A few hours later, Alaric, Clarke, Octavia, Wells, and Jasper trekked through the woods, their goal being to find the elusive red seaweed.
"We've been at this for hours and still no sign of the damn stuff," Alaric grumbled, his arms wrapped around Octavia and Clarke as they walked.
"Don't be grumpy," Clarke chided softly, her hand gently caressing his chest, appeasing him. "Let's check this other river. Maybe we'll get lucky there."
Alaric sighed but kept moving forward with them.
*Clank*
Suddenly, Jasper stepped on something that made a loud bang.
"Guys!" Jasper yelled, looking down at his foot. "There's something here."
He stepped on it again, producing another loud bang, and began to uncover the object.
"What is it?" Clarke asked as they approached.
Jasper eagerly removed the weeds and debris covering it. "It's a hatch."
"That's not just any hatch," Alaric said, surprised. "It's a blast hatch in the middle of nowhere. Must be a bunker or underground shelter or something."
"Could be," Wells said, as he observed it.
"Let's take a look," Alaric said, peeking at the blast hatch before grabbing a handle.
*Crack* *Clank* *Clunk*
"Fortunately, it was unlocked," Alaric commented after easily opening the hatch with a bit of force. He peered into the darkness inside. "Does anyone have emergency lights?"
"It could be dangerous in there, Alaric," Clarke warned.
"Come on, Clarke. There might be something useful we can scavenge," Wells encouraged.
"Clarke, let's see what's inside," Octavia urged, taking Clarke's hand and swinging it gently.
Clarke sighed and took off her backpack, rummaging through it to grab a small portable emergency light. "Here, take it," she said, passing it to her brother.
"Nice, baby." Alaric smiled at his sister, then turned on the light and looked inside. The stairs weren't too long; the drop into the bunker was less than three meters.
"I'll go in first. You wait here," Alaric said, seeing no issues with the stairs and the entrance.
"Be careful," Octavia and Clarke urged.
Alaric smiled and readied the pistol in his other hand before starting down the stairs. Once he reached the floor of the underground shelter, he illuminated the area with the light, his other hand ready with the pistol pointed forward.
He advanced cautiously, observing the dark place. The shelter was a long, straight corridor, not very spacious. Near the entrance, a couple of shelves lined the walls, piled with dusty, untouched items. Walking a bit further, the space opened up greatly, having a section as a mini living room with a long couch against the wall, a low table, and two comfy chairs. Along the same wall, past the living room area, there was another section with a dining table with four chairs and a kitchen area equipped with a counter, fridge, other appliances, and a sink that might have running water.
On the opposite wall, facing the kitchen, was a mini storage area with shelves stocked with what looked like food and other supplies. Across from the dining table and living room was the living quarters, featuring two bunk beds with comfy, plush mattresses and pillows. At the end of the space, between the kitchen and storage area, were two doors: one leading to a maintenance room and the other to a bathroom.
The bathroom was small but had a toilet and bidet, a sink, and a transparent glass shower cubicle. The maintenance room housed equipment for the bunker's appliances, power system, ventilation, and other necessities.
"Come on, guys! It's all clear in here!" Alaric called out to everyone at the entrance after lighting up the place with a few candles he found inside.
.......................
"Some of this stuff could be useful," Clarke said as she rested on the couch leaning against her brother, who softly caressed her arms as they looked around at the others looking through the things in the place.
"Maybe, but most of it is useless stuff," Alaric replied bored, mostly disappointed at not finding anything worthwhile in the place. He was more interested in his sister's body and touch than the things in there.
"We could repurpose and share with the group," Clarke insisted as she straddled his lap and kissed his lips to make him listen to her words more easily. She knew that her brother loved to give in to her wishes if she pleased him, as he loved her so much, just as she did him.
"Alright, I don't care for most of the things in here. This place is the most valuable thing—a good living space," Alaric shrugged and gave in to her as he enjoyed her ass in his hands and her plump lips.
"Mhm~~," Clarke moaned in their kiss, enjoying her twin brother's touch as she moved her hips over his cock while straddling his lap.
"But some things we will take for our use," Alaric smiled as he kissed her. "Like this couch, the bunk beds."
"You're only thinking about fucking us, baby," Octavia said as she sat beside the two and looked amused at Alaric.
"Well, I think about other things too," Alaric said between the kisses with his sister to Octavia.
"Ah~~ mhm~~," Clarke purred softly as she felt her brother's finger touching between the crack of her ass, softly circling her asshole that was starting to heal.
"Like what?" Octavia rolled her eyes as she enjoyed the show.
"This." Alaric arched forward to grab something from the low table along with his sister on his lap as he supported her from the hold of her ass with his hand while fingering her asshole with a digit.
"These little things are something that my sister enjoyed using as a child and now." Alaric warmly smiled as he showed her the jar with pencils and crayons. "She is a good painter by now."
"Mhmm~~," Clarke nodded as she rested against his shoulder looking at the bottle with love while enjoying her brother's hands on her body.
"Maybe I should try them too," Octavia smiled as she took the jar with the pencils looking at them.
"There wasn't anything to be crazy about, but there are still things worth taking," Wells said as he approached them from the maintenance room. "I couldn't make the water or power system operative. Something is wrong. The same for the ventilation, but at least the passive ventilation is enough to support us."
"Well, if we had Raven here with us, she would be able to make this place run," Alaric answered as he removed his finger from his sister's asshole and caressed her ass cheeks hard before removing his hand from inside her pants.
"Mhm~~," Clarke purred softly on him, enjoying it but not paying attention to Wells. "I miss Raven. How do you think she's doing?"
"She must be fine. The same for Mom and Kelly," Alaric softly said as he kissed her forehead.
"I hope so," Clarke said as she recovered from her weak state. "We should continue. Finn can't wait too long, and we can continue looking at this place later on."
"Alright, let's continue," Alaric said after having rested for a while in this place.
.......................
As they continued their way to the river, they suddenly found an old car that must have been there for a hundred years, but they kept moving instead of staying there as they did with the bunker, as they had already wasted too much time.
Soon enough, they were already by the river.
"This place looks awesome for passing the day and fishing," Alaric commented as he observed the area, liking the landscape.
"So, what does this seaweed look like?" Jasper asked as he looked around the river while filling up his makeshift canteen.
"Like that." Wells pointed to floating red seaweed on the river. Then he inquired to Alaric. "Hey, that thing that you fought in the other river, how big was it?"
"Big. Big as fuck. With that, you can know how big it was," Alaric chuckled.
"Then, maybe we could rig this into some kind of a net," Wells said cautiously after hearing that. "Find something to lower it into the water."
Clarke looked at him and Jasper who were already thinking of doing something like that and walked straight into the water under the eyes of everyone, grabbed the red seaweed, and then walked back to shore with it.
"Or we could just do that," Wells said as he massaged his eyes.
*Squawk* *Kraa* *Caw-caw* *Cackle* *Squawk* Suddenly, a large flock of birds covering the sky squawked in the distance and came flying right for the group. They ducked to avoid injury.
"Guys... That doesn't look good. Why are they running?" Jasper said worriedly as he looked in the direction from where the birds came.
"Let's get out of here," Wells said, already nervous.
"Right, let's leave this place," Alaric nodded in support as he helped his sister out of the water and store the seaweed.
*Tooooouunnng* A horn bellows loudly in the distance.
"Grounders?" Clarke said with doubt.
"It has to be. Come on! Move out!" Alaric yelled to everyone as he took his sister and Octavia, already making them move out of the place from where they came.
"It could be a war cry," Wells said as he started walking behind them.
"Or a warning," Jasper said from their back. "Guys!!! Run!!! Something is coming toward us!!!"
"What?" Alaric and everyone looked back, alarmed by Jasper's cry.
The group saw a massive cloud of yellow fog.
"What is that shit?" Alaric looked incredulously at that thing coming toward them. It looked like a massive desert storm, but they weren't in the desert. "Run!!!" He called as he pushed forward his sister and Octavia, urging them to run, removing them from their stupor seeing it.
"What the hell is that?" Wells looked in terror at that thing.
"Run. Run!" Octavia and Clarke called out as they were in front with Alaric behind them, followed by Jasper and Wells.
The group ran like death was coming for them without looking back while the horns from the Grounders kept loudly bellowing in the distance as they ran.
"Can we get to the bunker?" Octavia cried out as they ran.
"No! It's too far, we will not make it!" Clarke yelled back.
"Run to the car we saw! It is near, we will make it just in time. Keep running!!!" Alaric pointed a direction for everyone.
The horn continued to bellow in the distance.
"Get inside!!!" Alaric said as he opened the car door for everyone to climb inside. After Clarke, Octavia, Wells, and Jasper entered, Alaric coughed a little as the fog was already in their place. Soon he entered and closed the door.
"What the fuck is that thing?" Alaric called out as he coughed a little.
"It's getting inside," Clarke said as she saw the fog seeping through the cracks of the car.
"Seal any openings," Alaric said to everyone as he composed himself.
Octavia, Jasper, and Wells quickly put their hands to it along with Clarke.
A horn continued to bellow in the distance.