"Right, so, the plan is the power plant first, and the hydro station after that." Neo looked over a map of Mantle that was spread out on the table in their current home. It wasn't very well made, or remotely accurate, since Ruby had drawn it, but it would suffice. "We need to check on the city's power, because we need to send as much as possible over to the nearest hydro station. That way, when we get there, we'll be ready to launch ourselves up to Atlas. That probably needs power, right?"
Ruby nodded, sticking a thumb tack into the map where she had drawn Atlas.
Neo rubbed her chin thoughtfully, trying to decide where she thought there might be the buildings they were looking for. "So a power plant, huh?" Truthfully, she didn't actually know how to go about finding it. She didn't know Mantle very well, so obviously the best way to handle that situation was to learn the city's layout. If they could get an actual map, instead of a child's drawing, they might make progress. "Well, I guess it can't hurt to just go out and look. We'll find it eventually, and staying mobile will keep those monsters from closing in on us. What do you say? Oh yeah, that's right, you don't speak."
Ruby quickly shoved a paper in front of Neo's face. She didn't bother reading it, though, as it obviously was responding to her mean comment. She was going to take her opportunity and use it, regardless of whether or not it was not what she actually wanted. She was going to speak her mind to Ruby. Eventually, of course, that would include thanks for saving her life several times. Neo hoped they'd switch back before she got to that point. She didn't need it going to Ruby's head.
There were some raincoats that they'd found in this house's storage, and they'd pulled those out for use. If they were going to be heading out and exploring the city in this weather, they needed to protect themselves from the extreme rain. It wouldn't be perfect, but it was better than spending another couple weeks indoors. Really, the wind was the real concern. There had been points where it had been enough to lift either of them off the ground. Now that Crescent Rose was gone, any chance Ruby had of being too heavy for the wind to blow her away was gone. So while Ruby got into her raincoat, Neo took a look outside to take stock of the weather conditions they would be dealing with.
The rain was coming straight down, hard and heavy, drowning the entire city with a direct assault of endless water. This actually looked like good fortune to Neo. They wouldn't have to worry about the wind at all. Unfortunately, she also noticed something else that hadn't been happening before. Right in front of the window, which she was definitely grateful had survived this long, there was a manhole leading down to the sewers. She did not care to go down to the sewers again, but it didn't look like that would be a problem, at least for now. Water was bubbling up from below, pouring out into the street. It hadn't gotten unmanageable just yet, but Neo could only imagine how much water must have filled up the sewers in order for it to only be flooding now.
It did speak of another problem they would soon have to consider. Maybe they wouldn't, but she didn't think their luck was really that good, all things considered. She could imagine flooding being a serious problem, now that she saw the sewer backing up. She stepped away from the window and back to where Ruby was just zipping up the front of her raincoat. Neo didn't know how to approach this with Ruby. With flooding, they would soon be facing serious danger, and they would need to be able to shout to keep track of each other. So far, there hadn't been a moment when both of them could speak. Did they dare take the risk?
"Ruby, I think I know what problem we're dealing with next. The water is rising." Ruby stopped and stared at Neo, basically begging her to elaborate. Neo set her face sternly, determined not to let it shake her. "I mean it's going to flood. Quickly. If we want to get anywhere, we have to move, and I mean now."
Ruby responded by pulling her raincoat hood up over her head, then grabbing the second coat and carrying it over to Neo. It didn't take too long for the two of them working together to get it on Neo. Once they had those on, Ruby stuffed her paper pad into her coat with a pencil, making sure they were secured on the inside. Neo did the same with Hush, nestling it comfortably between her breasts. She would need it again, maybe very soon, but certainly not for the rain. Finally, they shoved what little food they'd managed to gather into bags down the front of their coats. Neo let Ruby lead the way, since it would be wiser for the silent one to be visible to the other at all times.
Just as Ruby reached out to pull the boards off the front door, so that they could leave, they felt water running past their feet. It had only been a few minutes, but already the water had reached the front door. At this point, they needed to move if only to find a building taller than two stories. Giving up on delicacy, Ruby kicked the door open. It fell into the surge of water and drifted off to the side. They got a good look at the scene before them, water rushing down the street, completely blocking the sidewalk and road from view. Ruby looked back to Neo and gave a thumbs up.
Ruby jumped out the door, landing in the wild water that reached halfway up to her knees. Neo was not a fan of that, but it was still navigable, so she jumped in too. Trudging slowly upstream, the two of them made their way past a collapsed building, a large lump of melting mush sitting out front in the middle of the street. Leaving that grizzly carcass behind, they continued further until they were at the house they had first found themselves at. It looked like no one had lived there in eons. Ruby only stopped for a second, then shook her head and moved on. They needed to keep moving upstream. If the water was coming from that direction, then that meant it was higher ground, which meant it would flood last.
The trek only got harder. Surge after surge, the water level continued to rise, and with it came more and more force pushing against them. Neo was sure that if she looked back, she would still be able to see that first house, but she didn't dare. Any moment, another surge could slam into them, and she'd be swept away. It was already past her knees, and the water was filled with dirt and mud, and something else. At first, she dreaded that it might be signs of the next monster they would have to fight. It would be impossible to fight in these conditions, so she doubted they would survive. That worry went away when she looked just a little closer at the strange colors swirling past them. It was dust.
After another couple steps forward, Neo bumped into Ruby. She looked up to see Ruby had stopped, and her gaze was fixed on something above them. Following Ruby's distant stare, Neo looked up and saw a sight she never thought possible, and which she really never thought she would be so horrified by. It was Atlas. Water was running over the edges of the floating city like a waterfall. There was so much, flowing with just so much unrelenting force, she knew that anyone on the ground would be swept away and dashed on the sides of buildings before being thrown to the abyss over the side. The chances they would find someone alive up there looked to be decreasing.
Neo had to shout to be heard over all the noise, but she needed to get Ruby moving again. "Keep going! We can't help anyone if we drown down here!" That succeeded in spurring Ruby into motion. She started wading forward with a purpose, half swimming through the torrential storm. Neo did her best to keep up, but another surge put the water up to her waist. They would have to find themselves a building to take refuge in and hope that the water would stop just before it killed them, just like the cold had. Then Neo felt something touch her leg. "What the fuck was that!? Something touched me! There's something alive in the water! Ruby!"
Just as Ruby looked over her shoulder, something ahead of her flew out of the water and sailed through the air, flying past Ruby and smacking Neo square in the face before wriggling down the front of her coat. When it was sufficiently removed from her face that she could actually try and take stock of what had just happened, Neo realized that what was now sticking up from her coat and waving through the air, slapping her again and again, was a fish. Ruby reached back to her and grabbed the fish by the tail, pulling it out of Neo's raincoat and holding it in the air. At first, it really did just look like a common fish, and Ruby was about to discard it when it opened its mouth.
Black tentacles sprouted from the fish's mouth, squirming out and reaching around for something to grab. Neo assumed it was some kind of parasite that was inside the fish, but then the fish turned its eye to look at Ruby. The tentacles immediately affixed themselves to Ruby's arm and pulled the fish's head toward her. Once it reached her, with both of them too stunned to react, it sucked the tentacles back into its mouth and clamped its toothy mouth into her forearm. Ruby screamed, and Neo quickly reached down her front and grabbed Hush, pulling out the blade and chopping the fish in half with a single stroke. Ruby let go of it, and the tail end dropped into the water and disappeared from sight, but the head held on, even digging its teeth in deeper.
A look on her face that could only be described as pure terror, Ruby held her arm up straight to give Neo the best angle, her eyes gone wider than Neo thought possible. Neo raised Hush and brought it down on the fish, right where its mouth connected to Ruby's arm. It didn't cut, like she'd hoped, but caught on something hard. The force of the blow was enough to tear the rest of the fish away, however, and the jagged teeth ripped away. The fish's head dropped into the water and was swept away, or at least presumably swept away, hopefully swept away. Which left Ruby with the tentacled parasite-like tongue sticking into her flesh. She opened her mouth, at first silently, then soon turning into a loud shrill scream, as the tentacles pushed into her arm, worming their way under her skin and working their way up her arm. She could feel them coming to her elbow, where they pushed into the joint between the bones, pushing muscles apart.
"CUT IT OFF!"
Neo wasted no time in complying.
Ruby slumped over, leaning against Neo, clutching what was left of her arm, crying and wailing. Neo had no words. She just put her arm around Ruby and led her to the nearest building ahead of them. When they reached the front door, the water was up to her chest. Ruby's wounded arm was hanging in the water. They needed to get out of the rain. They shouldn't have come out in the first place. Neo pulled herself up to the door, slamming against it. She didn't want to break open another door that they would then have to rely on to protect them from the elements, but she suspected it wouldn't really protect them all that much anyway. The first few times she hit it, she kicked it under the water, then knocked her head against it. Taking one arm, the one holding onto Hush, away from supporting Ruby, Neo bashed her hand against the door. It still didn't move.
"Come on! I need to get in!"
Before she could hit it again, the door opened, and the water flooded in around them, pushing them indoors. It swept them in off their feet, and Neo had to stick her hand out and grab onto the staircase railing to keep from being dragged over to the open cellar door. They could not get trapped down there, so she mustered all of her strength to pull herself, and Ruby, up to the stairs. The water kept coming in, and rising. Every step up the stairs was a fight, crawling through waves and whirlpools forming, striving to make it upstairs before they were drowned. Then they reached the top of the stairs.
Neo fell flat on her back, and Ruby landed on top of her, barely breathing, pale, eyes closed. Neo felt her breath catch in her throat when she realized how bad Ruby really was now. She clamored to her feet and hauled Ruby up, desperately pulling her to safety of the nearest room. She knew it wouldn't be safe for much longer, but she only needed a few seconds. Kicking open the door and putting Ruby on the bed, Neo tore off the younger girl's raincoat and threw it away. She looked down at her own raincoat and saw how filthy it was, so she took that off too, casting it aside. Letting all the things they'd brought with them just fall to the floor, Neo grabbed the closest thing that was sort of clean and kind of dry, her own shirt, and tore it off, bunching it up and holding it against what was left of Ruby's arm. She grabbed the front of Ruby's shirt and tore that off, wrapping it around her emergency bandage. She then removed the belt from around her waist and used it to tie everything in place tightly, hopefully stopping enough of the blood flow to Ruby's arm that she wouldn't die. At least not immediately.
Then it was silent.
Neo was left alone with the sounds of the raging storm outside, the intense beat of her own heart, Ruby's short sharp breaths...
...and footsteps down the hall.