Dog Days: Book One

33

"How did you guys make that door?" Arryn asked, mouth hanging agape. She had never seen anything like it.

Looking back at the door, she saw a crank to the left on the wall. A metal rod connected from the gears to the back of the door.

"Duke is a bit of an inventor." Darius clasped his hands around the crank. The door creeped back towards the frame as the gears turned loudly. "He's made all sorts of traps and weapons around here."

"That sounds promising," Savanah muttered under her breath.

Darius brushed his hands together, not hearing Savannah. "Alright you lot, follow me." Green eyes smiled back at them. Walking past them, he motioned for them to follow him down the walkway. "Watch your step here," Darius ordered. He stepped over what seemed to be thin air. "Trip wire. Wouldn't want anyone to trigger that." His gaze fell towards the right. A cleaver hung over a small, barely visible wire. The wire held up a large piece of plywood with broken beer bottles adhered to the surface. The brown tinted bottle's edges were stained black, with small pieces of rotted flesh dangling from the glass.

"How lovely," Savanah said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, love, don't mean to scare you. Keeps the uglies that sneak in at bay."

"Exc—"

"How many of you guys are there?" Dante asked before the scowl that had snuck onto Savannah's face could turn into an insult. Savannah whipped her head towards Dante. Anger flared in her eyes, but it fizzled out as he returned her look with a sympathetic one.

"There are three of us. Duke and Kris are the two you haven't met."

"How did you guys end up here?" Daniel asked. Arryn could hear the disdain lacing his words.

"We worked here. Duke worked in the pharmacy, and Kris was the security supervisor. Once the world went balls up, we adapted and survived. Cleaned out the Rotters and fortified the place."

"And what about you? What did you do?" Daniel continued.

"I was a chef at one of the food court restaurants. Are you guys hungry? I can whip you up something." Darius appeared excited to have new people in his presence. From the smile on his face to the pep in his step, he seemed like an eccentric man.

"We aren't planning on staying long. We were just looking for supplies for the road. Medicine, food, clothing..." Daniel trailed off. "We weren't expecting to run into anyone, alive anyway."

"When I saw you blokes out there I thought I was going mental." Darius stopped, reaching the door at the end of the hallway. "Are you sure you don't want a bite for the road? I'm sure it's been awhile since you all had a good home cooked meal." Darius met eyes with Daniel. "Dust the chip off your shoulder, mate. We aren't here to hurt you."

"A meal would be nice," Dante replied, shooting Daniel a look. "We don't get to eat much out on the road."

"Fine," Daniel huffed. "Can we discuss supplies over the meal? My group and I would like to head out before it gets dark."