It took us a long while before we found something usable.

  We did stumble upon many buildings that were definitely offices before, or at least were full of paperwork. Obviously, the more interesting pieces were missing already and we only managed to figure out the main purpose of those thanks to the room layout being absolutely dreadfully dull.

  Of course there were no PCs either. I mean, that was kind of given. Judging the time passed that we assumed at least and the destruction… Or just that the people here took more valuable stuff with them when they deserted this place.

  Yeah. Deserted…

  It sort of started looking to us like it was the case.

  I mean, I get it. Destruction and all. But it did look too clean.

  Okay, it was possible that it was just the time that cleaned up the place, but wouldn’t that mean that nature should’ve taken over the place a bit more?

  And yet, this place looked more like it was abandoned than anything.

  And I started having a very unsettling idea about what exactly had happened here.

  -Another one like this… - I said to Mike, leaving an empty building. - I guess a store of some kind, but…

  -Cleaned?

  -Yeah.

  He was still outside, waiting for me. He checked outside, looking for another, more enticing target, but seems like he finally ran out of ideas.

  -And no basement?

  -There was, but a small one. Nothing to write home about.

  -So no skeletons.

  -Hah. Yeah, no.

  -Hm.

  At this point, we were slowly starting to be a bit pessimistic, thinking that this place is just a waste of time.

  -Maybe the outskirts then…?

  -We are at the outskirts.

  -I mean, there’s still plenty of buildings.

  -Eh… Right. But we did check most of the tall ones.

  -So we check the rest.

  -Fair enough.

  I focused on a spot that we hadn’t been to yet, but, unsurprisingly, did not find anything magical.

  -Nothing magical, but let’s go anyway.

  -Like there was something magical anywhere else…

  -...

  He was back with complaining again.

  But, I can’t blame him, really. I dragged us here, and while he was definitely willing and thought that we’ll get some answers… Well, we didn’t get much.

  And there was that sickness of his, too…

  At this point, I didn’t even want to mention that, being hopeful that my hunch was wrong, but…

  -Okay, I take the absolute ruin over here, you take the other side of the street.

  He nodded and walked away.

  The building I’ve chosen was… well, not a building any more.

  It probably used to be at least two stories tall, but right now it was just three walls standing, not even two meters high, with rubble inside.

  I intended to clear it… or at least move some trash away so I could at least pinpoint if there was a basement here.

  At this point, it was the only thing I was looking for, I already lost faith in us finding anything useful on the ground floors, unprotected from the elements.

  This building looked promising. Or more promising than just one old shop or gym.

  I mean, at least it wasn’t one.

  This one I couldn’t really place.

  It didn’t look like anything I’ve really seen, so that made me hopeful. It also weirded me out a bit for some reason.

  It was strange. I’ve seen plenty of rooms, and recently most of them were unusual and weird. And yet, this one felt… different, and I don’t know why. And I couldn’t tell why, for all that it mattered it was just another ruin.

  I did find a hatch, though.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Usually it wouldn’t be much of a discovery. Plenty of ruins so far had those, or any other way to get underground, that is.

  But this one…

  This one was armored.

  Full metal, thick as a real bunker hatch that was a size enough to fit four people at once, and yet, still bent a bit with plenty of marks from the damage. It was a bit unusual, since we were far from the explosion, and most of the walls were still standing.

  If that’s not a bunker, I don’t know what is.

  Now question, how do I get in?

  It looked completely manual. And closed from the inside. Of course.

  I considered calling Mike, but it’s not like he’d be much of a help, if I am being honest. I think right now he was somewhere on top of a building, or just a wall rather, on the opposite side of the street, looking towards somewhere away from the city.

  Was he distracted by “voices” again? Ha.

  Easiest solutions are usually the best, right?

  So why not use some strength…

  That’s what I would say, if that thing had even a handle remaining.

  Whatever was used to open this place from the outside was long gone, leaving just a piece of bent metal that you could barely grip.

  If not that, then…

  -Move.

  I realized a bit too late I was speaking plain language.

  I intended to move the earth to assist me with wedging between the hinges and breaking this thing open.

  The problem was, I wasn’t really surrounded by earth, really. More rubble and ruins than anything else.

  Instead of that, my touch just melted away the hatch itself.

  I say melted, I mean, that’s what it looked like. But it was more that everything has started moving away from me, including rubble and trash around. Those didn’t change the state of matter, because it actually had a place to escape my touch. But the fully closed hatch had no way of escaping, so instead the material started moving by itself.

  -Ahh…

  I wanted to curse myself for using just regular words. For some reason I started catching myself more often using just regular language when casting spells.

  It usually wasn’t the problem… Well, usually.

  I was just glad that the spell didn’t backfire. It did use more mana, though. Wasn’t a problem for me, but still, it was something to keep in mind going forward.

  -Could be worse… - I muttered to myself, looking at my “work”.

  The hatch was completely gone, instead there was just a square hole leading down, with a set of metal stairs. The material that used to be the hatch was now moved to the side in a pile of… I’d say goo, but it hardened completely. Hell, not like it was ever liquid to begin with.

  Magic is weird sometimes.

  Without much of a thought, I started walking down.

  I was half-joking when I thought that this place was a bunker. Sure, reinforced door, right, but it’s not like it couldn’t be something else, right?

  Well, it wasn’t.

  And it was surprisingly well kept, too.

  The walls were untouched. While the old paint was crumbling and in most places I could see bare concrete peeking out, I could still clearly see the markings leading me down, along with large letters: “EMERGENCY SHELTER”.

  I stopped myself, thinking I should call Mike, and without second thought, I sensed him nearby. Still somewhere up top.

  Of course, I couldn’t pass the occasion to have a reason to peek into his mind. Maybe hear something interesting again?

  But this time, his head was quiet.

  I even waited a couple moments, just to make sure.

  It’s either he realized earlier, which I doubt, or I was unlucky.

  I assumed second.

  -Mike. You might want to come join me.

  I could tell he flinched.

  -Don’t fucking scare me like that!

  -My bad.

  I don’t think he was that good at acting, so I guess he really didn’t realize I did that before.

  -What’s going on?!

  -Well, I found… something. A bunker.

  -Again?

  -Well, this time it’s a real one.

  I focused, sending him an image of the wall I was looking at.

  -AGH! You… What?! How did you even do that?!

  -Eh?

  -Never mind… I… Just a moment.

  Oh.

  That was a good question.

  I mean, I’ve done similar things before, but I didn’t think about this one even. I just… did it.

  Usually it would take a considerable amount of effort to attempt something like that… Especially thanks to the distance.

  Sure, we weren’t that far apart, but I don’t think I remember trying something like that with a person that wasn’t actively touching me. And the fact that I’ve done it without even thinking…

  If that was me some time ago, I’d say it was worrying.

  Right now, I was just content.

  -Well, I didn’t come far down, so I am waiting. I made a path. Sort of.

  -Sort of?

  -Just come here.

  As I was waiting, I quickly popped out an orb of light. I wouldn’t really need it either way, but why not.

  -Okay, what’s up with the door upstairs…?

  -Nothing much. Why?

  -The fuck happened to it?! It had to be some kind of weird magic that…

  -I happened.

  -Oh.

  -Yeah, sorry to disappoint.

  -Mgh. And here I thought someone… Well, never mind. What’s down…?

  -Let’s check.

  -This is disgusting… - groaned Mike as we were walking down. - You really can’t smell, can you?

  -I guess so - I shrugged, not really concerned about my loss of one sense. - It’s that bad?

  -It’s not a corpse smell, I can tell you that - he said. - But it’s pretty bad. Maybe worse.

  -Shit.

  We entered a rather thin room, considering the width of the stairs. It wasn’t really ruined like the building above, but more decayed. And that is saying something, because most of the “furniture” was made out of metal. Or at least I think those used to be furniture. Maybe beds? Hard to tell, it was just a row of rusted and bent metal skeletons. Of course, with normal skeletons on top of them.

  -Well, if we were wondering where people went, there we are…