Spring, The First YearThe suikas quickly began scrambling to mine a hole beside the cart. However, the Zombie Kea Men were making a beeline straight for the caravan.
"You IDIOT! They're headed straight for us!" Grimlocke, the Carpenter, yells at NekoRex. "Every undead within three miles could have heard you!"
"Now is NOT the time, Grimlocke!" NekoRex yells back. observing the birdmen. It appeared that there was not many choices they had. "Syanas!" Neko called, "Get out the hammer!"
"Aye!" Syanas replied. She was the only one trained in combat with the thing, and the silver warhammer was their only weapon. It was a good call.
"Everyone else... RUN!" NekoRex ordered, making no effort to conceal he was about to run for his life.
As the zombie kea men attacked, everyone scrambled down the slopes onto the field, taking what little cover they could.
Syanas began fighting them off, bashing them with their hammer. However, even when they looked dead again, they would just get back up and attacking. Combat was futile.
"This is pointless!" Syanas yelled as she too decided to run.
In a strange stroke of luck, however, the birdmen seemed content to just raid the wagon instead of pursue the fresh flesh of the suikas.
Making off with the supply of meat, the zombies ran off, hopefully never to be seen again.
As soon as they were gone, NekoRex barked orders at the group. "Get EVERYTHING inside!" He said, pointing at the small hole the miners had managed to dig. "The longer we sit out here, the more likely those things are to come back!"
And so everything began to get hauled inside. It seemed that the group would have to accept they were stuck out here for the time being.
But the next thing that happened came as a surprise to everyone. Without warning, giant globs of blue slime began to pour down from the sky.
Before anyone could ask what this strange goop did, a huge glob smashed into MaidXan head on, knocking her over. Pirate went to help her up, but recoiled as Xan began screaming in agony. As she began frantically scraping the slime off, her entire body began to get covered in oozing, bleeding blisters.
This would soon be the same fate as most everyone who had to suffer in the rain that day. It was yet another curse that these seven suikas would have to live with.
Several days later, everything was moved inside, alebit not very gracefully. Everything was in a giant heap in front of a choke in the tunnel. By Neko's orders, this choke was boarded up by Grimlocke. As he did so, Neko decided to give a rundown of the situation.
"Listen up. We all know what's out there. Those... maggot ridden things that arenn't dead and don't stay dead, and the vile slime that covers you in blisters." Neko began, with a hint of contempt. "We're stuck here. And until we can arm ourselves to leave this hellhole, nobody is opening that barracade." Neko continues, pointing at the newly erected wall.
"If you want to leave, you can stay outside and be food for whatever is out there. Any questions?"
Nobody said anything, most of them were either angry or sad they were stuck here, but everyone seemed to agree the cramped hole they had locked themselves inside was better than nothing.
"Nobody? Good. We need to work together, so that's what we're doing. Let's go." Neko concluded, as everyone quickly got to work.
The miners started to expand on the cramped space, while several workshops were quickly built as a first measure. Everyone wanted to get prepared in case they had to fight, so the first thing that was built was furnaces. A carpentry was also built so that the group could have some beds. They may have been stuck here, they could at least stand to not be completely miserable, Grimlocke had reasoned.
The place had quickly expanded into two rooms, and then three. A farm was constructed in one of the rooms, more workshops would be built in the second one. The food they had was taken by the Kea Men Zombies, so the farm was needed to keep from starving, and a still was built so they wouldn't go thirsty.
And before long, a whole month had nearly passed since they had arrived. Beds had been constructed and placed in the corner, seeds had been begin to get planted, and everything was going well.
Satisfied with their work, the miners had dug downwards to see what rocks they could procure. Dirt was useless for anything but more digging, these suikas needed rock to get anything built.
Before long several exploratory tunnels were dug. The miners had hoped to quickly find some ore, but all they could find were a few gems. Worthless to the miners. They made plans to dig deeper.
....
It was halfway into the second month that the hunger set in.
They had ran out of food.
"So... hungry..." Zealot complained. 'If only I had some plump helmets, I could make a stew...." The cook thought aloud, echoing the thoughts of everyone.
"We're going to starve in this tomb!" Syanas complained.
"Yeah, we wouldn't be hungry if SOMEONE hadn't let those things take all the meat." Grimlocke whined, glaring at Neko.
"Ergh." Neko grumbled, before retorting at the remark. "On the other hand, you could have been the meat..."
Wymar and Xan appeared from the stairs, their tummies rumbling too.
"We found... some stuff." Wymar says, laying down on the ground, exhausted and hungry.
"We found marble, but all the ore we could find is Sphalerite." Xan chimes in. "In other words, zinc. It's worthless."
Everyone groaned at the announcement.
---
Finally, the farms had begun to produce some plants, but even that wasn't enough.
"We're only prolonging the starving! We have to do something!" Wymar says, one day.
"Hold on..." Xan says, getting an idea. "We have livestock, why not just butcher it?"
Everyone looks at Xan, before scrambling to construct a butchers workshop.
Halfway through, Syanas stops everyone. "Wait wait wait wait wait. The dead get back up out there. Who's to say they won't get back up in here?"
Almost everyone looks as Syanas, stopping construction long enough to ponder the consequences.
...
...
...
SPLAT!
"What about who?" Pirate asks, an axe already jammed through the Kimekaido's face.
Everyone stares as Pirate.
"...What? Meat's on the menu, everyone!" Pirate says happily.
...
"Uh oh." Highzealot says.
"...Pry the meat off of it and get what's left in the trash room. It can't come back to life if it's half-eaten already." NekoRex suggests trying to calm everyone down. This is done. Quickly.
"Lock the doors, just in case." Neko says before having Grimlocke install a wooden bar on the door.
A few days later, however, everyone begins to hear scratching at the door. Try as they may to ignore it, something is on the other side. Trying to get out.
Another lovely thing to remember about this vile place.
Tine passes, more workshops are built, things progress smoothly.
Towards the end of Spring, the miners rush up to NekoRex, busy working a bit of string into some cloth to pass the time.
"Neko. We found something down there." Xan tells Neko.
"More ore?" Neko says groggily. "I hope it's something better then Zinc." He says before yawning.
"It's not ore! It's... It's a cave!" Wymar says hurriedly. "There's a whole cave system just beneath us!"
"Eh?" Neko says, snapping back into reality. "A WHAT?"
"With trees and everything!" MaidXan says excitedly. "We don't have to go outside for wood!"
"Hold on, did you see anything down there? Caves are dangerous!" Neko suggests.
"Nothing we can't handle." Wymar replies confidently.
"Hmmm... Well then get a tunnel going to where we can get the trees. But make it small. And easy to block off." Neko tells them, after thinking about it, "Last thing we need is one of those creatures getting in here like there are outside. You've heard the stories."
"...Right." MaidXan says, gulping. Every Suika knows the rumors of the horrors of the deep. Nobody ever reported seeing one though. Nobody anyone had ever found alive, anyway.
A tunnel was started, and with a new hope came the end of Spring.
As summer loomed there was no telling what was going to happen next. Between the horrors above and the rumors of things that lurk below, survival was far from guaranteed. Unlikely, even.
How long would they last? Would help ever arrive? Could they ever escape? Nobody knows.
