Conductor

"What's going on? Do you think it was an accident? Do you think she's coming back?" Olivia asks nervously. "Maybe." I say calmly while walking away. "Where are you going?" "To the front."  Strangely enough I always wanted to go to the very front of the subway car. This was the perfect opportunity. I had always wondered what the controls looked like. I imaged many levers and buttons. It wasn't so much like that. There was a steering wheel covered in cobwebs, and one red button. I looked down at it curiously. It couldn't be that hard to drive. "What are you doing?" Olivia asks. "I'm getting us out of here." I reply. "But you don't know how to drive that." "I know but-" "Oh come on. It can't be that hard." Norm interrupts us pressing the big, red button. The three of us are immediately flung backwards as the old subway car rockets to an unknown destination.

Set Up Base

Sgt. Rodgers led us to a grand, abandoned subway station. There were huge pillars and marble floors. Oddly there were no cobwebs, and nothing was decayed with time. Norm jumped off my shoulders and onto the the train tracks. "Careful." Sgt. Rodgers shouted. "Don't you know about the third rail?" "Thought that was a myth." Norm says. "It's not." She snaps back. We follow Sgt. Rodgers a short distance down the tracks to a lonely subway car. "I thought this could be a good place to set up our base. There's windows, so we can see, but we'll also be semi protected. What do you think?" "I think we need to see the inside." I reply. Sgt. Rodgers shakes her head. She knows my request is stupid, but she says nothing further. We walk to the side and she forces the doors open. "Usually they're automatic, but, you know." She informs. "I know." I say, tiredly. Sgt. Rodgers bites her lip. "Well, take your look."  The three of us view the inside. There is nothing spectacular about it. In fact, any other occasion it would be revolting. The seats were ripped. Some were missing, and the lights were flickering on and off. "What do you think?" She asks eagerly. "It smells funny." Olivia says. "Yes, it does. A hobo probably used it as a bathroom at one point." Sgt. Rodgers responds as a matter of factly. Olivia makes a horrified face. "We were just in the sewer. " Sgt. Rodgers reminds. "Good point." Sgt. Rodgers turns to leave through the open door. "Where are you going?" I ask. "We need supplies. I'll be back." Without saying another word, Sgt. Rodgers leaves, closing the door behind her from outside. I watch her get on the platform and then try to open the door with no luck. "What's the matter?" Olivia asks. "I think she locked us in."

Tunnel Walk

We walked for miles through the underground tunnels. It didn't seem as if we were making any progress towards finding Freddy. We were all skeptical. Olivia and I kept our comments to ourselves. Norm, not so much. "I thought you knew where he was." "No, I said I had an idea." "Oh, an idea. A precious idea." Norm mocks. "Do you have any ideas?" Sgt. Rodgers asks. "I have loads of them. My first would be to get the fuck out of the sewer." "We can't. At least not yet." She says. "And why not?" "Because there are more of them then there are of us. You want them to detect us easily? Fine, we'll go to the surface." Norm takes a deep breath. "We can stay down here." Sgt. Rodgers smiles smugly. "Good." There is a brief silence as we continue walking. "So, why did they turn against you?" I ask. "I'm not ready to answer." "That's a shame because I'm ready to ask." "Ask away, but I won't answer." I turn to Olivia. "You want to heart her again?" "No, it's not worth it. Let's just find Freddy and then we can part." "Yes, we can all go our separate ways. If you find a way out of this city that is." "We'll get out." I say confidently. Sgt. Rodgers chuckles. "We will. " She ignores my last comment. "Up ahead we're going to take a left. It's an abandoned subway station. We can set up there."

Not Trustworthy

"Yeah, I'm gonna take a pass on your friendly invitation." Norm says. "I'm going to have to agree." Olivia adds. "Do you honestly think I'm planning an ambush?" Sgt. Rodgers asks. "You aren't exactly trustworthy." Olivia quips. Sgt. Rodgers rolls her eyes. "You three may leave if you'd like, but you'll need help." "We don't need you." I reply. The three of us start to walk past Sgt. Rodgers. "There was a coup." She shouts. "And we're supposed to be surprised?" Olivia shouts back. We continue walking. "I can help." Sgt. Rodgers says again. Olivia stomps back to the Sgt. "Read my lips. We don't need your help." "But I know where his fox friend may be." She says, pointing towards Norm. "Is that true?" Olivia asks. "I don't know the exact location, but I have an idea... a better idea of where he is than you would." Olivia sighs. "You can come with, but.." She shoots a pink heart into Sgt. Rodger's chest. "I'm not taking any chances."

Waist Deep

We jumped in the opening. The dirty water was waist deep so Norm rode on my shoulders. There was an absolutely horrendous smell. I guess I must have winced because Olivia assured me it wasn't sewage. I suppose it was somewhat to comforting to at least know I wasn't walking in waste. That is until we walked a little further and saw the flicker of light. Someone was having a bonfire, but who? We continued down the path, trying as hard as we could to keep quiet. Not an easy task when you are splashing in water, and I guess we weren't successful because as soon as we made it around the bend we saw Sgt. Rodgers looking up at is in eager anticipation. Her clothes were ripped and dirty, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. Norm growled fiercely. "Easy." She said. "I'm unarmed, unmanned, and my strength in waning. Why don't you have a seat by me?"

Shh, Listen

"That was fun. I mean I didn't like that last part, but what a ride." Norm exclaims. "I know right. It ended far too abruptly." I reply. "Guys, this wasn't a ride." Olivia jumps in. "Yeah, but we can turn it in to a ride." Norm says. "Why not? It would be like a lazy river." Norm smiles. "Better than a lazy river." You're right. Lazy River's are too slow sometimes." Norm nods at my comment. "Way too slow. When I go on a ride I don't want to be stuck there for hours, and I want a big splash at the end." "Yes, they don't always have big splashes." I excitedly agree. "Guys ,quiet." Olivia says, interrupting our banter. "Sorry, you don't feel included?" Norm asks. "No, it's not that. Listen. Someone is here." Norm and I put our ears close to the grate. Indeed we could hear someone faintly walking around. Olivia pulls off the grate. "What are you doing?" I ask. "We have to go down there." "You think that's a wise idea?" Norm questions. "Yes, I do." Without another word, Olivia  jumps into the opening. Norm and I shrug and follow after her.

Wild Ride

Norm's mouth opened wide like a small child on Christmas morning. I examined the muddy stream to try and see exactly what Norm saw. "Isn't it great?" He said. "What am I looking at?" "This." He replied simply. Waving his good paw at the stream. Olivia and I scratched our heads. "Are we missing something?" Olivia wondered. "No, this is everything." I leaned in even closer. This proved to be quite foolish for I lost my balance and fell in. The water was flowing much quicker than I realized. Olivia and Norm did not skip a beat. They jump in after me, but the current was too much for us. It took us further and further down stream. We went down bends and twists. We were going so fast I could barely keep my head above water, let alone see any of the scenery. Before we knew it we hit a water drainage grate, hard. It was painful, and the impact was enough to knock the wind out of us, but we were all thankful that that particular ride had ended.