Another Night

Lawrence fell from his bed at the sound of the electricity powering down. Again.

Sleeping on the floor above his drug den had proven to be a pain, but served better than wasting credits at some rundown apartment. Rushing some clothes on, he stumbled down the stairs, almost running into one of the cooks.

"Boss, power just went out, all the tech is out."

Shocked to full consciousness, he shoved the man out of the way in order to run to the cook stations. "No no no no NO!"

Although the team had been working nonstop throughout the night, every moment the machines stayed off meant more product being ruined.

"Don't you damn junkies know how to jumpstart these things? Why are you all so WORTHLESS!"

Kicking a trash can over, he raged on the cheap plastic until it became a pile of trash itself. As he finished, power came back on, the machines churning back to life. Smoothing his hair back, Lawrence turned towards the nearest cook, making the man flinch.

"Finish this last batch then go home. We can't risk losing a batch."

Leaving the man to quiver, he went to go back to his room, when a monitor flickered to life. A strange man giving strange demands was heard. Once again the cooks fled into the night, they had been warned by the last crew of what happened when working for Lawrence.

"Damn it! Damn it all!"

Another fit of rage came over him and he took it out on the screen, the voice slowly distorting until it was silenced. Panting from the exertion, Lawrence tried to steady his hand in order to take another hit.

He didn't give a shit who the man was or what he wanted. He took the power and he just cost Lawrence another crew of cooks. Another name to find.

As the drugs kicked in, the power went out again. Cursing, he realized there was a whining sound coming from the surrounding buildings, quickly followed by small explosions and screaming.

Running to the door, he tried to discern what was happening, but the darkness offered no help. "I knew this property was bad for business."