Amazing, how a place so full of happy memories could be so quickly reduced to a lifeless husk, Tom thought as he surveyed the complex that had used to house Loew's theater, across from the now ruined Sports Plus, where he and his father had spent many a Saturday seeing a new movie. Now, thanks to the depression, the theater, as well as the stores surrounding it, had closed, and later been vandalized during the riots.
The area was now among the worst, notorious for crime, certainly not where any sane, unarmed person would want to be after dark. Of course, Tom's sanity was questionable, and he certainly wasn't unarmed. The police avoided this place, too many gangs, which was why he was here. He was running from the police, and the draft. The sun was setting, and he carefully checked all the buildings for holes or weak points he could gain entry through. Just because he was armed didn't mean he intended to sleep outside in this nest of cutthroats and whores.
The security companies had long since gone under, so alarms weren't a problem. Tom was more worried about other potential inhabitants. True, there weren't many people he couldn't at least hold his own against, unless they had a gun, having a decent knowledge of Jiujitsu and a hardwood bo that he had a vague idea of how to use. Still, he didn't want to attract attention to himself.
The building he was currently in seemed vacant, and he nodded in satisfaction. He took off his ragged old navy jacket, revealing a worn nokado T-shirt. He lay the jacket on the dust covered ground, put his backpack down next to him. He lay down, put his folded knife under his hand, and went to sleep, forgetting the world to sweet, merciful obliviousness.

((I'm changing my CD player to an I-pod, and I also carry my guitar on my back, and all my other essencials are slinged over my shoulder in a tote bag))

*It's not that I didn't like my parents, quite the opposite, a year ago I'd probably be lost without them....well, now I know that I wouldn't. I was away on vacation when it happened, the lockdown, and was stranded in the wonderful country of China for a few months before I came back home, I had gotten the message that my parents and family had hightailed it to a small outing in upstate New York....a quieter area. I don't blame them, after everything went down Smithtown became a vicious place...heh, it used to be "Jewtown U.S.A." by some people, and even I had made cracks that the gangs here were probably more reminscent of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video than the thugs in games like Final Fight....

...but that was then, this is now, and Smithtown was one hell of a place. I could just start walking to Lake George, now....but I was enjoying this. I always wanted a change a pace, an experiance in my life just to show me there was more than the world I had previously known...well, I guess you sometimes get what you wish for. My old house was ransacked, all that stuff I paid for.....gone, it sucked but at least thanks to some strange problem with the government I was forced to leave my computer in China, I'll have that again someday. When I got home everything was gone, my four cats were probably taken out by my parents, and my room was also quickly torn through, though a lot of my stuff remained intact. The first few days were scary, painful, horrible even...but I learned that I had to make due with what I held, so I packed up my stuff and left...and now here I was, exploring everything I loved about town...I thought about going to my friend Matt's house...he only lives right down the street from me...but his mother was so paranoid that she probably fled with her family the second the draft was announced. I'd probably cross paths with him again someday. It was a walk of about 5 hours, and the night was quickly coming, I had passed the time by listening to my Ipod which I had held with me for quite some time. "Rapper's Delight" by Sugarhill Gang had been playing on it. It was at my favorite part of the song.

"Have you ever went over a friends house to eat and the food just tastes no good? I mean the macaroni's soggy the peas all mushed and the chicken tastes like wood?" Yeah, it was a nice song, too bad there weren't any guitar parts to play with it...oh well.

After the sixth hour of walking I had reached the mecca of my former life, the Smithhaven Mall, the Lowes complex and all that other crazy crap inbetween. Of course, the one time I was loaded with cash the mall is destroyed, figures. I didn't have much time to think about what I was going to do for the night, I had not yet known just what lay out in the streets until a few moments later when a large spotlight had illuminated my path. Most likely looted from Sports Plus a group of men had stood in front of me, each with black tanktops and each holding a weapon, most of them a baseball bat or whatever, it's the apocalypse and all they've got all wooden sticks, fancy. ...when I looked into their faces, I realized that I knew a lot of them....from High School....

"Give us your bag." They were obviously some advanced form of a begger, violent, but still with nothing, and they weren't going to coy anything out of me, so I immediatly made a break for it. Running into the parking lot of the Lowes complex, devoid of cars and other means of transportations. I don't know what I was expecting, but I ran to the front doors of the complex and began to smash my fists against the glass panels.

Tom awoke to the sound of muffled pounding and shouts, and thought for a second that someone had broken into his little hovel. He had his bo in hand when he realized it was coming from outside, some poor soul had probably been caught unawares by a gang. He cautiously left his hiding place the way he came in, and quickly saw the situation firsthand. A lone boy, about his age, was pounding on the doors to Loews, likely hoping to escape an approaching group of rough looking men. Luckily, they had already passed Tom's hiding spot, they had their backs to him, they'd never know what hit them. He hesitated for a moment, then whispered " I swear I didn't start this...", remembering the paramount philosophy of his dojo. He approached the group from behind, and suddenly gave a yell to wake the dead.

*I thought I had saw a figure slip behind them, and I was reassured once he had let out a loud roar toward them, the group about me, only composed of three or four....underlings of the gang had each turned around to face the opponent, and I decided to attack then, I pulled out a small pocketknife, I had visited my garage before I left home and pondered wheather or not I should take a weapon with me....it was a difficult decision to make. I had originally decided on a hammer but realized that it would probably be too clumsy in battle and break soon enough, so using the grinding stone attached to my father's workbench, I immediatly sharpened a blade I had found in my brother's room....God, I missed my family, it would be such a relief to see them again.

"You son of a bitch..." I muttered in a quick mumble, I always had a problem with garbling my words, and I delivered a slash to the man's arm....though this was the most primal thing I had even seen myself doing and this man would most likely counterattack, I didn't want to hurt him. He shouted and quickly turned, delivering an elbow to my face at the same time....it at been the first time I had really been hit in my life, and it sent me through the glass doors of the theatre....while I wasn't significantly piereced by any shards, I couldn't will myself back up...fighting was a lot tougher than I originally thought.

Tom was faced with three surprised men, shouts for help were common around here nowadays, but help was rare. It was their lucky day... Not. He immediately shot his lower hand out in front, bringing the end of the bo straight into the lead man's genitals. He let out a scream Tom had never before heard and slumped to his knees, at which point Tom reversed his hands and knocked him out cold with a sharp hit to the forehead, leaving two. The first one charged in with his knife, the other was a bit more cautious. Tom brought his bo sharply up under his attacker's hand, knocking it out of his grip. He then brought his right hand to the left and in front, the left hand vice versa, firmly striking the side of the man's neck, knocking him out cold by, for just an instant, spazing the flow of blood to his brain. his victory was short lived though, as he noticed his third opponent was gone. Then he felt the point of a knife at his back...

((I'm not going to be able to help you with your attacker, Tom.))

"Heh, I don't know what's up with you kid, don't look like you know what the streets are like at all."

My vision was blurry, and one man was on me. I groaned, letting out all of the stress that binded myself to the floor and began to sit up. The man immediatly pinned me down to the ground with his foot, slamming me against the guitar case that was across my back...if he broke it I'll....

"You should consider yourself lucky, we're not murderers....just thieves...if you had met the preppy's...you might not have been so lucky...."

Preppy's? What the hell was this? Saved by the Bell? ...well, call me screech in that case...He reached toward my bag, a red tote pack which had the Marlboro cigarette insignia on it...it was from before that law banning that was passed....when the companies rewarded smoker's for killing themselves. I immediatly tried to grasp it and he also siezed it.

"Come on, man...you're hurt enough, don't make me hurt you more..." He gave the bag another tug and pulled it from my grip....fortunatly I had grabbed my guitar tuner from it and got up behind him....unwillingly letting out another groan...he turned back to face me. "Sorry....survival of the fittest, you're a smart guy, Bates..."

"Don't you talk to me..."I responded, and leapt up, smashing the guitar tuner against his head. He dropped my bad and tried to defend himself, but luckily I was quicker, the tuner shattered into many pieces upon impact and he reeled back. When he bent over I happened to spy a gun on the side of his belt....this guy was pretty noble...or stupid not to have killed me with it. I quickly grabbed it, cocked it, and pointed it at him.

"Now get outta here and leave us alone!"
"That gun doesn't have any ammo, idiot..."
"Shit...."

He ran towards me in an attempt to pin me down again, but I had delivered a palm to his face while holding the gun. The steel made a small "ping!" against his face and he fell back....beginning to retreat and dropping a clip onto the ground...I kicked it to the side and pulled out my knife with my free hand, still holding the gun as a small club. "Now get outta here!"

"You know we'll just come back with more."
"What makes you so sure we'll still be here."
"No one gets on the streets unwatched."

I glared at my opponent, and he began to run off.

Tom immediately tensed, but then relaxed, remembering how many a partner at jiujitsu had told him he'd get hurt even more if he was tense...
"Ok kid, you're pretty good, but did you honestly think you could take three of us?" He asked, his voice steady, smarter, more confident than the others. Tom hoped he didn't know any martial art, or else he was royally fucked. "Now why don't you put down the big stick, before I stick you?" Great, a jokester at that. Tom dropped the bo, and kicked it to the side, then he raised his hands, as if signaling he didn't want any trouble. He slowly turned his head, checking which hand held the knife. Then in one swift motion he turned, using his upraised arm to knock the knife off of his body, though drawing it in a shallow slice across his back as he did so.
"Fuck!" tom yelled, and grabbed the man's wrist with one hand, palming the man's nose with a crack with the other. His would be assasilant yelled out in pain. Tom answered with a sharp sidekick to the knee. his back was on fire where the knife had cut him, but he'd survive. Time to check on his buddy over there... Tom grabbed the bo as he went and came to stand in front of the unkown teen... and gasped when he saw his face...

Mike was walking along 347, on the side in front of the broken down Borders Books. His clothes were ravaged and his body was bruised and scabbed from the fistfight he had gotten into that morning. It was dark out, barely light enough to see by the moon. As he reached the top of the hill, he heard screaming coming from the old Loews movie theater. He sprinted in that direction, but, half way there, he was tackled to the pavement. His scraped arm began to bleed yet again. He looked up to see who had pummled him, and saw only an angry face and a tall bulky body. Mike jumped to his feet, and the man took a swift swing of his fist. Mike dodged under it, swung his skateboard up by the truck, and slammed the man in the chin. The man flew back, and landed on his back. Mike walked over to make sure the man was unconsious, and the man grabbed his ankles. Well, that was stupid, thought Mike. He was once again on the pavement, and the tall man towered over him. Mike rolled away, got up as quickly as he could and pulled out his jar of JellyBeans. He grabbed a handful and threw thwm in the mans face, easily distracting him from the blow of a skateboard to the head that followed. The man was now out cold, and Mike breathed a sigh of relief. He put his JellyBeans back in his bag and continued diwn to the wreckage of the movie theater.

"Hahahaha, well....how's it going stranger?"
Tom, a familiar face in this suburban wasteland...it was indeed a sobering experiance...and I think I finally began to feel some calm since I had left my home earlier that day. "I-I'll get to you in a minute, I drop..dropped something over here." I got up and ran over to where I had kicked that clip, it was amist a pile of rubble from the payphones that once lined the wall of the building, someone must've torn them out for god knows whatever reason. After some digger I had found it, I only handled a clip once in my life before, and it felt about half full, but there was really know way to tell, all I knew is that I was not to fire this thing unless I absolutly had to. I popped it into the bottom of the handle and once again cocked the gun, loading a bullet into the chamber, ready to fire. I again faced Tom...."I guess a lot....a lot has happened since I left....is it safe here?"

So there I stood. a desperate man in a desperate situation. The stores had long since been cleaned out and I was running low on food. Some commotion had gone on near the Loews theatre. "Heh, wonder if anyone got stabbed." I snickered as I remembered that behind Loews was where I got stabbed in ninth grade. I had just come out of walbaumbs, the one by loews because my backpack was running low on nourishables as I called them. "Might as well go see what's going on over near loews. Maybe someone there has some tasties they'd be willing to part with, or maybe they won't be willing. I can fix that." I slung the pole over my shoudler and began walking down towards Loews, whistling "Black hole sun".

"Brian, holy shit, what are you... how did you...?" He couldn't find the words and was obviously bewildered. "We should get inside, i've been staying here for a week now, the recruiters showed up at my door last week-" He didn't finish that thought. "Shit we should get inside before anyone else comes, I found a little hovel for myself inside that old pizza place, Sole Mio or something like that... come on..." He started to walk towards his shelter when he clutched his back and let out a moan of pain... "Sensei always said, expect to get cut, and you're least likely to, unfortunately for me, i'm too much of a cocky bastard to take that advice..."

((I think we're going to have to wait and see what Schilling does before our characters turn in for the night.))


Tom seemed surprised that I was here, hell I was surprised too.
"Guess it was just the right place at the right time..."


*What a strange world it had become, eying the stores around the area he spotted Marshall's and smirked.



"Well, I'm sure Marshall's has some free pharmasueticals for you....if they were all stolen by junkies..."
I guess it wasn't the right time to be saying such things...
"So....I guess your sensei hasn't made it out of this?"
We both walked along, surprisingly we were left alone as we made it across the small opening in the parking lot to the other group of buildings.
"Pizza, eh? I was more of a chinese food guy myself...but it's good enough."
A figure appeared in the horizon in front of them...
"Son of a bitch....that's Sean isn't it...." I sneered to Tom....I hadn't really listened for a response about his sensei, and I suppose it was rude, but what a vast and interesting world it had become.

It's sorta like that scene in that one game, where the girl is stuck in a world of monsters, and the only other human in the place explains to her "I find this place most fasinating" when she asked if the place got to him....

Tom heard Brian's question about his Sensei and honestly couldn't tell him for sure.
"I haven't seen him, or any of my classmates, since before I started running, though I doubt anything happened to him, the man's amazing..." Then Tom saw Sean, and his jaw dropped. He heard Brian snicker something to him. Then he remembered Brian's comment about Marshall's. He hadn't caught the attempt at humor, though it had actually given him an idea...
"We should scavenge it for supplies before turning in, but we gotta be quick, I don't wanna be out here if they come back." Tom said, an ominous tone in his voice.

I came upon Brain and Tom, the two of them probably wouldn't have been my first choices to run into but hey, it was a lot better than bumping into Jay in a post-apocolyptic world he'd probably never leave me alone. "Well well well, the two of you made it. I see the chaos has filtered out the trash and left only the brilliant to survive. It's always good to see two people I know I can amtch wits with." I was much happier to see them than I let on. I was used to every person I knew that I came upon being dead. This had been the case with Helfgott and Grizlo. At least I could trust these two not to try to roast me in my sleep, or so I thought. "So where are you fellas headed to next?"

((:lol: Helfgott and Grizlo=pwnt))

"We're going to go to Marshall's, Tom got a boo boo..." I replied to Sean, hopefully he wouldn't take as much as he was now....it might cause a commotion...though I was probably just being critical. "I guess we better hurry....no one goes on the streets unwatched, they say..."

Tom let on a big smile, then a grimace as his back throbbed again.
"Well, as Jack the ripper over there-" The man was still moaning slightly on the pavement, "-decided to have a go at me, i figured i'd wash this out in the Marshall's over there." Tom pointed behind him. "I'll probably bind it with a scarf or something, luckily it's not deep. I found a pretty well hidden hole in he wall over there." Tom pointed to his hideout. "Want to join us?"

"Might as well" I was jumping for joy on the inside but on the outside I was my normal calculated self. "Not like I have something better to do, and I'm sure Helfgott's ghost is gonna follow me to tell me that I suck." I threw my arm on Tom's shoulder. "Come on let's get going to this 'hideout' of yours"

"First I gotta clean this out." Tom pointed to the long cut on his back. He turned around and started walking towards the Marshall's hoping to any dieties that might exist that they somehow had plumbing. "come on guys, we should stick together, don't want Helfgott's ghost catching us." Then he paused. "Wait a minute, what the fuck happened to Helfgott?"

((Nevermind, Tom finish your segment with Sean first))

"Well when i got to him he was covered in ho sauce, so I'm guessing Ed ate what he could and left the rest. But grizlo on the other hand had it much worse off. It seems he was sodomized to death with a large replica of Wing gundam. I take it that Jay had some fun torturing Grizlo to death."

((Is it weird that I burst out in laughter writing that?))

I was walking aimlessly for a day or two, unable to decide where to go or what road to take. I stayed in my local area, I didn't want to be more lost then I already had been.
I can remember it clearly, the seperation from my parents. In a heartbeat they were gone, probably somewhere in Canada. Of course, if that was their location, they could not return here.
My heart suddenly filled with hope, as I spotted Tom, Bates, and Sean. I almost giggled in happiness. I had never been so lucky before.

Running over to them, I heard Sean babbling on about Helfgott and Grizlo.
I laughed approaching behind Sean.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked with a fake smile.
My napsack was weighing down on me, and my legs felt as heavy as boulders. I needed somewhere to rest, maybe they had "a place".

((Sean, no offense but those were pretty retarded))

I sat up against the wall of the dry cleaners next to the water mill eating a candy bar and not saying a word, pat was suppose to meet me here in a while, it was always our meeting place, we decided to team up and survive by watching our backs. I removed my back pack (the black one I have) and placed it on the ground and opened it up. I checked to see if "it" was there, and sure enough it was. A nice big kitchen knife just waiting to be used "yeah that's it" I said and put it back.

Ever since the failing of electronics I found myself to go a bit insane, is it from the lack of entertainment, probably, or maybe something else that let me have the feel of I could do what ever I want, and nobody could stop me, a feeling of invincability.

"damn it where the hell is pat" I mumbled and took another bite of the chocolate bar and finished it off and wiped my hands on the wall to get the excess chocolate off of my sweaty palms.

((Just speeding things up here))
Tom was overjoyed to see Matt. He hadn't seen him much in person, but he knew him from their old site Moorim and Starcraft and knew he would be a good person to have around.
They entered Marshall's through a shattered glass door. It had been ransacked a long time ago, and many times since, but the store was huge and still held much of it's inventory. Tom walked to the section where the house stuff was, grabbed a few clean looking towels and an overly expensive piece of soap, and then walked over to the bathroom, in the back.
The door, normally locked by a keycode sort of device, had been busted open already, and, to his amazement, Tom saw water trickling from a broken faucet. He immediately removed his shirt and washed out the wound with one towel, and then wrapped the other around his chest and back, tightly. He idn't have any string, so he just tucked one end into the other and hoped it would hold. Then he put his shirt bback on over the makeshift bandage, and went to join his companions. On the way he grabbed some blankets from the house section, it was getting rather cold in the last week, they'd be nice to have.
"So, you guys find anything?" He asked jokingly.

"Other then those little bottles of shampoo and soap, not much." I picked a few up and threw them in my bag, just in case we needed to disinfect a wound of some sort.

For laughs, I walked over the the cash register and smashed it with my fist. The draws were empty but I saw a small piece of something behind the draw. I ripped out the draw to find a wad of cash that had most likley fallen back there in the past. I grabbed it and counted it.

"Two hundred..and six dollars. But is money even good around here anymore?" I asked, speaking more to myself.

"I'm afraid not Matt." Tom said, though that much money might be able to buy them a meal at a small diner, if any were still open. "Keep it anyway, we might still have use for it. Well gentlemen, it is getting late, my back is stinging like hell, and I'm willing to bet a few people are gonna want to have a word with us. So I suggest we turn in. Follow me."

"Yeah, let's get outta here."
*I began to follow Tom as he walked out the door....here we were, four greasy bastards, in the pit of hell.....I was going to like this.

Tom lead the group to his dust covered hovel and tossed everyone one of the blankets he had grabbed. "Alright guys, as this area is crawling with thugs, I think we should have someone on alternating watch, that sound ok to you? I checked this place before I settled in, but still, we don't know who else might want to stay here for the night..."

"You shouldn't keep watch Tom, with that wound..." I didn't know what else to say. I really didn't want to volunteer, so I fell silent.
Sitting down, I grabbed the pocket knife out of my bag. It was still sharp, I mean, it wasn't like I had any use for it until now.
The blade was ceraded, and the handle was a grippable rubber. I always thought it was a cool knife, but I never thought it would be my only real means of self defense. I stared at it for another few seconds, then threw it back in my bag.
"So what's the deal?"

*I held up my gun to the faces of my newly found comrades....

"I guess I'll take first shift. I don't know how many rounds are in this thing but it's at least one...So go on and rest, whoever takes the next shift I'll wake in about four hours. I guess in the morning we'll search for some food or something, and get outta here, unless you guys have a different plan."

"I'll be fine, it's not deep." Tom said simply. True, he hadn't had much sleep lately, as a survival instinct he had been sleeping lightly, but he would still do his part. He sat down next to his backpack and put his bo across his lap. "I'll take second shift if that's ok with you guys. I'm freakin exhausted."

" You have the power of one, you can make a difference". Who could ever change this hell of mine. I kept thinking back to the times of high school, sometimes my fondest memeoires, someitmes mnot so great ones, but I never cared much about the bad ones, and put them aside. The "power of one" was the only thing that could think about, other then my two idiot freinds who never seemed to shut up. I was standing in the intersection of 347, near the mall, and the complex were Funcoland use to be. I just kept thinking how wrong that quote really is, and this world proved it. "What the fuck are we doing" Ed aggressively replies. "Ya, stop being such a dumbass, and move" replied my other friend Matt. "Look, I was just trying to figure out which place to go next o.k, give a damn break" I replyed peacefully. "Well hurry the fuck up then, its become already really dark out" Ed says. "Yea, anybody could be out here right now, trying to kill you, and then we would be screwed" Matt replyed. "Oh by the way, what ever happened to Grizlo?" I asked. "The dumb shit got stuck in limbo, while "they" were deciding were to put me, and Ed. So now he we dont know whats going on with him". I wonder if he'll be o.k?" "Who knows, but right now, we should find a place". "Yea, thats what I was doing in the first place, then you interrepted me". "Who cares, just pick a direction, north, south, east, or west," Ed replied in a irrated voice. I didnt bother to keep going on with this fight, becasue I knew it would never end. I started to walk in front of me, on the raod were Lowes was. I started to recall the time me Matt, and Steve went to see the punisher, and how Bates didnt want to go see it. It would have been nice to see his reaction to it, but him and probably everyone I knew was gone, somehow. It broke me up in the beginning, but I moved on, and considering I have these two in my head, and Pumpkin to keep me company, it was easier to move on. It made more sense for me to have something to live for. Pumkin ran alittle bit ahead of me and I was alittle worried about him running off to far, but he stoped, turned, and ran back to, and continued walking to my pace. Things really have changed, but not for the better.

Morning came relatively quickly, as Tom slept better that night than he had in several weeks. Even with taking a shift at watch, he still felt rested and energetic. Having several friends he could trust along with him was also reassuring. Things were looking up.
He had done some exercises in the back room of the closed down shop, as he did every day when he awoke. Now, sun filtered in through cracks in the wall of their hovel. Time to go.
"Alright guys, let's go get some food, we have some money, might get us something... or we can take what we need." Hell, times were hard, if they had to do some illegal things to get by, well, so be it. He put on his jacket, shouldered his pack, and hefted his bo. "Let's get out of here."

I slipped into my sandals and looked at Tom. Sure he wasn't a very menacing figure, and were it to come to a dangerous fight he'd probably be the first to go. "What are we waiting for?" I jumped up and cracked my neck. "I'm sure everyone's hungry so...I guess I can share my food with you, BUT JUST THIS ONCE!" I unzipped my bag and looked in. Salt and vinegar chips were the only food I was carrying because they're the only thing that I could find at the king Kullen by my house. "Who likes salt and vinegar?" I pulled out a bag and ripped it open. I took a handful and put them in my mouth. "One handfull for each of you and...one sip of this." I pulled out one of my pepsis and placed it on the ground. "Like I said, just this once."

Tom shied from the food. "No thanks Sean, I'm in the mood for a decent breakfast for once. give my share to the others. I'll gladly take the pepsi though." He took a sip. "Well, where shall we go? Sean, have you heard from Jess since the collapse? i haven't seen or talked to anyone until I saw Bates last night. Waht about you guys?"

*I took a chip and bit into it....I immediatly braced, vinegar....yuck....onion and garlic was the way to go. Still, it was nice of Sean to not be an overcondensending jackass for once so I decided to take what I could get...as far as the pepsi went...

"I'd rather drink dirty water, thanks anyway, though."

Tom asked if we had any ties to the world other than ourselves, I hadn't...and even if I had...I was alone now anyway, so it'd probably make for a painful story.

"I've been in China for the past few weeks, I get back and the entire world has gone to hell....I haven't heard from anyone and my house was destroyed....someone even stripped the tires from my bick...so I'm stuck on foot here. You're the first familiar face I've seen....I figured Helfgott left with his family, but I guess I was wrong. I guess we should try and get some ties to communication somehow."

I looked down at the floor, and for the first time, realized the severity of the issue at hand. The pepole I knew were dead, family gone, friends gone, I could even die....well, I had at least try to escape this.

Tom suddenly felt very weary, despite his nights rest. Jeff and Matt, gone...
It was first truly hitting him now. They hadn't escaped, they were dead. Helfgott and Bates had been good friends, he imagined he was taking it hardest of any of them.
"I can't believe they're gone, no more shaloam jokes from Matt..." He looked at Brian. "I think my family went to one of the many new homeless shelters, at least that's where they were going when they couldn't keep up with the expenses. If your family was hit like that, they are probably at one of them too. They're probably fine." The governament had started getting unemployed people building new large complexes to house the increasing number of homeless families.

I sighed, trying to erase the sad thought from my head. I was, in fact, starving. But I didn't have much of a potential appetite, after pondering about the possible deaths of my friends.
"So, I mean, What are we going to do? We don't have a motive or anything. Shouldn't we try to get outta the country? There's gotta be somewhere nicer then here."

Pat had been a wild and rebelious child, always into trouble, and not having a care in the world the catstrophic event was meaningless to him. Actually it opned up doors that Pat had been waiting for all his life. No more family around to piss him off or set up rules for him, and no more boring Smithtown life, it was time for excitement and time for survival and fighting. Pat couldnt wait. Not one second.

Pat was walking down the street, his backpack on his back filled with his gear, food, and items he could find, recover, or get his hands on. He also had his knife stuck under his shirt and in his pants, just in case he need quick access to it. Pat was walking along and was tired, the night before he had got no sleep. He was on the move and monitoring the situations and occurences of the town. He had even had the luck of seeing Tom, a person he knew before the event, get stabbed in the back. Knowing him and the rest of the people he ended up with Pat had plans of later meeting with them.
( Guys me and joe need to get up with you so work in with us)
Pat, with a lit marlboro 100 in his hand, walked up to the dry cleaners to find Joe semi-asleep on the ground outside their custom meeting place.

Pat walked up to Joe and seeing a perfect chance to mess with him took out a bottle of water and was just about to pour it on Joe who at that exact moment hopped up and grabbed Pat and threw him against the wall as Pat dropped the water. Not really sleeping and with his eye slightly open he had noticed Pat.
"Jesus fucking Christ Joe calm the hell down. It's me. It's me."
Joe came to his sense and realized this and let go of Pat. Pat sat down next to him and took out a banana and started to eat it. He offered one to Joe but Joe declined.
" I was out and about last night ass and i saw Matt, Tom, and Sean. They are up at once was a place that was a popular hangout, maybe not to us because you hated the movies but they were in that general area. Im not sure where they spent the night but you catch my drift."
Joe nodded and seemed to still be waking up from his "cat-nap"
"I dont know what your plan is Joe but i think we gotta get our sorry asses up there, i dont know about you but i think that like ourselves we can form an aliiance with them to watch each others back. To me its worth the damn try and if it fails well than we'll fight them or whatever. Im not sure what will go down but i think we need to get the hell outa here and find those guys. What you say to that"
Joe didnt answer Pat but rather sat there and stared at Pat. Pat was getting mad and punched joe in the arm. It didnt help to get an answer so Pat waited until Joe was ready to speak.

Tom considered Matt's idea.
"I think you're right Matt, anywhere should be better than here. Maybe we can get to China, last I heard they were in a boom because they were monopolizing the markets we had dominated. Brian was just there." He sighed, "Bur first we gotta find our friends, anyone who's left. We'll find them and take them with us." Tom said, conviction in his voice. He sure as hell was not leaving anyone to rot here if he could help it.