Considering how dangerous these woods were rumored to be, they were quiet and beautiful too. As the self-appointed explorers made their way through the overgrowth, their initial caution had waned quite a bit after many uneventful trips. Xaiden felt the lull of his companions' awareness more than it felt his own. From Jax carelessly whacking down weeds, to Ewen making notes in a little book and staring at the small GPS screen. Where once they had taken each step cautiously, they now moved fearlessly into the unknown sections, and maybe that was okay. They had heard about traps and mines from old wars, but had not run into any in the 2 years they'd spent out here. Xaiden pushed aside his unease as they continued to forge a new path.
"Hey, I got something!" Jax exclaimed excitedly. "Look down there, right next to the stream!"
Ewen hurried over, "Is it an animal?" he asked curiously as he followed Jax's pointed finger to the distance. They'd found quite a few unique creatures out here, animals that seemed to thrive in the abandoned terrain more than he'd ever seen from their local zoos. Some of them had been a bit aggressive, but for the most part, the animals' curiosity was far less than the humans.
"No, it looks like part of a building!" Jax continued enthusiastically. Finding shacks and rundown buildings was also quite common for them. This section of the planet had once been a thriving city before it became war torn, desolate, and eventually abandoned completely.
Xaiden made his way towards the others and peered into through the trees down the hill. Sure enough, there was the crumbling concrete foundation and decrepit walls of another pre-war home. "Dibs on the books," Xaiden joked as he thumped the others backs and started off towards the home. "Nice find, Jax!"
Jax was always interested in historic technology, Ewen enjoyed finding old games, so there was no competition for moldy books from yesteryear as long as Eliana wasn't here. Xaiden was glad she'd stayed behind, dead weight or not, arguing over who got to study the books they found first had caused many bitter feuds and tense trips back to base.
This building was pretty similar to the other ones they had explored, half reclaimed by the forest, half holding on to its former glory with stubborn ceilings and walls. More than the dangers they had been warned of, they had found these buildings to be particularly challenging to explore. Jax had fallen through a floor one time into a previously undiscovered basement. He broke his shinbone and they had a difficult time carrying him back home and even more difficult time coming up with a cover story for the hospital. Skateboarding accident, which everyone seemed to buy despite the fact that Jax hadn't ever skateboarded before. It was a common activity resulting in that type of injury for a teenager, or so Eliana said.
With that wake up call, they had established some rules for exploring the homes, only one person in at a time, and they tied the rope to their waists then to each other. 3 tugs meant danger, 2 met with 2 in return for checking in. Xaiden was always nervous that the building might collapse on them, so he always went first. If something bad is going to happen, let it happen to me, he'd think to himself. He never forgot how horrible and helpless he felt the minutes after Jax disappeared through the floorboards or that thud and ear piercing scream. Well, at least he had screamed, silence would have been more terrifying.