Danny thought about standing there in the dark for a while and hoping that the young associate would get bored and leave, but something tugged at his curiosity. He wanted to know what was hiding in the darkness.

As Danny cautiously stepped through the dark tunnel he recalled what he knew about them. He knew that they were built to transport goods and building materials around the city as it began to flourish, not people, which is why they weren’t very big. The once vital infrastructure ran all around the city, falling into disuse as trucks became a more viable form of transport. They had been mostly ignored for the following decades, until criminals had started using them to covertly move around the city, leading the state to seal them up.

Danny was thankful for the beams of light that occasionally came down from small skylight passages that had been built into the walls and ceiling. If it weren’t for these beams Danny would be in complete darkness. He wished he hadn’t left his phone at home, a flashlight and google maps would have done wondrous work right about now.

As Danny continued walking, nothing remotely interesting happened. The abandoned tunnels were simply that, abandoned. His caution began to fade and his mind wandered. He was surprised that Ralphie had found a place in Madley’s largest criminal organisation. He didn’t know much about the younger man, he had been one of the many amateur opponents he had faced in his years touring the local MMA circuit. He was laughably bad, the only notable part of their fight had been his reaction to getting submitted in the first round. A sad guillotine counter off the back of a sloppy takedown attempt.

The young man had caused a big scene, screaming that Danny had put weights in his gloves. It had been a massive embarrassment to his club when the judges had called Danny back out just to inspect his gloves, finding them perfectly legal. Danny was pretty sure that he’d heard Ralphie had been kicked out of his club because of his antics.

“I guess he really moved up in the world,” Danny sighed to himself.

Danny’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of something dragging against stone pavers of the floor deeper in the tunnels. Danny slowed down and cautiously moved toward the sound. Danny saw a small intersection open up ahead of him and something was emitting a faint light. Danny suspected that it might be someone with a light and slowed down even more, whoever it was he didn’t want to alert them. Danny crept closer and closer toward the intersection. His heartbeat began to rise. The dragging sound grew louder and the glow grew brighter. The glow was orange. His heart began to pound in his chest.

The orange glow brought him back to the sight of Claude. Danny froze, suddenly unsure that he wanted to see what was waiting for him in the intersection. His heart was thumping wildly against his ribcage, he broke out in a sweat. His feet began to shuffle forward, something alien compelling him onward.

As he came to the intersection the source of the orange glow was revealed in all of its horrible glory. A shape that only resembled a man was dragging itself toward a different tunnel connecting to the intersection. Torn clothes hung from an emaciated figure. Orange liquid spilt out of open wounds on the figure, running down its body, the liquid glowed, illuminating the figure in the darkness. The figure was hunched, its head hanging limply forward. Its eyes were open though. In them, Danny could only see a deep orange glow. Orange liquid cascaded down the being's face, a haunting bastardisation of tears.

Danny watched as the liquid ran off the being's body and made contact with the ground. The liquid quickly evaporated, leaving no trace of its alien presence. Danny found himself staring in shocked awe at what his mind could only define as some sort of zombie. The creature snapped toward Danny, perhaps feeling him staring at it. “Oh rats.”

The zombie began charging toward Danny, a nasty snarl escaping its twisted mouth. On pure instinct, Danny stepped forward and delivered a powerful front kick into the chest of the zombie, sending it toppling backwards. The creature quickly got back up and ran at him again. Danny kicked it again, sending it sprawling for a second time.

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What do I do? The zombie showed no intention of changing its course of action and simply got up to charge at him again. Danny instead aimed his next kick at the creature's knee. As his shoe connected he felt the sickening sensation of the joint giving way. The glowing zombie collapsed, its knee no longer able to support the weight of its body. The zombie didn’t relent though, it began to drag its way across the floor toward him.

Danny danced around the creature, trying to get a better look at it. He could feel a palpable heat from the zombie, he couldn’t tell if it was the zombie itself or the glowing liquid that seemed to flow endlessly from it that was the source. He was fascinated by the bizarre disappearance of the liquid as soon as it made contact with anything that wasn’t the zombie itself.

Remembering the state of Claude, Danny did his best to try and work out if the zombie was what remained of the man he knew, but he couldn’t tell. The zombie had lost most of its distinguishing characteristics, but from the bit of facial structure he could make out, it didn’t seem to be Claude.

Who is this then? Clearly, there were more people than just Claude who had been impacted by whatever had done this. Was it the drugs? Some ultra-tainted supply? Danny honestly had no clue where to even begin trying to explain what he was seeing. The sheer absurdity of the situation playing out before him seemed to detach him from what was happening.

He made some distance between himself and the crawling creature and took a deep breath. The musky air of the tunnels filled his lungs, reminding him that this was very real. He took another deep breath and tried to calm his thrashing heart. Unlike his mind, which seemed to be frozen, his body was in full fight or flight. His heart was trying to escape his chest and he felt adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Danny felt the sudden urge to vomit. Nothing came up, leaving him painfully dry retching. His mind suddenly seemed to come back online, processing everything in a split second. The sheer overwhelm staggered him. His reptilian brain seized control of the ship and soon he was sprinting down the tunnel he had come from. He tripped and stumbled in the darkness, his years of working with his body the only thing keeping him upright. He burst out of the tunnel and found himself back at the Station.

His eyes locked onto the bulldog, who was now holding the gun, and a phone to his ear. Ralphie lay whimpering on the floor near the man. The bulldog turned in surprise as Danny charged out of the tunnel and barrelled straight toward him, he barely managed to stop himself from raising the pistol. Danny paid it all no mind and grabbed the man by the scruff of his shirt.

“What was that? What is in those tunnels?” A desperate edge coated Danny’s questions.

“I-I don’t know Danny. What did you see?” The middle-aged man looked confused. Whoever was on the other end of the phone asked something. “Anton asks what you saw,” the bulldog repeated.

Danny paused, letting of the man. His eyes went distant. What had he seen? Had he really just beaten up a glowing zombie? Was he losing his mind? “I don’t know. A man? A monster? Something, something…” Danny trailed off. His mind went blank. He wandered off from the man, leaving the homeless encampment.

The bulldog called out to him, trying to get his attention but Danny’s mind was far from anything close to present. Danny wasn’t sure how, but he eventually found himself back at his townhouse, lying on the floor of his bedroom. He didn’t remember walking home, but he must have. His mind was trying to grapple with what had happened. Danny wasn’t sure when it happened, but as he was lying there he fell asleep.

Danny was woken up by someone knocking on his door. His roommate didn’t wait for him to reply and stuck his head into his room. “Dude, you really need to get a bed. Who sleeps on the floor?”

Danny stared at the guy, blinking sleep out of his eyes. His mind still waking up.

His roommate coughed awkwardly. “Anyway, some scary-ass dude is at the front door, asking for you. I’m not leaving until you get up. He looks like he’d actually kill me if I came back without you.”

Danny stretched and got up, realising that he was still in the clothes he had worn yesterday. Must have zoned out pretty bad, hey.

He made his way to the front door with his anxious roommate. He found a man he hadn’t seen in almost two years waiting for him.