The next day, the atmosphere was very different from the beginning, more calm, less pressure, without any tension. Adagio and Sonata had decided to go hunting and fishing while Aria and Sunset stayed to take care of the shelter; Aria was at the top, watching for any cannibal or mutant. And Sunset, she was with Onix, since he returned, she did not leave his side.
"Hey Aria!" called Sunset.
"What?" she answered, without looking away from the horizon.
"What time will Sonata and Adagio get back?" asked Sunset.
"I do not know, they said soon on the radio" Aria said.
"I hope so, we have to go out while it's still day" said Sunset. "Do you have all your things ready?"
"Yes. Do you want to calm down? "Aria said. "That damn hole will not go anywhere"
"I know, but the idea that there could be innocent children there... being tortured" said Sunset.
"Even so, getting yourself worked up like this will not help" Aria said.
At that moment, the door opened, there were Adagio and Sonata, with all the food they had gathered.
"That's a lot" said Aria.
"We do not know how long we will be in that hole, if we get trapped, we will avoid dying with this" said Adagio.
"We need something else?" Sunset asked.
"I do not think so" Sonata said, smiling.
"Right, now that we have everything we need, let's secure the shelter and go to that hole" said Sunset, taking her things.
"Sunset? And what will you do with him?" Adagio asked, looking at the little ferret on her girlfriend's shoulder.
"He’s coming with us" said Sunset, as if it were obvious.
"Are you crazy?! Do you want to lose him again?" Aria said.
"It will not happen again" said Sunset, serious.
"But what if it does?" Sonata asked.
"It will not happen" said Sunset, even more serious. "Onix is not a simple pet, girls. He is smarter than you think, trust me” She smiled.
"I still think it's a bad idea, but I believe in you Sunsy" said Adagio.
"I will take care of Onix too!" said Sonata, motivated.
"Then I'll have to save your ass again" said Aria, with her axe on her shoulder.
"Come on, to the big hole" said Sunset, walking to the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once ready, the four girls went to the giant hole. On the way they met some cannibals, Aria takes the skin of one of them and makes a frightful armor. Sunset and the others keep their stealth, lizard, and bone armor. Since it was very dangerous to go down the canyon, they looked for another route, fortunately, one of the caves connected with the hole. They entered that cave the last time, they called it cave 7. They entered, and luckily, there were not many dangers. After a long walk, they came to a set of stone doors. They placed a couple of stones, the doors opened, they had succeeded... they were in the hole.
From above the immense hole, they could only see a lot of rocks, huge ones. They prepared their main weapons and advanced to the left, until they found something very unusual, and at the same time familiar. It was a helicopter! They approached, there was nothing and nobody inside. While they were examining it, Sunset noticed that it was the same helicopter that they saw in the first VHS tape, where that girl was, Megan. After examining it closely, she found something on the ground, a machete!
"This will be useful" said Sunset, looking at her new weapon.
"Lucky" whispered Aria, a little jealous.
Suddenly, they heard noises, without a safe place to hide, they climbed onto the rocks, there were a good number of cannibals, an Armsy mutant, and a huge fat man, Cowman was the name Aria had given him.
"What are we do?" Adagio asked.
"We fight" said Aria, taking her axe.
"Wait, first we have to get rid of the cannibals, then we have to defeat those mutants" said Sunset.
They prepare their positions, Sonata used her spring to get the attention of some cannibals, while Adagio pointed her arrows at their heads. On the other hand, Aria, prepared with some homemade bombs with adhesive dressing, and Sunset, with some Molotov cocktails, would burn the mutants and kill them easier. And so it was. At least that's what they thought, but more and more cannibals and mutants appeared. They decided that their only option to move forward was to enter through a hole in the lake: it could only be accessed by swimming. So they prepared their diver's equipment. After a long swim, they came to another cave, but the walls were not made of stone, it was more like obsidian. It was so big and they were sure to find several cannibals. But they were well prepared, if the situation worsened, they had the necessary materials. They came to a wall where they could simply avoid climbing it by jumping over nearby rocks, but they thought better of it and used their climbing ax. Also, in the cave, they saw a long corridor. After traveling down the corridor that seemed strangely constructed, they continued the journey until they reached a large mechanical door.
"But what...?" Adagio said.
"That... is..." Aria said.
"A door" said Sonata.
"But what is it doing here? I mean, there's no way that cannibals did this" said Sunset.
As they watched the door, they heard cannibal cries behind them.
"Great. And now what? "Aria said, raising her axe.
"We're trapped" Sonata said nervously.
Suddenly, Sunset remembered something, took an object out of her pocket, was not sure if it would work, but she had to find out. She went to the door and used the access card she had found in the cave full of corpses. Scanning, the door opened. A huge, long, modern red corridor stood before them.
"Come on, get ready" said Sunset, preparing her katana.
The rest followed her, as soon as they entered, the door closed, they advanced without fear, the site was very modern with a lot of technology; They could see a bag of tools, with a drill next to some metal plates and screws. And a rope that led up.
"We will have to climb" said Aria.
"I'm not liking this" said Adagio.
"Look, paint" Sonata said, pointing to a pail of paint.
Suddenly... "That's it, good idea Sonata" said Sunset, taking the bucket of paint.
"What? Why?" said Aria, confused.
"Remember that cave where we saw a painting of a big red man?" said Sunset, taking the bucket.
"Yes, so what? "Aria said.
"If it's true, the cannibals will not attack their god" said Sunset, emptying the bucket of paint on her.
"But what-?!"
"Easy Adagio, with this, they will not dare to touch me" said Sunset.
"And taking a shower was necessary? Do you think you can control the cannibals or mutants?" asked Sonata.
"No, I do not think so" said Sunset. "But they’ll stay still when they're killed" she smiled.
"I don't agree with the idea, but I guess it will be easier" said Adagio.
"Do not worry, let's continue" said Sunset.
When climbing the rope, they followed a corridor, a very long one. When they ran out of road, they went down through a vent. They discovered tools on the floor and metal plates, it was very obvious that someone passed by, someone ready. Sunset went over to the papers and found a document about a girl. They entered a small room with gas tanks, crucifixes, and papers.
"Is Megan?" Sonata asked.
"I think so" said Sunset. "It seems that they used her as an experiment too"
"If they’re still here, we must hurry" said Aria.
Another downward vent shaft was their only path, with no other option, they advanced, there were more tools, which indicated that someone from inside had passed through here; The place was very narrow, they had to squat to move forward, it was uncomfortable and painful for the legs.
"It's impossible for the cannibals to build this" said Sunset.
"Of course not, those idiots could never do this" Aria said.
"But what about that man in red?" Adagio asked.
"It's true, that man is different from the others, surely he's a sane person, but what does he do here?" said Sunset.
They turned left and found a small shelter, there were plates, utensils, sheets, and toys, a secret mini-base for a child, there were some flowers on the wall, maybe it was more like a girl's shelter.
"Will it be the girl we saw?" Sonata asked.
"I don't know, I think so" said Sunset.
"And if it's the kid you say you saw on the plane, the one you say the red man took on his shoulder" said Aria.
"I do n't know, it could be a boy or girl who was here" said Sunset.
"Even so, there is no one here, let's continue" said Adagio.
They continued down the corridor until they reached the end where there was a rope that would take them to the surface, they climbed that rope to a kind of dining room, empty and totally destroyed.
"Same as in the video" said Sunset. "But what happened here?"
"Mutants? Cannibals?" Sonata asked.
"You think they could build something like that with cannibals everywhere" Adagio said.
"Well?" Aria said.
"We'll have to keep moving" said Sunset. "Maybe there are supplies here, let's inspect" she said.
They found some bottles of water, bottles of alcohol, medicines, and some prepared foods, with the money they found, they used it to get drinks and food out of the dispensing machines; The doors were blocked, but a hole in the ceiling allowed them to continue carefully up the pipes and through another long narrow corridor, until they reached where they feared, a hospital room, with many beds... for children.
"Your theory was correct, if there are children here" said Aria.
"But, where are the children?" asked Adagio.
"We're too late?" Sonata asked.
"I hope not, come on" said Sunset.
They went out the door, found rooms with broken glass, and mutant babies dead on the floor.
"But what...?" Sunset said.
"It's true, they experimented with children" said Adagio.
They went to see the rest of the rooms, they all said the same thing: Observatory Room. And a different letter for each room; Suddenly they heard sounds of an Armsy.
"It's mine" said Aria, preparing a bomb.
"Once he's helpless, we'll finish him off" said Sunset, preparing her weapon.
Aria used a sticky bomb, flung it at the Armsy, as soon as it caught fire, they came out and attacked the mutant, and soon he died; they followed the corridor, through more observatory rooms, until...
"Aaahhhh!!" Sonata shouted, scared.
"Sonata! What's up?" said Sunset.
Sonata showed one of the rooms, a mutant, this one was different from the others. It was huge, it covered the entire room, it had eyes and arms coming out of it, it was a huge mass of flesh.
"What is this...?" Sonata said.
"They made the mutants here" said Aria.
"But with what?" asked Adagio.
"Girls, the road is blocked, but there's an entrance from the roof, come on" said Sunset.
They moved away from that thing, went up and down the hall, found some drawings of flowers that said: By Megan Cross
"We're close" said Sunset, taking one of those drawings.
Her final destination was a room, the chairs in disarray and books and a slide screen, both showing the logo of a company.
"What the...?" said Sunset, looking at the monitor.