Prologue

The year was 125AH (After the Horror). None of the survivors of this planet knew what a horror was apart from the fact that there had once been a race of ancients that had ruled over everything and everyone on Earth but now there were only small isolated groups living and surviving in what had once been mighty cities, open farm lands and fruitful lakes and rivers.

It had all started in the year 2012 of the old calendar, oil shortages were only the beginning of the wars that were to follow, at first it was small skirmishes in the Middle East, governments overthrown by the people that had had enough of the self serving beaurocracy and politicians. Next were the larger groups of insurgents from all over the Islamic world that infiltrated the people's governments and then began the raising of fuel prices.

The so called, Christian countries could not tolerate this situation once the price of fuel had reached a staggering $150.00 per barrel, their sense of Christian might and right was put to the test and so the invasions of the oil rich nations began. The UAE, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, all were subjected to invasion, friends became enemies overnight, the need for the wealthy western nations to control all the fuel supplies became an all out war.

In Asia, the Chinese Republic could see what was going to happen once the middle east had been subjugated, they and their allies would be next and so, with their usual patience and attention to detail, they set about strengthening their position in southeast Asia, while this was taking place Asia Minor and the Indian continent were trying to stay in the middle and attempt to benefit from both sides, while they had almost unlimited populations, they did not have the required technology and so worked to make profit instead of war.

For India, this lasted only until its surrounding Islamic neighbours saw what it was trying to do and then India was under attack from three sides as well as internal religious upheaval between the Hindu and Sikh followers, India began its descent into almost oblivion.

America and the European Community combined to save their way of life and to take full control of all oil supplies around the world by proclaiming that they were the worlds police force and they would protect all the countries that sided with them against terrorism, the UN backed the plan after the usual agreements had been met and bank accounts had been topped up, the buying power and technological advantages of the west almost guaranteed success.

Not wishing to be left out in the cold, Russia joined Europe, England and America making a very powerful core that could overrun any opposition but, they had over looked one detail and it was not until they moved in on their friends in South East Asia and its oil fields that they remembered about the sleeping Dragon but by then it was too late.

It started with China supplying North Korea with nuclear weapons and arranging to back them with more men and arms after they invaded South Korea, this of course brought the alliances of Japan and America into the fray and it was not long before Seoul was hit with the first of three nuclear missiles, this escalated into a retaliatory attack by it's allies on Pyongyang which totally destroyed North Korea's infrastructure and forced China to take sides with the North.

The weaponry did not stop at nuclear devices though, the West seeing its advantage disappear at the invasion by the might of China, began to use forbidden biological weapons. In the Middle East, Iran also took up the challenge and started to use its own nuclear missiles against Israel this lead to all out war in the Middle East. Ancient cities disappeared off the face of the earth as the rain of missiles turned to rubble what had taken mankind centuries to build.

Chinese submarines off the coast of America then began to lay siege to the United States and its ally Canada, in six short months, there was little left of the world as they had known it, mighty cities were now piles of rubble, ports and roads were now just mangled heaps of detritus, farmlands, the life blood of the people, were either irradiated or poisoned. In those six months, four and a half billion people died, in the following eighteen months another one billion died from starvation and disease until five years after the horror, there were only a little over four hundred million people left on earth.

On the African continent the war was more personal, tribal members tried to eradicate each other and genocide reined with a viciousness that had never been seen before, the cities of the early settlers were destroyed and left in ruin as the tribes rampaged back and forth over the continent until finally the winds from the North carried the radiation and biological residue of the Northern war down to the Southerly regions and again millions died, Africa, although not part of the oil wars, still suffered the same fate as those further to the North.

Of those left to inhabit the planet, radiation and biological disease altered there bodies and DNA in many subtle ways, it was then that mother nature decided she had had enough, the planet tilted 2 degrees on its axis and for the next twenty years the planet was racked with storms and blizzards which altered the continents and the people left living on them, next followed long years of drought which caused the ice caps to melt and most of the coastal areas were inundated with the sea until only counties with land above 200 feet [60 m] of the old sea level, were habitable.

Once fertile food producing farmland now lay under salt water, pure fresh water lakes and rivers became polluted with salt and many edible species died out, domestic animals stood very little chance to survive but were soon replaced by their feral cousins but man was long past being able to tame them and he also fell into despair as his food source disappeared, infighting and gangs began to rule and the collection of the one commodity that meant survival began and that commodity was women.

The weapons used in the past Horror had changed the DNA structure to such an extent that now, out of every ten babies born, nine of them were male, this lead to the forming of breeding cells which were run by older men that could fight and hold their small realms, when a female was born, as soon as she was weaned, she was taken away from the general population and kept in special quarters until she was of breeding age, she then joined those females that were already held.

The male children were kept and fed until they showed the first signs of hair on their scrotums and then they were sent out of the breeding caves to find their own way in the world or perish trying, which ever happened. Time scales had changed as well as the language; schooling was unheard of and most spoke the language phonetically.

Time was not an issue, everyone worked according to the sun rise and sun set, only very brave people moved about at night, a dei (day) was from sun rise to the following sun rise, a mune (month) was 28 dei's, a yarn (year) was 10 mune's. Meals were taken at sunrise and the next at sunset; no midday meals were taken as this would interfere with hunting or trading. The young boys, once old enough to move and run around with confidence, were set the tasks of hunting for food for the community as well as keeping an eye open for any of the ancients artifacts that could be used to better the position of the leader and his four or five minions.

While food was always a concern, it was not that hard for the young boys to kill rats and the odd dog that strayed into their area, the most valuable of items though were things that could no longer be made, items that the ancients had once had much of, like wud (wood), gles (glass), and any form of weapon, although these were very difficult to find as most had been destroyed in the Horror, there was an abundance of metal but they knew very little about working with it and would only take metal that had already been made for a specific use such as knives.

The females lot was not an easy one, they were continually kept breeding from their puberty age of 13 yarn, until they had sometimes produced 15 or 16 children for the caves, at the age of about 30 yarn they were worn out and barren, they were then sent down to the lower caves to take care of the growing children until they died, most at the ripe old age of 35 or 36 yarn, the men were more hardy and lived until they were sometimes as old as 50 yarn although that was a very old man indeed and was accorded a special place in the teaching of the youngsters coming of age.

The breeding caves were reputed to have been built by the ancients although this like many other stories of the ancients, was probably a myth or legend as the caves were of solid stone and stood in mighty cliffs so high that you could see for many long distances from the top most of them, they were strange caves in that they were very square and the light holes were covered in some cases by the ancients gles plates that let the light of the sun come through but not the wet of rains or the cold of night.

Each level was marked by an ancient symbol and these were ruled by the Pap and his four or five helpers, it was their job to keep the females with child and also make sure the boys supplied the food and artifacts that gave them their wealth when trading with other levels. Not all the openings had gles some were covered with a strange film that the ancients had made in long rolls and was soft and flexible so it was easy to fit it over the openings of the caves, it was not as warm as the gles but it did keep out the rain and wind and still gave enough light inside.

Once a child was weaned from his mother, he never saw her again, the only other adults they knew were the men and their Pap, the boys were never allowed to go into the female children's caves, these were always guarded by one of the helpers and locked when not guarded but the boys didn't worry about that, they had each other and that was enough for them. They ran naked until they came of age and then received their first clothing as a parting gift from their level.

When a boy reached his age of hair, this was at about 13 yarn, he was given his first clothes, a small breach clout of tanned animal skin, a pair of ankle length moccasins, a small bled (blade) and wud spia (wooden spear) also a small quantity of food, he was then sent out into the world to make his own way, Pap and his helpers did not want any competition when the boys grew old enough to challenge them for leadership of the breeding caves.

All the boys were kept in the group they were born with, each named by the symbol of their level, eg: Elios was named because he came from level E, his two friends, Elam and Elvan were also from his level so they stayed together both in play, searching, sleeping or playing boy games at night.

For those boys that wanted to make breeding caves, they had to search for new cave systems, if found they would then have to start to find females or make a raid on another cave system to steal some, this was not easy as the men that ruled the caves were older, bigger and more fearsome than the young boys roaming around the wilds and there were other dangers to the young ones, the Renegs, these were wild men who raped and killed any who they came across unless they wanted to increase their numbers and then the captured boy would be enslaved until he had proven himself to the leaders.

Next were the Landers, these men were more at peace and found plots of land to make food from the soil which they traded to the cave systems for useful artifacts that would make their life easier, next were the Salors, these were special men who had kept the traditions of the ancients and had stayed on the water of the huge Oshuns (oceans) and leks (lakes), but when it came to fighting they were almost as evil as the Renegs, lastly there were the Rovers, these were single boys or small groups of boys that had banded together for safety, they roamed over the land looking for food or a place to start a breeding cave as well as searching for any of the ancients old cave systems that still held artifacts that could be traded to improve their existence.

This was the world that Elios and his friends had been born into, it was a hard and uncompromising world of the strongest and fittest, of the fastest and smartest, it was a world of sun bleached bones and legends of better times, arid deserts and deep salty lakes, of pest infested swamps and small solitary oasis tucked away in miniature valleys mostly unseen by others, this was the world of Elios, a boy just showing the first hair and dripping the first small clear drops of manhood, and this is the story of his search for a place to call his own.

Chapter 1
Elios, Elam and Elvan

The three boys lay together on their mutual sleeping mat, they had shared the same mat since they were sent down here to the level for boys, it was marked in the ancient's symbol of B3, the boys could not read but they guessed it meant it was level 3 for boys. These levels went all the way down to B15 but the lowest three levels could no longer be used as there was a continual seepage of water that was slowly filling the levels at about two hands (approximately 12" / 30 cm) each yarn.

The boy in the middle was smaller than the other two; his body was slim and wiry and when standing he was about 10 hands tall, the other two boys could almost have been brothers as both were the same height, eleven and a half hands, the same strong build and like most boys born into the world of 125AH looked very much alike. All three boys had the same light sandy hair colour, the same grey eyes with faint green flecks and the same tawny tan bodies.

At times it was discussed by older people that the sameness came from the breeding habits of the caves but all knew it was just the way things were. The boy in the middle liked to be pressed tightly between his two friends, it gave him a feeling of belonging and it felt even better when one of his friends entered him with his hard boyhood, this was the really good times, when both boys would make the game they called 'pushing' and the smaller boy would groan in pleasure as the other two took turns to make him feel good.

The boy in the middle was named Elios, after the level he had been born on just the same as his two friends, Elam and Elvan, when they left the nursery they had all come to this boy level together on the same day and so the old crones of the boy levels placed them on the same mat and they had stayed that way for the last eight yarn. It was tradition that, as soon as a boy showed signs of man hair, he would be sent from the breeding cliffs to make his own way in the world, but Elios and his friends had been deceiving the old crones that looked after the boys.

As Elios was smaller and therefore seemed to grow slower than Elam and Elvan, each night they would let him inspect their boyhood for the faint man hairs, when he found some, they would put aside the stinging pain as he pulled them free of their bodies so they could stay together until Elios had some of his own, it had taken nearly a full yarn before Elios started to show some and now the crones had seen them, tonight was the last night for the three boys to stay in the breeding cliffs, tomorrow they would be sent out into the world to make their own way.

As they had vowed to each other many yarn ago, when they were sent out to be Rovers they would stay together as this was the best way to stay safe and also gave them a better chance to find whatever it was that they were going to look for, besides, being a Rover could not only be dangerous but it was also very lonely and the three boys didn't want to be parted from each other, especially Elios for he enjoyed his two friends boy game too much and trusted them with his life as they did with him.

In the years of searching for food and artifacts, they had been a force to be reacconed with when battling with other boys for food or artifacts that had been found, Elam and Elvan had been the muscle, Elios had been the speed and brains, it was not often, even against older boys, that the trio lost a find, they lived almost as one entity whether eating, sleeping, fighting or playing boy games they worked as one.

It was difficult for the three to fall asleep, even after a long time of playing the boy game, each filling Elios small tight hole and bouncing on his slim narrow butt three times each, Elios had groaned and moaned in pleasure each time as he too spent his small quantity of boy juice on the mat below him but, still they could not sleep deeply, each thinking of the new morning when, for the first time in their lives they would be given their parting gifts and sent out into the world.

The thought of the small tanned skin clothes had excited Elios, he and his two friends had never had their bodies covered before and it excited him to think of his boyhood pressed tightly to his slim body instead of projecting straight out like it seemed to do all the time which made it difficult to run fast as their boyhoods would flop about and break their rhythm which caused all sorts of comments by others watching them.

No one knew who made the gifts for the boys but many suspected it was their own mothers as they had very little else to do while waiting for the next cycle of breeding or birthing, the spia were the most prized as wud was very rare and had to be searched or bartered for and this was only done by Pap or one of his helpers, it was seen as his personal gift to one of his many, many sons.

Finally the first rays of morning began to make themselves seen at the entrance to B3, the crones went around waking the younger boys to get them fed and ready for their day of searching, Elios, Elam and Elvan sat up and looked around the large open level for what would be their last day in the breeding cliffs, it was a very large flat surface made from the hard grey stone of the ancients, the roof was held up by thick grey stone towers in between each tower there were faint white lines evenly spaced, there were ten lines to each section of towers, the boys were allotted one marked space each or in the case of Elios and his friends, they used one space for the three of them just as some other boys joined together would use one space, some had one boy others would have up to four in the one space, it depended on how many came down from the breeding level at the same time.

Boys from one level would never be mixed with boys from another level, even if they were brought down on the same day, it was tradition that boys of the same level stayed together when they were born under the same symbol of the ancients. It was easily noticeable which were the first time children, a breeder who was birthing for the first time would usually have a smaller baby than one who had given birth a number of times before, such as Elios, his smaller size told everyone his mother was a first birther where as Elam and Elvan were obviously from a breeder that had had many more babies and so produced bigger and stronger children, this didn't bother a boy like Elios, all he knew was his two friends were as good as brothers and that was all he needed to know.

In the new world the idea of Mother, Father, Brother, Sister was not a concern, nor was the ancient idea of marriage, there was no longer any type of religion or god hood, all these arcane ideas had been destroyed by the Horror, besides, who could believe in something that just sat invisible from man, they or it didn't provide food for the dei, nor did it or they fight the battles of men therefore it or they did not exist, life was much simpler, albeit harder.

The three boys rose and went to the far corner where the crones had placed the day's water, taking a small amount of water in their hands, they rubbed the sleep from the eyes vigorously and wiped their slim stomachs with the remainder, they then made their way to the entrance where three crones waited for them, this was the time of leaving, they all knew that Pap would not be seen by them today because he had to leave them from his mind on this their last day in the breeding cliffs.

Each crone held out a small grey cloth sak, in each of these saks were the small breach-clout a pair of ankle length moccasins a small bled a small metal cup and four rounds of dry bred (bread), the crones each held the boy's wud spia in their free hand.

The three friends held out their hand for the sak and their free hand for their spia, around each boy's neck was their own hand made sling, it was a natural part of every boy and they could be a deadly weapon when used by these boys. Taking their sak's and spia, the boys gave a slight nod to the crones who had looked after them for all of their short lives and, without further acknowledgement, left the breeding cliffs for the last time.

Once outside, the boys quickly opened their sak and pulled out their new treasures, first it was the soft tanned skin of the breach-clout, putting these on for the first time elicited a lot of laughs and whistles from the three friends as well as the younger boys just now leaving for their days searching, the fit was tight the main flap was shaped so that at both the front and back there was a wider flap, in the middle, where it went down between their legs and covered their boyhood was a small pouch that was cut thinner where it passed between their butt cheeks and then flared out again to a wide flap to cover their rear.

All three boys were instantly hard as the feeling of the soft tanned skin touch and caressed their skin, the looks given to them by other emerging boys said a lot about how they looked with their front and rear covered but their flanks bare and contrasting the colour of their tawny skin with the bleached whiteness of the tanned skin. Next came the moccasins for their feet, all three boys tried these for fit but soon replaced them in their sak as they felt better with their feet bare, the moccasins would be good for any cold times or when the ground was to rough to walk or run on in comfort.

The boys took one bred from the sak and, as they began their life journey, chewed slowly on it, they were well aware of the dangers that lay out there in the wilds, first they would have to make their way clear of the four breeding cliffs and out over the rubble and detritus that had been their hunting grounds for the last eight yarn, this in itself was not really all that dangerous as they were now clothed and armed and most of the boys roaming and searching would give them a wide berth but they were not the only boys leaving the breeding cliffs on this day and any chance to increase their goods would be taken by others if given the chance.

The three boys stopped along the way at their special hidden place, it had been found a long time ago by Elvan as he rummaged in a pile of broken stones, it was a large square metal box, at first no one of the boys could work out what it was or how they could make use of it until, Elios looked at the rear of the half buried box and saw some small shiny spots that stood out from the rest of the dull red colour that the rain caused on most metals.

The boys had sat and discussed what use the box could be if they could find a way to open it, it took most of the first half of the dei and the sun was high before the quiet Elios jumped to his feet and began to search the ground.

"What you looking for Elios?" asked Elam.

"Some small metal to fit into the holes in the shiny parts," replied the smaller boy, Elios.

The other two didn't argue with Elios, if he needed some old metal for something then it was their duty to help him and so the search began. The sun had gone past half way to night by the time the boys had found an old piece of metal that would do what Elios wanted and so Elam and Elvan sat and watched their smaller friend squat behind the metal box and begin to play with the small shiny parts.

It took a while but eventually Elios worked out how to turn the shiny parts a certain way and they began to come free, soon they were all sitting on the ground beside Elios as he reached up with his small hands and pulled the back off the box, inside there was no hint of why the ancients had put the box there, there were some metal plates and thin steel ropes covered with strange coloured stuff, four shiny gles towers lead up to the top of the box but had been broken on the outside, the rest of the box was empty, the boys had no idea what it was for but Elios suggested that they use it for their secret place to hide the things they may need when they had to leave the breeding caves, both Elam and Elvan agreed, after all, Elios was the real smart one and always had good ideas.

Over the next one yarn and five mune, the boys collected small things they could carry with them that might be useful on their roving, Elvan had secretly taken a fire stone from one of the old crones as she slept, Elios had found a small opening one day and had wriggled his small body inside to find a huge underground cave, the inside was once very large and on the floor were lots of broken pieces of coloured gles, most to small to be of any use but Elios had also found, hidden under a wud box, a large block of the soft wud that the ancients seemed to have had a lot of.

This one was large and heavy, the outside was like all wud, hard and rigid but the inside was full of the thin soft wud covered in the ancients mysterious symbols that no one knew what they meant, this was indeed a great prize and Elios had taken it outside to the other boys, they had pulled a handful of the soft wud pieces out and rolled them up so they could carry them to the secret place for later, the rest they took back to their cave for the crones to use as fire starters, it never crossed Elios mind what the large symbols on the front were, after all, what did HOLY BIBLE. ST JAMES VERSION mean to three boys of the new world.

Elios also found in the same place a new metal they had not seen before, his quick mind soon saw the possibilities for this new metal, it was in long thin ropes and had been used to keep the coloured gles in place, it was soft and much to Elios surprise, quite heavy for its size, it didn't take him long to realise that if he heated it in a fire, it would become really soft and could be used to make small hard pellets for their slings, much better than the uneven stones that were normally used as the metal could all be made the same size and weight which increased its accuracy and hitting power.

It was Elam that found the strangest item, they had been out all day and found nothing, just as they were about return to their home cave, Elam slipped in a small hole and, after a rumbling sound below him, discovered another of the ancient's hidden caves that had been covered by time. The three boys had carefully climbed into the opening and found themselves in a square box like cave, it was like many others that were occasionally found and just the same this one had been cleared out many yarn ago, but this didn't stop the curious boys from looking in every corner and in every old box, it was Elam that found the soft wud box at the back of the cave, it had been tucked under another hard wud shelf but somehow water had got in and melted the soft wud until what was inside had fallen onto the floor of the cave.

At first the boys could only stare at the strange objects, they were two coloured oblong blocks of stone, one side was red stone and the other opposite side was grey stone, Elam ran his fingers over the strange stones but could not see any use for them, they were rough, not shiny and smooth like so many of the ancient's items, slowly Elam looked around the cave until he saw an old piece of metal laying on the floor, just out of idle curiosity, he took one of the stones over to the metal and began to rub it vigorously with an edge of the stone.

It took only moments for the old metal to lose its red dusty covering and become bright and shiny, Elam could plainly see the scratches on the metal from the stone, he turned the stone over to the finer red side and continued rubbing, again it took very little time for the old metal to now become shiny and now also smooth from the stone, Elam looked at his two friends and smiled, they would keep one of the stones and take the other five back for Pap.

Elios and Elvan continued the search as Elam played with his new stone on the old metal, in a dark corner, Elios spotted and strange pile of old torn cloth, picking it up he felt it was smooth and shiny but was all in tatters, what really interested Elios was the strange metal contraption that had held the cloth in place, it was made of a very light metal, each side was about three hands long and holding it together were three shorter lengths about two hands long, small pieces of the cloth still hung around the metal pipes, for they were hollow and still after all this time, quite shiny in that they had none of the red dust that the usual metal had.

It took Elios quite a while to work out how to pull the five pieces apart so that he ended up with three short pieces and two long ones, the three short ones would make good water drinkers when they went on their roving, the two long ones he didn't know what to do with but decided not to leave them for some other boy to find, as he turned back to his friends his foot went down on something hard that had been lying under the strange item.

Elios looked down and saw another unusual piece of stone or metal, he wasn't quite sure what it was made of, picking it up he found it looked like stone but felt like metal, it had three sides and at one end tapered to a blunt point, running his fingers over the rough surface, Elios discovered it had lots of small teeth like ridges in it, he lightly ran it over his thumb nail and was surprised to see a deep groove in the nail, quickly he went to the old metal that Elam had used and pushed the strange rod over the surface, again a deep groove was cut into the metal, Elios eyes brightened, now this could be really useful he thought to himself, no one had ever found one of these before.

The three boys left the newly discovered cave in high spirits, it was almost the best haul of artifacts they had ever found and there was enough for them to hide some in their secret place for their roving. On the day of their leaving the breeding cliffs, the boys had stopped off and collected all their treasures and put them in their new sak's, evenly distributing them between the three of them.

It took, what in the ancient's time would be called three hours, but in this time it was not acknowledged the same way, before the boys were clear of the area and, as they looked out onto the bareness of their future home, they tightened the string of their sak and shrugged it more comfortably onto their shoulders. All three at the same time took their first step out into the new world.

Each took up their searching position just as they had back at the breeding cliffs, Elam in front followed by Elios and coming behind as the rear guard, Elvan, each boy had his own strengths, Elam had the eyes of a preying bird, Elios the speed and flexibility of the giant cats that sometimes came looking for food in the breeding areas, Elvan had the solid strength and fighting ability that had saved them many times from being ambushed by other boys.

These three new Rovers made a formidable trio as they took their first steps into manhood, there were many trials ahead of them before they could or would find there eventual haven although each had a different idea of what that would be, Elam wanted to find his own breeding cave, Elvan wanted to find new places and hopefully new worlds, although they weren't sure if such things existed and, Elios wanted to find a place where he could grow food and be safe from the trials of survival, while each had his own dream, for the moment they were together for better or worse.

As the trio made progress towards their destinies they caught occassional sight of other boys in the distance, each going his or their own way, the boys had decided to head in the direction of the dying sun, this they knew would lead to a nearby Oshun that was only two dei's walk away, it would be a place where they might find some of the rare food that came from those places and was now and again traded to the Pap of the breeding caves.

As they moved, Elios again went into silent thinking mode, he had to think of a way to move faster but still be safe, every boy knew that Renegs waited for boys to leave the breeding cliffs and that they always went in different directions, but the pace in which a boy could move sometimes made it easy for the Renegs to work out where the boys would stop for the night, Elios did not want himself or his friends to be anywhere near those areas and so had begun to think things out as he was inclined to do about everything.

Slowly a plan came to him, it would make them move further faster but at the same time keep them safe, he called a halt and the three boys sat in a small circle as Elios explained his idea, Elam, with the best eyesight, would take the lead and search out in front, Elios would stay in the middle and search to each side, Elvan would keep watch on their rear, this was to be done as they walked for three plus ten paces, on the last pace, the three boys would start to trot at double walking pace for another three plus ten paces then again back to walking pace to search and save their breathes for the next set of three plus ten and so on until they stopped for the high sun stop.

During the time of the highest and hottest sun, the boys found a small cave in a shallow cliff face, there they settled down to rest until the sun lost a little of its raging heat and the red sands would begin to cool a little making their trek a little easier, water was always a concern and although their bodies were used to minimal amounts of it, they still could not take chances in the heat of the middle of the dei.

Over the period of their young lives, the boys had learnt many tricks to survive, one of the most important was finding water where none seemed to be or to find food where only innocuous weeds seemed to grow, these and many more lessons were what made the boys of the new world very adept and independent, there was no place in this world for the weak or unprepared.

As they lay resting, Elvan saw again the sight that had excited him the full time they had been walking, Elios small butt had intrigued him like never before, the rhythmic movement of his small hips and the unseen pleasure that was now hidden from his view by the new breach-clout had caused Elvan to stay rock hard the whole time, oh he was well aware of what delights were under the tanned skin, he had seen and felt it many times before, but, now, for some unknown reason it was hidden and therefore more delectable now that it was covered from his view.

All three boys had the same trouble and that was a small amount of chaffing from the skins on their tender flesh, it was not used to being covered and the sweat had caused the chaffing, with relief, all three seemed to remove the breach-clout at the same time to give their skin some relief, it took only one brief glance from Elvan to see the smooth wetness between Elios cheeks to bring him to full mast again, without further thought he reached over and began to rub softly over Elios butt, it was their unsaid signal that it was time to play a boy game.

Elios grinned broadly as he felt the hand rub him softly, quickly he turned so he was facing Elam's rising boyhood and, with practiced ease he rose onto his hands and knees so his own boyhood was at Elam's mouth and his mouth was on Elam's boyhood, Elvan knew the position and quickly kneeled behind Elios and pushed slowly forward until he was starting to enter Elios, the moisture of Elios sweat made the entry a little easier than normal and he slid slowly deeper until he was fully inside the warm welcoming hole.

In complete unison the three boys began to take their pleasure in the boy game, moaning and groaning in pure delight as each fulfilled the desire of the other, time meant nothing to the trio as they tried harder and harder to make their friend feel good until, finally all three could hold them selves no longer and released their pleasure into each other, with great sighs of relief and satisfaction they all collapsed back onto the sand of the small cave and wrapped an arm about each other in contentment, there first day of manhood was beginning with a real bang.

Some time later the three boys donned their now dry breach-clouts and prepared to leave on the next part of their walk, before they went, Elios walked around the cave looking for signs of ground water, it took a little time but eventually he recognised the signs right at the back of the cave, he first cleared all the loose sand from the floor and then, with his spia, began to dig deeper into the hard surface, finally after a short time he had a small bore hole dug and in the bottom could be seen the first dribbles of moisture, the three boys sat and waited for a short time as the hole filled with water and then, taking out a small thin metal rod each, they sucked up the water until the hole was empty again, it was enough for their needs for now, Elios filled in the hole again and then the boys left the cave to continue their walk to the Oshun.

By the time the sun was beginning to disappear they had covered more than half the distance to the Oshun because of Elios walking plan and could have made it all the way had they decided to continue but, for this first night they decided to find a place to sleep and start fresh at sun rise. Although their eyes were quite capable of seeing in the dark when the stars were shining bright as they did most nights, they decided safety was a better option as there were things out at night that could be very dangerous and that was not only the animals.

As the sun dipped further, the boys quickly searched out another cave to sleep in, their meal tonight would be another of the hard dry bred, it wasn't much but it was better than nothing, besides, the boys were still too excited by their new freedom to worry about good hot food. This new freedom had been planned by Elios and the boys for more than a mune, they had collected all their treasures, Elios had invented a way for them to move quickly but not get tired and they had each other.

It was agreed that they would not light a fire this first night, it was too easy to been seen from a long distance and would attract unwanted attention from anyone searching for new boys as was proved by Elvan spotting two separate fires far behind them, obviously of some new boys settling down for the night, the boys knew that this was just what the Renegs would be looking for so they left their cave in darkness as they settled down together for the night after eating their bred, there would be no boys games tonight as they wanted to get a very early start at sun rise and try to be at the Oshun before high sun.

Sometime during the night, Elios was woken by loud yells and screams echoing over the sand below them, as he moved the other boys sat up as well, they quickly recognised that all was not right out in the sands. Slowly and very quietly they made their way to the entrance on their stomachs, in the distance behind them, they could see a large fire, their sharp eyes soon picked out moving forms around the fire as People moved in front of the flames.

While it was difficult to pick out individuals the general indication was of Renegs, there wild animals that they rode could be heard stamping in the still night air, these animals were fast and dangerous, it was said that even some of the Renegs died trying to tame them to ride. They were big animals with four large legs and strange flat round feet, it was said that the ancients called them a haws and had once had many of them tamed for their work and pleasure, the boys could not imagine why anyone would want one of the wild dangerous beasts for pleasure, they were ok to eat but that was all the boys knew of them.

The screams went on for a long time until finally there was silence and the sound of the Renegs on their haws moving away into the night, no doubt looking for more boys to play with, Elios and the others moved back inside their cave, they would have to wait for sun rise to check out what had happened before moving away from the safety of their cave, if Renegs were around they would be better to stay in here safe until it was clear to move on, the boys lay down again and tried to sleep but it wouldn't come, the sound of the screams were still fresh in their ears, eventually they sat up and started to discuss how they should move on from here.

All agreed that they should keep up the same way of walking but now go over the cliff behind them and stay on the high ground so that they were not caught out in the open sands by any roaming Renegs. Three new young boys would not be able to do much against fast running beasts and dangerous, heavily armed Renegs. The boys continued to make plans until the first signs of sun rise made its appearance at the entrance of their cave, they ate a little more bred and dug for cave water at the rear, sipping the water through the metal pipes Elios had found for them. Checking that they had replaced everything back in their sak's, the three boys went to the entrance and studied very carefully the outside sands.

In the distance they saw the last remains of the large fire of the night in the form of a faint wisp of smoke rising in the windless dawn air, they had no desire to go and see what mayhem the Renegs had caused during the night, they had heard all the stories as young boys and knew there would be nothing there for them to do or get, it was better to ignore what had happened and continue on their own journey to the Oshun.

Once outside the cave they looked up at the cliff, it was no more than two plus ten lengths, and while it would not be easy to climb, it was possible for the three fit boys so they began their ascent carefully, they did not want to slip and fall at the beginning of their new life, an injury could be the means of their quick death.

***

Explanation of measurements

The people of the new world counted on their hands and fingers, when bartering they would start with their right hand and close the small finger as the sign for 1, then the next and so on, when the thumb was also closed forming a fist, this was 5, then the left hand was used in the same manner and would bring the total to 10, knocking the two fists together would indicate 20 and so on so that two plus ten equalled 20, for odd numbers they would open one or more fingers to indicate smaller numbers by those that were still folded. Distance was in hands, 1 hand was approx 6 inches [15 cm], a length was approx 5 feet [1.50 m], and a leag was approx 100 feet [30 m] they used no other measurements for greater distances as they used land marks to go from one point to the next and further than that was only spoken of in the number of dei's to walk there.

***

After a few moments of scrapes and scratches the trio finally made it to the top of the cliff face, once there they looked out at where they had travelled from the previous dei, for as far as they could see there was nothing, no signs of life, no signs of movement, the Renegs had disappeared into the far reaching sands and any of the boys from the previous day had now either been taken by the Reneges or had found their way to a safe hiding place until it was clear to move on.

The first rays of the rising sun lit up the immense sands with highlights and deep shadows. The boy's eyes adjusted quickly to the first rays and they took the time to turn right around and see where they should head to, as they stared out, Elios though he caught a faint glimpse of something shiny in the distance just across the narrow valley below them as the sun hit something for a moment. Quickly marking it in his mind before it disappeared, he nudged Elvan and pointed in which direction of the opposite ridge and told the others they should start their day in that direction, the shiny something had piqued his imagination and he wanted to investigate.

Although the ridge top was rough and a little uneven, the boys continued to use Elios way of walking and they speedily covered the ground while still being able to keep a sharp look out for trouble, when Elios thought they were approximately opposite where he had seen the glimmer of light, he signalled that they should start to descend the ridge into the valley below, a few more bruises and scrapes and they were on the floor of the small narrow valley but still heading in the general direction of the Oshun.

Elios stood still for a long moment as he tried to work out where he had seen the glimmer from, finally, just a little further along the valley he spotted something that looked out of place on the barren sandy valley. It was the edge of something square and looked as though it had once been made from the metal of the ancients but most of it was still buried in the sand, there must have been some wind lately that had uncovered the item and a small piece of broken gles had reflected the early morning sun.

The three boys moved cautiously towards the object until they were standing only a few short lengths from it, as usual Elios was the first to move forward and, using his small hands, began to push away some of the sand so that he could see more of the large metal box, The other two boys jumped in quickly to help their friend. A short time later and the three boys could see a faint outline of two bodies inside the large box, Elios removed his small breach-clout and used it to clean away some of the grime and sand covering the gles. Inside they saw two white skeletons sitting upright, one was holding some type of tool while the other was sitting in front of a large wheel, vestiges of ancient cloth of a green colour hung on the whitened bones.

Looking closer through the still grimy gles, Elios could also see some type of belt around what would have been the waist of the once live men. The belt was made from a strange material that the boys had never seen before; it had a metal fastening and two rows of holes around the centre. On one side there was what looked like a small box made from the same odd material, it had a flap covering whatever was inside, the boys couldn't wait to see what they had discovered and went back to hurriedly clearing away more sand so they could open what was obviously a metal door.

Finally the metal door was clear, the boys took a short rest and then Elios began to try to open the door. It was strange at first because it was not like the doors of the breeding caves but after trying various ways, Elios finally heard a heavy 'click' and began to firstly push and then finally pull at the metal, with a loud groan of tortured metal, the door began to slowly open and reveal the inside of the metal box.

Elios looked over the white bones of the two bodies, the box was a about ten hands wide and six hand deep, one skeleton sat against what looked like another of the metal doors on the other side holding a before unseen artefact, it was black and about seven hands long, at the base it was flat and wide, at the other end it was just a small round pipe held on to another thicker pipe below. There was another strange box sticking out about half way along, this was indeed a great find, something that had never been seen by any of the boys before and none of them had even heard of such an item.

Elios, being the more adventurous of the three, reached over to the side of the skeleton behind the large wheel and tried to lift the small lid of the box on the bodies belt, it was very stiff and a small button was holding it tight, with a strong tug at the lid, Elios pulled it open, his eyes grew wider as he looked at another unknown artefact, with trembling fingers he grasped the item and pulled it free of the box.

Elios was surprised at how heavy the small metal item was, it also was black and one part was at right angles to the other and seemed to be held together with a funny looking half circle with a piece of metal coming out where the two pieces met. Elios turned it over and over in his hands, to his racing mind he felt it had to be important for a man to wear it so close to his body, he continued to turn it over and over and noticed there were small buttons and levers fitted onto the sides, on the top at one end was a small thick bled and at the other was another piece of metal that was fixed crosswise and had a small grove in the centre.

Suddenly Elios concentration was broken by the call from Elvan and Elam, while he had been hunting inside the box; the other two had been trying to uncover more of the big box and had discovered that the box with the skeletons was only a small part of the strange artefact. By clearing more sand they found that the box had another larger part behind it but this part was covered by rotting and decayed material and held up by steel ribs that went from their side and further under the sand.

Elios joined his friends and the three looked up at the sun, it was almost high sun, time for them to find some shelter until after the main heat had gone, Elios suggested that they should clear the bones away and use the smaller box to hide out of the sun. It would be a tight fit but it was better than sitting out in the full heat of high sun, the others agreed and left their new find to help throw out the bones, the two artefacts Elios had found were put on the floor of the box until they could investigate further.

Once all three were comfortably sitting inside the box, they began to discuss what they should do. After a while it was agreed that the finding of the box was too important to leave without trying to see everything it held. There was no real hurry to get to the Oshun as they still had enough food for two days more even though it was only dry bred. They were used to living on less if they had too but the box was just to tempting to resist, once they agreed, all three hugged close and tried to doze off for the main heat of the dei.

Chapter 2
Treasure Hunters

The sticky heat of high sun finally woke Elios and his friends as the sweat on their bodies began to become uncomfortable in the confines of the small metal box. Elios pushed down on the lever that opened the door, a soft breeze of cooler air rushed into the box. As Elios stretched his cramped joints, his eye caught a small pocket he had not seen earlier as it was below the round wheel; inside he found two small soft wud blocks, the same type that they usually used to light their fires with.

Elios pulled out the two blocks and looked at the two sides, one was blank but the other had the ancients strange symbols on it, although Elios could not read he still wondered what was a

USMC
DRIVERS MANUAL

Maybe it was the name of the ancient that was now a pile of bleached bones on the floor of the box.

Shrugging his slim shoulders he started to open the block, to his surprise and for the first time that he could remember, Elios saw that there were not only the strange ancient symbols on the thin wud but also the ancients had somehow made pictures of artefacts and people appear on the thin blocks. As he looked at the miracle of the pictures, something seemed familiar but he couldn't recognise it.

Elam and Elvan slid past him to stand outside as he sat and looked at the marvel he held in his hands, how could the ancients put these very detailed pictures onto thin wud blocks. Again something tugged at his mind but still evaded recognition. In the mean time the other two boys had begun to play with the decayed cloth behind the smaller box and, after some testing, Elam took out his small bled and tried to stab into the heavy cloth. To his surprise the small bled pierced the cloth with ease, Elam continued to pull the bled downward as it sliced through, soon there was a slit about eight hands long, Elam pulled open the sides and pushed his head through the opening.

Elvan watched his friends back as his head disappeared through the long slit, suddenly he became worried as he saw the back muscles of Elam stiffen and suddenly Elvan was standing back from the slit with a look of awe on his young face. Speechless he turned to Elvan and could only point at where he had been, Elvan took his place and, with a little trepidation, pushed his head through, soon he too pulled back with the same awed look on his face, both boys looked at each other and turned to call for Elios both at the same time.

Elios heard his named called by his two friends and, as he lifted his eyes from the picture he saw what it was that had been evading him, there, before his eyes was the same view he had seen on the thin block. What had confused him was that the picture had shown only half of the round wheel but now he could clearly see the round parts with symbols inside a gles cover. Each one was exactly the same as in the picture and had the same small symbols as the ones shown.

OIL PRESSURE, TACHOMETER, SPEEDOMETER, AIR PRESSURE, FUEL, WATER TEMP

All of them were the same, he had no idea what they meant but it was clear that this particular thin wud block was used for information on this strange metal box.

Hearing his name called again, he placed the thin block on the hot slippery seat and left the smaller box to see what his friends wanted. Once outside all his friends could do was point to a long slit they had made in the cloth of the larger box. With a slight stammer of excitement, Elam told Elios to look through the slit to the inside of the box, always inquisitive, Elios did as he was asked, it took him only seconds to see what had caught their attention.

The larger box was huge, maybe two lengths wide and about five or six lengths long, it was also about ten hands high, inside it was almost full of boxes. Some were made of hard wud, others of the softer wud that melted when water was poured on them and further to the back in the dim light coming from the slit, were lots of metal boxes, some small and other large, some quite long and thin. Others square on all sides, this was a treasure trove of artefacts, the boys had made their fortunes on only the second day of their freedom but, what were they going to do with it all? Elios pulled his head out of the slit with the same awed look on his face as his friends had.

Elam was the first to speak.

"What are we going to do with it all, Elios, there's way too much for us to carry and some of those boxes look really heavy?"

The two boys watched as Elios got that funny faraway look on his face as he thought about Elam's words; finally he looked up at his friends.

"We have to find a place to hide it all, this must have been here hidden under the sand since the age of the ancients and some wind must have come along lately and uncovered the glass that I saw from the ridge."

The other two boys nodded in agreement, after all, Elios was the real smart one among them and had always had good ideas that seemed to work well for them all, Elvan was the next too speak.

"So what do we do Elios?"

"I think you two should go along the cliffs here and look for a cave we can hide all this in, so it needs to be a deep one and quite large. Elam, you go up that way but keep a look out on the other side of the valley as well, there may be a cave over on that side if nothing is on this one. Elvan you go down that way, we need to find something not too far away or it will be too hard to carry all the boxes, it's going to take a lot of our time as it is."

The two boys nodded in agreement then Elam asked Elios.

"What are you going to do Elios?"

"I'm going to try to wriggle in there and find out what's in some of the boxes if I can get them open, this is going to take us a long time to move, there's so much in here."

"How long do you think, Elios?" asked Elvan.

"I don't know, it will depend on how far away the cave is but we're going to need to find food and water while we're here or we will have to go to the Oshun and back each time we run out of stuff to eat and drink and there's the chance someone else will come and take all this away while we are gone."

Elam closed his eyes for a minute and then answered Elios.

"Ok, what if we work today and move what we can after we find a cave, then, tomorrow one of us goes to the Oshun and find water and food and brings it back for the others, that way two of us can go on moving everything, we're only half a dei away so one person moving quickly can be there and back in one dei."

Elios and Elvan looked at Elam and nodded their heads in agreement, it was a good plan and two of the boys could stay and guard their new found wealth.

"Good, that's settled then," said Elios, "You two go and find us a cave while I try to see what we have, with so many boxes in here there has to be lots of artefacts of value, we might even have enough to get our own breeder cliff."

Elam and Elvan smiled broadly now that they all had a plan of action, so, without further words the two boys went their opposite ways to find a cave for their treasure, Elios returned to the slit in the heavy cloth and, with a little squirming and scrabbling he emerged inside the huge box. He was right up on top of all the boxes and there was not much room between him and the top but he didn't worry, at times like this it was an advantage to be as slim and small as he was.

Confronted by so many choices, at first he didn't know where to start, the first thing he noticed was that the hard wud and soft wud boxes on which he was sitting, were placed in a certain order, there were ten boxes making a square then a small gap and then the ten boxes he was sitting on. Looking down into the dimness, he saw that the whole large box was set up in the same way, two rows of boxes stretching right to the far end, only the type of box was different. It appeared as though all the soft wud boxes were up close to him, then came the hard wud boxes and after that the rows of metal boxes. This was going to be hard work for three young boys but the treasure was too big and valuable to leave for others.

As far as Elios could see in the dim light, all the boxes were marked with the same ancient symbol as he had seen on the thin wud block with the pictures. All were marked with some sort of heavy black paint that said USMC. Elios thought that whoever was USMC he must have been a very wealthy man to have owned all these boxes. His mind roamed for a moment as he thought of what might be hidden inside the boxes, maybe some of them would be full of clear gles, or maybe special metals and tools, his imagination ran wild as he thought of what all that wealth would mean for the three friends.

Elios looked down at the top of one of the boxes he was sitting on, it had two sides folded together and was fastened by a lot of strange thin bits of metal going from one side of the gap to the other and was obviously meant to keep the two sides together. Elios tried pulling the sides apart but the slim metal pieces gave him no space to get his thin fingers inside deep enough to get a good grip, Elios sat back and thought for a little and then drew out his small bled.

Carefully he pushed the small thin bled under one of the metal pieces and slowly pulled upwards, with surprising ease, the metal piece popped out of the soft wud and Elios saw that it had been bent under the wud to hold it, now that he knew what to do he quickly went down the line of metal pieces and popped them all open, with shaking fingers he levered open the folded sides to look at what the box held.

Once open, Elios looked inside the box, there, neatly lined up were row on row of round metal cylinders, each tightly packed next to the other. Elios tapped the top of one with the handle of his bled, it was very thin metal, he wondered how long they were so set to work to remove one of them, they were so tightly packed he had a small problem just pulling one out but when he had finally got it slightly above the rest it was easy to grab it by the top and pull. To his surprise it was not very long at all, maybe less than a hand, around it's middle was more ancient pictures and symbols.

Elios looked at the beautiful picture, he had never seen anything like it before, it showed a strange round item that was almost the colour of the sun, above it were the ancient symbols that he could not read.

USMC
PEACHES

He shook the cylinder and to his surprise he was sure he could hear some sort of liquid inside the cylinder, he shook it again, yes he was right, there was liquid inside but also something else, something that was more solid. In the silence of the box, Elios usual inquisitiveness took over, he shook it again, when it would not open he tried twisting it back and forth, still it would not open. Elios tried knocking it on top of the other cylinders in the box all he came up with was some small marks and dents in the cylinder.

Elios looked around for something more to hit the cylinder with, how could something so small be so tough, he tapped it with his bled, it rang with a dull 'tonk' sound, as hard as he tried to think, Elios could not come up with a way to open the cylinder. Finally, in total frustration, he stabbed it hard with his bled, his hand was immediately covered with an oily type of wetness as it spurted up from the small slit in the top, surprised at the result of his frustration. Elios absently licked his fingers without thinking it may be deadly to him.

Elios gasped as a sweet almost sickly tang hit his tongue, he immediately sucked another finger, he had never tasted anything like it. If it was poison too bad, it was too nice to be bad he was sure, he sucked another finger clean and then tried tipping the cylinder up to his mouth so he could suck some more of the great liquid out. It filled his mouth and he swallowed slowly to savour the exquisite taste, Elios body shivered with delight as the liquid ran down his throat, this would be something special for his friends when they returned.

When the cylinder was empty, Elios shook it again, there was still something inside but it sounded more solid but how to get the cylinder open, Elios sat for a while and let his mind work unhindered, eventually it occurred to him. He stabbed his small bled in again and again until he had made a larger hole in the top and then he bent all the cut pieces back and there, sitting in the cylinder was something that looked close to the picture on the front.

Elios pushed his finger carefully into the opening, the thing inside was soft and moist, Elios took his bled and pushed in into the thing, it sliced through without effort, he turned the cylinder upside down and shook it, suddenly, Elios lap was full of the small soft things that had rushed out of the opening, he looked down at the mess in his lap.

Elios could only smile at the sight before himself; he picked up one of the slippery things and brought it close to his mouth, carefully, almost daintily, he placed it on his lips. Again he very carefully took a small bight, flavour of things unknown exploded in his mouth and without further thought, he rammed the rest of the soft food into his mouth and chewed with an enthusiasm that he had never had for food before. It didn't take long before he had eaten every one of the slippery things, his fingers were sticky along with his slender legs and crotch. The mess was everywhere, deep inside his body began a deep childish chuckle as he realised that he had found a source of food and drink so they would not have to go to the Oshun while they moved their treasure. Elios hugged his sticky body with glee as he waited for his friends to come back.

Elios looked down at the box he was sitting on and began to count the rows of cylinders, where he had removed the first one he could see that underneath there were more rows of the same cylinders, on the top row there were two plus ten cylinders less the one he had opened, so that meant there were another two plus ten on the next row below. That was a lot of food and drink for three boys, they would have plenty for their time here to move the treasure.

Elios heard a faint bird call from outside and knew that at least one of his friends was returning. Reaching down he grasped two more of the cylinders for his friends to try and wriggled out of the box. Fine grains of sand had soon stuck to his sticky legs and hands but he didn't worry about it, his mouth was still tasting of the sweet juices he had discovered.

Jumping to the soft sand, he waited patiently as he saw Elvan coming towards him waving his arms, it was obvious he had found a cave for them but how far way would decide if they used it or not. Elios waited for his friend to arrive next to him, the look on Elvan's face told its own story as he saw the condition that Elios was in, covered from waist to knees in sand that seemed to be stuck on his skin and the huge smile on the smaller boys face told Elvan that something good had happened.

Elvan also noticed that Elios was holding two shiny cylinders in his hands and wondered what the boy had found that was so interesting, Elios was the first to speak.

"Did you find a good cave?"

"Yes, it looks like it might have been made by the ancients but it's a long way down the valley, what have you got there?"

"Ok, we'll wait for Elam and see if he found anything, these? Well these are a special surprise for you and Elam, but you have to wait till he gets here so you can both try them together."

Elvan looked again at the condition that Elios was in.

"So you tried one already by the look of you."

"Yes, I had to see if it was safe for us, but trust me, you're going to love the surprise."

Of course Elvan trusted Elios, he always knew what was right, he smiled at the smaller boy and sat down in the sand to wait for Elam as he looked again at the strange cylinders that Elios held in each hand. Not a lot of time passed before Elam's birdcall was heard coming from the other side of the valley, as the two boys looked up they saw Elam running towards them, he had a big smile on his lips as he neared them.

Elam collapsed on the sand beside his friends, still panting a little from his short run.

"What did you find?" asked Elios.

"An ancients cave just over on the other side of the valley, I saw it when the sun got low enough to break the shadows."

"How do you know it's one of the ancient's ones?" asked Elvan.

"Easy, it's perfectly round and has a thick grey ancient stone hanging over it; you can still see the red spots of the round steel they used in the stone."

"It seems closer than the one Elvan found, I think we should use it, did you go inside to see how much space there was?" replied Elios.

"No, it's got a lot of stones and things blocking it, but we can clear them away and take a look to see if it's big enough."

"Ok, well I've got a surprise for you."

Elios put the two cylinders on the ground and watched the expression on Elam's face as he took his small bled out ready to open them for his friends.

"What are they?" enquired Elam with a little scepticism in his young voice.

"Wait and see," replied Elios as he stabbed the first of the cylinders, twisting the bled to make the hole bigger, handing the first one to Elvan, he then opened the second one for Elam.

"Put the hole to your mouth and suck hard, see what I've found, it's good, I promise."

Elios watched the expression on the two boys faces as they followed his instructions, the look of awe and bliss on their young faces as the first of the liquid ran down their throats gave Elios a warm feeling of accomplishment at his find.

Elios waited until the two boys had sucked all the liquid out of the cylinders and were about to throw away the rest, even though they could feel that there was still something inside.

"Wait," called Elios as he reached over and took the two cylinders back, quickly he began to puncture them again until he could fully open them for his friends, telling them to hold out their hands, he tipped the strange yellow things out so they could see them.

"Eat them," he said with a little amusement in his voice as he knew what their expressions would be. The two boys trusted Elios not to play with them so followed his suggestion and began to put one of the pieces into their mouths, it took only a short time before all of the pieces were in their mouths and being chewed with such delight that they almost choked in trying to hurry.

After the two were finished and had licked their fingers clean, Elam asked Elios.

"That was amazing, I've never tasted anything like it, is there any more of them?"

"Yes plenty, I counted at least four plus ten in the box and there were a lot of boxes that look the same in there."

"That's good, we can eat those and not have to go to the Oshun all the time for food and water, we can stay here and move all this treasure into the cave instead, I think we can also work during the dark as well, it's not far to the ancient cave from here," said Elam.

The other two boys nodded in agreement, the sooner they could move the treasure the better and safer it would be for them and their find. As the boys sat there after their great food surprise, Elios had been thinking about the cave Elam had found, if it was a big one they would need some light to look inside and to work with during the dark time.

Searching in his sak, he pulled out the thin wud roll and asked Elam about the fire stone; soon the boys had collected what they wanted and, leaving the sak's behind, trotted over to the other side of the narrow valley until they came to the dark hole in the shadow of the cliff that Elam had found.

Just as he had said the overhang of the ancient's stone kept the hole hidden from normal view but it was filled with sand and stones, the three boys looked at each other and then set to work. Luckily it was not packed tightly and they were soon crawling deeper and deeper into the round cave hole. As they got deeper, Elios took the lead as he was smaller, he continued to push the stones and sand behind him for Elam and Elvan to take to the outside and throw away,

Finally, just as the darkness was about to start, Elios hand pushed through the last of the sand, there was a gust of moist cold air that ran across his hand and hit him refreshingly in the face. It smelt a little stale but the cold moistness felt good on his hot skin, all three boys were now tired and dirty, their small bodies covered in sand and grit as they felt the refreshing cold air. Elios pushed back more of the loose sand until he could worm his way through, all he saw was more round hole and darkness, where ever this went it was not short.

"It looks as though it goes deeper, let's go back and have another of those foods and sleep in the box again. In the morning we can come back and see where it goes," said Elios to the other boys.

Both were in agreement so they backed up out of the pipe and set off for their little camp in the small box, although feeling tired from the exertions, they were happy how their second dei of adventure had turned out. They had a good dark time cave to sleep in and a pile of treasure to start their lives with as well as a new food that was so good to eat.

There were no boy games that night, they were too exhausted by their work and the excitement of their adventure, they just curled up in each other's arms and fell into a deep sleep until the first rays of the rising sun woke them for their next dei. Elios was closest to the door so he rose first and went out to get three more cylinders of the food. Sitting on the sand he was about to stab into the first one again when he stopped and took another look at the cylinder, his agile mind went into overdrive as he tried to work out a better way to open them.

Slowly it came to him and he rested the point of his bled at the very edge of the cylinder and gave the handle a hard hit with his other hand, next he began to work the bled back and forth around the edge of the cylinder. This he found, was a lot easier and tidier, in no time at all he had the three cylinders open and ready for his friends who, on hearing Elios at work, were quick to jump out of the box and join him for their feast.

While they ate their food, the boys discussed how they were going to search the new cave until finally, they came up with the idea of using some of the thin wud they had collected at the breeding cliffs to make a light so they could see into the dark of the pipe hole. Elios got three pieces of the thin wud and rolled them very tightly into three thin sticks, Elvan got the fire stone and along with his bled, got enough spark to light one of the wud sticks. The light wasn't a lot but it would do for the small pipe they would be in. Elios quickly put out the light by pushing it into the soft sand and they began their walk back to the new cave.

Once at the mouth of the pipe cave and as the rising sun began to warm up the small valley, the boys could still feel the moist cold air coming out of the hole. There had to be something good deeper inside for the air to still be cool like it was. Maybe even it had a lot of water inside; that would explain why it was so moist and cold. Elios didn't think the air was as stale as the previous day and hoped for something good when they got to the end of the pipe.

The three boys wriggled their way deeper into the pipe, when Elios got to the last sand barrier he had cleared he looked ahead. The rising sun had lightened the inside of the pipe and Elios could see that in front of him, about three lengths away, the pipe was blocked by a sheet of what looked like coarse cloth. Elios moved forward until he was close in front of the barrier, reaching forward tentively he pushed gently at the cloth, to his surprise it felt like fine metal and flexed with the pressure of his hand, he had never seen metal so fine, the ancients were a very smart race.

Pausing, Elios thought for a bit and then pulled out his trusty bled, it was now a little worse for wear as he had now opened nine cylinders and there were small nicks in each side. He would soon have to find a hard stone to make it sharp again, suddenly, as if a light had come on, Elios saw the strange two coloured stone that Elam had found so long ago and his face lit up with a huge smile, at last, another question answered. That was what the strange stone was for, he looked over his shoulder at Elam and gave the boy a huge smile but said nothing about what he had just thought, instead he turned back to the metal cloth in front of him and stabbed his over used bled though it.

To his surprise, the bled slid through easily and Elios began to saw it back and forth cutting through the metal cloth with ease. When he had cut all around he pushed it through the hole and tried to see into the dark depths in front of him. He heard the cloth hit something hard below him but it was too dark to see anything, he called for Elvan to light one of his homemade sticks. When that was done and Elvan had passed it forward, Elios leaned closer to the edge and tried to see inside, below him he could just make out a large stone floor, in the dim light he also saw what looked like tables and seats but they were indistinct in the dim light. The drop to the floor was only about one length so Elios wriggled about until he had turned himself around and he was able to ease his young legs through the newly made hole and drop lightly onto the stone floor.

He was quickly followed by the other two and in the dim light from the fire stick and their natural ability to see in very dim light, the boys looked around. The cave was huge, they could see the tables and seats but not the other three sides so both Elam and Elvan lit the other two sticks Elios had made and spread out.

The cave was bigger than the boys thought, it seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth. Each boy picked a direction to go and kept in touch by calling back and forth until they came to the side wall they had been seeking, turning they could see the dim light of each other. The cave would be big enough for all their treasure and have a lot of space left over, the only difficulty would be bringing all the treasure through the small pipe and putting it down on the floor without damage. The three boys started back to where they could just make out the dim light of the pipe.

Elios sharp mind did not take long to find an answer to getting in and out of the pipe. The tables had the seats attached by some strange means but Elios was not about to worry about small things like that, he had the other two each pull a table over beside the one he had got to. Putting their two tables beside each other with the ends against the wall, Elios pushed his in front making a large platform to stand on and easily reach the pipe to go in and out on. This would make it easier to unload their treasure, they agreed that they had seen enough and it was time to start moving their find to the new cave.

On returning to their treasure box they sat down and began to work out how they were going to move all the boxes inside. It was obvious it was going to take a long time and the need for light in the new cave was something they had to fix. After a lot of thought they came up with the idea of firstly taking as many of the hard wud boxes first and then using them to light a fire in the cave to give them enough light to work with. Even though the hard wud boxes were further back in the large box it would be better in the end they thought.

Elios was the first to wriggle his way into the treasure box and, as he moved he tried to work out how best to get the boxes they needed out to the hole they were working through. It took a while to work out how to do it but first he had to be able to get rid of some strange metal belts that were around all the piles of boxes. There were two straps running from front to back and two more from side to side, the metal straps were about a finger wide and black but very thin and strong. Finally Elios knew what to do with the strange cutting tool he had found so long ago.

Calling Elvan he asked him to find the small metal three cornered tool and bring it to him. Once he had it in hand he set to work on the belts, as he had guessed they were cut through easily and soon the four belts were pushed aside and Elios could start to take out the boxes. He noticed the same symbols on the box but some extra ones as well that meant as much as the others, nothing, they read.

USMC
BLANKETS

This meant nothing to him as he continued to push and pull the box free until it was clear of the others he then pushed it towards the opening. It was heavier than he had first thought but kept moving it until it was outside. He then went back for the next one and the next one until they had more than four plus ten outside on the sand.

The three boys tried lifting a box each but they were too heavy so then they had to set about working out a way to move them all to the new cave. It was Elam that came up with an idea, why not open one of the boxes and see what was inside, maybe there would be something they could use. It didn't take long for the others to agree and begin the struggle to open one of the hard wud boxes. It was not easy but they soon found that if they pushed their bleds into a thin crack at the top, they could lever upward and pull out the long bits of steel holding the top on. Soon they had the first one open and too their surprise it was full of folded material like they had never seen. Touching the material, all three were overwhelmed by the softness and warmth coming from the surfaces, Elvan was the first to pull one free, it seemed light in his hands but so soft, he tried to pull it apart but it was too strong, Elam came up with the idea first.

"Why not use one of these on the ground and put a full box on top, then we can hold the loose end and pull it over the sand, that way we can move three boxes at a time."

Too the others it seemed a good idea so they set about pulling more of the cloths out and laying three of them on the sand then the three boys lifted a box between them and placed it on each of the cloths. Moving to the front they each picked up the two corners and began to pull them towards the new cave, it was easier than they thought it would be as the loaded cloths slipped across the soft sand with ease and they were soon at the opening of their new cave.

Once at the pipe they pushed the first box in and Elios began to push it forward to the opening into the cave. Elam and Elvan followed close behind with theirs and quickly Elios was pushing his box through the opening and heard it hit hard on the tables below with a crash and loud thud. Elios then climbed through and moved it out of the way as the next one came falling through, he was just in time to get out of the way as it crashed to the hard floor and one corner splintered to show the cloths inside then Elam dropped down and moved out of the way for Elvan and his box.

Once inside the three boys began the work of breaking open the boxes for fire wud and stacked the cloths on another table away from the opening. Once they had the first box open it didn't take long to break them down to smaller pieces and, as the tables were made of metal, they built a small fire in the centre of one and lit it. When it was fully alight they could see more of the huge room, they built the fire a little bigger so it would last until they came back and then jumped up and went for the next boxes.

The boys were so happy at solving all the problems that, with the help of some extra cylinders of the special food, worked right through the high sun time until all the boxes they had taken out and put on the sand, were now in the new cave. It was time to start on the soft wud boxes with their food in them, the boys walked jauntily back to start on the next exercise.

Elios used the same tool to free the food boxes and while they were heavy, they were nowhere near as heavy as the hard wud ones and when they had all the boxes outside, they found they could carry one each easily to the new cave but they had to make more trips as there were far more of the food boxes than the cloth ones. It was nearing dark time when they had finished, that and having to break hard wud boxes for their fire took them a little longer and even though they were tired, they felt a great deal of satisfaction in their dei's work.

After resting for a short time, the boys decided to eat some more food from the cylinders mixed with some bred and then keep carrying more of the boxes from their treasure box. The boys continued until it was almost high dark, by then they were tired and every muscle ached like never before but they had managed to clear all four piles of the soft wud boxes and a small number of the hard wud ones as well. On their last trip for the dark, the two bigger boys had taken one large box between them and Elios had found a small one that was by itself on the floor, immediately he recognised some of the symbols as those of the picture block had had on the outside.

USMC
TRAINING MANUALS

The second set of symbols he had not seen before but the first ones were the same and he hoped they would have more of the great pictures in them as well, it would give his inquisitive mind something to do when they were finished. On their return to the cave, they built up the fire with the last of the hard wud they had ready and sat around to rest, their young chests heaving as they tried to gasp in a little more air from their exertions before they went to sleep, there would be plenty of time in the morning to look over what they had so far.

The three boys set out a number of the thick cloths on the floor to make a soft bed, discarded their sweat soaked breach-clouts and used one of the cloths to wipe most of the dirt and sand from their bodies as the fire flickered and sent strange shadows around the new cave. Elios settled down as he always did with his back to Elvan's front while Elam lay next to him with his front facing Elios. Elios liked being in the middle of his two friends, it made play time so much better but for now they were all to exhausted by their long dei and heavy work, if something happened to the rest of their treasure while they slept, at least they had a lot of it in the cave.

During the dark and before the new sun rise marked another dei, Elios felt cold and without thought wriggled from between his friends and got another of the cloths to cover them all, he was almost immediately warm, these cloths were a real find and so soft on his young skin. Elios began to get hard from the feel but then sleep overtook him again and he wriggled down close to his friends and fell asleep.

The new sun was well up in the sky before the tired boys woke again. The faint greyness from the pipe and their own excellent vision made it a little easier for the boys to see around them. There seemed to be boxes lying everywhere, after a small discussion, Elam said it would be better of Elios stayed in the cave to put the boxes in some sort of order while he and Elvan continued to move more of them over. It would be slower but then at least they would have some sort of way of finding out what they all were, if Elios started to open them and look inside.

They all agreed and after a small meal, the boys set about their tasks, it was going to be another long day but with luck they might be able to get most of the boxes in today, even if they again worked through the dark again. They had only one more pile of heavy wud boxes to go and then there would be the four piles of metal boxes. Those might be quicker as a lot of them were quite small and had a handle on them for carrying as did some of the larger ones although those looked as though the boys would again have to carry them one at a time between the two boys.

Once the others had left on their first trip, the silence descended on the new cave. At first Elios felt a little intimidated by the silence but then he heard a familiar sound, somewhere in the far reaches of the large cave was water. He could hear a steady, drip, drip ,drip, of water hitting something metallic, he looked around but could see no sign close to him of the water, somehow they had to get more light into the cave. Elios turned back to his job of sorting the boxes.

Firstly he decided to place all the boxes with the same symbols in one place and stack them up around the nearest wall. It was a slow job as there were now so many boxes and he had to strain his eyes to make out the symbols and check that each one was the same before he could put them in their right place. As he was doing this, the other two boys were still pushing new boxes through the pipe so Elios had little time to think about anything else.

Time had passed and it was now just on high sun so the other boys joined Elios in the cave for a rest, they had finished all the hard wud boxes and were ready to start on the metal ones but decided to rest during the heat of the dei. It had been hard work the previous dei working through high sun and they felt it would be better to wait now, after all there were only four piles of metal boxes left and they were sure that they could have them all moved some time in the dark time.

The boys rested during the high sun and then set to work again once it had cooled, some of the larger metal boxes took both Elam and Elvan to move over. The smaller ones were easier although there were many more of them but with the aid of the small handles the boys were able to tuck one under each arm and one in each hand and carry four at a time. They were a little heavier than at first thought but not as heavy as one of the boxes, it was about one length long and eight hands high and wide with a handle at each end. It was awkward to move with them but they soon worked out a way of walking side by side with the box between them and made good time back to the cave.

Elios was being swamped by the new boxes but again went back to his system of matching the strange symbols on each box and placing them against the near wall. They were now stretching down into the darkness of the cave as he sorted them out, the sweat running down his naked body as he moved one after another into place.

Finally the other two boys returned with the last metal box, it had grown dark and Elios had broken down one of the hard boxes to make their fire. With all the running around sorting the boxes, Elios had not had time to open even one of them so he got a surprise when he broke down the box marked.

USMC
TRENCHING TOOLS

The unusual looking items had almost no relationship to anything Elios had seen before just like all the other treasures so he left them in a pile beside the other two unopened boxes and lit the fire. His two friends struggled with the last long metal box and then collapsed on their sleeping pad, throwing their breach-clouts to the side and wiping their sweating bodies with the cloth they had used the previous dei.

Elios decided to open one of the other soft wud boxes to see what food or drink was inside, they had now had two dei's of the same food and while it was still something special he wanted a change. While the others rested on the sleeping mat he went in search of something new and finally settled on a box marked.

USMC
SPAM

On finally opening the box after the same struggle with the small metal pins, he saw more metal squares inside. They were made from the same metal as the cylinders but this time they were square but smaller at the top than the bottom, looking at the bottom of the square cylinder he saw a strange piece of metal attached, it looked like a thin rope. At one end was a small loop and the other had a thin slit in it.

Elios played with the piece of metal until it began to move away from the base and finally it dropped into his hand, scratching his head in wonder he began to look more closely at the cylinder, at last he saw, right at the bottom, a small piece of the cylinder was laying out from the rest. Using his finger nail he pulled at the tab until it was sticking out from the body, he then looked at the thin wire and the tab, shortly it clicked into place, he pushed the slot in the wire over the tab.

After a little trial he worked out that if he rolled the wire backwards he could wrap the tab around the wire like a belt. A minute later and he could smell this strange meat smell coming from the cylinder. Finishing with the tab he pulled it off along with the bottom of the cylinder, inside was a pinkish mass, it was firm to the touch but smelt like some type of meat. Elios put his finger to his lips to taste, it was different from any meat he had eaten before but was still nice.

Elios pulled out his bled and cut into the soft mass, taking a piece he put it in his mouth and chewed slowly, it tasted good but somewhat oily. Elios turned the cylinder upside down and shook it until the mass dropped into his hand, he cut it into three pieces and took it over to his friends.

Handing the mass to the other boys, Elios got out the last of their bred and along with the meat mass ate it all up, the others following his example. It took no urging by the others to send him over for more, at the end of three cylinders they were full to bursting, the only thing they needed now was water but it was too dark to go searching until the new sun rise. The boys settled down for the rest of the dark time and drifted off to sleep, their young bodies still stiff and sore from all the work they had done over the last two dei's.

Chapter 3
New Discoveries

The boys awoke in the dim light of a new dei; they could hear the faint whisper of wind on the outside as it moved past the entrance pipe. It seemed to all of them that the first winds were going to aid them in hiding their new cave as they had made quite a large trail from the original place to the cave when they had carried and pulled each box from their treasure cave.

After a light meal they sat down to think what they would do. They knew that at this time of the rising sunlight, the winds would get stronger and last longer as the time increased and the heat of the new day grew hotter. It was always the way. After some discussion, they decided that Elam and Elvan would make some light sticks from the thick soft wud boxes with a small fire starter from the pieces they had from before. Elios did not want to use the MANUAL blocks until he had had the chance to look them over more thoroughly, he was somehow sure that they held the secret of the ancients.

The boys set to work making the rolled fire sticks for light until the two that were going searching had eight each. Elios found the box that had the symbols of the MANUALS on it and proceeded to open it fully while the other two began their hunt into the darker recesses of the cave, Elios could follow their progress by the two small flames as they receded from him.

Elios finally opened the box and saw inside many, many of the blocks. All were packed in on their sides so he could only see the folded part, he decided to take them all out and put them on a free table so he could spread them out. Once he had them where he wanted them he looked them over. He again began to feel frustrated for not being able to make sense of the symbols but something deep in his mind was trying to get out.

Finally he decided that the only way to tell what each was; was to open them and look at the pictures. It was going to take him a long time but he was sure he had plenty as the wind outside was picking up and was now almost to a roar as it passed the mouth of the pipe. Elios also noticed that some of the sand was being blown into their new cave by the wind. He looked around for something to close the pipe with, it took a little time but finally his eyes settled on a strange shelf above the pipe hole, there was a linked metal rope holding the shelf in place. Elios thought that it was a strange place to have a shelf, also it was rather small for anything, he moved to the hole to have a closer look.

A short time passed as he gazed up at it and then it was like a light coming on in his head. Elios jumped up on the table and reached for the rope, with a small push upward, the rope came free and the shelf dropped down with a loud 'clang' sound. The sound of the wind and the fine sand was immediately cut off, now he could only hear the faintest of murmurs from the pipe, he was intrigued by the symbols on the closed shelf that he now knew was a small door, they said.

EMERGENCY EXIT

Of course this meant nothing to Elios but it did seem strange that the ancients had to put symbols on everything. He became determined to find out the secret of the symbols, maybe it would give him new insights if he could understand them. Once again Elios looked at all the blocks spread out on the table, a strange feeling ran over him, something about them was familiar, but, what?

Elios pulled over the table they used for their fire and added some more wud, again he looked at the blocks, something was there. Time passed rapidly but unknown to Elios as he stood trying to work out what it was that was familiar, at last he gave up and with a bitter feeling deep inside he gave vent to a very loud scream of frustration and banged his hand on the table. Turning around he stormed about the cave using all the worst words he knew until, while he was still a little distance from the humiliating blocks he gave the two finger gesture of insult and challenge that all boys used when they wanted to fight another boy. As Elios spun around and gestured at the table of blocks, something clicked.

Looking at the two fingers so insolently pushed into the air at the blocks he saw something else. His fingers made the same symbol as that of one of the levels of the breeding caves and then, like a bolt of lightning it hit him. Elios rushed back to the table and looked again, pushing blocks aside as he looked at the wide range of symbols. Suddenly total silence settled over his cave as he saw it, even his breath was silent as he slowly turned about and looked for his friends lights but they were nowhere to be seen. In a whirlwind of action Elios jumped as high as he could and yelled out, this time in glee, he had it, he had the secrets of the ancient's symbols. Dancing with a new found joy he rushed back to the table and began to set about sorting out the blocks.

Looking around he saw what he needed, taking a piece of wud from the fire he shook it until the flames died and he had a blackened stick; next he carefully cleared an area on the floor that would give him the space he felt he would need. If there was one thing every boy did learn, it was the numbers; all boys knew how to make the shapes of the numbers, all the way up to ten. It was a necessary part of bargaining and so he began to mark down all the numbers up to two tens plus six with a small space between each number and a large space between the line on top and the line below. This is where he would put the ancient symbols that matched the symbols on the breeding levels that they got their names from. He knew a lot of boys from other levels so by saying the boys name he would be able to work out the sound of an ancient symbol and then make out the secret of the symbols.

Elios started with the first level, he knew a boy called Atro, from that level so it must be that the symbol 'A' sounded like 'arh' Elios looked at one of the blocks and saw a number of the same symbols. Next he moved to the number two level symbol it was a 'B' what boy did he know from there, again his eyes lit up. Elios didn't need to know a boy from there, he already knew the sound because they had lived in the boys level 'B3' and it sounded like 'buh' and so Elios worked away almost in a fever of excitement as the symbols he had at first thought were unreadable became clearer and clearer to his young eyes. At last, after what seemed like eternity, he had all the symbols out on the floor and now knew what each sounded like. Elios hoped he was right as he had been working on the problem so long that his stomach began to growl with hunger.

Elios straightened up from the table and stretched his sore limbs, his naked body shining in the dim light of the fire, looking around for his friends he saw that he was still alone, where had they gone? Were they lost in the darkness of this huge cave and its many mysteries? As he looked into the dark where his friends had disappeared, he heard far in the distance a loud clanging sound and the faint echo of a bad word, it sounded like Elvan's voice and then he saw the faintest of glimmers from one of their light sticks, they must be coming back. Elios felt better and decided to open a few food cylinders for their return.

As he sat opening the food cylinders he could see the light getting stronger as the boys got closer until he could call out and they answered. There was definite excitement in their voices as they finally appeared from the dark, both were on their last light stick and were very happy to be back with their friend, it had been quite an adventurous dei.

The boys sat down at a table to eat their food, with a small smile of pride, Elios lifted the square cylinder up and told the boys.

"This is called, spam."

The two boys looked at Elios as though he was a mad boy like some of the ones that were put out into the night from the breeding caves when they came out wrong from their breeders as sometimes happened. Elam asked what he was talking about and how did he know what the ancient's symbols were. Elios began to explain his long day to them, how he had discovered what the symbols were and how he had worked them out. Both boys leaned back with awe on their young faces at the inventiveness of their smaller friend. Elvan picked up another cylinder and gave it to Elios to read, this one was easy for Elios as it only had three symbols, slowly he spoke out the symbols.

"Huh-arh-mmm, harm."

Boys clapped their hands at the revelation from their friend, it was true, he had broken the ancient secret of the symbols. Next Elios asked them about their searching, they regaled him with stories of hidden caves within the big one and all the wonders that were hidden inside them. It looked as though it was going to take them a lifetime to see it all and work out what it all was for. Their main concern was the lack of light to see it all, sooner or later they would run out of fire sticks and then they would be back in the dark. Elios got a thoughtful look on his young face and then confided in his friends once he had it worked out.

"If the ancients were that smart they would have some way of getting good light when they wanted it. There has to be something or somewhere that has light for them to see all their symbols all the time or they wouldn't have put the symbols on everything they made. All we have to do is search for it, next sunrise I'll start to look at the symbol blocks and see what I can find."

The others nodded their heads sagely as they looked at their friend as though he was a special person. For the first time in his short life, Elios had a deep feeling of pride at his accomplishments of the dei. Finally the long hard dei caught up with them and they both stripped off their breach-clouts and joined Elios under the cloth cover of their sleeping mat. Elam was the first to move in close to Elios small butt and begin to prod softly for entrance into his tight hole. It had been a couple of dei's since they had, had the strength to want to play a boys game and Elios was willing to let them find his small hole to play in.

Elios opened his legs a little wider and let Elam start to push in deeper and Elvan wrapped his strong arms around the smaller boy and put his lips to Elios and begin the slow kiss they all liked. Elios pushed his butt back so Elam could go as deep as he could and Elios would feel all that strong hard muscle move inside him with pleasure as Elvan covered his lips in a long soft kiss as Elam began to move in and out faster.

Both Elam and Elvan had their own likes when they played the boys game with Elios. Elam, like now, preferred to have Elios on his side so he could lift Elios upper leg high and go all the way deep inside his friend. Elvan liked it when Elios was on his hands and knees and he could mount him from behind and at the same time hold the small slim hips with his hands until he was close to spurting his boy juice. He would then grasp Elios smaller boy tool and pump him as fast as he could so he could feel Elios spasm inside when his juice shot out at the same time. Both boys always made sure that Elios was pleasured as much as they were when it came to the games.

As the sound of Elam's soft grunts got louder, Elios pushed back as far as he could and his lips and tongue hungrily sort out Elvan's mouth for his oral pleasure. Elvan's hard boy hood pushed with insistence against Elios soft stomach as Elam pushed in hard and held himself there as Elios felt the pulsing of the hard muscle inside his small butt. Soon it would be Elvan's turn so Elios sighed in contentment that his two closest friends looked after him in such a way.

Elvan then moved behind Elios as the boy got up on his hands and knees for him. Elam and Elvan always thought it was better for Elam to go first as he was thinner although longer than Elvan who was quite thick but shorter. Elvan spread open the small slim butt cheeks and rubbed his hot aching glans against the small hole that now had a little of Elam's boy juice leaking from the reddened hole. Slowly Elvan used the white boy juice to make his thickness slippery then began the slow push into the waiting heat. Elios grunted as the large head pushed through his tight muscle and then sighed with pleasure as the rest began to stretch and fill him. He was now going into that place where he always felt so good as Elvan began to push and pull his slim hips over his thick boy hood.

Elam regained his feeling and slipped under Elios soft body then began to swallow the smaller boy to his pubic bone as Elvan began to speed up with his thrusts and soon he gave his final strong push as deep into Elios as he could reach and fire out his boy juice inside the heat of Elios small tight hole. When he felt the tightening and pulsing of Elios losing his own boy juice, both boys shuddered with the intense feelings that overtook them in that moment of climax.

Elvan collapsed onto Elios back as the smaller boy did the same. Elam had just enough time to swallow the sweet taste of Elios and move from under him before the other two boys collapsed onto the sleeping mat, both exhausted by their efforts. A little later and all three were wrapped in each other's arms as they drifted off to sleep after a fantastic day of discovery and boy fun.

As the boys slept the wind outside became a roaring sand storm, these types of storms could last for days and would often kill anyone caught outside. The boys were unaware of the turmoil going on outside and slept in peaceful bliss as it raged on around their new cave. Unknown to the boys, their entrance was quickly becoming full of the windblown sand, but it was also hiding them away from any prying eyes that might have made them open to an attack.

The next morning was a time for putting together all they had learned the previous dei. Elios to his learning blocks, as he now called them, and the others were put to work with burnt sticks to draw a picture of their travels on the hard stone floor. As the fires burnt lower it was necessary for the boys to open more of the hard wud boxes, the contents were piled neatly in their place as Elios had asked. They were finding that there was an incredible amount of items hidden in the many boxes but Elios was determined to find all the answers in his learning blocks before they began to inspect any of them.

The main thing that confused Elios about the ancient's symbols was their need to double up on so many symbols. He could see no reason behind their need to do this. Elios decided to ignore the use of double symbols and just pronounce the words as though they had only one symbol. It became obvious after a short time that this made it easier to understand them.

After a long time had passed, Elios gave a small yelp of excitement, the other boys ran over to him.

"I think I've found how they made light," Elios told them.

The boys looked down on the table at the open learning block; at the top of the thin sheet of wud were the symbols for FIELD ACCESSORIES. Elios tried to explain what he thought the symbols meant according to the pictures in the block. In the picture, a man was standing in a dark cave, in his hand was a strange black cylinder and from the front of it was a ray of light; it looked even brighter than the sun. Elios spelled out the symbols under the picture.

FF-LL-ARH-SS-HUH-LL-II-GUH-HUH-TE

Both boys gave Elios a funny look but the boy held up his hand for them to wait while he ran the symbols over and over in his mind until they fell together like he had taught himself until finally he had the word.

"Flashlight"

To Elios it wasn't so much the word but what it meant and the picture explained that to him with ease. Somewhere the ancients had a cylinder that could make light, he had to find it and now that he knew what symbols to look for. Elios set all three of them to search every box until they found the same symbols. It took longer than he thought it would but, as they neared the last of the boxes he saw it. A box of about four hands on each side and the same high. Elios asked the other two too carry it closer to their fire, just the same as all the others, this one had the symbols of the man's name and a description of what was inside, in this case.

USMC
FLASHLIGHTS
20 UNITS BATT
20 UNITS ERGONOMIC

Elios understood the two tens as being the number of items and so surmised that there were two tens of each but he couldn't work out what a batt or ergonomic was, still he would see what he had and then try to understand the new symbols later.

Once at the fire, Elios quickly worked on the top and had the box open in no time. He was becoming very good at opening the hard wud boxes by now. Inside were rows of smaller soft wud boxes, there were two sizes of boxes, one was more square and the other was longer and wider. He removed one of each and laid them on the table. They were both the same colour as everything the man owned, a strange dull green but the hand drawn picture on the box told him what was inside each one.

Taking the longer one first he carefully opened it and tipped out the contents. There was one long round pipe with one end being bigger than the other and had a round clear gles face with a small gles thing inside. He turned it over and over in his hands then put it down, next he looked at the ten plus two smaller cylinders. They were quite heavy for their size but he now had another picture to work with as, on the back of the container that the smaller cylinders were in was a set of drawings and the symbols of fig 1, fig 2, fig 3. He didn't know what a fig was but the numbers told him all he needed to know, it was a picture of how to use the flashlight.

Elios looked carefully at the fig 1 and took up the long pipe and, fastening his hand around the bottom he twisted in the direction of the small spia. Much to his delight it began to unscrew and soon he had it off, he put both parts on the table and then looked at fig 2. Taking his bled out he carefully slit the soft gles covering on the ten plus two cylinders and took out three of them. After checking the fig 3 he turned them over until he saw the difference at each end.

When he was sure he had it correct he slid each cylinder in one by one and made sure to keep them facing the same way as in the fig 3 picture. Once done he looked at fig 4 and began to screw that piece back on to the long pipe. After that was done he looked at his item, it was now heavier than before but there was still no light coming from it, had he made a mistake? Elios went back to the fig pictures and ran everything through his mind again, no he had done everything right so, why was there no light. Turning the flashlight around in his hands for a while he suddenly realised that there was a very small part of the pipe that had a raised area and felt a little softer than the rest of the pipe. Shrugging his slim shoulders he pressed down on the soft area with the his finger, all three boys yelped with surprise as a strong beam of light erupted from the round gles end.

Instantly all three boys oohed loudly as they saw the beam stretch all the way to the furtherest dark recess of the cave, lighting it up like sun light or even brighter than the sun. Instantly the boys began a happy dance, not only for the new light but for the smartness of Elios marvellous mind and his ability to work out the secret of the ancient symbols. They now had a real light source to search the cave but Elios wasn't finished yet, he wanted to see what the other sort of flashlight was and how to use it.

Elios took out the smaller box and began to open it. It was obvious right from the start that this one was different apart from begin smaller. Using his bled he opened the small soft gles covering and took out the strange item. It had the same gles end but this one was facing off the side and not at the end. On the main part of the cylinder was a strange piece of thin metal, Elios lay it on the Table and went to look at the pictures of the figs.

Again following the numbers, Elios copied what they said. It was not long before he was pumping the small metal handle furiously as the light shone out from the gles, he stopped pumping the handle and watched as the light stayed on but as time went by he saw that it was losing some of its power. Being inquisitive, he began pumping again and the light got stronger again, now he understood. One flashlight was stronger but had to have the batt things. One was smaller but would always go as long as you squeezed the handle enough to keep it alight. All the boys were ecstatic at their new finds, Elios especially as he now knew he had learned the symbols correctly. From now one it would be easier to work things out as long as he had the fig pictures to help.

The boys decided to assemble one more flashlight each and take one of the ergonomic ones as a spare; they could now begin their real search of their new cave home. For all of them had agreed that this cave was theirs and it would be their home to come back to after they went searching, it was somewhere to call their own and a good base to work out from. The valley was small and didn't seem to attract much attention from other searchers so while the winds were howling outside they would put all their efforts into looking at all of their cave and then settle down to work out all the new treasures they had found.

And so their real search began. Elios, never being one to take things for granted, told the others to follow while he used only one flashlight at a time. He would take the lead for a while using his flashlight and then one of the others would take over with their light and so on until they had seen all of their marvellous cave system. They had put some cylinders of food in their sak's to take with them and had rolled up three of the sleeping cloths as well. They planned to stay on their search until they had seen everything they could in their new home cave.

Finally leaving the big cave it was only a few steps when Elios came to the first door, it was marked like all things to do with the ancients.

USMC
GALLEY

After working out the sound of the symbols, Elios pushed on the door, nothing happened and he turned to look at his two friends. Elam stepped forward and showed Elios how to wrap his hand around the knob on the door and turn it and push. The door easily opened at Elam's touch and Elios flashed his light around the cave, what he saw made him suck his breath in with awe.

The cave was larger than he thought it would be, everything was made of white shiny stone or bright shiny metal. The other two boys turned on their lights to look at all of the cave. It soon became apparent to Elios that this was used only for cooking although he couldn't see where they had their cooking fires but it was obvious it had never been used.

He looked around the tables and there, sure enough was a MANUAL it was a lot thicker and bigger than the ones he had so far seen but as soon as he opened it and saw the first fig picture he knew what he had for sure. The only thing that confused him was why they had two smaller caves in the same place. One was marked FREEZER and the other was marked COOLER at this stage he didn't know what they were but was sure his new MANUAL would tell him all he would need to know. After a final look around they decided to keep on with their search.

The next door was just across from the first and was marked DRY GOODS Elios turned the handle and pushed on the door, again he was struck with awe. If they had thought that their treasure was a lot then this cave dispelled that idea very quickly. The whole cave was lined with the shiny white stones, inside every spare space was covered in metal shelves and down the middle was a long metal box with small round knobs on it. The first thing to strike Elios was the fragrant smell of the cave, he didn't know what it was but it made his mouth water.

All the shelves were full of white sak's, soft wud boxes and row upon row of the food cylinders. Everything had its place marked with the ancient symbols which Elios soon worked out was what the item was. In the long metal box in the middle of the cave they found small soft and hard gles cylinders, inside were so many different seeds he was unable to comprehend what they were but the smell they gave off when he opened one was mouth watering and at the same time intriguing.

The boys left this cave to explore more. They knew it would take a long time to work out what everything was for but at this stage they were pretty sure it was all for cooking food. A little further along and they came to a new door, opposite was one marked with the same symbols. BUNK ROOM Elios ran the sound of the symbols out loud until he had it sounding right then he opened the door and flashed his light around.

It was a long cave, on the floor was a strange type of covering that was a brown colour, the sides were of the same dull green as the boxes had been and, in two long rows were some shelfs but these had their own legs to stand on. The boys moved close to the first one, it was square and made from a grey metal they had not seen before. In the middle it was covered in thin metal ropes that went from top to bottom and side to side, Elios pressed his hand down on the metal ropes and found that it bounced with the pressure. At the end closest to the Cave sides was a strange roll of something covered in the soft gles the ancients seemed to use a lot of, Elios also tried pushing on it, it too bounced under his hand.

Elios looked closer and sure enough there was a fig picture underneath the soft gles. Shining his flashlight on it he saw that it was all set out on how to open the gles and set out the items inside. Step by step Elios followed the fig picture, he also learnt that the gles was called PLASTIC after removing it he had unrolled the thick mat inside, after that he unfolded the white cloths then the two cloths that were the same as the ones they had for their sleeping mat. At the same time and after slowly sounding out each set of symbols, he learnt that each item had its own name.

The thick pad was called a MATTRESS the thin white ones were SHEETS and their sleeping cloths were called BLANKETS. Elios along with the help of his two friends set the items out on the BUNK just as the fig pictures showed him then, all three at the same time, jumped onto the sleeping platformcalled a BUNK.

They all loved the soft bouncy feel of the BUNK and then and there decided from now on they would sleep in here instead of on the harder floor although there would not be space for all three on one BUNK they were sure that they could come up with an idea to make that possible. There was no way they were going to sleep apart after spending their whole short lives together. After a little more playing on the BUNK they left the cave that Elios now called a ROM dropping the second O as he could see no need for it so from now on he would call all the smaller caves ROMS.

They left the BUNK ROM and continued their search until they came to the end of the passage where it then went both to their left and right. Elios asked his friends which way they searched last time. They told him they looked in both directions and there was as much interesting caves one way as the other. Elios decided to go left and the others followed along until they came to the first door. It was marked as being the USMC ADMINISTRATION. Elios opened the door and looked in. It was a very basic ROM there were two lines of tables each with one chair, on the table covered in PLASTIC were smaller boxes. One with a gles front and another with a number of metal ropes running from it. It seemed that these boxes were called IBM. He picked up one of the fig manuals and put it in his sak for later. There were also other items he couldn't put a fig to but was sure they had a special use. At the end of the ROM was a half wall behind which was another bigger table also with the same boxes and other things. Elios could not see what the ROM was for so closed the door and continued down the long passage until he came to a door marked GEN ROOM he opened the door and looked inside.

The three huge items meant nothing to Elios eyes but he quickly went in search of the MANUAL he just knew would be somewhere like in every other ROM. It took only a short time to locate what he wanted and so closing the door they went onward. Door after door they investigated until they came to what was obviously a very big metal door. In the centre was a large wheel with handles attached around the outside, the centre of the wheel had two large metal bars fitted on to it which ran across the width of the door and disappeared into the wall on either side, again the strange symbols of EXIT were on its surface.

By this time the boys had been searching for a long time and their stomachs were starting to grumble at the exercise and lack of food. As it seemed that this was the end of the passages in this direction, they all decided to stay here and eat then take a good long rest. They only knew by their stomachs that it must be late in the dei and so set about eating and laying out their sleeping mats.

Settling down to eat, Elios looked in his sak at all the new learning manuals he had collected. It was going to take him a long time to go through them all and find out what everything they had so far seen meant or could do for them, plus he still had all the other smaller ones back at the main cave to understand as well. Elios had also noticed that his flashlight was getting dimmer and so, while they ate, he added three new batts and put the others in his sak, no one in this dei and age wasted anything of value.

Chapter 4
New Awakening

When the boys awoke, they still had no idea as to what time of day it was; they felt they had been searching for days but now it was time to head down the right hand passage and so they set out in that direction, but not before Elios had inspected the large strange door.

He noticed after a short time that there were two coloured buttons set on a small square box; one button was red and the other green; he pushed them in but nothing happened so he gave it away and they headed out for new discoveries.

Once they had made it to the junction of the passages, the boys rested for a little and then set off once again. The passage proved to be much like the other one with doors on both the right and left; each was investigated and its MANUALS put into Elio's sak which was now too heavy with all the other MANUALS he now carried and so they decided to put all their food in Elam's sak and Elvan took half of what Elios was carrying.

Finally they came once again to a large door but this one had different symbols to the other one; it was marked as being a

KEEP OUT RESERVOIR

This made no sense to Elios so he spun the centre wheel and pushed open the huge metal door then stepped fearlessly through into the dark beyond. Under his feet was a metal floor and the sound of his steps echoed around him; he felt the slight chill in the air and a dampness surrounded him; he lowered his flashlight and gasped in awe of the sight before him.

The two boys followed him inside and, as they also lowered their weakening lights; the same sense of awe took their breaths away. For as far as they could see in the dimming lights was water; even from the height that they stood above it, they could tell it was clear and clean. It was more water than they had ever seen in one place; from the side of the huge lake, for that's what they thought it was; large pipes ran down deep until they disappeared into the darkness below.

Elios wondered why the ancients would put such big pipes into the water unless they could take the water out somehow; he would have to investigate this mighty lake further.

Too the side of the metal floor that they stood on was the ladder of the same shining metal; it led straight down into the water. Handing his light to Elam; he asked them both to keep the light on the ladder while he went down to taste the water too make sure it was fresh enough to drink from; if it was they would have to find some way of carrying some back to the main cave.

Elios carefully made his way down the metal ladder until his feet touched the water. It was surprisingly cold; Elios carefully lowered his slim body further down the ladder until he had half his small body in the water; his skin tingled with the chill but it felt good as his blood cooled.

Hooking one arm around the ladder he leant forward and took a little water in his hand; bringing it to his lips he sipped. The chill and freshness of the water hit his throat and he sighed with pleasure; the water was pure and drinkable; they would never have to fear thirst again.

Now if they could find a way they could now wash themselves; they had all noticed that their bodies were now very dirty and had a bad smell about them.

Elios made his way back to the metal floor and then waited as first, Elam and then Elvan made the same trip down to the water. Afterwards the boys; now dripping wet, decided to make it back to the main cave and end their adventure; they all now carried so many MANUALS that it was going to take forever to find out the secrets of the ancients.

Elios resolved to teach his friends how to read them. It was the only way he could think of being able to get through them all.

They finally made it back to the main cave; they were tired and hungry but felt a sense of elation at what they had done so far. They had no idea how long they had been in their new home but that didn't worry them; here they had everything they needed and they were safe from any attacks.

After a good meal they went to the BUNKROOM and set about making two bunks into one by pushing them together and by unwrapping another sleeping pad and blankets and laying them crosswise over the two bunks. A short time later and all three were collapsed on the makeshift double bunk and fast asleep; too worn out to play any boy games.

When they finally awoke; all three boys still felt stiff and tired from their long search but, not being lazy boys they returned to the main cave and ate their morning meal; it was then Elios set about teaching the others to learning the MANUAL symbols.

It took a while but the other boys were also quick learners and so it was time to set out and find what the ancients had hidden for so long.

The largest manuals were from the rooms of the left passage so Elios lay them on a table and began to slowly read them. The ones from the right passage went on another table and Elvan began on them; the thin ones that Elios had found first were Elam's task as he was the slowest of the three at learning the symbols and the first manuals were smaller.

They knew the task would take a long time and had opened all the boxes with the BATT FLASHLIGHT inside them and taken out all the BATTS too use in the ones they already had.

Slowly as the time passed by the BATTS ran lower and lower until there was barely a glimmer from any of them; The boys had, had too change to the hand ones and the steady sound of the pump actions echoed around the room as they continued to learn.

Many times they had eaten and slept; Elam had found one room that was called a HEAD that they used for their body waste. It was a strange room in that it was covered in the white square blocks of stone from floor to roof and had strange metal seats with a large hole in it.

It was totally by accident that Elam had used it for his waste but he soon found it was a nice way to discharge when sitting over the hole; now all three boys used it although the smell did not go away when one hole filled they had to go to another even though there was a little water in each hole.

It was also by accident that Elam found out what the white rolls of what he now knew was called PAPER were used for when he ejected his first waste in the hole. He had been looking for something to wipe himself and had only grabbed the paper in frustration; when it unrolled neatly in his hand he could do nothing else but use it.

Afterwards he told the others about it and now they all did the same, the only thing puzzling them was why the ancients had not found a way of getting rid of the waste once the hole was full.

The closest the boys could get to numbering the dei's that passed was by how many times they had too sleep. Elios thought they had now been inside for about two plus ten dei's, the last ten plus five days they had spent every moment learning from the manuals.

It was as Elios opened another manual to start reading that something caught his eye; it was the one marked as coming from the GEN ROOM all the pictures showed a long strip of light coming from the roof; quickly Elios went to the best form of information in the manuals, the fig pictures.

Slowly he went through all the fig pictures; his excitement growing as he read what he now knew was called a page. One after another as he followed the fig pictures. Finally he could hold it in no longer; he jumped up and did his happy dance around the floor yelping in glee as it all began to make sense; at last, he knew how the ancients could see down here in the dark.

Elam and Elvan looked at him as though he was one of the mad boys from a bad breeder; both of them called out to him in unison.

"What, what, what are you doing?"

"It's my happy dance; I've found it; I've found out how the ancients made light and things; do you remember the rom we found called the FUEL ROOM?"

"Yes, what about it; there wasn't much there just those huge tall cylinders with that foul smelling stuff in them."

Elios mind went back to the room, when they had gone inside it appeared to be just a very small room with a thick stone wall and two more doors one at each end. They both had pictures of zigzag yellow things and another picture of a red fire on them but the symbols had said one was DIESEL and the other had said GASOLINE with big symbols that said DANGER. There had been nothing of interest in the two rooms and they didn't like the smell in either one; now Elios had the answer why the ancients would keep such foul smelling things in their normally neat and tidy cave.

"Well that stuff in there is to make something called a GENERATOR work and it makes something called POWER for all the roms and tools in here."

"So how do we make it all work?" asked the ever practical Elam.

"I think I've got it worked out as long as I follow the fig pictures; we have to go to the FUEL ROOM first and then to the GEN ROOM down the other passage; if we get it right then all sorts of things will work; it says here even the HEAD will work to clean itself in some sort of way."

The boys didn't hesitate to grab their lights and pump them up to full light. Leaving everything behind except for the special GEN MANUAL they hurried away to the FUEL ROOM. Once inside, Elios opened his manual and began to read again the instructions for opening the pipe for the diesel cylinders that lead to the GEN ROOM.

The diesel cylinders were huge, they measured well over four lengths high and many more lengths around; on the front of each of the two plus ten cylinders was a number that the boys could not comprehend. The first two numbers were familiar as they made the sign for ten but after that were three more 0's and none of the boys had ever seen that many 0's before; it was a huge amount, it read

10,000 GALS

Elios went to the last cylinder in the long line and, following the fig pictures; began to open the round VALVES between each of the cylinders that he now knew were called TANKS. When he opened the last one he then went to a square box near the door and opened a larger VALVE.

When all was ready he looked at the other two boys and they left to do the same in the GASOLINE ROOM next door. Now at least he knew that all the fuel supplies were ready for whatever they were need for and so the boys ran off towards the GEN ROOM.

The boys piled into the GEN ROOM and Elios took out the GEN MANUAL, starting at fig 1 he began what the ancients called; START UP PRE CHECK. Following the figs he checked the coolant and oil; next he read the fig pictures and after they had searched around the large room they found the shelf that had a lot of oblong black BATT on it.

There were over four plus ten of them, next he set up two of the BATT on the GEN marked as #1; it took him some time to work out how to put the short metal rope between the two BATT and then hook up the two long metal ropes that ran from the side of the GEN. He had to make sure that he followed the fig properly and got the red rope on the round knob that was marked with a + and the black rope on the one marked with a – ; next he went to what was called the FUEL PRIMER PUMP and after studying the fig closely he worked out how to make the fuel fill the pump.

Next came the start up from the SWITCH BOARD which was a large metal wall close to the GEN; again following the fig picture, he turned the first switch to MANUAL START then with shaking hands he turned a yellow metal key and shakily reached for the red START BUTTON. Instantly there came a deep rumbling from the GEN as it began to turn inside until; with a loud coughing sound; it roared into life which scared the boys so much that they ran out into the passage in case it exploded; but instead it settled down to a loud throbbing as it found its tempo.

Elios went back inside to look at the PANEL as he had seen in the figs; in the round gles fronted dial he watched as the REV stayed steady at 3500 with only a small waver as the GEN throbbed on; next he turned the first SWITCH back to AUTO as the fig showed.

Elios read the next fig as it told him to push the BREAKER SWITCH TO ON; he looked at the fig and then saw the first BREAKER SWITCH was marked as LIGHTING; above it was another smaller SWITCH with a red light showing next to a dull green one.

Elios pushed the BREAKER SWITCH down to the ON position as in the fig; next he reached up to the smaller one and with trembling fingers he turned it to the ON position. As soon as he did that, many things seemed to happen at the same time.

Firstly the red light died and the green one started to shine; the GEN seemed to lose a little of its throb then came back strong again but; the most amazing thing to happen was from the passage. It started as a soft buzzing and then there was a flickering and suddenly there was a great glare of bright white light from the passage although the GEN ROOM stayed almost dark apart from the strong light shining in from the passage.

The three boys ran outside and looked down the passage; in the roof were long gles strips that were now lit brightly; they could now see as far as they wanted too without using their flashlights. Elios looked back into the darker GEN ROOM and wondered why there was no light in there so he went to have a look as the others stood and marvelled at the magic of the ancients.

It was only by sheer luck that Elios put his hand out too lean against the wall as he pondered on the problem of the darkness of the room. Under his hand he felt something move and as it did the GEN ROOM flooded with the same bright white light.

Elios lifted his hand and looked at the wall; all he could see was a square plastic box with a thin flat surface. Elios reached out and pushed with his finger and almost jumped in surprise when the lights went out and he was again in darkness; pushing again and the light returned; so that was how they did it, he thought to himself; his face flushed with success he then went back to check everything again.

Returning to the BREAKER BOARD he followed the figs and; as he turned on breaker after breaker; each time making the GEN slow and then speed up again as each red light turned green; he felt a true sense of accomplishment as first the PUMPS then something called A/C VENT then LIFTS followed by such strange things as ADMIN, SECURITY SYS, REFRIG, and many more green lights came on until the entire BOARD was lit up with green lights.

By then, Elam and Elvan had joined him and they began to ready the other two GENS and set them on AUTO START as the fig said. Finally they were left with only the small GEN that sat behind the others; this one was marked as the EMERG GEN, AUTO START, LIGHT AND VENT ONLY.

Elios and the others set about readying that the same as the others although this one was smaller and required only one BATT. Then, with light hearts and huge smiles they ran back to their main room. Everywhere there was bright light; Elios showed the others how to make the lights come on and off in the smaller rooms.

When they reached the main room there was another surprise waiting for them; from the GALLEY the could hear the sound of water falling and so they rushed to the door and; after feeling around for the flat plate by the door; the lights came on to show the boys where the sound was coming from.

At one side of the GALLEY was a line of metal shelves that had had the middles pushed down in a square shape with a hole at the bottom. What was more interesting was the small pipe that ran from the wall. It had a small lever on top and from its mouth was pouring clean fresh water.

The boys ran to it and with their hands began to scoop up the first fresh water they had had since the finding of the KEEP OUT RESERVOIR; the boys drank their fill and then out of nothing more than curiosity; Elam reached for the lever and turned it; the water stopped immediately. Elam turned it the other way and the water ran strong and fresh again.

Elvan had been watching Elam's game with interest until something clicked inside his head and he ran off towards the room called HEADS. Going inside he looked at the places they had used to get rid of their wastes.

The smell had gone a little but was still strong even though he could feel a new brush of fresh air from somewhere in the room. Taking a step towards the first and oldest used seat he reached out for the lever that was marked as FLUSH; he pushed the lever down and although he was a little surprised at the result; it didn't surprise him as much as the starting of the GEN had.

From somewhere came a strong torrent of water which swirled around the seat and with a speed that made him smile; Elvan watched their built up old waste disappear through the hole on the bottom of the seat. Jumping up with joy he set about pushing the lever on each seat they had used until all of them were again nearly clean; there were only some old dark marks around the edges but already the smell was getting less as new air came into the room. Elvan ran back to tell the others what he had found out and to let them know how to keep the HEAD cleaner.

The boys sat around one of the tables and discussed their new found skills while they each ate from another cylinder of SPAM and decided what they would do next. Elvan wanted to find some way of getting hot food; he thought he would like to look into the GALLEY as he had been reading about what it was used for. Elam wanted to go to the GARAGE; something deep inside him had been moved by the fig pictures of the MANUALS he had read about something called VEHICLES. Elios decided he would look into the ADMIN OFFICE to see what it was used for. Each agreed to meet back here when they had found out enough of what interested them the most.

Elam had no idea what it was that was pulling him to the GARAGE but it was something deep inside him. Once there and with the new help of the white lights he could see the full extent of the GARAGE. It was huge and full of the VEHICLES he had been reading about since the first day. Everything was neatly lined up in its own place. Along one wall was a line of ten QUADS next to them was a line of six JEEPS and across the floor against the other wall was a line of eight HUMVEES but what really caught Elam's eyes was parked in the middle of the GARAGE. There stood in all their powerful glory were three APC.
[HUMVEE, actually HMMWV, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle; APC = Armoured Personel Carrier].

Of all the VEHICLES in the GARAGE these were the biggest and most terrifying to look at. Unlike the others these had strange flat plates instead of the round wheels although they had a lot of small wheels inside the long flat plates. Mounted on the top was a round cylinder from which projected two thick pipes that pointed to the front. The total VEHICLE had only one door in the side and a larger one at the back. At the very front were small dark gles windows; this VEHICLE was the one most favoured by Elam when he had read the MANUALS.

It had power, space and it was said it could go anywhere if the DRIVER was well trained. Elam wanted to be that DRIVER he was sure the other VEHICLES would be just as much fun but this one was a giant; he just knew that nothing in their world would ever stop it. Elam set to work with his DRIVER MANUAL as he walked around his new beast. That was what he was going to call it, the 'Beast'.

While Elam was salivating over his 'Beast', Elvan had entered the GALLEY. At first everything was a confusion for him but he took out his favourite MANUAL and began to follow the fig picture just as Elios had taught him. From the two large metal doors he could hear a humming. He opened the first one and was met with a blast of such cold air it almost took his breath away.

His skin puckered up in goose bumps at the blast. Quickly he closed the door and went to the next one; it was also humming but on opening the door, while it was cold, it was not as cold as the one marked FREEZER. This would be a good place to stand when he got to hot but the MANUAL said it was for storing food that might spoil in the heat. This would come in handy if he could work out how to cook a lot of food he could keep it in here and not have to cook so often.

Elvan's next challenge was to turn on the OVENS; this he knew would take time and he had to follow the MANUAL carefully to make sure it all worked. First he found the room marked with yellow flashes and pictures of red fires. Once inside he saw the lines and lines of tall metal cylinders, these he knew from the figs were GAS CYLINDERS and were very dangerous if he made a mistake. Following the figs carefully, he set about connecting one to a small pipe that went through the wall to the GALLEY. Once it was connected he carefully turned the VALVE and listened for any hissing of escaping gas as the fig had showed; he returned the SPANNER to its place on the wall where he could find it again and went back to the inner GALLEY.

Going to the first OVEN Elvan went through the figs for starting it. It was only moments later that he tentatively began to push the fire button after turning on the gas button; he could hear and smell the gas coming from the small holes around the ELEMENT. With a trembling finger he began to push the start button; on the second push there was a soft WOOSH and the ELEMENT was alight with small round blue flames. The heat was extraordinary to Elvan, much more than an open fire like he was used to. Next he went in search of what the manual called a COOKERY BOOK; these he found on one of the shelves, in fact he was taken aback a little at the number of them.

Inside the COOKERY BOOK he saw so many food wonders he didn't know where to start or what to look at first. There was so much and so many words for everything; turning off the gas on the OVEN he picked up one of the COOKERY BOOKS and began to read all the words but; without seeing the items it was very difficult but it did lead him to begin to search all the cupboards and other rooms for something familiar. The room he liked the best was the one marked as LARDER; inside was so much food of all kinds, most of it not even seen before.

There were things like, SPICES, FLOUR, SUGAR, POWDERED EGGS, POWDERED MILK, SAUCES, MUSTARDS, TINNED CHEESE, TINNED BUTTER and so much more; all of which he had no idea what it was but he was determined that in time he would learn about it all. The one thing he did find six of in a drawer made him smile as he looked at his MANUAL to find out what they were.

Elvan put three of them close to the door so he would not forget them; they would be a special present for his friends. Elvan continued on his investigation of what he now considered his GALLEY.

Not far away Elios stood alone in the ADMIN OFFICE; the room seemed dead and still; only the new lighting made it look interesting. All the tables with their solitary chair looked forlorn as he looked around. He could feel the cool air on the bare skin of his ankles as the draft came through the small square holes at the bottom of the walls.

Elios decided that most things would come from the big room that was marked as O/C OFFICE. Going in there he saw so much more; behind the large wud table was a single large black chair and in front were two more slightly smaller ones of the same design.

Elios went to the one at the back and sat down only to quickly jump back on his feet as the chair began to move back and around as he touched it. He stood back up and played with the chair for a short time until he thought he understood what it did and finally carefully sat down again. The first thing he noticed was his legs were to short to touch the floor and, as he leaned back in the chair it tipped back with him until he was almost lying down in it.

Elios laughed at himself and carefully sat up again; it was then that he noticed the plastic covered item on the desk. The symbols read, SYS SETUP. Elios opened it and looked at all the words; it was headed in red symbols.

COMMAND BUNKER #42 SECURITY SYSTEMS SETUP, GEN HARPER, EYES ONLY

Elios read on as the rest of the symbols returned to the normal black.

Setup procedure: activate Sec. Sys. code 22987002

Activate Safe Sec. Sys. Code 13497

Activate Sec Card Code. O/C Gen. Harper 11356. Exec. Off. Col. Benson 11357. 3^rd Off. Maj. Adams 11358

Above codes active all areas.

Elios looked at the meaningless words but he knew deep down inside they were very important to their new home. Elios went back to the start and read again the first of the Sec Sys codes.

There had to be something here he was missing; he sat back in the comfortable chair and looked around the room slowly swivelling the marvellous chair as he went. Where he had come in there was a thick gles wall so he could see into the other room where all the small tables were. To his right was a blank wall that looked as though it was also made of gles but he couldn't see through it; maybe it was just a shiny wall like some of the other special rooms like the ABLUTION room he had seen. Directly behind him was a green painted stone wall and too his left was another plain wall with a grey box half way up the wall.

Elios began to spin around for another look and then stopped dead. Slowly he turned back to the grey box and looked closer. There were small words on it; he left the chair and walked to the box.

Elios read the two words and almost hugged himself with glee for it read SEC SYS and on the front of the box was a smaller one made from plastic by the look of it. On the surface was a small plastic pad with the ten numbers he knew so well.

Elios went back to the table and picked up the plastic FILE. Carefully he pushed in the numbers on the FILE; as he finished the last number there was a loud click and the door opened to reveal two rows of buttons with a red and green light above each one.

The red light was on all of them except for two marked in green as ACTIV all the red ones read INACTIV now he knew what the words meant. Active was the same as start and inactive was the same as stop.

Quickly he looked at the two rows of buttons and, pulling a low table over to the box to make it easier for his shorter height; Elios started to throw all the switches to ACTIV; as he threw the last one marked as Security Systems he nearly fell off the table as everywhere around him yellow lights flashed and a loud screaming sound erupted from the walls. Before he could react everything stopped as fast as it had started but the light bar at the bottom showed him in green ALL SYSTEMS ACTIVE, COMMAND CODES INTACT AND ACTIVE.

Elios returned to his big chair and looked around. He could see through the gles wall that all the small boxes on the tables were now lit up and lights on and in them were flashing as a strange picture went back and forth over the gles of the small box on the table. Elios spun the chair again and looked around his room while he read again the next words in the FILE.

What was a Safe Sec Sys? Elios kept looking until he saw behind him another square box with the same number box on it; was it really that easy for the ancients? Elios got up and turned around to the new box.

Again following the numbers he pushed them in and got the same result as before; there was a click and the small light turned green. With a light pull the door opened to reveal another plastic file; he took it out and laid it on the table and sat down again.

Once sitting he opened the new file; in it there were three small plastic cards with life like pictures of three different men. One was of a very old ancient looking man who must have been all of six plus ten yarn, he had never seen someone so old, had he been alive today he would have been a very important man for his age and the next one also. He must have been about five tens plus five, how they could live for so long was beyond Elios understanding. The third man was about as old as he had ever seen a man, about four tens plus five, Elios matched the names of the men with his first FILE.

It was as he was putting the three cards in line on the table that he noticed that the black square box on his table was now lit up with a funny picture; it was a circle with a large bird in the middle; around the base of the picture was the now familiar name of the ancient that owned all this stuff.

USMC

A thin white box with a flashing black line caught his eye and he tried to make sense of the new words.

ENTER PASSWORD

What was a PASSWORD; now Elios was getting really confused; the word ENTER he could now understand but the other one was new to him. Elios sat back and looked at the flashing thin line.

After thinking for some time and only as a means to stop his frustration at all the strange new words he kept finding. Elios stretched his finger out to the thin black box in front of the picture box; on it there were a great number of symbols and numbers as well as a lot of unknown marks. Slowly he pressed the small squares with the numbers on them and saw that only funny little stars came up in the box. He continued to make up the numbers he had for the C/O GEN HARPER from the FILE. As the last number was pushed into the small box he stopped and waited for something to happen like last time he had used all the numbers but nothing did.

The white strip continued to flash but this time it kept showing the words; PRESS ENTER below the white strip. Elios sat and looked at the words as they flashed on and off; at last he looked down at the thin black box in front of him and saw one of the squares had the same word ENTER on it. With one finger he pressed the square and to his amazement there was a strange whirring sound from a large box below the table and the gles window in front of him went blue for a short time and then a picture of a strange scene appeared.

The picture was so real he almost reached out to touch it. The ground was covered in a deep green the likes of which he had never seen; it covered the hill from top to bottom.

On top was a huge tree but it was a live tree with green leaves not like all the dead trees he had always seen; above was a deep blue sky. The picture stirred something deep in Elios mind as he looked at it; could this have been what it was like before the HORROR? Just then; from somewhere deep in the BUNKER #42 Elios heard something that sounded like two deep loud coughs and then a loud roaring sound; it was even louder than when they had started the GEN.

Elios jumped to his feet and began to run towards the harsh sound and nearly collided with Elvan as he appeared from the GALLEY heading in the same direction as Elios. Each boy gave the other a somewhat fearful look as they ran. Elam must be in trouble they both thought and kept on running towards the roaring sound; they could both feel a vibration under their bare feet as they ran.

By following the sound they soon found themselves standing in the doorway of the room marked as the GARAGE. In the middle of the room was a very large metal box with strange flat metal plates running over a lot of smaller wheels; from the back there was a small plume of smoke that made their eyes water. As they watched a flat metal door opened in the front and out popped the head of Elam; he had what Elios would describe as the biggest smile he had ever seen on the boy's face.

Elam waved at his two friends as his face tried to split into two parts at his lone victory. Elios tried to shout over the noise of the large box but Elam waved his hand and disappeared once again into the box only to appear a short time later as the noise of the box died. The following silence almost stunned the two boys as they watched a still smiling Elam jump down from the box and walk over to them.

The boys were not in the habit of using bad words but this was one of those times that Elios could not avoid it.

"What the frik is that?"

With a sense of pride in his voice, Elam told them.

"It's called an APC it's for carrying people and other things; the other ones are for the same thing but carry less. Those over there are called QUADS and those are JEEP and the other ones are called HUMVEE; I think the ancients used them for fighting. If we use them outside then no one can hurt us as long as we stay inside them."

Elvan suddenly yelped and rushed out of the GARAGE without a word; Elios looked at the large box in awe.

"How did you get it to start?" He asked the still smiling Elam.

"I did what you have been doing; I found the MANUAL and followed all the fig pictures; the only problem is how do we get it outside? There must be a way or the ancients could not have got it in here."

"It has to be the big door but I don't know how it opens yet; I think I might have found a way but it's going to take more work yet," replied Elios. "Did you try starting the other ones yet?"

"Not yet; I wanted to try this one first; the others should be easy after all the problems I had with this one. I think they all work much the same except for their fuel; this one works with the DIESEL but the other ones work with that other fuel GASOLINE."

"Did you carry the DIESEL all the way from down at the TANKS?"

"No you don't have too; you get it out of those pipes over there," said Elam pointing to an oblong box with four pipes attached to it; two were marked as DIESEL and the other two as GASOLINE.

Just as Elam was about to go into a long explanation of his dei's work; a loud yell came from way back down the passage; it was Elvan calling them to come and eat. At the mention of food both boy's stomachs rumbled in complaint at the lack of sustenance. Elios started to giggle at the duet in their stomachs and they both began to run towards the main room but; as they neared the GALLEY Elvan poked his head out of the door.

"In here."

For the first time the two boys noticed a really nice smell coming from the GALLEY as they walked in. Now it was Elvan's turn to smile broadly as the boys looked at a table which had metal plates and pots on it from which came the best food smell both boys had ever come across.

"What did you do?" asked Elam.

"It's food the ancients used to cook; it's all in the MANUALS; this one is called SPAGHETTI."

Elvan pointed to a pot full of what looked like white worms; it was covered in something a lot like blood and had wud dust over the top; to Elios eyes it didn't look all that good but the smell was like nothing he had ever smelt before; his mouth was watering just on the smell.

"This one is called a PIE."

The two boys looked at the flat metal plate; it had a white top that had been browned by a fire and mixed underneath was what looked like small pieces of spam with other vegetables from the CANS of food they had taken from their treasure. It looked a lot better than the SPAGHETTI and also smelt just as good.

What amazed the two boys the most were the three large gles containers sitting on the table. They were filled with fresh water but what amazed them the most was the small square pieces of gles floating on the top. Elios poked one of the squares with a finger; immediately he pulled his finger out; not only was the gles very cold but the water also was very, very cold; he looked at Elvan with askance.

"It's called ICE that box over there makes it from water."

Elam went to a tall white box on one wall and opened the door just as there was a rattling sound from inside. Elios and Elam went to the box and watched as a lot of small squares of the ICE dropped into a plastic box in the bottom; the box was nearly full. Elios picked one out and with fascination watched as it changed back into water from the heat of his hand even though his hand was colder than the night wind he couldn't let it go as he was struck by the magic of it all.

"Let's eat," called Elvan as he sat at the table and began to use a strange tool to pick up a big pile of the SPAGHETTI and put it on a metal plate. Next he used a large spoon to pile up some of the PIE on the same plate; with his fingers he picked up a hand full of the white worm looking stuff and pushed it in his mouth; slurping and sucking until it was all in then chewed and smiled in triumph; "Come one hurry up before it gets cold again"

Being to hungry to argue with Elvan, the two boys followed his example although they were a little more circumspect at putting it in their mouths; that is until they tasted it and then it became a study in gluttony as they began to try to push more and more into their mouths without swallowing. This truly was an amazing food and it was also the first hot food they had had since leaving the breeding caves.

Chapter 5
A New Freedom

When the meal was all over, the boys belched loudly and giggled, they were now all looking the same except for Elam who, along with the red sauce dribbling from his chin with splashes on his chest like the other two; had also some black smudges still on his fingers and face from his attempt at starting the APC.

Looking at his two friends; Elam suggested they go to the room marked as KEEP OUT RESERVOIR and wash up which brought a laughing admission from Elvan.

"No need for that; watch and I'll show you how we can get clean."

Elvan went over to the deep metal basin with the two levers and, with a grin at his friends; pushed the lever over; to their amazement water poured from the pipe in a torrent; as Elvan put his hands under the pipe he began to rub them together; the sauce washed quickly down the hole in the middle; the others watched in fascination at the ease of getting water and, just as they were about to go to the same pipe to wash; Elios got a smile on his face.

"I think I know a better way to wash; let's go to the ABLUTION place; it's got the same levers on the wall."

The boys left Elvan's GALLEY and went down the passage to the ABLUTION room; sure enough there were levers on the wall placed two to each large round plate hanging from the roof with holes in them.

With a certain glee; Elios shed his now grimy breach-clout and jumped under one of the round plates; next he pushed down the lever with a red dot on it and waited as the water began to shoot out at great speed; moments later he screeched and jumped back from the water jet, scaring the others as he did so.

"What's wrong?" asked Elam.

"It tried to cook me, look; the water is so hot its smoking."

The boys looked at the steaming hot water; Elvan put his hand very tentiveley under the spray and then pulled it back quickly when he felt the heat.

"The ancients could not have washed in water that hot; there has to be a way to make it colder," said Elvan.

The three boys looked at the lever and finally Elios carefully reached past the hot spray and pushed the other lever fully down; he waited a short time and then stretched his hand out to try again; this time the water was very close to cold; sucking in a deep breath, he stepped back under the water and then slowly began to experiment with the two levers; soon he had a nice temperature by altering both levers and; after telling the others he began to rub his naked body while the water washed over him; he was soon in a state of bliss as the hot water did its work on his dirty and tired body.

Even after all the sauce had disappeared the boys stayed under the wonderful hot water sprays; only Elam still had smudges of the black gunk on his face and hands; even the hot water would not remove them no matter how hard he rubbed his skin; at last they had had enough and turning off the levers went back to the main room to use another of the grey cloths to dry off with.

Elios thought it strange that the ancients had no way of removing the black smudges that were on Elam's skin but shrugged and forgot about it for the moment; all three boys felt full to bursting after the huge hot meal; their normally slender stomachs were now distended and all they could think about was going to their communal bunk and sleeping; even the thought of a boy game could not stop them from closing their eyes and falling into the deepest sleep they had had in a long time.

The next dei they all rose and went for a small meal and then worked out what was going to happen to each of them; Elvan was going back to his GALLEY to experiment more with all the new foods as well as start to pack the LARDER with what was still in the main room; Elios said he was going back to the ADMIN to try and work out how to open the large metal door so they could go outside; they had not seen the sun now for almost a full mune; Elam was going to work on the other TRANSPORTS as he had found out they were called, so they could all go together to explore their new place; the thought of the Oshun had been lost in the excitement of their treasure find and the new home they now had.

All dei the boys worked at their chosen tasks; Elvan found out about new foods; sometimes working out things from the fig pictures and sometimes just stumbling upon new ideas and ways to make things. Elam used mostly the same principles on all the other TRANSPORTS as he had on the first one; although he had to change things according to which MANUAL he was reading; everything became easier as he got more and more used to reading the MANUALS; although he didn't understand all the words and what they meant but his innate interest in the TRANSPORT solved many of his problems.

Elios sat stiffly in the great chair and worked through MANUAL after MANUAL as he tried to understand the Sec. Sys. things; it was late in the dei and he had made a lot of advancement; even to the extent of finding out how to ACTIVATE the three code cards; he had a deep suspicion they would open the great door; he was about to leave as his stomach was again rumbling in complaint when he pushed another set of numbers into the gles window on the table; instantly he heard a humming to his right; turning around he watched in awe as most of the blank gles wall lit up showing a funny pattern in black outline with a brown colour background; inside the pattern were a large number of red lights and one green one; the green one was on the left side of the pattern very close to the edge; the red lights were spread all over; looking closer he smiled broadly at what he was looking at.

In small symbols above the green light was written #42; checking over the red lights he saw them all with the same symbol only with a different number; the rest of the wall was covered in a blue colour; it was a picture of the land they lived in and showed where they were now; looking at it, Elios began to get the feeling that their land was very big; much bigger than anyone had ever thought.

Elios sat down again and began to think; if they could work out how to stop at each of the other CONTROL BUNKERS; they would be able to look at all their land everywhere and not worry about having to find shelter or food; just as a matter of accident; Elios began to idly push a small black oval that had sat on the table close to the window; it took a while for it to penetrate his mind but eventually his idle movements caught his eye as he saw what looked like a spia point moving around the window.

Elios looked down at his idle hand in wonder; out of fascination he pushed and pulled the oval around the table and watched the spia point move in the same direction on the gles in front of him; going to the green light; he put the point on the light and pushed down on the loose bit of plastic on the oval; quickly the picture flashed and then began to change.

It was with awe that Elios soon was looking at a new picture; it wasn't until he walked up close to the wall that he understood what he was looking at. It was another picture of their home but there was much more to it than what they knew so far; at the top of the picture was a crooked blue line that showed the rooms they now knew so well; it also had a red line leading off the back of the GARAGE ROOM that they didn't know about; by the look of the picture it was underneath them and again there were so many rooms down there; he looked at the symbols on the new rooms.

REC ROOM
ARMOURY
RIFLE RANGE
SMALL ARMS RANGE
GYMNASIUM
POOL
SAUNA
MALL SHOPS

and another line which was black went below again to show a single room marked MAINFRAME; Elios looked at all the new rooms and really began to wonder just how big their new home was; there was enough here to keep them under the ground for many mune; Elios stomach rumbled again to tell him it was time to call it a dei and get some food; he turned from the gles wall and started walking back to the main room in deep concentration.

Once back in the GALLEY Elios looked at his two friends; both looked clean and fresh and they had a strange smell to them; it wasn't unpleasant but Elios had never smelled anything like it except for one flower he had found a long time ago when he was small; the two boys smiled at him; even Elam had lost all the black smudges from his skin, Elios looked enquiringly at them.

Elam spoke first.

"I found it in the ABLUTION there's a box on the wall full of these small yellow blocks; when I smelled them I thought they were something special; I put one under some water and it went all fluffy and felt good on my hands; I got under the hot water and rubbed myself with it and I got all clean and smelled good as well; what should we call it?"

Elios stood shaking his head at the discovery; both his friends looked so clean, he couldn't think of anything to say; Elvan had also been busy and there was a new type of food to eat as well as some strange tools to eat it with; all their lives they had eaten with their fingers so when Elvan explained what the tools were for it took him a little time to understand it all; the ancients certainly had some strange ways but most of them seemed good ideas so far.

Elam spoke up again.

"There's another box in there as well; it has all these cloths for drying you; they're all white with a blue line across them and really soft; there must be tens of tens of them; why don't you go and try it like we did, we can eat after you get washed."

Elios could only nod his head and walk away to the ABLUTION to wash; there was just so much going on each day and the longer they worked at the ancient mysteries the easier it got to understand a lot of it. Elios stood and washed himself with the new found yellow blocks; he had to admit that Elam had really found a most interesting item; the white cloths were even better; when he was dry he returned to the GALLEY and sat down with his friends as they all tried to use the new eating tools.

After the meal was finished the boys sat and talked about their dei; Elios gave each of his friends one of the plastic cards and tried to explain as best he could what they might be for; they both nodded and looked over the strange cards then put them in their sak before going to their sleeping bunk for the rest of what they thought would be dark time.

At what they thought was the next sunrise; the boys decided they would all go with Elam and try out the TRANSPORT things; Elam thought it would be best to try the QUADS first so they could get used to the strange items; it was also a chance to see if the cards they had would open the big metal door and give them a chance to see outside; they had tried to go back out the entry pipe but it was now full of sand from the high winds earlier.

Once in the GARAGE Elam went to three of the QUADS and checked them according to the MANUAL while Elios and Elvan went to the big door; Elvan looked to one side while Elios did the same on the other side; it was Elvan that found the small box with the numbers; calling Elios to show him how the card was used, he watched as the boy put the card in the slot on the side and pulled it down; Elios next pushed in the numbers for his card 11356 immediately there was deep seated rumbling sound and the boys stood back just as Elam looked up at the sound; the big door was slowly moving back into the wall and revealed a long large passage that disappeared around a corner.

The passage was huge; it was big enough for two of the APC to move side by side and high enough to almost dwarf the three boys; Elam took the other two boys over to the QUADS and began to explain how they could ride on them and what to do with all the buttons and levers; the hardest part was doing something called GEAR CHANGE that had to be done with the feet; it also hurt their bare feet when they tried; Elios told them to put on their moccasins from their sak and try it then; that turned out to be better and so they were ready to try.

The GARAGE echoed to the high pitched sound of the QUADS as the boys tentiveley lifted the GEAR LEVER with their moccasin covered toes; as would be expected, all three QUADS stalled at the first try; again they started them as Elam had shown them; this time they pushed a little harder on the lever with their thumbs that made the ENGINE run faster and released the GEAR the three QUADS jumped a little as they began to move slowly forward; a faint breeze forming as the boys headed towards the now open door.

Slowly the three QUADS moved along the passage and it wasn't long before they came to another large door; this one was square and like the first one had a small box at the right hand side; Elam pushed down on the GEAR until the green light came on above the steering bar; he then got off and went to the box, doing the same as Elios had he pushed the card through the slot and put in the number he had been told 11357.

The door began to rumble like the other one but this time it started to lift upwards and outwards; once it had stopped the boys looked out onto the hot shimmering yellow sands of the outside; it looked as though it was about high sun so the boys started their QUADS forward slowly; once outside they soon found that the QUADS had no trouble moving on the soft hot sand and; after a little time of moving slowly to get used to the strange form of movement; all three boys clicked the GEAR again and pushed harder on the thumb lever; the QUADS immediately began to speed up and a huge grin spread over the faces of the boys; never in their whole life had they moved so fast.

At one stage Elios QUAD had hit a small bump in the sand and the next thing he knew he was flying through the air; his arms and legs cart wheeling frantically; fortunately he knew what to do and as the sand rose up to meet him he tucked into a ball and bounced on the sand; he ending up with sand in his mouth and eyes as well as his butt; the QUAD had stopped running as soon as its wheels touched the sand and it had bounced a couple of times but was still upright.

The other two boys began to laugh out loud at Elios antics as he had tumbled with his arms and legs flying. Elios got back on his feet and laughing along with his friends went back to his ride; restarting it he rode a little more carefully as they turned back to where they could see the open door. It was Elvan that thought about how they could close the door when they were outside and so he stopped and looked to the side of the open door; sure enough, there was a small box like the one inside but it was so well camouflaged it was hard to see it among the colour of the cliff; Elvan swiped his card through and put his number in; immediately one green and one red light came on and flashed; the symbols said OPEN on the green one and CLOSE on the red one; Elvan pushed the red light and the huge door began to come out of the cliff and close off the opening; when it had stopped, Elvan repeated the process but pushed the green light and the door rumbled open once again.

The other two boys sat on their QUADS watching with interest; this was another question answered, how to keep anyone from stealing their home when they went away on their searching. The boys finally rode inside and closed the door once again; they then went down to the GARAGE where Elam showed them how to fill up the TANK with GASOLINE.

Elam told them he had got all of the TRANSPORT items ready and they could try out the JEEP the next dei; over the next few dei's they would try all the TRANSPORT so they could all use them if needed; the big APC was still Elam's favourite and he was excited to try it outside.

Elios decided to wait till the next dei to investigate the possible new door that went below; there was plenty of time to look it over and they still had all the metal boxes they had from their first treasure to open yet; everything else had been opened and put in one of the BUNK rooms until they could work out what some of them were for. All the food was now in Elvan's LARDER and they had a great new way to keep themselves clean; there was still so much to learn but they all felt the need to go out in the sun and get their skin back to the golden brown they used to be as they had got a little pale being inside the BUNKER for so long.

The next three dei's were spent learning the workings of the TRANSPORT; although the operation of the APC was Elam's favourite; the power and the deep growl of it's motor sent shivers of delight through his slender frame as it powered up and down the narrow valley outside. When not learning the TRANSPORT, Elios was trying to work out more of the Sec.Sys. Operations; he finally got the chance to investigate the new door he had found on the wall picture.

After opening the door he went downward until he came to another long passage with doors on either side; as he looked into each room his eyes grew wider and wider at each new discovery; most of which he had no idea what they were for but the one that did catch his attention was the one called ARMOURY; inside there was a strange smell; along each wall were lines and lines of the odd looking items he had first seen in what he now knew was called a TRANSPORT when they had found the first treasures.

The odd items were of all different sizes; some were very heavy and others quite small and light; there were also a lot of the small metal boxes stacked in neat rows along the back wall, each had different symbols such as,

7.62 NATO, 200 rnds.
5.56 CAL 200 rnds.
9mm parabellum 200 rnds.
20mm LMG. 200 rnds.
.50 CAL 100 rnds.

On opening one of the metal boxes he saw square boxes stacked closely inside; taking one out he opened it and saw that it was full of a yellow metal cylinders; flat on one end and pointed at the other; he turned it over in his hand and wondered what it was used for; he would have to look for the MANUAL that described them to find out. That would be his next search, or, maybe he could get Elvan away from his GALLEY long enough to do the search; his friend had now spent dei's working away on new foods and all the CHILLER was now full.

At the end of that dei the boys talked about what they had found and how to go about finding out more about everything; Elvan agreed to search the only boxes left in the main room and to go through the MANUALS left on the table in the hope of finding out what the strange items were that Elios had found.

Over the next mune, the boys unlocked more and more of the secrets; all of them now knew how to operate the various TRANSPORT and although none of them were top notch operators they were able to handle them with sufficient ease that they could handle most things that occurred with them.

Elvan had discovered the secret of the metal boxes and therefore the secret of the ARMOURY; when the boys thought of all the new weapons and what they could do with them if attacked they almost felt invincible; nowhere in their known lands was there anything even close to these weapons.

During his quest, Elvan had also found out about what the box labelled as COMBAT WEBBING was for and now each boy would go outside wearing the webbing; at their hip was a 9mm Beretta and a large vicious looking combat knife. The combat knife had enthralled the boys and when they compared it to the small badly made bled they had been given on their departure; these combat knives were true miracles; the cutting edge was so sharp they had to be careful handling it; on the back side it was serrated with many sharp teeth; where the hands fitted it had small metal rings to cover the fingers and a very short metal point at the base of the handle.

As well they found some long moccasins that were in another box; these were made from a material the same colour as the sand and had the same type of material as the wheels on the transport; it took them some time to find sizes small enough to fit but once they had they stomped around the main room with smiles on their faces; the BOOTS also made it a lot easier to ride the QUADS and touch the pedals of the other TRANSPORT except for Elios as being smaller he had a great difficulty in reaching the driving pedals of the HUMVEE and the APC.

The boxes of 20mm rnds were fitted together with some sort of metal belt and it wasn't until Elam fully searched the APC that they discovered what they were for; it took Elam a full dei to work out how the twin 20mm hmg's worked from inside the APC after his discovery; he sat for most of the latter part of the dei going around and around as he watched the small picture in front of him; he was fascinated by the magic of the ancients.

The boys had now been living in the BUNKER #42 for more than three mune and felt it was time to go out and see the Oshun and anything else that took their fancy; Elios had worked out what a map was and after long dei's of reading thought he had a very basic understanding as to how it worked; they all knew that there was still so much to discover in the BUNKER#42 but they also wanted to go out and find new things around them; as yet they had hardly left the environs of their first breeding caves.

The next morning the boys set about getting ready for their first adventure; they decided to go on the quads; each would have a spare JERRY CAN of gasoline on the back along with their newly found BACK PACK that would carry their food and cooking gear. They checked their packs and then got into their CAMO SHIRTS these the boys loved as they kept the sun off their skin even at high sun although the shirts were far to big for them and hung down almost to their knees they didn't mind; they had had to cut the long arm covers off them, but that only added to the fun; at least it made it better to wear their combat webbing and didn't let the webbing rub on their skin like it had before finding the shirts.

The packs and one each of the jerry cans and an M14 rifle were put on the wrack at the back of the quad; the boys had their Beretta and knife on their webbing along with two extra MAGS for both the Beretta and the M14 along with a container called a WATER BOTTLE. Elvan had filled one of the metal boxes that had carried the first weapons they had found, with the frozen water called ICE and had put extra cooked food inside; they would also be able to drink the water when the ice melted.

The last item to be put into the back pack was a newly discovered SLEEPING BAG; these had really intrigued the boys as they had never thought that you could have a sleeping mat that was so soft and yet so hot to sleep in as well as easy to roll up and put away.

Looking over everything the boys decided it was time at last to go and look for the Oshun and so; with a roar of quad motors they raced up to the entry door and swiped a card; after going outside Elam jumped off and closed the door before pulling in behind Elvan who was waiting behind Elios; as he said he could understand the map, they had elected him to lead the way; the boys set off with a light heart at a new adventure; the soft sand spurting up behind the spinning wheels of the quads.

Much to the boys' surprise they had gone only as far as they would have walked in a half dei when Elios smelt a strange saltiness in the air that they had not smelt before; Elios raised his hand to stop the others just at the bottom of a sand hill; once the motors had been shut down they could hear a faint broken rumbling sound from the other side of the hill.

Ever mindful of the dangers from Renegs out in the wastes, Elios told the others to check their newly acquired weapons; from now on they would take it slowly until they could see far enough to know they were safe from any attack. Once they had checked their weapons, the boys started the quads again and slowly; slipping and sliding they made their way to the top of the hill; the sight that met them brought a new look of awe on their young faces.

From the top of the hill they could see where the yellow sand ran into a line of white sand; from the edge of the white sand was nothing but blue water stretching as far as their eyes could see broken only by strange structures far out in the water; at the edge of the sand the water rolled into long white lines as it approached the shore line and rumbled softly with a hissing sound as it ran back to the blue water; the boys had found the Oshun and it was far more than they could ever have imagined.

Looking first to their left and then their right, all they could see along the shore was an emptiness like any other place in the land they had grown up in; nothing broke the starkness except the breaking Oshun on the shore; no sign of life or breeding cave broke the barrenness of the scene; the boys sighed as one as they looked over the magic before them.

The boys put their quads into gear and rolled slowly down onto the harder sand and then close up to where the water was breaking on the shore; the salty smell was now very strong in their nostrils as they rode slowly along the water line; a sense of peace settled over the boys as they gazed with a certain longing at the cool looking water; barely watching where the wheels of the quads were directed, only the occassional splash of water from the front wheels told them to turn away a little.

Elios lead the others up to a sand hill further down the shore; there they parked the quads and Elvan got the metal box with the food; it had been decided to eat here and watch the marvel of the Oshun. The boys sat on the hot sand and began to eat as they watched many black and white birds diving into the water further out; the water there seemed to boil as something under the surface moved back and forth as the birds dived deep.

The boys were suddenly startled as a giant beast rose up out of the water spraying water and what looked like small fish around it. It was a huge beast, jet black sleek body with a huge wing coming out of the back; along its side were a strange white pattern that made the beast look streamlined and also deadly; the three boys shivered to think that something as big as the beast could live in the Oshun and changed their minds about going into the water after eating.

After a short rest the boys went in search of wud for a fire later that dei when the dark began; they would heat up some of the food before settling down to sleep with the sound of the water in their ears and sleep in the bags; they had worked out how they could join two of them together and the three of them would fit inside; they hoped it would prove to be a successful way of using them.

Not wanting to be careless the boys set about topping up the gasoline in the quads and then set them in a half circle around where they would sleep during the dark; they then checked their weapons and determined that while they were sleeping they would be best to fit their webbing securely to their quads in case they had to make a quick escape during the dark.

They set out their joined rolls on the slope of the sand hill so their head was upwards and their feet were towards the Oshun and the quads ready and close by; next they set about collecting the wud for their fire and then returned to their camp and settled down to discuss the dei's events; they soon began to yawn widely as the fun and excitement of the dei caught up with them; it wasn't long before the soft sound of sleep could be heard from the enlarged sleeping roll.

Chapter 6
Survival Instincts

The next morning the boys awoke to the first blush of dawn showing in the sky and the soft swishing sound of the gentle waves lapping at the shore; the three heads poked out of the top of their warm and comfortable sleeping bag and sniffed the freshness of the salty air. A slight dampness from the morning dew had settled on the outside of their sleeping bag and the light chill made all three shiver slightly and wriggle closer to each other to try and keep the body warmth a little longer.

It took them a little while to orient themselves and then ready everything for their next move; after their meal they rechecked their quads and supplies and after eating, were ready to move out on another search towards the far end of the shore where they could see in the distance the face of a cliff. Had they been walking it would have taken them more than a dei to make it but on the quads and at a leisurely pace they were close well before high sun.

The boys had been looking out to sea most of the time they had been travelling and the number of broken cave systems buried in the water surprised them; although most were crumbling and showed no signs of the gles that they had been used to seeing in the land based caves; these were definitely ancient cave systems but why they would build them out in the Oshun was a mystery to the boys.

Their concentration was so riveted on the Oshun that they almost missed the movement of dark spots at the top of the distant sand hills and it was only at the last minute that Elvan saw the movement out of the corner of his eye; he quickly pushed the button that made the quad beep to call attention of his friends; as they turned to him he pointed to the hill and shouted out loud so he could be heard above the noise of the quad.

The boys stopped and looked ahead at the line of Renegs on the hill top; they had also stopped and were looking down at the three boys on their strange artefacts; there were over ten of the Renegs and the boys were not about to try to challenge them here in the open; with a shout, Elios turned his quad and took off in the opposite direction from the mounted men on the hill top; the other two boys were quickly behind him.

The sound of the quads drowned out the shouts and yells of the Renegs as they urged their haws forward in an attempt to catch the fleeing boys; Elam took the second place and Elvan the rear as the boys pressed down on the speed button under their thumbs; the Renegs were at full gallop as they descended from the sand hill after the fleeing boys; their yells and shouts echoed down the shore as they tried to close in on their escaping prizes.

Elios, being lighter than the other boys was slowly pulling ahead but he could also just hear the beat of the chasing hooves as the Renegs did their best to catch up; they all kept their eyes on the sand in front of them; until Elvan felt a hot burning sensation on his thigh and the distinct sound of metal hitting metal; Elvan looked down as he raced across the sand; on the top of his thigh was a deep cut that was bleeding but in front of that was the back half of a crossbow bolt sticking out of his fuel tank and the cold wetness of the fuel spilling out over his injured leg.

Just as Elvan looked up to call out to his disappearing friends, his quad hit a bump in the sand and at the speed he was travelling he was ejected high into the air and came smacking down hard on the sandy shore; as he landed his instinct was to curl up into a ball and roll to avoid breaking anything; to the side his quad spun into the air as well and, as the fuel sprayed from the ruptured tank there was a flash and a deep boom sound as it caught fire and exploded in a ball of fire.

Elvan rolled to his feet and reached for his Beretta as he settled onto one knee to steady his shaking hands; the shock of the sudden tumble had not had time to take any effect on his nervous system as yet but the fast approaching Renegs were not going to give him a chance to run; far ahead Elios and Elam heard the sound of the explosion and slowed enough to turn around just in time to see the Renegs galloping down on the lone figure kneeling in the sand.

Elvan watched the approaching danger and, just as they had practised at the bunker; he began to follow the fig pictures, pull back slide, safety off, hold with both hands firmly, squeeze gently and slowly. The loud bang would have startled Elvan had they not had the practice; his first shot missed the approaching group but settled his nerves; with slow deliberate actions he continued to fire off his shots until the Beretta clicked empty; he had hit two haws which had thrown their riders; one of which didn't move any more and the other was struggling to stand; he also hit two of the Renegs; one falling over the side of his haws and the other grasping his stomach.

Elvan reached for another mag but before his fingers could release the button on his webbing, he felt a stunning blow to the side of his head and all he could see was the sand coming up at his face before he blacked out and lay still. Elios and Elam were in the process of turning around the quads when the first bangs of Elvan's Berretta were heard above the noise; they watched in fear and fascination as they saw two haws stumble and their riders fall badly to the sand followed by one more Reneg and then another wobbling on his haws.

What upset the two young boys the most was the sight of Elvan falling under the blow of a big Reneg as he swung a blunt weapon at the smaller boys head; Elvan collapsed and the sight brought a new fear to the remaining boys; should they go and try to help him or try to escape before they were all caught; the confusion from the sudden and deadly attack made it difficult to make a decision.

Finally Elios called Elam over as the Renegs had stopped and circled around Elvan's limp body.

"We have to save him; we can't leave him for them to kill."

"I know but what can we do, there's got to be more than ten of them and only two of us?"

"Let's get up into the sand hill away from their sight and then we can plan."

"Ok."

The boys turned their quads around and raced further down the shore before they turned up into the hills to hide and plan. As they rode over the hill and out of sight of the group on the shore, the first tears began to appear; both boys sucked in big gasps of air to calm themselves; they needed to be calm and concentrate on the task ahead; they both knew that Elvan was in grave danger and to break down now would not help him.

"We've got to get him free; they're going to rape him and kill him or take him for a slave, we can't let that happen," stated Elios.

"I know, but what can we do, there's only the two of us, Elios?"

"We've got those rifles we can find a place and try to get as many as we can and hope they run away so we can get Elvan."

"Do you think it could work?"

"Yes, they only have crossbows and have to get close before they are any good; we can stay well back and if they come after us we can jump on the quads again and escape then turn back and do the same again; their haws will be slow going up the hills so all we have to do is find a place where we are above them and then move before they can catch us again."

"How are we going to do it?"

"Let's fill up the quads and check the rifles and put the small red lights on the rifles " the boys had discovered during their long practices, that the red light under their rifles made it easier to hit the targets. "It'll make it easier to hit what we are looking at. We'll go along here behind the hill until we're close to where they are; if we keep low we can sneak up to the top of the hill and try from there; we will have to leave the quads running in case we have to make a run for it."

Elam nodded his head in agreement of Elios plan and turned to get his quad and rifle ready as Elios did the same; as they worked away they heard the first high pitched cry from along the shore; it was made faint by the distance and height of the sand hills but they knew what it meant to their friend Elvan.

While he worked on his gear, Elios mind worked out their problem; they had to find more boys to live with them and train; with just three of them they were open to attack from bigger numbers; that would be their next search, to find more boys to come with them to Bunker #42.

At last the two boys were as ready as they could be and so; with their quads moving slowly to keep the noise down; they made their way along the base of the hill until they thought they were close to where the Renegs were holding Elvan. Both boys crawled carefully to the top of the hill and with slow deliberate movements slowly poked their heads above the sand hill; below them the sight nearly made them jump up and run down to help Elvan.

The group of Renegs had Elvan down on the sand; even from the distant vantage point the boys could see he had been badly beaten and was now the object of multiple rapes; worse than that the Renegs had made him lay on his back and two of them were holding his legs up while a third was pounding into him with savagery. This position was the worst one that a boy could be in; when boys played their games it was always agreed that they were boys and would never have sex in the same position that a breeder is put; that was not only a disgrace but was the worst insult that could be given to any boy; the Renegs were delighting in the total degradation of their captive as Elvan's cries and screams went unheard by his attackers.

Elios looked at Elam with a stoniness in his eyes that boded hate and destruction to the gang below them; the boys slowly eased their rifles< over the lip of the hill making sure not to send any loose sand down the hill to warn the Renegs; switching on the red light under the rifle they took their first aim at the group; Elios picked the biggest man as it was more likely to be the leader; while Elam took aim at the man on top of Elvan.

"Ready?" Whispered Elios.

"Yes."

The resounding crack of the two shots could be heard along the length of the shore as the two boys pulled the triggers; the large man that Elios could see through the eye piece of the scope suddenly took a step back and clutched his chest with both hands; he looked down and saw the blood seeping between his fingers and then his eyes rolled up into his head as his knees buckled under him; the rapist had no such chance as Elam's shot took him in the centre of the back and exploded out through his chest to spray Elvan with his blood; this Reneg had only time to mutter something under his breath and then rolled over sideways, pulling out of Elvan at the same time.

The remaining Reneg stood rooted to the spot at the sharp unknown sound; the haws however, knew danger when they heard it and all of them began to bolt for safety up among the hills leaving their riders on foot; two more crashes sounded out loud along the now still and quiet shore line; two more Renegs crumpled onto the dry sand; the remaining eight looked about for their haws and only then realised that they were at the mercy of the invisible killers with their strange new weapons.

One of the Renegs ran towards Elvan with the boys combat knife raised high in the air to strike down the boy and finish him off before any more of his fellow Renegs fell; he never made it to the boy as the twin sounds echoed around the shore again; the Renegs were down to six and still confused as to where the death was coming from; two more crashes and they were reduced to four; it was time to call a halt to the carnage so they fell to the sand on their knees with their hands empty and high in the air hoping the loud crashing and death would stop but it didn't; two more fell never to rise again, of the last two one was now crying out for the magicians to show themselves; the other one lashed out with his hand and knocked the younger one to the ground only to feel a hot knife pierce his chest and then he fell to the sand not moving anymore; the last Reneg curled up in a tight ball and sobbed loudly as he waited for his end as well; the magicians were showing no mercy for Renegs.

A soft groan came from the young boy they had captured as he tried to roll over and sit up but the effort defeated him and he collapsed back onto the sand in pain; the young Reneg didn't want to move so he turned his tear stained eyes to look at the boy; as he did he saw movement from the sand hills above him; another young boy was coming down the hill carrying a strange black pipe in two hands; when he was at the bottom of the hill he knelt down and pointed the pipe at the Reneg; when this was done another boy appeared at the top of the hill and began to run down it.

Elios knelt at the bottom of the hill and kept the red light on the chest of the last Reneg; why they had not killed him as well neither Elios or Elam knew; they had just decided to stop firing, Elios never took his eyes off the Reneg as Elam crouched down beside him and took up the same stance with his rifle pointed at the Reneg as Elios ran over to where Elvan lay groaning on the sand, one glance and Elios was ready to kill the last Reneg.

Both Elvan's eyes were closed shut and very quickly getting blacker and blacker; there were small cuts over his chest from a sharp knife and bruises over most of his slender body; from his boy hole there was blood and man juice leaking and his thighs were also bruised; Elios knelt beside his friend and tried to talk to him but his life long friend only tried to hide his battered face from him; the ignominy and shame of being raped like a breeder was having its effect along with the serious injuries. Elios slowly put his arm around the boy as Elam came up beside him still pointing the rifle at the Reneg who was still face down on the sand shaking in fear.

Normally the Rover boys would not fight back with the Renegs but these two very young boys had not only fought back but had killed all of their enemies with some new and strange weapon the Reneg had never seen nor heard of before; he could see the two boys looking down at their friend but he was not going to chance them seeing him move so he stayed as still as he could; although the sobs were hard to control he tried not to bring attention to himself; he had only been with the Renegs for two yarn and didn't want to die yet so he waited for the boys to make the first move.

Elios left Elvan to Elam and walked over to the Reneg; with his rifle he poked the body on the ground.

"Turn over; have you got any weapons on you?"

The Reneg shook his head and rolled over and sat up to face the young boy with the pipe; it touched his skin and he felt a faint heat to the end of it. Elios stared at the Reneg and then gave a slight gasp; the Reneg was only a few yarn older than they were; he was dark haired so he wasn't from their Breeding Cave; he was also very dirty and his hair had not seen water in a long time.

"Why did you try to hurt our friend?"

"I… I didn't want too; that's what they did to me; then they made me join them or I would be killed; I… I like your friend, but, well I couldn't stop them."

"What's your name?"

"Mita."

"Are there any more Renegs around here close by?"

"No, no more; we were on a hunting search and only stumbled onto you when we heard those funny wheel things on the shore; there's a big group about one dei away from here."

"How many is there?"

"I don't know for sure but about five plus ten at least."

Taking a short time to think, Elios continued.

"Turn around and put your hands behind you; don't make any other moves or I will kill you."

The young Reneg just did as he was told and waited for the young boy to tell him what to do next; taking his old sling from around his neck, Elios quickly tied the Renegs hands behind him; once that was done he left Mita where he was and went back to the now calmer Elvan; his shirt was torn and laying on the sand; Elios picked it up and ran down to the Oshun to wet it and try to clean Elvan up a little; once he was back he asked Elam to go back over the hill and bring their quads back one at a time; they would have to take Elvan back to their home cave and treat him properly there; he was sure the ancients would have some sort of medicine to help his friend; of the young Reneg he was not sure yet as what to do.

Elam left to get the first quad as Elios continued to clean the cuts on Elvan's chest; he then carefully tried to clean the blood and man juice from between his friends legs; when he had finished Elvan was calmer but still not able to look his friend in the eye from his shame at being taken like a breeder; the rape had been bad enough as had the beating but the shame he felt was far more disastrous to his sense of being a boy.

Elam brought the first quad up as Elios finished with his cleaning duties and then Elam turned again to get the last one; they would have to double up to get Elvan back to the home cave; Elam still had a hatred for the remaining Reneg and was only stopped by Elios from killing him immediately; Elios explained that they might learn a lot from the young Reneg but they would have to keep him from either escaping or attacking them on the way to home cave.

Elios had thought out a plan to take the Reneg with them; Elvan would have to ride with Elam and Elios would tie Mita's hands to the rear bars of his quad; they would have to make their home cave in what was left of the dei so they could help Elvan; they would refuel here and head off at top speed for their base; Elios went and picked up Elvan's webbing and Beretta before going over to Mita.

"We have to get our friend back to our cave; you'll come with us but if you try anything I'll let Elam kill you slowly so no funny tricks."

Mita could only nod his head; he would rather be a slave to these boys than be dead; besides, they had so much ancient artifacts they must be very dangerous; maybe if he did as they said he would get something to eat at last; it had been two dei since he had been allowed to eat by the Renegs and he had little energy left to fight these boys.

When Elam had returned they fuelled their two remaining quads and sat Elvan on the back of Elam's making him as comfortable as they could for the long run back home; Elios told Mita to sit on the back of his quad facing backwards; he then took both his sling and the one Elam had and tied Mita's hands to the metal pipe at the rear so he could not try and attack Elios as he drove the quad; there was not much space but it would have to do; besides he was only a Reneg captive so he would just have to put up with it.

"If you try to escape I'll drag you along behind until your dead so don't fall off, we're going to be going fast so hang on tight to that pipe," Elios told him.

Mita nodded his head in understanding but his stomach was gurgling with fear at the strange artefact that the boys used; it alone was terrifying enough he was not going to take any chance of being dragged behind it as well. Elios gave Elam the signal and they took off for home; the speed built quickly as they pushed as hard as they could on the speed button; there was no time for being careful; their friend needed help as soon as they could give it to him.

The dark was approaching quickly as they hit the flat sand of their valley; with a quick burst of speed the boys made a final short dash for the door to their home cave. Elios made sure that Mita was still looking backwards as he got off the quad and went to open the door; all Mita could do was sit there and wait as he first heard a deep rumbling sound and then a small vibration from the pipes he was sitting on.

Elam went in first followed by Elios who stopped to close the door and then took off after Elam to park the quad in the garage; there he helped Elam take the now almost unconscious Elvan from the back of the quad and helped him to support Elvan down to the ablution room; there they could wash him and then put him in one of the bunks to rest as they tried to find a way to help him from all the manuals.

Mita tried to look around this new huge cave; there was so much in it and he didn't understand any of it; none of it had been seen by him before and although his hands were hurting from the tight skin thongs used to tie him up; he thought it better not to say anything unless the boys got angry and killed him; he sat and waited as far off noises came to his ears; the sound of water made his dry throat constrict and somewhere he could smell some sort of food being cooked. Mita's biggest amazement was the amount of light in the cave; it shone down strongly from long gles strips high up in the roof; there was a real freshness about the cave that he had never felt or smelt before in all the caves he had been in.

After what seemed forever; Mita heard the sound of approaching steps; looking up he saw the smaller boy come into the cave, in his hand he had another black artefact and it was pointed right at his head; it was smaller than the long pipe he had seen earlier but looked just as dangerous in the smaller boy's hand. Elios went over to Mita and stared at him, his hand holding the Beretta was still and firm as he pointed it at the Renegs head.

"I'm going to untie you, you do anything silly and I will put a hole in your head, understand?"

Mita nodded his head; besides, the way he was feeling without food for so long he had little energy left to try and fight this boy; the boy smelt clean and looked as though he had just eaten; he had to find out more about this new cave system; maybe, just maybe, if he was good and worked hard for them, they would let him stay; he had not enjoyed the last two yarn with the Renegs, even now he was still treated like a slave boy to them.

Elios held his Beretta with one hand while he loosened the two slings with the other; once he had the Reneg free he stepped back out of reach and pointed towards the door; by the smell of the Reneg he would need a wash before he was allowed into the living and eating area. Elios followed along behind and a little distance away from Mita as he directed the Reneg to the ablution room.

"Strip your skins off and stand under that pipe over there."

Mita looked at the clean shirt that Elios was wearing and then down at the roughly tanned skins he had on; these boys were way better off than any of the Renegs had ever been apart from the big leader who was a long way away in the Reneg cave town. Mita did as he was told; the strange white squares of stone under his feet felt cold as he stood and waited. Elios went closer to Mita and turned on the two levers to start the water flowing; he then reached for a yellow bar they used for washing and threw it to the Reneg.

"Use that to wash, it will make you cleaner and make sure you use plenty on your hair; it's like a rat nest up there."

Elios stood back and watched as the Reneg boy took off his skins; his boyhood was a lot bigger than any of the three friends and he stood staring at it and wondered what something that big would feel like inside him; his eyes glazed over a little at the thought but then he shook himself as the Reneg got under warm water.

At first Mita couldn't make out what it was but the water was definitely warmer than any river or other water he had washed in so long ago; he stood in awe as the warm water ran over him; he felt his sore muscles begin to relax and; just as he got used to the water, Elios turned the lever a little more and the water became hot.

Mita jumped and then began to relax as he felt the new sensation run over him; taking the yellow square he began to rub it over his skin; the scent making him relax even more; it smelt of strange flowers and the dirt seemed to just run off him.

Elios watched as the dirt ran from the body of the young Reneg; what appeared made Elios like the look of the older boy more and more; once the hair was washed it had a soft shine to it and while it was way longer than any boy he had seen, nearly down to the middle of the Renegs back; it also intrigued him; his breach-clout was beginning to get tight as his reaction to the older and bigger boy took effect.

Elios waited until the Reneg was clean and then told him to leave his dirty skin on the floor and walk ahead of him.

Elios directed him to the main room where they had some of the left over spam pie from their meal; it was still warm from the heating oven and Elios directed him to sit and eat; the Reneg didn't need a second invitation, he sat and began to shovel the first food he had had in dei's into his mouth with his fingers.

It wasn't long before the metal tray was as clean as though it had never been used; Mita was still hungry but wasn't about to ask for more; he had been lucky so far and didn't want to push his slim luck any further while the boy stood there with the strange black weapon pointed at him.

"Right, you're going to be put in a room to sleep; I have to tie you up again until we feel we can trust you, get up and go down there," Elios pointed in the direction the Reneg was to take.

"What about my cloths?"

"You don't need them yet; if you turn out ok we will find some new ones for you to wear but for now; you stay as you are until then," replied Elios.

Mita walked ahead of the boy until he was told to stop at a door; the boy opened the door to a dark cave, he was then pushed into the dark and then a bright white light came on showing a number of strange sleeping platforms; each one had another above it.

Mita was told to stand back against a wall and not move while the boy went about taking some strange rolls and laying one on a sleeping platform; he then placed two grey thick cloths over the base and signalled Mita to lay down.

Mita did as instructed and, as soon as he was laying on the soft pad, the boy put the two grey cloths over him and told him to put his arms above his head; once that was done the boy then got two of the unusual belts and tied his hands firmly to the pipes at the top of the platform; he could relax his arms but not get them close enough to each other to untie them, the boy then told him.

"Stay here and don't try to do anything silly; we only sleep over the other side and can hear you if you do, then you will be killed."

Mita had no doubts that the boy meant what he said; it was obvious that the three boys were old friends and wouldn't hesitate to protect each other. Mita had no doubts and decided to do as he was told; besides, it was also obvious that he was in a much better place than he had been for the last two yarn; good food, plenty of water and warm cloths, that is if he was ever allowed to have any cloths.

Elios returned to their sleeping room and saw Elam lying beside the injured Elvan; the boy's eyes were now completely closed and showing the dark blue of the bruises; his chest was covered by a new cloth that Elios had not seen yet; it was only about three fingers wide and went around and around Elvan's chest and stomach; there were faint splotches of red coming through the strips of cloth but looked as though they were drying rapidly.

"Where did you get that cloth from?" asked Elios.

"I looked at all the remaining manuals until I found one that had a description of injuries; the symbols were to big to understand so I just looked for some fig pictures; they showed a box with a red + on it and inside was another small manual on how to use the cloths and some of the mixtures inside; I use something called an antiseptic to clean the cuts and then covered them with the long cloths; he seems better now and the wounds aren't bleeding anymore."

"Is he going to be alright though?"

"Yes, but he still feels bad about being taken like a breeder; I think we're going to have to be careful with him for a while; what about that Reneg boy?"

"I tied him to a bunk in the other room; he can stay there until sun rise, then I think we should question him about the Renegs and what they do or where they come from; we might have to fight them again one dei so the more we know about them the better for us."

"Yes I agree; are you going to sleep here now?"

"No I think I should give Elvan space to heal; I'm going over to that bunk are you coming? I really need you after the dei we've had?"

Elios went to the bunk he had pointed too and made it up ready for use; by the time he had stripped off and got into the bunk, Elam was also ready; he too was naked and hard as he slid down behind Elios, his rigid boyhood pushing urgently into Elios asking for entry; both boys need some relief after the tough dei and the attack on the Renegs.

The following sun rise, Elam changed the cloths on Elvan who was now awake but feeling very sore and so was told to stay where he was and they would look after him until he felt better; Elios went to the other room and released the Reneg boy and took him to their main room; after making sure the boy was tied to a chair he went to the galley and took another of Elvan's dishes from the cool room and put it in the oven to heat for their meal.

As Elios put the tray of food on the table, Elam arrived and after giving the Reneg a murderous look, sat down and began to eat while Elios took out his Beretta and laid it on the table in easy reach before releasing the Reneg boy so he could also eat; they all stayed silent as they ate and when Elam had finished he filled a plate and took it to Elvan while Elios stayed to watch their prisoner.

Mita was still hungry and there was still some left in the tray but he was not going to risk his neck by asking for more; the small boy looked as though he too was ready to kill him; Mita sat back and waited for his next orders and the one that came surprised him completely.

"You can finish the tray if you're still hungry; we have plenty of food in here, when you're finished I want information about the Renegs; no lies or only half stories; I want to know everything you can remember about them."

Mita could only nod his head in agreement as he refilled his plate with the unusual but great food; he had no intention of giving the boys any reason to kill him or throw him out of this great and secret cave system.

When Mita had finished eating and Elam had returned; Elios told Mita to tell his story starting with why he was with the Renegs. It turned out to be a horrifying story and when Mita got to the end the boys could see why he had joined the Renegs; after being repeatedly raped by any Reneg that saw him, he was given the chance to either join them or die; if he joined them he would stay their slave for three yarn and then he would be old enough to be a full Reneg; the boys' attack had put a stop to that end.

Elios and Elam began to question him about the Renegs; how many, where they stayed, what they did, what weapons they used, who was their big man; it took a long time but both Elios and Elam could tell that the Reneg had told them the truth and not held anything back from them; they both stood up and went over to a far corner where they couldn't be heard by their prisoner. After a short discussion, the two boys went back to the table; Elios looked down at the Reneg and took out his Beretta, looked at it and then at Mita; he could see the fear in the Reneg's eyes as he held the Beretta loosely in his hand.

Elios replaced his pistol and looked hard at Mita.

"Here's what we agreed; you can take it or you can die, there's no other way for you. You become our slave for one yarn; you will do all the cleaning and anything else we want for that time; if at the end of one yarn we are happy with your efforts and you want to stay with us then you can; we will give you plenty of food and cloths; you will sleep in the room you were in last dark but we will not tie you up; we will block the door so you can't get out while we sleep; if you agree then you start now, if not then you die right now; your choice?"

Mita didn't hesitate in his decision; even being a slave to younger boys was better than he had with the Renegs and here he had good food, could wash all the time as he hated being dirty like the Reneg were; and he would have a chance to be a part of this secret cave system. Mita told Elios he would like to stay, even as a slave to younger boys he would be better off than outside or dead.

"Right then it's agreed, you go with Elam and he will show you how to operate the water levers in the galley and clean up the eating tools; when that's done come back here and we'll give you some more work to do; if you've done good work in the galley we will give you some cloths to wear, it's all up to you."

Mita nodded and quickly followed Elam out to the galley where he was shown how to use the water levers and where everything went after washing and cleaning the galley; Mita set to work straight away the plates, the trays and eating tools the boys had used took a little while but when he finished he started on the rest of the galley so everything was again shiny and clean.

It was five dei's before Elvan was up and about with any sense of freedom from his pain and injuries; his eyes were both still black but he could now see clearly; only the bruises ached a little but his cuts had healed remarkably quickly with the aid of the medicine Elam had found and used. Elvan was still very suspicious of Mita and would not let the Reneg close to him even though he could see the new addition to their small family was trying very hard to do as he was told and with no complaints.

At their dark time meal the three boys decided to talk over what they would do next while Mita was in the galley cleaning; he was not included in any decision making, he was their slave and that was that; Elios brought up the question of numbers again.

"From what Mita told us the Renegs are many more times than we are; if we run into a big gang of them we might not be as lucky as last time; I think we have to go out and look for more boys, we need more numbers to train so we stay safe from them."

Both of the other boys nodded their heads in agreement as Elios continued.

"Elam, do you think you can operate the APC properly?"

"Yes, I've been practicing a lot in the garage but it will take the three of us to operate it properly; what do you have in mind?"

"Well, we can't leave Mita here on his own and I don't want him trained in anything until he has finished his one yarn so he will have to come with us and that means he can't ride a quad; if we fill the APC up with everything we might need we will still have space to put some new boys to bring back here; also the Renegs have nothing to break into the APC so we'll be safe inside it; it'll only be when we have to go outside of it that we will need to be very careful."

"Ok, so when do we go looking and what will we need?" asked Elvan.

"We'll need food, fuel and weapons as well as the sleeping and cooking things; the food will have to be more than last time because we might have other boys to feed; how many people do you think will fit inside along with everything else, Elam?"

"Uhm, let me see, I'll drive, Elvan on the big weapons, you reading the directions and Mita sitting in the back; add the fuel, let's say ten of the jerry cans full; the boxes of food and there's places to store the hand weapons on the sides so that leaves enough space for about ten plus five boys on each trip."

"Good, Elvan can you cook enough food for every one if we get that many?"

"Yes, I can use Mita to help cooking when he's not doing other stuff; I think we should take that big rifle out of the box and use the box to store the food in; it's the right size to take a lot of trays then we only have to heat it up like last time."

"Good, ok now what about you using the big weapons in the APC?"

"Elam will have to teach me about it but I think I can do it."

"Good, right now all we have to do is work out what to do with all the boys when they get here; what do you guys suggest?"

Elam spoke first.

"Why not make a list of what has to be done then we can tell each boy where he has to work each day and we can leave enough time for them to do training as well; like if there's going to be lots of boys then Elvan will need a lot of help cooking and cleaning; then there's the transport that will need looking after according to the manuals they need something called a SERVICE done every so often so they don't break; I'll need some of the boys to help with that sort of thing, what do you need Elios?"

"I think I should try to teach some of them about reading the symbols and how to work a map; there's also the items in the administration room; they call them COMPUTERS I haven't worked them out properly but they seem to hold a lot of information inside them that we might need or be able to use; some of the boys might be able to learn about them."

The three boys ran through the list of needs in their head before all agreeing to call it time for sleep; they sent Mita to his bunk and locked the door before going to their own room where they could all now sleep again together as Elvan was not as sore anymore; at the rising of the new sun they would start to put their plans in operation so they could go looking for new boys to join them as soon as possible.

Chapter 7
Adventures

Five dei's passed before Elvan was once again at his normal state of excitement; although his bruises and inner feelings were still tender; he also did not fully trust Mita; even though the older boy tried everything he could think of to put Elvan at ease; the traumatic episode had now made Elvan suspicious or anyone outside his two closest friends.

Elam had worked tirelessly in the garage to check and ready for their next adventure; every inch of the APC was checked and tested as far as he could inside; both he and Elvan went over and over the manuals for the weapons until both boys were sure, they could operate them as best they could; but it would not be until they could go back outside and try them for real would they be fully satisfied.

Elios spent every waking moment hunched over the marvels of the ancients in the administration room as he tried to work out the way these things worked and what he could learn from them; after the five dei's he was a little more confident but the need to learn new ideas of time and distance made his head spin; sometimes he went to sleep at night with his head aching from all the information he had had to take in; everything he thought they knew before finding this cave Bunker #42 had now been made useless by the new lessons.

Mita quietly did as he was told and tried not to make the three boys angry with him; the longer he lived in their cave system the more he wanted to stay. He well knew the boys were at least two yarn younger than him but their new talents seemed to make him look like a new born; he had never seen or heard of any boys who were willing to spend so much time sitting and learning from all the ancient's reading blocks; little did he know at the time that he was seeing the emergence of a new dawn of understanding.

Dei followed dei until almost a full mune had passed before the boys thought they were ready to make their next foray out into the wastes to try and find some more boys to live with them. The routine of the bunker had been well established as the boys worked ever harder to understand all that the ancients had left for them. Elios had finally, after many head aches and bleary eyed dei's; worked out the directions of the ancient's compass as well as the way they used time. It was a little disconcerting to find that the time he had been born to was proved irrevocably wrong by the ancients.

Elam and Elvan had taken the APC outside to test the weapons and for Elam to test his driving skills; at the first use of the weapons both Elam and Elvan had been almost deafened by the loud sound and it took Elam more than half a dei to find and work out what the ancients called COMS; which turned out to be able to let the two boys not only cut down on the loud noise, but let them still talk to each other as though they were in a quiet room by themselves.

The boys had taken some time to get used to the metal hats they had to wear to use the coms; after another full dei wearing them they felt confident about their ability to do their tasks. The weapons had at first frightened the boys as the whole APC shook each time it was fired but the real surprise was the distance the rounds went outside; they had no trouble hitting the other side of the narrow valley and the size of the sand kicked up by the rounds had brought a look of awe and a little horror onto the faces of both of them; as Elvan had said to Elam after the first dei of using the weapons.

"These could destroy the whole Reneg gang."

Elam had just sat and looked at the craters on the far cliff and nod his head in agreement with Elvan; the weapons had more power than anything they had found and used so far; over the next four dei's they went out and practiced using and aiming the weapons until Elvan was fully used to them and how they worked; he only needed help with the heavy round metal boxes for the AMMO that the weapons used as they were to heavy for him alone to lift up and fit into place.

Elios had been pulled away from his administration room for a while so he too could practice with the funny hats and coms sets until he too was happy with using them. Elios also was now happy with his ability to look at the ancient maps and find his way around the lands that awaited them outside; he now knew that they were living in an area that was once called CALIFORNIA and that the caves once covered what the ancients called MILES but were now mostly under the Oshun water; where they now lived was once in a place called the OUTER SUBURBS and that the caves they had seen in the Oshun were once the CITY CENTRE.

Elios worked out that; if his calculations were right and he had understood the ancient's system; they were now about thirty miles from where the city centre was; the Oshun had covered about ten miles of once dry land on what was called the coastal region; the new shape of the coast was going to make his map reading a little difficult close to the Oshun but would not be any trouble inland and so he set out to learn all he could about his world.

The final dei arrived that they had decided to go out and search for new boys to live with them; after the attack and rape of Elvan they had a new determination to never allow it to happen again; from this dei on they would declare their own war on the Reneg and use everything the ancients had left behind to destroy the danger of the Renegs and what they did.

They spent their last dark time getting the APC ready; using Mita to carry everything that was too heavy for one of them; when all was ready and only the food stocks had to be loaded for the start of their adventure at the next sun rise; Elvan sat with the other two and for him, made an unusual suggestion.

"I think we should teach Mita to load ammo into the weapons; it will make it easier if both of you are busy; I'm not strong enough to lift them on my own to put them in the slots."

Elios and Elam looked with surprise at their friend; for him to suggest that the one time Reneg should be taught to help was indeed a break-through for the boy; that he would allow his once enemy to be so close to him with such an important job was a testament to his new found maturity and trust of the Reneg that had been their slave boy for only one mune.

Both Elios and Elam nodded in agreement and Elios called out for Mita to come into the main room and sit with them; once the Reneg was seated all three boys looked at him and it was Elvan that began.

"We want to trust you Mita; as you know, we're going outside at sunrise to find some more boys to live here; you have to come with us because we can't leave you alone in here yet; I know you didn't have anything to do with what happened to me last time and I've watched you try as hard as you can to help us in here."

Mita sat looking at the boy and wondered where this was going; were they going to throw him outside and leave him to his fate alone out in the wastes to die or live as he had been with the Renegs? Mita's stomach fluttered with uncertainty as another young boy; the one called Elios continued.

"You know we're going out tomorrow; you'll be coming with us; your work will be to set up our camp when we need it and to get our food ready; your position with us does not change but, if you do this right then you have a better chance to stay with us after this adventure."

Elam took up the conversation.

"We need you to help Elvan with the weapons when we are travelling; at sunrise he will show you what you have to do; if you do it right and follow our orders on this adventure then we are prepared to let you stay with us; we will teach you how to use the other weapons for our defence; it's all up to you."

Mita sat stunned by the announcement; they were offering him a chance to join with them properly and not as a slave but as a member of their fantastic cave system; all Mita could do was nodded in agreement and promise them he would work as hard as he could; he promised to help them in any way as long as he could stay with them in the fantastic magical cave of the ancients.

The boys accepted his word and then everyone went to their room to sleep until sun rise; Mita noticed that for the first time since he had come to the boy's cave he was not locked in his sleeping room; he was now determined to do all he could to hold onto the trust the boys put in him.

At what they thought was the new sun rise; Elios and Elam checked everything in the APC while Elvan got the food ready for their adventure along with the help of Mita; Elvan sent him to the main room to clear out the last metal box of its contents and bring it to the galley to put the food and ice in.

Mita had noticed the metal box a number of times but had never tried to open it; he had to ask Elvan to open it for him; what he saw inside brought a strange feeling of almost lust when he saw it; it was a rifle but nothing like the ones the boys had; this one was coloured in light and dark browns with splashes of white in funny patterns; it was bigger and heavier than any of the other ones and had a look of power to it; Mita gasped as he saw it for the first time.

The rifle was far to big for any of the smaller boys but for Mita it would be easy to handle as he was bigger muscled and taller; with slightly nervous hands he lifted the large weapon from its box; it felt good in his hands as he laid it carefully onto a nearby table; next he began to lift out all the smaller bits inside the box; two small square metal boxes; a cylinder with small round pieces of gles at each end; a pair of funny short legs; a long metal rod with a sort of brush at one end; a small round cylinder that had a thick liquid inside and a roll of white cloth with thin red stripes spaced about a hand width apart. Each of these items he carefully laid on the table; as the last piece from the box was placed on the table, Mita could not resist running his hand over the lethal looking rifle one more time.

The feeling of the cold metal sent a shiver down his spine just as Elvan coughed lightly to remind him of what he was here for; Mita quickly returned to the large metal box and pulled out all the soft stuff inside until the box was clean; he then picked it up easily and placed it on his shoulder to carry into the galley and fill it with the food trays they had made over the last few dei's.

The boys were finally ready to move; inside the APC everything had been packed neatly either under the metal seats or down the middle; their weapons were in small racks on the wall of the transport; the fuel jerry cans were under the metal seats and their food box and sleeping bags were in the middle tied down to small rings in the floor; Mita sat alone in the back with the gear; Elvan sat in his small seat at the centre at what was called the weapons console this was a small table like structure under the round turret; it had a small screen that showed what was on the outside and attached to the seat was a hand piece that controlled the heavy weapons above his head.

Elios sat just behind Elam at another small table with three screens on it; one showed what was ahead of them; another went around and around to show a long way ahead; and the last one had a map of California on it with a small red light that showed the boys where they were. Elam sat in the driver's seat and controlled the APC from another screen in front of him; he could also open a small thick window and see what was outside for real; most of the time he had the window open as he could feel the fresh air over his face; all three boys had the large funny hats on and could talk to each other through a com fixed to their throat and hear from a hidden part inside their hats.

Elam started up the twin motors of the APC; their deep rumbling roar sounded right to his ears as he slipped it into forward gear and began to slowly move forward towards the door; once there he stopped while Elvan got out of his seat and went through the small metal door on the side to open the main bunker door and waited until Elam had driven through; he then closed and sealed the door and returned to his seat. Mita watched every move the boys made; he was astounded at the ease in which the boys moved and settled comfortably into their places in this huge metal carrier.

Elam turned the APC toward the direction they had come from their home caves; it was in this area the boys knew there would be boys out roving from their dispatch from their last day as cave boys. It was also the direction that they would be most likely come across any searching Renegs; Elam pressed down on the dual throttles and the APC moved forward smoothly on the floor of the valley.

They travelled for a good half dei and then saw the first of the breeding caves come into sight on the horizon; Elam pulled the APC to a stop in a small shallow dip in the surrounding wastes; with the colour of the patterns on the outside it would be difficult for anyone to see them until they were quite close.

Elios got out of his seat and opened the small metal door on the side of the APC; taking one of the newly found looking cylinders called binoculars from the case near his seat, he sat up on top of the APC and began to look around the wastes; the new binoculars had astounded Elios when he had first found them; they brought everything up close and he had marvelled at how clear everything was once he used them; he had found other sets but they only worked in the dark and had to be fitted onto their hats and couldn't see as far as the clear ones, as well as making everything a funny green colour; he would keep them for dark time when any Renegs might be around.

It was usually thought that the Renegs would stay at least a full dei's walk away from the breeding caves; this gave the new boys a chance to make it as far from help as they could before meeting the horror of what the Renegs were. Elios was hoping that this would give them a chance to get to some of the boys before they met an evil fate at the hands of the Renegs.

Elios carefully scanned the barren wastes around them looking for any hint of movement that would indicate a new boy from the breeding caves; he sat in the high heat of the sun; his eyes moving back and forth waiting for that first hint of movement. As he sat he became aware of a small movement just near him; taking his eyes away from the binoculars he looked down the side of the APC to se Mita standing there with a water bottle in his hands, lifting it up for Elios to grab; taking the bottle from Mita he smiled his thanks and went back to his search.

Finally; after Elios had had time for two more sips of water; he saw the first small dot of black on the sand. Elios watched as the dot slowly moved towards where they all sat hidden by the dip in the sand. Through the wavering heat of the day, Elios began to make out more dots on the horizon as more and more boys left the breeding caves; most were in ones and twos but one group caught Elios eye; it was a group of about five boys but they were well behind the others. Elios felt it was time to go and talk to his friends.

Sliding off the top of the APC and getting back inside with the others, Elios told them what he had seen; working on the assumption that the Renegs would not attack the new boys until they were well away from the breeding caves; Elios and the others made their plans for later in the dei. They were well aware that the boys would be terrified of the strange transport; they had decided to have just Elios and Elam go out on foot with their weapons and try to make contact while Elvan and Mita stayed in the APC with the bigger weapons to guard them.

Elios returned outside and began to mark where he thought the new boys would stop for the night; using his good memory he tried to set a land mark for each group so he and Elam could find them quickly; he wanted to make contact with as many as he could to avoid any Reneg that might arrive early.

The three boys waited patiently as the sun began to sink lower in the sky; they would soon have to start to make their way forward in the APC and get as close as they could without scaring the new boys. Elam started up the APC and began to move slowly forward; he was keeping the sound of the twin diesels as low as he could; Elvan rotated his turret as he kept his eyes on the small screen in front of him.

Once they were as close as they felt comfortable and safe; Elam stopped the APC but left the motors running; if they had to run then he didn't want to have to stop and waste time starting up again as well as Elvan needing the power to operate his weapons. Elios and Elam put on their webbing and loaded their smaller weapons; placing the small binoculars on their hats they unhooked the wires for their coms from the APC and plugged them into the batts on their webbing; they then checked with Elvan that he could still hear them; both being ready they stepped outside in the darkening sky.

They knew that the new boys would not light fires on this first night out; it was one thing they learned very early in life; it was all now down to Elios to find them from memory. The two boys set out with weapons at the ready; eyes peeled into the closing darkness. Once it was fully dark, Elios and Elam lowered their small binoculars and pressed the button to switch them on; immediately all around them lit up with the strange green colour but they could now easily see everything for some distance.

Slowly the boys kept moving; eyes and ears pricked for any movement or sound that would tell them where the new boys were. It was Elam that heard the first boys talking quietly. Elios and Elam veered slightly left and were soon standing only a short distance away from the small group of three boys; the plan for meeting the boys had been worked out during the day. Elam would stay back in the dark and protect Elios as he went forward to make contact with any groups or boys alone; Elam took up position facing out from the group and scanning the darkness with his binocular eyes as Elios lifted his binoculars back onto his hat and called softly to the small group.

"Can I come in to your camp? I'm a boy not a Reneg."

Elios could just see in the darkness the three boys jump to their feet and take up their spia's ready for a fight.

"I can help you; I'm not going to attack you; let me come in and talk and if you're not happy you can use your spia's."

One of the boys looked intently into the darkness around him and finally made out the small figure of Elios, although the boy looked funny in some sort of hat and was holding something in his hands that was not a spia.

"Ok come slow, any trouble and you die."

"I'm not here to hurt you; I and my friends want to help you."

"Come in then, let's see you."

Elios walked slowly forward until he could see the boys clearly; they were all friends by the look of their hair which was a blonde reddish colour; they were obviously from the same Cave system; one of the boys stepped closer and faced Elios.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is Elios; me and my friends have been out here for about six mune; we have found and ancient's hidden cave and we want some more boys to join us; there's plenty of room and food as well as good ancient style weapons."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" said the same boy; obviously the leader of the small group; the other two boys just kept a close eye on Elios.

"Look at my weapon and clothes; have you ever seen anything like them before?"

"No, but how do we know you don't work for the Reneg to trap us?"

"Why would I work for those rats? they nearly killed one of my friends a while ago; look we only came here to find more boys to live with us; we have a lot of space and all sorts of new artefacts from the ancients; we can train you with them and there's so much food for everyone as well as you'd all be safe there; if you stay here the Renegs will get you either tonight or tomorrow."

"What if we want to join, what do we have to do?"

"My friend and I are going to keep looking for other boys to join us; I'll show you where to go and meet our other friend who's in our transport; go and have a look, talk to him, if you want to stay then he will let you inside; if you want to go and take your chances then it's up to you."

"What's a transport?"

"It's an artefact from the ancients that can carry a lot of people very quickly; it looks like a metal box and has two pipes sticking out of the top; I'll show you which way to walk, it's not far from here; we have to go and look for more boys but our friend Elvan will now why you're there."

"It sounds pretty much of a kid's story so far."

"Ok, just go look; if you want to stay with us fine, if not you're free to go your own way."

The leader looked at the other boys and they gave a small nod and lowered their spia's a little.

"Ok, where do we go?"

Elios reached into his shirt pocket and took out the yellow metal compass; turning slowly until he had the right numbers under the pointer, he pointed in that direction; the three boys had watched open mouthed as he did this and were amazed when he pointed in the direction of the open wastes.

"Just walk straight back there; it's not far and you'll see the metal box. Elvan or Mita will meet you outside and show you how to go in and have a look."

The leader looked again at his two friends and with a shrug of his shoulders; picked up the small sak and his spia and lead the others in the direction Elios had pointed out; Elios lowered his binoculars and called Elam to join him after he had taken another reading from his compass; the next boy was alone and was easy to convince.

Slowly the two friends went from one group to the other until all that were left to them was the larger group that he had seen behind all the others; they were now quite a distance from their APC but as yet there had been no sign of Renegs; the boys kept moving until they heard the soft muttering of a number of voices. Elios set Elam in the same place as he went forward and called out to the group; he thought there was about six or eight of them when he had seen them earlier in the dei.

"Hello camp!" called Elios.

The ring of boys immediately jumped to their feet holding their spia's ready; one boy stepped a little forward of the others.

"Who's there?"

"My name's Elios, I've come to see if you want to join our new cave."

"Why should we do that?"

"For safety; the Renegs will soon be out hunting; we can protect and feed you," Elios answered from the dark.

"Come in slowly, any tricks and we kill you."

Elios lifted his binoculars and stepped into the circle of boys; their spia's pointed at his belly; he stood still as they looked him over. All the boys had black hair so were not from his breeding cave. The new boys looked at the young boy in front of them; he was well fed and had very strange clothes on as well as a funny looking pipe in his hands; the boy also had thick cloth belts over his shoulders and around his waist that held strange ancient looking items.

"So what do you want?" asked the leader.

"As I said, my names Elios; me and my friends have found a big hidden cave that the ancients built; we want more boys to join us, there's a lot of space and plenty of food; we want to get our own gang so the Renegs won't attack us anymore."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"Well just look at my stuff; have you ever seen anything like them before?"

The group of boys muttered amongst themselves as they looked Elios over, the leader pointed to Elios rifle.

"What's that?"

Elios held up his weapon so they could see it clearly.

"It's one of the ancient's weapons; it's called a rifle it can kill a Reneg from a long way away; they can't even get close enough to use their cross bows."

"Show us."

"That wouldn't be a good idea just now; it makes a lot of noise and might tell any Renegs that are around where we are but, if you come with us we will show you at sun rise so all the boys can see."

"Who's us?"

"My friend is out in the dark keeping guard and there's some other boys that we met that have gone to see if they want to join us; they're waiting at our transport."

"What's a transport?"

"It's an ancient people carrier; we found out how to use it in the cave we found; you can go faster and longer than walking and it can carry a lot of boys; we have some food and water inside waiting if you want to come and see it."

"Wait here, we want to talk it over."

"Ok."

Elios crouched down as the boys moved a short distance away and began to chatter among themselves; after a short time the leader came back.

"Most of the boys want to have a look; other are not too sure about you, how do we find this transport thingy?"

"I'll lead you to it."

"Yeah, And how are you going to do that in the dark?"

Elios pointed to the small dark binoculars on his hat.

"These are ancient artefacts they help you to see in the dark and we have other things so we don't get lost."

"Like what?"

"This helps us as well," Elios showed them the compass as he opened it the numbers glowed in the darkness.

A short gasp of wonder told Elios the boys were impressed with what they saw; suddenly his com hissed in his ear; Elios pushed the small button on his neck piece.

"Yes Elvan?" he whispered into the com.

The faint voice of Elvan crackled in his ear.

"I've just seen four dots on my screen moving fast towards you; they have to be Renegs."

The group of boys looked scared as Elios talked softly to no one with his hand on his throat.

"Where are they and how far?"

"They're in the middle of the valley going towards the breeding caves so they must be headed towards you."

"Ok, we're over to the left of the valley, how much distance do we have?"

"I don't know where you are; I lost your dots earlier but they are definitely going towards where I last saw you."

"Ok, we'll be careful, how many of the other boys decided to stay with you?"

"All of them, once they saw everything they were as happy as rats to stay; Mita fed them and they're all sleeping on the floor."

"Ok, we're on our way with the last group; we'll keep an eye out for the Renegs; Elam, did you hear that?"

Elam's voice was clear as he was very close.

"Yes, I think I can hear their haws way out in the middle; they don't seem to be worried about anything."

"Ok, I think they're just trying to stumble on any boys out here; I'll bring these boys to you and we can make for the APC."

"Ok, I'll wait for you here."

Elios pushed the button to switch off his com and turned to the new boys.

"We don't have much time; there's Renegs out hunting; if you're coming we have to move now and you have to be as quiet as you can so they don't hear us; it's up to you, what do you want to do?"

The leader looked at his boys and they all nodded together, he turned to Elios.

"Ok, but I'm the leader of these boys."

"That's ok with me but just remember; we have to get you to safety first so you have to listen to me while we move or those Renegs will find us and believe me, you don't want them to catch any of you; I've seen what they do to new boys. Ok let's go this way, keep close and no talking; you all know how the sound carries at dark time."

Elios watched as the boys took up their spia's and sak's; he lowered his binoculars and read the numbers on his compass he then began to lead the boys toward where Elam waited. Soon they were all standing close to Elam and watched as he put his strange pipe on his shoulder and nodded to Elios.

"Which way?" asked Elam.

Elios looked down at his compass and pointed in a direction away from where they stood and towards the left of the valley.

"We keep going that way until Elvan can see us on his screen; he'll then correct us and bring us to the APC."

"Ok, I'll go out in the front a bit and keep and eye and an ear out for the Renegs; keep your com on so we can talk," replied Elam.

Elios nodded and turned to the group of eight boys.

"Ok, Elam is going to watch out front; keep it as quiet as you can, we're going to try to sneak past those Renegs out in the middle."

The group of boys remained silent but nodded their heads in understanding. Elam took off and Elios began to lead the boys forward into the darkness; only the soft swish of their feet in the sand could be heard as they walked onward. Elios soon got used to the dull hiss in his ear from the com so he could concentrate on what he was seeing in his binoculars.

Suddenly he heard Elvan's voice in his ear.

"Stop, I can see you all on my screen; the Renegs are almost opposite you out in the middle."

Elios quietly whispered to the group of boys.

"Get down, lie flat on the sand."

Elios quickly crouched down with his rifle at the ready as Elam's voice came into his ear.

"I see them; they look as though they've stopped out in the middle to rest or eat; wait, yes, they're starting a fire, you should be able to see it now."

Elios looked out in the direction of the middle valley and was just in time to see the flicker of a fire as it took hold; the Renegs were closer than he would have liked; he gave the signal for the other boys to stay down as he looked through his binoculars at the group of four riders and haws as they sat on the sand; Elios whispered into his com'

"Elvan, how far are we from you?"

"Not far at all, if you keep walking straight ahead you will see me shortly."

"Do you think your weapon will reach the Renegs?"

"Easily, why?"

"I want you to fire some ammo at them; it doesn't matter if you hit them or not, just enough to scare them away then we can make a run for it."

"Ok, get ready and when you see the fire you will know exactly where I am; ready?"

"Just a moment, I want to tell these boys so they don't get scared and run into the Renegs."

"Ok."

Elios crawled over to the leader and explained what was about to happen.

"My friend is going to fire at the Renegs; there's going to be a lot of noise, so don't let your guys run away; as soon as the Renegs take off we can run towards where you all see the fire from."

Even in the darkness Elios could see the fearfulness in the boys' faces; he ignored it and called Elvan.

"Ok Elvan let's do it."

Almost immediately the dark was shattered by what sound like a ten tens of haws running on hard metal; the flashing of the weapon was closer than Elios had thought; also there was a fantastic sight that they had not expected as they saw a stream of small lights flash from where Elvan was towards where the Renegs were sitting.

In his binoculars Elios could plainly see the sand around the Renegs erupt in small geysers of dust as the rounds hit; some were staying in the sand but others were hitting the sand and bouncing high in the air; the Renegs haws reared and bucked as they took to their heels in fright as the ground became a forest of sand spouts; only two Renegs got to their feet and looked around terrified at the sudden explosions around them; their haws were gone and they were now only two in the middle of the dark. As quickly as it had come it also finished; the two Renegs were to terrified to even take any notice of the faint dark figures running madly towards where the small, lethal lights had come from.

As the group came up next to the APC, Elios called Elvan in his com.

"Open the back door, quick."

Elios ushered the new boys around the back of the APC as Elam dived in through the side door. Elios followed the new boys into the rear; the red light inside would give them away if the door was open to long; as soon as he was inside, Elios went to his table and sat down puffing as he heard Elvan giggling behind him.

"What are you laughing at?" Elios asked him.

"I didn't know that it would have all those pretty lights in it; it made it easier to see where they were going; did I get any of those rats?"

"I'm not sure but I think I only saw two of them stand up before I was running."

"Good, I hope I got some of them, teach them a lesson."

Elios turned in his chair to look at the new boys; their faces showed the awe of their surroundings. Elvan changed the red light to white as Mita took out two trays of food and handed them to the new boys along with some water bottles; the new boys wasted no time in diving their dirty hands into the spam pies and shovelling it into their mouths.

Elios called to Elam.

"What do you think, should we try to get back to the cave now or wait till sun rise?"

"I think we all need some rest, let's wait till sun rise and do it easy."

"Ok, we'll have to sort out some places to sleep; there's more of us in here than I thought we would have."

"We'll be ok, let's just sit in our seats and we can sleep here; it'll give the boys more room on the floor," suggested Elvan.

"Good idea, is everything locked up so none of those Renegs can get in?"

"Yep," replied Elam.

"Ok let's get some sleep till sun rise."

The boys got as comfortable as they could in their seats while the new boys tried to find a place to lie down; it was going to be uncomfortable but it was better than being outside for the Renegs to find.

Elios was the first boy to feel the rising heat of a new dei as it shone down on the metal skin of the APC; beside him Elam stirred as he too opened his eyes to a new dei. Elios called out for Mita to get food and water for their new group of boys as they would soon be heading back to the Bunker #42 to unload the boys they had found. Elam began checking the instruments on the APC in front of him as the sounds of waking boys could be heard in the rear compartment.

Mita set out food for all the boys in the form of four trays of spam pie and then handed out the water bottles as Elios, Elam and Elvan took their places ready to depart for home. After explaining what they were going to do and where they were going; Elios turned back to his table and set the course for the APC. Elam started the twin motors and began to turn the APC towards home; as he got back onto the return course a clanging sound came to his ears and those of the others; Elvan checked his screen and called out to Elam.

"Renegs, about ten plus five, they're trying to surround us."

"We can't lead them back home; give them a few rounds and see if that gives them a scare," replied Elam.

Elvan fired of a long burst of rounds and watched through his screen as the Renegs haws bucked and jumped in fear at the unusual sounds and the heavy spurts of sand as it flew into the air around them. Three Renegs were hit and fell dead from their mounts as others were thrown from their seats and landed badly on the ground; Elvan stopped firing and watched intently as the remainder of the Renegs took flight towards the far side of the valley.

Elam began to move quickly as the motors wound up to a deep growl and the body of the APC began to buck slightly as it moved over the uneven ground towards their home; it was then that Elios realised they would now be the object of the Renegs attacks; they had now been seen in the light of dei and it was way to obvious that it was something from a long time ago when the ancients ruled the world.

Elvan had turned the turret to follow the Renegs as they went back away from the APC but did not flee altogether; they stayed as far away as they could and still keep the strange ancient's box in sight; Elvan relayed to Elios and Elam what he could see.

"Are they still in range of your weapons, Elvan?" asked Elios.

"Yes, I can get them easily from here."

"Try a couple more rounds at them and see what happens."

Elvan fired again and watched his screens as the rounds hit the soft sand causing small fountains of dirt to fly up around the packed Renegs; again the Renegs took to their heels and went further back; Elvan watched them closely as they reformed further away from the retreating APC. It was then he saw what could cause them a real problem.

As they pulled further away from the gang of Renegs, Elvan picked up on one of his screens the two distinct lines of their tracks in the soft sand; he turned to Elam and told him what he could see; the three boys discussed if there was anything they could do; it was soon obvious that this was beyond their control and they would have to just do the best they could when the time came; as it surely would now that there were witnesses to their discovery of ancient artefacts.

Their exhibition of the power inside the APC would soon spread through the ranks of the Renegs and they would become a target for the secrets they now held in their home. Elios told Elam to get as much speed as he could and get to their home as fast as possible; they would have to now start to make plans for their own defence as the Renegs could follow at a distance and then wait for them to emerge from their bunker and attack them when they were outside. Only the new weapons gave the boys a distinct advantage and as long as the Renegs could not get a hold of any of them they would be able to defend themselves.

Elios had a deep seated feeling that one day in the future they would have to go out and be the ones to attack the Renegs; he also understood that at this stage they did not have enough boys to make an effective group; they would have to go out many more times before they could try to turn the tables on the Renegs.

High sun was approaching just as the APC pulled up at the entrance to the bunker; Elios jumped out and opened the door much to the amazement of the new boys who had not said a word for the whole journey as the deep rumbling sound of the APC had at first frightened them, and then had made it impossible to talk normally.

Elam drove the APC into the darkness of the bunker and then into the garage where he turned it off and sat back with a sigh; it had been a long drive and the tension of knowing the Renegs were tracking them further back had kept all three boys on the toes for the whole journey; now they were once again home they all relaxed and began to get the new boys out and along the passages to the main room.

It was time to get to know the new boys and as soon as everything had been locked down and the Renegs could not get inside the boys asked for everyone to sit down and introduce themselves. Elvan, along with Mita, went to start heating trays of food for the hungry group; Elios sat at the head of one table while the new boys pulled other tables together so they could all sit in one place.

Once all the new boys had exchanged names and places of birth, Elios began to describe what they had in the bunker; where the sleeping rooms were and how to make the bunks; he told them where the boys could wash and how to use the water levers as well as the galley for food and all the other places in the bunker system; at the end of the discussion, Elvan and Mita arrived with the food and a new hot drink that Elvan had discovered in a cooking manual called HOT CHOCOLATE; this went down so fast that he had to go and make some more for most of the boys.

At the end of the meal all the boys looked full and contented except for the leader boy of the largest group; his name he said was Bax; during the whole talk by Elios, he had remained silent but once the meal was finished and the boys had thanked Elvan he seemed to decide that now was a good time to bring up his thoughts.

Elios had been watching him and had a suspicion that the boy was not going to accept his or his friend's decisions; Bax thought of himself as the natural leader and did not want to give up his position in his group.

Elios waited for Bax to start and he didn't have long to wait.

"So what do you expect from us; I'm the leader and we have more boys than you so I should be the leader here," said Bax with a little belligerence in his voice.

Elios looked at the bigger boy and smiled at him disarmingly.

"If you were the leader here what do we do next?"

Bax looked at the smaller boy with confusion written on his young face.

"I… I…"

"That's what I thought; we found this system and we've had a lot of time to work things out; so far you've only seen a few of the things the ancients had but there's so much more and we're still working out a lot of it so I think it's your decision; you can either work with us or you're welcome to leave and make your own way out there."

Bax looked at the smaller boy and before he could get to his feet and fully confront him, he felt a cold pressure on the back of his neck; turning he saw the boy called Elam standing behind him with one of their small weapons held against him; the look in Elam's eyes held a silent warning about going after Elios. Elam spoke quietly but his intentions were very clear to Bax.

"This is our home, we found it and we've been here for more than six Mune; there's still a lot we have to learn and you can either stay here and help or leave right now; any of your boys that want to go with you it's fine by us. We're trying to build our own group here so no one of us have to be scared of the Renegs anymore; and if you think you can come in here and take over or attack one of my friends then you don't belong here; now make your mind up."

Elam stepped back away from Bax and watched as the boy looked around the room; for the first time he had a look of fear on his young face; this was a lot more than he had bargained for; looking at the boys in his own group he suddenly became aware that they were not with him on this; that realisation that he was alone for the first time brought the first small tear to his eye.

Elios stood up from the table and went to stand beside Elam.

"It's your decision Bax; outside the Renegs will be looking for us by now; they had our tracks to follow so are probably already out there trying to work out a way to get in here; so, are you in or out?"

Elam had never heard Elios speak with such hardness before and he wrapped an arm around the smaller boy in a gesture of agreement and solidarity; Bax could only look around at what he would be giving away just for the chance to be the leader; as another tear fell from his eye he sniffed and then bent his head in defeat. Slowly he nodded that he would listen to the boys and wanted to stay, there was no hope outside and he knew it; he either complied with the wishes of these boys or he was out among the Renegs, and that was not going to be an option.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I don't want to go out there; I've heard all the stories about what Renegs do to new boys, I want to stay here and I'll do what you want."

"Look, everyone is tired, let's leave all this until we've all had a rest. Mita will show you to the sleeping rooms and show you how to make the platforms comfortable to sleep on as well as show you where to wash, ok?"

All the boys sighed as they released the tension that had built up during the argument with Bax; the long ride and the fear of the Renegs had made them very tired and sleep was what the wanted most of all. Mita appeared from the galley where he had been cleaning up and told the new boys to follow him. Elvan also appeared from the galley and joined his two friends at the table.

"Do you think he will be a problem in the future, Elios?" asked Elam.

"I don't know; maybe we can find a way for him to take charge of a group when we get more boys here; he does have a type of leadership about him. Maybe we can use that in the future but first they will all have to be trained to use the new weapons and also how to help around the bunker as far as cooking and cleaning goes; we also have the problem of the Renegs now knowing where we are; we have to find a way to fix that as well."

Mita appeared in the room as the boys heard shouts and yells of delight from away down the passage; the new boys had found the ablution room and were enjoying the newness of the instant hot and cold water washing system. Elios turned to Mita just in time to see the older boy looking longingly at the large rifle still sitting on the table where he had put it the dei before.

"What is it, Mita?" asked Elios as he smiled at his two friends.

"That… uhm… rifle, I would like to have it when you free me."

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's just something about it that draws me to it; and it's far too big for any of you or the new boys to carry but I think I can if you could teach me how it works."

Elios looked again at his two friends and saw them nod in agreement to whatever he decided.

"Mita; in the last few Mune you have been here, you've done everything we asked and no complaints; I think my friends and I are in agreement that you should be free now and if you want to stay with us and help then you can or if you want to go your own way we will give you some stuff to help you; what do you want?"

It took no thought at all on Mita's part to make such a decision.

"I want to stay and help you destroy the Renegs; what they did to me and to Elvan is not right and they need to be killed off; all of them and I want to help."

Elam stood up and went over and hugged Mita.

"Move your things into our sleeping room then we'll go and get some clothes for you to wear; as far as the big rifle goes, I'll look over the manual and then teach you how to use it; from now on it's yours."

Elios joined Elam in hugging Mita. Elvan was still a little reticent about getting that close to an ex Reneg but smiled at the newest member of their developing group in welcome; they were starting to become a close knit group and this would only bode well for them in the long run. Mita gave a great sigh of contentment as the three boys accepted him at last.

Elios told the boys that they should settle down for the dark time and then start to look at what the next dei would bring them. They knew that they were safe inside the bunker and that any Renegs outside would not be able to attack them while they slept; they could face them another dei when they had trained more boys for defence.

Chapter 8
Gathering Storm

Bunker #42 was, for the next thirty dei's; a hive of activity and learning as the newest members of the family were immersed into learning about weapons and how to read either the ancient's writing or how to make use of the fig pictures. Most of the teaching was left to Elam and Elvan as Elios had decided to learn all he could from the admin room and the strange COMPUTER machines.

Most dark times every one was too tired to play boys games and was only too happy to eat as fast as they could and retire to the new and comfortable sleeping rooms. Elam had taken three boys with him into the galley and was teaching them how to prepare the trays of food and keep the galley clean. Elam spent a lot of time teaching both the weapons and the fig pictures but it was Mita that had the most fun; he had been allowed to have the big rifle to himself as the other boys were just too small and light weight to handle it; and along with the fig pictures he spent every waking moment with it in the underground RANGE area.

First he taught himself how to FIELD STRIP it and clean its many parts; once he was happy that he could do it as fast as his hands could move, he began to follow the fig pictures for the looking glass that went on top; this he had learnt was called a RANGE AND NV INTERGRATED SCOPE; he wasn't aware of what it meant until he had spent six days going over and over the fig pictures and finally had worked out what he could do with the large weapon. What he did learn almost frightened him; when he saw the power of the rifle for the first time as he fired it at a TARGET at the far end of the RANGE room.

He knew that there were three types of AMMO for it and had tried one of each; the AP had made a large hole in the TARGET and the loud bang had nearly been too much for his ears even though they were protected by the EARMUFFS; as the fig pictures had shown him to do. The next one as an AT round; that had made the same loud sound but had almost destroyed the TARGET. The last one was called a DPU round; this one made the same sound but the results not only shook the room he was in but brought a lot of the boys running; when the dust from the far wall settled, Mita gulped in horror at the damage.

Elam was the first to get into the range room and saw Mita standing above the big rifle he had taken a shine to; the look of horror on his face as he stared open mouthed at the far end of the room made Elam turn and look in the same direction; when he saw what Mita was looking at, Elam broke out into a huge smile and ran up to hug Mita with all his might. Mita looked down at his once captor and shook his head at the unusual reaction; all that was running through his mind was how much trouble he would now be in for causing so much damage; he again looked down the range and shook his head.

Where there had once been a target was now nothing; the bags full of sand behind had been splashed all over the floor and the hard ancient stone wall now had a large hole punched into it that Mita though he would be able to put his head into. The destruction was amazing from such a small looking round; Mita began to shake with the realisation of the damage that this big weapon could do, he then heard Elam talking to him.

"Mita, what was that?"

Mita shook himself again and looked at Elam standing there waiting for an answer.

"I… I was trying out the rifle; the first round only put a hole in the target; the next one destroyed the target and I had to put a new one there; the last one sort of blew up everything."

"Which round is which?"

Mita stooped down and took one of each round from their respective metal boxes; he then took the first one and showed it to Elam; it had a red point at one end.

"This one just made a hole in the target."

Mita showed the next one, it had a green point on it.

"This one destroyed the target."

Taking up the final round he showed Elam the grey point on the end.

"And this one did everything."

Mita could only stare at the three rounds lying in his palm and then looked down at Elam again with the awed look still on his face; Elam smiled back and patted him on the shoulder.

"Do the fig pictures show what they all are for?"

"I'm not sure; from what I can work out, the red one is for people, the green one is for things like your APC and other transport, but the grey one is for something called a TANK or for shooting into something called FORTIFICATIONS whatever they are."

Mita had had to spell out the new words as he wasn't sure how to say them but Elam got the idea of what he was trying to say.

"Can you get me your manuals so I can find out more about it; maybe we can help you understand it better."

Mita nodded and went to the small table at the wall behind him and gave the manual to Elam; he immediately sat on the floor and began to go through the manual; the other boys that had run in with him slowly went back to what they had been doing before the large shaking had taken place.

Elios was enthralled by the many things his COMPUTER could do as he learnt more and more about it. He felt the shudder through the floor but was to engrossed in what he was doing to give it much thought; his young mind was being opened to new and wondrous things the more he learnt about his new toy; he was totally amazed at the amount of things the ancients had done and could not work out how they could have just disappeared in the Horror of ancient times.

Elios was learning a new way of working out time and numbers; he now knew that it had once been a habit to break up each dei into shorter parts so the ancients could work more efficiently; the numbers did not stop at multiples of ten and the distances were also worked out to the smallest part; every night he went to sleep with all this new information running through his head; it almost ached from too many new ideas but at the same time he felt a great satisfaction at what was now inside his head.

Elios had decided that it was almost time to teach these new ideas to the other boys so they would all have the benefit of them. He had been about to start the new teaching now but had opened a FILE that was all about BATTLE TACTICS and had then been enthralled again at what he was seeing. There was so much there that he was sure would help them to avoid having one of their number hurt again by the Renegs; much of what he saw now made sense when attached to the various weapons they now had and would be very useful in future; he was still mindful of the fact that the Renegs were probably camped outside their big door waiting for them but he now had a small idea how they might be able to get out again soon without having to fight head on with them.

More time passed as everyone tried as hard as they could to take in the new ideas; hardest of all was the new type of breaking up the dei's as well as the way the ancients measured the distance from one place to another. Elios was insistent that every boy could understand each of these new ideas so that they could all be more precise; for some unknown reason, Elios felt that this was going to be very important in the future of the boys' survival.

At the end of thirty five days, all the boys were close to understanding the new scales of time and distance; it was now time for the boys to go out and search for more members to join their underground home. Elios called all the boys into the admin room to tell them about how he thought they might be able to get out without all dying at the hands of the waiting Renegs. That was if they were still out there, and Elios had a funny feeling that they would be waiting for the young boys to come out.

Once everyone was crammed tightly into the admin room he lit up the far wall to lots of ooh's and aah's at all the little lights shining on the gles wall; next he hit some buttons on the computer and an outline of their bunker showed up as well as the surrounding land; although the land of today was not exactly the same as on the wall picture due to the number of yarn that had passed since the Horror.

Elios began to tell them of his plan.

"What we need to do is find out where they might be so we have to find a way of going outside without them seeing us; to do this we will have to clear all the sand out of the hole we first came in; it will have to be done carefully so they don't hear us although it's on the other side of the cliff. Next one of us will have to go up to the top of the cliff and draw a picture of where they all are camped, ok?"

All the boys nodded their heads and continued to listen intently, this sounded like a good plan to them all.

"Next; once we know where they all are we have to have a group to scare them away so we can get our transports outside; what I think is best is that Mita with his big rifle, along with two others to protect him; should go to one side of the hole until he can see their camp, another group; under Bax and with six boys, go out and hide on the other side of the hole to stop any Renegs getting too close to the big door.

Mita this is how you should be when you find the right place to hide below the cliff top so you can see them but they can't see you and the two boys with you. You are in the middle with your big rifle; one boy will lay on each side of you watching out for anyone trying to sneak up on you from the side; once you're there and you see Bax and his boys in place then you start to fire on their main camp; use the red rounds for that and try to kill as many as you can."

Elios looked at Mita and saw the determination on the older boy's face as he nodded his acceptance of his place.

"Bax, you lead the other boys to the top of the cliff on the other side and set your boys out in a line along the top so you can see the front of our bunker and the doorway; when Mita starts to fire you do the same at any of the Renegs that are close to the door; both of you; if the Renegs try to attack you and they are getting close, then get back to the hole and come inside; close and lock the little door so they can't get into our bunker."

Elios looked at Bax and some of the other boys for agreement, when he was satisfied that they understood their jobs he continued.

"We all know how to use the small com units so we have to keep in contact with each other all the time but only Mita and Bax are to talk so we don't all mess up the coms; when we hear you start to fire; Elam, Elvan and I, along with some of the other boys will use the APC and one of the Humvee to escape outside and make as much trouble for them as we can. I've made a map of where we can go and look for more boys; we will be away for a while so don't worry; when we get back with new boys we'll call you on the com units and we do the same again to get back in if the Renegs are still stupid enough to be waiting outside again. Mita and Bax, you will be in charge while we're gone, keep everyone safe and make ready some new rooms for any new boys we can get."

Elios looked at Bax and got his understanding of the position they would be in.

"The last thing is this; when we have enough new boys we can go out and look for more of these bunkers to live in; if we can get enough we might be able to form a group big enough to fight off any more killing raids by the Renegs and save more new boys when they leave their breeding caves. Ok we need to get all the sand cleaned out of the back hole and make everything ready to move. Mita pick two boys to go with you; Bax get your six boys; the rest will come with me in the Humvee and Elam and Elvan in the APC; everyone check their weapons and make sure your webbing is good and tight; you'll need three mags for your Beretta and four mags for you rifle; three boys with me and one more with Elam, Elvan will be on the big weapon on the APC like before."

Everyone set about doing what they had been asked and for the next two dei's they set about practicing what they would need to do. Mita would crawl along the floor of the range room and when he was looking over the small lump of sand bags they had made; the two boys would take a place on his left and right facing away so they could see both directions as well as behind the boy on the floor.

Bax did very much the same as he set about putting his boys in a spread out line along the floor of the training room so they were about two lengths apart; both sets of boys spent long hours practicing their places while all the other boys were helping to pull all the sand from the round hole that the three original boys had used to get into the bunker. The storm had really packed the sand in hard but working from the inside was easier than trying to go outside and face the Renegs without a plan.

At the end of the second dei the boys had broken through the sand barrier and could now see outside into the small valley on the opposite side of the cliff from the Renegs large camping place. Taking his binoculars with him as well as one other boy to watch over him; Elios crawled through the short tunnel to the back of the cliff and then both of them made their way to the top as quietly as they could. Once at the top of the cliff, Elios and the new boy lay flat and carefully poked their heads above the last small ridge of sand.

Below them was more than Elios had bargained for; somehow the Renegs had managed to call in more men. The main camp was well out in the middle of the valley as well as smaller camps dotted about and closer to where their big doorway was; closer to the door was another small camp that was obviously put there as a first warning of the boys coming out. The Reneg had placed a line of broken stones across the track that lead into the door space; Elios smiled to himself as he thought of what the APC would do to the line of stones; while he had not taken a Humvee outside he had driven it inside the garage and didn't think the stones would be a problem.

Elios smiled at the thought of the alterations that Elam had had to make so Elios could reach all the pedals and be able to look over the wheel to see where he was going; they would be taking extra boxes of mags for the three boys so they could each fire out of the side of the Humvee. Elios would have a map and tell Elam which way to go from the coms units once they were well clear of the Renegs. The big door would be closed by one of the last boys inside the bunker; they all had now been given a card to operate all the doors in the bunker and had practiced with them until they all knew how to do it.

Elios looked down at the valley below him and carefully taking out a piece of paper, began to draw the camp set up down below him. When he was sure he had all he would need, he signalled the boy with him to carefully crawl backwards and then down into the tunnel. When they had closed the small door and got to a table; Elios spread out his paper and called all the boys to the room to look it over, especially Mita and Bax.

For the next half a dei they went over and over the rough map Elios had made until they were sure where they needed to be. Elios was only concerned about the big camp as it was a long way from the top of the cliff but Mita assured him he would have no trouble with the big rifle to reach that far. Mita now knew what the numbers were when he looked down his scope and the fig pictures had told him he could easily reach a target as far away as 2000mt. He wasn't sure what a mt. was but he had a reasonably good idea what the 2000 was; when he got outside and up to the cliff top he would be able to see through his scope how far way the camp was by the numbers inside the scope.

Finally the boys thought they were ready for the next sunrise; the two groups going outside to the cliff top would leave as soon as the first light showed; as they would be along the cliff top with the rising sun behind them, they would be almost invisible to the Renegs down in the valley, when they started firing; they would tell Elios and the others when to start out the big door.

That dark time they had a huge meal and went to sleep earlier than usual so as to be ready for the fighting next sunrise; until Mita and Bax returned to the bunker there would only be two boys left inside and their job was to get the big door closed as soon as possible after the others left.

Sunrise seemed to come quicker than usual but all the boys were ready. Mita lead the way out the small door and into the tunnel while it was still showing dark outside; Bax along with his six boys followed quickly behind; the tension and excitement was thick in the air as the boys felt for the first time a new determination to retaliate against the Reneg for the first time in their lives. The ancient weapons gave them a new sense of worth and a way to fight back against an evil that had killed so many new boys over the history of the new world.

Elios looked around the garage at the collection of young boys; all of them held their rifles ready; their webbing belts were adjusted to fit their smaller frames as well as the new shirts being cut down to fit. Their new boots covered their slender legs and their side arms looked heavy on their slim hips but all had the same look of determination on their young faces; they all understood that they were going out to fight for a new life as well as a new life for other boys out there alone.

Mita carefully crawled outside the tunnel and, along with his two boys went to the left and began to climb the short distance to the top of the cliff; he heard Bax lead his boys to the right and begin their climb. Once on top of the cliff; Mita moved along until he could see down into the other valley below; sending his two lookouts to each side of him to watch for any Renegs trying to get up to his position, he settled down and set up his big rifle.

Making sure he had the two short legs firmly in the sand, he took off the two black caps on the scope and settled himself down like he had taught himself from the fig pictures; once he was comfortable, he began to sweep left and right to see where all the camps were; when he found the big main camp he began to search for signs of life and to try to work out who the leaders were.

Elios had suggested he try to pick out the leaders and kill them first; it would hopefully cause a lot of panic in the followers and so make it easier for Bax and his boys to kill as many as they could before all the boys would go back into the tunnel and disappear from the sight of the Renegs before they could react to the attack. They knew they had to keep up their fire until they saw the transports take off through the ranks of the Renegs camps and escape into the far wilderness in search of new boys.

Mita felt the first touch of the sun's heat as it rose above the horizon behind them; soon the glare of the sun would hide them from any eyes below and that would be the time for him to start their attack. Mita waited patiently; doing his breathing exercises like he had learnt from the manual, slowly his breathing quietened until he was hardly breathing at all; his body felt relaxed and comfortable as he took sight at the big camp in the middle of the valley; the numbers in his scope told him he was 1400mt from the camp; he made the needed adjustments as he had learnt and settled down to wait.

As the first rays of the rising sun broke over the main camp, Renegs began to make themselves seen as they rose for another day of waiting for the boys to appear from the big door that they had run into in their strange artefact so many dei's before. Some of the Renegs were getting tired of the waiting game, but their leaders had a tight hold on them and wanted all the new and terrible weapons the boys had used on them so they sat and waited.

Most of the Renegs were both hungry and thirsty as the means to fill their bellies and slake their thirst had to be carried from a long way away; most of them were lucky to get one meal a day and the constant need for water had made a lot of them very short tempered; fights broke out constantly over the amount of water being shared and the leaders were always having to break up the fighting and arguing every day. Tempers were very short indeed and they didn't know how long they could keep their men satisfied; pressure was building as they had to wait out in the hot sun every dei.

The six leaders sat in a circle as one of their men brought them some water and the dry tough bred they usually had for the first food of the dei; the rest of the Renegs were starting their own meals as the sun rose higher; it looked like another dei of waiting for the boys to come out; boredom was the hardest part of this dei but they were determined to take what those boys had; if they could get those fantastic ancient weapons they would be the leaders of the whole world that they knew; no one could fight against them.

Mita looked through his scope at the circle of six leaders; each was seated opposite another as they seemed to be talking and eating. Mita adjusted his scope until he was sure he had it set right then, taking careful aim and letting his breathing follow his self training; he squeezed off the first round, the sudden shock of firing pushed back into his shoulder as the rifle went off with a loud crack that could be heard right down the valley in the stillness of the air.

Mita watched as the Reneg he was aiming at was lifted bodily from his squatting position and thrown forcibly into the small fire in the middle of the group; what amazed Mita more was that the Reneg opposite the one he had aimed at was also thrown backwards as the round went right through the first one and punched heavily into the chest of the second leader.

Mita would have smiled at the effect of the big rifle had he not been sighting in on another leader; the Reneg tried to look around and find out what had just happened to the other two who were now lying on the ground with large bloody holes in their chests; they never got to work out what it was as the next Reneg felt a very hard punch in his chest just before blackness took him.

Suddenly there was pandemonium as the sharp sound of crackling erupted from the far off cliff top; around the entrance to the cave where the Reneg had been camped to stop the boys escaping; there were yells of fear and fright as the top of the cliff seemed to light up with small flashes of fire; below the guards were falling or running for their lives as the sound of angry bees appeared to fly around the heads of the guarding Renegs. Small spurts of sand kicked up around the Renegs feet as they tried to scramble for cover from the hail of death coming from above them.

Further out from the cliff, other Renegs were looking for the cause of the death that had come out of the stillness of the rising sun but nothing could be seen against the glare at the cliff top; only the deep booming sound of death as another Reneg fell to the sand with the appearance of a boneless bag, or a small animal skin hut would disintegrate in a flash of flame and sound. Haws were screaming in fear as they pulled mightily on their tethers trying to pull free so they could flee from the loud sounds that echoed around the valley bringing death and destruction in the stillness that had been the dawn of another dei.

Mita carefully picked his targets as he methodically dealt death to the Renegs as his friends on the other side of the entrance took care of the Reneg that were too close to the entrance. Mita felt the rumbling in the earth of the big door rising which was shortly followed by the deep rumble of the APC as it sped out of the doorway before it was fully open and was followed quickly by the lighter sound of the speeding Humvee.

Mita stopped firing as he saw the Humvee speed past the APC and take the lead once the APC had crushed and pushed the line of stones out of the way; through his scope Mita could see the three black barrels of the boy's rifles poking out of the windows as the Humvee charged wildly through the nearest camp; the APC was firing its weapons further out into the rest of the Reneg camp areas.

Mita stopped his firing and gave a short whistle to get his two boys to pull back from the top of the cliff as he again felt the rumble through the ground as the big door closed once again; once below the rim of the cliff, Mita gave out a long loud whistle and was soon answered by Bax and his boys as they too pulled back and began to make their way to the tunnel leaving a number of black bundles lying on the sand below them.

As soon as all the boys returned to the main room in their bunker they all began to yell and laugh as the tension of their first ever attack on the hated Reneg was over; not only over but was a bigger success than they could ever of thought; the two remaining boys that had stayed below had already made a huge amount of food for the returning hero's and hurriedly filled a table with it as the boys carefully lay their weapons on other tables ready for cleaning.

A thought flashed through Mita's mind as he sat down to eat; from the carnage they had caused this dei, there would be feasting as well for the black Skavs for a long time to come. The birds were very quick to attack any carrion that was disabled so the bodies of the Renegs would probably cause a huge number of the Skavs to appear and begin to feed. Mita knew that the Landers; the people who hid in small valleys and produced the plants needed to make the bred that everyone ate; also called the Skavs, Soul Eaters; as they believed that the black birds took away the life force of any person unlucky enough to be eaten by them and that the souls could be seen living in the black unwavering eyes of the Skavs.

On the valley floor; once they were well clear of the Renegs camp sites; Elios pulled his Humvee to a halt and waited as Elam stopped the APC beside him. Elios got out of his still running Humvee; his young body still shaking a little from the excitement of the wild dash from the bunker and sound of the rifle fire as they tore through the small groups of running and scared Renegs; not a crossbow bolt had been fired at them as the fear of death from above the cliff had taken all of the Renegs attention.

Elios put his binoculars to his eyes to look back at what had once been a Reneg camp of somewhere around four plus ten men. It was now nothing more than a place on the sand that had less than half of them now running towards the far off hills; on the floor of the valley were burning skin huts and small black dots of the dead; already Elios could make out the black dots in the sky of the Skavs; the black birds would fill their bellies this dei. Elios looked over at where Elam stood beside the still running APC and signalled for him to come over.

Once Elam had joined him, Elios got out his map and they began to discuss where they would start their search for more boys.

"I think we should make a big circle around here and come into the breeding cave area from this direction," Elios said as he traced a circular line on the material of the map with his finger.

Elam looked and nodded his head in agreement; Elios was the one with the good mind for this type of thing and Elam was happy to go along with any plan he made.

"How many boys do you think we can get this time?" Elam asked.

"As many as we can fit in both transports; even if we have to squeeze them as tight as we can; the more we can save now is better for us all."

"Ok; I'll just follow you, what about those Renegs that escaped the camp?"

"Well all of them are now on foot so if we see any on the way I think we should finish them off; the ones that get away will tell all the others that this place is a valley of death so they might stay away and leave us alone when we're here. I think they will try to take us when we go out on searches so we will have to be more careful then."

Elam nodded and then, with a big smile returned to his APC while Elios got back into his Humvee where he told his three boys how good they had done on their escape from the bunker; the three boys blushed with pride at the words of encouragement and gave small shivers as they felt the effects of their first battle with the Renegs. Elios took the lead and turned the Humvee towards what he now knew was called the North point on the small round compass he had carried with him.

For the next half dei they travelled across new sands towards the far side of the breeding caves; while the circular route was longer it also gave Elios a chance to get used to driving the big Humvee and to get used to the thick blocks of wud attached to the pedals that Elam had made for him so he could reach them; the thick pad under his butt made it easier to see over the wheel but it was also a small danger when he hit a hole or bump in the sand as he tended to bounce upwards; had it not been for his metal hat he would by now have a very sore head.

By high sun, the two transport had come up close to where the outskirts of the breeding caves were; Elios climbed up on top of his Humvee and, with his binoculars to his eyes, began to scan the surrounding landscape; while he was doing that his three boys along with Elam and Elvan from the APC, got out and walked around to stretch their legs and take out some of the kinks that had built up from the long drive. Elvan got out some food and water for them all as Elios continued his search.

Whenever he saw a small black dot moving on the sandy ground far away along the valley, he would stop looking and carefully place a mark on the map that was open at his feet then he would go back to searching. After quite a while on top of the Humvee, Elios thought he had seen all he could and came back to the ground with his friends, folding the map as he did so; taking some food from Elvan and a sip of water he began to report to the others what he had seen and how they should go about collecting all the boys out there.

After their food and water stop the boys returned to their transports and headed out towards where Elios had seen the small black moving dots of the newly dispersed boys from the breeding caves. In the back of Elios mind was the idea to start to search for more of the bunker systems that he had seen in his computer pictures; he was well aware that theirs was not the only one as he now understood the counting system of the ancients; he was also aware that there must be at least four plus one; or in the numbers of the ancients, which he now understood as 41 more of them.

The two vehicles travelled onward and it wasn't long before Elam and Elios saw the first boy ahead of them; at the strange sound of the vehicles, the boy looked back over his shoulder with evident fear on his face at the large things headed his way. His only response was to take to his heels and run as fast as he could away from the approaching terrors. Elios watched as the small boy looked over his shoulder again; fear and dread was plain on his young face, Elios sped up a little more and pulled to a halt in front of the fearful boy.

As soon as he came to a halt; Elios opened his door and jumped out waving his arms in an attempt to calm the boy who, seeing he had no way to escape from the beast or the boy that controlled it; had collapsed on the sand and began to cry tears of fear and desperation as Elios slowly approached him with a container of water in one hand and a little food in the other and with a soft smile on his lips to try and calm the boy.

The closer Elios got to the boy, the more the boy cringed in fright; slowly Elios got closer and then with a calm voice began to talk to the new boy as he held out the food and water in a gesture of peace; slowly the boy stopped crying and looked up at Elios and the food and water he held; there was still fear in his eyes but he was beginning to calm a little as Elios didn't move any closer.

"Hello, my names Elios, what's yours?"

A very soft whisper came from the boys trembling lips.

"Pita."

"Well Pita, you don't have to be scared; we're here to help you and offer you a new safe home if you want it; here, take the food and water," Elios said as he held out his gift to the still trembling boy.

"What is that thing?" Whispered Pita.

"It's called a transport it was made by the ancients; we found it along with a lot of other stuff in a hidden place and we learnt how to use it so we can beat the Renegs; we're looking for more boys to join us because we don't like what the Renegs do to new boys when they go roving; we really would like you to join us."

Pita took the food and water from Elios and quickly took a mouth full as soon as he had the food in his hand; immediately a new and wondrous look came over his face as he got the first taste of the new and strange food; it was like nothing he had ever eaten, quickly he took a mouth full of water and then went back to hurriedly eating the rest of the food; when he was finished he looked up again at the young boy standing waiting for him.

"Can I really join you, that thing's not dangerous is it?"

"Yes we would like you to join us and no; it's not dangerous, well not unless I drive it wrong."

Elam had kept the APC far back from Elios as he could not go as fast as the smaller Humvee; he sat and waited for Elios to call him on his com unit before he would go close to the new boy.

Pita looked again at the Humvee and noticed for the first time that there were another three boys sitting inside holding funny looking black pipes; they also had funny metal hats on that made their small heads look under sized; each boy was smiling at him.

"There's not much space in there for me," Pita again whispered to Elios.

"That's ok, we have another bigger transport to carry you in; this one is just for looking and finding new boys; would you like to see the bigger one?"

"Uhm… yes, ok."

Pita watched as his new friend Elios, put his finger to his neck and talked softly to nothing.

"Ok Elam; come up slowly, Pita is still a little scared so be careful."

Pita watched as Elios nodded his head at something and then heard a deep loud growl from behind him; with fear again in his eyes he spun around and saw a new transport come over a slight rise in the ground; it was bigger and looked very dangerous; from the top of the transport stood a round thing that had two larger pipes coming from it; these pipes were going around as though searching for something. Pita felt Elios put a soft steady hand on his shoulder to let him know it was ok; as the new transport got closer, Pita continued to tremble as he realised just how big it was.

When the large transport stopped a little way away, Pita saw a small metal door open in the side and then heard it begin to wine like a small dog as the back began to come down; from the side door another young boy jumped out smiling at Pita.

"Hello, my name's Elam, I'm Elios' friend; are you going to come and live with us?"

Pita looked from Elios to the new boy Elam; his mind was close to being made up when he saw that the boys were just ordinary boys and not demons or Renegs; slowly he nodded his head that he would like to live with them even though the big transports still scared him.

"Great," Elios said. "Why don't you go with Elam and he'll show you how to get inside so your safe from any Renegs that we may find; we're going to go looking for more boys so we might be out here for a couple of dei's looking but don't worry, we have plenty of food and water."

For the first time since their meeting, Pita smiled and still with a little trepidation he moved with Elam to the back of the APC; when he saw inside he couldn't believe how much space there was; also he felt a little better when he saw Elvan sitting and smiling at him as he sat at his small screens watching the surrounding country; Elvan gave him a small wave and a smile then turned back to his business.

Elam took Pita inside and showed him where to sit and how to tighten the belt around his waist; explaining that sometimes the APC would hit a hole or bump and the belt would keep him safe.

"If you get hungry or thirsty just help yourself, it's all in those two boxes, you open them like this."

Elam showed Pita how to open the boxes and what was inside; Pita could only stare in disbelief at all the food; he suddenly felt happy to be with his new friends. At last he was not going to be lonely or scared of the Renegs again while he was with them. Pita settled into a seat and pulled his belt tight as Elam went to the front and sat in the driver's seat; with some movement of his hands on some buttons and a stick, the APC began to move forward. Pita let out a small gasp as the APC moved smoothly away from where they had stopped.

By high sun; the boys had collected another four boys, all showed the same reaction as Pita at first but soon saw how much better it would be with these boys that had the secrets of the ancients. Elios began to look for a place to sit out the high sun time and finally found a deep overhang of rock where they could park both vehicles in the small amount of shade it gave. The outside of the two vehicles were now very hot from the strong sun and the inside was like being cooked; all the boys were glad to get out and stretch their limbs under the shade.

Elios asked the three boys from the Humvee to keep a look out for trouble while the rest of them rested in the shade; each of the three boys would take turns watching so they didn't get to tired and miss something out on the hot shimmering sand of the valley; when the sun had lowered a little later in the dei they would resume their search for new friends.

When the highest heat of the dei had passed, the boys began to ready themselves for the next move. Elios had been inspecting his new map and trying to plot out their next direction to move in; after talking with Elam and Elvan, they all agreed on a direction and then loaded up the new boys as Elios took the Humvee out to the front and led the way in another curving passage towards; what he now knew was called the WEST as he looked at his small compass; between the compass and his new understanding of the ancient's distances, he was able to plan their travel for the rest of the dei.

By the time of the approaching dark; the boys had collected five more new boys and they all felt it was time to start looking for a place to camp in a safe place until the new sun rise. Slowing his speed as he turned SOUTH; Elios told his three guards to keep a lookout for a good place, one that they could defend if attacked by any straying Renegs and at the same time be easy for their transport to get too.

It was almost dark when one of Elios boys spotted a small cave on the edge of a towering cliff; on getting closer, Elios saw that they would be able to place the Humvee in the mouth of the cave with all the boys behind and the APC could be parked in front of the Humvee as further protection; they would have to set up a guard routine during the dark time but Elios thought that wouldn't be too much trouble.

Elam stopped and unloaded all the new boys and then waited while Elios backed the Humvee into the cave mouth until only part of the front could be seen. Elam then parked the APC across the front of the Humvee and Elvan turned the big weapons outward to cover any approach. When the other two boys joined Elios in the cave, they sat and discussed what they should do for guard duty. Elvan volunteered to do the first part along with one of the guard boys and give Elam and Elios a chance to rest after all the driving they had done; then they would each take a turn until sun rise. Elios checked that Elvan had his NV binoculars that fitted onto the top of his hat and that the three guard boys had brought theirs as well; once satisfied that they were all set for the dark time, the three boys went back into the cave to eat and talk with the new boys.

Elios found all the new boys sitting at the back of the cave with the big box of food still closed tight and none of the water containers opened; they were all just staring at the box with hunger on their faces but would not open or eat for some reason; Elios asked one of the boys why they weren't eating, there was plenty there for everyone, the boy replied.

"We didn't want to take something unless it was ok by you guys," the small red head boy told him.

Elios smiled at the lost looking boys and told them.

"There's plenty of food and water; any time you're hungry you can just help yourself, if we run short we'll just head for home and get more; when you see your new home cave you'll see what I mean; we should only be out here for one or two more dei's, when we have enough boys we will go home and start to train you."

The group of new boys looked up at Elios to see if he was genuine and, after studying his open expression for a short time they all smiled and began to move towards the large box. Elios looked at his two friends and smiled at the hesitation of the new guys but it was only a short time before all the mouths were full of food and water was being passed around. Elios did not want to light a fire while they were out in the sands in case there were any Renegs around so they had their food cold and, even though it wasn't quite as good as when it was hot, it still filled the new boys and satisfied the others for the time being.

When everyone was finished eating, Elvan got up and checked his equipment and asked one of the three guard boys to come with him to sit on top of the APC to keep guard while all the others found a place to settle down and sleep; some for the first time in dei's as they could not afford to take any chances when they first went out into the wilds on their roving.

Elios and Elam didn't know how late or early it was when they both felt a hand on their shoulders shaking them; opening their eyes they saw Elvan with his finger to his lips indicating they should stay silent and come with him to the entrance of the cave. Once there the two boys saw that the guard boy was now lying down on the top of the APC so he wouldn't stand out too much. Elvan signalled them to follow him around the unit and lay down on the sand near the tracks of the APC.

Elvan pointed to his head and pulled down his NV binoculars; the two boys did the same and began to scan the sandy wastes before them. It took no time at all to see why Elvan had come to find them; out on the sand, not too far away was a small Reneg camp; by counting the haws they could see there were about six Reneg sitting around a small fire. It was lucky they thought, that they had decided to park so close to the cliff as they blended into the rough face of the ridge; the Renegs didn't seem to know they were even there.

Elios could only see one problem; when the sun rose they would be very close to the Reneg camp and totally visible and as soon as they started up their transports, the Renegs would be on top of them; there was only one thing to do. Elios signalled for his two friends to join him back inside the cave; once there he told them his idea and asked for their input.

"Elvan," Elios whispered. "How did they get so close without you seeing them?"

Elvan lowered his head and the other two boys heard a slight snuffle from his throat.

"I'm sorry, we were both sitting there so long and we must have just sort of dozed off for a little; when I heard a small sound and opened my eyes they were all sitting there in their camp. I told the other boy to stay up there while I came to get you; I'm sorry, really sorry, I know I've put everyone in danger." A small sob came from Elvan as he buried his head in his arms.

Elios and Elam quickly sat at his side and put their arms around Elvan to comfort him and tell him it was ok; they were still safe and nothing bad had happened.

"Besides," Elios said, "we've all had a long day and all of us are tired so let's forget this and make plans to get out of here."

"What are we going to do about the Renegs out there?" Elam asked.

"Well, I thought we would wake all the new boys and warn them about the Renegs then tell them to stay here but be ready to jump into the APC when they hear us firing; Elam you get in the APC and get ready to start it up. Elvan you get on the big weapons and keep them lined up on the camp; I'll take the three other boys with me and move in on the camp from the left side so you know where we are; we'll attack them before they know we're here; there's only six of them so our rifles should take care of them pretty quick. If it looks as though it's going wrong then Elvan can fire from here; remember, we can see in the dark, they can't so we should be able to surprise them."

"Sounds good to me," Elam replied

"Same here," said Elvan.

"Ok, let's go tell the boys," Elios sent a soft whistle to the boy on top of the APC and when he got to the ground, Elios told him what they were going to do; the boy nodded and went to get the other two ready. Elvan went and woke up the new boys and softly whispered to them and explained what was going to happen so they wouldn't get to frightened by the rifle fire; when he was sure the new boys understood everything he went back to Elios and Elam by the cave mouth.

"All ready," whispered Elvan as he passed Elios on the way to the APC's small door. Elios gathered the three guard boys to him and explained the plan; the boys nodded and, along with Elios made their way to the front of the APC and lay down on the soft sand, their NV binoculars pulled down over the eyes; the green tinge lit up everything in front of them and they could see the nearby Reneg camp clearly; the six Renegs were now lying in front of the fire and looked to be asleep or close to it.

Elios signalled his boys to start to crawl to their left away from the cave mouth and closer to the Renegs; the boys spread out so there was a bout four lengths between each of them and slowly came up to one knee as they had learnt in the fig pictures; flicking on the small button on their scopes, they could now also see the Renegs clearly in the greenish yellow light. Elios switched on his com unit and whispered. "Now"

The four shots sounded loud in the still night air and echoed around the open valley floor; three of the Reneg barely moved apart from a sudden shudder; the fourth one screamed loudly and clutched his shoulder; the other two jumped to their feet with weapons in their hands as they tried to see past the light of the fire into the darkness around them yelling at each other as they tried to work out what had happened.

The darkness was suddenly split apart by a loud roaring sound as Elam started up the APC; for the first time in their lives the Renegs were afraid at the unknown roaring sound; one man holding his shoulder as his blood dripped from between his fingers as he swayed back and forth from the shock; three of their brothers not moving even with the loud roar so close to them, the remaining Renegs lifted their crossbows towards the new roaring sound but still could not see anything past the firelight.

The three remaining Renegs never saw the four flashes in the dark behind them;, instead they only felt the heavy shock of something hot hitting them in the back and side and the dark sand rushing up to meet them; then, nothing. The haws broke their tethers and rushed away into the dark as Elam turned on the lights of the APC; Elios and his three boys turned off their NV binoculars and lifted them from their eyes.

"Come on," called Elios as he began to lead the three boys back to their Humvee; as he reached the door of his transport, Elios looked up at the dark sky and judged by the stars that they had only a short time before the new sun rise would be here; it was close to the time for moving on any way. Elios got into the Humvee and started it up as his three guard boys got their belts on; they knew what it could be like if they forgot to wear them when Elios was in a hurry.

Elios hit the noise button on the wheel to let Elam know they were ready to move; as soon as Elam was away from the front of the Humvee, Elios pulled out and around him to take the lead and show them the new direction they would go in. As quickly as they could in the darkness, they hurried away from their latest killing field and drove down the valley floor as far away as they could before the sun rose; when it was light they would decide where they wanted to go in the hope of finding more boys. They felt that there was still space for about ten or more boys in the APC; if they could find more they would try to take them as well even if they were overloaded.

Chapter 9
Range Afar

They had been out for four days; both the Humvee and the APC were now overloaded with new boys, some even sitting on the laps of others; their food and water were also very low and Elios had decided to make a dark time run to the bunker in the hope of avoiding the heat of the dei.

As the first hint of the rising sun made itself known over the ridge top, Elios saw the door to the bunker emerging from dim dawn light; the valley seemed eerie in the semi darkness, as the lights of his Humvee swept over the valley floor. He could make out the bleached bones of the Renegs that had attacked them; the creatures of the dark had made short work of the bodies that had laid there only a short time ago.

Pulling up to the huge door and stepping out of his vehicle, Elios noticed the silence and stillness for the first time; it felt as though the death of so many Renegs had brought a curtain of silence over the valley. Elios shivered slightly and put his card in the detector, seconds later the sound and rumble of the opening door could be heard in the stillness. Elios returned to his Humvee, still a little uncomfortable at the feeling of the valley around him.

As the door lifted to its full height, Elios saw all the other boys lined up along the passage; their rifles slung over their shoulders and their new clothes all neat and tidy; Mita and Bax stood at the front with big smiles on their faces as they watched the two overloaded vehicles start to enter the bunker. First Elios, then Elam waved as they drove past while all the new boys tried to look out the side windows at the smartly dressed boys inside the huge passage. A new sense of excitement pervaded the two vehicles as the new boys tried to take in everything they were seeing in this strange new place.

While the two boys parked their vehicles in the garage, they could feel and hear the rumbling of the door closing; it was not long before Mita and Bax along with the other boys came rushing into the garage to see the new boys. The noise level grew quickly as the new boys began to call out questions to the others; they asked about food and the strange clothes they were wearing as well as the obvious ancient weapons they all held.

As quickly as possible, Elios and the other three boys tried to get some sense of order in the garage until finally; Mita let out a loud yell and everyone quietened down enough for Elios to begin explaining to the new boys where they were and what was happening.

The first thing he asked was for the boys that had been in the bunker for a while, to take one of the new boys and show him where he could sleep and wash; once that was organised he then told them that there would be a big meal ready when they had all had a chance to wash and find a place to sleep. With that they all began to leave while the five boys made their way to the main room to organise the new additions to their small army; to Elios' surprise, Mita walked up to him and, with a tenderness Elios had never known from anyone; Mita took the smaller boy in his larger, stronger arms and pulled him into a warm heartfelt hug.

At first Elios was taken by surprise as he did not think Mita had ever had any feelings for him but the strength of the hug and the warmth behind it made Elios tired body respond in a typical young teen way and he melted into the strong arms; he saw Elam and Elvan smile widely at the little blonde wrapped in the large arms of Mita.

With a final gentle hug, Mita took Elios hand and led the three of them down the passage to the main room; once there he gently pushed Elios into a chair and rushed away, only to return shortly with a heaped plate of food; as he placed the plate on the table in front of Elios he leaned in close enough so only Elios could hear him.

"I want to sleep with you; I want to protect you; I want to never leave you; will you have me Elios, forever?"

Elios could not speak; he had never thought someone would want a runt like him and Mita was so big and strong; he couldn't get his head around such a handsome and strong boy like Mita would want someone like him. All Elios could do was sit and stare up at the soft eyes above him; he could see in Mita's open face a sense of hope as well as fear of the smaller boy rejecting him; his look changed to longing as he looked down at the small blonde.

From the first time he had seen Elios out in the desert after the Reneg attack he had wanted to hold and protect him; the smaller boy had not only a hardness in his slim body but he also was smart and very good at organising things both in the bunker and outside in the sands. Mita had never felt this way about any boy before; most times boys just liked to play their games with anyone they liked but this boy was something special; it made strange feelings deep inside Mita and he was still a little confused about the feelings were; he knew he could not go on without Elios by his side or in his bed. He waited with apprehension as Elios looked deeply into his face.

A small shiver went through Elios as he looked up into the waiting eyes of Mita; slowly he began to understand why he was always looking for the bigger boy; why his body stirred with happiness when Mita was around; the closeness of Mita was beginning to make his blood warm and his loins stir in that familiar way; with a blush on his young cheeks and almost a tear in his eye, Elios could only nod his head in acceptance of Mita's offer.

Mita saw the small nod and his face broke into the widest smile that any of the boys had ever seen; he immediately reached down and pulled Elios up into his strong teen arms and hugged the smaller boy as close to his chest as he could get him. Even the staleness of the four days of travel could not take away the desire and feelings he had for the boy; he quickly looked at Elam and Elvan as though asking them for their approval; happily both boys just nodded and smiled. As far as they were concerned, their little friend deserved someone to look after him and protect him in the long and hard times to come.

Bax broke the spell that had come over the room; in the distance they could hear all the new boys laughing and splashing around in the ablutions room as he began to explain to Elios, Elvan, and Elam what they had been up to while they had been away. Firstly there had been the clothing and training of the other new boys and then they had decided to go and investigate the rest of the bunker that had as yet not been looked into; the best news was left till last.

"The passage that goes on past the office that you never bothered to look at is the best part; down there is a number of smaller sleeping rooms, I think that's what gave Mita the idea to finally ask you to be with him; each room is big enough for four people and the sleeping platforms are way bigger. We thought that we could either each have a room or they would be big enough for two in each room; they have their own wash room and big places for your clothes."

Elios, Elvan and Elam looked at the two boys with surprise; the far end of the passage had not been one of their priorities but the news that there were smaller rooms to use was good news indeed; it would leave the larger sleeping rooms for the other boys to use, Elios looked at Mita.

"Uhm, did you find one for us?"

"Yes; and I've already got it set up in the hope you would say yes to me; I'll take you there when you've eaten then we can talk more about us, if that's ok with you?"

Elios blushed and returned to his food as Mita sat down next to him and put his arm around the smaller shoulders of Elios. Elam sat opposite and shovelled the food into his mouth as though he had not eaten in dei's; meanwhile Elvan went back to his kitchen to ready food for the new boys who were starting to drift in from their washing; they all had a look of wonderment on their young faces.

Elvan called for the boys that he was teaching to cook and they left to start bringing the fresh food out into the room for the newcomers; soon the room was filled with laughing, eating boys as Elios, with Mita close by; left to find his new room; with the addition of the new boys the large bunker no longer seemed empty; the laughing and chatter seemed to make it more of a home than any of them had ever had.

Mita led Elios to their new room; the walls were coloured in fresh white; the floor had some type of soft warm skin over it and the bed was so much bigger; carefully Mita reached out and gently began to remove the dirty clothes that Elios had been wearing for four dei's.

Slowly; as though unwrapping a special gift, Mita revealed Elios small slim body; revelling in each new view of the smaller boy until Elios stood in all his naked glory before the bigger teen. Mita could only hold Elios at arm's length and smile as he once again laid eyes on the beauty of his partner; to Mita there was no other boy that could compare to this small compact vision of delight.

Elios smooth soft skin; now paling a little as he was wearing the ancient style clothes more and more; took Mita's breath away, the boy's untidy mop of blonde locks falling over his soft eyes. He looked up into Mita's face with a new innocent look that Mita had not seen before; it broke the idolising stare and Mita started to move again; picking Elios up in his arms he carried the smaller boy through to their new washing room and placed him on his slim feet; next, Mita quickly stripped himself and reached up to turn on the water as he slipped behind Elios in the washing space.

Once the water was at the right temperature, Mita took up the new block of what he now knew was called soap; he began to gently soap and wash Elios body; taking special care as his larger hands came down to hold the now erect boyhood and wash it all thoroughly and tenderly. Elios was overcome by the tenderness of the larger boy and all he could do was let himself lean back onto the harder and more solid chest behind him; the strong hands worked their magic on his tired body.

Elios was almost overcome by the gentleness that Mita showed him and even though he had become erect almost the moment Mita had touched him; he was just too tired and comfortable in the big hands to want to go any further; besides, if Mita was really true to his word then they would have a long time together to make up for any time lost in the wash room.

Although Mita was also rigid and wanted nothing more than to feel the hot delights of the boy leaning back against his chest; he held his feelings for the smooth body under control as he finally turned off the water and lifted Elios from the wash area. Wrapping the smaller boy in a warm dry towel he again picked him up and carried the boy to their new bed where he again gently laid Elios down; for the first time in his life, Mita leant down and softly kissed the soft red lips before him; immediately Mita felt the pressure of a small, slim tongue on his own lips and he opened his mouth to accept it; it was the first time either boy had kissed another person but to both of them it seemed the right thing to do.

Elios put his hands on Mita's shoulders and pulled him towards the bed; the feeling of heat in Mita's mouth had brought Elios back to life and he wanted to feel the bigger boy beside him; even though Mita's boyhood was now more a manhood, Elios still wanted to feel it slowly enter him and fulfil the hidden dream he had been harbouring since he had first seen the teen out on the sands.

Mita let himself be pulled down onto the bed, careful not to lay his full weight onto the smaller boy; the towel that had covered Elios had now slipped to the side and his slender beauty was now fully displayed below Mita; the boys rigid pole showed no signs of the tiredness he had felt earlier as Mita lay down, his own rigid pole pressing down until it slid between the slightly open thighs of Elios; soon Mita was covering his whole body.

Need and desire took over all of Elios thoughts as he felt the full size of Mita slide between his thighs; the hugeness almost made Elios think again until he felt the heat of that large shaft radiate onto his own tender skin. Elam and Elvan were both smaller than Mita but the need deep inside Elios brushed away any concerns about being hurt; if and when Mita decided to take him; the need for the bigger boy over took any thoughts of safety or pain.

Elios was almost taken by surprise at the gentleness of Mita as the bigger teen slowly turned Elios onto his side and lay with him tucked up against his chest; one hand behind Elios neck as they kissed deeply, and the other hand spread over the small butt and pulling Elios closer. Elios sighed deeply as their mouths parted and he tucked his still damp head deep into Mita's shoulder as he felt the full body contact.

Mita held him close as he smelt the clean freshness of the boy hair, the soft rhythm of Elios breathing slowed and before either of them knew it; Elios had drifted into a deep sleep; the previous four days having taken their toll, even against the wishes and desires of both boys. Mita smiled to himself and lightly pulled the small body closer to him and closed his own eyes; everything felt right and he was happy and still smiling as sleep also took its hold on him.

Mita's eyes fluttered as he felt a slight movement in front of him; feeling with his free hand he noticed that somehow, Elios had turned in his sleep and was now nestled tightly into him; his small butt pressed hard against Mita's pubic region and his hard shaft was still tightly held between the soft thighs; it was as though they welcomed the larger shaft into the heat of the smaller boys body. Mita pulled back slightly and felt his manhood slide up the boys crack until it was just barely touching the rim of Elios relaxed hole.

Mita could no longer resist the feeling and pushed softly against the moist place between Elios thighs; as though in a dream, Elios lifted his upper leg and bent it backwards until it rested over the top of Mita's thigh behind him. Mita pushed gently again and was surprised to feel a slight give in the tightness as his skin slid back and his glans made the slightest on entries; a soft moan issued from Elios lips as the pressure increased slightly.

Elios was in dream land; it was a dream that he was beginning to enjoy; in his dream he was cuddled back against Mita and the bigger boy was gently pushing his large hard manhood into him with a steady pressure. Elios sighed deeply in his sleep; it was as though he could actually feel the large shaft entering him from behind as his new boy friend was starting to make a new adventure in boys games for him, Elios sighed again.

Mita was more than surprised as his rigid shaft sank deeper into the willing boy hole. Elios was very tight but he seemed to relax his boy place without effort as Mita moved further forward; suddenly there was an indrawn breath from the boy in front of him as Mita felt the tight ring open up and let him enter into the heat and moistness of his chosen mate. The small slim hips bucked slightly as Mita's glans popped through the tightness and then there was a long deep sigh of contentment from Elios as his small butt accepted the larger shaft. In his mind Elios was still in a dream land and it was a dream he didn't want to awake from.

Mita's time with the Reneg had not been pleasant; his mind was trying to make him just force himself into the smaller boy without thought or worry, but there was something deep inside him that didn't want that for Elios; and so he used all his strength to take his time and move as slowly as he could; whenever his will power was about to give in to his desires he would look down on the still sleeping form wrapped in his arms and slow down again.

Even Mita did not understand the amount of will power needed to stop from burying himself deeply into the boy in his arms but he remained steadfast and made each movement as slow and carefully as he could. With one arm around Elios narrow chest and the other wrapped around the sender waist; he slowly pushed in another inch of shaft; his answer was another deep sigh from the still dreaming boy and apart from a little movement from Elios as his body adjusted itself to the new intrusion; Elios seemed to sleep on until finally Mita was pressed hard up against the two small smooth globes of Elios butt. He was now fully inside and the heat was overwhelming.

The hot feeling and the long slow entry had Mita softly panting as he tried to hold himself back from rampaging forward and taking his pleasure; his lower hand wrapped around the slim waist was now brushing the soft downy pubic hair that was all Elios had; his smaller slim shaft was rigidly pressing against Mita's hand.

Mita began the slow withdrawal but before he had moved more than enough to feel the softness of Elios soft cheeks leave him; his new mate seemed to awaken slightly and at the feeling of the rigid shaft being withdrawn, Elios immediately pushed his small butt backwards with determination; it was obvious to Mita that his mate wanted him to stay where he was; Mita pushed back until he was again buried as deep as he could go; his answer was another satisfied sigh from the boy laying against him.

Elios eyes fluttered at the last gentle thrust; he felt good and full, it then hit him and brought a smile to his still sleepy face; Mita had entered him in his sleep and it felt good; it also felt very big and filling, more than he had ever felt before but it was a nice feeling; that large shaft buried as deep as anything had ever been inside him before; he flexed his butt cheeks and tried to push back a little more but Mita was fully deep inside him; there was only a small burning sensation around his tight hole but the longer Mita stayed inside the more he liked the feeling.

Mita felt the small flex of Elios butt cheeks and, with a smile he also flexed his shaft a couple of times; the feeling was way above anything he had ever felt. Elios hole seemed to emit a fire of its own and Mita could wait no longer; slowly he began the long withdrawal, feeling the tight ring flexing as he rubbed against it on the way out.

Once his glans was close to exiting, Mita stopped and Elios flexed his tight ring again; Mita started the return as Elios opened his legs wider to accommodate the larger shaft as it made its slow way back inside him. He was in a place he had never been and he enjoyed being there; just as he thought it would not get any better, Mita shuffled slightly and his large glans hit that spot inside Elios that had the smaller boy squeal with joy; Elios pushed harder backwards, forcing that large shaft deeper into him; his own smaller thin shaft pulsed without assistance and his clear ejaculate was forced from him as Mita bottomed out once again.

Elios could hold himself back no longer and he started to force the pace by rapidly moving his hips back and forth on Mita's rigidity; each thrust sent shivers of delight through Elios and he wanted more and more of the bigger teen which Mita was now only too glad to accommodate; he went to work with a will that surprised even him.

Turing Elios onto his stomach; Mita took a position above him; supporting himself with one arm and both knees, he used his free arm to lift the smaller boys butt high and began to speed up his penetration; pulling out almost to the limit before burying himself as deeply as he could not knowing that each thrust was hitting Elios button perfectly and turning the younger boy into a frenzied, writhing mass of arms and legs as he was brought to another orgasm. Mita was holding on tight to the small wiry body as he came closer to his own release.

Elios didn't want the new feelings to stop and, although he was again ejaculating from the sheer action on his inner button by the larger shaft working in and out of him; Elios did not want any of it to stop; his moans and squeals filled the room as Mita came closer to fulfilment until finally; Elios gave one very loud squeal of pleasure as he felt Mita's shaft swell and then a hotness seemed to fill his insides; Mita continued to pump harder into the tightness that was his new mate.

Elios was still moaning as Mita turned him on his side and lay down behind him; he was still buried as deeply as he could be and didn't want to release the boy until they both died of old age. Elios was still panting heavily and tried to snuggle back as much as he could into Mita's stomach; not wanting that large full feeling to leave him; both boys were covered in a sheen of sweat and panting heavily but both also knew that this was not the end of their first night; it was only a pause in their new awakening.

Mita began to move although Elios tried his best to keep Mita just where he was but the older teen would have none of it; slowly he withdrew his now semi hard shaft from the hot tight place it had been; once free he slipped off the side of the bed just as Elios turned towards him with a look of askance on his young face as well as a small smiling pout of his lips.

"We need to wash," said Mita.

He leaned in close and scooped the startled boy into his stronger arms then carried him into the wash room and placed him on his feet under the water spout; once the taps were turned on Mita joined Elios under the water; taking the younger boy in his arms and pulling him back against him, Mita began to soap and rinse Elios as he stood leaning against the solid chest behind him.

Both stepped from the wash area and Mita proceeded to dry Elios off with a fresh towel; although Elios had other ideas at that moment but Mita would have none of it; he spun Elios around and gently pushed him towards the bedroom to put some fresh clothes on; there were a lot of new boys waiting for them and they needed to get them settled as quick as possible.

A little disappointed, but understanding the need to take care of the new ones first; Elios drew the towel over his now slightly sore butt, making sure he was not leaking any of Mita's warm juices before he started to pull on his pants. Elios mind began to wander a little as a sudden thought came into his head; it was something that would take a lot of thought and he didn't even know if Mita would agree to it.

If both he and Mita came to a decision on the subject, it would mean Elios would have to give up any further thoughts of playing games with any other boys; although Mita would still be able to do as he liked; even if he found a real breeder female, but it would mean that Elios would always be number one if Mita wanted to follow along that path; Elios decided it would need more thought on his part first.

Mita joined him in the bedroom and began to don his own pants and cut off shirt; Elios eyed the still semi hard shaft and then looked up into the watching eyes of Mita and gave him a tight pout before laughing happily and running from the room followed quickly by Mita.

The two arrived at the main room just as Elvan and his helpers were placing many trays of fresh food on the tables. The room was now full of hungry boys all trying to talk at the same time while they did their best to fill their mouths as well; apart from the four boys who were now outside the bunker on watch, everyone else seemed to be there.

Elios two friends, Elam and Elvan were giving both Elios and Mita long smiling looks; Elios slightly tight walk and tenderness as he sat down told them both all they needed to know about what had happened the previous dark period. Mita and Elios just looked back at the two friends with a smug and all knowing look on their faces.

After some time, all the food trays were empty and all the boys were leaning back in their chairs; their stomachs distended by so much fresh food, for the new boys it was a marvel of the ancients that so much food was even available; as they sat and rested, the difference between the new boys and those that had been in the bunker for a while was quite apparent; the new boys sat naked and the older boys were all clothed in the ancient's clothes, Elios stood up to address all the new boys.

"Welcome to our home; it's called a bunker and was built by the ancients; everything you have seen here was also made by them and it has taken us a long time to learn as much as we can about it all. If you want to join us and stay here, you will also have to learn all there is that we can teach you. Beside me is Mita, if you stay he will be in charge of training you all in the use of the ancient weapons; over there is Elam, he is the leader of the transports; those who want to learn about them will go to him; the boy who supplied the food is Elam; he is in charge of all supplies and will also need more help now that we have so many boys here."

Elios looked around the room waiting for any questions so far none came; the new boys were sitting and waiting to see what happened next, Elios continued.

"We were not asked to be the leaders here, it's just that we found it and have been here the longest and we know most of what's going on in the bunker and how the ancients did things. Our plan is to go out and look for more of these bunkers as well as bring in as many boys as want to come and join us; the idea is to gather as many boys as we can and train them to protect not only each other but to protect our home; there will come a day when we will have to fight the Renegs so the more we know now the better. The way we have set this up is that there will be groups of boys with one leader in each; the ancients called them squads; they're a group of six boys and they work together all the time; also you will be asked to stand guard outside so we don't get surprised by the Renegs; they tried it once and found we are not easy to kill or invade."

There was a soft rumble of voices at this new revelation; if these boys had beaten the Renegs in a fight then it was obviously in all the new boy's interest to stay and learn as much as they could; Elios continued.

"Now if you want to talk it over, those that want to stay can see Elvan and he will get you some of the new clothes and then Mita will start your training; any of you that want to go on alone we will give you some food and clothes to help you but we can't give you any of the ancient weapons; we need them for those who stay to help us; thank you all."

Elios sat back down beside Mita and left the new boys to talk it over; it didn't take long for all of the new ones to agree to stay and be a part of the new bunker system; when Elvan came back into the room, he signalled for all the new boys to follow him and he took them away to be fitted with the new clothes; Elios laid his head on Mita's shoulder and sighed in satisfaction; their little family now numbered over six plus ten.

Elios stood up; with a smile to Mita, he left to go to the office room; he had a lot of work to do to try and find a way of searching out new bunkers; by now he had a reasonably good understanding of the strange computers; his natural intelligence had worked out most of the systems he would need to set a plan in motion.

Mita waited for the new boys as they drifted back dressed in their new clothes; most were too large for the boys but the use of a knife and a belt soon made them useable; finally all the new boys were back; Mita signalled for them to follow him to the armoury where he would issue their weapons and then start them on learning how to use them and how to maintain them. It was going to be a long day and he was already missing Elios; his feelings for the smaller boy were so deep and strange he had never felt like this about any boy he had been with; he just hoped that Elios felt the same way.

It turned out to be a long day for everyone; the new weapons training and assignment of places within the bunker for the new boys took a lot of work but finally Elios had it all set out; he was now learning about the ancient's system of distances and time; he had been trying to learn these things so he could work out a way to find more of the bunkers; he just knew deep down inside that these bunkers were going to be the answer for all the boys sent out on their searches; with luck they would be a way of stopping the Renegs once and for all.

Elios settled back again to read the computer window; it took a while but slowly the strange symbols and figures began to make more and more sense; at last, after what must have been half a day; he had most of it worked out and it all seemed so easy. The ancients had a time measure of 24 hours to make a day; each hour had 60 minutes and each minute had 60 seconds; by looking at the clock on the far wall he was able to see how it all worked. They also had worked out that there were seven days to make 1 week and 4 weeks to make 1 month, followed by 12 months to make 1 year.

At last he could make sense of their thinking; the new age had it all wrong; some of the words were the same but made up of different symbols. As for the distances, it was even better; now there would be no need to guess how far a place was; by using the ancient's system of measurement they could judge the distance down to nothing. Elios looked again at the measurements; it was all so easy once you could understand the basics.

10 millimetres became 1 centre meter; 100 centre meters became 1 metre; 1,000 meters became 1 kilometre; it was all so easy, now a lot of the numbers and symbols on the maps became clearer; he could now plan for a search for more new bunkers, all the information he needed was in the computer.

Elios shrugged his shoulders to relieve the built up tension; as he did so his stomach rumbled, it was time to go and find some food to satisfy his hunger; it had been a long day and the exertion of having to learn all the new meanings was now telling on him; also were the thoughts in the back of his mind of what to do about his strange feelings for Mita. Elios shut off the computer and left the office; he hoped that some of the new boys would be interested enough to come and help him in the future. If he went searching for new bunkers they would need someone here to carry on for the rest.

Over the next ten days, Elios worked hard in his office to set out his plan; they had been accepting boys from outside at a steady rate of 2 or 3 a day and sometimes more; it seemed that a rumour had set itself in motion, as they are apt to do in isolated areas; that there was a safe haven for boys leaving the breeding caves in a valley now called 'Ded Valy'; if you could find it you would be safe from the hated Renegs; the valley was littered with the bleached bones of long dead Renegs and when you found it all you had to do was call for help and you would be safe.

No one knew how the rumour had started, but like all things in this world, it just had and now new boys were arriving daily. The bunker was now becoming crowded but it was a happy and bustling place; every new boy had to be clothed and fed as well as trained for his chosen job.

Elam now had a garage full of boys learning to drive the transports and do the maintenance. Elvan had six boys working in the kitchen all the time and also had started another three boys to learn about helping any boy who got sick or was injured in their training classes. Mita was the weapons teacher; he would take boys for long runs out in the high sun heat and then take them to his new place across the other side of the valley; there he had set up the newly found ancient targets for the boys target practice to improve their shooting abilities; in the early evenings all boys would be assembled in what was now known as the "Common Room"; there all the new lessons of the day would be discussed and any important announcements were made by the four leaders.

Elios continued to expand his own mind even though he was sidetracked by his own personal thoughts; he had mastered the long lost art of the ancients and; even though it had been an accident; he could now print the clean white sheets of paper he had found in a room off the side of the office on a small machine attached to the computer called a printer.

From this discovery he had made out the new time and measurement papers; they were now given to each boy to learn so that they could revert to the old way which, to Elios; seemed far more efficient for their purposes. Without knowing it, the new table of measurements also helped Mita's riflemen to attain a new ability in hitting the far off targets as they could now work out how to use the sighting systems.

But today was a far more important day than any that had gone before; today was the day of Elios final decision; he was very happy with Mita, each night (for that was the true name for the dark time) Mita took Elios gently from behind like all boys did when playing the night game; with real passion he would fill Elios with his hot juices until they both collapsed in each other's arms and slept; but tonight was going to be different; it would be the night for Mita and Elios to decide where their boy fun went. Elios finally left the office and made his way to the now very busy kitchen to search out his friend Elvan.

As soon as he entered the busy kitchen, Elios gestured for Elvan to follow him outside to a quiet area; once there he began to tell Elvan what he was thinking and ask his friends advice about certain things; the look on Elvan's face was one of awe and acceptance and finally he told Elios all he knew about his friends plan and how to accomplish it.

"Are you sure you want to do this Elios?"

"Yes, I've thought a lot about it and I feel it's the right thing for me to do."

"You know what it means for you, don't you?"

"Yes, but it's what I feel inside; it feels right and I'm not giving up much when I look at what I'm gaining."

"Well as long as you're sure then I'm happy for you; you do realise that if you do this, then it's for life."

"Yes, I know it is; it's what I want and I'm sure Mita wants it as well but he just doesn't know how to ask me."

"Ok, well I'm with you all the way and I know Elam will be happy for you; when is it going to happen?"

"Tonight, I don't want to wait any longer."

"Ok, then wait here for a bit, I want to give you something to help you."

Elvan rushed back into the kitchen and a short time later he returned with a small bottle of thick liquid and handed it to Elios.

"When the time comes, use this; put as much on as you can, it will make it easier but you're still going to be very sore for a while; especially if Mita is as good as I think he is."

Elios blushed and then smiled his thanks as he put the small bottle in his pants pocket. Elvan reached for Elios and drew him into a strong hug and squeezed him tightly.

"I'm going to miss our games and so will Elam but if you're sure then it's ok with us."

"I'm sure, and thank you for this; please, don't tell anyone yet, if Mita says no then I don't want to look silly."

"It'll be our secret, well it will be a secret until tomorrow morning." Elvan smiled his devilish smile and raised his thin eyebrows in a knowing arch.

Elios laughed and waved as he left Elvan standing outside the kitchen; he had a lot to do before he joined Mita for sleep later. Elios went to their room and took out his breach-clout, then the moccasins; swiftly he made his way to the washroom and began to clean his breach-clout until it was spotless and then set it to dry. Next he took up each moccasin and, with the red coloured writing stick he had found in the office many days ago; he began to make the symbol on the top of each moccasin; the strong smell of the red dye made his head a little light but he continued until the two symbols were complete. He looked at his handy work and smiled, it looked right; he replaced the moccasins back in the storage cupboard for the next morning.

Looking around their room he decided to clean it and find something to make it look nicer for this special night, and so he set to work. Elios had no idea how much time had passed all he knew was that now his stomach was continuously rumbling with hunger; he looked around the room and decided it was enough; turning, he left for the common room to join Mita and to eat.

As soon as he walked into the common room he felt the tingle of Mita's smile as the older teen looked up at him from his place at a table where he was discussing the guard duties with two new squad leaders; Elios quickly moved to the table and sat beside Mita; the older teen reached an arm out and wrapped it around his partners shoulders and pulled Elios in closer.

Elios blushed slightly but didn't resist and laid his head on Mita's chest as the older teen finished his explanation; the two new leaders looked at Elios and smiled, they got up and left to see to their respective Squads of boys. Mita called out for some food and one of Elvan's kitchen boys quickly arrived with two plates full of steaming meat and vegetables.

Elios had to try hard to swallow his food even though he was ravenous; his plans for later in the night were still forefront in his mind and he just hoped that Mita would agree when the time came. Elios knew there was going to be a certain amount of pain and that the next day he was not going to be at his best; he also knew that he was giving up a lot of his freedom of choice if Mita agreed but deep down it was what he knew was the right thing to do.

Elios hoped that what he was feeling for Mita was going to be reciprocated; he was sure it was but there was always a little doubt in anyone's mind when they were going to do what he wanted to do. His only assurance was the fact he could not be away from Mita for long without feeling alone and lost. Mita seemed to complete him and every time he looked at the older teen his body tingled with excitement; his face would blush and he would feel all hot and sweaty; just a smile from Mita could set Elios body on fire and half his mind was always consumed by thoughts of Mita.

Their meal finished; Mita took Elios in his arms and hugged him close then sat back and sighed with contentment; all he had to do now was find out if his little Elios would agree to the thoughts Mita had had for more than three months. It was a problem Mita could see no way of fixing; if he made the offer and Elios turned him down he would have to leave the bunker; he would not be able to work so close to Elios and not be reminded of the loss and so he waited; his desire and need for the smaller teen was overwhelming but he waited; what he wanted to do would mean a lot of changes in Elios life and Mita was not about to force him into that position; he would just have to wait it out and see what the future would bring them both.

Mita felt Elios push back from the gently embrace he had been holding him in; Mita looked at Elios in askance.

"I need to do a couple of things before we go to sleep, are you coming to our room soon?" Elios asked him.

"Yes, I just want to let all the food settle and I'll be there in a bit."

"Ok, I'll be waiting for you."

Elios smiled as he got up from the table and left the common room; his stomach was full of flutters and his knees shook slightly; he only hoped that Mita would understand what he was doing and would accept the offer; he knew his feelings were far more than just boy game needs, there was something deep inside him that cried out for the comfort of Mita.

Elios made it to their room and began to get himself ready; after washing himself thoroughly and drying every nook and cranny of his slim body, Elios got out the small bottle and began to apply the smooth oil; making sure he used plenty where it was going to be needed; next he checked the bed and saw that all the bed clothes were fresh and clean; once that was done he laid himself down on the bed in the position he knew was not going to need any questions but the important ones; every boy knew these special questions, they had been taught to them by the old crones in the breeding caves and now it was Elios turn.

What he was going to do was not common; only very few boys got this chance and it had to be with someone very special; someone you could trust with your very life; but Elios was sure Mita was the one and now it was time to finally find out what the older teen thought of Elios.

Elios waited patiently for Mita to arrive and after a short time he heard him walking down the passage. Elios began to sweat and a nervous tic started in his cheek as the footsteps got closer; finally there was Mita, standing in the doorway looking at the smaller teen laying on the bed waiting for him.

Mita gasped in surprise as he looked at the young teen laying on his back in the position of a breeding female; his slim legs splayed wide and the knees slightly bent to offer his small hole to his man. Elios arms were spread wide as a sign of acceptance of Mita's domination over him; Mita could see a sheen of something oily spread on and around the small hole; Elios had prepared himself for his Mita.

Elios was looking up at Mita, the nervousness overtaking him as Mita stood in the doorway with a look of awe mixed with desire. Elios waited, it would be up to Mita to ask the right questions if he chose to take Elios and make him a Bred boy. Mita began to speak with a slightly choking sound at first.

"Is this what you truly want?"

Elios voice shook as he answered.

"Yes."

"Do you give me all of you?"

"Yes."

"Do you obey me in all things?"

"Yes."

"Do you promise to never lay with another boy or breeder?"

"Yes."

"Do you have questions?"

"Yes, will you protect me?"

Mita hesitated as he looked down at the boy he had always wanted and without further thought began his answers.

"Yes."

"Will you keep food on my table?"

"Yes."

"Will you always keep a roof over my head?"

"Yes."

"Will you take me as your first Bred Boy?"

"Yes."

"Then I am here to be taken by you."

It took only moments for Mita to shed his clothes and get onto the bed; without further talk or actions, he grasped Elios legs behind the knees and with one forceful lunge he buried himself fully inside Elios well oiled hole and began to take him immediately ignoring Elios loud cry as he was entered so harshly; while it hurt a lot it was expected; this was the way it had to be; Mita had to prove he could breed him properly and therefore prove he could care for Elios in the future.

Elios cries faded away to loud moans and then groans as Mita pounded deeply inside him; each time rubbing over Elios' button would bring flashes of electric shock through his body as he was rubbed again and again. Elios began to ejaculate uncontrollably as Mita continued his assault on his button trying to force himself deeper into the tight body.

Elios was now rolled right back onto his shoulders; his knees pushed right back by his head as Mita stretched his long body to its fullest and rose up on his toes to get more of his rigid shaft into the teen; on he went as Elios thrashed his head back and forth moaning and yelping as he was bred by the older teen. Mita went rigid as his first juices sprang from him in long hot spurts deep inside Elios. Elios was past feeling anything more than the thick shaft filling him and still thrusting deeply even as Mita spent himself he did not stop his fast thrusts.

Mita continued on thrusting as deeply each time as he could get. Elios moans had changed to long groans as he lay there being bred; his eyes were beginning to glaze over as the breeding continued at its frenzied pace. Mita was sweating heavily and his breathing was coming in short heavy gasps but he could not stop; he would have to keep breeding Elios until he could no longer remain above him.

By the time Mita had spent himself for the fourth time; Elios eyes had turned upwards and there was a thin line of spittle running down his chin; his face was flushed bright red and his slim body covered in a sheen of his and Mita's sweat. The bed clothes beneath them were saturated with the sweat and the leaking juices from Elios ravaged hole and still Mita forced himself to go on; Elios had long ago been having dry orgasms; his body's ability to produce any more boy juice had passed and still Mita continued to breed him; just he as he should.

Eight times Mita spent himself into Elios until he could go no further; his arms and legs ached with the effort and his shaft could no longer stand hard; his glans was beyond sore and he was barely breathing as he pulled from the swollen, puffy, gaping and dripping hole. Elios had been bred; he would now be known as a Bred Boy and was off limits to any other boy for as long as either of them lived. He would always have the honour of being the first and therefore; even if Mita took other boys or females as breeders, which as the man he was entitled to do; Elios would always be the first and therefore have a special place if the family grew bigger; any new breeders that joined Mita's family would have to bow to Elios decisions; it was his rightful place in the family.

Mita looked down at his first Breeder; he was sated beyond consciousness and lay there on his back like any good breeder. Totally bred, Elios body looked like an empty bag; there was barely any movement of his chest as he was still under the influence of the long and hard breeding; his young slim body was covered in sweat and his own boy juices; his long blonde hair was now matted and lank; he had allowed it to grow to his shoulders in all the long months they had been in the bunker. Mita reached forward and ran his fingers through the lank hair; it would be the last time he could do it; when they had slept their fill the last part of the breeding would take place and this was often the hardest part for a Bred Boy; Mita relaxed down beside his boy and quickly fell into a comatose sleep along with that of Elios.

When he awoke, Mita felt the need to relieve his once again hard member so he rose from the bed and went to the wash room; every bone in his body ached from the exertions of the previous night; he was sure Elios would be feeling even worse. Mita's member no longer hurt and for that he was grateful; he still had one last act to perform before it was finished and this one was the hardest of all, especially for Elios.

Mita saw the implement on the shelf that Elios had found for the next act along with a small bottle half filled with what looked like oil; Mita returned to the bed and looked down at the barely awake Elios.

"Are you ready to accept the last law?"

Elios ached in every part of his body; his chest and stomach were covered in the dry spots of his own juices; his once small hole felt on fire and swollen but he was ready for the last part of being Mita's Bred Boy; all he could do was nod his head in agreement to Mita's question.

Mita lifted Elios off the bed and carried him into the wash room; once there he looked over the boy's body to make sure he wasn't badly hurt; then, with a flick of his wrist, he opened the small bottle and poured a copious amount of the oil into his free hand and gently rubbed it over and in Elios puffed hole; next he knelt down on the bare floor and leaned back making his rigid shaft stand up hard and proud and waited.

Elios moved forward and placed a leg either side of Mita and then with a grimace on his face as he lowered himself onto the rigid member until he was sitting once again filled with his man; Mita began the last of the actions that would change Elios from a free boy to that of a Bred Boy.

"I took you as a breeder, now you must look like a Bred Boy."

Elios stayed sitting hard down on Mita's hard shaft as he watched his man take up the implement he had found and with nothing further to say; Mita began to cut off all his hair except for a thick band at the back of his head; Mita could see some pain in Elios face from being once again forced to take all of Mita inside him; his small hole had so recently been pounded for most of the night but the adoration in the younger boys face as his hair fell to the floor was the final justification for Mita.

Once the hair had been cut, Mita physically lifted the smaller boy and turned him around while still buried inside him; the twinge of pain on Elios face calmed as he was settled once again into Mita's lap now facing away. Mita slowly and with deep feeling began to make the single plait with the remaining strip of hair that Elios had left; when that was finally finished there remained only the final act; Mita pushed Elios onto the floor on his hands and knees, keeping his shaft deep inside the younger boy.

"You were bred like any female should be bred; now I will take you as a boy should be taken for you are still a boy and will be known as such."

Mita raised himself behind Elios and began to take him for the last time as a boy; from now on Elios would be taken by Mita from the front like any true Breeder. Elios felt the pain of the last breeding; his hole was now so sore he whimpered at each and every stroke of Mita's shaft; even so his own still sent a small spurt of juice onto the floor as Mita rubbed his magic button time and time again; at last, with a deep groan and panting breath; Mita spent himself deep inside, finally; Elios was a Bred Boy and belonged to Mita.

It was some time later before the two had washed themselves and Mita had watched as Elios had carefully put on his fresh clean breach-clout; his now enlarged and swollen hole could not stand the roughness of the ancient's clothes; his small feet were covered in the unworn pair of moccasins with the big red **B ** painted on the top of each one. Elios moved awkwardly his butt hurt as did his back and legs; he was also a little weak from lack of a good meal; the efforts of last night had been huge and he need to regain some strength. Mita attended him like a special prize, re-plaiting his hair and making sure he was not bleeding or hurt in some way as to cause him any danger.

Before leaving for the common room; Mita once again took Elios into his arms and with a new passion; kissed the smaller boy fully on the lips and then laying an arm over the boy's shoulders; they made their way to the door of the common room where Elios took his place on Mita's left side and slightly behind him; all the boys inside would see he was now a Bred Boy and belonged to Mita, together the two teens entered the common room.

It seemed every boy in the bunker was there and, as they entered; loud cheering and whistles broke out which brought a deep red blush to Elios and Mita's face; in the centre of the room were four tables pushed together to make a larger square; there were four settings on the table and Elam and Elvan sat one on each side waiting for their friend to arrive.

Mita as the man; led the way to the table with Elios trying to cover his sore butt struggled to get there as well; it was evident to all the boys there that Elios had been well and truly bred by Mita. Mita waited until Elios made it to the table and then helped him to tenderly sit down before he took his own seat; a kitchen boy arrived with plates of food for the four and then everyone else there started to eat.

When the four had finished eating but before the two could leave; Elvan stood and clapped his hands together; immediately two of the kitchen boys came through the door carrying a large tray covered in a white cloth and placed it in the centre of the table; then, before they left one of the boys gave a large kitchen knife to Mita and stood back to whisk away the cloth.

When Elios saw what was hidden under the cloth he gasped in pleasure and surprise; there was a huge, round, white covered mound; it looked like thick layers of round white stone piled one on top of the other and getting smaller and smaller as it got to the top; a mouth watering smell was coming from the tall tower. Mita pushed the knife in easily and cut downwards; inside the white coating was a dark brown mass of soft bread like texture.

"What is it?" asked Elios of Elvan.

"It's called a chocolate cake; it took me three tries to get it right."

"What's the white stuff on it?"

"It's called frosting, or icing, it's made of sweet sugar; try it, you're going to need all the food you can get."

Mita cut a slice and gave it to Elios before anyone else; Elios hesitantly brought it to his mouth and took the smallest bight he could; he had no doubts about Elvan's abilities with food but this was something new and no one had ever seen anything like it before. Elios also had been a guinea pig for Elvan's experiments when they were just boys at the breeding caves and not everything turned out the way Elvan wanted it too; after the first bight, Elios knew this was going to be one of his favourite foods; quickly he pushed more into his mouth, the white frosting on the outside coating his lips as the cake was forced inside.

Around the room everyone clapped and laughed as they watched the newly Bred Boy; the first one ever in their new home, push more and more of the new cake into his mouth; for the next little while, Mita was kept busy cutting the cake for everyone until he could finally take a piece for himself and sit with his arm around his Bred Boy who was now on his fourth piece of cake. Mita laughed softly at the sight of Elios with his mouth and chin covered in the white frosting; he leant over and gave Elios a soft kiss on the top of his head.

As the meal finally came to an end, each boy there would pass by Elios and Mita and would pat Elios on the shoulder and wish him good breeding until the last had left. Mita then helped Elios to his feet and lead him back to their room for him to recuperate from the event; it would be two full days before Elios could appear again and move normally. During all that time Mita looked after him and tended to his every need; feeding him, carrying him to be washed with gentle hands and dried off before being once again laid carefully on the bed to sleep or rest. Mita wouldn't let Elios do anything for himself; it appeared that everyone in the bunker had forgotten that Mita had once been one of the hated Renegs; now he was the first man in the bunker to have his own Bred Boy; he was now in a special position within the ranks of the leaders.

Elios was just glad that he had been accepted by Mita as his first Bred Boy and was now happy and content in his place with the older teen; once he had recovered he went back to planning his adventure to find more bunkers and set up their own system of safe havens for all the wandering rovers out in the sands. Each day their numbers were swelling as more and more boys learnt of the Bunker and the boys who had set up a safe zone for boys. Bunker #42 was nearing its full capacity and it was time to find some new ones; Elios set to work in his office.

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