Chapter 5: A New Beginning.

SWOOOOSH

The door leading to Aloy's room opened. Revealing a rather restless redhead who has been anxious to get back out there and continue her search for possible ways to stop nemesis, in favor of possible information from the Blonde who has become accustomed to the base.

"Have you seen Amelia?" Aloy asked hurriedly to Beta who was at her usual place, standing in front of the kitchen, staring absentmindedly at whatever file she was going through.

"Apologies Aloy. She left came upstairs a while ago for an empty mug and went back down downstairs." Beta turned off her holo to look at Aloy who was finishing the last of her braids. "I am assuming that she may have found one of the hidden rooms this place has."

"GAIA."

"Greetings Aloy."

"Do you know where Amelia is?"

"Amelia is currently located at the hidden vault you found with the data points from the personnel stationed at this base. Though it seems she is starting to make her way up."

Huh… Aloy promptly started to make her way down without a rush. In the past few days Amelia has been building her strength to walk again. Not quite ready to set a foot on the outside world yet. However, she was curious on how and why was Amelia all the way down to such room.

She was about to reach the server room when the door opened unexpectedly causing her to trip forward, smashing her forehead against the Blonde woman standing on the other side.

THUD

"OOOOF!"

"OUCH!"

Amelia hissed, pressing a hand against her face. "I am aware that you have to monitor me but isn't this too much?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Heh, do not worry! Now I know what Beta means by you being a knucklehead sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Aloy stopped rubbing her head and stared at the blonde-haired woman rather angry.

"Uh, Nothing! Do not worry." She tried to avoid the hunter's gaze. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"What where you doing all the way down there?" Aloy's curiosity took the best of her as she took a glance past the woman in front of her to the door that led to the room.

"Well, If I am going to stay here I wanted to see if I could find a room I could take as my own." Amelia proceeded to cross her arms deep in thought. "I found the room downstairs but it feels like a pain in the ass to get all the way down and up if I wanted to leave or get something to eat."

"I see…" Aloy had to suppress the sudden feeling of uneasiness of having another person "join" the group. The fact that the road she has to take is bound to be lethal. having the responsibility of another life on her shoulders was starting to overwhelm her. "There is a room next to mine that we are using as a Data center. No one is sleeping there at it connects to the main structure." Aloy turned around to the stairs to lead the way. "You can take that area."

"Hmmm… I think I remember that room." Amelia chose to follow as both started their way back to the main floor.

"Otherwise…" Aloy continued. "You may take the Agro lab. It is not as big but it is cozy enough with the plants." Aloy gestured as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Ah, there you are!" Beta called the two women out as she finished taking notes.

"Hi Beta!" Amelia went ahead. "Thanks for the clothes by the way."

"Oh, no worries. I have plenty of spare clothes considering the fact that they are all the same."

Amelia had reached out to Beta earlier that day because the clothes she had on her original backpack were running low and she needed a clean change of clothes while she figured out on how to get her old ones cleaned. Between wearing what looked like an uncomfortable amount of leather or the clothes she usually wore, going to Beta seemed like the better choice.

"Now I know why I thought you were wearing familiar clothes." Aloy walked past them towards the kitchen form something to drink. "Although, I believe that those clothes are a little small for you are they not?"

"True." Amelia had to suppress an embarrassed blush. "The only clothes I have are the ones on my backpack. I doubt that my house survived the apocalypse in order for us to locate it."

"Hmmm… Doubtful." Chimed Aloy.

"Why do you say that?" Beta continued, curious at the topic at hand.

"Oh, my house has been with my family since my great grandfather who was born on the 1950's. Back then, a lot of folks had built bunkers under their houses afraid of a Nuclear exchange between the US and Russia." Amelia walked into the round room, taking a seat closer to Beta who was listening closely now. "Eventually, the bunker was slowly changed into a living room and then an entertainment room."

"What are you talking about?" Beta exclaimed, concerned at the words shared by the blonde woman. Nuclear exchange? Bunkers? What may have happened before the claw back to get people to build bunkers en masse?

"Ah, apologies. I guess you do not know that part of history?"

"No, we didn't." Replied Beta. "There is still a lot of information that we need to share with you about what happened."

"I see. My fa… I mean, before the swarm hit the Western Seaboard, I moved a lot of our stuff into the bunker for safekeeping. It was also pretty deep underground so, what is the possibility it's still intact?"

It was at this point, where Aloy perked her ears up to the conversation. The sudden attention didn't go unnoticed by Amelia. "I have been into various bunkers, including this one. As you can see, like this place, they were not immune to the pass of time." Aloy put her cup down looking intently at Amelia. It was hard to contain herself at the realization that she might be able to get into a treasure cove of information and have the time to go through it.

"Hmmm…" Beta chimed in. "The only bunker that has been intact would've been Ted Faro's but it got destroyed."

"Wait a minute. YOU found Ted Faro's bunker?" Amelia stood up so fast that she made herself dizzy and flopped back into her chair. "How was it? WHERE was it?"

Annoyed at the seemingly excited woman, Aloy scoffed and struggled to smash her hand against the kitchen island. "A testament to greed and everything that is wrong with Humanity."

Beta, sensing the sudden change in mood between both women, decided to interrupt the conversation. "The bunker was located in San Diego, though I don't remember where it was located exactly."

"Which brings me to my next question." Beta smiled as she sat in from of Amelia. "What kind of name is Amelia? I've never heard something like that before. Though granted, some names found on the tribes around us are rather curious."

"It is a Spanish name." Amelia replied with the same smile. "My mother was from Mexico but my father was from here."

"Spanish? Do you mean that you…"

"Si, puedo hablar Español."

Amelia's smile faded almost instantly at the shocked faces coming from both girls. The sudden realization that she spoke a different language was huge to them. Aloy immediately dropped everything and rushed to Amelia's side.

"Aloy, do you know what this means?" Beta snapped back to reality and turned to Aloy. "You will be able to go through any log you find in Spanish!"

"what you said before…" Aloy leaned closer to Amelia, to the point where she could feel the breath coming from the redhead. "What does it mean?"

Amelia immediately tried to make some space between her and Aloy, fighting the blush tinging her cheeks. "Uh…" She swallowed. "It means I can speak Spanish."

"Say it again!" Aloy fixed her posture but her eyes never left Amelia.

Amelia chuckled at the curiosity radiating from the woman beside her. "Puedo hablar Español."

"Phuuehdo hablahr spaniool?" Aloy repeated, trying her best to copy Amelia's pronunciation who chuckled at the rather cute expression coming from Aloy.

"Close enough." She intervened, saving Aloy from her embarrassment. "Do not worry! I don't expect you to pick up on another language overnight."

"Say something else!" Aloy interrupted Amelia. "I wanna hear more!" Amelia simply nodded at the request. It was hard to deny anything to a smiling Aloy.

"Uhm… Oh I know." Amelia returned the stare back to Aloy.

"Me encanta el color de tus ojos."