No Rest For A Delivery Guy III

Come morning, Jack woke up groggy and sore from last night's work. His legs were still a little sore from all the running and walking he did. His back was throbbing, and slightly sore too, like he slept on concrete ground and not on a mattress.

Already annoyed and in a bad mood, he turned on the power generator and took a quick shower. The lack of shampoo and his current bad breath reminded him once again that he was in alarming need of essential hygiene products like a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Another thing to add to his list of course for this morning. He made a mental note.

Done with his quick shower, he changed out of his sleepwear to wear some street clothes.

Jack put on the same pair of pants as yesterday, but this time with a different t-shirt along with a sweater he found – which has a death skull emblazoned in the middle – to complete the ensemble and help ward off the cold. He hasn't forgotten how chilly it tended to be in the morning and evening.

He decided to just skip breakfast altogether, not exactly enthused at the prospect of eating another dish of canned beans.

Once he made sure that there was nobody in the vicinity, he climbed up outside with a shopping bag in hand which contained his dirty costume.

For once, the sun wasn't covered by dark and gloomy clouds but instead, was shining brightly. Though, it did nothing for the cold. The icy wind was harshly biting at his exposed skin, especially his ears; while the air itself was quite chilly.

To stay warm and not freeze on the spot, he got on the move. His first destination… a thrift store.

 /-/

Jack spent the whole morning and afternoon before work running errands. First, he swung by a public laundromat to wash his dirty costume. It took quite a while for the cleaning and drying cycle to be complete, but once it did, he grabbed a quick breakfast at a food truck – a bacon-wrapped hotdog, topped with chili sauce, coleslaw, and pickled jalapeños. A French vanilla coffee helped digest down his hotdog.

After grabbing breakfast, his next destination was a thrift store to get himself some casual clothes, winter clothing and shoes. He ended up spending close to 73$ on clothes and winter accessories.

But he deemed the expense much needed and to be worth it. With two bags full of clothing, he took the bus back home to drop off his purchases. By then, it was already a little past noon so he quickly made his way to the nearest grocery store where he spent a good hour buying things for breakfast like bread, eggs, butter, milk, sugar, salt, etc… Along with canned tomatoes, different canned sauces, spices, onions, rice, spaghetti, chicken breast, pork chops on sale, and other such things.

After spending up to 123$ in food, Jack walked off the grocery store, struggling to carry four shopping bags full of groceries, and was beginning to feel himself quickly running against the clock. The time for work was rapidly approaching and he hadn't even bought essential hygiene products, fuel for the power generator like he had planned or maybe a pair of roller skates to help him on the job.

Looking at the clock, it was already well past 1:00 p.m. If he was going to do all of those, he would have to hurry up. Though he doubted he'd have the time to drop by a gas station to buy fuel, then swing by a Target to buy his roller skates, before going to another store – one catering toward the sale of essential hygiene products – which won't rip him off for said products, like if he was to buy them at another place for the sake of proximity.

Oh! Doing all of this while getting to work on time.

No.

He wouldn't be able to make it.

Musing on the subject, Jack settled on taking another bus home to drop off his grocery bags. Were he in costume, he might have just levitated the bags while going about his business. Alas, it wasn't an option for him as he was in civie.

After dropping his bags, he rapidly changed into his costume, made a mad dash for the nearest store selling what he needed, then on the way back home, he stopped by a Gas station to buy a 20L can, full of diesel.

Jack spent 27$ for the shower gel, dishwashing liquids, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste. While the 20L can of diesel had cost him 22$, raising his overall total spending of the day to 256$, including his bus fees.

Total amount spent: -256$

Total amount left: 107$

Yet, despite his best effort, he still ended up turning late by 15 minutes or so for work.

"You're late." An irate Lorenzo greeted him behind the counter when he entered the pizzeria.

"Sorry, I wa—"

"Spare me the excuses," Lorenzo sharply cut out, "I have some orders for you. 7 to start. All in Crime Alley. I've already listed the addresses on your G.P.S." He grunted, gesturing to said GPS sitting on the counter – his red delivery parka beside it. And he assumed that the pizzas were already stuffed inside the delivery backpack that was currently sitting on a counter stool seat.

Figuring that he wasn't in the mood for small talk, Jack nodded his head in affirmation and wordlessly strode toward him. He strapped the GPS to his wrist before effortlessly putting the backpack on his shoulder, over the red parka.

"Don't forget your talkie-walkie!" Lorenzo reminded him as he was about to turn to leave.

Giving the man a sheepish smile that he wasn't able to see, Jack took the offered talkie-walkie from his hand then made his way to the door's entrance.

"Take care, and be careful out there!" He heard him say as he pulled open the door.

Giving him an okay sign over his shoulder, Jack strode outside.

The nearest delivery address on the GPS was around a slow 15-minute jog from his position. While the farthest was… maybe a good 40 minutes or so?

'5 different addresses. Two pizzas each for the same address, and the other three are all from different people.' He noted, 'Well, better get to it then!'

Opening a [chamber] and deftly switching the backpack with some random rubbish hanging out on the nearest rooftop, Jack expertly climbed said rooftop and then, hefted back his charge on his shoulder.

He broke into a jog.

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The first delivery of the night went as one would expect. When he had shown up at the first client's door, a mix of astonishment, dumbfoundedness and fear was the reaction he got. It took him quite some time comforting and reassuring them to put them at ease. And this, despite the fact that Lorenzo had apparently warned the client beforehand of his… appearance and get up.

"Lo-Lorenzo has warned me that he has someone …" The older woman gulped, trailing off as she shakily accepted the pizza boxes and offered him a 10$ tip along with money for the two pizzas. "… unusual coming... I still didn't expect you. Sorry, for… the misunderstanding…."

Jack gave her a forced smile, not that she could see it. "Water under bridge ma'am. I completely understand." He said flatly. From his tone, it was very much not 'water under bridge'. The woman had tried to clobber him as soon as she answered the door, even despite his insistent attempt at defusing the situation and trying to calm her down. At least she has balls. He would give her that much. Must be something all oldies in Crime Alley have.

"Thank you for your patronage! I hope you'll enjoy your pizza! Have a good night!"

Jack turned around and left without hearing her answer.

The second delivery went marginally better. He was only threatened at gunpoint for ten seconds top by a man smelling of pot, and with a beer belly. At least, he was willing to hear him out and not shoot first then ask questions later.

The third one went well compared to the last two. He rang while saying the purpose of his visit. From there, things proceeded peacefully and he dropped off the client's two pizzas before going on his merry way.

His fourth delivery was slightly tricky. The client apparently lived on the top floor of a four-story apartment. Problem, the building's front entrance was closed and no amount of ringing would let the inhabitant open their door. He knew for a fact that they were watching him behind their closed curtains. And he wasn't in the mood to climb up to the top floor from outside to try and deliver their order.

So in the end, he signaled Lorenzo who called the client to inform him that he was there.

Five minutes later, it was a 20-something young man who warily came down to meet him at the front entrance of the building.

Jack traded the pizza for money and the young man ended up giving him a 5$ tip for his trouble.

It was while walking on the sidewalk to get to his last delivery's address – the place being a short ten-minute walk from where he was – that he registered multiple presences entering in his zone. Four people trying to stealthily trail him. All armed.

He pursed his lips, frowning, as he took note of the weapons in their possession. Two have a gun, another a knife and the last one has a bat. An ambush.

They were planning to ambush him and no amount of talking was going to get him out of this.

'It was bound to happen,' Jack idly thought, eyes blazing an ethereal red flame in preparation from the oncoming conflict even as adrenaline started to flood his veins.

It's been a while since he got some action. And not of the life-threatening kind where he felt like his contribution was insignificant in face of the adversary. Instead… he was going to have a light scuffle with some unpowered goons.

'Lovely.'

Jack abruptly stopped.

And waited on site.

He observed them as they stopped too, seemingly hesitating to follow him. But he wasn't deterred by their shyness and patiently waited for them to gather the nerve and courage to show themselves.

After a tense minute – for them – they finally decided to approach him.

As they came into view, Jack smiled. "Good evening, gentlemen. How can I help you?" And greeted them.