Future New York

[JohnnyP789]

John wakes up in his apartment, his neck stiff from the gun that was underneath his pillow. He took it out, and he put his shirt on, his blue jeans dirty from working on a car that he has been trying to fix for a few months now. Parts were hard to come by now a days. He brushed his hair with his fingers and put the pistol into it's holster at his hip, and he strapped his sword across his back. He stepped into his garage and pulled the cover off a black matte Ducati monster. He smiled every time he saw it. That was his pride and joy for right now. He put on his helmet and pressed the garage door opener. He waited until it was open enough for him to get through, and he stopped it. He kickstarted the bike and rolled underneath the door, pressing the button again and waiting until it closed to drive off.
 
 After he turned the corner, he pressed a button on the side of his helmet and there was a screen on the inside of his visor that said,"system armed." Then went away. He smiled and leaned forward on the bike, and twisted the throttle back as far as it would go. He liked to speed down the streets at night, he knew where the streets were so full of cars, that you would need a motorcycle to squeeze by, and which streets were barren. As he was driving, he flew past an alleyway, seeing someone running down it. For the split second he saw them, he could tell that they weren't militia. He slammed on the brakes and leaned the bike to the left, skidding to a stop. He revved the engine and peeled out, driving back towards that alleyway. He put his bike in neutral and turned it off, rolling to a stop in front of a hummer that was parked on the side of the street. He pushed the bike so that people driving on the street wouldn't see it, and he took off his helmet, but not before pressing a button on the helmet and locking the bike.
 
 He took out his pistol and slowly walked towards the alleyway. Once he reached it, he put his back to the wall, and peered around, looking down the alley to see if anyone was there. It was barren. He cautiously stepped around the wall, hugging the wall as he moved down the alley. When he reached the end. He stopped and peered around the wall, waiting to either hear someone else's breathing besides his own, or to get shot.
 
 He didn't see anyone, but he had a feeling that he wasn't alone.

[Armalite_]

The smoke billowed from Spike's lips as he leaned up against the brick wall. His eyes glanced down the alleyway in both directions. His contact was late, again. He had no idea how long he'd been standing there waiting but he needed those papers of the militia manifest.

He sauntered away from the wall and flicked the cigarette away to his side. To his left, was the entrance that lead into the alleyway where John was standing, but Spike hadn't noticed him. He had no idea who he was supposed to meet or what they looked like. All he knew was the place and that he'd be contacted when he arrived there.

His gripped the AK tight in his arms as he paced in the alleyway around the corner from where John was standing. Suddenly a steel door opened near where Spike was standing.

"You the guy?" A hooded figure asked the coyote as he stood in the doorway to a back kitchen.

"Yeah...I'm the guy." Spike replied.

Without further question, the contact handed over a book with a black leather cover to Spike who analyzed it. Satisfied with the product, Spike handed over a small bag in exchange. The hooded figure quickly grabbed the small bag and stashed it in his pocket before slamming the door closed.

Spike didn't waste any time, he quickly turned to leave the alley from the direction in which he came. He turned the corner to find another stranger with a gun ready to pounce on his operation. Spike flinched when he found himself staring down the barrel of John's pistol. He stood there frozen, waiting for the bang.

[JohnnyP789]

John froze when he heard the sound of voices outside the alleyway. He couldn't understand what was being said, but all he knew was that there was an exchange that was taking place. He held his breath and waited, hearing footsteps getting closer and closer to where he was against the wall. He raised his gun and waited to fire, his finger on the trigger.

he took a few steps back  so when the person came around the corner, he would have time to fire before they could attack, but he stopped when spike turned the corner. He stared him down and watched as the man froze a look of fear clear in his eyes.

John kept the gun trained on spike with a calmness that showed he has done this before, and wasn't afraid to do it again," Who are you." It wasn't meant as a question, it was a demand.

[KittKat chunky~]

The sound of the wind clawed at the edges of the VIPE cockpit, seeking a way in through the soundproofing and perspex. Flecks of rain and ash spattered over and over onto the screen as the cockpit was buffeted like a a leaf in storm. Cocooned in a small bubble of warmth and control panels, the pilot scanned their visor-clad head across the horizon, the twisted and gutted remains of a city sliding by far below.


The aircraft juddered and the soft hum of the engines grew to a growl. With a deft movement of the wrist the pilot opened communications, holding two fingers to the comms switch on the side of their helmet, their voice crackled through to the crew compartment <"You boys back there had better buckle up, we got turbulence ahead"> The aircraft shook again, buffeted to the right by a great sheet of wind. Movements calm and poised, the pilot teased the aircraft back in line, soft blue light shed across their flight suit and the featureless grey visor that obscured the face entirely. The pilot turned their head, eyes seemingly unseeing, yet watching in a broad spectrum of optic ranges gathered by the helmet sensors.


+++WARN RADAR LOCK+++ Red light flooded the cockpit, dreaded words flashing in the corner of the pilots visual feed. No time to act, heat tore through the aircraft, a searing hot roar of noise following a second later. Thrown against their restraints the pilot pulled hard on the controls. Smoke streamed from the torn hull of the VIPE and, like a striken bird it tipped, rose for a moment, and then it fell...

[Armalite_]

Spike opened one eye. He'd been asked a question. Surprised he hadn't been shot yet could one have meant one thing. He was not standing before militia but someone else. Relief rushed over him but he kept his hands up. "I'm not anyone." Spike said. He had no idea who this guy thought he was but Spike wasn't about to get the better half of him in deeper trouble.

"Just someone trying to do their part." He said, hinting at the sign of a resistance and pointing the barrel down away from his face and to his chest with a gesture of his finger.


"Now who the hell are you and what do you want?" The coyote asked with his hands raised and eyes narrowed.

[JohnnyP789]

John looked at the man and smiled slightly," trying to do your part?" he lowered his gun, but he kept it in his palm, looking around slightly,"Me? i'm just taking a ride." he smirked," you know... an attitude isn't the way to go about not getting shot. just keep that in mind when you get a gun pointed at you again, cause the next time that happens, it won't be me behind the gun." he extended his paw and smiled," my name is John... John smith." he heard a huge bang, like something entering the atmosphere, and he saw a flaming ball streak across the sky. he looked back at the man and shrugged," well... you don't see that everyday..."

[KittKat chunky~]

A deep ringing. Sound seemed to have fled in the wake of the explosion as the pilot turned their head with a sharp pain, dazed and slow. All around warnings flashed, a high-pitched shrieking siren filling the aircraft as the striken VIPE tumbled through the skies in a great plume of smoke and torn wreckage. The pilot hung limp in their restraints, one arm thrown out against the perspex windscreen, the other clutched to their chest. The sirens and warnings continued to flash and blare, but they seemed far away, a muffled buzz under that deep ringing that echoed and grew in the ears until nothing else was heard.


The ground spun below, it flipped over and over... Every few seconds the view through the cracked perspex windscreen showed a cloud-scudded sky, then the grey tangled mess of the city, then the sky again, and then the city loomed once more into view - larger now as it roared up to meet the aircraft.


<Power to the blades gone - possibly lost in initial explosion, aerofoils show no signs of response, spin is vertical - not lateral>... The checks went through the pilots mind with a feeling of helplessness. The ringing pervaded everything, G-force pulling the pilot against their restraints, skyscrapers rushed up to either side now, great cliffs of concrete roaring past as the aircraft flipped over again in its stream of smoke... <Chances of survival calculated at less than 10%>


There was a moment of silence as even the muffled roar of the wind and boiling plume of flames subsided, and the ground expanded until it filled the view of the cockpit. Then the aircraft tumbled over itself one last time and the view went black, the ringing gone...

[Armalite_]

Spike reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He lit up a smoke and shook John's paw, holding the strap on his AK as to keep it from sliding off his right shoulder. "Nice to meet you, John. I'm Spike." The coyote said with a smile.


He looked up at what John was talking about. A streak of smoke and flames strewn across the sky overhead caught Spike's eye as he took another drag. "Nope...ya sure don't." He said before exhaling a plume of smoke. "That bird is going down pretty hard." His attention shifted from the sky to John's face. "Think it had anything to do with the resistance?"

[JohnnyP789]

He shook his head and gestured towards the pack of cigarettes," can I have one?" He pulled out his zippo and waited for the cig, looking up at the sky, then back down," No... as far as i know, you and I are the only ones on the resistance... but, there is only one way to find out." He looked at spike, and grinned,"I'm gonna get us something special. I'll be back."

He smiled and walked out of the alley and over to his bike, putting on his helmet and handing spike a piece of paper with an address on it," meet me here. i'll be back by the time you get there, if i'm not.... just wait." He smiled and started the bike and drove off.

[KittKat chunky~]

KAT woke, dazed and confused, she turned her head slowly and looked around through a haze of pain and smoke. Heat rolled off every surface in palpable waves, the roaring crackle of flames and dull creaking of steel filled the cockpit. She released her restraints, falling back with a thud. Pain, flaring in her arm like a hot poker, but no time. She pulled herself up to the hatch, climbing down through the crew compartment beyond. The VIPE has landed tail down, the miracle that was the reason she had survived, straps and equipment hung like scraps of sinew on the carcass of a fallen animal. Little remained of the others, save a few red smears and blackened husks. She tried to ignore them, dropping to the ground and out of a scarred rent in the aircraft hull...


Free of the cloying smoke she lowered herself out of the burning wreckage to the smashed concrete below. Rubble piled up where the aircraft had driven into the side of an apartment block, it was only near the bottom that she saw the body... Reaching as if to crawl away to safety. KAT stood over him, his mask torn away to show the face of a wolf, bloodied and burnt his lips moved slowly and he stared up at her with watering eyes. The crack of her pistol shot echoed through the street and the wolf fell still.


The aircraft groaned, another ball of oily flames roaring into the sky as KAT stumbled to the street level, slumping against the nearest wall, blood soaking through the arm of her flight suit. She flipped up her visor and gulped at the fresh air, slumping onto her side. There would be no rescue aircraft, only the task the squad had been set that now fell to her. Even as darkness drew in around the edges of her vision she could see the last orders still flashing in the corner of her visor display.... < Eliminate John Smith> 

[Armalite_]

Spike gestured the pack to John and let him take as many as he felt like taking. He watched as John got on his bike and sped off down the street. He took a final drag before discarding the butt, flicking it away before pulling out the manifest from his pocket.


He analyzed the papers and then looked at the paper John had handed him. He groaned. The address was located halfway across the city in an apartment complex "That's quite a distance...but I guess I'll see ya there." The coyote said as he was left alone in the street.


He turned around and began to walk.

[JohnnyP789]

John sped down the streets, a grin on his face. he loved riding his bike, but that grin quickly turned to a look of surprise when he saw a person in a weird flight suit, bleeding on the side of a street. He skidded to a stop parked, taking his helmet, and running over to the person, kneeling down and noticing that their arm was broken pretty badly, and he winced slightly," hey, come on, we need to get you some help." He gently grabbed their other arm, and he pulled her arm over his neck, and he began to walk, making her lean her weight on him," what happened to you?"

the walk to the med station was a good 5 miles from where they were and he looked at her as he practically dragged her, sweat gleaming off his forehead," my name's john smith, what's yours?"

[KittKat chunky~]

Pain, a black haze and muffled sounds... Someone lifting her up bodily, leaning over their shoulders, half walking half dragging... Pain again, blacking out, sounds echoing and grey blurs sliding in and out of vision. Kat slumped, falling to her knees she coughed and retched. Bile flecked with bright red blood hit the concrete and she gave a groan, pain again in her arm, stabbing white hot and blinding. Darkness again, she clung to the stranger for support, managing with his help to get back to her feet.


She shivered, though the evening was mild and by no means cold. Strange words flowed over her in a jumbled mess, pain stabbing again she felt the hot pinpricks of tears in her eyes... One question she understood though, her fractured NC-taught English struggling at the best of times, she glanced up at him with a pained expression "K.A.T... Name is Kat..."

[Armalite_]

The coyote held the address up to his face. He stood before the place John had told him to meet, an old building with a single number for the address. It looked too small for a large apartment complex but seemed too big to be one person's house. When Spike approached the door, he gave a knock. No answer.


His eyes narrowed. He checked the address one last time. The coyote lit up another cigarette and slumped down on the front steps to wait for his contact with John. He took a few drags and set his rifle down against the ledge. He'd have to wait for him to show.


Smoking on front porches and steps was Spike's life as a young man. With no work and little else to do besides avoid the fighting, anything else seemed better than doing nothing. When a patrol had rolled by, Spike dropped his gun behind a hedge and watched as the heavy armor rumbled past, many of the militia exchanging glares with him on the steps.


The coyote sneered once they passed by, spitting in their direction. "Damn jungle bunnies." Spike said as he flicked his cigarette away.

[JohnnyP789]

john was getting dizzy, his legs screaming in pain from the exertion of carrying another person for three miles straight and no rest.luckily he didn't run into any patrols. he walked into an alley, and sat her down on the ground, leaning her against the cold brick wall. he looked at her and smiled,"Kat.... this is going to hurt... but i have to do it..." he sat down next to her broken arm, and he lifted it as gently as he could, wincing as he heard her moans of pain. he took off his shirt and rolled it into a long strip, then grabbed her forearm, and her bicep, and pulled and reagusted her arm, so the bone was in place, and nothing was damaged. he quickly wrapped the wound with his shirt to stop the bleeding,and he held her close, waiting for her pain to subside, and also to check to see if she was still breathing. his blac fur giving off a sort of glow from the light, and his bare chest still heaving from the exertion he jut put his body through. but his heart was racing from what he jut did. he held her untill she became sort of silent, and he finally looked at her again," i'm sorry for that... but i had to..."