We walked for what seemed like hours, though according to her it was a short while, my limbs ached and my body felt like it was about to fall to pieces, which from the half assed stitching's, I wouldn't be surprised if I did.
Near silence. The only sounds were our boots on the stone and the steady drip of water from the ceiling. I thought about the black armoured team that took Jonathan. I needed to get him back for a proper burial. That was why I was still moving even though my body wanted to stop. Maria seemed focused on her tablet. She didn't look back at me often. I kept wondering about her brother and why she was really down here. She had cut me open on that table but now she was leading me through these tunnels. It was strange but I had no other choice other than to crawl into a ball and die.
We stopped in the first empty storage room after a while. Maria stepped inside and looked around quick. It was just bare walls and some old shelves with nothing on them. She leaned against one wall and dotted down details on her tablet. She recorded every turn we had taken and every step. I stood by the door and watched the hallway while she worked. My stitches pulled tight when I shifted my weight. The pain was constant, but I stayed quiet. She tapped the screen a few times and muttered numbers to herself. Then she nodded and we started walking again.
The next stretch of tunnel was longer. The air felt thicker and the lights on the walls flickered more. I kept my eyes open for any movement. We passed some side paths, but Maria shook her head and kept us straight. After another ten minutes or so we came to a second empty room. This one had a few broken crates in the corner. Maria went in and did the same thing. She paused and dotted notes on the map. She recorded the exact turn we had made and how many steps it took to get here. I set the backpack down for a minute to rest my shoulders. The weight from all the stuff she took made my back ache on top of everything else.
"Are we there yet" I asked.
She didn't look up right away. "Not yet."
"How much longer."
"Didn't realise I was walking a toddler."
"You'd be a horrible mum, let alone sitter."
"Ok so NOW you want to start. Keep it up and I'll be leaving you in this room."
"Sorry Sorry."
I picked up the pace again. We left that room and kept going. The silence came back between us. I thought about the rat she had me vial earlier. The way she stomped it without hesitation. She didn't seem scared of much. That made me a little scared of her but also glad she was on my side for now. One less violent person for me to face. My mind went back to the lab and the gas mask and the way my body had been open on that table. The voice in the darkness kept echoing in my head. I pushed it down and focused on the path.
We walked for a long time after that. The tunnels twisted and turned in ways that would've made it hard to keep track without her map. We stopped in two more empty storage rooms. Each time Maria did the same. She leaned against a wall or sat on an old crate and dotted every detail on her tablet. She recorded the steps and the directions. I stood guard each time and listened for any sounds in the halls. My body got more tired. The pain from the stitches mixed with the weight of the backpack.
Maria finished her notes in the last room and stood up. "We're still on track," she said.
"Great so how much longer," I replied.
"As long as I want, just keep walking."
We started walking again. The tunnel got narrower for a bit then opened up. The air smelled more like metal and something rotten. I kept my body tensed. The blue lights dimmed on my arm when I focused on them. We didn't talk for a while after that. Just the sound of our steps and the occasional drip from the ceiling. I wondered how far we had come and how close we were. Maria checked her tablet every few minutes but did not say much.
Then we heard the loud shooting sounds. They echoed through the tunnels from somewhere ahead. Gunshots mixed with screams and other noises that did not sound anywhere remotely close to human. Maria and I both froze. We glanced at each other quick then moved to the corner of the next hall. We peeked around it careful not to make noise.
Uniformed men in black tactical gear like before, were fighting down the hall. They were shooting at zombie-like creatures that ran towards them. The creatures looked dead with torn skin, empty eyes, broken legs and decaying limbs, and yet they ran fast anyway. The men gunned them down with steady fire. But there was another creature too. Multi limbed monsters that looked like two or more humans had been smashed and stuck together. The same creatures the old man said he would capture and try to heal in those cages under the tavern. The men kept shooting but the creatures kept coming.
One of the men in gear lifted his hand and it lit ablaze as he darted forward swinging his arm and sending a wave of fire down the hall staggering most creatures and distorting the others, while another man used enhanced strength to charge through weaving and smashing limbs and skulls of both creatures. The third man made his limbs bigger. His hands grew into large fists as he spread them open wide grappling multiple creatures at once smashing them hard enough to break them apart.
Maria and I pulled back from the corner fast. Those men looked like the same kind that took Jonathan. Same gear and weapons. The creatures were clearly dangerous. We couldn't go that way without getting slaughtered and gunned down.
"We need to circle around, there should be an exit right past them," Maria said quiet.
"Left or Right?" I crouch low to move quietly.
"Right. That one down there with the flames keeps missing and lighting up the left hall."
We ran down a side path quick but careful. My stitches pulled with every step and pain shot through my side. The backpack bounced on my back and made it worse. We took turns that Maria checked on her tablet. The shooting sounds got quieter behind us but we could still hear them echo. We moved fast through the narrower tunnels. My breathing got heavy.
We came to another area with dead bodies. Uniformed men in tactical gear lay on the ground. Some of them were killed and dismembered. Arms and legs cut off. Blood everywhere on the stone. Others looked dead but they were moving. They twitched and started to get up like the zombies back there. Their eyes were empty and their bodies twisted in wrong ways. One of them reached toward us with a torn arm.
Maria kicked it back hard. I used my bionic hand to intercept a bite and ripped off its jaw. We kept moving past them. The smell was bad. Blood and rot mixed together. My stomach turned but I kept going.
"Keep moving," Maria said.
"Really? Thanks, I was thinking of turning back for a second," I answered.
"How badly do you want your throat slit," she said hopping over a corpse.
"Sorry I feel like vomiting right now, so my brains a bit weird right now."
"Lock in and keep running or you'll be doing more than that."
We ran through more halls. The dead bodies were scattered in this section. We stepped around them careful. My body hurt more now from the running. The stitches felt like they might tear. But we had to get around the fight. Maria checked her tablet while we moved. She dotted a few quick notes even as we went.
The tunnels felt darker here. The emergency lights were broken in places. We stayed close to the walls. I listened for any more shooting or footsteps. Nothing close but the echoes still reached us.
We slowed after a bit when the sounds got farther away. Maria stopped in a small side space and checked her map again. She dotted more details about the turns we had taken to circle around. I set the backpack down and caught my breath. Pain throbbed in my chest. I touched the stitches through my shirt and felt the rough thread.
"You think those things are related to the bomb at the station?" I asked.
"Not in the slightest, why would you think that," she said. "They're called Smog Subjects, and the weirder ones don't have names, they're just abominations people created for their own twisted reasons."
"You seem to know quite a bit." I said picking up my bag.
"Just keep walking, I'll explain once we're not on the verge of becoming walking corpses."
I nodded and started walking again. The dead bodies got fewer as we moved away from that area. But the memory of them stayed with me.
Maria led the way. She checked the tablet and made sure we were still heading toward the way out. I followed and kept watch behind us. The tunnels stretched on. The silence came back but it felt heavier now. The backpack felt like it weighed more with every step but I kept carrying it.
We passed another empty room but didn't stop long. Maria dotted one quick note and we kept moving. My legs burned. My side ached. But we were closer. I could feel it.
The path turned left and we followed it. More dim lights. More dripping water. I stayed right behind her and kept my eyes open. The fight we saw was behind us now, but the tunnels could hold more surprises.
Which is exactly what happened the second we turned a corner, and there on the floor lay a man in the same tactical gear at the men before. Except this man wasn't zombified, this man wasn't dead, but he looked like he had about a few minutes before that statement would be wrong.
We were about to walk past, about to ignore it, but then the man did something strange. He pulled out a card from his pocket and held it up towards us as his lips slowly parted. "Key... card... yours... please.... help me." He spoke out before blood started leaking from his lip.
Maria grabbed the card and turned to walk off, down the hall and find the exit but I paused. She looked back and eyed me. "Don't you dare get sappy, follow me."
"Bu–"
"No. The deal was you listen to what I say when I say it. We're not helping him so hurry up or I'm putting a bullet through your head, taking that arm and you can die here with him." Her voice came out harsh as she waited for me.
I glanced at her, my expression blank, almost, disappointed. Not at her, but at myself for almost agreeing with her. "Come on then," I said while raising my hands, "leave but you're not taking the arm."