Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rewrite)

Chapter 2: Welcome Home

After five years on the East Coast, it was time to go home.

CJ had finally made it back in the airport of Los Santos after five full years. He couldn't believe what just happened last night. As if losing his younger brother wasn't enough, he had now lost his mother. Still sustaining his somber expression, he grabbed his suitcase from the conveyor belt and headed out for the exit. Sweet's words during his phone call to him last night had come back in his head.

"'Sup?"

"Carl, it's Sweet!"

"'Sup, Sweet? What you want?"

"It's Mama! She's dead, bro!"

As CJ exited the airport, he hopped inside a nearby taxi, and it took off. The taxi cab drove through the streets of Los Santos, and CJ looked around his old hometown. Everything has changed since the past five years he ran away from home. Everything was very different from the 1980s. There were no longer pedestrians rocking 1980s fashion and/or hair, and the vehicles had also evolved. Los Santos was in a different culture now.

As the taxi cab stopped behind Ganton Street, CJ's home street, a police car pulled up from behind the taxi cab. CJ looked behind and saw two familiar cops hop out, pointing the guns at the taxi cab. It was Hernandez and Pulaski!

"Passenger!" CJ heard Tenpenny shout over the megaphone. Tenpenny had stepped outside of the car as well. "Show us your hands!"

CJ didn't have much of a choice. He disliked Officer Tenpenny and the other members of C.R.A.S.H. But he knew that he didn't have much of a choice. So he slowly exited the taxi cab with his hands in the air and stepped backwards a few inches.

"Stop!" Tenpenny demanded as CJ complied to his demand. "Get down on your knees!"

CJ complied and gradually dropped to his knees, with his hands behind his head.

"Now down on your stomach!" Tenpenny ordered.

CJ then took his hands off his head and lowered them to the ground as he got onto his stomach. "There ya go," Tenpenny said softly as he watched Hernandez handcuff CJ's wrists behind his back. He also took some cash out of CJ's pocket.

"I'll take that, Hernandez!" Tenpenny ordered as he snatched the cash out of Hernandez's hand.

"Hey, that's my paper, man!" CJ protested. "That's money!"

"This is drug money," Tenpenny claimed.

"My money, man...." CJ said querulously.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Pulaski told him as Hernandez pulled CJ to his feet. "I'll fill it out later."

Hernandez then walked CJ to face Officer Tenpenny, who took a discerning look at him face to face. "Welcome home, Carl," the corrupt cop told him. "Glad to be back. You haven't forgotten about us, have you, boy?"

"Hell naw, Officer Tenpenny," CJ protested. "I was just wondering what took y'all so long."

"Get in the car," Tenpenny demanded silently.

Hernandez shoved CJ to the police car. "Ease up, man," CJ complained. "Damn."

Pulaski also walked over to the driver's seat while Tenpenny and Hernandez guided CJ to the back seat.

"Watch you head," Tenpenny warned CJ as he took him to the back seat, only to accidentally slam CJ's head against the top of the car. CJ grunted in pain. "Ohh," Tenpenny uttered. "My bad."

Pulaski just chuckled at CJ's pain. He was the one who hated CJ the most and had wanted to kill him since the very beginning. But Tenpenny had squelched his attempts and convinced him to spare CJ in certain situations.

"Get out of here, you greaseball bastard!" Pulaski yelled at the taxi driver. The driver complied and sped away. "Stupid Mexicans," Pulaski muttered. Hernandez then glared at the Polish cop. "Oh, hey, sorry," Pulaski apologized halfheartedly.

"My bag!" CJ reminded, remembering that he left his suitcase inside the taxi cab. "Hey, man, my bag!"

But the taxi cab had already pulled away, and the cops ignored his words. So CJ was now without anything to pack and stuck driving with C.R.A.S.H. in their police car.

"How you been, Carl?" Tenpenny asked as they drove through East Los Santos. "How's your wonderful family?"

"I'm here to bury my Moms," CJ answered. "You know that."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Tenpenny replied dryly. "So what else you got shaking, Carl?"

"Nothing," CJ replied. "I live in Liberty City now. I'm clean, legit."

"Naw, you ain't never been clean, Carl," Tenpenny said.

"Well what have we got here?" Pulaski asked, pulling out a Desert Eagle as he came to a stop at the railroad tracks waiting for an oncoming train to pass by.

"This is the weapon, Officer Pulaski, that was used to gun down a police officer not ten minutes ago," Tenpenny explained. "Officer Pendelberry - a fine man, I might add. You work fast, nigga."

"You know I just got off the plane," CJ told them as the train cleared off, giving Pulaski the opportunity to continue driving.

"It's a good thing we found you and retrieved the murder weapon," Pulaski said.

"That ain't my gun," CJ protested.

"Don't bullshit me, Carl!" Tenpenny barked.

"Yeah, don't bullshit him, Carl!" Pulaski chimed in.

"What the fuck you want from me this time?" CJ groaned.

"When we want you," Tenpenny told him ominously, "we'll find you. In the meantime, try not to gun down any more officers of the law."

Tenpenny then chuckled malevolently as Hernandez slowly removed the handcuffs off of CJ's wrists. CJ then looked around the location. He realized where C.R.A.S.H. was sending him off to.

"Y'all can't leave me here!" CJ protested. "This Ballas' country!"

"I thought you said you was innocent, Carl!" Tenpenny told him. "That you don't bang?"

"This is car 58," Pulaski stated over the radio.

"See you around like a donut, Carl," Tenpenny chuckled as CJ was now thrown out of the moving vehicle as it sped away.

"What?!" Pulaski shouted distantly. "Officer Pendelbury's down?! We'll be right over!"

CJ got up to his feet and brushed himself off. He could not believe that C.R.A.S.H. had dropped him off into Ballas' territory, one of the worst places for him to be in, especially since he wasn't armed with any type of weapon.

Ah shit, here we go again, he thought to himself. Worst place in the world. Rollin Heights Balla country. I ain't represented Grove Street in five years, but the Ballas won't give a shit.

CJ didn't say a word. He just continued walking and spotted a bike up ahead. He wondered why someone would leave a bicycle abandoned in the alleyway. But he didn't have time to look for logic. He had to get back home. He hopped onto the bike and pedaled through the neighborhood, hoping that no Ballas gang member would try to shoot at him. He looked around to see that there were a few gang members who thankfully never took notice of him. He pedaled through the Jefferson Towers, the place where he and his family celebrated Christmas during childhood. His memories were all coming back to him as he continued pedaling through the city.

Finally, he passed the overpass of the old freeway and finally made it back to Ganton Street, where he saw his old neighborhood, as well as the house he used to live in.

Grove Street, home, he thought to himself. At least it was before I fucked everything up!