Poison City

 

On a quiet night, a group of teenagers were on their bikes, riding across the empty streets, passing through some deserted warehouses and buildings in some of the run down parts of the South-Eastern District.

 

“Shhh! Careful!” When some boys fallen behind started huffing because they were trying to pedal harder, the older boys leading the way immediately stopped and tried to shush everyone: “We cannot make a sound! If anyone hears us, we’d be in big trouble!”

 

“Sorry! Sorry!” One of the boys who fell behind apologized.

 

“Sshhhh!” The leading boys immediately shushed again.

 

“Sorry - sorry.” The body lowered his voice and apologized again.

 

“Let’s take a break, we need to ride at a steady pace. ” An older teenage girl wearing a headband raised her hand: “If we don’t keep it steady, some of us are gonna get lost!”

 

“Okay, then let’s take a break.” The leader boy, who was in a windbreaker jacket, whom the kids called “Jax” said: “Five minutes, okay? Just five minutes, we still have about halfway to go. And it’s across some very rough road, so everyone pace yourself, have a piece of chocolate, or whatever you bring.”

 

“Are you sure it’s not gonna be dangerous? ” Just this moment, a young teenage girl wearing a pair of glasses raised her hand and asked: “Whenever I ask my mom, she just tells me to hush and play somewhere else. The grown ups never tell me anything. And if I keep asking they’d just get angry and yell at me…”

 

“My mom says it’s super dangerous. ” Another teenage boy with a thread hat leaned on his bike handles and said: “They told me it’s a place with ghosts and monsters. They also told me, that there have been many people who go into the ruins, and they never come back. None of them come back.”

 

“Like your dad?” Some other teenager asked.

 

“Hey, fuck you! He’s just working in the Northern District okay? He sends us money!”

 

“He’s just sending you scraps!” The annoying teenager heckled again.

 

“Fuck you! Why don’t you go eat a bag of shit?!”

 

“Silence! You fuckers! You wanna get caught?!” Jax the leader raised his voice: “Alright, break’s fucking over! Let’s get our move on!”

 

“But - you said five minutes!” The slow boy in the back was still panting.

 

“Yeah, but these fuckers are just too loud! We’ll get caught if we stay longer. Let’s go!”

 

The teens continued on their way. This time, the group rode slower than before. It was mostly because the terrain started to get rough, and the road was not as straight and easy to spot anymore. And partially because the younger boys in the back were falling further behind.

 

Fog started forming around them as they continued to ride uphill. Some pillars and walls of the old ruins had become visible for them. The leaders of the group started to get visibly excited, and they stopped caring about making noises, presumably because right now they had made it far enough away from the residential areas. 

 

They passed a breach in a wooden fence. They rode past the point where even the roads of dirt and dried grass ended. Now what surrounded them was old but deserted buildings that looked like they were villages of the old times. The houses were all made of wood, bamboo and hay, and only a few of them seemed to be made of stones and earth. There were no signs of living people or livestock anywhere.

 

“We’re almost there! We’re almost there! Pedal up you suckers!” Jax laughed and yelled at the other teenagers behind him.

 

“Wait up! I’m tired!” The slowest and youngest boy cried behind the team: “Hey! Wait up!”

 

“Grow a better pair of legs! Gyuu-uge baby! Grow a better pair of legs!” The same heckler teenager yelled back at the slow boy, then giggled and sped up some more.

 

The fog around them grew thicker, and the visibility was dropping to a dangerously low degree. It did not take long, before the youngest slow boy started seeing less and less people in front of him.

 

“Dewy! Dewy! Please wait for me!” The last boy could barely catch his breath - after just a while, there was only one red headed slightly chubby boy in front of him. His voice started shaking, and his eyes were becoming teary.

 

“I need to catch up to them! I need to go! ” Dewy looked back at the last boy, his pupils somehow gained a light gray-ish blue hue. His mouth was smiling, yet his facial muscles just seemed stiff and unnatural. Then out of nowhere, he gathered up the energy to pedal harder and start to speed up. Just a few breaths’ time, he was almost lost in the fog.

 

“Dewy! Dewy!” The last boy tried to grind his sore and uncontrollable legs with tears running down his face: “Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t you dare!”

 

The chubby boy in front still proceeded to leave him behind.

 

“Dewy! Dewy! If you leave me behind, I’m gonna tell your mother! I’m telling everyone who threw that dead rat in the temple chimney!” The last boy almost cried his lungs out: “Please! Dewy! Don’t leave me!”

 

Dewy let out an uncharacteristic, and slightly unhinged laugh, then continued into the fog. Nowhere to be seen again. 

 

The last boy cried and kept pedaling. The fog became thicker and thicker, pretty soon he was not able to even see anything just a few more steps out. His muscles were screaming at him, he could feel his joints creaking. Eventually he could not hold on anymore and lost control of the bike, unable to get up.

 

“Dewy! Jax! Please!” The last boy cried and yelled, he felt his throat burning, his lungs were leaking more air than they were taking in.

 

No one responded to him, no one waited for him. He tried to get up again, but his legs gave out once more and he bumped his nose and his forehead on the ground. There was dirt and grass stuck on his face, he could smell the salty, irritating warm liquid in his nostrils. 

 

“Please… please don’t leave me here…” Young Gyuu wiped his face and his nose as he looked around him. The fog was so thick, he could see neither the way forward nor the way back.

 

Gyuu laid on the ground for a couple of minutes, and when his legs felt better and his clothes were already soaked in dirt and mud, he tried once again to stand up. He did it, though his legs were shaking and his knees were hurting.

 

“He-Hello?” Gyuu asked, looking around.

 

The fog was still one moment, and without any hints or signs, it started rumbling and rolling. After a while, Gyuu saw the shadow of a woman, wearing a silky white dress and donning a full head of flowing golden hair.

 

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Shout out to my patrons this upcoming Chinese New Year:

Jonathan,

Mant06

Thank you very much and have a happy Year of the Rabbit!

 

Egao Chan