Evening the Odds

Chapter One

"Hey! Hey you! Come back here with those!"

Maddie had already made it around the corner of the next street before she faintly heard those words, small chatter and laughs surrounding her, making them sound further than they actually were. She smiled to herself, just a small smile, as she put on her new jacket and sunglasses she picked up from that quaint little corner store. She felt a little bad for pilfering them, especially since the owners there helped her out with the basic needs to live when no one else would, but she just couldn't resist.

Feeling blissfully at peace with herself, for the most part, Maddie skips down the road- not the sidewalk because why not take up the whole street, and stops in front of a totally random part of the six-foot fence along the other side of the road. She studies it firmly, with complete concentration, then nods to herself in one hundred percent certainty and pushes at the panel she was studying so intently.

It doesn't budge.
That's odd. She could've sworn it was this one...

Inwardly berating herself, she pushes at the panel immediately to the left. Zilch. She raises an eyebrow, and pushes the panel to the right of the first one.

Nada.

Son of a...

Sighing, she closes her eyes and tries to focus. It had to be one of these. She just knew it. Finally, just fed up with almost never getting it right, she kicks at a random panel. And another. And another.

And another...

After kicking at fourteen panels, she finally finds the right one. Only seven to the left of the one she tried the first time. One of these days, she would get it right. But that's a long ways away.

She just didn't know it yet.

The panel opens like a doggy door, and she crouches down to step through the bottom of the opening. Once she is on the other side, she glances around, and thinks about which way to go next. If she goes left, she might get chased by that dog again, and last time she went that way, she almost got bit right on her butt, and cried for about an hour straight. But of course, she would never admit that to anyone. Down the middle path, she could see it in her minds eye. The dark, dingy alley that is home to roughly thirty homeless people, flattened card board boxes as make shift beds on either side. She shudders. Last time she went that route, she was almost raped. She guessed homeless people were desperate for more than just food and shelter. Lucky for her though, she didn't feel that way, and learned karate by watching classes through the back window of a dojo.

Wasn't so lucky for the guy that tried to grab her, though.

To the very right, lays-

Lays...nothing.

Piles and piles of dirt are scattered throughout the small clearing. Wondering what new place they're going to start building, she decides to go this route. It's usually the easiest route anyways, it just used to be rather difficult to jump the multiple brick walls that were scattered about, but she simply tells herself It's to satisfy her curiosity, and not because she's just the teensy bit scared to go any other direction.

Plus it doesn't look like there's any brick walls to jump over anymore, is there?

Whistling a tune she didn't even know she knew, she starts down this path. It looks a lot different than before. Gravel everywhere, not a single blade of grass to be seen, and in the middle of a clearing up ahead, a solid thin block of concrete.

A brilliant idea fills her mind, and she grins devilishly.

She makes it to the edge of the clearing and looks around. There's a few more paths that lead off to- well she doesn't know where, but that's not important right now- but other than that, no one else around or in sight. She steps up onto the slab and stands right in the center.