13) Into Darkness

As I moved the metal gate aside, it made such a huge screeching noise, I wondered if I might not wake the gods! As if...

Still, whatever bugs and creatures live down there, it seems a foolish thing to even consider entering, an old subway system. Images of riding sleek silver trains runs through my mind. I cannot quite focus on the person I am with, but it is someone important to me. Strange, it is as if their face is hidden behind a white lace veil, that if I move it I will suffer considerable pain. the image dissipates, and all that is left is a sense of emptiness.

In here it is at least free from the cold air and dampness outside. It seems pervasive, that it leaks into my skin and leave me feeling awash with bitterness, that the air around me has emotion, and it becomes me.

The air is stale, the further I walk in, but enough, and there is no gas in here. I hear skittering sounds nearby, but it is so dark I cannot see what or where from. There are small side lights here and there along the walls. The place is like a long tunnel, with worn posters on the walls. The floor seemed once to have been tiled, but no more, it is just a mess of debris and rubble. I wonder for the safety of the ceiling, but if I tread softly, I am sure I will be safe, for now from roof fall. I hope!

As I walk there are several doors either side. I peer in and see what looked like bathrooms, stall doors hanging off and broken porcelain. I don't think I'll make use of these facilities today; I am more likely to receive something that to give something from a place such as this! Ahead is a waist height barrier, I guess a place to stop people to collect tickets, but of course there is no one to collect tickets now, and no one selling them. I wonder if I will ever see a sane person again.

Is this the true apocalypse? That from the savagery of man comes the insanity of realization, of what we have done to ourselves.

I just skip over them, feeling brave, and slip on something under foot. I crash to the ground heavily, feeling the pain of my weight pressing down on me. I lie there a moment, berating myself for such stupidity. I have no medicines, no means to bandage of help myself. If I break a leg or an arm, I am lost, because if the creatures that walk this Earth don't get me, an infection surely will. Certainly this is a harsh world I have woken to.

As I wait, I allow myself a few seconds to look around. The place no doubt was once a hive of activity, bustling people to and fro. now look, all forgotten and dying. Why should I see this?

Finally I pick myself up, and look ahead. There is a huge archway ahead, and what appears a huge expanse beyond. I walk, and I am amazed at what I see. There is a large area to walk into, and steps down in every direction. Below I can see the remnants of a train, stuck in eternity in this underground graveyard. I must ensure it does not become mine.

Noise. Something pricks my ears and I crouch behind the wall. Voices. There are several now, sounding much like those before.

A cackling laughter, their voice sounding decrepit and dry, like this place. Maybe if I stay down here too long I will become like them, dry and insane.

I peer over, and can see a burning torch, then another, they are placeholders, lights to show the way through. I was right, there are more, like the ones shooting at me before, but one, he has a rifle, an automatic gun. I cannot hope to deal with so many, at least four, no five of them, all heavily armed.

Should I go on? I cannot, it just seems an endless ocean of empty space. I might as well walk out into a desert.

I shall crawl my way past, hide in the shadows, pray they do not see me.

Down the stairs I go, on the opposite side, towards a beckoning tunnel.

As I slowly edge my way to the bottom of the stairs, I look up, into the gloom ahead. Two eyes stare at me, and I wonder what kind of creature this is. The eyes approach me, and a smile breaks out, worn, dirty yellow teeth, that lascivious look, and beneath her wretched gaze, a gun pointing straight at me.

I am lost, as she calls out, laughing bitterly. I can smell that oddness again, the air filled with burning flesh, and I wonder if soon mine will become part of it.