"They're going into the subway! Stop 'em!"

They were spotted. Well, luckily for the quartet, it wasn't until they dropped into the subway. It was too perfect. Sort of. All they had to do now was run and lose the soldiers.

"Eek! They're following us!" Maeve squeaked in terror as she ran between a couple of broken turnstiles.

"Goddammit! Spores!" Joel cursed loudly seeing the spore-filled entrance.

"Masks!" TJ pulled a gas mask out of his bag, and Joel did the same.

"I don't have a mask!" Maeve said in panicked dismay.

"Are you fucking serious?!" TJ groaned harshly. "We live in a world of infected and spores and you don't have a mask?!"

"Excuse me! It's not my fault I don't have one!" Maeve bit back.

"For fuck's sake! Ah..." they began looking around. "Stay hidden!"

TJ backed Maeve into a shadowed corner behind of a couple of busted vending machines, far enough away from the poisonous spores.

"Don't move til we get back. We'll try to find you something."

"Sure thing, Buckaroo." She saluted him, causing him to roll his eyes and hurry away.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why didn't she have a mask in the first place? She was jeopardizing everything. Not to mention Ellie and the others. Only she would have no mask during an apocalypse. She imagined TJ and Joel were getting the shock of the world, seeing Ellie breathe in spores like fresh air. Ha. She saw it from a distance, too, once.

"...place is empty." A voice murmured out.

She held her hands against her mouth, scooted closer into the shadows, and held her breath until the soldiers would pass.

"Let's find them and get the hell out of here before any Clickers show up—"

"Jared? You there?" The second voice called out, but then seconds later, there was a loud whack and then a thud.

Silence. Maeve kept her mouth sealed and held her breath, not wanting to compromise her hiding spot. She wasn't too keen on the thought of being found by soldiers.

"Got you a present, princess," TJ's sarcasm nearly frightened the skin off Maeve. She calmed and released a shaky breath while stepping out from her hiding place. He had dragged an unconscious soldier out of the spore-filled subway and dropped him a few feet away from the entrance. He plucked the mask right off the man's face.

"Don't call me princess," Maeve glared at him and snatched the mask from his outstretched hand.

"A simple thanks would be great."

"No deal," she put the mask on and adjusted the straps to her head.

"Let's get!" Joel boomed from the spore-filled area.

"Coming!" TJ responded, his voice echoed off the tiled walls. "Your mask good?"

Maeve nodded after a short moment, blinking through the eye pieces. They entered the spores, TJ clicked on his flashlight just before Maeve tripped on the other soldier's body.

"Whoa!" She yelped, clumsily avoiding his body, practically jumping over the lain form.

"Watch your step."

"Gee, thanks," the auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes and jogged up to her sister. "How are you doing?"

"Other than shitting myself?" Ellie chuckled a little as they entered an abandoned train car. "Perfect."

The train suddenly became half submerged. It was cold and Maeve didn't like it one bit. The further they went, they higher the water got.

"Shit," Maeve made a face, her movements rippled the water.

"Hey, uh, I can't swim!" Ellie called out to Joel.

He and TJ were already in the water like a pair of estranged otters. If otters had gas masks and guns.

"We'll figure something out." And then he dove under the wreckage.

Maeve sighed in exasperation and guided Ellie out of the train car, to the side of the tracks, where they could walk freely. She held her bag over her head to keep it from getting it wet.

"We're gonna have to go under too," Ellie said peering at how part of the train that blocked at the path, only a silver of not being completely submerged.

Ellie sucked in a breath and dipped under the water. Maeve made another face of dismay.

"I guess it's a good thing I my jacket off..." she mumbled miserably. "This is gonna suck serious ass."

It was only a second being under the dreadfully cool water, however she couldn't help but hate that quick second. She wanted to get out of this place badly. The spores made her uneasy. The spores made it bleary, and she couldn't see past a few feet around her, and the little hairs on the back of her neck stood, and it, unfortunately, wasn't from the water. The moths in her belly fluttered around as the anxiety began to build up; as if someone were watching her, she was tense. She wouldn't be surprised, or maybe she would be, if an infected popped out of the water Joel and TJ were currently swimming through and attacked them. It was too creepy down there.

"Oh hey, it still works!" Ellie was on higher concrete now, out of the water. She flicked on a hand-held flashlight, the beam penetrated the spores and shadows.

"That's a nice find." Maeve commented, going to her, and trying to not be horrified by the fact she plucked in off the skeleton at their feet.

"Hell yeah it is." Ellie focused the beam on the water, where the guys swam around, or more like floated.

"Hey, there's a ladder," TJ pointed out to the opposite platform. It was just barely out of his reach. "We can use that."

"How are we gonna get to it?" Maeve asked, mostly snidely, but nothing was said.

"Ah—" Joel swam off to the side and latched onto something floating in the water.

It was a crate pallet.

Oh no.

"Get on." The pallet slammed against the edge of the concrete the sisters stood on.

"Really?" Ellie eyed it skeptically.

"Ellie."

"Okay, okay," Ellie jumped onto the pallet, creating a mad splash and making it dip on one side which caused her to panic a little. "Ah, be careful!"

Maeve took her bag off and threw it to the other side. She heard her airborne stuff plop and skid on the floor.

Excellent. That was another thing out of the way.

"Did you just throw your shit over?" TJ deadpanned.

"Uh, yeah! I'm not getting my things wet I can help it. Very personal and very precious items are inside of it!" Maeve stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You are such a child." He spoke.

Maeve ignored him and lowered herself into the water. It wasn't as cold as it seemed earlier. She paddled over to the other side while Ellie climbed onto the platform to push the ladder. I'm going to have fun untangling my hair now. She thought unpleasantly while she waited for Joel and TJ to climb the ladder. Once she was up, she shook off as much water as she could before beelining to her bag.

"Come to mama!" She slipped the bag on and followed the others to the exit.

The was bright on her eyes, even as she was still in the stairwell that led to the outside. It was like her retinas would just burn from the sudden light.

Joel was out first and he took his mask off. He sucked in the crisp summer air and sat on stump or something a few feet away from the subway exit.

Maeve made her way out, hopping away from the stairwell and happily took off the mask. Ah...fresh air! I've missed you! She could almost tear up from the clean freshness and she inwardly vowed to never take air for granted again. Everyone took a well-deserved breather, basking themselves in the afternoon sun.

But then...

"Hey, look, um..." Ellie turned to Joel. She had her hands on her waist while she kicked the dirt beneath her shoes. "About Tess...I don't even know what to—"

Both Joel and TJ snapped their heads at Ellie with a sour fire in their eyes.

"Here's how this thing's gonna play out," Joel began with a stern dad speech. "You don't bring up Tess — ever. Matter of fact, we can keep our histories to ourselves. Secondly, don't tell anybody about your...condition. They'll think you're crazy or try to kill you. And lastly, you do what I say, when I say it. We clear?"

Understandably, Maeve got the man's rage, however it seemed a bit harsh for him to talk to them that way. Anyone could be bitten nowadays, and there was nothing they could do to change that. Well, other than staying in the quarantine zone and act like loyal puppies to soldiers.

The sisters glance at each other under the man intense stare. "Sure."

Joel frowned, the age lines on his forehead creased, especially his frown lines. "Repeat it."

"What you say, goes."

"Good," He spoke after a moment of complementation. He wiped his mouth gingerly and got to his feet. "Now, there's a town a few miles north of here. There's a fella there that owes me some favors. Good chance he can get us a car."

Great. More walking. Maeve flickered focus between the guys warily. Both seemed to have some unspoken language with each other. Was it some type of bro code?

"Okay." The girls sighed heavily.

Fan-fucking-stastic.