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Tobias cursed. “The door is jammed. The locking mechanism has been broken from the other side.”
“No one’s been down there for years,” said Jude. “It could be stuck.”
“I’ll break through and check out the other side.”
“Go careful down there,” said Jude. “The walls are so thick I can’t get a live signal feed back here.”
“The only things I need to worry about are spiders and rats.”
“They’re bad enough if they’ve been mutated by the State.” It was a sick little thing the State liked to do, mutate creatures into giant, freaky versions that they’d send out to attack people.
“I’ve got my pulse laser if I need it,” said Tobias. “And the crew aren’t far away.”
Tobias had a devoted team of three in his recon squad: Abbie Reynolds, Cliff Marston, and Solomon Hill. They had specialist skills in caving and navigation, which were perfect for creeping about underground and avoiding State militia.
Jude sat back in his seat as he waited for Tobias to break through the lock. He inched the volume up on Flame radio, listening to the throbbing pound of a bass guitar. Jude had always been into indie music, until he’d listened to Octavia. Now he loved nothing more than hearing someone shredding a guitar or a rousing riff that made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.
He was on his own in the comms room. It was a small space with only four seats and four desks. He ran a rota so there’d always be somebody on duty, listening to State chatter and ensuring everyone was safe. Well, as safe as they could be. The State still had most of the population under their hypnotic control. It was how they’d convinced the population they were the rightful rulers, and not enslaving and killing people. It made Jude sick to think about it.
But they were finding ways to mess with the State and disrupt their dominance, making them realize they weren’t indestructible.
Not so long ago, they’d come close to capturing the elusive leader of the State, Emperor Endrir. He’d escaped, but they’d gained something better—the return of their missing sister, Izzie.
He grinned to himself. She’d been back in the bunker for over three months and was recovering well. She didn’t talk much about what she’d seen or experienced at the hands of Emperor Endrir. Part of Jude didn’t want to know. If that sick fuck had hurt his sister, he wouldn’t rest until he’d killed him with his bare hands.
“How’s the door coming along?”
“It’s still stuck,” muttered Tobias. “I will have to blast it.”
“Hey, boss.” It was Abbie over the open comms line they were linked into. “We’ve found some weird shit at this end of the bunker.”
“Define weird shit?”
“They look like jelly pods.” This was Solomon. “They’re an oval shape and stuck to the ground.”
Jude sat up straight in his seat. “Take some images and send them to me.”
“I’m sending them now,” said Solomon. “They stink, as well. They smell like gone-off cheese.”
“They smell like you after you haven’t showered for a week,” said Cliff.
“You stink worse than me after we’ve been on one of these missions,” said Solomon.
Jude only half-listened to their conversation as he saw the images Solomon had taken appear on his screen. He slid his tongue across his teeth. This was not the first time he’d seen something like this, but he’d never seen them in a bunker before.
“Are you seeing the images?” asked Solomon. “What are they?”
“They’re Dinnorm pods.”
“Holy shit,” said Tobias. “Are you sure?”
“They can’t be,” said Cliff. “These are too big. We’ve seen Dinnorm pods before, although we had no clue what they were back then. They were half the size of these things.”
“I’m telling you, that’s what they are,” said Jude. “As for the size, maybe they’re breeding mutants. It’s something of a State speciality.”
Dinnorms hated being underground. Their parenting skills comprised of laying gelatinous lumps with embryos inside, in a quiet, safe space, and then leaving. Once the infants hatched, they had to find their own way above ground and get their first meal.
“Are the pods empty?” asked Jude.
