Chapter 11-Meth'd Up

Thursday, 9:30 AM, 1112 Boulevard Del Perro, Del Perro

Thomas woke up with a throbbing headache and some nausea as a result of the alcohol intake from yesterday. His memory being somewhat spotty, he recalled being drunk with Samuel, Austin and Miles during the beach party. From what he also recalled, he had given his medical marijuana prescription to Mikaela and received the meds from her, but couldn't remember what occurred next.

Thomas thought to himself in a moody manner, "Ugh. I've got to stop hanging with those guys sometimes. I love alcohol as much as the next guy in the bar, but I'm not a huge fan of hangovers. Don't want to wake up in an alleyway next to a dead hooker and a homeless junkie."

Getting out of his bed, he walked over to the living room, getting ready to use the new meds he had gotten from Nurse Jenkins, the nurse who had treated him two days ago. The bag of marijuana was laying in front of him, nearby the red and yellow bong piece on the table. He placed the marijuana into the bong and began to smoke it.

Thomas coughed out the smoke as it was taking effect on his brain. "Oh my god, that feels so good! Nothing like sweet, old Mary Jane. Now lemme cook up some breakfast for myself", Thomas giddily thought to himself. He went to the kitchen started to cook up a batch of pancakes and sausages for his hungering stomach. After cooking and consuming the meal he made for himself, Thomas went to walk over to the Rob's Liquor store that is a block across from his place of residence just to get some snacks for himself. As he was walking nearby the store, a trio of Ballas were getting out of a black Baller. The two male Ballas were both sporting cornrows, while the female was sporting short hair.

All of them were sporting purple bandanas but wore different clothing. A 5'8 foot female was wearing black leggings, purple and gold sneakers and a purple hoodie; A biracial male was wearing a purple letterman jacket bearing the "SA" logo with a white shirt underneath the jacket, wore plain blue jeans and had his hat backwards; The last member wore a white hoodie with faded denim jeans and a grey shirt bearing the emblem of the Los Santos Panic, the basketball team of San Andreas.

Thomas, feeling paranoid and worried due to the effects of the weed he had smoked quickly walked over to the alleyway next to the store and hid alongside the wall to avoid being jumped or seen by the Ballas. "Shit! I can't risk going in there and seeing blood in the store. I might get either killed or robbed! What should I do?! I know, I'll call the police on them." Thomas thought to himself as he started to sweat under worry. He grabbed out his iFruit phone and dialed 911 to alert the police about the situation.

A female operator responded to the call, "911 services. What's the emergency?"

Thomas said to the responder, "Okay uh… I just noticed a trio of Ballas walking to the Rob's Liquor store on Prosperity Street, Morningwood. I think they just entered the store right now and they're already shouting at the clerk. Can you get a cop car here?"

The operator replied to Thomas's request candidly, "Alright sir. I'll send a cop car on your way."

The operator dropped the call and Thomas was still at the same spot he was when he spotted the masked thieves walking towards the store. At this time, he was worried about what could happen next, but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard cop sirens coming towards Prosperity Street one or two blocks down from the store. The Ballas trio had managed to rob the store and tied up the Indian clerk and placed the shaken-up clerk at back of the closet room.

"Aw shit, the pigs have arrived. Let's bail the hell out of here!" the Balla with the letterman jacket said.

The female Balla shouted, "Ain't there no way I'm being taken downtown again by those fools! I'm not going back to being a prison bitch yet again."

The Balla with the white hoodie made a scowl on his face as he looked at his fellow accomplices, "Will the both of y'all shut yo damn mouths?! We're wasting time here!" As Thomas came out of hiding, he noticed to his chagrin the thieves had immediately dashed towards the Baller and fled from the scene heading downtown. As soon as the Ballas left, the cops had arrived to the scene too late. The cop in the passenger seat, a mid-40's black male with two scars on his both his cheeks and small afro got out of the police vehicle and approached Thomas.

The cop who looked like he had been in combat asked Thomas in a deep voice, "Excuse me, sir. Did you see the robbers that dispatch provided for us?"

Thomas responded in haste, "Yeah I saw them! They just fled downtown or somewhere else…"

"Alright, thank you for the information. Have a good day sir." The officer told Thomas as he went back into the cop cruiser.

The cop cruiser left and all Thomas could do was shake his head in complete disappointment over what had taken place. Not wanting to mope around, he left the area to go back home. Once he arrived back at his apartment, Thomas had decided to retire to bed for an hour or two after having to deal with the store robbery. Once he went to sleep, he started to dream about some of the events that occurred during Baghlan.

"Baghlan: Part 2"

4:15 PM-Baghlan, Afghanistan

Thomas and the newly formed platoon left in a heavily armored black HVY Insurgent Pick-Up. As they were driving through the secure areas Merryweather had recaptured, Thomas and the rest were discussing about the mission at hand.

Thomas asked about everyone's emotions at the moment. "So how are you guys feeling about this mission so far?"

"Pretty anxious, but excited at the same time. I can't believe this will be Delta's first." Said Jeremiah as he made a smile.

"Well, dude. My fireteam and yours are working as a squad now since Command believes there would be a higher success ratio if two fireteams work together as one." Shawn stated to Jeremiah.

Paul grinned as he fist-bumped his brother. "Couldn't agree more, bro. You know, I'm quite thankful to God we're riding in this Insurgent. This baby's is the version of combining a SUV and a Rhino together."

Marshall replied back to Paul, "I agree, but that doesn't mean it's fully invincible. Looks quite ugly when it actually takes a lot of damage."

Deshawn added to the conversation, "Hey I'm just saying, but don't we need to use codenames for this assignment? Cause both Merryweather and the Military use em' for security purposes."

Once Han had heard what Deshawn said, he spontaneously said, "Wait a minute! I just remembered that Commander Adams gave me the list of codenames he assigned us."

Thomas looked at the list attentively. "Okay so here's the codenames Adams gave us. I'm going by Blackwater. Shawn and Paul, you guys are going by Orville and Wilbur respectively. Han's going by the codename of "Komodo". Ricardo, you're going by "Diablo". Marshall's going by "Rascal". Deshawn, you're going by "Smoke". And last but not least, Jeremiah-you'll be going by the codename of "Redbone".

Han had an expression of annoyance on his face, "Why the hell did he give me 'Komodo' as my codename. That's some racist bullshit right there!"

"Hell yeah, I agree with my boy Han! Son of a bitch thinks he can give me that name just cuz I'm half black and white." Jeremiah angrily shouted out.

Shawn and Paul shared similar feelings as well as they complained about how they were being given the names of the Wright brothers who were the inventors of flight and how old the names were.

Thomas already having enough of the complaints, spoke up. "Can you guys stop bickering about the codenames you were given?! If you're going to bitch about that shit, tell that to Adams when this is done, got that?"

Han, Shawn, Paul and Jeremiah reluctantly agreed, but mumbled after what Thomas had said to them.

As Thomas drove out of the southern portion of Baghlan and approached the last checkpoint, he noticed how some of the streets were empty like a Texas ghost town. He assumed in his mind that people were hiding in fear and safety of their lives from ISA fighters and he wouldn't blame them one bit for that. After all, the people who come out of war are survivors.

Once Thomas had reached the checkpoint, he saw a bearded, tan Afghani youth in his early twenties wearing in grey Middle Eastern clothing and sporting an assault SMG reaching towards his position.

"What are you here for? State your purpose." said the Afghani man to Thomas in a strong Middle Eastern accent.

Thomas answered, "We're heading towards the street that leads to a government building. Have there been any IFA agents here recently?"

The young man replied, "No, but they do hold control over parts of West Baghlan, and all of North Baghlan. I think the government building might be under IFA control. I'm pretty sure the rest of you will be okay, nothing to worry about."

Thomas nodded, "Well thanks for the info. Godspeed, dear sir."

The young man gave the rest a thumbs up to let Thomas's squad pass through the checkpoint to reach the block where some of the Merryweather forces. Unbeknownst to Thomas and the others, the young Afghani male they had spoken to was an undercover agent for the Islamic Front of Afghanistan and had contacted a strike team of IFA fighters to ambush the entire squad and wipe them out.

The man thought to himself, "The stupid infidels will not know what will be in store for them. They will suffer the consequences of interfering with what we are trying to accomplish!"

As they were entering the Northwestern part of Baghlan, Thomas and the others were observing the buildings around them. Some were two to three story buildings with various colors painted around. There was graffiti on the walls, some of which either had cracks on them or were falling apart due to the three-day fighting that has been ongoing. Some of the graffiti had Anti-American threats and visual satire such as one showing the hanging of Lady Liberty in front of angry terrorists firing guns with nuclear missiles flying towards the west.

Marshall was feeling frustrated. "Shit! No response, guys. I have a bad feeling about this. I've been trying to link in for the past ten minutes, but there's nothing at all. All I'm hearing is white noise from communications.

As they were moving towards the end of the street they were on. Paul, being at the gunner's position noticed a blockade of two SUVs and Karin Technicals with eight IFA fighters-three of them carrying RPG's and the rest carrying various rifles, all of which aiming at their position.

Paul shouted, "Oh Holy Shit! Blackwater, we got tangos up ahead. It's a damn blockade!"

Thomas seething with anger commanded, "We've been screwed over! Wilbur, fuck those bastards up! It's now or never, we have to complete our mission."

Paul started to fire bursting rounds from the turret, killing most of the blockade forces with sheer force one by one and blew up a few vehicles on the way. As Paul was still firing at the blockade up ahead, three fighters from the opposite direction fired rockets at the Insurgent Pick-Up. Thomas pressed on the gas pedal to crash into the blockade as he swerved the vehicle around to prevent being hit by an RPG rocket, but felt the momentum of the blast rocking the Insurgent. The Insurgent managed to ram through the blockade, but had taken damage from the blasts it absorbed. Everyone got out of the vehicle once it was over and started to discuss about what had happened.

Deshawn shouted, "What in Sam Hill was that bullshit?! They shouldn't have known that we were coming down the end of the street."

Thomas put his hands behind his head as he looked at the scene. "The bastard from the checkpoint! He must have been working for IFA and we didn't even notice. Marshall, you were right about that bad feeling. Now look at what has happened!"

Marshall put his hand on Thomas's shoulder in a friendly manner. "Look, what has happened has happened. I know you're pissed right now, but we have to keep on moving."

Shawn agreed. "Yeah, we can't be moping around like a bunch of emo kids hiding in the shadows of their rooms. By the way, what about the Insurgent? We can't just keep on moving with that thing, two more of those rockets and we're goners!"

Paul replied to his brother's comment, "I guess we can still drive towards the building. We're three-fourths of a mile away. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?"

Han sighed, "Let's pray to God Almighty that you're right. Come on, let's keep moving on."

(Flashback Ends)

Thursday, 11:50 PM, 1112 Boulevard Del Perro, Del Perro

Thomas woke up from his flashback-like dream in deep thought. Thomas had the sense that he should have saved the rest of the team while he could, but the situation had turned ugly for the rest of them. He reflected on that day like a flash of light stood out before him. Though he did not know why the memories of that tragic day were still haunting his mind, he knew that sooner or later, he'd have to face facts with what happened in Baghlan. He then changed into a set of clothing that comprised of a black leather jacket with two identical white striped rings on the forearms, a black v-neck shirt, brown jeans and a pair of black boots.

Wanting to forget about what he had dreamt; Thomas went to go grab a beer just to drink away the loss of losing his teammates. He was halfway drinking his second beer when he heard his phone make a notification ring. He went to check the message, turns out it was Gerald. He opened the unchecked message and read it to himself.

"Alright, fool. I got a word on a hustle. It's outside a town at this serious dealer's spot, but you don't gotta deal with him. He's been selling chemical to some hillbilly types cookin out their RV. Boost the caravan and meet my dudes at the YouTool depot off the freeway. You get money, and I'm in the crystal game. It's all good."

Thomas thought to himself, "Gerald wants to enter the realm of Crystal Meth? The hell is he thinking?! In the meth game, it's kill or be killed. Sandy Shores got damned to hell no thanks to that shit! All it's done is make you crazy as a psychopath and do some weird shit you'll regret in the morning. Well, I do need the pay after all. Also, where's the damn location?"

Thomas texted Gerald, "Where's the location? Can't go to Sandy Shores without knowing where the hustle is?"

Gerald replied back, "The place is a Liquor Ace store somewhere in Sandy Shores, not too far out off the Grand Senora Desert."

Thomas replied, "Thanks. Give me some time to assemble my crew."

Thomas ended the call and started to think about who should come with him on the mission. He considered the fact that he had not called upon Jamila, Madison and Austin in quite a while, so he called them for assistance with the mission and told them to meet him in front of his apartment within one hour or less since he needed to get equipment for the mission.

2:40 PM, Outside of 1115 Boulevard Del Perro, Del Perro

Thomas was sitting on top of his purple and black Bravado Gauntlet smoking a cigarette when Jamila, Madison and Austin arrived. They got out of Austin's white Bravado Buffalo and greeted Thomas as he flicked away the cigarette to the ground.

Madison shook Thomas' hand, "Hey dude. So what's this thing about?"

Thomas answered, "Well, long story short. Gerald wants to enter the crystal meth game. I know, it sounds risky and stupid. He wants us to go out all the way to the Grand Senora Desert in Sandy Shores and hijack an RV that belongs to some rednecks and hillbillies nearby some meth dealer's store."

Jamila reacted in disbelief towards Gerald's move to sell meth. "Why the hell would he want to start selling Meth? He wants Los Santos to become worse than it already is?"

Austin responded, "Well, there are some beautiful things about Los Santos. But then, there's the ugly."

Thomas agreed. "Yeah, I definitely can say an 'amen' to that. By the way, I have some surpassed rifles in the trunk of my Gauntlet if you want."

Austin smiled at Thomas sheepishly. "Thanks Thom, but we already got some weapons for everyone to use. Oh and we also got earpieces for everyone to communicate with."

Once the conversation had come to an end, Thomas and Madison left in the Gauntlet Thomas owned, while Austin and Jamila departed in his Buffalo sports car.

4:20 PM, Sandy Shores, Grand Senora Desert

The crew drove through the poverty stricken buildings of Sandy Shores. As far as the town's past goes-Sandy Shores was once a prosperous town that was financially well with the benefits of tourism until the toxicity of the sea and especially, the introduction of Methamphetamine ruined the town to what it is today. A town filled with racist rednecks, strung-up hillbillies, prostitutes, meth addicts and violent gangs that could go to war with the Ballas, Aztecas, Families and Vagos at any given minute.

"Thank God we live in Los Santos. I can bet y'all my friends JB and Tanya would not be able to last out here since they're already on Crack." Jamila exclaimed to everyone.

Austin replied back to Jamila's comment, "Well, I feel sorry for them. Shit, this town looks beautiful, but has the town has no soul, only empty, bitter and hopeless."

Thomas looked at Austin and said, "Dude, do you read Edgar Allen Poe or Shakespeare? What you said right there was pretty poetic."

Austin laughed. "Thanks Thom. I like to read stories and poems by some of the greatest poets that existed in their generations." From a distance, Thomas could spot the sign of the Liquor Ace store since it was four blocks away. "Hey listen, guys. We'll have to park across the street in that abandoned motel and get a good look with what we're dealing with." Thomas informed the others via earpiece.

The derelict motel looked like something that came out of a post-apocalyptic horror movie. The motel is made up of two identical buildings shaped like an "L" (comprised of four double-story blocks); had empty, decaying rooms scattered about with rubble and cracked walls; Both buildings for the motel was four stories tall and had a lime color that was fading away as time passed by. As for the rooftops, some had been tagged or sprayed with graffiti, others were "enterable" by means of collapsed shingles and ground that had become piles of rubble in some rooms that led to the rooftops. In the courtyard, there were remains of a swimming pool, tennis court and a recreation room.

The crew had parked into one of the parking lots for the formally functional motel, went through a short passage between the two buildings and went upstairs to the rooftop of the block that was across a couple stores. Thomas got out a suppressed sniper rifle to scope out around the area for any hostilities before they could take the RV.

Thomas mentioned to everyone what he was seeing. "Okay. I'm seeing two rednecks in front of the RV, one guy is nearby the front of the store next to an ice cooler, four guys on the balcony; On the east side, there's a dark green, two story building with two guys on the upstairs deck and I mean one on each end; And there's only one guy sporting a blond mullet who's in front of a trailer home. One last thing, I'll assume there are some rednecks in the store as well."

Everyone was in deep thought thinking how to wipe out all the enemies around the RV until Austin spoke up amongst them

He blurted out, "I have an idea! I'd suggest eliminating the guys on the rooftop first so we can cover more ground. Once that's over with, two of us will have to pick off the guys on the upstairs deck as Thomas mentioned before, along with our mullet boy."

Thomas grinned, "Austin, you are one smart son of a bitch. That's why the world needs more people like you."

Austin replied back with a handshake, "Thanks for the compliment. Alright, y'all ready for this?" Everyone nodded as they were loading magazines into the suppressed sniper rifles. Thomas, Jamila, Austin and Madison got into position, ready to pick off the guys on the rooftop. As luck would have it, they all were facing each other just looking around the area. The rednecks were all sporting tanktops and cargo shorts and had brown hair ranging in styles from buzzed to mullet.

Thomas commanded to everyone, "On my mark… 3, 2, 1, fire!" They shot at the rooftop guards simultaneously with clean headshots, their bodies dropping to the ground with a quick thud.

Madison whispered, "Nice and easy. Thomas, help me take out the guys on the upstairs deck." Thomas nodded his head at Madison. "Got it" he replied back. They turned a bit to the east, paying attention to the guys looking around the area scouting for any sign of trouble. Thomas aimed his sights at his target, a man who wore a black T-shirt, dirty grey sweatpants, and messy dark brown hair in the style of Caesar and wore purple-tinted sunglasses. Taking in a deep breath, he immediately sniped off the guy at the end of the deck, slumping down to the wall. Madison had no trouble with her target-an overweight male; who wore denim overalls and a white T-shirt since he had trouble staying awake.

"Sleep tight, big chief. Life is nothing but a long dream." Madison said after she sniped off her target. Jamila then picked off the guy who wore a blond mullet, black sunglasses, white polo and camo shorts.

Thomas commanded to the rest, "Alright, Madison-you'll come with me to hijack the RV while you guys provide cover for us in case if any reinforcements come."

Everyone agreed with Thomas's suggestion and went to perform their tasks. Thomas and Madison got into the RV with no ease, while Jamila and Austin were nearby keeping a lookout. Just when they were about to leave, a Caucasian clerk wearing a butcher's outfit and sporting a green Mohawk went out of the store to smoke a cig until he saw them with the RV.

The alarmed clerk shouted at an armed assailant in the store, "Shit, we got some douchebags stealing our RV! Alert the others"

Thomas and Madison both cursed at the same time, while Austin fired rounds from his Carbine Rifle at the clerk, dropping him dead to the ground leaking out a pool of blood soaking into his clothing.

Austin noticed the armed guard coming out of the store ready to shoot. Austin then fired a barrage of rounds at the assailant with the guy taking most of the shots to his skull at various places. "Go, go! We'll take care of them!" He shouted at Thomas and Madison. Both of them then left the area to deliver the RV.

Madison warned Thomas, "Hey-yo! There are two guys on a dirt bike coming straight towards us!"

Thomas cursed as he noticed the guy at the back pull out a Micro-SMG and fired at the RV. Fortunately, he missed thanks to bad aim and only got bullet holes at the side of the RV. Austin's voice spoke through the earpiece, "Hey don't worry, Jamila and I already got them. Keep moving, we got a few bogies behind us." At this point, they had already left Sandy Shores and crossed the railroad tracks until Madison spotted up ahead four hillbillies next to a pickup truck, lying nearby the Sandy Shores Airfield hanger.

Madison looked at Thomas. "Hey look up, Thom. We'll have to get out and eliminate them before we continue." Thomas nodded at Madison, parking the RV at the side of the sandy road. They both got out of the RV firing at the hillbillies a couple feet away, execution-style with no haste. Taken care of that, they got back on the RV and took a left turn to a rugged dirt road, leading to a shorter route to the YouTool depot. Austin and Jamila suddenly rolled up in front of them in case of any more adversaries were coming towards them.

Jamila then alerted Thomas and Madison, "Hey guys. We're seeing four guys with rifles up ahead on a dirt mound three feet ahead. How about the two of you go off-road to the YouTool? Austin and I will take care of these bastards."

"Alright, just be careful with them. We're going right now!" Thomas said to the both of them. Jamila and Austin took out the four scouts by sniping them off with the Marksman Rifles, picking them off thanks to the rapid-fire shots of the rifle. Once that job was done, they left the site to meet up with Thom and Maddie. Austin notified them about what happened, "Yeah, our side is done. You got any resistance coming towards you guys?"

Thomas said, "Nah, bro. We're approaching the back of the YouTool store right now." As Thomas drove the RV into the back of the YouTool depot, he saw two Families members with a SUV in front of them.

One of the Families members wearing a green durag said to Thomas and Madison as they hopped out of the RV, "Ayyo, we'll take the RV right now. Gerald wants it delivered to his place right away." Thomas then reached in his pockets and tossed the keys as Jamila and Austin drove into the back of the depot.

Madison asked both the Families members "Where's the money at? We did the job, after all?" The other Families member then ran back to the SUV and brought out four envelopes from the trunk to give to the rest of them. "Here y'all go. That's about twenty-eight thousand, four hundred and eighty dollars right there. Have a nice day. Gerald thanks you all for this." The durag guy said to the crew as him and his partner left with the RV.

Jamila was the first amongst them to speak, "Shit! This is a bit more than what I earn at LifeInvader. Now I'm really thinking of leaving that place." Thomas replied, "I actually thought they paid you guys a good amount of money given how the company is so successful."

Jamila looked at Thomas like he went crazy. "Hell fuckin' no! That Jay Norris son of a bitch deducted everyone's pay just so he can push out more products of LifeInvader just to boost up its value in the stock market. I mean have you seen how much they are worth?! Even Bleeter is doing better because they're more innovative and careful."

Austin replied, "Well, that's American Capitalism for you all. Sometimes good, sometimes bad."

Madison on the other hand was ready to leave. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to wire this money into my account and get some new stuff." She said to the rest in a tone of excitement in her voice.

Thomas then asked Austin a favor, "Hey dude. Think you can gimme a ride to that motel we were at earlier? I left my gauntlet over there." Austin replied back, "Sure Thom. Ladies, care to come along?"

"Sure!" answered Jamila and Madison with a shrug. As the sun was setting, everyone arrived back at the motel just as Thomas entered his Gauntlet.

"Alright, you guys. I'll see y'all some other time, alright. Don't blow that hard-earned money on coke or some other shit!" Thomas shouted to the others as he was about to leave.

"And make sure you don't spend your money on street whores and cheap-ass beer." Madison shot back at Thomas. Thomas said to Madison, "I'll keep that in mind, then."

Everyone then went their separate ways as the sun was setting over the skyline.

Hey guys, Tom Tha Author here. It's been damn crazy since I graduated a couple weeks back. I've been trying to find a job for the past couple of weeks. This chapter is one of my longest ones and I put in a lot of time and effort into this one. So I'd appreciate it if anyone could leave a review for this one. It's kinda funny how long this one took like a bit over a month. I hit a huge rut with the flashback sequence since I had various scenarios going through my head. So what I did over the course of May was watch a couple of gameplay videos of C.o.D and Medal of Honor to get a sense of how I wanted the flashback to be.

The next flashback will appear in a future chapter and will close the book on Thomas's past with Merryweather. I'm yet to work on the next chapter and I might take a few days' break just to look at the direction of how the story should go. Thank you all for your continued support and reading. Peace and God Bless.

-Tom Tha Author