Broken Ground

Jane hoisted the girl up with a grin on her face.


"It is a pleasure to meet you. Now, we're headed to the third floor. I'm gonna go ahead and climb up, I'll see you at the top. If you need any help, just holler."


Jane quickly jumped around, leaping to the third floor of the shaft. She left into the room, and gave a small nod of approval. While she was bringing the girl home as an act of kindness, she didn't want her to know everything she had. She pulled the metal door shut, hiding all of her precious possessions. It's not easy, and seldom smart to trust people.


Jane walked over to the window, watching what was happening in the colony below. Her eyes soon flicked over the to opening to mid-ground. She looked at the gaping hole in the ground curiously.


She had always wondered what it would be like to go back but... She didn't have the courage. She was tough, but she wasn't stupid. What she really wanted was to somehow find those perfectly functioning underground colonies. She was positive that right under her feet humankind was thriving. She wanted to join this perfect world. She wanted to live a perfect life.


She continued her daydream of an underground colony, when she saw a group of people right near the entrance. She tutted her tongue a few times and shook her head. Life was hard enough- why did bandits have to be such pig headed, selfish, morons. She briefly considered going down to help, but decided against it. She was already sharing her water with this girl, she didn't need to risk her life tonight for someone else as well.
 
Collin's eyes and nose burned, but he had a smile on his face anyway. He held a small piece of cloth over his mouth in an effort to block out the putrid air, but it accomplished little. He walked behind two large men: fellow employees of his father's prominent bandit clan. They each carried a pack loaded with goods, and they both wore gas masks over their faces.


"The drop spot should be right over there gentlemen," Collin said. "Let's make this quick. Don't want to keep dear old daddy waiting."


"Shut up runt," one of the men muttered. "You and I both know your dad doesn't care if you come home or not." Collin chuckled. "a boy can dream, can't he?"


Suddenly his attention was caught by a ruckus down the desolate and broken street. A fight had broken out between a gang of men, two boys, and a girl. As Collin watched, several Ratters entered the scene, attacking the men with the fury only wild animals can manage. Collin whistled in surprise.


"What do you suppose is going on over yondro?" he asked his companions.


"Who cares," the second bandit grunt growled. He dropped the bag in the skeletal remains of a telephone booth with a heavy thud. "Let's get back to Middle ground. This place is disgusting."


The two of them headed back the way they came, but Collin's curiosity took over. The two other bandits soon disappeared into the city's broken remains, but Collin edged closer to the battle, just as the group of men were fleeing their attackers. From behind the cover of some miscellaneous rubble, he watched as the girl handed the boy that was still standing some medical supplies.


"Curiouser and curiouser," Collin muttered.
 
Eli waited until Jane had disappeared onto the third floor before she started climbing. Of course, her version of climbing was porting passed a few ropes, and swinging around on others. By doing so, she arrived in no time, although barely catching a glimpse of her closing a metallic door as she made her final climb.


She still doesn't trust me. she thought, though she didn't blame her. However, that meant that Eliza had nothing to worry about for the time being.


She looked around the floor as she made her way over towards Jane at the window. "What are you looking at?" she asked, looking out and below. She watched as a group of bandits scattered away from another group-- two guys and a girl-- along with three Ratters. However, what caught her eyes was something else, or rather, someone. In between the large hole in the ground and the group, there was another guy slowly making his way towards them. Somehow, he looked strangely familiar...


Eliza shook her head. She didn't want to think about whatever was forming in the back of her mind right now. She just came for a quick drink, and then she would hit up the next place. That's all.


She turned to Jane, her smile gone. "I'm sorry to be so pushy," she said, "but I would like that water now."
 
Jane looked at her, and wasn't surprised to find no trace of emotion in her face. The fall of humankind destroyed any kind of lasting relationship; yet Jane was still hopeful that one day people would be able to trust eachother.


With a small, but not genuine, smile in her lips Jane spoke, "Of course".


Jane walked over to where she had left her pack, and pulled out a small metal canister of water. It wasn't too large, but it was still a kind act. She handed it to Eliza, and gave her another small smile.


After giving away the small amount of water, she went over and sat back down by the window. She looked out, wondering again about colonies deep underground.


"Do you ever wonder if the rumors about the broken ground initiative are true? If there really are people living down there? If they're happy? If they even know... About us?", She spoke softly with a sad tone.
 
Asagi blinked twice, once in the direction of the boy on the ground and then once at the man now holding medical supplies. "You should take care of him soon." She said, assuming that he knew the boy. She stepped past him and walked into the entrance her bag bouncing against her hip as she walked. As soon as she passed the threshold, she untied her scarf and stuck it back in her bag.


She wandered down the cave and into the middle ground, her eyes scanning the area around her for any more trouble. She walked to the old man's house and knocked twice, before he opened the door. "Ah! It's you. How did it go?" He smiled. Asagi nodded and held out the clipboard with the woman's signature. He clapped his hands together and raked his fingers through his old tasseled hair. "I wouldn't believe you did it if you didn't. Weren't you scared of those Ratters?" He inquired. Her only response was a slight shake of her head. She then turned around and began walking towards a small shack near the cave entrance. Her home.
 
Eli took the water, nodding gratefully. She started to drink it down, but stopped once Jane had spoken of the rumored underground civilization. She looked at her, taking in a few moments of silence before even thinking of an answer.


"Broken ground initiative..." she repeated quietly, looking down into the water in the canister. "I haven't heard that in a long time. I used to have a friend who would always speak of it, but I sort of brushed the stories off." Eliza swallowed hard, feeling herself choke up. She quickly cleared her throat with another swig of water, then continued, "Now, however, I've been thinking about it a lot." She turned her whole body towards Jane now, her look a little more serious. "There is nothing for me here, so I thought: why not go chase after something that could very well mean the end of me if it is, indeed, nothing?"


A few moments of silence passed, and Eli turned away. She finished off the water and set the canister on the ground. "Thank you for the water." she said, then tightened the straps of her makeshift backpack she headed towards the elevator shaft the two had climbed up before.
 
Jane turned toward the girl as she left, and opened her mouth as if to speak. She furrowed her brow, but then thought better of it. There was nothing left to say. There was never anything to say. The world was a mess and no one trusted anyone anymore. That's when Jane decided that she would go on an adventure. That's when she decided that people SHOULD trust each other. That's when Jane decided that she wasn't going to let this girl just leave.


"Wait", she called after her, "Would you... would you have any interest in going... down? Trying to find it...?". Jane spoke timidly, knowing that this was a very big question she was asking. She didn't care much though, she had spent so much time on just surviving, and she was tired. Even if she did die... it was bound to happen eventually. She needed this. She needed this bit of hope to keep her going. There was no way in hell that she would give up on this adventure. Jane was completely and utterly determined.
 
Eliza stopped, her feet just at the edge of the elevator shaft. She turned slowly, her feet gliding across the floor. Her dull eyes seemed to pierce the girl as she stared her down.


"It will be dangerous." she said. "Animals, thugs, bandits... I've lived above ground all of my life and have dealt with such problems almost every day. But who knows what will be down there?" She turned her body to face her, tugging on the gas mask around her neck, looking down at the tube connecting to the respirator in her backpack.


Eli looked back up at Jane. "The two of us can't go alone. We'll need some help, more supplies..." she spoke slowly, before lifting her arm and offering out her outstretched hand. "But before we decide upon any of that..."


"Do you trust me?"
 
Jane's eyes lit up.


"Right now, I'm not sure. I can say definitely though that I will. I don't know you well and... well the world is hard. I can't trust you right away, but I think you understand that. And I know it could be tough, but the world already is. We are sitting and dying up here. Not just you and me though, it's everyone. Everyone... all of humanity is slowly dying. Even if no one was down there, well, it could still be better..."


Already the idea of going below ground, back to where she was born, was making her giddy. It was thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Jane bolted up from her seat on the floor, and raced over to her store room. She brought her pack along with her and already started filling it with supplies. She rambled off questions to Eliza, her giddy-ness fueling her fast speech.


"Who else should we find? Where would the best supplies be do you think? I know a lot of good spots, but it's been harder and harder to find stuff these days... How should....what do you think..."


The questions went on and on.
 
Eliza lowered her hand once Jane gave her answer, then watched as she stood and went to what looked like the storage room.


So that's what she was hiding. she thought, not really listening to her ramblings. However, she felt that the girl had gone on long enough, and needed to stop and take a breather before she passed out. She quickly shot her hand up again, motioning her to stop and hopefully silencing the girl.


"Not now." she answered, letting her hand fall back to her side as she walked to the window, glancing out at the people below. "We will find others to go along with us. But, in the meantime, we should relax and wait." Eli walked away from the window, now heading over to the elevator shaft again. "Maybe you should talk to the ones below, invite them in. I'm... Well, i'm not good with strangers."


She disappeared, teleporting away but not too far, appearing on the roof quite a few floors above.
 
As Collin creeped closer to the group, he began to make out their words. The boy on the ground was sobbing softly, mumbling something. The girl had already turned to leave, dropping back into Middle Ground. The two boys were now left alone.


Collin surveyed the area around him. Rubble surrounded them everywhere, but he was hiding near the largest pile. The only other cover was the gaping maw of the Earth that lead below. That was all Collin needed. He could easily take these two boys, raid them of anything valuable, and return to the clan. Maybe he would get some damn appreciation for once.


Collin was poised to round the corner and surprise the two boys, when something made him stop. A feeling that had become familiar to him on the dark streets of Middle Ground: the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. Someone, somewhere, was watching him...


Collin turned, hoping to see his observer. But he was only greeted by the skeletal remains of a few skyscrapers. He adjusted the cloth that he still held to his mouth and coughed lightly. "Come out, come out wherever you are," he whispered softly in a sing song. "I won't start the game until all the players are here"
 
Eli walked to the edge of the rooftop, adjusting her gas mask back into place, as well as her hood. Her two long braids lashed around as the hot wind started to pick up. She watched the skies start to grow dark for a while before looking back down where the group of people still were, however the girl from earlier had gone. Her bluish-green eyes reflected a dark pink on her goggle glass, the same color of the faint glow in her mask that indicated that it was working correctly.


Her sights trailed back to the boy that was further from the group, however now he seemed to have moved closer and was looking around. He obviously knew of her presence, but didn't know where she was. She let out a heavy breath, releasing a quiet cchhhhh sound from her mask as she stuck her hands into her jacket pocket and sat at the building's edge, dangling her feet. Something about him seemed eerily familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on it... and it was pretty damn irritating.
 
Cross had his sights strained on a normal six legged rabbit. He laid on his stomach in a prone position with his rifle in his arms, the bi-pod in position, staring through the scope to the thin dirty, grey rabbit about 100 yards away. He was on the lower side of a rocky field on the footholds of a mountain. His hoody was pulled up and his thin grey scarf covered his lower half of his face. His breath was visible through his scarf with each steady breath in and out as crisp air filled his lungs. On the side of his gun there was a small metal nozzle of sorts where an air canister would screw into but in this day and age those were few and far between. Luckily he had a gift of sorts to make up for that. He tensed his left arm that held the gun up and placed his pointer finger on the tip of the nozzle changing the air pressure and shoving air into the gun via the nozzle. The gun only had enough room in it for one shot and had to be muzzle loaded, so he could never afford to miss.


He took one last breath, tightened his finger around the trigger and squeezed back. A loud Pfffff echoed through the air as the built up pressure was released and a make shift round bullet made of rock was sent whistling through the air. The round hit the rabbit in one eye with a thunk and went out the other, killing the rabbit instantly and throwing it to the ground. Cross quickly rushed over to the rabbit not caring about the great deal of skill he showed in the kill, but instead pulled out a long thin one sided knife from a sheath on his belt and went to work cleaning the rabbit. He tossed the meat and other edible parts into a small leather sack and put it in his leather backpack and with the rabbit fur he used a string to attach it to the outside top of his backpack next to two red fur squirrels he had shot earlier. His rifle was attached vertically to the side of his back pack using leather straps that his father had built into the backpack for him. Cross took out a handkerchief from a side pocket in his backpack wiped the blood off his hands and cleaned the blade of his knife before tucking it back into it's sheath and tossed the handkerchief into it's pocket.


Cross walked until the sun was starting to set then found what seemed to be the remnants of a skyscraper. Knowing better than to sleep on the first floor of any building Cross made his way up what seemed to be a convenient elevator shaft with ropes to the second floor. He looked around end then situated himself against a pile of rubble and laid his backpack next to him. He took from his backpack two wool blankets, one he folded for a pillow and the other he tossed over himself. He placed his hands behind his head and stared up at the crumbling ceiling above him.
 
Jane went through her store room, taking everything she found valuable and placing it in her pack. She grabbed a few canisters of water, along with some empty canisters for when she found a clean source of water. She had a few dried meats, and a few collectables to trade if the moment ever arose.


She walked out of the store room, shutting the door behind her. Before she walked out of her third floor "apartment" she took one last look of the place. If things went the way she wanted, she would never see this place again. Of course she left some things in the store room, and they would probably be waiting for her if she ever came back. In the event that things went like she wanted... well then someone would find a treasure trove waiting for them.


Jane stepped out into the elevator shaft, and leapt into a looped cable. She swung around, jumping from cable to cable. She made her way down to the second floor and looked through the elevator door. There was a person there, laying on the ground. She froze for a moment, feeling instinctively territorial. She stopped herself from going in there and telling him to leave, knowing that she was abandoning the place anyway. She gave a small smile, glad that the place wasn't going to be completely abandoned. She sat there a moment, just looking in at him.
 
Asagi pulled her hat off and set her glasses down, plopping down on her makeshift bed. She rubbed her eyes and let sleep capture her, promising to get more jobs later in the week.
 
The more Eli tried to ignore it, the more it bothered her. Eventually she stood, eyeing the boy, and hopped off of the rooftop. She was falling fast when she teleported away, appearing behind him. Before he had time to react or even notice, she yanked him by his clothes and they both disappeared. Seconds later, she had him pinned against a ruined building a little ways from the group outside, a combat knife hovering over his throat.


Through her mask she spoke in a frustrated tone, "Who are you?"
 
Almost immediately after he whispered, Collin was grabbed and thrown against a wall. He smacked his head, hard, and his vision became dazed. He heard his attacker speaking, but they sounded like they were miles away.


"I'm a nobody," he said lamely. "Shit is that a knife?"


As his vision came back, Collin grabbed the attacker's wrist. "Put that away, you could hurt someone," he muttered half-heatedly. He looked up, and for a moment he was shocked into silence.


It was a girl. But it wasn't just any girl. It was HER. THE girl. Before he could stop himself, four words fell from his mouth.


"My god, you're real!"
 
Eliza felt him grab her wrist and she dropped the knife in surprise, jerking her hand away from his. Sadly, that wasn't the only surprise.


"Real?" she repeated. "What do you..."


Then, she grabbed her gas mask with her free hand, yanking it down to hang around her neck. "Where do I know you from?" she questioned quietly, loosening her grip on him. She looked at him for a few moments, eyeing him. "Are you... from Middle Ground?"
 
After the girl took off her mask, It was obvious. It was the girl. The girl Collin had known his whole life. But of course she didn't know him. Immediately, his brain caught up to his mouth.


"Real..ly strong. For a girl, I mean. As for knowing me, I couldn't tell you." He shrugged, doing his best to hide his own surprise. "I suppose a lot of people in middle ground know me. That's what happens when you're dad is responsible for more deaths than the Black Plague." Collin's hand subconsciously went to his pocket. It was still there; the photograph hadn't moved. He shoved it deeper into his worn trousers.


"I feel that the more important question here is, are you done stretching out my shirt?" He wrestled from her grip and stepped off to the side, trying to keep her and the boys near Mid Ground's entrance in his sight line.
 
Asagi tossed and turned in her sleep, restlessness taking its toll before she finally gave up. She sat upright and stretched, returning her glasses to their previous place. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, aching for sleep. Standing up, she returned her bag to her shoulder and walked out of her house, back to the above ground in search for food. She rubbed her stomach and pulled the scarf up to cover her mouth as she stepped from middle ground to above ground.
 
Cross felt a shift in the air. He lay there frozen for a second realizing that someone else was in this building...no even worse on this floor with him. He knew people of this age were just as likely to slit your throat as they were to give you a handshake. He slowly only move his left arm and took his long knife from it's leather sheath on his belt. He held it backwards and close to him and then slowly rose to his feet.


He pondered for a second if he should call out then with a sudden burst of something he couldn't quite put his finger on he decided to call out. "Hello? Anyone out there?" He said in a loud voice that echoed through the building. He held his knife getting ready to use it if need be.
 
Eli stood slack-jawed for a moment, then looked down at her hands. "A-ah... Sorry." she mumbled apologetically, loosening her grip and letting him slide out. She felt ridiculous. "I'm sorry about grabbing you off of the street. I just thought..." she looked at him one more time, examining his face.


He still looks so... her thoughts trailed off as she sent them to the back of her mind.


"I must have been mistaken." she said quietly, lowering her head and backing off, picking up the knife she had dropped and turning to exit the alleyway. However, she stopped just as the setting sun's light hit her boots and she was a step or two away from leaving. Over by the gaping hole in the ground stood a couple of thugish looking guys. After a few seconds of thought, she quickly put her knife away into her backpack, then reached behind her back and beneath her jacket for something.
 
Asagi pulled her next package from her bag and read the name "Jane" along with a few sites that the sender had explained to her. Before returning it to her bag, she lifted it up, it was rather heavy and was packed neatly in a box and sealed with tape. She returned it to her bag and closed her eyes, letting her senses tingle and run down along her arms to her fingertips until they started to tingle. She then opened her eyes, her vision heightened and her senses sharper. She read the life energies surrounding her and scanned for any potential threats before proceeding to her destination, the abandoned skyscraper.


She walked quickly, her bag bouncing against her hip quietly and her scarf tied tightly around her mouth as she made her way through the desolate buildings. She passed several ratters who only spared her a glance before returning to their scavenging. Asagi brushed her fingers against the palm of her hand, reminding herself that she had not become like anyone else yet, she was still herself. She came to a stop in front of the skyscraper and pulled the package out, reading the name once more. She looked up at the building and scanned for life energies before coming to rest upon a sole room in which two energies resided. She nodded and returned the package to her bag before walking inside.
 
The girl let go of Collin's shirt and muttered some sort of apology. She turned to leave. "Hey, hold on!" Collin said despite his better judgement. "I-I'm sorry I'm not who you're looking for....but just because we don't know each other doesn't mean we can't GET to know each other...." Collin resisted the urge to smack himself in the face. 'Very smooth' he thought.


The girl however, seemed preoccupied. She was reaching into her coat for something. Collin took a step back. "Hold on, I thought we'd gotten past the violent introductions?"
 
Eli stopped, letting her hands fall to her sides as she turned to face him. She looked at him with a confused expression. She almost felt like she could smile at him.


"You mean that?" she asked. "You really want to get to know me? Were you not there when I threatened you with a knife, or do you just have a really bad judge of character?" She let out a sigh and put her hands on her hips. "I don't think i'm the type of person you want to be around."
 
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