The melody softened as the rain eased into rhythm.

“Let’s all count from one, two, three…”

And the chorus came in with a heavenly breath.

“Within Tridum’s control.”

“Let’s all remember the count from one...”

“Till three.“

“Do you know the difference between the pigs and the geese?”

“That save the world from war?”

“Within Tridum’s control.”

“When it comes to preventing nightmares.”

“For when you and I fuck.”

“Till three.”

“No matter how hard the pill.”

“Within Tridum’s control.”

“Remember me and be a good boy.”

“Till three.”

“For when you and I fuck.”

“No matter how hard the pill.”

“Back to the real world.”

“Within Tridum’s control.”

“And when it’s over, we can climb into bed.”

“And I can lie down and read you a love poem.”

“Till three.”

“You know what we can afford.”

“Within Tridum’s control.”

“Let’s all know the count from one.”

“Till three.”

“For when we touch.”

“Within Tridum’s control.”

“We've still got a few more months, so don't die while you sleep.”

“Till three.”

“Won’t you pretend it’s just sex.”

“Till three.”

“Talk about the solution of your fantasies.”

“Till three.”

“Show the distaste upon your face.”

“Till three.”

“It’ll crack and crunch and churn.”

“Till three.”

“Sometimes we wish for no sound.”

“Till three.”

“So here’s the gas to make you dorimant.”

“Till three.”

“Open your mind and let me express myself inward.”

“Within Tridum’s control.”

It was one of the tracks with a soothing tune. One which Harlow gained attraction to, particularly because it was relatable. He played the album from the beginning.

The guitar came in with a strong and just ring to each string, as the bass slowly gained tempo. It was exquisite to Harlow’s ears. All the instruments confined perfectly, like the silent piano, the soft violin, and then came the vocals.

“Hey! You!”

“Chill here and listen for awhile.”

“In complete solitude, as the world goes ‘round.”

He went up to the table with a pipe that was connected to the ceiling, took a glass and poured himself a scarlet drink.

“Come, come now.”

“Relax and listen for awhile.”

He took out a photo from one of the drawers, sat himself and stared at it with an intense focus.

“Let’s strengthen our strange kinship.”

“All the more strange for having been born of sex.”

On the back was signed “Greema,” and the picture was of a smiling boy with a whitewashed wall behind him covered in a splatter of his own blood. Harlow salivated over it.

“Come here, you abandoned fool.”

“None left to disappoint, so make your free advance in our school.”

It was knowing the work that was put into creating such a masterpiece. The coordination of each equipment and the emotions of the subject. It all harmonized perfectly.

“The unfortunate truth is: nothing is fair.”

“Some are born to be abused.”

“Some are born to be taken advantage of.”

Like a drug, it was extremely reassuring. The mind was turned off and all that could be experienced was the present. The photo felt authentic, the empathy it captured felt authentic.

“Some are born to abuse.”

“Some are born to take advantage of.”

“It’s the solace of untimely existence.”

He felt good. He felt happy. He could genuinely say it to himself, “I feel good. I feel happy,” because he was. He felt whole as the person he was. He was content with what he was. He didn’t need to grow anymore, he was where he needed to be.

“Sometimes it scares me.”

“Sometimes in the dark I wonder.”

“But I knew the chase for equality was futile.”

“I decided it was time.”

“In December I wept and I cried.”

“I took out a heavy hitter.”

Ring, Ring, Ring, went his head. Harlow’s study was interrupted. His BCI said it was an urgent call. “Pick up,” he thought.

“There’s an intruder in tunnel A-4-1!”

“What?”

“It’s Guardian Knight! He’s betrayed us!”

Harlow stood up at once as he was struck with disbelief. All so sudden, and someone who knew Tridum well was raising up against him? “Contact A-4-0 and tell them to secure the tunnel!” thinking these words would have sufficed with a BCI, but he was in consternation and said them outloud.

“I’ve already done that! I told 4-2 to do the same. We’ll try and hold him off but if he gets through you need to make sure your men are ready!”

“I’m on it!”

Harlow turned on the ample broadcast setting which switched between the channels that had the least amount of incoming transmissions so he could communicate as efficiently as possible. He wore his goggles and left his home. There were others already around, they had heard the news.

“Harlow, is this a global emergency?”

“No, no! Not yet. We can stop him here.”

“It’s the Guardian Knight, fucking Guard Knight!”

“It’s ok, we can do it. Get the trucks here and block the tunnel now!”

Harlow went to the guards room and they were waiting for him. He gave them the go on the alarms. He entered the armory nearby with others and equipped himself with an energized rifle. “Harlow, how are we going to deal with this?”

“Like we deal with any intruder; we kill them.”

“But it’s different this time! How do we deal with Guard Knight?”

“I don’t know. We’ll do whatever it takes to stop him if he gets through.”

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”

“You ain’t a machine, you can’t predict the future! Get your earplugs in and get moving!”

The trucks were blocking the tunnel, with men on top of them. There were six stacks of three trucks that were placed in hopes it would stop the intruder. Harlow climbed over and made his way to the front of the blockade. “Line!” he broadcasted via his BCI. “We need a line in front of the blockade.” A line of crouched then standing men was formed in front of the trucks and one on top of them. The tunnel began to rattle and pierced the ears of those without earplugs. Soon after, they stopped like an earthquake. They knew very well that they were only prepared for an aftershock, not the intruder.

Harlow was figuring out how much time they had to spare. It would take an intruder half an hour to get here, with Guard Knight, divide that by ten. Not enough time, and he was right because a truck came at full speed towards the blockade. “Arms up!” he yelled and transmitted a signal telling it to halt, but the truck didn’t slow down. “Fire!” a flurry of projectiles hit the truck, destroying the windows, blowing the tires, and finally it exploded into fragments as only little chunks came flying forward. The truck was obliterated to a point where it became unrecognizable. Harlow panned his eyes, he was looking for Guard Knight. He was on edge, everyone was on edge, where was the Guardian Knight?

A moment later, three more trucks came speeding. They repeated in blowing them up, and then two more came. They did the same to them, and Harlow got the point, he was trying to get their rifles to overheat. “Get a batch of cold rifles from the armory to the front lines now!” he broadcasted. As the trucks came pouring in, a hum could be heard through the tunnel. Harlow knew a weapon was being charged so he hurried to stand beside a wall. An energized projectile flew back into the blockade of trucks, killing dozens. The explosion was supercharged and as Harlow predicted, it went straight through the center. The front truck in the middle was split in half and the one behind was bent. “Fire! Keep firing!” he transmitted. Then, a second later another projectile flew into the blockade, straight through the center again and it split the second truck in half. Harlow caught on, Guard Knight was deflecting the projectiles back with a supercharge. “Cease fire! Get us melee and laser weapons now!” The batch of energized rifles arrived, Harlow told them to throw them aside. “Retreat! Behind the blockade now!” The speeding trucks crashed into the blockade and piled on as the men retreated behind them.

A message was being broadcasted, “no one in A-4-2 is responding. Contact with the tunnel has been lost!”

“How is that possible?” Harlow responded. “Guard Knight is here!”

“He is? I’ll send verification to the others!”

“Wait!” Harlow paused. “No, we have not spotted him yet. It might not be Guard Knight. We’re on the lookout for him right now, but we do have an intruder.”

The worst possibility was if the Guardian Knight had brought allies. And if he did, who could these allies possibly be? “The Hues! Are the Hues here as well!” he transmitted and waited five seconds till someone responded.

“No, no sign of Guard Knight working with the Hues. From the intel we have acquired, which is very little, there is only a single intruder.”

Harlow felt some relief and then, with a skip of a beat from his heart, he returned to reality when he remembered who the intruder was. The men picked up the swords and axes being passed around. Harlow equipped himself with a laser-sniper and made his way to the guard tower at the opposite gates. He needed to climb up for a better view, he wanted to spot Guard Knight himself.

Harlow was half-way up the tower as another hum sailed the tunnel. He knew what it was, everyone knew what it was. It was something terrible, something utterly terrifying, and they were all going to experience it. Harlow’s heart pumped faster than ever before, faster than being in any previous battle, faster than any experience in sex. It was a similar feeling to when they attacked and overtook the sewers in this Village of Anarchy. The only difference was he couldn’t count the skipped beats of his heart. His brain was being squashed by god. He could feel his mind collapse in on itself as he saw the light. He heard the slightest noise as everything fell silent. He closed his eyes before the spark grew into a beam, the goggles highered the shade to cancel the brightness, but the light managed to pierce through it and through his eyelids. He looked away in horror. Everything was shaking. He held onto the ladder with every shred of his being but he felt himself falling.

He landed on his feet, breaking them with the fall. He lied on his front as his chest was burned from all the metal that was disintegrated around him. The pile of trucks had sent out a blast of vaporized steel and created a pool of burning magma. The few amounts of smoke was deceiving to what had just occurred. It’s as if the smoke itself was destroyed out of the air. Harlow screamed as he tried to get up, but his legs wouldn’t respond. His skin tinted with the color black as the dark lava stuck onto it and slowly peeled it off. He saw the cut in his thigh and how the muscles oozed out with ease like cream. Pain, he experienced a tremendous amount of pain, but this was nothing compared to his emotional trauma, nothing at all. His mind was concentrated on how much his bones crunched, how much his skin tore, how much he could scream before he started coughing blood. The stretch of despair gave him time to broadcast the obliteration of tunnel A-3-9.

“Global threat, this is a global threat! We’ve been wiped out in mere seconds, this is a global emergency!”

In what seemed to be like an eternity, “roger!” finally someone responded. “Declaring a global emergency request for... A-3-9.”

“Fucker! You’re going to regret this! You’re going to pay for what you’ve done!” Harlow took a moment to scream in his misery, “I’m talking to you! You’re done, fucker!” He switched to a different channel. “Global threat, global threat! We have been wiped out, global threat!”

A response came immediately, “global threat request for A-3-9, what is the password?”

“A. R. Slash. Nine. Pigs and geese.”

“Roger. Declaring a global emergency request for A-3-9.”

“There is an intruder at A-4-2. They’ve captured the intel-bunkers.”

“Will pass info to other tunnels, what is your reasoning?”

“I wasn’t asked a password for my request via their channel.”

“Assertion confirmed. What is the situation at A-3-9?”

“A powerful blast has destroyed our tunnel and killed almost everyone. Everything is in shambles. We failed to conclude the intrusion.”

“Safe to approach A-3-9?”

“No! Not at all! I’m sure I’ll be killed by the intruder if I don’t die from the harm inflicted upon me. No vehicles can come this way, they won’t be able to get through all this rubble.”

Harlow must have swallowed an invisible fragment of ashes because he started to cough violently as he felt his throat scorch. Now, not only were his outsides burning but so were his insides. “This is it,” he thought.

“Sending three aerial emergency recoverers your way.”

A bleak hope appeared,

“they will arrive in twenty minutes,”

and vanished just as quick.