Chapter 80: Delve 2

 

Sunday, April 30th, 11:31 AM

Yellowstone Dungeon

 

[Humans took cubs.] Ara glared at the men. She loomed with eyes full of loathing and punishment, like a mountain of claws, teeth, muscle and certain death.

“Y-yes… they’re… deeper in the Dungeon. I think.” The bearded man, Owen, wrung his hands and shook with fear in the puddle of his own piss.

[Show. Now.] Ara slammed a massive paw against the metal grate. The force of her blow folded it in half and sent it clattering down the previously-blocked hallway.

Marcus shrieked and Ara’s head whipped in his direction.

[Show cubs or die.] The bear growled.

Shouts about spiders and the sharp ring of picks against stone carried to the group as miners who’d been rushing to discover the source of the commotion ran into a series of sticky silk traps that Nita had laid at Siobhán’s request.

Nita returned to hanging around Siobhán’s neck. Marcus and Owen shivered as they eyed the huge spider resting against her chest.

“Are you part of the One World Order?” Joe asked them.

Owen and Marcus opened their mouths to answer, but chorus of yelling and shouts increased from the entrance area. They seemed hesitant to answer.

Joe waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. We’ll figure that out once we get some distance between us and them. Lead us in.”

[Take Ara to cubs.] The bear stepped closer.

Marcus and Owen bowed and scraped before Ara, then hurried along the passage ahead. The stench of their piss tainted the musty air with its acrid tang.

“This place isn’t clean like Ciara’s Dungeon. Strange. Maybe it’s different somehow,” Joe mused while he followed the hulking form of Ara with Sunny and Sandy.

“Probably,” said Joy. “There’s a different feel here, so maybe there are other varieties of Dungeons. Did you notice they weren’t healing until you helped them?” She pointed at their guides.

“Yeah. Bella and Duke’s wounds weren’t improving, either,” Joe replied.

Marcus stopped ahead of Ara and turned to face Joe. “Uh. There’s a spike tra—”

Ara huffed.

CLICK

SCHLINK

“Hyuk—” Marcus gurgled.

“Marcus!” Owen screamed.

Joy and Siobhán covered their mouths to stifle shrieks that spoke of surprise and horror.

Marcus’ words had been cut off when Ara nudged him along with her paw, and he was impaled by a series of spikes that stabbed into the passage from the right. Two rough, rust-dusted lengths of steel had pierced all the way through his head, and another half dozen through his torso. Marcus slumped in place, kept standing by the metal spikes that ran him through.

Joe felt Siobhán’s fear and anxiety as he rushed past Ara and yanked the man off the trap. But Joe’s healing wouldn’t take. Marcus had died instantly.

When the spikes pulled away to retract into the wall, Joe repositioned and slammed himself against all of them from the side, bending every one of the two dozen lengths of metal far enough that none could reset.

Siobhán’s discomfort increased and Joe clenched his teeth when he felt her double over to empty her stomach. Joy and Owen did the same.

[Weak humans,] Ara rumbled.

It drained some of Siobhán’s mana each time she established their connection, so Joe made himself weather that storm.

The flavor was the worst part.

His first few combat experiences had been difficult as well. By comparison, though she’d already been through some nasty experiences, Siobhán was still relatively new to so much violence and death. In the midst of her retching, Joe did his best to send feelings of comfort and understanding.

Appreciation and embarrassment flooded to him along their bond.

After she was done, Joe waited for her to take a sip from the water bottle in her pack to clean her mouth, then hugged her.

No words were necessary as his determination to be supportive reached Siobhán. She hugged him back, and they both hugged Joy, who stiffened.

“It’s okay,” said Joe. “Everyone loses it the first few times they see shit like this.”

“Even you?” Joy asked.

Joe locked eyes with her. “Everyone.”

Joy nodded, but she still looked uncomfortable.

Marcus’ body disappeared as the Dungeon absorbed it.

After healing a few scratches on his arm, Joe rested his hand against the bear’s shoulder and said, “Ara, I know you’re angry,” He pointed at Owen. “But we need this man to help us get to your cubs without dying. Don’t force him along, or he will die too, and the we’ll all start dying. Okay?”

[Understand.] The bear growled. She was still pissed off. A fact she punctuated by slamming her paw against some of the spikes, bending them even further than Joe had.

Owen stammered, “I… um—there are a lot of traps.”

“Do you know where they are?” Joe asked.

“Most of them. I think.” Owen nodded as his body shook. “Everyone keeps dying…”

Joy said, “That’s why we’re here, Owen. We’re trying to keep people alive.”

“How are you controlling the bear?” Owen asked.

[No humans control Ara,] Ara said flatly.

Joe knew that was untrue since Siobhán had named the bear, but he also knew she wouldn’t force Ara to do anything unless it made sense. She’d had no time to stop Ara from shoving Marcus into the trap and nobody knew he was going to die until it was too late, so there wasn’t anything that could be done.

“Ara’s a friend,” Siobhán said after taking another drink of water.

Joe added, “The bear is a Dungeon resident, so don’t piss her off.”

“Fuck…” Owen hissed the word out. He lingered on the F, and his K was percussive as he slumped to his knees, staring wide-eyed at Ara.

Siobhán said, “Yeah. Don’t piss her off, because she’ll come back to haunt you. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that it’s a really bad idea to piss off a mama bear.”

Ara chuffed and rubbed herself against Siobhán, causing the brunette to stumble before she regained her balance.

Owen stood, then lowered his eyes. “If she’s a resident, then… does that mean Alex is with you? Are you part of the Order?”

Joy stepped forward as Joe was about to speak. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed Owen’s chin, then pushed it up gently until he met her eyes.

“Are you part of the One World Order?” Joy asked.

“I… I will be once I’m—allowed to join.” Owen said stiffly.

[Human smell like untruth,] said Sandy.

[Lies not good,] Sunny added.

Bella and Duke boofed, then said in unison, [Alphas speak right.]

Cocking her head to one side but keeping her eyes locked on Owen’s, Joy asked, “Are you being forced to join the One World Order?”

“No! Of course not! I’ve always believed in the Order since they arrived!” Owen was sweating.

[More untruths,] all four dogs said in unison.

Joe nodded and clapped Owen on the shoulder and the smaller man jumped in surprise. His eyes were filled with terror.

“Good. We’re not with those bastard traitors, either.” Joe sighed. “If he was also forced to be here, then I’m sorry about Marcus. I’m Gunnery Sergeant Joe Schimpf. United States Marine Corps.”

“The military’s here to help us?” Owen choked as the tension in his face gave way to a wrinkled forehead and a deep frown.

“We are,” said Joe.

Joe was slammed by a tsunami of guilt through his connection with Siobhán as she fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

As she sniffled and began to sob, Joe asked, “What’s wrong, hon?”

“I…” Siobhán choked on her words and wailed as she fell onto her side.

Joe ran to her and picked her up.

[Human friend sad for dead man,] said Ara.

Shit.

“You didn’t know what was going to happen,” Joe said softly.

“But I could’ve…”

“You didn’t do it, Siobhán.” Joe kissed her forehead.

[Ara killed,] the bear stood to look at Siobhán in Joe’s arms, then shrugged down at her. [No reason for sad.]

Siobhán cried for almost a half hour despite Ara’s words, as Owen helped Joe identify and disable four more traps. Three of them had spikes like the first, but the last was a deadfall. Joe caught the stone, and broke it apart with Ara’s help. Then he hauled it back through the tunnel with Joy to clear their path.

“You okay, hon?” Joe asked Siobhán once she’d calmed.

Siobhán shook her head. “Marcus was killed, and he wasn’t our enemy… I could’ve told Ara to be more careful, but I didn’t. I—”

Owen cut her off, “You did the best you could with the information you had.”

Joe raised an eyebrow at Owen.

“We’ve all fucked up in some way since the bombs fell. Me and Marcus killed… a whole family by accident, while we were trying to keep those One World Order pricks out of West Yellowstone a few weeks ago.”

“How’d you do that?” Joe asked.

Owen looked down. “We… lit the wrong house on fire.”

Siobhán sniffled. “That’s—”

“Unforgivable,” Owen muttered, clenching his fists. “Five preteen boys and two couples, dead because of me. We were caught, too,” he continued bitterly. “Bastards from the Order were on their way to do the job themselves. They patted us on the back and made us probationary members. Stuck us on guard duty. After a week, we ended up down here.”

Owen leaned back against the wall of the passage. Silence hung heavy in the air for a moment, aside from the distant sound of picks against stone and Ara’s heavy breathing. “We could’ve fought back, but instead, we protected ourselves. Nine people are dead because of these hands, yet here I stand.”

“They can’t be brought back, so the bad news is—you’ll carry that guilt forever. But you can do something for the living,” said Joe as he motioned for the group to continue along the darkening passage as it wound downward.

“Like what? What can I ever do for having murdered people? Innocent people… an entire family. Three generations are gone because of me. Five of them were children, and I had to stand there and listen to their screams with those One World Order bastards, who smiled at the sound.”

Owen’s face twisted into an anguished scowl.

“How can anyone enjoy killing people?” Owen whispered.

Joe replied, “It’s easier than you think to dehumanize and condemn others blindly in the name of an ideology. Look at human history—at the atrocities we’ve committed.”

Owen said, “There’s never been anything like—”

“Yes, there has. Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Leopold the 2nd, Pol Pot—they and others spearheaded horrific genocides and mass killings that killed millions. The worst part—and the reason tyrants like them were able to kill so many—is that they had the support and backing of a large enough percentage of their own people to make their heinous acts possible.”

Owen breathed heavily as he listened in silence.

“People can be brainwashed far enough that they’ll attack others based on belief alone. And it’s happened many times. Now, it’s happening again with this One World Order.”

“Bastards,” Owen spat.

“They’re just another savage group in a long list. People who live through horrific times like these usually don’t see them coming. We like to think that it can’t happen here, or it can’t happen again. But it does—almost always after the majority of a population believes that it’s impossible.”

Owen’s eyes widened. “People let their guard down…”

“Exactly. Any time we think we’re safe and we stop guarding against any type of possible danger—is the best time for someone to turn that danger into reality.”

“Fuck.” Owen shook his head.

“It happens often on a human timescale. Just—this time, our survival hangs in the balance.”

“I did not think I’d be having this kind of discussion with a marine,” Owen blew a snort through his sizable nose, ruffling his mustache.

“That’s what surprises you? Not his healing magic?” Joy chuckled.

Everyone laughed until—

CLICK

SCHLINK

Joe was right behind Owen, and he managed to slam his hand forward to deflect one of the spears that would have run through his skull. That left one that pierced the man’s neck and another that ran between his upper and lower jaw, forcing chunks of teeth out through the exit wound.

Owen made a gurgling sound as Joe pulled him to the left and off the spears, arranged in the same manner as the first trap.

This time, Joe’s healing magic was effective.

Once he’d healed up, Owen shuddered. “Fucking hell…”

“Hey, you got your teeth back,” Joy mused while obviously ignoring the blood and teeth on the floor of the passageway.

“The traps are a pain in my ass,” Joe said. “But I’m curious why we haven’t encountered any minions?”

“They’re at the bottom floor. All of them—guarding something.”

Joe sighed. “Well, that’s one way to make things annoying. What kind of minions are there?”

Owen listed off a few animal types. Mostly bears, cougars, bison, elk, and rattlesnakes—though there were also rumors of yellowjackets and scorpions.

“That’s fucked. Time to suit-up.” Joe retrieved the enchanted riot gear Mike had fashioned using their enemy’s attire as a rough template.

The armor went on smoothly over clothing, and Joe pulled out one of the original suits for Owen, who scoffed. “I don’t wanna wear anything that makes me look like one of them.”

“You prefer getting bitten and stung?” Siobhán raised an eyebrow.

“Fuck…” Owen winced, then started donning the suit Joe handed him.

“These suits won’t do shit against blunt trauma from the bigger animals, so don’t count on them for that. But sharp objects will have a hell of a time punching through,” Joe said through his helmet’s open visor.

“I just wish we had a way to slip past their damned traps and—” Owen paused and blinked a few times before he glowed.

<Owen Abrahms: Trapmaster -F->

“Now, that’s handy.” Joe smirked at Owen.

“What is?” Owen furrowed his brow.

“Your class,” said Siobhán.

“How does a Trapmaster deal with traps?” asked Joy.

“Uh, how is it that you all seem to know what I just got?” Owen raised his eyebrows.

“Stare at each of us for a moment and tell me what you see,” said Joe.

“Son of a bitch… D-Rank?” Owen shuddered. “No wonder the dogs are so strong.”

[Mommy’s girls are strong!] Sunny held her head high.

Sandy glared at her sister while Duke laid down and huffed.

 

---

 

Owen couldn’t believe his luck. Although he’d lost his new friend Marcus, that death was hardly the first he’d seen.

I’m growing numb to everything. Good. That’ll make things easier. And worse.

Owen furrowed his brow and watched for traps.

If we survive, I’m gonna end up with PTSD like my dad. War is awful. Oh!

A foreboding red glow hovered in the air around ten meters in front of Owen.

He called out, “Trap ahead. Not sure what kind, but I’ll stop just before we reach it.”

“Okay,” said Joe.

The big marine looked annoyed after he had to hold up a deadfall on his own when Owen got too close.

“Shit,” Owen said. “The trigger area is larger than what I could see.”

 

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Floors: 9

Minions: 897/1260

Residents: 15/28

Denizens: 8.43M

Traps: 25/45