Garmitch Ball
In the year 2034, the United States succumbed to an anarchist revolution. The uprising started in 2032 and spread swiftly and violently, gathering more participants on its sweep outward and creating havoc and destruction across the county. The revolution left the nation in shambles. The entire establishment of law and justice that had held strong for more then two and a half centuries was ground to dust in a matter of years. State borders and governments that once stood were now wiped off the map of the world. Gang violence and Mafia activity were present across the nation, and it seemed that even the once just and righteous Americans had lost all moral integrity. Contrary to the hopes of the revolution's founders, the capitalist monetary system remained mostly intact, and the citizens still exchanged dollars as currency, even without any federal backing. This ongoing desire for money was the root of much violence in the middle years of the 21st century. One sport united the American people. This sport was named Garmitch Ball and it's nation-wide league play and annual playoffs were followed by about everyone. The role of professional Garmitch Ball player was the main aspiration of every child and teenager since it's establishment as a sport in 2039. Such was the occupation of a certain Robert Cartwright…
Chapter One: Not Quite As Planned
"Robbie! ROBBIE!!" Mrs. Cartwright's shrill cry rang out and was barely heard by the one to whom the call was intended over the sound of shouting, chanting, and the exchange of bullets, combined with the constant roar of the raging inferno consuming the house of the Cartwrights. The seven-year-old Robbie sat huddled in a corner, clutching his baby brother, Duke. Robbie hoped that he could simply close his eyes and wake up, and everything would be okay again. He hoped that he'd awake from this nightmare to hear the joyful sound of his mother informing him that the revolutionaries had been put down, and that they didn't have to fear anymore. At the very least, Robbie hoped that his father and mother would come to his aid and comfort and protect him until the storm of chaos had passed, like they always had before. Robbie's mother however, could not come to his side, a burning door and large, flaming, wreckage that barred it were separating the two.
"Robbie! Are you in there? Can you hear me!?"
"Mom!"
"Where's your bother Robbie?"
"Here's here with me! I've got him! Please help mom!"
"Robbie! I can't! Listen, you have to listen to me! You need to run! Did you hear me?! You need to take your brother and run!"
"I can't! They'll get me! I don't know where to go!"
"Robbie…" his mother starts to cry, "I can't help you, honey, I can't reach you, you need to listen to me, you need to run away from here. Take your brother and run as far and as fast as possible, if these butchers have any decency they'll let a child go unharmed"
"What about you and dad?" Robbie barely finished his sentence when a large explosion shook the house. His mother was silent. "MOM!!DAD!!" Robbie paused, but there was still no answer from either of his parents, he was alone.
Robbie followed his mother's orders and stood up with his crying baby brother, who's life Robbie feared for more then his own
"Yo! Robbie wake up!"
The voice of Robbie's friend Ford snapped him out of his flashback and back into 2058. Robbie had been daydreaming while sitting next to Ford in a car parked outside a tall building in the middle of downtown San Francisco. Ford had a very bulky, muscular build with dark brown hair and brown eyes, his face was almost rectangular and his arms were very well built, unlike Robbie, who's build was athletic, to be sure, but shorter and smaller. Robbie also had darkish brown hair, but was thicker and curly, unlike Ford's crew cut. Robbie also had eyes of a dark shade of blue.
"Uh, thanks for waking me…shit, how long was I asleep?"
"Dunno. I didn't watch you fall asleep, probably like 10 minutes or something."
"Anything exciting happen yet?"
"Nah, Brett's still in there"
"And he's doing what again?"
"Just making sure that this drop goes as planned, something the Boss cares about a lot, 'cause Hemmingway owes him a couple grand.
"Nah, Boss doesn't are about it, he knows he owes me all of it."
"Right, forgot that already"
"Let us just hope the Boss hasn't"
Meanwhile, Brett, friend of both Robbie and Ford, was sitting down in the sixth floor of a large parking garage waiting for something to happen while enjoying a smoke. Brett was about Ford's height; a bit over six feet, but had a slender body, closer to that of Robbie's, with sandy blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. Brett looked down at his wristwatch, shaking his head, and, getting bored, started to examine his pistol. He had noticed one of Hemmingway's gang's men standing in a far corner, with a briefcase in his hand, waiting for another to show up.
Neither of them had to wait much longer for him to show. A man stepped out of the elevator with a long black coat on, shades, and a briefcase tucked under his arm. The man in the opposite corner stood up and the two men proceeded to walk towards each other. Brett sat still and inconspicuously on a parking curb next to a parked car. The two men exchanged the brief case, one of which contained Hemmingway's money. Brett breathed a sigh of relief as the exchange was made without struggle or bloodshed, which was hard to avoid whenever exchanging money. Hemmingway's thug made it halfway to the elevator when the case he received spontaneously exploding, obliterating the one carrying it and knocking over Brett. Brett breathed a sigh of frustration and mumbled an "Oh, SHIT."
"Ah, hell no." Ford muttered as Robbie and him were instantly alerted to the explosion and aware that something went wrong. The two got out of the car and rushed up to the sixth floor to help out Brett.
Meanwhile, Brett watched in horror as lackeys of each of the gangs ambushed the garage. Brett's instructions were to aid Hemmingway's men, but Brett found it better to simply hide underneath the car he was next to in order to avoid the multitude of flying bullets. Robbie and Ford thought it wise to use the stairs to reach the sixth floor, but they found themselves in the middle of a rush of armed men, when they reached the sixth floor, the found themselves in the middle of a full scale battlefield. The sea of machine gun fire was mowing down men on both sides. Ford opted to run, but Robbie was all too eager to join in on the fight. Robbie pulled out a small handgun and used it for cover fire to try to find shelter behind a car, but found it disappointingly ineffective. Robbie crawled to the nearest car and crouched behind it. Looking under it to try to get a sense of the fighting, Robbie spotted Brett under another car about 20 yards away. With the majority of the fighting taking place between those very 20 yards, Robbie found it nearly impossible to get to where Brett was and also found it equally difficult to catch Brett's attention. "Fuck this shit" Robbie muttered under his breath as he got up and dove across the gap with gun firing to try to reach Brett. One bullet was successful in skimming Robbie in the side right before he landed on the other side of the fighting. "Ah, shit." Robbie lamented, "I've got a game tomorrow!" Robbie crawled under the car next to the cowering Brett.
"It's about time you got your lazy ass up here!" exclaimed an overwhelmed Brett.
"My lazy ass? Ford's still hiding behind the door to the stairwell and you've been crying under this car the entire time!"
"This is some nasty shit, man, I've never seen a fight this bad before!"
"It should die down pretty soon"
Just as Robbie finished his sentence, A large thug with a rocket launcher over his shoulder. The launcher started to fire onto the other side as the other gang scattered and retreated.
"Just, wow!" exclaimed Robbie, "alright, Brett, here's the plan, I'll take this joker out, you call the elevator"
"What the fuck? The elevator?"
"Or would you like to try to reach the stairs??" Robbie retorted, pointing to the other side of the parking garage.
"Good point, here goes nothing."
Robbie counted to three as the two bolted out from underneath the car, Robbie grabbed Brett's gun and started a double-gunned open fire on the rocket launcher, taking him down quickly, The elevator arrived and Brett and Robbie jumped into it. The elevator closed and descended as it played an annoying pop tune. After a long pause; a sigh of relief, Robbie piped, "Fucking elevator music…"
When the two got down onto the ground floor, they exited the elevator only to spot the exchange man fleeing the building with the stolen suitcase. A call from Brett sent the man running and Robbie and Brett bolting down the street after him. When it was determined that Robbie and Brett were obviously faster, the man pulled out his gun and sent the two scrambling for coverage behind a large dumpster. Just as it looked as the guy with the case would get away, an unexpected shot from above dropped him dead in his tracks. Robbie and Brett looked up to see Ford waving down with a sniper rifle in one hand
"Well I'll be damned!" stated Robbie to Brett "that sonofabitch is good for something." Then looking back up at Ford, "Get your fat ass down here and let's go, you've got the keys!" Ford complied and raced downstairs. "Brett, go get the case and let's bring it back to the pad, Boss will be pleased to know that we got something out of this ordeal." Brett fetched the case, and as he returned, Ford exited the building twirling the keys in his hand.
"Well, that didn't go quite as was planned." Ford opened the car as the other two jumped in and drove away.