face mask.
Twenty Three
Ray had fallen asleep on the floor. It had felt like days that he had been underground, but in reality he was only there for less than twelve hours so far. The smell of the sewage had made him nauseas so he thought that getting some sleep would be advisable. After around ten minutes of sleep he is awoken to the sound of distant gunfire. In New York he’s used to hearing some occasional gunfire but on this occasion the gunfire seemed prolonged. It didn’t sound like handguns going off, it sounded like a machine gun, maybe even two or three machine guns. It worried him thinking about such things. Could it be that the world above was ripping its self apart. Could people be looting already? He wondered when the army would be coming. They always seem to show up in the movies when something happens. When Godzilla took over Manhattan, they were there. He just hoped that they would be there real soon. Rescue him and the survivors. Defeat the beacons or whatever they are. He was preoccupying himself with worry after worry when he heard something close by. He opened his eyes to be met with the end of a knife pointed directly at his right eye, inches above it. He tried to focus and when he did he saw who was holding it.
‘Uh oh, look who’s woken up,’ says Mitch as he brandishes the knife above Ray’s eye.
Ray swallows hard as he tries to remain calm.
‘Now listen here boy, you got something I want,’ he says, still holding the knife above Ray’s eye.
‘What?’ asks Ray while trying to not sound scared.
‘I want you gone, that’s what I want’
‘But…You said you were okay with me…’ says Ray
Mitch extends his finger and puts it on Ray’s lips
‘Shut your mouth boy, you’ll wake David. No, I want you gone, I don’t want you around my girls, and I certainly don’t want you around me, you hear me boy?’
Ray nods his head, there’s not much he can do with a knife pointing at his eye, one wrong move and he could be blind in a blink of it.
‘Now, I want you to pack your shit and fuck off, or I’m going to have to put you down’
‘Okay, okay, just don’t do anything rash,’ says Ray, trying to keep his voice down.
Ray hears something and so does Mitch; before Mitch could fully turn around he is hit in the back of the head with a large swing of a fist. Mitch’s body hits the floor hard, half of him dangles on top of Ray, but Ray pushes Mitch off and shuffles up to his feet. He sees David look at him with welcoming eyes.
‘You okay Ray?’ asks David
Ray just nods his head, dust falls off as he does so.
‘You sure?’
Ray nods once again
‘Look man, I would just kick his ass out of here but he has those two girls, I just can’t kick two girls out and risk them blowing up on the surface,’ David says as he looks at the two girls sleep across from them
‘I understand, I’m going for a walk, I need to clear my head,’ says Ray
‘Don’t go disappearing on us, we need you…I need you. We need to stick together, I’ll take care of Mitch, I’m sure I can teach him a lesson in manners,’
Ray nods his head and grabs his stuff.
‘Why you taking your bags?’
‘I’m not leaving my stuff here for that asshole to trash when he wakes up’
‘Leave them with me, I’ll look after them’
‘Nah, you’re alright. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere, just need to clear my head,’ Ray says as he walks down the sewer. The light from the oil drum fades as he escapes into the darkness.
Twenty Four
‘Any news from 48 th street?’ Asks Mr Conway
Mrs Harriet brushes her hair to the side and smiles.
‘Yeah, they got the job done. The estimated death toll is three hundred. They got some serious gunfire in,’ says Mrs Harriet
‘Any kids?’
‘No, fortunately all the kids were in school so just adults’
‘Good, I may be a revolutionary but even I don’t agree with killing kids. They should not have to suffer for the mistakes of their
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