Chapter 23: Heaven Is A Gated Community

[Bonifaz Artz-Lehrer]

"I've never considered blowing up a bus. Maybe a school bus. That would bother people." Bonifaz states after listening to Archer's strange story of having been mistaken for a prostitute. Bonifaz isn't sure what to think about the story or how he would have reacted. "Maybe I would have played along and tried to teach the old man a lesson." Bonifaz considers. But, he supposes that could lead to an unnecessary and perhaps even dangerous situation.

Finally the bus arrives at a stop outside of Allwhere in a shanty town where some of the poorest Allmart workers live. Bonifaz and the others step off of the bus and walk past some shacks in search of Horacio.

[Dinari Dollar]

"We can ditch the parade and go to Allwhere, if you want to." Dinari suggests to Calithin. Suddenly, a giant floating pig balloon is marched down the street. This catches Dinari's attention and he almost starts jumping up and down. He laughs as a bunch of people march by holding the strings to the pig.

"Ha, that must be a lame job. I bet the Manalists pick the really sucky operatives to do that job." Dinari yells. He throws candy wrappers at the balloonists.

[Rust aka "Chaos"]

Chaos is what he wanted to begin. Chaos is what people would think of when they saw his deeds. Chaos was to be his new name from henceforth.

He began surfing the web in his mind using connections close to him and found an email being sent out to a few email addresses. Chaos had the means of checking hundreds of emails in a very short time so he had come across this one particular email a few times during his search of personal information such as bank info and creditors reports.

Florida...Horacio. How lovely!!!

He took off like a bat out of hell and after manipulating one of the teleportation booths he ended up transporting himself exactly where he needed to go he stumbled upon the shanty of a house.

He went to the door and knocked very loudly waiting for an answer...

[Salome Weil]

Salome is dropped off with a doctor in St. Petersburg. The doctor is actually an ex Manalist priest with some healing powers. He is able to repair her wounds easily and hours later, she wakes up, as if nothing happened at all.

"Where am I?" Salome asks the doctor. She looks him over and thinks that perhaps she is still with the Manalists. She looks around his office in fear and confusion. She notices some jars of herbs and various anatomy posters on the wall.

The doctor explains that she was brought there by a stranger and that he healed her using Manala energy.

[Horacio Hatfield]

Horacio is ecstatic when he hears someone at the door. He jumps out of his old, orange chair and goes to the door. He flings it open and shakes hands with the white haired stranger. "Ah, hello! Come in, come in!!" Horacio says happily and leads him inside. For a moment he considers that he might be with Genetech.

"You are....here for the meeting, yes?" Horacio questions with sudden caution.

[Salome Weil]

Salome talks to the doctor for a while and learns that he is actually an ex Manalist priest with some basic healing powers. He explains that he left the religion because of his interest in helping people. Salome thanks the doctor for healing her and leaves via teleportation booth, since she remembered the anarchist meeting in Allwhere.

She teleports to Allwhere, then walks to outside Allwhere, where Horacio lives. When she arrives at his home, a white haired man has just gained entry. She enters behind him.

"Hello Horacio, good to see I am not late. I had...a near death experience of a sort."

[Armin Lehrer]

Armin is still very ill, but he remembers that the anarchists are having a meeting. He figures he should attend since he wants to show them that Socialist Revolution is willing to work with anarchists. He drags himself out of bed and puts on some loose fitting acid washed jeans and a t shirt with a badger on it. He puts on a dark blue hoodie and heads out the door. It takes all of his energy to leave, but, he knows that he has to take his political work seriously.

Armin takes the teleportation booth to Allwhere, then hires a cab to take him to Horacio's since he is too tired to walk there. Once there, he enters behind the blond stranger and collapses on a couch.

"Hey everyone...." He says, then starts coughing. His eyes are red and droopy.

[Horacio Hatfield]

"Come in, come in! I've made some snacks." Horacio says to the three newcomers to his home. He offers them a plate of crackers, cheese, and meat. It isn't much, but he figures the small snack will stave off growling stomachs.

"Armin, you should not have come here. You look terribly ill." Horacio scolds the socialist organizer.

[Tahlia Malkes]

Tahlia walks to her mirror trying to figure out what to wear to the meeting. She was going to be going to florida to meet with like minded people but she just couldnt find anything to wear. Everything she had looked good on her but she was determined to look like she belonged as well as well dressed and a stone cold fox. She settled on a pair of black jean like capris a black tank top and a mesh blue long sleeve top which hugged her torso. She slung an army green jacket over that and fixed her makeup being maticulous about it until her eyes shone from under the heavy pigments. She smiled at herself and made her way to the nearest telebooth.

She punched in the coordinates and made her way to the shabby looking house which matched the address. She wrinkled her nose as she approached the small dingy place. She went to the door and taking a tissue out of her bag she knocked waiting to be welcomed with awe.

[Armin Lehrer]

"I've had a bad cold for over a week now, everyone in my house has it. I wish it would go away." Armin says before going to the door. He sees that it is Tahlia, his roommate. He moves out of the way so that she can enter the small house.

"Oh hey T." He says, deciding that he will call her T. He examines her body in those tight clothes then looks back to Horacio. He coughs a little. "So what's the meeting all about?"

[Salome Weil]

"Armin, if you aren't well, you should go home. You could make the rest of us sick." I say to Armin, who is obviously too sick to be here.

I turn around and notice an attractive young woman. A part of me feels vaguely...competitive with her? I suppose I am used to being the only woman around at most political meetings.

I turn to shake her hand. "I'm Salome Weil." I say to the newcomer.

[Rust aka "Chaos"]

Chaos shakes the man's hand and smirks.

"Yes love, I am here for the meeting."

He smiles as more people enter the shabby home and his eyes rest on Tahlia. She was very colorful to say the least.

"I hope there are more than the sick and the tart here for this meeting."

He moves to sit in a battered wooden chair and props his feet up on the table.

[Horacio Hatfield]

Horacio isn't sure what to make of the blond haired man, but, he decides he will be cheerful and offer him a cracker. "Have a cracker." He offers. He turns to Salome, Armin, and the attractive young woman.
"Yes, Salome is right. You don't look fit to be here. Maybe we could email you notes from the meeting." Horacio offers.

"Anyway, the point of this meeting is to establish an anarchist group. A coalition or group similar to Socialist Revolution, but to unite various anarchists."

[Tahlia Malkes]

Tahlia smiles vaguely and takes the womans hand.

"A pleasure for you I am sure. Sooo...Armin what is it we do at these little meeting things? I hope it wont be too exhausting. I tire easily you know."

She dismisses the others as quickly as she sees them. She got the desired effect from her entrance. Thats all that mattered.

[Amelia 20]

The bus stops outside of Allwhere in a place very different from the Allmart created city. This place is full of shacks, stray animals, and garbage. The people are dressed in rags or work uniforms.

Amelia steps off the bus but pauses for a moment.

"We should not go to this meeting." She says suddenly, stopping in her tracks.