Tonight, like most nights, I don't dream. It's just a black void. One of my favorite songs begins to play in my head, but just the chorus. It stops then replays itself a few moments later. I shake myself awake when I realize it was my phone alerting me of a new message.
Tab: "waik up."
Me: "I'm here."
*Receiving MMS*
A picture of my window taken only seconds earlier.
And there she stood, her pale skin contrasting the calm darkness. Navigating the usual trashy floor, I came across the necessary items: a hoodie, my cell phone, my backpack, and my wallet. I opened the window and stepped out into a rather agreeable night. Tab met me, throwing her arms around me and kissing me.
"I missed you."
"Me too."
I led her to the gate and we left the backyard. A black Nissan Altima waited for us. I rode shotgun while Tab sat behind me. The driver, Jose, switched the radio on. His Russian techno music blasted away as he put the car into gear. Shortly, I recognized the road and realized we were headed towards the docks. Right now, the docks were a disaster zone of wreckage. No one truly knows the details but some have suggested that extra-humans are to blame. I personally don't believe in that bullshit. Jose parked the car. I gave him $50 for his trouble. Tab took a hold of my hand. We ducked under the police tape and tentatively walked on the wreckage. Dozens of the large shipping containers balanced precariously atop more twisted metal. For some strange reason, I began to feel depressed. It felt like walking through the ruins of some destroyed metal city. There were cars under the piles with people still inside. Of course, they must've died as soon as the containers landed on them. We reached a dead end. Tab took a look around and found a crevice which we crawled into. Tab's butt twitched as her legs pushed her ahead. After several feet of crawling, we reached a clearing. This is where the Kotomaru family met with a city official: Groph. I spotted a gun. Tab and I were after the missing duffel bags. Twenty million dollars in unmarked bills. No one expected an 18 year old and his girlfriend to be poking around for urban treasure.
"Maybe the Kotomaru emissary took it. I heard their car was crushed here, too," Tab said.
"Groph had a bag. Did he make it out?" I asked.
"I heard someone named Think caught up with the Cadillac."
"What did he do?"
"She drove it into the Orange River."
"Fuck. That's ten million for the fishes."
"The emissary's car should be around here," she reassured.
"What's his license plate number?"
"It's a custom plate: MMMG."
"I don't get it."
"Well, simple enough either way."
The crushed vehicles must be all within the same vicinity since the person behind the explosion sought to eliminate every driver in one move. We backtracked into the crevice and came across a car's back window. Tab once again squeezed into the tight space of the compacted vehicle. After switching on my head-light, I followed, ripping a hole into my shirt as I went after her. A body, mangled and crushed, still sat in the driver's seat. Tab took a second to pry the rings off the man's fingers. She pulled out her cutters and snapped off the chains around his neck. Unfortunately, the windshield remained intact, preventing further advancement. Using a small pen-shaped object, she obliterated the glass. I was right behind her as we went into an area with a little more room. This space allowed us to go on our knees and advance faster. I activated Tab's light. Dirt clung to her sweaty face. Using my sleeve, I wiped her face clean. She turned to continue. Her arm knocked a cylinder over. It rolled loudly as it clanged on the metal. I picked the object up to examine it. The thing may have been a tear gas grenade or a frag grenade. I didn't want to find out the hard way so I stuffed it into Tab's satchel. Scanning ahead, we saw there were several paths to choose from. The first led to an abrupt end of jagged metal. The second seemed to go vertically. The last I couldn't see far enough to judge its condition.
