Young Writers Society

Well, that was a little more like it - by the time Nubes had made his way to the hatch, the others had already cleared out most of the snow. Even Lasan barreled past him, gripping the edges of the hatch and tugging on them.

Nothing happened.

By now, the roar of the wind had turned almost defeaning. Snow blew in Nubes's face, and he could barely see the bag that Lasan had dropped on the ground.

"It won't budge!" Lasan shouted, voice barely a whisper in the wind.

Running through the snow and grabbing the bag, Nubes began to haul it towards the rest of the group. Ugh, and he'd thought it was heavy when Lasan had been helping him out. "I need some help!" Nubes called out, a couple tugs and a couple inches later.

Briar hesitated. She wasn't needed here anymore, and she shouldn't leave Nubes in the snow.

Why not?

She thought about it. The others wouldn't be able to blame her for not going. This was what most would consider a 'high-stress situation', wherein people were allowed, expected, even, to make poor decisions. She wouldn't take a hit to her reputation in the group. Besides, she never did well in the cold. Here, at least, she had the others around to provide what body heat and protection from the wind she could hope for at the moment.

But the supplies would likely be lost, and Nubes would get into the bunker anyway. If she helped now, at least they wouldn't have to deal with any injury or illness he sustained from extended exposure to the elements.

All of this ran through her head in under a second.

She left her own bags with the others where they could easily be pulled down into the bunker once the hatch was open and went to offer her help.

She knew she didn't appear nearly strong enough to carry even half the weight of something that had taken two much bigger people to lift before, and it was true that she did struggle to pick it up even with Nubes's help, but she was plenty capable.

Out of habit, Ryder grabbed onto the bag that Briar had discarded. He should have left it for Lust or Gluttony, but he lifted it with ease. And then - fueled by adrenaline and the desire to help those around him, and not really thinking about the consequences - he gave the bunker's door a strong tug before either Gluttony or Lust could get a grip on it.

The door popped open.

Well, whatever Ryder had just done to kick the hatch open, Lasan was a little too cold to call attention to it. He almost sprinted his way down the flight of stairs leading to the fireplace, only to realize the Nubes and Briar were still dragging his bag to the hatch.

Stepping back to let the others through, the lizard plowed his way through the snow. It took a couple seconds for him to reach the bag and grab onto it, and, with the other two helping out, a couple more seconds to make it back to the hatch.

Lasan and Nubes grunted as they began to lower the bag down the stairs. The lizard partly let go, using one paw to grip onto the hatch and begin to pull it down. If not for what Lasan thought was a strange, blob-like silhouette at the edge of his vision, he might not have found the strength to close the hatch. But, heart skipping a beat, Lasan threw the hatch down. It crashed against the rest of the bunker, locking into place.

A couple deep breaths later, Lasan slowly made his way down the stairs, taking care not to accidentally crush Nubes or Briar.

Gluttony and Lust had already made their way down into the bottom of the bunker, but Ryder lingered on the stairs to make sure everyone was able to get inside. He was too far down to have seen what Lasan had seen, but he did see the way that Lasan had hesitated before slamming the cover down - there had been something out there, and it was something that had scared him.

"What did you see?" he asked.

Briar only paid partial attention to Ryder's question and Lasan's impending answer. She was busy counting people and bags and examining their new surroundings.

They had everyone, and they weren't missing any of the gathered supplies.

Good.

She tuned back in to the conversation.

"I don't know," Lasan said, halfway down the stairs. "I really hope it was nothing, but I'm guessing it was...something. Definitely not a person."

Briar cast a wary look at the hatch and filed that information away, hoping they weren't in any danger.

She came up behind Ryder and placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, "May I speak to you?"

She had decided that the time cost of waiting to collect any kind of evidence concerning who or what he may actually be wasn't worth the reward, and she really didn't like the idea of secrets within the group, especially when the thing being kept from the group was so fundamental as what she suspected Ryder's secret to be.

Ryder tore his gaze away from Lasan - still wanting more of an answer - and instead looked over at Briar. "Sure," he said. Something about her question gave him an uneasy pit in his stomach, but he didn't act on that impulse.

Maybe he should have.

Perhaps he would prefer to do this privately. If he had a good reason for keeping his secrets she didn't want to unfairly expose him.

She gestured to the far side of the room, out of earshot of the others and far enough in the shadows to make lip reading impossible. Rather than truly give him a choice, she took him by the wrist and tugged him over there after her. She didn't pull hard or even really grip him. It was best not to be seen as hostile.

Once as alone as they were going to get, Briar turned to him, "You're hiding something," it was a statement; she was past dissuading, "If you cannot tell me what it is, inform me of your motives for keeping it secret."

Her hand drew closer to her gun, and instinct. Secrets were dangerous things, they made people dangerous. She silently hoped that wasn't the case for Ryder.

Taking the last few steps to the bottom of the staircase, Lasan gently rested his bag on the ground. Nubes and Lasan then took the opportunity to move towards the fire, keeping a safe distance from whatever Briar and Ryder were talking about. It seemed like something personal between them, perhaps over Ryder's leadership, and Lasan knew enough about leadership that he decided it'd be better for his peace of mind to keep away from the conversation.

Nubes might've been listening though - kneeling in front of the fire, the leopard's ears twitched. Lasan wasn't sure if it was because of the cold, though, especially since Nubes kept tugging at his extremities. Hopefully they'd be able to use some of the supplies here and give Nubes a blanket.

He went still at her inquiry.

He should have known that it was only a matter of time before someone noticed all of his discrepancies, and all of the times he had acted out of a paranoia he shouldn't have had.

But he was lucky.

He had two stories he hadn't given. Both were very much his own, but one fit with the persona he had been giving off especially well - Ryder Salvai, leader of the resistance against Notch.

He took a deep, uncertain breath, and tried his best to look defeated - and a little frustrated, since this was supposed to be his most important secret.

"...I guess I can't avoid the truth any longer," he said, keeping the frustration and defeat in his voice. "I'm surprised no one recognized my name so far, but maybe it's because we're from different worlds. I'm not a mayor of a small town - I'm the leader of the resistance against Notch."

Briar watched him carefully. He could still be lying, but he didn't have any obvious tells, and she didn't know him well enough to spot a subtle one.

She nodded, "I assume Notch is someone important where you're from," it was a statement, just thinking aloud.

She looked him in the eyes, forcing him to see the threat residing there, "Refrain from keeping secrets from the group again."

She didn't intend to kill him if he did this again, but hurting him wasn't out of the question. And, as many, many people in Kroy would be able to confirm, she was very good at causing pain.