Ghost Town

The year 20XX:

Desolate capital Tokyo, Shinjuku Ward

an undisclosed club in Kabuki-Cho

real heads gather for a late scrimmage

the entrance in level B2 with a curfew

even undercover agents are unaware

the loud noise shakes the pillars all night

people pile in and moisten the walls

before we hit the stage, concentration rising

nervous, yet isolated in a micro vacuum

Goth-Trad's beat, and Heavy's bass

all ready to jump in a cage full of beasts

but the real hunger came

from the other side of the fence

the front row audience extending their hands

I grab the bull horn and spit the lyrics

the red spotlight and sweat combine to sting my eyes

glowing in attention, I become the shi-te

the archer of tested, steel dialogue

human nuclear warhead in a full-capacity hangar

it's a riot with intense frequencies,

where raw reality challenges seasoned ears

the show quickly reached a climax, and then:

boom, a huge impact shook the room

compounded with the sound, resonated in the gut

the power wavered and so did the output

you heard the crowd cheers turn to screams

material came down from the ceiling

everybody braced for the worst, thinking this is the big one

but the band kept playing,

we had no intentions of quitting the song

with no eye contact, I could sense the vibe

as if we were in the frontline, no turning back

I yelled out to the audience "raise your fists!"

and threatened: "if you want to live, face the speakers, not the exit!"

the dispersed crowd became one again

consciousness came together,

and the rhythm lit a light of hope in the darkness of fear

close friends hugged each other to feel near

once the song was over,

we laid down the mic and instruments

in a piercing silence, our heads were ringing

I got off the stage to check out the damage,

and the staircase had caved in

we worked through the debris and found an opening

when I finally managed to stick my head out,

beyond the screen of smoke and dust,

a scene appeared in the twilight of dawn

the cityscape had evaporated, burnt down to the ground

it was so hard to believe that it had happened overnight

a shock like a head-on collision

I wrapped a t-shirt around my mouth and walked on the streets

high-rises had been leveled

concretes crushed, light poles blown away

and strangely, no signs of survivors

besides shreds of clothing and charred shoes,

melted pieces of neon lights scattered around

Goth contacted his friends

the cell phone signal barely went through

they said, the freeway structures all collapsed

exposing their iron ribcages, like dinosaurs in extinction

alongside Shinjuku, Akiharaba annihilated

Ginza in flames, Shibuya under water

how far did the hands of destruction reach,

only rumors and speculation fueled the fire

if this devastating force came from EM waves of a satellite,

was there a takeover of the defense system?

In any event, we had survived

we then saw others roaming around,

and one thing became apparent:

only those sheltered in deep underground had made it

however fortunate, it was also ironic considering the fact

that late-night business had become illegal

but we didn't have time to ponder that,

we had to think quick about our next move

although we wanted to assess the situation further,

I gave strict orders to return to their respective places

since there was a strong probability of

toxic micro-particles floating in the air

when we made it back to the club, the DJ was spinning

in our ghost town, electricity was still alive

how long that would last was uncertain,

but it was clear we couldn't rewind the hands of time

one girl, with her head down, started to step

that made the other kids rise up and come back to the main floor,

with nothing but sincerity in their eyes

so we jumped on stage to continue the show

rather than worry about food for tomorrow, or our family's safety,

the only truth we could hold onto

was being alive at that moment

on that day, we became Rebel Familia:

to be a herd, one family in the days to come