"But the CEO of REN Corp. died! We even talked about it!" cried Rayne.
"Yeah, it's a long story, but I basically ran into a situation where I had to fake my own death," said Julian.
Rayne was speechless. She wasn't sure what kind of situation would force someone to fake their own death, but she didn't push the topic, waiting for Julian to explain when he felt ready.
"Wow. Well, no wonder this room felt oddly familiar. It's one that I designed," she laughed. Ever since waking up, she had practically lived in this room, only leaving to shower or use the restroom.
Julian smiled. "Anna said that tomorrow you can safely be discharged from the medical ward."
Rayne's eyes lit up. She was so bored here. She was also feeling much better recently, so she'd been waiting patiently until Anna gave her the green light to go.
"Here, I have something for you," said Julian suddenly, pulling out a shiny silver pistol from a small case he had brought in. "It's a prototype I just finished recently. It's one of our REN Corp. designs!"
Rayne picked up the gun with awe! Besides looking new and feeling lighter than a standard pistol, Rayne couldn't tell too much about what was different.
Julian watched her play around with the gun, inspecting it closely.
"What's special about this gun is that it's completely silent. It uses a strong magnetic field to propel the special bullet forward instead of the traditional method of gunpowder or gas," he said proudly. REN Corp. had been working on this new design for a few years now, and it was finally finished!
Rayne couldn't fathom how such a thing could work, but she was very happy with the gift!
"Here are the special bullets. They're a bit heavier than standard ones, and be mindful if you use them because there's only a handful available," he added as he handed her a small box.
Rayne opened the box and noticed that these bullets were much heavier as well as darker in color than what she was used to.
"Thank you so much, I really like this," she said happily! She wasn't concerned about the lack of bullets one bit, as she could make infinite copies using her system!
The next morning, Anna came in to do her final set of checkups.
"Everything is looking good," she smiled as she removed a few sensors from Rayne's body.
"Just remember to take it easy. While you're healed enough to leave the medical ward, you're still recovering," she kindly reminded Rayne, smiling.
Rayne nodded. She was bubbling with excitement to explore the bunker that she had poured her heart into designing! She couldn't believe they had managed to construct something so complex in such a short amount of time.
Just as Rayne got off the bed, ready to leave, Julian walked in.
"Hey, looks like you're all set! Come, let me show you to your new room," he said, acting like a butler.
Anna's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at seeing her boss joke around. She'd been part of Alpha team since college when she was first recruited and had hardly ever seen her boss smile! She quickly turned around and busied herself by organizing her medical equipment.
Rayne giggled at Julian's silly actions. "Did you forget that I was the one who designed this place? I know every nook and cranny!"
Julian froze, then laughed. "Haha, you're right! I did forget that. Still, allow me to accompany you."
Rayne pretended to think about it for a minute. "Hmmm, well I guess I could let you," she giggled and walked out, following Julian.
"Here are the empty rooms. Feel free to choose whichever one you like best... although they're all identical," he said, pointing at a few doors.
"Oh, my room is over there, at the end of the hall. And these two are Noah's and Ian's," he said, pointing at the rooms farther down the hall.
Rayne took a moment to look at the empty rooms and chose one closer to the communal living area, leaving a few empty rooms between her room and Noah's/Ian's.
"This one! Thank you for letting me stay here," she said, pointing at a door. She wasn't sure what her future had in store or how long she would be here, but she decided to take things one day at a time.
"No problem at all, glad to have you part of the team. I'll give you some time to get settled. Let me know if there's anything you need, and I'll see if I can get it for you," he said.
He was planning on having a meeting with the team leaders about going out to find more supplies soon. Although the bunker was well-supplied, it had been a while since a supply shipment arrived, and eventually, things would begin to run out.
Rayne nodded and walked in to inspect her new room. It was a pretty standard square layout with a wall dividing the bedroom area from the living area. There was a door across from the bedroom area where the bathroom was.
While it had all of the basic necessities, Rayne felt that the room was very cold and prison-like. The floors and walls were made of concrete, and the furniture was all very basic. Even the mattress felt a little hard for Rayne's preferences.
She wondered how much she could swap out and add from her system before it became too obvious.
She walked over to the bedroom area and quickly stored the basic bed and mattress, leaving a completely empty area. Since the bedroom was behind a wall and out of direct line of sight, she felt that it would be safe enough to personalize this small area.
The bedroom area was just large enough to fit a queen-size bed, and Rayne pulled out a pretty, carved wooden bed frame she had stored from a furniture superstore. It was all still packaged in a box, so Rayne had to manually assemble everything.
Rayne spent a few hours setting up the bedroom area. When she was finished, the cold, prison-like feeling was replaced with a cozy, college-dorm room vibe.
She placed a small, fuzzy area rug under the bed and soft, fluffy blankets and sheets on top of the replaced mattress. Using heavy-duty stick-on hooks, she hung some pretty sheets of fabric mixed with fairy lights, covering the cold concrete walls.
Looking at the finished product, Rayne felt a lot more cozy and comfortable in her new sleeping area.