Yay! Next chapter. This one has more actual action and plot and less character stuff so hopefully you guys like that. Anyway, enjoy and remember to review!

Chapter 7

Kaiba was back on the road and approaching the bridge to the satellite. He saw smoke coming from the direction he was heading but that was common in these times. There was always smoke coming from somewhere. There were a lot of protests or homeless people on the streets making fires to stay warm. What he didn't expect was his guard's voice.

"Mr. Kaiba, sir, I've just been informed that there is a riot on the bridge leading to the satellite. No one's allowed in the area." Kaiba let his foot off the acceleration but didn't hit the break. He just sort of let his motorcycle slow down the road until it reached a stop. Once it did he took off his helmet and shook his hair. His guard dismounted his motorcycle and walked up to his side. Kaiba put his helmet back on. He didn't even look at his guard as he sternly ordered

"Stay here" and went speeding off, leaving his guard baffled in the dust.

Duke, Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba were gathered in the storage room of the game shop. They had a small fire going in the middle of the room, and each was seated in a corner facing it. Above the fire was an upside down metal funnel, leading to a series of broken and rusty pipes that led out a hole in the wall of the room that had been created during the quake that led to outside. The contraption was suspended by some wires hanging from the ceiling. It was a creation of Kaiba's so that they could stay in the relative safety of the room during the night without freezing to death or suffocating from smoke inhalation. Each of the group had a blanket or two curled around them.

"So Joey, what's been going on the past few days?"

"Well, I was over here with Yugi when it happened. It's a miracle this whole place didn't fall apart. But anyway we've pretty much been just searching around the general area for wood, and food, and water, and people. We've found some food. That place a few building down used to be a little market, and it was only one floor so we don't have to dig all that much to find stuff." Joey went quiet staring into the fire for a moment remembering some of the dead "stuff" they had found. Yugi remembered too, and Duke and Kaiba could tell that the two had found that "stuff" along with what they had wanted.

"They had lots of nice, canned food too." He nodded toward a little pile of cans in Duke's corner. There was also water in the corner.

"Lots of bottle water too. We have more bottled water around the place. We've got most of it hidden though. Water is valuable now." He faced down and closed his eyes and a little smirk formed. He looked back up at Kaiba and his big goofy grin formed

"Water is money now! Which means I'm waaaaaay richer than you Kaiba!" Kaiba continued staring at the fire. Joey turned back to Duke.

"Water is life here. You need to keep it safe."

"So why do you have that water in the box out there in the open?"

"See Duke, first off, it's not exactly in the open. It's in a box with a lid. Secondly, if any thugs see us alive here, they'll know that we have some way of getting water. Unlike them we can't exactly beat others up for it." It was true. Though Joey didn't like to admit it, him being on the scrawny side, though he was a great street fighter, he was also getting older, and little Yugi couldn't win in a fight for water in a lawless town.

"So if we hid everything, they'd look for it and find it all. But if we put a small amount of it slightly hidden it that there box, than they'll figure that's all we've got and be on their way." Joey crossed his arms, closed his eyes, held his head up and smiled; looking very proud to have thought of that. To be honest, Kaiba was surprised too. That actually had been pretty smart, especially for an idiot like Joey. But he couldn't deny that Joey had street smarts. Joey had lived on the streets a lot as a kid, running out or being forced out of the house to avoid his abusive, drunken father. He had probably learned that trick young as a way of protecting valuables. And Kaiba had no doubt it worked well against idiot thugs. Still, they were a lot better off now with Kaiba and Duke there. People wouldn't be as likely to bother them.

"So Kaiba?" Kaiba looked away from his thoughts and the fire to Joey who sat across from him.

"What are your plans for getting us out of here?"

"In another three days the helicopter will come back where it dropped us off."

"Where did it drop you off?"

"Back where Domino High School used to be." Joey nodded and stared back into the fire.

"One of us should stay awake. We can take turns sleeping." The group looked at Kaiba and nodded.

"I'll stay up first." Duke volunteered. Then Kaiba volunteered to take the last shift. Joey claimed second, leaving Yugi with the third. And so, Kaiba, Joey, and Yugi slowly fell asleep and Duke stared into the fire, listening to the others breath.

Kaiba's motorcycle sped down the bumpy road toward the bridge to the satellite. As he got closer he could start hearing the shouts of protest on the bridge. He came out from a series of buildings into the clearing along the water to see many police barriers and police motorcycles littering the entrance to the bridge. The protestors stood about halfway across and Kaiba scowled. This wasn't right. He stopped his cycle and looked across the water to the satellite and to the protestors.

The police were trying to hold them back with anything they had, but there were too many of them and they started making progress across the bridge.

Then it happened. The sound of a round being fired resounded across the water. Screams of shock and terror erupted from the crowd as they became panicked. Kaiba saw the chaos break out. People were running, jumping off the bridge into the water. From the distance he saw a few men tackle one of the police, only to immediately be executed. The gun shots continued. It was pure chaos. Bodies started toppling and blood started flowing into the lake. Then an explosion went off in the crowd: a grenade; shortly followed by more. In the smoke, the policemen at the front lines jumped onto their motorcycles and sped back to the mainland, off the bridge and onto the shore. They gathered and watched the smoke, apparently waiting for orders from the commanding officer. After a few moments he spoke

"Ready men?" They all nodded. He nodded back

"5. 4. 3. 2…" Some buttons were pressed, some ears were covered, and a huge ball of flames and debris leaped from the center of the bridge. A light wind came from the explosion and flames engulfed the collapsing structure. Chunks of metal crashed into the lake and sent waves churning the red water. The screams were muffled by the smoke. The water turned a sickly brick color that slowly spread away from the site of the riot.

Kaiba stared at the destruction. He just watched for a while, knowing he could do nothing. These riots had become increasingly common. But this time was different. The police had finally destroyed the bridge, the only bridge, connecting Neo Domino to the satellite. He looked back across the smoky water to the satellite. Now it wouldn't be as easy to get there. He'd still reach it, but it wouldn't be as easy.

Duke heard something outside the shop. He held his breath and listened closely to the voices of the men just on the other side of the wall. He tried to wake up Kaiba as quietly as he could. His eyes slowly opened as Duke shook him. His eyes looked up concerned and Duke motioned for him to stay quiet. Kaiba stayed silent and himself listened and heard the voices. He and Duke then woke up Yugi and Joey. As they were waking up the voices grew louder until they were directly on the other side of the wall and slowly moved around the building toward the entrance.

Kaiba and Duke silently took the guns out of their pockets. Joey next took out a kitchen knife, and Duke took him knife out and gave it to Yugi. The group shifted to either side of the door and waited, listening to the voices, muffled but now distinguishable.

"Door's locked."

"Well what can you see inside?"

"Uh… looks like there's some duel disks. Could we get anything out of those?"

"We don't have enough room for those right now, we'll come back for those later. Anything else?" There was a pause, presumably as the man looked around the shop.

"I don't see anything. Let's just head back, we'll come back later."

"Well what if there's stuff in that back room there?"

"Which one, there's two?"

"Either, I mean it's a shop there must be money at least."

"We don't want money you idiot! How many times do we have to go over this before it gets through your thick, stupid head?"

"Look, all I'm saying it things won't be like this forever, and no one is going to do anything about any money that's stolen now, but it will pay off in the future."

"It won't pay off if you're dead smart one."

"Yeah, he's right. Don't want some nut to shoot you over money when it doesn't mean anything. We've just got to focus on survival right now."

"K well when we come back tomorrow for the disks, I get to take all the money."

"Yeah that's fine as long as we're getting something else out of it. As long as you don't have to make a separate trip."

"Come one you two, let's get out of here."

The group held their breath as they listened to the men walk away. They stayed still and silent even after the voices were no longer audible. Kaiba looked at his watch.

"Ok Joey, your turn." Joey seemed confused for a moment but then understood. He sat down with his legs crossed as the others went back to sleep. Joey's shift was less eventful. He heard something outside at one point, but he quickly realized that it had just been the wind. So his shift ended and he woke up Yugi to take over. Joey was quickly asleep, leaving Yugi alone.

Yugi still felt groggy from being woken up. He was just in the middle of a good dream too. He and his grandfather had just found an old Egyptian relic in the game shop and he was really close to completing it.

Yugi thought back to the millennium puzzle that his grandfather had given him as well. He started daydreaming about ancient Egypt and fighting evil with his duel deck. He didn't even notice that his eyes were slowly closing, and he was falling back asleep until it was too late and he was out.

Again, thanks for reading and remember to review!