There wasn’t a lot going on.
The bunker was laid out in a four-by-four square pattern of buildings. I decided to mentally number them from one to sixteen in order to keep up with where things were. The lift was at one and the warehouse was at sixteen with eight, eleven, twelve, fourteen, and fifteen being empty lots. There weren’t many people out in the streets if you would even call them that. They were more like aisles between some of them while others were a little further apart.
It didn’t take long to realize that at some point the ‘buildings’ had been shipping containers in the past and were now just stacked in piles. Each pile that was stacked looked like it might be connected to the rest of the containers, like how the Warehouse was two containers high and two containers wide. I couldn’t tell from the outside if they were exactly like how the Warehouse was mostly open on the inside, except for what looked like an office across the wall opposite the cage we had been kept in.
We walked around for a little while before Gesai managed to wander close to the lift. I touched her shoulder, well aware that I wouldn’t be able to stop her if she tried to get past the guard by the lift.
“Why don’t we go somewhere else?” I pointed toward the east wall. "How about that way?”
She shrugged me off and marched over to the guard.
The dark-haired man stiffened as she approached him. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at her. "What do you want?”
While the addition of a gun was enough to make me stop following her, she didn’t lose a step as she walked right up to him. “Tell me about this place.”
It felt like an order. Not a request or demand, but like she had the authority to tell him what to do. I thought he was going to shoot her, but instead, he started talking, even though he didn’t take the gun off of her.
“This is a storage area for goods and people that need to lay low for a while.” He motioned at the ceiling. “A God built this place, so short of a God showing up to start attacking it, nothing is going to get in.” He nodded at the controls behind him. "Only way in or out of here is through this lift and one of the guards here is the only one who can operate it.”
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He trained his gun at her. "If you come any closer, I will shoot you.” There was expectation in his eyes. "Everything you’ve collected wouldn’t even level me, but I’m not going to pass on a pittance if you’re going to offer it.”
Gesai raised her hands. "Just curious about where I’m going to be staying for the next few weeks.” His eyes narrowed. "And who I’m going to be spending it with.”
“Clive Darrow.” He pointed his gun toward the other corner of the bunker. “You should find somewhere else to be before my trigger finger gets tired.”
Gesai nodded and walked over to where I was standing. I hadn’t realized that Ren was squeezing my arm until I tried to step aside and pulled the blonde with me.
“Sorry.” Ren let go of me and moved so that Gesai could walk in between us. The redhead walked by us almost like we didn’t exist as she headed off to wherever she was going next. Ren stayed on the other side of the walkway from where I was and started following after her.
I crossed back over and took her arm. "Are you okay?”
The blonde looked surprised. There was a little resistance to my grasp, but I wasn’t holding her so tightly that she couldn’t have pulled away if she’d wanted to. She looked at me. "That was scary.”
I had to agree. "For a moment, I thought she was going to try to fight him.”
Gesai turned around. "He was almost level forty if eleven thousand wouldn’t level him.” She nodded at the left. "And that armor he’s wearing. It’s Tier three as well. I’m not going to start a fight I can’t win.”
“Like you did with Sipher?” I couldn’t help myself.
“He beheaded Muns, when he looked at me, I saw two options, die standing still, or try to make him remember my name.” She clenched her fists. "I chose not to die standing still.”
I hadn’t expected her to have a logical reason for her suicide charge, which left me at a loss for words.
“Sorry about your friend.” It was all I could think to say.
“Thanks.” Gesai looked up at the roof. "I’m going to find a way to avenge him…” She looked at me. "And I will find a way to make Uncle Farsch pay for what he did.”
I patted her on the shoulder. “We’ll figure out what happened.” I met her eyes. "When we do, I’ll make sure they pay.”
She looked confused. "Why would you do that?”
“They were trying to hurt Justia. She’s family, which makes you family too.” I shrugged. "I know I’m an orphan, but growing up, I thought that’s what real families did for each other.”
She looked like she was about to start crying, but the water never left her eyes as she blinked it back. She put her hand over mine. "Yeah, that’s what they’re supposed to do.”