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Last of Us: A Story of Two Souls (BMD x EldritheWhisperwind)

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He decided to keep quiet about what he knew about the events with Ellie and Joel. "I'll just say that they had the idea to save the human race, however, their plan backfired on them." He didn't bother even mentioning that he was there when it happened. "At least, that's what I heard." He watched as she emptied the clip into the moving targets. Her demeanor changed once the mentioning of Sara came out.

He could feel a brooding aura around her. She wanted to see her to apologize? True, if it wasn't for either of their cocky attitudes, the entire event probably would not have happened. Sara's condition was stable, but the scientist and doctors weren't sure that she wouldn't still be infected. She of course was in the basement of the hospital being monitored 24/7 and he couldn't have her seeing anything down there. "I can't let you see her. Not yet. Her condition is stable. That's all I can tell you right now." Only when she would be cleared by the doctor's and moved up to the above floors with the other patients would Mariah or anyone else be able to see her.

If it had been anyone else that got bit, then Desmond would not have tried to remove the infection and let it spread in hopes of finding an angel, but he couldn't let one of the few officers he had just parish away. "Besides, it's not your fault that any of that happened. It's my responsibility to keep this city infection free and I failed. For that, I apologize to you and everyone else that was put in danger." It's true that the subway entrance wasn't a likely entrance point for the infected before, but now with this new information of mutated beings, anything is possible. "The only thing that I need you to be worried about is bettering yourself if you want to stay alive and help protect the city."
 
Exhaling a deep breath, Mariah popped a fresh clip into the gun; this time she executed the action much faster. “Shit happens sometimes, no need to apologize. It’s not like this settlement is the only one that has ever been broken into. But it’s a good idea to keep it quiet; we don’t need a riot to break out because people are scared.” Turning around, she walked back over to the targets and resumed target practice. Flashes of soft light pulsed in the room with each trigger pull. Darkness swarmed around the one window in the compact area; it was getting late. How long had they been in there?

Firing the last bullet, she rotated her shoulders to relax the tension that was building up in her neck. It had been a long day and it was starting to take its toll. Clearing her throat she turned away from the paper targets. “I know Sarah is bad if you won’t let anybody see her. Have you asked her what had happened? I mean…” She stuttered, “Maybe she wasn’t bitten and was just scratched or something stupid like that. She felt that this place was safe, that’s why she let her guard down. Plus, when I entered the lobby I had noticed that she was in the room alone. None of the infected had been alerted to where she was… well, unless she killed one of them in a different room.” Mariah knew she shouldn’t have said anything and she was careful to keep out the information that Sarah was found whimpering in the room alone, but she thought he should know what she had seen.

“Anyway, it’s getting late.” She pointed to the window. “If it’s alright with you, I think we should wrap it up for the evening. We need some rest for tomorrows activities and I’m really hungry, I need to stop off at one of the food vendors before heading home.” Gripping the gun by the barrel, she presented it to him handle first since he had always handed her the weapon in the same fashion. “I will do my best to help you protect the city, I promise you that.”
 
"Sarah is fine, for the moment. While I will admit that I reacted a lot quicker than I should have, it was confirmed that her arm indeed was injured due to an infected. The story from Sarah was she encountered it in one of the rooms, was bitten and scratched, but she fended it off locked it in the room. That's when you found her by herself. The infected was later found by the search team in the same room when we came looking for you and the others." He explained. Desmond did react a little too quickly before hacking off her arm, but in the end, it was for the best. "We don't want anyone seeing her right now, because if it turns out that she is infected, we want to deal with the problem without incident. We have a team of people monitoring 24/7. She is a valued member of my team and I couldn't stand idly by and watch her perish."

His hands pressed up on the seat as he stood up from the chair after she noted it was getting late. He retrieved the gun from her before looking at the targets down the way. "You did good today." Without a doubt, she would get better in no time. Maybe not be a great marksmen like Travis or himself, but he believed she was do just fine once she took to the field. "Meet back here tomorrow morning. I will have someone here waiting for you to help you continue your training." He had someone in mind that would assist her while Travis continued with the rest of the group and he would likely be busy with other matters. After all, he couldn't dedicate 100% of his time to trying to better his new prodigy. "You have yourself a good night, Mariah." He said with a calm and warming tone. He took his leave from the room to meet with Travis on the scoop for the other recruits before heading back to his room as well.
 
So Sarah had been bitten, what a waist. Mariah might not have exactly liked the woman, but she was one of the few remaining people alive. Every life was important now; a single death brings them one step closer to extinction. Heading towards the door she turned around to look at Desmond, “You know, I would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes. Cutting her arm off might have saved her life.” With a pause she stretches her arms behind her back, “Desmond, you’re a good man and I’m sure she will pull through this. I think she’s too stubborn to let some infection beat her. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.” With a wave of her hand she exited the room.

Walking to the food market she thought of Desmond. He was an honorable man that she felt she could easily work with, someone she could possibly trust. But not yet, she wasn’t ready. Death always claimed those she became close with, she wasn’t ready to let it happen again and she was already tempting fate by letting down her guard around Laurence. With a shrug of her shoulders, she decided that she couldn’t let the fear of loss prevent her from completing her goal.

Reaching the vegetable food vendor she exchanged five tickets for a bundle of carrots and three tickets for a jar of green beans. “Bring the glass jar back and I’ll refund you one ticket.” Reminds the old man behind the booth giving her a toothy smile. With a nod of her head, Mariah says her goodbyes and finally heads home for the evening.
 
Desmond bid his farewells to Mariah and went next door to speak with Travis. "How are the recruits?" He quickly jumped to the point.

"Some of them were rattled after what happened with Mariah in here and lost their focus seeing one them get hurt and be in pain like that. Speaking of which, I was told that he's doing fine. However, he doesn't appear to be too trilled about coming back to training. How are things on your end?"

Desmond shook his head when Travis brought up the incident. "Mariah did well on her own. Still no where near where we need her to be, but she made progress."

"Let me ask you something," Travis had interrupted him, "what's got you so worked up about this woman? She's like your prized trophy wife from the way that you treat her."

"I assure you that my grooming her to be the very best that we need her to be is for the sake of this city and for what's to come." Desmond replied back to his accusation.

"What is that? What's to come?" Travis looked puzzled. He knew about the mutation, but didn't quite understand what he was thinking.

"Our war for survival has taken a turn for the worst. I'm not sure myself what's coming, but there's just this ominous feeling in the air since last night." For once, Desmond showed a side of him that was actually afraid. "I'm not certain how well we'll be able to protect this city."

Travis too could feel the shadow of his fear seeping into his own being. He took the urge to give Desmond a right cross on his left cheek bone. "Pull yourself together! I didn't hand this city over to you so you could just give up at the first sign of trouble! You had confidence. People believed in you and what you said. You promised that you would protect this city and find a cure." Travis almost instantly got rid of the fear inside and replaced it with anger. Not just anger towards Desmond, but to the reality of what is about to transpire. "We can beat this. We've been alive this long thanks to you and the policies that you've put in place. I honestly don't know how far we would have gotten without you."

Desmond snapped back to reality. He didn't know what triggered all this offset emotion he felt. He cast it aside and turned to Travis, "Thank you." He said softly, "I will see you in the morning." He finished as he took his leave. It was unlike him to show such a side of him, but this was the first time that they've been hit with really bad news like this. However, Travis was right. He needed to stay strong for the sake of the people of this city.

Back at headquarters, he had a light meal of chicken and apples and water. The pain in his face from the punch given by Travis served as a reminder to press on and not let himself get drowned in the shadow of the future. To aid in removing those feelings, he started exercising to build up a nice sweat followed by taking a cold shower and going to bed. However, his rest was interrupted before early sunrise. It wasn't a nightmare that woke him up, but instead it was a soldier, a woman. "Commander! Sir! Wake up!" She yelled as she shook him awake.

"Wh-what is it?" Desmond replied groggily.

"One of the scout team members has returned." She replied.

"Only one..?" He questioned almost confused, but it didn't take long for him to put two-and-two together. "Take me to him." With that, he threw on clothes and followed the woman to where the survivor was.
 
The early morning sun was nice and warm. Mariah sat under a lush green tree staring up at the sky. ‘I should be practicing and keeping up my reflexes. But it’s nice and safe here, I deserve to relax once in a while.’ She thinks to herself while moving her toes around, her boots lying abandoned next to her. She still had four more hours before she had to report for gun practice duty, so she had decided to take some time for herself. Digging a carrot out of her pocket, she continued to gaze upward daydreaming about her family.

Hours flew by, the sun aggressively getting hotter. People were out and about doing their daily runs, sweating as they went along their business. With a grunt, Mariah achingly sits up and thrusts on her boots before standing up to stretch. She needed to get going to the barracks, there was only an hour remaining. Being late was not an option. During her walk she encountered several people whispering and gossiping about what had happened at the office building a few days earlier.

“I heard that all the recruits died.” Hissed a middle-aged woman, her brown hair tied back into a braid.

The other woman beside her gasped, “How did the infected get into the city? Are we sure that we are safe here?”

Mariah slowly followed behind both women as they continued to chatter on. They continued to discuss different variations of the story that they heard, along with grunting and complaining about their safety. Mariah took mental notes of everything that was said, Desmond would want to know that there was an information leak.

“Last night, Damien said he saw a man run into the city. Said he looked like a guardian.” Said the middle-aged women. Mariah perked her ears up, attentive and ready to receive this new bit of information. “He said that the guy looked scared.”

“He might have just been out on patrol or something and was spooked by an infected.” The other woman waved her hand. “I wouldn’t put too much thought into it, after all, Damien is a known drunken bum.” She giggles. Mariah really needed to get to the barracks now. Dashing through the two women, she ran to the barracks as fast as she could.
 
The barracks was the closest point to get the soldier medical attention. That's where Desmond and the female soldier arrived. Desmond was quickly escorted through the barracks to find the man in pretty bad shape, but he wasn't in critical condition. He was being tended to be a single doctor. It was then that Desmond saw that it was Scott, the leader of the pack of soldiers he sent out on a scouting mission a few days ago. It had been only 5 days since they were gone. What happened out there? Desmond needed to know. Desmond ran into the doctor as he was coming out of Scott's room. "He's free to talk, his wounds have been treated. There's no sign of an infection. The wounds he suffered from appear to be from foreign objects. Most likely metal." The doctor informed Des as he started to take his leave, he paused for a moment to forewarn them, "And he has a bit of a temper right now."

Desmond didn't care for the man's temper. He entered the room and their eyes met as he approached. "How are you feeling?" Desmond asked. He was showing his usual cold, hard exterior, but on the inside, he was dying. The fact that he was in bad shape and that the other men didn't come back with him had him somewhat on edge. He just about prayed that it was bandits and not what he feared most.

Scott coughed a few times, grabbing at his ribs as he did so. The quick jerking motions caused him pain to his bruised ribs. "Fuck how I feel!" There's the temper he was warned about. It was clear he was angry, but it wasn't clear on who he was angry with. "I lost three good men out there!" He was practically in tears. "I couldn't do a damn thing to help them."

"What happened out there?" Desmond wanted to quickly get to the point.

"You sent us just about to our deaths! That's what happened! Those things.." And there it was. Des was sure he was about to hear firsthand experience with the new mutated infected. "Those things are different. It's like their.. their smarter..." It was clear he was going through flashbacks of the incident.

"Where did you run into them?" Des continued to question.

"We got blind sighted on the first day about a hundred miles south of here. Something hit us and hit us hard. That's where I lost my driver. The rest of us managed to escape, but it wasn't before long before we were surrounded. Normally, we would have no problem against infected, but these things were different. They not only looked different, but acted different too." The next couple of minutes was spent of him describing the whole story in depth from how the infected looked and acted as well as how he became free from the clutches of death.

Desmond placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "I'm glad you made it back. We're going to need every helping hand possible if they are as you describe. For now, just relax and focus on recovery." The man laid back in the hospital-style bed while Desmond moved out of the room. He stood outside the door for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts on all that was described to him. What were the next steps to take? Do they baton down the hatches and wait for them to make their next move, or do they go out and meet the enemy head on. It was a difficult decision to make, one that he would not make alone...
 
Reaching the barracks, Mariah launched herself through the door. She had to find Desmond. Fast walking through the building she hunted for someone, anyone that would direct her to where Desmond was. “Hey!” she yelled as she saw a well-built man in a guardians uniform walking down the hallway towards her. “Hey, I need to ask you something.” She quickly walked up and blocked his path. He didn’t look too happy to have been stopped. “I need to find Desmond, do you know where he is?”

The man glared at her, unsure of what information to divulge. “What business do you have with him?” he asks in a harsh tone. Well, this wasn’t going to be easy.

“It’s none of your businesses.” She snapped, which she quickly regretted. The other man crossed his muscle bound arms and scowled at her. The hallway became aerially quiet. “Uh…” Mariah stammers. “It’s important and I need to talk to him before my weapons training. I only have twenty minutes or so left. This is about an information leak.” She explains, trying her hardest not to be snarky with him.

He continues to glair at her. With a shrug of his shoulders he rests his arms at his side. “I can’t tell you where he is.” He says. It wasn’t the answer Mariah was looking for. He looks her over and continues, “Wait in the weapons training room. I’ll tell him to meet you there as soon as possible.” Good, at least he was working with her.

“Alright.” She replies, perspiration dripping off the tip of her nose. Turning around, she made her way to the room where she trained with the other recruits. Once inside she slumps down onto the ground, her back against the wall. All she had to do was wait.
 
While standing outside the room that Scott was in, one of his fellow Guardian men came walking towards him. Desmond was so lost in thought at the time that he didn't hear him coming. There was a muffled sound that hit his ears. He looked up and focused to clearly hear someone trying to get his attention. "What is it?" Desmond asked almost so soft the guy probably didn't hear it.

"There is a woman looking for you. I didn't get her name, but she said she had training to do. So I told her to go wait there. Possibly one of your new recruits, sir?" The man stood tall. Almost about Desmond's height.

Des had a pretty good idea of who it was that was looking for him. "What is this about?" He questioned. If he was going to go meet her, he might as well have some knowledge of the situation.

"She didn't say much, but she said it was about a memory leak, sir." The man stated.

"I see..." There's only one incident that Mariah knows about that he does as well. Which can only mean that word has gotten out that the city of attacked. "Thank you for your report. I'll go meet up with her."

"Shall I escort you, sir?" The man stood firm as if to await direct orders.

"That won't be necessary. Carry on with whatever you were doing before this." The man saluted him. You could definitely tell that he was ex-military. Desmond took his leave from the busy medical bay of the barracks to head for the training area.

Once there, he noticed Mariah up against a wall. She had been waiting in the same area as before when he helped her train. He approached her and asked, "I was told you have some information for me."
 
Mariah quietly sat and waited till Desmond arrived; that is, as long as that guy didn’t lie to her. Shutting her eyes, Mariah focused on the sounds of muted gunfire going of in the other room. The trainees were hard at work and she was still waiting. How much time has passed? Ten? Twenty? Thirty minutes? She sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees. Why was she doing this? It’s not like she owed Desmond anything; she isn’t his lapdog. But isn’t it the right thing to do? She shook her head in an attempt to clear it of the pesky questions she seemed to be dwelling on.

Desmond finally entered the room. Slowly pushing herself up off the floor, she brushed off her jeans. “If the other guy hasn’t told you already, you have an information leak. People are talking about the infected getting in the city. Of course, there are several variations of the story circulating around.” Pushing a rogue strand of red hair off of her dirt smudged face she placed her hands on her hips. “I also heard rumors of a guy running into the city last night. Some bum named Dante claimed that he saw everything. I haven’t talked to him personally, but that’s what I heard.” She scanned his face, trying her best to read what he was thinking. “Are the rumors true? Did someone in a guardians uniform come back solo?” Mariah stared at Desmond, anxious for his reply.
 
A deep sigh escaped the mouth of Desmond. It wasn't a surprise that there would be a story circulating around the city. "I'll have someone do something about the rumors. We'll spread a rumor that will say it was a training exercise with people dressed as infected." He liked the sound of that idea. It would hopefully rid the streets of worry. However, in time, more infected will come and Des won't be able to do much about it once people started witnessing it.

The information leak wasn't the only thing Mariah apparently wanted to talk about. Apparently there was another rumor of a soldier coming into the city. He could see the anxiety in her face. He remained silent for a moment as he debated on if he should explain the situation of Scott's arrival early this morning. He made up his mind and decided to tell her. "Here's the story. Before you came to the city, we've been attacked by infected from all directions. We thought they were random attacks, but then they started seeming coordinated and the attacks became more frequent."

He strolled around the room as he talked, "Thankfully, we never lost any men, but we've lost a few civilians that were outside of the wall at the time. So recently, it was decided to send out a search party to investigate. Scott, the Guardian from the rumors, was the leader of the group we sent out. His team was ambushed and unfortunately met their demise. Scott was wounded, but he is alright now." He stopped pacing and looked at her. "From what Scott Todd us, we may be in for the fight of our lives. Which is why we need you and the rest of the recruits up to speed as quickly as possible."
 
Mariah slightly flinched at his response; she hadn’t anticipated a straight answer. Why did he trust her with this information? They barely knew each other. What he said was troubling. Only one scout returned and he was injured. But what happened? How did they die and what killed them? She wanted to know. “Has he said anything to you yet?” She asked, crossing her bare arms. She had doubted that the man had said anything yet considering his condition, but she had to ask anyway. “If he’s the only survivor, than it has to be serious. I doubt that they were careless in their search, allow themselves to be ambushed.”

Before Mariah could ask more questions there was a vigorous knock at the door. The man she bumped into earlier during her search for Desmond stepped inside the room, his back erect, his face and body language all business. “Sir.” He said while saluting. “You have been requested to the…” he stops and turns his attention to Mariah, wondering how much she knew. “Tunnels. It’s an emergency. They require that you see them ASAP.” He says in an authorative monotone voice.

What the man said troubled her; it has to be important for him to just walk in unannounced. “You should go.” Said Mariah. “We can talk more later. In the meantime I’ll continue my gun training.” She walked over to the gun rack and picked up a shotgun. “I think I’ll take a shot with this little baby. I promise not to hurt anybody today.” She joked while flipping the switched that revealed the paper targets.
 
Desmond knew that she would have more questions after he revealed the information to her. He knew that he would eventually have to trust her especially if he had plans of sending her outside the walls of the city. He was about to reply to her suggestions and questions, but they were interrupted. What was it now? What more could happen? His attention turned to the man who barged in. His facial expression was far from pleased. Not because he barged in, but because he knew that it was going to be more bad news.

He listened as the man mentioned he was needed in the tunnels. The tunnels... Where this whole nightmare of unsettling peace started. He nodded to the man and turned to Mariah as she suggested that he should go. "As interesting as it would be for you to use that shotgun," he said with a slight pause as he thought about her using the automatic rifle, "I think you should tag along for this one. Unless you prefer to sit here with this ugly mug and train." He said as he motioned towards the man standing in the doorway. "Either way, it's your choice."

He didn't wait for her response as he took his leave. The tunnel entrance wasn't far, but he decided to take one of the jeeps nearby. He hopped in behind the steering wheel and started the engine. He had a feeling that the curiosity of knowing what's in the tunnel would peak her interest, so he waited for a moment before he would drive over there. He doubted that it was an attack because the sirens would have sounded, so there must either be some progress made with it, or a new discovery. Either way, for Mariah to be able to trust him and for him to trust her, he had to show her what she really may be getting involved in. Only then will she make the true decision to stick this out, or abandon it and live out the rest of her days in peace within the walls.
 
He was offering for her to tag along? Mariah’s mouth hung open in shock, the shotgun sagging out of her hands towards the floor. She stood motionless, thoughts racing. What did she do to make him trust her so much? Maybe she should stop keeping secrets from him, let him in. If he trusted her this much, then she should give the same trust back. Before she could give a response, Desmond was out the door, the door swinging shut behind him.

The man standing just inside the doorway eyed her. “By your lack of movement and response, I guess you want to stay and train.” He grunts and starts walking towards her. “I don’t see what he sees in you. You haven’t even been fully initiated as a Guardian and he’s willing to trust you with our secrets.” Before he could say more, she dashes forward and shoves him out of the way. An ‘OOF' and the clattering sound of the shotgun hitting the floor echoed through the room behind her as she burst through the heavy steel door. She didn’t have time to turn around to see if he was ok; she needed to catch up to Desmond.

Running as fast as she could through the hot hollowed building, she finally managed to emerge outside. Wind blew across her sweaty skin, cooling off the heat from her run. Panting, she frantically searched for Desmond. Mariah spotted him sitting in a dust-covered green jeep. ‘Did he wait on me?’ she thought as she jogged over to him, his back towards her. “Looks like I’m going to be tagging along. As long as the offer is still standing.” She says with a hint of amusement in her voice. Mariah was glad that he had waited on her, that only added more proof that she was beginning to grow on him. Without being asked, she climbed into passenger seat; eager to discover what was waiting for them in the tunnels.
 
Together with Mariah, the two of them drove towards the entrance to the subway tunnels near the south entrance of the city. They drove pass the abandoned office building in which this madness all began. The sun was high in the sky. It was around noon or a little later. The jeep came to a screeching halt as the brakes pressed against the wheels of the jeep. Des flipped the key to shut it off and stepped out. The two of them were greeted by the Mayor. If she was here, then this must really be serious, which is what went through Desmond's mind.

Julie gave Mariah a look over, possibly the thought of why she was here with him crossed her mind as she did so. "Glad you could make it." She greeted Des, "I don't mean to be blunt, but why is she here?" She questioned.

"This woman will eventually hold a vital role within our organization. It's only right that she get some live experience and be pushed up to speed with what's going on." He responded in a serious way. Almost as if to say it was his way or the highway.

Julie did not question him further. She extended a hand to Mariah in a soft greeting. "Glad to have you on board." If Desmond had trusted this woman, she felt as though she could trust her as well. He hadn't been wrong thus far with his choices in terms of leadership.

A soldier appeared soon after the greetings were exchanged. "Sir, we're ready to take you down." He said with a salute. Des responded with a nod and followed, expecting Mariah to finish up her greetings with Julie knowing that they can play catch up later. They were escorted by this man to a small team that was well equipped as if they were going outside the wall. These tunnels were enemy territory now. Desmond equipped himself with an assault rifle, sidearm and a pocket light from the makeshift equipment station nearby the team. He turned to Mariah, to give her a look as if not to take anything outside her means that she couldn't handle.

Desmond nodded to the team and they approached the tunnel entrance. The 6 inch steel door was unlocked and opened by a set of men and down the stairs they went. After the last man cleared, the steel doors were shut behind them, part of a safety protocol. Once they reached the bottom of the stairwell, visibility was low. There were some subway lights that remained connected to the cities power supply, and some that flickered on and off. Lights from the assault rifles and pocket lights hanging out of the vests of the soldiers flicked on as they scanned around. "We're headed this way, sir. We will take point," a soldier said while motioning to his buddy, "followed by you and the lady and these two will cover your rear." The soldier explained, motioning to the other two soldiers behind them.

"Lead the way," Desmond commanded as they began their journey down the tunnel. He truly didn't know what to expect, but considering the soldiers didn't warn him of any real threat, he wasn't too worried, but he knew he couldn't let his guard down.
 
The drive to the tunnels was met with silent anticipation. Mariah looked out the side window watching people mill around, ignorant to the dangers that lay just outside the walls. Chaos would ravage the city if people knew about the infected that had infiltrated their safe haven; it was safer for them if they remained blissfully unknowing. Streaks of sun poked through crakes in the roof of the jeep, small dots illuminating her jeans. ‘I wonder what’s down in the tunnels’ she thinks to herself as she concentrates on the dots of sunlight. ‘It must be important if they had to summon Desmond’.

Before she knew it, they had sped by the abandoned building where Sara was hurt and into the subway tunnels. Once inside a woman greeted the two of them, she was the Mayor. Mariah couldn’t recall her name. From the woman’s tone of voice, she wasn’t too happy to see Mariah there. ‘What’s her problem?’ She thought while exiting the jeep.

Mariah glanced over at Desmond, genuinely surprised at his response to the Mayor. She hadn’t known that he thought that highly of her. She thought it was quite comical how the Mayor wrinkled her nose at his response. When the Mayor extended her hand out to Mariah, she took it with a firm grip and shook. “Uh… Thanks.” She hesitantly replied, unsure of what to say given the situation.

A soldier showed up and walked off with Desmond, this gave Mariah time to speak with the Mayor while they walked behind. “I know you don’t approve of me being here. I can tell by your actions and tone of voice towards me. You don’t have to hide it.”

The Mayor glanced over towards Mariah. “It’s not that I don’t like you. I don’t know you.” She quietly says back, keeping check not to raise her voice enough for Desmond to hear. “But I am not happy that you’re here.”

So that’s how it was going to be. “How can I prove to you that I can be trusted?” she asks, her gaze set forward.

“I’m not sure yet.” Replies the Mayor.

As they continued down the hallway Desmond stops and equips himself with a gun. ‘He wouldn’t be taking a weapon if he thought it was safe down here.’ Mariah lifted her eyebrow up as Desmond turned towards her, giving her a look. “What’s the look for?” She asked, slightly confused. A soldier approached her and offered her a handgun. She half smiled, “Oh, never mind.” She gratefully took the gun from the man and stuck it in her belt.

Quietly, the group continued down the tunnels. A rush of cold air tickled the small hairs on Mariah’s face. How far underground are they? At the end of the tunnel was a large rusted steel door that sat open. Without asking any questions she continued to follow Desmond, excitement prickling her nerves. As they continued their journey the light became dimmer. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. “Something doesn’t feel right.” She whispered as a soldier explained their follow order.

The sounds of dripping water echoed down the hollow hallway as they continued their journey. She silently walked behind Desmond, keeping her ears open for anything out of the ordinary. Mariah knew something was wrong, she could feel it. Flashlights darted around them with each step they took. Mariah suddenly froze as she heard the soft splashes of running feet. “Stop moving.” She hissed while grabbing the gun, “Something’s here.”
 
The team halted as Mariah spoke up about there being a possible threat nearby. The lights from the flashlights on guns glared around the tunnel. Silence surrounded the team for the moment. Clattering from movements near the air ducts were heard. Lights shown in the area to illuminate it. A shadow of a head disappeared into the duct. Desmond remained calm in this situation. Having been through worse, this was a walk in the park. "Check out out," the lead soldier spoke to his partner.

The soldier being referred to moved toward the duct. His light flared into the duct. He peaked in slowly. Having not seen anything, he turned to give his team the all clear. Just as he started to move away from the duct entrance, rapid clattering was heard and soon after, an infected appeared from that same entrance and grabbed the soldier by the leg. In that same instance, the infected pulled the soldier into the duct. A scream could be heard from the duct as the soldier was in both agony and pain.

The soldier's partner, the lead soldier, was filled with anger and had immediately rushed to aid. "Noooooo!" He bellowed as he started shooting down the air duct tunnel. Desmond rushed behind him and stopped him. He shook his head. There was nothing they could do. The soldier's tried to control himself and his breathing. More clattering was now heard around them. "They're coming!" Desmond announced as he pulled the soldier back to the group. There was now only five of them left. They circled around each other as they awaited their enemy to show themselves. "Get ready!"

At that moment, more infected started appearing from different air ducts and from down the tunnel. Gun shots started firing from some of the group as they lined up the infected. It was then that they confirmed they were stalkers, but they looked different. Their eyes shown brightly in the dark being a bright yellow. Could this have been what they needed to show Desmond? The only thing on his mind now was surviving this horde.
 
Mariah tensed up as she heard the reverberating sounds in the air ducts. This was bad, really bad. They were confined in a tunnel with no place to take cover and hide; it also didn’t help that it was almost pitch black. Flashlights skittered around the room nervously. Palming the gun, Mariah took a defensive stance and tried her best to enhance her senses. Closing her eyes she focused on the sounds of the movement, it was close.

Suddenly the sounds of screaming and yelling filled the room. Mariah quickly opened her eyes and scanned the room. Infected were rapidly filling up the tunnel. Without hesitating she quickly brought up her gun. “We can’t stay here!” She yelled. “We have to get out of here now!” She turned to see two of the soldiers turning and running, while four of them were continuously firing. As she turned to run away, she stopped in her tracks. A group of infected had entered through the air ducts behind them. They were trapped. “Damn it.” She hissed through clenched teeth.

Shots continuously echoed around her as the soldiers frantically tried to kill all of the infected. But there were too many of them. Mariah saw a pile of boxes piled up against the wall under one of the air ducts. If they were going to live through this they were going to have to climb through that air duct and make it outside. Dashing towards the boxes, she quickly climbed them and shown a flashlight inside in the ducts. A smile crept on her face when she saw a ladder attached to the wall of the large duct. Hopefully it wasn’t too rusted to climb; if the ladder snapped they would be cornered and killed.

“Desmond!” She screamed as loud as she could. “There’s a ladder in here! This might be our only way out!” A young soldier heard what she had said and dashed in her direction. As he reached the boxes one of the infected pounced on him, knocking him the moss covered ground with a thud. Mariah saw the fear in the young mans eyes as he fell. Raising her gun, she ran over to the infected and fired at close range. A large chunk of skin and cheekbone sprayed in an arch behind the creature. “Are you alright?” she asked as she jumped down to the ground to help him up.

“I… I think so.” He breathed heavily as he slowly stood up.

Mariah nodded. “Good. Now get your ass up that ladder and secure the topside. Be careful and clear out any infected that may be up there.” The man nodded and did as he was told. Turning her attention back to the horde of infected, she started firing on any that had gotten too close. “Come on, we have to go now!” she yelled while grabbing a soldier by the arm and pushing him towards the air duct.
 
The air inside the subway tunnel was stagnant. The sounds of gunfire filled the tunnel all the way through to the entrance to the city. Desmond continued shooting at the horde of infected that made their way through open ground level air ducts and from down the hall. "I'm out! Cover me!" He shouted to the group as he reloaded. As he did, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. It was Mariah. She apparently had the idea to find a way out. A smart idea, but situations like this is probably in her area of expertise.

"Great! Everyone follow Mariah's lead!" He commanded as she shouted that she found a way out. If anything, it would also help with narrowing down the area to funnel the infected creatures to make them easier to kill. Desmond brought up the rear as the rest of the team made their way to the duct and towards the ladder. Surprisingly, there were only but a few infected in that duct, so not many shots were fired inside which is good. Shots fired in such a narrow space could definitely have an adverse affect on the eardrums for humans.

The soldiers, including Mariah made their way up the boxes and to the ladder. Meanwhile, Desmond was still battling it out to buy them as much time as possible while trying to climb the boxes himself. Only a few mutated stalkers actually managed to get within close range to him. Quickly, he swiped and stabbed at them with his blade to fend them off. Grunts escaped his mouth as he did so. Desmond could feel the pressure of the situation getting bleak. Sweat droplets started forming on his forehead as he fought valiantly. Just then, his flashlight from his vest pocket happened to shine on an unknown moving object. He caught a small break from battling the mutated stalkers. He used this opportunity to examine the slow moving form. His eyes widened with shock, "What.. the.. fuck..?"

Grab. An infected grabbed him by his foot while he was in his daze. It brought him back to the reality of the situation and he landed a boot into the face of the infected creature that held him. His assault rifle was out of ammo, and it was a waste to try to take the time to reload it with so many around him. He tossed the rifle aside and jumped to the air duct to follow his team. He drew his pistol from his side and waited for infected to get near. He turned to check on the team that had already gone ahead. At least half of them should have been up the ladder by now. "Is everyone out?!" He questioned as he started to focus on the infected that were trying to close in on them.

An yellowish hand with brown dirty fingernails grabbed a hold of the ledge. An infected lifted its head up to the air duct only to meet the barrel of Desmond's pistol. Gun shot. The bullet went cleanly through the front of the forehead and out the back of the skull, blood splattering on the wall behind it. The creature fell limp down towards its fellow creatures. The creature fell hard on top of them, causing a lot of weight to be on the boxes, and with that it broke down. The infected shouldn't have been able to climb up the wall now.

Desmond could only watch now as they growled and hissed and scratched at the walls with saliva dripping down from their mouths. That stern, huge infected he saw earlier was now mere feet away, standing still and staring with it's piercing yellow eyes; meeting the eyes of Desmond's.
 
Good, the soldiers were smart enough to know when it’s time to high tail it out of there. Heart pounding in her chest, Mariah climbed the ladder as fast as she could. There was one soldier and Desmond still down there and she couldn’t afford to be slow; otherwise they wouldn’t make it up in time. The room they were in was pitch black. Shots could still be heard below.

“What do we do now?” Asked a female soldier.

“We need to secure a way out before those things start climbing up here. You two, stay here and help Desmond when he finally gets up here.” She points to the young man and the female. “The rest of you, come with me and keep your eyes open.”

One of the men grunted. “Why are we taking orders from you? Your not even apart of the team.”

Mariah sighed and gave him a stern look. “Ok then, what do you want to do?”

“I say we stay here and wait for Desmond to come up. He will know what to do.” He responds.

“We don’t have time for that. We need to find a way out now before it’s too late. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like dieing today.” She retorted, trying her best to keep calm. “If you haven’t noticed, those stalkers didn’t look quite right.” Shrugging, she looked at the soldier. “You know what. You can either do as I said, or you can stay here. I really don’t care. But I’m going to go clear the way and find us an exit. Once Desmond gets up here go continue forward. I’ll make it obvious of which direction I’m going.” With that said, she turned on her heels and left, gun at the ready.

The four soldiers stopped and looked at each other. “I think we should do as she said. It’s not like any of us have a better plan.” Said the young soldier.

The man that had argued with Mariah earlier glared at the young man. “All right. Let’s go.” They all nodded and did as she had told them; two stayed behind while three of them followed her. “Hey, Wait up.” Hollered the man as they jogged up behind her.

Mariah turned around and gave them an amusing expression. “Glad you decided to see it my way. Here’s the plan. Stay low and stay quiet. Check every room we pass to see if there is a possible exit as well as supplies. If you detect any trouble…” Mariah paused to think. They could use their flashlights, but any stalkers or runners in the area would see it and come running. They could whistle or throw something, but then everything in the general vicinity would hear them. This was going to be tricky. “If you detect any trouble stay quiet and come to me. If it’s doable, I’ll sneak up on it and dispatch of it. But if it’s too risky, we all need to clump up and either find another route or open fire on it and obliterate the obstacle.” The soldiers nodded in agreement and crouched low to the floor. “Now turn your flashlights on low, we don’t want to attract too much attention.”

Silently making their way down the hall, they searched all of the unlocked rooms down slick watery hallway. No exits, but they did find a few objects that might be useful; a pocketknife, masking tape, a couple of oil covered rags and a fire axe. Mariah took the pocketknife and masking tape, which she used to make a shiv. The weight of the shiv calmed Mariah’s nerves; she hadn’t felt too safe having a gun as her only weapon.

Advancing forward they encountered some roadblocks from where chunks of the concrete ceiling had collapsed. With some effort, they were able to clear out some of the wreckage and make a path for the others to follow. On the other side of the wreckage was a large room that housed gigantic pistons that were used to supply electricity to the entire subway station. Black stagnant water covered the stone floor. The room felt too big and open, it didn’t feel right, but they had to continue, there was no turning back now.

Mariah turned towards the soldiers and motioned for them to come in close. “We need to stick close together in here. No telling what will happen if we become separated.” She whispered. The soldiers nodded in agreement and followed close to her, making sure to keep their eyes open for any signs of danger. Walking down the creaking metal stairs they continued to traverse the room, Mariah continuously listening for any sings of movement that was out of the ordinary.

The soldiers silently splashed on as they advanced, the light from their flashlights twitching nervously back and forth. One of the soldiers spotted two large metal doors; he quickly tapped on Mariah’s shoulder. “Let’s check out the doors over there. See if they are open or not.” He whispered into her ear.

“Good idea.” She quietly nodded back. Slowly but surely they made their way to the moss covered steel doors. Three of the soldiers took point while Mariah and the other two inspected the door. “Hmmm…” Mariah mused as she tugged on both handles. “Looks like they are rusted shut.” She took the fire axe that was discovered earlier. “This is going to make a lot of noise. Turn your flashlights on high and keep an eye out. There’s no telling what’s going to hear us.” After the soldiers were alert and ready, she turned towards the door and started bashing at the point where they intersect. Her plan was to jar the axe in between both doors and try to wrench one door free.

The sound of metal grinding on metal reverberated loudly throughout the room. Completely focused on the situation at hand, Mariah continued to bash as hard as she could. As she pulled back to take another swing, she heard the unmistakable sounds of a chorus of croaks, clicks and screams. “Oh shit.” She hissed through clenched teeth. “Looks like we are going to have trouble. Shoot anything that moves.” Without hesitation she went back to bashing at the door.
 
Desmond was frozen as he stared at the creature. The sound of all the other infected creatures had deafened to him as he continued studying this gigantic being. It was true that the fungus was mutating, and it was doing so for the worse in their case. The clothes the creature wore were torn on the sleeves as well as the sides and the legs and were hugging tight to the form of the creature. The rips were in areas around muscles which implied that the person that use to have that body was not that big before. The fungus had transformed his body. With that, it possibly made it smarter too. It wouldn't be long before the thing realized how to get it's fellow creatures up the ladder.

Desmond moved from his spot and headed for the ladder. On the way, he checked how many rounds he still had in his pistol. "Five shots, eh?" He popped the clip back into this gun and holstered it on his side. He also had two extra ammo clips strapped to his leg as well. He climbed the ladder and was greeted by two of his soldiers. "Where's the rest of the team?"

"Sir, they continued on ahead of us," the young man replied. "The woman said she would leave a path and make it obvious for which way to follow her." The female soldier nodded in agreement.

"Good. Let's get a move on." He stated as he walked by them. His eyes looked fierce after having witnessed the beast below. The two soldiers looked at each other and then looked down below. It was clear of infected. They quickly followed behind him. Moving forward, down the hall they saw that doors to the utility rooms were left opened. They must have already checked these for exits and equipment. "Let's search these room for anything useful." The group spread out going into different rooms.

Each of them came out of the rooms with some kind of melee weapon. Desmond managed to grab a pipe that was hanging out of place. He straddled it into his belt as if it were a sword in a sheath. The other two had found a wrench and a shovel. "Not much else, sir. They must have raided these rooms pretty well." The male soldier spoke out. No doubt about that. They had Mariah with them. She was an excellent scout having been in the field for so long.

"Let's continue on then." Desmond said as he continued to lead the way. Desmond continued, eyes peering left and right checking every possible corner and crack for movement. A soft scream reached his ears as he came to a halt. His left fist went up to signal to the other soldiers to stop moving. "Trouble is ahead..." He said softly. The screams were followed by a banging sound that sounded as if it was metal on metal. No infected would make that type of repetition. "The other team is ahead. Let's go. Quickly." He said as they started to jog forward.

The screams and croaks from the infected were getting louder as it echoed through the halls. Before long, they had reached the other half of the party. Mariah was banging at a metal door and the others were standing guard. It was clear to Desmond what she was trying to do. He looked to the male soldier carrying the shovel, "You, protect these two until they can get the door opened. Everyone else, prepare yourselves. We are about to be in a world of shit that no training can ever prepare you for. Cover each others backs and don't get bit!" He stated out as they formed a small perimeter around Mariah and the two soldiers helping her. Desmond turned his head to look at Mariah, "I'm counting on you." He said softly." His head swiveled back to look in front of his body. It was lucky for them that this team was comprised of veterans who have stared down infected, but a horde like this would be something like which they've never seen.

Moments later, infected started sprouting out from the hallway in which the group came from as well as other open areas around the big domed area. Desmond had took a hold of the pipe he picked up from the hallway and held it tightly as he lunged forward and starting swinging it as hard as he could, aiming only for heads and limbs. The others behind him followed suit using whatever weapon they had retrieved as well.
 
Tension slightly eased in her shoulders the moment she spotted Desmond and the remaining team. Mariah stopped hammering at the door, the axe resting at her side. “About time you showed up.” She happily mocked, noticing the achy muscles that were starting to develop in her arms and shoulders. Now that everybody was back together again she wouldn’t have to worry about them being separated by what was on its way. Sounds of the infected sent her whirling around in panic; she needed to get this door open and fast. Continuing to bash at the door with every bit of strength she had, she heard the unmistakable sounds of splashing feet behind her; they were close.

“Here they come.” Shouted one of the male soldiers. Shots rang out around the room, angry screams echoed in response. ‘Oh God.’ Mariah thought, ‘I really don’t want to die here.’ With a frustrated ferocious howl, she continued beating down on the door. Mariah kept thinking to herself that if this door didn’t open soon they were all going to die. There was no other option than to continue in hopes that one of the doors would open.

Everything became deafening to Mariah, the world around her seemed to disappear. How long has it been since she started axing the door? Has anybody died? Was she the only one left? Any sense of time and place seemed to evaporate as she forced herself to push on. That was until she heard a faint voice. “Please hurry.” Pleaded one of the soldiers standing closes to her as he fired a few shots at a clicker that had gotten to close. The monster’s head exploded in a hail of blood and brain matter.

“I’m trying.” Mariah screamed, frustrated that the doors still hadn’t budged. Taking one glance behind her, she slightly froze in fear. The room was covered with the infected. Bodies from the fallen monsters had littered the floor around the group, coagulated blood staining the stagnant water. Turning towards the door, she continued to pound it with the axe, her muscles screaming with each smash. Mariah’s arms started to buckle up with each stroke of the weapon. “Damn it.” She croaked while trying her best to push on. Suddenly the screeching sound of metal blasted through the room. Mariah had finally opened one of the doors slightly, but her arms were so tired that she couldn’t open the door fully before she collapsed to her knees from exhaustion.
 
The sounds of a metal pipe swinging violently through the air as it smashes against skulls left and right was all that Desmond could here. He was focused on destroying each and every single piece of vermin that came across his path. His mind was filled with anger. Swing. The pipe crosses and bashes one creatures cheek bone in. Anger for how this world had turned out. Swing. Another infected went down with a downward bash on the top of the head. Angry at the this threat to mankind that is forcing them on the bring of extinction. It was at this moment that he wanted to carry the burden of the world on his shoulders and rid the planet of these monsters right here and now.

He continued to grunt as his swings became more and more fierce. Particles of sweat had formed almost all over his upper body as his muscles grew sore, but he urged on through the pain. A moments later, a male scream was heard from his right which snapped him out of his daze. One of the young men were forced to the ground. Desmond took the pipe in his left hand to free up his right. He grabbed the pistol from the holster at his hip and fired off a shot to the dome of the infected that had pinned the soldier down. Instantly, the monster fell limp and the soldier was able to force him off. Desmond didn't have time to help him up as two more now rushed at him. Two more shots rang through the domed area as the creatures fell at his feet.

It was at that moment that the screeching sound of the door rang out. Desmond's head swiveled to the side to see Mariah collapsed to her knees as the door was slightly pried open. "You two!" He shouted out to the people that were charged with helping Mariah and protecting her, "Get that door open!" The two soldiers immediately jumped to scene and tried prying the door open more. The hinges were definitely rusted as the door hadn't been maintained in years. The humidity from this underground area only helped to speed up the rusting process.

The two struggled to pry the door free more, using the items that they had on hand. Within a few minutes they had the doors open wide enough to have everyone slip through. "Sir! We've got the door open partly! We should all be able to fit through!" One of them explained. Desmond didn't pay mind to who was speaking, but tried to listen as he continued to defend the area.

Once he had a break, he shouted out "Everyone, let's move!" Quickly, the team started sliding through the opening. Desmond also started to retreat. "Hurry! Hurry!" He commanded. He wasn't going to go through until everyone had done so.
 
A violent tug on her shirt sent her head spinning. “Come on, get up. We have to go!” someone yelled at he in a muffled voice, while they continued to pull her up off of the ground. Mariah’s heart thudded in her chest as she tried to catch her breath. She was so tired. Attempting to stand up, her shaky legs sent her crashing back down to one knee. “COME ON!” urged the muffled voice. Mariah shook her head trying her best to rid of the fuzziness that corrupted her mind. The sudden jolt of people rushing past her through the open doorway made her loose her balance.

“Damn it.” She hissed through clenched teeth, a rogue stalker taking a hold of her left ankle. Mariah tried her best to kick it away, but she found that she didn’t have the energy. “NO!” she screamed as the stalker started crawling up her leg. With one final attempt, she shoved her foot into the infected’s face. A shot rang out as the left side of the creature’s head caved in. Adrenalin pumping, she crawled onto her knees and forced herself to stand up. The soldier that had been urging her to get up was beside her, hand outstretched in assistance. Taking the offer, she grabbed hold of his hand and allowed him to pull her up. With a gentle gesture, he draped her arm over his shoulder to help carry her weight.

Once everybody had made it through the door they started barring it shut in an attempt to keep the infected on the other side. Metal boxes that littered the hallway were used for the barricade. “Let’s get a move on.” Huffed Mariah, “We need to get out of here ASAP.” The soldier supporting her weight nodded in agreement. Mummers of agreement were heard. “Ok, then lets get out of here.” She replied while nodding to Desmond. Running down the dark slick moss covered hallway they sought a place to escape this nightmare.
 
Desmond had barely made it through the clad iron door. It was sealed up quickly as words were exchanged between the group. It was agreed that they needed to keep moving. The group of people continued on through the dark hallways. The sounds of banging and screeching still haunted them from behind. Desmond had to maintain his composure as a true leader to get the rest of them out of these tunnels safely.

It wasn't long before the sounds of the infected were drowned up by the distance, as well as another sound. The sounds of rushing water could be heard from up ahead. They moved forward to find another tunnel running perpendicular to the one in which they were walking in. In the middle of it was a flow of running water. It wasn't murky or filth ridden. Desmond crouched over next to the water to take a whiff of it. "This is definitely lake water. Close to being pure." He stood up and turned to face the group. "We're in the sewers quite possibly below old Chicago. If we follow the path of the water, we're bound to find a ladder to the surface." His plan was almost fool proof. The only thing that was uncertain is if they would run into a hoard of infected down here.

"Let's keep moving and keep an eye and ear out for trouble." He commanded as he started to lead the way. He was a slight bit curious how the lake water was running in this sewer, but at the same time, he was wondering how far out they were getting away from their home. How much time had elapsed since they first entered the subway? Will that ugly beast find them again. All these questions were on Desmond's mind, but he didn't show his frantic caution to his team.
 
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