“You trapped me,” I growl, spinning toward him and raising my knife, ready to fight.

The Recruiters hover at the mouth of the alley, calling for us. I start to back away from the stranger, looking for any means of escape. More moans sound in the distance.

A streak of flame lights the sky several blocks away, illuminating the alley, and I see the stranger hunched over a pair of metal doors set flush with the ground. He’s prying at a chain wrapped around the handles and finally he tugs it free, throwing open the doors.

There’s nothing but darkness beyond, the gleam of the first few steps of a staircase leading down and down. I refuse to move.

The stranger takes the steps, his legs disappearing into blackness. I stare at him. The old subway tunnels aren’t safe and it would be stupid to follow him. I glance at the buildings crouching over the alley but none has a fire escape. My choices are to follow him or take my chance with the Recruiters, already shouting as they race toward us.

The stranger holds out his hand, urging me into the darkness. One choice is a known danger, the other unknown. I hesitate, trying to figure out a third option, but there is none.

Cursing under my breath for getting into this mess, I start down the stairs, tucking the knife into my pocket so I can press my hands against the wall to guide me. The stranger pulls the doors shut behind us, sealing us together in the emptiness. For a heartbeat we stand there, silent and still. And then the Recruiters beat against the doors, and without waiting I race down the stairs, the stranger not far behind.

A sharp pain radiates along my hip where the man kicked me on the roof and my throat feels raw from running through the cold night. It’s pitch-black, and even though I strain my ears, all I can hear is the echo of our pounding steps and the clamoring of my heart.

At the bottom I hit a set of metal bars blocking the entrance to the old station, but I find a gap, wiggle through and keep running until the darkness is too much. Eventually, his steps slow to a stop behind me and I push on a little longer, putting some distance between us as I try to figure out who this person is and how I can stay in control of what’s going on.

I try to swallow the fear that flooded my veins as I was being chased, but the dark is closing in on me and it starts to suffocate my mind. I begin imagining other sounds than the scraping of our breaths, squeaks and moans and the grating of flesh over concrete. I can’t figure out what’s born of fright and what’s reality, and I shake my head to clear it.

The blackness is a living thing that whispers in my ear as it strokes my arms and brushes over my hair. It tries to wrap itself around my body, tries to drag me down to the ground and bury me, and I fight against it, waving my arms until I find a wall.