Bio Hazard

Underground

Time seemed to move quicker from that moment. The night was drawing to an end, however that didn't make moving any less dangerous. In fact, it probably made it more so. There would be an increased number of guards at the entrances to the stronghold and more frequent patrols of the streets immediately surrounding it. Scavengers would be periodically sent out to find supplies or mount rescues. The biggest danger of all was the hunters; teams of around five, made of mostly large men that would go out and hunt down and eradicate any instance of Haemomutasis that came across. Brutal and bloodthirsty killers, many of them were locked up in prison, at least for a little bit. 

Ruby and Paul were preparing themselves to move out. It didn't make sense to Ruby why Paul would choose to have this mysterious underground movement as his contacts if they were so hard to get to. One bad decision while on the street would almost certainly lead to death for an infected person. If you were to accidentally kick an old drinks can, or bump into a dustbin while trying to move from point A to point B, you had better hope they finish you off quickly. 

Ruby had folded the note up in her pocket carefully and had gone over her outfit multiple times, making sure her knife was secure and the locket was still around her neck. Until that moment, she had forgotten the locket was there, the previously cold metal heated up to match Ruby's body temperature pretty quickly after that run in with the three soldiers in the night. When her hand ran across the fine chain, Ruby felt her eyes flare and her mind was flooded with flaming anger. Moving when she did was a good choice; she was getting closer and closer to her goal all the time. She would have her vengeance in no time, at this rate. 

She debated asking Paul if he happened to have any replacement clothes, but she decided against it, partly because she didn't want him thinking that she was comfortable with him, but also because he appeared to be concentrating. He had swept everything from the table onto the floor and had laid out a selection of weapons and ammunition on its surface instead. He seemed to be deep in though over what weapons he should carry. His skeletal hand ran over the wooden furniture of the rifle he had previously pointed at Ruby, while his largely in tact hand kept creeping over towards a handgun that looked like it could have been his police issue firearm. He had attached a tactical harness to his upper body and had fastened a knife and a flashlight to it. In the end, he couldn't decide and holstered his sidearm on his leg and slung the rifle over his shoulder.

He turned away from the table, walking past Ruby to the window through which she had entered. He peered out and walked back into the apartment. 

"You might want to replace that knife of yours, by the way," Paul muttered as he paced his base of operations, sliding a hunting knife across the floor towards her with his foot, "That thing you're carrying couldn't hurt anyone,"

Ruby looked down at the blade on the ground at her feet, "I'm not taking that, I don't plan on hurting anyone, it's for my defence," She retorted defiantly, much to the disdain of the man,

Paul stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath and turned around, looking at Ruby with a kind of fatherly command, but not the type that made him any more likeable,

"Either you take the knife, or you stay here." He said simply.

Paul and Ruby locked eyes again in another of their fights for dominance, but this time, Ruby was the one that gave up. She sighed and withdrew her kitchen knife and threw it onto the sofa. Bending down, she swiped the hunting blade and immediately felt how much heavier it was in comparison. This new blade had been recently sharpened and felt much more deadly. Ruby didn't like it, but Paul wouldn't look away until she secured it inside her jacket.

Ruby spent the rest of the time waiting in silence for Paul to finish making preparations for their move. By the time they were ready, the night was well and truly over and the sun had begun to rise. Not that you could see it. A more accurate term would be 'the ash filled sky got slightly brighter'. 

Paul went back to the window, peering out before vaulting the ledge and landing, cat-like, in the alley. Ruby followed him, clambering out of the small space with much less grace and pushing herself right up against the wall. After checking the street, Paul gestured to Ruby and mouthed 'run' to her, pointing to an alleyway on the other side of the street. Ruby stared at him in disbelief and shook her head, darting out across the road, keeping her body as close to the ground as possible. She would really rather not have any more holes in her body. It was nerve wracking. There was no room for failure. 

The teen crouched in the alley, looking back to Paul. He was about to move, when a patrol suddenly came around the corner. Mouthing curse words, Ruby saw the man creep backwards and hide behind a large dumpster. The patrol was moving slowly, sweeping their vision across everything. Ruby copied Paul. She didn't like him, but he knew a lot more about surviving this close to healthy people than she did. Ruby began to draw up a plan of what to do if Paul died. She could just keep moving in the same direction he had sent her, but there was no guarantee that it would lead directly to this resistance force. Still, even if she didn't get to them, they would come to her at the next airdrop. She could slip in in the confusion. Maybe. 

Ruby peeked around the corner of her hiding spot and saw that the patrol had stopped right outside Paul's alley. He was the easiest way to the underground infected, and therefore the easiest way into the stronghold. The patrol finally moved on,walking just as slowly and checking behind them periodically. Ruby let out a sigh of relief and watched Paul sneak across the street and into the darkness of the next alley. 

"Y'know, when I said 'contact them', I didn't expect you to say 'Let's just go to them'" Ruby hissed as he passed her, annoyance on her breath

Paul was silent and spoke only in gestures; namely a certain, one-fingered salute. He nodded forwards and Ruby, shaking her head again, followed. Time may have been moving quicker, but the journey seemed to be longer than needed. Dashing across streets, hiding amongst bins and bodies. It was unpleasant, if nothing else. 

Before too long, Paul held up his fist, ordering Ruby to stop. He peeked around the corner of the edge of the side street they were squatting in. Ahead of them was a large apartment building. Several of the apartments appeared to have been exploded, as huge blackened holes were present on each side. In front of it, there were stairs leading downwards into a tunnel. Ruby didn't know if it was a roadway or a railway, but she imagined the resistance force was 'underground' in more ways than one. 

The man stepped back into the alley again and withdrew his flashlight. He pointed it towards the building and sent a series of flashes in its direction. Ruby raised an eyebrow as they sat there, not seeing any sign of the message being received, about to make a sarcastic comment, when three pulses of green light were spotted on a middle floor. 

"C'mon," Paul beckoned, standing up and jogging across the road to the stairs, Ruby in tow,

"Clever," She commented, "A secret fighting force that has established themselves in one of the most dangerous areas," Paul shook his head this time, much to Ruby's amusement. 

As they descended, the light got lower and lower. The tunnel was pitch black, but the moment they had both set foot on the concrete bottom, two floodlights ignited, drowning the duo in light. The sudden whiteness was excruciating for a split second, especially to Ruby, who hadn't looked into a light so bright since before the outbreak. She stumbled after Paul, not fully concentrating on his smart-ass comments like "Maybe this'll stop you bein' so sarcastic,"

The pair of them shuffled through the darkness together until the sound of weapons cocking all around them made them stop,

"Paul." A voice called out, a strong and feminine voice, "You had better have a good reason for bringing another down here with you. You know this goes against our agreement."