For being this time of night the streets were unusually empty, save for a few soldiers that roamed the streets as if they owned everything now. Then again they probably felt like they did since they managed to completely raze the city and completely occupy it, effectively forcing the current residents to either run or be cut down during the take-over. Very few of the former citizens remained within the city itself, well except for the few upper class who had agreed to the terms of surrender, effectively granting them immunity to the sudden raid. Overall the city felt emptier then it use to be, but the reasons for that were fairly obvious.
However, at the moment things were anything but peaceful as three soldiers began to stalk closer towards a young woman who was cowering in a corner of the alley. Her pale colored eyes looked up at them with a terrified expression as they came closer, the leering gazes easily telling her what each of these men were thinking as they moved towards her. She couldn't run past them because they would just grab her if she tried, and there was no other opening to escape into now that she was trapped at a dead end. Not only that but she couldn't fight back, these soldiers would easily overpower her meaning that no matter what she tried she was trapped like a bird in a cage.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Evy screamed instinctively as one of the soldiers moved to grab her, and she cringed against the alley wall while tightly closing her eyes in terror as she waited for the inevitable that she knew was soon coming. Why oh why had she let them corner her like this? She didn't know, all she knew was she had tried to run from them but in the end she had gotten herself caught without any means of escape.

Zach turned the corner to the alley in time to see the three soldiers trying to molest his sister. one was holding her legs down while another held her arms realeasing one to bring a heavy hand down across her cheek while the third fought to get her undressed. his anger overflowed as he saw what they were doing and without even thinking he picked up a broken piece of two by four and charged down the alley. he charged into the closest one, the one holding her legs, and sent him head first into the alley wall before turning his attention to the one trying to undress his sister. he cracked the two by four over his head, gashing the soldiers head. the third soldier was ready when the two by four swung his way easily side stepping the awkward swing and grabbing him by the arm. he grabbed the two by four and tossed it then wrapping his enormous hands around his neck lifted him off the ground choking the life out of him.
Zach beat on the mans chest and kicked at his legs but the man justheld on, an evil smile pursing his lips as if he enjoyed taking a human life. Zachs vision slowly began to fade and he knew that if he didn't do something fast, he would not survive to protect his younger sister.

However, the last remaining soldier never got the chance to finish choking Zach since while he was distracted something smashed into the back of his head effectively sending him to the ground where he just laid there out cold. Then it became easier to see the rather large piece of brick that had hit the soldier, and what was probably even more surprising was that it was Evy that had thrown it. Now all three were lying on the ground completely out cold, and it was pretty obvious they were all going to have a time explaining how and why they got the injuries they now had. However, Evy wasn't really thinking about that as she sat there with her back against the alley wall while holding her arms around her in an attempt to stop her shivering. She was still dazed and terrified by what had almost happened, and not only that but several bruises were already forming on her legs and wrists from where the two soldiers had held her pinned down to the ground. Also a rather nasty looking bruise had started darkening on the side of her face from where she had been slapped rather hard by one soldier, making it pretty obvious that side of her face was probably going to be sore for a while. Although she was lucky to get away with just that, because in similiar cases others hadn't been so fortunate.

Zach dropped to the floor, his knees buckling out from under him so he sat there on his hands and knees gasping for air in between fits of coughing. although his breathing was still raspy and rugged he looked up to see Evy sitting there arms wrapped tight around her body. "are, are you alright" he finally managed to whisper crawling over to her and laying behind her, he wrapped his arms around her comfortingly, intertwined his fingers with hers kissing the back of her head

"we have to get out of here" he said finally "those soldiers won't stay out forever, and when they gain consiessness they are going to be pissed" he said standing and brushing the dirt off his clothes.

"Y-yeah I'm alright." Evy finally answered when she was sure she could talk without her voice shaking to much. She certainly didn't want to hang around here until those soldiers woke up, because she knew what would happen if they were still here when they did. That's be a disaster waiting to happen, and she didn't want to find out how big of one it would be. Instead she would much rather get out of here before anyone else could catch them, or better yet realize that they had something to do with these soldiers lying on the ground unconcious.
Because there was always at least a few more soldiers that patrolled the area at night, Evy was pretty sure someone would be heading this way eventually but neither her or her brother were about to stick around to find out. Since they were already close to the edges of the city itself it took even less time for them to find the right alleyway that led into the underground parts of the city. It was like a huge network of tunnels down here that only few knew how to get into, and recently it was a safehaven for those who had managed to escape the raid of the city itself. While it was rather rough living down here, it was the only place anyone was really safe and even that hung by a thin thread. There was always the thread of the soldiers finding their way down here, and that constantly hung in the air no matter where in the slums you went.

Zach noticed that a part of Evy's shirt had been torn in the ruffle and was exposing a part of her breast, her exposed skin sparkling in the half light that reflected off the pools of water that collected on the floor. he turned his attention to watching his feet and concentrated on counting his steps from there current location to the base of the makeshift underground city.

they reached the city limits and paused staring out among the vast canopies of multicolored tents that made up the living quarters. the chamber in which it was set up in was large and circular and appeared to be the central hub ofthe tunnel system due to the vast number of tunnels that ran off of it giving it the appearance of a large octopus.
they waded through the vast tents until they found there living quarters a series of tents sewn together to make several seperate living quarters giving them their own privacy, along with a larger tent that was used as the main living area and dining room. Zach gave his sister a half smile and retreated to his room.

Now that she was alone again for the time being, Evy vanished into her own makeshift room which was right next to her brother's. That way they were still within shouting distance of each other but still had that small bit of privacy in comparison to the rest of the area.
Once she was in her own room, Evy quickly changed out of her ripped shirt and pulled on a different one while tossing the former into a nearby corner. Usually afterwards she would have gone out to see what was going on with everyone else in the area, but considering what she had just gotten out of she didn't feel like it. Instead she just fell onto the mattress that she used for a bed and hugged one of her pillows tightly against her. At the same time she buried her face in an attempt to hide the tears that were falling down her face, and eventually she just broke down crying while hoping the sound was muffled enough that no one else would hear it. True she didn't mind the crying so much since she'd feel fine later, but she just didn't want her brother to hear and start worrying about her more then he already did.

In all honesty the realization of what could have happened to her and the fact that she let herself get caught in that situation in the first place was what had her so upset. If she could just get over that then she'd be fine and back to her usual self, but this time that might take a while. Then again she'd count herself as lucky if she ever felt brave enough to go back to the aboveground area with her brother, because that's how the whole mess started in the first place.

Zach was laying with his head propped under his arms when he thought he heard a faint sniffle. he knew that his sister hated it when he showed her pity of emotion but he just couldn't help it, she was the only family he had left. he walked to the flap and tapping on the pole " Eves, you alright" he said using his own shortened version of her name.he lifted the flap slightly and saw her laying on her back, her face buried in her pillow crying. he watched her breasts through her low cut shirt she had put on heave and fall with each sob that escaped her lips and felt a little guilty for doing so because she was his sister.

"OH CRAP!!!" Evy thought when she realized Zach must have heard her and she quickly used her pillow as a cover while she quickly wiped the tearstains off her face. Of course when she quickly sat up and then realized her brother was standing right there where he could clearly see she'd been crying well that just blew her cover right then and there.

"Ummm........y-yeah kind of." She stammered as she rubbed at her eyes with her hand before looking up at Zach, but unfortunately trying to hide anything was kind of a moot point now. Still it was just a force of habit for her, especially now that they were on their own literally. She'd had to learn how to keep some form of control over her emotions, but every now and then it wasn't as easy as most might think.

zach walked over and wrapped her in a warm embrace. "it's alright sis" he said taking a half step back and using his index finger to wipe away a few tears that were collecting on her cheek before pulling her back in for another hug.

he knew that she was having a hard time admitting that it wasn't her fault, when in fact it wasn't. he never should have left her alone to scout ahead and had, only by luck, seen the soldiers dissapear down the alley other wise she may not have been so lucky and the soldiers would have had their way with her. he had never been molested but he knew that it couldn't be an easy thing to cope with, even if it didn't completly happen. he wrapped her in a tight hug content with just supporting her with any support she needed until she was ready to let it go into the past.

Despite the fact that she was still shaken by everything that had happened, Evy had to admit that being close to her brother like this did help more then anyone might expect. Then again considering they had always been close even before now it wasn't to hard to figure out why that was the case. Still the reason wasn't anything important, it was just something that someone might think about at random from time to time.

"Hey big brother....I'm sorry I had to go getting myself in trouble." She said even though she wasn't really at fault to begin with. She still felt like there was something she could have done to avoid the situation, even if it had all happened by pure chance to begin with. She hated it when anything happened that got her brother all worried, especially when it involved her. They already had enough to deal with besides more being added on to it, and Evy was pretty sure this whole mess hadn't help things much at all.

he gently rubbed her bruised cheek. "hey you know I would do anything to protect you sis" he said making a fist and giving her chin a slight push.

"hey I bet your starving" he said listening to her stomach growl. "lets go see what we can scrounge up to eat. I heard Mrs Jackson is making her famous mystery stew again." he said trying to get her mind off of the earlier events. he took her by the hand and gently tugged on her hand, trying to nudge her into motion.

"Oh great....think we should spread the warning around?" Evy asked since just the thought of that stuff easily made her forget she was even hungry to begin with. They didn't call it mystery stew for nothing that was for sure, in fact no one knew what went into that thick black liquid that looked like someone had scrapped it off the floor of one of the tunnels out here. Although no one ever really repeated that since that old Jackson woman could get rather......well 'defensive' if anyone said anything about her cooking. Well it was more like if anyone said anything, she'd unleash her wrath upon the poor individual who was stupid enough to say anything out loud to begin with. So yeah the rule here was you don't touch the stuff, but don't say anything about it either.

Zach laughed at least she kept her sense of humor he thought. "shall we just do our usual meal?" he asked not sure if she was ready to venture the city again. there normal routine consisted of one person preoccupying the shop keeper and the other running off with a nice meal for the two of them.

He moved outside the tents and, standing on his tippy toes, stretched his arms high into the air. his well defined muscles showing along the outline of his shirt. he held it for a few moments letting his muscles get fully relaxed before he relaxed and stood in the door, waiting to see if his sis would go or if he would go by himself, forraging for the two of them. which he had done numerous times before.

"Only one question, who's gonna do what?" Evy asked as she followed her brother outside the tents. Usually they split the job so that one of them did the distracting while the other did the stealing. However they switched off a lot so there was never any way of knowing ahead of time who would do what, unless they planned it way ahead of when they actually put their plan into action. Then again Evy wasn't really complaining about that because she could work either way, she was just as good at distracting as stealing but she usually let her brother assign who did what. He was the better planner out of the two of them, and she certainly wasn't afraid to admit that either.

"well I was thinking of t he food stand on the corner of market and stanton" he said looking around the room. "so it is really gonna depend on which one ofthe cashiers is working tonight. you are better at charming the guys, and i'm better at distracting the girls." he said with a sly smile. "so lets just play it by ear for right now. we'll scope it out for a bit then decide what roles we will play.

they walked through the maze of tunnels, coming out a different tunnel than they had come in, partly to keep from becoming suspicious with thelast bit of excitement they had and also becasuse it was closer to the market they had in mind.

the casher at the market was a young boy maybe slightly younger than Evy but had the eyes like a hawk, probably from the management telling them to be observant for thiefs. "ok you draw him away from the booth and i'll get what i can and meet you back at the tunnel entrance. don't worry you will never be out of my sight." he said guessing from the facial expression she gave him what she was thinking.

"go whenever your ready" he said and stood in the shadows waiting

"Okay, just give the usual signal when you're clear." Evy whispered to him before shoving thoughts of what happened earlier out of her mind as she walked up to the boy that was working behind the counter. All she had to do was focus on keeping this guy from catching sight of her brother and everything would be fine, but in most cases that was easier said then done. However, Evy always had an arsenal of typical questions on hand for times like this and she had no trouble drawing the cashier's attention away from the merchandise. With that said she quickly sparked up a conversation with him while giving a covert gesture behind her back that would tell her brother if he was going to go for anything he'd better start grabbing now.

Zach snuck up to the counter and started loading his shirt with all sorts of food, deserts, and odds and ends they could snack on later on if they happened to get hungry.

he was just finishing up and was about to walk away when he accidentally bumped a metal spoon sitting on the edge of the counter. the spoon spun on the counter making an eerie scrapping sound and although the sound hadn't actually been that loud, to his heightened state of paranoia it seemed like a sky scraper falling to the ground. he paused as the young boy started to turn his head hoping that something really big would draw his attention away from the noise.

However, Evy had caught the situation before her brother could get caught and quickly diverted the cashier's attention to something else before he could look back. This was a case where it was definitely a good thing Evy was a fairly quick thinker because that could have been a disaster should her brother have gotten caught. Although that's why she was here, to prevent that from happening and she was actually really good at it. So thankfully it didn't look as if her brother would be seen or anything this time around, and if he just kept moving and got out of sight ASAP then they'd be home free with the stuff he had snatched.

Zach, greatful for his sisters quick thinking, grabbed a few more items and ran for the shadows of the building they had previously used to scout the stand and waited for his sister to finish her speech that she was giving to the young boy. he decided to inventory his loot and began looking through the multiple bits of food items he had aquired. all in all they had done pretty good on this excursion and the food they got should last them a week as long as it was properly stored away.

his sister finally walked into the shadows startling him. "hey sis that was quite a show you put on back there" he said with a smile. lets get out of here.