There were two things I liked, one was a cold coke and the other a nice walk. I know, not the most amazing thing in the world, but it gave me time to myself. Nothing but the sound of the city and my thoughts. Its when I did the most thinking actually, but today was a bit different. I was home.

“You were so stupid for that,” She said as she bumped her shoulder against mine. “I still can’t believe you got away with it. Miss Carter must have had a soft spot for you, if that was anyone else she’d have noticed.”

“I mean, can you blame her,” I laughed a little as we walked down the street.

“Boy, please. Don’t pretend like you’re charming.”

“What?! Buttons, come on! Do I need to remind you of Ashley? Who was it that said she wouldn’t date me with my messed up hairline?”

“And I still can’t believe that happened. Something was definitely messed up in her head.” Buttons said as she popped her gum.

“Now you just hating.”

“I ain’t got nothing to hate on,” Buttons said as she stopped walking and leaned over the rail. The scene would have been amazing to look at if it wasn’t for the cold breeze passing by us. Who didn’t like to look out at the ocean and watch the waves?

As terrible as this city was, even I had to admit there was beauty here. Yeah, I might have been looking at Buttons when I had that thought, but can you blame me? She was different, and that is something to be said about everyone. But, it’s true. Short purple hair with light makeup rocking a biker look. Her style seemed to have changed since the last time I saw her, but she was hot.

Damn, I can’t believe I thought that. Buttons… hot? I really need to get laid if that's how I’m seeing her.

“So,” She said as she brushed her hair behind her ear as she looked at me. “What made you call after all this time? Just wanted to catch up on old times?”

I shrugged, what could I say? It has been a few months, and I should have hit her up. Except, I didn’t. I left the city, but I also left everyone else behind as well. “I mean, kind of. I need something good in my life right now, and yeah, I was a shitty friend. But, you could have called me too.”

“Thought I did.” Buttons reached into her black leather jacket to pull out her phone. She showed me the times she called and there were more than just a few. “Oh, I did. What’s up anyways? Why’d you come back?”

I leaned against the railing facing the opposite way she was. Cars lined the side of the road, most of them missing tires and were left with just a jack underneath them. Even with all the camera’s located on every corner crime just never stopped here. Not like the police here were any better than the ones in New Vegas.

“My dad,” I told her as I wasn’t too comfortable talking about it yet. She pushed her shoulder against mine causing me to look at her. She was turned around now facing the same direction as me, looking at the city.

“What’s up?”

“He died. Four days ago, gunned down on his way home.”

“Oh. Shit Ray, you okay?” Her voice was full of worry and concern. This was a shock to her as well, she moved from the railing and stood in front of me.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I told her. Truth was, I wasn’t even sure. I mean, he was my father and we were somewhat close. But, it just didn’t feel real. My mom cried for hours, but me, I didn’t shed a tear.

Buttons grabbed my hand and held it in hers. It was warm. Even through this cold season, she felt warm. “Want to grab-”

“Raven? Holy hell, I was wondering who Buttons was talking to.” A cheerful voice I hadn’t heard in a while yelled from the street. I knew who it was before she even took her helmet off.

I gave her a soft smile, the best one I could muster at the moment. Buttons frowned, and I knew she was upset at the sudden interruption. However, she didn’t complain and just whispered to me that we would talk later. Honestly, I wanted to avoid the topic.

“Been a while Kiki. Always happy to see you.”

Kiki ran up and hugged me. For a Japanese woman she was strong even though she looked all skin and bones. Her and Buttons had two different styles even though they both were asian and grew up together. I’m not sure how to put it, but Kiki wore loose fitting clothes while Buttons kept it stylish but fitted. Neither of them showed off too much skin, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t. Guess it was just the difference between how their families were.

I felt bad trying to catch a quick glance at her ass, but I didn’t feel that bad. Not like I could see anything anyway, the way she was wearing those black cargo pants made it hard to even see an outline. Still, she looked good.

“When did you get back? What have you been up to?” She fired away as soon as the hug ended.

“Not much if I’m being real. Just trying to adjust.”

“Well, don’t do it out here. You know where home is, you’re always welcome.”

“You sure about that?” Buttons didn’t sound so sure of what Kiki was saying. I guess some things did change while I was away.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Drop that nasty coke and I’ll give you a ride.”

“Nasty? This is the drink of life. Try it.” I pushed my bottle of coke toward her and Kiki gave me a look of disgust. I couldn’t help but laugh as I knew she hated anything that had caffeine and sugar in it.

“You know we drove here,” Buttons moved her head in the direction of her black audi down the road.

“Oh," Kiki said as she looked dlwn the road where Buttons motioned. "Doesn’t mean he can’t ride with me though. Come on, you left your bike behind when you left. When’s the last time you rode one of these babies?” Kiki asked me as she smiled at her purple and black venom sport bike. Was it gorgeous? Yes. Did I want to ride it? Hell yeah!

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I gave Buttons that look that meant, ‘You can’t honestly blame me, can you?’ and she rolled her eyes then gave me the finger. Alright, I knew she was cool with it right then.

It wasn’t more than a twenty minute drive before we made it to the hideout. I was happy Kiki wasn’t driving the bike or I might have actually lost my life. The way she drove she should have been arrested and charged multiple times by now, but the cops never caught her.

“This place still a dump,” I commented as I gave the building a one over. Windows were shattered, graffiti was all over the building, and the fence was broken. The only good thing it had going for it was its large size, and that was only due to it being a factory. Or, it used to be one but now it was abandoned.

“Hey, it’s our dump!” Kiki corrected me as she put her arm around my shoulder and walked me inside.

She wasn’t wrong about that, this place held so many memories. Years of them at that. A lot of good things occurred here and so did some bad. The good, bad, and ugly. It’s what made this place so great, and a total dump. I’m still shocked they haven’t torn it down yet after all those dead bodies were found here a few years back.

I noticed Kiki was wearing a ring. Not a wedding ring or one of those mood rings that went off the market a long time ago. It was a black ring with a green jewel in it, I couldn’t tell if it was an emerald or not. They all looked the same to me, but knowing the cost of one of those I had to settle on a peridot ring.

The same could be said for Buttons as well, but hers was blue in color. I didn’t bring it up before because I figured she’d tell me about it. Sadly, we never got that far into our conversation because Kiki showed up. Not that our conversation was heading in that direction anyway.

Inside the abandoned factory we headed to the second floor. Long extension cords ran down the stairs and around the corner into some room. The second floor looked better than the first, but it was still a dump. There wasn’t much too it, but they seemed to have added a few things.

Like the fridge that Buttons went to. I may have observed her as she grabbed a water to see if anything else changed. From my view, things definitely changed. Those jean shorts she was wearing weren't fighting off the cold in any way. They did excel at showcasing her plump booty and long legs.

“A lot has changed since you left Raven. As you can see, we did a bit of decorating.” Kiki told me as she plopped down on the couch. A black sheet covered it and it looked fresh.

“This isn’t even the main spot, we haven’t used this place for anything in a while.”

Kiki shook her finger at me. “Not we. You left the crew. But yeah, this is just where we hangout to get away from the world.”

I took a seat next to her, and Buttons sat across from us. There were usb drives on the brown coffee table and a few sheets of paper. Still no tv, but one couldn’t have it all.

“I guess, but fill me in anyways. I need something to talk about right now, besides myself.” I told her.

Kiki looked over at Buttons for more information. Buttons just took a sip of her water and Kiki realized she wasn’t going to find out anything. “Not much to say, or don’t know what to say. We’re working with Brandon now.”

“For.” Buttons corrected her.

“Whose Brandon?”

“Oh, yeah you never met him.” Kiki made an O face as she realized that. “He graduated from New Hope Academy when we were freshmen, but Ricky ended up connecting with him from a friend."

“So what, he’s some big shot? What happened to Carlos?” I asked.

Kiki pulled out her phone and started tapping her fingers on it before she showed me an image. “Oh.” I had a lukewarm response to the graphic picture, but when you’ve seen a few dead bodies you get used to it.

“Yeah, things were crazy after you left Ray. Full on war between the east and the west. Bodies dropped left and right on a daily, and the city was put on lockdown for a while.” Buttons said.

“Damn. I heard the news say something about a lockdown but they were saying it was for another reason. Some minor chemical leak or some bullshit like that. Knew they were trying to cover their ass.” That was the thing about New Dawn City. If you were in it, then you knew everything that was going on. The moment you left, the news portrayed the place as all rainbows and sunshine.

No one was stupid enough to believe the media, and the ones that were came to New Dawn City but never left. Coming in was easy, leaving was hard.

Kiki smiled as she slapped me on the back. “But no worries, we’re all fine. I mean, things worked out for us.”

“Guessing so considering you're wearing a gem now.” I made sure to comment on the ring she was wearing.

Kiki held out her hand for me to examine it. “Yeah, pretty cool huh.”

“You can always return and buy you one too. Surgeries a bitch, but the market is cheap.” Buttons suggested.

I already knew that, she didn’t need to remind me. Gem extraction was the highest paying job in the world because working with them was dangerous. And I couldn’t lie to myself, I kind of wanted to come back. I wasn’t even here long but hanging out with these two reminded me so much of the old times. But, things change. People change.

“Eh, I don’t know about that. Hanging out here is one thing, but Ricky won’t be too keen on your return.”

I sat back on the couch and propped my feet up on the table. “Why is that? He’s still not upset that I left is he?”

“He shouldn’t be, but it’s Ricky we’re talking about here.” Kiki said.

Buttons sighed from her side of the room. “He’s going to be a real ass about it. After everyone died-”

“Wait, what?!” I nearly jumped from the couch when I heard that. Everyone? What did she mean by that?

“Everyone except five of us. George and Adam left after the incident, and Ricky didn’t bother trying to talk them into staying.” Kiki added in.

I looked at Kiki, then to Buttons. “What incident? What are you guys even talking about?”

Buttons sighed once more. She reached across and grabbed one of the many usb drives that were on the table. “Here. Watch it when you get home, it has everything on it.”

I put the drive into the pocket of my red coat. “I will, but what happened? Blackout had twenty people, now you’re down to three?”

“Ten,” Kiki corrected me. “I told you we were fine, everything ended up working out for us. More people joined us, and with our connection to Brandon things are running smooth.”

I sighed and clenched the usb drive in my pocket. I was only gone for eight months and people I knew and considered close were gone, just like that. It wasn’t even a year and I was out of contact with almost all of them. But, it still hit different knowing you lost someone close to you.

“Ray, New Dawn City just isn’t the same any more. This city changed, we all did.” Buttons said, and she didn’t sound too happy about it either. I wanted to ask what was up, but there just wasn’t time.

“I knew I heard a rat, just can’t believe I'm seeing it.” A deep voice said. There was something about his voice that made it sound smooth and pleasing to the ear.

We all turned to look at the man who came up the stairs. None of us noticed his footsteps because we were too focused on our conversation. He was wearing black ripped jeans that matched his black hair. I knew he was going for that Tommy Shelby look with the way his hair was cut, but the piercings on his face gave him more charisma. I don’t know why girls dug the pierced ears, eyebrows, nose and lips look on guys, but they just did. His rough edge gave him that bad boy feel and everyone knew women just couldn’t stay away. They always wanted to be the one to change the bad boy or at least tame him.

For that, I’d say they never met Ricky. The one thing I noticed on him besides the rings he was sporting was the new tattoo he had on his neck. This man must have had a god complex now because he had the word God across his neck. That with his stupid chinese tattoo and I knew what they said.

“So, why’d you return?” He asked as he walked over to me with open arms. I had a feeling he was up to something, so I got ready for anything.

As soon as I opened my mouth to say something, he punched me right in my face. I was a little dazed and tasted something metallic in my mouth. Kiki and Buttons shot up as if their lives depended on it.

This man had balls of steel if he thought I was just going to take that. I don’t care how much power he had in those rings, or what happened to him. He was not about to just hit me and get away with it.