The Immortales Project

I- Pathways

Darkness engulfed Crimson as she plunged into the depths, warlike growls sounding from behind her.

Her feet carried her self seemingly faster than the wind as she darted through the tunnels in the hills. Breath after breath left her as she turned into another tunnel, one someone could miss in the dark. Black, worn combat boots, a specific kind made specially for exploring and roaming thudded against the cement floor of the tunnels. An old leather satchel strapped on her body thumped against her racing body, contents clanking inside. Turn after turn, she made her way through the almost endless network of tunnels, sprinting as she panted. The footsteps of others echoed off the walls but she couldn't let that distract her. She didn't once dare to look back.

She was almost there.

Almost there.

Suddenly, she made a sharp quick turn which made the runners behind her swear and yell over to their group. At about maybe a hundred meters in front of her was a bright white light, growing bigger as she sped towards it. Her face began becoming more illuminated, the light at the end reflecting off of her wild red-blond hair, which was pinned up in a ponytail. Determined green eyes, mixed with flecks of gold and silver shone through as she quickened her pace, adrenaline pumping through her veins. The growls were becoming more tired sounding and she smirked as she finally broke out of the tunnels and into the daylight. Crimson turned as the figures behind her reached the end, panting and sweating. She was slightly sweaty as well, but didn't feel too winded.

"Nice job, Grim. You're obviously the fastest runner here, so could you please let me win for once?" Julien, one of the runners and also her closest friend, praised and pouted, resting one arm on her shoulder. He used that nickname quite often as Crimson was for the most part fearless and could be actually grim and nightmarish when she wanted to. Crimson shrugged his arm off , which was tanned from spending hours outside and glared at him playfully.

Julien just chuckled and ran a hand through his tousled dark brown hair, which was messy from running. His chocolate eyes would seem plain at first, but would also seem to sparkle when he was happy. He towered above Crimson's five-seven frame at six-three of built muscle. He was dressed in a loose white shirt, slightly dirty and damp from the run before along with a pair of worn grey sweatpants and carried a satchel as well. All of them did.

"Come on, let's go back to base. That was the last training exercise." Crimson prodded, linking one lean arm through Julien's thicker, muscular arms. Despite his protests of him wanting to stay and rest bit, the two left the group and trudged back to base and were for the most part, silent. 

The path back was not a straight one, but having been along this way so many times before, the pair knew the whole landscape and area by heart. To any newcomer, the area would seem intimidating and very unfamiliar but it showed a clear story.

Towering buildings, most of which were coated with a heavy layer of dust, decorated the sides of a dusty road in what had once been the gleaming city of Los Angeles. Many buildings had collapsed in the destruction of eighteen years before and many more were unstable. The sun beat down mercilessly as it was the heat of summer and the two sweat even more. The skies were cloudless and reflected off of giant shards of glass from the buildings, many of which were shattered and the reflection was coated with dust. The skeletons of trees and bones of creatures, humans and animals alike were the last remnants of what life had lived before the devastation eighteen years prior. This was a wasteland that Crimson and Julien were trudging through.