It’s Not Easy Making Money In The Apocalypse

With my direction decided, I flicked on the flashlight on my Perco, and then holding the watch in front of me, I slowly began descending. At the same time, Raven pulled out her gun and held it at the ready. The pair of us slowly made our way down the stairway, which lead down to a concrete hallway under the hospital. It wouldn’t have been too bad if it wasn’t for the complete lack of light. I glanced at the walls, but I didn’t see any switches.

“Cecelia… you downloaded the specs, what can we do about light?” I whispered.

“What?” Raven asked.

I cleared my throat. “Um… nothing.”

The acoustics in this place was pretty bad. Even slight whispers sounded loud. On the one hand, this reassured me that there was no one down there. If some mutated creature was shoveling about, given the reverb in this place, I found it hard to believe I wouldn’t have been able to hear it. At the same time, it gave the location a very eerie vibe. I could hear the sound of dripping water somewhere in the distance, but I couldn’t pick out the direction it was coming from at all.

“Power is being fed down here. I do not know why the lights aren’t on like the rest of the hospital.” Cecelia admitted.

Raven grabbed my arm as I went to take the last step. “Be careful of traps.”

“Traps?” I blinked. “This area is abandoned. Who would have set up traps?”

Katarina was usually the cautious one, so I was a bit surprised by Raven suddenly speaking up.

“You can be so clueless sometimes.” She shook her head. “The apocalypse didn’t occur overnight. That virus took years to run its course. Other than the colonies, there were many other locations where people struggled to survive. Many hidden home bases existed. To keep themselves safe, they would have set up tons of deadly traps to catch unsuspecting ferals and mutants. A pressure plate with a string of grenades, a shotgun tied to a laser sight sensor, even a turret placed at the end of the hallway are all possibilities.”

“I see…”

I only had been thinking about monsters in the wasteland. The deadliest thing still seemed to be people, although this wasn’t even current people, but the people from before. Not everyone in the wasteland lived nomadically. How many people went out exploring for supplies only to die an unsightly death, leaving their home, their supplies, and all of their defenses ready to destroy? That’s exactly what would happen if I died. The Ascension headquarters would become a deathtrap. Lilith would probably end up claiming the territory and it’d become some no-man’s land.

Well, more than likely, Katarina would take whatever supplies she could and go back to the life she was living before she met me. It was a lonely path though, and one I didn’t want to have to see her travel. Red’s Dragon Claw would take everything else, and the location would be a ghost town.

I made sure to more carefully check my feet, and Raven nodded in acceptance. The pair of us continued forward. We headed down a concrete hallway. Above us, there were various industrial pipes, vents, and cables that were meaningless to me. Every step on the hard, slightly wet concrete echoed off down the hallway.

“How much farther does it go?” I voiced the question like I was idly wondering, but in reality, I was asking Cecelia.

“A room should appear in about 500 feet.” She responded.

“I thought this was the basement, but there is no way we’re still under the hospital.” I frowned.

“Why are you realizing that now?” She hissed back.

“I-”

“Watch out!” Cecelia cried out.

I felt my foot depress on something, and then was a sudden sliding sound followed by a thud. I spun around to see that a doorway I previously hadn’t noticed had slammed shut behind us. We had ended up triggering a pressure trap.

“We’re trapped!” Raven cursed, running to the door and kicking it.

“What dat?” A gruff voice came from overhead.

Quickly thinking, I turned off my Perco and then grabbed Raven, pulling her down to the ground with me. When she tried to speak, I covered her mouth. I heard footsteps overhead which settled with a loud clank. Then, a light shone down just over my head. Squinting up, I could see a floor grate, and a form with a flashlight was standing on that grate. The light blocked out most of their features, but I could just manage to see a shadow of their shape. Given the size and shape, I instantly knew I was looking at a beast mutant.

This underground path was taking us under the mutant nest behind the hospital! As the light shone around, it was thankfully blocked by various vents and pipes that sat between us and the grate. It kept the light from managing to illuminate our forms. However, as the mutant looked for us, I noticed that someone had seemingly attached some kind of device, and power cords were being run up through the grate. The so-called power drain that Cecelia detected had ended up being the mutant nest.

“Hmm…” The beast grunted before finally turning away.

I let out a breath of relief, but when I looked back, I couldn’t help but grimace at the door. There was no heading back to where we started.

“Cecelia…”

“This was a mechanical switch. It has no computerized parts.” She explained.

I couldn’t help but wince. That was exactly what I was afraid of. Perhaps if there was some kind of wench, we could force the door back open, but with the mutants overhead, there was no way we could do it quietly enough that we could get out of there safely. While the grate had left a little bit of light from the street above, the rest of the distance down the hallway was pure darkness. However, we had no choice but to go down that dark path.

“Mmm. Mmm.” I felt vibrations against my hand and looked down.

I was on top of Raven, straddling her with my hand still over her mouth. I quickly removed my hand. She glared up at me accusingly.

“You’re taking advantage of me intentionally!” she whispered.

“Shh!”

I responded. This place carried sound too well. I hadn’t heard the mutants though on the approach, so they probably wouldn’t be able to hear us very well either. Plus, they were rather loud. I couldn’t make out anything specifically being said, but there were many grunts and shouts above. That’s when I realized that there were no echoes anymore. After that doorway, the grates in the ceiling must have broken the sound of the echo. That didn’t mean we shouldn’t remain quiet though.

I slowly got off of Raven, and then held my hand out to her. She looked at it for a second, and then looked away, a stubborn expression on her face. I shrugged and pulled my hand back. Then, I started heading down the path. Anywhere was safer than directly below the grate. That’s what I was thinking. However, only twenty feet later, I saw another grate, and then a third one. Raven scrambled to her feet, and I could hear her shoes scrapping on the concrete and I wanted to smack her. I did not want to become mutant food!

We continued down the hallway, although my eyes weren’t focused in front of me anymore, but staring up.

“Hungry now!” A mutant stepped over one of the grates, causing me to stop and hold my breath.

The beast kept on walking though, and so we did as well. The light left by the grates was middling, and I did my best to make out the hallway as we moved from one grate to the next. That’s why I nearly slammed into a door before noticing that we had come to the end of the hallway. A moment later, Raven ran into my back and I fell against the door with a thud.

I spun around and shot her a glare. Raven lifted her hands while wearing an innocent look. The pair of us waited nervously, but we didn’t hear any activity from the mutants above. I turned back to the door to focus on it. It was thick, with a big metal latch. It didn’t appear to have any computerized parts. No Allco connections for me to hack at all. It was mechanical too.

The door was big and heavy. Was there any way to open it without alarming the beasts? I didn’t think so. It would immediately begin to squeak and groan. However, what choice did I have? Our only choice was to open the door and book it. If I made the sound fast enough and we got inside, by the time they looked for us, they’d just see an empty hallway. With luck, they wouldn’t even consider someone passed through. I reached out to touch the door, but at that moment, I heard something above us.

“Psst.”

I ignored it, thinking it was just the sound of gas escaping a pipe.

“Hey, psst!”

That time, I couldn’t help but look up. This grate didn’t have any light like the others. They had all had a bit of starlight leaking through, but this one appeared completely dark. However, I could see a shape lying on top of it. There was a person!

“These beasts are holding me prisoner.” A girl’s voice sounded from the dark cage overhead. “Help me escape.”

Raven glared at her. “Why should we help you?”

“If you don’t, I’ll alert the beasts you’re down there.” She responded.

Ah, that was a good reason.