When the sun finally broke through the dense canopy, the duo followed the distant groaning unsure of what they would find. Stepping through a thick wall of briars into a hidden clearing, they froze. Jutting out of the forest floor like rusted periscopes were two massive iron pipes. As they watched, a violent draft of cold air was sucked directly down into the left pipe.
Less than a hundred meters away, hidden beneath a rotting mattress of dead leaves and moss, their boots struck something solid: a reinforced concrete slab concealing a heavy iron hatch. The padlock was completely rusted through. Using a camp shovel, they pried the heavy hatch upward.
The air escaping the hatch was shockingly warm, intensely humid, and carried a faint, bitter chemical odor. Lukas switched on his flashlight, casting a bright beam down a steep flight of concrete stairs that descended straight into the dark subterranean command center.