Playing Nice

She shouldn't have been surprised that she had to walk into a creepy hideout by herself, but there was also a part of her that knew that she didn't recall having nerves of steel considering that she swore that there were corners hidden in the shadows that were riddled with traces of crimes that ranged from not being for the faint of heart and the small petty nuisances.

There were drips of water that seemed to echo within the tiny area that she was in, only adding to the uncomfortable atmosphere. She didn't have any true light; her phone screen emitting a tiny glow of a bluish-hue would have to do.

The houses around here were buried by the sheer amount of dust and darkness that seemed to drown everything. No signs of life or anyone living in the particular area which wasn't anything too different considering the people of the outer circle tended to stay together in pocket groups that were spread out.

The heels of her boots clicked onto the wet stone pathing, and Charlotte tried her best to read the map that Vincent had sent her which literally was only a grey screen that depicted grey roads with a white marker of her final destination.

All the information that was given to her was extremely sketchy, but she had to deal with it to find out Vincent's side of the story and condition. She did try calling back, not expecting anything in return, and it was as she had thought with a blank voice message.

There was a point of realization that occurred to her after the silent voice message had been playing for a minute signaling that his device had been turned off. It wasn't like he was much help anyways.

A chill ran down her spine when she heard something skittering behind her, and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms to try and calm herself. It was okay. She only needed to find Vincent. With that thought going around, she knew it was pathetic that she couldn't even protect herself.

Her hand brushed the butt of the handgun that was strapped to her side, knowing that when it came time to pull the trigger she would have to. There was no time to hesitate back in the outer ring and that was her biggest mistake a few months ago with her first encounter with Vincent and the murder that occurred.

There was another click behind her that drew her last straw, and Charlotte whipped back on her heel and lifted her pistol up. Breathing in and out steadily, counting in her head down from ten to try and keep her pacing strong with her finger ready on the trigger, she looked over to see that there was nothing but wind.

She could have sworn that there was something there, and her heart lept out from her chest when a cat jumped down from the dumpster that they were perched upon with their coloring being quite bright seeing that it was once domesticated as a shiny toy and now abandoned.

The cat came closer to her, and she was able to get a better glimpse at the colorway of the white cat with lovely red colored fur on her paws and some splotches of pink. The eyes seemed to be pink in the darkness, but she couldn't really tell.

It seemed to lose interest in her and strutted away into another cranny that they found, making Charlotte loosen her tight grip on her gun. It wasn't good to easily point a gun anyways. She found it to be in the form of making a new bad habit.

She shouldn't have spoken too soon that there wasn't a person there, because there was a young woman standing with her ankles kicked out in front of her a few feet away with her arms crossed in a taunting manner.

It was unsettling, because she didn't hear anyone move at all, and a person had already approached her when she was unaware. It was bad for her that the vigilante had gotten so close since she was already at a disadvantage.

Charlotte ripped her gun out from her slacked position at her side, cocked and ready if the vigilante were to attack her. Vincent had told her that there wasn't safety on her gun, and it would shoot if she wanted it to. It was both a blessing and a curse if she wasn't careful.

"Put your gun away," the woman said calmly.

Charlotte saw that she had at least only got one obstacle that she could see to try and get through instead of a gang that she knew she wouldn't be able to put away by herself. "I won't shoot if you just let me get back to what I'm doing."

"You're the one disturbing everyone."

Charlotte sighed and straightened her shoulders to try and come off as stronger than she actually was despite knowing that couldn't hide the little markers that showed how scared she was. "I'm sorry, but I'm running out of time to play nice. You can leave now before I decide otherwise."