Wrong Side of Town [Dead & Locked]

[Jared]

Wet... Wetness... Jared opened his eyes. He was in a building on his back and staring up at the ceiling. Water droplets were coming through its cracks and landing on his forehead. It wasn't the coziest place to have crashed for the night, but it was good enough. He would take drops of water over sleeping completely exposed any day. Especially in known gang territory like this.

Jared sat up and rubbed his face. I'm so damn hungry, he thought to himself. His stomach growled in agreement. "Shut up," he mumbled as he got to his feet. "I heard you the first time."

He made his exit from the front of the building and walked down the sidewalk. He put a mental to-do list together, eating being number one and finding a safer place to crash coming in second. Every day he spent here was crazy. No survivor in their right mind would have spent this much time in hostile territory. He was actually surprised he had managed to evade their attention for so long, but he still didn't want to push his luck. A few blocks into his walk he heard talking. He froze and was silent. He listened closely. It was men.

Shit. He took the alley to his left and climbed the broken wall of a building. Living like this for so long, he could climb almost anything. He reached the top just as they got close. He got on his stomach and peeked over the edge. It was two men. No doubt gang patrols looking for their next meal and survivors in their territory.

"So the bartender says, "Jesus! Doesn't anybody in your family like women?" and the man downs the drink and nods his head, "Yeah, my wife."" As the first man finished up his joke, the second man burst into laughter.

"That was a good one, man." said the second man as he clapped the first man on his back. "Where do you get your jokes?"

Jared removed himself from the edge of the building's roof. He didn't want to risk being seen. As he moved back, his foot hit some rubble and sent it off of the roof and onto what was left of the pavement. It made an audible clunk and the men's laughter stopped.

"Did you hear that?" the men whispered. "It came from over here."

Jared's heart sank. Shit. I'm not up to a fight. He heard the men moving closer to him, looking for the source of the sound.

"It doesn't look like anyone is here." said one.

"You're-" the other got interrupted by the growl of Jared's stomach.

Shit. That was the worst possible time for that. I'm so screwed. Jared stood up and took his hatchet from his waist and readied himself for a fight. Let's hope they don't have guns.

"That came from up there, I know it." one whispered.

"Get up there and see what's going on." the other whispered back.

He could hear their whispers just as well as he could one of the men beginning to climb the building. His palms began to sweat as gripped his hatchet. Weak from hunger, this was his best chance at making this an even fight. The stranger's fingertips gripped the roof, and Jared was ready when the man's head came into view next.


"Ungh!" He quickly raised his hatchet and sunk it into the mans skull, and when he pulled it out just as quick, the man fell to ground. The other man who stood and waited just below got knocked down by the literal dead weight of his patrol partner and whacked his head off of the pavement. 

Moving with haste to seize his opportunity, Jared jumped down to the ground where the other patrolman was barely conscious and put his hatchet in his throat. After a few bloody gurgles, he was gone too. 

The threat having been eliminated, Jared quickly continued on his way. 

[greyfeathers]

Grey moved through debris, dodging a falling ciderblock in the process. How he managed to get up this far North still floored him, but he had made it. New York City. Once the crown jewel of the United States. How far had they fallen...

Grey stopped suddenly when he heard commotion. His shotgun immediately was directed towards the noise, and he moved closer, sticking close to a decaying building for cover. He hoped the damn thing wouldn't collapse and crush him, especially after such a long walk up here. Before long, he spotted a pair of fresh corpses. And they couldn't have been fresher. He must have missed the killer by seconds. He was armed too, at least some kind of melee weapon. Good. Hand to hand was his specialty. Grey looked up and noticed a trail of blood leading away from the killing ground. Whoever did it didn't take the time to clean his blade.

Grey followed the trail down the road and around a few corners. Whoever killed them moved fast. But he was faster.

"Freeze. Hands where I can see them."
Grey kept his shotgun trained on him at all times. Hopefully this guy would give in quietly. The last thing Grey needed was for half the city to hear gunfire. He cocked his shotgun to show he meant business.

[Jared]

Not long after Jared left the scene, he heard a male's voice and a gun cock and raised his hands. He turned his head but couldn't see who had come up behind him. He let out a sigh. "I don't know who you are, but I have a feeling you're not from a gang."

He kept his hands in the air  as he turned to view his attacker. "So why do you have your gun aimed at me?" he asked the man coldly. The man looked a little older than Jared and appeared militant, but he spoke like a cop. Jared couldn't put a finger on him. 

He narrowed his eyes. "We're in the wrong area for a shootout, friend."

[greyfeathers]

"You can never be sure about random strangers...especially ones that took out a pair of armed men back there..."
Grey kept his shotgun trained on the man, his face straight in his crosshairs. This wouldn't be the first time Grey was in this position, and he had a feeling it was far from his last.

"One shot doesn't count as a shootout. So, you wanna explain the bodies back there, or should I shoot first and ask questions later?"

[Jared]

Jared let out a chuckle. "You must not be from around here. Those bodies back there belonged to a couple of gang bangers. This is their territory and they don't take kindly to trespassers. I.E. us."

His arms growing tired, he dropped them to his side and put his hatchet away. "Get that damn gun out of my face, pal. If you shoot that thing, you're as good as dead.  They'll come from every direction and you'd be outnumbered before you could blink."

Jared made eye contact with the stranger. "Now if I've answered all of your questions, Officer, I'd like to vacate the area before they find their dead comrades and send out a search party." his stomach growled. "And eat."

[greyfeathers]

"One, they would have to find said tresspassers first..."

If there was one thing Grey could do in an environment like this, it was to hide. He had scoped out several good spots on the way in, and by the time anyone came to investigate gunfire, he would be tucked away in a nice secluded spot with a clear line of fire. Stranger's argument number one, dismissed.
"Two, outnumbered and surrounded used to be in my job description..."
Over 17 years of military service, Grey had been in more shit than a sewer worker would see in twice that long. He doubted the gangmembers had much tactical knowledge or training, so outmaneuvering them would be child's play. Argument number two down.
"And three..."
Grey aimed the gun to the man's right and fired, riddling the man running from behind him with buckshot. He then turned and fired off a round into the second floor window of the building behind him. A body fell out soon after.
"...they already know we're here..."
Grey loaded another shell as he turned to aim at the two men coming up from the rubble on his left. He hoped these were the only ones here. He was almost out of shells...

[Jared]

Jared didn't have time to react as the man shot past him. He didn't have to look behind him to know it was a thug. The man turned and shot another from a second story window before declaring they had found them. Jared pulled out his pistol and quickly shot the two men to the stranger's left in the chest.

"I could have been gone by now if you hadn't stopped me." Jared spat. He holstered his gun and walked over to the two men he shot and put his hatchet in their heads just to be sure they were dead.

He faced the stranger. "I suggest we both leave. I don't have the energy to fight more thugs and they're not worth the ammo."

He went quiet when he heard men shouting in the distance, no doubt trying to find the source of all of the gunfire. "We need to get out of sight and out of mind unless you've got a better plan." He whispered.

[greyfeathers]

"Get going then. I'll just leave a little present for them..."

Grey moved to one of the bodies before removing something from his pocket. He hated wasting C4, especially on thugs. But his survival now depended on using the last of his precious explosives.

Grey shaped a charge, placed the receiver and affixed it to the body before covering it with the man's coat. He then ran off into a building overlooking the killing ground and waited for the thugs to arrive...

[Jared]

Jared watched as the man fixed something to one of the bodies in the street, cover it, and duck into the buildings for cover. This is going to be loud...

He let out a sigh and peeked down the street in both directions. No one had made their way over yet. Quickly, he made his way to the stranger. His first instinct was to run and leave the stranger to the problem he created, but when then was all said and done, he didn't want to be caught out there alone with pissed off thugs. He'd much rather die with someone else than alone. 

Inside the building he pressed his back into the wall and let his head rest against it. "You know you're crazy right?" he said after taking a minute to catch his breath. The shouting in the distance gradually grew louder as the bands of thugs got closer. He looked at the man. "You've got one hell of a death wish."

[greyfeathers]

"You have no idea buddy..."
Grey watched as no less than a dozen armed gangsters appeared from over a large pile of rubble and began to secure the area. Upon seeing the bodies the leader of the group shouted out:
"Check for live ones!"

Grey smiled slightly before getting up and walking away. As much as he would have liked to see this, the shockwave would be bringing down at least one of the buildings, and he didn't want to stay around for that.

"If you're planning on watching the show, you might want to keep your head down..."

"Run!Ruuuuun!"

And that was it. Grey raised the detonator and pressed the button, the high pitched tone echoing through the empty building before being overshadowed by the deafening explosion from outside.

Soon enough, Grey heard the telltale groan of straining metal and a horrified voice confirmed that his plan had worked.

"It's coming down!"

Grey quickened his pace a bit as the sound grew louder and he heard the first pieces of rubble falling. Okay, maybe this would work too well...