He had told me there was a way out, but we didn’t have much time. Soon the labyrinth of infested sewer pipes would come alive and I’d have no chance of ever getting back to the surface. I’d never thought about what lengths I would go to escape before, but now my life depended on it.
As I looked behind me I heard a stir begin which urged me to propel myself forward further, faster. I was caught off guard when I turned my face forward, realizing that we’d just run into a dead end. A room, encased by a tiled floor and walls of a faded yellow colour; grime separating each tile.
I hesitated for a moment, not knowing if I should trust him. He told me he knew a way out, but this was just a bathroom! There’s no way out of here! Not even a window to climb out of, not that it would have helped being this far underground; where was I hoping it would lead to? A magical window that led to a grassy plane, littered with daisies, this far underground?

A siren begins to sound, an awful wailing. I look back at him to find him hastily lifting the toilet lid and seat, frantically gesturing with his whole body towards the toilet bowl. Is he out of his mind? Does he want me to put my head in the toilet? What could that achieve; my body can’t fit through there! He assures me he’s made many trips to where I’m going, but I have to be careful. If I can make it past what ever is down there, just beyond it will lead to the surface. I must hurry. The toilet water rushes around my head as it connects with the ceramic bowl. 
Wait! 
“How long is this thing?”
“I mean, how long will I need to hold my breath for? -- How long is it going to take?  ”

I start to panic; he tells me it’ll take less than a minute, but a minute? I’m not sure if I can hold my breath for that long. I start taking deep breaths in and out, estimating whether the air in my mouth will suffice until I get to the other end. I start to wonder what I’m really doing, how this is supposed to work. I’m supposed to put my head in the toilet… but what about my body… How am I supposed to fit down this thing? He assures me again that once my head is in the bowl my body will follow after me. Assuming my head can fit. I’m not a rat though! I’m not as small or as flexible as he is! The chattering gets louder from outside the room, like a tree full of birds at sunrise, squeaking and squawking over the top of one another. 
I rush to the door and close it hoping it may give us more time before they find us; the lock is a very old faded gold colour, just a thick block that fits into its corresponding empty box that looks as though it would come undone at any given moment.
I put my head in the toilet bowl again with more faith it might work this time, but it doesn’t. The rat finally realizes what I was worried about the whole time. I’m a lot bigger than a rat. It sounds like rain all around us, the pitter-pattering of tiny feet scampering in the sewers above, below, behind, in front of and beside us. I turn back to see the door has been unhinged from the lock. As I race to the door and close it I realize what a close call it was.

I could stay down here, he could just hide me and I could live here forever. At least I’d be a live. But they’d find me, and they’d kill me. The rats aren’t in control here anymore; they were overrun by much larger, fiercer predators that while they have taken over, still keep the rats alive to scavenge food for them- the predators. As long as the rats do that then they themselves will not fall prey to the predators. All this is just an added bonus though, the predators really keep the rats alive so they can lord their presence and superiority over them. When they get bored of that… I suppose that will be the end of them. He, who can’t even protect his own species from the predators, couldn’t defend me and I know that. 

With nothing to lose I begin smashing at the tiles with a crowbar, lifting them and chucking them aside as if they weigh nothing. He helps me rip the toilet free and chuck it to the side. I begin to see a larger hole opening up. I would never have imagined the small hole leading away from the toilet bowl would lead to a bigger pipe I could fit my whole body down- I had merely hoped. Not wasting any time to thank him for helping me, running on pure adrenalin knowing soon they’d fill the bathroom and come after me, I plunge myself head first down the pipe. I can feel the sewer water soaking the front of my shirt and imagine it’s just like those huge water slides at theme parks, and not actually dirty toilet water flowing through a cold iron pipe encrusted with fecal matter and reeking of urine. 

I fall to my knees as a cascade of freshly flushed excrement and urine fills around me from an adjacent pipe. The people must be waking up now, unaware of my presence deep in the pipes below them. As I stagger to my feet I notice this dungeon like pit where all the fecal matter meets is just like the rest apart from an orange light glowing through what seems to be air ducts high up on the wall and wonder how that could be possible given where I am. A screeching begins echoed by the surrounding pipes from all directions, getting closer. It’s not long before the water seems to be splashing, alive with the predators. I hastily make for the doorway at the other end of the tunnel, hoping that as they land their splashes blur each other’s vision to allow me a quick get away.

After wading for thirty seconds through the sewerage I noticed there was becoming less and less of it. Eventually I was walking on the cold surface of the pit again. I wondered why they hadn’t come after me yet and caught me, and instead remain at a distance, their high-pitched squeaking though shrill, fading in my ears as I walked further to reach the doorway.
As I entered the doorway, a pale and thinly clad man presented himself, leaning against a wall. As he raised a luscious green apple to his mouth and took a bite I used the time to look at what he was wearing. He appeared to be wearing a tunic similar to what Cesar himself would have worn in Ancient Rome, complete with withered brown leather sandals and crown of green shrubbery.
It was as if he expected me, perhaps the rat had pre-informed him of my soon to be presence down here. If he did, then he should know why I am here. The man eyed me smugly and with a mouth full of the fruit, asked if I’d like some corn on a cob.

He led me through a series of much smaller dungeons and tunnels while I nibbled at the corn on a cob and thought about how unexpected the offer was. Some of his smugness started to rub off on me and I now walked with much more confidence, foolishly believing I knew what I was doing, more purpose in my step.
We arrived at a regular door you would see in a house, not in a sewer like this. He opened the door and stepped inside, extravagantly extending an arm to welcome me in. He closed the door behind me, turned left and disappeared. The corridor was just like the dungeon but it had regular home doors branching off into regular home like rooms. With my new found sense of purpose I marched into the second room. I took a look around and figured it must be someone’s bedroom I was intruding upon. I quickly stepped out of the room fearing it might belong to someone important just as a bald man followed by a shorter blonde haired boy entered the first room, both also wearing Cesar like tunics, followed by the original man that led me here. His smug, dry smile affirmed that I was to follow the man and boy into the room. I smiled back like a wealthy man would do to doorman at an expensive elegant hotel and took my place on a seat near the rear of the room. 
As I looked around I noticed this room was just like the one I was just in resembling a bedroom. The informality of the setting derided any sort of formality the meeting had originally whatsoever. The only thing maintaining formality in the room was this man’s curt expression, his thick furrowed brows never acknowledging me. He sat between the boy and me, side ways on his chair. Surely if I were to make the decision now this man would have to be the emperor himself. 

I gathered the reason for him sitting between us like this was to act as an umpire or support for his side, his side being this eager juvenile looking blonde boy with a slightly too big tunic reaching to his toes. He sat on the seat maintaining his wide-eyed focus on my face, expressionless except for his eyes giving away his eagerness to perform. He must be the emperor’s son and apprentice to the heir, this being his first taste no doubt of official duty; learning how to compromise. 
I opened the conversation, not wanting to reveal how little I knew, weary of the emperor’s stern scowl and disapproving look if I were to prove unworthy.
“Do you know what we’re talking about?” I queried the boy. He shook his head up and down eagerly as his eyes brightened. The emperor was about to make eye contact with me when he blinked and raised his index finger to me, re-opening his eyes to his son.
”Do you?” he said in a gruff voice. The boy for the first time peeling his eyes away from mine to glance sideways at his father’s face, acknowledging the serious look on his face, the boy shook his head and looked at his feet.
Then the emperor turned to me, his eyes appealed mine for consideration of the small, inexperienced boy, with slight amusement, as if being a father I too could understand this momentary lapse in the proceedings. His son seeing this drew his eyes straight to mine and cried “Sixteen dollars!” His father preemptively replying disapprovingly;
“Would you like to start at two dollars fifty and work your way up, or from one hundred dollars and work your way down?” With this his eyes appealed to mine again, with a more displeased look.

Suddenly a clash of metal on metal lifted the emperor from his seat and out the door; with his son following I decided to follow too. A beautiful woman in black evening gown revealing the skin from her neck to her belly button in a V shape, and single golden feather behind her ear amongst her thick, long, wild black hair stood before a man in medieval armor fit with axe in hand. She turned to face the plumpish looking woman standing behind the guard and warned her;
“Although your size is big, I am a lot bigger than I look, woman” and with this the elegantly proportioned woman revealed the side of her body to the emperor through a gap in her dress, displaying a full-body length scar which I could not see from my position. 
“I am not afraid of pain!” she exclaimed with a tone of voice that sounded mystical, tortured and maniacal from all she’d seen.
The plump woman appealed to the emperor;
“I have been here many years, if anyone should be by your side I think it should be me” with a greedy tone, her eyes ablaze with the hunger to be ruler.