Chapter 8: New Home

"I like your enthusiasm. I really do. Let's just hope it won't get you killed. You see, the problem is that I'm the one holding the gun here. I'm the one giving commands, and good puns." He chuckles and pats my face through the gas mask.

We travel in silence for hours. They kill dogs and other frightfully deformed aggressive creatures, even something that was probably once a pig. Stepping over them and eventually arrive at a huge building with at least a dozen factory smokestacks at first glance. It seems to be in very poor condition, but surprisingly it still stands. Surprised to see a reinforced barbed fence standing around it, with watchtowers here and there.

"Gentlemen! Welcome to base Arkadios! Please enjoy your stay. You'll be here for a while." Ivan spreads his arms wide and pokes my head with the barrel of his rifle. "Get excited, kid, you'll spend the rest of your life here. Working. Isn't that fun?"

"I am excited." I say.

He remains silent, then slams his rifle onto his shoulder and waves at everyone to follow him. "Good. You better be. Chop chop, now! Hard work awaits!"

"Open sesame!" he says, and a guard pulls the fence open. It looks like a huge property with more than enough space, and a couple of other buildings here and there. I walk down the dirty narrow stone path to the factory entrance and notice a greenhouse on the other side of the property. It draws a smile to my face to see a greenhouse surrounded by demolition and dead wildlife.

On the other side of the greenhouse, I see dark smoke clouds emerging from a couple of small smokestacks, leading to a smaller but heavily reinforced building.

He opens the rusty factory door, and walk in directly into a chamber. As soon I entered, I hear a loud buzzing, and get sprayed with something yellow. "Decontamination chamber, kiddo. Are you scared?" He laughs, but I shrug his comment off.

"Now comes my favourite part. Lookie, lookie!" he continues as the air gets sucked out of the chamber with such force I had to hold my ground. "Ha! Wasn't that amazing?" He slaps me hard on the back. "Onwards!" He points with his rifle and steps out of the chamber.

As I step outside, Kavi and Spike motions me to stop, and they walk next to one another. I glance behind him and notice that this wide-open place is the living room.

"And I was eager to leave the bunker." Bradley looks around.

"We can go back, but you'll handle the rations." Abbie crosses her arms.

"All right, lads. This is your new home now." Ivan spreads his arms wide. "This is the living room. Behind that closed door are the small living chambers to the left and right. After that is the kitchen and yada yada. But that doesn't concern you. What should is, that after those is the basement, as in your new home! Yay! Get excited, because that's where we'll keep you. That means you'll get to spend a long time there. Your work will vary, but we'll get to that tomorrow." He chuckles and takes the gas mask off.