A deep purring vibrated through his chest. He opened his eyes slowly. Justin hurt all over, and his head felt foggy. Mongrel peered through closed eyes from where he was curled up on his chest, but the giant tom cat didn’t move.

Mongrel was the ugliest animal Justin had ever seen. He was missing both ears and his tail. His fur was motley, a mix of colors and textures in patches that each stubbornly chose a different direction to grow. Scars covered his back, testament to the hard life the cat had lived, and he had too many toes on each foot, each with a vicious claw hidden neatly away. Most odd though were the cat’s two differently colored eyes. One was a deep golden speckled green and the other a rich sky blue.

Mongrel watched Justin closely, the thin pupils steadily fixed on the boy.

He tried to move, to roll on his right side so that he could look around.  The hurt immediately switched to a vibrant pain that spread out through his head like cracks through thin ice.  Breathing slowly he waited until it subsided enough to open his eyes again.

Mongrel jumped down from his chest and padded away into the silence, the low hum of his purring fading slowly.

The pain quieted to a slow throbbing behind his eyes, so he sat up carefully, wary of the pain coming back. Seated in the bed, the light from the hall outlined the checkerboard white and black floor of the infirmary. Warm white sheets were tucked in tight around him and smelled faintly of sunshine and grass.  A glass of water on the small table beside his bed made his mouth feel like it was full of ashes.  He clumsily grabbed the glass and drained it, instantly feeling a bit of strength return to him.

Then he remembered Matt, and his mouth dried out again.  Tears began to fill his eyes as he remembered all that had befallen them.

——-

They’d left two days ago for a trip to the outskirts of the city. There was a large hospital situated right at the edge of the river near the sewer outlets. The compound needed antibiotics. Some of the families had gotten sick and weren’t getting better. Everyone feared the plagues would come again like they had decades earlier during the outbreaks that created the Deaders. Everyone was always afraid of sickness of any kind.  There weren’t any hospitals, no real medicines or medical equipment.  If you got sick, really sick, you were probably going to die.  It was a hard fact of life that everyone in the compound lived with.  His father had said that the elders were close to voting to evict those who were sick. His father had told him they were afraid of the sickness spreading, and Justin had known what he must do.

He and Matt left early in the morning before most of the families were up. He left his father a note, gathered his well used gear – a beat up nylon backpack filled with items he’d need for the trip and a metal tipped walking stick his father had made for him – and headed out through the tunnels.

Things went well for the first day. They had almost reached the hospital after walking for hours through the sewers and subway tunnels beneath the streets. They kept time by the number of glow sticks they used, taking breaks only to eat quickly and then return to their long walk.

Justin led them to a connecting passage that fed into the subways. He had told Matt that there was a station only a few minutes ahead where they could lock themselves into a maintenance room for the night. Matt joked that they could sleep in shifts to make sure they were safe.

Justin planned to warn Matt about making jokes like that. He wasn’t taking this seriously enough. His unwarranted ease could endanger them both. You only survived outside if you were wary all of the time. He’d talk to Matt about it when they reached the safety of the maintenance room.

The smaller connecting tunnel came to an end.  Justin hid the glow stick in his pants pocket as the two boys looked up the stairs that lead to the subway station platform.  The maintenance room was less than 100 yards away.

The platform had a stairway exit that let in light from the streets above, though it only outlined a small area directly ahead of them. There was trash everywhere on the platform. Discarded luggage left behind years ago when people had tried to evacuate the city.  Everything was broken open, the contents spread out everywhere, covering the floors and the top of the stairs. Everything of value, anything that could keep you alive, had been taken long ago.

Justin signaled quietly for Mat to followin with a single tap on his big friend’s shoulder, and then moved quietly along the wall, sticking to the deep shadows.

He’d used the maintenance room before, but it had been almost 9 months since he’d been out this far from the compound. The Deaders didn’t usually come down into the subway stations. Justin liked to think that they weren’t able to use the stairs with their stiff legs and shambling gait, so it was unlikely that any were down here unless they had fallen down the stairs from the street. It still paid to be careful, and that was what he always was. Careful kept you alive. His father had taught him that from the time he was old enough to walk.

He moved slowly along the wall opposite the light from the exit to the street outside.  His eyes were focused, but he relied much more on his ears. You could always hear the Deaders. They didn’t know how to be quiet, didn’t have a reason to be silent. Matt was still making too much noise. He’d tried to teach Matt how to move carefully, but his big friend still needed to practice. He’d joked that he couldn’t be quiet with such big feet. They’d laughed about that just a few days ago in the dining hall of the compound, surrounded by their friends and the safety of the compound walls.

He looked back at Matt and nearly hissed. It was his friends big feet that were walking him right into trouble. Matt was moving near the light, his large silhouette outlined clearly to anything in the dark of the subway station platform. He didn’t realize that while he was hidden from eyes outside, he was shouting his presence to everything inside.

Justin moved quickly to the door of the maintenance room and awaited his friend. Matt slowed near the light, stopping suddenly, his outline showing him bending over at the waist. Justin wanted to scream, to beckon Matt to get to the door. He was about to move when Matt stood up straight and continued on. He reached Justin within moments, feeling out along the wall until his fingers grasped Justin’s shoulder, his big hand fumbling down his sleeve, giving Justin a powerful squeeze.

Justin held his anger and concern inside, wishing to get behind the thick steel door of the maintenance room before speaking. He reached for the cold door knob, turned it and pushed the door open. It made no noise. Justin knew enough to oil the hinges to all his safe houses. He knew to always be careful even if Matt did not.

The boys entered the room, Matt passing Justin as the smaller boy turned to close and bolt the door. Justin pulled the glow stick out of his pocket, the green light defining the small storage space. Large lockers lined the rear wall, a green metal desk and well worn brown leather chair sat in front of a stained cork board covered in yellowed papers pinned in no discernible order. A mop and bucket sat behind the door with one old dark work boot. The only other furniture was an aged couch with a faded floral print and a small wood table that was covered with carvings. The walls were all concrete painted in a light blue that shone oddly in the green light of the glow stick.

Justin had found the maintenance room on his first trip to the hospital. It had only one thick steel door with an iron bolt on the inside, and a single air vent in the ceiling that also led to the streets above. Justin knew he should always have a safe way out. There was an aluminum step ladder in one of the lockers, stowed away during that first visit.

Matt dumped his backpack onto the desk and dropped his large frame onto the couch. A large smile split across his face.

“Man, that was a lot farther than I thought it would be. How far out do you think we are from the compound?”

He wasn’t making any attempts at being quiet; believing the safety of the maintenance room was enough, treating it like the compound walls were protecting them.

“We’re only about 2 miles away, but we covered almost 10 miles underground,” Justin whispered.

He took off his backpack, checking the zippers and ties to ensure his gear was still packed tightly away. He moved a few more glow sticks into the cargo pockets of his pants and grabbed a handful of dried meat and a bottle of water from his tightly wrapped food stores.  Sitting on the desk, he bit into his salty dinner and prepared to talk to Matt about the dangers they still faced.  He swallowed and took a small drink of the water.  He looked up to find that Matt was smiling from ear to ear, and he couldn’t bite back his words any longer.

“What were you doing out there on the platform?  I thought I told you to stay close to me.”

It was the first time Justin’s voice had approached anything louder than a whisper all day, and it filled the room in a way it never had in the compound.  Their eyes met and Matt could see that his friend was not happy with him.

“Just, I was only takin’ a look around.  Nothing happened.”

“This time.  Nothing happened this time.  We can’t rely on good luck to get us by, Matt.  We have to be careful.  I told you that.”

Matt looked away, rolling his eyes, thinking that Justin couldn’t see him or wouldn’t notice his lack of concern.  He rocked onto his right side, the springs in the couch protesting against his weight.  He reached deep into his pocket.

“I know.  I know, Just.  But look at what I found.”

He produced a wadded up bundle of faded red lace.  With a shake of his hand it unfolded and became a large bra.  Matt looped his meaty fingers through the shoulder straps and displayed it proudly to his friend.  He raised one eye brow and smiled.

“Imagine the beauties that must have filled these, eh.”

Justin stared hard in confusion and anger at the bra.   Then he looked up at his friend and saw the smile, and he just could not stay angry.  That smile said it all.  This wasn’t real to Matt.  It was a game, a holiday away from the restraints and rules of the compound.  He’d made a mistake bringing Matt along, a mistake he’d hope wouldn’t end badly.  He’d just have to be doubly wary for the both of them.

Justin laughed and forced himself to smile.  The tension between them eased and Matt threw the bra across the small room, hitting Justin in the chest.  They tossed it back and forth until their laughter quieted down.

“I’ll be careful, Just.  I promise.  I won’t let you down out here.  I’ll be the muscle, and you can be the brains.  You’ll see.”

Matt wadded up the bra and pushed it back into his pocket.  He shifted to lay down as he pulled his jacket up high around his neck, settling deeper into the dusty couch.

“I know, Matt.  Just like we always are,” Justin replied. His friends easy going nature always won in the end.

“We should get some sleep.  We’ll be heading up to the surface tomorrow and we need to be ready.  I’ll wake you when it’s time.”

Justin propped his bag into the corner and then settled down against it while Matt stretched his thick legs.  Within moments Matt had begun to snore, breathing deep and with steady rhythm.

Justin waited a few minutes to make sure Matt was asleep before silently getting up to check and then recheck the locks on the door and the ventilation shaft.  Matt may not be worried, but he knew how to be careful, even if he had to be careful for them both.

He placed the glow stick back in his pocket and curled up around his back pack.  In seconds, he was asleep.