Chapter 6 The Bunker
Alpheus slurped down the remaining broth in his soup can. There was a metallic scraping caused by his spoon raking against the sides of the can as he scooped out the remaining noodles and meat. He lowered the can to the ground, trying to shake the eerie feeling that settled into the pit in his acid bladder. He ignored the feeling in favor of smiling at his host. His curiosity piqued when he heard hers and her friend's plan if a horde of walkers happened to stumble upon the camp. "Oh, really? Care to share with a weird troll who happened to stumble on you two?"
Astris' grin widened a bit at his question. "You do have a point. Why would I trust some troll that I just met? The reason is; I trust you." She leaned back against Wolfmom's flank. "If mom thinks you're trustworthy, then so do I." she said gently patting the wolfbeast's side earning a quiet groan from her lusus figure. "There's a hidden bunker not too far from here." She said looking at the troll next to her. "I went to check it out a few days back when Kaaleb and I arrived in this area. From what I could tell, there was food and water stored there for an event such as this. Not to mention a good amount of rooms and enough space for a fairly large amount of trolls and their lusii. If we run out of food and water, we could hunt or go to the nearest town or abandoned hive to find more"
Alpheus was quiet as she explained her plan, his own grin twitching as she smiled at the comment she just made. He felt that, even though the green-blood seemed to trust him too quickly, her trust in him wasn't misguided. He understood and knew what it felt like to be stabbed in the back and betrayed by trolls that he tried to help. Could that be why she trusted him? No, there was a different reason, there had to be more to why she trusted him.
He nodded as the information that Astris gave him was absorbed into his think pan. "Now that's interesting. I haven't heard of any underground bunkers around here, though there were rumors about them back when things were… normal." His voice trailed off, eyes clouding over as he thought for a moment. He shook himself of anything that might lead him to crying again. "...Is there a problem with this plan? I mean... It's a really good idea, but are there any walkers near the entrance?" He asked.
The green-blood looked off into the distance. "I've been keeping an eye on the location for a few days. The only times that I would see walkers near the entrance would be when they're in small groups, between three to five at a time. And after a little while, they would wander away." She returned her focus to her lime-blooded guest. "When we got to this area, we were hoping that there would be more of us." Her eyes closed as she remembered the trolls she had come from the city with. Each one of them either left soon after they got far enough away from the city to be safe from large hordes of the undead, or they were attacked. "The location of the bunker isn't too far from here. Would you like to check it out?"
The lime-blooded troll was quiet for a few minutes as he considered her offer. He was surprised at her bravery for wanting to search for this bunker. He was sure that she would not visit there by herself if she could help it. Astris, of course, would have her moirail come along when he could for back up if needed. He took a few more seconds to think over his response before he nodded again. "If it's not too much trouble, then yes. I could use a good stretch of my legs." Alpheus said smiling at her a bit goofily.
Astris sat up, giving the lime-blood a stern look. "Are you absolutely sure? I haven't been there for a couple of days. For all I know, there might be a large horde and we might need to fight or none at all." She wanted to make sure that he was ready to fight, and able to, if it came to it. She walked over to and picked up her knapsack. She rifled through it and pulled out pulled out what looked like a short wooden dowel and hung it from her belt. "I don't want to put you in danger."
Alpheus nodded, still grinning, a strange light shining in his lime-colored eyes at the possibility of walkers being near the entrance of the bunker.. "Danger? Hah! I laugh in the face of danger." His grin faltered a little with the weak lie. Hell, he almost wished that there were a few walkers when they got there. He never laughed when walkers caught wind of his scent, he never laughed when he'd go to sleep in an abandoned hive, the noises of the night and the sounds of the walkers eating some poor troll was what kept him awake, and what lulled him to sleep all in one.
He pat the small pouch that sat at his hip. Inside he held an assortment of knives and small blades to use if they were to be attacked by walkers while they were away from the camp. "I can fight, you know. My Moirail didn't die without teaching me some tricks." Astris turned to look at him once more before she walked back to where her custodian lay behind the log where she sat a couple minutes ago. A small grin of her own stretched across her face. "Well then, follow me." She said.
Astris walked around the fire to where Kaaleb lay. She got down on her knees and gently shook her dozing moirail. "Kaaleb, we're going to check on the bunker. We'll try to be back in a couple of hours." She said too him, adding a few instructions for what to do while she was gone. The blue-blooded troll mumbled something to and waved his arm, letting her know that he heard her. The green-blooded she-troll stood again and walked back to Alpheus. "The bunker's a little ways west of here. Normally I'd have my Mom take me but since she sprained her leg last time, she's going to have to stay behind with Kaaleb.
Alpheus waited patiently as she instructed the blue-blood. He felt his grin stretch apart wider as she was soon at his side again. "It's fine, lead the way... Leader," he said half joking as he pat the sack at his hip. He pulled out one of the bladed weapon that was nestled in among the other sharpened blades, a cleaver. He took the sleek, recently sharpened blade of a cleaver and examined it as he tilted it this way and that, raising a brow... then he frowned. Mustard-yellow, jade-green, and fuchsia-hued blood stained the blade and hilt of the weapon in small splatters. No matter how often he cleaned the stained metal, the blood wouldn't come off.
With a small grin of her own, Astris released the stick from her belt and held it out in front of her. "Well, it never hurts to be prepared for the possibility of having to fight a group of walkers." She said softly. Her fingers easily found the hidden switch in the center of the foot long rod and applied pressure. A soft click was heard as the rod extended, a near inaudible hiss as it slid segment by segment to its full length of five feet. A long, curved blade slid out from each end of the pole. Each of the deadly, razor sharp blades glinted in the light of the fire.
"I agree," Alpheus replied in a monotone. He tore his eyes away from the bloody cleaver blade in time to watch with a slight jolt as the stick extended. Alpheus watched in amazement as the one foot long rod grew to five feet with a blade at each end. "Interesting weapon," He mused. "How did you come to acquire it, Astris?" The she-troll took a few moments before she looked back at the lime-blood.
"Hm this? I made it myself. It took nearly a whole sweep to perfect the design and mechanisms." It had indeed taken a long time to perfect the weapon and get it working perfectly. Not to mention all the sleepless nights she worked on it to the point where she could get the blades to extend and retract flawlessly and effectively. "I made it for self-defense. Every time a troll jumped me, I would pull this out and extend it. The sight of it usually made most trolls run. The ones that ignored my weapon usually went to a hospital with a deep cut or two, nothing life threatening or serious." A few small splatters of off colored blood spattered the shaft. It had obviously been used often against the walkers, more so than the gun strapped to her hip.
As she spoke, Alpheus grinned some more, a mixture of surprise and silent wonder shone in his light green eyes. The she-troll reminded him of his moirail, who also liked to tinker with things to make them work, make them function better and to his liking. His eyes rested on the blood splatters on the shaft of her weapon. It was no wonder where they had come from. "That's quite an achievement. Did you always like to make your own things?" He asked her.
Astris held the tip of her finger to her chin in mock thoughtfulness. "Sometimes. I normally fiddled with small machinery. I even rigged a complex booby trap with an even more complex one." A glint of mischief flashed in her eyes. "But, to earn a meager living, I made weapons for other trolls." As they walked, she shared how she would take designs from her customers and produce custom made weapons and other things. "Depending on the size and complexity of the order, I would make it so that the weapons were fairly cheap yet durable enough to endure daily or regular use."
As they walked and talked, he felt something bubble in his chest; it felt so foreign, like something he'd forgotten to do for so long. It wasn't until it burst from his mouth that he recognized what it was: a laugh. His face fell a bit, inclining his eyes away from her. "...I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't be laughing, right?" They were in an apocalypse, for God's sake! What was there to laugh about in times like this? Astris looked back at him, dark-green eyes studying his downcast features.
After he had apologized, she couldn't help but smile and laugh herself. "It's alright to laugh. It can help take our minds off of even the most depressing things in life and replace them with happiness, even if it's for a moment." She looked around to make sure that nothing was drawn by the noise. When she was sure that the coast was clear, she continued to talk. "I can understand why you don't think it's appropriate to laugh right now; walkers and all." "Yeah... Walkers..." Came his non-committal response to her explanation, and he felt a bit better at her attempt to cheer him up. He felt grateful for it, but he couldn't find the right words to express his gratitude, not right now. Not when they were probably close to the entrance to the underground bunkers and all.
After an hour or so of walking, the two trolls came to the clearing; they had arrived at their destination. The clearing was a good deal larger than the one they had just come from. Astris crouched behind a bush and looked around the twigs and leaves. The clearing appeared to have several trails that led out of the area, including the one they were currently on.
When she was convinced that the clearing was clear, the green-blooded she-troll darted out to into the open area. She kept her eyes and ears alert for walkers as she knelt next to a pile of dead leaves. She started to sift through the leaves, searching for the hidden hatch that lead into the bunker. When her search came up with nothing, Astris moved onto another pile of leaves. She worked in a circular path, sifting through pile after pile of leaves. Behind her, Alpheus stood in place, slowly sweeping his gaze around the clearing and trees. He felt nervous, anxious even since the two of them were in an open field; easy prey for a horde of walkers if they wandered into the clearing.
After five minutes of searching, he craned his neck to look around him, glaring into the inky shadows in the trees. "Have you found it yet, Astris?" He asked his newfound acquaintance as his gaze rested on her again. It took the green-blooded she-troll a minute or two before she replied. In the pile of leaves she was currently sifting through, her fifth mound of leaves, she found a very thin wire. A smile graced her face as she ran her finger gently and carefully along the hair thin wire. "There you are," she whispered as she started to follow it to a lower mound of leaves. She cleared them away to reveal a rusted hatch. She pulled her head up and looked back at her lime-blooded acquaintance. "Found it." she called out to him.
He swept the area one more time, senses alert for shambling forms or unearthly moans, before he looked down to the she-troll. "Well damn. Nice one, Astris." He said as he drew closer. "All this risk-taking might actually save our hides, after all." He grinned to himself, inwardly thankful that nothing had happened to them-so far. His grin was slow to vanish from his lips: he still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen soon. Astris looked up as she grasped the latch and pulled upward, hearing a satisfying click as the latch gave and the door opened a few centimeters. "Be careful getting over here. That tripwire of mine hadn't been triggered yet so it's still dangerous." Alpheus, hearing the warning and seeing the tripwire, carefully made his way over to where she knelt.
There was a strong stench of mold and mildew leaked from the hole as she pulled the hatch up farther until the door was held at a ninety degree angle against the ground. Astris recoiled as the sudden smell flooded her nose. There was something else though, a third scent that she couldn't place right away. She released the hatch and pulled what was left of her right sleeve up over her nose and mouth. She shivered as a sudden sense of foreboding settled in her acid bladder. Pulling a flashlight from the side pocket of her backpack, she clicked it on and shone it down into the black abyss below.
Alpheus' eyes watered as he sniffed the air, picking up the smell of mold, mildew, and the unknown source of the third scent. Astris swung the beam of her flashlight around the interior of the hole catching the metallic glint of a ladder right below her. "… Shit." She mumbled under her breath as she angled the beam downward to what should have been the floor of the corridor beneath the two trolls. There, where the floor was supposed to be located, was the corpse of a troll. "Poor guy must've been either too careful or too careless and locked himself in and then starved to death."
She lowered her head a little closer to the open hole in the ground and ran the beam of light over the deceased troll. From what the green-blooded she-troll could see, there were no visible bite wounds that would have indicated the troll was, or would turn into a walker. But, there was a dried up pool of blood underneath the troll. That and a deep stab wound in the center of his back. "Ugh… Damn…" Alpheus hissed next to her, pulling his own sleeve over his nose and mouth to block out the smell of death and decay as best as he could. "He may have been living here for a while. That would explain why he doesn't have any bite marks... But who did this to him, a looter perhaps?" She mumbled to herself as she tried estimating how long he had been there.
Growing up, Astris had always hunted and could make a fairly accurate guess of how long a carcass had been in one spot. In the midst of her thoughts, Something had caught her eye. A trail of blood. This troll must have been carried here or he walked by himself. "Look." She points to the stab wound and the trail of blood leading away from the body. Alpheus looked past the corpse and took notice of the trail. He gave the she-troll next to him a wary look. "Should we leave?"
"I doubt that the troll who killed him is still here. But we should probably be heading back now." She looked up at the sky. Day was starting to break as the sun started to rise, turning the sky to the east a warm rosy color. "We can always get Kaaleb and my Mom and come back later. I would like them to check it out too." Astris stood up and started to close the hatch. That's when she heard it; a quiet, pain filled moan came from within the dark bunker. Another shiver traveled along her spine as she looked over at Alpheus. The lime-blood returned her concerned stare.
"Should I check?" he kept his voice a hushed whisper as he eyed the soft glow that was cast into the darkened bunker. Astris shook her head. "You aren't going down there alone." She gave him a hard look, green eyes flashing. She didn't want him to get hurt... or worse. "I'll go too if you're going down there. It's better if we stick together." If it was a single walker then there would be no problem in taking it down. Two or more would be cause for anxiety. If it was indeed an injured troll, if she-or he-was bitten then there was no cure for them. The only real thing they'd be able to do was to kill them quickly.
Alpheus bit back an oncoming argument with his fellow green-blood. Astris was on edge now and it wouldn't do him any good to upset her. "Alright, you bring up a valid point." He whispered back to her, Lime colored eyes glancing back into the murky depths below. "So I take it you're going first and I'll cover you from behind?" He asked softly after a few moments had passed. He really didn't like the idea, but she was better at this than he was. "Yeah. It'll probably be best since I can find my way around these bunkers fairly well." She replied handing him a spare flashlight before she slowly lowered herself down into the hole, scythe first.
A sickening felling settled into her acid bladder as she lightly touched each foot to the rungs as she descended into the inky darkness, flashlight clamped firmly between her teeth. A quiet tapping sound could be heard resonating off the walls as her boots made contact with the metal bars of the ladder. When she reached the third bar from the floor she jumped down, careful to avoid landing on the corpse below. "Oh God…" she hissed, pulling the remainder of her sleeve over her nose and mouth once more. The smell of decay that permeated from the deceased troll was worse as she arrived at the bottom of the ladder.
Alpheus clicked the flashlight on as he waited for her to descend into the murky depths below. He swiveled the light around to illuminate the walls, revealing dark stains on the walls (Blood?) as well as three pairs of hand prints leading away from the location in the same dark stain. When she gave him a wave, he slowly lowered himself down after her. He finally dropped down to the bottom of the tunnel. A soft squelch resounded and bounced off the walls surrounding the two as his feet sunk into something soft yet strangely warm.
As she waited for him to come down, Astris very gently use the edge of her staff to roll the corpse of the blue-blooded troll over so he was lying on his back. She carefully examined the corpse. "Damn… It looks like this poor guy didn't have a chance," Walking a few steps down the corridor, she examines each of the doors. A quiet squish like sound made her turn around. Alpheus had stepped in a small patch of mud as he had descended from the ladder. A squelch-like sound made her turn around and look to the source of the sound.
Alpheus stood with his feet in a patch of mud. She found his reluctance to look down to see what he was standing in somewhat funny concerning the circumstances. Stifling a laugh, she turned back to the corpse and examined it a little closer. Yep, definitely a stab wound… she silently confirmed to herself. "Judging by the color of the dried blood around him and on his back, he was a blue-blood. She whispered to her companion, yet her whisper sounded louder due to the walls that surrounded them. She pulled her sleeves over her hands and started to slowly straighten out the deceased troll's limbs and position him into a more natural position. She whispered a few words as she slowly stood. It seemed like unusual behavior for a troll, yet it felt appropriate to her and therefore it came naturally to her.
Alpheus blanched as he saw how deep the wound really went, two or three inches deeper than it initially looked. The blue blood that stained the fabric of the dead troll's shirt was barely distinguishable from its black background. Who could do this? He wondered, practically anyone I guess, if they were desperate enough. The thought of what had happened didn't concern the lime-blooded he-troll, but why it had happened. He watched silently as Astris repositioned the dead troll's body and huffed quietly. He scanned the walls, using his flashlight to illuminate the surfaces. Three sets of hand prints, all different sizes and all colored in the same dark blue that had stained the deceased troll and the ground under him.
His ears pricked at another pain-filled moan. Or was it hunger-filled? He couldn't tell... He cautiously glanced at the troll accompanying him, awaiting her decision. Astris returned his stare with an equally cautious glance. Her head turned in the direction in which the moan came. Against the green-blooded she-troll's better judgment, she called out into the dark that stretched ahead of them hoping for a response. The only response that she received was another moan.
Another shiver made its way up and then down her spine as she took a couple of steps forward. She stopped to look back at her lime-blooded companion. "Are you coming Alph?" she asked. "Yeah, I'm right behind you." He replied taking a few wriggler steps away from the ladder. His mud caked shoes squishing on the muddy floor beneath him as he shadowed the she-troll in front of him. He cast one last wary glance at the bloody handprints that lined the wall, the suffocating feeling that something was indeed very wrong kept building and building the further they walked.
The duo entered the nearest room. Alpheus stepped forward and walked along the center of the fairly large room, examining the many cots that lined the walls. Along with the cots in the room, there was thermal storage units, shelves lined with various food stuffs, medical supplies, and a radio (more than likely broken and therefore useless) sitting on a small nightstand near one of the cots. He scanned the room with his light green eyes. His gaze was soon drawn the cot that sat next to the radio. Covering a good portion of the cot, as well as the wall behind and the floor beneath it, was more dark blue blood. Looking at the blue stains on the cot and it's sheets Alpheus had no doubt that whoever the blood belonged to didn't make it, but who or where could they have gone?
Walking a little farther than the lime-blood, Astris looked around the empty room. She stopped next to another cot. That's strange… there are clearly signs that someone, or something, was living here up until a few days, or weeks ago… After a few moments of mental debating, Astris noticed that Alpheus had stopped a little ways back and was looking at something. She walked back to where he stood and looked to the blood stained cot. Her thoughts raced back to the three pairs of handprints. Something was very wrong here. Where are the other two? Her eyes wandered around the room once again.
A noise drew her attention to a door a few yards away. She looked to her right. A puddle of deep indigo stained the floor near a door. Highblood. She walked over and crouched next to the puddle of indigo. Astris followed the flow of the puddle to the bottom of the door that was now in front of her. The she-troll puckered her lips and let out a short, shrill whistle, calling her lime-blooded companion over. "Alpheus, I found more blood over here and it's a lot fresher than the stuff by the ladder." She whispered, motioning him over with a wave of her hand.
He jumped at Astris' whistle and turned to see her motioning him over. Wasting little time, he made his way over, eyes widening at the sight of the pool of indigo that seeped from beneath the door. What the hell happened here? Did one of the trolls go crazy and cull the others in a fit of rage? Could it have been one of the blue-bloods, or more likely, the indigo-blood? The mere thought of an indigo-blooded troll sent a cold shiver down his back. Even when they were among the walking dead, Highblooded trolls were the hardest to kill; some of them still kept their inherited powers that they had in life after all. "So the Highblood was injured-or killed, at least-later than the others?" He looked at Astris for her comment; she was a hunter and he was a novice one, at best.
The green-blooded she-troll dipped the tips of her index and middle fingers into the indigo pool. She slowly rubbed the blood between her fingers as she thought, her eyes narrowing in concentration. "It… It looks like it. Though I would hate to run into a zombified Juggalo; more so than a regular one." She brought her blood covered fingers to her nose, no more than an inch away, and sniffed. "It doesn't smell off… It still smells normal." She stood and wiped off the blood on her torn pant leg before continuing. "If we're lucky, the Highblood will be unconscious and we can patch him up and bring him back with us." The blood was still fresh, no more than a couple of hours or so.
Alpheus nodded as Astris explained her theory, likely dabbled in sweeps of experience and being taught of the wilderness and its hazards. He cringed as she dipped her fingers into the cooling pool of blood. He was silent as the green-blooded she-troll grasped at straws as to whether the troll they were now looking for was alive, dead, or undead. His face paled a little at the mention of a zombified juggalo troll. He swallowed nervously as he spoke, his voice wavering more and more, worry and the slightest tidbits of fear creeping into his vocal patterns. "Okay, sounds like our next goal is set. We have to find the highblood and help him or her, if possible? Right?"
"If possible, yes. If not, well, we'd have to put the Highblood out of their misery." She never did like seeing other trolls suffer. To her, an injured Highblood was no different than any other troll she had met. She reached a shaky hand to the handle of the door, gripping her scythe in her other hand tightly. "Shall we try the door?" she asked, voice cracking as she looked at Alpheus for confirmation. The lime-blooded he-troll swallowed thickly again and gave her a silent nod. Astris swallowed, took a couple of deep breaths, and tightened her grip around her scythe again and wrapped her fingers around the knob. Both trolls knew how dangerous and unpredictable and injured or scared Highblooded troll was and they could, and would, lash out at towards those that just want to help them. The worst that the green-blooded she-troll hoped for was a mercy killing for this troll if they were too late to help them.
She gave him a curt nod in return. Taking another shaky breath, she turned the door knob. The door was forced open as she started to pull it outward. The force behind what, or rather who, forced the door open threw her into the wall behind her. The she-troll's head was the first thing to make contact with the solid cement wall, followed shortly by her shoulders and the rest of her body. She slid down a few feet and rest on the floor. The wind left her body and her vision flashed white then red before returning to normal. Despite her disoriented state, Astris managed to make out one thing that happened as she hit the wall. The troll, no doubt the indigo-blood from which the pool of like-colored blood came from, had a look of sheer terror on his face.
Everything had happened too quickly for Alpheus to comprehend. He was aware of a troll on the other side of the door giving the pair a fear filled glance before fleeing from the room. He had vanished too quickly for the lime-blood to spot any injuries on him, but regardless, he saw Astris hit the wall and uttered a short, panicked cry as he rushed over to see if she was alright, or even alive. He dropped to his knees, staining the fabric with mud and God knows what else, and started to inspect her scalp for any signs of injury or blood. Blood, no matter the amount, would attract walkers to them once they were back outside and thus would have to be cleaned up and covered immediately; lest they wanted to attract danger back to the camp. "Astris, are you alright?" he asked her, his voice a bit shaky.
"Y-yeah… My head hurts a bit, but I should be fine." she said, a small, barely reassuring smile on her face. She raised her hand to the back of her head, where it had made contact with the hard surface she was currently sitting against. No blood. That was a good sign, though she wished she could say the same for the tender spot that her fingers brushed against. "Looks like I might get a good sized bump in the morning though." She hissed as she flinched from the pain that even her light touch caused. She pulled herself up and stood still for a few seconds. The room suddenly tilted and she was forced to lean against the wall again to prevent herself from falling. When her head stopped spinning (and with some stumbling,) she pushed herself away from the wall and looked around the room.
Alpheus nodded as she spoke, not sensing any waver in her voice. She seemed fine, though her wound would require medical attention if she worsened. He eyed the she-troll carefully, cautiously, and lime-green eyes widened as he jolted forward, readying himself to catch her in case she fell-but she caught herself just in time, pushing away from where she was when she steadied her balance. He smiled softly; the adrenalin must've rushed to her head and caused her balance to come into question. Still, he reminded himself to not let something like this happen again. "Ok…" He chuckled. "So long as you stay in one piece, Astris" he said using an 'I'm kidding' tone before he turned serious again, eyeing the closet where the Highblood had been hiding only moments before. Where do you think he went off to? I don't see any alternate routes he could've taken."
He was right; there weren't a whole lot of routes that the frightened Highblood could have taken. "He must have gone deeper into the bunker," It was a guess, but it was better than nothing and not having a clue as to his whereabouts. "From what I've seen, the deeper you go into a bunker like this, the better protected and equipped you would be to protect yourself from someone trying to kill you." Astris said. She had only been in a bunker once, and that was before the dead became the undead and started to kill everything in their paths. Astris had started to slowly walk towards the door when they heard another unearthly moan.
"...'From what I've seen'?" Had she been in an underground bunker before? He wondered about that as he cautiously stepped forward, an unsettling paranoia and bitter taste entering his mouth as he took another step forward. Things had gone from hysteria to all-out madness and anarchy, ever since the first reported incident of cannibalism. God that felt like sweeps ago, but it must have been more like half a sweep or so, that everything went to hell- wait. He paused in mid-step, his ears pricking at a sudden moan. Pain-filled? Hunger-filled? He wasn't sure... but it could be the highblood at worst and a walker at best.
"... I found a bunker like this one when I was younger. I was two sweeps old and I had gotten separated from my lusus..." Her dark green eyes seemed to grow slightly darker as she spoke. "I was wandering around an old abandoned hive hat I had found. Being young and curious, I went inside." She took a moment before she continued." After looking around for some time, I grew bored and left. I walked over a patch of grass and everything went dark. I had wandered about for a while until I came to an exit. I climbed up and out and was later found by my lusus who scolded me for being so careless." She chuckled remembering how her lusus had fretted over her until she was satisfied and knew that the young troll was safe
Returning her focus back to the present, Astris walked to the door and stuck her head out. Closing her eyes, she focused on the noise that had been coming from deeper within the bunker. It definitely wasn't a walker. "It's the highblood. He's scared and injured," She says to herself, eyes still closed. "He may have gone so long without contact from another troll that he doesn't know how to react to another troll trying to help him." Pulling herself back into the room, she gave Alpheus a determined look. "We need to help him. Otherwise, infected or not, he will die."
Alpheus knew he should have been listening to everything that Astris said, yet he was too absorbed in his memories to have even noticed that the she-troll was speaking. As she spoke, Alpheus was transported back in time within his own memories to when he was a grub. Picked up by the custodian that cared for him and then his pale-bro who would convince him to pursue some form of artistic career. But... all of that was gone, his former life. Crumbled to the ground and spat on. He sighed, shaking himself free of his thoughts. The here and now was what mattered, not back then. "Yes, you're right, Astris. Forgive me." He murmured softly.
The darker green-blooded troll's gaze softened as she placed her hand on his shoulder. Under her touch, Alpheus tensed. He didn't mean to. It reminded him of when she tried to, and succeeded at, cheering him up. "It's alright, Alpheus. There's no need to apologize." She smiled. She didn't know why, but something made her feel uneasy when they both entered the bunker. Perhaps it was memories of the time when she was temporarily trapped in a similar bunker that came flooding back. Astris didn't want to voice her concerns just yet. Something about this place seemed off. She turned around and started walking down the hall in the direction of the sound.
The lime-blooded male followed behind. He shivered as he shadowed Astris' movements, the further they walked, the harder it got to breathe. That feeling... that premonition that something was terribly wrong made him feel sick. Another sorrow filled howl made its way to the two troll's ears. Astris' whole body stiffened at the sound, her eyes stinging as she fought back her own sorrowful cry. Clenching her free hand into a fist and tightening her grip on her scythe, she walks faster. Her pace went to a jog and then a full on sprint. Some part of her wanted to run as fast as she could in the other direction, while the rest of her wanted to run to the source of the cries and help. She kept running, turning around corners, and leaping over debris, all the while ignoring the dull pain that was starting to grow in intensity in the back of her head.
Holy Shit! When Astris wants to get going, she is gone! Alpheus stood there, mouth gaping and wondering how he could possibly keep up with her as she disappeared around a corner. He started to move, walking faster and faster as he followed the same path that Astris had. It took him a full two minutes to break into a jog then a sprint as he struggled to keep up with the she-troll as she leapt and slid over obstacles that blocked her path. Once or twice she ran into debris that she couldn't go over and had to squeeze herself through a fairly large crevice between the wall and debris allowing her companion to catch up. Skidding to a stop in the middle of a larger area, possibly a room, that had a few walls collapsed exposing fresh soil and dirt, she looked around.
She flipped and rolled over small mounds of rock and timber and squeezed through the occasional crevice, and it took him a good two minutes before he broke out into a jog, then a quick dash. Nowhere as quick as Astris, of course, but he made sure to stay behind her enough to catch the faint outline of her footwear on the beam of his flashlight. "W-wait up, I can't move-" He stopped mid-sentence, not having enough time to slow down to notice that she had suddenly stopped. He crashed into her, automatically wrapping his arms over her shoulders, steadying her balance so she wouldn't fall. "S-sorry," he whispered, quickly removing his grasp, a faint green tint colored his cheeks.
The sudden impact of Alpheus running into her caused her to let out a tiny squeak. Astris quickly covered her mouth to keep herself from snapping at the male troll in annoyance as a deep green blush started to color her normally gray cheeks. "I-it's alright..." Damnit why didn't she notice how close behind he was? Her blood still pounded in her ears and she had a headache from her running and the impact from her hitting a wall earlier. Her hand went up to feel the area that held the most pain for her. Alpheus glanced at her, noting the movement. It must hurt worse than it seemed before. Astris' gaze went up and swept along the surface of the wall in front of them.
Three differently colored figures were painted on the surface along with several minor looking figures. The main three figures, blue(possibly the dead blue-blood at the entrance), an indigo colored one(the highblood.) and a black charcoal colored figure(Possibly unknown). The figures seemed to play out in different event scenes, one scene showed something similar to the highblood and the blue-blood traveling together for a time. The drawings on the wall, not an unusual trait for most high/indigo-blooded trolls, must have been his way of reminding himself of what happened and what must have caused him to slowly lose his sanity. She stepped forward and placed her hand on the wall and traced the scenes with her fingers. She opened her mouth to ask him about the pictures when something caused her to turn and look to the corner of the room not too far from her.
Cowering in the corner, hidden by some debris and the thick inky shadows was the Highblooded troll, crying and murmuring to himself. Shining her flashlight into the dark, she lit up his head and shoulders. The indigo-blooded male looked up suddenly to the source of light and shrunk back. Seeing him now, Astris felt even sorrier for him. His clothes were bloodied and torn, both his blood along with the same dark blue that belonged to the dead troll at the ladder.
Astris turned her head and looked at Alpheus, keeping her light fixed on the highblood. The lime-blood flexed his grip on the hilt of his cleaver, alert for any indication that the indigo-blood would attack. "Alpheus put down your cleaver, not too far away that you won't be able to reach it, but far enough away so that he won't feel threatened by it." As she spoke, Astris lowered her scythe to the ground and pulled her knife from its sheathe and placed it alongside the larger weapon. She used her outstretched hand to push the two bladed weapons a foot or two away and settled into a cross legged position, keeping her eyes and light trained on the troll in front of her. If he was infected or insane, he would have gone after her first and not cower away like he was.