Shadow Slave

In the end, they stayed in the derelict bunker for three days. The vehicles of the convoy had turned out to be in a worse state than Sunny had thought, so it took a lot of work for Kim and Samara to get them in shape with Quentin's help. The patchwork repairs they implemented were not pretty, but at least the transports were not going to fall apart on the road, stranding dozens of refugees and bringing the convoy to a halting stop.

In the freezing cold of the polar night, stopping meant death. That was without even considering the swarms of Nightmare Creatures prowling in the dark... the world itself was more than happy to kill them.

Throughout these few days, Sunny continued to monitor the surroundings and diligently updating his map. The four shadows spent a lot of time either climbing mountains or hiding on their icy summits. He knew for a fact that shadows did not experience getting cold... and yet, Sunny could not shake the feeling that the gazes they threw at him from time to time were less friendly than usual.

'Tough... do as you're told and don't complain, bastards.'

He was not a very friendly person himself.

The days spent in the bunker were strangely uneventful. There were no large hordes of Nightmare Creatures in close proximity to it, yet, and whatever small swarms passed by were not strong enough to pose a serious threat. If they did attack, the abominations would have a hard time assaulting the underground complex - its defensive capabilities, which Sunny and his cohort had braved themselves while clearing out the snake monsters, were now on their side.

No one would find it easy to get to the civilians.

...Unless they were capable of borrowing through the ground, of course, like the monstrous lieutenant of the stone hive that had almost buried Sunny in solid stone. If they were, the bunker would become nothing short of a free buffet for such a Nightmare Creature.

After thinking about that, Sunny ordered Luster to remain in the Rhino and monitor the seismic sensors like his life depended on it.

dangerous

to him. After losing their homes, loved ones, and having the promised salvation be ripped out from their hands - twice - he would have expected many to break. And some did... but very

abandoned bunker was the sound of laughter, but nevertheless, there it was. Kids were playing around, watched over by the elderly. They ran around, made friends, and invented various games to

had the gall to slam directly into him while chasing after their playmates. The boy let out a startled

"Uh... sorry, Uncle Awakened..."

rubbed his forehead and dashed away,

a couple

The...

was he calling

even the adults, pressed down by

as well as a temporary, but safe shelter. That was all it took for the human spirit

trust in the competence of the Master who had taken charge of their survival. They surrendered their fates into his hands, and, unburdened, found enough strength to believe in the

So strange. I would never entrust my

start preparing for an immediate departure. That decision was met with a lot of

"Sir... if I may."

gestured to the ramshackle vehicles, slight concern

I am not sure how well our repairs will hold. If you give us two

Sergeant Gere were similarly in favor of postponing the departure by a