Caroline was surprised at how quickly everyone took to the wild, almost impossible mobile base. It was like they accepted it without question. She'd spent half the day trying to explain it with all that "ability modification" stuff, but nobody even cared about that. It made her want to laugh. Honestly, today kept serving up moments that made her heart warm. Maybe it was the Christmas spirit. Christmas was about feeling happy. Even if the outside world was still a mess, stacked with danger, at least here they had a safe, steady place away from fear. "Enough talking. Let's check out your rooms." Caroline smiled and opened the door. They filed into the yard, and Denton immediately started shouting with excitement. But then, someone appeared not far off. It was like he had followed them all the way here. Even Raven hadn't caught him. He melted into the darkness, completely silent—no tracks, no breath, nothing. "Tyler ... I didn't know you could look that happy. "I'm so jealous!" Caroline had no clue anyone had been watching her crew. She buzzed with energy as she showed Tyler and the others around their new home. Denton and Tyler's rooms were next to each other, perfect for chatting. Caroline had stocked Denton's room with some toys she'd scavenged—little housewarming gifts he loved. Tyler got two presents as well—a high-end dartboard and a wall-mounted boxing setup. Nelson's room was all the way on the right side of the shelter, with two windows facing the yard.Medusa and Handsy would stay in the yard. When Nelson wanted to commune with Handsy, who had grown too big to fit inside, he could easily reach out. She even set his bed right by the window. Handsy could poke branches inside and even curl up with Nelson to sleep. Caroline remembered him saying that back in Harry's lab, they used to sleep like that together. When Nelson ran experiments, Medusa and Handsy could snake their vines through the window to grab tools, basically giving him two helpers. For Nelson's housewarming gift, Caroline brought out a full-on cake. "Caroline, I freakin' love you! Your gifts are perfect. "How did you even know I missed those nights sleeping with Handsy?" Even the little pets got their own spots. Biscuit, the pony who had been trapped inside the storage space, tore around the yard like a wind-up toy, absolutely adorable. Nelson's big cat got a scratch board and shredded it nonstop for ten minutes until it was completely pulped. Pinky wriggled free from Denton's arms, dashed around, and started playing with Raven and Snow. Everyone looked happy. Caroline finally exhaled. She let them settle in and unpack while she stepped outside. Then she hauled out the mutant creature corpses she'd just collected from the army to feed the mobile base for the next upgrade. They had reinforced the front and raised the height last time, but a bunch of new features hadn't unlocked yet. With a flick of her hand, dozens of bags filled with mutant corpses dropped into the yard. Honestly, most of them were just flies and mosquitoes—completely inedible. Francis had told her she could toss or burn them if she wanted. The army wouldn't reclaim them. Caroline stared at the bags and felt a headache coming on. She had already handled one load the easiest way—feeding it to JunkEater. Lately, JunkEater had been "eating" corpses nonstop.At first, it still spat out normal stuff—grain, water, even meat sometimes. No surprises, but they were still supplies. But last night, she checked again and saw that JunkEater had produced ... two full sacks of llama poop fertilizer. The burlap bags were stamped in bold letters "Organic Llama Fertilizer." It felt like the machine's not-so-subtle protest at being stuffed with mutant corpses for days.