When Wared woke the following morning, his head was pounding, and it felt as if he hadn't slept at all. He sat up with a groan and rubbed his eyes and blinked as he took a breath of the cool morning air.

On the other side of the fire, Shea . Randee was nowhere to be seen.

"Good morning," Shea said with a smile as she put the last branch in the fire. "Sleep good?"

"Terrible," he said and shook his head. "Where's Randee?"

Shea gestured towards the forest. "He wanted to check the perimeter."

Wared got to his feet, stretched and walked around the campfire a couple of times to loosen his legs. His stomach growled as he sat down next to Shea with a sigh.

"Sounds like you could use one of these," she said and handed him an energy bar, a slight smile on her face.

Wared felt his face blush and cursed the timing of his hungry stomach. He downed the bar in seconds.

Randee appeared from the underbrush a few moments later, his eyes wide. He gestured for both of them to get up, a finger on his lips.

"They're here," he whispered as he came closer.

"Who?" Wared whispered in return.

Randee rolled his eyes. "Who do you think? The Protectorate, of course."

Shea gasped and jumped to her feet. "How close are they?"

"They're still at the outskirts of the forest, so we have time. But, we need to move. The longer we stick around, the more likely they are to catch up to us. Let's pack up."

A few minutes later, any traces of their campfire had been removed and they left their campsite behind as they headed into the jungle with Randee in the lead.

Progress was slow. For the next couple of hours, they slashed their way through brush and vines, pushing through vegetation that at times seemed impenetrable. As the suns rose somewhere above the jungle canopy, the jungle came alive with a different set of noise as its inhabitants woke up and hunted for their breakfast.

A few times, they took cover as buzzed the jungle above them, invisible but audible as it passed nearby.

After a few hours, Randee held up his hand and stopped. Sweat poured down his face and his shirt was drenched in sweat.

"What's wrong?" Shea asked.

"There's another structure up ahead. And a vertical cliff wall."

"What do you mean? A cliff wall?" Wared said.

Randee nodded. "Yep. The pipe goes into a structure of some sort that's built into the wall. It looks like it reaches above the jungle canopy."

"What do we do?"

"Take a break while I go check it out," Randee said and nodded towards a downed tree.

"Let's check it out first," Wared said. "No point in resting now."

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Randee shrugged and pointed across his shoulder. "Fine. Follow me."

Randee was right. Wared let out a sigh when he saw the sheer cliff wall climb almost vertically in front of them. Dotted with small bushes on ledges dotted across its surface, there was no safe way to scale the wall. Since it disappeared above the canopy of the jungle, there was also no way to know how high it reached or what to expect beyond the reaches of the trees.

The structure that protruded from the wall looked like a rectangular metal box standing on it's shorter edge. About ten yards of it extended from the surface of the cliff face while the pipe disappeared into the lower section of it.

"What is that?" Wared said and pointed towards the metal and concrete structure.

"I'm not sure. It could be the end of the tube," Randee said.

"So now what? We can't climb that wall."

"If it's anything like the facility you found us in, there is likely some sort of maintenance entrance somewhere. We just have to find it."

"Where do we start?"

"Let's check out the wall and see if we can find any sort of door. It's likely to be well hidden so be thorough."

They approached the wall and split up, looking over the wall from the pipe to the cliff wall. Wared started by the cliff wall and immediately was faced with a large amount of greenery that had grown up along the surface of the structure. Wared had to cut through thick wines and branches as he examined section after section of the wall behind it, partly visually, partly just by pushing his hand through the vines and feeling the wall behind it.

Wared was just about to give up when Shea shouted somewhere over on his right.

"Over here," she cried. Wared moved through the brush as quickly as he could and found Shea further down the cliff wall. Randee appeared moments after Wared found Shea.

"I think I found it," she said and pointed towards the wall of green. Randee pushed the vines apart and felt the surface hidden in the shadows. He nodded and grinned at the over his shoulder.

"I think you're right. This is definitely metal. Come one, help me clear this all up," he said and gestured towards the wines covering the door.

Fifteen minutes later, long strings of green vines had been piled behind them, revealing a matte metal door.

"Do you think this is it?" Wared said as his hand moved over the smooth surface.

"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Shea said and touched the door as her eyes scanned it from top to bottom. "How do we open it?"

"There are no handles or visible locks on the door," Randee said. "So, there has to be something next to it. Check the rock surface around it."

Wared pushed aside the vegetation covering the wall around the door further and cried out triumphantly. "Ah, what's this?"

Randee leaned in closer as he rubbed his chin. "It appears to be a bio-lock of some kind. It'll use our DNA as a key, most likely."

"That doesn't sound good," Wared said and touched the small panel that protruded from the rock wall. With a beep, a palm reader appeared from thee wall.

"I'll try," Shea said and put her palm on the reader before Wared and Randee could protest. The reader flashed blue half a dozen times. . She took a step back and gagged as they were greeted by an invisible cloud of odors. Randee coughed while Wared covered his face with his hand.

"What is that?" Wared said as he blinked away tears that were gathering in his eyes.

"Something old and deteriorating," Randee said as he dropped his backpack on the ground.

"Deteriorating?" Shea said.

"More like decomposing," Randee continued as he stood up with a flashlight in his hand. With a click, it turned on and he pointed it towards the dark portal that was the door leading into the mountain.

"We can't go in there then," Shea said and waved her hand in front of her face in a desperate attempt to banish the odors.

"We have to," Randee said as he took a step closer to the door, then hesitated. "It's the only way forward. Unless you prefer to be questioned by the Protectorate."

"No, no, that's all right." Shea sighed and looked at Wared. "Are you ready for this?"

Wared returned the glance and then looked back at the darkness beyond the door. "Does it matter?"

"Follow me," Randee said and picked up his backpack. He proceeded to step across the threshold of the door while the flashlight moved quickly across all sides of the entrance. He motioned for Wared and Shea to follow.

Shea went through second, staying close to Randee. Wared came last. As he stepped across the threshold, he felt wary. A quick glance at the forest surrounding the door revealed nothing of concern. He sighed, fished out his own flashlight and followed Shea. He had barely taken half a dozen steps when there was a quiet click behind them. He froze, turned and gasped.

"Guys," he said and pointed his flashlight back in the direction it came from. "I think we have a problem."

He heard shuffles behind him until Shea joined him. "What's wrong?"

"There," he said and pointed towards the door. "The door closed. By itself."

~~~