22 DAYS BEFORE THE REMATCH IN HALLOWSVILLE

  Flamazing wasn’t wrong. Lyra was very easy to find. In fact, her face seemed to be plastered across all of Underground City, judging by the plethora of posters on the building walls, windows, and parked cars.

  I pulled off a poster that was on the window of a store us three were loitering on and examined it a little. Daemon’s daughter was front and center, pointing at me with an “I'm gonna kill you!” face covered in goth style makeup. The women on both her sides were much more bubblier in contrast. One had curly pink hair, pushing her cleavage up with an innocent look. The other one’s hair was a long, blue ponytail, holding a peace sign and smiling like an idiot.

  I scratched my head. “Whatever happened to the good ole days with the good ole music artists?”

  “Probably all in their fat bunkers they made citizens give up their freedom to pay for,” Kofi theorized. He was wearing a cloak to cover his identity. His appearance made him unique enough to be instantly recognizable. Since I looked eerily similar to a KB in this new form, I figured a disguise wasn’t needed. “You see, that's the problem with capitalist societies. They were created to inspire hard work in everyone, but left out the ones who need it the most.”

  What the hell was this kid blabbering about? Kofi was nine when the bombs dropped, so what did he know about capitalism? Did he read about it in a book somewhere, and now thought he was an expert in all things anti-government?

  “Are these ladies famous down here?” I asked the two of them, pointing at Lyra’s microphone.

  “What do you think?” they asked at the same time.

  “Three hot girls with voices like honey and tits like balloons. Of course they're popular,” said Kofi. “Especially with men!”

  “I don't even know why they exist in the first place.” Flamazing lit a cigarette using her power. She was also wearing a cloak. “They're not even good.”

  “This says they’re having a concert tonight at seven,” I said. “Don’t tell me we gotta wait, like, three hours just to see her.”

  Kofi smiled suspiciously. “They have a dressing room back at Headquarters. Well, the one in A. Not the shabby one in B. Let’s check that out.”

  “Woah there, Electro. Headquarters? You mean Underground Radius headquarters, right? Are you even allowed there?”

  “This freak was fired. Not exiled,” Flamazing informed me. “This place isn't some Middle Age kingdom, you know. Tons of people go to Headquarters for business purposes.”

  And yet, we were keeping a low profile like a trio of bandits. And with an overconfident guy like Daemon Williams on the throne, it was hard not to see Underground City as an empire ruled with an iron fist. Hopefully, he didn’t turn out crazy like Kevon.

  “Hey, kid, if you got axed from your position, then why isn’t it total darkness down here?” There was a sun illuminating the entire city from above, but it wasn’t the actual sun. It was an artificial one. So how was it still functioning?

  The dreadhead sucked his teeth. “How am I supposed to know?” He looked at his hand and began flexing his fingers. “Maybe I’m powering up this place unconsciously!”

  “It’s ’subconsciously’,” Flamazing corrected. “And it’s pretty likely you’ve already been replaced.”

  “Nah, they wouldn’t replace me,” Kofi denied, looking sure of himself. “They need me. I’m the strongest!”

  “Yeah, yeah, ok, ‘the strongest’,” I said, patting his head. “You can find out if you got replaced once you start leading the way. I don’t wanna stand here for much longer.” The shop owner inside the store was glaring at us with a broom in his hand. “We should really get going. But how do we get to City A?”

  “The Hypertrain,” Flamazing answered as she began walking down the sidewalk. “Fastest vehicle in the world.”

  “You people have a train down here too!?” I exclaimed quietly, following her.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Kofi added, catching up to me. “I ride it all the time.”

  “You ‘rode’ it all the time,” Flamazing corrected with an irritated tone, bumping her shoulder with a green man walking past us.

  Strolling through the city, the old school music booming, the people chattering about the mundane, the food vendors, and the busyness of everything filled me with a sense of relief and relaxation.

  If only Woodshaven was like this. Maybe Sunshine would've been able to make some friends, or find other things fun to do other than melting zombie heads in a bowl. If only Boomsbarrow and Hallowsville were like this, then she and everyone else who wouldn’t have seen the fucked up shit that went down there. If there were more places like Underground City on the surface, then maybe Corleone would've never found Sunflower and her mom.

  Maybe all my enemies up there needed to stop doing the sick acts they’d done was the kind of normalcy you could only find down here. I wondered if the corn dog Flamazing bought could’ve snapped those bandits out of their bandit ways.

  “Screw the apocalypse,” I muttered as we arrived at the train station.

  “What was that?” Kofi asked me, digging in his ear.

  “Nothing,” I said. “And stop picking your ear like that. You know how much dirty shit you’ve touched today? You wanna get sick?”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “My body is like a lightning bank. Any germ or foreign entity that enters my body is immediately burnt to crisps. So calm down, ‘Dad’.”

  “Anyways-” I looked at the turnstiles, noticing the small green screens on them. “I’m assuming you need some kind of card or cash to get through?”

  “Nope.” Flamazing took three steps forward, and the doors opened up like she was the queen of the city. “Things like this are free for us Radius members.”

  Kofi ran through the doors before they could fully close, but his cloak got caught up between the metal. “Hey, what the hell!? Let me go!”

  Flamazing grimaced at him. “You’re not one of us, remember?”

  “Hey, you there!” shouted a security guard, stomping toward us. “Hypertrain ain’t free, buddy! You gotta pay like everyone e-” His eyes raised, and then he smiled. “F-Flamazing!? Holy shit! I’m a big fan!”

  The guard’s giddy jumping attracted the attention of the other people in the station, and they all eventually went crazy over the flame woman. Most pulled out their SB phones, filming. Others took out various items, asking for autographs.

  “Say the thing, girl!” one of the fans said.

  “Yeah, just one time? For my kids!”

  I thought things were already crazy until a group of boys ripping their shirts open and asking for their chests to get signed broke the last straw.

  I tore the metal off of Kofi’s cloak, and it landed on the floor with a loud clang. However, the damage to public property only made Flamazing’s fans even crazier. Us three had no choice but to sprint downstairs.

  Luckily, the Hypertrain — long, sleek, and pointy like a bullet train — was already there. We jumped inside seconds before the doors closed, and quickly regained our bearings.

  [NEXT STOP: WILLIAMS CENTER IN UNDERGROUND CITY A]

  The train left the station with a whoosh, the world outside swiftly becoming a blur.

  “That was fun,” Kofi said, shaking his locs beneath his hood. If those people acted like that for Flamazing, then I couldn’t imagine what they’d do if they saw him.

  “I don’t think the running away part was any fun.” I looked around, realizing everyone in the train was giving us judgemental stares. “Let’s act more chill, alright? Hey, Flam, why didn’t you tell us how popular you were?”

  “Flam?” She raised an eyebrow. I shortened her name ‘cause it felt weird to say out loud. “And don’t blame me, Hunter. Blame this idiot for thinking he could still enter places for free.”

  Kofi gritted his teeth. “What the hell is your problem with me?” I felt a tingle in my body as he got closer to Flam.

  “It’s not my fault I have to constantly remind someone that they’ve fallen from grace,” Flam spat back.

  “You’re talking a whole lot of shit for someone I could fry in an instant.”

  I came between them. “We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile, g-”

  “Oh, wooow,” she said sarcastically. “Big talk for someone who could’ve done the same thing to Jason, but couldn’t.”

  He smirked. “It’s not that I couldn’t. I just didn’t want to. I have that privilege, but you B Teamers are so weak, that you want him dead no matter what.”

  “Zandalf gave his life to City B,” Flam whispered angrily. “But he didn't have to die if you had done your job and protected this city by killing that fucking psycho.”

  Rage began to rush through me. “Alright, guys, that's en-”

  “Who? You see how I'm asking ‘who’ because I don't give a shit about ‘Gan-Zandalf’. If he couldn't survive a fight against Jason, then he isn't worth thinking about. In fact, maybe he's better off dead.”

  Flam whipped out her used cigarette and aimed it at Kofi. Embers swirled around it, but they didn’t get the chance to be fired. My fist smashed against the kid’s cheek, releasing all the anger his words had built up within me. There was resistance, though his legs didn’t last much longer. He soon collapsed onto the clean floor, his hood falling off.

  Gasps reverberated through the train car. Civilians moved back in fear.

  I wasn’t worried about them. “Don’t you ever disrespect the dead, boy! I might not have known him personally, but I can tell that man fought with everything he had for the sake of so many people. You wouldn’t know anything about that, so don’t you ever bring his legacy down!”

  Kofi stared at me dumbstruck for a moment. Then, his face scrunched up in fury, electricity sparkling around his body. “You little sh-”

  However, before the train car could be lit up in a burst of white, someone’s voice stopped him.

  “King, is that you?”

  Both of our attentions turned to the girl behind us. She was wearing jeans, white shoes, and an oversized white T-shirt. She looked like she’d just seen a ghost, and Kofi’s face was no different.

  King? Was that short for Kingston?

  Suddenly, everyone began to notice Kofi.

  “Mom, that’s the lightning guy!”

  “Isn’t he, like, a traitor or something? At least, that’s what Daemon said.”

  “No, he said Kofi was relieved of his duties because they found a proper replacement that would actually do their job.”

  “I can’t believe this guy would have the nerve to show his face down here. He doesn’t even care about this city.”

  “What a fall from grace.”

  “I heard he’s out living in the boonies up there. Fucking disgrace if you ask me.”

  “What a waste of potential.”

  The air shifted. A negative energy filled the atmosphere, festering with every sentence they said. Daemon probably wouldn’t care if we were down here, but I didn’t need a trail of scorched bodies giving him a clear path of where we were going.

  I grabbed Kofi and Flam and bolted, dragging them through the coupling and into the next train car.

  After hiding the two’s heads under their hoods, I said, “Shit. Sorry, Kofi. I might've overreacted there. What was that all about anyway?”

  “That was just a small glimpse of what I hear every day,” Flam muttered.

  “They hate me…” Kofi murmured. I could hear his heart pounding like crazy. “She hates me.”

  “Who’s she?” I asked. “That girl who called you King?”

  Surprisingly, he smiled. “Who gives a fuck? I’m Kofi Kingston!”

  We had to change train cars a lot before Kofi calmed down.

  The moment we arrived at Williams Center Park, music and cars honking bombarded my ears. The grass and all of the nature in the center was beautiful to look at, but felt hard against my fingers. Bright lights and videos advertising various products and the big show Lyra was having were displayed on the walls of all the tall buildings.

  Once us three exited the park, I had this strong feeling that we were being watched. That was obvious considering the cameras set up everywhere, but they seemed specifically locked on to us. We had no choice but to keep our heads low.

  Although, it was hard to do that low when sellers were trying to sell us shit after every couple of steps. It’d been a long time since I was in an environment like this, so I had trouble navigating my way through all the different people and conversations. Kofi didn’t have that problem. In fact, there were a couple times I had to drag him away from certain attractions to get back on track.

  The kid avoided telling me what was the deal with that girl or all the hate he was getting in the Hypertrain. He had rocks for ears whenever I mentioned it.

  After the third instance of Kofi getting distracted by the same five people, I realized we were literally walking in circles.

  “Hey, Flam, you’re supposed to be taking us to Headquarters,” I said right before a bunch of kids nearly drove into me with their bikes. “Hey, watch where you’re going, assholes!”

  “I’m not taking you to any Radius location under these conditions,” she said, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. We stopped too. “Haven’t you noticed all the cameras around here? One wrong move and they’ll treat us like we entered Area 51.”

  “Why be so careful?” Kofi asked as a group of officers chased down the kids that almost ran me over. “Daemon already knows we’re here. I can feel his Energy Sense clashing with mine. He didn’t stop us though. That means he’s just observing us, waiting to see our next move.”

  Flam blew smoke into the air. “And that’s exactly why we gotta be more careful with our moves, dumbass. City B is a lot more chill, so I didn’t complain about that big show you two put on, but those same things cannot happen here.”

  She made a subtle gesture with her head, and I looked to my left. Three big guys with green skin and body armor were eyeing us down from the other sidewalk. They didn't scare me, but I didn't wanna get on their bad side.

  I sucked my teeth, holding my beard. “So the only way we're gonna see Lyra is through that concert tonight? Patience isn't my strong suit, but screw it.” It seemed like Flam was giving us an unintentional tour of the city to pass the time. “Oh yeah, we need tickets to the concert, right?”

  “The concert’s free for everyone except those who want to sit in the first two rows,” Flam answered while he began walking again. “And those sold out this morning. And even then, you’d need a backstage pass just to talk to her.”

  A free concert meant three problems: a packed crowd, a rowdy crowd, and a loud crowd. Calling out to her would be useless. And that meant we needed to do one thing.

  “We gotta steal some tickets.” I kept my voice low for that sentence.

  Kofi put his arm around my shoulder. “Oooo, now you got me listening, Hunter.”

  Flam’s eyebrows lifted. “I’m not going to help you two steal from civilians. What did I just say about not making any wrong moves?”

  “You don’t have to help us steal it,” I said. “If you know anyone who bought it, then we’ll just take it from them and meet you at another spot.”

  “Yeah, and we’re fast as fuck!” Kofi added. “I’m faster, but Unc here has some speed too.”

  Some speed? Didn’t I catch his lightning a couple times?

  After a couple seconds of pondering, Flam finally surrendered to our confidence. “Alright, fine. But you have to use that speed to your advantage for this place. I’m not playing around.”

  “Just lay it on us, girl,” I told her.

  “Yeah, lay it on us.” Kofi snickered. “And we don’t mean those tits.”

  She grimaced at him, and I gave the kid a light slap on the head to teach him a lesson.

  “You two are going to prison.”