Standing in front of the destroyed homeless encampment, John looks down at the young boy.

“Mister, could you help me?”

John looks at the boy without saying anything.

“Mister?”

He sighs.

“I don’t know. It depends. What do you need help with?”

“I can’t find my mom.”

John looks away towards the ground.

“Could you-”

“Sorry, ask someone else.”

John begins to walk away as he heads towards the rubble. People are walking away from the scene carrying whatever that can lift as others begin fighting over more valuable items. Without looking back, John looks around, scanning for something to take.

“It’s mine! I found it first”

“Fuck off, you know I had my eyes on it.”

Ignoring the noise, John makes his way towards a collapsed hut, quickly, he begins to search through it with his hands as he pulls out a small medicine cabinet. Opening it up, he begins to search through the labels of the prescriptions, pocketing some tossing others.

“You’re from around here right, kid?” A man says as others chuckle.

“Let me go of me. Let me go!”

John looks over to see three men grab onto the boy.

“Just tell us where the stash is and we’ll let you go.” A man holding a knife to his throat says.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He looks away as he continues to search through the rubble.

“Don’t fuck with me! You little shit!”

The sound of a heavy slap can be heard.

The boy begins to cry.

“Shut the fuck up! Who told you-”

Not able to stand it any longer, John gets up and begins to walk over.

“Hey!” John shouts.

Another man standing nearby draws his gun at John.

“Mind your own business.”

John puts his hands up as he looks over at the boy then at the gun, it’s an older m1911. Seeing it, he moves forward.

“Not another step! I’ll shoot.” The man says as his gun shakes.

John laughs.

“You don’t even have a magazine in there. You fucking moron.” He says.

Getting up the knife wielding man points at him.

“We still got these, don't we?” He says with a smile.

They begin to laugh as suddenly, the knife wielding man is shot in the head, his brains spread across the ground, then the one with the gun falls quickly after.

The last man looks around in terror as he begins to run.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

John watches as he runs to cover.

A bullet whistles through the air as it hits the ground. It misses.

Then another one knicks the man in the leg causing him to stumble, he falls to the ground as he begins to cry out in pain.

A group of people that could be described as a militia appears, wearing tactical gear, they aren’t at the level to call a professional soldier, men and women with loose fitting clothing, long hair and beards and mustaches. Their leader, a tall black man walks forward towards the man.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Seeing him crawl on his feet, he looks down at him, as the man finally looks back at him.

“Please, I have a family.”

“We all do.”

He shoots him in the head.

Walking away, he double taps the other one as he looks in the direction of John.

“You know, you’ve got balls standing up to them like that.”

John peeks over to see the man, looking over with his finger off the trigger.

“You can come out, I’m not going to shoot you.”

“I don’t know about that.” John replies.

“You never know when someone else will jump you around here.”

John thinks to himself as he sighs.

“Alright I’m coming out.”

With his hands up, John slowly walks out of the rubble.

“Look who it is. I thought I recognized that voice.”

John looks over at the group who are checking inspecting the little boy as he realizes who he is.

“Shit, is that you Jamar?”

“The one and only.”

A latino male walks over to Jamar as he looks over at John.

“What’s up Santiago?”

“Kid’s fine, just a little shaken up. Who’s this?”

“John Fray, in the flesh. He’s one of the good ones.”

His eyes shift towards him as he whispers into Jamar’s ear.

“You sure we can trust him?”

“Me and John go way back. Served together in the Second Corpo War.”

“Shit, so you’re saying he’s Delta Force?”

“One of the best.”

“Why’s he look like that then?” A female soldier asks.

“Don’t know. But let’s head out, it isn’t safe here.” He says to the others.

Jamar looks over at John.

“You’re welcome to join if you want.”

John seems hesitant but begins to walk towards them.

“Is this how you treat an old friend?” John asks.

“I wouldn’t invite you if you weren’t.”

“Well shit.”

----------------------------------------

“So, who’s the kid?” Jamar asks.

The squad and the others are walking down another alleyway as they have seemingly relaxed themselves, the little boy seems to have calmed down a little, as John is walking next to Jamar.

“Oh, I don’t know. Just some random kid.”

“Why’d you step up?”

“Felt wrong to just leave him in that situation. If I did nothing I’d be leaving him for dead.”

A few of the soldiers look towards Jamar, as they seem to nod.

“You did good. You did good. So, whatever happened to you going clean?”

“I did. For a while. Then shit hit the fan.”

“Doesn’t it always?” Jamar mutters.

“We’re here.”

They stop in front of a building, it’s a rundown lot with the name Condor Security Services. The windows are boarded up with a barred up door.

“Nice place.” John says.

“Like you're doing any better.” Jamar scoffs.

He begins to unlock the doorway with a sequence of movements.

Opening it up, he holds the door as the others make their way inside.

“ What happened with the contracts and deals with the others?”

“I got burned.” Jamar replies.

“We all did.” He finishes as John looks at the others and the awkward atmosphere.

“Those motherfuckers, when it came to the chopping block they saved their own skin and left us out to dry. I should have known.” Jamar sighs.

Jamar nods to the others as they bring the little boy into another room.

“Just thinking about it makes me mad. What about you John?”

“How’d you end up back on the streets?”

John looks over at the boy and the others who are leaving.

“I- I have cancer.”

“Holy shit. How’d that happen?”

“I don’t know. Got diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. Next thing I know, the whole world is against me, I lost my job, then my car, and then my-” John says as he progressively begins to break down slowly.

Jamar walks up to John who’s about to cry.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“Why don’t you take a seat.”

“Yeah.”

John sits down in a seat as Jamar grabs one and walks up to him.

He sits down beside him.

“Couldn’t find a job, eventually found myself on the streets finding the VA Office. Now I’m here.”

“Shit, now that’s one story.”

They sit in silence for a bit.

“Ever thought about coming back and working with me?”

“No, you know why I signed up, to get my degree and get out of there. And besides you’re barely taking care of your own.”

“Then do you have any idea how you’re going to survive? We might not have insurance, but being able to do the basic necessities, to shower, have a safe place to stay.”

“I can think of something.” John says, pulling out a bunch of medical pills.

“Oh, for fucks sake.”

“Is that really any better?”

“Need to find a way to pay for my treatments somehow.”

“By what? Dealing drugs? Just because it isn’t illegal doesn’t mean it’s not going to get you killed.” Jamar shouts as he gets up from his chair.

“Come on, work with me. We can figure something out.”

John begins to have a coughing fit as more blood comes out of his lungs.

“I don’t have that much time left, Jamar. ”

Jamar takes in a deep breath of air as he looks at him.

His eyes trembling, Jamar begins to walk away.

“I’m going to go for a walk.”

Opening the door, he doesn’t look back.