Proxy Mobile Post (71/96) Chapter 12 part one

If I wanted to kill alliterator, I had only one chance: Do it tonight, or don't do it at all. The Feared One would consider me an outcast, and I'd never see my friends in that apartment complex again. Such was fate, of course, should it come to that, but I had other plans.

I'm lost now in the undergrowth of Downtown. The sun left us behind an hour ago, now manmade light at night (which is very bright) illustrates the streets. America the Free, you are not while I am here. On my left, I watch a man and a woman climb into a taxi and drive off into the night. On my right, some kids in hoods walk out of a dim door and snort coke out of each others' hands. A police officer walks by them, oblivious, then sees me and points.

I run.

He gives chase.

I climb some stairs and duck into a store. I hear his footsteps run past the door. I think I'm safe. I look around the store and see, plastered along the walls like fairy trophies, the stuffed heads of various exotic animals. The man, presumably the one who owns the store, is there behind a counter looking at me. He expects me to buy something.

"Hey, what is this place?" I say to him.

"This is what we call Shady Cross Paths, son."

"Watch it, I sure am not your son!" I roar.

"Whoa" he said. I made things awkward, so I leave.

But right outside that door is the police officer, preparing his nightstick!

"Why were you running from me? This isn't a nightstick, this is a flashlight I have been instructed to give you. And those children weren't snorting coke, they were eating sugar!"

I took the flashlight, thanked him, and went on towards the subway station, confidence regained.