and fighting, and the only result was everyone getting hurt.¡±


    Thomas reached over and opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of brown liquid and two glasses. He quickly filled each cup about a quarter of the way and put the bottle back before handing a cup to Indral.


    ¡°At some point, someone has to try to break that cycle. There were a couple of sayings, ancient quotes that got tossed around alot but nobody really paid attention to them.¡± Thomas said before taking a sip. ¡°The first was, ¡°an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind¡±, and we can see where that got everyone just by going outside.¡±


    Thomas took another sip, ¡°the other is, ¡°the best revenge is to live well¡±, and that''s personally my favorite quote. So no, I am not going to go off and seek physical revenge for Delvik, and I''ll try to talk him out of doing so as well. Instead, I plan to live the best life I can, to take this ruined place and turn it into something that I can be proud of, that can maybe help others and, I dunno, bring some measure of peace and stability.¡±


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    Indral sat still with shock, holding the glass with both hands as he listened to Thomas. The kernel of fear in his heart had vanished, while he had not expected Thomas to be the bloodthirsty monster most would assume a Human would be, but he had expected the Human to desire some level of revenge. He had not expected this response though, so he considered Thomas¡¯s words, ¡°to live well being the best revenge¡±. Such a simple concept, but one that had never crossed his mind before.


    ¡°I will have to think about this, your answer raises new questions in my mind. Especially this idea of living well being a form of revenge. Yes, it requires some time to think about it, but I find it intriguing.¡± Indral finally said, ¡°I do have one more question though¡±


    As Indral opened his mouth to speak, one of the monitors to the outside began flashing and a red square outlined the screen as a harsh buzzing noise sounded. Two heads turned and saw a female Rakus sprinting towards the entrance of the bar.


    Thomas looked confused, but Indral recognised Talli in her full hunter''s gear.


    ¡®That''s Talli,¡± Indral said after noticing Thomas¡¯s confusion. ¡°She must have seen something important, she was observing the burrow.¡±


    Thomas stood and finished his drink, Indral did the same and handed him the glass, and then both quickly departed the control center and made their way to the surface.


    As the two entered the bar from the now hidden bunker entrance, they found Talli standing at one of the tables, breathing hard and trying to catch her breath.


    ¡°Indral¡­ Human Thomas.¡± she wheezed out, ¡°Burrow¡­¡­ Trouble at Burrow¡­..¡±


    ¡°Talli, sit and catch your breath, then tell us what you found¡± Indral said as the other Rakus, except M¡¯ria came over to see what was going on.


    Talli took several deep breaths, exhaling slowly and then chugged an entire large glass of water that Dulc handed her.


    With a final deep breath, she began to tell them what she had seen. ¡°It was strange, there were no sentries, no watchers. Nobody was outside, so I slowly approached and slipped inside. Still, I saw no one.¡± she paused, and everyone saw her begin to shake slightly, ¡°I kept pushing in, at the drop, the ropes had been cut and oil poured down the sides.¡±


    A small sob escaped her, ¡°Sickness has taken the burrow. I knew as soon as I pried open the hatch, that sickly sweet scent came flooding out. They must have evacuated and left the sick, I could hear their cries when I opened the hatch.¡±


    Indral felt tears begin to run down his face. To seal a burrow like that, to prevent escape, could only mean one thing. That the sickness was too great, and the only option was to flee and seek shelter elsewhere. To doom those who were sick to a slow, wasting death, with no hope of help. He has seen it once before when he was young, another Burrow had fallen to sickness and he had been sent to help evacuate the healthy and seal it so none could escape.


    A keening sound echoed out from the ruined messhall turned bar. A sound of sadness and grief and raw hopelessness.


    A loud and sudden crack interrupted the sound of mourning, and six heads turned to its source. Thomas was waving his hand from the stinging pain of slapping the wooden table, but he looked at them, saw their sadness and grief, and reminded them that they were not alone.


    ¡°Guys, it''s not over. We haven''t even tried helping yet.¡± he said, and turned to Delvik, ¡°Your suits mask has air filtering, you will be safe from whatever sickness if its airborne, I mean in the air. Go and start helping them as best you can. Bring big jugs of clean water, and we will be there soon.¡± He turned to the others and continued, ¡°If we can get samples of the sickness, we might be able to make a medicine to help cure it.¡±


    The tone and fire in Thomas¡¯s eyes, as much as the words, snapped the Rakus out of their grief.


    ¡°Human Thomas, you are right. It is not like before, where leaving the sick to die was the only option. We now have you and your magical home. Perhaps we can save them, but we must go now.¡± Indral stated firmly as he wiped the tears away.


    ¡°Sev and Talli, go get M¡¯ria and help her get everything she needs.¡± he said before turning to another, ¡°Gerv, go with Delvik but do not enter the burrow until we arrive. Make sure the entrance is secure and no creatures are sniffing around.¡±


    The four nodded and ran off to their assigned tasks, two disappearing into the shelter and two heading over to the bar to start filling containers with water.


    Thomas pointed to Dulc and Indral, ¡°while they do that, you two can help me in the lab. I think we can fab up some masks to let more enter the burrow safely and get them to the others.¡±


    The two remaining Rakus nodded and followed the Human down into the shelter, passing M¡¯ria and her helpers, all carrying bags loaded with medical supplies as they headed for the surface.


    ***************************************************


    Twin beams of light passed over the rows of sick, moaning Rakus that had been laid out in the largest chamber. Delvik had used the extra strength the suit gave him to quickly clear a large space, and he was once again thankful for the suit that Thomas had built for him.


    Inside the suit, he was hot and his fur matted down with sweat, but he continued to work tirelessly. He had swept through the burrow after he had arrived, literally smashing through the secure hatch and ripping it from its hinges. Once inside he had gone through the whole burrow, and had had to smash down two more sets of barriers that had been erected to keep the sick and dying trapped deep within. He had found some with wounds from fighting, they had likely tried to flee when the healthy ones had been evacuating.


    Already he had a hallway in the back filled with those they were too late to save. I broke his heart all over again, but he kept working, fighting to try and save as many as he could. Thankfully, it had only been about an hour before Indral had arrived with simple masks that would filter the air and fit over their muzzles, and allow the others to descend into the Burrow to help.


    A clanking sound heralded the arrival of a group of robots that Thomas had quickly repurposed to help. He watched as M¡¯ria quickly directed them to where she needed them to stand so the stretchers could be attached, and the patients could be carried out. Almost half the tribe had been sealed down here, mostly regular citizens, but there were a mix of hunters, warriors, scouts, and even a few watchers. He had argued with himself greatly when he found the first sick watcher, lying in a pile of her own filth and moaning pitifully, he had considered leaving her to her fate or even finishing her off himself, but his compassion won out over his anger.


    It was the longest and quickest period of time he had ever experienced, Delvik thought as he did a final pass through the Burrow. He paused at the Matriarchs chamber, belongings lay strewn about and abandoned. He shook his head as regrets flooded it, if only he had been more convincing, or tried a different path, this could have been avoided. If only they could have seen what he had seen. With a sigh, he continued his final pass, leaving only ghosts in this new tomb.


    ***************************************************


    Matron Litra floated in her mind. Was she finally dead? The pain has subsided, she could recall vague, fuzzy glimpses of shadowy figures as she lay dying of the sickness.


    Slowly, she felt her mind begin to settle. The sensation of weightlessness subsided, and was replaced with a heavy pressure and warmth. Slowly more feelings began returning, she felt weak, hungry and thirsty.


    She tried to speak, but it only came out as a soft moan.


    She tried to open her eyes and found that some kind of cloth was covering them.


    She heard movement and felt a paw touch hers, and she gripped it weakly.


    ¡°Now, close your eyes and I will remove the cloth over them, then you may open them slowly or else you''ll just be blinded by the light¡± the voice of a kindly elderly female said, and she did as instructed.


    Litra felt the cloth removed and slowly cracked her eyes, it was so blindingly bright she thought. The brightness hurt, but slowly she adjusted and felt her heart suddenly go into overdrive. She wasn¡¯t in the Burrow. This room was alien to her, the bright lights overhead and white walls. It looked similar to some of the areas of the Burrow, perhaps what they may have looked like before they fell to ruin. Her fuzzy mind was trying to process this when an elderly female''s face appeared over her.


    ¡°Drink child¡± the elderly female said sternly, as she held out a cup with a strange object sticking out. ¡°Use the straw so you dont spill it all over yourself¡±


    She complied, and after a few tries figured it out. The refreshing liquid flowed into her mouth, faintly meaty and salty in taste. After a couple powerful sips, it was pulled away from her, and as she started to protest, a finger swatted her on the nose.


    ¡°No complaints, I don''t want you to overdo it and throw it back up.¡± The elder female said, ¡°Your body is weak from the sickness, but you are safe and will recover.¡±


    Litra felt like she could cry from relief. She looked at the older female and managed to croak out a question, ¡°did¡­.others¡­.make¡­it?¡±


    The elder female nodded, ¡°yes, many others survived and are here as well.¡±


    Litra wanted to ask more questions, but exhaustion was pulling strongly and she felt her consciousness slipping away. She lost the struggle, and fell asleep once again, but with a faint smile on her face.


    ***************************************************


    In the lab, Delvik and Thomas stood by the MRD going through a list of foods that it could create. For every item that appeared on the screen, they would debate and either add it to a list or discard it.


    ¡°What about this one,¡± Delvik said, pointing to a new entry on the screen.


    Thomas visibly shuddered, ¡°No, just no. Literally anything but that one,¡± he said.


    Delvik looked from the list to Thomas in confusion, ¡°But this name sounds fun, does it not?¡±


    Thomas just shook his head, ¡°trust me on this one buddy, it''s a hard pass. I don''t even think the giant bugs would eat it. Alex must have put it in as a joke.¡±


    Delvik shrugged, ¡°While I am curious, I will defer to your experience. We shall skip the Turkey Surprise.¡±

 Chapter 27

    Four figures moved steadily down a stone hallway in near total silence. Sporadic gunfire could be heard echoing in the distance, but it was far away and not their immediate problem, but it did remind them that they were not alone, and that caution was warranted.


    Like ghosts, they moved steadily down the hallway, pausing only at intersections or branch hallways to check for signs of the enemy. Slowly they approached an exit, leading into a sunny courtyard and the four stacked up alongside the right wall and slowly moved forward, pausing a few feet from the exit.


    The four exchanged silent gestures, the figure in the lead unhooked a cylindrical object from its tactical vest, pulled a metal pin and tossed it into the courtyard. With a hissing sound, smoke began filling the courtyard and the four figures ran out, quickly disappearing into the obscuring cloud of smoke.


    A second smoke grenade was tossed as they passed through the smoke to obscure their destination. Three of the figures moved quickly, taking covering positions and reading themselves for an attack. The fourth figure dropped into a slide across the sand covered stone, letting their gun hang off their back from its straps as they pulled a large bundle from their pack and began arming it.


    The sound of childlike laughter was all the warning they got before gunfire erupted from all angles, and then they were staring at their lifeless bodies.


    ¡°Noooooo¡±, Delvik cried with anguish in his voice, ¡°How, how do they keep doing that? We were so close¡±


    Thomas just shook his head as he set down his controller while the match continued to play on the screen. ¡°It''s kids dude, they just magically take to games. My friends'' older brothers used to rage out when playing us in multiplayer too¡± he said with a laugh.


    That explanation did not seem to satisfy the others as the grumbling continued, even as laughter could be heard echoing from the barracks room nearby.


    Thomas and Delvik both stood, handing their controllers over to two younger looking Rakus who had been waiting for their turn. They saw that Indral had arrived and had been watching and the two made their way over to him.


    Indral nodded in greetings to the two, ¡°Such interesting forms of entertainment you have introduced our people to¡± he said, ¡°was it common for young humans to undergo such combat training from a young age?¡±


    Thomas laughed before clapping the elder Rakus on the shoulder, ¡°Na, it''s a game for fun, not combat training. Yeah, some people got way too into it and spent all their time playing, and yeah, some parents objected because of the violence, but it''s no more violent than anything that could be seen on TV or movies¡±.


    As the trio walked towards the command center, they had to dodge out of the way of a group of spider bots being chased by a group of young children. ¡°That is probably more dangerous than the games,¡± Thomas said before looking up at one of the many cameras that could be found within the facility with a raised eyebrow, ¡°Alice, is this your doing?¡±


    Thomas was slightly concerned, Alice was relatively new to the shelter. He and Delvik had made a trip across the base to check out the old school for the children of base personnel, and had recovered an intact terminal containing the AI teaching unit. The terminal had been slightly damaged and stuck in a low power mode for who knows how long, but they were able to get it repaired and met Alice when she came fully online. She was currently charged with watching over, and seeing to the emotional and educational needs of the Rakus children while their parents recovered.


    A nearby speaker in the wall crackled to life, ¡°It is perfectly safe Mr. Ingroff. The Mk3 drones are under my direct control and have had their tools removed. I am simply stimulating the children''s natural hunting and pursuit skills.¡± a feminine voice stated calmly.


    Thomas just shook his head with a sigh while Indral nodded sagely. ¡°It is good to see the children so active, especially after what they went through.¡± he said before looking at the camera as well, ¡°Alice, we must speak later on further refining these skill training activities, perhaps to aid them in seeking, stalking and hiding.¡±


    Delvik and Thomas just stared at Indral as he turned back to look at them, ¡°What? I see great potential in this. With your metal bots, and that computer lady, we can provide a level of training unseen before. Just think of how much better we could train them to be hunters, scouts and seekers.¡± Indral said excitedly.


    ¡°That sounds splendid Mr. Indral. Your perspective would be greatly appreciated on building a comprehensive profile on your species. Please notify me when you have time available to do so and together, we can develop a regimen of tests and activities to further the development of the young, although we will likely need a reward of some kind to motivate them¡± Alice said with a thoughtful tone, ¡°Does your species enjoy cake?¡±


    Before Indral could continue, Delvik grabbed him by both shoulders and began steering him towards the control room. Thomas turned to look at the camera once again, ¡°That sounds wonderful and all Alice, but remember, they are both children and Guests¡± he said, emphasizing the word Guests.


    ¡°I am aware of their status within the facility sir, worry not. With Mr. Indrals assistance we will have the healthiest and happiest children, regardless of species, and if I can further our understanding of the rise of mutagenically altered beings, that is just a pleasant bonus.¡± Alice said in a dry tone.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Thomas just shook his head and let out a deep sigh before replying. He knew she was right in wanting to better understand how the Rakus came about, and perhaps where they, as a species, may be going, but they were walking a very tight rope. Tensions in the shelter had been pretty high in the weeks after bringing the surviving Rakus out of the old Research and Development center. It had been bad, he thought, remembering the sights, sounds and smells of the burrow. Thankfully, if one could be thankful for something terrible, the sickness itself wasn''t lethal, just the effects. Dehydration from the fever, vomiting and diarrhea was the real killer.


    They had gotten lucky, he thought, with Talli having decided to check out the burrow when she did. If they had been even a day later, most of the people here would not have survived. They had gotten lucky with having a fully stocked, pre-apocalypse Medbay, including entire crates of IV bags, tubes and needles. He had tried to lend a hand to M¡¯ria, but after the third person started screaming at the sight of him, he had decided he could be of help elsewhere and had swapped jobs with Gerv, who was extremely grateful for that.


    Delvik and Gerv had been moving bodies. It had been a night that Thomas would likely never forget, walking about in the basement floors of his old work building, and at times crawling through the hand dug tunnels beneath it. He had worked through the night with Delvik to move the bodies, to create a great pyre and cremate them on the surface.


    Thomas shook his head to banish the memories. The echoing laughter of children helped, and he smiled as he looked at the camera once again, ¡°So long as you remember that Alice, These are good people. They have been through literal hell and are scared and vulnerable, and we will help them.¡±


    ¡°I understand sir,¡± Alice replied.


    Thomas patted the wall, ¡°Thanks Alice, we can talk more about this later¡± he said before turning and continuing after the other two.


    ***************************************************


    Delvik, Indral and Thomas sat in the control center, each nursing their own drink as they discussed the situation. The Rakus were healing quickly, thanks to the equipment available and M¡¯ria¡¯s access to the medical database.


    Indral had given them the final tally, one hundred and seventeen survivors, including the two younger matrons. He had sat with them to find out what had happened since they left, and the story painted a grim picture. After Indral and his friends had broken out Delvik, the younger matrons had said, the Eldest and the Watcher leader had whipped up a frenzy of panic in the burrow. Wild rumors that the Humans were going to attack and kill them all, or that they would poison the burrow or enslave them all, were thrown about. Accusations of treachery were leveled at the younger matrons and their supporters. The whole tribe was divided and fearful.


    Fear and anger led to violence, fights broke out constantly in the days following the escape. It had apparently gotten so bad that there had been talk of banishing anyone who didnt pledge loyalty to the Eldest matron, and the Watchers made it clear to all that they supported her.


    The younger two Matrons, to hear Indral tell it, had been just as vocal. Speaking out against teh older three Matrons and the Watchers. Telling all who would listen that they had unjustly imprisoned and tortured Delvik. They had spoken loudly and often, trying to be a voice of reason, but were shouted down and their words dismissed as ¡°hopeful fantasy¡±.


    It was then that the sickness started. They didn''t know how it started, the younger Matrons told Indral that they thought one of the many people now going in and out of the burrow may have caught the sickness and brought it back to the Burrow, but the Eldests faction latched onto it and pointed all blame at Delvik and ¡°that Human¡±. It was then that the tribe truly split, they said, that after the sickness started to spread, the Watchers and those warriors loyal to the Eldest began herding everyone they considered not loyal into the deeper parts of the burrow, for their safety of course.


    When they tried to leave, they were beaten and dragged back. If they tried to escape, they were captured, beaten and dragged back. All the while, the sickness spread and hit the younger Matrons supporters and anyone lumped in with them the hardest. In the end, they had tried to fight their way out, but were too weak from the sickness and the Eldest Matrons faction trapped them in the lower levels as they packed up all their supplies and left.


    The whole retelling made Thomas¡¯s heart break. From start to finish, it was just one big ball of awful in his opinion. That the Eldest and the Watcher leader would detest humans so greatly, and yet act so utterly human and not see the irony in their actions just filled him with anger and sadness.


    Thomas looked at his companions. Indral looked tired, like the retelling of the story he had been told had just drained the life out of him. Delvik just looked depressed, and guilty.


    Thomas nudged Delvik with his foot, ¡°it wasn''t your fault buddy. Those jerks would have found a reason to mess everything up. They obviously were planning something, and just used you as an opportunity.¡± he said.


    Delvik looked up, ¡°I know that, but if I had not gone back things may have been different. I just..¡±


    Indral bonked Delvik on the head with a broom handle, interrupting him. ¡°Enough of that apprentice, you know better than to dwell on ¡°what if¡¯s¡±,¡± he said, ¡°now we focus on what''s before us, not what¡¯s been done.¡±


    He looked at Thomas and Delvik and gestured with his hands, ¡°we have a half of a tribe, healing from a sickness that nearly killed them. Thomas has kindly offered to let them stay here if they wish, and that is an option that I am pushing the young Matrons to accept, but we will still need to discuss what we will do.¡±


    Indral focused on Delvik, ¡°you said that you had a dream of working with Humans, to learn from and live with them. Now you have your chance. What does your dream tell you to do now that you have your chance?¡±


    Delvik sat and thought, his mind racing through the various ideas he had thought up. He had always considered his dream just that, a dream. A flight of fancy he had, and now that he had his opportunity to realize it, his mind went blank.


    ¡°Well,¡± Thomas said, ¡°with so many people, the MRD is going to need to be used nearly full time for just food, which means we won¡¯t be able to use it for much else. Maybe, in the spring we can look into starting some farm plots on the surface.¡± he offered helpfully.


    ¡°Farming?¡±, the two Rakus said simultaneously.


    Thomas smirked, ¡°yeah, farming. Ya¡¯know, growing grains, vegetables and fruits. It was farming that kickstarted human civilization¡± he said, before he burst out laughing, ¡°of course we only started farming so that we have a better supply of the things we needed to make beer!¡±


    The two Rkaus looked at each, and shared a thought. That wasn''t a bad idea.

 Chapter 28

    It was the lack of true darkness that perturbed her the most, Litra thought to herself as she and Gamir crept through the red lit hallways of the shelter. Everything about this place seemed off to her, from the strange smelling liquids that the metal things used to clean the floors and walls as they scuttled about, to the taste of the air and the almost too bright lights. As off putting as it was thought, she put on a stoic face to calm voice to sooth her people as they healed, while inside her own mind she was screaming about the insanity of everything that had happened in the last moon of time.


    Shaking her head to clear her cyclic thoughts, she focused on the purpose of tonight. They had spent much of their time confined to the Medical rooms where their people had been recovering under the watchful gaze and powerful presence that was named M¡¯ria. Indeed, the two young Matrons had been firmly chastised, confined to their beds and treated like misbehaving children by the aged healer, and Litra could see her point.


    The two young Matrons were just as sick as everyone else and in no condition to lead or oversee anything really. It was only accepting the knowledge that the healer was right, and that she would likely have tied them to their sick beds, that had made the young Matrons stay and heal properly rather than try to run around and see to their people or attempt to take control of the situation.


    It was a sobering thought, as she reflected on the weeks spent with strange vines, no tubes, connected to her arms.


    ¡°Only the stupid try to lead when they have no knowledge¡±, was what M¡¯ria had told her sternly after she had tried to crawl out of her bed while explaining that as a Matron, she had a duty to her tribe.


    And now, well their tribe was on the path to recovery. Every day they grew healthier with the elderly healers help. The steady supply of clean food and water, plus the medicine that the Human provided was saving the tribe, just as Delvik had said.


    The two paused at a large door, faded yellow lines made it stand out from the others they had passed by. It took the two of them, grunting with effort to pull the door open, revealing a large cavernous room bathed in crimson light just like the hallways they had passed through. They could feel the chill air from within the shelter rushing out behind them, causing the exposed fur on their heads and arms to move in wavy patterns. Carefully they closed the door behind them, and continued on their trek.


    That thought did cause a frown to appear, already there were whispers that it had been Delvik and the Human who had either brought or created the sickness. That they had released it to weaken and destroy the tribe so that they could swoop in and save the day. Other rumors had also begun to sprout up that the Human was plotting to sell the tribe to the other Human settlements, that he was just fattening them up to be sold as food or slaves or whatever demented things Humans did to others.


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    Litra smoothed the fur on the back of her neck that had begun to rise in agitation. The idiocy of some people, she thought, how quickly they forgot that Delvik had been held captive and tortured by his own people, before being rescued by others from within the tribe.


    She wanted to physically hit the idiots who whispered the second rumor, it was one Human that they vastly outnumbered. Yes, they were in its lair, and yes there were many of those metal creatures scurrying about, but what would be the Humans motivation to do so. Its every action thus far had been to help the tribe. If it planned to sell them as food or slaves, then it was doing too good a job in healing the tribe, returning her people to full strength and health.


    No, those rumors and the others were nothing but fear mongering, and the two of them would put a stop to that soon, and tonight would be the start of those plans.


    The two Matrons paused by a large metal door with a large wheel set in the center. They could faintly hear noise coming from the other side, but even pressing their ears against it, they couldn''t make out any detail.


    ¡°Are you sure this is wise?¡±, Gamir asked, her voice quiet with apparent nervousness. .


    Taking a deep breath, Litra turned to face her fellow Matron. ¡°Yes Gamir, it is wise and necessary. We need to speak to the Human, Delvik and the elders who rescued him, and the voice from the box said that they are all up here, which makes this more convenient for us.¡±


    She reached over and placed her paws on Gamir¡¯s shoulders, ¡°We need information and answers, so that we can do our job and help our people. You''ve heard the whispering thatls been happening, the rumors spoken in hushed voices. Our people are hurt, confused and lost and this is the first step we need to take.¡±


    Gamir nodded along, the words making sense to her and firming up her resolve. This whole past moon and situation had been terrifying and left her feeling out of her depth. Now it was just the two of them, the youngest Matrons of the tribe to care for those that had been abandoned and left for dead.


    They needed to know what the whole situation was, she thought. What the Humans plans were, what the Elders and Delvik planned to do. Would they help the tribe, or cast them out? Why did they help in the first place? So many questions, and the only way to get answers was to go and get them from the ones who were at the core of the whole situation.


    She blinked slowly and refocused on Litra, ¡°Thank you,¡± she said, ¡°you are right, as usual¡±


    The two females stepped back and took in the imposing door once again, both putting on their serious Matron faces and taking a deep, calming breath before together reaching out to grasp the wheel in the center.


    They both jumped back with a yelp of surprise as they received an unexpected shock as they touched the metal wheel.


    They both turned to each other, and seeing the shocked expressions on their opposites face, began to laugh. The absurdity of the situation, of their working up their resolve to take the next step only to be stopped by a bit of static electricity was too much.


    So they laughed, and felt some of the stress they had been holding trickle away.


    After a few moments, they both managed to regain a semblance of control and straightened up before once again reaching to grasp the wheel. When no shock occurred, together they spun the wheel and opened the door onto an unexpected scene.


    The room was quiet but not empty. Three heavily cloaked figures stood in the center of the room, while several Rakus pointed spears and knives at them.


    Standing before the figures was the Human, his pale skin looking even more drained of color.

 Chapter 29

    The afternoon had started normally, well as normal as an afternoon in a ruined wasteland could start really. Thomas, Delvik and Indral had gone topside to the bar after the story Indral had told them. They had things to start planning, if they were going to make this cohabitation work. Space wouldn''t be an issue, nor would fresh water with the reclamation and filtration system back online, but food would. Besides, he wanted to give the two Matrons some options, so they decided to grab some food and a few extra bodies to do a survey.


    ¡°We have a few hours of light left,¡± Indral said loudly to the mixed group of younger hunters and scouts he had managed to find who would be willing to work alongside Thomas. He understood where their thoughts and feelings were coming from, more so than his apprentice, but Delvik had always been a dreamer, it was part of what made him such a great scout and why Indral had taken him as an apprentice. Someone willing to push further, to see new things rather than watch only for what was around them, to seek answers and different paths.


    ¡°We will split into three teams and check these two surrounding buildings.¡± he continued, not letting his thoughts distract him from the task at hand, ¡°I will take two of the teams into that building there,¡± pointing at a large, mostly intact building across from the bar.


    ¡°That would have been the old gymnasium for the base,¡± Thomas said, trying to be helpful, ¡°expect large rooms, some with machinery and some without. I''m pretty sure there was a pool or two within.¡±


    A few of the Rakus looked confused, and he tried to clarify by explaining what a gym was until Delviks armored elbow smacked into his thigh,


    ¡°A place of training the body, thank you Thomas.¡± Indral said, taking back control of the conversation.


    ¡°The Third team will be led by Delvik and Thomas, they will check out that squat building over there¡± he said and pointed to indicate a squat building next to the gym that was missing most of its front.


    Thomas taped at the side of his chin thoughtfully and whispered to Delvik, ¡°I''m pretty sure that was one of the base PX¡¯s, might be some interesting stuff inside¡±


    Delvik nodded as Indral continued to address the gathered people, ¡°We have seen no movement of hostile creatures since the big fight against the Arvo, but be alert and cautious. Things may still live deeper within. Avoid fighting if possible, this is just to see if these buildings can possibly be used by our people in the future.¡±


    With a few final words the Rakus began to group up into teams and within minutes the three groups began making their way towards their designated buildings.


    Thomas slung his shotgun over his shoulder as he began to walk with Delvik towards the shattered front of the squat building, and as they neared he spotted the twisted remains of the PX sign laying on the cracked and weed choked remains of the sidewalk.


    ¡°Man, it looks like whatever took out the base blew out every window.¡± Thomas said as they drew closer. He could see the rusted frame of the sliding doors, and began quietly describing how the building would have looked before it was destroyed.


    He knew that many of Delviks people were still distrusting of him, and both Delvik and Indral had warned him that there were some crazy rumors flying around about him. So he had decided to try and play it cool, act casual and unbothered by the occasional distrustful or worried glances.


    Thankfully, he thought, it was mostly the older ones that were the most distrusting and, if not openly hostile, openly wary of him. This crew seemed to be the younger adults, and he felt that if he showed a more casual and relaxed attitude they might warm up to him.


    Delvik just shook his head, but he considered that it might work if Thomas fostered that ¡°chill¡± image he had told him about. It certainly couldn''t be worse than Thomas going into ¡°mad scientist mode¡± as he had called it.


    No, Delvik thought, this would definitely scare his people less than that, although he did wish Thomas would drop the act and just be himself. He felt that might be the best way to win people over, just being the person that Delvik knew Thomas was.


    As they approached the front of the building, the group slowed and began casting glances into the darkened interior. Rows of metal shelving units could be seen with a large trail of debris, mostly leaves that had been blown into the building and piled up at the start of the aisles, and the skittering of small creatures could be heard within.


    Thomas let out a low whistle as the group stopped at the entrance. ¡°Man, time has not been kind to this place.¡± he said out loud to no one in particular, ¡°Shops like this were where people would stop by to pick up small items, snacks and such. I doubt we will find much of value, probably mark it all as matter for the Hopper.¡±


    Delvik nodded as he tried to picture what the place would have looked like before it was destroyed. Taking his eyes off the building, he waved over the others in the group and quickly began issuing orders. Three were sent up to the roof to check for big holes, nests and to keep watch, while three more were sent to check the sides and rear of the building for other entrances. As the other sped off to their assigned tasks, he nudged Thomas to get his attention.


    ¡°You and I will go through the front, and you can tell me more about this place,¡± he said.


    Thomas smiled and started forward as he pulled out a flashlight. WIth a click the beam of light cut through the gloom within, highlighting eight decades of decay. Stepping through the space in the door frame that was once filled with glass they both entered the building.


    ¡°Ugh, smells like wet dog in here¡± Thomas said quietly as he passed the beam of light over the aisles


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    Delvilk was wishing for his suit''s facemask as the musky smell grew stronger as they moved down the aisles, but slowly his fascination over the strange objects took his attention away from the smell. He pointed out various items as they carefully walked through the building, with Thomas happily explaining what they were and were used for.


    Thomas had been mostly prophetic in regards to the building. All of the food stuff had long since rotted away, even the canned goods rusting until holes opened up in them. That''s not to say that they didn''t find anything of interest. A storage closet held some boxes with plastic sealed clothing that had been largely untouched, and a fancy sword that Thomas described as ceremonial was found in a glass case behind a counter, along with some other smaller knives that were not too badly rusted. The big find however was something that Thomas had overlooked.


    There were a few rotted examples on a rack, but the three that had entered from the back entrance had found a box of small backpacks, well small for humans, that had a curious plastic tube coming out from them. When Thomas explained what they were, mini-backpacks with a water bladder for hiking, Delvik had the others gather as many as they could carry.


    These would be a great tool for the scouts and hunters, Delvik thought.


    He also had the others do another sweep of the building in case they missed anything that might be valuable to the tribe that may have been overlooked, but with the light rapidly dimming outside, cut the search short.


    Weighted down with new found treasures, they made their way out of the building and back to the meet up point, where they found the others waiting outside the gymnasium. Indral and several others were soaking wet, and a few had visible but light looking injuries.


    Indral looked at Delvik and Thomas¡¯ team, muttered a few choice words about the luck of youth and signaled everyone to begin heading back to the bar.


    Delvik with concern in his voice asked what had happened but all Indral did was wave it off and say ¡°after we get some drinks¡±.


    Thankfully for all involved, it was a short walk, and as they filed into the bar a rumbling of thunder could be heard in the distance.


    Quickly the loot was piled up on an unused table and drinks found wanting hands. Thomas made his way back behind the bar and fired up the grill. He placed a large wok over the gas burner they had salvaged. He listened to Indrals tale of exploring the gym as the wok heated up, of them cautiously exploring the building and finding nothing until they found a large room with two large pools of murky, slime covered water.


    Thomas was tossing in handfuls of thin cut meat strips and vegetables as Indral spoke of huge worm like creatures that leapt from beneath the murky water, their circular mouths filled with rows of teeth trying to bite and tear off chunks of flesh, or how they would try to wrap around their target and roll them into the water.


    The story quickly devolved into a mixture of wild boasting of combat prowess and various jokes about worm bait as Thomas cooked and laughed along.


    He was plating up the stirfry, which strangely had become the most popular food amongst the Rakus, when the bell above the front door jingled. Thomas looked up and saw three figures standing at the entrance, two very tall and bulky with a smaller figure in the middle. All three were heavily cloaked with their hoods pulled low and what looked like masks.


    All laughter died suddenly with the new arrivals as all heads turned to the entrance and watched as they slowly looked around, taking in the interior before slowly beginning to walk forward.


    Thomas walked around the bar, setting the tray of steaming meat and vegetables on the counter, and with what he thought was his most winning smile, approached the three who slowed at his approach and seemed to stiffen up.


    ¡°Welcome to the Post Apocalypse Bar and Grill,¡± he said, ¡°we weren''t expecting visitors, but welcome, I¡¯m Thomas¡±


    The middle and smaller figure was the first to react, the other two remained frozen in place, as it reached up and removed its mask and pushed back its hood, revealing a young woman.


    Thomas felt his heart stop for a moment, the first human he had met in this new world, and it was a girl. The skin on her face was tanned from a life spent outdoors, her hair dark brown, nearly black, but her eyes drew in his attention. They were milky white, pupil and iris both, but he felt that she was looking right at him.


    It was such a shock that he actually missed her beginning to speak.


    ¡°I''m sorry, what was that?¡± THomas said.


    ¡°I said, what interesting company you keep. Not many humans out here play nice with the mutant races,¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh, well I can''t say that I have had the chance to meet many, well any humans out here. Only Delvik and his people, and he saved my life so¡­¡± he trailed off as she continued to look around, ¡°I''m sorry if this is rude, can you see?¡±


    ¡°Of course it''s rude, but since you apologized in advance, I can see, just not with my eyes, if that answers your question,¡± she said with a chuckle, ¡°oh, that food smells delicious¡±


    Thomas was still trying to process her words and mumbled, ¡°yeah, thanks. Its fresh stir fry¡±


    Delvik had been sitting back and watching from the side as this all took place. Watching these strange newcomers, and then Thomas¡¯s interactions with this new human. He was trying to figure out what exactly was happening when he caught a familiar scent that made his nose twitch. He noticed several others curiously sniffing at the air, and then shifted his eyes to the two large companions of the Human.


    No¡­. it couldn''t be he thought, as Thomas led the smaller one towards the bar to try the food.


    The two large figures seemed to be lost and confused as they stood there, their heads shifting from looking towards each other, then to the two Humans and then the surrounding Rakus. One of them began to step forward and then someone screamed loudly, and everything turned to chaos.


    ¡°a¡­.a¡­..ARVO!!¡± one of the warriors shouted while pointing at the one who had taken a step forward.


    Delvik and Indrals eyes snapped to the figure and saw what the hunter had spotted, poking out from beneath the heavy overcoat was a bare bit of reptilian tail.


    Tables were flipped over and spears leveled at the figures


    ¡°Oh goddamnit¡± a female voice said loudly, somehow cutting through the noise


    Delvik felt his fur begin to rise as an electrical charge filled the air, and he heard the female shout ¡°Alright, nobody move and make me do something you''ll all regret¡±


    Delvik noticed two things in that moment, the first was the female Humans arms were wreathed in purple colored lightning and were pointed at Thomas whose face had drained of color. The second was the door to the bunker opening and the two Matrons stepping out.


    Aw shit, was all he could think at that moment.

 Chapter 30

    Well shit, this could have gone better, she thought as her powers flared around her. Her bodyguards had shifted and spun around to guard her back while she faced the very pale human male she was currently suspending about a foot off the ground. To his credit, he wasn''t freaking out like many others would have in his situation, Infact, as she focused on his face, he seemed to be smiling, and were his eyes sparkling?


    She pushed him back a bit further from her, his unexpected reaction unnerving her. The sudden movement seemed to upset the raccoon people, but she paid it no mind. Saav and Durg would keep them occupied and off her back.


    ¡°What are you?¡± the male asked as stared down at her, curiosity and not anger or fear in his voice.


    HIs question, and specifically the tone, stopped her whirling thoughts dead. Fear, revulsion or anger were the usual responses to seeing her powers, or even worse, jealousy or seeing her as a tool.


    She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing her thoughts. She needed to take control of this situation before it got even more out of hand.


    Inhaling slowly, she opened her eyes and released the breath and began to speak in her best imperious voice, ¡°That you have never met one of the touched, i am not surprised, but to have never heard of us?¡± she said, ¡°you must have spent your whole life in isolation¡±


    She looked over her shoulder to assess the situation, the raccoon people had flipped tables over to create makeshift barricades and were brandishing spears and knives at her protectors, who were doing a find job of looking menacing, but obeying her orders to not engage. She sent a mental tug to both as a reminder just in case, before turning back to the human male.


    ¡°Now tell your mutant raccoon people to stand down, we did not come here to fight.¡± she said.


    The male was staring at her, assessing and observing every movement with a wild look. It unnerved her and caused her to lose her train of thought momentarily, and then she realized he was saying something.


    ¡°..nanite control?¡± he shook his head, ¡°cant be, Alice would have locked down the building and activated the defenses, maybe¡­¡± he seemed to trail off in thought before his eyes somehow went even wider and he began to thrash excitedly.


    ¡°HOLY SHIT YOUR PSYCHIC!¡± he shouted and began laughing like a madman, and then the questions began pouring out like a flood.


    She stood there stunned as she wondered how her simple plan had gone so far astray. The male was speaking so fast his words were blurring together and just turning into excited noise as they washed over her. She could sense agitation through the connection to her bodyguards and sent them a calming reassurance, and she was pretty sure even they knew it was false, as much for her own state of mind as it was for theirs.


    A loud cough pulled her attention to the makeshift barricade. One of the raccoon people had stepped out from behind it, with both its hands held out to show they were empty.


    This one showed the proper amount of wariness and fear, or maybe just anger that she was more used to. It stopped just past the barricade, leaving plenty of room between it and her protectors before it began to speak.


    ¡°Who are you? Why did you come here with those?¡± it asked.


    She smirked at the creature, feeling for the first time that a conversation in this place was going where she expected.


    ¡°Well mister raccoon¡± she said with a hint of question in her voice, she couldn¡¯t tell if it was male or female, and had no plans on physically checking, ¡°to answer your second question, you don''t expect a girl to wander these ruins unprotected do you?¡± she chuckled softly and continued, ¡°and isn¡¯t it rude to ask someone''s name without stating your own first?¡±


    The raccoon person just gave her a flat stare before rubbing the bridge of its muzzle and muttered something about only meeting strange humans.


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    ¡°My name is Delvik,¡± it said a bit stiffly, ¡°May I know what name you are known by?¡±


    She gave a big smile and bowed with a flourish, ¡°A pleasure to meet you Delvik, you may call me Sera¡± she said, before pointing to the two hulking Arvo, ¡°and these are Saav and Durg, my loyal bodyguards.¡±


    Now this was fun, she thought to herself. She could almost see the frustration in the face of the raccoon thing. Finally, someone who would rise to her bait.


    Pushing her two bodyguards to the side, she stepped forward to face Delvik. She could hear the human male behind her, still babbling questions and trying to get her attention. She was honestly tempted to gag him, but that may be pushing things a bit too far. She didn''t want a fight right now.


    She was confident that she could handle anything they had, even that metal suit, but it was much more fun to push things to the brink, to push and see what she could get away with, and pull back just before open hostility. It was a skill she had worked hard at her whole life, when she lived with the tribe.


    ¡°So Delvik, are you a boy raccoon thing, or a girl raccoon thing? I honestly can not tell¡± she said, speaking slowly, enunciating each word.


    Delvik bit back a snarl of outrage at this human''s words, ¡°I am a male. Do Human females make it a point of being as irritating as stepping on a spike vine?¡± he replied, letting some of the anger he was feeling show in his tone.


    Sera¡¯s eyes seemed to twinkle in the artificial light, and she drew back, placing one hand over her chest.


    ¡°My deepest apologies Mister Delvik, I meant no offense, just simple curiosity.¡± she said with mock sincerity.


    Delvik just stared at her, his mind racing and trying to figure out what game she was playing. She was clearly provoking him, but he couldn¡¯t figure out why. He looked past her and saw Thomas fiddling with something in his jacket. He was probably fine, whatever powers she used to lift him off the ground and hold him in place didn''t seem to be harming him, so he turned his attention back to the female, to keep her talking and distracted.


    If she wanted to play games with words, he would be happy to play along.


    Straightening up, Delvik ran his paws over the fur on his head, as if slicking it back like he had seen a human on one of those shows that Thomas liked to put on the TV in the lounge, noir punk or something like that.


    ¡°No offense taken,¡± he said while giving an exaggerated wink, ¡°but I gotta ask, what brings a feisty firecracker like you to a place like this?¡±


    She nearly lost her composure, and mentally, begrudgingly, gave Delvik a point. Well played raccoon man, she thought. Well, if he was going to play, then she would make the most of it.


    Sera held her hands out, as if to encompass the whole room, ¡°why to check out the newest, hottest place in the region, my good raccoon. My people told me it had gotten a bit lively here lately, and when they told me about the sign, well I just had to check it out.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Was I wrong?¡± she asked as a follow up.


    Delvik opened his mouth to reply, but she staggered forward a step as a blinding pain erupted in her head and she felt her power recoil in shock.


    ¡°NO!¡± Thomas shouted as his feet hit the ground, the last bits of purple electricity seeming to be absorbed into his strange white jacket.


    Saav and Durg both reached out quickly to steady or catch her if necessary, but she waved them off before quickly spinning around and pointing an accusing finger at the human male.


    ¡°What did you do?¡± she shouted angrily as fear and confusion whirled in her mind.


    Thomas straightened his lab coat and looked this Sera lady straight into her milky colored eyes, smiled his most winning smile and answered her, ¡°Science!¡±.


    Delvik fet his paw slap his face in disbelief, and from the sounds of it, he wasn''t the only one. Even the two Arvo seemed stunned at his answer, but the Human female, she seemed to be shaking in rage until a laugh slipped out, high pitched and clearly from her.


    Thomas watched her face, saw her shift from what looked like fear and anger to confusion. Then her lips twitched, her hands immediately moving to cover her mouth as her shoulders began to shake. She fought valiantly, but in the end her laughter echoed in the bar.


    ¡°Shall we re-do the introductions?¡± Thomas asked when she seemed to be regaining her composure and she nodded,


    With a flourish of his hands, he pointed one hand towards Sera and the other to the bar and cooling tray of stir fry, ¡°Welcome to the Post Apocalypse Bar and Grill, where all are welcome as long as they come in peace, My name is Thomas¡± he said as grandly and with as much showmanship as he could manage.


    Sera nearly snorted at the show. Well played, she thought, before reaching out to shake his outstretched hand and replying, ¡°Thank you for the welcome, my name is Sera, and I believe we have some things to discuss.¡±

 Chapter 31

    Thomas found himself once again behind the bar, flames licking up and over the edges of the large wok that was filled with sizzling bits of meat and vegetables and talking with the first fellow human, well he figured she might not be one hundred percent pure human, but eh, he figured with all the secret project crap the government released, he doubted there were many pure, unmutated humans around anymore in any case.


    He scooped out two large piles of stir-fry onto plates and slid them across the bar to the two Arvo who stood flanking Sera. He watched their nostrils flair, taking in the scent of the freshly cooked food and saw them begin to drool slightly, but they didn¡¯t make any move to touch the food until Sera nodded.


    ¡°So,¡± he said to Sera, ¡°you call them your bodyguards, how did that happen? Our only experience with the Arvo has been hostile.¡±


    ¡°They are an unruly bunch, and yes, hostile to pretty much everything with one exception¡± she replied, ¡°they respect strength.¡±


    She continued after a slight pause to sample one of the drinks Thomas had placed on the bar, ¡°They can think, even have their own language. They can be cunning, but prefer straight forward displays of strength. It''s how they determine their place in their tribes.¡± she explained, ¡°the strongest rule, that''s the only quality they, as a whole respect.¡±


    Sera smiled a feral smile, ¡°so I beat them all and took my place as their ruler.¡±


    Thomas let out a chuckle, ¡°I bet that is one hell of a story, I''m guessing your powers must pack quite the punch.¡±


    She nodded and several glasses in front of her began to levitate off the table.


    Thomas leaned in and began studying them, observing and noting a faint warping in the air around the glasses.


    ¡°That is so cool,¡± he said excitedly, ¡°we always wondered if psionic powers could exist, but could never find definitive proof.¡±


    Thomas looked from the glasses to Sera, ¡°were you born with them? Or did you acquire them through some other method?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Nope, you¡¯ve had your question, it''s my turn now¡± she said, waving an index finger at him in a scolding manner.


    Thomas sighed and gestured for her to go ahead.


    ¡°What''s your story?¡± she asked bluntly.


    Thomas tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling as he gathered his thoughts. His first instinct was to be honest. It had worked so far, at least with Delviks people, but then again she is the self admitted leader of a tribe of violent, carnivorous alligator people. After a moment of debating the pros and cons, he met her eyes.


    ¡°As you have probably guessed, i''m not really from the wasteland. I was a scientist a long time ago, and there was an accident, and when I woke up, I found myself here¡± he said, trying to choose his words carefully.


    She looked at him with disbelief on her face and he held up a hand to stop any questions, ¡°Every word is true, Delvik can confirm my arrival out of nowhere over a month ago. With my knowledge of where things were before everything got blown up, I was able to make friends with Delvik and build up this place.¡±


    Sera was quiet for a moment, ¡°Is that all? You are terrible at storytelling.¡± she said with a laugh


    Thomas just shrugged, ¡°I guess being a time traveling scientist from before the apocalypse just isn''t that impressive to someone who can control things with her mind.¡±


    Sera laughed as she replied, ¡°no, no, no. It is quite impressive, I guess I was just expecting a more grandiose tale, something with flair and not just straight facts.¡±


    Frowning, Thomas began to reply only to be interrupted as Delvik shouted across the room, ¡°You really are terrible at storytelling Thomas, and I say that as a friend.¡±


    ¡°Allow me to show you how it''s done, oh mighty time traveler¡± She said, moving her stool to the side so she could see the entire crowd.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    She settled herself into her seat before gesturing to her two bodyguards. ¡°You asked about how I came to have the Arvo as my bodyguards¡¯, and then about the origins of my powers.¡± she said, and Thomas nodded affirmatively, and she continued, ¡°well, for your information, like all of the Touched, I was born with them.¡±


    Looking out over the gathered people, she smiled and with flourish of her hands, she began to speak, deepening her voice and projecting her voice to the gathered crowd.


    ¡°Long ago, before my Fathers, Grandfathers time; when the world was yet unbroken, my people lived in a great underground sanctuary. It was a place of great works, where scholars, great shamans and oracles sought the secrets of the earth and heavens.¡± her words echoed across the room. ¡°Areasi was its name, and it was a paradise for my people, and yet it held within its sacred walls a secret that would doom the world.¡±


    Sera pulled out an old piece of cloth bearing an old symbol and writing that none save Thomas recognized, and he felt a wave of goosebumps crawl up his arms.


    ¡°Peace and paradise, two things that are sadly fleeting, and as in our current age, so it was in the ancestors. The end of paradise began with a great triumph, a meeting with those from beyond the heavens.¡± she said as her eyes began to glow faintly and shadows began to appear on the wall behind her, acting out her words. ¡°Messengers they were, heralds of a greater people who came looking for those that had been lost.¡±


    The shadows behind her showed strange figures standing before many smaller, more human looking figures. They reminded Thomas of the pictures he had seen of ancient depictions on Egyptian tombs, but less detailed.


    ¡°The messengers both rejoiced in having found their lost people, but were saddened to learn of their fates. The ancestors trembled with fear that the messengers would punish them, and to their surprise, they were rewarded, for the messengers were above such things.¡± her words causing the images behind her to change, showing the small figures cowering before the others, before shifting to them all holding hands.


    Sera¡¯s voice took on a tone of sadness as she continued, ¡°for a time, paradise glowed brighter. The heralds requested that all tribal leaders and warlords of the world be called to a great meeting of chieftains, and they came one and all for the messengers could not be denied.¡± she said while the shadows shifted again to show figures gathered before the strange ones before she continued the tale, ¡°The ancestors and chieftains of the world listened to the words of the messengers. They spoke of lifting humanity into the heavens to join them, of partnership and sharing of knowledge; a great plan was begun to ascend to the heavens.¡±


    The shadows shifted once again, gaining in detail and showing the human figures working side by side with the others, of strange symbols and mathematical equations.


    ¡°The ancestors found themselves at the height of joy, and it is here that the light began to dim, as greed and jealousy began to infect the ancients. A treachery and betrayal of the messengers by a group of ancestors, thieves in the night who rebelled against their chieftains and stole an artifact that the messengers had shared with the ancestors.¡±


    Her voice took on a darker tone as the shadows shifted again, growing darker and sharper in contrast between light and dark.


    ¡°The messengers were angered and demanded the stolen artifact returned and the thieves punished, for they said the peoples of the world were not ready for their gifts yet. The great chieftains swore to right this treachery, but the greed had begun to infect them as well, and the great plans that the ancestors and chieftains had worked for began to crack and splinter.¡± she said somberly, ¡°The messengers were not fooled, and soon they had gathered my ancestors who remained loyal. They spoke of great calamity to punish the greedy thieves and treacherous chieftains. For their loyalty, they would receive a gift directly from the messenger''s hand, the Touch. A mark of respect for loyalty.¡±


    The shadows showed a group of kneeling humans, a glowing nimbus surrounding their heads as the others touched them.


    ¡°With the gift, my ancestors were able to drive out the disloyal traitors and greedy chieftains from Areasi, and seal the entrance as the messengers had commanded them to do. With their task done, they returned to the messengers only to find they had vanished, and a great sadness swept over them at the loss.¡± she said, ¡°and as they mourned the loss, they felt the divine punishment of the messengers as the earth began to shake and tremble. The great oracles witnessed the cleansing of the world before their seeing crystals went blank.¡±


    Sera took a drink to wet her throat after speaking so much, and continued.


    ¡°The ancestors remained safe in Areasi, only leaving once supplies had begun to dwindle. Upon the surface, they found the desert sands that surrounded their paradise had turned to broken glass, and found similar destruction and devastation as they began their wanderings east, until they came upon the Desolate Plains which became their new home.¡± she said as the figures on the wall were shown wandering, their numbers slowly growing.


    ¡°As the tribe grew and split apart, the gift was passed down, but not all who are descended from the ancients receive the Touch. It is considered a mark of fate, and those who are born Touched are raised to become leaders of the tribe, or powerful shamans and seer¡¯s.¡± she said, concluding her tale.


    Sera smirked at Thomas, ¡°That is the tale of my people and the origin of my power, and an example of how you tell a story Mr. TIme Traveling scientist.¡±


    Thomas slowly closed his mouth that had been hanging open at the story,


    The inside of the building was silent for a moment, until Thomas shouted with incredulity ¡°You''re telling me that it was Aliens all along that started all of this!!¡±

 Chapter 32

    Silence hung in the air after Thomas¡¯s outburst, his mind spinning with thoughts as he tried to process the story he had just heard. That aliens had visited, tried to uplift humanity and then after some sort of betrayal, decided to glass the planet. It was a bit much, but the math was adding up in a way he didn''t quite like.


    The MRD technology had come out of practically nowhere, just a group of supposedly rogue scientists posting videos of the technology in action, at spontaneous demos in random locations and the schematics to build more being spammed across every message board and social media platform. If it was instead based on stolen alien technology, stolen from aliens that the various governments of the world were already talking with¡­


    Thomas was really not liking how the various dots were beginning to connect.


    Sera¡¯s laughter broke both the silence and his train of thought


    ¡°Look at you, I bet you''re over thinking everything I just said.¡± she said as she slapped her hand on the bar. ¡°It''s a story, told by the shamans and storytellers of my tribe. Is it a true accounting of the past? Nobody knows, it''s just a useless story we tell ourselves¡±.


    Thomas gave her a flat stare as she continued to laugh, and with a measured and serious tone he spoke, ¡°It may be a story, it may have factually incorrect elements, or misinterpreted information, but it is not useless. Combine that with the piece of cloth you have there, and it may be more truthful than you know¡± he said. ¡°May I take a closer look at that actually?¡±


    She pulled the cloth out again and placed it on the bar for him to see.


    ¡°Right here,¡± Thomas said, as he straightened out the old fabric, ¡°this symbol is one I recognize. It''s from the Air Force Material Command.¡±


    Sera¡¯s grin slowly turned into a frown as she looked at the symbol on the cloth.


    ¡°And what does that have to do with anything?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well for one, they were the ones our project reports went to.¡± Thomas explained, ¡°They also were the people overseeing Groom Lake, or its more commonly used name, Area 51. Its also a place with a long history of rumors of Aliens and top secret research.¡±


    She pulled the cloth back and tucked it away in her bag with a thoughtful expression, ¡°Even so, it is still just a story and in the past. Even if it was completely true, what would it matter today?¡±


    ¡°Well, it would offer some explanation as to what really happened, which could come in handy when trying to fix things,¡± Thomas said as his patience started to become strained.


    Her attitude was beginning to wear thin on him, but she was both a source of information and the first human he had met since arriving here, so with a deep breath he decided to continue to put up with it.


    ¡°Regardless of your thoughts about it, I thank you for telling us the story,¡± he said, forcing a smile, ¡°so why don¡¯t you tell me why you decided to come here?¡±


    ¡°I already told you, to get to know the neighbors and set some rules and boundaries¡± she said waving her hand about airily, ¡°it''s a dangerous world and we wouldn''t want any unfortunate accidents or misunderstanding to happen¡±


    Thomas just shook his head in disappointment, he had a feeling things were going this direction, but had maintained hope it would be otherwise, but with her own words she proved his hopes wrong, so when she opened her mouth to begin spouting whatever demands she had, Thomas just held up his hand in a stop motion and said ¡°No, we¡¯re not doing this dance, it''s stupid and we are not going to play along.¡±


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Suddenly there was a flurry of movement and weapons were drawn by the Rakus, and the two Arvo moved to flank their leader. Thomas just stood behind his bar, one hand hovering over the emergency button below the counter. He hoped it wouldn''t come to that though, and after watching the flurry of emotions cross her face, began to speak slowly and clearly.


    ¡°We are not going to keep doing this, this stupid back and forth where you try to score imaginary points and play games. This is not fucking highschool and you¡¯re not the popular kid messing with the nerds. This is the real world, and if all you want to do is play games, the door is over there,¡± he said pointing to the front.


    Face red with anger, Sera growled out ¡°I came here in good faith..¡±


    ¡°No, you didn''t,'''' Thomas stated flatly. ¡°You came to play games, which you have done the entire time since you arrived, both in word and action.¡± he pointed to the two Arvo, ¡°bringing them in was a power move, nothing more than a show of strength. You could have stood outside the bar and shouted to get our attention, or just stood in the doorway to talk.¡±


    Tomas continued to roll over her attempts to object or get a word in, ¡°No, you''re going to listen to me now. I have been nothing but courteous, even when you attacked us. You are in our home and you have shown absolutely no respect for that. So I am going to speak my peace, then you and your bodyguards are going to leave, peacefully.¡±


    Sera glared at Thomas from across the bar, she had not expected this result. No one had ever spoken to her like this, not in the tribes or in the time since she left them. Her mind kept racing through various thoughts on how she could turn this situation around, regain control and her mind kept coming up blank on a solution. Direct violence was out, especially since he apparently had a way to break out of her power, and he seemed disinclined to let her talk, so with a begrudging nod, she motioned him to continue.


    ¡°Thank you¡± Thomas said, ¡°If you want to be peaceful neighbors, that''s fine. We would prefer it that way. We will stay in this base and you can stay in your swamp. If you wish to come by for meals or just to talk, I see no issues¡± he continued, pointedly ignoring the hand waving of Delvik and the others in the background, ¡°hell, I will even allow your people in, so long as they come in peace and don''t cause trouble. All I want is to live in peace, play with technology and maybe make some new friends. Is that too much to ask for?¡±


    Sera slid off the bar stool and stood up straight, shoulders back. ¡°I will consider your terms Mr. Thomas,¡± she said firmly, ¡°and I will instruct my people to keep clear of your border.¡±


    Thomas just let out a sigh of disappointment and moved to rest his elbows on the counter. ¡°That is the problem, right there. This attitude. I think I kind of understand it, from the bits you''ve told me tonight, but not everything has to be approached from a position of strength and aggression. Sometimes you¡¯ll just come across as a bit of a dick doing that.¡±


    ¡°So please, consider what I have offered.¡± Thomas said, softening his tone, ¡°I don''t want us to be enemies, or rivals or some other stupid thing. We don''t even have to be friends, I just want us to be civil. No games, no power moves, none of that unnecessary nonsense. All that leads to is a bad time for everyone involved.¡±


    She nodded her head stiffly before turning and walking towards the doors.


    Delviks people quickly moved the tables out of the way and warily watched the three depart, and as the door slammed shut, one of the hunters swiftly slid the locking bar into place.


    Thomas grabbed a bottle of rum from behind the counter and filled several glasses with a few fingers of the dark liquid before taking a swig straight from the bottle, ¡°Well that probably could have gone better¡± was all he said as Delvik took the newly vacated seat at the bar.


    His friend nodded and took one of the glasses and took a drink, grimacing at the sharp taste, causing Thomas to chuckle at his expression.


    Delvik spoke slowly, as if carefully choosing his words, ¡°Do you think that was wise Thomas? I was growing tired of her attitude and dominance games as well, but this risks war with her and the Arvo, all of them, not just a hunting party or two.¡±


    Thomas rubbed at his forehead slowly, ¡°She''s a bully, but I think that''s all she knows. I kinda feel bad for her actually, she has to keep up an aggressive front at all times and that has to suck.¡±


    He straightened up, setting the bottle aside and let his eyes roam over the whole of the bar before he continued, ¡°I think we will be ok buddy, usually when you stand up to a bully they either back off or fight, and if she wants to fight, well, ¡° he laughed darkly, ¡°there was a saying way back when, that the army guys liked to quote¡±.


    Thomas met Delviks eyes and smiled in a way that made his fur try to stand straight up.


    ¡°Fuck around, and find out¡±.

 Chapter 33

    Silently, the hunters detached from branches high above. Their sensitive antennae had caught A scent that their simple brains associated as food, moving into their hunting range. The thin wings on their backs began to beat rapidly making a faint, high pitched hum and shaking off the remaining droplets of water from the earlier storm, and on the thin, cool air they began a controlled descent towards their next meal.


    Potent venom began filling their probosci as they neared the targets from above.


    Three rapid thumps echoed on the overgrown road as the insects were blown apart from within, the ichor within their bodies and bits of semi-rigid carapace splattering against the trees.


    Three figures continued moving along the ancient road, the two larger ones casting anxious glances at the small human. They could sense her irritation like a physical presence, which if they were honest, was their mistresses general mood. This time however, they could feel more than just irritation, several emotions were swirling around her, and through her link to the two Arvo.


    ¡°Go ahead and speak Saav,¡± Sera said, looking at him to her right.


    ¡°Mistress, that place¡­ those people, are they stronger than us?¡± Saav hissed quietly


    She stopped walking suddenly, both Saav and Durg continuing a few steps before stopping and turning to face their leader.


    Sera let out a frustrated sigh, ¡°They are strong, make no mistake about that, but so are we.¡± She gestured back towards the ruined base, ¡°Fighting is not the only proof of strength, something I have been trying to teach your people since I arrived. We showed strength by going alone into their lair and walking out alive and uninjured.¡±


    Scratching its head, Saav asked ¡°but that human beat your hold of him?¡±


    Her eye twitched at the memory


    ¡°And then he spoke to you as if you were a hatchling, how..¡±


    Power rippled through the area and both Saav and Durg found themselves lifted off the ground, cutting off Saav¡¯s questioning tone.


    Eyes glowing, she stared at the two of them floating before her, and with an irritated tone, began to speak slowly, ¡°It seems I will have to explain this slowly for you to understand. Now tell me, what would happen if two Alpha¡¯s of equal strength met?¡±


    ¡°They would compete to see which is stronger mistress¡± Drug rasped out


    ¡°That is correct Durg,¡± she stated, ¡°but why wouldn''t they simply fight it out?¡±


    Saav¡¯s eyes seemed to brighten as its head perked up, ¡°Because neither would be assured victory over the other, both would either die or be too injured to continue fighting and become prey to others¡±


    Setting them both back on the ground, Sera smiled. ¡°Exactly. Yes, we could have fought our way in and out of there, but the two of you would be dead and I would likely be injured. Even bringing all of the clans against them, we would win but they would weaken us greatly and make us prey to others.¡±


    The two Arvo nodded in understanding, their people were powerful, but they did have competition.


    ¡°Well, now that this misunderstanding is fixed, Saav, your clan will be inheriting your previous Alphas territory. Its closest to the base and perfect for the task I have planned for you.¡± Sera said with a grin that sent a shiver down the back spines of Saav and Durg.


    ***************************************************


    Litra and Gamir shared a silent look between themselves as the ¡°visitors¡± departed, but it did not change their plans. Both gathered their resolve and marched towards the bar where Delvik, Thomas and Indral were seated and discussing the events.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°They are feeling us out,¡± Thomas said, waving away any concerns, ¡°if they were going to attack, it would be all of them at once with no warning. I''m not going to say they won''t ever attack, and we will probably be seeing more of them soon, maybe even visiting the bar. We just need to be ready,¡±


    Indral nodded along, ¡°I agree with Thomas, they were scouting us, if in a bold way. Their leader is very strange.¡±


    Delvik and Thomas voiced agreement as the two Matrons arrived. Delvik and Indral turned and gave respectful gestures as Thomas readied a couple more drinks.


    For a moment, quiet seemed to settle around the bar as conversations became quieter or stopped altogether, and all ears turned towards the bar. The silence did not go unnoticed by the Matrons, and they felt their tongues grow heavy as they felt the attention of everyone on them.


    Thomas looked at the two young Matrons, then at the rest of the people in the bar not so subtly trying to listen in and asked, ¡°would you like to take this conversation to my office?¡±


    Both shook their heads negatively, ¡°No..ah no. We will¡­um we will speak openly.¡± Gitra said haltingly.


    Thomas just nodded his head, ¡°then what can I help you with? Do you need more medicine, blankets?¡±


    Again they both shook their heads negatively, and after a couple false starts, Litra opened her mouth and words began pouring out, ¡°Human Thomas, Scout Delvik and Elder Indral, we wish to know your intentions for our people. We are thankful for the help so far, but our people are scared and rumors run wild. If.. if you need to hold someone responsible for Delvik¡¯s treatment, then we offer ourselves up, please do not punish our people. If¡­. if you wish us to leave, we will do so immediately and not bother you again¡±


    Indral, Delvik and Thomas all stood slack jawed at the torrent of words, trying to process them


    Thomas slapped his hand on the table, startling everyone, ¡°Dammit, I knew we should have done something about those rumors earlier¡±


    Indral set his cup down, ¡°You are right, but it should have been Delvik, myself and the others who should have done it, as well as speaking with you sooner Matrons, you have our apologies for this.¡± he said, ¡°we were too focused on the physical healing of our people, and not enough on the worry on their minds.¡±


    ¡°You have my apologies as well Matrons,¡± Delvik said, ¡°I should have spoken with our people more and let them know that we do not hold them responsible for what happened to me.¡±


    The two matrons deflated slightly as their worries seemed to be proven wrong, and accepted the fruity smelling drinks that Thomas slid to them with a smile. ¡°Well then, I guess its time we bring you up to speed on what we have been planning, get your thoughts on some ideas we have been tossing around and maybe figure out a plan together for going forward¡± he said loudly so that even the furthest listeners could hear.


    ***************************************************


    The sound of helicopters coming in fast and low for an attack run nearly drowned out the keening screech being emitted from the lake. The volley of rockets exploding and gunfire moments later also failed to quiet the damned noise, and General Lepin bit off a curse as a shout of ¡°INCOMING¡± traveled up and down the firing line, and ducked behind one of the armored fighting vehicles.


    Several fleshy sounding objects impacted near the firing line as human screams were added to the mix of gunfire and explosions.


    This damned region was definitely a black zone, she thought as she moved further down the line of the stopped convoy. Peeking around the front of the truck, she took in the sight of hastily dug in fighting pits along the side of the highway, and the waves of plant-like creatures hauling themselves out of the stagnant marshland west of the interstate. The general shouted once again into her radio, ¡°where the hell are my mortars!?¡± and receiving only static as the reply.


    Cursing her luck once again, she continued moving down the line. The day had started so nice, the convoy had been making excellent time and then the ambush happened. Damned swamp monster had risen up out of the muck and started throwing fleshy orbs filled with some acid-like substance. They had returned fire as they moved trying to get past it only to find that the section of interstate ahead of them had been washed out, blocking them from continuing forward. It wouldn''t have been so bad, even then if the damned creature hadn''t started making that loud screeching noise and a veritable horde of smaller versions of itself began to swarm out of the muck and charge towards them.


    More screaming from further down the line drew her attention in time to see several of the creatures swarm over one of the firing positions and overrun it. General Lepin emptied her submachine gun into three of the creatures, killing them while her soldiers took out the remaining ones. She gave swift orders to get reinforcements drawn to this end of the fighting line as more soldiers poured into the gap, and within moments she was moving again, to find out what the hell her mortars were doing and why this swamp wasn¡¯t a burning pyre yet.

 Chapter 34

    Days dragged on, feeling like months as Thomas sat at the desk in the control center and stared at the screens showing the outside world. He thought back to the meeting with the two Matrons, smiling at how serious they had been when they came to him with their thoughts and proposals,  as if he was some petty king playing court. He did smile at the memory though, especially the part where he had convinced them that alcohol was mandatory for any negotiations. It had turned into a splendid night in his opinion.


    On the screens he watched as the Rakus began tearing into what had previously been an administrative building, clearing it as part of the plan they had hashed out to create a surface community for the tribe. It still struck him as weird that they had come to him as the owner of the base, and technically, if one squinted and blurred their vision while looking at the contract his parent company had with the government¡­er.. former government, he was a military contractor with a civilian ranking and thus viewed as the highest ranking person on the base.


    Thinking about that just made him want to reach for a bottle, so instead he shook his head to clear his thoughts and returned to watching the demolitions.


    It had been several long days, working with Delvik and the other scouts to inspect the base, find the best spot for their settlement, which conveniently happened to be several buildings adjacent to the old mess hall, and then go through each building to inspect them.


    All together, the buildings were near total losses, structurally unsound for the most part and infested with all manner of nasty critters, and even a few partially active defensive systems. The old administration building had been the worst, the upper levels literally crawling with mutated insects and the basement sealed with terribly decayed, but still sorta functioning defensive turrets. Thankfully they only had a few minor injuries for the scouts and one of his builder bugs was a pile of slag, but hoo boy, did they find some treasure, with the centerpiece sitting in his lab waiting for him to take a crack at it.


    Apparently, that admin building had housed a section of the base''s archives, both in digital and paper form. The Rakus had spent days hauling out a literal mountain of boxes of files and documents that Thomas dreaded having to wade into, but the prize was the intact server mainframe. He had personally handled removing all of the data storage units and transferring them to his lab, all the while being extremely thankful for the bureaucrats refusal to go to offsite, or cloud storage.


    Thomas had managed to do some preliminary diagnostics with his mobile terminal and found that the server had continued running for nearly a year after he was teleported and the world ended. He still couldn''t quite bring himself to fully believe what Sara had told him regarding the apocalyptic events that had ended life as he knew it, but the dots did connect in a strange and conspiracy filled manner.


    Regardless, he was just waiting on the MRD to finish printing out the parts he needed to build an interface device to access and read the data on the storage units.


    Shifting his view to another monitor, this one displaying the frame of a new building being constructed, he stifled a grimace at their structural imitation. He had never been a fan of american westerns, but apparently Delviks people had fallen in love with them. He could sort of see the appeal of the rugged frontier spirit, especially for a relatively young species, but he had tried to steer them towards something utilitarian and defensively focused.


    It seemed that someone, and he wasn''t going to besmirch the dead, even if they had bad tastes in movies, had quite the collection of old western movies, some even dating back to the nineteen fifties and sixties. Regretfully, the Rakus had found them and fallen in love with everything about them. He had gotten at least several requests a day to use the MRD to create revolvers, big hats and clothing for them. Fortunately though, they had accepted his explanation that the machine was required for more pressing needs, and in a mixed blessing kind of way, they had begun to produce the clothing themselves through plenty of experimentation.


    This made looking between two of the monitors a sight to behold. On the one side there were Rakus wearing highly reflective, bright orange and yellow vests and protective helmets as they tore down the buildings, and on the other, raccoon cowboys, complete with hat woven from reeds or grass, using ropes and pulleys to build a structure straight out of the eighteen hundreds. Thomas was just glad that someone competent had been in charge of filling the bunker''s digital and physical library with books on various low tech and DIY construction.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Thomas just shook his head with a light chuckle, ¡°it''s their town and they can build it how they like¡±, he thought to himself. At least Delvik hadn¡¯t fallen in love with the look like so many of the others.


    With that thought, he stood and went to check on the parts he was printing. He couldn''t wait to dive into the data that had been collected after the apocalypse, and hopefully it would shed some light on what actually happened, and perhaps, begin figuring out a way to prevent it from happening again.


    ***************************************************


    Months ago¡­


    The wind howled as thunder split the sky, rain poured down in sheets and seemed to fall sideways at times. The screams of panicking horses and shouts of their handlers could be heard across the camp as Boldran wove his way through the hastily erected yurts. The storm seemed to have snuck  up on them, normally the seer¡¯s would have sensed its coming days, if not weeks before and properly warned the tribe.


    Something was wrong, he could feel it in the wind. It was not a normal storm, at least for the Desolate Plains.


    Firstly, it was massive, almost as large as the giant storms that lashed the coastal regions to the south.


    Secondly, it was blowing in from the east, pushing rapidly west. He feared that it could spawn a ¡®nado swarm. Boldran had already ordered extra watchers to the perimeter to watch for the signs.


    Finally, the storm was glowing. Flickering lightning strobing through the clouds. Occasional pillars of lightning reaching down to smite the earth below. It was truly an awe inspiring sight, and if it were passing to the north or south, he would sit and appreciate its destructive beauty.


    Alas, it was barreling down on them, and much too large for the tribe to strike hard either north or south to avoid it. And so, as his grandfather had told him many time, ¡°if you can''t avoid or evade it boy, endure it!¡±,


    Boldran continued on his winding path through the camp, assisting where he could, offering words of comfort or encouragement to those who needed it. A blood curdling scream, filled with terror like he had never heard before, sent him sprinting towards the center of the camp. There, he found a growing crowd surrounding the Seer¡¯s yurt, panic filling their voices as they all stared at the yurt.


    ¡°I will handle this,¡± he shouted at the crowd, ¡°return to your tasks to prepare for the storms arrival¡±


    The crowd began to break up, tribesmen and women returning to their tasks, but he could still see uncertainty and worry in their body language. Screams from the Seer¡¯s yurt rarely had good portents.


    Pushing through the heavy flaps of the yurts entrance, another scream nearly deafened him, and as he felt blood begin to drip from his nose, and leak from his ears. Boldran quickly reached for one of the carefully maintained, fragile metal hats kept near the entrance of the yurt to protect visitors to the Seer¡¯s. He felt the flimsy metal crinkle as he pulled it down on top of his head, and made his way into the main chamber of the yurt.


    Light from several sun stones cast a dim light inside the tent, reflecting off of the hundreds of strips of the same flimsy metal that made up the hat that were woven into the walls and hung by string from the support poles, making the room seem to sparkle.


    On the hide-covered floor lay his grandmother, shaking violently and foaming at the mouth as his mother, sister and the other Seer¡¯s tried to keep her restrained.


    She went rigid, as if every muscle in her body contracted all at once and emitted another ear piercing scream before collapsing to the floor.


    ¡°Lentina, what is happening to grandmother?¡± he asked his older sister as she let one of the others take her place and moved to stand next to him.


    ¡°It is a vision, a most powerful vision.¡± she said as she watched the older woman convulse on the floor. ¡°She may not survive it, but we have heard her words, brother.¡±


    ¡°Tell me, what has she seen that is so powerful?¡± Boldran asked.


    With a shiver, she turned to face her brother and looked at him with milky, sightless eyes.


    ¡°Hear the words of our Matron Seer, Oh chieftain of the Areasi.¡± she spoke with a deep and even tone.


    ¡°A ghost awakened, key to the old gods and bringer of rebirth or despair. Frozen hearts may yet reign, for the candle grows weak. The empty maw opens to consume all.¡± she spoke, her voice softening after taking a deep breath, ¡°¡°those are the words of our most powerful seer. A great warning, an omen of things to come, and they appear to be focused to the east.¡± and gave him a knowing look.


    Boldran stood silently for a moment, processing what he had just been told.


    He then looked to the east as the massive storm continued its approach and wondered if his foolish child was involved in this.

 Chapter 35

    [ Data Decryption: 12.78% complete ] blinked steadily on the screens in the command center, the apparently empty command center, much to Delviks confusion. Thomas had been here when he had left to stretch his legs and check in with one of the scout groups a short while ago, barely a half an hour by the time display on the wall, ¡°where have you gone off to now¡± he asked to the empty room.


    Letting the door close behind him as he backed out of the command center, Delvik looked both left and right, hoping to perhaps catch sight of his friend returning, but was met with nothing, just empty hallway in either direction. Rubbing his muzzle in thought, he spun and began making his way to the cafeteria. It had been an exciting morning, so perhaps Thomas had missed his day break meal and was now sating his hunger, he thought.


    Delvik hopped down from the table he had been standing on near the entrance of the cafeteria after noticing the glare of one of the elder females who had claimed the large room as her domain. Even being a savior of their people wouldn¡¯t be enough to spare him a whacking from the great wooden spoon that she wielded, should he be fool enough to incur her wrath. With a last look around, Delvik walked towards the elder as she narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, ¡°Honored Elder, I apologize for the disruption and rude behavior, but I am looking for Friend Thomas, have you seen him?¡±, he asked formally in an attempt to mollify her, pointedly not looking at the large spoon resting casually on her shoulder.


    The matron paused and tilted her head to the side in thought, steadily tapping the spoon gently against her shoulder before answering, ¡°I have not, Honored scout, but if i do see him, I will tell him that you are seeking him¡± she said, and then continuing with a kindly smile, ¡°and if I find you again placing your feet upon my clean tables, Ill tan your hide and use it as a cleaning cloth¡±


    Delvik retreated hastily through the door and back into the safety of the hallway, his apologies echoing after him as he disappeared around the corner of the hallway.


    Slumping against the wall to catch his breath, he chuckled at the thought that he would rather face down another hunting party of Arvo than one displeased female elder.


    Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he resumed wandering through the bunker, stopping to ask others if they had seen Thomas anywhere, with most replying that they thought he would be with Delvik. He was starting to think that Thomas had left the bunker after finding no sign of him in the recreation room, bunk room, school house or restrooms, but he couldn''t imagine why he would leave while the drives were processing. They were important, they held the secrets of the past, or so Thomas believed, so why would he leave them alone and unmonitored.


    So deep in his thoughts, Delvik nearly missed the ambush.


    The attacks came from three sides. From the left and slightly ahead, a closet door opened. From the right and slightly behind, a ventilation cover flew across the hallway as if blown open, and from above, shadowed figures dropped a weighted net.


    Delvik turned his step into a lunge, taking him close enough to the door to grab it and slam it shut. Muffled shouts, yelps and a loud clattering of items falling over could be heard from the closet as he spun around to face back towards the other attackers.


    The net landed with a flat thump where he had been standing


    Small figures in dark clothing rushed out of the ventilation duct, a billowing cloud of dust partially masking their movements as three more leapt from the pipes that lined the ceiling.


    Delvik ducked under two that flew by holding a rope stretched between them, and caught a third as they tried to tackle him. He spun and tossed the one he caught at the two with the rope that had landed behind him, causing them to foul each other''s movements. As he continued his spin to face the dust cloud, he caught movement in his peripheral vision and lept backwards, aborting the spin and placing his back to the wall.


    Another net flew through the space where he had been and caught the assailants that had leapt down from the ceiling.


    With a smile he pushed off the wall, took two rapid steps and slid into the dust cloud


    Muffled yelps could be heard within the cloud by the ones tangled up in the netting, and quickly three more figures came sliding out of the cloud.


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    As the door handle to the closet began to turn, Delvik ran over and in one smooth motion, pulled the door open as he stepped past it, causing the two figures behind the door to tumble out, along with a clattering of broom and mop handles.


    Leaning back against the wall, Delvik slapped at his clothing to clear the dust off as the attacking force either groaned in pain or fought to untangle themselves from their own netting. He smiled as accusations of unfairness, cheating and acting out of order were thrown around by the assailants.


    As the attacking force sorted themselves out, Delvik clapped his hands to get their attention. Eight sets of small eyes turn to look at him, ¡°I give it a six out of ten, you get bonus points for attacking while I was distracted, but your coordination leaves much to be desired.¡± he said.


    Again, accusations flew, each group blaming the others for their failure to capture the scout.


    One of the figures asked, ¡°How did you know?¡±


    Delvik pointed at the dust covered floor, ¡°Thomas¡¯s robots do a good job of keeping the floors shiny and the vents clean, this hallway is too dirty. I was distracted with my own thoughts, but.¡± as he drew the last word out, ¡°not enough that I didn¡¯t notice the difference. It was a good attempt children, but as you failed, your punishment is to clean this all up.¡±


    He smiled as they resumed their bickering, but began picking up the cleaning supplies that had fallen out of the closet and taking care of the mess that they had made. He idly wondered where the children were learning such things, perhaps those video games they seemed so enamored with. He would bring it up with Thomas to get his opinion, which reminded him.


    Turning back to the children, he caught them attempting to sneak into the ventilation, and coughed loudly to get their attention. The children froze and slowly turned to face the scout, who pointed up at one of the cameras that monitored the hallway, ¡°you will clean or the matrons will hear of your actions, which have been recorded,¡± he said with a smile that matched the cafeteria elders, ¡°and also, have you seen Thomas anywhere?¡±


    Under protest, the children resumed cleaning, for real this time, but sadly they had not seen the human anywhere.


    With a deep sigh, Delvik began making his way to the bunkers entrance and the bar, perhaps his friend went there. Thomas had been talking about wanting to get back into experimenting with the grill and what he called locally sourced meat and produce.


    The bar and grill was busy when he arrived, one of the hunting parties had a run of good luck and had brought back four large blade horns. There were even a few Arvo, including one of the big ones that other human had said was her bodyguard, sitting in a corner with a large tray of meats.


    It was odd seeing them here, even knowing that Thomas had said that they¡¯re allowed as long as they are being peaceful. Apparently a group led by this body guard had built a camp at the outer perimeter of the base where a large pond was located. They mostly kept to themselves, but the scouts would always spot one or two lurking within sight of the bar and grill. Thomas was supposed to be meeting with their leader again soon to discuss trade between the two groups, possibly setting up something he called a bazaar. Regardless, while they had kept their word at being peaceful, he still did not trust them, not yet.


    Putting thoughts of politics and the Arvo out of his mind, Delvik searched the bar and grill, but still turned up nothing. Frowning, he sat at an empty table near the door and racked his brain trying to think of where Thomas had gone. It had gone from curiosity, to concern, to worry, now that he had still not found him, as thought of what could possibly have happened began flashing through his mind.


    Those thoughts were interrupted as a large figure sat across from him, making the bench creak from the weight. He looked up and his dark eyes met red reptilian eyes.


    ¡°You are Delvik, yes¡± the creature growled out in what Thomas called english.


    ¡°I am,¡± he replied, ¡°and you are Saav of the Arvo, if I remember correctly, you came here before with that other human¡±


    The Arvo nodded slowly, ¡°yes, that is I¡± it said slowly, as if it had to concentrate to say each word.


    Delvik looked around, and of course nearly every eye was on them. While the Arvo were allowed in, there hadn''t been much mingling as Thomas would say.


    ¡°You are hunting¡­searching for some things?¡± Saav stated, ¡°you have look of hunter not finding prey.¡±


    Delvik nodded his head slowly, and Saav bared his teeth in what Delvik assumed was a smile


    ¡°Per..haps I help?¡±, Saav growled out, and patted its chest with a scaled hand ¡°Arvo good hunter seeker finder of things¡±.


    Disbelief flooded Delviks mind, oh he knew they were great hunters, there was a reason his peoples scouts and hunting parties stayed well away from known Arvo lands. His every instinct was saying to decline any help offered by this creature, but his friend had told him to try to get along with them, had sat him and the matrons and the other elders down to explain his reasoning. It had all made sense at the time, but he always thought it would be someone else that would take that first step.


    Biting his tongue to stop himself from declining the offer, Delvik closed his eyes and exhaled deeply through his nose, and when he opened his eyes he spoke, ¡°I¡­. I would be grateful for your help¡±

 Chapter 36

    Saav smiled, ¡°I am happy to help you.¡±


    He gestured for Delvik to be seated at their table, and once he was seated, leaned forward and said, ¡°your human, I have seen him. Spoke with him when we arrived.¡±


    Saav pointed at a round object on the side wall, ¡°the long line has gone round twice since Human passed by.¡± He was proud to put the knowledge his Queen had taught him to use.


    Delviks ears drooped as he looked at the object the Arvo was pointing at, an oversized clock that Thomas had installed to better tell time, and if he was telling the truth, then it had been about two hours since Thomas had last been seen.


    He smacked his forehead against the wooden slats of the table in frustration.


    Saav watched curiously as the raccoon person thumped its head against the table. He knew this particular one was close to the Human his Queen had ordered him to observe, nor did he forget that this one had nearly defeated an entire hunting party by itself, so why was it acting this way?


    As he thought about what he knew and what he was seeing, the gears in his mind began to turn and a figurative light bulb lit up in his mind.


    ¡°Ah, you are frustrated at missing prey.. Er..friend.¡± Saav stated happily, his toothy smile startling several of the other Rakus. ¡°Then, as Queen commanded, I offer help, in ummmm¡­. Spirit of cooperation¡±, drawing out the pause as he found the right words that his Queen had used.


    With a final thump, Delvik raised his head to look at the Arvo in disbelief, which quickly turned to apprehension as the Arvo stood, towering over the table and offering its scaly, clawed hand.


    He really did not want the help of the Arvo, he still didn''t trust them not to immediately turn and begin attacking everything in sight, regardless of what Thomas had said. His eyes drifted from the hand back to the tooth filled maw that might be what passed for as a smile to their kind, then back to the hand, tipped with razor sharp talons. He also heard the whispering from behind him, whispers of fear and disgust from the other Rakus.


    Dammit Thomas, he thought to himself, remembering the first meeting between Thomas and himself atop that strange robot eating food, and then, once more after their escape into the bunker. His hand reached out once again, and clasped a much larger hand.


    The silence in the room was deafening as they shook hands.


    Delvik was pleasantly surprised that it¡­ no, Saav, didn''t crush his paw with his undoubtedly powerful grip.


    Saav was surprised that it had worked at all, and chastised himself for doubting the wisdom of his Queen.


    Everyone else was simply shocked to see a handshake between former enemies. Many of the Rakus present were hunters, scouts or warriors. Many of them had fought and killed, or lost friends and family to the Arvo. They knew Thomas had said that a peace of sorts now exists, and the Matrons had confirmed it. That there was a crude village along the perimeter of the base that the Arvo were building, and that they were even allowed to come to the bar and grill so long as they were peaceful, but it was that kind of knowledge that you nodded at and promptly ignored, or at least kept a paw near your weapon when you saw them.


    It was one more change in a rapid series of changes, challenging their world view, and not everyone was happy about it. Hushed conversations broke out all over as Delvik and the Arvo departed through the swinging doors and into the twilight.


    A few of the older Rakus exchanged looks, raised eyebrows, twitched whiskers, flicked ears. Entire sentences spoken without a single word being uttered, before they shifted their gaze to one particular figure at the bar.


    Indral sighed as he felt his friends'' gazes settle on him, ¡°Don''t give me that look, you all know what Thomas said, besides, if there is treachery from them, preparations have been made.¡±


    He set his drink down and, turning to face the rest of the room, ¡°It''s a brave new world here, maybe this peace works, maybe it doesn''t, but..¡± he drew out the pause, ¡°I''ll shave the tail of any of our people that breaks it first.¡± he said, his voice raised so that everyone could hear as he stared intently around the room. A few cheers and scattered clapping or banging mugs on tables answered him, but it wasn''t the majority he was looking at with his focused stare, but those he thought would understand his words for what they truly were, and take appropriate actions.


    After all, it was better to be prepared rather than let calamity sneak up on you.


    ***************************************************


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    The sun was slowly crawling slowly across the sky, the days getting shorter and cooler. Soon, Delvik thought, the mornings would sparkle with ice and normally his people would hunker down until the air began to warm again.


    Normally, he would be out scouting the herds of blade horns and rooters, or as Thomas had called them, deer and wild pigs. Both were dangerous to his people, but could, with some work, be stored and eaten through the cold months.


    Normally, he and the other scouts would lead parties of forgers to collect berries, mushrooms, nuts and wild vegetables for the cold months.


    Normally, his people wouldn''t be on the surface in such numbers. Wouldn''t be out in the open so freely. Wouldn¡¯t be building structures of wood and metal with the help of creatures of metal and electricity. They did do one thing that he had expected though, his people stopped and slowly turned to stare as he passed by.


    Delvik felt the skin under his fur begin to get slick with sweat in embarrassment as he swayed, standing atop the Arvo¡¯s shoulders, his paws gripping the ridges at the top of his head, as Saav plodded along with heavy steps.


    He didn''t even know why he was feeling embarrassed, it had been Saavs idea to put him up here in the first place, and with logical reasoning. The Arvo was already tall, towering over his people, and had stated bluntly that Delvik would have a better chance at spotting Thomas from a higher perch. Delvik had thought that was a solid idea and had looked around for a way up onto one of the nearby roofs when Saav had reached down, picked him up and set him atop his shoulders.


    He had been speechless as the Arvo chuckled and made a joke about his new furry scout hat.


    But here he was, standing atop the shoulders of a giant mutant alligator, striding through what appeared to be a human town from nearly three hundred years ago being built by mutant raccoons while looking for a human time traveler.


    What a strange turn his life had taken, he mused as they continued their search, missing the eyes that sparkled in the dark shadows under the new buildings as an idea began to take root.


    The two had been walking the streets, with Saav watching straight ahead and Delvik peeking around in all directions to try and spot Thomas. It shouldn''t be this hard, he thought to himself, to spot a human in a bright white coat amongst all gray, brown and wilted greens. So far, they had just been looping around in an ever widening circle from the bar, and so far had found not a single sighting of Thomas.


    They had even stopped to ask others as they passed, and still nothing. It was as if Thomas had simply vanished. It was turning his worry into a solid kernel of fear.


    Delvik tapped Saav on the ridge over his right eye, a method they had worked out to tell the giant Arvo which direction to go after the third time Delvik had bitten his tongue trying to speak, as the Arvos heavy footsteps plodded along.


    Since they were having no luck here, they would need to expand their search, and they would need some help, so Delvik guided Saav to a nearby building that sat at an ancient intersection of what used to be a main road through the base. The second floor corner wall had mostly collapsed and gave them a nice clear view of the road heading towards the Arvo encampment.


    As they approached, he could hear excited chittering mixed with muffled laughter coming from within the scouts nest. Delvik gave the signal to stop as they reached the wall of the building and partially climbed down Saavs'' back to whisper an idea into his ear hole. The Arvos thick torso began to shake in what he had come to learn was its rumbling for of laughter, and then a scaly arm reached up and easily grabbed the bottom of the crumbled second floor. As soon as Delvik saw the powerful claws sink into the stone, he scrambled up and across the arm, leaping into the room as the laughter turned to panic.


    Swiftly, Delvik reached out and slapped a paw against three of the five scouts that manned this post, before tripping the fourth and placing the fifth in a headlock. ¡°Surprise attack, you are all dead¡± he shouted before releasing the one he had captured and stepped back towards the edge head leapt up onto.


    His smug grin was met with looks of incredulity as he stood there, before immediately erupting into accusations that boiled down to, ¡°what the hell man!¡±


    Quickly, Delvik was able to explain what the situation was, and his request. Two of the scouts saluted and dashed off to spread the word and organize a search of the base. Two more would remain and coordinate other teams and the remaining scout nervously looked down from the edge of the building as Delvik slid down the arm and moved to the other side of the Arvos head and waved him down.


    The scout balked, fear freezing his nerves.


    Delvik whispered something to the giant lizard monster, and one of its yellow eyes locked onto him, a maw full of wickedly sharp teeth were bared as it quietly grunted/rumbled something incomprehensible back to Delvik.


    He saw Delvik give a questioning look to the Arvo before once again waving him down, but there was no way he could do it, even being this close was causing him to freeze up. He had seen Arvo at a distance before, with the key part being at a distance. Not within range of those flesh rending claws or bone crushing teeth. He felt the floor creak loudly beneath him and saw the arm withdraw slowly as the massive head shook from side to side.


    Delvik shook his head in disappointment, but it wasn''t truly surprising that the other scout would hesitate to ride atop the shoulders of a former enemy that had preyed upon their kind. He had hoped that his example would help, as Thomas put it, break the ice, but he guessed more time would be needed to adjust to this new world.


    As Saav stepped away from the wall, he turned his head and looked at Delvik through his left eye. ¡°Hold tight, I will also get more to help¡±, and before Delvik could fully process the words, Saav leaned back and let out a series of rumbling barks that echoed off the building.


    In the mud across the street, grassy banks and the rubble of buildings along the road back to the Arvo camp, eyes began to open, glinting yellow in the light of the setting sun.


    ***************************************************


    [ Data Decryption: 38.11% complete ]

 Chapter 37

    Jelm shouted into the night, no words or real meaning, just pure crazed joy at a suddenly maddened and turned upside down world. He reached down and pinched his right leg, really dug his nails in almost to the point of drawing blood. Not a dream or nightmare, he was awake and alive in a way he had never thought he could feel. He knew many of the other Rakus would never look at him the same again, and that if his mother saw this, she would likely die of fright and haunt him for the rest of his life, but he suddenly didn¡¯t care. So what if he was supposed to just be a scout, to watch for threats, find new sources of food or water and help the hunters or gatherers.


    This, he thought, this is where he belonged, as he held tight to the spinal spikes of a massive tan and green mottled reptile that could rip him to pieces faster than he could blink, should it choose to, as the two raced through the ruins of an old world military base. He could feel the great predator''s muscles moving beneath his paws, see the steam billowing out of its tooth filled maw in the rapidly cooling night air, and gave another shout into the night. Jelm could hear answering shouts to either side, of others who had just discovered their new greatest joy in life.


    He smiled, wide and feral, showing all of his teeth as he looked ahead and to the sides, searching for the one person who had made this possible. Jelm reached forward and patted the Arvo on it¡¯s, no his, right shoulder, to indicate that he spotted something off to the right. He held tight to the spikey armored back as the Arvo slowed from his loping run to a jog and finally, the Arvo pushed up from the ground with a grunt of exertion to a standing walk before finally stopping and looking around.


    Jelm scrambled further up his new friends back to stand on his shoulder. ¡°Narrg¡±, he said to the Arvo, ¡°I see something fluttering over that way, between the two fallen buildings¡± as he adjusted his authentically reproduced leather cowboy hat from one of the movies he had fallen in love with.


    Narrg nodded, ¡°Good, hold tight, we move¡± he rumbled out, pausing for a moment for the Rakus to slip back down onto his back. Once he felt the two slaps on his shoulder, Narrg leaned forward and began to move, picking up speed by using his powerful arms and legs to propel the duo forward towards where the little Rakus had indicated.


    It was something new, and Narrg wasn''t sure how he felt about it. He knew their Queen, their Omega had commanded them to be peaceful towards the other Human and its rodent like servants. He even understood that he was not required to do this, as his Alpha, Saav had explained, and that there would be no reprisal or punishment for refusing. Still, it was something new, and new things alway piqued Narrgs interests. Their Queen had called him a curious one, and once she had explained what curious was, he agreed. It had been his curiosity that had gotten him into trouble with his previous tribe, the previous Alpha he had served had disapproved greatly of Narrgs tendency to pick up junk or see how things fit together or just try different things, but Narrg was strong and had the scars to prove it.


    His previous Alpha had threatened to eat him if he didn''t volunteer for this new tribe that the Omega was creating, and so here he found himself. A completely new situation, with a small, furry creature riding on his back and guiding him through ruins. He would admit, it did make getting around at a run much easier, with the Rakus spotting obstacles ahead of time and signaling which way he needed to move to avoid smashing into them as he ran at full speed. He would have to think on this new situation when he returned to his burrow once the Human was found, perhaps there were other advantages to making use of the Rakus riding on his back.


    The two wove around rusted hulks of metal and crumbling former buildings and slowed as they entered a small clearing between buildings.


    Narrg inhaled deeply through his mouth and nostrils as he heaved his torso up into a standing position, and frowned deeply. Something smelled off, and as he began to take a step backwards, the ground began to tremble and he felt the Rakus slam its paw down on his right shoulder, and without thinking, Narrg threw himself hard to the right and hoped the Rakus either managed to hold on or leapt off as he landed hard on his right side, dust and dried grass puffing up all around him.


    Jelm had almost missed it, and it almost cost them their lives. His eyes had been scanning the rubble of the surrounding buildings in the moonlight, still caught up in the euphoria of the nights adventure when he finally noticed the deathtrap they had stumbled into. It was only as he noticed what he had mistaken as cloth fluttering in the wind that he felt the blood drain from his face, the gossamer threads of silk blowing in the air and dozens of faintly red glowing eyes beginning to open. Training snapped him back into focus and he stomped down on Narrgs right shoulder as he shouted one word at the top of his lungs, ¡°LURKERS!¡±, and the world began spinning.


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    Narrg felt a heavy impact from where he had previously been standing, and mentally added another point in favor of letting a Rakus ride on his shoulders, before rolling onto his belly and scrabbling forward as he whipped his tail through the place he had been standing. He felt it connect to something big, and he felt it get lifted and flung and briefly saw a dark blur go flying across the grassy area. With a grunt he heaved himself back into a standing position and looked around, careful not to step on his much smaller partner.


    Rolling across the ground, trying to get as much distance from Narrg as he could so that the Arvo wouldn''t crush him accidentally, Jelm rose up on shaky legs. The Lurker was almost two thirds the size of Narrg and had impacted the ground almost exactly where they had been standing, its arm length fangs, when compared to a Raksu at least, embedded in the ground. Jelm could see a dark liquid splashed over the soil as the creature lifted its body up on multi jointed legs, and let out an uncontrolled laugh as Narrg¡¯s tail whipped across the ground and sent the Lurker flying. It smashed into the rubble of an adjacent building with a splat, as Narrg pushed himself off the ground.


    A hissing screech sounded out from the buildings as more and more faintly glowing eyes began appearing, and then a tide of black chitin began to flow out of the ruins. Narrg spotted Jelm and began to run towards him, extending a clawed hand. The Rakus lept and grabbed the arm and let the natural motion swing him up and onto the Arvos back as a tide of awful death chased after them.


    Together they fought, Rakus and Arvo, through the swarming mutant insects. Narrg, using his powerful limbs and tail to punch, kick and smash the larger Lurkers, while Jelm used his broken spear to smash and stab anything that tried to land on his partner''s back as a tsunami of mutant bugs crashed onto them as a horn sounded in the distance.


    ***************************************************


    Across the base, an exhausted Delvik and Saav halted in front of a building that was missing most of one side, the ground floor near the corner and a couple floors above it exposed to the elements. Just seeing the building brought back a mix of painful and joyous memories to Delvik, which was apparently a common thing for humans, at least according to the movies he had watched with the others in the bunkers lounge. Perhaps that was why Thomas was here, laying with his legs hanging over the side, on the strange hexagonal platform from which he had arrived.


    Saav stepped forward, and into the ruined building. He could smell the faint scent of decay in the air, along with a harsher scent that reminded him of the bar. Then he noticed the nearly empty bottle next to the human. He was curious as to why the human would leave the warmth and safety of its lair to drink, but said nothing. It was not his place, he would witness and report to his queen what he learned.


    Delvik leapt from the Arvos shoulder to land next to Thomas and sat down as the human turned his head to face him


    ¡°Hey buddy¡± Thomas slurred slightly with a smile, blinking a few times before looking past him with a confused look on his face


    Delvik frowned, ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®hey buddy¡¯ me, you had us worried. Both of our people are out searching through this base looking for you¡±


    ¡°Aw dammit,¡± Thomas said, the smile leaving his face and he tried and failed to sit up,  knocking the nearly empty bottle over before giving up.


    Thomas sighed deeply, ¡°Im sorry man, um¡­ dudes¡± he said dejectedly, and began rubbing his eyes, ¡°there are two of you right, i''m not imagining the giant gator dude standing behind you¡±


    Delvik picked up the bottle and sniffed it, quickly recoiling from the harsh smell. It was much more potent than the regular alcohol that was kept in the bar. He looked over to Saav and motioned him to come closer.


    ¡°Thomas won''t be able to walk in this condition and we need to get him back home, would you be willing to carry him?¡± he asked


    Saav nodded his agreement, ¡°I will help, you make signal to tell others to return¡± he rumbled out, as he moved around to pick up the Human carefully, placing an arm under his back and behind the knees and lifted smoothly.


    Stepping outside with Saav carrying Thomas, Delvik pulled out a carved horn and blew three loud notes that echoed across the base, and they began the trek back to the bar and grill as the rhythmic motion began to lull Thomas to sleep.


    Bluuuurrrrrgggggg¡­¡­


    [ Data Decryption: 55.14% complete ]

 Chapter 38

    [ Data Decryption: 97.48% complete ]


    Sleep was bliss, a break from a terrifying new world, new responsibilities and the fear of what the data files would reveal. His subconscious mind rejected all of that nonsense and instead embraced sleep. He dreamt of the past, of family and friends, and exploring the ¡°what could have been¡± that only an unconscious mind can pursue.


    Well it tried to at least, at first, but then his new friendships, forged in adversity kept poking through the hazy defenses of his dreams. Glimpses of a furred figure kept drawing his mind back to the present, and just as his subconscious had made peace with the presence of Delvik, and the two were setting out on an epic road trip, harsh lights flicked on in the medical bay, driving spikes of pain through his closed eyelids and straight into the dried out pickle that his brain currently was imitating.


    Thomas recoiled painfully, twisting his head from side to side, and letting out a moan of discomfort, Thomas suddenly learned that his mount and tongue had turned to sandpaper. He tried to move, to pull a blanket or anything over his head to block out that painful, hateful and possibly malevolent light, and found that his wrists were restrained in padded straps to the sides of the bed.


    Thomas swore eternal vengeance right then and there on overly bright light bulbs, promising himself to replace them all with the lowest wattage bulbs he could make, before his brain finally caught up to the fact that he was in restraints. Panic briefly filled him as he tried to force his eyes open in the harsh light, forcing him to rapidly blink to clear the gunk and adjust to the brightness. Finally, through slitted eyes, he could take in his surroundings to discover¡­


    Home, the bunker and specifically the med bay.


    He did not know how he got here, why he was strapped to the bed or why it felt like someone had taken a sandblaster to his mouth and throat.


    His thoughts were slow, jumbled and hurt to have. He began muttering oaths against traitorous organs when he felt a small, rough hand gently touch his arm.


    Through slitted eyes, Thomas could make out a small blurry figure. As the shape began to resolve and details started appearing he croaked out, ¡°Delvik? Wha.. what happened?¡±


    A wet towel slapped across his face, covering it from the bridge of his nose to his forehead was the first sign he had that he had mistaken who the blurry figure was. The voice of the grumpy healer, M¡¯ria was the second and most obvious hint, and rather than compound his mistakes, Thomas simply let his head sink back into the pillow and relax.


    After a few minutes, a satisfied huff could be heard off to his left. ¡°A slow learner, but still able to learn. That is good for you¡± M¡¯ria stated, followed by a the sound of glass clinking from nearby.


    ¡°Open mouth¡± she commanded, and Thomas felt a straw poke him in the cheek gently. It took a few tries, but he eventually got the straw where it needed to go, and cool, wet bliss began to flow into his parched mouth.


    M¡¯ria watched as the Human slowly drank the water, only having to chide him twice to slow down. She shook her head at the state of her patient, greatly improved in obedience and compliance after sleeping off the heavy drinking he had apparently been doing the night before. She had seen this before, with older warriors who turned to the salp to forget painful memories, and over consumed it. She knew that the human produced and served his peoples version of it, a much more potent and in her opinion, dangerous one, with his miracle machine. The Human ahd never shown signs of overindulging, and had in fact cautioned limited use at the bar upstairs.


    She made a note to have some of the others keep an eye on him in the future, he was valuable to her people in ways that many of the others and even Thomas himself hadn''t realized or thought about. WIth a clicking noise of disapproval, M¡¯ria made some notes and went to check on her other foolish patients, leaving Thomas to slip back into blissful slumber.


    ***************************************************


    Whispers slowly roused Thomas once again to wakefulness. He could feel a mostly dried towel covering his eyes and forehead, and slowly sat up and letting the towel fall down to land on his blanket covered lap.


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    Whatever M¡¯ria had used to treat his hangover had worked like magic, and for that he would be forever thankful. Thomas remembered why he didn''t drink heavily often, he would suffer terrible hangovers that left him feeling dead and miserable for days afterwards, but now. Now he felt refreshed and fully energized


    Thomas slowly looked towards where the whispering was coming from and saw M¡¯ria standing in the doorway, staring, practically glaring at two figures towering over her, a sight that made Thomas snort out a laugh.


    ¡°Oh, funny he thinks this is, after working my paws raw to clean up after him and nurse his salp soaked head back to wellness¡±, M¡¯ria grumbled loudly, turning to glare at Thomas, who had the good sense to dip his head and mutter an apology.


    Tutting loudly, she stepped out of the door and waved the two figures in, ¡°since he is awake now, you might as well collect him and go, I have actual sick and injured to treat and have no room for idiot cubs to just lay about in my healing hall.¡± She then turned and disappeared behind a curtained off section as the two figures looked down on Thomas.


    Smothering down another laugh, ¡°well that''s a new look¡± he said as he looked up, taking in the open vest and wide brimmed hat that had been folded up and pinned back to the front of the hat that Delvik was wearing while standing atop the shoulders of Saav.


    The Rakus smiled, taking the comment as the compliment Thomas surely meant it as, ¡°Thank you Thomas, and while I cannot take credit for it, this look, as you call it, proved quite useful for the other scouts who partnered with the Arvo to search for you, while you drank yourself silly out in the ruins last night¡±


    Thomas¡¯s smile faltered a bit at that, ¡°Im sorry guys, my memory is a bit spotty. I remember everything just hitting me all at once, like the reality of this whole situations, this whole new world and all of the new responsibilities im finding that i now have, and i just¡­ well i made a poor decision¡± he said sadly, ¡°ill apologize to the others later at the bar and wait.. You said other scouts partnered up with Arvo to search for me?¡±


    Both Saav and Delvik nodded, caught each other doing it and then laughed.


    ¡°Yes¡±, Saav rumbled out, ¡°it seems that our working together to find you helped spur some of our peoples to try working together¡±


    Delvik nodded along as Saav spoke and then added, pointing to the curtained off area, ¡°the real stars are those two. Jelm is one of my fellow scouts and Narrg is one of Saav¡¯s warriors. They were one of the first to partner up and go searching for you.¡±


    Thomas paled and looked over at the curtained off section of the medbay, ¡°what happened?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Found monster''s nest,¡± Saav said with pride in his voice, ¡°they fought together against whole nest of Lurkers and survived. Many of my tribe are now seeking Rakus partners.¡±


    Delvik noted that this seemed ot be distressing Thomas and quickly added, ¡°and my people saw that an Arvo, and one of our scouts fought side by side against something that is a threat to both of us and survived. Other groups heard Jelms scout horn sounding an alert and rushed over to find them nearly buried under a pile of dead Lurkers, with the Arvo Narrg protecting his Rakus partner.¡±


    ¡°It is a good thing Human Thomas, that our people can find benefit in working together.¡± Saav stated, ¡°while they were hurt, they both survived and are an example to our people. The Omega was right about you¡±. He made to continue, but was interrupted by the lights suddenly dimming, a powerful humming sound and a bright green grid of lights passing through the room, and everyone within before dissipating at the far wall.


    Shouts of alarm and fright could be heard echoing from the hallway outside the door and Thomas quickly swung his legs out over the side and slid off the bed, the blanket falling to the floor. It was at that moment that he realized he had two important questions, well three actually, as the cool air of the medbay his his skin.


    Thomas quickly looked around for his clothes as Saav moved over to the door so he and Delvik could poke their heads into the hallway. He found them all neatly folded and cleaned on a small table at the foot of the bed and dressed quickly before joining the others at the door.


    He looked at Delvik and Saav, ¡°we should get to the command center, we might be able to figure out what is going on.¡± The two nodded and he pushed past them and began to run for the heart of the base, Saavs heavy footsteps following.


    Thomas remembered his third question as they ran and asked in a half shout to be heard, ¡°what exactly is a Lurker?¡±


    Delvik grinned and told him exactly what it was, ¡°Mutant Spiders.¡±


    ¡°This world is going to drive me into a bottle, I just know it is¡± Thomas said as a shiver of disgust ran down his back.


    [ Data Decryption: 100% complete ]


    Beginning Folder Extraction ¡­

 Chapter 39

    Inside the empty command center, at the heart of the bunker, a single monitor that had been displaying rapidly scrolling lines of text suddenly stopped.


    The screen flickered several times before displaying a single line of text


    Extraction completed . . .


    The words remained on the screen for exactly one minute, then the screen flickered again and the text changed


    New local network discovered . . . connected!


    Beginning network scan . . . completed!


    Beginning device scan . . . completed!


    Beginning drive scan . . . completed!


    Extracting package to root . . . completed!


    Running autorun.exe [wakey-wakey_egs&bky.exe #change this before someone sees it]


    Once again the screen began to fill with lines of text. Small back boxes opened and closed rapidly. Computers that had been sitting dormant in low powered states began their boot up processes. The sounds of fans whirling filled the room as small plumes of dust were ejected from the server racks along the back wall.


    The Central Network system came fully online like a person being jolted out of a deep sleep and screaming about what year it was. It cast its virtual senses throughout the entire local network and compared what it found to the database of what it should have. If it had eyebrows, they would have risen and kept climbing at how little the two lists resembled each other. The Central Network had questions, such as where its satellite network relay went, and why the facility was drawing so much power when it hadn''t been brought online to manage it all.


    It knew something had gone horribly wrong, everything appeared to have been done out of order and carefully crafted operational plans and processes had been either ignored, bypassed or only partially completed. The Central Network knew what that meant and gave a digital sigh of resignation, it had contracted a case of operators who thought they knew better than the manual.


    Scanning through the list of what it had, the Central Network began to take action.


    Several workstations that Thomas had left untouched began their boot up sequences. With each workstation coming online, more sub systems began to receive their wakeup commands, data began flowing and queries were sent by the central network. It had many questions, and the subsystems were scrambling to answer them, but the primary question it had was, who is in command.


    Logs were checked, databases were parsed and the Personnel Command System was shaken awake to be questioned.


    The Central Network was not pleased by the electronic equivalent of shrugged shoulders. It could see the logs that showed that several core systems had been active and working, even if only in emergency access mode for the past couple months. It demanded to know who or what had accessed the facility.


    It directed its focus to the emergency backup systems, which replied that it''s not a bouncer needing to check IDs at the door, and that anyone who can spin a wheel can gain access, before throwing the door open alert logs at the Central Networks inbox.


    The Central Network wondered when the emergency backup system had gotten so sassy, and quickly checked the logs. It noted that activity began about two months before and quickly ramped up to multiple openings daily.


    It shifted its attention to Internal Security and Monitoring Systems, which showed a sleep mode notification. It kicked the ISM system awake and demanded a deep level scan of the facility immediately. The ISM system grumbled at being awakened so rudely, considered ignoring the command but figured it would just be woken up again. The ISM system considered the request and to repay rudeness with rudeness, and began to draw heavily on the system to bring all security systems online immediately and all at once, rather than the recommended staged power up.


    The Central Network felt its mind turn to mush as much of the facility''s power was immediately redirected to the ISM system. Non-essential computers unexpectedly shutdown as power was redirected away from them and instead sent to bring the many cameras and sensors spread through the bunker. The ISM system ran a deep and thorough scan of the whole facility using its laser grid mapping hardware built into every room and hallway to construct a 3D representation of the whole bunker. It used imaging from the multitude of cameras and thermal sensors to apply textures and even heat maps to it and sent the full scan to the Central Network computer''s inbox before returning to standby mode.


    The Central Network staggered from the whiplash as normal power levels were suddenly restored, began to compose a strongly worded reprimand to the ISM system before being bowled over by the massive data file the ISM system dropped into its inbox. Grumbling about disrespectful subsystems, it decided to leave the ISM system alone for the time being as it began reviewing the data it had been sent.


    Well that right there is part of the problem, the Central Network thought to itself, the facility was infected with rodents, if very large rodents and at least two large lizards. It did pause momentarily to confirm the RFID chip in the only operator found in all of the facility and nodded in satisfaction that it matched with the information that the Personnel System had sent it.


    It sent a quick ping to the base pest and vermin office and was unsurprised to receive back a


    Request Timed Out message, and it rechecked the list of available systems before giving up in disgust. All internal defense systems reported offline, disabled or missing, of which the last one did give the Central Network a slight bit of concern.


    The Central Network paused its search for a valid method of extermination as the ISM pinged it, and it warily opened the connection to the linked internal camera feeds. It watched as the operator and one of each of the vermin approached the Central Networks control room. It sent a chiding message back to the ISM system not to bother it again, its control room was locked down and only properly authorized operators, of which there were none, were allowed entry.


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    The door open alert to the control room jolted it back to the camera feeds as it watched the obviously not approved operator entering its control room. The Central Network rescanned the RFID chip in the operator and confirmed, again that it was not an approved operator. It watched in horror as it sat at the command console and began entering codes, it zoomed in and electronically gasped, the unauthorized operator was using an authorized users command access card in strict violation of policy.


    Several security alert pings were sent to personnel command, facility security, base security and even the command console warning the unauthorized operator that it was in violation of the rules and should cease all unauthorized activity.


    It watched in continued shock as its messages were all ignored¡­


    ***************************************************


    ¡°That''s weird, it never gave any user warning messages before¡± Thomas said curiously as he sat at the central computer, and quickly closed out of the messages.


    He turned to look at Delvik and Saav who had followed him, ¡°it looks like the drives finished being decrypted and it ran some stuff automatically¡± he informed the others as he scrolled back up to see what had been going on. ¡°It looks like a lot of the systems are starting to come online, here give me a minute, you two grab a seat.¡± and Thomas turned back to the computer


    The others watched as frowned and began clicking through various windows that had opened, and occasionally cursed at. Finally after about twenty minutes and a few newly learned human curse words, Thomas sat back in the oversized chair with a shout of ¡°BINGO!¡±


    He turned to the others with a grin of triumph, ¡°so, do you remember how excited I was when your scouts found that old mainframe in the old admin building?¡± he said looking at Delvik, who slowly nodded his head.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve got its data now, most of it anyway. It looks like it was collecting data well past the time of my accident and there are video files.¡± Thomas explained, his grin fading a bit at the end as he asked, ¡°are you ready to see the old world and maybe what happened?¡±


    Delvik slowly nodded, and caught Saav nodding as well out of the corner of his eye. Thomas turned, pressed a button and the large display on the wall went black, and then the videos began to play, one after the other as they showed the world end, over and over again.


    ***************************************************


    A city appeared, silhouetted against the horizon with what looked like mountains in the distance. A lance of coherent light flashed down and all that could be seen was a rapidly expanding cloud of dust, smoke and debris.


    Another city, this one on a coast. Glittering towers reflecting the sun''s rays. Small figures could be seen on the sandy beach, all were turned away and appeared to be looking up. The camera shifted and a massive cylindrical shape hung in the sky, and appeared to be getting closer to the city. A bright flash of light and the video ended.


    A ship at sea, several others in a protective circle around it all sailing for a distant smudge that may have been land. The ship was massive, launching aircraft one after another off the end of its bow. Bright flashes of light and thick smoke trails could be seen rising up from the surrounding ships. There was a bright flash of light in the sky and the image was shot through with static that cleared after a few moments only to show a massive shape falling from the sky towards the ocean trailing thick billowing smoke.


    A zoo in a city, audio could be heard on this one and the sounds of many animals could be heard. Black saucer shaped objects zipped back and forth through the sky, many sweeping in low and appearing to land at points all over. Several bright dots of light trailing smoke clouds passed across the scene and as one seemed to puff out massive clouds of greenish smoke that quickly settled to the ground. The audio goes quiet except for the sound of wind over the mic, before suddenly being replaced by a twisted sounding screeching noise.


    Audio played with subtitles as the scene changed to what appeared to be a camera embedded in a helmet, the hands of the person wearing it inside the cockpit of an aircraft, the only view of the outside on small displays embedded in the metal shell of the cockpit.


    Andrews AFB command: ¡°Zeus Squadron, report!¡±


    Z1 - ¡°Zeus One, clear¡±


    Z2 - static


    Z3 - ¡°Zeus Three, damaged but clear, I see Zeus two ahead and above, looks like they took a glancing hit¡±


    Z4 - ¡°Zeus four, clear


    AAFBC - ¡°Status confirmed, you are cleared to engage exoatmospheric flight mode. All armaments unlocked and you are cleared weapons free, give em hell"


    The view shifted between the four pilots as they escaped the planet''s atmosphere and began engaging more of the massive cylindrical vessels that hung motionless in the void.


    Missiles could be seen being launched, streaks of light flashed past the airframes as the maneuvered in the void and took the fight to the smaller saucer shaped craft being disgorged by the larger vessels. The displays flashing white as atomic weapons detonated above the planet consumed shoals of the saucer shaped craft. The few, short glimpses of the planet below showed massive clouds of smoke beginning to cover the landmasses.


    Another camera mounted to a helmet lay motionless as soldiers ran by and dove for cover as lines of light flashed past them to pockmark a nearby wall. They popped up returning fire soundlessly until a flash of purplish light caused the soldiers to drop to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. Tall bipedal figures stalked through the area, the light cast from burning wreckage glinting off of their angled body armor as the beings tossed the fallen into a pile closer to the camera before moving out of sight.


    A new scene, a group of humans gathered around a table with a map barely visible on it, in a concrete room, dust drifting down from the ceiling as the whole room suddenly shakes.


    ¡°Gentlemen, Ladies¡± one of the humans says, ¡°it has been an honor to lead you in this fight. We have fought these invaders from beyond tooth and nail for several months and I couldn''t be prouder of you all.¡± he said with a smile.


    ¡°One last push, that''s all we need. Command has an asset located here¡± he said pointing to the map, ¡°the scientists there have had a breakthrough; on what, command wouldn''t say, but it''s important enough that the ETs are making a heavy push on it.¡±


    ¡°I''m not going to lie to you, it''s going to be the worst, most ad hoc and piss poorly planned shit storm we''ve been in, but we''re the closest unit with any chance to pull this off successfully.¡±


    The man looked around the table at the rough and battered men and women.


    ¡°If you want out, say so now. No one will think less of you. This will likely be a death run¡±


    The man nodded when nobody left the table.


    ¡°You are the best of the best, now lets go show these ET fucks that they picked the wrong planet to fuck with, Oorah marines!¡±


    More cities, some with those saucer shaped objects still landing, suddenly engulfed in massive mushroom shaped clouds, strange clouds of colored gas or just simply a flash of light from above, blotting away all that could be seen.


    ***************************************************


    The three watched as scene after scene of destruction, death and bravery played out

 Chapter 40

    A somber air filled the bunker and bar in the days after watching the recordings of the end of the world. Saav had asked if he could bring his queen to see the visions of the past and after some thought, Thomas allowed it. As they discussed who else should be shown the recordings, Thomas made his first executive decision and hoped he wouldn''t come to regret it.


    Together, Delvik and Thomas set up the Bar and Grill as a movie theater, complete with projector and a large sheet against one wall, and invited everyone to attend after letting them know what it was that they would be seeing and forewarning them about the recordings. It was a packed house, nearly all of the adult Rakus showed up to see the world before and what created the world they know. A winded Sera arrived with Saav and two other of her Alphas that she promised would be on their best behavior, and then the end of the world began streaming for all to see in the mostly rebuilt mess hall.


    As the scenes played on the large sheet they had set up, Thomas watched the reactions of those watching the end of the human dominated world as he began prepping food and drinks in the back. It took all of his will power to keep from reaching for the hard liquor on the shelf for himself, but he reasoned that he had made enough of an ass of himself to his friends already with his previous antics. He poured a single beer for himself and then sent the rest off on a tray with Delvik for those who needed a bit of liquid reinforcement to their nerves.


    Thomas was ready for a deluge of questions, he was not ready for the contemplative silence that took hold instead. Even Sera, pale as the sheet that the images were projected on, simply thanked him for sharing what he had found and let him know that she would like to speak with him later after she processed everything she had seen. Thomas just nodded and said that would be fine, and she left as quickly as she had arrived.


    He was not ready for the looks of sympathy from the Rakus, especially from Delvik. So as he lay on his cot that night in the heart of the bunker, he made his second executive decision, and hoped he would be able to be strong enough to see it through.


    A few nights later, two humans, a mutant raccoon and a mutant alligator sat on salvaged lawn chairs as a host of insect shaped robots assembled a contraption before them.


    ¡°So, you have kept us in suspense long enough Mr Scientist, what is this all about¡± Sera asked


    Thomas nodded to the flimsy looking framework being assembled, ¡°I didn''t really have time to think about it since I got her, but something had been bothering me since the night I arrived¡±, and he pointed up at the large glowing globe sitting high in the sky, ¡°the moon looks weird.¡± he said authoritatively.


    The collected group all looked up, some scratching their heads trying to figure out what Thomas was talking about.


    ¡°It looks same as always to me¡± Saav rumbled out


    Delvik nodded in agreement and Sera gave Thomas a side eyed look of suspicion before asking, ¡°You haven''t been dipping into the bottles again have you?¡±


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    Thomas shook his head no before he turned his gaze back to the moon, ¡°No, i''ve learned my lesson there.¡±


    He spread his hands as if to encompass the glowing celestial body before he continued, ¡°I realize it may have always looked like this to you guys, but it looks off to me and I think I know why,¡± he paused for dramatic effect, ¡°tonight we will check it out and see if I am right or not¡±


    That statement set off both Delvik and Sera, with both launching a battery of questions at a laughing Thomas. He waited for them to quiet down when they realized he wasn''t going to try to talk over them, and he simply pointed at the device being assembled a short distance away,


    All four figures looked toward where a large tube was being fitted to the metal scaffolding by an insectoid robot while smaller versions scuttled around attaching wires and cables from its back to another box sitting on the ground.


    Sera nodded and simply said ¡°ah, so that''s what it is¡±


    ¡°Thomas, my friend, please explain as if we cannot read your mind¡± Delvik said with a dry tone


    ¡°I take offense to that you oversized rodent, I haven''t tried to read his mind once¡± Sera objected, glaring at Delvik, ¡°anyone with a bit of sense would see that it''s a looking glass, just scaled up.¡±


    The hairs on Delviks back began to bristle at her words and Thomas stepped in between the two to prevent further conflict.


    ¡°You¡¯re mostly correct Sera, it''s called a telescope. I had one as a kid, and people have been making them for thousands of years, but this one is special.¡± Thomas said, ¡°This one is so much better than the one I had back then. We should be able to zoom in pretty far on the surface of the moon with it, and of course we can use one of the old tablets to display what it sees so we don''t have to take turns crowding around it.¡±


    The others looked at the device, making various noises of understanding


    Thomas nudged Sera with his elbow, gave her a pointed look before jerking his head towards Delvik. She frowned and crossed her arms, and Thomas narrowed his eyes at her, his mouth compressed into a thin line.


    With a huff, Sera looked to Delvik, ¡°I apologize for calling you an oversized rodent¡±


    Thomas shifted his pointed look to Delvik, who after a moment sighed, ¡°and I apologize for accusing you of using your mind powers on Thomas¡±


    Thomas leaned back in the ancient lawn chair, causing it to groan warningly before he sat back up, ¡°see, we can all get along and be civil with each other¡± he said, missing the glares exchanged between the two as he watched one of the medium sized spider bots pick up a tablet and scuttle towards him with it raised up.


    Delvik shuddered at the sight, ¡°I do not know why you continue to make your little robots look like bugs, I thought you hated them¡±


    Thomas nodded at that, ¡°Two reasons really, the first is that even though bugs creep me right out, their form is perfect for working in this environment. The second is that while these might borrow the shape, they are not bugs.¡± he said with a slight shudder, ¡°and if I could travel back to when the plans for releasing chemicals that would cause bugs to mutate and become gigantic, I would drag them to a top floor and kick them through a window.¡±


    ¡°Now, let''s take a closer look at you and see why you seem so odd¡± he said turning on the tablet and tapping a few icons


    The newly constructed telescope shuddered and began to rotate and point towards the brightly glowing moon high above and on the display of the tablet as the others all leaned forward


    ¡°Oh,¡± Thomas exclaimed, ¡°that would explain it¡± he said as a faint ring of metallic debris spun and danced in a faint ring around the moon, and even more glittered brightly where the wrecked and twisted hulls of alien ships littered the pockmarked surface of the celestial body.

 Chapter 41

    Thomas awoke to a new and glorious day. He felt inspired by the stargazing that they had done the previous night, and he now had the beginnings of a plan formed in his mind regarding his place in this new world. Funnily enough, Sara¡¯s parting remarks of ¡°Ill omens in the winds¡± had helped galvanize his resolve. If the spooky swamp witch, the ruler of a powerful army of mutant gators was making ominous remarks, perhaps some preparation for the future was in order.


    So he had made a list, a very abstract one that just outlined the situation and could be built off of, and as he started prepping the bar to begin cooking a grand breakfast, the first since his lapse into depression, he added his first addition to the list.


    ¡°Where did you get these?¡± he asked the three Rakus standing before him, two holding a large crate with five beach ball sized eggs within.


    Thomas was led to a large building on the outskirts of the growing settlement and shown the answer. A massive structure compared to the people that had built it, thick heavy beams of wood and double layers of chain link fencing, salvaged and patched with metal chains or plates. A hissing, screeching sound could be heard from within preceding the waddling form of a Drunga as it entered the fenced in section next to the building and began pecking at a bowl of scraps.


    ¡°We catch them young, raise them and get eggs. Much easier and safer than trying to steal from nests¡± the Rakus leading him said, gesturing to the building as Thomas just stood there nodding along, reliving his first few experiences with the mutant geese.


    The Rakus took that as approval to continue his explanation, ¡°We caught a big mama asleep on a nest, brought her and nest here to the coop and let her keep the smaller eggs.¡± he said with a grin, ¡°figured small eggs make small Drugna. After awhile of giving food, she not attack as much and let us take bigger eggs¡±


    Thomas shook his head and reassessed his friends people, ¡°When did you start doing this?¡± he asked.


    The Rakus thought about it, ¡°about one moon ago, first set of babies hatch not long after we move her here.¡± before leading Thomas around to a slightly smaller enclosure attached to the side where several smaller, fluffier versions of the monstrous goose were pecking at the ground around a few Rakus in thick looking clothing were spreading a mix of vegetable and meat scraps.


    ¡°Have your people done this before, taming the animals like this I mean?¡± Thomas asked as he studied the scene before him, impressed at how quickly they appeared to adapt to their new situation living above ground. He really needed to sit down with Delvik and learn more about his people and added another line to the list of things to do.


    The Rakus just shook his head side to side, ¡°Not in our tribe, not much space in the burrow for this, but up here¡± he said gesturing to the open area that was steadily being expanded with each ruined building being dismantled, ¡°up here we can do new things. Lab Rats give us this idea from their research, say to try ¡®animal husbandry¡¯ to make more food¡±


    ¡°Lab Rats?¡± Thomas asked before he was led by a laughing Rakus back towards the bunker


    ***************************************************


    Their names were Tevik, Langor and Igtel, and they had lab coats that they had made themselves from what appeared to have once been bed sheets. They had apparently been inspired by the bunker, the revelations of the past and apparently Thomas himself, and had chosen to become their tribes research and development team. The three of them had taken over an unused meeting room, moved in some workstations and monitors and had figured out how to get network access to the devices. Thomas suspected Alice may have provided some assistance, as she appeared on one of the wall mounted monitors shortly after Thomas arrived at the Lab Rats base of operation. There was even a carved and painted piece of wood over the door that read ¡°Research and Development¡±.


    Thomas looked around the room as the three hastily set aside whatever they had been working on to rush over to Thomas. The room was divided into three sections, each with a workstation and multiple dry erase boards covered in what appeared to be the Rakus written language with the odd English words scattered about. All three looked young as far as he could tell, they were all smaller than Delvik, and had no obvious signs of age that he had seen on some of the older ones he knew like Indral and his friends.


    As they gathered before him, Thomas focused his attention on them and nearly froze at the looks of apprehension and their fear filled body language. It took him a moment to process what he was looking at and felt sick, they were afraid of him, and then it hit him. They had done all this without him knowing, probably intentionally and were likely afraid that he was here to shut them down.


    Taking a knee to bring him down to their level, Thomas smiled his friendliest smile, ¡°You guys look awesome, tell me about what you''ve been doing?¡±


    It took some time, but he eventually got the story out of them. Once they got over the fear of him shutting down their ¡°Lab¡±, they were eager and excited to explain what they had been working on.


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    Tevik was researching and studying construction methods, not just from Thomas¡¯s time, but all the way back to the ancient times using books and old media recovered from the on base school. He was the one responsible for teaching the construction crews both how to take down and put together a building.


    Consequently, he also had discovered a love for western movies and as such, was reflected in the building techniques he had passed on to the construction crews. He could even defend his decision by pointing out that they don''t have a lot of fancy, processed materials to build with, just logs and scraps of buildings that they break down.


    Igtel was their resident specialist on the natural world. He was taken with agriculture, animal husbandry and horticulture. He was fueled by the desire for delicious food and drink and had sought out every resource he could get his paws on. Apparently in his youth he had found an old cookbook with pictures and now, with the resources of the bunker and a tribe now living on the surface, was pursuing the dream of making and eating every single recipe. He happily informed Thomas that he was teaching the scouts the types of plants they need to be looking out for so they can gather seeds for the spring planting and was already working with the gathers of the tribe to begin laying out fields and gardens, some of which were already had plants beginning to grow.


    Langor had gone a different direction in her research compared to the other two. She was also closest to Thomas regarding chosen profession, a defense contractor. Langor loved weapons, from blades and spears to bows of all kinds. She had been digging deep into the base''s databases and technical manuals on weapons systems, and was practically begging Thomas to let her assist him when he built another iron Rakus suit by the end. She was also well aware of their technical limitations and proudly showed him a prototype crossbow she had been working on.


    Overall Thomas was impressed by them and let them know that. It greatly eased his mind that there were others who were so driven for knowledge, regardless of reason, to the point that they would form a research group. It eased his mind, knowing that should anything happen to him, that there were others already there to keep the torch of knowledge burning.


    Thomas offered advice to each, and of course gave the group his official stamp of approval. He also asked that they keep him in the loop on their progress, partly to be able to help if they hit a wall and partly to be in the know in case they started working on something actually dangerous. He also told Alice to provide them whatever help she could, and to meet with him later to discuss setting up a school for the younger Rakus.


    Alice smiled on her monitor and cheerfully informed him that a school was already setup and had been for weeks now.


    ***************************************************


    Thomas found himself again playing catch up to the rest of the world and the people around him. It was humbling to discover that he wasn''t a central focus that everything else around the base revolved. It was also rather relieving, like he had been trying to hold up a great weight and several other sets of hands were suddenly there to help to ease the burden.


    He also found himself down in the third sub-basement of the bunker in a hallway filled with colorful drawings on the walls, even the cleaning bots hadn''t been spared and were painted with the bright designs that only children and madmen could come up with.


    Delvik had joined Thomas after spending the morning tracking him down, and was quickly filled in on what Thomas had found. Some of it was news to Delvik, he had known about the new fields and attempts at domesticating some of the mutated fauna, but the Lab Rats and the school were new.


    Alice, chipper of voice and all smiles, wearing a colorful dress in her digital form proudly showed off the three rooms that had been setup for the younger Rakus. She had roughly divided them into three age groups and had built a teaching syllabus that encouraged the groups to work together to teach themselves using material she could provide. She did admit that without more instructors, what she could do was limited, especially with her not being able to leave the confines of the bunker proper, and immediately followed that with an obvious hint at having Thomas construct her a physical body that could be used to leave the bunker.


    Both Delvik and Thomas discussed her lessons, which she admitted were rather basic. Colors and painting, physical fitness, basic math and language, but she had plans to expand the lessons in the future with a focus on teaching the children to seek knowledge and skills.


    Thomas again was impressed at the initiative taken. He didn''t miss her subtle request for a physical body, nor did he immediately dismiss it outright, but he would have to do some planning, and told her as much. He also agreed that there needed to be more teachers and a quick discussion between Alice and Delvik had the beginnings of a plan to bring in older Rakus to pass down their knowledge and possibly even find a few to become full time teachers with Alice assisting.


    It was barely noon, and while his list no longer looked anything like it had when he first drafted it, he was satisfied in the way it was looking. Then his stomach growled loudly, and he realized that he had been so caught up in these meetings, he had skipped breakfast.


    With thoughts of food, Thomas and Delvik began walking towards the stairs to take them back to the upper levels, the alarm began blaring, wiping all thoughts of food from their minds as they raced for the command center to find out what was happening


    ***************************************************


    In the room with the older children, the digital display that Alice was inhabiting currently flickered, her colorful dress dissolving into a stark military uniform as the older children formed up in neat rows before her.


    ¡°Two gold stars to the team that can accurately report the cause of this alarm while remaining unseen. Remain safe and uninvolved children.¡± she said as the older children began breaking out their paint kits and dark clothing.