Without a Paddle, open!

[KYRIE NOTARA]

Walking through the rows of graves as the rain continued to pour down upon her, Kyrie brought her arms close around her small frame as she felt the thin material of her t-shirt cling further to her skin as her jeans had done just hours before. Sure she had the shitty apartment that she called a residence, but there was a leakage and the wires were sparking beyond all belief. So she opted to try scoring some Zydrate straight from the source to go towards a fund she called Get a non death causing apartment NOW. But for now she was up shit creek without a paddle scoring Zydrate off the dead to make her rent and pay bills. It wasn't much of a living for the Greek-American, but it was a living all the same.

Seeing an open grave out of the corner of her eye, the student sighed to herself before she walked over, being careful to avoid detection and jumped into the grave that has yet to be covered. "Still fresh," she muttered to herself as she prepared her extraction needle and carefully inserted it in the nose of the deceased being and harvested yet another hit. She did sell by the dose anyway, so it was always good for her to carry at least twenty or more vials of the blue shit on her person at all times. Carefully climbing out, Kyrie looked down at her disheveled appearance. Mud graced the legs of her soaked jeans, t-shirt, and much of her arms. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail that seemed to look worse as the rubber band fell out of her hair.

"I probably look homeless," she sighed to herself as she blew a damp strand of hair away from her face as she placed the vial into a small messenger bag that rested on her shoulder. And something told her that she would also be sleeping in her classes that were to be taken the next morning. And that within itself was going to be a bitch. But college was the least of her problems as she heard alarms sound and the searchlights going in every direction only meaning one thing. "I think I just got caught," she muttered in alarm as she felt her nineteen year old legs take off at a sprint down the various pathways trying to find a place to lie low. Like that was going to happen here.

"Fuck where to go?!" she asked herself in a quiet panic as she ducked behind a large grave before going into a mausoleum that was left open, ducking behind a stone sarcophagus in which rested either a coffin or the actual corpse itself. And if push came to shove, Kyrie had enough dealings with the dead to actually climb into the stone encasing for hiding if need be.

"I need to get out of here," her voice whispered before covering her mouth with a glove hand to sneeze. And just great, I think I caught something too. Watching as the searchlight came close to where she was, Kyrie ducked to avoid the light detecting her as one last sentence came from her lips, "And stat." The words left her lips in a fine whisper as her body began to shiver to try to keep warm. Well it was a tad cold outside that night, and it didn't help her cause that she was soaked to the bone. And with the cops on her tail and being trapped in a mausoleum, she was further up the shitty creek that was mentioned before.

[GRAVE ROBBER]

Although the weather was foul, Grave Robber's spirits were not. The wind beat at his face, his rather theatrical makeup already beginning to run. Black streaks trailed down his cheeks and dripped from the corners of his ever-smirking lips. He gave off the appearance of a vampire raccoon. Despite all of this, however, he whistled an improvised tune as he made his rounds through the graveyard. He'd kept an eye on various processions of mourners, hiding in the shadows until they left as the rain began to fall. Tonight's earnings would be good, he knew. Even rain as heavy as this would not deter his most desperate clients. And, of course, he figured that they would be more than willing to pay a little extra for his freshest supply of Z.

Wiping his long, multicoloured hair from his brow, he methodically pulled an empty vial from his pocket and put it inside the extracting apparatus. The grave robber would be ready for his next sweep. His booted feet strode along the pathway, and his grip on the device grew somewhat tighter. He approached the burial plot, remembering how he had harvested Zydrate from a sarcophagus in said plot only a few weeks before. "Looks like the Repoman has been busy," he muttered under his breath. Though, he couldn't know for sure; he was only here to do his job. No one would remember these corpses in fifty years; people focused more and more on themselves, and themselves only, nowadays. Not that he could blame them; he, after all, was just like them: peddling street Zydrate in return for money and sex. And, of course, he was constantly running from the GeneCops, trying to save his own skin.

He slid the extractor into his pocket so he'd have both of his hands available to reach the body, and more importantly, the neon blue liquid that it'd inevitably produce. With a heave, he shoved the lid of the sarcophagus with the freshest corpse. It didn't budge. Perhaps people were trying to make sarcophagi more resistant to grave robbers like him. However, if there was one thing that he had learned over the years, it was that he could do pretty much anything he set his mind to. Wiping his brow again and blinking the rainwater out of his eyes, Grave Robber took a deep breath and tried to loosen the marble slab again. His boots dug into the mud as he applied more force. Finally, after a minute or two, he slid the heavy stone from its tomb. He'd only need to open it half-way to reach the corpse. Pushing it forward a few more inches, the man removed the apparatus from his pocket and readied it. "Don't worry, it'll be quick," he said to the body with a teasing smirk, fully aware that he was carrying out a conversation with himself.

Grave Robber extracted two vials' worth of Zydrate from the corpse. He figured that he would sell them for twenty credits each. Bowing his head at the drained cadaver, he said, "Thank you for your patronage. It'll go to good use." Strapping the vials onto his concealed holster, he didn't even bother to close the sarcophagus.

All of a sudden, that oh-too-familiar alarm sounded in the night. "Damn it!" he cursed, knowing full-well that his run would be cut short for the night. He still had about six vials left to fill. Loss of revenue was never a good thing, but he supposed that his clients would pay more for their fix. They knew that he was the most reputable Z peddler in the entire city, and to say that they got their Z from the most notorious grave robber out there was almost like a status symbol amongst addicts. He'd need to sort things out later; now, it was time to run. Slinking in and out of the shadows, Grave Robber searched for an open mausoleum to hide himself in. The vials of Zydrate clinked together in his rucksack and holster as he ran.

Trying the nearest mausoleum to him, he opened the door and closed it as quietly as he could. Sliding down to the floor, he sighed. It was then that he saw that he was not alone. A girl, no more than twenty years of age, was there, and she positively looked like a drowned rat. Perhaps she was a grave robber.

"I'm assuming that this," he said, trying to catch her attention and gesturing outside, "is your fault." He stared at her expectingly.

[KYRIE NOTARA]

The sounds of her blood rushing to her ears and her pulse pounding in her head echoed through her mind as the door to the mausoleum opened before closing. It was probably a Repo Man or one of the GeneCops looking around. Especially since grave robbing was illegal on many levels, Kyrie had the feeling that she was going to be on her knees with a gun to her head execution style or a more gruesome death at the hands on a Repo Man. I'm fucked! I am so fucking fucked it's not even fucking funny, she yelled internally, afraid to use the flashlight in her rucksack to see who it was. Then a voice rang through her ears that didn't seem to belong to any of the GeneCops she lied to in the past. Instead it was the voice of the infamous Graverobber, who's name was never leaked out.

Feeling his eyes on her, the teen sighed as she leaned her head back against the stone wall retrieving a pack of cigarettes from her pocket lighting one before inhaling the sweet toxins. "I have no idea to be honest with you man," she replied honestly. "For all I know I could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and that a kid decided that they were going to roam around for fucks and giggles," she shrugged as she held the pack out to the older male. "Either way, the GeneCops are probably gonna be on our asses like syrup on hot cakes," she sighed brushing a damp strand of hair away from her face as she took another drag in a weak attempt to warm up. But she had too much pride to let the fact that she was freezing her ass off show.

"And I won't be too surprised if a Repo Man shows himself either. Even if it is only to be an executioner," she muttered with not a drop of fear in her voice. Death was nothing to be afraid of to her, it was only the moments before that should be feared. Like how long would it last being a big one. But if the death was to be quick or slow, Kyrie knew she was ready for it, she had been ready for it since she picked up the trade three years ago when she was sixteen and after reading the laws posted on the trees of the grave yard. Grave robbers will be executed on sight by order of GeneCo by-law 653-465 she recited in her mind before looking in Graverobber's general direction.

From the moment the words left her lips, the blue haired girl fell deathly silent as she heard foot steps from the other side of the wall of the mausoleum. "Someone else is here," she whispered under her breath as she flicked an ash off her cancer stick bringing one knee to her chest to rest her arm upon as vibrant green eyes locked on the only entrance and exit of the tomb. If found they would be trapped like rats unless the more experienced grave robber knew something she didn't about this place. However one thing was certain, she would follow his lead without hesitation if the situation called for it.

And if not, let death come on swift wings. Better yet, let them try. Just because she was prepared for the worst didn't mean she wasn't gonna hold up a fight if push came to shove. And the illegal blade in her boot was enough proof of that as was the one in her belt.

"So how are you?" she asked quietly in a weak attempt of small talk.

[GRAVE ROBBER]

Feeling his breathing slowing down, a slow smirk crawled across Grave Robber's black-streaked face. He drummed his fingertips upon the cold stone floor of the mausoleum and stretched his long legs out before him. His ears were alert, listening for even the slightest noise. His eyes then took over, scanning the dark and dank room for any signs of a hidden passageway. In the absolute worst scenario (asides from being caught), he and the girl would have to hide inside the sarcophagus itself. Hell, it wasn't a bad idea because the girl herself was quite the looker. He could think of worse people to be stuck with...the Largo brothers (Amber wouldn't be too bad, at first, that is) or a Repo Man, for instance. The man cringed at the thought.

Suddenly, the younger woman began to reply to his question. The Z peddler remained silent, absorbing her words and trying to make sense of the situation. Well, if she didn't' do it, he thought, then who did? If the girl's not lying, then it would seem that we're screwed. Then again, I love a good chase. Those GeneCops never are that smart, after all... His thoughts were broken as he saw the blue-haired girl offer him a cigarette. As much as he could go for one to help him keep his head straight, he knew that the lingering smell of smoke on the air would give them away. The girl must have been young if she didn't realize that. Grave Robber shook his head and raised his eyebrows. "Kid, you do know that the smoke will alert the people chasing us that we were here, right?"

Having spent many years on the streets, the grave robber thought that he was pretty damn good at reading people. Now was no exception. As tough as she seemed, he could tell that something was gnawing at her. A nagging fear, perhaps. She really had nothing to fear, though. He had also spent over ten years in the trade and still breathing, he knew how to get out unscathed from almost any tricky situation. Now would be no exception. However, he thought, she would owe him when all was said and done. Maybe he'd just take all of her night's harvest as payment. It seemed fair, and it was less risky than to continue his own harvest once the danger disappeared.

"The Repo Man, huh?" he half-asked, half-stated. "That would certainly make things more interesting," he added, crawling closer to the girl. As he approached her, his ears picked up on exactly what was troubling her: there were footsteps approaching. He'd have to act fast. Scanning the room, his eyes picked up on the name etched into the mausoleum wall. It was familiar to him, sure, but he was trying to remember if this particular crypt housed a secret passage. Racking the back of his mind, he finally recalled an instance at least five years before that he'd sought refuge in this very mausoleum. "Kid, quick! There's a passage in here," he whispered, crawling behind the sarcophagus and fiddling with the stone floor until he found the switch.

Sometime shortly before, she asked about how he was. However, this was no time for small talk. "Let's save that question for later, yeah? I wanna get outta the way of our pursuers right now." Sliding open the slab that covered the passageway, Grave Robber didn't look back as he jumped down into the lower level. It was maybe an eight foot drop, but he landed perfectly. "Are you coming or not?" he asked the girl, trying to adjust to the pitch black surrounding him.

[KYRIE NOTARA]

Putting out the cigarette instantly when made aware that it might give them away, Kyrie muttered a brief apology. "Shit forgot about that," she admitted, know that tonight might not be home of some of the smartest things she had done. But it was quite unnerving that there was someone else around other than GeneCops that could have triggered the alarms and search lights. However though there was much going on around them, one thing stuck out from his speech.

I am NOT a kid, she growled inwardly as her eyes closed tightly trying to collect her head before she caused them both to be fucked over majorly. And not in a good way either. No not at all. This kind of screwing over had to do with their lives. Though hiding in the sarcophagus with him didn't seem like a bad idea if push came to shove.

As the moments of silence continued, Kyrie's mind continued racing with different thoughts, scenarios, escape routes, and how to get out of here alive and with her harvest. Sure she knew that she would owe the veteran grave robber big for this, but she was sure that they can work out some sort of an accord when they got out of here. But getting out of here alive was more important that the ten vials on her person that she had retrieved barely three hours ago. Sure she hadn't been in the trade as long as her companion, but she was pretty good.

"Just a bit," she laughs, not afraid to admit that it would make things a bit interesting. However it didn't take long for the Greek to register that his voice was closer than it was before. Perhaps to pick up what was going on on the outside. Sighing, Kyrie looked around the crypt for something, anything that can be of use that wasn't the stone sarcophagus. However the Graverobber was quicker when his voice called her attention to look to where he was opening up a passage. Well he isn't the best for nothing, she rationalized before watching him drop down.

"Good idea," she nodded in agreement to his previous words before following suit in falling the eight feet. However she wasn't so lucky when she stumbled a bit before looking around trying to adjust her vision to the pitch black. "Yeah I am," she whispered while trying to figure out which direction his voice was coming from, too afraid to pull out the flashlight in case they were able to be seen.

"And don't worry, I already know I probably already owe you my soul for this," she muttered as her eyes wandered around their new surroundings, trying to gain a familiarity with them in case this was ever to repeat itself in the future. Which she hoped wouldn't but shit did happen and it was always good to be prepared just in case.

"So which way?" she questioned in a hushed tone, wishing she was tall enough to close the stone opening above as she moved slightly to the side to avoid detection just in case the GeneCops walked into the crypt to investigate.

[GRAVE ROBBER]

The longer that he remained in the secret passageway, the more Grave Robber noticed the stench of decomposition lingering in the warm and excruciatingly dry air. It took a few seconds for him to adjust, almost as though he wanted to breathe in the crisper, damper air in before shutting himself and the girl underground. That is, if the girl decided to jump down to join him. She would have to be crazy to refuse his invitation to join him for some temporary safety. Time was of the essence, and he was about to shut himself in and leave the girl to fend for herself.

However, the other grave robber jumped down to join him just as he was about to close the entrance to the secret room. Not being as tall as he was, she stumbled slightly as she landed. Grave Robber smirked and let out a curt laugh. "Glad you could join," he said flatly. Standing around six feet tall, he lifted his arms above his head and slid the entrance shut with a quick exhalation of breath. It was easy. However, he and his companion were now surrounded by the pitch black darkness. Again, he tried to remember the layout of this particular shelter; over the years, he'd used scores of mausoleums to hide from the GeneCops and other members of the Contingent. Finally, he recalled the general layout of the underground hideaway. There was the large room that they were currently hiding in, an underground crypt for generations past of the family inhabiting the mausoleum. In a corner, there was a door which led to a passageway. That much he knew, but he couldn't quite remember where the path would actually take them. It seemed that they would find out soon enough, and Grave Robber was fine with that; what was life without a little adventure in it?

Hearing her tell him that she was in debt to him made him smile a wide grin. "Oh, I'm well aware of that. How about this?: When all is said and done, if and when we get the hell out of here, you give me what you harvested tonight. You're a grave robber, yeah? If not, I'm sure something else can be arranged..." he said, trailing off suggestively. After a moment of silence, he let out a laugh. "I won't ask you for your soul; that's GeneCo's job."

Reaching into his rucksack, the grave robber pulled out as many vials of Zydrate as he could hold in one hand. Bringing the light up to his face, he raised his eyebrows. "You got a light, kid?" he asked, desperately hoping that she had something that would provide a less limited field of vision. The Z dealer held the neon blue product out in front of him, using it as a makeshift night light. Along the walls of the large room were decaying bodies, mouths gaping open as though they died screaming, their fear still apparent in death. From the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of silver. Taking careful steps, he approached the source of the glinting metal. Hanging around a corpse's neck was a silver chain with various gleaming jewels. Grave Robber ripped it from the fragile neck and pocketed it with a grin. It was at least a hundred years old; it'd be worth a pretty penny.

Looking again towards the assumed direction of the girl, he raised the little glass vials up to his face again. "Well, do you?" he asked, growing impatient.

[KYRIE NOTARA]

"Glad I can be of service," Kyrie replied in a gentle, yet rather dry voice as a smirk played at her lips. It wasn't long until Graverobber sealed the entrance to their little hide away and they were surrounded by complete darkness, and something told her there was no adjusting her eye sight to this. Plus side was that she wasn't afraid of the dark, unlike some rookie tomb raiders that she came across a few nights ago. It also helped her case that she was also getting familiar with the underground catacombs that run underneath the concrete of the graves over head. It seemed like there wasn't much if any grass left in the downtown that wasn't in the graveyard. But even then, the graveyard was slowly building up a body count that would probably result in cremating some of the older residents, thus leaving the zydrate source harder to get a hold of.

"Or how about this, I'll give you half of what I harvested and still go along with the alternative route," she spoke suggestively, more than willing to play these games with him. After all they were kinda stuck here for the time being, so why not take advantage of it. But he was right once again, it would have to wait until after they were in the clear of what might be. A short laugh escaped Kyrie's lips as the male spoke of soul stealing to be GeneCo's job. "And at the rate they're going I won't be surprised if they are going to start financing souls," she sighed, knowing that it was only a matter of time until something like that started to happen.

Nodding in response to the question concerning a light, Kyrie reached into her backpack and began digging around, the light sound of glass hitting glass echoed quietly in the bag before a flashlight was finally revealed. Clicking it on, Kyrie began to thank her lucky stars that the batteries were still good, and if they died it wasn't like she didn't have several more in her coat pocket. "Here," she responded as she held the blue plastic light out to the taller grave robber after he ripped what appeared to be a necklace on a cheap chain off one of the corpses.

"And by the way, patience is a virtue," she muttered under her breath as she nicked a Rolex watch off another victim and examined it using one of the glass vials filled with glow. Diamonds around the face and eighteen caret white gold. This can definitely earn me something later in time she mused as she tucked into the pocket of her soaked jeans before a sneeze escaped. Oh she was so going to be having a cold come morning if she didn't warm up soon.

"So which way shall we go captain?" she asked, trying to make light of their bleek situation.