Necropolis

Derrik grinned as Keri flung open the back doors of the van and rumaged throught the equipment to find something suitable for blackmailing. Dave looked horrified.

"Now lets see," Keri leafed through a pile of CDs looking for something important.

"Come on, Keri," Dave whined, "just quit it, ok?"

"Oh! That one at the bottom looks good!" Derrik chimed in. Dave punched him roughly on the shoulder.

"Quit it Derrik!"

It was then that Keri saw the manual. It was large and well-used but it propped up a table full of equipment. Keri went for it anyway.

"Good choice, Keri!" Derrik grinned as he saw what was about to unfold. "The 'Ultimate Coder's Guide' is definately a good blackmail tool especially for- "

"Keri, be careful!" Dave kicked open the drivers door and ran round to the back of the van to stop her.

But, before he could reach her, Keri had pulled out the manual. Without the added support, the heavily laden table pitched forwards and disgorged it's contents onto the ground. The Apple Notebook on the top of the pile didn't stand a chance.

"Oh my God, Dave I'm so sorry." Keri apologised and bent down to pick up pieces of the computer but Dave grabbed her hand and stopped her.

The street was silent, excepting the sound of Derrik turning up his MP3 player in preparation for the outrage which he knew was coming. But, it didn't come.

"Just get back in the car, Keri." Dave sighed, "Derrik'll help me pick up the rest of this. I don't want you cutting yourself on any sharp pieces.

Derrik hopped out the van and Keri took his seat in the front of the van as he walked round and crouched down to clear up the mess. Derrik stared at Dave.

"What the hell was all that about?" he asked.

"It was an accident," Dave replied, "you saw her. It was just an accident."

"But! Come on! If I'd done that you would've killed me! What is it with you?" Derrik finished collecting the parts of computer and tossed them back into the van.

Dave went a deep shade of red and didn't reply. Derrik's face lit with understanding. But it couldn't be, it was just too good to be true!

"I get it! You- "

"Shut it, shrimp!" Dave growled. He slammed the van doors shut and walked round to the front of the van. Derrik followed.

"Ha! I'd never have thought Dave!" Dave hit him on the shoulder again and grabbed the MP3 player off him again before jumping into the van and starting the engine.

"But where do I sit?" Derrik realised that with Keri in the passenger seat, he was in a bad position.

"In the cyber cafe, once you catch up with us!" Dave laughed and raced off along the road.

Derrik sighed and sat down confidently on the pavement. He knew Dave would be back soon, he always was, so Derrik whistled to himself for a bit before drawing his pistol and checking it over.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Dave pulled up again in the van.

"You're too slow a walker Derrik," he shouted. "Get in the back, there's a seat in there. But, if you break anything, I'll break you."

Derrik pulled open the back door and jumped in. Looking at the way the junk in the back had moved round on the journey, he knew it would be more likely that something would fall and break him no matter what he did.

"Your driving certainly hasn't improved in the time you've been out of prison." Derrik murmured just quiet enough to go unnoticed. He settled down in the seat and held on tight to the sides of it as Dave hit the gas and roared off.

It was going to be a bumpy ride.

Dave wasn't going to admit it, but reason he always came back was Derrick was blind in one eye. The kid looked up to him and well he felt kinda sorry for him. Though Dave would never say it out loud. He switched on the radio turning knob until he found Radio 66ASH.

The DJ spoke, "The is DJ Carlos Mathews and you are listening to Radio 66ASH, our next song for today is an old classic, Michael Jackson - Thriller!" Dave hated this song but now he was driving so he needed to just manage it. The song began,

Its close to midnight and something evils lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes,
You're paralyzed

Dave groaned and ignored it, until he heard Derrick singing the chorus, "Derrick please it's bad enough this fucking ass hole singing it, but please don't you join him!"

Keri was looking out the window, she seemed to be in a dream world, the next verse began,

You hear the door slam and realize theres nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand and wonder if youll ever see the sun
You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination
But all the while you hear the creature creepin up behind
You're out of time

Dave halted the car and switched radio station before chorus began once again.

"Jeeze I've been in prison a while, Radio 66ASH used to be good listening now they sticking shit on it!"

Derrick replied whining, "I liked it!"

Dave rolled his eyes, "You like walking?"

Derrick shook his head fast, Dave smiled meanly, "Good, keep quiet then!"
Dave got the radio station picked.

"This is Radio Ashville, the next song for today was requested by a caller and is from Scooby Doo, we give you Skycylce - Terror Time!"

Dave listened at the music began, it wasn't too bad for being in a kids movie. The lyrics began

You hear the screeching of an owl,
You hear the wind begin to howl,
You know there's zombies on the prowl,
And it's terror time again,
They've got you running though the night,
It's terror time again,
And you just might die of fright,
It's a terrorfying time,

This wasn't bad, only bad thing was Derrick singing it, Dave cranked up the volume, to sound him out.
From horizon he could see "The Ashville Mall" a very modern looking building comprised of three floors.
Dave put his foot down and the van lurched forwards even faster. He needed as much time as he could in the mall.

Derrick screamed over the din looking at the piles rocking "Not so fast please!"

The piles began to fall and Dave shouted, "Watch you don't break anything!"

Derrick clumsily attempted to catch the falling objects as the van sped towards "The Ashville Mall". He didn't catch many.

Keri tried to keep from laughing at Derrik, though she couldn't help but feel sorry for him at the same time. She looked at the mall and then at Dave, what he wanted there probably had something to do with the computer she broke. IT hadn't really been her fault, if he would just organize his stuff a little better it wouldn't have happened. She looked back and Derrik who was fumbling around trying to keep stuff from breaking, she smiled and looked back out the window. It had been a long time sense she had been to the mall but she had to stick with Dave or she would get left behind in a heart beat.

"Hey, be a little nicer to Derrik and don't throw him around to much." She laughed. Dave smiled but didn't slow down one bit. Keri watched as a stop sign came up ahead. She quickly braced herself for a sudden stop, but Derrik wasn't lucky enough to see it and was thrown into the back of her seat. "You ok?" SHe asked turning to him ignoring Dave's laughs, he could be so cruel sometimes.

"I'll be fine," Derrik mumbled picking himself up off the floor. "Why are we going to the mall?"

"Why do you think?" Dave asked, "I have to replace the computer she broke."

"Hey, I didn't know it was there, ok." She said in defense.

"I know you didn't, i still have to replace it though." Dave mumbled.

"He would've killed me for that." Derrik stated. Dave shot him a quick look and he shut up.

"They can't trace a hack from a public computer as well as from a private one." Dave replied.

"So what do we do while you are hacking the system?" Keri asked,

"Don't draw attention to me. Other then that do whatever." He replied sitting down at one of the computers. Keri rolled her eyes and walked over to another one of the computers. She logged onto her myspace and checked to see if she had any messages. Nope, like always everyone from home was to busy to send her a message. SHe signed off that and started searching the internet for random things. Derrik walked over to teh store keeper and started talking to him.

"SO you must really like computers?" He asked. Keri smiled to herself, Derrik was gonna get himself kicked out for annoying the store keeper. SHe was surprised when instead of kicking Derrik out the storekeeper jumped right into a conversation with Derrik and he really seemed like a nice guy.

Kevin handed Mev a glass of beer, taking a swig out of his own.

"Thanks."

The Fury was crowded as always. Music poured from the speakers. A wild looking girl wearing a black tank-top was singing, leaning into the microphone. Mev had only dated one other redhead, and not since high school. He looked at the band members, and smiled. He definitely had a shot with her.

Kev followed his gaze, reading his thoughts. "You're too young, man."

"How old's she?"

Kev looked at the girl. "I dunno, like twenty-five."

"Nah. Twenty."

Kevin laughed. "Give up. Anyway. How long's it been since Cas dumped you?"

Mev checked his watch, estimating the time. "Seven hours maybe? And dude. She did not dump me. We broke up." Mev did not get 'dumped.' Period.

"Yeah, right. I'm gonna get another drink."

Kevin headed off towards the bar, leaving Mev to study the singer. She was cute, but Mev didn't feel like waiting for her to be done performing, and decided to pursue his other options. The club was full of girls.

Day 0. 8.24PM


"I'm not sure I understood what you meant when you were talking about man as an immortal?"

"Oh," I nodded and pushed my plate of barely-touched food away. "The question of Ethics concerns the presumption of a universal human Subject, capable of reducing ethical issues to matters of human rights and humanitarian actions. We have all seen that today, Ethics is the subordination of the identification of this subject to the universal recognition of the evil that is done to him--what I mean is, today's Ethics defines man as a victim.

She nodded. "But what about the active subject, the one that intervenes against barbarism?"

"Well, let's be precise: man is the being capable of recognizing himself as victim. We must reject this definition because the status of victim, of suffering beast, fo emaciated, dying body, equates man with his animal substructure, it reduces him to the level of a living organism pure and simple--Life being, as Bichat says, nothing other than 'the set of functions that resist death.' To be sure, humanity is an animal species. It is mortal and predatory. But neither of these attributes can distinguish humanity within the world of the living. In his role as executioner, man is an animal abjection, but we must have the courage to add that in his role as victim, he is generally worth little more. The stories told by survivors of torture forcefully underline this point: if the tortures and bureaucrats of the dangeons and camps are able to treat their victims like animals destined for the slaughterhouse, with whom they themselves--the executioners, the well-nourished criminals--have nothing in common, it is because the victims have indeed become such animals. That some nevertheless remain human beings, and testify to that effect, is a confirmed fact. But this is always achieved precisely through enormous effort, an effort acknowledged by witnesses as an almost incomprehensible resistance on the part of that which, in them, does not coincide with the identity of victim. This is where we are to find Man, if we are determined to think him: in what ensures, as Varlam Shalamov put in his Stories of Life in the Camps, that we are dealing with an animal whose resistance, unlike that of a horse, lies not in his fragile body but in his stubborn determination to remain what he is -- that is to say, precisely something other than a victim, other than a being-for-death, and thus: something other than a mortal being.

"An immortal: this is what the worst situations that can be inflicted upon Man show him to be, insofar as he distinguishes himself within the varied and rapacious flux of life. In order to think any aspect of Man, we must begin from this principle. So if 'rights of man' exist, they are surely not rights of life against death, or rights of survival against misery. The fact that in the end we all die, that only dust remains, in no way alters Man's identity as immortal at the instant in which he affirms himself as someone who runs counter to the temptation of wanting-to-be-an-animal to which circumstances may expose him."

"Right," Angie laughed loudly, maybe too loudly, and prodded me in the side. "Let's go, kiddo. I don't know about being an immortal, but I do have an ungodly desire to be in my bed and asleep."

I glanced over at her crooked smile and couldn't prevent myself from smiling as well--truly, happy people only made me happier. We all rose from the booth and stretched a few minutes before exchanged sketchy goodbyes, the kind of which intonations suggest a regret at wasting time here. What could come of such an encounter, after all, if we were to be split the very next day?

On the way out--I was mostly tired too, after being flown and carted around half the world to give a seminar--Angie and I bumped into each other as we walked to the car. It was a pleasant evening, and I was surprised at the rather low noise-level of the town.

"So...uhm." Angie put the car in Reverse. "Back to your hotel?"

The second brewskie was even better than the first. It still wouldn't be enough to get rid of the bitterness in my mouth caused by Alain, but it sure was a start.

Angie and Adara were both completely gaga over the guy, most certainly because of his retarded sounding Slavic accent. Was it Slavic? Did I give a damn? Probably not, on both accounts. I took another swallow from my glass, dropping the level of the beer down to one more gulp.

I spun around on my stool, facing the dance floor. Almost instantly I picked out Mev, pushing his way through the crowd, making his way toward the stage, his gaze on that singer the entire way. I could see where he was coming from, what with the chick's soft curves and her edgy voice, but I could also see what he couldn't--her without her makeup--and her clothes. I'd already had a taste of what he was drolling for, and frankly, it wasn't that impressive.

I grinned. Let him have his fun.

Then something odd but not out of the ordinary caught my eye.

I finished the beer and slid the glass across the counter to the bartender, along with a fiver.

"Thanks man," I said.

Then I stepped into the crowd in search of Mev. I found him quickly enough, still oogling (tactfully) at the singer on stage. Grabbing onto his shoulder, I pulled him away from the stage.

"What the--yo, dude!"

"C'mon. Check this shit out," I said.

We strayed away from the dance floor and over to a relatively empty par of the club--it was open, but dimly lit. People rarely hung out there. Tonight, however, there were a couple occupants.

"Well whadaya know--looks like drunkaslut found some action," Mev said. I nodded and grinned.

"C'mon--let's go mess with 'em."

He stepped forward, and I followed him. It was one of those rare occasions that Mev took charge.

As we neared the drunk and her new boytoy, the details came into focus--at least, as in focus as the Fury ever got. The drunk was all over her guy, like she was trying to eat him or something. He was doing his share of thrashing, too--his hips and legs flexed against her as she straddled him, her already short skirt hiking up just a bit higher. The guys arms were in front of him, probably feeling her up, and a throaty moan came from one of them--strangely, I wasn't sure which one, and that only added to the hilarity.

Then we were there. Maybe ten feet away. I stopped, but Mev walked a bit closer and sat back on his haunches, dropping down to their level.

I drew myself up to my full height and crossed my arms, flexing my biceps.

"All right you two, break it up..." Mev's sentence trailed off as we were assaulted by that smell. A nauseating combination of rotting fruit, bad eggs and overly done perfume.

"Damn dude...that's bad," Mev muttered. I nodded mutely and swallowed the urge to rid myself of the beer I'd so lovingly consumed mere moments before.

At the sound of Mev's voice, the drunk stopped moaning and froze. Even with the blaring din of the club's music, we heard the sickening splat as the drunk released her hold on the man and let his head fall back against the wall.

"Jesus Christ!" I hissed, taking a step back. Most of the man's face was gone. Just...gone. His nose had been chewed off, apparently, and chunks of his cheeks were missing, white bone poking through the crimson mess of his face. It was then I saw why he'd stopped thrashing--the splat we'd heard had been the drunken bitch tearing out the poor bastard's throat.

Then she turned to Mev and me. I grabbed Mev's collar and hauled him to his feet as he stumbled back.

"'The fuck is THAT, man!" he cried out. The drunk's eyes looked like they were made of milk, and he mouth dripped with the gore of the man she'd just killed.

"Fuckin' psycho..." Climbing off the corpse, the crazed drunk stared at us and extended her arms, like some fuckin' zombie.

"Let's go," I said quietly.

"Damn straight man, fuck this shit." We took a slow step back, then turned to run, but then the bitch lunged for Mev. Before I could even think, I was throwing a right hook that caught the bitch right in her left cheek.

Now, I've been in a lot of fights. Hell, I was head of the boxing club back in high school, had even been in my share of bare knuckle brawls against fools who needed to learn the value of respect.

But I had never, ever felt someone's skull just pulverize under my knuckles before--never felt someone's face squish when I punched them.

The bitch fell to the ground, utterly stunned.

"Thanks man," Mev gasped. I pushed him into the crowd.

"Let's get the fuck outta here."

"Shouldn't we--"

"No. Fuck 'em all. We're out."

And we were.

Joanna wrapped her arms around her, cursing herself for not thinking to bring a sweatshirt. Her skirt and short-sleeved shirt did nothing to block the breeze that crept up. She walked faster.

Where now? she thought. She couldn't go back, and she wasn't close enough friends with anyone to crash at someone's house for the night.

"Shit, Jo, good job," she hissed to herself. She shifted her weight from one foot to the next while she waited to cross the street. High heels wasn't a good choice, either.

"Hey, baby, need somewhere to stay for the night?"

"No, but I heard your mom does," she answered automatically, not making eye contact with the driver of the car that had pulled up. And I bet my mascara is running, too. Well, well. Don't I look the streetwalker. The sign changed from "Don't Walk" to "Walk," and she crossed quickly.

Still, I DO need a place to stay...

She slowed down and looked at her surroundings. She was coming up on the Fray. Tempted to go inside, she realized getting drunk probably wasn't the right thing to do at this time.

"What happened in there?"

"Fuck, man, I don't know, let's just go."

Something about Kev's voice made Jo turn. She saw him and Mev practically running out of the club, only stopping once they reached Kevin's Bronco.

Normally she would never have considered it, but tonight Joanna had no other choice. She made her way to the vehicle, hoping they wouldn't take off before she got there.

Kevin got into the driver's seat and started the engine. Mev went to the driver's side, opening the door before remembering how tightly Kev had packed him in. His door hit the car next to them with a sickening crunch, and he just stared at it.

"What the hell are you doing? Get in!" Kevin yelled, then cradled his head in his hands.

Jo walked up to the driver's side door. Kevin didn't notice her. She knocked on the window, and he jerked, elbowing the horn in the process. She could hear muffled swearing as he fumbled to roll down the window.

"What the fuck...?" He ran a hand over his eyes, then looked up at her and relaxed a bit. "Joanna, Jesus. You scared the shit outta me."

"So I noticed." Jo looked over at Mev, who had climbed in and closed his door, nervously glancing over at the damage he had caused. "Listen..." Jo hesitated, forcing herself to drop her pride. She ran her hand through her hair. "The Doubletree Hotel is across town, and I don't have a convenient way to get there... I was wondering if you could give me a ride."

She regretted asking as soon as that grin spread across Kev's face. "Sure, honey. Climb on in." He opened the door, got out, and gestured for her to get into the middle seat.

Grimacing, she climbed in, giving a slight nod to Mev as she buckled herself in. Kevin climbed in next to her, smiled, and patted her knee. "We'll get you there in no time."

He closed the door, switched on the headlights, backed out of the parking space, and floored it.

Jesus, this was a bad idea, Jo thought, trying not to look at the speedometer.

NAME: Abby Mills
AGE: 20
HEIGHT: 5'4"
Weight: 115
EYES: blue
HAIR: Bottle Blond with pink streaks
Physique: Hot
Education: None, dropped out of high school
Pros: knows how to use guns relatively well (hunted with her father), Can talk herself out of almost any situation,
Cons: Selfishness, and rather stupid.
Background: Trailer park girl who left high school to try and become an actress, but rarely gets the part. Spends her nights (so no one can see her face) begging on the street corners and her days looking for an acting job or sleeping. Even though shes never actually gotten a job, she still pretends she's rich to everyone she meets, and says she won award in Australia for her amazing roll in a movie that never released in America.
---

Abby walked down the street in a drunken manner--but really her left high heel was broken and it was making her walk lopsided.

"I'm hungry..." she whispered under her breath as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a mixture of change.

She scattered it in her hand and started to count it. "Can't buy much with ninety-seven cents, can you?" Abby flung the change on the ground in anger, than realized her mistake and ran back to pick it up, being sure to not forget a single coin. She sat down on the concrete and leaned against the wall. Cramming the change back into her pocket, she stared at the people who passed her.

"Money for the poor?" she said softly.

Of course she didn't look poor, she looked like she left a party with torn clothes and smeared makeup.

Someone tossed a dollar at her, and she grabbed for it, but it blew away in the wind. "Damn it!" She pounded her fists on the concrete, "Hell, that hurt..." she said as she rubbed the bottom of her hands.

As shaken as I was from the psycho at the Fray, Joann was a surprisingly refreshing distraction. We'd only met a few times before, and each time she invariably threw up her arms, heaved an angry sigh, and stormed away. Now, though, she seemed reserved, even glad to be in the presence of another human being. Even if that human being was me. I looked at her through the rearview mirror and wondered for a moment what had gone on tonight to make her cry.

Then she shifted slightly, and that thought vanished as I caught a nice glimpse of what lay beneath her low cut blouse.

But then that one was gone, too, replaced by the memory of that crazy's own ample chest, stained with the blood of her victim while more dribbled down from her mouth.

I clenched my eyes shut and shook my head slightly. I reached over and cranked the music up another notch, trying to drown my jumbled thoughts in a maelstrom of metal guitar and bass drums.

"Get up come on get down with the sickness you mother get up come on get down with the sickness you--"

I turned off the radio. Somehow, a song about rage, that was played in Romero's zombie flick "Dawn of the Dead," seemed a little much, right then. A little too real.

We rode in silence a few good minutes. Mev hadn't really said anything since he climbed in and Joann was busy pretending to be interested in the window next to her.

I reached up to scratch my nose and cringed. My knuckles were covered with the blood of the psycho and her meal. I absently wiped my hand the steering wheel and flexed my fingers. They didn't even sting. Usually after hitting someone that hard, your hand tended to hurt. Punching that bitch, though, was like hitting a soggy paper bag.

"Are you guys okay?" Joann asked suddenly, breaking the silence. On instinct I slapped a goofy grin on my face and glanced back at her.

"Don't worry about it Dollface--what hotel did you want to go to, again?"

"Whichever. The Doubletree is close."

I hesitated a moment.

"...My apartment is closer, you know. Not to mention a hell of a lot cheaper."

"And what's the price there? A night sleeping in the nude with you?" She snorted derisively after her comment.

I blinked and didn't offer a response. The one time I invite a girl, an attractive girl, to spend the night at my place with no intention (intention, mind you), of sleeping with her, and she throws it back in my face.

"..Never mind." I turned down the street the Doubletree was on.

I glanced into the rear view mirror again, at Joann. I could almost see the gears turning in her head, trying to weigh out the pros and cons of it all. I looked away, too tired to really bother her.

"Mev, you crashing at my place?" I asked the still-mute Mev. He grunted in reply, which I interpreted as a yes. We rode in silence, after that. It was still quiet when we pulled into the Doubletree. I pulled into an empty slot and killed the engine. Then the fun started.

I don't know what possessed me to do it. I think I'll just say that fatigue had clouded my judgment, and leave it at that. No matter how I write it off, though, it still played out the same--there I sat in the Doubletree's parking lot with an undeniably sexy, world-famous academic in my front seat, and neither of us was moving.

"Well," I started, then took a deep breath and took off my seatbelt, stepping out of the car. Alain followed my lead, and our doors slammed shut in close succession. "How long are you going to be in town?"

"I leave tomorrow," he said, lifting his eyes to examine the building, pockmarked with darkened windows at this hour of the night. He looked back at me then with a small, wicked smile. "You?"

I exhaled a laugh. "I'm getting out of here as soon as I can, and back to--"

I stopped as a car pulled loudly into the parking lot and careened into a spot near us. I scowled, eyes narrowing in irritation; the expression only deepened as none other than Kevin stepped out. Fuck, this is not going to be good.

"Well, well, it's Angel," he said, smirking at me as he leaned against his car. I could see Mev and some girl I only vaguely recognized were with him, the latter looking just about as displeased as I was.

"That's Angelina, thanks," I said, giving it the proper Spanish pronunciation. I turned to him without another word and strode over to join Alain, who had moved closer to me--or perhaps, closer to Kevin. His face was unreadable. Smiling up at him, I slipped my arm in his, and murmured, "So are we going up now?"

Alain blinked at me, blindsided for only a moment, then glanced briefly up at Kevin and gave me a charming smile. "Indeed."

Kev could put that in his pipe and smoke it.

"You realize of course that going by 'Angie' automatically makes your name pronounced 'Angelina', right?" I was in no mood to mess with these two.

With a dismissal wave, I said, "Have a good one."

I turned away from the happy couple and toward back to Joann, who was still standing by the Bronco.

"Look; you don't like me--I get that. Fact of the matter is, you need a place to stay. And from the looks of it, you don't exactly have a ton of money. The price is nothing. No money, no sex, nothing. I don't have an extra room, but I do have a pretty sweet couch."

She shifted her weight from one hip to the other, brushing a strand of brown hair form her eyes.

"I'm off tomorrow. In the morning I can take you wherever you want...whatever. Or you can stay here." I opened the door to my Bronco and climbed in.

"Man, fuck this. I'm goin' home and gettin' some sleep."

Joann tapped on the window. I smiled genuinely, the first time all night, and unlocked the back door.

"Good choice," I told her.

Abby ran up to the Bronco slowly, careful not to trip. She had to loose the heals a few steps back, so that she wouldn't look like an idiot hobbling across the parking lot, and hunching. This wasn't exactly her idea of fun.

She stood up next to the driver seat window and tapped on the glass. It rolled down with the usual speed that a car window will, and she put the gun up at the guys face.

"Give me your money," she said, trying to keep the gun from shaking in her hand. She felt like an idiot, but she had spent too long not eating now. Even if anorexia was in style for actresses, she preferred eating.

"Sure," he replied carelessly, and reached into his back pocket. He held out towards her several bills of different worth. But Abby wasn't staring at the bills, she was staring at his hands. His knuckles were covered in blood, and she suddenly freaked out and started shaking more.

"Why the hell is there blood on your hands!?"

She noticed the girl in the passenger seat and pointed the gun at her, steadying her hand. What the hell, did I just fall into a post murder hook up? she thought to herself, almost dropping the gun in the man's lap.

Dave turned on his mp3 and waited for windows to start up, in a moment he'd heard the windows welcome tune, he pulled the mouse towards Internet Explorer Icon and clicked two times rapidly. He looked over to see Keri on Myspace. He turned back to his own computer and saw a flurry of pop-ups have appeared, he closed all hurriedly and typed in the address he'd been taught (www.ashvillcouncilandfacilities.com) The site was of course for the public but he needed to go through public site to get through to the grid.

The site matrilalized on to the screen, the main page was information mostly. A green border outlined the main page and various well known figures in Ashville were on it.

Dave took his PDA out his pocket and his hacking plan, the security for the grid was a series of ten passwords that changed every twenty four hours. Firstly he had to begin the decryption, so he could access the private sector. With a few fluid movements he opened a decryption file, the status showed one percent, he mimized the bar and window.

Dave thought he should check hotmail, maybe he got some emails while in prison. He typed hotmail in to Google and searched.

He opened hotmail site and logged on, the page showed he had seventy eight new emails. He sighed and opened first,

Get a free penis enlarging pill... Dave didn't even bother reading the rest, they were either scams or spam. He opened another You could of won a thousand dollars... Again he didn't bother reading the rest, he deleted that one too...
Least he'd have something to do while the page decrypted.

Dave felt a tap on his shoulder and swung round, pulling earphones out his ears.
"We're closing soon please finish the download."
The man walked away and Dave sighed in relief he thought it had been a download.
It had taken awhile but he through now, so he'd put computer on hibernate.

Keri yawned, no wonder she hated using the internet all the time. There was just never something to do. She looked towards Dave. He was consentrating really hard. That was obvious, how he knew how to hack such programs was impresive. But waiting for him to do it was boring. She took a deep breath and looked towards teh guy next to her. He was kinda cute, but he was defenitly trying to get her attention. Keri smiled to herself, she knew exactly how to get Dave's attention. She noticed him looking over some guns online.

"You like guns?" He asked noticing her intrest in them.

"You bet, I have quiet a few." Keri said smiling, "Do you have any?"
"No, not yet, you don't look old enough to have one yet." Keri wanted to roll her eyes but she fought it.
"I'm twenty, I'm allowed to have one." She said, carefully looking behind her at Dave who was trying to hide that fact taht he was watching her, and was very agitated that she was talkin to this guy.
"So," The guy started in his slow accent, Keri couldn't quiet figure where it was from. "You busy tonight?" He asked,
"Keri, Derrik, we're done, lets go." Dave said standing up from the computer. The store was about to close any way. Keri smiled and got up.
"You didn't answer my question?" The guy asked.
"Yea, I'll be busy for a while." She said walking towards the door where Dave and Derrik were standing.

"I said, why is there blood on your hands?" The girl repeated her question. Mev was watching the gun. Her hands were shaking, and her finger was on the trigger. Not good at all, though he'd much rather be stuck with her than Zombie Chick. He shuddered involuntarily.

"Honey," Joanna said, her voice unusually soothing. "Please, put the gun down."

"No! I'm-I'm going to call the police."

"You just tried to rob us," Mev said.

"Shut up!" she shouted. She took a deep breath, seeming to regain her focus. "Give me your money. Now."

Kevin extended his hand with the bills in it. "No!" the girl said, pointing with the gun at Joanna. "I want her to give it to me."

Kevin shrugged, and passed the money to Joann, who rolled down her window.

"Slowly."

Joanna obeyed, handing the girl the money in slow motion. Suddenly, Kevin struck. He leaned out his window and grabbed the gun out of the girl's hand. It went off, the shot echoing through the quiet parking lot. The she screamed; Mev gasped, startled. He looked over. No one was shot, he noticed.

Kevin held the gun, carelessly. He cocked it at the blonde, who was looking stunned.

"I'll take the money back, please," he said, casually.