"Oh fuck, that was close!"

Maeve swore under her breath. There were soldiers everywhere. Like ants, they were fucking everywhere! If that wasn't exaggerating, then she didn't know what was. They swarmed the place, especially when they found the soldiers Tess and TJ killed. Swarmed with a capital 's'. They weren't too keen on having one of their own killed so brutally.

Even down in the trenches, their flashlights grazed around them. Every time a beam would nearly graze their bodies, Maeve's heart would take a leap for her throat.

"Hurry up!" TJ hissed at her, nudging her forward as Joel crouched through a broken sewer pipe.

She glared back at him, but she tried to follow closely behind her sister and Tess. Fucking asshat. As if running from soldiers wasn't enough pressure. And with all the anxiety flowing through her, she thought she was being seen as slow. It wasn't easy crouching and trying to duck walk in the now heavy rain while sneaking around in an embankment.

The trenched they sneaked through were filled with water, enough for it to come up to their shins. Being below slabs of concrete that were probably a hundred percent unsound did not settle with her. She didn't feel safe knowing she'd be crushed if a soldier stepped wrong. They would be screwed and riddled with bullets. Well, if that was possible. Not even the soldiers could find a way around this broken concrete jungle. Their trucks and limited space to move slowed them down tremendously.

She hated every second she was in the trench. She absolutely hated soggy socks, soggy shoes.

"See anything up ahead?" Tess asked, whispering to Joel as quietly as she could.

"We're all good, there's a drop though."

A drop? Further into the earth they go...At least if they got shot by soldiers, they would have somewhat of a grave.

"Oof!" Gravity took hold of Maeve's body as she slipped off the broken road and fell more into the ground. She landed on the soles of her feet a little too roughly. A gasp broke out of her when the nerves in her calves exploded terribly, tingling up to her knees and ending abruptly.

Ugh. She knew she shouldn't have ditched her elite exercising class. Hardcore parkour, she called it, because the real name felt far advanced for her to fathom remembering. Her muscles were already screaming. Her brain too. They were in a maze of unkempt streets and sewer linings.

Tiny rocks embedded into her palms as she squatted down, though they were the least of her concerns. Her first concern was not being left behind by Ellie and their chivalrous smugglers. She grimaced at how morbid that sounded in her mind. Yeah. They were being smuggled. Totally not illegal.

"You're looking a bit winded there," Ellie smirked at Maeve while she stood tall. "It's like you're an old lady now."

"Och!" she scoffed and rose to tower over her sister's five foot one. "I'm only two years older than you, bullshitter!"

"Whatever," Ellie rolled her eyes. "Old lady."

"Okay, don't get ahead of yourself, fetus. Soon enough your hair will have the same amount of white as mine." Maeve reached over and tugged a few stray strands of Ellie's sloppy fringe.

She snorted and slapped her hand away, even flipping her off.

Their whole interaction didn't go unnoticed by their "escorts". Although they appeared confused, probably annoyed, but also amused. Maeve hoped they had been around a set of siblings before, because she and Ellie morbidly gave each other hell on the daily.

"How's it look?" Tess asked.

"I think we can squeeze through here." Joel said while he crouched through another pipe.

They entered a drainage area, slipping through into another trench. A dry one, the time. Thankfully enough.

"Charlie Squad, report!"

Maeve nearly jumped out of her skin, the booming voice came from above them. Two soldiers were on either side of the trench, talking with one another. She prayed they didn't have the bright idea of looking down.

"More soldiers!" Joel hurried off to the side, taking cover in the shadows of the broken slabs of the road. The others followed him.

"Target's still on the loose, sir!"

"Break off pursuit and report back to Sector Eleven!" the first soldier said, his figure swayed away from the edge of the road.

Maeve anxiously waited for that second soldier to leave. His body twisted and his arm waved around in the air.

"Acknowledged. Get to your vehicles!"

With that order, the gunmen retreated, with allowed the group to cross the trench with the danger of being spotted, but they stayed in the shadows. The rumble of the military-graded Humvee's vibrated the earth, and Maeve felt it. Or maybe that was just her nerves.

"Yeah...this looks promising," They heard Tess say, her words echoes off the concrete walls of the ruined basement they hurried into. "Joel, TJ, look around. See what you can find."

It was dark, too dark to squint and magically see the shapes of the stuff inside.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Suddenly, the basement illuminated, with the help of the bright beams of Joel and TJ's flashlights. Surprise, surprise. Maeve could see again, but the visuals were at a minimum. She squinted at her surroundings, it wasn't a basement at all. In fact, she had no idea what this place was. Looked like one of those underground sewer line places. There were some lockers, some broken power boxes. There was a dusty table with cans and other stuff on it. She watched TJ as he maneuvered himself to the set of lockers, tugging at the handles and locks. He took out his gun and smashed the butt of it on the brittle locks and broke them. The pieces clattered to the ground, seemingly void of noise.

Maeve averted her gaze to her sister.

"Are we safe?" Ellie asked Tess, who had her own flashlight out, but she held the light down, so the beam was focused on the floor.

"No," the woman answered. "They're still around, but take a moment to catch your breath."

She didn't need to be told twice. The older sister relaxed a little and looked around more. It was mildewy in there. Possibly to the point of Maeve's sinuses to have decided they would act up and Karate Kid her ass. She resisted the urge to plop on the ground and sit. Her knees ached from the jumping down, climbing up, and crouching through the trenches.

"Hey, Tess! Got ourselves an out!" Joel's voice protruded the sound barrier.

"Yeah?" the women perked up and motioned for the sisters to follow her.

Bleeeerrrrrrgggghhhhh...she was tired, but Maeve forced herself to trudge after them.

"Hey, Mae," Ellie giggled. "Remember that time you locked Olive out on the roof during that storm?"

Maeve snorted, smacking a hand over her mouth to silence her laugh. "Yeah, she deserved it."

"You locked someone out in the rain?" TJ grumbled with judgment.

"Yeah, well...she stole my candy."

"What are you, five?"

Maeve rolled her eyes. "Do you know how hard unexpired candy is to find? Being locked in the rain was being let off easy."

"Right," Ellie snorted. "You liked to torment Olive."

"You wanna go?" Maeve challenged

"Alright, enough! Let's go about the rest of this trip in silence." Joel said loudly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

The girls quieted down. Maeve wondered if the man had children at some point. Curiously enough, he had that authoritative dad energy.

Up a crumbled and unleveled slab of broken earth and into a drainage pipe jst big enough for one person at a time, they crouched through. Joel looked like he was just barely able to fit, and Ellie, well, she was the perfect fit.

Maeve perked up, hearing a splashing and her attention drew to what was ahead. The narrow pipe that limited her one-eighty vision, she couldn't see around Tess or Ellie. But when it was her turn, her stomach churned like butter.

"Oh my god," She blanched at the sight before her. "What is that?"

The sewer pipe led them to a waist-deep pool of dirty water with clumps of shit, or whatever the hell was floating on the surface. Joel was already in the mystery water, his body had caused a massive ripple and was halfway across when Tess followed after him. Ellie sunk into the pool, the mucid coated surface coming up to her chest.

"Our way out," TJ said from behind her. "Now go."

"Fuck," Maeve groaned. She felt as green as the water while she slipped in, holding her bag above her head so it wouldn't get wet. "This is so disgusting."

She tried to be as silent as she could, but she couldn't contain her discomfort. The water was cold, the kind of cold that gave immediate goosebumps. And she didn't know what she was stepping on, it was very slimy. God, who knew how long this water sat here, collecting algae. Collecting bacteria.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! This was so fucking disgusting!

"Toughen up, buttercup," TJ entered the water after Maeve. "And hurry up. You're wasting time."

"Well, I never!" The auburn-haired girl huffed, but quickened her pace as much as she could without slipping.

Above them, another Humvee rumbled loudly as it drove over the storm drain. Soldiers were shouting and talking about being called back. They were different soldiers, not from earlier. She didn't recognize their voices.

At they weren't coming after them anymore.

"Up here, here's a way out." Joel lifted himself out of the water, going for the drainage opening and pushed on the barred door. It creaked open.

"You serious?" Maeve managed out.

"Yup," TJ smirked, popping the 'p', "Get your ass up there."

Great. After Ellie was up on dryer land, Maeve pulled herself up too. They filed out the drainage area, right into the drizzling atmosphere. She guessed the rest of her was gonna be wet now. She waddled to the side while she tried to subtle about undoing her sudden wedgie.

Ellie sighed loudly and plopped onto a boulder near the exit, taking the opportunity to catch her breath again. Maeve followed her lead and leaned against the rock as well. In just one short hour, her knees were ready to retire. She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jacket and watched their escorts as they murmured amongst themselves.

"Alright, seems we're in the clear." TJ said, peering warily back through the drain.

Tess approached them, crouching in front of Ellie and looked between the girls, "Look— what was the plan? Let's say we deliver you to the Fireflies, what then?"

"Marlene said..." the sisters shared a look. "She said that they have their own little quarantine zone with doctors there still trying to find a cure."

"Where have we heard that before, Tess?" Joel rudely guffawed, planting his hands on his hip. Apparently, he seemed unfazed by their story of Ellie being immune.

Tess glanced back at him for a moment before she returned her attention to the sisters, "And?"

"And..." Ellie drew out in hesitation. "That whatever happened to me is the key to finding a vaccine."

"Oh, Jesus."

"It's what she said!" Maeve snapped at him.

"Oh, I'm sure she did." This time, TJ jumped the gun. He leered at her, mirroring her glare.

"Fuck you! We didn't ask for this!" The girls stood up.

"Neither did we." TJ folded his arms over his chest and opened his mouth to say more, but Joel cut him off.

"Tess, what are we doing here?

The woman rose up, looking at the guys and gave the girls a short look. Her face had no emotion other than the look of observation.

"What if it's true?"

"You're not actually buying this crap, are you?" TJ argued.

Okay, maybe she thought he was cute, but not when he was acting like an asshole. Her glare hardened.

"What if?" Tess urged, peering at the boy. "We made it this far, why not finish it?"

"I can't believe this," Joel grunted, running a hand down his face. He wagged his arm at the destruction behind him. "Do I need to remind you what is out there?"

Maeve watched the woman approach Joel, glancing back and forth between the girls and him.

"I get it."

It was pretty random for Maeve to just notice the height differences between Tess and Joel. She was only a head shorter than the man, and he towered over her. He made no move to intimidate her, like Maeve usually saw men do to women when they disagreed. They stared at each other for an intense moment, the thunder rumbled above.

"Let's go, ladies." Tess finally said and passed Joel without another word said.

Maeve and Ellie hurried after her.

"Right behind you."