"Omega Chapter Two: The Underground" by Kate ´The Pirate´ Riley

Chaz gazed around the tunnel, now wading knee deep in sewerage and dust. He had to bow his head slightly as when he stood, the arched cave-like tunnel brushed against the top of his head and near enough crushed his ears right down to the skull and with each turn of his gently swishing tail, he could feel the touch of the rough sewer walls. Aside from random dripping noises all was silent. Not even the buzz of the city above penetrated the underground and he shivered if not for the numbing effect the icy cold sewerage was having on his legs but for the eerie silence.

‘Creepy.’

Chaz started as a blood-curdling scream rang out through the walls of the tunnel, chilling him to his very core. He turned suddenly to say something to his canine friend but was almost bowled over by Danny’s huge structure as he bounded past him, head bent down low, thorough the sludge and down towards the descending depths of the sewer.

‘Chaz, come on!’

Bewildered, Chaz found himself unable to choke a reply and scurried after him, struggling to tackle the thick sludge with apprehension, beyond what little light remained…

They had been running for but a moment, Chaz following the noises made by Danny as he leapt from one foot to the other through the thick sewer slime, before it began to get unusually light again. Soon, Danny became visible again and it got darker all too quickly, but only so that Danny’s dirty blonde hair bobbed up and down before him. Suddenly, the screams where becoming clearer and, in between each one, came an even louder and more desperate cry for help. Chaz then realised that there was not one but two voices. The first always constant and the other one calling ‘help!’ and telling someone to ‘get back!’ Then the bright orange light came again, and a scent even stronger than the rotting sewerage. A strong scent of burning and strangely enough, exotic spices. Chaz swayed to a halt as Danny stopped suddenly in front of him, arms outstretched, at a turning, in the forever-winding network of tunnels.

‘What is it?’

Danny raised a finger to his lips and gestured to something around the corner. Chaz stepped forward to take a look when there was a loud sound like rustling leaves and a sudden gust of air blew back at him, that would heave knocked him off his feet, had Danny not caught him.

‘Listen closely…’ Danny said in a voice little more than a whisper.

‘Please, Sammy, get back! Close your eyes!’

It was a woman’s voice, and in the background the sound of the muffled crying that sounded, to Chaz, like that of an infant. Chaz listened closer, as he was sure that Danny had wanted him to listen out for the attacker and not the cries the victims but could hear nothing else but the steady beat of the loud rustling noises and the heavy shifting noises of whoever was there, advancing toward the much smaller noises of the woman and the child. There was a brief silence, as the child stopped crying momentarily and the rustling noises stopped. Then Chaz felt his stomach begin to lurch as he heard a steady but heavy rhythm of someone, or something, breathing. The heavy breathing echoed off the walls of the tunnel and that strange spicy scent began to grow stronger. There was a sudden swishing noise that sent Chaz’s already fast beating pulse into overdrive and it was only then that he realised that it had grown considerably warmer and felt the heavy beads of sweat running down his forehead as he leapt back in surprise. Then, without warning, all light vanished without a trace and as they where engulfed by a sudden tidal wave of sludge and grime.

“Chaz! Hold on!”

Chaz closed his eyes tight as he fell with a sickening ‘thud’ below the surface of the shallow slime, hitting his pounding head against the sewer floor, dazed and winded from the impact of the stone floor against his chest and forehead. He could feel a huge weight atop his back, as though something or someone where pushing him down with great strength and intent and he found himself unable to move from the waist down.

“Chaz…!”

He could hear Danny’s voice above him, muffled and faint, and the constant screams from whoever it was his friend had intended to rescue. He grasped at the air above him, his arm emerging from the murky water desperately as Chaz began to realise that he could not hold his breath for much longer. The water he had swallowed left the back of his throat coarse and hurting whilst his eyes stung and his ears rang. There was something else up there, something that kept on rising above the noise of the felidae around him, like the sound of nails being dragged across a slate board, only deeper and far louder, so loud that Chaz could actually feel the tremors run through the tunnel floor and along his skin. His hand brushed against the side of the tunnel and he opened his mouth on impulse to cry out, letting sewerage seep in through his gaping jaw and turning his vision a murky brown colour. He could feel someone clawing at the back of his neck: Nails frantically digging themselves into his skin, but still he couldn’t come up. He thought he was going to be buried in a shallow grave and his heart leapt into his throat, with one last push to get himself out of there then-

Whoa!

 Chaz found himself being wrenched out of the water by the scruff of his neck and he suddenly became all too aware of Danny standing beside him, crying out Rician obscenities, waving something above his head, a fistful of Chaz’s jacket still in his other hand so that Chaz had to stay on his feet, despite his breathlessness, despite the fact that he had nearly been drowned and despite the fact that-

“Dack!” Danny swore again and lunged himself at Chaz before he knew what was going on. Both fell in a heap on the floor, neck deep in sewerage, and Chaz almost found it in himself to ask why before-

“Argh!!”

Both men cried out in unison, as a horrible screeching sound echoed off the tunnel walls and into their sensitive Felidae ears. There was a swift breeze and a brown blur flew past them both, running the insides of the tunnel walls almost as though it were a loop-de-loop. Chaz let out an involuntary cry as it shot past his feet, and leapt overheard, rebounding off the ceiling onto the opposite wall.  Looking after it in a mixture of shock, fear and curiosity, Chaz noticed two figures in the distance, backed up against one end of the tunnel, wide eyed and desperate. Then before he knew what was going on, Danny bounded past him, yelling at him to follow.

Almost without hesitation, Chaz ran after him, but was stopped unceremoniously by almost immediate darkness…

What’s the matter, little one?

“Danny?” Chaz called out to the darkness, a slow, whispering voice hissing at him from all directions only it was so feint, Chaz couldn’t tell whether it was real or just in his head. He felt his muscles seize up and he found himself rooted to the spot.

Lost are we?

Chaz blinked. It hurt, felt like a struggle to open his eyes again. Everything was going in slow motion now-

I can help you find your way home, if you like-

“What’s going…who are you?” Each word was becoming more of a battle and Chaz found himself buried deep in sick self-pity. Yes, he wanted to go home, more than anything…

Back to Rico. They all would have forgotten by now...

…they were sure to forgive him, now, after everything…

City’s no place for a little boy now, is it?

…Couldn’t even remember what had brought him here. He never should have left…

That’s right…Close your eyes…everything will turn out rosy in the end…

Thud!

He screwed up his face. Blurring light began to seep into the corners of his eyes and Chaz threw his arm over them in response. His head was pounding. He wondered where he was, what had happened. Was he in Rico? He couldn’t remember, didn’t want to wake up, half asleep. He groaned and turned on his side. Something touched his arm. He leapt up-

“I’m sorry!” Chaz became aware of everything all too quickly and felt a pang of guilt as a small girl whom had been standing near his bedside jumped backwards, alarmed. There was a clatter of crockery and a bowl containing what Chaz guessed had been soup lay in large shards all over the floor. Chaz felt even worse when he saw the look written all over the child’s face, and hurriedly began to help her pick up the broken pieces, repeatedly apologising. She didn’t look at him, kept her eyes to the floor, and kept shaking her head at him. She winced as she cut her hand. All of the pieces fell to the floor again.

“No, no it’s okay!” Chaz said quickly as she began to screw up her face and cry.

Within moments she was bawling all over the place and Chaz, feeling more than a little bad now, was reminded why he never wanted children

“Please don’t cry,” He said, softly, taking her hand and examining the cut. She withdrew her hand sharply. “Please?”

An uneventful moment passed, both looking but not looking at each other, sitting on the floor amongst the broken dishes. Chaz dipped his finger in the spilt soup, tasted it. It tasted like lead.

“Mmm,” he said, exaggerating his ‘joy’ at having tasted it. “That’s good soup!”

She studied him for a moment then spoke softly, in a sulky, sullen kind of voice. “You’re a bad liar.”

Without meaning to, Chaz laughed at her shocked expression, almost as though she regretted immediately what she had said. Back in Rico, he used to get away with all sorts. It just seemed funny somehow in a bitter kind of way how it came from her too. She was a tiny thing, about the height of Chaz’s waist, with long dark blonde hair, which was bunched back into a ponytail. She had big green watery eyes and a little button nose that put Chaz in mind of some dwarves he had seen once. He guessed her to be about six or seven years old, as she didn’t have her tail yet, as all Felidae, as descendants of Felines and Canines did. Like all Felidae she looked almost human except for her pointed feline ears and nose. It was fair to say that despite his dislike of children, Chaz got on with her almost from the moment they met, but it was when she laughed with him, a high pitched, cackle of a laugh, almost insane in itself that their friendship was sealed from that point on.

Danny paced the hall nervously. If he was truthful, Chaz’s being here worried him now more than ever. The boy had not even brought a weapon to Barabas, of all places. It suggested that he had either he had come here not knowing what he had let himself in for or that he had been in too much a hurry to get here. By Chaz’s standards either one was highly likely, but Danny was guessing that Chaz had got into trouble, again. Everybody Chaz knew lived in Rico, bar himself, and last time he had sent for him, Chaz had refused the offer, saying he was more than happy where he was. Chaz had never had a shortage of friends back at home either; Chaz knew everybody and everybody knew Chaz. If anything he was more popular than anyone else in their home town just for being a goof. But still he was the smartest goof that Danny had ever seen and they could not afford to be without him right now, even Danny did feel that Chaz would have been happier were he was. Chaz like himself had chosen to become part of the resistance at a very early age and he couldn’t back out now that he was here. Danny wouldn’t let him not to mention the other members, not after what he went through to get him here. There was a lot of distrust amongst the other members of the Underground once they knew who Chaz was. They would have had to know if they ever came face to face with Chaz’s brother….but that did not bear thinking about. He could not have warned Chaz about Barabas, not with half of the Empire looking for the Resistance HQ. Chaz had known where Danny was already; he told him before he left Rico and Danny himself was a very careful man, so he had sent a single slip of paper with the address of Rosalind on it. It was a pity he couldn’t warn him about the trapdoor either. He laughed softly to himself, the image of Chaz following the camera still fresh in his mind. The security team had had a right laugh at that.

“Speaking of the invalid...” Danny muttered under his breath. He could hear laughter coming from the corridor where Chaz had been resting after his encounter with the beast.

He tapped on the door of Chaz’s room. There was no answer and the laughing continued. He rolled his eyes, opened the door and strode in.

“Hi, Danny!”

Danny stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes fell upon the strange sight. His little sister, Mia, brandished a spoon, Chaz, a fork, they was what used to be a bowl piled neatly on a tray in the corner. Danny laughed when he realised what they were doing as Mia sprang onto the bed with a cry of “En Guard!”

“I see you’re feeling much better now?” Danny said with a raised eyebrow. Chaz looked more than a little sheepish and lowered his sword.

They both walked without saying a word to each other, though neither really knew why, Chaz thinking of how long it been since he had seen Mia, since she was new born and Danny and their sister Alsou left for Barabas, taking her with them. He had not even recognised her. His friend on the other hand, was wondering how exactly to break it to him that their next mission was going to be more than he thought Chaz could handle, judging by today’s performance in the sewer. Chaz took in every detail of the hideout, the little girl tugging on his sleeve every now and again to point out the laundry room or the kitchen or her pet mouse, Frazzle: when Chaz asked why Frazzle why so-called, Mia simply replied “Because Daddy tried to electrocute him with the sparkplug.”

“Why?” Chaz had asked, to which Danny grunted:

“The little Dacker sh*t in my shoe.”

Conversation surprisingly wore thin after that, Chaz repeatedly asking what had happened down in the sewer four times and the Resistance leader telling him four times to shut up. Bored, the disgruntled Felidae looked around, inspecting every corridor for what it was: a maze. The floor was metal and shiny, plated with grids all over that make a slight ‘click’ when they stepped on the odd one and blurring light beat down on them from long thin lamps which hung on chains overhead. There were solid titanium doors that ran on either side of the wall, though all were shut and there was no sign of life anywhere, except for one Felidae who walked briskly through the group, holding a stack of dusty red and blue files, dropping the odd sheet of paper or two. This didn’t seem to bother her, and she took even less notice of them, even when Danny nodded his head in acknowledgement. There were notice boards scattered along the walls every four of five doors down, each filled with posters with people’s faces lined along them. He noticed Danny’s face there, but the tall man in front now had an air about him of pure superiority in the way he walked ahead, and led the way, so Chaz thought better of asking him anything, for the sake of the mysterious mood that seemed to have swept over him, even when he became more and more aware of the notes sprung randomly across each board congratulating the people in the pictures. With every step they took, Chaz seemed to find the Resistance HQ more and more like a strangely decorated prison than anything else. After they had walked for what seemed like forever, Danny finally stopped in front of a huge wooden door at the very bottom of one of the twisting corridors. It had a large plaque above it, with some words on it, written in bold, in a language Chaz didn’t recognise, then a smaller translation beneath it: ‘ Freedom Is A Right, Not A Privilege’.

Danny hesitated, as though he was going to knock, but instead he charged straight through, throwing the door open. Chaz caught it cautiously as it swung back threateningly, Mia leaping back with a cry of surprise.

“Ch-az!” She whined, screwing up her face and tugging on Chaz’s sleeve. “It nearly hit me!”

At which point she began sobbing into his jacket, so that he scooped her up, and patted her on the head, not quite sure to do.

“Chaz, what the heck are you doing out there?” Danny stormed out, took Mia off him, so that she ran into the room calling for Alsou, Danny’s sister, leaving her uncle to seize Chaz by the collar and pull him into the room, before he knew what was going on.

All at once, the room turned quiet. There were Felidae of all races and origins simply sprawled out all over the place. There were huge oversized cushions everywhere, bead curtains separating talking groups of different people. Huge white and pale yellow muslin curtains were draped across the ceiling, little glass lanterns dangled dangerously overhead on short leashes, in stark contrast to the corridors outside. The ceiling was deep blue, the colour of the night’s sky one side, with tiny shimmering stars dotted all over the place, the other side, a pale light blue, the colour of the sky in day, with swirling peachy-white clouds bathing a red hot shimmering sunset. To Chaz’s amazement, some of the people just lay there, gazing upwards at the fake sky and he noticed that the room actually wasn’t that loud at all for the amount of people there, of which there where at least fifty or sixty (although Chaz himself guessed there were more, giving the size of the maze they had just walked through). One thing more than anything else struck him first though (besides the overwhelmingly smoky scent of incense and roll-ups that you could get high off just by standing there) was that there were also a small number of children, running around playing and the majority of the members Chaz guessed to have been not much older than he was, the eldest at around twenty four years old at most. He could not find it in himself to believe that all of these people were resistance members, as back in Rico, although everybody supported the Resistance as best they could; only around twelve active members existed. Nobody wanted anything to do with the field missions, Chaz himself included, as they often involved attempts to liberate neighbouring towns and villages. This meant infiltrating the watch tower at each occupied town, and in thirty years only six towns had actually been successfully liberated, Rico included. Unfortunately those who did get so far as to achieve success were often assassinated or abducted in the process. That is exactly why Chaz had chosen to become a hacker, a kind of ‘sleeping’ informant to the Resistance. He never once dreamed he would leave Rico to come to Barabas, the main Capital of the Empire, where all of these people would put themselves in so much danger. However, in Barabas, it was more dangerous to live on a day-to-day basis, so Chaz settled himself with that thought, and scurried after Danny, who strode over to a nearby booth.

“So what do you think?” Danny asked, following Chaz’s gaze to the sky-ceiling.

“It’s, um,” Chaz cleared his throat, not taking his eyes of the ceiling, “Nice.”

Danny smiled to himself and shook his head. He knew that his friend must have found this more than a little strange, all of those people just lying there, looking upwards, so he decided to answer the unanswered question.

“Most of these people,” He said, gesturing towards them all, whilst settling himself on an oversized cushion. “They ain’t ever seen the sky before.”

Chaz looked at him quizzically, but then remembered the smog. “Why is it t’is place is like some sort of opium den?”

Danny chuckled. “Because up on the surface, they’re always alert. Even when they’re in their own houses, at the playground, the shops- no where’s safe. They can relax here. It’s more of a luxury here to be able to laze around without a care in the world, knowing no one’s going to toss a brick through your window at any moment, knowing that your children are going to come home safe, no matter how old or young they are. This place is kind of like their release, their escape. People in Barabas don’t dream anymore, Chaz. They cry in their sleep.”

They both sat in silence for a moment, both pondering upon this thought, before conversation resumed again. Danny told Chaz all that he wanted to know about Barabas, the resistance and most of all the Underground.

Danny explained that the Underground was not just the headquarters of the Resistance, but also a kind of refugee camp, for all of their supporters or simply even the most frightened of people to live in peace. The Resistance often scouted for members of supporters and there were few known helpers up on the surface, who exchanged food and medical supplies for the protection of the Resistance against The Gangland and The Cult, whom often got into fights around certain neighbourhoods in which many were killed in the process or caught in the crossfire. The Resistance also worked as mercenary’s, to fund their work and often people would pay good money to be taken into the camp for security reasons. These people were scanned and checked by members before they entered and had to take a polygraph test as well as give prints and retinal scans to be checked alongside their permanent records, to check their identity. There had been cases of spies and in all cases the spies had been shot. He also explained that the Underground had once been a bomb shelter in the Fairy War, long before Barabas City existed, so it was doubtful the Empire even knew of this place. Danny talked for what seemed like hours, Chaz asking questions and listening intently to the man who seemed to have all of the answers, ever since they had known each other. Danny explained about the chute, the letter and he also warned Chaz not to talk in the corridors and the drainage system which surrounded the shelter had been bugged by the Empire in a crude attempt to find out the whereabouts of the hideout. Then finally, Chaz steered the conversation back to the matter of the things in the sewer. Unfortunately, Danny had not opened his mouth before-

“Alright, Boss,” A beefy Canine Felidae crashed beside Chaz, and threw an arm around him. “Who’s da new guy?” He said, gesturing to Chaz with this head, nearly crushing him under the weight of his muscular arms. The man was built like a house and wore a tank top, which Chaz thought defied the laws of nature being at least two sizes small for him, clinging to every orifice. He had long straggly black hair that hung awkwardly over his shoulders and clung to his face so that Chaz could barely see his eyes, or eye to be precise. One eye was stitched shut; the other was wide, brown and bloodshot. His large floppy ears where a lighter hue than his olive skin, and he wore torn jeans almost as worn as Chaz’s own.

“Chaz, this is…”

“Ah! I know youz!” The man pulled Chaz into a rib-breaking hug and patted him on the back. Chaz almost gasped for air as when he released him. “You that famous hacker guy, ‘en’t you? Chaz Finch innit? Lovin’ your work, baby!”

“T’anks, em…”

“Michael Shanks,” The big man said, shaking Chaz’s hand, once again nearly breaking his wrist. “But my friend’s call me ‘Tardo’.”

“Tardo?”

“They say it’s cos I’m retarded, geddit?”

Chaz forced a smile, as Tardo smacked him on the back with a booming laugh. Now he knew he should have stayed in Rico. Danny shot the man a withering look.

“He don’t swing that way, boy-o.”

The expression on the man’s face hardened and he grimaced.

“All right ‘dere boss,” He said darkly, promptly getting up. “Just tryin’ to show the boy a little good ol’ Rician hospitality. Lord knows, the majority of them do swing that way anyways…”

“And what in the heck is that supposed to-“ Chaz started, fists clenched, though not entirely sure he wanted to fight.

“Shut up, Chaz.” Danny slapped a hand over his friend’s mouth and rose to look Tardo in the eye, squaring up just about his height and making Chaz feel like the class runt all over again. Chaz looked first at Tardo, then at Danny. They both stared at each other. The room slipped from a dull roar into complete silence.

“Do I amuse you in some way, boss?” With these words, both men pouted and squared their shoulders, in the manner of many a duelling pigeon Chaz had seen during his stay.

“Shanks,” Danny said simply. “Get back to your own faction and stay out of my face. Or did you forget our little talk the other day about you staying the heck out of my way?”

“Sorry, honey, must have slipped my mind.”

Slowly Tardo backed down, a strange little smile scrawled all over his twisted features. He fell back into the crowd, before turning back and flashing Chaz a glimpse of one long yellowing fang and winking at him. Danny appeared not to notice.

“Who was that egit?”

Danny cleared his throat.

“Michael Shanks, leader of the Igneo Resistance,” Danny said, in one breath, without looking up. “Came here a few weeks ago, all the way from the General’s turf, back in Igneo City. We had to request all the help we can get before the Big One, and unfortunately those clowns are the only ones who have the inside information on the General himself and his strategies-“

“‘The Big One’?”

His friend looked him in the eye and sheathed. Chaz began to get the feeling that the Immortals were not the only piece of the puzzle missing. There was something else Danny was not telling him, he could tell by the look in his eye, the way the pupils grew larger, dilated, as though petrified of something, apprehension dripped off him, his very scent was tainted. He fidgeted with a stray piece of cotton on his greying vest, arms tightly folded, flicked the dirty blonde wisps of his shaggy shoulder length hair strategically over his eyes so as to evade Chaz’s steady gaze, so that only his short canine ears were visible almost atop his head, the ends frayed and painfully bitten away. The only reminder of the kind and softened features, near handsome in their own way, was a slick smooth scar which poked out from under the matted curtain of unruly hair, on the side of his face, just above his nose, which Chaz himself had caused ten years ago during a game of ‘War’, accidentally injuring his friend with a pogo stick. Now this expression was alien to Chaz, that Danny had grown so serious, no more the joker of the pack. Danny was frightened; he could smell it.

“I should have told you this as soon as you came here,” A pause. With a swift flick of the wrist, he pushed some of the hair aside and blinked it out of his eyes. Apprehension.

“Danny just spit it out, mate.”

His friend took a deep breath and swept the whole room in one deep gaze, dark blue eyes large and watery. There was yet another uncomfortable silence between the two and Danny’s breath became harsh, short and laboured. He held his head in his hands, leant upon his knees. Chaz began to panic.

“What is it? What’s happened? Is it Alsou? Is she okay? Danny!”

Danny shook his head, lost his composure completely, close to tears, his face collapsed.

“No, Chaz don’t you see we’re losing!”

It took a moment for this to register.

“W-what?”

“We lost half of our faction the other day, the Gangland got ‘em. Chaz, it was horrible. They completely dismembered them, one by one; there was nothing left to do. Chaz, we have to do this-“

“Do what?!”

 Silence. His friend’s shoulders were shaking. This terrified him more than anything else. What was going on? What had happened to make him like this?

Is this what death does…can I really do this…

“Danny, come on!”

Get a grip; you weren’t always this way…why won’t you tell me?

Chaz lay awake that night, thinking to himself, over and over again. What a fool he had been, that he should come here, all of his childhood memories shattered by his very reunification with Danny. He had been happy all of those years ago, had been happy until last month. Now Chaz had no patience for memories, as they reminded him of everything that could have been, if Danny had not left, if he himself could have stayed well away from the Resistance, if he could have kept his brother, Alex, from leaving to join the Empire. All of them should have stayed out of this but now they were trapped and Chaz was bound to face his brother again, only this time on opposite sides. He knew the General was back in Barabas, he knew that Alex would be with him, his own personal bodyguard, the highest honour any soldier could receive, last time Chaz heard, and he had no doubt that his brother would still be alive.

As children, they were always competing: Alex was always the best at sports, whilst Chaz excelled in the fields of writing and computers. Both hated and wanted the other’s gift and it was often said that both of them could make a very fine man if they were combined and they despised each other for that. However, neither truly hated the other, Chaz recalled, as Alex always used to take care of him in their school days. As popular as Chaz was, he did have more than his fair share of enemies too and would never to this day back down in a fight, even if it meant him getting flattened, which it often did. Alex would always step in, the much cooler, calmer half to Chaz’ s hot headed temper, and often try to mediate between the two rivals. If no agreement could be made, then Alex would take it upon himself to obliterate the offending bully, swiftly and precisely, with little or no effort. Alex was always saving Chaz’s behind in any situation…but what now, murder?

After many long hours of explaining, Danny had finally given Chaz all of his answers and now the more he thought about it, Chaz came to the conclusion that ignorance is bliss. There had been so many ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, ‘buts’ and ‘maybes’, but finally the truth about the Big One was finally known. Put simply, they were to assassinate the General and the Gangland. If all else failed, the city would be destroyed, with no escape plan. Everything would be gone: the Resistance, the Underground, The Cult, and The Gangland. All of this seemed bizarre to Chaz that if the battle couldn’t be won, then all parties would be destroyed, including their own. Chaz never came here to die, and what was this place, an elephant graveyard for people like him? He could never fathom why anybody would willingly fight and die for a victory they could not enjoy. Was he really prepared to do that? How could anyone even think such a thing? It was too late now, though. Chaz was a part of the city now and the Resistance and without his help they had no chance of escaping the Palace compound where the General resided. Even if they got in easily enough with their disguises and fake IDs, the whole place would be put on automatic lockdown. What to do, what to do…Either way they would die and it drove Chaz mad with an agonising conflict of emotions and possibilities and he wished that whatever happened that it would all be over soon. Little did he know that the Barabas battles would only be the beginning of his journey and do or die would soon become a familiar concept in his ever changing life and that somewhere, not so far away, someone lay thinking of him too…