On a quiet night, a group of teenagers were on their bikes, riding across the empty streets, passing through some deserted warehouses and buildings in some of the run down parts of the South-Eastern District.

  “Shhh! Careful!” When some boys fallen behind started huffing because they were trying to pedal harder, the older boys leading the way immediately stopped and tried to shush everyone: “We ake a sound! If anyone hears us, we’d be in big trouble!”

  “Sorry! Sorry!” One of the boys who fell behind apologized.

  “Sshhhh!” The leading boys immediately shushed again.

  “Sorry - sorry.” The body lowered his void apologized again.

  “Let’s take a break, we o ride at a steady pace. ” An older teenage girl wearing a headband raised her hand: “If we don’t keep it steady, some of us are gon lost!”

  “Okay, the’s take a break.” The leader boy, who was in a windbreaker jacket, whom the kids called “Jax” said: “Five minutes, okay? Just five minutes, we still have about halfway to go. And it’s across some very rough road, so everyone pace yourself, have a piece of chocote, or whatever y.”

  “Are you sure it’s not gonna be dangerous? ” Just this moment, a young teenage girl wearing a pair of gsses raised her hand and asked: “Whenever I ask my mom, she just tells me to hush and py somewhere else. The grown ups ell me anything. And if I keep asking they’d just get angry and yell at me…”

  “My mom says it’s super dangerous. ” Aeenage boy with a thread hat leaned on his bike handles and said: “They told me it’s a pce with ghosts and monsters. They also told me, that there have been many people who go into the ruins, and they never e baone of them e back.”

  “Like your dad?” Some other teenager asked.

  “Hey, fuck you! He’s just w in the Northern District okay? He sends us money!”

  “He’s just sending you scraps!” The annoying teenager heckled again.

  “Fuck you! Why don’t you go eat a bag of shit?!”

  “Silence! You fuckers! You wan caught?!” Jax the leader raised his voice: “Alright, break’s fug over! Let’s get our move on!”

  “But - you said five minutes!” The slow boy in the back was still panting.

  “Yeah, but these fuckers are just too loud! We’ll get caught if we stay longer. Let’s go!”

  The teens tinued on their way. This time, the group rode slower than before. It was mostly because the terrain started to get rough, and the road was not as straight and easy to spot anymore. And partially because the younger boys in the back were falling further behind.

  Fog started f around them as they tio ride uphill. Some pilrs and walls of the old ruins had bee visible for them. The leaders of the group started to get visibly excited, and they stopped g about making noises, presumably because right now they had made it far enough away from the residential areas.

  They passed a brea a wooden fehey rode past the point where even the roads of dirt and dried grass ended. Now what surrouhem was old but deserted buildings that looked like they were vilges of the old times. The houses were all made of wood, bamboo and hay, and only a few of them seemed to be made of stones ah. There were no signs of living people or livestoywhere.

  “We’re almost there! We’re almost there! Pedal up you suckers!” Jax ughed and yelled at the other teenagers behind him.

  “Wait up! I’m tired!” The slowest and you boy cried behind the team: “Hey! Wait up!”

  “Grow a better pair of legs! Gyuu-uge baby! Grow a better pair of legs!” The same heckler teenager yelled back at the slow boy, then giggled and sped up some more.

  The fog around them grew thicker, and the visibility was dropping to a dangerously low degree. It did not take long, before the you slow boy started seeing less and less people in front of him.

  “Dewy! Dewy! Please wait for me!” The st boy could barely catch his breath - after just a while, there was only one red headed slightly chubby boy in front of him. His voice started shaking, and his eyes were being teary.

  “I o catch up to them! I o go! ” Dewy looked back at the st boy, his pupils somehow gained a light gray-ish blue hue. His mouth was smiling, yet his facial muscles just seemed stiff and unnatural. Then out of nowhere, he gathered up the energy to pedal harder and start to speed up. Just a few breaths’ time, he was almost lost in the fog.

  “Dewy! Dewy!” The st boy tried to grind his sore and untrolble legs with tears running down his face: “Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t you dare!”

  The chubby boy in front still proceeded to leave him behind.

  “Dewy! Dewy! If you leave me behind, I’m gonna tell your mother! I’m telling everyone who threw that dead rat iemple ey!” The st boy almost cried his lungs out: “Please! Dewy! Don’t leave me!”

  Dewy let out an uncharacteristid slightly unhinged ugh, then tinued into the fog. o be seen again.

  The st boy cried a pedaling. The fog became thicker and thicker, pretty soon he was not able to even see anything just a few more steps out. His muscles were screaming at him, he could feel his joints creakiually he could not hold on anymore and lost trol of the bike, uo get up.

  “Dewy! Jax! Please!” The st boy cried and yelled, he felt his throat burning, his lungs were leaking more air than they were taking in.

  No one respoo him, no one waited for him. He tried to get up again, but his legs gave out once more and he bumped his nose and his forehead on the ground. There was dirt and grass stu his face, he could smell the salty, irritating warm liquid in his nostrils.

  “Please… please don’t leave me here…” Young Gyuu wiped his fad his nose as he looked around him. The fog was so thick, he could see her the way forward nor the way back.

  Gyuu id on the ground for a couple of minutes, and when his legs felt better and his clothes were already soaked in dirt and mud, he tried once again to stand up. He did it, though his legs were shaking and his knees were hurting.

  “He-Hello?” Gyuu asked, looking around.

  The fog was still one moment, and without any hints ns, it started rumbling and rolling. After a while, Gyuu saw the shadow of a woman, wearing a silky white dress and donning a full head of flowing golden hair.

  Shout out to my patrons this uping ese New Year:

  Jonathan,

  Mant06

  Thank you very mud have a happy Year of the Rabbit!

  Egao