The Phantom: Code Breaker

Chapter 31: Have Gone West

They ran around the block where they entered the underpass to reach the subway gate in Zone 4. Sweats dripping to their skin as they hardly ran away from their pursuers.

Their footsteps echoed when they entered the hallway going to the platform. A mild sound of the flickering lights and sounding statics on radio speakers broke the silence of the underground area. In that silence, they can hear their own heavy breaths.

"We're finally here..." Ken said, catching his breath. His face is swollen red as he takes deep breaths to ease his fatigue. He rested his palms to his knees and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I guess we left them on our tracks."

"I really hope so. Now, what do we do, Markus?" Brent's leg turned to lead. He's breathing like he's in a high-altitude area and his skin is pricking the cold. His fingers are twitching as his head slowly turned blank until he heard Markus saying,

"Get a grip, you two!" Markus threw his hands on their shoulders.

The two stared at him and controlled their breaths. They tried their best to get their feet on the ground.

"We should get going and proceed to the platform," Markus said. His vision is also fuzzy and he felt like his world is turning but he knew he needs to move forward.

"Ahh, you're right."

They arrive at the lobby and were greeted by People who dropped to the floor with all the mess you can think of.

"Even infants lie on the floor..." Brent muttered in a shaky voice. "I hope they're not injured, right?"

"I hope so. But you see, Parents nowadays rely too much on technology that even infants were given some sort of device to keep them entertained or looked after when their guardians have to attend to something else." Markus explained. He looked around to emphasize his point. " Take a look on that Mom with the stroller."

Ken and Brent looked at where Markus pointed and saw what he was referring to.

A candy pink baby stroller sits beside a bench where its parent is seated. At the cover, instead of plushy stars or toys were hanging, hanged a cookie box-size device for the baby to see.

"See that? The kid was watching something on the device attached to his stroller because his mom is busy with another something. " Markus said. "They're waiting for the train to arrive ang might be going somewhere for business."

They saw a laptop wide open on the table of the parent and realized what was Markus was implying.

"People are very occupied with their jobs, their living, that they rely on something to attend to their children. I bet that kid is watching Super Martley Bro and Friends as his mom worked on her job. Tsk." Markus muttered. "And they blame the kids for not talking much or spending more time with their parents. What a crap." he twitched his lip in disgust.

Ken knew they'll reach a disagreement at the moment they'll snap their anger out so he decided to break the ice.

"Ne, Markus? Do we need a ticket to pass through that gate there?" Ken humbly asked. He was quite flustered on what he saw around the subway Station so he tried to change the subject. Sweat drip from his temple, his heart is beating so fast.

"Do you think someone will sell us tickets at this moment, Ken?" Brent asked, placing his hand on his hips. He rides the wave that Ken set.

"Ahh, no." Ken replied blankly.

"That is why we need to trespass to get to the train. I need to reach the nearest place to Orion." Markus said after taking a breath.

"But, if no one is manning the ticket booth, it can be thought that no one is manning the trains, too, right?" Ken discerned. He unconsciously took a step back. He felt a cold air kissing his spine.