Sector 10

Chapter 11

After wandering out of the museum's area of the Sector, I finally found what I was looking for. In a secluded zone of unused apartments, a wire fence could be seen situated between two.

I wrapped clawed fingers around the wire and hoisted myself over. On the other side, I gestured for Jon to come over. The fence was high, but he was fairly tall, so he was able to boost himself over with minimal awkwardness.

On the right of us was an opening in the wall. Through it was an uneven stone staircase that lead underground. The darkness engulfed us until we neared the bottom, where the staircase smoothed out to knobbly, naturally formed stone. Ahead was a passage of more stone, one of the many entries to the immense cave system under Sector 10. The only thing lighting up this part were the bright blue glowsticks placed along the ground. We trudged along, and the glowsticks turned into lanterns displaying a warm yellow ambience for us.

We eventually reached a wide room with four gaps connected by the tracks for the monorails. The tracks were made of a smooth metal with a violet luminosity rising from underneath, a common feature of Sector 10. The walls and platforms on the ground were mostly levelled out, except for the limestone that attempted to overrun it. Lazily hanging from the ceiling, held up only by wires, were thin rods of the same purple light that could be seen from under the tracks. I could hear faint buzzing noises coming from the lights.

Jon, who had picked up a glowstick, trudged over to a wall. Scrawled in hot pink spray paint, someone had written "Life is a simulation, wake up." The rest of the wall was covered in similar cryptic graffiti. Fate worse than dying. A truant existence, at best. One part of the wall had tally marks.

I joined Jon, looking upon the deranged masterpiece. "The ghetto raises the maddest people," I said softly. "Let's keep going."

We travelled through another series of passages, the light sources switching between lantern and glowstick as the ground's height rose and fell. We explored more tramways and sewers before reaching our destination. At the end of a tunnel was a wall with bricks that had been clobbered through and removed to create an entry. When we stepped through, we were greeted by a blazing orange luminance. The aroma of smoke filled my nose, a distantly familiar feeling. I grasped Jon's hand and lead him through.

This was the area of the slums that is the most inhabited. It resembled an underground neighbourhood, with small cubed stone structures lining the natural limestone walls. There were a few bridges and stairs that connected the tops of them; the roofs were also home to many. Hung at the head of doorways and spaces for windows were blankets of thin fabrics for privacy. Some people didn't even have a residence inside a building so there were a few layers of blankets on the ground to act as a mattress. Spread around the area were burn barrels and lanterns to provide both light and warmth. Tired locals indolently walked around the place, barely sparing a glance. There was a mix of young and old. If they were looking at us, they were narrowing their eyes at Jon's suit jacket, ready to pounce like hungry cats. I braced myself in case they would act on their desires.

I guided Jon past many homes until we arrived at a certain district of the neighbourhood. One that made me shudder. Located near a wide staircase which I knew lead to the "maintenance" halls of the station, were demolished skeletons of homes. The closer to the path, the more ruined the building was. Columns that were holding up some of the rooves had been destroyed, causing it to fall into itself. Some stone from the very top of the cave had also fallen and never been moved. I traced my hand over the few bricks that remain standing, over lines that Mei and I had carved for fun. It was mainly our names over and over again.

"Is this...?" Jon whispered.

I nodded, still inspecting the wall.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I was told that someone mentally ill was running from the police. They were about to catch him, so he committed suicide. He tried to take the police with them," I responded as I stepped through a frame of a doorway.

Huge slabs of stone and debris littered the ground. A few dented cans of mouldy food lay waste also. Splattered in the middle of the room were blood stains, too dark to be called red. The sight made my heart hammer, ready to burst at any moment.

I headed outside again, wrapping my arms around me. Jon lingered inside for a moment before following me.

"Ai?" a voice beside me said.

I swivelled around to meet the eyes of a man with time traced in his face. Dressed in a tattered and dull robe of sorts, he had wiry grey hair that reached his shoulders and a stubbled chin. Beside a mattress, he leaned against a wall, a cigarette in one hand.

"Hi, Archie," I said awkwardly.

"Sweet girl, where have you been?" he straightened himself and placed his hands on my shoulders, examining me concerningly.

"I got a job..."

Jon stood behind me, still taking in his surroundings.

"Well, I'm glad you escaped this hellhole," he twittered.

I nodded, pulling out a few coins. "Thanks for taking care of us."

Back then, Archie was the old man that slept outside, opposite the room we stayed in. He had a soft spot for children and would make sure we were always fed. He mostly liked to make sure Mei was entertained, her being in such an unfortunate situation for her age. Not very long before the accident, he fractured a vertebra in his back and we switched positions, sharing the food that we stole as a thanks. He witnessed the explosion. But since he was still recovering from his injury, could only watch the fiery disaster take place.

Archie gratefully took the coins. "Anything to ease the hardships. But maybe I didn't do a good enough job," he mumbled, motioning to my hair.

I subconsciously stroked my hair. I said goodbye and continued showing Jon around the place, but I think the message I was trying to emphasise was already out.

---

We were walking out of the slums the same way we came in. I had pulled my hood over my head again because I didn't think I could handle encountering anyone else I used to know.

"I knew you didn't have the best past, but I didn't know you were from somewhere like that. That's horrible," Jon said.

"I think I know that."

"Sorry, that was insensitive."

"It's okay," I mumbled.

Jon put his hands in the pockets of his pants, and we continued our stroll through... a cave, I guess. Then Jon spoke once more.

"Tell me, Ai," Jon began. "How did you get employed? I thought that people from the ghetto don't get hired."

"I used to wonder that as well. I don't remember much about my family, but I knew they were weapons manufacturers. But supposedly purely for outlaws, infamous among the criminal world. My parents were murdered by one of their own clients, for information they held. Our parents sent Mei and I to apparent safety – to Sector 10, but since we were just kids with no family here, we could only just survive down here. According to him, my boss found out about the 'long lost children' of my parents' and tracked me down. Thought I'd be a good asset to his arsenal."

We came across the tram tracks that we first encountered, and Jon asked if I had a marker. I didn't, but Jon spotted a pile of used spray paint cans, not far from the graffiti wall. He shook and tested out a few of them before finding one that still had paint inside. He sprayed A + J on an empty space on the wall before grinning at me like a child, proud of his newly finished drawing. He chuckled when he jogged back to me; I was already walking out of the room, too shy to say anything about the new graffiti on the wall. It felt slightly immature, but sweet, nonetheless.

On our way back, we talked about our favourite things. Clichéd, but a topic we never touched on. One example was Jon's favourite muesli bar flavour (it was raspberry and white chocolate). Honestly, I would listen to Jon ramble all night long. He made me genuinely happy. My charismatic and charming Jonathan. He did...