With a heavy heart, he continued to talk with his friends, and together they left the room for breakfast. Nemo had not noticed it in the moment of his shock, but he was truly famished. It was normal to be hungry in the morning but today he felt especially hungry

  Maybe awakening makes one hungry? He thought, dryly. The group sat down in the giant hall on the first level where the mess hall was. Everyone could come and eat three meals a day here. The group laughed together and joked around.

  Today was their day off, and they were hatching plans. Pretty soon one idea seemed to grip the whole group by storm. "We should go and climb the Farspire." Mathis suggested. This seemed to resonate with the group.

  Even Nemo was infected with it. He decided he would enjoy one last day of civilian life, and tonight he would go and inform the police that he had become tainted.

  The only annoying thing seemed to be that even after a seemingly endless amount of food, he was still hungry. Still, the group was starting to move, and not wanting to get left behind, he quickly took as much food as he could gather and hurried after the men.

  The Farspire was located in the Industrial District, so they had to use the subway to get there. Soon they arrived at the terminal. They had all used the subway often enough, but, like always, it was an experience on its own.

  Because Atlantis was a city swimming on water, the subway system was a tram that ran along underwater tracks. They waited for a little while and got on. When the subway started to move, all the light inside was extinguished.

  That was another rule that had to be kept. No light underwater. That was not to say that the underside of the city was completely dark. There were certain parts of the underside of the city that were illuminated, but they were also reinforced and kept under tight watch by the officers and the police force. The subway, on the other hand, and many other parts of the underside had to be kept completely dark.

  Nemo was happy that he did not have one of the dreadful jobs that required him to work there. The ride took quite some time, since the Farspire was on the other side of town. The drive was silent, and even though it was nothing new, every time the subway submerged, the passengers could feel a certain tension.

  The ride had been peaceful until now, and they had almost reached the stop of the Farspire when someone got a message. Of course nothing could be seen except that the loud vibration could be heard.

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  Making noise was nothing too serious, since even the subway itself was much louder than any cell phone was, but this man seemed to have forgotten the rules of the undersea. He took his phone out and looked at the screen. In a matter of a second, a pair of hands had taken the phone away from him and extinguished its glow.

  "What the hell are you doing?" A voice asked the man.

  No response was heard. Just heavy breathing from the place where the man had been standing.

  "I asked you what you are doing."

  The passengers could feel movement in the crowd as it felt like the man had been shoved. Then a tumble was heard as the man fell to the floor. Soon a retching sound followed as an acrid smell permeated the air.

  "What the hell is this?"

  Then suddenly the subway stopped. This too was nothing new; sometimes they had to stop to wait for the one ahead to catch up, or an unexpected event happened. Why now? I just want to get off; the next stop would have been ours. Nemo thought.

  Then they all could hear it. A low thumping coming from outside tapping on the glass of the subway. It started to the far right of Nemo but slowly came closer and closer. Everyone held their breath. The tapping became louder and louder. And suddenly stopped. The passengers were listening intently, and Nemo could just hear something like human voices from very far away, shouting.

  Then the subway started to shake, and people started falling over each other. That's when panic started invading the minds of people. But where should they go in their fear? No one could get out of the small metal can with windows. Since outside was sure to be much, much more dangerous.

  "Everyone calm down. I am an officer of the police, and I can assure everyone that nothing will happen while we are under the city."

  A man suddenly seemed to stand up, above the people. At least that's what Nemo thought, since his voice seemed to come from a little farther up.

  "Civilian infrastructure has a top priority for the police and the military forces. We are definitely 100% safe."

  In the next moment the shaking stopped, and the shouts and noises from outside seemed to stop. Nothing else was heard from outside.

  "See, what did I say? We are in the best h..."

  The man had wanted to continue, but suddenly the tapping from before resumed. Slowly coming nearer and nearer to the spot where the door was located.

  Now Nemo could be sure that he felt panic settling into the hearts of his fellow passengers. It came closer and closer until it finally reached the door. Once the tap reached the place where the hinge was, it stopped. Then the passengers could hear an even more frightening sound: the slow creaking of metal being put under immense stress.

  They heard the creaking and compressing sounds, and then it happened. Something broke, and Nemo could hear the familiar noise of water rushing into a tight space. The tapping noises disappeared, and everyone in the cabin room, filled with tension, held their breath to see what would happen next.

  Initially, there was nothing, but then they heard the unmistakable sound of something large rushing toward them from beneath the city. The darkness was replaced by a greenish-yellow light shining on them. Then Nemo realized what was happening. Something was hurtling toward them, and the light was its eye. He wasn't the only one who understood, and panic began to spread.