The Crow: Retribution
By Xenomorph666
The Crow is © James O'Barr
Garou and all other W.o.D. related articles are © White Wolf Publishing
All other Characters are © me and their Real life counterparts
Chapter 1
Memory
"Life sucks, it's as simple as that", my best friend said as I looked up from my book. "I mean how else can you explain this COMPUTER beating me eight times in a row?!"
I look back down at my book and quickly memorized the page position and phrase.
"Give it here..." I say. He shoots me his "Oh think you can do better, huh?" look. I ignore it and take the controller. I demolish the computer-controlled character in little more than thirty seconds.
"I hate you..." He shoots a playful glare at me.
"Yea, well you're the one who chose the game..."
"Because you said you where in the mood for violence!"
I flip out my knife. A gift my mom gave me before I moved downtown, never quite understood why though...
"I said I was in the mood for "SILENCE". Get a new cell phone man..." I flip my knife back and set it down.
He looks back at the game and smiles, "My bad!" he continues playing. I return to my book.
"How do you do it anyway?" he asks after awhile.
"What?"
"Memorize all the moves and positions..."
"Photographic memory," I look up from the book, "remember?"
"Yeah, I remember... So... How much money do I owe you?"
"In real life or online?"
"Smart ass."
"Dumbass"
He flips me off; I smack him with the book, a knock at the door
He looks at me quizzically, "You expecting anyone?"
"Yea, another torture session with Ms. Dyslexic..." I get up and go to the door
"Hey, don't bash one her, she's hot!" He shouts from the couch
"Also out of your league. Remember that the next time you try your X-Ray photo lab... oh and Mitch, her boyfriend will kill you if you try it again."
" ... But aren't you her..."
"Yea"
Silence as he realizes he's been caught
"Sorry..." a meek voice says
I open the door, to see my girlfriend, Alisha Tannen. She's beautiful, and I mean beautiful. Basically she's a Jessica Alba look-a-like, her only flaw: dyslexia, BIG TIME. I met her ten months ago when her brother hired me to help he overcome her "small disability" as he put it. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her. However, I was a big time hacker, literature grad and all around hermit, so it took a move from her side to get things going, mainly her mother (God bless that woman), somehow she had arranged for us to end up at the same club together. We hit it off from there.
She walks in all smiles, "Hey Coleman, guess what I got?"
This is never good, she loves guessing games, and she also knows I suck at them... I'm much better at memorizing things, "What?" I say.
"AN A PLUS, ON HISTORY!" she jumps up and down shrieking in delight. My mouth is currently only three feet from the ground. And I hear the sound of a controller hit the ground.
"You're kidding." Perhaps I should explain, an A for Alisha is like the Titanic suddenly sprouting wings. It's not supposed to happen
"Nope!" she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a huge hug
Mitch rounded the corner to the door, "If I say 'Dinner at Mitsu's'?"
I sprang to action, "I say 'You're paying'!"
"DAMN RIGHT I AM!" he may be an ass ninety percent of the time, but the other ten, he's a great guy. This was thankfully one of those times.
I looked up and we all went to the garage, we piled into my car. Mitch wanted to meet us there by taking his motorcycle, but I insisted that he ride with us.
The dinner was great, not one thing went wrong and Mitch was making some progress in getting his favorite waitress's number, by the end of the meal, he had it.
"Another, trophy?" Alisha asked mockingly
Mitch did his best to act shocked and amazed; he even put on his fake English accent, heh, actors, go figure.
We left, and Mitch for the most part did pay, except for the sake, I insisted on paying for that. We made our way to the car when Alisha noticed that she forgot her purse. I ran back in to get it.
When I came out the lot was empty, no-one was there, they loved to surprise me, I hated it more than a guessing game.
"Come on out guys." I wheel around several times trying to get used to sake in my system, "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"
I hear a light grunt come from a nearby alleyway. I walk over to see a man blocking the way. He just grinned, and yelled into the back part of the alley, "Hey boss, the short ones here!"
That's when it hits me, the brick and the fact that this guy and god knows how many else have taken Alisha and Mitch prisoner. As I hit the ground, I feel myself lifted up by the man blocking the alley way. I decide to struggle but I end up being tossed in to a light pole. For some reason this turns the light on and I can see their faces, all five of them; I memorize them all, it can definitely help the police.
The tall one that blocked the alley spoke, "Might want to be careful buddy, your little girlyfriend might not like that." I look down and see Alisha's leg and I spring to my feet, half expecting to see her raped or worse. Instead I see her belly split open and her neck slit. I spin around to see my friend hanging from a steel pole, two of the gang members feeding his organs to a large wolf. I fall to the ground and instantly throw-up. When I look up again, I see the large wolf attempting to stand on its legs, then it grows bigger and bigger until it could only be described as a...
"Werewolf", I say my thought out loud.