He brushed the jet black mane out of his hidden face, into the depths of his hood. The man reached for a Zippo which was invisibly concealed in one of the many pockets of his combat trousers. Flicking the lighter away from him, the wick blazed a bright orange in the darkened room, illuminated each and every corner of his humble abode. His left hand pulled a pristine cigarette out of an invisible pocket. Before the whole room could fill with the intoxicating aroma of petrol, he brought the cigarette to his face, shrouded in darkness by the black hood he was wearing. The flame met the end of his cigarette and he paused briefly as the tobacco crackled … then, with a lightning-quick movement the lighter was gone and he exhaled deeply, relaxing his posture and filling the room with smoke and the hard, steely smell of roasted tobacco.

As he stepped out of his shack a cloud of smoke which had gathered inside followed him before dissipating into the thick forest. A late evening breeze whistled through the leaves of the massive trees. The pitch black of the wood was broken only by a beam of light that seemed to violate the sky with its sickening arrogance. A soft hint of pumping bass floated on the air from the general area that the light emanated from. The man groaned in what appeared to be pain and squinted at the light; prior to taking another drag from his glowing cigarette and staggering into the unknown.

“I’m just goin’ outside!” boomed a deep voice, in a thick southern-American accent.

“What..?” came the reply from the American’s acquaintance. He sighed enthusiastically and gestured towards the door, then his ears, then the speakers, then to the door again. His friend didn’t seem to care and just ushered him away with a cursory gesture of her hand, before continuing to dance in a drunken stupor. The American took this to mean she understood what he was trying to convey and trudged out into the blistering cold, slamming the log cabin’s heavy door with a satisfying ‘CLUNK’; causing a miniature cascade of snow to fall from the door’s section of roof. At the split second the door was closed the music was numbed and stunted to an acceptable level so that just the bass line could be heard.