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

The others were gone; Mariah was alone. She knew that she had to find the other two fast. Pushing herself away from the window, she crawled back to the stairs and climbed her way back to the 2nd floor. Looking over the balcony she notices that all of the infected had disappeared. “Oh shit.” She whispers. They must have scattered themselves throughout the building; this meant that she had to be extra careful. She dropped into a crouch and headed through the 2nd floor doors and up to the 3rd floor through the bathroom. Once on the 3rd floor she stood up and walked in the narrow hallway where she took the second door on the right and climbed the stairs.

Luckily, the stairway was somewhat intact up until the 6th floor. Mariah did have to climb over and around some of the collapsed stairs, but it wasn’t too hard. The 6th floor was too quiet. Caitlyn was supposed to be up here, but where was she? Something felt wrong. A loud croak emitted from the other side of the room. Mariah immediately kneeled down; she had to be careful. She crawled inside a cubicle and placed her back against the wall; she silently listened. The sound of something softly thudding to the ground reverberated off the walls. “Caitlyn?” she says in a hushed tone.

“Hello? Is someone there?” comes a faint whisper. A female with short brown hair dressed in a Guardians uniform slowly stands up. An old metal pipe is resting at her side; blood caked and dripping around the end. Sweat dripped off the end of her nose and onto her open white shirt.

Mariah stands up, revealing her hiding spot. “It’s Mariah. Some infected are roaming around the building.” She looks at the blood and dirt covered pipe, “But I guess you don’t need me to tell you that. Anyway, I came up here to get you and Leonard. By the way, are you alright?”

The young woman looks over at her, “I’m alright. Where’s everybody else?”

“They went to go get Desmond. Sarah and Steven are hurt real bad, they needed fast medical attention.” Mariah could see that Caitlyn was shocked and most likely wanting to know more. “I’ll tell you more about it later, first we need to get Leonard. Last time I saw him I knocked him out and he was passed out on the floor.”

Caitlyn’s mouth dropped open. “But… Are you sure? I mean. A bloater just ran through here.” Realization dawned on her face, “We need to get up there. Now!”

Desmond arrived at the scene of the old office building. Shortly there after, other Guardian soldiers appeared and stood waiting for his command. There were 15 men in total, all of which who were from the City Guard. They were all well equipped from assault rifles to shotguns. Desmond began giving orders to them, "I need 6 of you to secure the perimeter. Engage the infected on sight. The rest of you will follow me inside." Six men broke away from the group, splitting into two groups of three to check the perimeter of the building.

After one of the soldiers handed Desmond an assault rifle, he made one final announcement to his team. "There are civilians inside so check your targets. We are to secure them and clear the building of all infected. Attach your silencers. Let's move." The rest of the men followed Desmond inside the complex. They stuck closely together, not knowing just how many infected could be in the building. The men split off into smaller groups to clear each room that could possibly have infected in it. Through four floors they encountered only four runners and two clickers without any casualties. They regrouped in the stairwell and had 5 of the men cover the 5th floor while Desmond and the rest went up to the 6th.

It wasn't long that they had been up there that he had heard what sounded like voices. He halted his team, "Check fire. I heard voices." They moved through, covering all corners that they went around and finally Desmond found two of the people they were searching for. "Did you say, a bloater was running through these halls?" He asked quietly having. "Where did you last see it? And where is Leonard?" The team of soldiers that had followed Desmond had surrounded the group and kept themselves alert now knowing that a bloater was around here somewhere. They waited their next orders before proceeding.

Mariah lightly jumped at the sound of Desmond’s voice. ‘That was fast.’ She thought as she turned around to face him and the clean up team he brought. “Leonard should be upstairs.” She replied, anxious to get Leonard and get out. Mariah could see the team of soldiers starting to fidget; thoughts of fighting a Bloater made then nervous.

“Sir.” Announced Caitlyn who stood erect with her arms at her side. “Mariah notified me that she had incapacitated Leonard earlier. While patrolling this floor I herd clicking noises. I instantly hid in one of the cubicles.” Mariah could see Caitlyn search Desmond’s face; she looked like she was analyzing his facial expressions. Caitlyn continued, “The clicking noises started to pass my hiding spot and I decided to sneak a peak. A Bloater and one Clicker ran past and I assume went upstairs. I got up to investigate, but I spotted a Runner and took her out.”

Irritation started to set in. “We don’t need to discuss what happened. We need to get up there and do something to help Leonard. I’m not letting him die.” Groaned Mariah. She knew she was out of line, but they needed to get their butt’s in gear before it was too late. Desmond could scold her later if he wanted, but it was going to be after she killed the infected and saved the man she had briefly suffocated. Mariah hastily walked over to one of the soldiers and snatched one of the guns out of his belt. Before Desmond or the soldier could say a word to her, she took off toward the other end of the hall.

Desmond analyzed the situation. He had responded to Caitlyn with, "Leonard should be okay even if he is still knocked out. We just came up the only stairwell to the 6th floor and it was destroyed to the 7th. There shouldn't be a way up-" He was interrupted by Mariah getting anxious from the sounds of it. Before anyone could react, she grabbed a gun in took off down the hall. "Wait!" Desmond shouted softly hoping that his voice would be heard. If there really was a bloater running through these halls, we couldn't have people separating and doing their own thing. Not to mention she just ran with just a pistol. Against a bloater, she would have no chance if it cornered her. "Do any of you have a Molotov on you?" Des directed toward his crew quickly. He had already known that one of them had a shotgun which would be great to use after setting the bloater on fire.

"I do, sir," replied one of the soldiers as he crouched down to one knee, setting his gun aside to grab his bag off his back. He rummaged through the supplies quickly knowing that time was of the essence at this point to pull out the bottle and rag with a lighter.

"Perfect. Get that set up and let's clear these infected out." Desmond approached the soldier who had the shotgun and swapped his assault rifle for his shotgun. Caitlyn also grabbed an extra sidearm from one of the men. After, the group raced after Mariah.

They came to a stop where Mariah had been. Before them was the section of the ceiling that had collapsed, only rather than it being just a hole in the ceiling, it was a ramp created to the 7th floor. "It... changed.." He remembered that it wasn't like this when he came here to set up the event. Now the clicker and bloater could be anywhere on either this floor or the 7th floor. "Okay. You," he motioned to the soldier with the Molotov, "hand that Molotov to Mariah. It'll only be us that go up there from here. She knows where she last saw Leonard. I need the rest of you to remain here and make sure no infected come up here to flank us or if they come down."

"But sir, what if the bloater is still on this floor?" A soldier asked cowardly.

"Grow a pair. There are more of you here. You'll be able to take it out with your combined weapon assault." Des snapped at the soldier. "Besides, we need you to regroup with the other team. Once they get here, then you can send people up here to assist us." He looked at Mariah as the soldier handed over the Molotov. "Are you ready?" He left it up to her if she wanted to take a bigger gun. He turned towards the ramp, crouched low and start walking slowly up it, swiveling his head about to check the surroundings upstairs. "Looks clear.." he said softly to Mariah. He checked his ammo for the shotgun. He counted 6 shots. He still had his sidearm, but against a bloater that would prove almost useless.

From here, Mariah would lead the way to where Leonard's last known position was. If they happened to run into the clicker, Des would help Mariah take it out, but try to conserve his ammo for the bloater. If they happened to find the bloater first, he hoped that Mariah had good aim with throwing a Molotov and then he could easily take it out with two or three shots of the shotgun. Best case scenario would be to find Leonard and retreat safely back to his team without incident, but eventually they would have to take out the infected within the building.

The hole in the ceiling had somehow formed a ramp. Mariah stood there staring at the hole wondering what could have caused it; did the building shake when the elevator dropped? Mariah wouldn’t have any way of knowing since she was too worried about dieing at the time. But there was no mistaking that the Bloater had to have gone up there. Mariah’s insides started to churn at the thought of even being in the vicinity of one of the advanced infected. ‘This is why we need to find a cure or kill off as many infected as we can, to prevent them from evolving past stage 3.’ She thought while inspecting the crumbled cement floor.

Desmond and the rest of his squad had finally caught up to her; at least she wouldn’t be doing it alone. Mariah could feel the uneasiness in the soldiers as their leader told them what to do; they were scared. They needed to keep it together and do what needed to be done; if she was risking her life to save someone she didn’t even know, what did it say about them if they didn’t have the will to protect one of their own.

Mariah was suddenly handed a Molotov by one of the men; she rotated it around in her hands not sure if it was really necessary or not since stealth was always her plan of attack. She shrugged and decided that it was worth having just in case. With ease, she hooked it around her dark brown belt and gave it a soft tug to make sure that it was secure.

Lost in thought, she heard Desmond ask her if she was ready. Before she could answer, he was already walking his way up the ramp. Quickly dropping into a crawl, she joined him at the top just as he made a quick sweep of the surrounding area. He informed her that all was clear. She noticed him inspecting his shotgun and counting how many bullets he had left. Feeling like she should do the same, she looked down at her gun and tried her best to open it up. It felt awkward acting like she knew how to use a gun when she really didn’t; it’s not like she had someone to teach her, let alone the time to actually sit down and learn. Trying her best not to blush, she looked over at the young man that was with her and pointed down the hallway. “Leonard is down that hallway in one of the office rooms, I think it’s the forth door on the right. Last time I saw him he was passed out on the floor. That was about an hour ago.” She whispers while positioning herself against the wall.

With perfect affluence, she mutedly rushed over to the right side of the hallway and motioned for the leader of the Guardians to follow her. She would have had him inspect the other side of the room but she immediately realized that there was no need to search the rooms since the Bloater was standing around the exposed elevator shaft. With dread churning her stomach, she continued on with hushed speed. In her rush, she unwittingly kicked a can that had rolled up against the wall. The Bloater swiftly jerked its fungus-riddled head up and wobbled in their direction, emitting loud clicking noises as it bee lined to its destination.

Mariah swiftly grabbed Desmond’s arm and rushed him into the room below them. “Shit.” She hissed, “Ok Mariah, calm down. We can do this. But no more messing up, you hear?” Mariah shook her head from side to side trying her best to clear out the fog that invaded her thoughts. Once she was focused, she made sure not to ponder on whether Desmond had taken notice of her little episode and braced herself along the right side of the doorframe. The Bloater had stopped just outside the room and was frantically looking for what had caused the noise; it thumped back and forth past the open doorway.

Cautiously, Mariah watched its movements, taking note of the creature’s patterns. It would walk to the end of the hall they had came from and back to where she had kicked the object, making sure to pause at each stop to listen. She ascertained that they needed to leave one by one if they wanted to get out without being noticed, but only while the infected was walking and to stop when it stops. As the abomination wobbled past the door to the beginning of the hallway she turned toward Desmond. “I have to make this fast. We need to be extra quiet since it knows we are here. Since it’s aware of our existence, we need to leave the room one by one, but only after it makes its way to the far left of the hallway. You walk when it walks; you stop when it stops. Understood?” The hardened thuds of the Bloater were close. Mariah pressed herself against the wall as best as she could before it passed the door where it stopped for a brief moment, it turned around to repeat the path.


With her thoughts racing, she quickly crawled out of the room and headed straight to the forth room on the right where Leonard was still passed out on the floor. Inside the room, Leonard groaned as Mariah shook his shoulder in an attempt to arouse him from the darkness that she had put him in. The Bloater abruptly stopped and started clicking; it had heard Leonard’s groans. Mariah swiftly cupped her hands around the unconscious mans mouth, trying her best to muffle the noise. Several unsettling seconds passed before the infected started moving again. Desmond better get over here fast and help her, they needed out now.

The fact that these infected infiltrated the city walls undetected still puzzled Desmond. He hoped to end this as quickly as possible to hear from the investigation team outside the building. He still needed to go see Max as well back in the basement of the hospital. What information could he have for him? Could the information be relevant to what when on here? Well those were all questions that would have to wait to be answered after they managed to get this done and over with.

Although Des was the Commander, he didn't have problems taking orders from someone he believed to know what they were doing. Mariah had most likely been through this over and over again. His footsteps were right behind hers until she kicked the can. They ducked out and hid in a room and Des was more focused on the hallway and looking for the Bloater to notice Mariah having a slight episode. First priority was to stay alive and retrieve Leonard and then they would have to get rid of this Bloater. They couldn't just leave it to roam freely in the city.

He listened to her game plan for reaching Leonard a couple of rooms down. They were going to alternate to make sure there's little chance to notify the Bloater of their location since it was already aware of something living being in the area. He had followed her almost like her shadow. He remained in an office room across the way however while she was in the room with Leonard waking him. His groan was loud considering he had heard it being across the way. The Bloater was on it's way to their location again. He waited for it to pass by again before proceeding to their room.

His voice was low and soft, "How is he?" He questioned as he kept his attention toward the doorway and looking for the Bloater. He had hoped that they would be ready to move out at any given moment.

Leonard had sat up and removed Mariah's hand from his mouth to speak, "I'm fine.. A slight headache, but I'll live."

Des looked to him and nodded, "Then we'll try to regroup with our team down the hole in the ceiling and then we'll take out this Bloater with a larger force." He peaked out the doorway to watch for the Bloater. He looked back to them, "I'll lead the way back this time. Followed by Leonard than Mariah you'll take up the rear." He looked out once more and then crouch-walked his way to another room and waited for Leonard.

Leonard moved out the doorway and then froze as he had heard clicking coming from behind him. How could this be? The Bloater was down the way in front of him. He turned his head slowly to look behind him. It was a Clicker standing there echoing to use echolocation. It started approaching the lone soldier. Leonard was frozen in fear. Desmond realized this and jumped out of the room and aimed down the sights at the Clicker with the shotgun and unloaded two shells at it.

The shells dropped the Clicker, but now that the sound echoed throughout the office floor, the Bloater gave out a roar as it approached their current location. "Mariah! We need that Molotov!" He said as he grabbed Leonard to move him away from the Bloater. Acid had been shot out from its mouth and just missed Leonard's foot. Desmond reloaded his shotgun so he was ready after Mariah would hopefully hit the Bloater with the Molotov.

Everything moved in slow motion. Mariah reached down for the Molotov strapped onto her belt and realized that she didn’t have anything to light the damp cloth that was stuffed into the bottle. It was useless. She had to think fast. Thoughts racing through her head, she hastily turned around to look at the room she was in. ‘There has to be something in here.’ Across the room, the wall had crumbled apart revealing exposed electrical wires. Small blue licks of electricity shot out around the corroded naked wires. ‘Electricity?’ awareness dawned on her face when she looked up and noticed the lights were on; no wonder she didn’t need a flashlight to navigate the building.

She bent down to grab something sharp and sprinted over to the wall and jammed the piece of rubble into the open hole. Sparks flew out as she furiously kept stabbing the wires until enough sparking wiring was exposed. Immediately, Mariah shoved the top of the Molotov into the threatening sparks until it caught fire. Seconds quickly passed and the wick was alight in a comforting orange flame. The dashing footsteps of the Bloater was dangerously close now, if she waited any longer it would have been too late to save Desmond and Leonard. ‘I still have time to save myself.’ She thinks guiltily, but she forcefully shakes those awful thoughts from her head and runs to the open doorway.

“Duck!” she screams while hurling the flaming green battle over her head toward the huge infected that was barreling toward Desmond and Leonard. It hit the Bloater with a crash, causing the flame to swarm and bounce off its hard fungus-covered body. She knew that it wouldn’t kill the monster, but it will slow it down and confuse it. The moment the bottle smashed on the creatures body, she grabbed at the gun in her belt and pointed it at the Bloater. Mariah started clicking at the trigger and realized that nothing was happening. ‘What’s going on? Are there no bullets in this stupid thing?’ Death felt almost immanent at this point. “Desmond, what’s wrong with this gun?!” she screamed in frustration.

Desmond had been prone to situations like this, so he was able to react quickly to the presence of the slow moving Bloater that was attacking them. He yanked Leonard up to his feet with his one free hand while the other was holding the shotgun tightly. "Move!" he said as he urged him in the opposite direction of the Bloater. They needed to create some distance between them and the infected to be out of range of its acid attack. In an instant, Des grabbed Leonard by the arm and yanked his arm in the direction of a cubicle. Leonard being caught off guard, tumbled and then realized that he needed to get down and hide out of harms way from the Bloater. He cowered in fear underneath the cubicle, this obviously being his first time in a scenario like this.

Des turned around after getting some distance from Leonard's hiding spot and faced the Bloater. He made started shouting, "Hey! Over here ugly!" and similar chants to grab the Bloaters attention while he waited for Mariah to set up the Molotov. Before he knew it, she popped out of the room and tossed the Molotov right into the chest of the Bloater. Des watched as the fire spread across the Bloaters body. Shouts of frustration came from Mariah as she stood a few yards away from the flaming Bloater. She was aiming at the Bloater with her pistol, but not firing. "Damnit.." He said softly as he sprinted to her. He wasn't too far from her and stood in front of her aiming down the barrel of the shotgun. Two rounds were fired at the Bloater, but it remained standing. It gave another roar, spit flying every which way from its mouth as Des unloaded another two shots around the same area. Final, a shell had penetrated it's armor and slowly, it dropped to its knees and then spouted one last weak roar and collapsed to the floor.

Des remained vigilant over the flaming carcass. The flames danced about the body, still turning it slowly to ash. Once the flames reached the head, Des knew it was over. He let out a soft sigh as he lowered the shotgun. He turned to Mariah, placed his hand on the pistol and lowered it from the deceased infected. "It's over.." He could see that she had been sweating. She had been through these things before, or so she said, but it was clear she still wasn't fully capable of leading a team if this was her reaction.

Leonard had poked his head up from behind the cubicle and slowly stood up. A few moments later, the team that had been searching through the fifth floor had showed up. "All infected are cleared, sir. No casualties to report as well." One of them reported.

"Help everyone get out of the building and then I want these bodies out of here." Des said as he handed over his shotgun to one of them. His eyes gazed upon Mariah once more. "Go home and get some rest. These men will help you out and escort you home if needed." There's was a slight tone of disappointment in his voice having expected her to handle the situation better. "When you feel ready, we'll see you at training camp.." He said as he began walking away. After all, she technically didn't finish the contest with her team, however, he would have to take in consideration her taking responsibility for everyone's safety. He had other things that he needed to take care of before his night ended.


Once outside, Des met with the team that searched the perimeter for a possible break-in point. "What do you have for me?"

"We found a possible entrance point for you. You're going to want to see this." The reporting soldier explained. They led Desmond just south of the building where an abandoned subway entrance was. "We believe that they came in through here, sir." Des noticed that the entrance that was once covered by a steel metal gate now was now wide open. The gate was bent and busted off the hinges and laid on the floor. He groaned softly. The soldier continued, "There's one more thing. We decided to investigate further and upon going down there, we saw a shadow of a figure escaping down the tunnel heading south, away from the city."

"Did you get a good look at it? Was it an infected?" Des questioned. If it was, it was strange because it wasn't like an infected to run away from a source of food.

"No, sir. It was dark, but if it was, it was shaped in a way that we've never seen before.." The soldier finished.

"Alright.. I need you to get a team down here and seal off this tunnel and this entrance," Des ordered them. "I want this done by morning. Tell no one else about this either. I want this situation kept under wraps. We can't have the morale of the people getting lowered." The soldiers responded that they understood. Des has now informed everyone that was involved to keep this situation under lock and key and not to let it spread to anyone. Now, he knew that he had one last thing to do before the night was over.. He still had to talk with Max.

Nothing was going as she had planned. Being in a community where she felt safe made her soft and clumsy. Mariah was relieved when Desmond had told her to go home and rest, she really needed it, but she felt a bit offended when he suggested an escort. “I don’t need help getting home, but thanks for the offer.” She politely declined. Without hesitation she tiredly walked out of the building and straight home.

Sitting outside of the hotel was Laurence in his oil stained trousers and dust covered blue t-shirt with the words ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ written across the chest in big white letters. He lifted his head as she approached. “How did it go?” he asks with a grin on his sweaty face.

Mariah averted her gaze and shook her head. “It didn’t go well.” She replied. Plopping herself down next to her friend, she informed him of the events that had taken place. All he could do was stair in disbelief.

“Infected? In the camp?!” he stammers while trying to keep his voice down, he didn’t want to alert anybody. Leonard leans in close to Mariah’s ear, “Did anybody get hurt?”

“A few people were hurt. But nobody has died, yet.” She exclaims with sadness in her voice. Mariah had wondered what had happened to Sara; even through she particularly didn’t like the woman she wasn’t happy at the idea of her dieing. With a deep breath she then continued to tell the rest of the story. The man sitting next to her sat frozen giving her his undivided attention. Ten minutes pass, “After everything that just happened, he tells me that I have to show up for training tomorrow.”, she grunts while throwing her hands up.

“Is that so bad?” quietly asks Laurence.

The young woman ponders on his question. “The only training I really need is for guns. Being out there alone I never really had time to learn to fire a gun and I had nobody to teach me.” She takes in a deep ragged breath; “I know how to get out of sticky situations by strategizing and planning. How to melee down an enemy that’s bigger than you and how to use the environment around you. But I don’t know how to use guns.”

“I’m actually a bit impressed that ya survived as long as ya have without the use of a gun.” Cackles Laurence while playfully slapping her shoulder causing the young red head to almost fall down a step. Mariah still wasn’t sure if she completely trusted the man, but she did like being in his company. Was he really her friend? That would be a first. Would she make more? Maybe, as long as she tries harder and try not to be such a bitch sometimes.

Deep down she felt really bad about what happened to Sara. “I should have been nicer to her.” She whispers to herself, “But she was the one that started it, yelling at me and shit. What was I supposed to do? Just sit there and take it? She brought everything on herself.” Heat rises up out of her skin causing her face and fingers to turn red. Her heart is racing. Anger briefly engulfed her as she thought about what had transpired between her and Sarah.

Leonard gives her a look of confusion by pursing his lips and raising one eyebrow. “Did ya say something? I couldn’t hear it.”

Mariah quickly jumps back to reality and wipes her face clean of any emotion. “It’s nothing.” She sighs while getting up off her stoop to go inside. “Thanks for listening Laurence. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Without giving him a chance to reply, she walks inside.

Later that evening, Desmond arrived at the underground lab to meet with Max. He also had the mayor with him as well. He had dragged her out of bed to hear the details from Max as well as give the report of this evening's events. His second in command was due to arrive at any moment. "Commander, so glad you could show up!" Greeted Max as they entered passed the secure double doors. The laboratory was quieter than normal since it was later in the evening.

"I apologize for our tardiness. There was an incident that happened this evening." Des informed him briefly.

"No doubt it may have to do with my current findings." Max said as he shuffled through his notes on his desk.

Just then Travis came through the double doors dressed casually, being technically odd duty, but with this job, you were never really off considering incidents like today could happen at anytime. "I'm here," he softly exclaimed to the group. "What did I miss?"

Des' attention jumped to the new person who entered, being Travis, "I was just about to go over the details of the incident from tonight while the doctor prepares his notes." He looked to Julie and nodded to her that he would begin. He explained the story from the beginning from when Sara and the new recruit, Mariah Crawford, started their argument which led to the contest. The contest of course took place in the abandoned, ruined office building just inside the city walls. Infected had showed up inside the building and the threat was neutralized and their possible entry point was the abandoned subway tunnel which had the steel gate knocked off the hinges.

"The infected knocked the gate down? Can they do that? I know they can be strong, but not that strong." Explained Julie, feeling a little nervous about this idea of infected breaking into the city.

"There's more," Des interjected. "There were reports from the search team that a figure, possible infected, was in the tunnels and it was running away from them. If it was an infected, then it was one like they've never seen before."

"Of course they haven't seen it before," Max added. "The reason why is because the Cordryceps fungus is mutating." Silence struck the group as Max prepared a projector screen. "Before, it was known that there are only 4 possible states of an infected person. Now, the fungus is evolving and there's what seems to be a new path." On the projector screen were images of known infected and charts of their changes. "Notice how with the infected we know, the fungus first attacks the eyes of the host body and eventually they become blind, but they have excellent hearing." Max motioned for one of his associates to bring out the specimen. "Now, I want you to look at this one." The scientist rolled out a cage with an infected inside of it.

Awe struck the group as they gazed at it. It was obvious what the difference was. "Yes, this is a stalker, but a mutated stalker. Notice how the fungus is first striking the ears, but if you look closely, which I don't recommend, you can see that the eyes are clear. In fact, that seem sharper." He clicked the image projector to show the new possible line of family of infected. "With this, this could lead to more probable mutations. Creatures we've never seen before. And their persona could be completely different. This stalker seems more calm and collected than previous stalkers I've dealt with."

"Could it be possible that they're getting smarter?" Travis asked.

"With the new information that you just provided, commander, it is a likely hood. Although without more evidence and research, I can't say for sure.." Max finished.

Des groaned at the thought of dealing with a new threat. "I trust that you'll continue your research, doctor?" Max nodded to the commander. "Good." His attention turned towards the other two, "Keep this information in house. We'll step up security and also send a team down through the tunnels."

"Sir, we're still waiting on our previous scouting team to return." Travis reminded him. Des hadn't forgot about them, but tomorrow now marked day 4 since their departure and with the news of a new threat, their chances of returning safe now dwindled further.

"We'll send a new team of recruits once we train them to use weapons. We'll start on it tomorrow morning. Dismissed." Des left the office and returned to his quarters for rest. Now that Sara was out, he knew he had no choice but to move the training along.

Nightmares haunted Mariah’s dreams, resulting in her tossing around in bed. Should she leave everything behind? Be alone again? It was better that way, right? It’s not like anybody here particularly likes her, except maybe Laurence and Andy. That isn’t right; she deserved to be just as safe as everybody else. But, at what cost? She knew she had become a little sloppy, like when she kicked two different cans on the same floor. Regardless, she was still good at what she does, stealth. Images of everybody dieing around her finally jolted her awake. Sweat drenched her shirt, making her feel sticky. After calming herself down, she was able to go back asleep where she continued to be bombarded with unsettling dreams.

Early the next morning, she had managed to drag herself out of bed and run to the mechanic shop to see Laurence. “Hey, Laurence!” she yelled while entering the shop. Laurence was bent over an old car trying his best to fix the stalled engine. “I need to ask you something.” She continued.

“What do ya need?” he groans, audible pops could be heard coming from his back as he attempted to stand up straight. Mariah walked over to him and presented the gun that she had used yesterday. “How the hell did ya get that?”

The young woman shrugs, “I guess I forgot about holstering it in my belt. I was a little on edge you know. Uh, can you take a look at it and tell me why it never fired a single shot? I would do it myself, but I don’t know what to look for.”

Laurence looked her up and down and snatched the weapon out of her hands. He rotated the thing in his hands, making a physical examination. “Hmmmm, can’t see anything wrong on the outside. I figured the reason it didn’t fire was because the safety switch was on, but it’s not.”

“There’s a safety switch?”

“Yeah, right here.” He points to the small switch on the side of the gun. Mariah flips to safety and takes a step back. “Maybe it’s internal.” Laurence ejected the clip; it was full. More Hmm’s ensued. He walked over to the bench and pulled out a few tools and takes the gun apart piece by piece, with fast and accurate precision. Mariah couldn’t help but stair in aw. “Here’s our problem, this gun hasn’t been properly cleaned.” He announces. “Man, this is filthy. Look at the rust and gunpowder residue build up, no wonder it didn work.” Laurence turns around and shows her the blockage of grime that plugged it up. With a skilled hand, he was able to clean it up to the best of his ability and hands it back to Maria. “Here ya go. Now go over there and try to shoot one of those cans.”

Mariah walks over to the cans he’s pointing at. She points the gun and fires; it missed. Laurence erupts in a fit of laughter. “Don’t laugh at me.” She grumbles while flipping the safety switch on and sticking it on her belt. By this time, he’s laughing so hard that he’s holding his side. Mariah lets out a grunt of frustration and walks out, leaving the still cackling man behind. She slowly made her way to the barracks were she would have to train, Desmond’s orders.

The night was calm for Desmond, but he still didn't sleep much what with everything that transpired and he had to make sure he gave everything enough thought. Around dawn, he woke from his slumber and suited up. This day he wore black khaki pants, a blue long sleeve shirt that still had bits of dirt on it and his usual Guardians vest. He grabbed his utility belt with his favorite gun that he's had since coming to this city. He checked over quickly and re-holstered it before heading out of his room, grabbing his sunglasses on the way. Down stairs, the nurses were fairly busy tending to the sick, not more than normal, so he paid little mind to it.

About an hour had passed and he showed up to the soldier's barracks where he met Travis and a few other veteran Guardians. The group of people greeted him with their morning salutations. Desmond didn't respond at first since he scanned the area. "The new recruits haven't shown up yet?" He impatiently asked as he continued looking for any one of them.

"Not yet, sir. They aren't due for another half hour." One of the lead training soldiers responded.

"Travis, are all the preparations done for the training today?" His shielded eyes were gazed upon Travis as he smoked a cigarette.

Travis finished the cigarette and flicked the bud before responding, "I have a couple of guys looking over and testing the guns now. Pistols, assault rifles and shotguns. I'm afraid we could only find one set of bow and arrows." Des' eyebrow raised slightly. He didn't really expect them to bring that with the collection. "We have also a couple of sniper rifles too if you want to train a marksmen."

"Good, good. Set them up with the usual assessment. Find their strong qualities and see who would be a good fit for what, but ultimately, let them decide for themselves. Most of these people will be city guards anyway. There's four select people that I need trained on everything possible, but start them off on what works best. They are Andy, James, Damien and Mariah." Des said as he started to walk away from the group.

"Yeah, your new field team. Hey! Are you going somewhere?" Travis quickly responded.

"I have business to take care of. I should be back before you're done with training." With that said, Des hopped into a nearby pickup truck and drove off down the road. He was headed toward the old office building. It wasn't far by vehicle. He arrived shortly thereafter, but his concern wasn't the building but rather the subway. The gate was repaired and reinforced. He half had the idea to blow the damn thing up, but he knew that Julie wanted this eventually cleared out just in case of emergencies as an alternative escape route.

After investigating the area, he drove away, headed for the border of the city. He needed to get through his rounds for checking for Angels.

Arriving at the barracks with twenty minutes remaining, Mariah had sat down under one of the trees and relaxed. The events from yesterday still worried her, questions on how the infected broke into the city swam around her head. Should she ask Desmond when she sees him? Or should she go out and do some investigating herself? Regardless, she wanted answers.

The other recruits had finally arrived with only seconds to spare. Lydia had come out and asked the group of people to follow her; they were to train with the weapons expert Travis. Mariah jogged up to Lydia, “He Lydia, I know that you know what happened yesterday. Uh, I had a question. How is Sara?”

Lydia hesitated to answer the question, “You need to talk to Desmond about that. I’m not under any authority to release that information.” Mariah nodded her head and backed off. It must be bad if they weren’t allowed to talk about it.

Andy had snuck up behind her and tapped her shoulder. “Hey Mariah, I’m glad you made it out alright.” He darted his eyes around to see if anybody was paying attention. He leaned in close and whispered, “I don’t know what’s going on with Sara now. But yesterday Desmond went crazy and cut her arm off.”

Mariah gasped, “He did?”

“Yeah, there was blood everywhere. I think he did it in hopes of saving her from the infection.”

Mariah looks grimly at the floor, feeling guilty. “We don’t even know if she was actually bitten or not. She thought she was, but she could have just been scratched or had fallen.” Mariah scrunched up her face in thought. “If the infected had seen her they would have followed her to the room she was hiding out in.”

“Maybe she’s just really good at stealth.” Replied Andy.

“Maybe…”

She was interrupted by Lydia. “Here we are recruits. This is Travis. He will be teaching you how to use guns.” Travis stands at attention while Lydia turns on her heel to lave the stadium.

“My name is Travis and I will be your tutor for this exercise.” Travis points to a rack of guns. “In front you are the guns you have the option of choosing for today’s lesson. First we will start off with the pistols and work our way up the gun chain.”

This was going to be interesting. Mariah felt confident that should could learn to shoot a gun pretty fast with the help of a good tutor. But she really wanted to speak to Desmond, hopefully he shows up after training is over.

Everybody was instructed to grab a pistol and take a position in one of the red squares they had painted off. They were to shoot at a paper target; their goal was to try to at least hit the paper. Shots rang around the room as people pulled their gun’s trigger. Mariah hesitantly pulled her trigger her eyes focusing on the target. She missed. “This is going to be a long day.” She mutters to herself.

A few hours later after checking with each of the gate captains on the southern border, Desmond arrived back at the barracks, where the soldiers had been training. He met with Lydia while their exercises continued. "How have they been?" He questioned.

"They all show promise," Lydia commented, "There's a few that will need more time, but overall they're doing well." She finished as she continued looking on from the room that overlooked the shooting range.

"Good." Des almost sounded proud as he replied.

"Sir, one of the soldiers was asking about Sara's condition from last night." She said, taking a seat at the desk.

"Who was it?" Des questioned.

"Mariah," Lydia quickly relied. "I didn't tell her anything considering I don't know myself since you moved her to the hospital." She herself was also worried about her condition.

"She will be fine. The doctors believe that severing her arm was the only thing we could do to possibly save her life." Des took a long breath and exhaled out in desperate relief. "She was reckless, but, she will come out of this and be just as useful to us."

"That is a relief, sir." Lydia said softly. It was clear they had a bit of history, but Des didn't pay much mind to it. He only needed to look at the present and the hopeful future. She was so relieved to hear she was fine that she disregarded his comment about Sara's usefulness.

"Let's get out there and find out the status of the rookies. I want to hear it directly from him and see for myself how they all do in person." Des said as he left the room to head out to the shooting field.

A gold bullet passed through the paper target, finally. Hours of shooting and she managed to hit the target once. Mariah grinned to herself, feeling accomplished by what she had done. She could hear Travis behind her pacing back and fourth, assessing the recruits with a judging eye. Mariah had noticed that almost all of the other recruits had advanced onto bigger weapons, while she still had her pistol.

Travis and snuck up and taped her on the shoulder. Mariah mutely flinched and turned to face him. “Good work Mariah, you finally hit the target. Now do it again, this time try to hit in the center. Hit it ten more times and I’ll advance you to the assault rifle.” He gave her a curt nod and walked off with his hands clasped behind his back.

Mariah felt a new surge of confidence, aimed the gun at the target and fired. Another hit. Eight hits later and bulzeye, she managed to shoot the center of the paper. She knew she could do it, it just took time and practice; something she didn’t have before. Two hits later and she advanced onto the assault rifle. Big mistake. Very big mistake. After the first shot, the gun went out of control clattering to the ground.

The moment Des hit the door way was when someone's assault rifle was shooting out of control. Immediately, he pounced on Lydia to bring her to the ground and hopefully out of harm's way from the rifle. A few seconds later it was done. It felt as if the entire clip had been emptied on it's own. Desmond waited before picking his head up to look around seeing everyone else's reaction to the accident. "Is everyone alright!?" Travis had shouted once he came to the realization that the incident was over.

A scream was heard from the far side of the room, opposite Desmond. "Grraaagh! My leg!" One of the rookie soldiers had taken a bullet to the shin.

Desmon pulled himself up off of Lydia and helped her up in the same process. "Go get the medical staff!" He commanded as he rushed to the wounded recruit's side. "It's alright. You-"

Before Des could finish the young man was screaming that he was going to die. Obviously, he had never felt such pain from being shot. It hurt especially more each time he looked at the wound. He held his thigh tightly, "I'm going to lose my leg!! I'm going to die!!"

"Pull yourself together! You're going to live!" Des exclaimed. Meanwhile, Travis had got one of the first aid kits to try to tend to the wound. After examining the wound, it was clear that the bullet had passed through cleanly. "The bullet passed through clean. It doesn't appear to have broken any bones." Des explained to the wounded man. Travis wrapped it up with a bandage tightly. Before long, the medical team was on the scene and helped carry him out to get him closely examined to make sure it didn't get infected.

Des and Travis saw them off. Travis' attention had turned towards Mariah, seeing as her gun was the only one on the ground at the time. He approached her with pure hatred in his eyes. "I told you exactly how to hold the gun! You could have killed someone! Jesus, I swear I-"

"Enough!" Des interrupted, "Clearly it was an accident." He approached the two of them. Everyone else in the area could only watch, some still in shock that they came out of that accident unharmed. "Everyone back to work." Des commanded the lot of them. "And you, come with me." He said, looking dead at Mariah. It was clear that she needed special attention if she was going to learn the proper uses of gun handling and usage.

He led the way to another area of shooting ranges meant for those who may feel a little out of touch and need practice, however, with the limited supply of ammo, the room wasn't used that often. "Come, I'll teach you the proper way to shoot. You'll be able to focus with no distractions." Even though they were only a room away, the walls of the room were just about sound proof. The constant gunfire going on in the next room was considerably muffled to the point that you couldn't hear it unless you wanted to try to hear it.

Bullets ricochet around the room. Was this really happening? Was the gun supposed to do that? Don’t you need to have your finger on the trigger for it to fire? What’s going on?! Mariah was rooted in place, too shocked to move, sweat started pouring down her face. She hadn’t been ready for the kick that the gun gave when being shot, so as a result she had dropped it. Mariah held her breath till the black gun finally stopped clattering around on the floor. The room went silent.

A lone voice spoke up but Mariah wasn’t sure if it was male or female due to the fact that her ears were painfully ringing. A scream responded to the previous voice, indicating that someone was in fact hurt. Uh-oh, she’s surely going to be in trouble for this. No more screw-ups, this was the last time.

Several seconds passed and she was able to hear again, only to be confronted by Travis who had proceeded to scream at her resulting in her ears to throb once more. She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t scared of the man and she hadn’t cared if people liked her or not, but she didn’t want him to know that it bothered her. Stony faced and back rigged she stood erect and alert, anticipating the attack that was surely about to take place.

Mariah was a little shocked when Desmond had stepped in. She had thought he would yell at her to, instead of declaring it as an accident. He had proved her wrong. It was clearly an accident and she had appreciated him defending her on that front. Feeling a little at ease, she was caught off guard Desmond had told her to follow him. Was he going to kick her out? Yell at her? Whatever was going to happen, she was ready for it.

He had taken her to a private room, away from the others. Most likely for the other recruits safety. He had offered to give her private lessons on how to shoot a gun. That’s interesting. Mariah hadn’t expect the all and mighty Desmond to offer up his time to help her. Confused, she raised an eyebrow to him. “Are you sure? Don’t you have… Guardian stuff to do?” suddenly she remembered that she still had the pistol from the other day tucked into her belt hidden by her shirt. Pulling it out she handed it over to Desmond. “Here, I forgot about giving it back yesterday. I had someone I know look it over to figure out why it didn’t do anything when I pulled the trigger.” She looked at the man in front of her, looking for any signs if he was angry with her or not. “He said that it wasn’t properly cleaned. I thought I would let you know.”

A gun was handed to him by Mariah. He took it without worrying that she had it in her possession last night. He examined it closely to see everything wasin order with it. It looked almost new from the way they cleaned it. After looking it over. "Right now my responsibility is to get you recruits in shape quickly by any means necessary. The events from last night appear to be only the first of what's to come." He of course didn't want to detail the news about the mutations of the fungus just yet. It still wasn't even confirmed.

The gun that he was handed, he checked to see if it was loaded in the clip. It had a full clip. "This appears to be in order." He sinned down the barrel after reinserting the clip. He aimed at the paper target and fired off 4 shots. All of which landed square in the head around where the eyes would be. He lowered the gun and walked over to the control panel for the room and flipped a switch. Mechanisms started gearing up and now there were moving targets to shoot. "I saw how well you shot a stationary target. Why don't you try shooting a moving one?" He took the barrel in his hand and extended the handle out to her. After handing it to her, he took a step back from her to give her space to shoot.

Mariah wasn’t sure what Desmond had meant about ‘last night was only the first of what’s to come’, but she was determined to find out. Folding her arms, she watched as he unloaded the clip for inspection and smashed it back in with ease. Shots rang around the room as he fired at a paper target on the opposite side of the room, very impressive gun work she thought with shock. Analyzing the man beside her she took note of his stance and how he held the gun; he was obviously good at handling a gun and she needed to learn everything she could from him.

The flip of a switch sent the targets moving. Desmond offered her the handle of the gun wanting her to try her hand at shooting at moving targets. Faltering, she reached for the offered weapon trying her best not to look too flustered. Gripping her thin hand around the gun, she steadily points it at one of the moving targets doing her best to stand as still as possible. Pulling the trigger with hesitant fingers she tried her best to shoot one of the targets whizzing from left to right. Like always, she missed. Bent on hitting at least one target, she continued to fire until the clip emptied.

With a bit of surprise, she had managed to clip one of the targets on the side, leaving a small ragged tear in the dirty white paper. Mariah glanced down at the gun still cradled in her hand. She needed to get better; there was no other option. Knowing how to use and be able to utilize a gun would greatly increase her chances of surviving this world of death. All she had to do was try her best. Turning her head, she peered over at Desmond waiting for his reaction.

The sheets of paper that acted as targets paced left and right with slight screeching of the gears. He watched the woman's stance as she took aim. Her form seemed perfect, her handling about the same as his. She did well to mimic him as he demonstrated his shooting. A few shots rang out from the gun.The bullets missed their mark. Then finally the sound of a bull tearing paper was heard. She had done it.

The bullet just barely grazed the portrait of the man acting as a target on the sheet. Either way, a hit was a hit. It would take time for her to perfect her aiming it seems. He wondered how much time they had before the next attack could possibly show. "Good shot," he said congratulating her on her hit. "You've got the form down, but quite honestly, you seem almost afraid of the weapon." He had noticed a bit of tension if not nervousness in her arms. It was ever so slight that she might not have even noticed it herself.

"This gun is no different than any other type of weapon you've used before. It has the power to protect a life and take away another. You claim that you lived out in the world on your own this whole time, so I don't doubt your survival skills and natural instinct." He started trying to analyze this woman now. Could she have had a bad history with guns? Shot a friend or family member on accident? Was she nervous being in his presence? "Tell me. When you were out there on your own, did you ever use a gun?"

It would be a huge surprise if she hadn't. Outside civilization are a lot of threats. Natural animal killers like wolves and bears, bandits and outlaws and if course the infected. But in order for him to help her, he needed to know more about her story.

Frowning, Mariah focused on the target she had hit. Could she trust this man? Was she really ready to trust anybody just yet? No, she wasn’t. “I have tried using a gun before when I was about 13 or so. But I have never really had the time or the means to learn how to shoot on my own.” She turned her gaze to Desmond. “Plus, they are very noisy and I learned very quickly that if you want to survive on your own you have to become invisible to the world around you.” She knew that wasn’t quite the answer he wanted, she wasn’t ready to tell him the true reason she had hated guns and never used them.

Scratching her arm, she looked the gun over. “I understand that they can be useful if you’re in a pinch, but I prefer my silent weapons.” she shrugged, her red hair falling over her shoulder. Clicking noises from the machines as they continued their pace filled the quiet room. Despite not telling Desmond her story, she was a little curious about his. How did he become the leader of the Guardians? What was the first day like for him? Maybe one day they would both reveal their stories.

Mariah offered the gun back to Desmond. “I don’t know how to reload a clip.” She explained. Fidgeting slightly, she causes the gun to bounce lightly in her hand. “Uh… thanks for helping me. I know I have been a pain in the ass so far, I guess I’m not used to working with others yet.”

He nodded his head in agreement to her wanting to use silent weapons, but it was obvious that she didn't know much about guns. "Do not thank me. It is I who she thanking you." He said in reply to her thanking him for his help. "You are the one who volunteered for this job. With your current skill sets, I need you to be the best you can be. No one else here can say that they've gone through what you have. You are a rare breed indeed." He was strictly business and everything he did, he did with a good reason for aiding the city and the people as a whole. He knew he couldn't protect it on his own. He would like to know her past so that he can know how to better handle her. She was indeed gifted and he knew that. He only needed to make sure that she could truly be the best, possibly even better than him.

"I myself wasn't much of a people person starting out with the Fireflies." He said as he grabbed the gun from her grasp, in a manner that showed that he wanted to help. "It wasn't easy after being on my own for a few years. Not as long as you of course, but I adapted." He flipped the gun on its side. "Here is the release button for the clip." He pointed to the trigger that released the ammo clip at the bottom of the handle. He pressed it and the gun clicked, letting out the cartridge. He slid it out and grabbed another magazine from the counter and slid it back in, "Make sure that the bullets are facing the right way, and pop!" He said as he popped the mag inside the gun handle. "Now it's loaded." He held onto the gun and walked over toward the equipment rack.

"You say that you like your silent weapons, but in truth, a gun can be silent as well." He grabbed a barrel from the rack and turned to show her what it is. "This here is a silencer. You can attach it to the end of the barrel of certain guns so their shots are muffled. He replaced the barrel back on the rack and walked back over to her and extended the gun to her, handle first, which was the proper way to hand someone a gun. There was a major threat coming their way and he had high hopes for her ability to help protect this city and hopefully find an Angel and save the human race.

He was thanking her? Scrunching her face up in confusion she looks at Desmond, assessing him once again. “I’m not the best at anything, I just did what I had to do to survive. Anybody in my shoes would have done the same to insure their spot in life.” She sighs and shrugs her shoulders, “I have seen a lot of death over the years and I’m not ready to die just yet.” Rotating the gun slowly in her right palm she picked at the nicks and groves that it had obtained over the years. One day she would know how to use a gun and not be so afraid of them, but only if she worked with Desmond and tried her best to not let the fear take over.

Desmond had finally grabbed the gun from her hand and demonstrated how to release an empty clip and reload a new one. She slightly cocked her head to the side and took mental notes on how everything worked so she could re-create it later without too much help. “So you were with the Fireflies? I thought everybody that worked with them had died.” She paused in thought. “At least, that’s what I have heard on my travels. You know, by ease dropping and such.” The young man had walked over to a rack that hung on the wall and attached something to the front of the gun. Desmond had called it a silencer. That was a nifty device. Mariah had seen it on more than one occasion, but she wasn’t sure exactly what it was or its purpose. However, she did often wonder how people could shoot guns and not make too much noise.

Mariah gripped the handle of the gun that was offered to her for the second time. This time she would have to try harder and make all the bullets count, not waste them like she had been. Taking her stance, she raised the gun and fired till the clip emptied. Shockingly, she had managed to hit her targets three times. One of them even hit the center of the paper. Set into full concentration mode, she walked over to the rack where she attempted to unload and reload the gun. This proved a little difficult. Determined to complete the task on her own, she eventually reloaded the gun after seven attempts and half an hour of trying. “Finally.” She grunted, satisfied of her accomplishment.

"The Fireflies as a group died." He said as he watched her try to reload the gun. "There are still some that call themselves Fireflies. Some who try to protect while others use the title in vain." He grabbed a seat and watched her movements. He didn't know how much she truly knew about the organization, and he didn't plan on spilling the scoop if she didn't. The less people that knew about what happened, the better. Some may even try to come up with a conspiracy theory that Desmond is doing the same thing, even though he is.

Desmond was convinced however that the way he was doing things was right. He helped fortify this city, but it's walls can only hold so many. So he had to make rules that the people needed to follow. No if ands or buts about it. Sure, the punishment was extreme, but it was all for the end goal of saving mankind. He continued to watch her progress with her training. Since she didn't have any other distractions, she was definitely improving in just the short amount of time.

"By the way, I was told that you were asking about Sara's condition. Just know that she's fine. She won't be the same of course though." He merely only meant about her arm being chopped off by his own doing. She of course would still have her bad attitude, that he was certain about.

Pointing the gun at the moving targets once again, she pulled the trigger. “Do you know what happened to them? Or were you not there when the shit hit the fan?” she asks after two shots. “Originally I was on my way to go join them months ago. But after I heard that they had all died I continued to drift around until I heard about the Guardians.” Mariah’s face suddenly became blank as she lowered the gun; her thoughts focusing on the night the group of innocent survivors were murdered. With a shake of her head, she cleared the images and continued her training. One day she had hoped to bump into that group and teach them a lesson they would never forget.

The clip clicked empty after fifteen shots. This time she had managed to hit the paper eight times. Mariah was a little surprised when he had brought up the conversation about Sara, resulting in her completely missing with the last bullet. “So she’s alright?” Turning around, she looked at Desmond. “I was told that you cut her arm off. Did it work?” she asked hesitantly, not knowing what else to ask. Mariah still felt bad about what had happened; she shouldn’t have let Sara go off on her own.

Walking over to the rack, she set down the gun, her back towards Desmond. “I want to go see her. I need to apologize for what had happened.” With a sigh, she turns around. “I really need to talk to her.” She explains, her eyes looking directly into his.