Us and Them

The Great Gig in the Sky

   "Another raid in Oakland Hills of a musical black market lead to the arrests of five men and two women last week. Along with the contraband, a ledger of accounts and names tied to the illegal trade were found. Authorities say that they are working on finding these individuals and bringing them to justice."

   The Vixen stronghold on Southern California had crawled its way up into San Francisco in the months following the fall of Vegas. Crime had skyrocketed as those who rebelled against the new government sought revenge for their rights and freedoms being trampled. And the person responsible only doubled down on them. She had no mercy, killing protesters out in the open, setting revered places alight like kindling. Her anti-noise campaign was spray painted on street signs and the sides of buildings. California was sinking into chaos.

   "Supposedly, tomorrow there will be a huge rally here downtown where the Head Bitch will be bringing the heads of each of the cities she's taken over in a unification celebration. She's going to be there in the flesh for the first time since she started her movement." Patrick said, looking through a newspaper that had been thrown onto the porch that morning. "If the conditions are right, Hurley might be able to take a good shot at her. Then it's one less problem to worry about."

   The Prophet leaned forward intently in his seat. "Good thinking, but I feel like it would take more than a drumstick to the head to knock her down. Her girls are going to be there in the crowd watching for that stuff. We may be better off creating a distraction first. I'm talking a riot unlike you or anyone has ever seen."

   The six of them chatted up a game plan, which consisted of someone going out to scout the venue unnoticed before the rally arrived into town. They would have to find a vantage point for Hurley to shoot from as well that would be clear. Their time to prepare and execute this plan was very limited and pulling it off would be nearly impossible. But it had to be done. Having the Vixens crumble would be the final blow to their grasp on anything beyond The Way Out.

                                        •••

   There was a dead silence except the buzz of the speakers around the venue. A rather large crowd had already gathered and Hurley was already in his crow's nest atop an old hotel across the street. The Prophet and Pete had canvassed the grounds early that morning before the sun came up, wearing plain clothes and hooded jackets to hide themselves from any working security cameras in the area. But now, dusk had turned the city a dark gold, the sky painted with pink and orange over the crumbling skyline. Patrick stood in the middle of the crowd with Joe, while the Prophet and Josh stood on the outskirts. Pete was in the crow's nest with Andy. Nobody would be without help if there came a fight.

   To their surprise, a somber tone announced the beginning of the rally. Something twinged in Patrick, the ghost like rendition of the old national anthem stirring his wounded mind. His eyes had a pale yellow hue to them, but the music was brief, as if proving a point.

   "You alright, man?" Joe whispered with concern, Patrick nodding. "Don't fly off the handle. I'm not ready to fight anyone, especially not you again." He pat the other's shoulder and faced the stage once more.

   A tall, bleach blonde woman covered in tattoos and wearing the usual Vixen uniform walked to center stage to a podium. Two other girls followed behind her, both armed and took their places at either side of the older woman.

   "My, my. What a beautiful evening it is today, LA!" She greeted sweetly through the microphone. "Welcome to the first, and only, California Unification Rally. Tonight, we will be ushering in a new era of Silence!"

   The crowd cheered with excitement, their yells echoing off the buildings around them.

   "And I see we have some special guests here with us tonight." Her eyes locked with Patrick and Joe in the center of the crowd, a sly smile across her lips. "Why don't you two come on up?"

    "Fuck!" Patrick looked at Joe and they both simultaneously decided it was far too late to run. But neither of them wanted to go up on that stage.

   The Prophet gave a loud whistle and looked to the hotel. But nothing happened, not even a half assed shot toward the stage. Soon, the two in the crowd were shoved toward the front, both of them trying to push the opposing direction with no ground gained. Soon, the six of them were lined up on the stage for thousands to see.

   The woman gestured to them, "See? Would you have known these men were in the crowd tonight? Would you have been able to protect yourselves if they had planned some heinous attack? All this because they want to do things their way." She walked up behind Patrick and put her hands on his shoulders. "Let's see what happens when we do things the right way."

   She motioned to the speakers as they blared a twisted tone, Patrick twitching again as he fought himself. Pete glanced at him, then the woman, and finally back at the crowd. The volume increased and Patrick's eyes faded into a bright yellow color, anger filling his once uneasy expression. Then, he turned his attention toward his friends and pulled away from the woman, Pete leaping from his spot. He caught Patrick off balance and the two fell off the stage and into the crowd, which erupted into jeers and cheers as they made room for the scuffle. Andy Hurley took the distraction and pushed one of the leader's guards backward, taking a loose drumstick from where his crossbow had been stashed behind the podium and stabbing the woman in the calf.

   "Courtney!" The Vixen guard cried for her leader as she tried to right herself again. Joe dove for her leg as soon as she got to her feet again and pulled her down.

  Josh helped Andy subdue Courtney and the Prophet leapt down into the fight between Pete and Patrick, brandishing Pete's bass-machete.

   "Get back motherfuckers!" He hissed, swinging it wildly around him to get the crowd to back down. It was extremely difficult to get Patrick to back down in this state, especially with the hook still in place of his hand. Why Pete insisted on giving the guy who could turn into a murderous maniac at the sound of anything remotely music, only god knew.

   Courtney squirmed away from Andy as he tried yanking his only weapon out of her leg, blood making the stage slippery. The other Vixen guard had gotten away from Joe and Josh and pulled a knife from her boot, tackling Andy to get him away from her leader. She stuck the blade into the side of his neck, blood spurting everywhere. 

   "No!" Joe screamed, scrambling to aid his friend a few seconds too late. Rage filled him and he grabbed the microphone from its stand, yanking the cord with it until it came loose enough for him to gain some length. The Vixen was still on top of Andy's lifeless body catching her breath until Joe wrapped the microphone cord around her neck as best as he could. She thrashed around as the two of them rolled away toward the podium, her nails leaving claw marks in Joe's arms as she tried to force slack into the cordage.

   Josh scrapped with the remaining Vixen guard until he was able to get her into a headlock and render her unconscious. Then, he scrambled to help Joe with Courtney who had drug herself to the top of the stage stairs. Some of the members of the crowd on the fringes rushed the stage, going to aid their leader from any further harm. Josh and Joe quickly realized they were heavily outnumbered, backtracking across the stage once more and going behind it to find a van where the music was being played from. The person in charge of the sound had abandoned their post at the first sign of trouble which left it wide open. The two of them frantically started tearing the operation apart, grabbing fistfuls of cords and yanking them out of plugs to make it stop.

   At the end of the madness, they ended up driving the van around the side of the stage and carefully into the frenzied crowd. People scattered and forgot their anger when a two ton scrap of metal was pushing through them. Josh opened the side door as soon as they found the other three and they all scrambled in, Joe throwing it into reverse as soon as the door started shutting.  Patrick looked like a kicked puppy and Pete was panting alongside the Prophet as they pulled away from the venue and raced down the road. When they got to a spot that seemed safe, Joe pulled into a back alley and immediately broke down sobbing.

   This was the first loss anyone had experienced in almost a year.