The stairs descend into a cavern of silver and black. The tunnel expands as you go deeper, and you hear a sound behind you as the light from the outside begins to draw away. You look behind as you see one by one the individual stairs are rising back to the surface. “They're set on a timer. That way the way isn't open for those who aren't meant to know about it,” Jesse says.

“Ah, okay, that makes sense,” you say.

“So who's here again?” You ask.

“Well, there's tons of people here, you're going to have to specify,” he grins.

“You know who I mean. The council members.”

“Well, Tiburr and Yaldabaoth are definitely going to be leading the militants, preparing the armories and going to be overall on edge, so I'd recommend you stay clear of their path.”

“Noted. What about the others?”

“I don't know, I only know those three will be here since this is the most combat oriented base. That's also why we're here, as they don't require their medical supplies as much as our bunker does at the current time.”

“But surely there are still some wounded here?”

“Yeah, but only the lights. Ones who need minimal medicine or treatment. The ones who could have made the journey from Pandera to here.”

“Right.”

You both come to a large door almost five times your height.

“Gotta accommodate for Pamen somehow,” Jesse cracks a smile.

“True. It's a shame we haven't run into him.”

“Something you needed him for?” He asks, walking to the side and using the scanner.

“Not specifically, but if he...I'm calling him he from now on, hive consciousness is annoying as shit to keep track of by the way, but if he was around we could get an update on all the places that he's in, right?”

“True. Out of all of the races, Pamen I find the most interesting, I will say. I still don't know how their consciousness works, but I do know it does seem just like that. Although it also acts as a double edged sword, as I'm sure Pamen feels the pain of every single one of them.”

“That must be absolutely dreadful,” you say.

“Indeed, now, let's see if we can't find our way to the medical wing.”

“It should be in a similar spot as in our bunker right?”

“Jesse Anderson,” he says.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What?”

“Sorry, voice confirmation,” he says, pointing to the door. “Yeah, it should be.”

You nod your head.

The huge door slides open on an axis and you can see the inside of the bunker, almost nearly identical to the hallway that lead outward from yours. You step inside and pass absolutely no one on your path. The entire place looks cleaned out from top to bottom.

“Where is everyone?” You ask, entering the secluded living quarters, empty as well.

“If you keep going straight through those doors back there you'd eventually reach this wide open area this bunker uses for combat training. The vast majority here's all probably there being drilled into the ground by Tiburr and Yaldabaoth.”

“I'll be honest, I'm really glad we don't have to do that.”

“Yeah, I already paid my debt to society through the army, I'm not really itching to go back.

“You served?”

“Yeah, it feels like a lifetime ago.” He says, taking out the list of needed materials from his pocket as he begins strolling off towards the door to the right of the room. You catch up to him and go through the door. The trip is almost the exact same, instead there isn't a branch for a path to the hospital room. The hallway goes on straight and at the end you see the door.

“You know, I was thinking we would be meeting up with someone like halfway who would do the exchange. That seems like it would be better,” You say.

“Less risk this way. We have less people out there in the open with the Dromedans. If we did it that way there isn't any doubt our rendezvous point would have turned into a larger cemetery than it already is,” he says, stepping inside. And quite the cemetery it has become. One is enough.

“I'm sorry,” you say.

“Hm?” he turns to you.

“I've been thinking...and a lot of this seems to be my fault.”

“I don't seem to agree with that,” he says, turning back and you follow him inside.

“Well, I mean Cross says he can find me whenever he wants to. Somehow he knows I'm not Roland and I think it is connected to me being here.”

He begins switching back from the list to the inventory screen in front of him, the storage units extend across the wall. “Whatever reason brought you here, Alex, it wasn't a bad thing.”

“But if I wasn't here I'm sure the Capitol wouldn't be in ruins.”

“You aren't responsible for Cross's actions.”

“Do you want to tell me what part is you not being cliché here?”

He sighs. “Listen, I don't know how exactly Cross is out doing whatever the fuck he wants to do, and who knows, maybe it was you coming here that woke him up, but you can't control that, right?”

“Right.”

“You've been thrown into a shit situation, and that's the understatement of the millennium, but you've done what you could to be a help to the people here. This right here right now? We're going to be helping a lot of people.

You take in a deep breath, “I'm sorry, it is just hard not to blame myself for all of this.”

He puts an arm on your shoulder, “Remember something?”

“I don't have a conclusive lead on why I'm here yet, but there are hints in my memories, and I just think if maybe I did things different I wouldn't be here and all of this wouldn't have happened.”

“All we can do is work to make the future as good as we can.”

“Cliché.”

“I know it's cliché!” He throws his hands up in the air. “Gosh. Like, it's obviously good advice, that's why it's cliché. I'm never going to live this down, am I?”

“We'll see, and thanks...it really helps,” you say, breathing easier. You notice your head isn't hurting which is a saving grace.