Heian Shodan

'No,' he said to the woman, with his head intact and his body erect. His hands should have been trembling at the sight of horror that greeted him at that moment, but he remained shockingly persistent. He will not be denied. 'Take me to your yellow balcony now.'

It seemed as though that the fear that engulfed them awhile ago just dissipated out of nowhere, perhaps out of the curiosity of the lingering scent of courage that dead people unwittingly share to its witnesses. Whatever their intentions are, it has served its key and now serves as a beacon of hope to those who seem lost and weary and without a friend to cling on to.

The yellow balcony shined as these people stepped on its edge, and no lights were needed actually, as the neon colours of yellow bounced off glimmering luminance all throughout. 

'What do we do now?' asks the African, hints of fright coming back to him at the realisation of loss of light.

'Beats me brother,' replied the middle-aged Caucasian with a beard as powerful as any gun could be. 'I bet my ass we're down under them sewers judging by the smell.'

The lady with a knack for taking the lead steps forward. 'Does anyone of you have a torch?'

The Caucasian man smirks, 'Torch. What are you? British?'

'Indeed I am,' answered the lady.

'Well, here in the good old US of A, we call them flashlights, so you better learn our ways 'chap' or you'll be swingin' them sexy booty of yours down these rotten sewers. Damn British bastards,' he spat on the ground as if the words left a sour taste in his tongue.

'Whatever you do, don't stray away from me, okay?' said the African to his girlfriend with hands tightly gripped on his shirt, clueless and nervous.

'O-okay,' she replied.

'When one of them bastards appear, shoot them straight in their brainspidoodle!' yells the Caucasian.

They march on until they reached a point where the illuminating power of the balcony colour ceases to take effect. They were now deeper into the cavernous place than they realised. Their eyesights were getting blurrier the more they take a step and water begins to rise up at their feet causing intense claustrophobia for the African.

'I can't do this,' says the African, struggling to catch his breath. 'I have terrible affinity for tightly-closed spaces.'

'Man up, you stupid dog,' says the Caucasian, frustrated.

Numerous unknown gunfire erupted from behind not too far from where they stand.

'The fuck is that!' yells the Caucasian.

'They've come here now! We must move on and keep running!' said the lady.

Everyone struggled to walk due to the rising level of water on their feet. The African could not hold on for himself though. He had to find a wall to lean on to and rest. His girlfriend had to yell for help. The lady looks and comes back for the couple.

'What are you still doing?! We must go!'

The African looks as if he is about to faint trying to catch his breath. 'Look, I don't really know you lady. But please take care of her for me.'

'What the hell do you mean?!' asks the panicking girlfriend, as she bursts into frantic tears while gunshots are getting all the more nearer. 'Let's go!!'

'We need to go!!' yells the lady, angrily.

'I can't,' whispers the African. 'I just can't. I think I'm done running for now.'

'You idiot!' The lady grabs his girlfriend and drags her away.

'No!'

Lights now fill the other side from where they came, and inaudible noises of people yelling can also be heard together with the bullets fired from the guns.

'What happened to the other one?' asks the Caucasian.

The lady shoves the girlfriend forward as she continues to punch and kick her way back to his man weeping uncontrollably and furious. The lady replies to his question, 'Delusions of grandeur.'

'Ha! Nice answer. For a second there, I kinda like how you bloody British bastards do it.' He grabs a smoke from his pocket and a lighter in another.

'Let's move on,' says the stoic lady, seemingly unaffected by the horror of their predicament.

Whatever intentions these people may have, they have been brought together by a single purpose. For now, their goal is to remain alive at all costs.