A bit shorter than many others, just setting up the next chapter mainly. Enjoy!

I don't own Dying Light, Techland still hasn't returned my emails.

I rested a hand on my rapidly beating heart. I waited until I'd clamed down before I stood, and started making my way back to the Tower.

Ardelis

It had been a week since Val had left for Sector 0, and a week and a half since I'd escaped the fucked up arena Rais was running. I had no idea what was happening over in the other quarantine, all of the radios had stopped working two days ago. It was a complete blackout, we couldn't talk with others in the slums, so we were stuck using runners as couriers.

Two runners I'd never seen before arrived a few days ago with Sammy, the kid who went missing with his father.

I'd asked who they were, all they said was Saviours. I asked about Val, and they just said she was safe. They didn't seem to want to talk much, just get their business over with and leave. They looked tired, dead on their feet almost, as if they'd runn through hell and back to get here. AS soon as Sammy was safe, they left.

Sammy seemed quieter than usual, every sound made him jump. His mother later told me that he kept talking about a girl with red hair fighting a devil.

That made my mind up for me. I was going to Sector 0.

The smell of rotting flesh hit me like a train. I gagged and covered my mouth and nose with my shirt. It did little to block out the smell.

A pair of corpses sat outside the single room in the tunnel, both of their ribcages had been torn apart.

The room was a mess: dried blood stained the walls, floor and ceiling. There were three bodies in the room. A headless girl, a trail of blood leading half way up. A man, his body twisted at an unnatural angle. The last body was a huge infected, almost like a Volatile, but twice as big. Most of the blood and smell was coming from this thing, a gaping hole was carved into its neck, and bullet casings littered the floor around it.

All of the bodies were decomposing, flies buzzed around them. I searched around the room and found the severed head of the girl, the brown hair telling me that it wasn't Val. Finding nothing more, I left the room in a hurry, and ran deeper underground.

The tunnel started narrowing, becoming more and more rundown and rocky. At one stage I passed by a half buried biter. It looked like it had turned long ago, its clothes were almost gone, as was most of its muscle and skin. A deep hole was carved into its head, possibly from a knife.

I kept moving, until I entered a room not much larger than the tunnels. There were several pulped corpses in one corner, and a message was carved into the stone beside the exit, on the other side of the room.

If you must use these tunnels, do not touch the moss or the water under any circumstance.

Looking into the tunnel, I could see nothing, it was completely pitch black. Every so often, something would echo from within, almost like a voice. Steeling myself for whatever I would find, I stepped into the tunnel.

The temperature dropped several degrees almost instantly, the darkness becoming oppressive, and the air becoming stuffy, as if it was trying to suffocate me. I flicked my torch on, and gazed around what I could see. It looked old, older than the city. As if the sewers had been built around this. Following along the side of the path was a small creek, clumps of moss floated in it, bobbing gently in the current, but never moving further than they were. A red trail flowed from the moss, staining the water down stream red.

My footsteps echoed eerily as I continued on, the tunnel slowly widening. My torch did little to brighten the tunnel this far in, like something was in the air making it darker. Eventually, the tunnel widened out into a huge cavern, and the air cleared, becoming brighter and easier to breathe. A lake or hole in the centre was filled with water. There were several smaller tunnels running off the opposite side of the cavern.

An arrow was carved into the wall next to one of the tunnels, with crosses next to others. Sounds echoed through, bats or insects, or dripping water. In the background, so faint I could barely hear it, was a person calling for help.

I ran to the tunnels on the other side, and stopped, listening again for the cries of help. They echoed louder, from the tunnel next to the one with the arrow. I ran in, not a second thought for my safety, but carefully staying away from the moss covered walls. The further I went, the louder the cries became, but they also became more garbled, as if they were struggling to speak. The tunnel widened without warning, and I skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding falling into a shallow lake. I couldn't tell if the water was red, or if it was blood.

In the middle of the lake, the person was crouched over, sat on a small outcropping of rock that was joined to the outside path by a small bridge. They looked almost joined to the rock by tendrils of... something. I couldn't tell what, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Stepping cautiously onto the bridge, the persons cries became louder, as if they could sense I was there. I shuddered as his words registered with me.

"Please... I know you're there. Just... just kill me... please. It hurts, it hurts so much." Pulling my hand gun from my pack, I aimed and crept closer. Their head snapped up as I stepped onto the central island. It was a man, or at least it used to be. He was halfway changed between a volatile and a person, with just enough humanity left to speak. I pressed the gun against his forehead. Right before I pulled the trigger, he spoke one last time.

"Thank you." Blood sprayed behind him, and he slumped over dead. My ears rang from firing in such an enclosed space. The tendrils connecting him to the water shrivelled, and dropped off his body, leaving him to fall over to the ground. I stowed the gun in my pack, and walked back out of the room, not turning around.

I'd heard stories from runners who had to meet couriers in the tunnels of people being dragged off by Volatiles, I never knew if they were true or not, but now that I did, I wasn't sure I wanted to remember.

I breathed the outside air deep. I'd been underground for almost 6 hours, and it felt like I was breathing for the first time. The sun was setting, bathing the whole city in a deep orange glow. In the centre of the city, a pair of clock towers, both unfinished, rose in the centre, casting long shadows. A huge tarp fluttered in the slight wind. The words "Survivors Inside" were painted in a bright blue. It was like a whole different world.

Jumping down onto a lower rooftop, I started making my way towards the towers. The streets were crawling with infected, and so were some of the rooftops. Having to avoid the infected where ever I could, it took me almost two hours to reach the base. Looking up, memories of climbing the Infamy Bridge came back to me, along with Vals words.

"I agree, a grappling hook would be amazing." Jumping up to grab the lowest scaffold, I started pulling myself up to the top. My arms burned slightly by the time I reached the top, months of running having built up my endurance. Walking into what I assumed was the main room, I was met with a rifle pointed at my face. I raised my hands slowly.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The woman holding the gun looked as old as me, half of her face was burnt.

"I'm looking for my sister Valerija. I was hoping maybe that she'd been here." The woman lowered her gun.

"You just missed her, she said she was heading off to the west district. If you hurry, you should be able to catch her." I nodded in thanks as I ran from the room. Quickly looking at the sun, I set off west, closing my eyes as I slid down a zip line. I vaulted across rooftops, searching for any sign of her.

After almost 20 minutes of searching, a flash of vibrant orange caught my eye. Snapping my gaze over, I knew instantly it was her. Her back was turned to me, she seemed to be staring out over the ocean, waiting for something. I ran closer, my footsteps muffled by the paper waste on the ground. As I stepped onto the same rooftop as her, a ringing sound echoed. She lifted a radio from her belt, surprising me as they were all supposed to be cut off. I stopped dead as a voice I thought I'd never hear again floated over.

"Rosier, report observations."