Three weeks had passed since our arrival here, and Charles had always tried to get me to enter that room again. 57893 was what the code was, and we both knew it. I just didn't have the guts to go back there again.

They hadn't taken us back yet, and I was starting to think that they were bluffing. Rose had recovered from her life threatening injuries, but was still under watch. Jackson was in another bedroom in the opposite direction from us.

Four months, and no chance at civilization.

Other countries had fallen quickly once it broke the quarantine. Spreading through America like a wild fire, and then hitting the border even faster. Boats were the main way to escape, but even then the infected had gotten on. The boats would float on the sea, and some would make it across the world.

The complete world went dark, and only some places kept electricity. Australia was the last place to fall, but word over radio had spoke of a safe haven there. They had the most time to prepare, roughly two and a half months before it reached their shores.

I looked down at my tray that was covered with canned pork, and a slime like thing that passed for gravy. I picked up my fork, and took a bite, feeling my mouth dry up every time.

How does something wet make my mouth dry?

I grabbed the styrofoam cup half filled with water, and took a small sip. The water supply was still up, in the near 80% range, but they rationed everything anyways. There was only about twenty people here, and I didn't understand why they did so, but it wasn't my say on matters.

Charles had left for the room about twenty minutes ago, but when I went to put away my tray I found him walking swiftly over to me. He seemed in a hurry, and he glanced at some of the soldiers that were also enjoying a meal.

"Ethan. You need to come see this." He whispered it, and I had to strain to hear him.

"See what?" I asked softy while taking a glance at the men.

He just walked off, and I went to catch up with him. He pushed the button, and waited for the doors to open. We were in the hallway, and we walked back to our room, but instead of going in we walked past.

"No Charles. I already said that we aren't going in there." I started to complain, but he cut me off.

"I already have, and there's something they didn't show you." He spoke with excitement at this point, and didn't try to keep his voice down.

He quickly punched in five numbers. 57893. The red lock sign flashed green, and he pushed the door open. He waited for me to enter before closing it again, and waited for the locking light to turn on.

We walked past the now empty, and clean boxes, the smell of cleaning supplies in the air. He took steady steps as if he knew were he was going. The long walkway soon led to a turnoff to a lower level floor. He went down the stairs which rattled quite loudly, and I was suddenly concerned about getting caught.

He went to a white door that was unmarked, and opened it up. Inside of the room was a tunnel that led somewhere. I looked at Charles who stared at me.

"Where does it go to?" I asked him knowing that he had checked it out before getting me.

"You won't believe this Ethan. It leads outside, but somewhere you wouldn't expect. You know the highway where we crashed?" He looked at me with an excited gleam.

"No way. You don't mean?" I looked at him with doubt.

"Yes Ethan. There's also a camera on the outside. They caught the crash on surveillance. The road is higher than the field which was filled with those things. Ann could've gotten away because there is wreckage on the highway." He spoke these words with hope, and I hoped as well.

"I don't know Charles, but it's worth thinking about it. Thanks for showing me it." He nodded his head, and we started walking back.

We opened the white door, and heard the door lock buzz from the security pad. Someone was coming this way, and was walking fast.

Aren't we in trouble now.

I glanced at Charles, but he just pulled me back into the room. We walked down the tunnel until it turned, and we watched from their with out bodies pressed to the floor. The man didn't enter, but we didn't think that he left anyways.

Noise came from outside the room as we watched intently from the tunnel. Only the light from the room shown in, and the natural light from outside didn't cast a shadow of us. Before we had entered there was three more doors, and I looked at Charles.

"Did you go into any other ones?" I whispered this to him.

"Yes, but not the one at the end. It was locked with a hand key. The other two were supply rooms. They have a lot of medical supplies. That, and guns." We both knew the importance of guns right now, and I tentacle reached down to my bootleg.

The knife was still there in its strap. They had never searched us because we had willingly given up "all" of our weapons. I set my head down on the bumpy, but cool metal tubing. I breathed in slowly, and was sure that Charles was scared as well.

We heard a door close, and assumed that he was leaving. We stood up right when this door opened. I pulled away, but Charles was seen. He stood in the open as the man told him to stop. I stayed hidden, and Charles didn't look at me. He walked forward, and glanced back at the tunnel.

"What are you doing in here?" The man stated.

He was holding a taser in his hands, but was relaxed.

"I was just looking around. It gets pretty boring stuck inside that room all day." Simply put, I would have believed him.

"Like I'll believe that. How'd you get in here? No one would willingly give you the code." He looked smug as Charles realized his trap.

He went to say something, but just closed his mouth. He walked to the door, and the man grabbed his arm.

"Wait a minute. I'll have to inform Security about your little escapade." He held him still a she went to reach for a pager.

I stood up, and made my way towards them. He was still occupied with his search, and he hadn't noticed me. I crouched near the lip of the tunnel, and pulled out the knife.

Waited to long. We need to leave.

I started walking again with the blade hidden. He saw me then, walking towards him steadily.

"Where in the world did you come from?" He said baffled.

I took even strides toward him. My knuckles turning white from gripping the knife.

"Stop where you are." He said a little worried.

I kept walking, and looked at Charles. I let the knife slip down, but the guy didn't notice it.

"Don't come any clo-" his words died in his mouth.

I slammed the knife into his throat, and watched it slip in. The hilt hit, and his throats made gurgling noises of what could have been screams. His hands loosened, and the taser dropped to the ground harmlessly.

Charles pulled away from the man as he grappled for air. I pulled the knife out, and heard the faint escape of air. He fell to the floor as droplets of blood started to slip from the wound. It starting escalating in mass as he sputtered for a breath. He lied on the floor, and I watched his face turn purple.

We waited to long.

"Let's leave. We need to leave anyways. I don't want to go back to the city." I spoke to Charles quietly as he watched the dying man writhe on the floor.

He nodded, and we walked out of the room. Tiny droplets of blood were ok my shirt, but I didn't mind it. We were leaving soon, and I slipped the knife away. We walked up the stairs, ad jogged to the door. Charles punched the code in, and we came into the hallway.

Luckily, it was empty. We made our way to our room, and I slid my key through the reading device. The lock opened up, and we entered our room in a small hurry.

"Grab anything useful that you want to keep." I spoke this as I grabbed a light jacket that was in the closet. I also grabbed three pairs of jeans, all olive green, and a pair of black gloves.

I pulled my backpack from under the bed as they let us keep them, ad stuffed the clothes in there. I grabbed seven pairs of socks, and even more underwear.  I zipped up the bag, and slung it across my back. The only thing in their besides the clothes was a bag of pencils along with a sharpener. I hadn't found any erasers yet, but I wanted the pencils as they would become harder to find later on.

I came into the small dining area, and found Charles rummaging through the cabinets. He was pulling out all the things he could, and I was wondering why he was doing it.

"What are you doing?" I spoke to him.

"Making it look like we were attacked. We need to cut the power off first. It's just near Jackson's room. We can do it while we get them." He spoke fast, and I realized that he had been planing this for a while.

"Okay. I'm ready whenever you are." He nodded as he continued his trashing of the room.

I went, and helped him out. I'm five minutes we had made the place look like a fist fight had broke out in the area. We were both pleased by our actions.

"Now let's go get Jackson, and Rose." Said Charles.

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It's been forever since I've last updated, but ok taking more time I'm revising. Note that I just skim it, so there is no guarantee that it will be error free.

Enjoy for now.