Ros City Murals-- Chap 1 "Three Beginnings and an Ending".

Ros City Murals-- Chap 1 "Three Beginnings and an Ending".

"Fuck."
"What?"
"I fucking got all the goddamn brains off my shoe and now you've gone and put more back onto it. And how do you even know if the brains belonged to the right person?"
"Sorry. I'll check."

Zed inspected the corpses in front of her. Slowly, she rolled the closest corpse over with her foot to inspect it's face. The composition of what face was left led Zed to the calming conclusion that it was, in fact, the person she had meant to shoot. In a dark alleyway in the middle of a buttfuck ghetto in Ros, well, it was hard to determine who was who sometimes. Goodness knows it wouldn't have been the first time she flonked the wrong person accidentally.

"There. pleased? My shoe is covered in blood and fuck-all now, too."
"I'm only saying it because it could cause a problem for us if we don't get out of here before we leave red footprints. Okay? That's all I meant."

Emmy had a point. Not that it would be all that easy to catch them even with a shoeprint, especially here in the ghetto. Not with so many citizens and homeless coming to investigate the noises and bodies afterwards. Who knows whose shoeprints they would be? Anyways, the police force wouldn't put too much weight on a case of these corpses to begin with. They were nobodies. Hobos. Bums. Barrel-bakers. Worthless.

Zed leaned over to pick up her satchel that she had stored out of the way behind a dumpster several feet away from the bodies. She had brought along rolls of paper towels and fresh clothes, just in case the situation got dirty, as it had. Zed, it seemed, had acquired an undeniable ability of foresight, and Emmy couldn't help but constantly admire her.

In fact, Emmy admired just about everything about Zed. Zed was sexy, and tall, and just.. just perfect, she thought. And as she watched her now, she couldn't help but notice the beautiful shapely legs, the round hips, the admirably long black hair. Emmy wasn't prone to bisexuality in any way. It was just that she found something so appealing about Zed's shapely, perfect body. But mostly she was just so jealous. Jealous of how Zed dressed and could afford such clothes. Jealous of how everyone treated her. But it wasn't the angry kind of jealousy that built up over time. It was an admirable kind of jealousy. The kind of jealousy you have for that really sweet, really smart, really popular kid in middle school. The one who had all the right friends and was so humble about everything that you simply couldn't be mad, you simply couldn't.

But just like that kid, Zed wasn't perfect in every way. Just like that kid, she had hidden troubles too. And just like that kid, she had perfected hiding them in just the right way that anyone could just wash away any idea that might enter their mind about them even having them.

Emmy's gaze was cut short when Zed stood up and turned around, satchel on her shoulder. "Come on."

"Yeah, okay." Emmy scratched her head and looked down at her shoes. Her brand new chucks, white, were now a dark hue of red. She wiggled her ankle to get the feeling back into her feet (how long had she been standing there?) and a flash of shimmer from the edge of a small blade caught her eye. Oh yeah. The dagger, she thought. I forgot. And then she ran to catch up with Zed, who was apathetic about her stalling.

---

It was such a nice day outside, and Elizabeth was stuck on the 5th story of PS 117, Sara Simblett General High School. She was supposed to be learning about the history of gang presence in early New York City. Instead, she was working on a drawing with permanent markers on the tabletop of her back-corner desk.

"Elizabeth? Psst."
Elizabeth shot a glance to her right. It was that boy again.
"Elizabeth. Do you have the homework? I forgot mine."
She glared at him violently. "Not my problem." Then she went back to work on her desk.
"You know, you're really just a cunt, you know that? Seriously. I'm so fucking nice to you. Remember that time I gave you that piece of candy? Without you even asking? I don't like your ugly green hair, I don't even like you, and I gave you my last piece of candy. And you, you're just ... you're just a cunt."

The teacher turned towards the boy. "Samuel, did you need to say something? Please raise your hand."
"No ma'am. I was just asking Elizabeth to pick up my pencil for me," Samuel said with a smile.
"Alright. Please keep it down," the teacher responded, and went back to the chalkboard.
Elizabeth didn't take her eyes off her desk. She drew faster and more angrily this time.
It was beautiful. There were flowers and stars, and animals. There were clouds and presidents with scribbles for faces, drawings of other classmates, teachers, family. There were flags, and people running towards each other holding them. And today, she was drawing herself in green and blue and white, and holding hands with Bandit. And Bandit was stabbing her mother in the face.

---

It was late at night in Ros City when Zed and Emmy got back to the Zip Zap Arcade. As usual, it was pretty empty, save for the green haired girl who was here every night.
"Hey, Gus." Emmy waved as she passed the old man tending the coin slots in the machines.
They made their way towards the back of the arcade, Zed in the lead. There was a bulky, old swing door (like the ones that waiters use in restaurants). Emmy had to avoid the backswing after Zed entered. She found, in time, that her short stature and this door mingled to combine for a large and very painful smack on the ass.
They were in what looked like a very normal backroom. There was a cement floor, a couple of windows, a desk (covered in papers and who-knows-what), and some cleaning materials. If you came in here and didn't bother to look in the closet, you would suspect you were in a very normal, very boring arcade backroom. You probably wouldn't care to be back here for longer than you had to.
But there was far more to this room than anything an arcade would have to deal with.

Zed led the way towards the broom closet, and opened the door. She brushed away a hanging sheet from her face, and walked straight in towards what should have been the backboard of the closet.

"You're fucking back already...?" A voice beckoned.
"Wish I wasn't," Zed replied flatly.
They were in a rather large room with several other people now. Everyone, including Zed and Emmy, were dressed in green or blue or combinations of both. They were the Rolley Olleys.