Rewritten: January - July 2025

"They're heading into the subway! Stop them!"

They were seen. Fortunately for the group of four, it wasn't until after they descended into the subway stairs. It was almost too perfect. Sort of. Now, all they had to do was sprint and evade the soldiers.

"Blue cheese! They're on our tail!" Maeve shrieked in fear as she dashed between a few damaged turnstiles.

"Damn it! Spores!" Joel shouted upon noticing the spore-laden entrance.

"Masks!" TJ yanked a gas mask from his backpack, and Joel followed suit.

"I don't have a mask!" Maeve exclaimed in a state of panic.

"Are you kidding me?!" TJ groaned in frustration. "We live in a world where there's infected and spores, and you don't have a mask?!"

"Hey! It's not my fault I don't have one, okay?!" Maeve retorted.

"For crying out loud! Ah..." they started scanning their surroundings. "Stay out of sight!"

TJ pushed Maeve into a dark corner behind a couple of broken vending machines, far enough from the toxic spores.

"Don't move until we return. We'll look for something for you."

"Sure thing, Buckaroo." She gave him a salute, prompting him to roll his eyes and rush off.

Damn it, damn it, damn it. Why hadn't she brought a mask from the start? She was putting everything at risk. She should've been more prepared. Well, she did have one, but it had broken after she landed on it too hard. She imagined TJ and Joel getting the shock of their lives, watching Ellie inhale spores like they were fresh air. Ha. She'd seen it before too. That was before her mask broke though.

"...the place is deserted." A voice whispered.

She pressed her hands to her mouth, edging closer into the shadows, and breathed slowly, quietly until the soldiers moved on.

"Let's locate them and get the hell out of here before any Clickers arrive—"

"Jared? Are you there?" the second voice called out, but moments later, there was a loud smack followed by a heavy thud.

Silence. Mave kept her lips tightly shut and kept her breathing short, not wanting to give away her hiding place. The idea of being discovered by soldiers wasn't something she wanted.

"I got you a present, princess," TJ's voice nearly scared the life out of her. She took a moment to steady herself and exhaled shakily as she emerged from her hiding spot. He'd dragged an unconscious soldier from the spore-infested subway and dropped him a few feet from the entrance. With a swift motion, he removed the mask from the man's face.

"Don't call me princess," Maeve shot him a glare and snatched the mask from his hand.

"A simple 'thank you' would be great."

"No deal," she replied, putting the mask on and adjusting the straps to fit her head.

"Let's move!" Joel called from the spore-filled area.

"Coming!" TJ called back, his voice bouncing off the tiled walls. "Is your mask okay?"

Maeve nodded after a brief pause, blinking through the eye pieces. As they stepped into the spores, TJ switched on his flashlight just as Maeve stumbled over the body of the second soldier. "Whoa!" she squeaked, awkwardly sidestepping the body, nearly tripping on the body.

"Watch your step."

"Gee, thanks," the auburn-haired girl grunted and then jogged over to her sister. "How are you doing?"

"Aside from nearly shitting myself?" Ellie chuckled lightly before they stepped into the off-railed train car. "Everything's great."

Suddenly, the train was half underwater. It was chilly, and Maeve was not a fan. The deeper they ventured, the higher the water rose.

"Crap," Maeve grimaced, the water nearly up to her waist now.

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

He and TJ were already in the water, they looked like a couple of otters. If otters wore gas masks and carried guns.

"We'll figure something out." Then he plunged beneath the wreckage.

Maeve sighed in frustration and led Ellie out of the train car, to the side of the tracks where they could walk without hindrance. She held her bag above her head to keep it dry.

"We'll have to go under too," Ellie said, looking at the part of the train that obstructed their path, just a sliver of it not submerged. Ellie took a deep breath and went under. Maeve grimaced again in dismay.

"I guess it's a good thing I took my jacket off..." she said with a miserable tone. "This is so gonna suck."

She was only in the water for a brief minute, and she hated every second of it. She didn't like this place, she wanted out of it. The spores unsettled her. They blurred her vision limiting her sight to just a few feet around, and the hairs on the back of her neck bristled, and it wasn't from the cold-ish water. The butterflies in her stomach flitted about as her anxiety escalated; it felt as if someone was watching her. She tried to keep her breathing steady and tried to think about getting out of there. But she wouldn't be surprised, or maybe she would be, if an infected suddenly popped out of the water where Joel and TJ doggy paddled in. It felt too eerie down there.

"Oh look, it still works!" Ellie announced, now standing on higher concrete, out of the water. She switched on a handheld flashlight shaped like an 'L', its beam cutting through the spores and shadows.

"That's a great find," Maeve remarked, going to her while trying to ignore the fact that Ellie had taken it from the skeleton at their feet.

"Sure is!" Ellie directed the beam towards the water, where the guys were swimming, or rather, just floating around.

"Look, there's a ladder," TJ said, pointing to the platform they needed to be. "We can use that?"

"How are we supposed to get to it?" Maeve inquired, her tone dripping with sarcasm, but no one responded.

"Ah—" Joel swam to the side and grabbed hold of something that was floating nearby.

It turned out to be a crate pallet.

Oh.

"Climb on." The pallet was brought to them and crashed against the edge of the concrete where the sisters were standing.

Ellie made a face. "Seriously?"

"Ellie."

"Okay, fine..." Ellie took a deep breath before she leaped onto the pallet, causing a big splash, and her weight on it made it tilt dangerously under the surface, which startled her. "Ah, be careful!"

Maeve removed her bag and tossed it to the other side. She heard her belongings hit the ground with a thud and slide. That was yet another task completed.

"Did you just throw your crap over?" TJ asked with a dumbfounded expression.

"Uh, yeah! I can't let my stuff get wet! I've got precious momentos!" Maeve replied in a straightforward manner.

"You're such a child," he remarked.

Maeve chose to ignore him and eased herself into the water. It wasn't as chilly as it had seemed before. She swam to the opposite side while Ellie climbed onto the platform to push the ladder. I'm going to have a hell of a time untangling my hair, she thought with displeasure as she waited for Joel and TJ to ascend the ladder. Once she was up, she shook as much water as possible before heading straight for her bag.

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

The light was bright on her eyes, even as she was still in the stairwell leading outside. It felt like her retinas could've burned from the brightness.

Joel was the first to exit, and after a safe distance away, he removed his mask. He inhaled the clean air and sat on an old bench a few feet away from the entrance.

Maeve practically hopped away from the stairwell, eagerly removing her mask. Ah... Fresh air! How she missed it in such a short time. The clean freshness almost brought her to tears, and she silently promised to never take air for granted again. Everyone enjoyed a well-deserved break, soaking up the afternoon sun.

But then...

"Hey, look, um..." Ellie said, turning to Joel. She placed her hands on her hips and kicked pebbles at her feet. "About Tess...I really don't know what to—"

Both TJ and Joel turned to Ellie, their eyes filled with fierce intensity.

"Here's how this is gonna go," Joel started coldly. "You don't mention Tess — ever. In fact, let's keep our pasts to ourselves. And don't tell anyone 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. Are we clear?"

Maeve understood the man's anger, but the tone he had was too sharp. Anyone could get bitten these days, and there wasn't anything they could do to change it. Well, aside from staying in the quarantine zone and acting like obedient puppies to the soldiers.

The sisters exchanged glances under the man's intense gaze. "Sure."

Joel scowled, the lines of age etched on his forehead, particularly the deep frown lines. "Repeat it."

Sigh. "What you say goes."

"Good," he replied after a brief pause for thought. He carefully wiped his mouth and stood up. "There's a town a few miles north of here. There's a fella there who owes me some favors. There's a good chance he can get us a car."

The exhaustion suddenly weighed her. Great....more walking. Maeve shifted her attention between the two males cautiously. They both appeared to share some unspoken understanding.

"Alright." The girls let out a heavy sigh.