Salvation

II

~ 5 Years Later ~

I feel myself being shaken out of sleep. I wake up and see Eric kneeling over me, his eyes wide. His greasy hair is wrapped in a man bun, and his sideburns stretch across his face and into a strong neck beard. His eyes are bloodshot and tired, yet wide with excitement. 

"Hey, I got something important." he says, shaking me once more.

I sit up from inside my sleeping bag, trying not to disturb the other people sleeping around me.

"What is it?" I ask him, slightly irritated that he woke me up. 

"I got into the military station and grabbed this." he tells me, before removing a small flip phone from his pocket.

"What? How the hell did you get into the military station?" I ask him. The military station is directly connected to ours and is where the military officials stay. All the entrances are closely guarded.

"I snuck in when they were switching shifts." Eric tells me. He flips open the phone and pushes a couple buttons.

"Look." Eric says, before showing me the screen.

It's a conversation between two people.

Station R is completely empty

Empty? What do you mean?

It's empty. Everyone left.

Where would they go? The stations are the only safe place.

We've been hearing rumors of a sanctuary up at Empire State. Only rumors though.

Bullshit. No one could survive up top.

Eric turns the phone away before I can read the rest

"Do you know what this means?" Eric asks, seeing the confusion on my face.

"No. What does it mean?" I ask.

"People are surviving up top. We don't have to stay in this stupid subway station anymore." he explains.

"Didn't you read the conversation? Those are just rumors." I tell him.

"But it could be true. Wouldn't you rather live up top instead of down here in this crowded ass subway?" Eric asks.

"Of course I'd rather live up top, but we haven't left this subway in five years. We don't know what to expect." I tell him.

"Well I'm not gonna stay down here for another five years with barely any food, and with all these military fucks watching our every move," Eric says, before getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?" I ask him.

"I gotta put this cell phone back before they suspect something," Eric explains, holding up the phone.

"Let me go with you." I say, getting to my feet. Despite me being suspicious of Eric's idea, I was curious as to what the military station was like.

"Alright, you can come with. But you have to be careful. If we get caught, we're dead." Eric explains to me.

I nod my head, before the two of us head to the tunnel connecting our station to the military station. 

The tunnel was filled with old cans which were hung up on strings. This way the officials would know if someone was coming through.

"Alright, we gotta crawl underneath these. Make sure you don't hit a single can." Eric tells me. I'm surprised by his knowledge of these tunnels. I wonder how many times he's snuck in.