Day of Reckoning

Compton, South Central Los Angeles. Matt had never been here as a kid, not once in his life... no one from any sort of middle class family dared venture here. He remembered he had always wanted to venture into here as a kid, but his parents wouldn't allow it. Hell, these days, even the police were nervous about going in... the amount of cops murdered by the gangbangers over the years was astronomical. Matt smiled to himself as he sat smoking a Marlboro Red, watching the street hookers and the drug dealers go about their nightly business. He sat out front of the house of the gangbanger known as Nether Devil- a violent, charismatic heroin dealer, gun smuggler and serial killer who was currently wanted by the FBI for questioning for over 30 murders. Nether Devil, as it turned out, had been following Matt's exploits for years. He had utilised a contact in the FBI to gain intel on Matt's arrest. Upon hearing that Matt had been apprehended in France and was supposed to be detained in Colorado, he had sent 3 of his most trusted lieutenants to Colorado, their arrival coinciding with the plane Matt was on arriving in US airspace. Nether Devil knew that Matt would be a deadly weapon for him- he would finally take control of the streets. And he would ensure that Matt would be paid well. Very well. Arin, on the other hand, was a different story. Nether Devil could tell that he was weak, liable to break under pressure... could probably become a snitch at any moment...

Arin was nervous. Scared, really. He had decided to do it, no matter what the consequences. He just couldn't handle the running and hiding anymore. It had taken him from the time of his arrest to now to decide. He was going to contact Zacky and give himself up... and Matt too. He was close to suicide ever since he got talked into doing the job on the church in Britain. He felt unbearable guilt for the people he had taken part in killing. He planned on having himself and Matt arrested, then he would kill himself while in custody. He didn't want to wait any longer knowing he was destined to burn in Hell. Shaking, sweaty, he picked up the phone and dialled Zacky's number.

"Baker" Zacky said quietly, while standing out front of a house on one of Compton's most dangerous streets. "This is Arin" the quivery voice said over the other end. Zacky froze for a split second before pulling himself in check, "where the fuck are you asshole? I'm coming for you!" ""I'm with Matt on Strawberry Avenue, number 111" Arin whispered, obviously terrified. Zacky couldn't believe his luck. "Stay there dipshit, and I might not kill you" Zacky hissed down the phone before hanging up. He was pissed. And elated. Dusty was right. As if on cue, a black gang SUV cruised past slowly, containing Dusty, Ghost and Givens. Pulling over, Zacky jumped aboard. "Found anything?" Dusty enquired. "No shit I found something, Arin called me and told me they were on Strawberry, house 111!" Zacky declared. Dusty, Ghost and Givens stared at Zacky and each other in shock- so close already? "Let's check it out, I know an alleyway that runs off of it, we'll suit up there" Dusty ordered, driving towards said alleyway.

The alleyway was dark, not a light anywhere. Hardly anyone around. The 4 men, clad in heavy bulletproof vests, assault rifles at the ready, silently exited the vehicle and made their way to the entrance to Strawberry. The shadows would be needed for this. A hooker who was hidden in the shadows with a client spotted the 4 men for a split second. Fear welled up in her as she shook off her client. She had to tell Nether Devil that they were coming for him. Little did she know that it was not her brother that they were after, but rather the 2 strange men he had taken in days earlier.

Zacky knew that they must make the arrest as quick and clean as possible, as any mistake would set off a hornet's nest. The Crips were amongst the most dangerous criminal organizations in the world. They didn't take very kindly to authority figures, especially ones wandering their turf in the dark. Number 111 loomed into sight, a double-storey dilapidated monstrosity. As if their luck couldn't get any better, Arin loomed into view, holding a knife, looking terrified.


Arin got ready to do it, as soon as he had Matt outside, having called him out. Arin made sure to stand a good distance from Matt and the 4 advancing figures as he readied the knife, held it towards his throat...

Matt wandered outside, wondering what the fuck Arin's problem was. He was shocked to see Arin standing there, knife against his throat, looking at him with a mixture of terror and sadness. "I'm sorry Matty" Arin whispered, pointing towards the road. Matt whipped around, gun in hand as his 4 most hated adversaries loomed into view, rifles pointed at his head and chest. With rising fury, he turned towards the rat, Arin Ilejay, made to take him hostage... only to watch Arin slice his own throat, fall down, dead.

The 4 men circled Matt, covering him from all angles, their faces like stone. Zacky made sure to stand in front, glaring with hatred into his enemy's eyes. His enemy had an equal amount of hatred in his. "There's nowhere to run fuckwit" Zacky hissed quietly, "you're coming with us, whether in handcuffs or a fucking bodybag." Ghost pulled out a pair of cable ties, saying "hands where we can see them." Dusty had his rifle pointed at the back of Matt's head, who had slowly raised his hands. Givens was scanning the street, watching for interlopers. Ghost made to bind Matt's hands... when a fusillade of machine gun fire hit him in the head.

Zacky screamed as Ghost fell, making to grab him, drag him to safety, not yet knowing that Ghost was already gone. While Givens and Dusty were frantically looking to see where the gunfire had came from, Matt saw his chance. He quickly grabbed his .50 Desert Eagle, and took aim towards Zacky, squeezing off 3 shots. Zacky fell. Thinking that Zacky was dead, he quickly whipped around and pistol-whipped Dusty in the head; as Dusty went down, he rushed towards Givens like a demon and punched him in the face multiple times. Givens was knocked unconscious. Matt started towards the house, where the figure of Nether Devil was in the doorway, gold-plated AK-47 slung across his chest. "One-time's probs on the way, we gotta shake the spot fool!" Nether Devil bellowed. Without saying a word, Nether Devil and Matt ran towards a top-of-the-range sports car that Matt had stolen from some rich asshole in Beverly Hills the day before. The 3 men who had rescued Matt and Arin remained at the house, armed heavily with light machine guns, ready to take on law enforcement. The firefight had awoken the whole neighbourhood, with various gangbangers rushing out of their houses, armed with all sorts of weapons, ready to defend their neighbourhood against the inevitable assault by the police. Matt grabbed Nether Devil as he made to start the engine. "No! We can't leave! We gotta stay and fight!" Matt shouted. Nether Devil looked at him in shock, "fool you and I both know that the pigs are after our asses!" "Yeah so? We got enough firepower here to hold them off until we can ALL escape!" Matt growled. Nether Devil knew he was right; both men scrambled out of the car towards the mass of gangbangers now crowding around the 4 assailants, one of them very dead, the other 3 barely alive. Nether Devil ordered his gang to take up positions around the neighbourhood, which they did in a matter of minutes, the police sirens becoming louder and louder. A crowd of Mexicans wearing Turquoise gang colours arrived in force, allies of the Crips, themselves armed with assault rifles and machetes. Matt walked up to the 4 men on the ground, grabbing Dusty's assault rifle, and stealing all of the ammo that they had on them, which totalled to 900 rounds. He was set. Nether Devil and Matt each grabbed a body, moving them to cover; they would be dealt with later.

A vein twitched in Zacky's neck. He came to consciousness, immediately remembering what had happened. He felt his body dumped unceremoniously on the ground. Opening his eyes a fraction, he could see that Givens and Dusty were still alive and playing dead like him. He only wished Ghost was playing dead too... except Ghost wasn't faking it. He heard the sirens coming and lay on the ground, not daring to move.

Notes

Its nearly the end... I've thought of a nice little twist