Wither With Me

CHAPTER 16 - OMEN

William was escorted through the dark hallways by a couple of burly men, with Claire following right behind under similar circumstances. Their hands had been tied together; their weapons confiscated. They had done all they could. And it didn't feel like it was worth the effort.

All he ever wanted was to live a normal life. After that normal life broke apart, he just focused on surviving. After survival proved pointless, he just wanted to keep going until he didn't feel like fighting fate anymore. And if that was how he was meant to die, so be it.

New people stumbled their way into his life, people that made him think it might have been worth it to try and survive for a bit longer. And then...

[Lilian wasn't kidnapped... And I think Nora knows exactly how to find her...]

[What do you mean? Has she done this before...?]

[Y-Yeah...]

They knew, of course they knew. They were runaways, and they dragged him into whatever that situation was. And he wasn't sure he had the energy to deal with it.

'I'm... tired.'

...

As William was taken into an entirely different subway platform, he took a look around the place. He didn't really care that much about it, but some peculiarities grabbed his attention nonetheless.

Most of the underground complex was poorly lit with some scattered, rudimentary light sources, leaving the vast majority of the tunnels cast in shadows; with the exception of a few shy patches of light, around which most of the activity bundled up. There were at least a couple dozen people living in the area, and many of them were children and elderly. William thought of that group as nothing but a gang of thugs, but what he saw in those hallways was a very different story.

The living conditions were grim at best. Those people were living in barely more than a couple of mattresses laying on the floor. Cardboard boxes were the only reminiscent of furniture in sight. With no sense of order or structure whatsoever, everything gave the impression of having been put together in a hurry.

Most of the inhabitants didn't even react when William's group passed by. Those who did react, merely looked at them sideways, trying not to keep eye contact for too long. Even the children appeared to be devoid of energy.

It was worth noting that, cheerlessness aside, the kids looked okay. But most adults didn't. Many of them were malnourished, the shape of their bones starting to stick out under their skin, their dry lips yearning for a sip of water. Those people had some clear priorities in mind. And it was never a good sign when such priorities became necessities.

William looked at them with indifference. As needy as those people might have been, it wasn't his problem, and he wanted it to stay that way. After all, that group was still responsible, in one way or another, for the crumbling of everything he had fought for since the beginning of the pandemic.

They could all rot in hell for all he cared.

******

Much like William, Claire offered no resistance while the man tied her hands behind her back and then secured them to a sturdy pipe on the wall. She was forced to sit on the floor, and she couldn't manage to find a comfortable position that didn't put strain on her legs, but she didn't really care. At least the pain gave her something to focus on, something to diverge her attention away from her thoughts.

Within that same dark restroom, a couple of meters away from her, William had been restrained in a similar manner. She consciously avoided making eye contact with him. She couldn't possibly look him in the face. She really intended to talk to him about everything that had happened. But with the way things had turned out, how could she?