(2018-09-26) A Little Chaos
They just wanted a six pack, but things went a bit sideways.
Players:
abby..luke..jo..gabriel..lewin..

Many of the community are working on getting things back to normal after the storm that rolled through Calaveras. Football games that have been rescheduled are being played, people have rallied together to shovel mud out of residences and businesses, generally being helpful to each other.

Unknown to them, other people are rallying as well, and have decided that this is the best time to cause a little chaos and anarchy.

A street gang, the Black Death, from the next town over has arrived in Calavaras. They were happy enough to spray paint their logo all over a few buildings. A black skull with a white B.D. over it. Then they spotted the Food 4 Less, open and helping people get set up with cleaning supplies.

"With everything going on, I bet we can get some shit out of there and they wouldn't realize who we were." One teenager says, a sardonic smirk on his lips. He lets out a piercing whistle, and the group saunters toward the grocery store and whomever is inside.

It's been a while since Lewin has had some free time at a reasonable hour to get some errands done. Truth be told, he doesn't really have time now but a man has to eat, so he made a quick dancing trip over to the Food 4 Less to pick up a few things for the club as well as for his place. The staples: frozen pizza, beer, bread, milk, eggs. Things a single guy can make quickly and easily.

Fortunately for him the club sustained very little damage. Having no windows made it pretty damage-proof. It's unfortunate, however, that the one place that really has little impact on the community is the one place so little damaged. Seeing the locals in the store to pick up supplies to recover makes the man feel more than just a little guilt. He'll have to donate some money to some local charities to help out.

Unaware of the trouble lurking outside, he wanders down an aisle with a basket held in one hand and a box of cereal in the other, reading the nutrition information for some reason. Sugar and more sugar for the most part.

Abby is at Food 4 Less! She's only in there to pick up some batteries, not even food! Which is fortunate, since her car is still in the shop, which means she can't exactly haul a lot of stuff around town with her. She's waiting on the line, watching the girl watch the guy who's fixing one of the refrigerators. This is incredibly exciting, so she spends a good deal of time watching that scene unfold or just straight up staring off into space. What breaks that stupendous use of her energy would be the group of troublemakers sauntering toward the entrance. She frowns unconsciously and pulls her purse a little closer to her body as she waits in the long line to buy her one pack of batteries.

Red hair is pulled back in a complicated braid, danging over her pale gray henley and her jeans. She'd realized the other day that she was woefully short on things cupboard wise, and she should have some provisions to offer guests, or something. She also needs to stop eating nothing but nuke food, so she's pushing a cart around. There's already bread and hot dog buns, a box of cereal, and some other little odds and ends. She'll have meals to make, soon!

The cashier at the register turns back to her work, rolling her eyes. "The manager told me to keep an eye on that guy. Apparently beer disappears around here a lot." The gang is at the entrance now, and they step into the supermarket, looking around with amused looks on their faces. A few sound out some catcalls, one to the cashier and another leering at Abby. A third teenager starts to follow Jo around, softly taunting her as he tries to take control of her cart. The attempt is to distract the people in the store, so the tall, lanky teen with black hair can hooks his fingers into two sixpacks. The man who is repairing the cooler opens his mouth to protest, but a sharp look from the dangerous looking teen quickly shuts him up.

Finally convinced that this cereal is the least healthy option and the best choice for his cabinet, Lewin tosses it into the basket with the other items and emerges from the aisle near the checkout lanes. With enough to last him for a few days, he begins to head to the lanes when he sees they're all more or less packed.

He frowns and supposes he'll do a little more shopping to let the lines thin out a bit and goes to turn when he sees Abby standing in line. Her line is between him and the aisles he hasn't been down yet, so he makes his way towards her with a smile on his face and offers her a casual wave, oblivious to the thugs picking their marks around the store. "Hey there," he says towards Abby as he approaches her.

Abby gives the people leering at her and the cashier a particularly unamused look, which includes looking them over intently and then rolling her eyes in disgust. As they cruise around the store looking to cause trouble and steal, she gestures over to the cooler. "I don't think it's your repairman that you have to be worried abouts," she drawls to the cashier in mild exasperation, her attention drifting toward the guy down one of the isles that's starting to pester Jo. "Hey there, Mr. Walters," he gets a brief wave of her non-purse-clutching hand before she starts shaking her head. "He's going to regret messing with her. I can feel it."

Jo was just rounding to the beer/alcohol aisle when the kid starts bugging her. She likes a beer after a long day of work, after all, and she got pasta and sauce, butter and chicken. Then she will half turn, that braid lashing out. "Touch my shit one more time, kid, and you will wake up missing time. You and your buddies just buy whatever the hell you came in here for, and go on home to beat off to porn or anime or whatever the fuck blows your skirt up. I am /not/ in the mood to play, get me?" Really, how dumb is he to mess with the woman wearing combat boots?

There are five teens in the store now, and the one taking the beer seems to be the leader. He starts to saunter back towards the exit, happy with his take, when the one at the register upnods to the cashier. "Why don't you give me what's in that drawer, sweetheart." He says, pulling a knife from a pocket. He hits a button on the side of it, causing it to snickt to life. "Felix." The teen at the door, calls out. "Leave it man, we got what we want."

Felix turns to glare at his compatriot. "Yeh, but we could have more. Sweetheart here will turn it over real quick, huh?" The manager is nowhere to be seen, and the cashier looks frightened. When he drawer pops open at the end of her next sale, she makes an attempt to shove it closed again, but Felix already has his hand on it. "Move." He shoves at the girl to get her out of the way, accidently cutting along an arm. Blood spurts from the wound and the girl screams. Suddenly there is some movement in the office area.

The teen following Jo gets an amused smirk on his face, holding up his hands in surrender. "Sorry Mama, was trying to help you, you know?" He leers at her again, taking a step back to watch her as she walks. "Man, people are wound too tight in this town." He says as he turns to lope towards the front where the craziness is just getting started.

Noticing Abby's standoff-ish behavior, Lewin pauses and looks at her for a moment. He follows her gaze towards a kid apparently hassling the redhead and furrows his brow. When he hears her verbally tear into the boy, his brows raise and a slight grin tugs at his lips, "Damn." He looks back over at Abby and shakes his head. Mental note not to piss that one off.

Then the commotion at the register grabs his attention in time to see Felix shove his hand into the drawer and cut the cashier's arm. His bouncer instinct kicks in and he immediately drops his basket and starts moving by the people in line towards the thug. He moves quickly but quietly so he can try to catch the kid off guard and surprise him by grabbing the forearm of the hand holding the knife.

Abby's eyes go wide like saucers when the girl's arm is sliced open and her screams echo throughout the store. "Are you fucking serious?" she's a couple of people back on line still, so it's going to take her a hot minute to get around to where the bleeding, likely hysterical girl is. She doesn't have any real stealth or much in the way of training and she doesn't care so much about the money right now. Her focus is going to be on grabbing the cashier and taking care of the bleeding before it turns into something far worse.

She sees some of the hullabaloo up front, and she will break into a run, and move to try and slam that cart into the back and legs of the kid that had been hassling her. Today was a pisser of a day, kid. Wrong day to try this shit. Whether she succeeds or not, there's a gun pulled from the cross draw holster inside the back of her jeans. Now some people may realize why her shirts are always long and a little loose. "Drop the knife, you little shit! I swear to god, I will fuck up your day."
Felix is digging into the cash register, grabbing anything he can get his hands on. When his buddies see blood, one turns pale and runs but the other three stand their ground. Seeing people approach Felix, they move in as well, two of them going for Lewin. "Hey man, back off. We're out of here in two seconds." One mutters, his voice guttural — no amusement to be heard now. The leader of the gang hisses out a few choice cuss words and pulls out what looks to be a fairly old glock. "Just everyone stay where they are, and nobody else has to get hurt."

Speaking of hurt, there is a teenage girl kneeling on the ground near her register, eyes like saucers, and a hand on her bleeding arm. She's sniffling and crying, but the appearance of the gun is enough to quiet her a bit. Anyone who might be able to see in the nearby office would spot the manager quietly speaking into a telephone, not brave enough to exit the office to assist his cashier. Who wants to get shot?

The kid that had been harassing Jo goes down like a sack of bricks, he groans and manages a "Jesus Lady.." before he sees her pull a gun. He doesn't try to get up, he's a lot smarter than Felix. The teen with the gun narrows his eyes, raising his weapon to aim towards Jo. Then Lewin streaks in like a wrecking ball, getting a hold of Felix, who turns to try to knife him. His hand is caught in a grip, but he manages to keep a hold of his weapon and now he's struggling with the older man.

The kid who took the six packs looks confused, should he aim at Jo or Lewin. He's obviously afraid and that is why his finger squeezes the trigger…

Thankfully, the little shit was not aiming, the bullet streaks harmlessly embedding into a shelf.

A bullet streaks by through the room and you know who screams? Abby. Because she's not a freaking combat vet or a seasoned criminal mastermind (or some punk kids). Her hands go over her mouth before she ducks down next to the bleeding cashier. Her own face is pale and if she thought about it, she'd realize that she wasn't breathing a whole lot. Her outer shirt gets stripped off and she inspects the girl's wound before beginning to tear it into appropriate sized strips. "You're going to be fine, this is fine. We're going to keep our heads down, we're not going to get shot." She's saying this as much for herself as she is for the girl. With all of that done, she starts bandaging up the gash to slow down the bleeding.

Unable to disarm Felix, Lewin begins to struggle in an effort to overpower the boy when the gunshot rings through the store. Growing up in the south, he's no stranger to firearms, but not in a public place like this.

He flinches and instinctively ducks down a bit, releasing his grip on Felix more than he would like to. He quickly glances around for any indication of someome being shot. After a moment's pause and not hearing anyone wailing in pain, he immediately stands and goes for Felix's arm with his other hand so he can dig his thumb into his wrist to try to get the knife away from him.

Jo doesn't hesitate at that shot. Despite the fact she's a mechanic, she's no stranger to guns, or gunfire. She will turn, and lift the gun to fire at the kid with the six-packs and the ancient glock (that probably has the numbers filed off), and she'll aim for his leg, rather than any sort of likely lethal target.

Luke's apparently picked the exact wrong time to go grocery shopping. The POP! of the gun goes off just as the sliding glass doors open wide to allow him entrance into the store, and then there is screaming. He probably should have walked right back out of the store and forgotten this place even exists. Who needs bread anyway? But instead, he found himself wheeling forward and ducking against the nearest shelf in an attempt to assess what in the world is going on. He inches towards the edge of the shelf to peer around it, doing his best to not bring any attention to himself initially.

Felix surrenders the knife, letting it fall to the floor as he plants a foot, swinging his fist at Lewin. He'll miss, but be able to break the hold the man has on him. Stumbling back toward the leader, his brow furrows slightly. "We gotta get out of here, Karl. They called the fucking cops for sure." Karl, isn't listening to Felix, because a scary redhead is pointing a gun at him, and then BANG, she fires and he yelps, almost falling over. The bullet misses and he brings a shaky arm up, glaring at the people who now outnumber them. "We're leaving…just leave us alone man." He takes a step back and almost bumps into the door that is sliding closed after Luke's entrance.

The cashier aims a grateful look at Abby, her breathing not quite as frantic as her arm is wrapped up. The knife caught her good, and she is bleeding through the shirt, a frightened whimper escaping her lips every few seconds. Right then, the thug that Jo mowed over earlier regains his feet and it's immediately obvious that he's got more guts than brains and tries to knock her over at the knees. He's even yelling obscenities as he tries to pile into her — someone didn't like being plowed by a shopping cart.

The bullet that Jo fires makes a noise as it hits off something and grazes Abby in her arm… just missing the cashier who promptly passes out. It's chaos now, as the gang members are clearly trying to exit the building, sirens can be heard in the near distance. Felix is frozen though, Jo still has her gun and despite a skinny teen trying to knock her over — she has NOT gone down.

Outside, sirens blare into existence, screaming louder… louder… louder! Just over five minutes from the time the call hit dispatch, two police cruisers scream into the parking lot outside. Four uniformed cops and two in suits, with a firetruck and an ambulance not far behind.

"You're going to be fine, it's ugly. But it's just a knife wound, we'll get it taken care of back at the-" Another shot is fired and Abby jumps again, instinctively nervous at the sound of gunfire. And that bullet? It catches her right in the arm, passes through and embeds itself in the plywood of the counter. What was originally another cry of fear turns into a strangled scream of pain. Because you know what? That fucking hurts. It hurts a lot. And it's one thing to be doing first aid on someone else and an entirely different thing to be figuring out how to apply pressure to your brand new, surprise bullet wound.

When the knife falls to the ground, Lewin staggers back a few steps and watches as Felix takes off towards his friend near the door and they make a run for it. Then the second shot echoes through the store and he ducks, crouching down beside one of the conveyor belts when the plywood of the counter above his head splinters and rains down over him. "Shit!" he yells without even realizing it and then rises back to his feet and checks over the counter to see a passed out cashier and a freshly-wounded Abby. A knife wound he can deal with, but a bullet hole he has no idea what to do about. "Shit, shit, shit," he mutters to himself as he hurriedly looks around the store. He remembers in the movies seeing people pour liquor… wait, there's gotta be a pharmacy in here with something.

He pushes through the people who were previously in line and now huddling around trying to not get shot, making his way towards Jo and her attacker on his way to the pharmacy.

Jo is stronger than she looks, and she will shove back at the kid, before that gun is pointed at him. "Even your buddy couldn't miss at this range. You really want to be shot?" She's just trying to distract him, so she can try to kick him in the knee with her steel toed combat boots.

The second gunshot leaves Luke pressing himself against the shelf, and while he sees the thugs running for the doors? He can hear the police outside. The more concerning part is the people screaming -inside-, and the thug that he can see rushing for Jo. Hoping the element of surprise works for him, Luke keeps his body low and runs for the direction of the horrible painful screaming, ducking over the counter to see Abby bleeding from her arm. "Shit, Abby?! Fuck, were you shot?" he keeps his voice low, but he's already ripping off a piece of his t-shirt, crawling under the counter to get to Abby and the now passed out clerk so that he can make a make-shift tourniquet for Abby's arm.

"Fuck man. We just wanted beer. Why did you have to try to take the money Felix?" Karl groans, glancing from Jo long enough to see the flashing lights outside. "What do we do man?" He says, shifting from one foot to another. "There another exit? We gotta get out of here man, I can't go back in." The teen that tried to take Jo down? That guy? He looks like he wants to run, and he almost gets to his feet before a boot puts him down on the ground. He covers his head, tensed up, like he's waiting to be shot.

Lewin runs right past the hydrogen peroxide and the alcohol, but he'll spot them. Hopefully he grabs a lot from that isle, Abby probably is going to need it, though she seems absolutely stunned by the sudden wound on her arm as blood flows freely, staining her clothes and pooling on the floor.

Felix and Karl see the carnage that they wrought, all for a few six packs of beer and about fifty dollars. Karl gets a stubborn glint in his eyes, raising the gun to aim at Jo while she's distracted with his friend. "Don't move again Lady. I don't want to hurt anyone, we're gonna leave and you're gonna all stay still." Felix finally gets into the groove, following Karl as they slowly edge towards the rear of the supermarket.

Luke's efforts slow the bleeding on Abby's arm, and for a second — if someone were paying attention — they would see relief on Karl's face. Felix just looks pissed, it's probably a good thing that he doesn't have a gun too. The cops are obviously surrounding the place, a few can be seen right outside the door.

From outside, it's the police mantra: "Put your weapons on the ground and come out with your hands up!" This gets repeated at least three times in the space of half a minute, now with two uniformed cops right outside the door, guns drawn. The other two sprint around to check for back entrances, and the two in suits stand in the open doors of a Ford Interceptor, also with their weapons drawn. More sirens are drawing closer; these must have been the nearest units.

Hey, wow. This really hurts. It hurts enough that Abby doesn't have a snappy come back for Luke when he asks her if she's been shot, she just vaguely gestures to her bleeding arm. And there does seem to be a lot of blood, doesn't there? She's got enough sense to cooperate with someone attempting to stop all the bloodloss and obligingly will move around just enough to help facilitate that. As for the rest of what's playing out around her? She can only stare at it owlishly and mutter something that sounds like: "I just wanted to buy some damn batteries…"

Lewin double-takes at the alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and stops running, his feet sliding across the glossy surface of the floor. He reaches out and just grabs up anything he can carry. Really grabbing too much. A few bottles of each. He sees some bandages and some gauze and hooks his forearm over the shelf and scopps off anything he can manage.

Meanwhile only a few feet away Jo is working over the thug. He glances over his shoulder, "You okay?" Based on the posture of the kid curling up on the floor trying to shield himself, he'd say she's doing alright. He nods and turns and sprints back up towards the front, a few boxes and a bottle of alcohol falling from his arms. He barrels over to the register and kneels down beside Luke and Abby, dropping his haul onto the floor near them, "Uh.. I brought a bunch of shit." He looks between the two others not really knowing what to do beyond this.

There is the arch of an eyebrow, and there's a look Jo's Momma would call 'bullheaded' coming into being on the redhead's face. She will literally step on the kid on the floor, head tilting. She's seen the dark haired guy running towards the back then back towards the front, and she saw Swipe Right ducking down around the cashier's register area. She needs to keep the idiot thug kids distracted until.. well, there's the cops. "Buddy, you ain't man enough to hurt me." She will tighten her grip on her gun.

"Hey. Hey, Abby? Look at me," Luke somehow manages a voice that is level and calm as he twists the piece of his torn shirt around Abby's arm and ties it taut, staunching the bleeding. By this point, he's kneeling in the puddle of her blood and that's definitely -not- coming out of his jeans, but he uses his clean hand to reach up to her cheek and turn those owl eyes of hers his way. "Focus on me, okay? You're gonna be fine," he murmurs to her, just as Lewin comes over with his haul, a momentary look of relief washing over him. There's a quick glance over his shoulder, over to where Jo is being stubborn with the gunman, and then he looks back to Lewin. "Hold her arm up, okay? Above her heart. Don't let her fall over, she needs to stay seated," he instructs Lewin, while he reaching for the bottle of alcohol. There's a forced grin as he looks back to Abby. "Keep your eyes on me, yeah?" he says to her, trying to hold her gaze as he dumps the alcohol over her wound to clean it.

Karl decides that he can't match Jo's balls (hers are large and brass, at the very least) and he drops the gun, she looks pretty serious about possibly shooting him. The kid under her boot grunts, but otherwise remains quiet, he's just thanking whatever deity that thugs pray to, probably a rapper, that she hasn't shot him. The cops see the thug drop the gun, and they rush in, though there is a slight misunderstanding for a moment as one aims a gun towards Jo. "Ma'am, lower your weapon." He orders, his voice steady and quiet.

EMT's are waiting for the all clear so they can come in and take care of the wounded. From the office the Manager finally appears, his eyes wide as he waits for the police to round up the thugs and get handcuffs on them. Things are calming down as the teenagers are rounded up, and if there wasn't blood on the ground and a few weapons as well, it might be a normal Wednesday evening. There is a sale on seeded grapes guys, make sure you get some.

Jo rolls her eyes. Yes, punk ass bitch kids, she has bigger balls than you. She bends slowly to set her gun on the floor. Whispering to the kid "If you try to touch my gun, I will kick your ass until the cops make me stop."

"Luke…?" Abby is pushing through the shock of a stray bullet popping a hole into her arm, which was thankfully not the sort that hits your bone and explodes it. Or tears through all your muscles? Or does some other really horrific thing. Lewin seems to appear out of nowhere though and she definitely loses focus on looking at the one man to look at the other. "Hey, this is the bartender from the strip club or he owns it? I never got that part straight." Which is really not relevant to this situation, but apparently needed to be said. She patiently sits through the first aid, smart enough to not try and fight about it.

Looking around as the sound of the police outside muffle through the doors and the red and blue lights reflect off of every surface in the store, Lewin sighs until Luke speaks to him. Nodding at the man, he gently takes Abby's wrist and holds her arm above her heart as instructed. He watches her for a moment to make sure she isn't getting weak and wanting to slump over. Upon Abby introducing him, he tosses Luke a quick glance and offers him a single, slightly embarassed and relutant nod before looking around again. He'll set the record straight about his role at the club some other time. He half expects gunfire to erupt any moment now once the cops and the thugs run into each other. "Yer gonna be okay," he says as he looks to Abby again. He looks at Luke, "Right?"

"Hey," Luke says to Abby when she says his name, forcing up another grin that doesn't quite meet his eyes, "Oh yeah? This is him, huh? You said he was a nice guy, I think you're right about that." He makes brief eye contact with Lewin before he's back to focusing on the good doctor, talking as he washes her wound with the alcohol enough to get a clean spot to wrap some gauze around the hole, mostly trying to keep Abby from slipping into shock from the whole ordeal. Lewin's question is addressed with a firm nod as he finishes hooking the gauze around Abby's new arm hole, mustering all the confidence he can in the moment. "She's gonna be great," he says to Lewin, and then looks back to Abby, "You're going to be great."

Gabriel isn't usually the first cop through the door - that's what uniformed patrolmen are for - but he's among the initial wave, wearing a bulletproof vest instead of the usual suit-jacket. He has a gun in one hand and handcuffs in the other, so his only recourse is to use his foot to scrape-slide the gun away from where Jo and her subdued thug are doing whatever they're doing. Kneeling, he none-too-gently gets the cuffs on the baddie, directing Jo in a no-nonsense, cop-voice, "Move. Gus!" He jerks his chin to the other suit-cop, then to Jo, who's about to get patted down by his pleasant-faced middle-aged partner.

Jo will sigh, and hold her arms out from her sides. "If you check the wallet in my back pocket, you'll find my carry permit." Of course, there's also her license, and business cards, her expired military id… But those green eyes are watching Gus in a way that may be a warning.

The EMT's are arriving as well, loading the cashier and Abby onto a stretcher so they can take them both to the Medical Center. One of the EMT's recognizes Abby, a frown on his face as he shakes his head. "Man, Doctor Thatcher, what did you do to get shot?" They do their thing, taking vitals and making sure both patients are okay for transport. "You comin' with her?" One EMT asks Luke, nodding toward Abby with a brief smile.

"I didn't get someone's booboo stitched up fast enough about three weeks ago," Abby mutters from her spot on the stretcher.

As the authorities and the medical responders arrive and begin to deal with the situation, Lewin stands up and nods to Luke and Abby as she and the cashier are loaded onto stretchers and taken out the door. He runs a hand through his hair and slowly makes his way to the front door and steps outside, pulling his cigarettes out and popping one into his mouth. Stepping away from the door so his smoke doesn't drift back inside, he leans against the building and closes his eyes as he takes a puff, his heart still pounding and his body full of adrenaline.
There is all sorts of relief when the EMTs arrive to haul Abby onto a stretcher, Luke wiping blood stained hands on his jeans. And to think, he can't even go shopping in the crime spree for some laundry detergent! There's a glance to Lewin, the man getting an actual smile, albeit brief. "Thanks, man. You were a huge help. I owe you a beer or something," he says to Lewin genuinely, before he nods over to the EMTs. "Yeah I'm coming with," he says to the EMT, jogging over to where they are busy taking Abby's vitals.

Hauling the handcuffed baddie to his feet, Gabriel pushes him toward a pair of convenient patrolmen, keeping half his attention on what's transpiring between Gus and Jo. The other half belongs with the paramedics, to whom he notes, "Duncan is right behind you, we need her statement."

The pleasant-faced Gus is all business, Jo, no worries. The pat-down is perfunctory, and it ends with him liberating the wallet she told him about and going through all the stuff she has in there. "Thank you, Miss… Greyson? You might wanna come with us to the station, that gun's going into evidence." He sounds apologetic, but unyieldingly so.

Jo makes a growling sound. "Seriously? I just wanted to get some food in the house, and then some jerkass kids want to rob the joint, so I get my gun taken? "

Gabriel, intermezzo: "Yes." Gus also nods.

"This is where I agree with N.W.A." Jo snarks at Gabriel. "Can we make this quick? You can keep the gun or whatever, but I don't have time to sit around when you've got the actual criminals. "

There is just the tiniest, tiniest stress on the verb. "We can." Gabriel watches while some handy-dandy crime-scene type drops Jo's gun into an evidence bag and leaves the end of that statement hanging: but probably we won't~

Gus must be the good cop in this relationship, 'cause he's the one that adds, "We just need to take your statement, then you can get a receipt, and be on your way, Miss Greyson."

"Thanks. If they're not the only out of towners, I'd prefer to make sure my shop is locked up." She will say to Gus kindly, before Gabriel gets an icy green glare. She don't need your shit, cop, she got assaulted!

"Of course. Here's my card." Augustus Reed, that's him. He steps neatly in between Jo's icy green stare and Gabriel's unfazed black one, not this guy's first rodeo. :D

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