The Breeders

Lithium

About four hours after my conversation with Mottie ended- Doll, Mark, Cassie, and I were under the first floor of the bunker, exploring what Mark and I discovered previously. It looked like it was some kind of extreme shelter.
"Okay- Boss?" Cassie held her nose, slowing her stride from me.
"What." She glanced to Doll for moral support.
"You really stink. Did you not take a shower when you got here?" I looked at her, pausing to sniff myself. They laughed at the face I made. Yeah, that was fair.
"There wasn't a shower." They looked at each other for a second, then Doll knocked on my head.
"Uhhhhh, earth to Boss? There was one right next to the rooms on the right." I thought for a second, then sighed.
"See, I didn't go down that way because it was where.."
"Oh, yeah, no, no, I get it. But you should really shower."
"Maybe Doll could even join you~" Her face lit up like a sky full of red lanterns at Mark's comment. He laughed as she shuffled behind all of us, mumbling and bumbling at him for teasing her. I even chuckled a bit, scratching the side of my head.
"Let's explore down here first then-" My ear shifted as I heard something tumbling from upstairs. Then, just as fast I heard Journey scolding Jackis for playing with things that weren't his.
"Why don't you go shower and we can finish down here? We'll report back to you if anything interesting happens." I looked between the four of them and sighed, cracking my neck.
"Is it an open shower or closed in?" My hand drifted across that damned number subconsciously.
"uh.. open.." Doll's face burned a deeper red as I'm sure flashes of imagery flooded her head.
"Okay, well, I'd like someone to be a lookout while I do shower. You know how I am about.." I glanced a Mark before my eyes drifted back to the other three. "Well, you know." They nodded, Mottie chiming up.
"Why don't you have Journey watch over you?"
"She's currently scolding Jackis.
"Ah. Right. Does it have to be a shifter?" My mouth twitched as I looked to the side.
"I mean- no- but your guys' hearing is way better than mine and humans' so.." The four with me looked at one another before Mark leaned on a wall, hands in the air.
"I'm the newbie and a guy, so I'm out."
"I'm out too then." Doll and Cassie looked at each other, then back to me, then back to each other with the biggest grins on their dirty little faces.
"Didn't I tell you two to stop with that already?" This intrigued the other two, who did not get an answer for their puzzlement.
"I'll go take a quick one by myself if you two want to pansy around. I might even ask Sam to join me." Doll squealed as her mind raced, glaring at me before she finally gave in.
"Stop teasing me about that! It was one time!"
"More like three.." Her mouth opened and I decided it was probably in my best interest to run for the shower.
My intuition was correct as she chased me back up the stairs, huffing and throwing one of her shoes at me, nailing me in the back. More than a couple heads popped up from their waiting spots as I laughed, throwing the shoe back and smacking her dead in the face.
There was neither a moment to run, nor to apologize as she was in front of me in an instant, embarrassment and anger seething between her teeth.
It soon dissipated as I looked up at her, smiling.
"Thank you, Damaell. I needed that." Her face lit up and she muttered a "You're Welcome" before sludging back down to the discovery crew. With a slight chuckle, I turned to the nearest person who smelled like they showered within the past three days.
"Okay, where's the shower located?"

*****

"You.. you guys are saying that we don't need to leave this bunker?" I was using a cleanish shirt to dry my hair, the frizzy blondness of it already going everywhere it wasn't supposed to be.
"Exactly!" Cassie was overflowing with excitement over this new fact, rambling about how they found their safe haven because of this latch. Apparently, when the pole is pulled out of its hole, every entrance and exit is blocked off and a network of vents are opened to keep airflow to the lower levels. The vents aren't even nearby, either. They span like over two miles in each direction as a waving pathway to confuse anyone who doesn't have the blueprint.
Somehow, Mark found the blueprint and to say I didn't commit it to memory would be wrong.
"Also, you smell way better now. Did Sophie let you borrow her soap or something?" I looked at her for a second, trying to figure out if she was joking.
"Uh.. no. No I didn't. I guess you just like my natural musk, huh?" Her face dropped as she threatened the shoe again.
"Did you tell everyone else this amazing news?" I caught Mottie looking at me out of the corner of my eyes, so I turned to him.
"You're chewing your lip. It'll be okay, Boss."
"Why do they get to call you Boss?" I turned to Mark now, who seemed to be pouting like a puppy.
"They refuse to call me anything else." They smirked but all three moods changed as Mark spoke again.
"Oh, okay Fork." Breathing in, I held out my hand to Doll. She just stared at it for a bit before handing me her shoe. "Uh.. what's that for?"
"Mark, buddy, its been nice knowing you." He started to back up, but it was too late.
"What? Oh- C'mon Spatula-" I hit him dead in the chest with her shoe, knocking the wind out of him.
"Oooooh Moch 6, I think." Ganter popped his head in, laughing.
"Quit calling me stupid fucking names. Call me Rain or something like that!" He laughed, holding the shoe to his chest as if it didn't actually hurt.
"How about Diamond, then? Because you're so sparkly~" And the bitch winked at me. My eyebrows skyrocketed and I ripped off my belt at speeds faster than anyone could comprehend.
"I'm gonna smack the everloving shit out of you." Cassie grabbed my arms, laughing as Mark quickly joined.
"I'd hurry up and run, she's a lot stronger than she seems." Everent walked through the door, sipping a cup of tea. "And she usually follows through on her threats." Right behind him Was Be'eal, who looked more colorful than a few hours prior, yet still extremely drained as he too had some tea.
"It's fine. I'm not even in the dating pool anyway." Cassie still held onto my arms as I relaxed my muscles. "I'm going to reunite with my girlfriend at some point. I know she's holding out for me too." I was finally able to take my arms back, replacing my belt onto my pants. I felt something rip into my stomach as I remembered everything that went on in that fuck awful place.
"Well, she was a shifter too, right?" He nodded, looking at me. The smile on his face faded quickly. "You shouldn't have anything to worry about then." I took a breath in to steady myself, turning away.
"Diamond?" It was a lighthearted attempt, but I started to chew on my lip again.
"Just.. call me Boss, alright, Mark?" I didn't turn back as people now looked at me with a squeezed heart rather than an uplifted one.
"Where are you going?" I made my way down the stairs of the start of the bunker.
"To see if there is any food." Janette followed me, questioning about what the hell that was.
"All the stories you spoke about were from bigotry against humans. Shifters aren't treated like that."
"Drop It, Janette."
"No! I need to know now if my sister-in-law's okay!" I paused on the second flight of stairs, starting to go down another level.
"I said drop it!" She physically moved back from me, arms curling in. "Fuck- I'm sorry, Janette."
"N.. No. I'm sorry. Obviously I'm picking at a.. a sore subject." I breathed in, nibbling at my lip before going back up the stairs to talk.
"Janette.. this was thirty-five years ago. What I saw when I was younger.. everything could have changed. Hell, no one else has escaped since then. They might not even want to leave." She looked at me, eyebrows furrowing.
"So then.. why are.. why are we running?" I closed my eyes, scrunching my face up as I spoke.
"I'm.. I'm the only person who's ever escaped. You just saw we were being hunted, They killed Be'eal's daughter and acted like she was alive to keep him doing their dirty work. Sure, in my time there, Shifters had a choice.. but it was mostly whether they wanted to be staff.. or fucked. They voluntarily gave up their bodies for pups so they wouldn't see what the others did to us humans." My eyebrows drew together, eyes still shut tight as memories and flashbacks resurfaced after being suppressed for so long. "I escaped the night I was brutally.." I couldn't even bring myself to say the word. "But before that, I was staff. Hell, they mistook me for a shifter at first. The younger kids had blood drawn to see if they were human or had canine blood mixed in. Or Feline, or whatever their parents were. Mostly canine were given top priority though. There were special rooms for when they went feral, or when a shifter came in already pregnant. I worked as a nurse, a janitor, a server. There was so much shit I saw that a seven to thirteen-year-old shouldn't have." I finally opened my eyes again, tears welling up as I attempted to suppress the flashes of pain and horror. "But- like I said. That was thirty-five years ago." She held my hands, sympathy and pity clear in those swirled heterochromia eyes.
"I'm.. I'm so, so sorry Boss.. I can't even fathom what that must have been like.." I took a deep breath in, steadying myself once again.
"It's why I keep running. The hatred and segregation of shifters and humans has only increased because of the propaganda. I mean, we are in America so that was always an issue... But while I was there, I overheard them speak about expanding to Europe. Setting up facilities in Siberia to discourage escaping... Since the uniform is less than clothing." My head turned as Journey walked down the steps, holding Jackis in her arm. He looked warm and a bit too red for my liking.
"Journey?" We stood, retreating our hands away from each other.
"He's.. he's getting sick." I furrowed my eyebrows, turning to Janette.
"Will you take him to the infirmary and have Everent look at him?" She nodded, Journey turning to take him with.
"Oh, Journey." She paused, "Can you send Mark down here please?" She smirked, but said nothing.
"Of course, Boss." And she took the little boy back up the stairs while I sat and waited for one of the strongest noses in the family.

A few moments later, the familiar face of the newest member shrunk out of the shadows of the stairs. He looked at me.. no. He looked through me.
"You wanted to see me?" I stood, put a hand on my hip and groaned out of frustration.
"You fucking heard my rant." I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing. "Look, like I told Janette-" His nose curled in a snarl, but he looked to the side to hide it.
"What did you want me for, Boss?"
"Fine, whatever. You have one of the best nose.. noses" A smell caught me off guard and I turned to look at what the hell it could possibly be, but found nothing. "And I wanted your help finding some food- If there even is any." He didn't look at me, just nodded and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, his pupils were abnormally large.
"On the fourth level there's a pantry full on non-perishable items." I nodded, smiling at him.
"See? Was that so hard?" He said nothing, going to turn away but stopped. Mark turned back around and walked up to me, putting his giant hands on my shoulders.
"You need to heal. Preoccupying yourself with stuff will only help temporarily and the grief will cloud your judgement. From one pained and traumatized dumbass to someone who knows a little more about what they're doing.. Heal first. We'll still be here after you mourn, Boss." My smile fell and my eyebrows drew together, the ducts in my eyes dried up already.
".. you're right, but it's not what's best for anyone right now."
"It's what's best for you." I scoffed/laughed, wiping away a tear that escaped my droughted eyes.
"You sure you're not just trying to get on my good side after I pretty much said your girlfriend is stuck in a breeding hell?" He laughed, shaking his head. There was pain in his eyes, though.
"She'll survive. She's a hyper-sexual daydream that's a cane corpso shifter." I just blinked at him, then mustered a smile.
"I'm gonna go inform everyone I'm gonna be heaving my heart out in my room. Doll, Cassie, and Everent are gonna be in charge while I 'heal.' Okay?" He took his hands back and nodded, going to go down to the portions alone.
"Don't. Get someone to go with you. You don't know what kind of rodents or animals have gotten to it all."
"Ay ay, cap'n."