Chapter 130 - Second Dawn

In a way, the man that build this cult, Cadogan, was a fanatic, similar to how Jaha when was obsessed with trying to the City of Light compared to him I hope that this "Savior of humanity" succeeded otherwise, we would have to become the people that would keep humanity alive. Despite what he had in A.L.I.E's name, Jaha was indeed quite adamant right now, doing as much research as he could, hoping that the second dawn was indeed real and not some huge fraud to make Cadogan rich.

"This is the place. Let's move, we can't waste any second."

We all jumped out of the rover after Jaha, before he passes all of us some flashlights from his backpack before he checks the map in his hand and starts walking seemly without a clear destination in mind. While Jaha didn't care about anything, we had to carefully step around fallen branches and uneven terrain until we stopped beside a smiling Jaha just as he put his map away, looking intently at the ruin of a cabin.

"This is it. We have found the bunker."

"I might not be the smartest one amongst us, but this doesn't exactly look like a bunker to me."

"Sergey's right, Jaha. This is just the ruin of a house, there doesn't seem to be anything here."

At first, he didn't respond to us, instead, he closed his eyes before his grin widens as his previous excitement grows once more, scaring the four of us a little.

"You hear that? There are no insects."

As soon as we all heard his words, we exchange a worried look, no longer sharing in his excitement. Raven's earlier warning floats through our heads on a loop. Even more so, when the first indicator of radiation rising was the death of small species like fish and insects.

"What's wrong with you four?"

"Luna said the fish were dying, and now the insects are also dying."

"We are screwed. What are the things that eat the fish and bugs gonna eat now?"

"Hopefully nothing since most of them would die sooner or later."

"Guys! Something is coming our way and it's a big thing."

We all turned to look at Miller, only to realize that a triceratops was running towards us as if it was running away from something. We quickly dodge out of its way, just in time for the beast to ignore us and continue running away. As soon as the creature was out of our sight, we quickly turned our attention towards the house, walking right in front of it before all four of us stopped and looked at Jaha.

"So, what should we look out for?"

"Well, from my point of view, the bunker has to be built at the lowest level possible, so I think that's where we should search first before we try another place."

It took us almost an entire hour of meticulously searching every nook and cranny of the area when by some dumb luck, my flashlight shine onto something that was made of metal. As soon as I reached the metal thing, I wasn't exactly surprised to find a sheet of metal, that serves as a wall to the set of stairs that was going underground, most likely to the second dawn's bunker.

"Over here! I think I've found it!"

Not even a minute after I shouted to them that I'd found the bunker, all four of them gathered at my location before Jaha smiled at us once more, giving the same enthusiasm as before.

"Follow me."

Just as he was about to descend into the underground, Bellamy and I grabbed his shoulders, forcing the ex-chancellor to stop in his tracks.

"Let us descent first. While it's unlikely that the second dawn would be hostile, these people had lived for two hundred years down here, so who knows how their society works now."

Like always, I was the first one in line and that earned me the best job, cleaning the spider webs and overgrown plants out of our way. Thankfully it didn't took us more than three or four minutes before we reached the bottom of the stairs, where a metal door stood there, sealed tight, showing no apparent signs of ever being opened, which to be honest was both a good thing yet at the same time a bad one.

As the four of us took point at the door, Jaha kneeled to the floor, grabbing the medallion from the hand of one of the skeletons, before he read what was written on it. "From the ashes, we will rise. These are the same words Cadogan used in his speech."

"Wait for a second Jaha, turn the medallion around."

"The 11th seal. Their faith was based on 12 seals. Followers could level up by unlocking them one at a time. Only those who reached level 12 could achieve salvation."

"That explains why he's here and not inside. He wasn't a level 12, that's why they didn't let him in."

"I was right!"

Instead of figuring out our next move, Jaha starts to run his fingers along the seal, looking for a doorknob, not thinking even for a second about the people that might still be inside the bunker. Before Jaha could fiddle more with the medallion and the door, I dragged him away, before the madman could become the second coming of Wanheda.

"Wait for a second Jaha. What if the cult is still inside? We could kill them with the amount of radiation that is out here, just like we did back in Mount Weather."

Surprisingly Bellamy walked beside the door and knocked on it a few times.

"Hey! Is anyone there?"

We all waited for a minute or two, hoping to hear something, anything at this point, but unsurprisingly we were met with silence and nothing more.

"Any luck finding a doorknob?"

"There's no locks, no handles. Maybe this isn't the way?"

"Both of you are wrong, we can't open it from here because it was designed to be opened from the inside."

"Or from the outside by somebody with a rover. I say we take our chances, worst come we would quickly put the door back if the bunker is operable."

Bellamy pulls the vehicle to the edge of the cliff, before signaling to us to unravel the tow cable. I waited down in the bunker while Sergey and Miller carried the whole thing down the hill before we secure it between the door and the wall. While we were busy down there, Jaha stood outside ready to give Bellamy directions. When the three of us walked out of the underground area, Jaha turned towards Bellamy and yelled as hard as he could.

"Go for it!"

As soon as he heard the words, he revs the engine a few times, unsuccessfully. Then he hits the gas a little harder, and we all heard the tow cable pull taut, letting out a metallic ring before a loud crash rings out.

"It worked! We can go inside!"

With the path now cleared, we all scramble down the stairs faster, stepping around the door and into the dark doorway. Thanks to how dark it was inside and how useless our flashlights were, we decided to use some flares to light the room. When the flares lighted the room, the only thing that we saw were hundreds of bodies, well skeletons laying all over the room, dead for hundreds of years.

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