Blake woke to the sound of screams. She groaned and pulled the straw stuffed pillow over her head. One more day in the outskirts then she would be off the inner city, to finally choose a class. Away from this hell hole, away from the crime and the corrupted, beasts which roamed the night, randomly smashing through walls into houses and taking people. The inner city wasn't much better, run by aristocrats who had never seen a day's work in their lives, but it was certainly safer than here. The scream was cut short and Blake slowly opened her eyes. Through the cracks in the metal roof sunlight snuck through, faint but enough to light the small room. What time was it? Maybe a few hours past sunrise. She got up and stretched, flexing her muscles before standing up. She hoped whoever that was had been killed, for their sake. She had studied hard from the corpses which littered the streets, the slits who had been lucky enough to realize that they had been bitten. At first she had been confused by the slang which gangs used to describe the world they lived in, but soon caught on. Slits. An appropriate name for the infected who slit their throats or wrists to avoid becoming corrupted, turned into monsters as DNA changing poison slowly took over their bodies and mind. Blake got dressed, pull in on a pair of black leggings and a blood stained white shirt. Then she tied back her long blond hair with a strip of cloth. She strapped on a leather chest plate before grabbing a knife. Any protection was better than no protection. One day until she was 16 winters old. One day until she was free.

Blake jogged down the dimly lit alley, continuously glancing behind her in case she was being followed. These dark streets were the favourite hunting grounds of gangs and the corrupted alike, not somewhere you would like to be after dark. She turned left then right then left again before coming to what seemed to be a dead end. She knocked three times and a secret door swung open. Looking behind her one last time to make sure she was alone she plunged inside the secret room and down a spiral staircase. Today would be the last time she set foot in here, so she wanted to make it count.

The Underground was a popular hideout for gangs. It was split into several sections linked by winding corridors, some huge, some only big enough to crawl through. It was also completely hidden, so many wanted criminals lived here until the government stopped looking for them or they finally went back into the open. It was here that Blake spent most of her time, planning raids on the few shops which dared open their doors, or creating alliances with stronger groups. Blake let her eyes adjust to the dark, seeing her acquaintances were already sitting around a rotting table in the middle of the room. She would call them friends, but in this place getting attached to people was about as smart as inviting a corrupted in for dinner. In the corner she could hear her horse Stevie chomping away on some stale bread, and the whines of a dog as it sniffed around for something to eat. She walked to the centre of the room before turning to the people surrounding her. Two other people, a girl with red hair, a boy with shaggy black hair and eyes like a cat, bright green and gleaming with intelligence. She nodded, signalling that the meeting had begun. "Narisa, Isaac, nice to see you're still in one piece." Both nodded back and fixed their eyes on the table in front of them, a large map spread out and weighed down with stones to stop it rolling up. Tomorrow they would all be making the journey to the west gate, the closest entrance into the inner city. " You heard the news right, a Corrupted in the city? We're gonna need to be convincing if we wanna get in." Isaac stated. Blake nodded again before turning to look at Stevie, their ticket into their new life. "You all know the plan? Look sharp, bring the horse, make sure your weapons are hidden." She told them. Everyone who lived in the outskirts knew what they had to do to get in, two conditions. One- You must be at least 16 winters old. Two- You must look respectable. Nobody was 100% sure why the second one was a rule, but many believed it was because the aristocrats didn't want the 'scum' from the outskirts polluting their precious city. This was where the horse came in. Originally it had belonged to a rich man who had got lost after a hunting trip. He'd insulted their gang after they refused to lead him out of the maze of streets, so they'd held a knife to his throat, told him to get off the strong, majestic, brown horse then jacked it. The last they'd seen of him had been a terrified man shouting " Hey, don't steal my horse! I need it to get out of this slum! " They'd run off sniggering, pulling the horse in tow, the last part of their plan having fallen into place. That had been three moon cycles ago, now it was finally time to act. " So it's agreed. Tomorrow we head for the inner city, and finally join a class." Blake concluded. "Which one are you gonna choose?". Narisa shrugged and picked something up from the floor, the dog Blake had heard earlier. Isaac just stared at her, an amused look on his face. " What?" She asked, daring him to say something. " Nothing." He answered " just saw you as more of a cat person, that's all." Narisa glared at him but didn't respond. Blake couldn't help but smile. Perhaps they might have been friends in another life, but in this life... maybe when hell freezes over.