Alexander threw out his arms, fingers scrambling for any kind of hold as he sank into the darkness. He heard the rubble below him clatter against the ground before he hit it himself. The boy letting out a muffled shriek as his ankle bent harshly against the ground. Swinging a grimy arm to his mouth he bit into the fabric, nostrils flaring as the pain began to ebb and flow. The fall hadn’t been a long one, barely a dozen feet from the ceiling to the ruined tracks he now saw, but his right leg had taken the brunt of the damage.

The light filtering through the small hole above him was faint, barely illuminating the tunnel surrounding Alexander. He could see the glimmering metal of the tracks, bending and curving away some distance in front of him, but that was the only detail he could pick out against the smooth brick face of the tunnel.

A rain of debris settled against the boy’s dark hair, drawing his eyes upwards. Alexander was panicking. Even if he struggled to keep it contained, his father could easily see emotion straining his son’s face. The smile that seemed frozen to Alexander’s mouth was quivering, the edges of his mouth fighting against the mask he was putting up. Doctor Pisk watched as his son clambered to pull his rifle into a better position, the boy dropping the small package of meat on his shoulders as he did so.

Eyes that normally stood steady even at the worst of times twitched rapidly on Alexander’s face, watching for any signs of movements as he waved the rifle, any signs of movement prompting the gun to waver in that direction.

“Alexander,” Doctor Pisk whispered, his voice strangely calm as he regarded the panicking boy. Though his heart beat rapidly within his chest, he adopted the same persona he’d been forced to when dealing with patients years ago. The doctors voice was calm, his practised touch forcing all emotions from it, pushing his own feelings to the side. “I need you to calm down. If they haven’t heard or seen you by now, they won’t for some time.”

Alexander’s blue eyes peered upwards, breaking the stare down with which he addressed the rest of the tunnel, only to shake his head. His father, while right, hadn’t seen what he had seen in the gloom. He hadn’t seen the shambling figure stumbling deeper into the darkness, breaking from any hint of the light the first chance it had gotten. Alexander had seen it, and if he had, he was sure it had seen him too. Why it hadn’t leapt at him immediately, the boy didn’t know, but he could only guess. And each of his guesses just led to the boy becoming more and more panicked as time went on.

“Alex,” his father’s voice slid downwards once again, his voice harsher, adopting a commanding tone that was rarely used in their family, “I need you to see if you can climb up here.”

Alexander was already ahead of his father in that regard, his first seconds spent in the tunnel had been searching for a way to do just that. The smooth curved roof of the subway made doing so impossible, and again the boy just shook his head. Voice cracking he jabbed his rifle in the direction of one wall, point wavering before he once again levelled in in the direction of the movement he had seen, “Can’t do that Pa.”

Doctor Pisk felt his heart surge in his throat, his half blinded eyes now peering into what he could see in the gloom. Swearing under his breath, he knew he had been forced into making a choice. His heart urged him to join his son, to drop down into the gloom, the pair working together to get the both of them out. That was the choice the man wanted to make, but his mind still dwelled on the other all the same. Every instinct in his bones screamed at him to join his son’s side, a father’s courage rushing through his bones.

But there was another side to the man above, one that had made his survival in the world more than just a fluke. Ultimately Doctor Pisk was a logical man, something he prided himself upon when those around him devolved to a level barely above an animal. In this moment that side of him was pestering him to get a move on, for no matter how much love and pity he held for his son below him, he knew the decision that would best salvage this turn of events. He knew what was best, for the both of them. One bullet for the boy, allowing him to have a swift end, while his father continued on to the village. If only they had an hour or two before dark, he’d have thought of another way, but as the sun sank quickly above him, he knew they both only had a few moments to spare.

Dropping into the tunnel would only endanger them both, and while the Doctor was a good shot, his presence would only raise their chances of survival a slim margin. He had a wife and another child waiting for him and the deer carcass deposited behind him. It wouldn’t have been the first time the man abandoned another who needed him, and it surely wouldn’t be the last.

All of those thoughts raced through the Doctor’s mind, and Alexander saw the change to his father’s face. The young boy had arrived to the same conclusion, the two of them knew the rules of the wastes. Your own survival was what you were worried about. If you did anything else, you put yourself in danger. The man above him had more riding on his back than the boy did, and they both knew it. Alexander would just be another life lost to the death that surrounded them, his father’s passing would mean three.

But his father faltered, and Alexander could see the emotions that raced through the face above him. The boys mouth formed a thin line as he gestured upwards, “Don’t you fucking dare.” His finger pointed accusingly at the Doctor’s face paling in the reddish light, “She needs you.”

The Doctor’s grimace grew, the face disappearing for a moment, a faint shuffling disturbing the stillness of the tunnel as movement above caused small rivers of dust to fill the air. Alexander resumed his watch, gun at the ready, hoping his father had made the right choice. He hoped those noises were the sounds of a man pulling the deer back onto his shoulders, and continuing down the path.

Alexander had never been more disappointed to see that his father’s love for him outweighed the rules that governed their lives. For as soon as the shuffling stopped, prompting the boy to gaze upwards, his face met that of a man who had made his choice. Golden frames now back on the Doctor’s nose, the boy saw the emotion written on the man’s face. His father was coming to save him.

The Doctor’s face was steely, mouth held in the faintest of smiles as the man accepted his fate. Though the part of his brain that had allowed him to live this long in the destruction around them was currently screaming at him, he ignored it. His love for his son trumped that, his protective instincts at seeing the panicking child drove the normally collected man into a frenzy of activity.

Alexander hated this side of his father more than anything. It was the same side that drove him to collect flowers, or hesitate when taking aim at doe. Though the Doctor’s conception of himself was of a logical and cold man, his son knew differently. Ultimately at the man’s core, he was soft. Doctor Pisk cared for others, he loved all that was living, and saw the faintest glimmers of hope in a world devoid of anything resembling such. It was why the man had signed up to be a doctor in the first place, and why he was currently grabbing at the edge to lower himself into the dark. The fool probably thought he’d be able to save his son, if he just joined him in the gloom.

Swinging his rifle Alexander took in a sharp breath, holding for a moment before a crack and a flash illuminated the air around him. A bullet whizzed by the Doctor’s fingers, his crawling form pausing just before he had swung his leg over the edge.

“Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare. Don’t come down here,” Alexander growled, taking aim once again at the face that flickered into his view. Though the boy deluded himself, he was more similar to the father he was growing to despise than he could admit. The boy thought he was making the tough choice, sacrificing himself for the lives of others. Alexander mumbled under his breath, reciting the rules his father had taught him, but he wasn’t thinking of them. The young boy’s thoughts were filled with his mother’s face, his mind’s eye convinced what his father was about to do would be tantamount to murder.

If the man joined Alexander’s side, his mother would die. His sister would die. His father would have sentenced the two people the boy cared most about to death. And though it most likely meant Alexander’s own demise, he would lay down his life for those two in a heartbeat. Drips of water began to run down the boy’s cheeks, darkening with the grime as they dripped from his chin. Raising his arm he wiped away at his cheeks, black hoodie slowly growing damp as he gazed up at the man.

Slowly Alexander’s face turned from one of a fearful young child, into that of stone. His eyes hard, glaring through the damp tears that strained them, “I can do this. I don’t need you.” Alexander’s voice quivered, obviously faltering under his own conviction, “You-you’ll kill them too. Don’t leave them. You and I both know if you come down here we both die.”

Doctor Pisk gazed at his son, his own eyes filling with tears, though he didn’t attempt to cover them up like the boy had. Shuffling for a moment, he didn’t say anything, just gazing at his son below him. “Don’t make me do-“, he paused, the wavering rifle once again steadying at his own face. Alexander had made the Doctor’s choice for him.

Frustrated with the stubborn face below him, the man shot the boy a worried look, the Doctor’s fingers shaking as the he worked for a moment. He slowly stood upon shaking legs, arching his back to peer into the hole as he did so. Despite the sorrow that tore at the father’s chest, he felt a swell of pride. The man hoped he’d have made the same decision.

“You got any suggestions for a side?” Doctor Pisk asked suddenly, forcing himself to break the somber mood, making sure to smile at his son, as the doctor’s hand gestured at the discarded deer flesh at the boy’s feet.

“Mom was able to get a few of those potatoes from the trader right?” Alexander replied, taking the change in tone in stride, shifting his aim back to the tunnel now that his father had dropped that stupid look on his face, “Think that’d go well?”

The man smiled, clambering to his feet, gaze locked to his child, “No, whatever those were, they ain’t potatoes. Those ain’t supposed to be blue. But she did give the man a free look at his engine so it was literally the least he could do. Make sure you get home before Macy eats them all.”

“Will do Pa,” the boy grinned, his pale blue eyes flickering to his father’s. Alexander held the man’s gaze, before both of them nodded.

The man shuffled off, leaving the boy alone in the dark. Doctor Pisk’s bad habits had flared again, and seeing the determined look on his son’s face, he felt a flicker of hope bloom in his chest. If anyone could survive a situation like this it was his son. The boy that had been panicking minutes before had steadied himself almost immediately. The man knew his son would make his way back to him, he had too. Doctor Pisk could only live with himself if that was the case. His paternal instincts tore at his very being, urging him to leap into the hole after his boy but Doctor Pisk turned away, listening to the voice that had allowed him to make something out of himself in the wastes. The same voice that had allowed him to turn away patients in the past, to save another. The voice of cold logic. The Doctor held onto his hope that his boy would survive to come back to him.

The boy in question had no such delusions, he had made his peace when he had decided to force his father to put himself above the boy. Steeling himself, Alexander waited for the sounds of his father to fade completely before limping forwards. His wounded ankle shaking as he put weight onto it, he began to move deeper into the tunnel. Away from the shuffling noises he had begun to hear gathering in the other direction. Away from the fading light above him, and farther from the father he had forced to abandon him.

Two humans parted ways, one with a thin grin and eyes adjusting to the darkness that crept around him, the other with tears streaming down his face and shaking with every step he took.