Chapter 81: Delve 3

Sunday, April 30th, 12:54 PM

Yellowstone Dungeon

Two more traps injured Owen before he understood what his skill was telling him. Both times he was healed by Joe, and he marveled that even the damage smoking had done to his voice and a twelve-year-old rollerblading injury in his right knee were erased.

With newfound knowledge of how close he could get to traps without setting them off and the help of Joe and Joy, who carried chunks of stone from previous deadfall traps to toss onto pressure plates, the group proceeded downward.

They passed through the initial mining tunnels into a dark swamp where the only danger was rocks covered with slimy moss. There were several injuries, but Joe dealt with those and the floor did little to slow their progress.

The third floor was a basic coniferous forest with inadequate lighting. The trees were browning and sickly as a result, and the air reeked of decay. Owen found a breakaway spike trap at the first choke-point they encountered, and Joe lowered himself into the rectangular pit before tearing all the wooden spikes out and tossing them behind the group. Afterward, he carried everyone across, even Ara.

[Strong human…] Ara blinked at Joe—her deep voice colored with astonishment.

When they passed the third spike pit, Ara stopped and sniffed heavily at the air. [Cubs!]

“Ara, wait!” Siobhán yelled. “There could be more spike pits!”

[Ara knows!] The grizzly bear mother accelerated away much faster than a creature her size should be able to. Sunny and Sandy bolted after her, and the other two dogs followed the Labs.

“Shit. Follow them, and keep to their tracks,” said Joe as he ran after Ara and the dogs.

They were here, and they were alive. But something was wrong. Ara could smell her cubs, but there was fear, fury, and despair in their scent. There was a reek of humans in here as well. Humans who had harmed her babies.

Ara will tear them to pieces!

The scent wafted through another of the narrow passages that held spikes. Ara’s sensitive snout caught a whiff of the pit ahead.

[Wait, Ara!] The friendly voice of one female dog reached her.

After considering what could happen if she fell in, Ara came to a halt.

The dogs gathered beside Ara. They were small compared to her, but all four of them smelled of solidarity and loyalty. Their slow-blinks, relaxed posture, and wagging tails were reassuring. Dogs were almost like bear cubs, in a way.

[Find trap, first.] One of the yellow dogs grew in size as she padded carefully forward. Her transformation shocked Ara.

[How bigger?] Ara growled in surprise.

[Magic!] The dog replied.

The spike pit’s false floor fell away, and the dog stopped. This trap wasn’t very long.

[We jump,] said the other yellow dog as the first returned.

One at a time, the dogs leaped over the pit, and Ara followed suit. Rather than leaping as the dogs had, Ara sailed across the gap with her momentum and pulled herself up the other side.

The scent of her cubs was closer, along with the scent of humans.

[Sunny hears voices.]

[Sandy too. Humans.]

The dogs’ ears stood up, and Ara listened. At first, she heard nothing… until a pained cry from one of her two cubs reached Ara’s ears and she charged forward, baring her teeth.

Someone was harming her babies, and whoever it was deserved death.

Around Ara, the dogs kept pace.

[We help,] said the yellow dog called Sunny.

[Ara is friend.] The black and white dog was the smallest, but her courage impressed Ara.

The crying of her cub became louder as they passed between dying trees, and a pair of metal cages came into view, with four humans nearby. One human poked something at one of her cubs through the bars, causing her baby to squeal in pain, and Ara saw red.

Both yellow dogs accelerated away from Ara, reaching a speed nearly twice what she could manage. They were followed by the other two dogs, who did their best but failed to match the yellow ones. By the time the humans realized the animals were approaching, the yellow dogs were upon them. Two human men were knocked back but they couldn’t scream when their bodies sailed through the air, because their throats had been torn out.

One of the remaining humans aimed a loud-stick at the yellow dogs and a sharp crack sounded, followed by a yelp. But that didn’t stop the dog that had been hurt as they rounded on the two who remained and knocked their legs out from under them. There were brief screams, followed by an instant of choking, and then—silence.

Ara arrived to find all four dogs checking to make sure the humans were dead. She liked these animals. They showed correct behavior for when cubs were in danger. More importantly, they had protected Ara’s cubs.

When Ara raised her right paw to smash at the cage holding her whimpering cub, the injured yellow dog rushed over despite a limp.

[Wait for humans.] She whined.

The other yellow dog joined. [Free cubs safely.]

[Smash!] Ara growled.

[If smash, hurt cubs,] The first yellow dog warned, favoring her left front leg.

All four of the dogs smelled protective and supportive. None of them showed a hint of aggression toward Ara or her cubs.

Ara’s rage quieted. The evil humans were dead as they should be, and her cubs were still alive. The last thing she wanted was to cause any harm to her precious babies. If the good humans could help without hurting her cubs, then no matter how much she disliked the idea, that was best.

Both cubs were alive, but both lay on their sides and one seemed to be unconscious. The other whimpered and its voice was ragged.

The humans arrived soon after, and Ara watched in fascination as the big one who had carried her across the pit used his strange, clawless paws to break something small on each metal cage. Then he took coverings off his paws and opened the cage doors.

He was about to stick his paws in with one of her cubs, and Ara growled.

“I can heal them,” the human said. “I am not going to hurt your cubs, Ara.”

The idea of a human touching her babies made her furious, but he was smart enough to listen to her growl. And then he asked her permission. This human wasn’t stupid. Still, he was a human, and Ara didn’t trust him fully.

[Ara is watching,] she warned, still growling.

“It’s okay, Ara. Joe won’t hurt your babies,” said Siobhán, the small human who had bonded her. Ara felt trust from that one, and love as well—almost as strong as Ara’s love for her cubs.

[Ara will allow.] She backed away two steps but kept her eyes on Joe, the big human.

“Okay. I will help so they can come out on their own. They will glow with light and that will heal them.”

Joe moved slowly, and brushed the tips of his human paw against the fur of her whimpering cub. Golden light shone around her baby, and a moment later it stood up. After spotting Ara, her cub dashed out from the cage and hid beneath her, cowering away from the dogs and humans.

All the humans and dogs except for Joe took a few steps back, as was proper.

Joe moved to the other cage and brushed his paw against the side of her second cub, who darted to Ara’s side a moment later.

Dried blood matted her cubs’ fur, especially on their faces, snouts, and paws. But they were lively, and she chuffed in a comforting fashion.

The human Joe backed away as well, giving Ara and her cubs space as he joined the others.

“Don’t touch the rifle,” said Joe.

“Shouldn’t we—” Owen began.

Joe cut him off, “You want to pick a weapon up in front of a mother grizzly who was just reunited with her cubs—after they were tortured?”

“Ah.” Owen’s brow wrinkled with understanding and he looked down. “Good point.”

Siobhán said, “Just give Ara a moment with her babies. We still need to help get them out of here.”

Joe added, “We can’t take Ara up to the entrance. There are thousands of people, and some of them are bound to be armed. If they see a bear, what do you think they’ll do?”

“Damn. How else are we supposed to get out of here?” Owen asked.

Joy answered him, “Our only option is to continue on, and take this place over. If we have control of the core, we should be able to dig our way out.”

The picnic table near the cages held some kind of chemistry set on it, and Joy was rifling through the vials.

Siobhán said, “That might work. But we need to let Ara keep her cubs safe. They should wait here in the forest while we—”

“What the hell were these guys doing?” Joy blurted out, holding up a vial of what looked like blood alongside another that had turned black.

Joe picked up a metal pole dropped by the man who’d been poking at the bear cub. There was a thick-needled syringe attached to one end with an extension that allowed the plunger to be manipulated from a distance. It was half-filled with blood.

Ara growled at the sight of it and Joe bent the pole in half before throwing it away. Her growling stopped.

Owen said, “There were scientists and researchers sent down to a few different floors, but we were never told what they were doing. All their equipment was in duffel bags and hard cases. They hadn’t come out for a few days, so we assumed they might have died.”

Joy pointed around the picnic table. The area was littered with empty water bottles, wrappers from energy bars, and packages of jerky.

“This Dungeon doesn’t clean anything,” Joy mused, sounding bitter.

[Food smell,] said Ara. The mother bear trundled toward the cavern wall behind some trees with her cubs at her heels.

There was a smashing sound, and the bears came back out, each bearing plastic packets full of turkey and beef jerkies.

[Cubs hungry,] Ara stated flatly as she dropped a mouthful of jerky packets at Joe’s feet.

“Okay.” Joe smiled and kneeled to rip the packets open, then dumped their contents on top of one that was empty.

The bear cubs stared longingly at the fragrant dried meat but seemed wary of Joe.

Joe started to step back, but Ara spoke.

[No. Cubs learn trust.] The mother bear moved forward with a huff.

When she arrived by Joe, Ara made soft vocalizations and her cubs trotted to her, still eyeing Joe fearfully.

[Human sit,] Ara commanded.

You gotta be shittin’ me.

Joe shrugged when he felt Siobhán’s encouragement through their bond, and he sat, then extended a hand as he would for a dog.

Ara came forward first, then licked Joe’s hand with her warm, massive tongue while making the same soft vocal noises. After a few seconds, her cubs followed suit.

That didn’t last long, as there was still a sizable pile of jerky, and the cubs returned their attention to the food. While they ate, Ara trotted back to where she’d acquired the jerky and returned with another mouthful of packets, which she dumped on Joe’s lap.

With a grin, Joe opened those as well.

When the cubs had eaten their fill, Ara lapped up a few morsels for herself and then glanced at Sandy, Sunny, Bella, and Duke, who sat with Joy and Siobhán. [Dogs hungry?] she asked.

[Joe has food,] said Sunny.

[We is okay,] Sandy added.

The other dogs remained silent.

With a huff, Ara lapped up the remaining morsels with her enormous tongue.

Joe checked where she had found the food and discovered a stockpile of water bottles on a higher shelf inside what must have been a hidden cabinet shaped into the cavern’s wall. He brought the bottles out and emptied twelve of them to give all three bears a drink. Three bear tongues lapped at his hands again, and Joe resisted the urge to chuckle as they tickled his skin.

After the Labrador-sized bear cubs curled up with their mother, Joe washed his hands and put his gloves back on. Then he roused the others, “Let’s move out.”

The next floor was a surprise for Siobhán.

Ahead lay a roughly-squarish hallway with numerous doors to either side. Dim, cool lights were set into the ceiling. It looked like what might happen if Tim Burton made a 1960s hospital for an apocalyptic movie set.

“Ah,” Owen whispered. “We heard there was a human experimentation level in this place, and they took hundreds of prisoners down. But none of those people ever came out with the guards. This could be it.”

What the fuck is wrong with these people? Siobhán seethed.

“Shit,” Joe muttered. “We need to get to the bottom of the Dungeon first. Then we can see about dealing with hundreds of people.”

[Smells like afraid.] Bella cowered as she stopped beside Siobhán.

Siobhán scritched Bella’s ruff and patted her flank.

[Human blood. Lots.] Duke squinted next to Bella.

Sandy and Sunny said similar things as they stepped in from behind.

“Okay,” Joe said. “Let’s pass through this place. Owen, you’re with me. Siobhán and Joy behind us, and the dogs in the rear.”

Joe stared at them. “If any of you hear people coming, run up beside me but don’t speak. We want to get through here quietly.”

Siobhán nodded her assent with everyone else.

As Joe and Owen reached a junction where another, nearly-identical hallway crossed the first, a hawkish female voice carried along the hallway from the left. “Damn residents… Alex said you were supposed to—” The sound of heels clicked toward them. “You idiots—you’ll contaminate everything! Animal experiments are on floor two. Get those filthy mutts out of my sight!”

All four dogs growled at her words.

“Calm down. I’ve got this,” Joe whispered.

The growling stopped.

Joe held up both hands in a placating gesture and herded everyone back the way they’d come, then stopped when they were out of sight from the other hallway. Angry complaints continued while the woman’s heels retreated on the stone before a door opened and shut. Joe peeked around the corner, then led everyone across that side-hallway.

Another four hundred meters brought them to a passage leading down.

“I never thought these outfits would be so handy,” whispered Siobhán as they traversed a descending staircase.

Joe replied, “If you can avoid a fight on the way to your objective, that draws less attention—all of which means less danger for your team.”

I love that man, thought Siobhán. Joe’s adoration glowed back at her through their bond.

Joy replied, “That makes sense, but I wonder—”

She trailed off as Joe opened a door and signaled for everyone to stop as light flooded the tunnel.

After a moment, Joe waved everyone in, and Siobhán found herself beside her companions inside a massive, brightly-lit, dome-shaped room. It was hard to tell just how tall the ceiling was, but the entire area was empty and there were eight doorways spaced evenly—around 100 meters apart, around the outside.

“Any ideas?” Joe asked Owen.

“None.”

“We might need to check all of them?” Siobhán offered.

“Perhaps,” said Joe.

[Smell humans,] said Sunny, as she trotted toward the door just right of the one they’d entered from.

“Okay, we’ll check that one first.” Joe agreed.

[Not good smell,] said Bella, whining a little.

[Bad human smell,] Duke echoed her sentiment.

Floors: 9

Minions: 897/1260

Residents: 15/28

Denizens: 8.48M

Traps: 25/45