GNYC- Four Miles from the Walls, 7:30 AM March 1st, 2020
It had happened again, another murder inside the walls of the GNYC. They were becoming more frequent, having started in early December of last year with a murder every few weeks and not reaching a culmination of a murder near every day. Some days, people were afraid to go anywhere alone and the curfew was tighter. Some men and women from Blackwatch were taken out of service to investigate some months back but they had gotten nowhere in their works. The killer was crafty, striking at night just before curfew but at a time when somebody was bound to be in the streets. Whoever was committing the murders covered their footprints and used simple, though effective, crime scene investigation skills to inhibit the investigation afterwards.
Many Blackwatch members have grown uneasy though at the idea of a killer whom they can’t catch, one who can kill effectively in silence. Were this killer able to strike at them when they were spread thin, Blackwatch could crumble and lose the power it has over the Colony. Some suggest the Railmen to be the source, others an insider of the Blackwatch, while some question if it is possible that the killer is one of them and simply is just hiding amongst the crowds. As if the paranoia of the murders was not enough, the last shipment from NAS had never arrived even with the knowledge that it would be late. They had been late before, but never by several weeks. People are afraid to go out during the day, even the scavengers are afraid to leave their homes.
Their fear only has been made worse after nearly a dozen guards were injured by a car bomb near one of the gates, the medical staff being forced to work almost over time to sew up the injured and remove the shrapnel as best they could. The Railmen were faring no better, what with the recent increase in Reborn which had appeared in the Subways. It was likely somebody was leading them down there or they were multiplying but tensions amongst the guards down there were running high. Men slept little, ate even less, and generally feared for their lives. The Purple line had it worse out of all of them, fewer guards willing to go down to protect as more of the Reborn seemingly threw themselves against the trains and spiked barricades. More of those they had once recognized from their lives in NYC appearing in the line, all of them Reborn.
The night before, a powerful storm rocked the entire area, waves surging over the banks by nearly ten feet and making the natural harbor of the area near impossible to navigate without running into something. If one were not prepared for a wave, they could easily be thrown off a boat and into the waters below. With the passing of the storm, Blackwatch decided to send out a ship this morning to look at the nearby lands in hopes of finding anything worth scavenging, knowing full well that it was unlikely but still possible that some survivors had lost supplies that night. They knew not what they would find, but the boat certainly would soon arrive at its first stop, Liberty Island. With tensions high in the GNYC, who knows what could happen. All it may need is one push for a block to come tumbling out of place and the precarious tower which it supports to come falling down.
Times Square- 7:45 AM, March 1st, 2020
Another meeting between the near hundreds of scavengers which inhabited the GNYC and another boring day of area assignment.
The young woman couldn’t help but seem anymore disinterested as she casually listened to her squad leader preach at her about the rules of scavenging safety. Don’t go alone, travel quietly and slowly, look where you are going. The same spiel that he had said for nigh some odd years since he was given the position. Though, there was something to be said about the kind and caring man who had taken over when the last squad leader committed suicide. He kept track of each of his members, often going out of his way to visit some of them after a mission or share his rations with them. He was, by far, Sonya’s most favorite squad leader amongst all of the scavengers. She felt like… he was a brother to her and, as much as that made her afraid, it also made her happy.
Long had been the days that Sonya had to live with being near alone, even with the small and near close knit family which she had in the apartment. She had grown distant from all of them at this point, her Father barely even being little more than an afterthought when she did anything. Though, she had to admit that sometimes she found herself drawing portraits of her brothers or her Mother. She remembered how they were… before. They had been so happy, so full of life at one time that she couldn’t help but feel the explosive burst of energy whenever she had been around them. Now, she was unsure if her other brother was even alive and her Dad was hardly ever the same since… that day.
”Sonya, you’ll be staying in the Colony for today. After your run in with a few Outsiders yesterday, we don’t want you going out else you may become a target for them. Lord knows that they are likely watching our movements by now.” His voice cut through Sonya’s daydreams, her eyes lowering from the overcast sky to his eyes. She grimaced slightly at being told that she was stay there for the day, knowing full well that she would have nothing to do but sit around or wander the streets. Yet, Sonya quickly shook her head and looked towards the sky again with a sigh. Hating the idea though she did, Sonya had to admit that it was for the best to stay inside after having nearly been shot upon meeting the Outsiders.
”Aye aye sir, can do. Shouldn’t be too hard to do nothing all day.” Her voice seemed cheery but her face gave off the near opposite feeling.
