Zelo hauled me to my feet, threw open his window and practically dragged me out in a panic. He slammed the pane down and to my surprise the latch jolted locked from the inside. Impressed, I raised an eyebrow; he simply shrugged and proceeded to grab my wrist, tugging me down the path created by the backs of identical houses.

I knew I was fit enough, but my body burned and muscles seized. I let out a frustrated grunt as I stumbled, trying desperately to put one foot in front of the other fast enough to keep up with Zelo. I did my best to ignore the feeling of my healing skin splitting as it was stretched by the sudden exercise. I could feel blood wet my wound dressings.

Suddenly we were at a brick wall, and with the grace of a leopard, Zelo was atop it. I was in no condition to follow. I felt like I was faced with the end of the road, but my determined saviour was not so quick to give up. Hopping down silently, I was ushered at a crouch down the line of the wall. Although we were fleeing with potentially our lives at stake, a rush of excitement permeated the atmosphere between us.

By following the wall at all times- even squeezing between houses and the overbearing structure- we weren't lead any deeper into the village, much to my relief. We could easily be in to the trappings of the authorities if we strayed into even the back alleys. Here, we were on the rift of the village, between our cage and our freedom, thinly obstructed by the membrane defence. Shouts, barks and footsteps seemed to travel with us. We'd caught their attention, alright.

Caught between yet another house and a higher section of the wall, my back sliding against the rough brick, I began to feel the texture run smooth behind me. I wasn't left a moment to be addled, because abruptly I felt myself tumble backwards, letting out a strangled squeal as the false wall fell through and Zelo disappeared from my sight. I rolled over loose bricks down a dusty short track, landing hard at the bottom, shoulder slamming into the wall of whatever I'd fallen into. I gathered myself up, coughing as I squinted around. Despite my immediate panic, deja vu crept over me and calmed my nerves to curiosity.

The silhouette of my companion crouched in the only source of light, and I watched as he hurriedly patched up the opening with the bricks I'd scattered. He pieced together the puzzle of bricks with remarkable speed, right up until the last crack was blocked in. It was almost pitch black, but I could just make out his figure moving in the dark. He crawled over to me, stopping just short of my curled up form. “What-” I could imagine the look on his face to match the aporetic tone of voice- “Did you just do?”

I couldn't help but groan in response. “I don't know,” I lamented, getting up onto my knees only to find the ceiling was too low to straighten up. “We appear to be in some kind of tunnel,” I observed. And then it clicked.

“Where do you think it leads?”

“Let's be optimistic and say out of the village quickly and painlessly.” I tried not to let on in my voice that I'd recognised the place. For the most part, I was right, but dread pulled at my gut at the thought of what awaited us at the other end. My mind whirred for a way to get Zelo out and back to his home as if nothing happened, but the inevitable conclusion remained- he could either go back out the way we came, and likely get caught leaving one of the last remaining secret passages belonging to the Daeryong Anarchists, or he could come with me through to the end, and we'd both be up for questioning by a group of individuals playing an entirely different ball game.

“Well, we may as well follow it, wherever it goes. I'm not going back out there with those bloody dogs.” I got the idea he was well acquainted with the brutes we heard hollering earlier.

“If you waited here for a while, you could leave when things have quietened down.”

“There's no telling who'll be watching at any time, I could wait as long as I wanted and still get caught.” He refuted my proposal, urging me to crawl into the unknown by shoving me as he spoke.

“Okay,” I replied warily, shuffling along on my hands and knees blindly forward. I wondered how Zelo was coping in a space barely large enough for my smaller frame.

The place was earthy, I could feel it under my hands and smell the soil, but it wasn't stony or uncomfortable to travel through. The track, despite being tiny, was well beaten. I thanked whatever grace made this so, as my knees and shins were the main parts of my legs which were so sore.

We didn't talk to each other for the next few minutes, although there was much on my mind and questions hanging in the air between us. I could tell Zelo had much to say too, but both of us remained silent. Occasionally Zelo wouldn't notice I'd turned a corner and head- the wall with a clunk and a curse. I'd ask if he was okay, he'd brush it off, if a little testily. I thought our eyes would adjust to the darkness after a little while, but it was absolutely pitch black. Normally there would be a reed wick to guide our way, but this wasn't a planned visit.

It didn't take long to get to the bit I hated about these tunnels. The clan clearly didn't care about glamour- either that, or they just didn't think the design through before going ahead with it. Some of the underground halls had stairs at the opening, but in the early days while they were still being built, there was neither the time nor the resources. I heard the ones in the larger settlements could become quite grand, as they were the oldest and over time things like that could be developed- but clearly, by the slope before me, this was one of the underground hideouts which was developed barely beyond necessity. I stopped to alert Zelo to the slide he was about to encounter, but he bumped into me and sent me skidding down the shoot on my elbows. I could hear him giggle at me as I ground to a halt at the bottom.

There was something different about the room at the bottom, now that I'd slid down into it. I could see. And, as my eyes quickly adjusted, I found I was looking at a pair of black leather shoes. I gulped hard on the sudden lump in my throat.

Zelo slid down soon after me, complaining when he found I hadn't cleared a path for him and he landed on my legs. His babbling cut short as he too found his sight. I could feel his dread seep through the atmosphere.

I let my eyes trail up the legs of the figure who was now tapping their foot, my mouth agape as I took in the dark attire right up to their scowling face.

"Aha... Let me explain..."