The Trail (closed)

Scott pulled his jacket close around him as he tried to keep the cold out. The vest he wore usually kept him warm, but the wind seemed to be cutting through it today. He pulled the zipper of his jacket up and put his hand in his pockets as he tried to warm them up. He ducked into an alley as he scanned the dark corners for any movement. He gave his eyes a few minutes to adjust to the darkness.

He ran a hand across his stubbled face, he knew he would have to shave tomorrow or the salt and pepper beard would make him look older than he really was. He adjusted his belt, he stayed in decent shape but he wasn’t as fit as he was in his 20s.

He kept moving down the alley way, his contact had told him that something was going down this evening and this was the place that he needed to be. He hadn't gotten much else in the way of details but that was all he had to go on.

He moved slowly listening for the what was coming up. He slowed as he heard a commotion. He rounded the corner and saw two features scuffling and fighting towards middle of the next alley. He made his way towards them trying to determine what was going on. "Hey" he called out "break it up" he said as his hand moved towards his gun, but not on it yet.

One of the figures jumped at his command, that one took of in a sprint away from him leaving the other one alone.

He slowly made his way to the one on the ground "You alright" he asked.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Samantha did her best to fend off the man that had quite literally jumped on her. "I told you I don't know anything!" Once again, in the wrong place at the wrong time. That seemed to be becoming a normal occurrence for her.

"You know the saying 'Snitches get stitches?'" He took a wild swing that the 5'10" 23 year old tried to side step, but he got her in the stomach. Sammy slumped to the ground as he continued to beat down on her, grabbing her red hair to pull her head back for a clear upper cut at her jaw.

"Hey, break it up."

In an instant, she went from being beaten to being left alone on the ground. She looked up to watch her attacker sprint from the alley. Rubbing her jaw, she turned and looked up to find the owner of the voice who scared him off.

"You alright?"

She nodded slowly. Her body hurt, jaw ached, but nothing she felt warranted a trip to the hospital. "I think so," she finally managed to get out, still a bit dazed.

Scott looked down at the figure "Good" he said extending his hand. He felt her take his hand as he helped her up. He could tell by her figure that it was a girl. "What was that all about" he asked as he tried to look her over to see how bad she had been hurt. He could see some scrapes on her face and arms, probably from falling to the ground.

"Do you need to go to the hospital" he asked. "You got some where to say" he asked as he looked around making sure that the other person wasn’t coming back.

He could see that she was pretty shaken "Whats your name" he asked.

She stood, brushing off her jeans and black leather jacket. She immediately went on the defensive at his question. "Nothing." The less he knew the better. She barely saw anything last week, but it was still enough to get her involved whether she wanted to be or not. Living in this neighborhood, everyone knew everything about everyone, no matter how hard you tried to keep to yourself and out of their business. Samantha took a step back away from him, eying him suspiciously. She'd never seen him around here before, and judging by his clothes he didn't really belong.

"No, I don't need to go to the hospital, I'll be fine." She paused at his next question. She had her small apartment around the corner in one of the many rundown buildings on the block. Even with the two deadbolts on the door, Sam questioned her safety more than ever. But she had nowhere else to go.

"Samantha," she responded with slight hesitation. "Who are you?"

"Im Scott" he said warmly as he backed up from her to give her a little bit more space. "Ok good" he said as he motioned towards the alley way headed back to the street "You want to go get a bite to eat" he asked as he started to head back down the alley way. "This is a pretty rough area" he said as he looked back at her.

He listened as he heard her footsteps following behind him. He put his hands in his pockets and kept going. He slowed to her her come up next to him. "I was just walking through here" he said "when I heard the commotion it sounded like someone was getting pretty roughed up" he looked over at her. "What was that all about" he asked as he looked over at her to see how much information he could get.

He asked if she wanted to go grab a bite to eat, but didn't give her much time to respond. She grabbed her purse and followed after him, though she questioned whether she could really trust him. But, for now, being with someone else meant there was less of a chance that she'd get jumped again.

"Apparently I know something I shouldn't," she said with reservations. Again, she didn't know if she should trust him. She wasn't about to tell him her life story or that the local gang was taking over the entire neighborhood and trying to be the next mob. Either he knew something was up already and was involved somehow, he he was completely in the dark about it all. Why get him involved too if he didn't need to be?

Scott listened as she spoke, she was being cagey and vague. He smiled, that meant she was smart. "Seems like a pretty stern action for something you know" he said as he said trying to keep things going. "Guess that was lucky that he spooked easy" he said as they came out onto the main street.

"I know a good pizza place a couple of blocks that way" he said as he motioned in one direction. The light out here was better and he could see that she was a very pretty girl. She didn't look like she was in to bad of shape from the fight. He didn’t see anything that a few band-aids and some washing up wouldn’t fix.

"You still up for it" he asked looking back at her.

Almost like it had ears and a mind of it's own, her stomach made a small growl. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, having had to work through her lunch at work again. Sam made a face at the noise and then gave a short, nervous laugh with a shrug. "Sure, pizza sounds good."

"Alright, after you" Scott said as he motioned to her to continue on the route. They walked quickly and made their way though the people that we in the street. He kept his head up and scanned the crowd looking to see if anyone noticed them or recognized her. When they got there he opened up the door and motioned for her to take one of the booths.

They put in their order. "So what led you to be out in that alley this evening" he asked. He looked at her "You don’t seem like the kind that would be out there usually" he said his face getting serious.

She gave a shrug, taking a sip of water from the glass in front of her. "I actually live right around the corner from there. The street gangs have been a bit out of control lately, so I use the alleys as shortcuts to keep off the street. I guess that's not going to work anymore." She rolled her green eyes upwards before giving him a curious look. "What were you doing there? I know you're not from the neighborhood."

"I was passing through the area" he said as he watched her face "I was going to meet a friend". "I was trying to get there quickly and decided to take a back alley and ended up in the middle of your encounter" he finished eating his pizza.

"Yes the gang activity has been really bad lately." he said a she furrowed his brow. "I haven’t seen it this bad before." He paused. "Its really quite sad to see what it has done to the area"

He shrugged "But I guess you try and do the best you can" he sad as he looked at her pretty green eyes. "So were you heading home after this?" he asked.

She gave a slight nod as she chew the last bite of her slice. "Yeah, I have to get up early for work. It's not like there's much to do around here at this time anyway. Most places are closing down." Her stomach knotted thinking about going home and being there by herself. But she had nowhere else to go, and only had enough money saved up to stay at a cheap motel for maybe a week.

"Well let me walk you home" Scott said as they got up from the table and started to head out. "After they way that things went today hopefully you can have a quiet evening" he said as they headed back the direction of the alley.

"So where is your place" he asked as they kept walking.

They made their way through the streets, things had thinned out and there were several people out that looked to be up to no good. He kept his eyes moving and watching their hands to see what they were up to.

They reached her building, from the look of the door Scott got a funny feeling. Something didn’t look right to him.

Samantha led the way to the building where she lived. After walking up the two flights of stairs the came to her door. Which was open. "Crap." The door frame was splintered around where the deadbolt locks would latch, more than likely from being kicked in. She opened the door slowly and the studio had been ransacked. She didn't have much, but of what few possessions she did have, they were strewn about. Clothes were pulled from the closet and dresser, books and paper scattered everywhere. Every single cabinet and drawer was opened and the contents emptied out. Even the fridge had been dumped.

As she made her way into the room, she went back and forth between being angry and frightened. What if she had been home? She looked back at Scott. "So much for home sweet home," she half-heartedly joked.

Scott reached under his jacket and pulled the gun out of it holster. He held it low and kept it at his side as he moved around the apartment. He let Samantha go as she moved into the room. From the quick sweep he made it didnt look like there was anyone else in there that would give them a problem.

He looked back down the hallway to see if there was anyone there.

"Grab some stuff and lets go" he said his voice taking on a stern tone. "We need to get out of her pretty quick" he said turning back towards her.

"You must have something the want" he said "but I cant see what" as he looked around her apartment.

Why did he have a gun? She watched him for a moment as he observed and took in the room. Cop?

He didn't have to tell her twice to grab some stuff so they could get out of there as soon as possible. She managed to find her duffle bag and started stuffing some clothes in it. 'Only grab the important things,' she reminded herself.

She had something they wanted? What? She barely had anything, and now she would have even less once she leaves.

Sam took one last look around, zipping the bag closed. "Ready."

Scott moved to the door way and scanned the hall way looking back and forth a couple of times. "Which way to the back stairs" he asked. He didn’t want to go out the front, that would be the easy way out, but they would still need to be careful.

He waited for her to get her stuff, as soon as she said she was ready he moved down the hallway. He kept the gun out but low at his side. He hadn't seen any signs of danger but they were in a vulnerable spot still. He kept to the side of the hallway till they got to the stairs, he leaned his head over and took a look. There wasn’t anyone in there so he started down.

They got to the bottom floor and made it to the door. There he saw a couple of figures. He paused and grabbed her hand. "Stay close" he said as they started out the door.

He used his arm to keep her behind him as the figures started to move towards them. "Hey fellas" he said "we dont want any trouble" he said.

They continued towards them.

"Shit" Scott said under his breath "run" he said as he pushed Samantha to the side. He lifted the gun "Its not worth it" he said as he moved with her.

He saw them freeze as the barrel was pointed at them "Drop" he said waiting for them to get on the ground. They complied. And he started to run with Samantha. "Go. go" he said as he kept his gun trained on the figures on the ground.

San did as she was told. She ran as fast and as far as she could, in no particular direction. Did she really have a hit out on her? What was happening to her life?

After a few minutes and a couple blocks, she rounded a corner and stopped. Leaning against the wall, she caught her breath
She hadn't ran so much in a few months, even since the neighborhood really was starting to take a turn for the worse. She was getting out of shape. Looking over at Scott, she raised an eyebrow at him, curiosity washing over her. "I guess I'm at least lucky enough to have made friends with a cop tonight." She heaved a heavy sigh. "Thanks."

Scott was breathing heavy, it had been a while for him since he had to run that far. The adrenalin in his system had propelled him this far. He put his gun back in its holster as he felt pretty good that they had put enough distance between them and the guys that were after them. He looked over at her "You alright" he asked "seems like this is a pattern with you" he said as he stood up and too a few deep breaths.

He poked his head out of the where they were "My car is only a couple of blocks from here, lets go and we can get out of this area". He said.

"Yeah you are lucky that I was out here this evening" he said as he started to head out. "You got any where to stay that is safe" he asked. "You seem to have some heat on you" he said as he looked over at her. "If not I know a place" he said as he looked her over trying to decide where she would be safe.

She followed him closely to his car, glancing around as they went. Her heart was racing, it felt like it was about to beat out of her chest. She shook her head when asked if she had a place to stay. "No, I don't have anywhere else to go." The thought made her heart drop. Did this mean she was homeless? Again? She'd worked so hard to get to where she was, living in the sad excuse for an apartment, and now it was gone.

"Alright well you can stay at my place for a bit" he said as they reached the car. He pulled open the back door and tossed her bag in to the back seat. He pulled the passenger door open and waited for her to get in "Its not a great place but its safe as far as I know" he said with a smirk. He shut the door as she got in and moved around to the other side of the car. He got in and drove off heading out of this part of the city.

They made their way to the his apartment on the other side of the city. The area was nice than where she was but it wasn’t the really rich side of town. He did alright for himself. They stopped on the street as he found a spot and parked.

"You ready to go up" he asked.