Realized I forgot a disclaimer on the first chapter. So here it is:
I own nothing, except characters of my own creation.
Chapter Two
Mouse had been crawling through the makeshift tunnels he had made in the numerous years of living Below, for about half an hour, when he peered out of an opening from above an abandoned subway tunnel when he saw them.
He still couldn't tell who they were, but even in the darkness, he could tell they were out of place, one shape too many in the shadows.
Whoever it was, they seemed to be struggling, taking short, jagged breaths, hunching over with each step. Mouse watched them with interest, curiosity overpowering his fear for a few moments.
The figure took a few stumbling steps, then let out an groan full of anguish, its volume reverberating against the rock walls again and again, never seeming to end, and then falling on their side, falling silent.
His breath caught, he didn't know what exactly to do. Father had said to send out a message as soon as he saw the person, but it seemed heartless to just leave them here. He weighed the options of his next actions in his head.
He could do what Father requested, ordered really, and send out the message now, or he could venture down and find out just what exactly they were there for.
Mouse bit his lip, wrestling with the two choices.
...
A few minutes had passes, and Mouse had decided he was about to just do what Father had demanded, figuring it was better for all involved, when the figure let out another moan, it was much louder than before, and it was seeming to call out to him in particular.
"Can't leave." Mouse said to himself.
He arranged himself over the opening, dropping himself down, feeling the rush of air in his ears before landing a few feet over from where the figure was, without even making a sound. It was a talent he picked up in his childhood, it had scared the daylights out of Father and mostly everyone else Below, much to his amusement, but it had come in handy more than once.
Turning his head and narrowing his eyes at the person, still curled up, he tentatively made his way over to them, slowly but surely.
There was another moan, although this one much softer. Mouse froze, whoever it was still had their back to him as they shifted, bringing themselves up on their knees. From the way their back was shaking, it looked to him as if it was taking every ounce of strength to not fall onto their side again.
Mouse started to walk again, his boots barely making a sound as he crept up on this strange person. He couldn't make out any details, even with the help of the somewhat distant subway light that they kept lit. The person had a thin jacket on, it looked to be black or a navy blue or some sort, and the hood was pulled over their head, preventing any clues to their identity.
The person was rising to their feet now, albeit very unsteadily, and began the attempt to walk/
Mouse took a step back in surprise as the figure stumbled from side to side, before collapsing against the tunnel wall on the left side.
He crept over to them, coming around their side very slowly, as to not startle them any more than they would be. They didn't seem to notice him at first, until he was directly in front of them.
It was then that Mouse got a good look at who the intruder was.
It was a girl, her eyes half-closed as her cheek pressed against the cold stone, then flickering open slowly as she acknowledged him. Not with fear, but...indifference it seemed.
"Hi...Mouse." he gestured to himself with his gloved hand.
He happened to look down just then, and gasped involuntarily.
Her jacket, open at the front, most notably her mid-section, was covered in blood, almost black upon her tan shirt underneath. Her hand was clasping her side, her fingers digging into the fabric there. Her other hand held her weight against the wall.
Mouse's mouth was agape as he held up his hands to her, gesturing, "I...I call Father. He help!"
She regarded him through half-lidded eyes, her hand slipping from its perch then, causing her to tumble backwards. Mouse gasped again, reaching for her just before she made contact with the tightly packed dirt, falling down with her onto his knees.
He breathed a few ragged breaths before reaching over to the nearest rock, and grunting with the effort, reached across the girl to the pipe there.
He tapped the small rock against the metal pipe frantically, glancing down at her face now and again. Her eyes opened and looked at him with a glazed over expression.
"Father help!" he said to her, "Then you be okay good, okay fine!"
The girl smiled, almost unnoticeably, before her head fell back into the crook of his arm.
...
The members of Below in the study listened with alert at the frantic tapping, backs ramrod straight.
Father listened closely, his ear cocked toward the ceiling, an expression of worry and confusions sweeping across his features. Jamie at his side, Vincent behind them, a hand on both of their shoulders. A look of immense concentration on all of their faces.
The tapping from frenzied, erratic, not making sense at first. The, slowly, it started coming together, bits and pieces recognized by individual people.
Vincent looked up, recognition on his face, "Someone's hurt," he continued to listen, "he's asking for help."
Father glanced up at him, "We'll send people down at once. If it's serious, it must be dealt with. No matter who it is, they need help."
"I'll go." Jamie volunteered, standing.
"Me too." Pascal said, joining her.
"As will I." Vincent said, "We'll need Winslow too."
"I'll go." the burly man said, standing.
Vincent nodded, "Everyone else stay here. Father..."
The old man nodded, "I'll prepare the hospital room at once. Mary will assist me, as she always does."
She nodded over by the bookshelves in conformation.
"Then we must be going now." he replied, turning, Jamie, Pascal, and Winslow nodding in agreement as they began walking behind him.
Breaking into a run a few feet down the tunnel, no one spoke, knowing how each minute they wasted was a minute that someone else could need.
...
They never stopped, running for what felt like hours, before finally reaching the East tunnel, and seeing Mouse hunched over the person, still frantically hitting the pipe again and again with a rock.
"Mouse!" Vincent said, running over to him.
He looked up, his face glistening with sweat, blood staining his cheeks, and dropped the rock he was holding. "She..." he said urgently, looking down at her, "hurt! Need help! Need...Father!"
Without so much as a word, Vincent unwound Mouse's arms, unlocking his desperate hold on a girl, who looked so young in the subway light, hoisting her into his arms.
"Jamie, Pascal," he said to them, who had gone to Mouse, helping him to his feet. "I want you to send the message over the pipes, make sure they know what happened. Then I want you to find out where she came from. Investigate the direction she came from. We need all the informations we can get, alright?"
They both nodded, "Okay." they said in unison.
Vincent nodded, "Mouse and I will get her back to Father. Send us a message if you find anything."
They nodded, again in unison, turning around and making their way back the opposite direction.
Mouse joined him at his side, jittering nervously, intertwining his fingers and glancing over at the girl in Vincent's arms from time to time.
"She be okay good, okay fine?" he asked anxiously.
Vincent pursed his lips, let a moment or two pass in the silence as they walked as fast as they could down the tunnel, their footsteps echoing off the walls. "It's difficult to say. I'm not sure what exactly has happened to her."
"Oh," Mouse said, raising his hands and gesturing, "blood, lots of blood. Grabbing side, pain."
He pursed his lips again, "Midsection wound most likely, but all the same, Father needs to get a look at her, and quickly."
Mouse bit his lip in response. He hoped that whoever this strange girl was, she'd be okay. Even with his limited experience in medical matters, he knew she was in pretty bad shape. He glanced over at her again, her hand that had been clasping her side was hanging free now, her palm red-soaked.
Her hood had fallen back, allowing Mouse to see the darkness of her brown hair, some of it sticking to her forehead and covering part of her closed eyes. Her face looked so discomforted, so in pain, it hurt Mouse to look at her.
But look at her he still continued. He couldn't help it, he was worried.
This wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened, Catherine's arrival coming to mind, but she was just so....young. He couldn't even begin to pinpoint an age in the half-darkness, so he just focused on the rhythm of his footsteps as the hit the dirt again and again.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Okay good. Okay fine.
...
A/N: I started this chapter immediately after the first one, and it was such a fun experience to write it! Look for more updates!!