All That Remains... (Alexander May & MiseryChord)

Melanie felt sick with worry. "I'll go get more help. It gets cold down in the deeper tunnels at night." She hurried off to get others to help in the search.

Kallie had once again taken to trying to find her way out. She gasped as she tripped, landing hard on her knees. Her arms covered her stomach to protect the life inside her as she gritted her teeth. Shakily she stood, looking about for any light. "HELP! ANYBODY!"
 
Jared nodded before he progressed down the tunnel, Ian turning the corner and bumping straight him. "Dammit. I don't know these tunnels!" Jared grimaced.

"Tell me about it. We're lucky we haven't gotten lost ourselves." The two parted ways then, continuing to search.

John was the deepest into the tunnels, and when he actually stopped to think about it he'd realize he was the most lost to. "KALLIE! KALLIE!!!"
 
Kallie looked up as she heard something. It had sounded like her name but she knew it was probably her imagination. She shivered, rubbing her arms to ward off the dank cold air that surrounded her. "Can anyone hear me?!" She called.

Melanie returned with Wanda, Burns and several others. "Where is John?" She asked once reaching Ian and Jared. "And what happened to cause Kallie to run off?" Jeb questioned.
 
John heard something, and even though he didn't know if it was one of the others or not he assumed it was Kallie, starting towards where he'd heard it. "KALLIE!! Can you hear me?!?"

Ian shook his head. "I don't know but Kallie ran off because she wanted to go a raid." Jared pointed down one of the darker tunnels, that appeared to go straight for a ways.

"John headed down there a while ago, haven't seen him since."
 
She heard it again, this time louder. Instantly, she recognized the voice. "John! Baby where are you?!" She scrabbled up, feeling along the walls and heading in the direction of his voice.

Jeb swore, rubbing over his beard. "Well if we all go down there we'll all get lost. We need someway to find our way back here. Anybody got any suggestions?" He asked. "And Mel, why don't you and Wanda and Maggie go get some blankets? They'll likely be cold if they've been deep in the tunnels and we don't need any cases of hypothermia."
 
Kallie could just barely see a hint of a light, John's flashlight to be specific. It seemed to be getting closer as he called out again. "Kallie?!?"

As Ian and Jared thought about it, they examined the walls and the tunnels before Ian spoke up. Well the tunnels are relatively smooth and clean cut....we could use rocks." Like a trail of breadcrumbs, but with something that wouldn't get eaten.
 
She moved towards the light. "John!"

Burns stepped forward. "What about string? We can follow it back with very little chance of getting lost."
 
Ian and Jared both nodded at the same time, agreeing with that before Ian frowned. "Well yea....but how much string do we have?" String had an actual useful purpose, and they didn't want to use it all up wandering into the dark.

"Kallie!" He ran to her until he pulled her into his arms, sighing in relief as he kissed her, whispering out softly. "Don't ever do that again." He didn't know exactly which way to go, but he knew which direction, and he had a light so he had a better sense of which way that truly was.
 
Jeb scratched his head, frowning. "Not enough to go far in the tunnels." He sighed. "I am at a loss for ideas and Kallie is sufferin' for it." Melanie stepped up, pushing beside Jared. "Is there any paint or anything to mark the tunnels with?"

Kallie sniffed, hugging John tightly. "I'm so sorry! It won't happen again. I promise." Her arms shook as she held him, her nerves finally getting the best of her. Her face, legs and arms were caked with purplish dust from her fall and blood dribbled down her right leg from a small gash. "I was so scared. I'm sorry for being so stupid and putting our baby in danger."
 
Jared considered that before he answered. "There might be....but if there is it's probably not enough to go that deep into the tunnels."

John held her tight against him, kissing her forehead as he whispered out softly. "It's fine. I forgive you. It wasn't your fault." Not really anyway.
 
She wiped her face, creating streaks. "Do you know how to get out of here?" She asked. She shivered, moving closer to him for his warmth.

Mel sighed, sinking to the floor. "So what do we do?"
 
John kissed her forehead gently. "Yea. Follow me." It was a small lie, but he didn't want her worried as he started down the tunnel he'd come from, holding her hand in his as he did.

There was only silence in answer, no one had the answer to it.
 
Kallie held to his hand tightly, following him in the darkness.

Melanie stood up. "Well I'm going to look for them. We are wasting valuable time sitting here." Wanda moved in behind her as well as Ian and several others. "I'll go get some soup on as well as warm blankets." Aunt Maggie added, taking a few women and heading back to the kitchen.
 
For the most part, the tunnel was completely straight, and when it wasn't the tunnels were slim enough so that John wouldn't have made it through them while he was panicking about finding Kallie. Their route was pretty straightforward.

Jared looked at Melenie as he nodded, Ian doing the same. "Right. We don't know where exactly they went, just that it was that way. That might not be the best way to find her, but it's the easiest way."
 
Kallie had to move close to John to make it through the tunnels. She nibbled her bottom lip. "I'm sorry I freaked and caused so much trouble."
 
She rubbed over her baby bump, thinking of all that could have happened, both to her and their baby. Nausea wracked her and she had to stop for a moment, taking in deep lungfuls of air to clear her head for a moment.
 
She gulped and nodded, wiping her hair from her forehead. "Yeah I think so." She took a few steps. "I'm sorry." She apologized again, choosing to fight through any nausea or sickness to get him out of there.
 
John shook his head. "It's fine. Let's keep going now." He squeezed her hand gently as they continued forward again. Occasionally they'd come to a split in the tunnel and he'd examine them before taking the one he thought was the way he'd come from. Sometimes tit was obvious it was the correct way. Other times....it wasn't quite as obvious. The tunnel's started to become brighter, yet not as bright as the section they lived in were.
 
Kallie blinked as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the tunnels. Though it wasn't very bright, after being in the dark her eyes had a bit of trouble. She took a deep breath of the drier air, beginning to warm up. "Do you think we're close?" She asked. Already her first priority was seeing Doc to make sure she hadn't hurt the baby. The coldness began leaving her and she stopped shivering so bad, stepping away from him a bit to keep from bumping into him.
 
John nodded as he looked at her. "Yes. I think we're close." It was obvious that they were getting closer, but it really made them wonder....just how long they'd been wandering around to get this far away from the tunnels.
 
Kallie's strength was waning as they made their way towards the caves. Sweat coated her face and plastered her clothes to her body as her muscles twitched with exhaustion. She had been too long without exercise and her body couldn't take the strain of walking so much anymore. "J-John....I don't....I don't think I can go much farther." She huffed tiredly.
 
John looked at her before he leaned down and picked her up, holding her in his arms as he spoke, continuing to head forward, hoping they were getting closer. "Sleep Kallie. Relax. When you wake up...we'll be back." He had to believe that. He just had to.

Ian stood alone now, waiting by one of the tunnels. He, Jared, Jeb were each checking different ones, all in a shouts range. Melanie had returned to the main part of the tunnels to find anything they could use to mark the tunnels as they searched. That would give them a wider range to explore in.
 
Kallie looked up at him. "You'll strain yourself carrying me." She replied, trying to wiggle out of his arms.

Wanda walked up behind Ian, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Any luck so far?" She asked, looking down the tunnel a bit until she couldn't see any farther. She was worried, sickeningly so. "I hope they are okay."
 
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