"You'll need to get off the horses and walk them in from here," Sawyer said. "The passage is pretty narrow."
Stefan slid off his horse then grabbed the reins and walked over to stand next to Sawyer. He frowned as he glanced around. He couldn't see anything but rock.
"I discovered this secret entrance when I was exploring the complex. Apparently, it was for the top brass to use to escape in case someone invaded the complex. Whoever they were, they didn't make it all the way out before the mechs got them and drained them dry." Sawyer swallowed hard, looking a little pale. "I buried the bodies south of the main complex entrance with the others I found inside."
Stefan felt bad for Sawyer. It couldn't have been easy burying all those bodies. Upside, Stefan wouldn't have to look at a bunch of dried-out husks. No matter how many times he saw one, he never quite got used to it.
"So, where's this secret entrance?" Roark asked.
"Right through here." Sawyer started walking then disappeared behind the rock. One second he was there. The next, he was simply gone.
"Sawyer?" Stefan called out.
Sawyer chuckled as he stepped back into sight. "It's a very secret entrance."
"I guess." Stefan followed Sawyer when the man turned and started walking again. This time, he made sure he kept Sawyer in sight. They wove through a rock canyon that was so narrow, Fred barely fit through it. The passage was definitely single file.
"Where are we going, Sawyer?" he asked.
"Right here." Sawyer stopped in front of a huge metal door. He slapped it with his hand. "Reinforced steel door. No iron."
Handy.
Sawyer pulled the door open then stepped inside. He grabbed a camping lamp off a hook on the wall and lit it. "Careful when bringing the horses in. You have to get them to step over bottom of the door. They don't seem to like that very much."
Stefan stepped through the door after Sawyer then carefully led Fred inside.
"I have a small stable area for horses just down the passageway. You can leave Fred there."
Stefan held tight to the reins as he walked down the cement passageway to an area sectioned off to one side. He suspected it had once been an underground parking area for vehicles. It now housed several wooden horse stalls and a fenced-in paddock area where horses could move about. It looked as if it could easily house several horses.
He led Fred over to one of the stalls. He debated on whether to remove his saddle or not then decided it wasn't fair to Fred to leave him all tacked up. He removed the saddle and hung it over the edge of the stall then brushed Fred down. By the time he released the horse into the paddock area, the others were there doing the same thing.
"How did you get this all set up, Sawyer?" Stefan asked.
"I've been working on it for several months now." Sawyer didn't have a smile on his face, but it wasn't a grimace either. "Like I said earlier, I needed a base of operations. This place seemed as good as any. Plus, it had the added bonus of being built underground. With the doors closed, I worry a lot less about mechs."
"How did this place get attacked by the mechs if it's supposed to be impregnable?"
"I'm only making an assumption since I wasn't here when it happened, but I think the mechs came in through the front door. The doors themselves are reinforced steel, but I don't think they got them closed in time. They were open when I got here. The mechs hit without warning. They might have already known about this place and hit it in the very beginning."
That actually made sense.
"So, you think they didn't get the doors closed in time?" Stefan asked.
"There were signs of a large gun battle where the two main blast doors are located. There were also a lot of dried-up bodies between the two doors. Bodies in military uniforms. I think the mechs attacked and the place went into lockdown, but by then it was too late. The mechs were already inside."
"Any sign that the mechs might still be here?"
Sawyer shook his head. "I think they got everything they wanted already and moved on to the cities."
"Aren't you worried about humans trying to get in here?" Roark asked.
"When they see the cave-in out front, they tend to go away. No one wants to put in the work to dig out the entrances since they'd have to do it by hand, and I'm pretty sure everyone who knew about the secret entrance died when the mechs attacked."
"I'm surprised the place held up so well," Dahl remarked as he stroked his hand down one of the cement walls. "I kind of assumed it had been destroyed."
"A lot of the infrastructure was destroyed, but the framework of the place is made of cement and steel rebar. It held up pretty well considering. Of course, there's no electricity or indoor plumbing, but I think that could be fixed if we had an engineer and a plumber."
