Black Market Merchant

The leader of the Black Rats, Garret Trellis, sat at the head of a long table. His hands were clasped methodically in front of his face as he surveyed the nervous gangsters sitting at the table with him as well. Things had gone from bad, to worse for them and Garret was not one to let failure go unchecked.

First, they had to flee their main base at the Marriott Hotel during the riot. Leaving half of their equipment, resources and a large amount of money behind. When they tried to escape on their party boat the rioters followed them for the whole time they traveled downstream. When they reached the southern end of the town, they had to fight off dozens of rioters just to dock the boat and make it to their hidden backup base.

Then by the time they reached their safe house did they learn of even worse news. Half of the gang had been captured, killed or was still missing. At least five hundred of their Black Rats forces had succumbed to death or prion. The rioters had also gone crazy and started hunting down everyone in search of the gangsters scattered around town. Not only had the gang members suffered, but a lot of their contacts, suppliers and buyers as well were not sparred. They were passed multiple times on the river by merchants fleeing from the eastern docks on barges or private speedboats, probably never to return.

"We can't let them get away with this!" Garret yelled slamming his fist onto the table. The impact of his massive bulk nearly broke the table. "We need to remind them who really runs this town. The Damn is ours and ours alone to rule!"

Several of the gangsters, his remaining lieutenants, nodded in agreement. Then one of them called out, "So what's the plan, Boss?"

"The plan is to crush them." Garret immediately replied. "First, get some guys to find out who's behind the riot and who's running the place now. I want to know how many we are up against, where they are, and what they are doing." Then he pointed at one of his lieutenants, "Zane, you get your guys to do this. I think, out of most of these guys, you still have the most men left."

Zane stood up. "Alright Boss. You got it. Plus, the area we managed over wasn't all that populated, so we can move a lot more freely because we aren't as recognizable."

Garret nodded in approval. "Erin." He said while turning to another lieutenant. "You and your crew are to get an inventory of what weapons and ammo we got. Once we figure out the situation, we need to hit them hard and fast. Our food will not last us long, especially without any merchants willing to trade to us."

"Got it." Erin said getting up to leave.

"Marco, you and Terry go with your guys to make sure no one around here tells about our location. We can't repel any attack like before just yet. Do whatever you can to keep the locals quiet, but make sure you are discreet. We don't want to raise any suspicion among the locals and have those rioters find us out. Also, keep an eye out for straggles, we need every man we can find." Garret commanded and the two men nodded and got up to also leave hastily.

Garret then turned to the last two lieutenants at the table next to him. His top lieutenants were Diana, the only female lieutenant he had, and Adam, his righthand man. "This is where you two come in. Get whoever is left around here and have them start fortifying the building and the perimeter. Also, I want a tunnel dug from here to the dock. Just in case we need to run or use it to get behind them if they attack."

"Understood Boss." Adam said. Diana just sighed reluctantly and nodded.

"I can't wait until we figure out who was behind this. I will personally execute that idiot!" Garret growled.

…

Several days had passed since Garret had issues out the orders to his lieutenants. The safe house had been completely renovated into a proper second base. The old building had been reinforced with an extra layer on the walls, heavy doors now replaced the old ones, all the windows were boarded up, and the rooms inside were packed full of supplies. The fence around the perimeter had been completely replaced with sheet metal, debris and tangled masses of old cars. It would be easy to defend the safe house now. Anyone caught trying to climb over such obstacles or take them down would be easy targets to the gangsters.

The residents had been dealt with by Marco and Terry's crews and the area was under heavy supervision, no one could leave without being seen by the gang. Erin's crew determined that they were good on food rations for several weeks if need be. Also, they were close to the river, so water wasn't an issue either. They had managed to make contact with a few traders and merchants traveling up the river, that they normally dealt with, and informed them of their new location. They kept the situation under raps and convince the merchants that going beyond them wasn’t worth the trouble. Very few merchants would now bother traveling to the north eastern part of the town, thus possibly making the situation harder for the rioters to get supplies.

Zane had come back sooner than anticipated with his report. He discovered that the rioters had organized into a militia called the "East River Militia”. Not only forming a militia, but they had organized a form of a government under the leadership of a man named Nathan Dees. The people of this group were not too hard to find, as they had green arm bands to distinguish themselves from regular citizens. Simply catching one of them and interrogating him was all Zane needed to find all this out.

"Nathan Dees? Never heard of the prick." Garret said with a laugh. "I think we can make quick work of them after all."

Zane nodded. "I agree. Most of the militia people are just going house to house and looting the empty ones. They won't be able to react fast enough if we attacked their headquarters. The only problem for now would be the guy leading the armed forces, Gillian Taws."

"Gillian…" Garret said aloud thinking. "I remember him. He was a Match Fighter that worked for the old boss."

"I think he was too." Zane said in agreement. "Him and three other small time Match Fighters are among the fighting force of this Militia."

"Four nobody fighters and a rag tag crew of locals won't be enough to stop us." Gillian said grinning. "Adam, get the gang ready, we are going to attack! Seems like we wasted our efforts getting this place fortified."

Adam was standing nearby and immediately headed towards where many of the gangsters were lazing about near the river. When sober, Adam was quite a reliable second in command.

"Are we going to attack their headquarters?" Zane asked.

"Naw, that would be too easy.” Garret answered waving a hand dismissively overhead. “We need to take out every member of the East River Militia. Just like stomping out a fire: get the sparks stomped out now and the fire won't ever spread. We need to show the people that we won't let anyone who opposes us can get away with it!"

"Sounds good to me." Zane replied. Then he thought of something. "But won't attacking just the members make them aware of other attacks and make it harder for us to fight?"

"It might. But only if we attack in one spot all at once." Garret replied giving a crafty smile. "We need to know where they are looting at specifically and where the other members are likely to be. Once we know their location and patrols, we'll split up and attack them all at once at every location simultaneously. They probably aren't very organized at all and won't be able to communicate with each other. If we can weaken them now, the better for us later."

Zane nodded. "Makes since."

Then Garret continued his explanations as they started to walk towards where Adam was getting everyone ready. "If they are still anything like when they attacked the hotel, then we most definitely will have the advantage. We have guns, ammo and more experienced fighters. Those weak citizens won't be able to put up a fight with knives and bats alone. As for the Match Fighter's…" Garret flexed his arms and they bulged in a show a strength. "I'll take care of them."

After an hour of getting all the gangsters together and armed, Adam did a head count. There were nearly six hundred Black Rats gang members left and in fighting condition. They used to have nearly a thousand three hundred, but they had to make do with who they had. These numbers were likely more than enough to handle the ragtag militia. Over half were armed with some kind of firearm and all were equipped with some type of forged blade or other handheld weapon.

Garret was now standing on the base safe house's porch overlooking the large force in front of him. There were so many people packed into the courtyard that there was almost no room to stand. He raised his hand to quiet down the murmuring gangsters.

Garret cleared his throat and shouted confidently. "Black Rats! Let me make this simple. You ready to fight!?"

"Yeah!" The gangsters cheered back.

"You ready to kill?" Garret continued yelling.

"Yeah!" They all cheered back.

"You ready to show those stupid idiots who the real rulers of 'The Damn' are?" Garret yelled.

"Yeah!" The gangsters replied even louder than before.

"Who's in charge?" Garret asked loudly.

"We are!" The gang chanted back.

"Then let's show them already!" Garret yelled raising his own rifle and fist into the air.

The enthralled gangsters cheered and shouted, raising their weapons or fists into the air. Pressing his way through the mass of gangsters, Garret lead the way towards the north of town. As the mass group of the Black Rats followed close behind him, the very street seemed to vibrate as they marched. Adam, Diana, Zane, Terry, Marco and Erin all closely followed next to Garret. As they walked, he started to explain the plan in further detail.

Garret had to speak loudly enough that he could be hear over the excitable force following them. "Since they are going house to house in small groups Terry, Marco and Erin. You three go and take out these groups. They won't be expecting an attack, so kill as many of them as you can. I don't want any militia members alive."

"Zane. Your crew is going to standby and look for any militia reinforcements or stragglers in the streets nearby their base. Adam and Diana, you and your guys are coming with me to deal with Nathan Dees and the Match Fighters at their base. Sound good?" Garret asked looking expectantly at everyone. They all then voiced their agreement and instantly scattered among the gangsters to inform them of the orders.

The local residents quickly deserted the roads and alleys upon seeing so many gangsters coming their way. No one, however, tried to flee and head north to warn the East River Militia. The newly formed Militia forces were going to be attacked completely unawares.