The trench lines ran for miles as far as the eye could see. A straight narrow line was carved into the earth, accompanied by smaller arterial passage ways connecting the front line to rear guard staging areas, defense structures, supply depots, and command bunkers. It was a cobwebbed network of deep cramped tunnels, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side at its widest point, although the lanes connecting them were barely wide enough for a single person to traverse.
The wards installed in all the walls were still bearing some potency, but not enough to fully quiet the shrieking wind spilling overhead. Already there were signs that the network was in dire need of repair, the near constant stormy seasons had ravaged much of the surface, and the higher reaches of the trenches walls were damaged.
Splintered, broken, withered almost beyond repair, the trench lines were not going to last much longer. Another year, two at the most, and the storms would smother all that was left away. Perhaps only the underground networks would be all that would remain.
After Lorelei had swiftly burned through their assailants, the rest of their entourage advanced quickly to the lip of the trench, and mopped up the few remaining stragglers. Once finished, Theo wasn't sure how he felt upon seeing the ruined old war zone. Mud coated the ground beneath their feet as they tried to navigate through the trenches, all the while the wind was thrashing above them. Lightning lit up the skies, and the twisting umbilical cords of multiple funnel clouds could be seen arching like crooked fingers amid the clouds.
Inside the trench, the air pressure was tolerable, although the rain was starting to soak the entire group. Each footstep was a slog, their boots sinking into the soupy mire. Somehow the water wouldn't accumulate enough to fill the trenches, which would flood them, but that didn't stop the ground from becoming like quicksand. They had to move quickly, but the earth beneath them had become their enemy. The conditions only seemed to be steadily getting worse, pushing them to find the underground entrance as soon as possible.
Within minutes they found there way to the bunker that had been previously occupied by their 'now dead' ambushers. Inside it was a slaughterhouse of strewn bodies. The meat had been ripped from the bones, and it was clear that a dozen bodies belonging to their former assailants had been amassed in this grotesque pile. The smell alone was enough to make several of them vomit, the only ones seemingly immune to such a disgusting visage was Lorelei, and their esteemed leader Konrad. Perhaps Laura wasn't disturbed by the smell, given that she was a vampire, but her disgust at the scene was evident enough.
"What the hell happened here?" Theo gasped at the scene of carnage.
"Cyber hounds, by the look of what's left," Victor was pinching his nose as he kept his head down. Everyone had been taken aback by the pure savagery of the remains, and were more than willing to keep a few steps away from the bloodied bunker.
Konrad seemed to agree with Victor's assessment. "They must've released them after the war, just gave up taking care of them, and let them roam free. We'll have to be extremely careful." By 'them' he meant the Redever's in charge of their keeping. He likely assumed the Redever military simply abandoned their menacing pack hounds, rather than putting them down. His regal looking shotgun was aimed forward, scanning the area around the bunker in search for the slightest hint of movement from either ditch alongside it.
Theo found his hands clutching the handle of his own pistol even tighter, his finger nearly pulling the trigger. He felt stupid, forgetting to always keep his finger away from the trigger unless he was actually ready to shoot something. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax, although it was hard, given the rank odor.
"They didn't let them go, they killed their handlers, and no one bothered to do anything about it," Lorelei didn't sound as if she was speculating, or weighing her opinion with the group. It was a simple 'matter-of-fact' statement, blunt in its delivery, and uncaring about what anyone else thought. It was the first time Lorelei had spoken since coming to the bunker, and Theo was a little disturbed by how different her voice sounded.
Her attitude had changed, Theo could sense an almost deadness surrounding her. She seemed cold, distant, and almost…afraid. Her shoulders were slumped, her tail was practically dragging on the floor beams, and she walked almost like a ghost in some terrible dream.
"They ate their handlers?" Marci must've noticed Lori's apprehension as well, for she had closed the distance between them.
Lorelei kept still, as if every inch of movement would risk garnering attention. She neither nodded in agreement, nor tried to to non-verbally acknowledge Marci's question. When she continued, Theo noticed how her fingers were steaming. "When the war ended, they stopped feeding us, and didn't feed the cyber hounds as well. When they got hungry, they turned on the indentured ordered to handle them, and were just left behind as collateral loss." Lorelei's eyes finally drifted to all the bodies, but didn't seem fazed by them.
"But why?" Theo gasped.
Lorelei stiffened, her tail barely twitching from the sound of his voice. "I don't know, but there were rumors that they wanted to cull the herd. Having less indentured after the war made it easier to manage without risk of some kind of uprising. Who knows if it's true, or if they simply stopped caring altogether. All I know is what I saw and heard among the others hiding in the trash."
"And they've been here all this time?" Konrad groaned with displeasure. "Shit, keep your guard up."
Laura took the lead, hoping to lead the group around the smell of blood, spoiled meat, and excrement. As soon as they turned the corner they found even more bodies, all of them in tattered uniforms, or torn jumpsuits with flak armor panels that had also been chewed through.
"Who are these people?" The vampire asked under berated breath. "They're definitely not Redevers."
Almost all of the bodies had worn helmets, except for those that had already been partially eaten, making them indiscernible. Still, the lack of tails and horns was noticeable. "Elves, by the look of them. Maybe a couple of humans too." It sounded more like a guess coming from Lucy, who kept close behind the vampire with her own rifle aimed low.
Monica was rear guard, keeping her eyes open, and not making a sound. Even with all the mud, her boots didn't seem to make the same wet sucking sound like everyone else'. "I noticed a couple of knife ears through the helmets of those our little flame-queen cooked back at the front of the trench."
"What are they doing?" Theo mumbled, not sure what to make of elves hanging out in large groups in the wasteland. They clearly weren't expeditionaries, or even scavengers.
"Outcasts, and slavers. Too many of them getting together likely lured the animals here." Lorelei finally tried to ease up. She looked over to Theo briefly before returning her gaze forward.
Theo nearly gasped. There were already shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept for days.
Lorelei continued, "There mistake was assuming the predators would keep their distance from a large group of them. It's quite the opposite in fact. The more people huddled together, the more meat it offers. They ignore stragglers, or small groups, saving their appetite for the banquet."
"Never heard of a wolf that preys on large groups before," Cassie was close to the rear, but being so packed together, it was easy for her to hear Lorelei's words.
"You've never seen cyber hounds before then. Pray you never do. Hopefully they'll ignore us." Lorelei's words made the wolfkins hair straighten, and her tail curl between her legs.
The wind picked up overhead, forcing them all to crouch lower to the ground as they continued their advanced. The wards sparkled, fizzling in and out from the strain, but Marci was adamant that they should hold.
"They've held this long," Marci reasoned. "They'll last a little while longer."
While this slowed their progress, the expedition was still able to continue. Lorelei motioned for them to take certain turns whenever they neared a crucial intersection, and before long they finally discovered a large steel door anchored at an acute angle along the base of a hill. The tunnel deepened before leading into a depression, and spreading open into a larger staging area with the underground entryway. Thankfully there weren't any more bodies cluttering their way.
They rushed into the pit, walking down the narrow brick and mortar steps until stopping before the gateway. As they all stopped, Theo nearly stumbled into Lorelei, who seemed taken aback and hesitated in the middle of the group. Completely by accident Theo realized he stepped on her tail, but she didn't even move, or seem to care. She didn't even register the feeling.
"Shit!" He lifted his boot, then reached down to pick up her tail and try to rub it as if that would somehow soothe her injury. It was when he lifted it up that Lorelei finally seemed to realize what had happened, and jerked back in surprise.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to—" Theo felt embarrassed beyond belief.
"It's ok," Lorelei sniffled, then held still with her tail hanging in midair so that he could reach out for it again. "You can touch it, just warn me beforehand. Ok?"
"Ahem," Cassie seemed to notice them. "Touching a Redevers tail is said to be bad luck."
"Don't mind her, she's just upset no one would dare find her tail attractive," Monica antagonized her while wandering the parameter. The wind was remarkably quieter in the staging area, and the rain had even been deflected from the stronger wards.
Cassie leered at the older woman, her lips snarling. "How dare you, you old hag!"
"We're lucky the assailants didn't get inside. I guess it's time for our Redever here to do her thing," Konrad interrupted them. He looked over to Lorelei who seemed smitten with Theo rubbing her tail. "You were among the indentured, weren't you?"
Lorelei nodded, trying to hide her burning cheeks.
Konrad sighed, his shoulders shifting the weight he carried on his back. "Do you mind me asking? How would the indentured know the codes?"
Monica and Victor both froze in mid step alongside them. It was Monica who asked first. "Wait, that's a good point! How does she know the codes? Why didn't we ask that before?"
"I trusted her completely," Konrad smiled. "I'm good at reading people, why else would I rely so heavily on you?" He noticed Cassie sitting like a canine by his feet. "Of course Cassie, that includes you. I could never forget about you."
Lorelei narrowed her eyes. She genuinely couldn't tell if their loyalty to him was born out of real friendship, or if he had manipulated them using his own special influential magics. Regardless, it was a reminder to keep her distance. "They gave them to us," she finally answered.
"But why?" Konrad inquired.
"So that we would leave, of course."
"Excuse me?" The older man cocked his head to the side.
Lorelei gulped, realizing the source of his confusion. "Oh wait? You think they gave us access during the war?" She looked over to Theo who was just as curious. "No, I'm sorry, I misunderstood. When the war ended, they waited a couple months before giving us access codes. They didn't even want to escort us out, as if our mere presence was disgusting to them. They wanted us gone, and I guess the dogs weren't eating enough of us."
She took a moment to think back, then continued. "After a couple weeks of hiding, some armed guards came with an officer, and ordered us to stand in line. We did, they gave us medals, some documentation, and papers to either return to Redever cities, or some other country. The papers were proof we weren't criminals or something like that. They then gave us a generic code signature, and left. They didn't even bother to count us, or ask us where we wanted to go, so we used our new codes to get out of this hell, and then disbursed to wherever."
"That's terrible!" Marci slithered alongside her, placing a hand on her friends shoulder.
"How many of you were left?" Theo asked, his hand gently letting go of her tail so that it could once again move more freely.
Lorelei smiled, wishing he would keep touching her. "I never counted, but several hundred at the end is what I would guess."
"Do the codes still work?" Konrad asked.
"Why wouldn't they?" Lorelei looked at the door. "It's not like they would send anybody to change them. I doubt they even want to reuse these trenches to begin with."
"What if another war breaks out?" This time it was Monica who asked the question.
"If that were to happen…" Lorelei's voice waned.
Konrad answered for her, "they have no plans to ever fight a war like this again."
Lorelei nodded, confirming his suspicions.
Theo seemed completely lost. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"I spent only a little time in Titalia before coming to Voxsturm," Lorelei looked over to Theo, "and I got the impression things would be different next time. If there was to be a next time, that is."
"Like how?" Theo looked back at her.
"There were some who wanted to find more lucrative ways to subdue our so-called enemies, others wanted to bury the cities of the alliance using new weapons. The only thing I knew for sure, no one wanted to waste time bogged down in trench warfare again." Lorelei's tail drooped toward the floor again, and Theo could only imagine the pain she must be going through, reflecting on the past.
A shadow, passed by them. A growl caused the hairs on the back of his necks to rise. Theo turned around, hearing an electrical buzzing noise bouncing off the walls of the trenches behind them.
"Why don't we let the our little flame queen deal with the coded door, while we make sure nothing creeps up behind us," Konrad shot her a wink before motioning for everyone to form a line.
Theo felt a pit in his stomach, not wanting to leave Lorelei's side he followed her to the doorway. Marci was tempted to follow them, but decided to stay next to her own boyfriend who was jerking his gun from side to side, trying to aim it in the general direction of the oncoming noise.
Lorelei's tail signalled her agitation and fright. The thing wandering in the shadows must've been of considerable bulk, its muffled groans sounded mechanical in nature, with a high guttural wetness behind an electrical hiss.
Lorelei rushed to the control panel, not wasting another second, and began searching for the bulky digital keypad that should open the door. She found it quickly enough, then searched for the latching bolt to remove the keypads cover. The buttons were unlit, and she muttered a quiet prayer before testing the power switch. The goddess of mercy seemed to be on her side, for the terminal lit up in all its glory. Theo watched as she typed on the keypad, pausing every few seconds while trying to remember the code. Just as she pressed the final digit, the mechanical wheezing of a vicious predator shrilled through the air.
They both turned around, as the massive steel bulkhead started to open. The metallic groan of the doors rusted gears was akin to that of a dying animal, and yet it paled in significance to the thing now hunched on all fours behind them.
It stood on four crooked legs, made up of cybernetics, and decaying sinewy flesh. Its muscle bulged from the metal sheathing its form, and fat enlarged veins pulsed with unnatural energies. Its lupine snout was arrayed with rows of razor sharp teeth, so caked with blood it was hard to see the glint of iron underneath.
What little fur it once had was as dark as arterial blood, and left in small patches over its near translucent skin. The metal gears and synthetic artifice replacing bone and limbs was rusted, and yet somehow the beast seemed to move without hindrance. Whatever sorcery had weaponized its mechanical form, and fueled the life force in its veins, had only grown more chaotic over the years since its abandonment.
It seemed easily twice the size that it should've been, rolls of fat and wrinkly tissue squeezed between the metal rib cage along its chest, and charred circuitry seemed to drape its throat and lower jaw. Its eyes were glassy orbs the color of tarnished gold, with eerie anemic light glowing from the pits of its soul.
"Shit…" Lorelei stepped back, her back pressed against the wet cement aligning the door frame, as the cyber hound took another step forward.