Day's eyes widened and her heart started to thump in a fast and steady beat. Josh looked at her, his eyes being faintly reflected back from the flickering flame on top of the candle with the scarlet eyes glinting behind him through the silicon. 

"What?" he asked her, still ever so quiet, "is it really that much a surprise?" Day heard his feet shuffle as he moved around towards her and his hand seemed to brush her cheek. "Really?" Day felt her throat close up and she stumbled back, realizing she was stuck inside a grounded helicopter with a killer who was about to go insane, the only remedy for the darkness the light from a candle he controlled. The moonlight couldn't get to her here, where if not for the pollution, the sun would be blazing anyway. 

"Please," she managed to choke out, panic closing her throat. "Turn on the lights." Her back met a cold wall as the criminal closed in.

She almost thought she heard Josh gather his demeanor and sneer. 

"Please!" Day pleaded desperately, her fingers scrabbling for a grip against the metal barrier behind her to support her shaking legs. "You don't understand... I'm..." 

"Go on," Josh's voice was softer now, dangerous even. 

"I'm - afraid, of the dark-" The words seemed chunky and hard, scraping against the sides of her throat as she called them out of the depths of her mouth. Her body jerked against the sudden laughter that overtook her eardrums, bursting from Josh's direction as he cracked up, his gasps flying out as he shook with the power of the maniac glee. 

"Jo-josh?" She edged to the side as the laughs died down. 

"I'm sorry," was his response. "I'm so sorry." His whisper carried the weight of his sorrow and grief. "I shouldn't have told you. Whatever you think though, I-forgot-your-name, I'm not a criminal." His voice had fallen down to an intense quite again, the light from the candle throwing those ghostly streaks down his face like old scars, giving him the look of an old warrior. 

"I-I... need.... lights," Day felt the disgust at herself pool into the dark hole of her mind. She was such a coward... in the dark... and Josh knew it, more than knew it, laughed at it. 

The candle let out a desperate flicker as it was squeezed out by Josh. The darkness pressed in on her eyes and a cloth of black enveloped her, turning her limbs to stone as it sapped her will to live and breathe. This darkness was suffocating, without the constant lights of the citySector. More than she had ever imagined. 

Day heard shuffling feet but her eyes could not pick out a flicker of light to even faintly illuminate what was undoubtedly Josh's terrified eyes as the moans of the Sunless sounded outside and a quite scratching sound filtered through the silent copter. A surge of horror rushed over Day as her mind registered what was happening. 

"They're going to claw down the walls," she realized in horror. "Quick, candle!" the pounding of her heart terrified her in a way that the darkness and scratching seemed barely a threat. 

"I have a better idea." Josh's firm voice held only a hint of the quivering that had transfixed it as his welcoming footsteps marched away from her and the lights flickered on, flooding Day's peripheral vision as she held up her hands in a fruitless attempt to block out the sudden intensity. Her eyes flickered around slowly as they adjusted to the brightness and at last settled on Josh's pale face as he visibly shook. 

"The infection..." he trailed off. There were two ways to get infected. If you slowly went crazy from the lack of true light, that was one way, but inside, a virus slowly created itself in you as your mind went wacko. If you got to close to a Sunless, the virus would release through the infectant's pores and travel towards you. However, those virus's could travel for miles and would eventually latched onto a person. The chance of recovery was near zero and Day knew it. 

"IN!" Josh startled her out of her thoughts as his hand shot out and shoved her towards the a small flap in the wall that swung as her air propelled it back and forth. There was no way to fit through it, Day reflected as the boy's commanding hand made her stumble forward. 

"What?" she started. 

"The infection," the boy started, his eyes wide with alarm. "I'm already infected but I'm also past the stages of contagion so you're safe, from me." He jerked his thumb towards where the Sunless were pressing their heads against the glass, their eyes crazed. Some of their fists pounded futilely against the glass, and dirty nails dragged down the walls. "You're in danger from them." 

"But-" Day knew it was pointless. 

"Hush," Before Day's eyes, the flap in the wall expanded outward, transforming into a small tunnel that Day fell onto her knees to crawl through before Josh's outstretched hand shoved her forward again. 

The boy nodded grimly in approval and turned away, a small flame in each eye flickering before the tunnel closed around her and she was left in darkness again.