Cynophobia

☠₉☠

Vincent had just finished the tour of the cave. A little boy ran over to us. He had platinum blonde hair that looked almost white. He looked at me with his pale blue eyes and smiled widely. "You found more survivors!"

"About an hour ago," Vincent said putting a hand on his head. "This is Cynthia, Cynthia this is my little brother Claude."

"Nice to meet you!" Claude exclaimed.

I smiled back at him and said, "Nice to meet you too." I didn't think any children had survived the attack since the schools were hit first.

"Ivy, can you take these gents to the doctors to get tested?" Vincent asked.

"Tested? Tested for what?" Cairo asked suspiciously.

Vincent blinked. "It's an ability test. You will get checked out by the doctors and they will give you some jobs to choose from. We obviously can't have weaklings on elevator duty."

"Right this way," Ivy said motioning for Ray and Cairo.

I stepped to follow them, but Claude grabbed my arm. "You don't have to go with them, stay with us!"

My concern for my friends grew. Where was she taking them?

Cairo stopped in his tracks and looked at me. I knew if we resisted we would most likely be killed. "I'll be fine, I'll see you guys as soon as they'll let me."

Claude grabbed my hand and started leading me towards the biggest cabin. "Is that yours?" I asked pointing towards it.

"Yep!" Claude said happily. "Do you like it? Me and Vincent even have our own rooms!"

"It's pretty cool, you guys must have some good builders to get this set up in under two months," I said looking around.

"We send out a group to get timber each day. We have to be careful on what trees we remove, too many and the Cynoids might notice, Vincent said.

I frowned, looking up at the roof of the cave."How did you know where we were if you're always underground?"

"Ivy set up cameras and motion detectors all around the forest. We know if something is within two miles of base. Ivy is one of my council members, she monitors the security cameras. She pretty aloof, but nice when you get to know her," he said.

"What's your dog's name?" Claude asked tugging the hem of my tank top.

I pat the Cynoid on the head. "His name is Loki, he is really friendly when he can tell you're not a threat. We picked him up a few cities back, he was being attacked by a pack of..."

"Robarks?" Claude asked. "I picked out the name!"

"Clever," I said holding back a grin. "Better than cyborg-canine-androids like I picked out."

Vincent unlocked the door to his cabin with a key. I noticed that his cabin was the only one with a lock. It was pretty empty. A deer-skin rug at the entrance, two rooms in the back, a table with two chairs in the center, and a couch against the wall.

"What do you think?" the little boy asked.

"Definitely nicer than anything I've been in recently," I admitted. "We would be lucky if we found an old cabin."

"Not the fanciest house, but it beats sleeping outside in the elements," Vincent agreed.

"So when am I going to get tested?"I asked.

Claude's light blue eyes widened. "You're not going to test her, are you Vin? You can't! You won't send her out on a Crash, right?"

"You know I don't allow girls in Crashes," he said in a soft tone. "Plus I already had a job in mind for her. Cynthia, how would you like to be my assistant?"