Slowly it is dawning that,
     I'm living in her realm.
That I'm a simple passenger,
     that Y is at the helm.
Should I be worried? Anxious?
     For her I do not know.
Yet fretting leaves me swiftly,
     as I chase my Dynamo!

We run through aisles and rows
     of a dilapidated shop.
Until my lungs are screaming,
     I lunge and shout out 'Stop'.
"We can't" she says and hurtles on,
     "I'll leave you if I must."
But all I see is darkness,
     as I fall unto the dust.

My limbs are numb, my body tired,
     I cannot feel my legs.
I've taken all my frame can give,
     reduced to stealing dregs.
I roll my eyes in pain
     as stomach pangs become much more.
And lay engrossed in pity,
     on the stone cold tiled floor.

Ahead she stops, I see it,
     and turns my way she does.
My lips begin to tremble,
     as my ears begin to buzz.
It isn't sleep I feel
     intoxicating mind and heart.
My consciousness is waning,
     'tis the stop that follows start.

I hear her mutter words and curse,
     but nothing I can grok
Her voice is so distorted,
     that her point I can't unlock.
The rain outside grows louder,
     but I have slipped away.
My consciousness has travelled far,
     my cranial hideaway.

When I come to, the sound is less,
     I blink my eyes to see.
No light or shapes can I describe,
     I'm blind; an amputee.
And then my present situation,
     becomes distinctly clear.
She didn't leave me all alone, No!
     My rescuer is here.

I feel her presence close at hand,
     though everything is black,
She's there my soul can feel her,
     The girl called Y came back.
Oh my delight I can't express,
     Thank you Lord, I cry.
A monumental blessing,
     for I was certain I should die.

The salt rain from my cheeks doth fall,
     a torrent to behold.
My skin feels cold with every drop,
     the joy conveyed and told.
Now adjusted, eyes of mine,
     can see her in the dark.
Her head is tilted downwards,
     with a voice as sweet as lark.

"I really should have left you"
     she says unto her knees.
And guilty though it makes me,
     her speech sets me at ease.
"I'm grateful that you didn't,"
     are the words that I reply.
She scoffs before she answers back,
     "yet now we're going to die."

"The storm appears absent",
     I state in questioning tone.
In an instant she is upright,
     and I pull myself to prone.
I feel her hand upon my arm,
     and up she yanks it hard.
And drags a stumbling gangly mess,
     to overlook the yard.

It's now I sense the eerie quiet,
     outside the bones are scattered.
Like a prehistoric dig,
     awash with lives that never mattered.
The light is dim but plain to see,
     the storm has not departed.
For in the eye we find ourselves,
     our destiny uncharted.

A flash of light illuminates,
     the worry on her face.
"This building cannot take much more".
     Against the clock we race.
"How long was I asleep?" I ask,
     "An hour, maybe more".
And then I hear the undead left,
     assault the metal door.

Another flash of lightning,
     and I see the lay of land.
Broken glass surrounds us,
     like a beach complete with sand.
She must have sat here all alone,
     the storm around her thrashing.
Destruction hangs from every corner,
     a reminder of the lashing.

A sudden fear now holds me tight,
     it weighs upon my chest,
My heart begins to pulse again,
     far more than I'd have guessed.
I feel inside my pocket,
     where I left my tiny key.
I feel like it's a part of me,
     my own identity.

"You dropped it in the yard outside",
     she says with no emotion.
I'm overcome with panic,
     as if I've drunk a magic potion.
"Tell me where it is." I shout,
     "Please, I need my key."
Her eyes begin to water,
     and I see she's just like me.

Her hand slips to her pocket,
     as I look into her eyes.
She breaks away, the gaze too strong,
     is all that I'd surmise.
She walks away then tosses key,
     it dances on the ground.
I pick it up and press to heart,
     my precious key I've found.

I understand quite quickly,
     the reason for her tears.
For she had seen a side of me,
     that matched her very fears.
Though different in so many ways,
     though she has been here longer.
The keys of X and Y will bind us,
     bind and make us stronger.

"There's not much time" she says to me,
     not looking back at all.
I hear the wind increasing,
     as it wails and skirts the wall.
It whistles through the broken windows,
     clawing at the glass.
Their jagged broken edges rock,
     as air begins its pass.

We stand there ready by the door,
     for what seems like an age.
A coiled choleric cobra,
     craving clemency from cage.
Y pulls out a screecher and
     winds it with the key.
"Ready?" is the question,
     to her fellow escapee.

I nod, she throws the banshee,
     knowing this one won't return.
It screams its last as demons,
     for its innards seem to yearn.
I pull the door and Y darts out,
     with speed I can't believe.
Yet now I'm close beside her,
     to her body I will cleave.

The beasts doth turn but we are gone,
     another doorway through.
They slowly turn from screecher corpse,
     And leave metallic stew.
They shuffle ever closer,
     as she fumbles with a lock.
Giving me a moment,
     to collect, to think, to grok.

They're slow when they are moving,
     even slower when they're not.
As though conserving energy
     to scheme to plan and plot.
Yet in those eyes an absence,
     a soul whose gone for good.
Or worse perhaps it lingers on,
     far longer than it should.

Through another doorway,
     and the rain begins to hail.
The mighty sound is deafening,
     and the city starts to wail.
Their very armour spent,
     roofs relent and windows shatter.
As debris is scattered everywhere,
     with shudder, shout and shatter.

The storm grows bold, the sound waves crash,
     upon my ears their shore.
My sense feel fatigue,
     I can not take this noise much more.
I watch as Y continues on,
     the strength she doth possess.
How long has she been living here,
     in squalid undead mess?

We reach a hole dug into ground
     and covered with a plate.
The storm is right upon us,
     and I fear I've sealed our fate.
It takes us both to lift it,
     the metal disc, it slips.
And as it falls to ground below,
     my right hand foot it clips.

I scream in pain, my toes are crushed,
     I've never been so loud.
Y clamps hand to seal my mouth,
     an action quite avowed.
Her hand is warm, wet from the rain,
     and from it I could break.
But scared I can't contain myself,
     I slump and start to shake.

"Pull yourself together"
     she snarls, removing hand.
The dead have noticed interlopers,
     grace their barren land.
In an instant she is gone from sight,
     she descends into the ground.
And painfully I follow her,
     unto the opening round.

The ladder comes unto an end
     five feet above the floor.
And drop I know I must,
     so I prepare for pain much more.
The rain flows down the ingress,
     and the dead are closing in.
"Hurry" Y exclaims and
     then the rung departs from skin.

The moment falling in the air,
     drags on and on and on.
I see the water droplets and
     I hear the undead's song.
The moans of beasts above me,
     bury deep inside my mind.
As I moan myself in unison,
     when damaged bones align.

I see her vault to shaft above,
     and climb the ladder quick.
A dead ones face appears in view,
     distraught, unwell and sick.
She drags the metal plate across
     covering the hole.
And total darkness now surrounds us,
     clutching at my soul.

I hear a click, a snap I'd say,
     and jerk my head to see.
A yellow glow begins to hum,
     right there in front of me.
The eerie light extends,
     not far enough to see the wall.
Instead it shows a shallow pool,
     so ably broke my fall.

Y climbs down and helps me up,
     the closest we have been.
Her arm around my shoulder,
     fuels my fire with gasoline.
She knows these tunnels well,
     each turn with her is well acquainted.
The undead strangely absent
     and the channels still untainted.

For an hour or more we traipse these pipes,
     her direction never lost.
She remembers every twist and turn,
     a feat with such a cost.
Respect deserved, respect she's earned,
     credit where it's due.
Without her I'd have perished here,
     my death long overdue.

The final shaft is dimly lit,
     and though I cannot see,
A feeling of euphoria,
     is washing over me.
I'm not sure why I'm excited,
     does my heart betray my mind?
I feel as if I'm broken,
     the last one of my kind.

Y pulls out another key,
     the sound is how I know.
The metal chimes sing songs of sweet,
     till in the lock they go.
She turns the key the clank is heard,
     and shredding of the air,
As metal grinds with stone beneath,
     erecting every hair.