The Boy from the Bunker

Episode Four, Part 3:

Episode Four, Part 3:
I m i t a t e

"Let me guess, you have conditions." Wynnlow asked. His eyebrow arched up slightly, sure that her help wouldn't come without a price.

"I have a few." She stated, taking a step closer to Wynn. She walked around him, twisting a gun in her grip - Wynnlow hadn't noticed it until now. Until she was suddenly so close. "The first is, I want to know about your life in the Bunker. Why you went in there, How long you were down there for-"

"We went in to the Bunker when I-"

"I'm not finished."

Sol was behind him when they interrupted each other. Knowing she couldn't see him do it, he rolled his eyes, annoyance settling in.

"And I want to know how you survived. No one at Basilisk knew about your Bunker, so I'm guessing you've been down there a while. What technology did you have to sustain you? Resources?"

"Anything else your highness?" His remark was somewhat taunting, but it still made Sol smirk.

"Yes." She extended out her hand, Wynnlow's eyes slightly widening at what he was trying to make sense of. "And I want you to learn how to shoot."

As Wynnlow went to take hold of the gun, a sense of power building inside him, Sol retracted her hand, a sarcastic smile appearing on her face. "But we'll get to that later." She teased, sitting down on the log behind her. "I want to hear about that Bunker."

"Now? It's night, Sol. Can't a guy get some sleep around here?"

"You're not fooling me, Wynn. Besides, the quicker I learn about the Bunker, the quicker I can train you to shoot. Once you know that, I'll take you out of Basilisk."

He really needed no other convincing; leaving Basilisk meant searching for his family, and he would do or say whatever he needed to make that happen. However, it wasn't until that moment that Wynnlow really understood how much she was willing to help. He sat himself down again, still across from Sol, and began to reveal his life to her.

"It must have been about 14 years ago. I was around 3 at the time..." he began, his uncertainty suggesting that he wasn't even confident of his exact age. "Anyway, it was sometime during the war, when The Surge had infected majority of the country. People heard about families going into hiding, especially as the war only seemed to be getting more catastrophic. Mum and Dad heard about some people investing in a Bunker - I think they might have known them, and all I really remember is life inside the Bunker."

"You, your parents, and Ares, correct? What about all those other people that were there when we rescued you? Who were they?"

He wanted so badly to call her out for describing it as a 'rescue', but no matter how much it bothered him, she was the one with the gun. "And my sister, Elara." He told her, forgetting how much he had previously revealed to her.

"She's-"

"No. She's not here..." There was a recognition that flashed across Sol's face. Some sort of sympathy that meant a great deal more to Wynnlow than he would ever admit.

"There's four families in total. Five, if you count Quill."

"Why wouldn't I count him?"

Wynnlow held up a finger to inform her that he was getting to the point. "The Bunker was designed for 13 people, but 18 ended up living in there."

Sol momentarily closed her eyes, her fingers folding slightly as she was trying to recollect how many she remembered from the Invasion. Before she could ask, Wynnlow answered what he knew she would say.

"We lost someone... Holden. He was my best friend's dad."

"I-" Sol began. She was certainly interested in what had happened to him, and what they did with his body. Surely they would have left the Bunker... But she bit her lip. Fighting off her habits, against everything she was used to. There was no need for Wynnlow to have to explain all the details right then - when he was talking about the family he had lost. "I'm sorry."

Wynnlow smiled softly, but he didn't look up at her to show his thanks. "Four of us were born down there. I don't know what our parents were thinking, but even so, all of them survived... Well, I don't know if they're alive anymore."

"Who are they, Wynn?" Her voice was patient, trying to distract Wynn from his battles.

"Elara was the first."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah. My sister."

"And the others?" Again, She was quick to move him on. Even the mention of her name was enough to make him dwell too deep into his tragedies.

"Harlow and Hayzel. Twins. Lyra's siblings."

"Lyra-"

"She's my best friend." He knew the drill now. Don't talk about it too much. Move on quickly, before it hurts. But the ache of Lyra felt a little differently than all the others. "And there's Lili. She came along around 2 years ago. The last of us."

"What about everyone else? The ones who aren't at Basilisk?"

Wynn sighed. He dropped his head in his hands, staring down at the ground as his feet grazed over the dirt. "Mum, dad, and Elara, as you know. They're my direct family. Uh, Valarie and Lili - Asha's family. Fabian - MaReya's brother, and her dad, Junius. Emlyn is Lyra's brother, her younger siblings I told you about, and Bas."

Sol nodded, making a mental note of all that Wynn had told her. But he was missing someone.

"And Quill?"

A bashful smile appeared on Wynnlow's face, a genuine spark of joy as he recalled the story of the boy. "Quill wasn't even supposed to be in the Bunker. He came down alone."

Sol was confused at this point. It was obvious that Wynnlow and Quill were of similar ages, so she couldn't understand how Quill had persuaded his place in the Bunker, if there was no one there to fight for him. Seeing her puzzled, Wynnlow explained it to her.

"It was the last day of 'moving in' to the Bunker. Azha did a room check to make sure we had all we thought we were going to need, and he found Quill nestled up in one of the beds. He was about 3, like I was. We asked him where his family was, but he said he didn't have any. When he was a bit older, he remembered that his mum had told him to hide in the Bunker, and to not come out until he knew that everyone had finished coming in. Obviously we weren't going to kick him out. He was just a kid. He wouldn't have survived a day alone if he went back up to the ground, so we let him stay. At that point, it was only one extra mouth to feed, so it didn't seem too much of an issue. My parents took responsibility of him, looking after him when we were young. He's my brother. Not by blood, but he's still my brother."

"Like Bas and Fabian?" Sol wondered, trying to understand his connection to him.

Wynnlow shook his head, his smile still there. "No. It's a... it's a little more with Quill."

Sol nodded, the slightest of smiles finding her. Wynnlow's passion and intensity for his family was something Sol wasn't used to seeing. If being on the Ground didn't change him, she hoped it would changed her.

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