Steven worried for his friends. He acted as the mature, wise and aggressive parent for Zach and Colin. Zach was not wise, but he was wise-cracking. Colin was a strange man, he was a puzzle to everyone who met him, including was not afraid to risk getting arrested just to create more fun rumors for the town to gossip about. Steven thought, with a hint of guilt, about how contradicting his friends were. Colin was standing and facing the corner of the cell. Steven sat, legs crossed, his back against the iron bars. four more days had gone by. Colin and Steven were 'arrested' for 'speaking out' against the command.
Steven looked at his depressed friend.

Colin spun around with vigor, his eyes bursting open.

A foot hit the iron bars where Steven was sitting, knocking him over and making him grab at his back, trying to swat away the pain.

"Oh hi again, shitsmith. You miss me?"

Steven saw why Colin was so worried - this was his captor.

"Guess where I'm taking you! Go on, take a wild guess!"
A sadistic smile twisted across the guards face.
"Times up for answers! You two are headed to the passage, and I get to pull the switch this time!"
During his confinement, Steven would always overhear the guards; he would listen to their conversations, and worked to put the pieces together about 'the passage'. The passage was where people could leave the town. The mechanism, Steven figured, worked like this: a prisoner/citizen is put in a small room. With the pull of a lever, the doors close and, once they reopen, the occupants are gone, supposedly on the opposite side of the wall. Steven shuddered at the thought, recollecting his memories of the constant gossip and rumors spread about town; "just hope starvation gets to you first".

Another clear blue sky, no clouds again. Colin was ready to panic, his mind on the edge of the world he knew, literally and figuratively. The sky was split in half from Stevens view as he looked upwards along the 40 meter high wall, one foot in the chamber and one foot still in a twisted communistic society known as the town. There never was a name for the town, as it was the only one anyone knew. Stevens sore, dark eyes couldn't handle looking back at the town; he decided to look up, let that be the last thing he saw before he left the town forever.

"Hurry up, we don't have all day." The guard with the bitter eyes kicked Steven violently into the chamber, and Steven held his eyes shut. He didn't want to see the town. A priest of some sort appeared, saying a prayer before being moved off by the guards. another guard, who sounded more forgiving than bitter eyes, stood at the doorway of the chamber. he spoke like it was run of the mill, like it was just another day at the office.

"Once the doors open, you have a grace period of 3 minutes to leave the chamber. If you fail to leave the chamber, you will be executed by the guards once the chamber doors open again. You are not allowed back, as there is no way back."

"Don't do this to me! Please don't do this to me, please, please don't do this to me..." Colin's voice began to trail off into a muffled whimper. Another guard came and released the bindings off of Steven and Colin, and in that moment, Colin kicked out at the guard, with Tears in his scared face and a panicked breathing in his weak lungs. Stevens eyes were sealed, as he saw no evil. He didn't dare move, he couldn't help, he thought, or maybe, he was too much of a coward to do anything.
Colin was still panicking, digging a hole so deep that they might have killed him on the spot if he wasn't already in the chamber. The guard who was kicked back rushed at Colin and hit him square in the face, knocking him out cold; the guards iron greaves had met with his forehead.
Stevens already shut eyes pushed closed harder as he flinched from hearing Colin crash down on the floor. Steven turned his head away and stayed facing the wall of the chamber; his bottom lip almost bled from how hard he was biting down on it. it was all he could really do as the doors whirred shut.
Steven opened his eyes to find the chamber completely dark as he heard a cable above the chamber spin alive. He had to change his stance to keep his balance, and then Steven became aware.

The chamber was an elevator.

They were going down.

After a short ride, the elevator finally hit the ground. The doors on the opposite side of where Steven and Colin entered made little clicking noises, and shook alive. Steven prepared himself for whatever was out those doors.
The doors slowly and mechanically, for what felt like a minute, slid to the sides of the chamber, revealing trees as tall as the walls - a jungle. He stepped out into the unknown.

he turned around, and saw the vines climbing up the sides of the walls. He saw the beautiful, lush greenery surrounding him at all sides. Looking down, he saw the ground was green with grass and fallen leaves. He felt shade on his body, and peered upward. The canopy acted as a ceiling, bright greens and dark greens and giant fruit growing off the sides of the tree trunks. Steven was enchanted. Everywhere he looked, his eyes were being massaged by incredible colors. He saw a pile of dark grey rocks piled up near the elevator, almost appearing alien when compared with all the greenery. He kept walking forward, peering at the incredible detail of this new world. Steven breathed in, getting as much of the foreign air as he could. His lungs sapped the energy out of the new air, and exhaled. This was pure. He closed his eyes again, and smelled the aroma of a world without walls. He listened carefully to the sounds of the jungle. He heard birds, he heard the swaying of the grass and the leaves, he even heard little clicking noises.
Stevens eyes shot open. He sprinted back to the elevator. The doors were starting to close again. Colin was still out, frozen in time where he landed after being hit. Stevens eyes couldn't be more panicked. He grabbed the sides of the doors with his hands, trying to push them back. The doors were too strong for his coward like self. Steven had to get in and get Colin out, but he would need to stop the doors from closing, or he too, would be brought back up to the town to be executed, should he go and grab Colin now. Steven ran over to where he saw the rocks and heaved up the largest one he could find. He ran with strength that he didn't have, working with borrowed energy to drop the rock in between the doorway. The doors stopped, and Steven took his opportunity to get to Colin. Steven took Colin's arm around the back of his neck and lifted him up off the ground. But by the time He had Colin upright, he felt a strong jolt as the elevator started lifting, even with the doors still open.
Stevens breath couldn't have felt heavier.
Colin felt heavy.
Everything felt just about heavy.
Steven closed his eyes, breathed in deep, and ran forward, Colin in tow, just as the elevator was almost back inside the wall. He pushed so far out of the elevator, he didn't have anywhere to walk. He fell a short distance, and landed on the leaf and grass covered ground below.

When Steven woke up, a dizzy, shaking sensation throbbed in his head. His vision felt blurred as he regained his senses. He had gone unconscious. He sat up, arms behind his back and feet sprawled out forward, and looked around him.
The sun was setting.
"Colin, we should get shelter, or anything, lets-" Steven stopped talking to himself.

Colin was gone. Steven sprung up to his feet, eyes wide open to look around. He looked frantically about, and tried to confirm his memory. "I swear I got him out. I swear," Steven looked at where the elevator was last seen. There was just a wall, the elevator shaft sealed up mechanically so it didn't provide a way for anyone - or anything - to climb up into the town. Steven tried to collect himself. maybe Colin went on ahead, Steven thought - but why would he leave him behind? Steven tried to look around for anything to help him. He had to get to shelter - before anything got to him.

Steven walked for as long as he could, mixed in with speed walking here and there. He was sick of walking. He wanted the walking to stop - and that's when his prayer was answered, for better or for worse.
He was on a small cliff. He fell to his knees and crawled to the edge and tried to peer over. Not too far of a drop, if he could shimmy down the edge, he thought, he could keep moving. All he had to do was quickly crawl down, place his footing carefully, and after three quick seconds he would be on the ground again. At this point, he was getting used to hanging on for dear life, and began to push his body over the cliffs edge.
That's when it gave way.
Steven let go of the disappearing cliff edge, covered his face with his forearms, and tumbled down with the dirt and rocks. He knew he would live from something like this, he just didn't think it would hurt so much. He began to roll as the cliff became less steep, and once he stopped, found himself face up with his body all strung out. He checked, limb by limb, finger by finger, to see if anything was broken. He sensed no other pain and got up.
Was this it for him? Reduced to crawl around for shelter until death? Steven tried to push himself to keep looking. He couldn't find a reason to want to. He was ready to give up, until a torch was lit, not far from him.

"Oh my god!" Colin exclaimed, as he ran to a shaken, dirty, and bruised Steven. "Boy am I glad to see you! You won't believe what I -"

Steven punched him in the face, square in the cheek.

Colin moved with the impact, almost dropping the torch.
"Are... Are you serious?" Colin coughed up the words, trying to understand what he did wrong.
"Whats wro-"
"You left me, to fucking die, after I saved your sorry ass. I'm outside of the fucking city, because I tried to save you. You left me alone, and I almost died falling down a cliff. And this is what you say?!"
"I was on my to get you. I went to look for shelter-"
"That is bullshit, and you know it! You are cruel, you know that? I am here because of you! If I wasn't so fucking nice for people, I could still be in town, minding my own business!"
"I-"
"What. What do you have to say, other than 'gee, look who turned up!'"
"I... I found shelter, torches and everything."
Steven saw the natural light of the sun had already begun its final minutes.
"I'll apologize later," Steven spouted, "but lets get out of here. Now!"
Colin nodded, and began the tireless sprint into the darkness, racing their way to their only hope.

Steven ran with only the the torch light to guide him, he could barely see anything in front of him; it was a miracle that he hadn't tripped yet.
Steven was amazed at how far Colin had explored without him.
Colin stopped at a mound of dirt, and handed Steven the torch.
"What are you doing?"
"It was right here, I swear!"
Steven brought the torch closer to Colin, to help him find god knows what.
"Here! Here, get in!"
Colin pointed to a wooden hatch. Steven saw no reason to hesitate, and climbed down. What he found was like excavating a lost civilization; Steven was in awe. The torch revealed a workbench, a makeshift bed, a chest, and some coal, which was piled up in a corner of the shelter. Colin was inside now, and had locked the hatch shut. He grabbed the torch from Steven and placed it neatly in a carved out depression in the wall. Steven looked about, and realized, the entire shelter was made of dirt, just dug out and made into a temporary home. Steven couldn't believe how fortunate they were. while Steven still had his doubts, he was going to have to take it if he wanted to live.
Colin spoke up before Steven could say anything.
"So, what do you think? Not a bad find, huh?" Colin was beaming with success.
Steven thought carefully about what to ask, whether it was about security of the hatch, who was the previous owner, or how much supplies the shelter held.
"I think-"

Loud, extremely fast feet sped over the hatch. It didn't sound human, and it was to fast to be a mob. Steven and Colin both looked up at the dirt ceiling, with weak, wooden planks fixed in place, holding it up. dirt fell onto Stevens head.

A growl was heard. Loud , ferocious, and coarse.

Steven and Colin did not sleep,

they did not talk,

and they barely moved for the rest of the night.

Whatever was above them, knew they were below.