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            They were tromping through the dark puddles of the sewer, both of them ankle deep in grey water. “If we live through this, I’m gonna need a whole menu of shots.” “I think there’s gonna be bigger problems than that. WE don’t know how far this goes. Might be the whole state, the country…” “Shit…” Moon said under his breathe. The small flashlight they had cast a narrow beam of light through the stinking darkness. They waked for a time in silence Richard in front with the shotgun, Moon in back with the flashlight. Giving way to an open chamber they looked up and saw different pipes feeding into a large central drain. There were maybe eight other tunnels similar to the ones they had just emerged from an they had absolutely no idea where they went or if they even went anywhere. “You wanna smoke?” Moon asked pulling out a pack of cigarettes, sitting on a concrete block against the wall. He put the cigarette in his mouth and flicked his zippo and puffed it a couple times, putting it back in his pocket. “Wait!” Richard said. “Let me see your lighter!” Grabbing it from Moon he flicked it on and watched it intensely walking slowly in front of the entrances of each tunnel, pausing finally at the last one. The lighter flicked inward, being pulled by a near I’m[perceptible draft. “Here!” he said. This is the way, look at the way the lighter moves.” “I’m not an idiot.” Moon said taking his lighter back roughly and flipping it closed. “ Now let’s go.” They sloshed onward in this fashion for a while neither speaking. They came across rats and all kinds of human waste, but the sewer had widened to include walkways on the sides so at least they were out of the water. They heard heavy sloshing sounds up ahead and Moon clicked off the light. Coming from a distance the sloshing grew louder. Richard looked at Moon and they began to jog as quietly as possible forwards toward the nearest outcropping of a pipe intersection. The sound of the sloshing grew closer as they sped up trying to quiet the sounds of their feet on the damp concrete. They made the pipe just barely as the sloshing rounded the corner. They were not able to see, but could hear it continuing to approach also now present was the sound of many mice, squeaking and squealing. They began to see them racing in front of the outcrop, dozens of mice running in the opposite direction. In their view came a dark creature, in the dim light filtering from various drains they were able to see it was roughly feline in shape, running on all fours and it was scooping up large mouthfuls of the rats as they ran. IT was horrifying to see it scoop up these large numbers of rats, somehow pinning them wrapped up in its mouth, like tendrils of smoke pulling them in, their terrified screams silenced as they entered the dark mass of a mouth. The creature moved further down the pipe, keeping pace with the ever growing parade of escaping rats. Moon and Richard exited the outcropping and began to continue on the other way, now neither of them talking, both of them waiting for the next nightmare. They were sloshing through the sewers when Richard said “Stop.” They both stopped immediately. From the tunnel behind them they heard more splashing sounds, but their pursuer was definitely human based on the sound. “Ok, keep going.” Richard said quietly. They continued jogging when Richard looked at him and whispered “Keep going.” Then he ducked around a corner holding the shotgun. Moon continued through the long tunnel. A shot rang out in the air and spark from in front of him told Moon he was being fired at. Out of instinct and knowing Richard was close behind, Moon raised his arms and shouted, “Don’t shoot!” Then turning around came face to face with a young man with long dark hair who was holding a gun leveled on him. Moon dropped his gun to the side “You’ve got me. Now what do you want?”  “Vengeance.” The man responded. Approaching closer. “Vengeance for who?” Moon said. “Odds are I have no idea who you’re avenging or how they died. I kill, I steal, hell I’ve even been known to rape my fare share.” Moon said smiling. “The musician cocked the gun. “Not anymore.” He said. Moon smiled. The shotgun blast was deafening in the small area and the range was so close it nearly tore William in half. “Moon.” He gasped from the ground, pawing feebly at Moons leg. “Esmeral…” he was able to start saying, then Moon fired his weapon and finished the job. HE smiled, for the first time in control since he met with the monk. They continued walking listening for any other sounds of pursuit. After a time they began to hear other sounds, large crashing and lapping and began to smell other scents, salt and ocean. They came finally to a final bend and when they turned it they could see outwards for a great distance. Walking to the edge of the pipe they came to a grate, and on the other side, the sea. Together donkey kicking in unison they were able to knock the grate from the pipe and exit onto the beach. Both of them taking a moment to breathe a deep sigh of relief. Even though they were no longer in danger it still felt like a huge relief to have the ocean within sight. Thought the sky was dark, it was not clouded by black fog. It seemed that blanket of blackness could not cover the water. They briefly conversed about the right direction and decided to head north, away from the city. Though it was less likely to find rescue, it was less likely to be populated by monsters, they thought maybe they could somehow outrace the devastation and evil that had accompanied the black fog. And there on the horizon they could see a ship cutting through the night. “Those fools.” Moon said, “They’re headed straight back to the city.” Wait, look.” Painted on the side of the ship in emerald green was the triangular symbol that had been etched into the magicians amulet, a familiar sight to both of them given it somewhat out of place nature and embellishment so deeply beautiful. “We’re going back.” Moon said. “Are you crazy? There’s no way!” moon said again. “We’re going back. They know what’s going on here and they can tell us how to stop it. And if they can’t, we’ll take that boat and get as far away from here as we can possibly get. Or I can take that shotgun back at any time.” He said. Richard thought about it for a moment, judging the distance between them. Then smiled an almost sly smile. “Sounds great boss. Let’s do it.” Moving in the direction towards the city, Richard thought for once his boss was right. Whoever that was in the boat was obviously whole enough to be sailing at top speed, and its kitchen and stores would hopefully be fully stocked. To their luck the coastline was mostly clear as they made their way back. At one point they did hear a screeching sound above their heads. Ducking for cover they both looked up to see a flock of birds heading towards the water in a flurry. Diving among them larger than hawk and somehow misshapen a black shape was diving among them, devouring birds with each dive. They hid for a while until the flock moved onwards and they noticed that as soon as they flew above the water the black shape squealed and reeled back, smoking as if burned. They moved on cautiously in the direction of the small marina that serviced the city. As moon took point Richard cracked open the shotgun and saw it had no shells. He glared his eyes at Moon. That is what he had meant when he said he could take the shotgun back at any time. He felt a deep seething hatred from having been tricked, but it was nothing compared to the hatred he held for Danny and the little bastard Stephen. When he saw them again he was going to get more than even with Stephen he chuckled. As they approached a high-rise they could see most of the city and it was a sad sight. Most of it was covered in fog, some of the lower tenancy’s had actually caught fire, turning almost a quarter of the city to a ball of fire, by now mostly reduced to embers, and all of it covered with a thick black fog, but the fog was not endless, it hovered only a few hundred feet over the city, and they could see forms moving in the shadows, mammoth forms larger than the buildings. Looking at each other they both shared a look of shocked disbelief and a twinge of hopelessness, almost as if acting they said “We’re gonna make it.” “Yeah, I know we are.” They continued walking in silence for a few more miles, hiding when they heard something, witnessing various monstrosities crawling, slithering, flying. Some of these had been no larger than barnyard chicken and had swarmed them, grasping their legs with the tendrils with teeth, chewing their shoes and the fabric of their pants. They stomped on these creatures viciously, each puffing into smoke under their boots with almost no resistance. When they topped another high-rise they were looking down at the small marina, catering mostly to the wealthy elite of the city, it had been ransacked and \pillaged after the outbreak of the fog. Most of the ships were gone, some of them sunk within sight of the dock due to user error in the panic. Some of the boats sat in the docks undisturbed, mostly the smaller vessels. Pulling into the dock was the large four masted sail boat painted mostly black and grey. The sight of it was ominous and Moon looked over at Richard as the crew came to the railing. There was an old man dressed in a black robe, and standing beside him was Xavier the Magician, dressed in a long black jacket. Moon narrowed his eyes. “Ok, so we sneak closer and see what they do. Once we know how many there are we move in and take them." Richard nodded and they bother moved on in silence.