Unfound

common knowledge

James got up and walked towards the door Zack had entered through. "Hey, you know it's kinda weird. We didn't just get this bar in our- after-life, or whatever you wanna call it." With every step he got closer and Zack tried to speak up, but his British politeness was getting the better of him. "We got a little more too, it's hard to explain. You gotta see it I guess." James continued, reaching for the handle now. Zack dug his fingernails into the cushion of the stool he was sat on.

"Erm, I don't- I don't think that's a good idea. Stop. Please. It's not safe. Stop! STOP!" Zack said as James rambled on, practically screaming the final word, but it was too late. James opened the door.

"What's up buddy? Come look at what I mean." James said nonchalantly and stepped through the door onto a street-lit Brooklyn road.

What the? Zack thought the door would re-open onto a corridor where a foul writhing creature would be waiting to devour them all. But instead he saw New York. Or a version of New York at least.

Zack felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin.

"It's OK, friend. Come and take a look outside." Howard said softly.

He walked Zack outside and locked the door. James saw him do this and shook his head in exasperation. "Not New York, Howie. Nobody is here to rob your fine establishment."

Howard didn't hear him. James didn't reprimand him further though and instead motioned for Zack to join him in the middle of the street where he walked to the centre of a crossroad. He popped a cigarette into the corner of his mouth.

"Look dead ahead, man." James said, before lighting his smoke. It smelled herbal to Zack.

Zack couldn't ponder this for long because of what he saw. The road ended 80 metres or so up ahead in a sheet obsidian blackness that sliced right through the street and buildings alike. "Now look left and right."

Zack did so and saw the same thing. He looked up and saw a midnight sky that somehow looked to be low above them, like a ceiling. It instilled a new sense of fear into Zack and he turned to face James again while they waited for Howard to catch up. James raised his eyebrows knowingly and took a big drag on his cigarette/joint.

"Fucked up, man." He said through the smoke. Howard had reached them now. "Good to go?" James asked.

"Great to go." Howard responded.

"Well let's go then!" James said theatrically.

They walked down the deserted street past shoulder-to-shoulder three storey buildings until they stopped outside one that looked just the same as the rest in Zack's eyes. But this was apparently the one.

Howard opened the door and they entered the gloomy base of a stairwell. They proceeded through one of two adjacent doors to enter James and Howard's living quarters.

"Make yourself at home, Zack. It's quite something, I know." James winked at him.

Zack saw a stark living room which only contained a worn sofa and a mattress tucked away in the corner. The off-white walls were riddled with damp and Zack noted that two handguns were perched on the window ledge that faced onto the street.

It occurred to him that while these two men had exhibited nothing but friendliness, things seemed to change in an instant in this post-existence. Yet, this thought actually calmed him as he realised that he still had the survival instinct he had lacked in life. The notion of him having a greater purpose seemed all but certain now.

The other room housed a double bed with a metallic frame and had a bathroom adjoining it.

Howard motioned excitedly toward the couch. "Sit down, Jack. Please."