Head pounding, you force your eyes open. Your body is sore and your mind is foggy. Thunder crashed outside, bringing another pulse of pain with it. You look around the small room. It's dimly lit, with one dusty lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Boxes upon boxes are stacked against the walls. The couch beneath you is scratchy and uncomfortable. You're itching to move. The events of last night come tumbling into your mind with the next crash of thunder. The masked figures, the ride downhill, falling out of the car. It hits you - You're in the Undercity. Panic fils your veins as you bolt upright. You run towards the door, but as you reach your hand out to turn the knob, the door opens. A large, broad man stands in front of you. You stumble back. Is he a threat? What is he going to do to you? You trip over one of the empty bottles and before you know it, your back is against the wall.
"H-Hey, I'm not going to hurt you, you know." He paused. "You don't need to be so terrified of me. My name's Mordikai."
You stare at him. He spoke like any other citizen of The City. Maybe you could get some information out of him. Part of you just wanted to get out and find a recognizable place. Hell, you'd even take arriving at the Slums as a welcome environment compared to this.
You take a deep breath. Demanding answers and acting rashly wouldn't do anyone any good. Right now, understanding the situation was paramount.
"My name's Jordan." You sighed, suddenly exhausted. "Can you give me a basic rundown of the situation?"
"'Course I can." Mordikai said, placing a bottle of water on top of one of the boxes. "For starters, the obvious. You're in the Undercity. This is my hut." He gestured to the dinky place.
"It's not much, but it's better than nothing. As for you, I found you a couple paces behind the shack. You were, uh, kinda fucked up. Some traders probably saw you and thought you'd make good money." He stopped, noting your expression. "Ah, sorry. Wasn't trying to be insensitive." He cleared his throat and watched a rat scurry across the floor.
"And how do I get back?" You asked, trying not to let your unease show as you scooched away from the rat.
"Back?" He asked. "Oh! To The City, right?"
You nodded.
"Well...it's not that simple. I'm sure you can smell the tension in the air between the Undercity and everyone else. Getting through borders won't be easy. You'd have to..." His voice trailed off. "Fuck it, it's easier just to show you. Follow me."
Reluctantly, you follow Mordikai out of his shack. As you pushed the door open, the first thing to hit you was the stench. The pure, suffocating scent of rotting bodies. You gagged. How could he be used to this? You looked around, trying to distract yourself from the absolute horror that attacked your nose. The Undercity was dark, lights sparsely placed near ledges. In the distance, there was the occasional scream of agony.
"Hey, watch your step." You heard Mordikai call out before falling face-first into the dirt. You looked behind you, but to your utmost shock, a detached arm lay on the ground before you.
"Wh-What the fuck?!" you cried out.
"Yeah, there was a nasty fight here the other night. I think they knew where you were, but another group decided to get their adrenaline hits. It's normal 'round here."
You manage to calm your shaking legs as you climbed to your feet. Mordikai beckons you over to stand beside him, and you begrudgingly do so. He pointed to a light, slightly brighter than the others.
"That's the entrance to the Slums. I know a couple people who can help you, but the trek there is gonna be a pain in the ass."
He pointed in the opposite direction.
"That over there is the other exit of the Undercity. It lies just outside of The City. If you're willing, I could get one of my friends in the Slums to transport us there, but it could take well over a month's time." He looked at you, reading your face. "Take your pick."
You looked around, and behind Mordikai was a wagon filled with more boxes. They looked similar to the boxes that were shoved against the walls of his hut.
"What's that?" You ask, curiosity taking the better of you.
"Oh...that?" He scratched his neck. "I'm moving. Got into some trouble and can't really stay here." He wouldn't look at you, but his body language told you that you shouldn't press the manner any more.
"Don't worry though, wherever you plan to go, I'll help you there. After all, I doubt you could make your way alone.
“Let’s take the way to the Slums.” You said. Neither of the options sounded particularly enjoyable, but you just wanted to get out of the Undecity. Staying here for over a month was unacceptable.
“So it’s settled then?” asked Mordikai.
You nodded, dreading the journey ahead. You didn’t dislike Mordikai, but you weren’t entirely comfortable with him.
“There’s gonna be a few problems though.” Mordikai said, already several paces ahead of you. “First things first, I’m sure you know that there’s a war coming, yeah? We’re going to have to be careful. Nobody here really has an idea of when it’s coming so we’re all kinda on edge.” He looked at you. “You don’t really have an idea, do you?”
“I know they were mobilizing people towards the opening of the ravine, but I’m not sure when they plan to take action.” You said, trying to dig through your memories for answers.
“Ah well, we’ll just have to hope that they don’t choose to take action while we’re there. Watch your step again.”
This time, you avoided tripping over a decaying corpse.
“We’re going to see some old friends of mine. Their names are Cynthia and Sydney. They’re traders.”
“Traders? Like…” your voice trailed off.
“Nah, these guys trade food and stuff. As you can tell,” he said, gesturing to the landscape, “we’re not exactly organized. So they trade foods and drinks so we don’t have to go stealing from stores and whatnot. They also trade drugs, but I doubt you wanted to hear that.”
The two of you kept walking in silence. You decided to break the silence.
“Tell me about yourself.”
Mordikai paused for one second, then two. He sighed.
“Listen, I…There’s… a long story.”
“We’re going to be walking this way for a while, aren’t we?”
“I guess you’re right.” he continued walking, but his shoulders were tense.
“I didn’t always live down here. I used to be like you – living in The City. Then a, uh, ‘family friend’ offered me a job. I was a naïve teen, of course I wanted a job. I followed him down here, and we worked. He wasn’t the best kind of person to be working under, but at that point I didn’t know my way around the Undercity.”
He paused, scratching the back of his neck again.
“Eventually, I came to not dislike it here. Don’t get me wrong, though, I don’t like it here. It’s just what I grew up with. Because I can understand both the people down here in the Undercity and people from the Slums and The City, I ended up becoming something like a translator. I help with trade and negotiations.”
“Are you moving out of here?” You blurted out.
Mordikai snorted.
“Yeah, I was thinking of it. I want to see how my family’s been doing lately. I want to know how they’ve been.” His voice trailed off.
“I-I’m sorry.” You started. “I didn’t mean to-“
“Don’t worry about it. It was a fair question.”
The two of you kept walking. Occasionally, you’d ask questions about what things were and Mordikai would point things out to you. He was nice and understanding. Maybe it was because he was once in your shoes.
“Oh yeah,” he began, “I almost forgot. We’ve gotta stop by a shop real quick.”
“What for?”
“Stuff for self-defense, y’know?”
Reluctantly, you nodded and followed Mordikai down a trail. You looked up, the entrance to the Slums was still a good bit away. It would probably take several days, maybe even a week to get there. It still beat walking through this hellhole for a month though.
The idea of having to fight people sat uneasily in your conscious. You didn’t want to hurt anyone, but you also didn’t want to be hurt.
“Will I…Will I have to kill someone?” you finally said it.
Mordikai looked at you up and down. A gentle smile crossed his face.
“Nah, if you follow me, we shouldn’t run into any trouble. And if we do, I’ll take care of it. I’m used to the kinds of people here. You don’t have to kill anyone if you don’t want to, alright?”
You nodded.
“Anyhow, the shop has a variety of weapons. There’s a couple pistols and revolvers, some knives and cleavers, some bigass swords, some spears, some brass knuckles, uhh, a couple grenades, stuff like that. You’re probably going to want at least one thing, just in case something happens. What would you like to get?”
“I’ll take a knife and a gun” you say quietly. You pointed at one of the pistols in the back. You knew nothing about them, but having some sort of ranged weapon would be a good idea. A knife had its obvious benefits in close-range combat. Both sat heavily in your hands. These were things meant to kill people, sitting in your own two hands. Mordikai noticed your hands beginning to tremble.
“Hey, don’t sweat it. I’m here and I know what I’m doing. I can teach you what you need to know, but I gotta run to some other shops first, mkay?
You nodded, skeptically.
“I doubt you’re going to run into any trouble here, but for now I’ll at least show you the basics of knives. After that, I’m gonna go grab some medical supplies and some extra ammo and we’ll be on our way.”
His hands were gentle as he showed you the proper way to use the knife. It sat heavily in your hands, but at long last you felt that you could defend yourself at least until he shows up. You watched him walk away, his back tall and proud.
As you waited you began to hear a low growling from your left. Slowly, cautiously you turn around. A wild dog foaming at the mouth stared back at you. It moved forward. One step, two steps, and then it charged.
You decided that, in a situation like this, you needed to defend yourself. You aren’t necessarily unfit, but you doubt you could outrun a dog. You braced yourself, gripping the handle of the knife as best as you could despite your sweating palms. Every muscle in your body screamed at you to run, but you knew you couldn’t. You held your ground as the dog charged towards you, foam dripping out of the corners of its mouth. You took a deep breath. Its breathing was heavy and ragged. Its eyes were bloodshot and its fur was matted. Stepping forward, you felt the knife plunge into its body. Warm blood spilled onto your hand and the dog yelped in pain. You flinched. You didn’t want to hurt the dog. You wanted to hold the dog and take it to a vet. But you knew that you couldn’t do that here. It took one step back. Then another. Then it charged at you again.
You closed your eyes as you felt the blade of the knife plunge into the dog’s fur and into its skin. You didn’t look at it as you heard it fall to the ground. Even if you could force yourself to look at it, you doubted that you would be able to see anything through the tears in your eyes. You crouched beside the dog’s body as it struggled to breathe. It snapped at you as you tried to pet it. You moved to where it couldn’t bite you and stroked its fur until it stopped struggling. You continued to pet it even as you heard Mordikai walking up to you.
“What happened?” His voice was concerned.
It was a stupid question. Any idiot could see what happened. You didn’t answer him.
“Oh…uh,” his voice trailed off as he met your eyes. “Are you hurt at all?”
You couldn’t bring yourself to speak through the tears. You simply shook your head. Mordikai knelt down beside you and the dog. You could feel his hand on your shoulder.
“Let’s find some place to bury the little guy, alright?”
He picked up the dog’s body and together the two of you found a place to bury the dog. The two of you stayed silent as he took his shovel and begun digging. You tried to stop the tears. A question burned at the back of your mind.
“How often will I have to do that?”
He paused for a moment.
“Dogs like that aren’t that common. We got unlucky.” he paused and launched another pile of dirt out of the pit he was digging. “Fighting, however, is another story. Listen, Jordan, you’re going to end up having to fight. I get that for someone who didn’t grow up in an area like this, this isn’t normal. But for everyone else it is.”
He turned around to look at you.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll try to take care of most of the fights myself. I can’t promise that nobody will attack you, but I’ll teach you how to defend yourself without killing. But, on the chance that not killing someone doesn’t work, you’re going to have to grit your teeth and bear it, okay?”
You nodded. You understood that whether you liked it or not, this was the way it worked in the Undercity. When you and Mordikai were done burying the dog, he taught you the basics of using a gun. You tried it out on some spare beer cans that were lying on the ground. He was patient, showing you what you were doing wrong and how what you could do to fix it. After several hours, he decided that you knew how to fire the gun properly. He went on to talk about where you should aim. You listened quietly. The sound of his voice was comforting.
Eventually, the two of you began to move towards the Slums again. He talked more about the Undercity and various customs. He showed you how to cook rats over a fire. It was disgusting. He laughed at your face as you stared at the charred rat. The entrance to the Slums was about half a day away at this point. Soon, you would be able to get out of this hellhole. You could go back to your family and finally have a proper meal. You could even shower and sleep on mattress. You couldn’t wait.
But it was not that simple. A ragtag group of about three people stood in your way. You didn’t have time to say anything before the one on the right drew his gun. Mordikai was quick to shoot, stepping back to stand in front of you. However, he didn’t see the guy on the left circling around towards you. Mordikai was aiming for the guy on the right. He wasn’t going to notice the guy heading towards you in time. You had to do this yourself. You stared down the barrel of his gun.
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