Closed starter for @skyler-bane |
Once a year, any and all crime - including murder - is legal for a period of 12 hours.
Sirens blare throughout the land to signal the start and end of The Purge.
All police, fire, and medical emergency services remain unavailable or suspended for the full 12-hour Purge.
The president, first family, and government officials of rank 10, are granted immunity.
Only "Class 1-4" weaponry shall be permitted, while Class 5 weaponry (such as explosives) is prohibited.
Violations of any Purge rules will result in death by public hanging.
New York was actually not the best city to live in and somehow stay afloat. But Lian couldn't choose and tried to make the best of it, when one spent more hours at work than at home and the only piece of nature one could rudimentarily enjoy was in the form of Central Park.
Not only was it not his favorite city for that reason, today was that one day of the year that he loathed. In the small café where he worked, he heard the guests talk about it from time to time, but otherwise tonight, which soon fell upon them, seemed like any other, only that a complete anarchy broke out, in which people pursued their desires for murder, rape, robbery and much worse things. According to the government, this would reduce crime in general. In Lian's opinion, this night only fueled further hatred and helped already unstable personalities to plummet even further.
Since he was still the new guy, even though he had already been working here for a few weeks, he was supposed to be the last one to close the store today, exactly half an hour before the great event started. Fortunately, he only had a walk of about ten minutes, so he would still make it in time to barricade himself at home in his small apartment.
The case set that the current guests hopefully soon paid...
But as luck would have it for him, they left the café on time, leaving Lian to wipe down the last of the tables, grab the key to lock the door, and then activate the security system that lowered a large steel gate.
Twenty-three minutes remained before the sirens sounded. They had told him to wait until the gate was fully down, so he waited and glanced at his watch. Until the gate suddenly stopped in the middle, the door only half secured.
For the moment he just stared, Lian had no idea about technology, at least not this one. Pressing the button on his remote again, hoping it would go back up, the gate only jerked as if it was stuck.
He still had twenty minutes.
Trying to keep calm, he looked to see if he could discover why it was stuck, but to no avail. Calling his boss would do no good; he turned off his phone as soon as he left the store. Looking around briefly, he also noticed that the streets were already deserted, not a soul who could help him in any way.
Either he left it at that and disappeared from here as quickly as he could, in which case that would probably lead to his dismissal when the café would be battered tomorrow, or he thought of something else...
Taking batteries in and out failed, not a single button worked. The gate stood still and didn't move an inch until it suddenly dropped by itself with a crashing sound.
Fifteen minutes remained.
It didn't look like it was broken, at least it closed the entire outer facade, so Lian considered his job done and slipped the remote control into his pants pocket.
Ten minutes to arrive and five minutes to board up his door, since he couldn't afford such a great security system, so he'd better hurry. Without running, he merely quickened his gait and tried to avoid any eye contact with people he now encountered. Especially if they were strolling around leisurely, they certainly didn't have the same thing in mind as he did...
"Hey, hold it right there!" The sudden grip on his arm, forcing him to stop, caused him to simultaneously whirl around to where he was staring into the face of a man he could almost tell what he was up to this night. "I know where you live, so hurry up before we barricade ourselves in there together." With a sickening grin, he licked his lips and Lian abruptly tore himself away.
He said nothing, for every word could be used against him, so he merely wheeled around and quickened his steps once more, unconsciously. Briefly he looked back to see if he was being followed, but the man had stopped and was just staring after him. People could be deviant when they wanted to be, disgusting and perverted.
Lian looked at his watch: Nine minutes. He was running now, hoping not to be stopped again. He ran past people dressed up, wearing masks that hid their identities, people visibly carrying sharp weapons. They were ready for the Purge, which now started in less than six minutes.
He took a shortcut, crossed a street, and was stopped again when he crashed into something that made him instantly recoil as he thought his last hour had struck.
When he saw who or what he had run into, he thought his heart would stop.
He stared in disbelief at the face of the man he knew and felt his heart pounding in his throat. Lian couldn't get a word out - what was he doing here? Why wasn't he somewhere safe?
