4 Fleeing in the city of empire.

John tried to blow up his fears.

3. Through the streets of sin in the city of empire John ran.

For a long time now he had been metaphorically running from his grief, his fear, his shame and from his hangover finally catching up-with him. But tonight after taking he-recalled-not-what-drug he ran literally from his hallucinations. He shredded his shoes as he ran down dark alleys scattered with broken glass, lurched into drainpipes and sprinted through dingy intercessions starling the poor and forgotten from there shivering fitful sleep. But he could not outpace the shadows chanceing him in his mind, nore stop them slowly solidifying into the worst of his fears.

Now in his mind he was persuaded by suited agents of state, beings who in his world existed only to facilitate the grand sin of empire.

He had been resisting such people however he could for most of his life, but now that he had nothing and noone the only defence left to him was to evade there clutches a little longer. Extreme exhaustion from unaccustomed exercise further screwed with his mind so as now he was running from a hord of hollow and faceless government suits drawing guns on him.

Suddenly through the mysts of his mind came a recollection " he patted his pocket feeling a cigar shape of cool metal. Yes! It was still there! That one dirty trick, one last defiance he had been saving until just before he got taken in. He dived around a corner away from imagined gun sites. Not knowing why his enemy gave him the time to fumble it thrice he set the fuse and dived into the entirely inadequate cover of the nearby trash.

He shealded his eyes but still in his mind he watched a dozen agents get atomised in the 'wooosh'ing blast of his cunningly designed explosive.

Satisfied his fears were dead for now he passed out with a grin and a face full of rotting fish.