Later that evening, the rain subsided into a drizzle, the orange glow of sunset pierced through random cracks in the cloud, like a blood seeping through, bleeding over the City. The fog retreated into the sewer tunnels criss-crossing the underbelly of the City, restoring some visibility on the street level. Embers of the dying fire glowed and shone on its occupants – a little girl, an old woman and three gang members. The old woman was busy, turning out the pockets, checking out the soles of shoes, and going through the gang members’ belongings with quiet efficacy. There were no protests from the owners; after all, they are in a deep sleep, almost too deep. The little girl was sorting through the loot – a switchblade, some clothings, various currencies, some dried jerky, a transistor radio, amongst other assorted knick knacks. They only took whatever is valuable and light enough to carry.

When they were done with the gang members, they turned to their remaining victim. Ethan’s figure lay slumped against the wall below the window sill. He was in a seated position, his arms crossed over his body. A line of fading sunset shone across Ethan’s chest, which rose and fell gently with his light snoring.

As the old woman started patting down Ethan’s pants, a vicelike grip held her right arm.

“Why Marla, we’ve just met. I think you’re being overly familiar.” Ethan smiled at her, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

The colour drained from Marla’s face. “A..ah..”

“Drop that, little girl. You don’t even know what to do with that.”

Rachel was holding the small knife, her little face tight with fear.

“Seriously, I don’t want to hurt little kids but if you come at me, no promises. Drop it.” Ethan said sternly.

Rachel dropped her knife and started sobbing.

“Shh shh...its alright dear.” Marla stroked the little girl’s back with her left hand.

“Listen, you can have all our things. Do anything to me, but leave her alone.” the old woman begged, tears welling up in her eyes.

Ethan gave her a cold stare. After a moment, he released his grip on her. Marla winced a little and massaged blood circulation back into her arm.

“I don’t want your things.” Ethan said flatly.

He lighted a cigarette and blew out a stream of smoke out of the window. It was fully dark now.

“Is that how it is right now? There’s no more shelters, no more safe places from the monsters out there. Shit on the Truce right. Sometimes I think the real monsters are people.”

“No.” Marla said quietly.

“No? What were YOU doing then? What were you thinking of doing after your little stunt here? From breaking the Truce? You’ll be hunted down all over the City by their gang. Your safest bet is slitting their throats.”

The old woman covered her mouth and looked mortified.

“What?” Ethan began unkindly, snorting. “Don’t tell me you’re naive enough to think you can walk away from this? You’ve never thought this through have you?”

Marla teared up and sobbed a little.

A small hand slapped the cigarette away from his hand.

“Don’t bully grandma.” the little girl scowled at him with determination, her bottom lips trembling.

At this, Ethan’s face softened a touch. He sighed and said “I’m sorry, that was unfair.”

“No, you are right.” Marla dabbed a little at her eyes. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I’m not desperate. And it seems that this was a horrible idea.”

“Yes it is. Now, you need to fix this, how long do we have? How much sedative did you apply?” Ethan said.

“H-How did you know?”

“No time, we can chat later.”

“We should have a good 2-3 hours.”

“Okay, you need to replace everything you stole from them, don’t give them any reason to suspect anything is amiss. I’ll help you pack up your things and we need to leave, the quicker the better.” Ethan looked out of the window. “Its still drizzling a little, not ideal but it’ll have to do. We don’t want to be around when they wake up and start asking questions.”

“Since you have class A sedative, I’m assuming you found a hospital medical cache. Its probably mostly useless to you, but I have use of it.” Ethan said simply. The old woman nodded and grabbed the bag of stolen goods. They’ll have to work quickly.