[i:8894f2a8b1]"You have got to be fuckin' kiddin' me."[/i:8894f2a8b1]

A pair of lonely grey eyes peered up to the heavens pleadingly. As the great bloated stormclouds flashed perilously with it's internal skirmish, Christopher quickly realized that Mother Nature was indeed, not fuckin' kiddin' him.

He threw the hood of his sweater up over his oily brown hair and retreated into a nearby alleyway, hoping that the convoluted canopy of pipes, laundry lines, and fire escapes above would provide some measure of cover. It was nearly dusk and soon the seedier elements of the neighborhood would slink from their dens, seeking night's cover for their nefarious activities.

Chris couldn't be bothered with such worries. Besides, he had a little extra insurance tucked into his belt, the kind that paid off in lead. As the atmosphere grew increasingly electric, it became clear that he wasn't going to be spared a good drenching tonight. It was bad enough he had to come down to this shit neighborhood just to score an eightball, because his regular dealer had been locked up. But on top of that, his car had died, cell phone had no reception, and he had missed his mark. Now he was carless, phoneless, drugless, and about to be dry-less.

He picked up his pace just as a low grumble echoed from above.

[i:8894f2a8b1]"Motherfucker! Just give me a few goddamn minutes!"[/i:8894f2a8b1]

But it wasn't in the plans this evening. The sky opened up above and down came the rain. He was drenched almost instantaneously. Battling torrents of obscenities and rainwater reverberated through the alleyway as the huddled figure now ran full speed towards it's exit point.

He emerged on a street he couldn't have recognized even without the downpour. Abandoned tenements and failed buildings sat dormant and lifeless, boarded up and waiting for the city council to take notice. Ancient husks of Cascadia's past, now on the last stage of their lifecycle. The stage just prior to rubble and refuge.

Blank, souless windows were boarded up and only the tiny shards of glass sticking out from their panes evidenced any prior use. Lightning lit the tiny street for an instant and something immediately caught Christopher's eye.

In one building, behind a barricade of boards, a door was slightly ajar. The youth bolted across the street and set immediately to work trying to pry one of the boards off. He was partly successful, at least managing to shift one sufficiently as to wedge his soaked figure through the opening.

He sat for a moment heaving and listening to the cascading rain. His eyes strained against the darkness.

((Ok I'm curious...

NS! Me too. :shock: More? ::drools:: :D