Ambrosia

As the train came to a stop, Allison, Jamie, Claire, Tom, and Cove had all walked out of it feeling a bit more awake from their resting. The long tunnels seemed to be colder than usual, and there weren't many people in the area. Allison could feel the air freezing the sweat on her forehead, and she felt the shivers in her back as she wrapped her arms around herself. She began walking as the others followed. The tunnels were dark and hard to follow. There were not many signs of any civilization or even light. The sounds of their footsteps bounced off the walls.

As Allison had been walking, she closed her eyes, thinking. She was trying to focus on what she was going to do when they had finished walking. She hadn't known if they were going to be able to eat or not. She couldn't promise anything. Their lives seemed to weigh on her because she knew she was responsible for any harm to come to them. And she knew she was hunted. She knew that Jason would do anything to get his hands on her, and if it meant hurting her friends, he would do it in a heartbeat. She knew that this was her fate though. That this was her destiny.

As time passed, it seemed to be several weeks passing. She knew that they had been traveling for a good while, though she was unconscious, and now, they had been traveling even further. There came two paths before them. One of a tunnel that had been going on until it reached shadows, and the other leading to a long, metal railing. A sign that seemed to be broken off the side of the tunnel had pointed in the direction of the ladder. It read NEW YORK CITY. And suddenly the weight seemed to lift off of Allison's shoulders.

"Allison," Tom's eyes widened, "We're here, aren't we? This is it?"

"Of course this is it! We needed to get to New York and now it's in front of us!" Claire smiled brightly.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go," Jamie breathed in.

"No," Allison immediately spoke.

They all turned to her, bewildered.

"We don't know what's up there. We don't know whether it's day or night. We need to think about where we stand in a situation like this," she turned to them.

"Allison, we can't sit down here forever," Claire shook her head.

"Would you rather sit here for a little bit longer or go up there with blinded plans only to get attacked by a Tantalus? Do you want to get infected?"

"We'd still be blinded, waiting or not!"

"This is my burden, so we're doing it my way. I say we wait. It's my job to find this cure. I want to find it in the safest way possible," Allison pursed her lips.

"Allison, you know this burden isn't yours, you chose to do this... we'd all survive without the cure anyways, so there's no rush--"

"Do you want to survive Claire, or do you want to live?" Allison narrowed her eyes, "I'm tired of living in a sheltered world where I don't know if I'll wake up safely each morning. Whether I can go outside after sunset or not. I want to fix this permanently."

There was a long silence as Allison leaned against the wall. She closed her eyes as the others watched her. Claire had sighed, shaking her head as she looked at the ladder several times impatiently. And as the minutes passed, Allison began opening her eyes once more.

"I'll check now," she walked to the ladder. Jamie stepped up immediately though, pulling her backwards.

"I'll check now," he spoke, watching her eyes. He then passed her as Allison watched him, biting her lip. He turned back to her, "Your life is more important than ours. You're the only one who can fix Ambrosia."

Allison nodded, looking down, as if embarrassed. Jamie then grabbed onto the ladder and began to pull himself up as he climbed to the metal door, pushing it open. He looked around to see that there was a dark chamber, it seemed. There was dust in the air and a small ray of light was peeping through a shaded window.

"It's day. Come up now," Jamie shouted towards them as he pulled himself up, over the opening. Others began to follow him up the ladder. The room was huge, looking as though they were in a shelter under a factory. It had many large machines that were covered with foils and there was a broken down elevator. The stairs were covered by a table that had been knocked over and there was a wide open door at the top of the stairs.

"We should be quick to get out of here. Tantalus are known to hide in dark areas like forests and abandoned buildings," Allison whispered. Each of then began walking quickly, Cove holding his gun close. Claire held the gun that Tom had let her borrow closely, Tom doing the same with his own. Jamie had pulled a rather large hand gun from under his jacket as his eyes began to narrow seriously. He looked to Allison as she continued to walk.

"...Don't you have a weapon?" Jamie asked her.

Allison smirked lightly as she stuck her hand to her back and slid it within her pants. She then grabbed onto something and slid her fist--holding a handgun--from her back area. Jamie was a bit startled that she had hid it all this time, but nodded as they continued walking. They leaped over the table and ran quickly up the stairs. Jamie walked through the long hallway first, looking around as they saw more light coming from the windows that had been busted. They walked through quietly, and were heading towards a doorway that was straight across from them at the end of the hall. They breathed heavily, almost desperate to run towards the light, but they tried to stay quiet.

Allison then jumped forward, kicking the door open, the rays of sunlight blinding them--as if they had never seen it before. They gasped in desperation and walked towards the middle of the parking lot. They looked to the streets near by.

New York City. It was completely vacant. They saw that there were cars in the middle of the roads, empty sidewalks, and buildings were torn apart. The snow had been falling over their heads, but they completely ignored the coldness as they stood, dumbstruck at the quietness of the city. They slowly began walking as they looked around.

"This isn't real," Claire shook her head, "It's like something you'd see in a horror movie."

"Claire," Allison bit her lip, "This is a horror movie," she then breathed in, "But in reality."

Jamie and Cove stood on each side of Clair, Tom, and Allison, holding their guns in place. The sun was brightly above them, warming them a bit in their dark clothing.

"What's our next step?" Cove asked Allison finally.

"We head for the NYSMD," Allison nodded, "And hope to find Dr. Sholtz still alive."

Everyone nodded.

"So our journey hadn't even started when we first got down there," Jamie smirked.

"Exactly," Allison breathed in, taking a step forward.