The room was very dark, and even with the flashlight, I could barely make out what was in front of me. I decided to scan the walls at the entrance and quickly noticed a switch. Pressing it, the room suddenly lit up.

This room was much larger than the previous one. Still engulfed with metallic walls, this particular room had a striking feature. One previously invisible to the light shone by myself. It had, right in front of us, what seemed like an amassed amount of metal parts and incomplete objects. Yet, if one chose to look more attentively, fully assembled tools were also part of this line up a put together metal.

“I see the telescope!”

Roberto’s voice echoed through the room, and I saw him quickly run at the pile of metal. He immediately started throwing out some stuff before grabbing a hold of a long cylinder like object. As he tried pulling it out I heard a sudden noise. I didn’t need to question what it was, as I had heard it before already. It was the sound of a trapdoor opening. I immediately turned off the lights and ran straight at Roberto. I grabbed him and put my hand over his mouth before he even had time to realise what I was doing. The important thing now was to hide. Someone had just entered the bunker.

The scrap metal in front of us was our only option, so I quickly pushed through creating a gap not too far out from the location of the telescope as the kid had already created some space while clearing its surroundings. I pushed closely everything that was thrown out, and pushed deeper and deeper in the gap I was creating. Eventually I was able to have enough space for myself and Roberto to squeeze through while avoiding being in the direct line of sight of someone entering. A part of me remembered how Roberto found out about this place and decided to block the line of sight to the telescope as well, now we were fully encased in the pit of metal. Luckily, the scrap was holding the pieces well enough that none fell upon us, but one wrong move and we could be crushed by a huge pile of metal. Looking at the kid, he seemed calmer. He had probably understood the situation, smart kid, there’s a reason he’s survived this long in the outskirts.

Suddenly, we both heard steps approaching the room, as they grew louder, I felt my heart beat faster and faster. They were a group, I wouldn’t be able to estimate the number, but at least 2 sets of steps could be made out. The only identity that came to mind for the people approaching were the police or the clean up crews, either way, not people I wanted to notice us in such a location. The steps stopped, and bright rays of light shone through the cracks in the pile up around us. They had made it to the room, and that was when I heard a raspy voice from someone that sounded like an old man.

“Such a mess, someone came here and didn’t clean up behind them.”

I had hoped that the positioning of the pieces thrown around by Roberto was realistic enough for it not to be questioned, but looks like it wasn’t the cas. I held my breath as I waited for the man to continue.

“I’ll have to report to the other teams. It is already impossible to find what we need when it’s in order, let alone if we start throwing everything around. It’ll just be impossible.”

‘Everything already looks mixed up to me’ was my first thought upon hearing that.

The old man's voice cut through the silence, with a clearly irritated tone.

"What a mess. How do they think that anybody would find anything in this junkyard?”

I held my breath, Roberto tense beside me, as creaks sounded through the metal encasing us-nothing budged. We stayed hidden, at least for now. A younger voice came through, it was a little frustrated,

"It is always like this, these places are left empty for a reason. Let's wrap this up fast; we're not here to play scavenger hunt."

Their footsteps reverberated off the walls, and their shadows danced around. I could see the outlines of their movements through the little gaps in the scrap metal. I leaned in closer to Roberto, and we both remained completely quiet and motionless. Mumbling something softly under his breath, the old man shuffled closer to the middle of the room. He stopped for a second.

"Look over there,"

As the younger guy drew closer to where we were hiding, I was on edge, hoping the shadows could keep us hidden while he peered around. Everywhere, I heard the clinking and clattering of metal; every noise made my heart beat faster.

"Hold up,"

the old man said suddenly, now his voice a little sharper, tinged with satisfaction.

"Here”.

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I felt this sudden wave of panic. Roberto's eyes got all big as we both figured it out—they were here for the telescope, which was just a little way from where we were hiding. The exact thing we'd gone through so much for was now gonna end up with them.

“Is this it?"

The old man drew closer, his boots resounding loudly on the concrete floor. Before he said,

"That's it, get it out of here. We're out of time.”

I could hear the sound of metal scraping as the younger guy was clearing off the junk around the telescope. I heard parts clinking and some muffled grunts, so I figured they were lifting it out of the pile. Roberto's face totally fell, and you could tell he was bummed when he realized they were taking what we came for. The younger of the due eventually said, his voice strained from the effort

“Got it, It's in decent shape, considering.”

“Alright, let’s go. I don’t have time to play around”

The reply was sharp, but signaled the end of their mission. I listened intently as their footsteps receded towards the door, before disappearing completely and leaving us trenched in the cold harsh light of the room. The heavy door clanged shut after them and then it was silent once more.We waited, for several long moments, making sure they were really gone. Then, I started to move the metal around us, just enough to allow us to crawl out. Roberto followed, slowly. When we were standing, I finally let my breath go, tension easing from my body.

"The telescope… they took it."

Roberto sounded distraught. I nodded grimly. However, on my way to the corridor from where we came from, I noticed on the ground a piece of paper crumpled up. It was probably dropped by one of the officers, as I don't remember seeing it when we first came in. I squatted down and picked it up, then smoothed it out on my thigh. When Roberto asked, leaning over my shoulder.

"What's that?"

On it was a well defined map of the No Man’s Land area surrounding the outskirts. On it, several red marks were dotted around. I was pretty sure, based on the topography of the map, that one was marking our current location. I put it in my pocket and turned to Roberto.

“Looks like it’s theirs. Let’s get out of here quickly before they come to fetch it back.”

Luckily, by the time we left the bunker, they hadn’t come back yet. I drew a sigh of relief, once we had gotten far enough from the location we were just at. Having made it back to the outskirts, I waved goodbye to Roberto, and made my way home. I decided to leave him the piece of paper with the red marks. I wasn’t too fond of venturing into No Man’s Land, and I was sure that eventually he’d contact me if he found something worth exploring.

The kid had gone straight to the broken down buildings to my east, they were almost like a maze, so it was great for having a hidden spot to steer clear from the gangs. Feeling relieved that I left him in a safe spot, I finally started making my way, when I heard a sudden scream. There was no mistaking it, it was Roberto’s. It had just been 5 minutes, he couldn’t have gone far, but my gut told me something bad happened for him to scream like that. I quickly ran in the direction of the scream. For myself the maze-like pathways were easy to traverse as he had brought me multiple times to his lair from which I assumed the noise came from. It took me no less than 3 minutes to reach it, but the door was still open. I entered, but quickly froze. My foot had stepped on a warm red liquid. Blood.

I looked down and as I did time stood still. A river of blood was flowing from Roberto, originating from a puncture on his neck and on his heart. There were no movements, there was no breath, his eyes still open with a look of shock. This was how he died, Roberto was no different than any other outskirt kid. He had a dream, a dream for something better, but in the end, here he was, motionless in a pool of blood. I looked up and could see his killer. He looked almost as shocked, his hands and legs trembling as if they were about to give up on him. He hadn’t realized the kids’ intentions and applied to swift stabs thinking the worst. I couldn’t blame him, this was the way of the outskirts. Think good of someone and you’ll end up dead. He had simply followed this land's wretched law, and soon I would do the same. It was at that moment our eyes meant. That’s when his fear deepened. I reckoned it was fairly visible, but he knew my intentions with just one glance. I saw his lips move, he was probably begging, imploring me not to go through with it, but I couldn’t hear anything anymore. In one motion, I pulled the knife out of my sleeve and rushed at him. He was too shocked to react. I had taken his life, before he could fully comprehend my movements.

That’s how Roberto’s life ends, but that’s how it ends for me too. I stared at the now motionless body of the man in front of me. Honestly, I knew all along who he was, but that didn’t stop me. That couldn’t stop me from taking blood for the blood that was spilled. I wanted to think that maybe that would give peace to Roberto, but I knew him more than that. He didn’t want me to avenge him, he wanted me to escape the outskirts. Instead, here I was, over the body of a man I had just killed. Over the body of a clan leader’s younger brother. I would be hunted till the ends of the outskirts, as soon as this came out. My life here is over. I let go of a sad smile, and looked back at the kid.

“Looks like I only have one choice left. You never got to see how the military functioned, so I will do it for you. I no longer have a place here anyways… Let me bring you with me.”

I took the dog tag he had in his pocket. ‘It was a means to find the dead in a battlefield’, I remembered what he had told me about it. This will be my way to remember you and bring you with me in the journey you were meant to venture. Now rest easy.

The following days went by quickly. I didn’t stay long enough to hear the clan leader’s reaction. I immediately went to the closest military outpost, signed up and was transferred to a waiting facility, to wait for the transport vehicle to collect the next batch. I hadn’t even taken the time to go back home. It was just a shelter, and I wasn’t too attached to it. I had just embarked in the same path my mother took when she abandoned me. Who knows, I might even see her again. I waited in the new area I was assigned, till one day a man entered the room and shouted at all those that had gathered. It was time to leave.