Cainheda

The Bunker

Her feet stepped softly on the forest floor as she walked further into the tree line, Acadia slowly falling into the distance. The wind picked up and rushed through the woods as if in a hurry to get somewhere, ruffling the fur on the two wolves slightly, but only pushed Ava's hair into an unruly mess. They walked for a long time in silence when through the trees, Ava could see the drop-ship that had started it all, with leaves and grass reclaiming the area that SkyCrew had removed in their time there. The wolves ran ahead at this point, leaving Ava in the silence of the forest for a short time, before she could hear the telltale signs of someone else walking in the forest. Ava got low and with a small smile, she started crawling silently towards an overturned log and pushed herself flush against it so she was hidden from sight, once there, she picked through the forest floor near her hands and quickly came upon a small stone, jagged and broken. She weighed it in her hand before tossing it straight to the right of her hiding place, barely a second after the stone hit a tree and bounced to the ground, a blurred figure passed right over her hiding place, rushing to the spot where the stone had landed. Her smile grew wider as she too jumped forward, arms outstretched, tackling the figure to the ground, earning a small yelp of surprise. 

The two rolled around, fighting for dominance over the other when Ava suddenly started laughing, giving her opponent an opportunity to pin her to the ground, through her laughs, she was able to string some words together and said "Why can't we just be friends?" A gruff voice with a thick German accent replied, "Because it's written in the stars you ugly girl." Ava laughed again before pushing the boy off her and stood up. "You can be a right fucking dick you know that? But also a real dummy, you fell for the stone again." Ava brushed a few twigs from her hair and the boy did the same, "Did I? Or was I expecting it?" Ava rolled her eyes, "You fell for it, you always do, even though you know not to reveal a position unless positive the target is there." The boy got up and shoved Ava lightly on the shoulder, he stood slightly taller than her, with brown hair that fell messily around his face, his brown eyes were lit up with mischief, which he seemed to have gotten, with his skin patched with dirt and his shirt and pants torn in a few places. The two started forward in the direction Ava was heading in the beginning. "How was the meeting with the newbies?" The boy questioned, giving Ava a side glance and slowing slightly to walk in step with her, "Oh, you know, same old same old, killed a few, yelled at a few others..." She turned her head and her lips were pulled in a smirk at the face of some concern painting the boys face, "I'm kidding Max, it went fine, left it with the man in charge, lets hope he makes the right choice." The boy, Max, laughed and shook his head slightly, he started into a slight jog "Race you to base, last one there has to eat with the wolves" the last of his words were hard to catch because his light jog had quickly turned into a sprint and already had a good head start. Ava shook her head and broke into a fast sprint, catching up quickly and passing Max in no time, she wasn't the leader for any old reason.

Lincoln stared at Kane and waited for him to calm before he answered, in those few moments Abigail had entered the room, planning the speak with Kane on other matters but she could quickly see that may not happen. With Kane's exasperated face and Lincoln's stance, she could sense something was not right. Kane beckoned Abby into the room "What's going on Kane? What's happened?" "That's what I'm still trying to find out" he said with a sigh, his hand reached to his temples and began rubbing "Now, Lincoln, can you please tell me who that was, and should we be worried?" Abigail clued in quickly after seeing the person in question before she left, the girl had looked her up and down as they passed each other, and while made no outward comment, Abby felt as though she definitely wanted to. Lincoln nodded finally and began to speak, with glazed eyes, the story his own elders had told him when he was younger. "Who you just met was Ava, the pack leader of the Cainheda, they are an old family, they have been around for years, since before I was born, some venture to say they are immortal" "Do you think so?" Kane butted in. Lincoln shook his head, "No. I never met anyone from the pack until a few years ago, and immortals should be saved for the stories." he took a seat on one of the chairs near the table, while Kane and Abigail followed suit. "The story we are all told, for as long as I can remember is that they are an old family, and powerful, you never go to battle against them, rumours are told that one of them could take an entire army single-handedly." "That is just rumouring Lincoln, that is impossible, something to scare the kids." Lincoln glared at Abby, and she let him continue, "I'm not so sure, the Cainheda have not been involved in any war for a very long time, but it is said that the army that has the Cainheda pack backing them, is the winning side. They are fair and realistic, they hardly take sides on wars, but when they do, it is always the side of reason." Kane sat back in his chair in slight disbelief at hearing of this "almighty" army, "You referred to them, the Cainheda, as a "pack", apart from the wolves, what relation to they have to that title?" At this question Abigail nodded and turned towards Lincoln in curiosity, Lincoln kept his gaze between the two, to the wall behind them, as if remembering the story as he went. "It sounds like myth, like the stories the warriors of a defeated army would come back with to justify their loss." He suddenly flicked his eyes to Kane's "The Cainheda are a pack of werewolves."

Ava and Max had reached home with a close tie, almost falling over each other when they tried to slow down, in order not to fall over whomever ended up in their path. Breathlessly, Max said "I definitely one that one." Ava stared at him with disbelief, "No fucking way! Tie! I had to slow down so you at least had a chance of winning" "Liar, stop being a little child." Ava was about to retort with something more vulgar when someone pushing past interrupted them. "Move." The voice said aggressively. Max and Ava turned and looked up, in front of them stood a large man, he had a stocky build, not fit, but not unfit, he could definitely hold his own, his hair was shorter than Max's but he was much taller, he had a square jaw with matching brown hair and eyes. Every time Ava came across this beast of a man, she always noticed how he always seemed to be in a state of aggression, she knew he didn't mean it, he was a nice guy, but had a rough personality. "Now now Christoff, use your words" Ava said coyly, her eyes playing games and her lips pulled in her seemingly signature smirk. He turned his eyes to look right at her, "I don't need to, you know what I needed you to do, and that was to move." Christoff put emphasis on the last word and stared down at Ava with a malicious look. Max was standing off to the side slightly and chipped in "Yeah Christoff, we know more is running that through head of yours than that one word, at least we'd hope so," Max's eyes were lit up with mischief again "or have you really only lived this long because of us?" With that, Christoff moved past Ava and started going for Max, he danced out of the way, much quicker that the beast who was after him. Ava shook her head and laughed, she waved goodbye as Max ran off with Christoff trailing close behind him. 

Two wolves came up behind her and one licked her hand that was hanging at her side, Ava turned her attention to the them and rubbed the ears of each as she started off towards a large concrete building off to her left. As she was approaching the building, Ava walked past a few other wooden homes, each were shabbily built, they were not going to fall over in the wind, but they were not made out of concrete, those houses were where the wolves would sleep, eat and play. Some extra houses were designated for extra things such as equipment, but most of the important things were kept in the concrete building the people took to calling the bunker. Coming up closer to the bunker, the sound of rushing water reached her ears, and small droplets of water began to hit her face, the wolves shook their heads, trying to avoid the water, it was near impossible though and Ava had accepted it that she would get a little wet each time she walked by, she faced the source of the water and looked up towards the waterfall that fell down and caused the large pond's water to splash up and hit whomever walked near it, giving her clothing and skin a light mist. The wolves got too bothered by the water and decided it was not worth it just to follow Ava; they turned around and headed back to the houses, giving a small gruff bark in notice. If she heard, she gave no acknowledgement, as she continued up the small incline towards the entrance to the bunker. 

Each time she approached the building she couldn't stop herself from admiring it. It was in no way a pretty building, a squat warehouse look to it with only one floor, there were no windows as it really was built as a bunker, made to withstand any explosion, weather, or other means of forcing it to break, a remnant of an old war, from before. There was a small ramp that lead slightly down towards the entrance, perfect advantage if needed to spread an attacking army, the ramp had walls surrounding it, with the concrete of the building going down 30 feet into the ground, those walls were pushed so close together, only one person could fit at a time, maybe two small people if they squeezed. Ava walked down the ramp, with the sun slowly fading on the horizon, the cool concrete on her feet surprised her slightly and she picked up her pace. When she got to the end of the ramp, she stood in front of a massive circular door that looked like the entrance to a bank vault, there was an outcrop in the wall to her right, to make room for the large door to open towards her. She entered a quick code and the hallway echoed with the buzzer of the pin pad accepting her pin. The door shuddered as the large locks unlocked and she reached for a handle and pulled, with a little more effort than needed for a regular door, she pulled it open enough to slip in, allowing the sounds of life from inside the bunker to escape slightly, she stepped in, greeted by the sounds of music and the smells of food and turned around to close the massive door behind her. She smiled upon hearing the satisfying click and sound of the locks going into place.