Click. Ewen's flashlight flickered to life and shook as it scanned the floors of the small room. "I-I see it!" Ewen exclaimed. "J-just d-drag it a b-bit m-more."
Xaiden had noticed recently that Ewen's stutter seemed to worsen the more nervous he felt. It was only after times when the stutter was almost unnoticeable that he was able to connect it to Ewen's comfort levels. It made him proud that Ewen felt comfortable around him most of the time and it made him feel bad for putting him into a difficult spot. "Do you want to keep watch outside, Ewen?"
"N-no, I-I'm f-fine," Ewen said resolutely, pushing his hair off his forehead nervously. "I-I'm j-just excited."
"Yeah, let's do this, ET!" Jax encouragingly. "Your first secret bunker discovery, right?"
"Y-yeah!" Ewen nodded.
"Would you like to do the honors then?" Xaiden asked, walking over to the hatch and casting the light from his flashlight over the area.
"S-sure, t-thank y-you." Ewen responded, his gulp audible. He reached shaky hands towards the latch and flung it open. Jax's light illuminated the stairs leading down while Xaiden's was cut by the corner of the open hatch door.
"This is great! I'm glad it's a stairwell and not a ladder. It's hard to tell how sturdy the rungs on old ladders are. Still, make sure to step carefully, Ewen." Xaiden explained.
"I-I w-will." Ewen said as he took a step forward.
Jax placed his arm in front, "Safety first, let's get the rope on you." He untied the rope from his waist and handed it to Ewen, casting a glance over at Xaiden.
Xaiden nodded and checked the end tied around to his own waist. He walked over to the door and wrapped the slack around his arm then tossed the loops over to Jax who held each end taunt and fed the rope length to Ewen as he made his way down the stairs. "You doing okay, Ewen?" Xaiden called after the resonating sounds of footfalls on the metal stairs quieted.
"Y-yeah!" Ewen replied, then more loudly, "I mean, y-yeah!" Jax gave two small tugs to the end attached to Xaiden's waist while keeping a steady gaze down the stairs.
"Check for danger first, okay, ET?" Jax reminded him.
"I-it looks o-okay." Ewen responded. "A-at least f-from w-what I c-can t-tell."
Jax looked over at Xaiden, who simply nodded. Maintaining the tautness of the rope on both ends, Jax disappeared down the bunker steps.
"Wow, look at this bunker!" Jax exclaimed. "It's completely decked out!"
"Structure good?" Xaiden asked, ready to get down there himself sooner than later.
"Yeah, it's solid. Come on down." Jax replied.
"We're breaking all the rules today." Xaiden said, mostly to himself. The cautious side of him worried about them all being underground when no one knew exactly where they were. He grabbed a reflective jacket out of his bag and draped it around his pack then left it somewhere he hoped Eliana would be able to find. Just in case, Xaiden thought.
With that, he made his way into the dark room, towards the open bunker hatch, and down into another secret bunker.