The Wannabe Warrior
Chapter 72

Madison POV

Hearing my mate’s voice waking me up, had me forgetting where I was for a moment, and when I rolled over to cuddle him, I almost fell out of bed. I woke up fully with a start at the sudden edge of the bed, and sat up, looking around the room, and yesterday came back to me in full force.

We have our battle today.

Finally, my mother and Luna would be avenged.

I sprung out of bed and found an unusual bathroom.

It did not have a shower or a bath, but a large sink, big enough for me to sit in, with legs bent. You could put water in and wash yourself. It seemed this was the way they would keep water usage to the minimum. The water from the sink went into another holding tank that appeared to be used to flush the toilet, all very economical. I was impressed. When you have little space and water is precious, you need to replace ways to overcome and adapt, and they have had years of living under these conditions, so that they might see our way of life as a lot of wastage.

Having completed my morning routine the best I could, I left the room and headed to the smell of food. The tables had loaves of bread and jams, a few fruit and coffee pots, lots and lots of coffee pots, and a few dishes of bacon that we had included in the food we had sent over from our kitchens. It seemed Anton was right, they had little food to share. I wished I could have sent more food. They would be happy to get out of the caves and replace some meat. There are plenty of rabbits around this area, and I would not be surprised if that number dropped quickly. The rabbits most likely bred prolifically, while the cave dwellers we stuck in their caves and could not catch them.

‘Alpha Alex, I sorry for having been so rude, but what is your pack called? I keep referring to your pack as the cave dwellers, but I should really call your pack by its correct name.’ say suddenly aware I had never asked that question.

Alex chuckled and said, ‘You are not far wrong with your name, we are known as the Deep Earth Pack, so cave dweller or earth dweller would be close.’

‘That makes sense, thank you.’ I replied and knew that the mics would have picked up on that conversation, and Gerome would have made note of it in his spreadsheets. The rest would not have to be heard, as Gerome has control over communication now, and individual conversations would be transmitted, unless requested.

The warriors got into groups, and headed towards the cave openings they had made. They just needed to unblock the last part and they would be in.

While the warriors waited in those tunnels for the word to break through.

The rest were shoring up the walls and securing the area which had recently collapsed. The work was tedious, but with years of experience living in the tunnels, they worked meticulously, making sure every part of the walls was reinforced with some material they had made that would dry harder than our concrete. The mix was made from the wall rubble and some glue concoction that Alex would not share with me.

It fascinated me watching them at work. Soon a large part of the wall was finished and you would not know that the tunnel had even collapsed. Alex assured me, that they often collapse a wall and rebuild it, as it makes them stronger over time, and the walls become thicker with each renewed batch.

‘Earth moves,’ he had said, ‘and with each year, the walls will weaken because of the movement behind them, so we deliberately collapse a section and rebuild it, making them strong again.’

It makes sense, you don’t want a tunnel to suddenly collapse, if, by doing this type of maintenance, it would stop walls from becoming a danger and collapsing.

‘Some you cannot avoid. A movement or shift in the earth can cause a wall to break, or a flood down river could fill natural cavities with water. behind the walls and they would put pressure on the walls and cause a collapse, however they are far and few between, since we started doing deliberate tunnel collapse maintenance.’ Alex had said, and I could see his point of view.

Alex was now seated at the dining table, going over some of the battle plans.

I watched him in action, and recognised a fellow war chief, his ideas and plans for the underground battles. It was the work of a genius, though he said it was more like training passed down through the generations, and they were attacked at night, when most were asleep and only a small group were protecting the cave entries. Those at the time were killed, but not before giving the alarm before their lives were taken. They had been at peace for so long that they got complacent.

I suggested placing motion sensors at the entrance, so anyone who enters you would know, you could have someone monitoring them at night, do it in shifts so the person would not fall asleep on the job, and that person could raise the alarm before anyone could get too far into the tunnels. Alex liked that idea and asked if I would assist him with setting something like that up. Of course, I accepted the offer to work with them in the future and saw that as the beginning of a new alliance.