Ep:1 Part 7
Shivington Neighborhood, Projects District, Stilwater
April 08, 2011 – approx 11:30pm
The four Saints made their way quietly across the vacant grass lot. They had already traversed two short alleys and a large parking lot.
"I'm telling you," Dice said holding Chaz by the arm, "he doesn't look good."
"I can… I can… make it," Chaz panted. "I… make it."
"We can't linger," Artemis said looking around. The entire affair with the Samedi and their thugs had taken way too long. "We gotta go."
"Artemis!" Mongrel called out. He pointed down the curving eastern road in front of them. A police car was just leaving a short side road and turning toward them.
"Move people!" Artemis whispered loudly. They hastened south toward a grey brick building with broken windows. They skirted it, passed a dumpster and were heading toward the southern street when they spotted another police car slowly creeping along it heading east.
"Jesus!" Dice cried out. "They're everywhere - aah!"
Artemis grabbed her and pulled her backwards. The four Saints hunkered down by the dumpster. Artemis looked around. They were two apartment buildings and a parking lot away from his car. Couldn't they just get a break for once?
The lights on the vehicle in front of them suddenly flared to life and the siren wailed loudly. Artemis readied his pistols. He heard the siren of the police car behind him come on as well. They were trapped.
"Do nothing 'til I start, people," Artemis ordered his crew. He heard their guns cock and safeties click off. The police car in front made a tight u-turn – it headlights flashed quickly over them. They braced themselves.
None of them were prepared, however, when the police car suddenly finished a complete 180, then accelerated and headed west along the road. They exchanged furtive glances in the dim illumination granted by the streetlights several yards off.
When the siren of the car behind them started to diminish in intensity as well, Artemis ordered, "Move people!" He took off at a brisk trot. Getting to the street, he glanced in either direction. Only a few people were out right now, the majority of which stood either directly outside the Brown Baggers to the east or were at the covered bus stop near the convenient store. "Pieces away!" he barked and slid his pistols into their holsters under his jacket. The rest of his crew did the same as they caught up to him. Chaz hunched over, hands on his knees.
"Chaz…?" Dice started.
"Let's go," Artemis said heading east. "Keep up!" His crew followed. A couple of the people in front of Brown Baggers glanced over as they approached but quickly dismissed them. The four Saints just got to the end of the alley in which their car was parked when they heard gunfire coming from the west. The two people waiting at the covered bus stop pointed behind them. In unison the four Saints turned.
"Go, go, go!" Artemis commanded, waving his fellow Saints into the alley as several sets of headlights off to the west grew brighter. He could see the bright flashes of weapon fire most of which was coming from the lead car - a tricked out, purple Magma convertible with the top down. Behind it, were two green Danvilles - a heavy 1970s model of car. Behind them all were at least three sets of flashing police lights. He followed the other Saints as the gunfire grew louder.
Running toward his Stiletto, Artemis hazarded a look back at the alley's entrance. He saw the two people at the bus stop stand and start running away. A woman screamed somewhere across the street. Suddenly the purple Magma flew into view, squealing on two tires as it was forced to take the corner at an extremely high speed. In the front passenger seat was a blonde female Saint Artemis couldn't quite make out. She was firing a pistol behind the vehicle while hanging out the side. In the back seat was Anthony, another Saint, his red hair in a ponytail, firing an SMG back over the collapsed roof. The driver, however, was none other than the Boss herself. She was firing a GAL 43 on full auto backwards over her head.
As enemy gunfire ricocheted off her fast muscle car's reinforced frame and whizzed past her head, the Saints' leader defiantly cried out, "Is that the best you got?"
Despite her high speed and the overall chaos of the situation, the Boss made the corner – mostly. The tail end of the car pulled a bit too far left and bent a sign – ironically one that showed the speed limit for the road was only 30mph. She then sped off south. Neither of the heavy Danvilles was so fortunate.
The first Samedi car skidded and tried to turn right. Instead it wobbled unsteadily, plowing through the (now empty) covered bus stop and smashed nose first into the empty drugstore attached to the Brown Baggers.
The second green Danville was actually on fire as it raced past Artemis's rapidly diminishing view of the alley's end. It completely missed the drug store, Brown Baggers and the turn itself as it drove into a small lot east of the convenient store. Although Artemis lost sight of the Samedi car, a large explosion sounded less than a second later – indicating its demise.
The first Danville's tires squealed as its driver quickly put it in reverse. Despite their damage, the Samedi seemed eager to catch up to the Boss. They wouldn't get the chance. The Samedi's car crashed backwards right into the first police car that had finally arrived. The second police car smashed into the first. The third managed to avoid the whole mess, but had to slam on its brakes hard. It wasn't damaged but ended up turned the wrong way and would not be able to extricate itself from the area before the Boss was long gone. Angry police officers got out of their cars with their guns drawn and screamed at the stunned Samedi.
Artemis smiled to himself as he turned his attention to the dimly lit alley in front of him. He trotted out of sight of the disaster behind him and caught up with his crew.
Mongrel was standing next to the dumpster awaiting his approach. Dice was next to Chaz, patting him on the back. Chaz was doubled over in pain and apparently vomiting up the soda Artemis had gotten him earlier.
"What…?" Artemis inquired.
"I think having a gun pointed at his head for the first time has made him sick," Dice said without looking up.
"I'm… uk…" Chaz started between breaths, "…sorry… I'm sorry."
"We need to go! Everyone get in!" Artemis stated aloud. He got into his car and started the engine.
Dice looked at him. "Give it a rest. He's sick."
"I, uh," Mongrel hesitated. "I can't deal with someone, uh, you know." He looked pale.
"Mongrel can smack a man's head off and crush another man's knee, but this shit bothers him?" thought Artemis silently to himself then he said, "Mongrel up front with me. You two in the back." His crew did as they were told, although Chaz still seemed a bit uneasy.
Artemis kept the lights off as he eased forward out of the northern end of the alley. He pulled carefully onto the connecting road; only then did he switch his headlights on.
"No puking in the car back there," Artemis ordered Chaz. Chaz gave a weak thumbs-up but was still pale. Artemis drove his prearranged route to lose anyone that might be following them, but no one was.
As they turned around and headed back toward the Saints Hideout, Dice said to Chaz, "Not so bad for your first mission, huh?"
Chaz just stared at her.
Dice said with a grin, "This is what being a Saint is all about!"
