This bunker wasn't much different than the others Xaiden had explored previously. It was stocked with decaying cardboard boxes full of military rations, completely untouched. It seemed that the person who'd stayed here last had arrived well after the original bunkers' intended owners had abandoned it, judging by barely legible expiration dates on the cans from the bag and the ones on the rations.
The rations boasted a ten year shelf life but still expired over 500 years ago, leaving dark stains dripping from the yellowing musty cardboard onto the floor below the shelves. The cans from the bag had fared much better, having only expired a mere 400 years ago, their labels mostly disintegrated and revealing rusty pitted metal. Eliana had informed them that as long as the can had no dents or damage, it was technically safe to eat, but none of them had ever been that curious to risk their health for some discolored carrots.
Besides the hoarded food that hadn't served its intended purpose, there was everything else you'd expect from a pre-war bunker. Countless bottles and jugs of water, first aid kits, radios, hazmat suits, vacuum sealed bags with clothes and blankets, though the seals had long since failed and the cloth deteriorated in this instance.
For Xaiden, the part that was most interesting about these bunkers was the leisure items and important documents. There was usually a safe that contained things like birth certificates, property deeds, and even medical documents in some cases. It was always interesting to try to connect the bunker to the public records at the Archive and to know that they had stepped into history. Less securely stored would be novels and board games and toys if the original occupants had children. It was interesting to compare the toys they found to the ones he remembered from his childhood.
The documents from the safe declared the property as belonging to the Frankin family and their descendants, though that would be a hard claim to uphold given the ban on entering this area. Xaiden tapped his imprint to make a note to look them up later, then moved over to shelves to grab one of the brittle plastic totes marked, "Books". This is what he came here for after all. He set it on one of the bunk beds and continued looking through the plastic containers. Ewen was working on a shelf on the wall next to him, so Xaiden asked, "Found any books?"
Ewen shook his head. "N-not so far, j-just looking at this g-game!"
"Oh, yeah? Is it a new one?" Xaiden asked, not entirely interested.
"N-no, we have one at the f-fort already." Ewen responded. "It's j-just a special e-edition one."
"Ah, I see." Xaiden responded absentmindedly as he grabbed another container to move to his pile. At least one of the books was a copy of one he already had, and he didn't care enough to check if it was a special edition or not, Eliana could just have at it if she wanted. He rarely read a story more than once. There are so many stories out there, why waste the time? he thought, hoping that was the only one of the books in the yellowing plastic containers that he'd read before.
"Guys, check this out!" Jax called. Xaiden glanced over, while Ewen made his way over slowly. "Come on, guys, come see!" Jax insisted.