Ambrosia

Allison, Jamie, Claire, Cove, and Tom had spent most of their day walking. They had taken some food from some stores they passed that had been broken into already, and had prepared themselves to find a shelter soon, since sunset was coming. Allison seemed to be getting paler and her eyes were dilated. She was trying to keep calm and not be noticed, but Jamie had been paying attention to her behavior and was able to notice rather quickly. He had pursed his lips as he pulled a bottle of water from his bag and handed it to her.

"Drink this," he murmured.

"What? Why?" Allison asked.

"You're dehydrated. I can see it in your face. Drink it. Fast," he mused.

Allison nodded as she took the bottle and drank it quickly. She kept the bottle in her bag to refill it later as they continued to walk. She seemed to show a bit more color in her face, which relieved Jamie as they walked. The buildings seemed so quiet and lifeless. None of them were used to seeing empty cities like this.

Allison stopped though as she looked around, holding her hands out to stop everyone else as well. She narrowed her eyes, looking at the snow that had been covering the ground. There were fresh prints.

"We're not alone," she whispered, looking towards the others, "Either another survivor is out here, or we're being followed by a group of Tantalus," she looked back down to observe the prints. They were so shaken that they were skidding across the path, looking as though whoever was there, had been running and was in a hurry.

"Hungry Tantalus..." Cove breathed in, his eyes widened a bit.

"...Hmm hmm hmm..." a voice had hummed a familiar tune. Allison tried to get a better listen, but immediately jolted backwards.

"We're not alone... and we're not aided either," Allison bit her lip, "We're being hunted."

"Hmm hm hm hm hmm hmm..." the hum had gone on.

"Who's there?" Tom asked her.

"...Jason," Cove narrowed his eyes, "And by the looks of these tracks, he has company."

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out..."

"Why does he constantly sing this song?" Claire's cracking voice managed to say.

"A reason I would rather not say," Allison bit her lip as she took a step forward, "...We need to split up."

"Split up? That's the stupidest idea to do when we're hunted!" Claire panicked.

"Calm down! She's right! If there's more than one Tantalus, they're obviously going to catch us if we run together. If we split up, they'll have a harder time keeping up with us," Tom nodded.

"Jamie and I will head for the factory up ahead," Allison looked forward, "Cove, I want you to follow behind us, but go into the 2nd building. We'll meet up after daylight. Claire, Tom, I want you two to head to the NYC Library of Science. While you're there, try to hide, but also get any information that might be valuable."

"Alright," Tom nodded, "We'll be heading in the opposite direction then."

"Sounds fine to me," Cove breathed in as he looked forward, "Are we ready then?"

Allison listened for the voice that was singing. All was silent. She nodded, "Go."

They began running as fast as they could, Allison, Jamie, and Cove heading in one direction towards the factory. Tom and Claire heading in another. They were panting and trying to keep silent. For a while, it seemed as though they were running from nothing, and panicking for no reason, but after running for at least 50 feet, the figures of pale, screeching silhouettes appeared, sprinting after them. Allison cursed under her breath as she attempted to run faster, Jamie beside her. Cove was ahead of them and had turned to head towards a different building.

"Jamie, just run faster, you don't have to wait for me," Allison had gasped as she ran, the coldness of the air burning her throat.

"I'm not leaving you behind," Jamie shook his head as he grabbed her hand and ran faster. The momentum of his force made Allison skid on the ice, dragged behind him, but he had not slowed down, but only went faster. The Tantalus seemed to grow farther back, but had not given up on their chase. Allison grew more worried.

"I'm going to slip!" she kept repeating as she tried to balance.

"Hold tight then," Jamie spoke as he pulled her abruptly and she flew up, onto his back. He held onto her carefully and began running quickly towards the metal hinged door that was wide open. His eyes widened though, to see a giant patch of ice that was in the way, and he was going too fast to dodge it.

"Jamie, Jamie, watch out," Allison huffed.

"I can't, we'll have to slide!" he shook his head as he leaped over the glistening patch and landed on his knee, groaning loudly as they slid quickly inside. Allison hopped off quickly and headed for the large slide that was at the end of the door, and pulled on it quickly, the door slamming shut. For a long moment, it was silent, the sounds of their breathing the only thing in mind. Jamie looked up at her, still on the ground and nodded.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Fine," she pursed her lips, "And you?"

Jamie took a breath, trying to relax. He pushed his hands down on the ground to help himself get up, but he winced in pain while doing so. Allison watched as he got up, noticing that his left leg had a dark brown stain in his jeans. Her eyes widened.

"Jamie, you're bleeding!" she ran up quickly to get a better look.

"It's a small scrape, legs bleed easily, I'm fine," he looked at her, and to his leg.

Allison rolled his pants leg up and saw that there was a giant shard of ice that was stuck in his leg. Her eyes widened as she tried to breathe normally, as if she could feel the pain just seeing it.

"Jamie' that's not a scrape, this could get infected!" she put her hand to the shard, Jamie shrieking wildly as she did so, flinching and trying to scoot away.

"Shush, let me look at it, okay?" she tried to restrain him. She continued to observe it, watching and saw that the ice was melting. She shook her head, "We don't know where this ice has been. We need to get this out quickly."

"Please, try not to let it hurt," Jamie groaned.

Allison put too fingers to the ice and slowly began pulling on it, but Jamie only screamed more, "Stop it! Be quiet and hold still! The longer this takes, the more it'll hurt!"

After several minutes of toying with the ice, she finally decided to get it done quickly, holding onto it firmly and pulling it out abruptly. Jamie screamed even more loudly as Allison winced, wanting to cover her ears, but she proceeded to pull some bandages from her bag, wrapping them around his leg. When she was finished, she looked up at him.

"I'm done," she whispered, and Jamie calmed down. They stayed still for a moment, wanting to relax until they were needed to run. The Tantalus must not have caught up yet, or it would have been banging on the door.

"T-Thank you," he finally spoke, his voice shivering from the cold. He watched her as she looked up, nodding.

"I'm there for you, remember?" She laughed slightly. She then looked around the room, trying to get an idea of where they were. She narrowed her eyes, noticing how dark it had been in there. It looked as though the room was endless except for the one light by the door they came through that was flickering. There was a shining light at the other end of the large room, and she noticed that it was a mirror reflecting the light at the door. Her eyes widened, this being far too familiar to her.

Jamie being hurt... the dark room... the mirror... she bit her lip and then looked at her hands, "We're here..."

Jamie looked at her, puzzled, "What? Where?"

"This is where my mind is trying to take me," she looked up at him, "We're here, Jamie. At NYSMD."

Jamie stayed silent, breathing quietly. There was a long silence between them and he had looked down.

"We finally made it then," he nodded, "We're done. This is it."

"No," Allison shook her head, "This isn't even the beginning. This is just a test... because we haven't even found the cure yet."

BANG

The sound of something slamming against the large metal door was heard, and both Jamie and Allison gasped, looking over. The door rattled, shaking weakly, as though it would break open soon. And then they both looked around helplessly, and then to each other.

"...Jamie... we... this might be," she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"We'll make it," he smiled faintly, laughing a bit as he hugged her, "Don't think so negatively all the time... it kills the hope."

"Jamie, your leg! The door will break soon... we can't possibly hope to make it!"

"I might not be able to make it, but you can, Allison," he whispered as he held her close, "I promised you I wouldn't leave you. I promised you I wouldn't die. So I'm going to keep that promise. I'll stand by you."

Allison felt more helpless as she shook her head. She couldn't believe herself. She couldn't believe this situation. She couldn't believe he was meaning what he was saying, and that he would turn on the last second to make she got out alive. Whether she did or not, she'd still feel dead inside if something happened to him. And so they'd both break their promises.

BANG

Allison looked up at Jamie and couldn't help but feel the warm tears slide down her face. She breathed in, trying to suck everything up as she shook her head, "Jamie..."

Jamie kept his eyes low, still smiling faintly, still holding her to comfort her, "Yes?"

Allison felt the knot in her stomach continue to twist as her lips quivered. She watched his eyes for a long moment, "...I love you."

Jamie's eyes widened, unsure what to say. He hadn't expected that as he watched her. He felt his heart race more as he watched her, his hand seeming to move up to stroke her face gently. He gazed at her eyes and smiled more. Allison breathed in, trying to hold back the tears, feeling his cold hand against her cheek, breathing heavily.

"I love you too, Allie," he whispered, leaning into her and resting his forehead against hers. Allison closed her eyes as she nodded, leaning in slightly, and she tilted her head a bit. Jamie breathed in and slowly pressed his lips against hers. Kissing her gently, he continued to stroke her cheek, Allison embracing him. Soon the kiss had become rougher with their panic, their mouths overlapping each other, and soon, his tongue had entered her mouth. Allison had let his tongue move against hers, continuing to kiss him as she breathed in, pulling away every once in a while to get a breath. And soon after a few moments, they stopped and continued to stare into each others eyes. They were both smiling faintly as Allison had helped him up.

"We need to get out of here," Allison whispered, and Jamie nodded. She grabbed his hand as they began running as quickly as they could out of the room. They headed down a long, dark hallway, seeing a light at the other end of it.