Chapter 3: A Bunker of Cultists?

The ceiling was made of metal. The bed I was on had a metal frame. It didn't have a mattress, just a soft blanket-like area. The place smelled sterile, like as if someone sprayed sanitizer all over the place.

I noticed my clothes were changed, from basic casual clothing, to fresh white clothes, the kind you would see a hospital patient sporting. What happened to my previous clothes? What exactly even happened to me?

My left abdomen was still throbbing in pain, but seeing as how I was still alive, it wasn't life-threatening.

I sat on my bed to look around the area. I felt bandages wrapped around my abdomen.

There were about 5 beds in this room alone, 2 of which were empty. One had a person with a blanket over his whole body… like as if he was… dead. There was another, alive looking person, who seemed to be sleeping.

Where the hell am I? I thought to myself. My family… are they dead? No, they can't be, they are smart enough to survive. At least I think so. But then what will happen to me then? How will I survive without my mom? Where will I live from now on? Where is my family?

Well, it was a problem for future me to solve.

I got off the bed to clear my head. My sprained ankle was now just fine.

The floor was very cold. It also seemed to be made of metal. I tip-toed my way to the entrance.

Just then, I saw someone enter the room.

"AAAAA", I screamed, loud enough to wake up everybody in the room.

The someone who entered the room was a woman who seemed like a nurse, although she wasn't wearing a nurse outfit, just casual clothes. She was a relatively tall, young woman, with brown hair, looking to be in her late 20's. Her hair was messy, like as if she had been working overtime for the last few days, with dark spots under her eyes. She seemed to be carrying some medicine and a bandage on a tray.

"Oh, wow you woke up?", she said, sounding surprised and disinterested at that same time.

"W-who are y-you?", I asked, sounding like as if I had seen a ghost.

"The person who has been taking care of you for a while now.", she said, while setting down the tray near the sleeping person's table.

"How long exactly is a while?"

"The last 30 hours, I guess? You recuperated surprisingly fast if I am being honest"

"Where am I?"

"A metal bunker in… wait, Kenji didn't tell you? Oh yeah, I guess you were basically dragged here while you were unconscious"

"Uh… who is Kenji?"

"He didn't tell you that either?", she said, after which she muttered, "That stupid numb nut"

"Anyway, my name is Daphne, what's yours?", she said, offering a handshake.

"My name is Cecilia. By Daphne, do you mean the one in Greek mythology?", I said, shaking her hand, still slightly confused as to how I ended up here

"Haha, no.", she said, not sounding even slightly amused. "I get that a lot though. I am neither a nymph nor a dryad. Either way, follow me.", she said, heading out of the door.

"So where exactly are we?", I asked, as she was leading me down a long hallway. The walls were adorned with metal, similar to the infirmary I was in.

"We are in an abandoned military bunker, now used as a base of operations for us.", she replied.

"Who exactly are you referring to as 'us'?", I asked, growing suspicious.

"I heard you saw Garuda.", she said, basically just ignoring my question.

"Garuda? Who's that?", I asked, forgetting my suspicion almost immediately.

"That thing you probably saw back then. It's a god.", she said.

Did she also see the giant bird? No… or else she wouldn't have added the probably… And what did she mean when she said a god…? Was I in the afterlife?

"Say what now?"

"You know the giant red bird thing that turned your family to ash, right? Yeah, that was a god.", she said, about as bluntly as she could.

I was slightly taken aback by the unsympathetic response. The hell did she mean to turn my family to ash? They were probably still alive… right? But it was clear she knew about the giant bird. Then why was she talking as if it was general knowledge to everyone? What the hell was going on??

"R-right… but that doesn't explain much."

"Gods are beings of belief.", she started, making it sound like a dramatic monologue. "They were supposed to be neutral, working neither for humanity, nor against humanity. About 50 years ago that changed. They began to attack us indiscriminately, destroying cities and contaminating the area around them."

"Why?", I asked, getting slightly curious, even if some part of me didn't believe her.

"That is a mystery, even to us. All we know is that they really seem to hate us. To the point where they flattened entire cities during the first onslaught."

"Then how is it that none of us know about these flattened cities?", I said, half sarcastically.

"I feel like you are smart enough to figure that out. The news covered it up. Normal people can't see gods anyway."

"They can't? Then how could I see the giant red bird?", I asked, still not taking her seriously. This just seemed more and more like a conspiracy theory. Was I supposed to believe this?

"You can only see them once a part of you believes in gods. I don't know why a part of you believes in gods, but it seems to be the sole reason you are still alive."

She took a left turn in the long hallway and arrived at a cafeteria looking place. It was a pretty large area. Daphne headed over to a coffee machine, and started pouring out coffee for herself.

"Wait a minute. Why are you telling me this? It seems like pretty important information...", I said, still thinking she was joking. There is no way what she said was true, right? Sounds too much like a conspiracy to be true. Then again, what exactly was the giant red bird…?

"That's because it is.", she said, sipping her coffee.

I looked at her face and realized she wasn't joking. She looked like she believed every bit of what she just said. It seemed like the kind of belief a cult would have. Some part of me also began to think that what she said had some credibility to it. Was I brainwashed already or something?

I just kept staring at her face, hoping she would say something, but she just stood there, sipping her coffee.

"Then… uh… are you planning to kill me or something…?", growing slightly concerned. I had watched enough movies to know where this was going.

"Of course I am. This place will be your graveyard.", she said brazenly, as she was reaching out for something behind the coffee machine. She sounded brazen, but she looked like she was ready to kill me and feed my parts to the dogs.

"W-wait wait wait what now??", I stuttered, slowly inching away from her. The way she said it really made me believe this is the place where I die.

"Don't worry, I am not about to get your blood on my hands just yet. Plus if I really wanted to kill you, I would have done that a long time ago.", she said, getting the sugar from behind the coffee machine.

"R-right… Of course…", I said, still thinking she might kill me.

"Anyway, do you know where we are going?"

"Of course I don't.", was I supposed to know who we were going to meet? I thought to myself.

"We are heading over to meet the director of the accursed place. Don't piss him off too much, alright?"

"What exactly is this place? The director of what exactly?"

"I told you the rough basics. He'll tell you rest."

"Thanks for the concise answer, I guess.", I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Ah, we are here. I'll leave you to the director. See ya later. Be sure to survive, okay?", she said, stopping near a door.

We had arrived at a large metal door, that looked like it was the entrance to a prison. She opened the door, pushed me into the room, then shut it as fast as she could.