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[center][sub]~a meal to start the end
-1:32 PM, Downtown in Ramen Cafe[/sub][/center]


Famished and dehydrated, Gideon had finally made his way to his seat, after having been in the line for almost half an hour. Lunch hour was in full swing, as the restaurant was packed from wall to wall with patrons, but something felt off for today. Instead of seeing lively faces active in a litany of conversations, many faces were all huddled together, staring into their phone screens. Gideon pulled his out, thinking maybe there’d be an obvious reason, but scrolling through his normal Instagram feed gave him no such answers. All his focus on this topic, however, dissipated when the waitress came to his table, giving him a friendly smile, and sliding a menu in front of him.

[color=coral][i]Now, to eat…[/i][/color]

After another 10 minutes, a group of Gideon’s courier colleagues walked in, spotting him at his table and started coming over. They only glanced up at him once, though, making their way over slowly, all while staring into their phones, same as the rest of the patrons. Gulping down some water, Gideon spoke up as his friends closed the distance.

[color=coral]”Everyone’s glued to their damn phones today, the hell is going on?”[/color]

[color=orchid]”Oh, that’s right! You don’t use Twitter, huh?”[/color] David asked, finally making eye contact as he sat down in the booth with him, along with Carter and Jesus.

David, a 29 year old white man, with long brown hair in a smooth ponytail doing down his back and a scruffy beard, turned his phone towards Gideon. [color=orchid]”This video is being posted all over the place, check it out.”[/color]

Looking down at the screen, Gideon watched as two people, covered in blood and with crazed looks in their eyes, attacked and tried to bite or maul a pair of police officers, all the while, a man with a massive wound in his neck was bleeding to death behind them, all for an entire neighborhood to watch. The belligerent woman then turned her attention to a pair of police officers, who responded by pulling guns and shooting her multiple times, to seemingly no effect. Gideon watched on, horrified at how this madwoman had taken and simply ignored multiple rounds. He’d see some disturbing internet videos, witnessed how just one or two bullets could drop even the strongest man like a limp sack of potatoes, but this woman didn’t care. She just kept coming.

Finally, as the police trained their aim on her head, she finally fell limp, the headshot draining her body of all life. Gideon sat back, taking a deep breath and a sip of water.

[color=coral]”Christ, that kinda fucked up my appetite.”[/color]

[color=khaki]”C’mon, G. We’ve shown you worse than that stuff.”[/color] chuckled Carter. Carter, with his very short blonde hair, brown eyes, and red, slightly sunburned pale skin, stretched out in his seat, and began to sip the lemonade the waitress had just placed, as Jesus and David ordered their food.

[color=coral]”I dunno, dude, I’ve never seen someone take bullets like that. Plus, it looked like that one dude got bit or shot in the neck? What the fuck is going on in that clip, dude?!”[/color] Gideon chuckled nervously, as he took another sip of his water.

Jesus, an older, early thirties, man of Hispanic descent, with short salt and pepper hair and long, survivalist style beard, spoke up after handing his menu to the waitress.[color=mediumseagreen]” My wife sent me that video, she said she thinks they have rabies or something.”[/color]

[color=orchid]”Rabies? Rabies don’t make you eat bullets like that, dude.”[/color]

[color=khaki]”Can people even get rabies? I thought that was just bats and dogs and shit.”[/color]

[color=coral]”Yes, people can get rabies, dude. But usually, it just makes them hydrophobic and all shaky, I’ve never seen rabies do that to someone. That’s freaky dude. Way too fuckin’ freaky.”[/color]

As Gideon’s eyes began to wander, he noticed that some of the patrons had asked to change the channel on one of the cafe’s TVs, and turned it to the news. On the channel, a Special Report was airing, covering the same video that Gideon had just watched. Apparently the scene was still hectic, and the police had cordoned off the neighborhood, and residents were on lockdown.

The table of four men had all craned their necks to watch the report, as did most of the patrons in the cafe. Suddenly, Jesus raised a pointed finger, and began speaking to the table,

[color=mediumseagreen]”Oh, holy shit! I know why I recognize that place! That’s where my sister-in-law lives!”[/color] He dropped his pointing hand, and pulled out his phone.

[color=khaki]”You’re telling me your wife didn’t notice that the first time around?”[/color]

[color=mediumseagreen]”I guess not, bro. But she just texted me the same thing, I guess she was watching the news too.”[/color] He paused, with his eyes scanning over his phone for a second.[color=mediumseagreen]”She says her sister hasn’t sent her anything yet, but she’s about to call her. That’s crazy shit dude, I wonder if she saw it all.”[/color]

[color=orchid]”Shiet, dude, you sure that wasn’t the one taking all those shots in that video?[/color] David joked.

Jesus gave him a playful punch in the shoulder, which drew a laugh out of David. [color=mediumseagreen]”That shit ain’t funny, bro. But no, my wife’s sister is even more Mexican than me, she’s dark skinned. The lady in that video looked white or something. She didn’t look like my sister-in-law.”[/color]

Gideon chuckled to himself, but the table’s conversation was cut short by the arrival of their steaming bowls of ramen, which they were more than ready to dig into.