AT AN UNDISCLOSED APARTMENT COMPLEX IN STERLING HEIGHT 5:25 am
"Grab the last gas canisters, let's blow the fuck outta this last place", Taylor said to Lincoln, as she exited the Taxi. Lincoln went to the back trunk of the vehicle, opening it up to reveal two large red gas canisters', full of siphoned gas. Along were twelve empty bottles with rags sticking out from the top of each. Lincoln opened up the canister, the smell of gasoline filling his nostrils. Taylor came around the car, grabbed some of the bottles, and set them beside Lincoln, who began pouring the gasoline inside the empty glass bottles. Taylor then grabbed an empty milk crate, placing the full molotovs inside neatly. It had been a long night for the two, as both Lincoln and Taylor had been up all night traveling around Sterling Heights burning down abandoned apartment buildings and even two farms on the outskirts of the city. At first, they were nervous and didn't know what they were doing despite Misty's clear instructions. But after the 3rd location, they were able to carry out the burnings quickly and efficiently. They were now on their 13th and final location. It was a rundown apartment complex on the outskirts of northern Sterling Heights in a very abandoned area that resembled Detroit's ghettos. Lincoln was beyond exhausted, at this point he wasn't even worried about what he was doing anymore, but rather he just wanted to get this done and go home. He had on another Black hoodie and ski mask, sweat and dirt were littered across his clothes, and his eyes were now red from the lack of sleep. Taylor was more or less the same. After all the Molotovs were full, Taylor closed the trunk of the taxi, giving the thumbs up to the taxi driver who just smiled and nodded.
"How the hell does that guy never get tired"? Lincoln asked, noticing that the taxi driver, who had also been up all night driving the two kids everywhere was still awake and full of energy. Though, it was hard to tell from the dark sunglasses covering his eyes. But he still had on his creepy and goofy smile that the two kids had become accustomed to.
"Beats me. Come on dude", Taylor said, adjusting her ski mask and carrying the milk crate of molotovs. Just then, in the earpieces they had on provided by Misty, the young hacker spoke.
"Let's wrap this one up, guys. The police are starting to mobilize the swat. They figured too many abandoned apartments burning down was too much of a coincidence", she said through the intercom. She had been with the two via headset all night. At her house in the basement, she monitored their whereabouts, along with chats through the Ballin Heights gang, who thankfully still hadn't caught wind of what was happening, and the police and fire dept. who up until now, thought all the burning buildings were just coincidental. She also monitored Jimmy Ralphs's phone, along with the security cameras at his house. To her relief, he and his family were still in bed.
Lincoln and Taylor made their way inside the abandoned complex, splitting up in opposite directions. Both took 6 molotovs and one of the two gas canisters that still had a half-full supply of gasoline. They quickly made their way inside building after building, dosing every inch of the place in as much gasoline as they could. They especially made sure to soak the rooms that had their manufacturing equipment and ready supply. mainly their meth labs, and storage rooms with products ready to sell. Just then, Misty came back on the intercom.
"Shit guys, one of the Ballin Heights leaders had just found one of the abandoned complexes torched. They're headed to all the locations now, including yours", she frantically said.
"Fuck, Lincoln you almost done in there"? Taylor asked from the other building through the intercom. Lincoln was about to respond before he heard the screeching tires of the taxi outside. He looked out the window from the third floor and saw the taxi speeding down the road, away from the apartments.
"Damnit, the Taxi driver just left us", he said through the intercom.
"WHAT"? Both Misty and Taylor said in unison. Lincoln's attention was then turned to the other side of the road, where he saw the headlights of multiple black SUVs speeding toward them. He counted about 5 vehicles, that eventually stopped right in front of the entrance of the complexes. Just then, multiple Ballin Heights thugs began pouring out of each vehicle. All wearing red bandanas and strapped with heavy firearms. Ak-47s, Shotguns, SMGs, even a bazooka. This made Lincoln's heart skip a beat.
"HOLY SHIT, THEY'RE HERE! THERE ARE FREAKING TONS OF THEM, ALL ARMED. TAYLOR THEY'RE STARTING TO SPREAD OUT, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW", Lincoln yelled. He pulled out his snub nose revolver, checked the cylinder, and cursed to himself at the sight of only seven bullets. He knew they stood no chance against the small army that surrounded them.
"Damnit Lincoln, save the Molotovs, we're going to use them against them. This entire place is riddled with gasoline, one of these bullets is bound to start a chain reaction. Just stay put, I'll make my way to you", Taylor responded. She pulled out the Tec 9 she had under her shirt, loading it up before peeking through the window of the second-floor building she was in. She was met with the sight of multiple thugs entering the buildings around her, guns and flashlights at the ready.
"Dangit...okay...just calm down Lincoln, everything is going to be o-" the boy was immediately cut off by the barrage of gunfire that splattered the wall behind him. He quickly ducked behind a chair for cover, now terrified.
"I FUCKIN' SEE SOMEONE IN THERE, ON ME", he heard a voice shout from outside. Taylor quickly looked outside the window, seeing the thugs regroup around Lincoln's building, preparing to enter. She quickly grabbed one of the molotovs, and lit the towel with a flip lighter she had in her pocket, letting the flame drowse the towel. She then threw the bottle outside the window at one of the parked SUVs, igniting it on fire. Pretty soon, the car erupted in an explosion, sending two of the nearby thugs flying in different directions. One of the thugs that were inside the vehicle plopped out like a fish on fire, slowly falling to the ground as his body began to burn.
"GOD DAMNIT, LIGHT THAT FUCKING BUILDING UP RIGHT THERE", one of the thugs shouted. All the thugs that were in front of Lincoln's building turned their attention to Taylor's building, before opening fire on the entire structure. Taylor curled up into a ball from behind the wall, protecting her face from the swarm of glass and debris that was flying through the air from the gunfire. Lincoln peeked out the window, seeing the swarm of guys lighting up the complex in front of him like a Christmas tree. He then saw flames begin to engulf the top floor of the apartment. He guessed the gunfire managed to ignite the gasoline. Just then, he heard loud footsteps running towards the door behind him. With a quick reaction, the boy quickly spun around, firing 4 shots at random at the doorway. His eyes widened as he watched the lifeless bullet hole-riddled body of a thug collapse in front of him. He had just directly killed someone for the first time. The air around him began to thicken, and all he could hear was white noise as he stared at the dead body. He managed to hit three shots in his chest. A pool of blood began leaking from underneath the man, as the image began to sink into Lincoln's mind. But before the young boy could contemplate what he did, bullets began to rain down in the room he was in. He snapped out of his trance and took cover from behind the wall, fearing for his life. He then heard more footsteps run up the stairs and towards the door, prompting the young boy to fire two more shots at the wall and door frame at random. In response, he was met with the barrel of an AK 47 sticking out of the frame, opening fire at random inside the room. Lincoln ran to cover inside the decrepit bathroom across the living room, taking cover in the door frame. He quickly opened up the cylinder of his gun, letting the empty bullet shells fall to the ground. He then dug into his pocket for the box of bullets he brought with him, fishing out a couple of bullets at random. He then began to reload the gun, dropping some of the bullets in the process. His hands were shaking, and he was sweating profusely. His heart pounded and for the entire time, he felt as if he were going to die. Once he managed to load the gun back up, he poked his hand out the door, firing back at the front door where three more thugs were positioned. Two were carrying pump action shotguns, while the one that arrived first was still spraying bullets from his AK-47 into the room.
From across the lot, Taylor watched in fear at the gunshots that lit up the third floor of the run-down apartment. "Fuck, Lincoln hold on, I'm coming," she said to herself. But upon poking her head out the window, she was met with a hailstorm of bullets from thugs outside the building who were taking cover behind abandoned cars. Taylor ducked her head in fear, as more glass fell over her. She then poked her torso out the window, unloading her tec at whoever she saw. "FUCK YOOOOOOU, YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES", she shouted. She manage to hit one of the thugs who were running across the lot in the legs, sending him falling to the ground. However, she was grazed by a bullet in her right arm, causing the girl to duck back in cover while in pain. Blood began pouring from her arm. She then took another Molotov and lit it up, chucking it outside the window at random. It landed in an empty spot near a fire hydrant, though some of the gasoline managed to latch onto a passing thug, allowing the flames to engulf his body. He fell to the floor, desperately rolling around as he screamed in pain. He could feel his skin begin to burn off, as pretty soon he stopped moving, lying there dead on fire.
Meanwhile in the other apartment, Lincoln too grabbed a Molotov, quickly trying to light it with a flip lighter that he also had. After a few tries trying to spark the flame, he managed to light the towel, before hurling it outside of the bathroom and to the front door frame. He could hear the screams of the three thugs as they fell down the stair on fire. The screams were painful for the boy to listen to, but he knew he had no choice. Unfortunately, The entrance of the room also caught on fire, and as a result of the gasoline, flames quickly spread across the room. Lincoln began panicking, as he was now surrounded by fire. Just then Misty's voice came on the intercom.
"The Goddamn cops are on their way. They're bringing tactical swat units with them", She said. Taylor could hear police sirens in the distance approaching them, and the sound of helicopters in the air. But this didn't phase the Ballin Heights thugs, as they were still firing on her location. In lincoln's apartment, the boy's heart froze as he came to a grim realization. He was still in the room that had the meth lab. He slowly turned his attention to the table that housed all the chemical beakers and hot plates, as time began to turn to slow motion as he watched the flames slowly surround the table. A table that was full of highly explosive content. Before Lincoln could even react, a large explosion embodied the room, shooting Lincoln out of the window. He was covered in flames and smoke, as he flew down three stories into some bushes.
"LINCOLN", Taylor shouted, as she watched the building blow up. But before she could do anything, she looked down to the street where she saw a thug aiming a bazooka right at her. She froze in fear, as she watched the missile form the large weapon fly right at her. The missile zoomed right past her, hitting the wall behind her. A large explosion engulfed the area she was in, sending her flying out the window. She landed on a car windshield, crashing through it entirely. She could feel pain throughout her body, as she began to cough up a large amount of blood. She fought the urge to pass out, as she tried to quickly pick herself up, each movement sending shockwaves of pain the likes she had never felt before. It hurt so bad that she was even beginning to cry. She managed to plop herself out of the car and onto the hard concrete floor, watching as the thugs were now engaged in a firefight with the police. It was now a full fledge war zone, as buildings began to erupt in flames, and gunfire lit up the night sky like fireworks. She turned her attention to the building across from her, where she noticed the body of Lincoln sticking out from the bushes. She could barely see patches of the boys white hair sticking out of ripped parts of the ski mask. With all her strength, she managed to pick herself up, quickly limping her way towards the boy, barely avoiding random bullets flying through the air.
"Lincoln, Lincoln", she quietly croaked in her broken voice. She pulled the boy out of the bushes, lifting his ski mask to reveal his nose and mouth. After shaking the boy violently, Lincoln coughed out smoke and gasped for air. His body was in so much pain, that he almost screamed upon waking up. He could feel a fracture in his right arm, and glass pieces stabbed throughout his body. Taylor did her best to quickly shake the pieces off, but she had to quickly stand him up. Lincoln slowly rose to his feet, completely lost in the chaos that surrounded them. "Lincoln listen to me, we need to get the fuck out of here before the cops kill the rest of these thugs, and then they'll be on top of us. Come on dude, we'll head out through the woods behind the apartments", she quickly exclaimed. Lincoln didn't get a chance to respond, as Taylor began running with him, doing her best to support his body. As his sense came back, Lincoln's feet began running too, though it was more like a limp from both Taylor and Lincoln. They used each other as support, letting the adrenaline overcome their pain as they made their way across the apartments, leaving behind a burning warzone between the few remaining thugs and now heavy police presence. Eventually, they made it to the fence behind some of the buildings, quickly hoping it before making their way into the dark woods. The sound of gunfire became fainter and fainter as they blindly traversed the pitch-black woods. They didn't know where they were, or where they were going, but they didn't care. They knew they just had to get as far away from the apartments as possible. Even though it was messy, they somehow managed to get the job done.
Now all that was left was to run.
