27

Along the eastern banks of the Colorado River, Chipper Ridge holds the wealthier inhabitants of the Greater Nightfall area. In the 70s, Nathaniel Milford took bundles of his father's money and developed a community of overpriced houses, mostly in the hopes the entire venture would fail, allowing him to be freed of the family business. So outrageously designed and expensive, the community garnered attention among the upper class, who overlooked the structural shortcomings and bought out each property instantly, creating even greater demand for more properties. More communities sprung up, along with high-priced stores and commercial enterprises catering to the rich and vain.

You pull your sedan into the parking lot of the strip mall where the movie theater resides, smack in the middle of Golden Jack's Bar and Grille and a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Though Friday at 11am seems a slow time for a megaplex theater, a stream of moviegoers are lining up for Danger: Threat Zone, a new action thriller screening here today. A spot opens up in the middle of the lot, so you squeeze your sedan in between the narrow lines. Snowflakes fall in brief spurts, peppering the ground and laying a fresh white coat on the gray brick. As you walk along the rows of parked vehicles, you keep an eye out for your date. From your pocket, you slip out a flask of whiskey and throw back a quick swig. Glinting from beneath an old station wagon, a silver coin sits near the front tire. You pick it up. Thick and weighty, the coin holds value, and you drop it in your pocket.

"Stay away from me!" you hear someone yell to your right. Among a row of cars one section over, a small crowd has formed around a confrontation. Moving closer, you see two men separated by a few feet: a tall, gray-haired guy clad in dark jeans, leather vest, and a gray skull shirt resembling biker attire, the other a heavyset man, shirtless in sweat pants and one shoe. The shirtless man appears ill, as his skin is a waxy yellow with a number of bright-green lesions like strangely shaped birthmarks.

Stepping closer, you watch the biker push the shirtless man away, throwing him against a parked car. Shirtless rises, and the scene replays itself. Every time he falls, Shirtless leaps up and rushes again. A pair of women walk by, and Shirtless turns his attention to them, yelling out with explosive rage, startling the crowd.