Summary: Written and read by ApocD. Sorry about the delay. The street smelled like gasoline. The heat pressed against Streis' face as he stood and watched the burning military jet. He scanned the street to see if the pilot had ejected, but saw only random people either tearing at themselves or each other. Reed grabbed Streis' shoulder and turned him around. His nose was bleeding from the kick that Streis had given him, but he didn't seem to notice. ldquo;Mister Streis, we need to make a decision. We can get inside and hide out, but if we do I don't know when it'll be safe to come out. If these people on the street see us, they'll come after us. You ever killed a man?rdquo; Streis shook his head and stepped closer to the clothing store's door. The sign in the door read Closed. ldquo;Me neither, Mister Streis, but we have to understand that these people are lost. If they have network implants and those implants have been compromised, then there's no saving them.rdquo; ldquo;You saved me.rdquo; ldquo;You were looped in all the way, Mister Streis. None of these people walking down the street are looped in.rdquo; ldquo;We should get inside and hide.rdquo; Reed nodded. ldquo;Yeah, that seems like the best idea, but we don't know when we'll be able to go out again.rdquo; ldquo;Look, Reed, it's not going to do any good for us to run somewhere and kill people along the way or get killed. If these people are really lost, then we should let them take care of themselves, just hide out in this store for a while and wait for things to calm down, maybe come up with a plan.rdquo; A woman on the opposite sidewalk spotted them. With her left hand she was scratching wildly at her face. Bright red stains covered her white blouse. Her right hand hung limp at her side. She seemed to consider them for a moment before she started crossing the road.
