Chapter 5: Enter the Metro

Amaterasu was rudely awakened by the sound of screaming banshees coming from the outside. She sprung up into a fighting stance right above Roland, growled and prepared for whatever comes at them. But there was nothing, except for the chorus of sirens echoing outside in an artificial, D major steady tone. In reality, they were nothing but civil defense sirens signaling the end of curfew and the start of a new day. Roland fluttered his eyes open, already familiar with the routine sounding of the sirens in the mornings, he does not react.

"It's ok pooch…" He slowly sits upwards on the bed. "It's just our "public alarm clock" so to speak."

Amaterasu relaxed thanks to Roland's reassurance that there was no threat. Roland briefly gazed off into space from sleepiness and became lost in thought, specifically about the day that awaits them.

"I'm not looking forward to this at all…"

Amaterasu gives a small lick on Roland's face as a response and to give at least some motivation that she could offer. But it was still enough to crack open a small smile from Roland.

"To hell with it…let's go. We should as soon as possible so we can have all the daylight to ourselves."

Roland finally gets out of bed and proceeded to tidy up for the day.

"Oh, I almost forgot. We need some breakfast first!"

Amaterasu immediately got excited at the thought of having food. Afterall, she hadn't eaten anything ever since she returned to the mortal world.

"Shall we?" Roland opens the door and signals Amaterasu to follow him. He led her down the same path as they took back to Roland's room from the distillery. He brought her to a storage room where most of the vital supplies are that sustain the small population in the establishment. He retrieved two plastic packets, which were military rations, one for him and Amaterasu.

"You may not really like the taste of these…but it's the best we've really got." Roland said as he sat down at a small table nearby and prepared the meals in the flameless ration heaters. He already saw the disappointed expression on Amaterasu's face. The main course was a blob like substance comprised of rice, egg, and chicken. When Roland teared open the packets as soon as they were heated, the smell made Amaterasu almost gag.

"Well, let's dig in." Roland took a bite with a spoon.

Amaterasu was reluctant to eat, but she knew that she had to in order to have as much strength as possible. She inserts her snout into the packet and started to slurp up its contents.

"See? It's not so bad after all!"

Roland was used to the taste of these rations since he had been consuming them for a year straight, while Amaterasu compressed her face from the bitter taste of the food. After a couple minutes, the duo finished their meals. Roland cleaned up after himself and Amaterasu, then signals her to follow him. The next stop was the Quartermaster.

They enter a large room that half inaccessible due to it being split by a grated counter. A middle-aged gentleman with an eyepatch stood behind it, and behind him was an array of weaponry and munitions.

"Morning Roland! I was expecting you to drop by today! I have your stuff ready as the Chief requested." The Quartermaster said excitedly.

"Hey Mr. Q. What do you have for me?" Roland leaned onto the counter.

"Well first and foremost, more ammunition and munitions for you." He said as he took out a box from under the counter containing bullets, arrows, grenades, and spring-razors, which is a special type of motion activated device that unleashes razor sharp wires to cut nearby enemies into pieces.

"Now lastly, I have 10 road flares for you to use when in the tunnels. They are much brighter than the flashlights that we have at the moment so these will be useful. However, they have a life for about 15 minutes so please do use them wisely."

"Thanks, Q. So how much is all of this?" Roland asked packing the new items into his bookbag.

"Nothing! It's all on the Chief!"

"Oh wow…Well I'm flattered! That's quite generous of him."

"Indeed. This is a very important mission for you, so I wish you all the luck that I can give." Mr. Q gives Roland a small solute.

"Thank you, we will need it. Let's go pooch."

Roland started heading for the exit of the distillery with Amaterasu following him. When they reached the exit, the guards there wished them safe travels as the duo stepped outside.

When the two made it out from the alleyway and onto the main street, Amaterasu carefully observed her surroundings again. The sky was somewhat brighter, but it was still murky like dirty water. For once there were some people outside, heading to their place of work to put food on their tables and have a roof over their heads. Most of them were not in good shape. Thin, pale, sick, and dirty, they are citizens who have lost their chance of living decent lives. Now, the only thing that are on their minds is survival.

"Just follow me for now. The station shouldn't be far from us." Roland says to Amaterasu and starts to walk towards the direction of the metro station.

After walking for some time on the gloomy streets of Kamiki, they reach a section of a block that was completely inaccessible due to a wide makeshift barricade blocking the street. However, Roland saw right above the horizon a glowing, triangular prism styled blue sign that had the had a large letter "M" engraved onto it. That was the entrance to the metro station, which also so happened to be behind the barricade.

"Damn it, of course it has to be in gang territory. Hmm, let's find an entrance to the area first."

Roland figured that the entrance to the territory must be through an alleyway. The two walk over to the adjacent street and enter an alleyway between the buildings that leads to the barricaded street. At the end of the alley, there was a semi barricaded arch consisting of concrete blocks and barbed wire, as well as a man guarding the entrance. The man did not appear to be an average citizen. He was big, well-built, and armed with a machete on his hip, it was a clear enough indication that he was part of a gang.

Gangs in general have risen to power during the crisis by taking advantage of the circumstances. They have "offered" citizens work through committing heinous acts and going above the law in exchange for extra necessities needed to survive in this world. In this case, the gang was using the metro system for smuggling operations.

As Roland and Amaterasu approached the entrance to the street, the man spots them and took a firm stance right in front of them.

"Cross the line, and you'll have your throats cut…" He warned them in a menacing tone while clasping his fists together and cracking his knuckles, to further get his point across.

Roland decided to first take a passive approach in this predicament.

"Look mister, we don't want any trouble. All we want is access to the subway, is that too much to ask for?" Roland asked innocently.

"I'm not buying that shit! Now blow off you'll be swinging from a meat hook, including your dog!" The man barked back at him.

Roland gave off a heavy sigh and glanced to Amaterasu apologetically, hinting what he was about to do next. Amaterasu understood what needed to be done and how it had to be done. However, she will leave Roland up to the killing of humans or anything else that is not demonic in nature. She has established a decree that forbids her of using divine instruments to cause harm towards non-demonic beings. The least she can do to help Roland is to distract and stun the enemies to let him give the fatal blow should he wish to.

Roland then scanned the area behind the man. He saw two other men conversing with each other directly in the line of sight from him. There were three other men scattered around the area performing miscellaneous tasks. All of them were armed with either machetes or meat cleavers, a couple wielded pistols and home-made incendiary bombs as well.

Roland clenched his hand into fist and made a sudden downward motion with his left arm along with blue rings and particles exhumed from his hand. The world around him and Amaterasu faded into black and white as time froze around them. Roland beforehand telepathically and subconsciously synchronized his abilities to Amaterasu for her to be affected by the abilities and let her keep up with him whenever he bends time and space around him. Roland extended his left arm again which was also equipped with his compact wrist bow and fired one arrow right towards the gangster's head. However, the arrow froze in the air after moving only a couple feet from Roland. He the took out a spring-razor from his bookbag and attached it to the base of the arrow. As soon as he came into contact with the arrow, its momentum continued onwards. It had enough force to sever the crook's head and traveled all the way towards the other two conversing gang members who were completely oblivious to what was happening. The arrow landed in front of them with the head of the first gang member impaled on the tip. The spring-razor deploys its deadly assortment of sharp wires and fragments, mincing the two thugs into pieces. Roland drew his blade and proceeded to dispatch the remaining three members that were still around when time resumed back to normal. He warps over towards one of them without detection and severs the thug's head cleanly, he then drew his pistol quickly aimed, and fired one round towards the second gangster nearby. Finally, he warped over to the last thug in the area and cuts his torso in half. All three of the subsequently hit the ground at the same time. Roland relaxed for a bit and twirls his blood-stained blade, grinning with pride. Amaterasu was shocked, but also impressed of Roland's quick and efficient combat tactics.

The small break was short-lived when another four gang members appeared from the station entrance with their weapons drawn. Apparently, they had heard the single gunshot discharged from Roland's pistol.

"Well lookie lookie! Come on! Let's get this guy!" The lead thug yells as they spread out in an attempt to incircle Roland.

Amaterasu thought that now was the time prove herself as a handy companion for Roland. She ran up next to Roland and stood by his side, she then proceeded to make a long horizontal gesture with her tail pointed towards the thugs to utilize the power slash technique. After her move, the gangsters were suddenly knocked onto the ground and screeched in pain by an invisible force, but they appeared to be unharmed. Roland wasted no time to think about what just has happened and simply took this chance to dispatch them quickly and rather gruesomely.

When the thugs were done for, Roland paused for a bit and took a breather. He eventually figured out that phenomenon when the thugs were stunned came from the assistance of Amaterasu.

"Thanks pooch, I knew I can count on you." Roland gives her a warm smile.

But Amaterasu did not respond back with a happy bark like she usually did. Instead, only silence came from her end. She was disappointed that Roland had to use lethal force against an enemy that was no longer a threat. But, she had no way to fully voice her concern nor did she know of any way to persuade him to take alternative approaches.

"Well, ready to venture down there?" Roland asked her while he pulled out a flare from his bookbag.

Amaterasu gave him a slight nod; however, she already felt a dark but familiar presence in the depths below. She got herself ready mentally to confront anything that awaited them there.

"Alright, stay close to me okay? We will have a better chance if we stay together."

Roland also started feeling uneasy about heading downward into the concrete abyss. Nevertheless, the duo started their journey downwards towards the station platform. The air was damp, humid, and the aroma consisted of nothing more than concrete and metal. The platform itself was stocked of supplies smuggled throughout the city. Roland made a note to himself to let the resistance know of all the goodies located here. He then checked the signage to know which direction they had to go to. Once he learned where to proceed, he led Amaterasu down onto the tracks and started heading down the tunnel towards their destination. However, there was a large steel door blocking access to the tunnel up ahead. Roland quickly found a control panel that was connected to the motors attached to the door. He pushed a button that had a word "Open" on it, and the door first made some clanking noises before creaking open slowly and letting the air rush into the dark void that stood before the duo. Roland felt even more dread grasping his body, while Amaterasu sensed a greater volume of dark presence ahead. The only source of light they had with them was Amaterasu's white mane of bright tendrils, and Roland's flare which he ignited and started glowing red hot with fire spewing out of it.

"This better be the last time I'll have to come down here…"

Roland muttered under his breath as he took his first step into the noiseless, black chasm with his divine companion close to his side.