Avery was starving, he hadn't eaten a proper meal in days and the effects of hunger were beginning to set in. Clutching his stomach the young man walked through the streets of Engine City keeping his head down desperate to avoid being seen, if anyone saw him they might tell the police and then he'd have to go back to 'the men in white coats'. A baseball cap pulled tightly over his head to conceal his amethyst eyes, Avery made a beeline for the nearest news stand. Picking up the Engine Gazette a single story dominated the headlines. "Super-villain Tox's death leads to quarantine." Avery disliked the term 'super-villain' things were rarely so black and white in the world.

The paper noted the quarantine zone as being 'Carter Hills' what was once a 'friendly' part of Engine City had become a bio-hazard. Towards the back of the newspaper there was another story more close to home for Avery. 'Eldritch still on the run after gas-station hold-up' The paper painted him to be a monster, sometimes Avery believed them.
The truth was that Avery was confronted by the police for the destruction of a government facility and had to take a cashier hostage, since then Avery had gotten nothing but bad press.

A five by five free block meant that there was bound to room for some looting, perhaps even some food if Avery was lucky he'd even find enough food to get him through the week maybe even more. It wasn't that Avery was a evil person, he understood what he was doing was wrong, it was simply that there wasn't an alternative for the boy who had been dealt all the wrong cards.

Reaching the district Avery was halted by a uniformed SWAT officer a gun slung across his chest. "I'm sorry! I have to get in." Avery whimpered as a single tentacle wrapped around the man's neck from the ground holding him until he fell unconscious. Leaving the man Avery entered the quarantine zone to see shambling abominations that must have been affected by the radiation. Avery tried to hide his fear of the creatures trying to find an entrance into one of the houses in search of any loot.