Author's Note: This is the first chapter of a multi chapter story documenting the life of an average Gotham resident during the five months Bane and his men control the city in The Dark Knight Rises. Enjoy, and please review!
Day 1
Like everyone, I watch the news coverage as the man called Bane blows Gotham Stadium to hell, and explains the nuclear bomb he carries with him.
"Take control of your city!"
Living in Gotham is like living next to a live volcano. It erupts once, than cools down again, and people think that now everything will be just peachy. But inevitably, somebody else comes along and then you're eyeball deep in lava again. Bane is different then the Joker was, at least, he's not crazy. Or not obviously. The Joker wanted anarchy for the sake of anarchy. This Bane guy clearly has an agenda.
Outside, there is screaming, the screeching of tires burning out, glass breaking. The looting has begun.
The people of this city know they can't count on help from the outside. Like many, I lived here even when it was run by the gangs, and the Joker. The government of Gotham will fall all too quickly once we're locked in here with Bane and his cohort of angry men, only increasing as the inmates are released, and more are convinced to take up his cause.
There's a moment of relief when I think of Trenton and Candice, safely out of the city, settled into their new life in Scranton, Pennsylvania. My brother and his wife had the sense to get the hell out of the city after our first bout with destruction, where as I am not quite so sensible. I imagine Trenton's making a panicked call to mom about now, while staring in horror at the news. He won't be surprised, not after living in this place. And knowing he can't do a goddamn thing about it.
I take inventory of my kitchen. I have enough food for a week if I sanction myself. Bane had said at the stadium that supplies would be brought in from the outside world. But who knows. He may be crazier than he looks, and hoping for food does not fill one's stomach.
There's a convenience store on the bottom floor of my building. I'll need to venture down there, and soon, before everything is stolen.
I glance out my window onto the street. It seems empty enough, so I throw on a jacket and carefully lock my studio apartment door on the way out. I'm not saying that'll stop them, but it may discourage them if they start poking around up here.
A few of my neighbors are poking their heads out their doors. I don't say anything as I pass at a sprint. Down the stairs, now, I don't trust the elevators anymore. This city is in chaos. God knows what might be coming up here.
The front windows of the downstairs General store have been smashed, despite the black bars that cover them. The guy who owns it, Nathan, is lying on the sidewalk, a bullet hole in his neck bleeding onto the pavement.
I stand horrified, for a moment. I've never seen violence like this up close. Down the street, three men are silhouetted running from the scene. I can see the black outlines of guns in their hands. I wonder if they're Bane's men, or just citizens already cracking under the pressure.
I put my coat over Nathan's face, but don't have time for more. Already more people are heading toward the store front, faces hard, determined.
Inside, I grab as much canned and dehydrated food as I can carry, then grab gallon jugs of water, and take handfuls of paper goods. I leave money tucked underneath the register, because I can't remember if Nathan had a family or not.
I'm about to make my escape when men barge into the store. I can't see if they're armed. They're shouting angrily, though, and that's enough of a clue for me to get the hell out. I slip out the door and back up the stairs, my heart thudding painfully in my chest. I can barely breathe by the time I get back home.
Thankfully, my apartment has been left untouched. For now.
My neighbors, most of which I've never met, have closed their doors. Most of them are like me; single, on their own in this city that they know is one step from becoming a mad house once again.
The bridges are either blown or blocked. The tunnels are clogged with wreckage. Even if they government does manage to take down Bane in the next few days, it'll be a long while before we're seeing any place other then Gotham. I try to keep some hope that I'll be seeing the outside world soon, but I look out the windows and see the hoards of people already losing their minds, and know this may be a permanent reality, at least for a while.
The people of this city no longer have the bliss of being naïve. Everything that can go wrong, will most definitely just end up fucked up beyond all recovery. FUBAR.
I decide, that when and if I get out of this city, I'm moving for good. I'm tired of this shit.
Night fall comes, and I eat a tiny meal of canned soup. Then I go around the apartment and close all the blinds leaving only one light on. Maybe I'll be ignored by Bane's raiding parties. I wash all the linens and clothes I own, which isn't much, then do all the dishes and wipe down every horizontal surface. Cleaning keeps my mind off things, for the time being.
When I finally do climb into bed and close my eyes, the sleep that follows is as restless and paranoid as the days ahead.
