Carpe Diem

by Onkwehonwe Kashatstenhshera

A teen runaway gang member, A college student from the hood living a double life, a Yakuza assassin from the East, a psychotic ex con with obscene hobbies, a Gulf War vet returning home & a disgruntled casino worker who is tired of the house always winning carve their way through San Andreas to build empires over the course of 14 years. Who will still be standing in the end?

6. Thin Line Between Love & Hate

Fox In a Hun House Pt 1

Imala was nervous. She had arrived a half hour early, not exactly unsure that she was safe. Good terms or not, they were still Triads. Rumor had it that over the years different Triad families had run the Four Dragons but it still had seemed to be consistent with staying under their control since at least the 80's. She was there with two men from her tribe that she had grown up with. One was Jose White eagle, a full blood of Northern Paiute ancestry and Southern Paiute ancestry. He stood five ten and he had a somewhat round but slightly oval face. His nose was wide and somewhat flat his lips on the larger side and his skin very dark. His hair was cut short in a buzz cut and he wore a greenish beige t shirt that said, Fry Bread Power and he wore black jeans with some white paint spots. The other man was Southern Paiute like her. His name was Waha'yoo Taba Clark. Most assumed Taba was his middle name but Waha'yoo Taba was his entire first name. Most just called him Waha for short.

All though Imala did often try and call him his full name, sometimes she slipped up and just called him Waha. He didnt mind. Waha was 5'9 with dark brown skin that reminded her of fry bread for some reason when it was cooked to be golden brown and looked ready to eat. The myth of Vinewood showing all Native men to be tall was certainly not something that could be aid of the of the Paiute or most SW tribes for that matter. 5'9 was maybe average for the country but it was tall for the Paiute. Where as tribesmen of the Northern Plains, the Southeast, and North East were tall even next to Nordic people and towered over the average European, Paiutes were generally shorter than the average Anglo.

He was a muscular man but he had not always been. He had once been fifty pounds overweight and still had the stretchmarks to show it which he was shy about but Imala had told him not to be when he was in the kind of shape he was.

He had deep black eyes and his hair was long down to the center of his back which he had braided into two braids so as to not give him a headache. He wore a turquoise flannel jacket checkered with black in color and he wore blue jeans and cowboy boots. Around his neck he had a red and brown tribal choker and he had turquoise earrings in both ears. "We got our pistols on us, sister..." Jose murmured. "And a Shotgun and a Rifle in the car if anything goes wrong. We'll be watching out for you."

"Look, I appreciate it you guys. I'm probably just being paranoid but with what happened I can't be too careful, enit?"

"I'm surprised you even want to work there anymore!" Jose stated. "You could work at the casino at either rez. You're a freaking worker bee, girl and a lot of it has been in jobs like that. Plus you got retail experience and you worked at..."

"Don't mention the fuckin V Rock Cafe!" She growled. "The manager there was an asshole. Gave me shit just for taking a sick day. I missed two days in the entire eighteen months I worked for him and he wanted to be a pain in my ass. Fuck him."

'

"Yeah but...going back to that casino? Venturas is already dangerous enough as it is. Almost nobody is from there. i mean..." Waha smirked and said, "Except us. But that's still a lot of felons. A lot of tourists that think the city is a playground. It's funny to me how politicians worry about the Indian Gaming Comitees and think there's something afoul going on there when these are the real places that has organized crime."

"Yeah, tell me about it..." Imala stated. "Now that the Sindaccos, Forellis and Leones are out, the Carcer City Outfit wanted to reestablish their old turf in Venturas and they run Caligula's now. I'm surprised any of those geriatric fuckers are still breathing let alone in the rackateering game."

"Yeah well you know it's not just them..." Jose said. "Seriously, Imala..getting involved with the Tongs is not a good idea. Do you have any idea what kinda shit those people get up to? How they make their money?"

"Yeah I am. But out of all the casinos on the strip, one man was kind enough to hire me. And I fuckin miss him. But right now, his cousin is who I have to work with until he...figures himself out or something I don't know...he took a chance on an angry girl from South Eastern San Andreas. That's saying a lot. And Jian has done all right by me these last couple years too."

A black Admiral showed up and four men got out. One of them was Jian. "Hey, Imala. You're a half hour early."

"It's an old Indian trick. Show up to somewhere early if you're not sure about a meeting."

"You got no reason to be nervous. But it's smart that you did that. Tactical even. Still, I'd say I got more reason to be afraid of you than you do me..." She asked, "Why?"

"Because you've got two men watching us with guns."

Her heart began to beat fast. "Relax..." He said almost as if he heard it. "But it does make me wonder who was sneakier historically..." He said with a grin. "I hope neither of us ever have to find out..."

Probably Asians...she thought to herself thinking of Ninjas. But those were Japanese and you're Chinese.

She asked," "So what's this meeting about? Can you help me get my necklace back? Did you find out who hit us?"

"It hasn't been high on our priority list..." He said much to her annoyance. "No offense to your late grandmother, mind you. I'm just saying that compared to what those assholes stole from us, it doesn't compare."

"Well some things are worth more than money...at least to me. It might not have value to you. It wouldn't even maybe keep its current value if I was fucked up enough to sell it. But it has value to me,. Do you understand that?"

"Yeah, I do. Even though the concerns of the casino are greater, you are part of our staff and your personal concerns matter too. Maybe there's a way we can both get what we want?"

"What do you suggest?" The young Paiute woman asked. "I don't know exactly who hit the Four Dragons just yet. But I haven't slept. I've spent all day today and last night trying to find anything I could. I'm not even saying this is the only people who I suspect hit us...but I believe at least one of them was a member of the Huns MC."

"Bikers? You serious? You think they would have the means to do a job like this? No way."

Another Triad agreed. "I agree with her, Jian. It's a tall order for even the mafia to try something as heinous as yesterday. These redneck bikers might have the clumsiness to do what they did yesterday but I doubt they could ever have the brains to pull it off."

"Why do you think it was a Hun?" Asked Imala. "My contacts in the Las Venturas Police Department called me and told me there was a John Doe found in Redsands had gunshot wounds matching what you gave him. The Bone County Sheriff's Department didn't find out who he was but he was identified at noon today. His name was Alan Silversmith. Thirty five years old. He's a full patched member of the Las Venturas chapter of the Huns Motorcycle was their Treasurer. Naturally, they'd be pissed one of their own got snuffed by a civilian. But they're probably going to be holding off on avenging him just yet. If this is a club sanctioned job they don't want anything tied back to them If this is a mixed crew though, we've got other problems."

"Geez.. Well they were all white guys, enit?"

"That doesn't exactly narrow it down. That's half of Venturas. You'd never think there'd be so many gweilo in the South West given how hot it is."

"It narrows it down as far as what gangs there are, right?"

The Triad who had spoken up, was addressed as Cao Cao. He was a spiky haired Triad with narrow beaded eyes and a small nose, medium lips and a 5'7 build. "There's a bar. Mostly for Huns and Hun groupies. In fact, only for them. It's a dive bar in North Venturas. But on the West Side of town, there is a Huns MC groupie. Her name is Sheila Cassidy. Thirty seven year old bar fly. Never aspired to do much in her life so she ended up being a whore for a motorcycle club. She has a vest that says Property Of The Huns MC."

"And you want me to do what?" Asked Imala. "Steal it.." Replied Jean. "It won't be easy. You'll have to fight that bar fly and take her vest from her. Then you're going to seduce a member of the Huns MC named Clyde Holvestot. His friends just call him 'Hole' and he's known he's drunk."

She left the area and drove off with the two men of her tribe. They gave her a ride to the bar where the biker groupie would be. Imala filled them in on what would be done. Waha was skeptical. "There's three of them..." He observed. "Not just one. I don't doubt you can fight. But three on one is not fair. I wouldn't take those odds myself!"

He told Jose, "Call up Raven. We're getting her some backup."

"Oh what so you're worried about my safety against a few bar skanks but you're not afraid to get another sister involved?"

"I don't want to get even one of you involved!" Protested Waha. "But two is better than one. You can watch each other's backs. Even Snipers have a two man team. Or a woman..."

"I never met a female Sniper..." Admitted Imala. "Maybe one day."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess she is tough. Still, I don't know if Jian would want extra people helping me."

"Yea well it's not exactly safe for you to go tangling with a biker gang on your own is it? But these Chinese gangsters aint too afraid to let you do their dirty work. Not wanting to have their own soldiers harmed I bet..."

After Jose got off the phone, and announced that her friend was on the way here, she asked if she could use his cell phone. "What for?"

"I'm gonna see if one of my co workers will come with me and back me up too. Like Waha'yoo Taba said, two is better than one but three is better than two. And there's three bar fly skanks."

"And what makes you think you can trust this co worker?"

"For starters, she was there..." She replied as she dialed the number. After five rings, Lana picked up. "Hello?"

"Lana! I need your help. listen, can you meet me in West Venturas?" She rattled off the name of the apartment complex and the address. "Why do you want me to meet you there?"

"You said you always wanted to ride a motorcycle, right? You might just get a chance."

Before long, the two arrived. Raven was wearing a fancy white sweater. Raven was Wa'ha's sister and she had medium brown skin jet black hair and thoughtful somewhat slanted brown eyes. Her lips were full, a sign of her ancestry being that of Uto Aztecan rather than Athabaskan tribes like the Apache and Navajo who had much thinner lips. She wore black jeans with holes in the knees, grunge style. Lana was wearing her clothes from work. Raven was Imala's height. She was very beautiful as well. She tied her hair back in a ponytail. She was about an inch shorter than Imala was but she was always good in a fight. Lana was just as short.

"Wow you didn't come prepared at all..." Imala stated, eyeing her friend and co-worker. She told her everything they would need to do. "Wow, so we're just going to beat up on some women that never did anything to us? That seems fucked up."

"No, we're fucking up some bar skanks so we can take their vests off of them and go in their places, go to the Huns MC hangout and find out what we can."

"This is so fucked up. Women should be empowering each other not tearing each other down."

"Lana..." Imala started. "We both know what we went through at the casino was wrong, right? These bitches are affiliated with the Huns MC. The best a woman can hope for is to be an old lady in their club. There is no gender equality in a biker gang. Even street gangs for all the bad they're known for has female gang members. Think of going after these bar skanks as a nessecary step for taking down these bikers. Then we can stick it to the patriarchal culture that is the biker gang. And get our stuff back and our lives can go back to normal. Don't you want that? People haven't been coming to the Four Dragons as much."

"Well yeah, why would they?" Lana said sadly. "After a robbery like that? Besides isn't your tribe patriarchal? I mean no offense. My family tree is. I always assumed most cultures are."

"As a Chinese American doesn't that piss you off though?" Asked Raven. "People still went back to Caligula's after the robbery there and more lives were lost there than at Four Dragons. "They'll come back to a mafia joint in a city where it's KNOWN that they put bodies in the desert. But the Mountain Cloud has mostly kept a neat lid on things. And unlike other tongs, they don't even engage in prostitution."

"Yah, I guess but we could get ourselves killed. We're not gangsters!" Lana stated. "Why can't the Triads send some of their guys after them instead?"

"Because they would be shot or stabbed on sight in a Huns MC bar. Only males allowed in a place like that is other bikers. Even pledges get more welcome in a cess pool like that than an outsider like Jian would. But women? We can use our feminine charms to get many places..."

"Great...first we take down three bar girls that have probably been fighting their whole lives and then we have to go in a bar full of rapey bikers just to find out what some of them MIGHT know about a robbery?" Lana said. Raven agreed but for a different reason. "Yeah. Two Indians and an Asian chick in a bar full of drunk greasy rednecks that live on the highway and kill other clubs for a living and get swastikas tattooed on their arms in prison. What could possibly go wrong?"

It was ironic too, that the gang had started out as Chicanos who had been rejected from joining the Angels Of Death and had formed their own club in East Los Santos but now, the demographics of the Huns MC was largely the same as the Angels. She didn't know if Huns actually did have swastika tattoos the way Angels did but she assumed if Raven was saying so, also being a street smart rez lady, there was a chance it was true.

They made their way to the bar where the three women were. Sheila came outside clearly drunk. She was a thirty seven year old redhead with blue eyes. A pale Caucasian who often wore a straw cowboy hat when she wasn't wearing a biker helmet to protect her fair skin from the Venturas sun, she wasn't a bad looking woman. In fact, she was quite attractive. Except she let out a loud burp. She had with her, a brunette with her long hair down to her shoulders and the woman had big brown eyes and was about Imala's height. The redhead was 5'9 and had about twenty five pounds on Imala. The last was a blonde with curly hair and blue eyes but tanned skin. All three were busty women, no doubt, the kind of eye candy horny bikers liked to have around bars.

"Fuck you looking at...?" Demanded Sheila as she stared at Imala. "That's a nice jacket. Property Of The Huns MC."

"Yeah? What's it to ya, skank?" Imala chuckled. "I just thought it's unusual. You're in your mid to late thirties and you're still a fuck doll for the club? At least these other two are in their 20's so maybe they can be an old lady in the future but you? How does it feel being the clubhouse door knob? Everybody gets a turn. Gotta make me wonder what it is that keeps you from being an old lady?"

Two male bikers watched as they smoked their cigarettes.

The biker chick shoved her. "Is it because they want a whore on the side? Do you let them stick it in your ass when their old ladies won't? Don't worry, Sheila. I won't tell..." The blonde started to say, "Wait, how did she..." But Sheila was already throwing a punch. Imala took it in the jaw but she came back with a hard left hook striking the redheaded lady in the nose. She drew blood on contact and she grabbed the redhaired woman kicking her in the groin following up with a rigt hook to the stomach. The biker groupie hit the ground hard. The brunette tackled Lana grabbing her hair and brought her to the ground. She punched the Chinese American woman in the face. The Chinese woman made a feeble attempt to defend herself but as Imala was hit in face as the bleeding Sheila got up, and the blow was hard enough to knock the Paiute on her ass, she realized that Lana was no fighter. Raven had no problems, though, as she was behind.

Meanwhile, Sheila head butted Imala causing her lips to bleed and she bit her tongue as she staggered back. "FUCK!" She growled. Sheila snarled charging at her and tried to gouge her eyes out but missed and instead scratched her a couple inches below the left eye but she still drew blood. This pissed Imala off further so she punched the larger woman in the belly as hard as she could with a right shot. It worked as she winded her and got a whiff of the nasty whiskey the biker woman had been drinking. Imala followed with a kick to the right ribs and she bombarded her with three blows to the face a left to the nose, a right to the right eye and another left to her mouth. The redhead fell in the dirt and Imala kicked her in the stomach and the back and the ribs intending to keep her down. "This stops when you give me your vest!"

Lana had managed to get in a few punches but she was mostly getting her ass handed to her. Raven on the other hand, was winning as she had been in plenty of fights in her life so now she was pumbling the blonde with blows to the face and kicking her as she fell down. Sheila tried to fight Imala more but Imala wrapped her legs around her and she put her in a choke hold while keeping her legs around her arms so she couldn't resist. "Give me...your cut..." She snarled in her ear. "Fuck you! Low rent barrio trash...!""Screamed Sheila. Imala had been mistaken for Mexican before and unlike some Natives did not find it offensive for she knew the Uto Aztecan language was as far south as Mexico City and as far north as Wind River, Wyoming. But she had all the same meant it as an insult.

Imala asked, "Is your pride worth your life?! SAY I CAN TAKE iT!"

"Fine...!" She gasped. "You can...take it..."

She ordered her two friends to give up their cuts as well. There were two male members of the Huns, one a white male of about 6'5 with greasy curly blonde hair and a thick beard with mutton chops. His friend was a white male of about 5'8 with curly long black hair and he had a whispy looking beard, bright blue eyes and a natural sneer. "Hey! Party time is over ladies break it up!" He shouted. The bigger man said, "nobody told you you could take those off..." He looked at Imala, Lana and Raven. "You three better get the fuck outta here..."

Just then, a large hole in his shirt where his heart was through his vest erupted with blood. He fell over with a gunshot wound, dead before he hit the ground. The other biker went for his .45 automatic but he was hit with a gut shot and he fell over, blood pouring from his mouth. "Christ...!" Imala didn't know for sure but she had an idea what was going on. She saw Sheila eye the man's pistol but she beat her to it. She trained it on the three bikers who gave up their cuts.

"Move..." Ordered Imala. She punched Sheila as hard as she could knocking her out. She, Lana and Raven then proceeded to beat on the brunette who had given Lana a pretty brutal beating. Before long, the brunette biker was spitting blood as Lana kicked her in the face. She groaned in pain and was forced to the trunk of the red Oracle Imala had been given by the Triads to use. She forced Sheila in too. "You're making a big mistake..." Sheila vowed. "Shut up," Imala warned. "If either of you makes a fucking peep, you'll get what those two got..." Imala then said, "On second thought..." She pistol whipped her knocking her out. The blonde rode up front. The logic was, for Imala, she had taken the hardest beating as she had a broken nose, a busted lip a cut on her left cheek and what would be a black right eye even if it wasn't for the nose.

As she drove, the song The Big Empty by Stone Temple Pilots played on Radio X.

"What the fuck do you three psychos want...?" Asked the blonde as Imala drove towards the hills where the shots came from. "Shut up!" Raven yelled slamming the blonde's head against the dashboard from the back seat keeping the .45 that Imala took trained on her. They got to the hills and sure enough, Imala saw that though they both had ski masks on, Jose and Waha were there. "I thought that was you guys."

"Yeah well we knew there was bound to be some extra people there and things could have gone wrong."

Imala stated, "Listen...the three of us still got a job to do. Can you go down there and get rid of those bodies before anybody else sees? I'm shocked nobody has yet anyway."

"Sure..." Stated Waha'yoo Taba. "But what are you gonna do with those three? We saw it all through the scope."

"We're gonna take em to Jian. He's gonna 'talk' to them and see what they know. Make sure they understand that if we decide to let them live or if they do, it's a mercy thing but we can easily turn it around and fuck them up the way you two just dropped those two."

"Yeah..." Jose said. "I hit the big guy..." With a bit of pride in his voice. "He still dropped like a rock..."

"No art in that, cousin. Hitting a smaller target is more impressive."

The two rez dogs went down to go get the bodies and sure enough, nobody had come outside. They had suppressors so nobody heard the .308's crack in the night air. They dragged the two dead men and put their bodies in the truck. "Ya know..." Stated Jose. "These two are Nomads. Maybe...just maybe...we can go with you just in case to this thing."

"I think that's a good idea..." Said Raven. "Ditto..." Stated Lana. Waha'yoo Taba looked at Imala. "So what's it gonna be? You want us to come with as backup just in case? It's your call either way. You want us to back off and just let you three handle it we will."

Garcia, San Fierro

Guilt By Association

Javier lit up a Redwood. He was not happy with the fact that his old party friend had been killed by friends in his neighborhood. He lit a white candle for him. He made a face of disgust as he smelled that somebody had pissed on his vigil. It was true that Javier had fought Vagos in High School, individuals in fist fights but he had also fought Rifas from other neighborhoods too. It wasn't a gang war thing to him. "Fuck, Fernando, lo siento carnal..."

Just then, he spotted La Cicatriz. "Que onda, ene?"

"What's up man? Look did any of you do that? Piss on it? That shit wasn't cool man. I know you vatos got pedo with each other but don't you got any respect for the dead?" His best friend said, "Man, who gives a fuck about some sewer rats? You been away from the hood too long if you give a fuck about a Va Ho. I know you were never official with your shit, homeboy but come on, dog. What happened to neighborhood pride?"

"Yeah but when we were in school, bro...little chavalitos in middle school we didn't give a fuck about any of that shit, ese. We used to be friends with guys that became Vagos. Y Aztecas."

"Yeah, and we had homeboys from El Salvador that roll with Marabunta now, homes."

"Marabunta? What the fuck is that? Big Plague?"

"It's this newer Salvadoran cliqua, homie. Started outta West Los Santos. It's kind of a shame, man. The blacks and the scrapas down south gave them fools the blues and they started their own cliqua. Crazy fucker, man. They were civil war veterans and they were better at gunplay than anybody in that city. I'd say that made them more deadly than a cop even. But three years ago, they folded under pressure from Onda, man. It's really too bad cause they could have got down with us they showed a lot of heart and we still had NS fools from LS they bitched out."

"What's that got to do with up here?"

"Chingow. You have been gone a while. If Va Ho's been out here a long time, why wouldn't the Guanacos clique come up here to start fresh? And yeah, they're in Garcia now."

"Man, let's get outta here...people are staring at us like we did something. Oh wait, like I did something when you know I didn't!" Yeska growled. "I didn't come home to fight Raza, wey..."

"It's too late for that, homes. They're encroaching on our neighborhood. They aint our people. They're a bunch of lame ratas from del sur."

"You know there was NS fools that started in LS, right?"

"Don't matter. If there was a time to have that conversation, it was '68. They tried to truce it up in '72 but it was four years after it should have started. They'd already hit too many of ours. Mirate, when I was coming up, I saw some of the first vatos that were rolling with NS. Back then it was less disciplined. Fools cared about numbers but we weren't as hard back then. Fuckers would beat or stab up scrapas but we didn't kill nobody till '72."

"Yeah and that was bullshit too. All I saw was bobosos from both sides fucking up any chance these streets had at peace. You know this shit on the streets is more recent than you think.. We got pachuco history but not as deep as LS. We fought each other out here too but when we hit the pen we'll still be North Siders. But it's not like the average vato on the street in '72 were representing Vagos or Rifa."

"You don't know what you're saying. Yeah, just like LS we had their hoods against ours but we're all Rifas inside. I remember when the early vatos from the neighborhood banded with the more rural towns. They were thinking 16th and 19th would have been Rifa hoods too. But we got a rat infestation. Perro, I'm proud of our heritage. Nortern Raza? Fuck with it...look...we were the bodyguards for Cesar Chavez you know? He didn't want to put hand on white boys. But just like MLK had deacons for defense carrying cuetes, we do the same shit."

"I'm proud to be from where I'm from too. But I don't give a fuck about Cesar Chavez. Fuck him. They founded wet lines to keep Mexican nationals out. They assaulted them but they wouldn't put the hurt on a white boy."

"So? It was more trouble."

"Fuck that..." Javier stated. "You have to fight back. The Brown Berets did that shit in the south."

"Yeah and they were influenced by the Panthers from the bay."

"Still. Self defense is self defense. I don't respect no coconut asshole that puts hands on paisas. I get if he was opposing the ones that were basically scabs during the strikes and I even understand fucking up the putos that the gavachos used to crack down on us but he was a vendido himself. He formed wet lines at the border to keep them from coming in. Thing is, we can classify it all as a Chicano thing but there was paisas working in those fields too. Braceros? That's a word for paisas that came up here so for Cesar Chavez...or the vatos now that hate on Paisas to take pride in being affiliated with UFW while admiring a man that was a hypocrite...chale fuck him."

"You can't hate on the UFW bird, fool..." Stated Scar with a growl. "Pinche blasphemer!"

They began to walk back to 24th. Just then, as they did, they spotted El Cicatriz's cousin, who was also a Rifa from East Ohlone. He was from the 51st street neighborhood. On his stomach he had 5150 tatted on him. It was because his house was right between 50th street and 51st and because 5150 was San Andrean code for suicidal crazy people. His street placa was Filo Loco.

He had light skin that was more yellow than brown, hazel eyes, a shaved head and a brown goatee and mustache. He had a muscular yet narrow frame and wore a 69ers jacket over a bright teal t shirt and he had a San Fierro Packers hat on backwards. "Oh shit, there he is! What up, perro? Heard you was back in town, Yeska."

He had been friends with Javier for years as well. They slapped hands and exchanged a quick hug. Filo was about Yeska's age and he had done some time in prison before for auto theft. and later felony evasion. "Nada, man. What you up to these days?"

He sighed. "Man...i had to start getting back in the coca game, wey. I didn't want to man, cause it's risky but my girl's about to be a mama. I int no dead beat. And we make hella scrill off this shit..." He pulled a wad of cash from his sock. "Look at this deniro, brother. When I can make 2 g's in a day why the fuck would I ever want a job?"

Scar told him, "Put the grip away, man you don't wanna draw attention to yourself, bro. No offense but that's kinda the problem with you Ohlone fuckers, man. We may be primos but I'm gonna be real with you on this. You guys are too flashy that's why you keep getting locked up."

"Who says we're flashy? Maybe yo're just jealous cause our city's more hood, bitch. Aint our fault San Fierro's low key."

Just then, as the four crossed on 24th and Garcia they noticed a pearl white Hermes tailing them. "Shit, man. V holes are scoping us out..." Stated Scar. "This aint good."

"Fuck them!" Stated Filo loudly. "Scrapas aint shit! They aint gonna follow us into our hood when we got like 2o compas on the block that'll fuck them up. V Ho's and Ass Tossers, they're afraid to push a line. Primo I may give you shit about whose hood's badder but I know they aint about to come through. Scraps got no honor like us. They don't fight fair. They damn sure don't fight when they're the ones outnumbered.

He threw up the hand sign for 51. "Fuck you wanna do, chavala?!" He bellowed. One of the Vagos, the driver stated, "Hey homie, isn't that Fernando's old boy from High School, bro?"

"Yeah, carnal you didn't know he was a chapete? He's with the Reef-tards now, homes..." Stated a Vago wearing a white wife beater and black khakis with a black fedora and a yellow bandanna under it. "What's up, motherfucker?!" Demanded Scar pulling out a Beretta from his shirt tail while Filo Loco reached for his .380.

They pulled away. "Homie, I think that motherfucker set the homeboy up..." Stated a Vago wearing a light blue button up checkered shirt with a gold bananna and a black cap on backwards a handle bar mustache filling out his beige skin hue.

Three Rifas walked up flashing gang signs as well some throwing up 24th while others threw up R's. A Rifa wearing a bright red flannel jacket with black tiles and gray khakis with a bright aqua colored bandanna tossed his mostly empty 40 at the car which exploded. "FUCKER! I ever see your ass around here again i'll cut your rata eyes out and fuck your bitch in front of you, punk! 24th Street Rifamos!"

The Rifas laughed at that. A female Rifa who was half Chinese and half Mexican with mostly Mexican features as far as her body and skin tone and her lips but unlike her curly haired father she ad her Asian mother's eyes and straight hair. He recognized her and her little sister. She was named Yasenia Garza but on the streets she was known as Lil Loca. Her sister, who looked plenty Mexican as well but looked slightly more Asian with a 60/40 scale, was known as La Chinita. They were both drop dead gorgegous. La Chinita's real name was Sarah. Her hair was curly.

"Since when did you get back, Yeska? Como esta?" Asked Lil Loca hugging him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. He also hugged La Chinita.

As they all talked, none of them noticed the Hermes pulling out of an alley having turned down it just up the block. The Vago who had been in the fedora leaned out the window with a Mac-11 and let the rounds pop. He struck a Rifa youngster of about twenty with twelve rounds, six hitting him in the right ribcage. The next six hit him in the right leg until the final round went into his right foot. The Vago who had worn the gold bandanna fired two 9mm's and four rounds hit Lil Loca in the back. This particular gangster was a lousy shot so even as he fired four more from each gun, only one more hit her and she fell over coughing blood as Yeska caught her in his arms.

The third shooter had been wearing a Venturas Pirates cap and a black and gold button up and black jeans. He fired an AK-47 out of the window. He struck three people but one was a civilian. The other, was a cholo in his early 30's whom he hit with a round in the left eyelid and another was hit with 4 rounds in the right leg. He fired the remaining mag at various Rifas but they scattered as rounds hit the cars parked on the street. The cholo ducked back inside and reloaded but the handguns were still fired and the SMG was still hitting people. Yeska saw El Cazo and El Hueso fall with gunshot wounds, though they were not fatal.

"Hang on, esa...i got you..." Yeska said trying to keep her calm. She tried to talk but coughed up blood instead on his face. La Chinita was screaming and crying. "Give her to me!" She begged. He did as she asked but he didn't know what good it would do. She was hit in the right lung from the back another round had gone through her back and ruptured her stomach. There was nothing he could do for her medically. Wino fired a 9mm at the car. "Pinche rata cabrones!" Screamed the overweight cholo. La Chinita was still crying over her deceased sister. "Get her outta the street!" Screamed Javier to his homies.

Wino hopped into a dark red Glendale. "I'm going after those rata motherfuckers! Anybody that's rolling with hop in now or you can stay behind!" Filo handed Javier a 13 round Browning. "You see now homie? We gotta always fuck up these maricones! They'll never stop trying to move on our hoods if we don't."

Eduardo decided he would be going with too. He had a 12 gauge shotgun. Wino floored it. "They fucked up, homes! They're all going down, fool!" Yeska noticed some blood on Filo's shirt. "Hey you're bleeding, dog..." Stated the ex soldier. "This aint shit homie, don't worry about it. V Hole ratas can't aim for shit."

"Yeah? Lil Loca might disagree with that if she could. This is all your fuckin faults every one of you. Especially Hueso and Caza, ma. You just had to be hard didn't you!"

"Carnal, you gotta understand something about this game cause you bee away for a long time. It doesn't matter if you're in the pinta or out here. If you're out here and you don't want to live the life the enemigos won't care,. And if you're inside the carnales would kill you for not having heart against the sewer way, the only thing to do is have corazon or die!"

"Great! Sounds like a hell of a choice! Either die from my own homeboys or die from the enemy. It reminds me of Stalingrad where if Red Army boys didn't kil Germans fast enough their own commanding officers shot them. If I wanted to stay in a war zone, I'd have stayed in Iraq!"

"Fuck that!" Eduardo said. "If you wanted to live in a peaceful place you wouldn't have come back. It's not our fault they brought a crowbar to a gunfight!"

"It doesn't matter! You can sit there and say this and that but you put my ass at risk by killing him. I didn't do what you fools did! I got a jefita and a sister to look after! If I wanted shit the other way I'd be at Eagle Bay with Rafi's dumb ass!"

"Hey wath what you say, man that's your hermano. And he's an important man now. I'll let that slide this once..." Wino said. Fuck you, homes! He was my brother before he was with NS! I can call him whatever I want, fool!"

"This can't be all the cuetes we got to go after these putos!" Yelled Eduardo. "Those motherfuckers got AK's and Mac's and all we got to ride on them is pistolas and shotty's?"

"Hey it's better than being naked, player!" Stated Filo. "Normally, I'd say we should wait some time before we hit them up but they're desperate to get home and this aint my hood so it's all good whatefver you wanna do, fellas."

They pulled up to the rival hood and they sure enough saw Vagos completely alert and ready for them. They fired upon the car and Wino ducked down as he parked it before hustling out the car door firing back. Two rounds hit the windshield and Javier fired striking the man who fired at him in the right elbow. "We can't get to those punks in the Hermes till we smash these fools!" Yelled Filo as he firedfour shots. The man Yeska hit kept firing but he grunted and cried out in pain as the round hit him. He struck him again, this time, four times in the chest up to the collar bone. The Vago had a yellow and white plaid shirt on and a light blue bandanna and baggy blue jeans. He bled out on the pavement and he fired at the next Vago a bald muscular guy with shades, a white wife beater and black khakis and hit him twice in the stomach before he needed to duck down.

"You're back in this shit now, carnal!" Cried Wino as he fired blindly from cover wounding a chola from the other sid with two shots in the left tigh but missed a Vago with five other shots. "No turning back!" Javier took hold of his pistol with both hands making his way to the other side of the dark green Voodoo he ducked behind and he yelled back, "I love how you say that shit like I ever had a choice to start with! You hot headed pendejos took away any choice had!"

"Just shut up and quit bitching, homeboy! You really value some fools you partied with in school over your own ass?!"

"When you put it like that, hell no!" Stated Yeska as he fired striking a female gang member twice in the chest once in her left breast which he had to admit was nice and big and firm and once in her heart.

"You tried the wrong varrio, motherfuckers! Barrio Veinticuatro por vida!" Screamed Eduardo. "Fucl you Dirty Whores!" Yelled a Vago back as he fired two Berettas. "And fuck that Ohlone punk you got with you! Go back to Ohlone bitch! This is a real varrio. Garcia's got history! Go back to sucking off tintos on the East Side!"

"Fuck you! I'd rather be cool with the brothas than some bald headed Aryan bitch! You're the gringos bitch!" Shouted Filo.

"The difference is, the AV knows we'll cut them if they ever tried to date our hynas. But you putos all got mayates dating your sisters! We know you slap duds with those changos everytime you decide to 'share' a woman! That's why Vagas are sexier than Rifas they don't got aids!"

"Fuck you! Vagas are a bunch of fat skonkas with thin eyebrows that dress like vatos! At least Rifa ladies are feminine!" Yelled Wino as he tried to take out what he suspected was a 16th street OG.

He almost wanted to laugh at his homies and the shit talking with the enemies. He didn't consider the blacks or the white boys his master. In a way, the CO's in the Army had been a sort of master but that was the military not the gan and he'd had Chicano white and black C.O's as well as women. He knew that the stereotypes both sides were lobbing at each other were not as simple as each side said. It was true the south siders had a point that while they had a drug alliance with the white prison gang it wasn't like they partied together on the streets. And with the Rifas and the BGA it wasn't so much that Nuestra Syndicato and the Black Guerilla Army partied together on the streets so much as individual Rifa neighbotrhoods had close proximity to black street gangs.

He'd also seen Rifas that in terms of dressing somewhat like homeboys but sexier, he'd seen that with his own neighborhood the same as with Vagos and by the same token, 24th street was a varrio with deep history in a major city in upstate San Andreas just as much as Los Santos barrios had history. Perhaps the Garcia District was less of a Northern hood or city compared to other farm towns in central and northern San Andreas that had been farm towns in the 60's that had grown in population but they certainly felt more like a Northern Raza city than Ohlone. It wasn't that he had anything against the compas from the East Side of the city across the bridge. He just knew that the city had more blacks than Rifas and the Rifa neighborhoods, at least som of them, didn't go back as further in history as some of the local independent black gangs.

With Garcia, technically, the war with south siders, with regards to NS soldados who were from their neighborhood, had been a home base for Rifas in the shoe war since the 70's.

"Bitchteen jotos!" Growled Eduardo as he fired striking down another Vago taking the man's face off with a headshot. Even as much as he didn't want to be there, he spotted the car that was responsible for shooting Lil Loca. She had practically died in his arms maybe just moments after letting her go and that didn't sit right with him. It was true he had homies from the Vagos hood but with each second, he knew the liklihood that he would ever be able to see them without trying to kill each other was less and less. Even though he had friends or at least had once had friends from the other side, the fact was, Lil Loca and her sister grew up in his neighborhood and he had seen them more.

He had dated her and they had even fucked a few times. It wasn't quite love but it was more than like. He never knew what the word was for halfway between like and love but they had felt it and while years had gone by, he thought for a moment they might rekindle it. He was more pissed at the Vagos for denying him that. Yes, the homeboys had been wrong to do what they had to Fernando. But then, the Vagos had taken it out on innocents too. And they had done it worse. The Rifas hhad been wrong both times. For killing Fernando and for pissing on his vigil. But now, the Vagos were doing wrong and the line was blurred and if nothing else, at least his comaradas were here getting revenge with him.

"This is for Lil Loca!" Screamed Javier as he fired striking three more gang members but he wasn't sure if he killed any of them and saw at least one crawling on the ground. "I need vallas!" He shouted. Filo tossed him a mag. "I got you, bro!"

A Vago wearing a gold necklace and a black wife beater and beige khakis with a tattoo of a crucified Jesus on his right arm, fired a .45 trying to hit Javier. "Chingate, Yeska!"

(Fuck you, Yeska!)

The Vago let off four rounds and he ducked barely missing being shot in the head but the right side mirror on the car was shattered and a piece of glass did nick his left eyelid. "We know where your jefita and hermana stay, bitch! Maybe after I finish with you, me and the homeboys will go bust a train on those bitches! You know I like under age pussy! And older pussy..."

Yeska fired angrily hitting him in the right arm with two shots. He was going to try and finish the gangster off but he was now under fire from the gangster with the AK and his friend with the Mac. Yeska's homies were trying to advance up the street but the Vagos had blocked off the road not only with trash cans but also a barricade with a black Voodoo and a gold Stallion. They could hear sirens. "Fuck, this shit is a wash, muchachos! Let's get outta here!" Yeska cried.

"What are you a fuckin pussy, eh? I gave you that cuete, man! Use that shit!"

"We aint fighting the fuckin juras, asshole let's go!" Javier growled. Eduardo fired one last shot wounding a female behind the black Voodoo before yelling, "He's right, we gotta get outta here, primo!"

They went running back to the car but much to his distress, the rounds from the Mac-11 and the AK-47 hit the tires. "FUCK!" Cried out Wino. He took several rounds in the back falling over. Javier pulled him to cover on the other side of the car that the Vagos were now shooting up. "Carnal, you all right?"

"I'm good, bro. Got a vest on...if you're gonna be back in the hood, you're probably gonna need one too, man. But for now let's get the fuck outta this sewer!"

Eduardo had reloaded twice but now he had only two shells left. "Hey, the three of you make a run for it. I'm gonna follow I'll buy you some time. We gotta get the fuck outta here."

"That's not a good idea, brother! They got us jammed up!" Eduardo didn't care. "I aint asking, fool! Get running! I want to pop two more of these bitches before it's time to go home!" Javier was gravely afraid his friend was going to get shot but the other two Rifas said, "We better do it. If the Vagos don't get us the cops will if we don't haul ass..." Stated Filo. They finally ran with the three firing over their shoulders running down the street and Eduardo fired a shot wounding one Vago before firing and hitting another though the second he wounded more with the glass from a nearby cherry red Washington than the shells as he had went from buckshot to shells. He took a round in the back that exited his right shoulder but he kept running carrying the heavy Shotgun despite his injury. As he looked like he might fall, Yeska wasted no time firing six shots to keep four pursuing Vagos from advancing.

They ducked to cover but only for a few seconds. They hauled ass down the street exchanging gunshots as they ran up the block. They saw two police cars coming from the south as they went up 19th street. The 16th street Vagos scattered to avoid the cops. "This way, homie! Follow me!" Barked Wino pulling on Yeska's shirt as he helped the wounded homeboy run. "I know a short cut! You too, Ohlone bitch!" He said with a smirk not missing a chance to rib the 51st street gangstter about his hood.

They made it down 20th. "This shit isn't right!" Screamed Javier. "How the fuck is it that we stay on 24th and these fools stay on 16th and 19th but the dividing line is 22nd street?! They get 19th, 20th and 21st, and we only get 23rd and 24th between our hood and theirs?!" Eduardo chuckled despite winccing in agony. "You tell me. You're the ones butt buddies with them."

"Fuck you. Don't act like you never partied with them before we got caught up in this color war!" They headed down the street and came off the street on 20th. "We're almost home! Keep going!" Yeska said. "I'm trying!" Panted Wino, the overweight gangster huffing and puffing. "We all aint in military shape!" Just then, they looked and saw a dark blue Tornado rolling up the block. Wino had a backup pistol on him. It was a .25, "The fuck is this pussy shit?!" Demanded Eduardo as he handed it to him. "It's like a .380, homes! Just smaller with smaller bullets but it's the same shape. Beggars can't be choosers!"

The Tornado rolled on them and started firing. 19th Street...Javier realized. He fired back as they had to duck behind a gray moonbeam before taking a side alley past an Aztec mural. They ran trying to lose the Vagos car. "Man these punks are tripping!" Screamed Filo. "Of course they are!" Wino cried sweating. "¿Cuatro nortenos en su capucha, acaban de llegar de la calle 16? ¿Por qué no tratarían de atraparnos?"

(Four northsiders in their hood, just came from 16th street? Why wouldn't they try and get us?)

They made their way up the street. The only reason the Tornado didn't come down the alley was it was too narrow but they had maybe fifteen seconds to catch their breath. They ran towards 21st and the Vago car fired after them. They all returned fire including the wounded Eduardo as they took off through the streets. Civilians ducked and ran screaming. The sound of sirens still filled the air. A shot hit Javier in the left shoulder grazing him and another hit him in the lower left arm and one more grazed his wrist. "SHIT!" He still returned fire with both hands Eduardo, Filo and Wino fired at the car as well but the two Vagos ducked down even as the passenger ducked and was blindly firing. He even took a round in the right arm from both Eduardo and from Wino as a round grazed his right and left knee and narrowly missed the driver's right leg.

Javier had panicked when firing back and had not counted his shots and he cursed himself. He was empty. To his horror, so was everybody else. They were on 22nd and still needed to get to at least 23rd to be safe. The Rifas were out of rounds while the Vagos still had ammo. The Vago shooting at them, a Vago with a black beanie, a white, yellow and blue plaid shirt and a sneer, aimed his Glock out the window firing at them. Yeska and Eduardo ducked behind a gray Admiral while Wino and Filo ducked behind a white Bobcat. The Admiral was further north and so further from home. The car rolled by slowly with the driver and the passener firing trying to blast Wino and Filo from cover. Javier had a quick idea. "Gimme the shotgun...it's our only hope..."

"I'm outta shells, Yeska!" Javier insisted, "Créeme, carnal!" He handed him the shotgun and just as the passenger was going to try and send a volley of rounds at Wino which would have killed him, he came running out and smacked the passenger in the face with the butt of the shotgun. He managed to knock him out, cracking his skull open and busting his nose and he dropped the pistol into the street which Javier tried to grab but felt his heart sink as it was crushed by the tires as it ran over it. The driver hit the brakes and fired his VP70 out the window at Yeska forcing him to retreat around the side of the car and the gangster tried shooting everywhere twisting his arm to try and hit him and drive at the same time.

Javier threw the shotgun at the man's face before he could shoot Javier. The shotgun did beam him and the driver's nose bled like his unconscious friend but he managed to catch the empty shotgun and toss it aside and he also ran to the left side of the street. "GO! This bitch can't chase all of us!" Javier yelled and his homies reluctantly did as he asked. "I'll see you on 23rd!" They ran across the street taking the right side of the street and the angry Vago took off choosing to focus on Yeska.

He reloaded as he drove up the street. "Chapete pedazo de mierda!" Screamed the Vago, a lean Chicano man with golden brown skin, slicked back hair in a hairnet, a dark blue bandanna around his neck, a white t shirt and blue khakis for pants, he sent seven rounds at Javier. A white male wearing a pink polo shirt and gray cargo pants with thinning blonde hair, blue eyes and sun burned skin and sunscreen on his nose, took two out of the seven rounds. He cried out in pain as one round hit him in the right shoulder and one in the stomach. Javier didn't have time to see if he was okay.

The cholo took his knocked out friend's gun and fired both out of the window. A round hit Javier in the ass and he cried out. He almost fell on his ass but he caught himself with both hands. He ran staying low but limped as he made his way towards 23rd. "You know what they say about hunting farmeros, right? A buster in the hand is worth three in the barn!" If Javier wasn't running for his life, he would have taken the time to laugh at the rival gangster's take on the bird in the hand worth two in the bush saying.

He threw his empty pistol hoping to beam him in the face again but the Vago moved his head and the handgun hit his unconscious friend's left shoulder and then landed on the floor between his legs. He ran as hard as he possibly could to 23rd. He felt his legs give out and he fell. His heart was going seemingly a thousand beats a minute and he was caught in the open. He crawled on the ground and he saw Eduardo, Wino and Filo had made it. They were about fifty yards ahead of him and they tried running to elp him but the car was closer. The Vago leaned out the window and was about to pull the trigger on both guns aiming at the fallen Javier.

Just then, several gunshots hit the hood of his car. Javier looked up to see two 24th street gang members firing at the car. One wore a dark red plaid btton up over a white wife beater and only the top button buttoned and he wore a fedora with a teal bandanna under it. The other vato wore a black wife beater, baggy black jeans and a cherry red bandanna tied cholo style around the forehead. They both fired at the car with three rounds hitting the Tornado's windshield, one shooting his head lights out and another shooting out his driver side mirror. The Vago returned a shot from each gun as he busted a U turn but he took off down the street speeding back to Vagos territory. The Rifas fired at the back of the car shooting up the back windshield and one round did in fact hit the Vago in the right shoulder wounding him and blood got on the windshield but as much as Javier hoped he would crash, he only swerved before getting control again and high tailed it out of there to get back to 19th street.

"Yeska..." Statted Wino with a grin. "You're one bad ass vato loco, man!"

"If that's true...why was I shot in the ass, culero?" The three helped him to his feet and thanked the two homeboys that had assisted them. "We're gonna get that slug outta you. Don't trip..." Stated Wino.

He did as he asked. The next thing he knew, he was having the slug dug out by an attractive light brown skinned Chicana with somewhat of a pointy nose but a pretty smile. "You know...this sn't how I imagined my home coming..."

"Come from one war to the next right?"

"Yeah...something like that. Except I didn't know what I was fighting for over there. And I really don't know what I'm fighting for here either que no? I mean I know but I don't know you know?"

She showed him that she had a Beretta on the table for protection. "Survival. That's good enough reason for me..."

"Maybe...but is that all it's about? It's like we kill each other over petty shit que no? A pair of shoes. I mean...mayates...we make fun of them right...both north and south for icing each other over shoes but fuck we're really the ones that started a war over that shit. So it's kind of worse. They'll use it as an excuse to smoke somebody they already got beef with while us? Tht's the reason we're at war."

"Yeah...and the scrapas in the south...the real scrapas that is...they're warring with them now cause a Chapine got tagged in the face."

"Hey, I'm no Kanpolero, but that shit with the LS riots was fucked up. What happened to that man...and just the way the chotas are in general. i can sympathize with it all...shit...!" He winced.

She chuckled at his pain. "Oh what my suffering amuses you? Cabrona..."

"I didn't say just got a nice butt..." He blushed a bit but before he could ponder that she said, "You know it's funny. All the rappers or just bangers and killers, pimps and pushers say they're gonna put a cap in somebody's ass but usually, they shoot in the cabeza, piernas, armas, panza, whatever. But you actually did get a cap in the ass. So dispensa homie but it is a little bit funny. Maybe you should rap."

"I'm no Frost..." He said lighting a cigarette. "Where you from anyway? Can't be from 24th."

"I'm from 26th. They're trying to gentrify the varrio though."

"Yeah, I hear that. Shit is changing with the y2K coming up in a few years. Chingada!" She pulled out the second slug.

She dressed his wound and he got dressed. He put on a pair of black suspenders over a white wife beater, and a fedora. "I know this is a weird time to be asking but hey...you've already seen me with my pant down. You want to go out some time?"

She chuckled. "Usted no es sutil. Por supuesto. Por qué no? Aquí está mi número. They call me Shady by the way.

(You ain't subtle. Sure. Why not? Here's my number.)

2 Weeks Later

Javier had been asked to come along on a dope deal with Filo Loco in his own hometown of Ohlone. He was not sure about it however and he was dealing with a local crew. "I really aint sure about this shit, homie. I'm still healing up my 't get me wrong. You vatos were down I just don't know the east bay like you do."

"Yeah and I don't know the west bay like that, homie but you're my guest, dog. I'm here to make sure you stay safe and we get paid, pimp. I swear though, West Bay dudes always act all scary coming out here and I don't get it. I get it if it was some gavas but you're Northern Raza. You more afraid of Eastside Ohlone than the desert?"

"So who are these fools we're dealing with anyway?"

"Some cats from the Pinecone 'Jects. Now that's a real hood you don't wanna fuck around in. Don't get me wrong it's some fine ass big booty freaks there's a lot of killas, fiends and pimps. Cut throat motherfuckers. My neighborhood and theirs we fuck with each other to get money time to time."

They were meeting with some gangsters from a neighborhood called the Killa Dubs. "Isn't it a little out of your way, homes?" Asked Javier. "How's that?" Asked Filo. "You're from 51'st street and you're doing a jale with people from the 20's."

"Hey I just go where there's opportunity. It doesn't matter what hood. Besides, the fact that we live kind of out of the way from each other's good. Pigs wouldn't be so quick to assume we're doing business with them."

Two blacks approached them. The first was a darker skinned African American with glasses and a gray beret on yet he had a silver Pounders jersey and baggy blue jeans on. He also had a lot of stubble. He was overweight and only stood 5'8. He had gold teeth in his mouth. "What it do, pimp? Who's your boy?" He asked slapping hands with Filo. "That's the homie Yeska from Garcia."

"Yeska...so he about that bud life huh?" He then paused shaking hands with Javier. "Hold up but I thought mota meant weed though?"

"It both means the same shit..." Explained Javier. "Kinda like you say bud or dro or whatever. At least we aint saying Paka lolo."

"Awww shit...yeah like them Samoan niggas..." Said the fat black hustler. "Well look they call me Head Pike. Cause any niggas that fuck with me will have their heads on a pike. Don't nobody fuck with a Bay nigga's scrilla. Even another Bay nigga! Anyway, this motherfucker right here..." He said beckoning to his thinner lighter skinned friend who had an Afro and wore a black windbreaker a white shirt and gray jeans shorts, "That's PAW."

"Paw?" Javier asked with confusion. "That's Prince Ali of the West. Most around here call him Prince or just West or Ali. But being an egotistical motherfucker and all, this fool likes to be called Prince Ali Of The West."

"Prince Ali, huh? So I take it you read 1001 nights?" Asked Javier, a well read military man and a fan of classics such as Art Of War, Moby Dick, and the aforementioned book from which Ali took his name. "Nah, I aint heard of that. I just seen a movie...I forget what it's called...I thin...Saladin...? It's about this Arab cat in Iraq or some shit and he's poor. He ends up going to this cave to get a lamp. He ends up getting a genie and shit and there's this bad bitch h's trying to get with but they don't like that shit cause he's poor. And this other player hater with a parrot wants that lamp that's who sent him after it. Anyway, he becomes a prince named Ali. And how I'm not gonna aspire to that shit? He went from rags to riches. Aint that what we all trying to do?"

"I don't know about all that, homie..." Stated Filo. "It aint even about getting rich. My girl's about to be a mama, man and we need income. Simple as yeah I been grinding but I don't want them to want for nothing. And since she's done with the hood life now...I gots to grind for two."

"I feel it man..." Stated Paw. "So what we waiting on, dog?" Pike said, "The motherfucking plug, nigga. You know that. This kinda snow don't fall out the sky."

"So what is this anyway?" Asked Yeska. "I mean how much is all this even gonna cost?"

"Don't even worry, homes..." Assured Filo. "Me and them two...we put up on this. We got a sweet arrangement. This cat been coming to these streets since like the 80's. He started off in LS though and he honestly preferred it that way but hey I mean...Ohlone was the first city to make rocks you know? So why the fuck shouldn't we get in on this?"

"All right this is sounding sketchy, bro. What's the deal here?"

"Look, I'm just trying to help you out! Get you back on your feet, earn some bread. I know how expensive a place of your own is in Fierro. Shit is second only maybe to Liberty City."

"Aight I'll be real with you..." Stated Paw. "We got a deal with this motherfucker...don't really know who he works for. I don't think he five oh cause he broke enough laws to get his ass the needle but...he's something...anyway the deal we got with him is the same deal he made with his LS connects back in the 80's. We take ten bricks a week. In this case though, we was hurting for paper and so was Filo so we put our resources together. The whole hood and his whole hood. Making big moves. So we bought enough to buy 20 keys a week."

"How fuckin much?! For all of it? We talking 14 g's a key?!" Asked Javier. "Chale homes..." Said Filo his voice a little too quiet for his liking. "Ten g's a key. You lower the prices like that beat out any competition. Make hella bank."

"Shit, this is fuckin crazy! I'm outta here!" He started to leave but Pike said to Filo, "Hey homie I thought you said your boy was cool?"

"He is but he's still a little paranoid you know from the war?" Filo grabbed Javier by the arm. "What the fuck, bro. I thought you were down to do this with me?"

"I am but 20 keys of cocaína is..shit we're talking federal time. Never see parole. We'd be locked down tighter than Rafi for that shit."

"We know the risks but we've done this shit before. Mira, this way I get paid more and you will too. Don't you want that? Your hermana y tu jefita, bro. Think of them. They been struggling all this time..."

"Yeah but they aint gonna want shit bought by drug money."

"Come on, Javi. This is the ghetto. I can't afford to be picky and neither can you. Besides...Wino set this shit up..."

"Serio?" He beckoned to a maroon Glendale pulling up and Wino got out. The overweight Chicano hugged his cousin and then he slapped hands with Javier and did the same with him. "You signed off on this shit?"

"Hell yeah, bro. It's all about the feria. You might not be comfortable in the East Bay but Filo and the Killa Dubs know these streets like the back of their hands."

He asked Filo, "Como esta, primo? You good?" He was asking him if he was good after the shootout with the Vagos. "Ah hell naw! I got up too early.I need a couple more hours o sleep, loco I stayed up last night drinking like a motherfucker, homes!Head spinning... But I guess I gotta handle my business ese..."

This time, a black Willard pulled up and a scrawy lanky Caucasian male with thick curly brown hair and a thick beard wearing a blue sweater under a dark gray jacket and white jeans got out with two duffel bags full of product. Filo handed over his duffel bag full of money and so did Paw.

The 'contact; counted up the money and said, "You ever heard of a bank?"

"What you think would happen if a black man goes up in bank with a bag full of money? Especially ten g's or more?" Asked Paw.

"You're referring to a law that applies to everyone, Andre. Maybe you're going to the wrong bank."

"Maybe you can introduce me to the right bank?"

"Maybe if all goes well you can take a little bit more than ten keys a week?"

"Fo sho but for now let's just see how this goes cause we just upped it to twenty."

"Yeee!" Howled Head Pike and Filo did the same. That was a thing that was done in the Bay Area to express excitement but Javier had always thought it was stupid.

With that, they got their weight and each drove off. Javier saw that in his Glendale, Wino had a hyna from 24th with him. She was flamed up. Javier got back into the car with Filo who had two of his homies from his hood in the car. The first was a soldado of twenty two years with a black soul patch and he wore a bright aqua blue t shirt and he wore a dark red bandanna around his forehead tied bunny ears style. The other was wearing a plain black t, a gold rope chain and baggy blue jeans and he had light brown skin a thin mustache and jet black slicked hair. Filo began to drive them out of there. "You think we can move this shit in a week? That's a tall order, hombre..." Javier stated.

"That's easy money is what it is. We're talking big bank. And even though I'm kicking this shit up the ladder to the big homies from the hood and in the big house, I'm still clocking hella dollars. There was no reason to trip at all. Think about what you're gonna be making that you wouldn't have been if you hadn't come along."

"But I aint like you and your cousin. I don't got soldados on the corner to sling for me and pay me a percentage. I don't got it like that. I'm at the bottom of the barrel."

"Don't sell yourself short, Yeska. Is it true I gotta kick up a quarter of this shit to the barrio and the big homies? Hell yeah that's mando but at the same time, they'd be getting their cut from the little homies rocking that shit up and slinging anyway. I'll kick some on my end too so that the little homies aint the only ones being taxed and so they know I'm with them and I got them but hell I put in on the buy in for this so I deserve the remaining 50%. I mean they're my boys, Head Pike and Paw."

"Yeah but will your big homies be okay with that? You getting 50?" Asked Javier.

"They already knew what it is going into it. I mean it was my ass on the line if shit had gone sideways and it would have been me looking at fed time for distribution. I mean it's a finders fee. It was my idea to get our varrio involved in this shit. Since Wino's running shit for 24th he'll be the one handling the bulk of your cut but sabes que?" He took his hands off the steering wheel as he drove down 42nd street. "As a personal thank you, homie...this is yours too since we aint got this shit sold yet...something to get you straightened out while we wait for pay day."

"Damn, Filo this is like $800, man... gracias " He said as he counted it. "Hey don't mention it. You can thank me later, playa. Especially by doing this with me again. The way this shit sells? Your grandkids could do this kinda shit and be set for life!"

"Don't be saying that and besides you're about to be a papa too, cabron! You don't want to pass this on to your hijos."

"Yeah you're right my bad it was just a figure of speech. But for real though, there's a lot of smokers in O-Town. And why wouldn't there be? We started the rock grinding business we put that shit up on the map! LS might have been second in the game but I'm saying we showed them what's up. We can have the barrio on lock. And shit...if I get to be made into a carnal myself we could do this shit and have the homies get rich like that in every barrio in Ohlone."

"Yeah, maybe..." Yeska stated. "Shit, if business is that good, why not just do this in every hood in the city? Take out the competition, corner the market."

The song Thin Line by Kid Frost featuring Boo Ya Tribe & DeNatria Champ played on Radio Los Santos as they drove.

"Yeah but I'm cool with the brothers from the Killa Dubs don't don't go repeating that. We aint looking to muscle in on their turf and they don't with us."

"You sure sound sure they can be trusted. Just cause they're from out here?"

"Hell, what you don't trust motherfuckers from Dillimore, homie?"

"I only trust about half of my own hood to tell you the truth..." Stated Javier. "Used to just be Garcia love all the way for me but the way things have been lately, I'm not so sure now. It's different when you're a kid, man. Hella different. And yeah most of the city is nothing like Dillimore or Garcia or Doherty. Most of it is a bunch of rich ass hipsters. But even if we don't want to be like them, don't we still want the same success as them?"

The repeating pop of automatic fire startled Javier and he froze a moment his heart beating as it took him back. He saw the mustard gas in the air...he felt the heat of the masks they'd had to wear. He could smell the burning oil that went on for days. He could see the birds dropping dead out of the sky from the fumes. He saw kids with one leg. "Shit..."

"Javier, get the cuete, bro!" Screamed Filo. "The Paisa Hermanos are hitting us!"

"Mirate! Danos el producto que pinche pochos! ¡O los mataremos a todos!" Screamed a gang member who was firing an AK-47 as he leaned out of an Emperor and he fired striking one of Filo's homies from 51st street in the side of the face blowing off the right half of his face. "FUCK!" Screamed Filo as he returned fire with his 9mm which was all he had in his reach at the moment. His homie had been killed instantly.

Meanwhile, just two blocks away, the Killa Dubs had been T Boned by some of the Paisano Hermanos as well. The passenger window shattered in the gray Tornado of Head Pike and Paw. The glass cut Paw's arm while Pike was more injured as the car crashed and he had his head split open. The PH members fired on their car and hit their two soldiers they had as backup, the first a black male with freckles and dreadlocks that were lighter brown almost londe in color wearing a Magnetics T shirt green and white and baggy blue jeans. He took six rounds in the right side of the the chest. The other, a much darker skinned black male, had jherri curls under a white baseball cap and a white parka over a gray t shirt and he took three rounds in his left arm going straight t the artery. He died almost instantly.

The two East Ohlone gangsters who remained got out of the car firing, Pike with his Beretta and Prince Ali with his Glock 19 returnin fire at a black SUV a Cavalcade that rained fire on them. Pike managed to hit the driver with two shots in the left side of the neck and the vehicle swerved letting out a loud screech before crashing into a children crossing sign. Paw ran to the side of the vehicle despie his injuries and relied on the shock and whiplash of the crash to deal with the remaining three shooters. He fired ten rounds into the car the first striking the passenger in the front seat with three rounds in the left side of the face. The gangster had on a bright red checkered t shirt and a green bandanna on the lower part of his face and a red one on the upper part. "These dudes Rifas too...?" Asked Head Pike in a dizzy voice. "Nah, homie. It's them PH bitches the homies from 51st be warning us about."

Pike fired his pistol emptying the magazine with one hand turned sideways not to look cool but because the blow to his head threw him off. With the four gang members dead, he allowed himself to collapse. "Shit! Yo hold up nigga! I got you!" Prince Ali said. Just then, he heard the crack of gunshots up the street and he even saw the muzzle flashes. He saw Wino firing and dropping two PH members as had his homegirl but his friend from 24th street ended up taking eight rounds in the stomach. Wino was wounded and on the ground, however.

Paw dragged his friend as best as he could towards the Chicano gang member. "Hey, man! Is your whip working?" The cholo chook his head. "Fuck no! They broke my leg too... and they clipped my carnalala, Paula! i don't want to leave her like this dead in the street but I can't walk..."

"I aint tryna leave my boys like that neither man but by rides fucked up. Look...I'll help yo ass in their ride..." He said beckoning to an SUV driven by the deceased PH members. "But my homies coming with. And I need to use that cell phone you had if it's still working."

He helped his homie into the ride and then helped Wino in. "And uh...one more string attached, dog. After what just happened here...? i'm gonna have to set your ride on fire...and mine..."

"Shit..." Wino said, distraught. "That's my baby, man! Fuck it though...i can't enjoy mi carro behind bars now can I? You're just gonna have to take me to a hospital in the next county or something, man cause I can't think of a good enough excuse to tell la jura why I got a broken leg, homes. They know we're not coming back from a ski lodge..."

Meanwhile, Yeska and Filo made their way from the car but still used it as cover as the PH members fired on them. Javier managed to hit one, a Mexican male of about 5'6 who was built like a Soccer hit him with three rounds in the left side and followed up with a fourth into his lung. He fell over bleeding and Filo fired seven rounds just to hit one of them as he blindly fired but he did strike the driver with one round. "These fuckin scandulous ass chuntis, bro...we gotta defend the varrio from the man, they're trying to take over! If it was't bad enough we got scrapas on 57th and we damn near ran them out now these fuckers..."

"Jesus...this was supposed to be a done deal, Filo...easy money, cabron. I gotta go home to my jefita and sister...it was hard enough just explaining why I was there in the area when Fernando got hit by the fools in my neighborhood. Now this shit?"

"Man fuck that Va Ho punk, man. It's ancient history that shit don't matter now. It's done. The V Hole Ratas will have to find some other homie of theirs to cry about when another flamed up loco serves their punk asses. And you know there's no reward if there's no risk, man! You need this shit, playa! We all do. Everybody needs a challenge."

"Yeah when I think challenges it's learning to play hockey or fuckin going for a hike in the mountains. Not getting shot at..." They drove off and soon Filo got a call from Paw telling him what had happened. At least, however, they had all managed to repel the attack and get away with the dope. Now they were headed across the Gant Bridge. "Look, when those fools started shooting, I saw you freeze up for a second. You kicked into gear when you had to but that's trauma. I had an uncle in Nam and he killed hella commies but you don't gotta kill somebody to get trauma. You need to sue the fuckin military. Serio."

"Even if I could, I doubt I would win carnal..." Javier said with a sigh.

---

Okay that's it for this chapter not long but not short either. Happy medium. So Javier has PTSD. And he froze up momentarily. With the Paisa Hermanos hitting them up, that's a bad time to freeze. I know I have used that rinse and report style of mission shooting with a drug deal and then rival gang comes in to jack all parties and makes off with either the money the drugs or both. Tis time, I had them successfully repel the attack without losing their drugs but not without injuries and casualties. So Javier AKA Yeska is not having an easy time of being back home as he's been in more than one shootout.

The Paisa Hermanos as in other stories, are based on the Border Brothers who in oakland are the biggest rivals of Nortenos. The 51st street Rifas are obviously based on the 51st street set of Nortenos and Killa Dubs is obviously Murder Dubs but fear not as much of Javier's story will be in Ohlone as much as San Fierro (Plus other cities based on Northern Cali cities such as Modesto and Salinas down the line) they will not be the only local gang that will be featured there.

As for Imala and her fight with Sheila I did plan on having her and her friends infiltrate a biker bar but I didn't want that to happen this chapter. Next chapter is when that will happen and this time I will feature all six protagonists in the same chapter it was just hard to do so before and some chapters will be all six some will just be two at a time some will be four. Don't worry I won't fuck you ever the way the walking dead does weekly with focusing on one or two characters when it's supposed to be ensemble I won't do that every time. You can call me a hater but I actually want the original walking dead story to end. I know these idiots plan to make it go on and on doesn't mean they should. I actually am starting to hate the walking dead for a number of reasons. It's already boring to just only have the show be about surviving and tehy long since stopped trying to figure what caused walkers.i also hate how they present this logic that you have to be strong to survive and if you're soft you die. But Eugene, however smart he is is still alive. So it's not even logically consistent.

I can't think of an actress who should represent Sheila but honestly she's somewhat based on Shannon of Rose Cassidy from Fallout New Vegas. Namely their appearance and age but also i can't ppicture any actress that resembles her except Emma Stone and be honest can you see her throwing down?

The Huns MC are based on the Mongols MC much like the Great Khans of New Vegas. Do you think the Huns were in on the robbery alone or was it a mixed crew with other organizations?

Raven is actually based on this Alaskan chick I knew her and her sister were both hot and smelled good. Let's just saythey left a good enough impression that idon't mind frm now and then basing ocs in a story or two off them. Plus the sister of Raven cracked me up so hard when she went off on a woman i knew on facebook and warned me to stay away from said woman saying said woman was a snitch who ratted on her own friends to the police. She just basically made fun of her for being fat and bisexual at the same time and it's just the way she worded things was hillarious. Native women have a way of cussing people out that really is funny unless you're on the recieving end. I have another friend who when she was a teen made adults cry from her insults. That's also something Imala Blackfox has a trait for too as you saw with what she said to Sheila to egg her on.

She's going to be one of my more witty and mouthy characters without a doubt.

Haven't decided in Jose or Waha for visual basis either.

Filo Loco is visually inspired by the late rapper Polo Loko from Dark Room Familia. What Zilla said about how I was portraying Rifas and then what I told hom mot Norteos are like now I mean yeah that's true and today you'd probably find nobody from Oakland or Frisco outside of OG's that were like Javier and his friends but this as '96 all though at the same time, with showing Filo Loco and basing him on a rapper who kinda talks like a mix of Calo and "Hyphy" slang, it would illustrate sort of the start of that whole change.

Head Pike is visually based on E-40. The white dude that they made he dope deal with he's an IAA contact and he's visually based on Teddy from Snowfall the show set in South Central which was written by John Singleton and is on FX which by September 4 will be sharing a lineup with Mayans MC. The second season is now out on that. I don't know how those of you who haven't seen it can get caught up on the first season and the episodes so far but it's worth it.

Prince Ali Of The West or PAW is visually based on Mac Dre. Am I fan of the music of either one? No. But they're both from Oakland. So is Too Short and he'll be in this later i somewhat can tolerate his style more but I don't like that pure Oakland sound. Maybe it's cause Too Short is actually also from LA he was just raised in Oakland so he has a bit of both styles. But E-40...it would be easy to say Hip Hop went to shit when just the southern rappers took over but honestly on the west coast we can blame E-40 for that and he's close culturally to the south and the south if they like the west coast it's usually Oakland they relate to culturally cause thy're gawdy. Anyway E-40 all though I saw him as a clown and thought his voice sounded like a discount Shock G from Digital Underground, some of his music was so bad it's almost enjoyable in a strange way at least it was back when i was more into Hip Hop. Like that song he did with T Pain.

That's also true that Prince Ali IE the real Alladin would have been Chinese not Arab. I mean it's cool that Disney was showing that anyway Arabs should be more satisfied with Aladin. We got Pocahontas and that movie is an insult to the memory of Matoaka. But i don't know why they traded in one eastern culture for another. Maybe it has something to do with Islamic travels to China. And like Javier i hate that yeee bullshit. I assume it started in Oakland in fact I know it did I don't know who did it exactly but in my city people do it too mostly stoners but still they look like retards.

As for the woman that patched up Javier, La Nalgona, she is visually based on the retired pornstar Esperanza Diaz who sadly never did anal but i swear she looks as close to what Flakiss the rapper looks like if she were a pornstar as I can think of. Even though she's from Canoga Park in LA, it seems in her pornos I see her wear red more than blue so simple as that. And yes Dilimore from San Andreas may have been in the countryside but in this I had it represent the neighborhood it rhymes with in San Fransisco.

As far as whether Waha'yoo Taba and Jose White Eagle go with the three women as nomads to watch their backs, I say reviewers choice. I leave it to you. I will honor whichever choice.

Hope you enjoyed.