Page 8 of Shifter King
Naatos immediately strode to the opening.
Amelia slid off Proteus and rubbed around his ear and then to his jaw. So this was the bunker.
It looked much older than she had expected. The door itself had been ripped off its hinges despite being several inches thick and seeming to be made of solid metal. It had been twisted at the base as if something had seized it and wrenched it free. Rust covered it on both sides. On what was most likely the inside, there were slots for electronics. A few blue, red, and green wires hung out, mostly deteriorated from the elements.
"What did this exactly?" she asked.
"Abliato warriors of some kind or another. Probably one of their machines. Laachtue said these are safe so long as we can protect against the beasts and use no technology beyond fifty tra pulses per second." Naatos regarded the bunker with somber contemplation.
"What about the tablet?" She hadn't brought it with her, but if technology or energy usage would summon the Abliatos she had to get that switched off. Had she brought them all into danger? An icy sickness coiled in her stomach.
"It's marginal. Maybe half a pulse per second," AaQar said. "Fifty tra pulses would allow us to have basic conveniences within the bunker. But if the Abliato tech scans for that, we'll follow the old ways."
"Aside from the ground burrowers, this will be easier than what we had," QueQoa said. "We can make barriers to add protection."
WroOth stepped over the entrance and peered inside. "Little closer quarters than I'd prefer," he said. His voice echoed off the metal walls. "Who lived here before? Children? Rabbits? It smells like rabbits and centipedes." Pulling back, he wrinkled his nose. "And that grim worm smell is strong enough for a scent bomb. We'll have to do something about that smell. It's like a beacon for any others in the area."
"It needs another few days or so to finish airing out," Naatos said. "I removed the worm corpses already, and it's improved significantly just in the last two hours. But we can start preparing the spikes and put those in the ground."
"Will this hold up against the Grey Season?" Amelia asked. She tilted her head back to glimpse the sky through the thick dark branches. The great billowing clouds obscured most of the blue, but they didn't look particularly ominous. Not at all like they had when the aura storms came.
Naatos set his arms akimbo, boot on the edge of the bunker's opening as he stared down the ladder. "For a time, it might. Assuming we can secure the entrance. We'll run out of supplies before the structure gives way at this rate, but neither are likely to last as long as this Grey Season will go. Not unless it holds off for months." He gave the ladder a hard stomp, sending a loud ringing peal down inside. It echoed back. He nodded, seemingly satisfied. "The one good thing about the Grey Season is no one's tech will work if it's over a certain level, and any of the more powerful mechanisms will be shut down. It will take time for the storms to build." He shook his head, his eyes narrowing. "They would not have gathered all this power without finding some way to preserve themselves in light of such a catastrophe."
Amelia drew closer, wrinkling her nose. It would be nice to have a place to sleep that included a roof and floor and walls, but that scent was going to have to be dealt with or else nobody would be sleeping well. It smelled worse than ground up centipedes and millipedes. "Is there anything like lemons that grows here? Or coffee? Coffee grounds can help absorb scent. Unless one of you wants to make vinegar. Even pine needles could help."
"Coffee." QueQoa laughed. "I forgot Awdawms drink that."
"Vawtrians don't, I take it?"
"It's a little trickier for us. While most alcohols don't affect us, coffee can," AaQar said. "But when they reach certain levels, combinations of tannins and caffeine can become…inhibition lowering."
"Well, coffee grounds can help absorb foul odors. Alcohol could help too if you had some." She shuddered a little. Alcohol wasn't something she preferred. It took her to unpleasant contemplative places.
"To avoid potential incursions from grim worms and the like, we'll need to prepare spikes and place them in the earth around the bunker," Naatos said. "Wood will do for now."
"It would also be preferable to disguise the entrance. Move some of the boulders around through here. And there will need to be an alternate entrance as well." AaQar circled the entrance and kicked the back of the jagged hinge with his boot. "This won't be too difficult to disguise. Is there a back entrance already?"
"One that went into the earth and connected to a tunnel. It'll need securing and shoring up." Naatos strode to the edge of the forest and moved beyond one of the shaggy-barked pines. He then gestured toward the ground. "The tunnel starts roughly here. Ideally, it should be sealed and another lower one prepared."
"There were plenty of flat rocks near the foothills," QueQoa offered. "We could use those. Perhaps even make additional store rooms."
"If we even have time for additional store rooms," WroOth said.
They never went short on the plans. Amelia listened, catching her breath and calming her heart rate. The sweat dried on her arms and the back of her neck. Her skin still prickled.
Proteus flopped onto the ground near her, lowing with annoyance.
Reaching over, she scratched his jaw. Poor darling didn't like this forest at all. Not that she could blame him. Was the bunker a good place for him? He'd done all right in the cave. Would a bunker be as comfortable? He blinked his big brown eyes at her. Somehow she doubted he'd like it.
He curled his thick black claws into the dirt and lowed again before dropping his head onto his forelegs.
"Something's wrong, sweetheart?" She moved to the ground beside him and combed her fingers through his hair. A few strands had been pulled free, but was that enough to cause this discontent? No. It wasn't pleasant, but something else bothered him far more. What was it though?
Everyone else agreed that the bunker was a good choice. They could turn this into a solid base of operations and have other emergency locations and supplies set up within only a few days. Then it was time to get to work.
AaQar climbed over the entrance and then dropped inside, sliding from sight. QueQoa announced he was going to bring down the trees they would need. WroOth went with him, his manner still unnaturally dour. He didn't have anything to add apparently.
"Is whatever is making that smell in there going to hurt me if I go inside?" she asked, stepping closer.
