Los Angeles, Bus Stop Downtown. 29th of April, 6 PM, 1992.
The bus stopped next to the bus stop sign. The doors slid open and single blonde girl with a suitcase in her hands got off. She was wearing a light-blue hoody with a white shirt underneath. A pair of jeans and sneakers, hair tied back in a pony-tail.
"Alright, Bridgette...now you have to get to Malibu." She muttered to herself. "In a city as peaceful as this, it should be no problem."
Suddenly a bottle flew across the air and hit the wall behind Bridgette. Bridgette looked at the direction from where the bottle came and saw an angry mob with baseball bats, molotov cocktails, lead pipes, pitchforks and some assorted guns running down the street. Soon they began to smash things, break store fronts, shoot things and set stuff on fire. Everyone in the crowd was screaming "riot!".
"Oh shit." Bridgette muttered.
One Day Later...
City of Los Angeles, On the outskirts of the city, 4 PM.
The gang had made it. They had taken a flight from New York to a small town near L.A. and with a rented car drove the rest of the way. Duncan, Courtney, Geoff, DJ, Gwen and Bridgette's parents made it to the city on a van.
The van stopped at a parking lot next to a motel right outside the city and the entire tripulation climbed off.
"So, what are we gonna do?" Bridgette's mom asked.
"L.A. is one of the biggest cities in the country...we haven't been able to reach Bridgette by phone so we're gonna have to search the places where Joanie, and therefore Bridgette might be...but we won't be able to do that as a group...so we have to split up." Courtney said.
"We can't let you kids go off like that on your own!" Bridgette's father said.
"Mr. Fairlie, we have no choice." Geoff said.
"I guess so." Bridgette's dad gave in.
"Well, let's split up and start looking." Geoff said.
Meanwhile in Inglewood, Los Angeles.
Bridgette had stayed in a motel in Inglewood, the motel being the only safe one in the city due to the owner being armed to the teeth and ready to kill any rioters that approached. She still had no clue as to where Joanie was, since she had called Joanie's mom and she said that before the riots began, Joanie had gone off to be with a friend, but hadn't returned when thinhs got out of control. She did say that Joanie had called to tell her she was alright and staying with her friend in Inglewood. But she didn't say exactly where.
Bridgette sat in the motel room, watching the news on the TV.
In the news:
"This is Lianne Forget with WCTR News, live information about the riot tearing up our streets. The riot died down last night at around 2 A.M., but it began once more and worse than yesterday today at around 8 A.M." The news lady said. "Now we go to the field with Richard Burns."
The camera then shifted to field correspondant Richard Burns in a part of the city. Burns was holding a Lupara sawn-off shotgun in a hand and a can of beer in the other, he took a sip from the beer and then shot into the air with the shotgun.
"Lianne, like I said before, this riot is spectacular! I've already looted a big screen TV, a dirt bike and a new couch for our apartment and I've shot at least eight people! And Jimmy the cameraman here, he's killed I don't know how many dudes, but he's such an awesome shot, man! I didn't know he had it in him!" Richard yelled.
"Richard!" Lianne yelled from the studio. "The news, will ya?"
"Sorry Lianne, honey." Richard said. "Well, the riot began again this morning and it seems to have only gotten worse, now people have turned their violent rage not only to store fronts but to police officers and other men in uniform like firemen, ambulance drivers and McDonalds employees. Things are getting worse, there's fire everywhere people dying, gang violence is enormous bla bla bloopity bleepity blab fucking bla! God damn it I can't take it anymore! Jimmy, make room in the van we're gonna steal ourselves some more shit, man!"
However, Bridgette didn't pay attention to Richard Burns' drawn out scream and shooting spree afterwards, she paid attention to a person who was running in the background of the shot.
Joanie was in the background running for safety. Upon looking at the corner sign, Bridgette noticed that the place where Joanie was running through was very nearby.
"Time to get that bitch." Bridgette muttered and walked out of the room with only her room key and a lead pipe, just in case. After all, there was a riot going on out there.
Duncan and Courtney:
4:30 PM
Courtney and Duncan had made their way over to East Los Angeles, one of the biggest areas targetted by rioters. Running down the streets and crouching through alleywasy to avoid the bullets, blows and molotov cocktails flying through the air. As well as jumping out of the way of incoming vehicles.
"This is useless, we'll never find Bridgette like this." Courtney said. "It's hard enough to find a single person in an entire city, it's even harder when a riot is going on in the streets."
"Princess...what ever happened to not giving up?" Duncan said.
"Yeah, but this is different." Courtney replied.
"Yeah that's an excuse...we both know why you're giving up, it's because you can't do it...you're not good enough to do it." Duncan dared her, knowing this would push her over the edge.
"Oh no...you did not just say that!" Courtney told him. "Like hell I can't...Let's go find Bridgette...I can do anything!"
"I love that woman." Duncan muttered to himself when Courtney stormed back into the street.
The punk and the preppie walked back into the rioting streets, trying again to dodge everything that flew through the air and stormed through the streets. The two teens made it across the street when they heard a voice calling.
They turned to the direction of the voice and saw a middle aged-looking, white man holding a gun and aiming it at them.
"You kids is going down." The man said, raising his gun at Courtney's head.
Right before the man pulled the trigger, two things happened. First, Duncan stepped in front fo Courtney, to take the bullet for her. Second, another man with a golf club ran out of an alley and struck the gun wielding man with it. The teens looked at the gunman crumble down on the floor and then turned their eyes to the man with the golf club who just saved them. They were shocked when they realized who it was.
"Jack Nicholson?!" They uttered in surprise and unison.
"Hey kids, what's up?" Nicholson said.
"What the hell?!" Courtney yelled.
"Oh you're probably wondering what I'm doing here hitting people in the head with my golf club?" Nicholson began, in a strangely monotone, almost insane sounding tone. "Well, I'm a very violent man." He added. "And sometimes, I just have to let ALL MY ANGER OUT!"
This last bit, Nicholson said screaming.
"So sometimes, smashing things during a riot is the best way." Nicholson said. "Now me and my friends have to go smash some more things."
After that, Nicholson called out someone who was nearby.
"Hey Izzy, Noah, come over here!"
"Crap no." Courtney and Duncan muttered.
Izzy and Noah ran up to Nicholson from the alley. Noah was holding a lead pipe and Izzy was wielding a sledgehammer. Then they saw Courtney and Duncan.
"You know, you'd think that in an entire city, with a riot going on, we wouldn't have to run into anyone from New York." Noah muttered.
"What, you know these guys?" Nicholson asked Noah.
"Yeah...a couple of guys from NYC." Noah replied.
"What are you two doing here?" Duncan asked.
"Oh you know...with the whole riot going on Noah and I thought it would be fun to you know, come down here, smash some shit, steal some stuff and go a little crazy!" Izzy replied in an insanely accelerated tempo.
"Let me re-phrase." Duncan said. "What are you doing here, smashing stuff with Jack Nicholson?"
"What, can't friends go out and smash stuff together?" Izzy asked, as if it were a regular everyday question.
"Yeah but how do you...he...whatever." Duncan sighed.
"You haven't seen Bridgette, have you?" Courtney asked.
"No, but I did see a girl that really looked like her, only she was more tan, hsd darker hair, blue eyes and a bigger rack, almost as big as mine." Izzy said, groping herself while giving out the last bit of the description.
"That's Joanie." Courtney said. "Bridgette was looking for her, they must be around the same place."
"Where did you see her?" Duncan asked.
"Inglewood." Izzy replied.
"Izzy, we don't have time for this." Nicholson said. "Let's go smash some more shit up."
"Sure, rock on, JACK!" Izzy yelled. "We'll catch you later guys!"
With that, Izzy sprang forward, Noah and Nicholson not far behind.
"Weird." Duncan muttered.
Gwen:
4:30 PM.
Gwen had began to search for Bridgette in the neighbourhood of Watts. Since this was one of the areas least affected by the riot, Gwen deduced either Bridgette or Joanie might be roaming the neighbourhood.
Gwen stormed through the streets of the neighbourhood, very much like Courtney and Duncan, dodging everything that came her way. A sport could have been invented at that moment which consisted of dodging every bullet, brick, bottle, rock, trash can, etc. That came close to Gwen's head.
As she ran down the sidewalk, she saw a guy crossing the street who looked a bit familiar.
"Trent?!"
Trent turned around.
"Gwen?!" Trent called. "Hey, how ar-"
At that point, Trent got hit by an incoming car and thrown to the floor a centimeter away from Gwen.
"Oh my god, Trent, are you alright?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah...hey Gwen, how've you been?" Trent asked, attempting to get up.
Gwen stretched out her hand and helped Trent get up.
"What are you doing in the middle of a riot?" Gwen asked.
"I was playing a show at Donny's yesterday when this thing broke out, and I've been trying to get back home ever since." Trent replied. "But what about you? What are you doing in L.A. and furthermore, what are you doing in L.A. IN the middle of a riot."
"Remember my friend Bridgette, from the party?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah."
"Well...she's had some trouble and she came here to look for her cousin Joanie, the girl who hosted the party, to settle some things, but then the riot broke out and my friends and I are here trying to find her." Gwen explained.
"Hey...is that Bridgette girl tall, has blonde hair, green eyes and wears a blue hoody and jeans?" Trent asked.
"Yeah...how did you know what she was wearing?" Gwen asked.
"I saw her a while ago while I was making my way through Inglewood...she's probably still there." Trent replied.
"Great! We have to go find her!" Gwen yelled. "Come on!"
"OK."
As the pair turned around, they saw a sight, they'd rather didn't see. A group of at least ten guys in red hoodys, caps, pants and other red clothes holding sub-machine guns were approaching them. In other words, a group of Bloods gang bangers were coming on.
Turning around, theys a group of more gangbangers, these guys were all in blue...in other words, Crips gangbangers.
"Oh crap." Trent muttered, knowing what was coming up.
For those out there unfamiliar with Los Angeles gangs...in the 90's, the rise of crack-cocaine sells in L.A. brought the city's two biggest african-american gangs, the Bloods and the Crips on a turf war, with each gang wanting to take the other's main dealing turf. The Crips wanted to take Inglewood away from the Bloods and the bloods wanted to take Compton from the Crips. The war is still going on in a smaller scale in 2009.
As the bangers began to raise their guns, a blue van sped down the street, running over many rioters and smashing several things before coming to a stop near the bangers. The side door of the van, with a WCTR logo on the side door, slid open and from inside came field reporter Richard Burns and his trusted cameraman, Jimmy. Burns was holding an old, 30's model Tommy Gun in one hand and a hand grenade in the other, while Jimmy the cameraman had an M16 assault rifle.
"Alright Jimmy...let's smash it up!" Richard yelled.
Raising his Tommy Gun, Richard Burns opened fire on the Crips before they could themselves fire. The same went for Jimmy with the Bloods. The Bloods and Crips jumped behind a low cement wall to avoid the bullets. As the gangbangers began to return fire, Richard pulled the pin off the grenade with his mouth and spat it aside, raising the grenade in the air.
"Holy shit! He got a grenade!" One of the bangers yelled.
"Run, mutherfuckers!"
The gangbangers got up from behind the wall and began to run the other way. Burns threw the grenade into the air and it landed behind the wall. Gwen and Trent leaped away from the grenade as it went offm, blowing a hole in the wall and burning the grass and sidewalk under it, sending shrapnel through the street.
"Shit yeah!" Richard yelled. "Come on Jimmy, let's chase them on the van!"
Jimmy and Richard leaped on the van, the door remaining open so that Richard could fire out off the side with his Tommy gun. The van sped through the hole on the low wall and chased the gangbangers.
"Weird." Gwen muttered.
5 P.M., Inglewood.
Joanie had walked into a white house at the neighbourhood across a set of train tracks. Bridgette ran across the tracks, shoving aside a couple of rioters until she made it to the house, which had a latino-looking guard holding a shotgun in front of the door.
"Private shelter. Invitation only." The man said.
Without response, Bridgette shoved her knee into the man's crotch, smashing his testicles.
"Shit." The man muttered as Bridgette walked in.
Having seen her walk in, Geoff and DJ ran across the tracks to the house.
"Look DJ, I have to go in there alone." Geoff said.
"OK, man." DJ said. "I'll wait here."
Geoff walked towards the house just as the guard was standing up.
"Private shelter, pibe." The guard muttered in pain. "Need invi-"
Beofre he could finish, Geoff gave the man a kick in the testicles, knocking him to the floor again.
"OK, pibe, you can go in." The guard said.
"Sorry, dude." Geoff said.
"No importa, pibe." The guy finished.
Geoff walked into the house and looked around. There were a bunch of people hanging out in the place, drinks in their hands, talking...as if they were in a party, completely ignoring the riot going on outside.
Bridgette had managed to make it to her cousin.
"Joanie!" Bridgette yelled.
The tanned girl turned to her cousin.
"Oh...hey Bridgette." Joanie replied, a grim look on her face. "How have you been since Geoff chose me over you?"
"He didn't choose you!" Bridgette called out. "He was mine and I was hers and he was the coolest, nicest guy I've ever met...until you came along!"
"Well...to be he likes me more."
"No I don't!"
Joanie and Bridgette turned around.
"Geoff!" Bridgette said. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to look for you, Bridge." Geoff replied.
"What?"
Meanwhile...somewhere on the other side of L.A.
OJ Simpson sat on his couch at home. Suddenly, he leaped off the couch and came up with an idea.
"I'm gonna kill my wife in two years! Yeah!"
Meanwhile...somewhere in England.
George Harrison sat on his couch at home. Suddenly, he leaped off the couch and came up with an idea.
"I'm gonna record a solo album with Madonna! Yeah!"
Meanwhile...something that has to do with the story...outside the house.
DJ stood outside, waiting for Geoff to come out, hopefully with Bridgette tagging along. He was in an alley next to the house, believing that staying in thge street would get him killed. After fifteen minutes, a particular sight caught his attention. A rioter approached the house, a bottle of booze in one hand. But there was something particular about that bottle of booze, it had a cloth sticking out of the mouth of the bottle. Then, realization struck.
"Shit! Molotov cocktail!" DJ screamed and ran for cover.
The rioter lit up the incendiary device and threw it into the building through a window. The rioter then ran off. DJ ran into the street and watched as the building caught fire. People began to run out of the front door and jumping out the windows, trying to escape the fire. A crowd soon began to gather round the house as they stared at the fire. The crowd, made mostly of big tall guys managed to lure any rioters nearby away...fearing getting beaten by a crowd.
A black car suddenly pulled over next to DJ and Courtney and Duncan climbed out of it.
"DJ, what's going on?" Courtney asked.
"Some crazy ass rioter fool lit up that house...and Geoff and Bridgette are inside!" DJ replied.
"Shit!" Duncan exclaimed.
"Hey...where you guys get that car?" DJ asked.
"Carjacked a guy...we'll tell you about it later." Duncan explained.
The house began to burn faster.
"Guys...what's going on?!" Gwen yelled.
The three friends turned around and saw Gwen coming up to them with another guy.
"Who's he?" DJ asked.
"Hi, I'm Trent." The guy replied.
"I'll tell you later...but now, what's going on?"
"Geoff and Bridgette are inside the burning building!" Courtney said.
"Shit!"
The four friends and Trent watched the door as a figure seemed to come out. That figure turned out to be Joanie. Courtney ran over to the california girl.
"Joanie, what the hell!? Where's Geoff and Bridgette!?" She yelled.
"I don't know what just happened, but the place caught fire and..."
"WE CAN SEE THAT!" Duncan exclaimed.
"But where are they?" Gwen repeated.
"They were right behind me." She finnally replied.
The four friends, Trent and Joanie watched as someone else came out the door. A figure was coming through the door, carrying another figure.
"It's Geoff carrying Bridgette out!" Duncan said.
Then emerged from the door, Bridgette carrying Geoff out.
"Other way around..." Courtney exclaimed.
Bridgette placed Geoff on the sidewalk, who had his eyes closed. Slowly he opened them and looked up at her.
"Bridge...what just happened?"
"What happened is that you came all the way out here to find me during a riot." Bridgette said.
She then leaned in to him and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
"And I love you for that."
"So...your forgive me?" Geoff asked, seeminlgy obvliovious to the obvious answer.
"Yeah...I forgive you."