"The way Sitchol spoke of Bunker 22 was...like a man who discovered a land made of milk and honey. Enough food and water for centuries, with no leonas or rattis allowed in. He spoke how the micen will be truly free, from kings and gods and all. Never to know hunger or sickness, never again fear consumption from a larger beast, never again must lift a finger. At first they all called him mad, but then they saw his predictions were true every step of the way. And now rumor has it that they've struck metal. They're so close.

But the more he spoke about the Bunker, the less he spoke about himself. He never said what he was going to do in the bunker. Nor did he ever said he was going to go in the bunker. When I asked him one night about what he planned, he spoke about how he was unworthy to enter it. It was salvation bought by slaves and blood- how else? He also said that the promised land was always under threat should there be rattis roaming around. And how he had wished to train his late daughter to lead them all with her word and his blood.

Whenever he spoke about his daughter, though, he would slow his words. I saw it one night, late, after a bout of drinking. We were alone, and he whispered that no one would ever believe me if he had wept right there. He spoke of how he loved all three of them. His wife, his daughter... He refused to address the third one, though it was no secret, his old apprentice whom he slew for sparing Garret, the rattis who later took his daughter. 'The rats' he said, 'will let no good deed go unpunished.'

Though Sitchol gave an aurora of confidence and power, it was clear to me that he was just as lost as everyone else."

Diary entry of Gar-Jarrod

Character @  TicklefishMcGee

Art @  RICODAVEY