On Your Own in the City

It was sunny and warm out. No breeze at all here on the planet of Mars. Sun filtered through to hit your face; it accentuated all your facial features as you walked down the street by yourself looking at the buildings with new and open eyes... “hmm” you sigh. You’re a quiet girl but know how to act when you need something. Your not just a push over like people may think when it comes to you getting what you need. Perhaps it’s instinct or maybe just good survival skills that you had inherited from your family. You had never been on the streets before and it really didn’t scare you as much as it should you thought. “What to do” you said out loud casually strolling in a run down city on Mars. It wasn’t an out of date place, the stores were fairly nice but had just fallen into bad repair in the past few decades. Probably one to many gangs had moved into the area, and a few to many drug deals and shootings to make the civilians that had children or just with more money than the normal move. You assumed that bounties and bounty hunters prowled the streets at night here too, trying to make a buck or two at others disadvantages.
Walking down the sidewalk that was littered with a few cracks and grassy weeds sprouting from the corners; you wore worn jean shorts and a soft white Henley with thin golden threads sewn through a ‘A’ embroidered on the top right corner. You had a leather belt around your waist with a slow design on it. You are tall and slender with long hair that is slightly past your shoulders.
Your long brown hair hung around your shoulders in lengths. You were looking around to only find a concrete jungle. An exciting and adventuresome concrete jungle, but in it’s own mind still a box of pavement. There were few and lonely trees here. No flowers that you could tell from the looks of it; except for a long and narrow plastic box above a top floor flat. The plots that had been planted before in earlier years to decorate the gathering intervals by the old park, or in a cities block square were mostly cut down or lost to vandalism over the years.

You sighed again. “I need a drink...And a good place to stay”. You liked to drink, but you weren’t much of a solitary drinker. More of a social one. “To bad I really need it” you said. “But what a waste of money if I do. I should know better...humph”, you said out loud while walking past shuffling bodies trying to get to their work place or home for lunch. You were defeated by yourself. How sad, but at the same time very good and in control.
You looked around with your hands clasped together on the back of your neck. Fingers intertwined with locks of long hair you blew air out of your mouth to signify you were bored and this day was another blow. “Life being wasted yet again”you state. You had been on the streets now for about two weeks and still had some money saved up. It was drastically running low though and you needed a job. Sadly you just didn’t want to work and would figure something out when you ran out you had thought and decided.
The night before you had stayed out in front of an old school building that had started to crumple slightly. The memories returned to your head and you were in awe at your bravery that you had never before needed to call upon very much. These instances you assumed were going to be happening more and more often now, now that you were alone and no longer with Trent and in his protection. The school was long ago abandoned, but it had housed a few vagabonds in it’s now deteriorated state and still had sufficient shelter. In a bad neighborhood, you had barley slept, worried about being rapped or maybe killed in a single moment. Your courage had returned the moment the sunlight crept form the cracked gym walls and few remaining window panes to the last standing Oak tree in leaf in the front of the building. The sun greeted you with a smiling face were you had hidden out in front of the gym doors for the night that were large and glass. Slightly cracked a few to your left and down a ways were totally missing. Because people everywhere need giant glass doors you decided. A large green overgrown pine stood to the right by an empty trash can littered with cigarette butts. It’s pebble look on the outside, to make it more becoming, had turned against it in these watery nights and had given it a slimy wet sheen from the glossy covering it now wore. Sand from the top had condensed and held it’s moisture because it had turned black with slight mold and mildew. Obviously the sun did not reach this far very often. ‘So interesting. So much to look at and all so wonderful’, you thought. The ground held potato bugs that crawled up and around you to see their new company and companion in this night. Against the silhouetted light post that was still on affront of you, you could make out a large brown gray spider spinning it’s silk. You were too wary to go investigate since a few cars had started to pass. You had assumed they were gang members making a raid somewhere but were surprised to hear no sirens coming in the hours after their mad dash through the streets. ‘I hope I don’t get raped’, was on your head and mind. The spider had moved back into the confines of it’s transparent home.
You had always wanted to do a job that involved creatures or insects. This only encouraged you to pursue your life’s dream even more, every time you came across something it seemed magical and that the whole world seemed to stop just for you and it in that moment or moments you began to watch it. Drifting into the reality of fate and truth your hazy look seemingly vanished into nothingness and your stare became evident again. You were back to reality. This reality was one that you had to stay on top of or it would suck you under deep and hard. You knew all that could happen but you kept going without stop. Most of the time you knew if you did not keep going you would stop and not be able to find your way back. That’s just how lost you were, that you were to lost to know where you were. It was always to difficult to try to make something into something after it was long gone and missed. But time moved on and so did you, and now you were here with yourself and your dignity; At least you hoped.
One car passing made you look up from the shadowy indent you were pressed into. You hid between the sectioned part of the two doors so you were shrouded in darkness. In the old days it would have been just a large doorway; Now days it was your bed for the night.
‘Rape’, resurfaced in your mind. You wanted to stay a virgin until you were married but it was going to prove difficult if you stayed like this much longer. “Mmm”, you sighed and looked out.



You had packed up early that morning after you had watched a few homeless wanderers pass you and give you looks. For the most part you were not to frightened. You could run well from years of sports at school to not have to worry about making it to some type of civilization that would protect you. Anyways, ‘Have you ever looked at those homeless men’? The have large rugged looking brown and gray coats with pop cans; long emptied and crushed by calloused black hands hanging around themselves in a makeshift type of primitive jewelry. Beards unshaven for weeks, and one by the looks of it never in his life! Flies hovering around them as the passed in a reeking mass of dirt and filth. Gloves with missing fingers and patches were it had been unsuccessfully sewn back together again covered their bodies. Their massive coats most likely deceived their true size, but probably kept them warm and dry on these types of nights.

You had recalled almost everything from the night before to a pinpoint. ‘Well almost’ you bartered. “I need food” you said as your stomach grumbled to a beat of feed me, feed me. You walked along and not to long after your stomachs song you passed a hotdog stand and smiled. You looked happy and free you guessed. This was a good day so far. ‘Yes this’ll be perfect’, you thought. You always had the tendency to talk to yourself in your head and hold conversations alone. You were quiet and sometimes removed from people even though you were very well in tune with your feelings, emotions, and situations. Along with the one at hand. Needing to find a home or safe place to stay a while. A school sanctuary wouldn’t be very possible every night. Someone was bound to notice you hanging around there eventually, and eventually was coming too soon you guessed.
“Two brotwersts with everything on them, oh, and make them cheese”, you smiled gingerly towards the large man behind the white push cart with the red and white striped umbrella standing from above. It protected him and his food well from the midday sun that shone down, but mostly he was standing in the rays of light to warm himself and let his food keep longer. ‘That’s nice’, you guessed. “That’ll be it lady”? “Yes”. “Thank you”, The man in the greasy white apron, with various dark patches on it, handed them to you and you walked away holding the plump dogs in your hands.

You walked along the old sidewalk until you found a wooden bench with pebble concrete supports on the sides holding the beams together. It was off the street with some sun shining through the buildings to sit down on. You had already finished you first brot when you saw a nasty run down apartment ahead of where you were sitting. Brown in appearance, it had once been a cleaner looking color but years of muck and smog from engines and ships had clouded the true appearance of it many years ago. It had concrete steps going up to an old wooden door that was meant for inside apartment use only. It still had the faded numbers 623 on it from it’s past doorframe it was stolen from. A worn golden colored handle supplied it’s means of entrance to your hopeful new home! Weeds grew sporadically around the crumbling concrete steps that had three strips of old worn black tape on them that were rough to stop sliding in the winter. They were pretty much worn away now, so one wrong step could send you flying in any direction but up to your destination. Even in the rain you surmised that they would be treacherous. ‘Haha’, you laughed in your head as you imagined a feeble old lady in cartoon style, walking and hobbling up the slippery slopes of the steps, only to fall and mid air stop and panic with her cane. Then after all that to only fall even harder and break a femur and loose her big gray spectacles that let her see her views. You agreed in your head that this would be the perfect place to stay right then while finishing your food.


“Hello, I’m here to look into renting one of your apartments” you said in a sure voice. You had made your way into the office of the building after you ate. “Well, how much you got, you know it’s not to safe for a gal like yourself to be staying in a place like this one”. “I know, but it’s better than the street” you replied with your head held high to acknowledge that you were not just joking around here. “And I have two hundred and thirty dollars”. You said this slyly. You really had around three hundred but wasn’t going to have this man try to charge you more if he knew you had it. “Eh. 230?” “Haha, well it’s your lucky day kid, it’s just what I’m askin’ ahem, he clears his throat, for the one up stairs”. He motions up with his middle finger to above his office. ‘Middle finger, is he giving me that finger? Oh, no he’s just using it to point. Oh God am I a pervert... We all know were that fingers been. And he’s worried about me being alone.. Oh gods am I disgusting... How perverted am I...gross. I know exactly what he does to woman and were with that finger. I wonder.. Eww not him.. How that feels?...eww, but very funny; haha.’ you thought, and also imagined while he was talking. “Yeah”, you say, “I guess it is”, and you smiled warmly as if trying to impress.



For a man in a wife beaters shirt he was actually not that bad. With your little images long gone and mind back in focus you listened and asked questions when they came up. He told you he didn’t live here in this crap hole and that if there are any problems concerning people to just tell him and he’d take care of it. But problems concerning the room was up to me to fix. “I’ll be in only on Mondays, other than that your screwed and don’t ya try to contact me unless this place is burning down or somethin.” “Haha, ya like I’d be tha lukay”, he chuckled as he made it to my new room to be. His grammar made you laugh to yourself and you imagined it to be more entertaining than it should have been.
He turned the key to a dusty paint splattered door and it opened without a problem. Not even squeaking noise like you expected it to do. The inside wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad. “Here ya go, this is the livin room” he explained. It had a wooden floor and was about a decent enough size. The only problem is it needed a good washing; but you really enjoyed cleaning so that was okey! It led into the kitchen which you could say otherwise for. “Hehe”, he chuckled, “This is the, er kitchen you could say”. “Hehe”, he chuckled again in a gruff voice. His comb over slightly balding head shone with sweat and he was starting to smell of B.O. you began to notice. “Good luck with this one kid it’s pretty skuzzy”. You walked in and took a step back out. Skuzzy was the polite term for that brewing festering pit of mold mildew and Gods knows what else in there. Though you kept quit you were seriously thinking about this whole thing and were so very excited to start everything.

You walked away preparing yourself for the task of cleaning it ahead. “And this is your bathroom”. “It’s not that bad” you said. It had been the first thing you had said since you had gotten up here and you weren’t about to leave your land lord thinking you were some mute or something. “Well you gonna take it, cuzz if not I can find just as many other homeless bitches to sell it to.” You were a bit taken back by his tone and change of features, but knew he wasn’t really a bad person. Then again not really many people are they just make bad decisions, but you could tell he wasn’t one of them. You agreed to it firmly after he said all that and were sure that you wouldn’t be seeing him for quit some time. ‘God, what am I getting myself into today,’ you wondered.

You glided into the living room once again. It had been about five minutes of you just standing in one place thinking. Your new landlord had left, and you owned this place. Owned it. With your own money. You were glad to see yourself come through with this even though you hadn’t had a doubt in the fist place of your ability to score it.


First of you imagined a curtain or cloth of some sort in front of the window to supply sufficient coverage for privacy. You didn’t want any creeps peeking in at you when you didn’t know, let alone coming to pay a little nightly visit playing the friendly neighbor. ‘Too friendly,’ you shuddered. Your mind returned to earlier. You found an old sheet in the closet but it was moth eaten and dusty. “Hmph”, you thought that you would need to buy a bed before a curtain so you hung it anyways. It created a dim kind of sooting glow in the room. Dust floated in the air in lofty patterns, as the brick wall outside with a window showed a reflection of shadows on the floors and walls.

You blew your arms around trying to settle some of it only to disturb it more. “Well that was pointless” you say as you huff over to the bathroom to see what’s in the cabinets.You made a bigger deal about the dust than really needed. “Nothing” you state blandly. “Except you”, you grin in a smirking sort of way that would probably creep some people out. You don’t make that kind of face towards people though, or around them usually. You know better.


A bottle of soft scrub was residing in the back corners of the dank white cabinet, and it was your goal to reach it. You reached in fully with your hand, holding your breath so that you might not feel any webs or god knows what else on your hand. “Phhhh”, you let your breath out slowly to stop your nervousness.
“That’s it, I’m going to the store, there’s nothing here” you shout. You grin widely as to you know no one will hear you now. You place the SoftScrub on the sink counter and shudder your hand and just imagine the cobwebs on it falling off in waves. You somewhat stomp away knowing that you have to go spend more money. “Money, why can’t you grow on trees like apples or something!”, you exclaim frustrated. “I wish there was a Dollar Store around here somewhere,” you wishfully say.

You reach the first level front door and turn to open it. Suddenly the door swings open fully and you jump back just in time to only be nicked on the knuckles by it. A Porte Rican man comes blowing in shouting off profanities. !“jódale usted bastardo”, usted dinero que roba asno”! !obtendré a las policías hasta ahora arriba su asno”! usted no sabrá lo que le golpeó”! “fagot, stupid lard of a, ARRHA!” he screams out before he turns to see you gawking at the outburst.


“Oh, excuse me, sorry”, you start to sound off as he looks you over. Greedy eyes proob your body, their acid look send shivers and your stomach into convulsions. This is the type of nasty human quality that you despised. “Haha, this is one fine chica I see here, come on baby lets say you ‘n’ me go spend some quality time haha sólo”? His attitude and anger totally dissolves to be replaced by a not so swaying man. “Um, no, I’m just on my way out”, you manage to say before you try to get past him. “Hey baby I’m not done with you yet” he says possessively as he reaches out for you. He motions with his hands as they hit off his chest and out towards you. Grabbing your right wrist and arm, he grins and chuckles to you. “Excuse me, let go of me”, you say strongly, and defiantly before punching him with your left hand hard in the chest. “Umph, ohh, you little faggot bitch your gonna get it now for that, come here”! “NO”, you yell, close to a scream. You kick out at him but he moves over and grabs your wrist tighter and lets go of your arm. “LET GO OF ME”, you scream towards him trying to get him panicked at your voice.

“He only grabs tighter and moves his hand up past your wrist to oyur arm. He now has a better grasp on you. ‘Om my god, kick him, okey were, the balls. Yes, if that doesn’t drop him then what. Help someone’! “Hey lady, no ones gonna hear you, haha I think I would know”. You decided you needed to do something more than play damsel in distress, cuzz come on no one was coming to your rescue anytime soon.

Thump, you landed a hard kick in his crotch and groin area. “OHHH, you little mother fucker, Ohhh” he yelled in a Mexican Porte Rican accent like you see on those T.V.’s. He was on the ground cupping himself from pain. You didn’t bother to stay around to when he got back on his feet; you were already gone As you were running down the sidewalk towards the more busy central street you could hear him shouting to you. “You come back her you little, ohh”, his voice cracked with pain. Distressed as he was he made a small attempt to hobble towards you and the streets crowds. The attempt was stunted by the pain in his groin, as he fell down again to swash around in a semi circle motion sort of like he was swimming in circles like a dog in the water.. His voice was drowned out as you slipped into the crowd of the city street. No one even bothered to give him a glance as you disappeared away in the crowd.

SPIKES POSITION::::

“Dam, not again”, he yelled as the bounty was surrounded by the police. He hit his balled fist against his leg and shin hard, holding his gun in his left hand for the moments action. They had their shields with POLICE written in black bold print over the clear plastic plexiglass tops A deep navy blue that resembled their uniforms covered the lower half to protect their legs from sight, and also bullets. Their blue and black helmets covered their eyes with POLICE also written over them. They were in full blue jump suites with shirts and pants coordinated. They had semi black lines down the sides and black pockets with small bottons to hold stuff like ammo and equipment that they would need, on their chests and sides. The side pockets were where they normally were too. They held on to their weapons in one hand and the shields handle in the back as they narrowed in on the man who was now panicking in the middle.
He was dressed in a light brown t-shirt with a set of light colored blue jeans that were worn form wear. His hair was brown and combed over from the left to hide his balding head from the view of people. Black tennis shoes with baby blue bubble letter ‘m’s on the side of each, that looked like ones that a teen would wear, adorned his feet. They must have done a good job at protecting them from dirt and mud because he had kept them nice and scrubbed in this nasty city. Obviously he appreciated this pair of foot wear more than a normal person.

To everyone around, he was obviously the bounty. He was rushing side to side in a fret trying to escape. No gun in his hand he just tried to make one mad, gay dash towards the officers and was taken down right then and there. “Down, Down, Down, Get him Men”!, yelled the head officer in the back. They clamored to him, ending up resting on top of him with guns pointed towards varies points of his body and scalp.
“That’s the third time this week Spike, dammit can’t you keep them in sight”!, yelled Jet frustrated from a hand counsel that spike held up to view. ‘Csheesh’, came the cackling noise from the communicator. The screen went fuzzy for a moment and then returned to show Jet still fuming on the living room couch. Spike frowned angrily, his mouth ready to bulge with an onslaught of words to borage Jet with. “Shut up Jet, you think I don’t know that already”, he shouted, not even bothering to lean towards the speaker. He knew it would come through clear enough. Their communicating supplies and stuff wasn’t that bad off that it wouldn’t pick this up. “Hmph”, Jet replied in a monotone snuff. Crossing his arms and sitting back away from the screen he turns away so not to look. Leaning into the orange cochon of the couch slightly, he craned his neck to the side and waited for Spike to shut the receiver of his communicator off. He assumed it would be off for a good portion of the day, or at least until he came back this night or lunch time to eat or sleep off some beer. Then again, he could always come back just to sleep.

Spike walked away from the scene with his hands in his pockets as everyone around the sidewalk and street just started to come to the scene. “Hey watch it”, says Spike, as a man with a long brown coat and dark pants with dress shoes brushes past him in order to get to the captured man faster. Spike turns his head sideways to the right and back, to see the mans coats tail rustling slightly and side ties moving in motion with him as he picks up speed towards the scene. ‘No reply, what an ass’, thought Spike to himself as he turned his head back around only to almost bump into a lady fully head on. Arms go up so not to push her and he looks down with a smile on his face. “Sorry Mam”, he says politely as he grins wide and side steps to move on and keep on going. “ No problem”, she replies as he is walking away.
He reaches a hand to his coats inside pockets and takes a cigarette from the crumpled pack yellow pack. ‘They’ll kill you, you know’... A memory comes back to him of the BeBop. Faye standing over the railing above him. ‘Talking again are we Faye’... Silence....’Hmpf’, tap....tap....tap....She had walked away, only her shoes could be heard now, and even those were fading into the hallway above. ‘Dam’.
Lighting it from his pocket, he took a long slow drag and settled down a bit from the rush he had just received form the chase. ‘Dam I could have had him’, was all he thought. Losing was finally setting in on his somber look of the catch. Then sadly the demoralizing loss to the SSI POLICE had to come to make it worse. It couldn’t have been another bounty, no it had to be those dam police. Anybody but them. But it was them and he had lost. He had lost by so little it was disgusting. His eyes took a lazy, bored, and annoyed look to the world. He would have to return to the ship but he couldn’t do it alone. He had to bring that girl back, and he had to do it soon. ‘Dammit’.

“Have anymore in the area I can go after?” “Nope, wait a sec”, replied Jet. Spike had turned back on his council in his hand a few minutes ago and Jet had called right away. It seems that there was another bounty near by that Spike could easily snag up on the way home to the BeBop. “We’ve got one, and it’s a girl” Jet said. “Dirty blonde brownish hair, about 5 9\" and fair skinned n slender”. “She shouldn’t be that hard to miss Spike, don’t mess this one up”. “Hm”, yeah were is she and how much we talking”? Questions came from his mouth about this female that he was to get. Brown hair blue eyes didn’t seem that bad right now, not to mention maybe getting a drink later he could even call it a night early and sleep in the next day. “Well right now she’s on the street off yours called Bender but she should be heading your way”. Jet called out, “Hey Ed he called to check his rightness on this subject. She’s goin that way towards Spike right”? A laughing came from the speaker and orange bright hair spiked up in front of the monitor. “Haha yess my Spike man she is coming, haha it is so weiirrdd to have the Spike man tryinggg”. She finished this last word along with the word weird in a long slur of vibrations and rythem. Moving her arms as if they were spaghetti she wiggled away from them into the kitchen for a snack that wasn’t there.
“Can I get a picture of this girl then if I am gonna have to go get her”? “Ya”, replied Jet smoothly. The fight that they had, had earlier was long gone and passed and they were totally business again. Ed sent a picture over the communicator from the computer she sat at in the background of Jets screen. “WEE, yes Ed can help very good, good Spike man come home soon”, she squealed the last part and shot off into a tumble roll and fell in front of Ein who barked exuberantly. “Hahaha yess Ein, I am, yes I am hoongryyy tooo”! She rolled into a ball and rolled back to her computer that she had set up on the floor. “Thanks Ed”, replied Spike as a picture of a girl about 16, 17, or 18 showed up. Since the height was there it was deceiving. “Wait, Jet, how much are we talking here, I’m not going to go after some small fry that’ll get us by two days am I”? He was worried by the looks of it it was just going to be some gangs girl gone missing, probably run away and they wanted her back. Might even be some cat house girl that got skitty and left. Who knows, but he sure didn’t really care. “Probably slept with who knows how many guys”, he mumbled under his breath top himself. “Spike, you listen to me, you are gonna go for this one or your not staying in this ship any longer” Jet started to yell. “Your repairs last time were more than you can make in a month so you better go after every living thing you see while your out there, you hear me”, he yelled in a gruff voice into the consol.. “Hm”, spike chuckled to himself. Guess Jet had heard his little comment. “Dam” Spike stated blandly. “You really serious this time huh”? “Well I guess I can try to get her”. “Better”, replied Jet puffing out a blow of air from his mouth as he hunched over in his chair. “She’s worth about 198,000 woolongs so try not to mess this one up”. “Just doin’ the best I can”, Spike grinned and reached his right hand forward to turn off the consol screen and it went fuzzy for Jet up in the Bebop. Damn, thought Jet. Ed sang in the background, “Scoors of big nuggets, and chicken pot pies, weee come on Ein we must search for food and Faye Faye”! “YIP”, was the only response form the corgi. They both ran off up the steps leaving pittering pattering sounds to echo lightly into the darker hall above them all.

You breathed heavily and twisted your head around to look at your back side, God what a jerk, no what an ass... Now if I go back there I better have something to protect myself with. Now I have to spend more money and buy a stupid gun or something. Arggh! You walked completely oblivious of were you were going until you ran strait into a man with black hair. The man was wearing a khaki trench coat that had a long slash belt around it untied and dangling. His onsomble also had with it black dress pants and dark hair that covered his facial expressions and eyes. Okey who were you kidding it covered his whole face, so you couldn’t distinguish if he was mad or not. It was long hair that clouded his side vision but if that was hid style let him be.
You assume to apologize and begin to start. Always on the first step to an apology you were. “Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry” you say, but the man just grunts and keeps walking away behind you into the crowd. “Okey”, you say unsure if it was your fault you ran into him in the first place.



The man in the long jacket hair turned around to look back at you, and spoke into a small mouth piece covered by his long overcoats neck. “Hey, Mike you there, well I think I found our lady”. A laughing came over the microphone. “Great man, go get her and come back so we can get her turned in”. “Yeah, man, is she packing heat though”? “How am I to know dude, just go for her”. ...... “You there”? ..... “Yeah, k, I’m gonna go now”.