Elena - Survivor

Year 2048 ​Setting Subterranean Metro Station 4, beneath the ruins of "The Scorched Belt" (formerly downtown Atlanta, Georgia). ​The damp heat inside the collapsed subway station is suffocating. Elena leans against a cracked tile pillar, controlling her breath to keep her core temperature down. Thirty-four weeks pregnant, her back aches, but her hands remain steady as she tucks three reclaimed food tins into her chest rig. ​A firm kick rolls against her ribs. She presses a palm against her stretched tank top. ​"Almost home, kiddo," she whispers. ​Thump. ​She slides flat against the pillar on pure reflex. ​Crunch. ​Boot rubber grinds on glass. A slender figure muffled in a heavy, threadbare coat steps out from the access tunnel twenty feet away, face completely hidden from the shadows. They hold a length of rusted pipe low at their side.