Paranoia ✓

VIII: Hunter - No School!

Hunter was glad to have visited his extended family in New York and to have seen a Giants game. However, now he was back home in Chicago sitting bored at home after his school was closed today due to yet another scare.

Hunter's mom usually came in to wake him up at around 6:30 A.M. for school, which began at 8:00 A.M. His routine was simple, shower, eat, relieve himself. Today however he found himself waking up on his own at 7:30 A.M. He freaked out, thinking he missed his mom's wake up call. He got up and ran to the bathroom about to jump into the shower when he spotted his father coming out of his parents' room.

"Did mommy try waking me up?"

His father shook his head. "Nah. You have no school today. She just came to kiss you on the forehead."

Hunter was taken back. Hunter was a light sleeper and rarely did he not hear someone entering the room, let alone touch him. But he was more surprised about the school closure. "No school? Why?" Usually Hunter would leap for joy at the mentioning of no school, but most of the time it came along with snow and a fun time. Considering it was sunny and dry outside he was wondering why was the school closed.

His father went into the bathroom and started to do his tie. "All the schools in Chicago are closed today. They say they found evidence of threats being made against multiple schools in Chicago—terror threats. So mom decided to let you sleep. She already left for work, and I got to follow behind. You know the drill, keep the stove off and don't open the door to anyone you don't know."

He finished tying his tie and made his way back to the closet in his room to grab his coat. He wore a nice black trench coat. Match that with his multi-color white, gray, and black beard and his umber skin tone, and you have yourself a detective. All he needed was the fedora. He checked his brown metal watch and noticed it was almost 8:00 A.M.

"Gotta go, see ya later," his father patted him on the back as he made his way down the stairs.

"Be safe," Hunter signed off and went back into his room. He sat down on his bed and took out his phone. He searched up Chicago school closings on Google and found hundreds of articles from local and national newspapers commenting on the school closures. The authorities say it was a necessary precaution. Parents are worried for their children now more so than ever...

And rightly so. Chicago was a dangerous place. They called it, "the war zone" for a reason. Various gangs controlled sections of the city, but it all splits down to two major gangs, the Reapers and the Locust. The Reapers controlled North Chicago, and the Locust controlled the South. The Locust occupied the poorer areas of Chicago. They made their money off of drugs, prostitution, and gambling clubs. The Reapers, occupying the richer areas of Chicago and its outer suburbs, made their money off of the same things—they just charged a higher price for it. Their clientele were lesser in number, but they had more money to spare.

They both constantly collided with each other over territory rights. They were like two nations on the brink of war—and the civilian casualties were unmanageable. The gangs ran Chicago to the point that the police officers were scared to enter any neighborhoods that were considered a gang territory. In a city where criminals with light machine guns mowed down police officers, the cops have a reason to be scared. In order to take down these gangs, they needed an army. But that army is armed for one purpose only: to tackle terrorism.

The one area that the gangs did not control was downtown Chicago. That area was still protected by the government. It was there where you'll find police officers with assault rifles patrolling the streets with K-9 units searching for bombs instead of for drug peddlers or pimps. Getting drugs and a night in bed with a stranger was so easy in this city that some of Hunter's friends had already bought drugs from local gang cells and purchased sex from local pimps dishing out woman as if they were products. The gangs made no distinction about age. They had no morals. Money was money no matter what source it came from.