The three of us just stared at the guillotine in dumb disbelief.

The significance of such a thing down in the depths of the facility, at the heart of this strange seemingly abandoned underground town, was beyond anything we were prepared to comprehend.

And yet just to be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me I reached out and touched the guillotine's unyielding polished steel. It held all of the cold which gripped every inch of the underground complex.

Suddenly dim lights bloomed across the town.

Each light was a soft deep green and did very little to illuminate the town. At best it was easier to make out the edges of the buildings at a distance, but little more than that.

No sound accompanied the turning on of the lights, but the three of us gasped and looked about frantically for any sign that we were no longer alone.

I looked from Walter, to Sophie, and then peered across the town, my eyes resting on the green-soaked buildings which haunted the dark like phantoms.

"They must be coming down," I whispered to the others, "Why else would they turn the lights on?"

"Aye," Walter whispered, "There's nothing for it. We've got'tae get out of here."

"Maybe there's an exit somewhere on the far side?" Whispered Sophie, echoing something Walter had mentioned before.

"Aye," said Walter.

"Okay," I said, nodding profusely, my hands trembling and teeth chattering despite the warmth from our bulbed hands.

Our bulbed hands!

"Take the lights off!" I whispered urgently, "They'll give us away."

I unbulbed my left hand first, and the other two quickly followed suit.

The darkness which engulfed us in the absence of the light came as a relief rather than something unwanted, a quick turn from how we had felt about the ever pressing darkness less than a minute ago.

"Enhance your eyes and ears," I whispered.

Sophie and Walter mumbled agreeingly.

I concentrated on willing my eyes to see better in the dark. It took a few moments to find the right unlocking sensation somewhere inside my head, and then the underground complex brightened considerably. It was as if I were looking at the town with night-vision goggles.

I could see all the way to the far side of town up to the walkway we had entered down from.

Incredible, I thought, still in awe at what I could do with my powers. I could tell we had barely scratched the surface of what we were capable of. And still it seemed I had to continually remind myself that using my powers was a possibility, that I was becoming something more than the average person in what I could do.

I focused on my hearing next, enhancing my hearing to a much better degree, though not to the powerful levels I had done before.

The usual sudden influx of sounds from all around, as if my hearing had been muffled all along, gave a new life even to the dark confines of the dormant town; the dripping water, the skittering rats, the stagnant hum of the air, the buzzing hum from the green lights; Walter and Sophie's stressed breathing.

There came a sudden series of clanging noises far off in the distance, barely audible even with my enhanced hearing.

I chanced to look at Sophie and Walter, and saw they could hear the clanging noises too.

Then, all at once, we heard a distant splash and a loud crash. I reared my head round to the source of the sound just in time to see a hulking mass emerge from the top of the walkway where the three of us had climbed down from the ladder.

It was the Adam-George-Amalgamation. The three of us could hear the Amalgamation's heavy beastial breathing and the sound of its claws scraping against the metal walkway. It moved along the walkway, peering into the darkness and listening.

I brought a hand to my mouth to hamper my breathing.

The Amalgamation moved beneath the railing, bending the railing some from beneath with its back as it then fell with intention down to the town floor below.

The sound of it hitting the ground swept through the town and then silence.

Need to do something, I thought, can't let it find us.

In my desperation I searched the middle of town we were in and saw a building off to my right. It was the only one of the buildings which had a short flight of steps at the entrance and that sufficed as a reason, however small, for me to decide to head towards it rather than any of the other buildings. I was grateful to be barefooted for a change because it meant moving that tiny bit quieter in the dark. I tiptoed, hurrying forward. Sophie and Walter, after hesitating for a moment, followed after me.

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I gripped the handle to the door.

What if it's locked? I thought.

But the handle sunk down and the door unlatched. I opened the door gently and the three of us moved quietly and quickly inside before I closed it again behind us.

Even with my enhanced vision it was still very dark inside the building we were in.

We found ourselves in a foyer, with a countertop several paces away. Moving mostly on instinct than logic, I led the way across the foyer and down a corridor, which took us to a back room.

A peered into the room from the doorway.

The room was huge, and looked to be a place for ceremonies. The floor was checkered like a chessboard and signs and symbols of Chellam could be seen on hanging flags, table coverings, and over banisters.

In the middle of the room, atop one of the tables, were three human skulls.

Leave, I thought, but I couldn't bring myself to move away from the doorway until I was sure what it was that made each human skull distinct from the other.

The first and nearest of the three skulls had a gold crown atop its head, as well as a dagger resting inside the socket of the right eye.

The middle-most skull had what appeared to be some kind of religious hat on it, shaped like a white fish with gold linings. This too had a dagger placed in the right eye socket.

The last and furthest skull had a simple piece of mirror attached to the forehead, and like the other two also had a dagger placed in the right eye socket.

"Les' try upstairs," Walter whispered as he tugged my elbow.

I was about to move from the doorway but stopped to take a look at the back of the room.

There, I saw a different kind of skull set upon a black cushion. It looked to be one belonging to an animal. One with horns.

Above the skull was a row of swords hung against the wall.

The more I saw the more questions I had about what all of it meant. But there wasn't any time and Walter's tugging at my elbow became more insistent.

I stifled a sigh and followed Walter and Sophie back to the foyer.

"We should get to the roof," Sophie whispered, her face, like Walter's, looking gray in the dark.

I considered this option.

We needed to find a way out of the underground complex, and quickly. The longer we took the more likely it was the Amalgamation or the Pied Piper officers would find us.

Seeing the town from a higher vantage point would make finding the way out easier, I thought.

The alternative would be to go out the back door and roam around the town in pursuit of an exit.

In the end I chose not to object and to follow Sophie's lead.

Together the three of us crept up the stairs. Upon reaching the first floor we found what appeared to be a large open dining space; with a long dining table and lots of chairs.

On the walls were portraits, presumably of Chellam members. I thought I recognised one of the faces from TV, maybe; the portraits had a very royal quality to them.

There then came a sudden mechanical grinding sound followed by a persistent distant whirring.

More light filled the town from one source and direction, which we could see a tiny portion of from a nearby window.

The three of us crept towards the nearby window and peered out over the bottom of the window as if we were three children playing hide and seek.

The bright light was coming from high above, near the walkway and the ladder shaft the three of us had emerged from.

Before I could decipher all the visual information in my mind, Walter beat me to it.

"It's the elevator," whispered Walter, "I bet yer the Pied Piper officers are coming down on it."

"Oh give me a break," I whined.

Was there really no end to how bad things could get?

The three of us watched as the elevator we couldn't use before sank into view from high above.

Bright golden light shone out from the base of the elevator, piercing the dark. On top of the light from the elevator came the lights from the torches attached to the machine guns of the Pied Piper officers standing within the elevator.

"Seven," I whispered, "There's seven officers."

"Do you think they're coming for us?" I whispered.

"Yes," Sophie whispered, "And for Adam and George too."

Rather than continue our search for a way to get to the roof, the three of us watched the distant elevator complete its descent all the way to the ground. We could see the light coming from the elevator, and the numerous beams of light coming from the Pied Piper officer's torches, but the buildings between us and them blocked them from our view.

"Look here," Whispered Walter, getting our attention.

He moved from the window, remaining squat in front of me. Sophie was squatting too, holding onto the frame of the window to support herself.

"What?" I whispered.

"How we gonnae do this?" whispered Walter, "If things get ugly?"

"You mean fighting them?" whispered Sophie.

"Aye," whispered Walter.

"We'd lose," I whispered, "We can't take them head on."

"Maybe," whispered Walter, "But we could pick 'em off. One by one. Maybe."

I thought about it.

"I don't want to be a killer," I whispered.

"You're already a killer," whispered Walter, "You killed the tiger upstairs, din't yer?"

My knuckles cracked as I clenched my fists incredibly tight.

"I didn't mean to," I whispered through gritted teeth.

"I'm not blaming you," whispered Walter, "It was her or you. Right now it's us or them. I'm telling yer it ain't gonnae be me. I'm not saying we should fight them, but we might have to. Unless the two of you wannae get gunned down?"

Sophie hugged herself in the darkness, looking at the carpeted floor as if to say she wouldn't or couldn't weigh in on this discussion.

I wasn't ready for this kind of conversation. I didn't want to be a killer. I didn't want to die either. I needed time, space, and freedom from this situation.

"W'as it gonnae be, Burgess?" whispered Walter, "Are you with me on this?"