Tim didn't know how long the drive was supposed to take, but he would have bet money that the twenty minutes it took Matt to get into Boston was a lot shorter time period than normal. While he'd been expecting a city somewhat similar to his California home, Boston took him completely by surprise. The streets were narrow, mostly one way, and the buildings rose into the air farther than he could see out the window. As they got further into the town, the sidewalks became more crowded with people. Most of them yelled at each other for no apparent reason, and at one point they witnessed a fist fight break out because one man had accidentally hit another with his shoulder as they passed each other.

"Welcome to Boston," Matt offered in a sardonic voice as they drove past the brawl. Hollywood snorted amusedly and lit a cigarette, shaking his head slightly.

They crossed over a river, a brief stretch of horizon being visible before the tall, nondescript buildings once again engulfed them. Tim tried to concentrate on his surroundings, to give himself some sort of bearings in the unfamiliar area, but after a while he found that any landmark he tried to place into his memory was quickly replaced by another and he gave up altogether. He moved away from the window and rested his head against the back of the seat. Before long the car had stopped and the four occupants spilled onto the streets.

He had locked the door and closed it before the strangeness of his surroundings hit him. Scattered in small groups around the area were people. People with metal studs and rings in their faces, people with strange colored and styled hair, people with torn up, unconventional styles of dress - but the odd part was that there were no uniformed officers policing the area or harassing any of these people.

Tim wasn't the only one that found the situation odd, Dana and Hollywood were also looking around as if completely lost. Matt chuckled to himself, looking at the three of them.

"Things must be pretty bad over there, huh?," he asked, and it took Tim a moment before he realized Matt had been asking them. He nodded mutely then began to follow Matt.

They headed across a wide open concreted area that had steps down to a pit, and what looked to be the entrance to a subway station. Hollywood was sketchily surveying the groups of people, probably convinced that some were undercover cops and that everything was two seconds away from going to hell. Tim stayed silent as well, instead keeping his eyes on the ground.

"So, where are we?," Dana was the first to speak up, looking around at the buildings. "This looks like a pretty commercial area."

"It was," Matt told her. "This is Harvard Square. With the economy the way it is, most of the stores have been put out of business. And not to long ago, a lot of them were forced out of business due to the nature of the things they sold."

"What sort of stuff did they sell?," she asked.

Matt glanced both ways down a street, then completely disregarded the cars on it and crossed. "Well, there's a college nearby - Harvard, ya know - so there were a lot of stores that sold things that targeted that sort of age group. Music, clothing, whatever. Stuff that the people in power didn't like, essentially."

"Doesn't seem like the people in power give a fuck now," Tim noted.

"Nah, they do. Boston's just a big place - they can't be everywhere at once. They move through the city in factions, and they were just here so everyone's pretty convinced they won't be back for a week or so," Matt explained, then motioned to a pair of large glass doors. "This is the Garage."

Pulling one of the doors open, he led them inside. It was very dimly lit, the walls were covered in random scrawlings and flyers, the floor sloped upward to one side and down the other in a spiral ramp. There were a few people visible in the lower area, sitting around a table with plastic cups and cigarettes in their hands, but Matt led them upstairs.

"This is one of the places that got put out of business," he told them. "It had a record store, tattoo parlor, stuff like that. After the shops moved out, the street kids moved in. There's about ten or fifteen of us that are here pretty much permanently, but it gets pretty crazy sometimes with all the other people coming in. I guess mostly everyone's out right now though."

The floor evened out once they reached the top of the ramp, and they continued into a room that was to the left side of it. It was expansive, with random signs of life here and there - couches and blankets piled in corners, some bags with clothes spilling out of them, a low coffeetable with filled ashtrays and a stereo. Matt motioned towards a door in the back of the large room.

"There's a bathroom back there, with a shower and stuff if you guys want to clean up. I'm going to wander and see if I can't track down Benji for you."

Tim nodded. "All right. Hey, thanks a lot for picking us up and everything."

Matt waved a hand dismissively. "Don't mention it, I was headed back here anyway."

With that, he left them alone in the room.

About an hour later, after Hollywood, Dana and Tim had all showered and relatively settled into the area, Matt returned. A few people had shown up since he'd gone, but for the most part they had left them alone - aside from the angry looking bald kid who had glared at Hollywood when he lit up a cigarette. Following Matt was another guy, a bit shorter than Matt, with a friendly face and short, bright pink hair with black leopard spots.

"Hey kids," Matt greeted them. "I found him."

"Hi, I'm Benji," the younger man introduced himself, then glanced between the three of them, who by this time had gotten off the couch they were occupying and stood up. Gaze coming to rest on Tim, he extended a hand. "Hollywood?"

Tim grinned, shaking his hand. "Nah, I'm Tim. That's Hollywood," he motioned to his left. "And this is Dana."

Dana ducked out of the way as Tim patted her on the head, mock glaring at him, then looked at Benji and smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"You, too. Matt - " Benji glanced behind him to where Matt had previously been. " - has disappeared again...but besides that, he said you guys came on a train?"

He sat down in a beat-up armchair, and they followed suit, resettling on the couch. "Yeah," Hollywood told him. "Dana thought it would be fun, or something."

"Was it?," Benji asked, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mulit-pierced lips.

There were shrugs and mixed mumblings about sleeping and injured stomachs, then Benji's expression sobered a bit.

"I hate to ask this, because I have the feeling the answer isn't going to be what I want to hear," he started. "But, why isn't Rachel with you guys?"

Hollywood shifted uncomfortably next to Tim, and Dana looked at her shoes, so Tim decided it was his que to answer. "Uhm, we got raided...a while ago, probably a week or so. I wasn't there at the time, so I'm not sure exactly what happened, but...well, we're the only ones that got out alive."

Benji grimaced and looked at the ground. "That...sucks. I was really looking forward to meeting her. I'm sorry."

"We all are," Tim said, nodding. "But, not a whole hell of a lot we can do about it now."

Benji agreed, nodding, then looked around the room. "Have you guys already met everybody?," he asked, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"Nah," Hollywood answered. "But I think that dude wants to kick my ass already."

Looking in the direction Hollywood had indicated, Benji smirked. "That's Ian. He wants to kick everyone's ass for one reason or another, especially if you smoke or do drugs or anything like that."

"Ah," Hollywood muttered, then promptly dug a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one.

"Continuing...that guy over there is Jade, we call him The Playah," Benji pointed out a man with light brown hair who was wearing a pink bandana around his wrist, speaking to a large, intimidating guy with a tattooed bald head. "And that's Rob. He's pretty cool."

Turning around to look over his other shoulder, Benji moved on. "And - hey, there's Matt. The guy he's talking to is Matt, as well. Matt Skiba. He's a little creepy sometimes, but he's a good guy."

Tim looked over the lanky character Matt was talking to, dressed in a big black and white striped sweater and wearing a ski cap. He didn't look all that creepy, in his opinion, but then again he had been living with Hollywood for a few years. Benji glanced around the room once more before looking back to them.

"There's more people that are usually here, but I dunno where they're at right now," he told them. "I'm sure you'll get to know everyone pretty fast though."

"You forgot him," Dana asked, nodding towards the only other person in the room.

Benji turned again to see who she was talking about, spotting the kid who was crouched in a corner and apparently staring at the floor, his dark hair falling into his eyes. "Ah, didn't see him. That's Conor. He's drunk, a lot, and really quiet."

As if having heard Benji say his name from across the room, Conor looked up at them. He sat motionlessly, watching them for a few seconds, then grinned affably and looked back down at the floor.

"Anyway, are you guys hungry or anything? We could go grab some food downstairs if you want," Benji offered.

His body must have become too accustomed to malnourishment, because until Benji mentioned it Tim didn't even realize that he had hardly ate in the last couple of days. They agreed that eating was a novel idea and headed back down the tiled ramp to the underground floor of the Garage.